Chapter 1

Shaun closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the alarm sounded, signalling that the back doors of the quinjet were lowering.

"You alright?" Rumlow asked from his right.

"Just getting in the zone." Shaun replied before pushing himself out of his seat. He reached over his shoulder and gave a tug on the sword that was hanging on his back to check that it was secure. He brought his hand up and closed it around the ring that hung around his neck. He tucked the ring under his bullet proof vest and moved towards the back of the jet, which was no open to the elements.

"Listen up," Rumlow was shouting to the team behind them "We believe this cell to be protecting Anthony Stark, aka Iron Man."

"We do not know the state of Mr Stark or of his armour, but we know that the rebels are well equipped." Shaun joined in "Our orders are to capture Stark and kill all of the rebels."

"Right now they don't know that we are here, but that won't last long. Our objective is to infiltrate the compound and secure Stark. There is a team surrounding the compound ready to engage hostiles when this goes loud." Rumlow explained.

"I've got point, Rumlow brings up the rear. The rest of you keep your eyes open and stay frosty." Shaun finished the briefing and turned back to the doorway. There were two ropes tied in knots, hanging from the roof. Shaun and Rumlow undid the knots and let the rope drop. They each reached out and grabbed hold of the line before stepping out of the quinjet into the night sky.

They reached the bottom of the rope and immediately stepped away. Rumlow swept his weapon over the rooftop, making sure that there were no enemies there and Shaun sprinted to the doorway leading into the factory where the rebels had set up base.

He pulled it open and peered inside to make sure that there was no one there as the next two members of their team landed on the rooftop. They both immediately moved to the doorway, one standing at the other side to Shaun and the other behind Shaun. The one behind him placed a hand on his shoulder to let him know that he was there.

When the last two men touched down they repeated the process and Rumlow fell in at the back of the column across from Shaun. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he knew that the men behind him were in position. He nodded to the man across from him, who reached out and opened the door.

Shaun was the first through, his eyes searching for anything that could pose as a threat. When he identified that the stairwell was clear he signalled to the men behind him and started to move down. At the bottom there was another doorway, this one with a glass window. Shaun could see the factory through the window. The doorway opened onto a metal walkway which surrounded the factory floor, which was where their intel suggested that the rebels were concentrated.

Shaun opened the door and peeked through. He signalled to Rumlow and together the two of them creeped out onto the walkway. From here they could see down below, where the rebels had set up camp. They had made makeshift tents with old sheets hanging between the left over equipment and it made it quite difficult to tell who was down there. The building hadn't had an electricity running to it since it had been abandoned years ago but it appeared that Stark had rigged up a generator to provide them with some dim lighting.

They could see people moving about down there but they were too high up to identify any body in particular. Rumlow raised his rifle and peered down the scope to try and find their target. Shaun didn't have a rifle but he had other ways of seeing long distances.

He blinked his eyes shut and when they opened again he could see in much greater detail, as though he was standing right in front of the people. There was a slight burning on his arm and he looked down to study it.

The tattoo was a tribal design with the snarling heads of 17 animals bursting out of the lines. The eagle's head tattoo was glowing and that was where the burning was coming from.

He diverted his gaze back to the camp down below. He took his time, studying every person down there to see if he could identify Stark.

"He must be in one of the tents." Rumlow commented. Shaun grunted in agreement "There's no way we'll be able to get him without being seen."

"You might not be able to." Shaun commented as he blinked his eyes, is vision returning to normal and the burning sensation disappearing "But I can. Get the team into position to cover me back up here."

"What are you going to do?"

"Take out the generator. Stark will go to fix it and I'll be waiting." He said.

"You'll be seen."

"Have you learnt nothing in the last year?" Shaun smirked. And with that he disappeared. He could feel a burning sensation in his arm again and even though he couldn't see it he knew that the chameleon tattoo was glowing.

He moved as quickly and as quietly as he could, intimately aware that any noise he made would echo throughout the warehouse due to the metal floor he was walking on. Eventually he reached the staircase at the end of the walkway and started to make his way down.

It was when he reached the bottom that he realised two things. The first was that he didn't know where the generator was and the second was that there was no way he was going to be able to walk through the people on the factory floor without someone bumping into him.

Problem two was the easiest to solve. He closed his eyes and the burning on his arm shifted. This time when he looked down he could see his arm again, and the tattoo. Now it was an octopus that was glowing, a mimic octopus to be precise. It meant that he could shapeshift, become whoever he wanted to be.

Now he looked like a small, balding man in his late 40's who had developed a bit of a pot belly. Shaun moved towards the camp, plucking a jacket off of a makeshift washing line as he did. He pulled it on to hide his tattoos, sword and his Kevlar vest. He shuffled through the crowd of people, pushing them aside, until he saw the generator hidden under one of the tents.

He smirked to himself and made his way over. There was no one guarding the generator, in fact he hadn't seen anything to indicate that there were any weapons here at all, not that that mattered to him. They were rebels and it was his job to take care of them.

He crouched behind the generator and allowed himself to become invisible again. He reached into one of the pockets on his belt and pulled out a localised EMP device. He placed it on the generator and armed it before moving away from the generator and waiting for it to detonate.

The detonation barely made any noise at all and left no noticeable marks on the generator but Shaun knew it had worked because the lights in the tent went out, leaving the room in complete darkness. Shaun pulled a set of night vision goggles out of one of the pockets on his trousers and put them on. Then it was just a matter of waiting for Stark to come to fix it.

It took five minutes for the man to get there, and when he did he immediately bent down and started studying the generator. Shaun quietly drew his sword from the scabbard on his back and stepped forwards, placing the sword across Stark's throat.

"Listen up, Stark." He muttered "You're going to leave this tent and make your way up the stairs to the gangway. If you don't comply we will kill everyone here. Do you understand?" At first Stark didn't do anything, he was probably planning an escape of some kind, but eventually he nodded his head.

"The package is coming to you." Shaun muttered into his earpiece so that Rumlow knew he had Stark.

Stark made his way through the crowd occasionally trying to stop to talk to someone but Shaun would poke him in the back with his sword and he'd start moving again. They reached the stairs without incident but it was when they were about halfway up that Stark made his move.

He must have figured that even though he couldn't see Shaun the only place he could be on the stairs was behind him. The man spun around and threw a punch but Shaun had been expecting it and he ducked, bringing his sword up and smacking the fist aside with the flat of the blade. Stark realised his mistake and, before Shaun could move, vaulted over the railings, landing on the factory floor.

He started shouting for the others, alerting them that Shaun was there. The camp burst into action and Shaun saw weapons start to appear from under machinery and clothes, until almost everyone was armed.

"Tell the other teams to start their attack. Stark's mine." Shaun said into the comm before he launched himself over the railing after the man, who was sprinting through the crowd towards the other end of the factory.

"He's going for his armour." Rumlow told him.

"Take his legs." Shaun decided. Rumlow mumbled a confirmation and a second later there was a gunshot and Shaun saw Stark tumble to the floor. Shaun was almost on top of him when a crowd of people stepped out, clearly trying to protect Stark from his invisible attacker.

Shaun allowed himself to become visible again and twirled his sword through the air casually. He grinned menacingly and saw a couple of men at the back of the group turn and run, clearly they knew who he was.

"A bit of help here." He muttered to Rumlow before charging forwards. The cheetah's head tattoo on his arm started to burn as he funnelled speed from it, allowing himself to become faster than just about any human on the planet.

He dropped to his knees and slid along the floor, going straight between the legs of one of the men and slicing his sword out sideways, severing the man's leg at the knee. The man dropped to the floor even as Shaun jumped to his feet and threw his sword into the air, catching it in a reverse grip and thrusting it backwards into the man's chest.

The other men stepped backwards, clearly shocked by the ease with which he had dispatched one of them. Then one of the men's heads exploded as Rumlow put a round straight through it. The body dropped to the floor and as it did Shaun saw the men start to waiver. He knew that it wouldn't take much now to route them.

He was just about to dart forwards and dispatch another, hopefully giving them the push that they needed to turn and run when the building was shaken by a series of explosions. Shaun kept his balance but the men he was fighting weren't so lucky, most of them fell over or stumbled.

He cast his eyes around the room and smirked as he saw what was happening. The team that had been surrounding the factory had blown holes in all four walls and now Shaun's teammates, as well some soldiers, were pouring into the factory.

He spotted the silver blur that was Quicksilver, moving at such high speeds that it was difficult to see anything other than a blur. There was a glint of silver through the smoke in front of one of the other holes and Shaun saw the Winter Soldier grab a rebel with his metal arm and hurl him across the room. ARES swooped in through the hole that he had blown and was taking rebels out with the repulsor technology that he had stolen from Tony Stark. The Scarlet Witch, however, was perhaps the most formidable of all of the newcomers. She marched through the cloud of dust and the rebels opened fire on her but she simply raised her hand and a field of scarlet energy appeared in front of her, disintegrating the bullets as they made contact. She waved her hand and one of the machines on the factory floor sped across the room and crushed them all.

Shaun watched as his opponents all turned and ran, clearly intimidated by the sheer power that had just entered the room.

"Rumlow, did you see where Stark went?" Shaun asked as he moved towards where the man had been shot.

"I was busy covering your ass." Rumlow replied "You're on your own." Shaun didn't reply except for a gentle groan to himself. He always hated having to do this, he wouldn't be able to get the stink out of his nostrils for weeks.

There was a burning sensation on his arm and he knew that the bloodhound tattoo was glowing. As soon as the burning started his sense of smell was amplified to an almost unbearable point. He could smell everything, the sweat and dirt on the rebels, their fear, and the excitement of the attackers. He could smell the metallic scent that clung to ARES and the cold that always hung around the Winter Soldier, the singed air that the Scarlet Witch created when she used her power.

He crouched next to the blood that had been spilled when Rumlow shot Stark and dipped his finger in it. He brought the finger to his nose and inhaled deeply. Tony Stark smelled of engine grease and motor oil and cheap cologne, all masked by the dirt and grime that clung to him after so long living in this factory.

He stood up and set off sprinting, following his nose. He made sure to take his time, not channelling his cheetah spirit for a few reasons, the first was that he didn't want to go too fast and miss something and the second, and perhaps most important, was that he still had trouble channelling more than one spirit at once, it made his tired and sluggish and he couldn't afford that at the minute.

Starks scent led him through a door into a dark staircase that led downwards.

"I've followed Stark to the basement." Shaun said over his comm "How copy?"

"This… Witch… do… engage… backup…" he recognised the voice, the Scarlet Witch had replied but the connection was weak and he couldn't hear the full message. He briefly considered waiting for backup but he didn't think that he would have any trouble with Stark and he couldn't afford to wait if they had an escape route down here.

"I did not copy. Repeat I did not copy. I will continue my pursuit. Send backup when available." Shaun replied before he took his earpiece out and started down the stairs, allowing his sense of smell of the night vison goggles to guide him through the darkness.

He reached the bottom of the staircase and as far as he could tell he was completely alone in the storeroom that he found himself in. There was no sign of Stark apart from the scent that Shaun had followed all the way down here. There was no way that Stark wasn't down here but the man was clearly hiding from him.

Shaun slowly made his way into the room, his sword held at the ready to defend at a second's notice. He made it halfway into the room when he found the first giveaway that Stark had been here, the makeshift repair station that looked like it had been used to repair his Iron Man armour. Except the armour was gone now.

Shaun allowed the bloodhound tattoo to stop burning and instead channelled the rabbit, enhancing his hearing. He stood still and cocked his head to the side, trying to listen for any indicator that would tell him where his prey was hiding.

He heard something just behind him and dived to the side just in time as Stark's repulsors fired and left a scorch mark on the wall right where Shaun's head would have been. Now that Shaun knew where his quarrel was he knew that he had him. He could see him in his night vision goggles and he wasn't going to lose him. He allowed his hearing to return to normal as he once more made himself invisible to the human eye.

He sneaked around the room until he was standing behind Stark, who was trying to find him in the darkness. Shaun swung his sword but it seemed that the man had known where he was all along and he ducked, spinning around as he did. Shaun reversed the arc of his blade and brought it down just in time to deflect the repulsor blast that Stark fired at him.

He silently thanked the person who had given him his sword and blessed it so that it would be almost indestructible. As his sword moved past the two of them and Stark's blast struck the wall Shaun kicked the man in the chest, sending him backwards. The bear tattoo on his arm started to glow and he hurled his sword through the air with all of the strength of a bear as Stark pushed himself to his feet.

The sword buried itself in the man's shoulder with enough force to pin him to the wall behind him. Shaun walked up to his wounded foe slowly as Stark raised his hand and fired a repulsor blast but Shaun's viper tattoo meant that his reflexes were too quick and he stepped out of the way almost effortlessly. He held his hand out and the magnet in his gloved called his sword back to his hand. Stark fired another repulsor blast but Shaun deflected it casually as though it was nothing more than an annoyance.

He watched as the arc reactor in Stark's chest started to glow and he stopped moving and crouched down, ready to jump out of the way. The beam fired and he sidestepped it gracefully only to find that Stark had fired his hand repulsors too. His reflexes allowed him to see the attack coming long before it reached him but he knew that he didn't have the time to do anything to stop it.

He braced himself for the painful impact and closed his eyes, waiting for the blast to hit. He was surprised then, when he never felt the impact.

He opened his eyes almost shyly and was surprised to see that the white energy blast of Stark's repulsors was contained in a scarlet field of energy.

"I told you to wait." A voice sounded behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see the Scarlet Witch standing there, her hands outstretched and her face showing the strain of holding the attack at bay.

"You know how I feel about taking orders." Shaun replied with a smirk as he stepped out of the way of the attack and the Witch released it, allowing it to crash into the wall "The comm wasn't working."

"Well it's a good job I was here." She replied. They both heard the tell-tale sign of Stark's repulsors firing up and reacted at the same time. Shaun hurled his sword through the air, pinning Stark's right arm to the wall at the same time that the Scarlet Witch launched a ball of scarlet energy that pinned his left arm.

"What would I do without you?" Shaun asked sarcastically "What's it like upstairs?"

"The others are just mopping up. No injuries."

"You killed th…" Stark started but the Witch launched another ball of energy that pinned his jaw closed.

"Shall we get him out of here?" Shaun asked with a smirk as he moved to stand over his vanquished foe.