Tate stopped outside her mansion and frowned, Strucker had instructed her to kill Viper, but first she would stop by the house and make sure her family was okay. What she found waiting outside her house was three beat-up Opal Blitz trucks with the markings of General Marani. Tate felt the anger as she watched a soldier drive a fork-lift truck carrying a box full of water purifiers and solar cells up to one of the trucks. Dismounting from the dirt bike she stormed up to the trucks, the soldiers paying her no attention, obviously in the belief that the new 'Madame Hydra' wouldn't interfere with there loading. Tate soon showed them how wrong they were as she fired a blast of flame at one of the workers, the man dropping to the floor and rolling to extinguish the flame as his attacker policed the shotgun he had been carrying. In a few blasts the trucks were leaking petrol and the few remaining soldiers high-tailed it past the guard-house and back to the mansion.
Persuing them Tate came across the body of one of her guards the man's body covered with millions of little cuts. In his place a HYDRA agent stood, a deadly sentinel blocking the way into her property.
"Hail HYDRA." he called as she passed, Tate turned and gave him a withering look.
"Hail HYDRA." she growled before grabbing his chest and pulling him out of the guard-house. "Now as the new Madam Hydra I want you to tell me whose up in my house stealing my supplies and killing my employees."
"Crossbones hired some local mercenaries to help keep your men in line. They were given instructions to guard the property and the children until you gave Baron Strucker what he wants." the HYDRA guard told her. Tate looked surprised she never had known HYDRA agents to be so cooperative when they were questioned. Then again she thought he could just be trying to make a good impression to his new boss. Tate smacked his head against the guard-house and dropped the man back through the window before heading on to the mansion. She had just about reached the door when the wooden shutters over the windows were blown off and the remaining foot-soldiers began firing their AK47s and RPDs at her position. Tate ducked inside and blasted the remaining cartridges from the shotgun through the wall before kicking the door down to find all but one of her enemies dead.
"Well Ms. Williams welcome home." the man said clad in light-weight matte black armor his eyes glinting red. "General Marani hoped you would try something stupid."
"Cornel Zan." Tate replied, "Get out of my house and tell your commander that nothing in this building belongs to him."
"What about his son?" Zan asked, "He's as much his as he is yours, a boy needs his father or he could become unstable." Zan's last words caused the few intact chairs in the room to crumple into tiny wooden chips, "Oh and I'm calling myself Fathom now, HYDRA supplied me with replacement armor for the set you destroyed that enhances my powers. Now die bitch?" Tate screamed in pain as the pressure increase caused by Zan's armor began to build. Desperately she sprayed a jet of acid the liquid projectile splashing on Fathom's armor.
"Nice try but this armor has protection against any chemical you can create." Fathom told her as Tate fired again this time her flamethrowers engulfed the armor but again no visible damage could be seen. The pressure increased around her arms and her wrist sprayers crumpled as a spray of acidic blood was released the deadly chemical eating a hole in the floor.
"Any last words?" Zan asked as he pulled out a slim pistol and pointed it at Tate's head.
"How's the EMP shielding on your new clothes?" Tate replied spitting a dark gret ball of saliva onto Zan's armor, "Because I'm Radioactive" she added as the suit sparked and hissed. Getting to her feet Tate took Zan's pistol away and watched as her blood melted the barrel. "No please," Zan cried as Tate ripped off the elbow plate and dangled her bleeding arm over him. Tate smiled and took out her knife exposing Zan's vein his blood flowing over her restraining arm. A single drop entered his blood stream and she let him go.
"What was that?" Zan asked manically rubbing where Tate had made the cut.
"Tranquilizers should keep you down for a few minutes." Tate told, "Just so you won't cause a problem I'll keep you from moving." she added slashing her wrists before flicking her blood over Zan's hands and feet, the blood turning to an orange gel hardening to keep him from moving.
"Looks like I'll have to use the old stuff." Tate said sadly removing the wrist sprayers and tossing them on the floor before heading towards the downstairs study. Passing through the kitchen she found another pair of dead guards as well as her dog Rosie slumped on the floor, their bodies bleeding from bites to the neck, Tate closed the eyes of one of the men before removing one of the men's handguns. Arriving at the study door she heard at least two men talking inside.
"Sir what you are looking for isn't in here." the first man told his superior.
"Idiot," the man said in a French accent, "Viper told us to take anything we wanted, the charity's records must be in here my employer needs them." Tate silently opened the door to see one a HYDRA soldier and the orange and purple clad form of Batroc the Leaper.
"Why does the Black Panther want the records for Africa First anyway?" the agent asked.
"Yes why?" Tate asked kicking open the door, "You soldier tie yourself to that chair." she ordered the HYDRA agent, "Obey me or face the wrath of Madame Hydra." the agent gulped and quickly bound his hands with the pair of handcuffs he was carrying and sat on the chair. "Now Batroc what does Shuri want with my charity records?" Tate asked circling the study as Batroc did the same.
"She ordered me to get ze records of all convoy routes, she believes that you have been supplying arms and ammunitions to Wakandan rebels as well as the Nigandan Army." Batroc told her reaching for one of his whip canes.
"Africa First doesn't supply weapons to anyone tell Shuri that she's mistaken." Tate replied angrily levelling the hand-gun at Batroc. "She has no evidence for any transaction so she hired you to find it."
"No evidence save trucks marked with the Africa First logo filled with RPG shells and ammo cases." Batroc answered.
"What," Tate hissed, "your lying."
"No my Cherie." Batroc replied sliding an envelope to her, "This is all the proof you need." Tate opened the envelope and felt her heart sink at what she saw, Shuri had the right to be concerned the images were very convincing.
"Files are in the safe behind the picture of the impala." Tate told him, "Give me a second and you can take the files back to your employer with my blessing." she told Batroc as he removed the picture revealing a wall mounted safe. Tate drew her knife and slashed her arm causing her burning blood to drip before lying it across the lock. The safe swung open and she removed the files with her good arm before delivering a swift elbow to Batroc's face before following it up by slamming his face into the safe door.
"Sorry old habits." Tate apologized to the unconscious Batroc before sliding the folder full of files under his arm. Next she removed her old crossbow and a quiver of acid tipped bolts as well as a pair of under-arm knives and a bandolier filled with a variety of colourful grenades. Reaching in for her last piece of equipment Tate felt a pair of fangs sink into her leg, extracting the flachette gun and holster she fired two quick darts into the head of the Green Mamba sinking it's fangs into her leg.
"Are you okay Madam Hydra?" the bound HYDRA agent asked.
"Fine I'm brimming full of Mamba Anti-Venom." Tate told him, "Now tell me where are my children?"
"Upstairs in the little-girls bedroom with Crossbones and Viper." the agent told her, "She then gave the mercenaries and Marani's men permission to strip this place of anything they needed."
"Viper is here." Tate said, "Strucker didn't mention that?"
"She arrived with a unit of troops saying she had orders from Commander Kraken to reinforce this position." the HYDRA soldier answered. "Can I get off the chair now?" he asked as Tate left the study, "Please these handcuffs really itch." he moaned. Tate stormed up the stairs so angry that she didn't notice the figure crouched at the top, with a whoop and a scream it leapt from the first floor barrelling into her and knocking her down to the ground floor. The giggling figure got to it's feet and pinned her to the floor, his drool running down her face. Tate recognized this man as the Hyena, an Angolan War Criminal responsible for crimes such as the massacre of entire villages as well as being a frequent practitioner of cannibalism that would even make McGangran cringe. The man was insane which made him twice as dangerous as he slashed through her shirt with metal claws tapped over his hand.
"Not yet Hyena." a voice tainted with a South African accent told the lunatic, "First we need to make Ms. Williams impotent."
"Razorwire is that you?" Tate said mockingly, "Nice to see you have grown as a person, working with people like Zan and Hyena must really grind on your morals of a white only Africa."
"It does but any chance to deal with you Williams. If it weren't for you I would not have lost my hands." Razorwire growled.
"Well technically the crocodile took you hands." Tate said jokingly as she heard something heavy and metallic hit the floor by Razorwire's feet. As usual he was wearing the Crocodile Dundee get-up although Dundee never had two meter strands of barbed wire protruding from his hands.
"Venomm is the serum ready?" Razorwire asked, "I don't know how long Hyena will hold off on the eating. And while the filth burning his mouth on Williams' blood is appealing we all know what she's capable of with her powers."
"Give me twenty seconds to load the dart." the pale skinned Venomm told Razorwire his corpse like face leering at her as a pair of his spitting cobras slid down the stairs.
"Hey Hyena how about a little taste before the main course?" Tate said shoving her arm into Hyena's mouth his sharpened canines cutting the skin. Hyena howled in pain as the knockout gas filled his mouth. Tate flipped to her feet as a dart embedded in her neck before removing the flachette side-arm.
"Let's see how powerful you are without your powers." Razorwire asked slinging his chains around her arms the barbs digging into her skin. "Well would you look at that Venomm no more acid blood, looks like that stuff actually works." he mused as one of the two cobras raised itself ready to spit. Ducking Tate watched as the deadly spit impacted with Razor Wire's neck causing him to scream, more in alarm then any pain, giving Tate just what she wanted, pulling the chains forward the razor sharp edged cut threw the quiver and the crossbow tips, the acidic projectiles snapping the chains as the bolts fell onto the floor. One of the cobras rose up to make another tip but Tate twisted and shot it with her sidearm before turning on the seconds slashing at it with the 50cm of chain wrapped around her wrists.
"Bitch I'll bloody kill you." Razorwire yelled swinging the remnants of the chain. Tate dodged and grabbed one of the bolts and stabbed Venomm in the face as he came rushing towards her with a knife. To his credit Venomm didn't scream but stuck the knife into her chest, the blade missing her vital organs be millimetres before receiving a roundhouse to the face. Almost instantly Tate felt queasy as Venomm made a grab for her feet flooring her the area of skin around the stab wound blistering.
"Gabon Viper venom Williams." Venomm told her, "A lethal Hemotoxin brew designed to take out your blood and then kill you."
"She won't have to wait that long." Razorwire stated as he towered over Tate his razor edged chains scratching her face as Hyena shook himself and stalked towards them. He took a quick sniff and growled angrily before turning tail and running out the open front door as quickly as possible.
"What's wrong with him?" Venomm asked
"No idea." Tate replied slamming her foot into his face before quickly removing the knife from her chest and stabbing it into Razor Wire's groin. Groaning in pain he doubled over as Tate staggered to her feet before swinging the metal chain around her wrist knocking him out. Moving slowly Tate struggled into the kitchen and fiddled around in the large freezer and found a vial marked Viper, Gabon. She was glad she had the foresight to include non native venomous snakes on the list of anti-venoms she kept. Quickly injecting the syringe into her arm Tate collapsed breathing heavily, she was unsure how long she would have to wait before the venom was out of her system but she knew she didn't have time.
Heading upstairs she saw a HYDRA sentry duck into Tara's room and lock the door. Wincing in pain Tate reached the door only to hear gun-fire in the bedroom and the sound of several bodies hitting the floor.
"Tara I'm coming." she yelled ramming the door to no avail. She tried a second time the blow causing the door to rattle. The third impact rocked the door of it's hinged and caused Tate to fall to the floor tripping over a dead HYDRA agent. Standing in the centre of the destroyed room was James Rhodes clad in his War Machine Armor. Part of Tate was relieved but the other side remembered what Victoria had told her this morning.
"James," she said cautiously fitting a bolt into her Crossbow.
"Tate," he answered in the same tone she had just used.
Out in one of the Acacia's in the mansions garden Gauntlet sat watching the build up to the fight. Levelling his Sniper Rifle he grimaced he couldn't have chosen a better position, he was in the position to take out two HAMMER agents with a single bullet.
The charactes of Hyena, Razor Wire and Cornal Zan/Fathom are my own creations and are not owned by Marvel Comics