Omeran was not enthused to be aboard the plane. Then again, the last time she'd been enthused was when she moved to America. The plane she was on was beyond state-of-the-art. It was invisible on the visible spectrum, as well as infrared. (This is a glorified Stealth Bomber,) the bald woman thought. She thought about what she was going to do. There was a high risk of detection, and severe punishment no doubt awaited in that case. Still, she was expected to do something, and Omeran wasn't one to leave her allies hanging. Using her power over metal, Omeran subtly wiggled a screw loose in the stealth engine. The failing engine would cause minor anomalies to appear in the air. Subtle, but obvious enough for her hidden allies to pick up. "Rattler down, rattler down. Lock on to my signal, hatchet," she murmured as she pressed a hidden button on her favorite knife.
"Roger that, we are beginning to pick up the signal," Andrew said from his sitting position inside a Quinjet. His group could be found currently flying after Sullivan's Private Air Force One like jet that was currently flying over Germany.
"Alright listen up," Andrew called to his friends which got their full attention, all but Triton who could be found at the controls of the quinjet, "This plane is state of the art, and it comes complete with two weapons rooms on board, each one guarded by four armed Diamondback security officers, however these guards should only be armed with handguns so if we move fast enough, we could take the armories out of the equation." Andrew said as he pulled up a holographic display on his left gauntlet that showed the plane, "The armories should be located here, and here." he informed them as he pressed a finger on two locations and they began to blink red.
"Andy, how we getting on board this plane?" Doreen asked from her position next to Andrew.
"I'll answer that question," Cho said as he activated his armors own holographic display, "the plane has a parachute ramp on the back of the plane, now an alarm will sound in the cockpit of the plane as well as a message will appear saying that the parachute ramp has been activated, however thanks to help from Omeran, the alarm has been bypassed, we will be able to drop the ramp and fly in through it." Cho explained.
"'Fly in'," Doreen asked skeptically, "How exactly can we fly in, math might not be my best subject, but I know the quinjet cannot fly into the parachute ramp, and from what we know about the plane, we cannot get even close to it without being detected." she said which earned a head nod form her leader.
"What you said is true Doreen, the quinjet cannot get close to Diamondback One, however we can." Andrew said as he rose form his seat and walked to the back of the Quinjet and came back with a jet pack, "these where on board the quinjet when we stole it, probably on board in case the crew had to jump to safety, but it's useful to us, since we are going to use them to fly through the parachute ramp, and since our bodies are a lot smaller than the quinjet, we should be able to fly in undetected." Andrew said which earned a smile from everyone but his second in command.
"Andy we don't know how to use these things, they never taught us how at the Academy, and I don't want to take a chance with them, dying is not high on my to do list." Doreen said in a disapproving tone as she crossed her arms for extra emphasis."
Andrew was puzzled, why would Doreen his most loyal and trusted friend be so against using a jet pack, "Doreen can we have a word in private?" he asked his second lieutenant. Doreen nodded and stood up from her chair and followed him to the back of the quinjet.
"Doreen what's the problem?" Andrew asked her in a caring tone.
"It's just that, we've had no training with jet packs so we have no idea as to how to use them." she explained, but Andrew could tell there was something else that she wasn't telling him.
"Doreen I can tell there is something you're not telling me, you know you can trust me, so what's bothering you?" Andrew asked his best friend.
"Alright, I'm... a little afraid of heights." she admitted while looking at her feet. Andrew just nodded his head silently, "I'm sorry I'm acting like a coward." Doreen said in a defeated tone.
"Doreen we all have our fears, your not a coward for being scared, for example I'm afraid of snakes," Andrew said in a slightly ashamed tone, "I used to be afraid of heights as well, but when I joined the Marines I had to slide down ropes out of Helicopters, I was scared to, but that helped me conquer my fear of heights." Andrew said which earned a grimace from Doreen.
"I know that back in New York I easily jumped from rooftop to rooftop, but I've always had a fear of falling to my death, and I feel that if I put on that jet pack something will go wrong and my worst fear will become a reality." Doreen said as she hung her head in shame. Andrew didn't respond with words, instead he wrapped her up in a caring hug, which made Doreen's heart flutter.
"Those are your feelings and you have every right to them, I wont force you to fly, you can stay in the quinjet with Triton." Andrew said which earned a smile form the squirrel heroine.
"Thank you, Andy." Doreen said as she decided to take a risk and planted a kiss on Andrews lips, which surprised the armored hero, but he didn't stop it as he kissed her right back. After a few seconds the two broke apart, blushing from ear to ear.
"I guess we moved out of the friend zone," Doreen said with a giggle. Andrew didn't say anything he just nodded his head.
"About bloody time," a voice called out form behind them which made the pair jump as they turned around and saw Marcus standing there with a big grin on his face, "I was wondering when the two of you would get together." Marcus said with a laugh which earned a giggle from Doreen.
"Guess the wait's over." Andrew said simply as he took Doreen's hand into his own.
"Well I hate to break up this lovely moment, but we are about the jump, we got the plane on radar, so get ready."
"Everyone ready?" Andrew asked as the back ramp of the quinjet opened up revealing the pitch black night sky. Andrew, Marcus, Ben and Cho, all had their jet packs on their backs as they stepped out onto the ramp. Andrew took one look at Doreen's concerned face before stepping off the ramp and into the night sky. Andrew fell through the sky for a moment before his jet pack activated and he found himself soaring through the sky.
"I've activated the Parachute Ramp, we only have three minutes to get on board!" Cho informed them over the radio as he was the only who didn't need a jet pack since his armor could fly, Andrew nodded silently as he adjusted his course and made his way towards the open parachute ramp which had just come into view.
"Two minutes till the alarm goes off." Cho said as the group neared the plane. A matter of seconds later the group could be found landing in the back of the plane, Andrew went up to the switch that opened the parachute ramp and moved it back into it's upright position, closing the ramp, "Alright," Andrew began as he activated his submachine gun gauntlets and activated non lethal ammo, "Let's get this plane taken over and deliver it to Dr. Palmer. However the group did not know that Raymond Sullivan himself was on the plane, and had just sat down for a meting in the planes conference room...
"Mr. Sullivan." General Macintosh said as he offered his boss a handshake which Sullivan took.
"Good evening gentlemen," Sullivan said before he took a seat at the head of the conference table, Omeran and Ombrus standing guard at the doors, "Please gentlemen tell me what happened to our operation in Miami." Sullivan requested.
"Sir it appears that Andrew led a task force of rogue Academy students and hit our money," one of his generals said before Sullivan raised a hand to silence him, "define 'rogue Academy students,'" Sullivan ordered.
"Our spies on the inside of S.H.I.E.L.D. are telling us that after Silver Fox was murdered by Andrew, he left S.H.I.E.L.D. and several members of the Academy went with him, those being Doreen Green, Amadeus Cho, Ben Riley, and former operative Marcus Woods." the general said as he handed a folder to his leader and Sullivan opened it up and looked over the files of the Academy students.
"It seems our dear Andrew is fighting a war on two fronts," Sullivan said to his generals, "a war with us, and a war with his former Academy friends, general Macintosh inform our operatives on the inside of the Academy to try and persuade the remaining student's to increase their attacks against Andrews group, perhaps our enemies will destroy each other, and we can easily defeat the winner while they are still licking their wounds." Sullivan ordered his general, which made the man nod his head silently.
Suddenly a loud banging noise could be heard outside the conference room which stopped the meeting dead in it's tracks.
"What was that?" Sullivan asked his generals which caused them all to shrug their shoulders. Suddenly more loud bangs could be heard as well as people screaming and running. Sullivan rose from his seat but General Macintosh rose faster and said, "Sit, Mr. Sullivan I'll take a look." he said as he walked to the door and Omeran and Ombrus moved aside. Suddenly the door burst open and two Diamondback security officers burst into the room with their handguns drawn.
"Shots fired, sir, we are taking you to the safe room!" one of the guards said as he ran to Sullivan and grabbed him by his arm and began to drag him out of the room, followed by the second guard. Omeran unsheathed her sword and followed while Ombrus just walked causally, knowing his bullet proof skins would stop any attack. As soon as they excited the room the sound of gunfire was deafening as multiple security officers where firing at something down the hall that had taken cover behind a wall, but what they where firing at made it self visible as an armored man stepped out from behind the wall and opened fire from a submachine gauntlet, it was an armored man Sullivan recognized to well, at the same time the man recognized Sullivan and rushed forward, his armor absorbing the bullets.
"Code red, we got a code red, I repeat shots fired on board!" one of the agents said into a phone mounted on the wall as he pressed a red square button under the dial pad that activated an alarm, allowing other operatives and the pilots to know the plane was under attack.
"Code Red acknowledged, Charlie lock that door now," the co-pilot said to his flight engineer as he turned in his seat and quickly locked the door to the cockpit, "Flight control this is Diamondback One declaring an emergency!" the co-pilot said over the radio.
"Cover us!" one agent shouted as he fired his gun repeatedly as an attempt to stop the armored attacker, other agents followed suit as well shooting from covered positions. However they where quickly met by stun bullets, repulser blasts, ice blasts, or webbing to the face.
"Mr Sullivan we are going to take you to the escape pod!" the one agent said as he took Sullivan down the hall and in the direction of the escape pod.
"Ramstein tower this Diamondback One, we are code Red, shot's fired on board, request emergency assistance, ETA 10 minutes." the call came in over the Air Force bases radio, which resulted in the tower operator to flip a switch and the alarm to start blaring over the Air Force Base.
"Diamondback One acknowledged, emergency equipment will be standing by upon your arrival." the operator said as he hung up the phone and picked up a pair of binoculars and began to look through the night sky for the distressed air craft.
"Mr. Sullivan follow me!" the one agent said as he pulled up a piece of floor paneling which lead to a hidden stairway that led to the bottom side of the plane. Suddenly the agent dropped to the floor clutching his shoulder as a stun bullet hit him. Another operative noticed that and immediately took Sullivan's arm and hurried him down the stairs, just as the last of Andrews resistance dropped to the floor due to a stun bullet striking his chest.
"Get Sullivan!" Andrew yelled as he and his friends began rushing down the staircase after their hated enemy. Upon getting to the bottom of the staircase they went through a short tunnel and came face to face with a guard closing what looked like an escape pod. The guard turned around and fired every shot in his clip within a matter of seconds, leaving his gun empty, and Andrew hit him with a bullet before the man could reload, dropping the man to the ground.
"He's in the pod, hurry." Andrew said as he tired to yank the door open, but to no luck. He then fired several bullets at the pod but they just bounced off the metal frame and ended up striking Andrew in his chest, luckily his adamantium armor absorbed the bullets. With a mechanical hiss the doors beneath the pod opened and the pod dropped into the night sky.
"Dammit we lost him!" Andrew yelled as he stared at the empty space where the escape pod once resided. Suddenly he head something over the planes radio which cho had hacked into.
"Ramstein tower we are seven miles out coming in red hot." he heard the pilot say to the tower operator.
"Roger that, wind is seven zero seven at 1, 3 you are clear to land, land at runway 05, you are cleared to land." the tower operator informed the pilot.
"Shit they are landing, we lost Sullivan, but we cant loose the plane!" Andrew said as he and Marcus rushed back up the stairs and towards the front of the plane in order to stop the landing. They saw a flight of stars that lead up to the cockpit and quickly rushed up them while Scarlet covered their backs.
"Get on the ground!" Marcus yelled as he froze several men in place as they where starting to draw their weapons. Andrew quickly rushed to the cockpit door and tried to open it, to his non surprise, the door wouldn't budge an inch.
"Open the door!" Andrew shouted as he slammed on the door with a fist, no response from the cockpit. "I said open the door!" Andrew shouted again as he fired several bullets at the door, to which mere bullet holes appeared. Suddenly Andrew and Marcus could feel the planes wheels touch the ground, and they knew that in less than five minutes the plane would be at a dead stop, so they had to move fast.
"We are screwed if they land!" Marcus said as he tried to figure out what to do next, suddenly he noticed something, the key pad which locked the door, "Andrew hit that bloody keypad with your plasma blast, it might open the door!" Marcus shouted to Andrew, which made the armored man nod his head. Andrew took aim and fired a blast of blue plasma at the locking system, it sparked and then the door opened, just a crack, but it was more than enough.
"Shit!" they heard the pilot curse from his chair as Andrew and Marcus ran into the cockpit. "Get this plane back in the air!" Andrew shouted tot he pilot, to which the man responded by calmly slowing the plane down, "Didn't you hear me, I told you to put this plane back in the air!" Andrews shouted again as he pointed his submachine gun at the pilots back.
"Marty!" the pilot shouted to his co-pilot, as the plane continued to lose speed as it sped down the runway, "Mart-." he never got to finish the name as he was struck by a stun bullet to the back which made him to fall out of his chair. Now Andrew turned his attention to the co-pilot, Marty.
"Put this plane back in the air or you next!" Andrew threatened, the co-pilot, to which the man shouted "NO!" and pulled the throttle all the way down, Andrew shot the man with a stun bullet and then got into the pilots chair, and pushed the throttle all the way back up, allowing them to pick up speed. Suddenly Andrew noticed that they where approaching a hanger, and unless they got airborne they where going to crash. Andrew pulled back on the controls and Marcus did the same with the co-pilots controls and the plane quickly gained altitude and soared into the night sky, leaving a stunned Air Force Base behind.
Wow what a chapter, I had a ton of fun writing this one, special shout out goes to whoever can figure out what movie this chapter was based off of, hint: it's in my favorite movies list on my profile.