Ghosts in Steel
Part Three: Holding the Line
Industrial Park, Japanese coast, Summer 2015
"You do realise, don't you," Ron said as he, Storm and iron Man took to the air, "that this suit was designed to take down magical menaces, not high-tech alien cyborgs?"
"I helped your Pop design and build that suit, Ron." Tony replied. "I know its capabilities. More importantly, I know yours! Those Cybermen won't stand a chance!"
Then they were in the thick of it. The Cyber-drones were manta-shaped devices, four feet long with a ten-foot wingspan. They carried a front-mounted weapon, either electrical or plasma-based, and were clearly smart enough to vary their mission parameters to engage airborne opponents before beginning ground bombardment. The drones were fast and agile and for a while, things were a bit hectic.
Iron Man and the Silver Sorceror ran interference for their unarmoured team-mate. Storms' lightning bolts were highly effective, the massive voltage jumping from the targeted drone to others near it and frying their systems, bringing them down in twos and threes. Iron Man used his repulsors, micro-missiles and laser to take down others. As for the newest Avenger, even without the suit, Rons' Reductor hex could blast bricks into powder; amplified by the white-gold circuitry built into the mithril armour, it was more than enough to shred any drone he cast it at!
After a few minutes of frantic combat, the first wave of drones went down. They barely had time to catch their breath, however, before Storm yelled, "We've got incoming!"
A second, larger squadron of drones was indeed speeding towards them.
"Oh, for Merlins' sake!" Ron growled. "I can't be arsed with this. Singularius!"
From his outstretched hand, a tiny, almost invisible, spot of absolute blackness hurtled forward, coming to halt in the path of the drones. As it stopped, the air around it began to shimmer oddly. Then the approaching drones began to waver off course, as if irresistibly drawn to the black spot. They seemed to be falling into it, first tumbling, then stretching somehow, then finally shrinking and vanishing. Only a few drones, on the very flanks of the squadron, escaped the effect, and those were easy prey for Tony and Ororo.
"Goddess!" Ororo said. "What did you do, Ron?"
"Singularity spell." Ron told her. "A little mistake of 'Miones'. Harry asked her to craft a spell that would create a kind of magic bullet. You see, Shield Charms can absorb or deflect magic pretty well, but they're not much cop against solid projectiles. Harry wanted something that would create a small, heavy, fast projectile that would punch through a shield and knock the opponent down.
"About half-way through the research, 'Mione overdid it with the mass and created something so heavy it had its own gravity well. You can cast it to create a small vortex that lasts a few seconds and causes all kinds of chaos. Obviously, in the suit, I can create a bigger one that lasts longer, but after a while it just folds in on itself and vanishes up its own quantum!"
At which point, with an almost comical pop, the magical singularity vanished.
"Right!" Storm said. "There don't seem to be any more drones, so let's go take a look at the big one!"
The PDRC and UNIT guys were doing their best, Logan noted, but they were out-gunned and outclassed as well as outnumbered. UNIT forces had brought plenty of Teflon-coated armour-piercing ammo – not just bullets for the rifles, but slugs for shotguns as well – but it was of limited value. Whatever alloy the Cybermen were covered in, it was surprisingly resistant, and it took a long burst on full automatic, or a sustained volley from several men at close range, to do significant damage. The mechs fared little better. Their miniguns could knock a Cyberman down and do some damage, but rarely enough to stop it altogether. A direct hit from an RPG did the job, but heavy ammunition was limited.
Still, they were managing to disrupt the enemy enough to slow their advance and allow Logan and his team-mates to do some real damage. Damage, of course, was what the Wolverine excelled at. Faster and far more agile than his metal opponents, he was constantly on the move, his razor-sharp adamantium claws sheared through the cyber-alloy as if it were tinfoil. Everywhere he went, he left a trail of wreckage.
As he paused for a moment, he heard a deep voice shout "Alley-oop!" and a womans' voice yell "Wheee!" Fastball special. He thought, and turned to see Kate flying toward him, an exultant grin on her face. He caught her deftly and set her on her feet.
"Just passin' through!" She told him.
"Kid," he chided, "you said that 'bout a thousand times, and it quit bein' funny around two hundred fifty!"
"Grouch!" She responded and turned to look back on her trajectory. About a dozen Cybermen lay in her track, sparking and twitching from the disruption caused by Shadowcats' phasing through them. Colossus, having launched her, was now following up; invulnerable to their weapons, and a physical match for any Cyberman one-on-one, his progress was slower, but inexorable.
"Back to work!" Logan told her, and was gone.
Hawkeye had found a perch, and was plying his bow with better success than the soldiers' guns. A medley of HE, armour-piercing and thermite arrows was weakening the Cybermens' armour enough for the ordinary troops to get some licks in. The spell that the wizard Neville Longbottom had cast on his quiver a year or so back meant he was in no danger of running out of arrows. He was definitely going to buy Neville a drink next time he was in England!
Natasha had become aware, all too soon, that her small-calibre handguns were useless in this fight. However, her electrical "Widows' Bite", based on the same technology as HYDRAs' Satan Claw, had allowed her to bring down a couple of Cybermen and 'liberate' their plasma pistols. Now she was doing her usual, popping up unexpectedly, doing some damage, then vanishing again.
They were holding their own, she saw. Delaying the advance, at least. They were also making a dent in the numbers, but not enough of one. The Cybermen seemed to have a considerable supply of reserves. Oh, Bruce, where are you? She wondered. If there was ever a Code Green, this is it!
Magneto had commandeered a Jeep. "As one approaches middle-age," he told his companions, "one loses the enthusiasm for running about!"
As a result, they reached the massive gates of the refinery in short order, only to find a platoon of Japanese troops, with several trucks, already there. An officer approached and saluted.
"Captain Tanaka, Japanese Defence Force." He identified himself. "We are in charge of evacuating civilians, but obviously, we cannot reach the people in there. We do have radio contact, and they are assembled just beyond the gate, but it would be a great help, Mr Lensherr, if you and your colleagues could get it open for us!"
"That's what we came for!" Ben told him.
"And we have company, it appears!" Erik noted. "I wasn't aware they could fly!"
"Don't think all of them can." Ben remarked. "These guys look like they're wearin' jump-packs. Assault troops, I'll bet.
"Get the gate, Erik. Arthur, you're with me. In case you didn't notice – it's clobberin' time!"
"Meta-humans detected." Intoned the lead Cyberman. "Unsuitable for upgrade. Deleeeeeeeeee!"
The last word was cut off in an electronic scream as a thundering punch from the Thing separated head from body and sent the former flying several yards. The orange behemoth that had once been a star running back, Golden Gloves champion and ace test-pilot was possessed of a strength and durability matched by few and surpassed only by three other manlike beings. A single blow was enough to reduce any Cyberman to scrap.
But there were a lot of them, and Arthur Weasley was not about to let Ben have all the fun! Levicorpus lifted a Cyberman, helpless, into the air. Arthur flipped the body through ninety degrees, set it spinning at a fearsome rate, and sent it into the ranks of its fellows. The result was somewhat akin to setting a seven-foot buzzsaw loose among store-front mannequins. Bits of Cyberman began flying in all directions!
Magneto, meanwhile, was considering the gate. His original intention had been to override the complex locking systems. Now, however, with Cybermen on the scene and others likely on the way, he changed his ideas.
"Back to brute force and ignorance." He sighed. "Oh, to be young again!"
But despite his advancing years, Eriks' powers were as formidable as they had ever been. With little more than an imperious gesture, he tore the steel gates – weighing several tons each – from their hinges and, almost as an afterthought, hurled them in among the advancing squadron of Cyberdrones that had come to support the assault troops.
Captain Tanaka and his men responded promptly, beginning a swift and orderly loading of the civilians onto the waiting trucks. A squad of Cybermen, seeing this, slipped out from the main melee and tried to intercept the evacuees. Magneto froze them in place and then overloaded their systems.
That proved to be the last of them, as the main brawl was now over. Magneto was about to rejoin his comrades when his name was called.
"Erik? Erik, is that you?"
The voice was that of a Cyberman, but there was a note of appeal in it that overrode the inflectionless mechanical tones. Erik looked around and saw that one of the ones he had overloaded was still active. It was looking at him and had a hand stretched out, beckoning feebly.
With an unpleasant feeling of foreboding, he went over and knelt beside the silver figure.
"I am Erik Lensherr." He said. "What do you want of me?"
"You don't know me." Was the reply. "Of course you don't. It's me, Erik, it's Raven."
"Raven?" Erik was shocked. "We thought..."
"That I was dead? I am. They took away my body, now there's only an echo left. When this machine stops, so will I." She replied.
"Can we do anything?" He asked. "Repair you, clone you a new body?"
"No!" Raven was adamant. "I'm dead, I've been dead for months. Don't drag me back, Erik, please!
"Now listen! The Cyber-King needs a human core. It has one. Some poor boy who only wanted a simple life away from machines and complexity. It's taken those dreams and twisted them into a programme for destruction. You have to remove that core. Once it's gone, the Cyber-King will go dormant and won't be able to make any more Cybermen. The rest will revert to base programming and be easier to deal with."
"Can we save the boy?" Erik asked.
"No." Raven answered. "He's dead, like me, like all the ones that were converted. We're just ghosts, Erik. Ghosts...in...steel."
There was an eruption of sparks. With a last effort, Raven closed a metallic, but strangely warm, hand on Eriks', instinctively, he murmured the Shema over her, then she was gone.
The Cyber-King was apparently inert, ignoring the three airborne Avengers that approached it. Fortunately, all of them had the capacity to see past the apparent.
"Whoah!" Iron Man said. "No wonder they call it a Dreadnought! I'm getting massive power readings, intense computer activity and a really powerful electromagnetic defence field!."
"I can see the field, too." Ororo noted. "Even working together, Erik and I couldn't breach it. Ron?"
"I'm picking it up, too." Ron told her. "But even without it, that much advanced and active tech would play hob with any spells I cast. It's happened before, and at this level, even the suit couldn't compensate."
"More bad news." Tony added. "As well as the main armament, I'm seeing point-defence lasers and railguns all over the thing!"
"Only one person I know of has enough terawatts to take down that field." Ororo said. "But Thor's in Asgard, and we've got no way of reaching him."
"Even if we could get to it," Tony added, "there's only one guy who could do enough damage to stop it! I wish we knew where the Hell Bruce took himself off to!"
"I don't." Ororo said. "I was born to be Storm, you chose to be Iron Man. Bruce became the Hulk by accident – he wasn't born that way, and he didn't choose it. If he doesn't want to do it any more, I don't blame him."
"Some things are more important than what we want." Tony said grimly. "Cap taught me that!"
"Oh, bugger!" Ron said. "Folks, I think we're in trouble! That thing just launched a flotilla of those landing craft. Looks like they're forming up for an amphibious assault!"
"Goddess!" Storm exclaimed. "They're changing tactics!
"All units, this is Avenger One, pull back to primary defensive positions! Avengers Assemble!"
Back at the Command Post, Storm wasted no time.
"Sitrep, Colonel?"
"Better than we were." Eriksson admitted. "The PRDC strike force just rolled in. Three hundred people with heavy weaponry including Stark International bolt-guns and phased plasma rifles. Five fighting vehicles mounting railguns, seven fixed-point railguns being set up at strategic points as we speak, three War Machine suits and six heavy mechs armed with Vulcan cannons and missile launchers.
"That said, we look to be facing better than fifteen hundred Cybermen, and a similar number of UAVs. They haven't brought out any heavy weapons themselves, yet, but it's only a matter of time.
"Then there's the dreadnought. It's been passive so far, but if they decide to deploy it, we're in deep trouble. The Defiant is still six hours away and the SHIELD Heli-Carrier won't be in range for an hour after that. UNIT forces are at the staging area in South Korea, but the Japanese government is still dithering about letting them in. The Japanese public are still unhappy about having foreign armed forces on their soil. Memories are long here, and they're a proud people."
"Can't blame 'em." Logan noted. "I was here in the 1940s, after the War. The occupying forces didn't always behave well, or even politely!"
"I've got some contacts at the local Ministry of Magic." Arthur said. "Come on, Ron, let's see if we can get hold of somebody who can twist a muggle arm or two!"
"Has there been any sign of the Doctor?" Shadowcat wanted to know.
"Forget it, kid." Logan told her. "I know the Doctor, and he don't turn up to order. He's a TimeLord, not the pizza guy!"
"I've spoken with Dr Stewart in London." Eriksson said. "She has attempted to contact the Doctor. The call was taken by someone who identified herself as Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. When Dr Stewart explained the situation, Ms vas Normandy explained that she, her friends, and the Doctor were currently, and I quote, "Stuck between a cube full of Borg and a saucer full of Daleks!". Dr Stewart, and I don't blame her, allowed that the Doctor was needed more there than here, and Ms vas Normandy wished us "Good luck and Keelah sel'ai.", whatever that means."
"I never heard of the Borg," Ben said, "but if this dame used the D-word, then Kate was right!"
"OK!" Ron announced, coming up with Arthur. "We've lit a fire under the Japanese Minister for Magic. He says the UNIT forces will be with us in a couple of hours, even if he has to use an Imperius Curse on the entire muggle Cabinet!"
"How?" Storm asked simply.
"Friends in high places." Arthur explained.
"We dropped Harrys' name and he nearly shit himself!" Ron amplified bluntly. "My brother-in-law has a wholly undeserved reputation as a bad man to cross."
"I don't," Erik pointed out, "believe that the late Lord Voldemort would consider that reputation undeserved, Ronald! Besides, anyone who rejoices in the title 'Master of Death' is to be taken very seriously!"
"Greyhound to Trap One." The radio crackled. "Assault inbound, ETA five minutes!"
"Right!" Storm announced. "We know help's on the way, people, so we hold the line!"
They held. They held as the sun dipped toward the horizon. They held against wave after wave of disciplined, fearless cyborg fighters. The heavy mechs wrought havoc with volleys of depleted uranium slugs and HE missiles. The railguns mowed down dozens. The high-tech weapons of the PRDC placed the human soldiers on near-equal terms with their opponents. But they were outnumbered and still outgunned. Without the Avengers to protect their flanks, they would have been swamped. Humans, even meta-humans, tire, but the Cybermen did not. Humans can waver and lose morale, Cybermen cannot.
Then the Cybertank came, grinding over the bodies of the fallen of both sides. Armoured and shielded against anything the defenders could throw at it. It drove at the centre of the line. Slowly, patiently. Summoned in haste, the Avengers stood in it's path.
"If Ben, Petey and I can get in close enough..." Logan growled.
"You'd never make it!" Tony told him. "It hasn't used that plasma cannon yet, they're waiting until they can do most damage for least effort. But even you couldn't survive a shot from it!"
Then the sky broke open. A gigantic bolt of lightning struck the tank full on and left it frozen in place, sparking, smoking and burning.
"Not me!" Storm told them. "Which means..."
A tall, broad figure in a red cloak dropped to the ground in front of the tank. A hammer swung and the heavy vehicle flew backwards, flipping and bouncing like a toy car kicked in a tantrum. The Cybermen backed off, reforming from support squads to phalanxes.
Thor turned on his heel and strode to the Avengers. "My apologies." He said. "I had matters to deal with elsewhere, or I would have been here sooner!"
"Better late than never, Blondie!" Iron Man said. "Don't suppose you picked Bruce up on the way?"
Thor shook his head. "I know no more of Dr Banners' whereabouts than you. Doubtless Heimdall could find him, but would he come?"
"Trap One to Avenger One!" Erikssons' voice vibrated with relief. "UNIT forces are here, deploying forward now! See you in a few!"
The UNIT force was not just infantry and mechs. There were fifteen heavy battle-tanks in the formation. As these rolled forward, the Cybermen began an orderly retreat, revealing fortified positions they must have readied during the battle.
"Those won't hold against the tanks." Magneto noted.
"They won't have to." Ororo said grimly. "Look!"
The Cyber-King had finally roused. It was wading shoreward rapidly.
"This isn't good." Shadowcat said. "Not good at all. Petey, if we get out of this, I want a baby. Lots of babies!"
"As you say, Katyushka." The big, quiet young man said feelingly.
"Heads up!" Iron Man barked. "I've got something on my radar. Something in the air. Big, fast and on an intercept course with the Cyber-King!"
"What," Arthur asked Ron, "has your mother done now?"
