San Fransisco, California - 05:32AM
"Are you insane?" Black Mamba asked as she and Cold Heart reached the beach where the Golden Gate Bridge had once stood.
"Maybe but I know I saw Ossuary down here when we left in the Black Hawk." Cold Heart replied looking over her shoulder, keeping an eye on the thralls and the newly formed fire demons, for an obvious reason the later were staying away from the water while the majority of the Thralls had disappeared with only a few of the mind controlled fiends still roaming the city.
"Well I can't see them and now we're stuck her. I only wish X-Ray hadn't fired the comms. we could at least get out of here." Black Mamba complained, "I hate to think what Camp Hammond looks like with Scourge at the helm."
"What about the Project Pegasus Lab on Alcatraz Island?" Cold Heart asked, "There's still work lights on." she confirmed, "maybe somebody's still there."
"And we're getting there how?" Black Mamba asked, "If you hadn't noticed the water is too warm for ice." she said gesturing to the ocean which was bubbling and smoking due to the influence of Sutur. Looking in the distance the giant flaming figure could be seen stalking through the city as more F22s flew overhead continuing to drop Napalm and bombs. Mamba wondered what kind of incentive the pilots had to continue burning the city. "Do you think anyone survived?"
"Hopefully not, I don't mean to sound cold but if you did escape the thralls and then avoid being killed by the air-force would you want to stay here." Cold Heart answered, "Did you ever here back from the Task Master?" she asked.
"No I hope he's alive, I'm almost certain Scourge would send people after him to prevent the trainees rallying back to him." Mamba answered,
"What about Utopia they have advanced vessels and aircraft?" Cold Heart asked, "They could use them to fight the demons and thralls, that X Man Storm could quench the fires."
"The mutants left, they offered an escape but like and idiot I turned it down." Mamba replied, "As for Storm last I heard she was in Wakanda."
"So no rescue." Cold Heart stated sitting down on the sand, "I'm so sorry I thought I saw Dale alive."
"You guys were close." Mamba stated, "How serious was it in the end?"
"We went on a few dates. But then we stopped the whole toe thing kind of freaked me out. After that we were kind of friends, I was sort of popular but Dale liked to stay by himself, despite that I always made an effort when I saw him to talk see how he was doing." Cold Heart announced.
"That seems to be the thing about the Initiative." Mamba replied, "As soon as everything seems to be going right disaster strikes."
F5 Bunker, Outside Oklahoma City - 06:22AM
Tony leaned against the crystal in the basement of the F5 command centre, "So let me get this right, you used all your mojo to imbue this shield." he said tapping the shield in question, "so that all I need to do is smack it against this crystal." he replied smashing the shield into the crystal "and it will collapse?"
"Yes." Jericho sighed as Tempest ran past shooting at a Thrall charging after her.
"Well as you can see nothing happened?" Tony replied tapping the shield against the crystal again causing the shield to shatter, "I think you got your spell backwards." he announced
"Could I get some help here?" Tempest asked as the Thrall lunged at her. Instead of making contact the Thrall fell through her before getting to its feet and lashing out, this time missing her altogether as she flew up to the ceiling. "Tony I think it worked." she called down to the Taskmaster who kicked the thrall down to the floor and stuck his sword through the body.
"Looks like it." he answered, "How about you guys?" he asked Dr Strange and Jericho Drumm. The screams from the thralls as they retreated down the holes on the floor was answer enough in seconds the only mind controlled corpses in the base were those who had been slain.
"This place looks like a bloody bone yard." Tony stated flipping a dead HAMMER thrall, "Okay everyone take five I've got a few calls to make." he added.
Camp Hammond, Conneticut - 09:01AM
Puma led the group through the basement of Camp Hammond, lots of people had been taken down by Scourge and those loyal to him, only around eight trainees as well as himself were still loyal to the Taskmaster. Reaching the cross pipe in the ventilation system he crouched down and removed the blue-prints that he had stolen from the base's archives. Behind him Domino held a hand torch above his head reading the map over his shoulder.
"Which way know?" she asked
"Hell if I know." he replied, "We still don't have any one behind us that suggests that Atlas was able to stall them in the maintenance hallway."
"Some good it did us." Harrier's voice complained from the darkness behind Domino, "We're trapped in the bloody ventilation system and Scourge is up in the Director's office doing goodness knows what to the place."
"We have a bigger problem." Hazmat told him, "This place is run on a let's just say very unstable nuclear fuel cell. Osborne had it placed in this place in secret, even the Taskmaster doesn't know that it's down there."
"So what's the problem?" Puma asked
"The fuel cell is alive, all Scourge has to do is input the data into its controller disks and he's got himself a walking dirty bomb." Hazmat explained.
"Who is this bomb?" the Scarlet Spider asked crawling on the ceiling, "Hey Scorpion you have something crawling on your neck." he pointed out causing the green haired woman to punch him in the gut.
"Osborne didn't do what I think he did?" Hank Pym asked from the stretcher carried by Harrier and Bloodstone.
"He did, what we all thought happened was wrong, at least from the power readings I was getting from just walking around the Camp." Hazmat explained, "He never left the United States."
"Who didn't." asked the Scarlet Spider rubbing his arm.
"Chen Lu." Pym told him, "This whole complex is powered by the Radioactive Man." From behind them voices began to echo through the vent network by the sounds of it Scourge was sending his men into the tunnels after them.
"Any time now Puma." Domino said as footsteps could be heard behind them. "Because we're about to have company."
Fisherman's Wharf, San Fransisco - 06:56AM
Cold Heart slid down the ice ramp she'd created onto the burnt out shell of a former Coast Guard Patrol Boat. Quickly she checked the engine compartment and found that like the last five boats she and Mamba had investigated that this hulk wouldn't be going anywhere either.
"Any luck?" Mamba called for the bridge.
"No, the damage is too great, stealing a ride is easy, finding the right one is harder." she replied
"Are you talking about boats or men?" Mamba asked cynically as Colette stuck her head up through the hatch, "Your comm. link is glowing." she added, "Somebody knows we're here you were right somebody is still alive."
"Not likely, the signal is a long range broadcast coming from the F5 headquarters in Oklahoma." Cold Heart answered, "Hello this is Cold Heart. Yes, yes, no it's just me and Black Mamba."
"Who is it?" Mamba asked
"The boss." Cold Heart replied, "And he wants to speak to you."
F5 Bunker, Outside Oklahoma City - 08:00AM
ony checked the time on the computer screen the time showed that it was five in the morning, the sun would be creeping up over the horizon in mere minutes and while he knew that Thralls and Vampires were different things he was certain no matter how brash she was that the Enchantress wouldn't try anything during the daylight.
"Yes Tanya it certainly looks that way?" he answered the woman displayed on the video screen, "I'll tell the doctors maybe they can help get you out of there."
"What about Scourge?" Tanya asked as a piece of machinery flew out of the boat she was standing on.
"From what I've heard Osborne has declared emergency status due to the threat the ruins of Asgard hold. Technically he can legally seize the Camp Hammond Campus and do whatever he wants with it." Tony explained.
"What so your going to let him get away with it?" Tanya screeched as a column of ice erupted from the same hole as the machine fragments.
"No I'm not but with Ghille watching his back I'd probably be shot down before I even got close." Tony told her, "Don't worry about Scourge I have an ace that if I play right will make Osborne isolate the psycho from any backup."
"What kind of ace?" Tanya asked
"I can't tell you but keep trying to escape the city, if I can extract you I will until then good luck to you and Colette." Tony commanded before switching the channel to a secure line.
"Hello," he told the operator in a convincing Australian accent, "I'd like to talk to Mr. Osborne it's about a certain individual he's looking for."
"Can you hold please Mr.?" the operator asked.
"Mr. Walker now hurry up you bloody woman I don't want that French basted and the fancy spear to get away." Tony yelled in the same accent.
"One moment." the operator replied. Tony grinned and clicked his shoulders, "Check Scourge." he said in his normal voice, "your move."