James Rhodes flew towards the Zeus Transport as it lumbered towards the landing zone, while everything looked peaceful the signs of Airborne and Carr's entry were visible from the smoking upper hull where the close combat weapons systems had been to the hole covered with crudely constructed Titanium plates, small flakes already flying off from the air pressure of the flying vehicle. Inside Tate would be alone, her duties split between fighting off the two thugs, flying the shuttle and finding the release protocol for the restrained members of Task Force HAMMER. As good as she was it would put her at a disadvantage, something that would be costly at best.
Carr stepped into the cockpit where he saw the pilot clinging to a P90 SMG her hands trembling as she held the weapon. "Please don't kill me." she whimpered, "Please."
"Put down the gun." Carr ordered only to be met with a shake of the head from the pilot, "Put down the gun or I shoot you." The pilot nodded and ejected the ammo casing and placed the weapon on the floor before rising her hands above her head.
"Brontes 3 this is Warlord what is your situation up there?" James voice came over the radio, still playing the part of a concerned commander.
"Lie to him and you survive." Carr ordered motioning to the pilot seat with his alchemy gun. The pilot sat down in the seat and took the comms. unit before clearing her voice. "Overlord this is Brontes 3 we have successfully repelled borders and sealed hull breach. Damage levels are high but we can still make the landing zone as long as we don't run into a problem."
"Good to here Brontes, escort force is pulling back to safe distance, once your team has been deployed return to HAMMER Command for debriefing and combat assessment." James answered as he pulled back from the Zeus. From what he had heard over the communication crystal that Tate had screwed into the instrument panel everything was going to hell. Activating the new set of armour's Repulsors he fired on the transport the jolt causing the whole shuttle to rock.
"What did you tell them?" Carr asked, "Why are they opening fire on us?"
"Hold on a minute." Tate asked resuming the whimpering voice as she adjusted the aircraft's surveillance system so that is showed James new armor firing on the Zeus's portside thrusters. "Is he with you?" she asked
"No he's not." Carr growled, "Carlene get out their and kill that basted before he scuttles us."
"Got it." Airborne replied opening the rear door and jetting out as Carr staggered to the back of the shuttle to close it. As he left Tate slipped the Zeus's Auto Pilot to one and got up from the seat before removing a fire extinguisher from the cockpit and slipping to a good ambush position. Soon Carr returned heading through the door to see the cockpit deserted.
"Where are you bitch?" he asked just before Tate brought the fire extinguisher down on his head. Carr crumpled from the blow as Tate reached down for his alchemy gun only to get a quick electric shock from the weapon as Carr pushed himself into a crouching position. "Nice try." he commented firing at the extinguisher causing it to turn to solid plastic. "But the weapon is DNA coded to my genetic signature. Only I can be Chemistro."
"What does that make me?" Tate asked firing a burst of flame from her wrist sprayers causing Carr to jerk backwards out of the cockpit.
Airborne flew around the back of the Zeus scanning the skies with the large EMP Launcher she was carrying. "Okay where the hell are you?" she whispered softly.
"Right here." James replied as he flew into sight from out of the clouds, his dark red armor and reinforced helm giving him the appearance of an ancient shock trooper flying straight at the mercenary. Airborne opened fire and caught the new War Machine Armor with the first blast sending it spiralling away to the ground.
"Too easy." Airborne huffed, "Just some civilian in a suit." she announced. Her suit suddenly beeped a warning as a salvo of rockets flew up at her, Elegantly she dodged the projectiles and fired two more shots down at the ground before her weapon ejected it's power source.
"Your out Airborne." James replied flying level with her, "And your outclassed, I was a Cornel in the United States Airforce."
"Rhodes." Airborne spat, "I was in the USAF as well, honourably discharged."
"I know I discharged you Flight Officer Carlene." James replied, "You were a good student but that won't stop me swatting you out of the air if I have to."
"Then let's see how long this thing stays in the air, find out who's the better pilot." Airborne answered upholstering a foot long knife and charging towards James. War Machine dodged and watched as Airborne carried on towards the Zeus before being sucked into the left turbine before emerging a massive explosion in her wake.
"So your Williams." Carr asked firing a shot that turned the cockpit windows from Perspex to gold, "You're the woman with the gall to steal my family name."
"Oh shut up I never called myself Carr." Tate replied firing back a spray of acid that Carr intercepted with a second shot transforming the lethal projectile into water. As the shot leaked onto the floor there was an explosion that sent both combatants skidding towards the right hand side of the Zeus. "James what the hell was that?" Tate asked as she clung to the wall and left the cockpit searching for Carr.
"Airborne just shredded the left turbine, luckily the right hand engine should be able to take the weight and keep flying until your ready for a manual landing." James answered as gun-fire echoed in the distance over the radio. "As long as the Zeus doesn't take too much damage it should be fine." Tate nodded and went past a bound Toxin to where Wolverine was strapped to a chair.
"Where is he?" she asked.
"Right here." Carr replied as he hovered in the cockpit door firing a beam of cobalt blue energy. Tate retaliated with a burst of flame that met the beam causing a large crystal radiating blue flame.
"Danger," the Zeus internal environmental monitoring equipment stated in a flat computerized voice, "Thermobaric Explosion interment in three, two." The crystal shattered sending a massive wave of heat and pressure through the Zeus's cargo bay, melting the dead HAMMER agents and causing the internal sprinklers to activate as a secondary explosion sounded from the right of the shuttle.
Airborne dodged and weaved firing a pair of semi automatic pistols at James who stood over the right hand turbine engine preventing a second kamikaze charge. Luckily the bullets were bouncing off the armour's shields as the shoulder mounted Gattling gun fired up at his target, the few rounds that hit causing cracks to appear in Carlene's armor. The Zeus bucked under his feet before a massive explosion ripped through the right engine causing it to fly off slamming into Airborne and knocking out her thrusters, the mercenary plummeting to the ground as the shuttle began to nose dive towards the Earth.
Tate and Carr fell into the cockpit as the Zeus nose dived down towards the ground, struggling with the stick Tate was unable to move the device at all as she glanced at the altimeter. Hands suddenly clenched around her throat and she spluttered kicking and screaming as she tried to throw Carr off. In the back of the Zeus she could hear an alarm sounding but she didn't have time to react as she blacked out slumping to the floor as Carr yanked the stick up causing the Zeus to skid along the ground as shards of dust and dirt kicked up in it's wake.
"Looks like I'm the only Chemistro worth a damm." Carr told Tate's body as he violently kicked her in the face before getting ready to spray her with his Alchemy Gun. Something sticky curl around his arms and he was quickly yanked back into the hold, his weapon clattering to the floor, as a gold substance leaked from the weapon over Tate, her skin blistering and burning before catching on fire. Back in the hold Wolverine held Carr down as layers of Symbiote webbing gagged him causing him to be silenced before he was loaded into the now empty security seats.
"Well that was rude." Ghost mused as he fiddled with his armor, "I presume we're on the ground a lot of my armor systems are non-responsive."
"Yeah we landed." Wolverine growled, "or crashed."
"Well any landing you can walk away from and all that." Toxin answered, "You okay Geode?" he asked the sick looking woman her face covered in crystalline growths.
"I will be once I get some dirt under my feet." she announced before walking over to the door and attempting to open the jammed portal. There was a rumble of the other side of the Zeus and James smashed open the door dragging Airborne's unconscious form into the shuttle securing her in the chair next to Carr's.
"Well if it isn't the prodigal Stark." Ghost mused, "Good old James come to the rescue. I rather hopped that you had died."
"Your concern is touching." James replied removing his helmet, "Is everyone okay, where's Tate?" he asked. Walking into the cockpit he saw Tate's body leaking orange gel mixed with white foam out of every orifice, he quickly checked for a pulse and found a weak but steady heart-beat.
"Is she alive?" Toxin asked crawling on the cockpit's ceiling.
"Barley, she seems to have unconsciously created some kind of coolant and impact gel to survive the crash." James told him as a bruise on Tate's temple healed, "She's in a regenerative form of hibernation, best not to move her." he added heading out of the cockpit.
"Chemistro and Airborne," Victoria stated, "Why did they attack us?"
"Think of them as replacements for Bushwhacker and Gauntlet." James explained, "They and the Sandman went on Safari and never came back, between HYDRA, HAMMER and Nike it was sheer luck that Tate and I got out of Botswana. We got your message as we headed across the Atlantic and devised a rescue plan, unfortunately we were hoping that the Zeus would stay intact and that Tate wouldn't full unconscious but the best plans of mice and men often go array and all that."
"So Nike knows were back on the grid." Ghost suggested, "Interesting that could mean that she has a mole in HAMMER or even in this team."
"No Conspiracy's today Ghost," Natasha ordered, "How long until Tate wakes up?"
"No Idea, we heard about the suicide agent Osborne implanted in you. Unfortunately Tate created twelve different strains, each with a different dispersal method and poison. Until we find out which one Osborne had Zola use we'll have to just do what Osborne wanted you to do." James told the others, "So Thrall Control Tower, shouldn't be to hard."
"It's a long hike to Asgard we're ten miles away from the LZ." Natasha informed them checking a slightly melted HAMMER tracking unit, the dead agent no longer having any need of it.
"Ten Miles that's a walk in the park." Wolverine snorted.
"Yeah but this park is infested with Thralls, Dark Elves, Giants and Asgradian Gods." Geode replied as she picked up a handful of sand and ran it through her fingers, "The Mother God also informs me that HAMMER is moving forward and that as we speak your son and his Avenger colleges are being dispatched to find you."
"Again your point." Wolverine asked.
"His point is that we're in no shaped to fight Osborne and Asgard, for now let's get to cover and work out what we're going to do later." James announced.
"What about Tate?" Toxin asked, "She can't move not like this."
"She's dead weight." Victoria stated picking up a dropped P90, "Leave her, it's time to put some distance between us and Osborne." she added hopping out onto the Oklahoma soil outside, "People we're burning day-light, I don't fancy being here after it gets dark. One by one the members of Task Force HAMMER until only James was left standing over the comatose Tate.
"Good Luck." he told her before turning to leave.
"Thank you." she whispered back.
