Smoke billowed from open flames, climbing up buildings attempting to out-race the firefighters desperately trying to save people from the danger. Explosions sounded as the police and SWAT teams attempted to contain groups of the Mandarin's soldiers, compensating their enemies' superior weaponry with knowledge about their home city.
In the midst of this chaos the supers fought. The Mandarin's generals ranged in strength from barely empowered to chucking cars around like a baseball, however gradually the heroes were wearing through the forces. The Avengers had much more experience dealing with super villains than the Mandarin's army had with super heroes, and a lightning blast here or a bit of magic there was severely damaging them.
Amongst this, however, the Ultimates were lost. Fury had let worry flash across his face when he had heard as much, and now as he looked out at the battlefield he hoped that the team would be fine.
Dagger coughed, feeling an immense pain in her ribs and a deafening ringing sensation in her ears. She simply lied on the ground as she dealt with a feeling of immense nausea, but then after a minute she tried to pull herself up. As she got to her feet she rubbed her eyes, which were stinging thanks to the dust covering her face, and looked around. A few feet away from her lay Cloak, who was still unconscious, and she stumbled over, shaking him to try and wake him up.
"Time to wake up sleepy head." She said, noting that she was unable to hear her own voice. Cloak's eyes popped open and he leaned forwards, sitting up and asking Dagger something. "I can't hear." She replied.
Cloak looked at her with concern for a few seconds, then tried to stand as well, however something within the folds of his cloak seemed to be holding him down. As he pushed the wait off his body he tensed and quickly crouched to his knees, grabbing Jonny, who was bleeding profusely. "Get him to the Tricarrier." She said, and he followed her order with a quick nod.
Dagger pushed herself back up and stared at the devastation in front of her. Tanks were piled atop each other, charred remains of bodies scattered under the bricks and rubble that once made up a row of houses and flames and smoke stretched across the chaos. She looked around for someone, and tripped over Iron Man's mask.
She picked it up and tried to remember what had happened. Iron Man had said the suit was coming, but then began yelling for them to get to cover. There was an explosion and two people, a cyborg girl and a man in Chinese robes. The man attacked Iron Man, taking him down before he could properly react, then the girl blasted the three of them with a beam of energy, which was the last thing she could remember.
Assuming the attack had knocked her out, she began to look for Iron Man, thinking to herself that he must have awoken earlier. As she turned a corner she felt a chill behind her and span around to see the man in Chinese clothing standing there. He seemed shocked that she was awake, but then calmly poked a point on her neck, causing pain to spread throughout her body. She felt her strength fade as sheer agony replaced it and began to collapse, the man catching her and slinging her over his shoulder.
"Brother, I'm bored." Sasha Hammer sighed, flicking a stone at Spider-man's face, which was caught mere centimeters from hitting him.
"Sister, we shall not harm father's new batch more than necessary." The man, Temugin, answered, dropping Dagger next to Spider-man. They were in the remains of a person's house, having moved there for pick up after taking down the heroes that had arrived as back up for Iron Man. The back wall had collapsed in, the sofas were torn and the tv was smashed up, yet it was still the best place they found.
"They don't even have internet here. Come on, can't I at least screw around with the martial artist. He doesn't even have any powers, just chi." Sasha moaned, rolling around on the floor.
"No, he was interesting to fight. His chi was unnatural and I want to know why." Temugin replied, which caused Sasha to get more frustrated.
"So you get a toy from this thing and I have to sit around in the only house without wifi!" She yelled, causing Temugin to rub his forehead.
"It's not like father cares what I do… But fine, take that one." Temugin yielded, pointing at Power-man.
"Thanks bro." She smiled, skipping over and creating a sword of energy "I hope this hurts!" She brought the sword down on his arm, but nothing happened. "Huh?" She brought the sword down again and again, but still no wounds formed. "Brother what's going on?!"
"His skin is stronger than your blade. Too bad." Temugin smiled, walking over and adjusting Power-man so that he lay comfortably.
"You knew!" She shouted in reply.
"I had a hunch, he resisted your concussive blast earlier which meant he must have had enhanced defense." Temugin replied, calmly looking his sister in her eyes. "And if I was wrong then I would have just explained to father how it was entirely your fault he lost a bullet-proof man, due to your inability to sate your bloodlust. No matter what happened I would be fine."
"Don't act like your getting the better of me, you know full well father wouldn't do anything to me, your just covering your own back." Sasha frowned, sitting down next to her brother. After a moment she blasted a hole in the wall and walked out, "Pick ups late, so I'm going to see if I can find the missing ones. That Falcon one looks like he'll be fun to kill."
"Be here before the transport arrives." Temugin ordered, continuing to watch the heroes.
"Dagger!" Cloak pleaded, shouting as he teleported around the battlefield. "Dagger, where are you?!" He gulped, beginning to run.
He was terrified, completely alone in the chaos unable to understand where everyone was. He saw signs of a battle, finding a patch of Spider-man's outfit and realising that the rest of the team must have arrived at some point. "Is anyone out there?!" He yelled, his throat feeling horse. He didn't like to shout or scream, a lifetime of trying to keep out of people's way had made such things feel wrong to him, but the worry of losing someone was enough to force him to act past his fears.
"Kid, over here." A voice whispered to his left, causing Cloak to turn to see The Falcon, who had crawled under some rubble and into a building.
Cloak looked through a window then teleported inside, landing next to the hero and seeing his wounds. "What-?" Cloak began to ask, but Falcon cut him off.
"White Tiger and Nova are over there, I pulled them out of the way when the psychopaths arrived." The Falcon explained, pointing over to the two heroes, who were resting in the corner.
"Who were they?" Cloak asked, unable to remember much from the incident.
"The Mandarin's kids. They came to help the tanks, and if Tony hadn't activated the EMP we would have the whole battalion moving through New York City at the moment." The Falcon said, trying to pull himself up. "But the thing also shut off my wings, and frankly the son was too much for me to beat in a fair fight, so I had to run. All I could do was try and find you guys while Tony stalled, but wherever the daughter fired you to was too far for me. I had to stop and bandage my wounds."
"Then what about them?" Cloak asked, pointing at his teammates.
"The daughter knocked them through the back wall. They've been out cold for about 10 minutes now. The rest of the team was captured by the son and daughter." Falcon explained.
Cloak looked out for a moment at the chaos and asked "Can you wake up White Tiger and Nova now?"
"Well yeah, but they need to rest for a moment."
"There's no time for them to rest now." Cloak replied.
"Why's that?" Falcon asked, pushing himself up and looking out as well.
"Because, if I remember correctly, that figure running around out there is the Mandarin's daughter, and I need to talk to her." Cloak said, teleporting from within the building to right in front of Sasha.
"Crap, where'd you come from!" Sasha yelled, jumping back and firing a concussive blast at Cloak, who absorbed it in the folds of his cloak.
"Where have you taken my team?" Cloak asked, his voice taking an unnatural edge.
"You want to know, how about I take you there!" Sasha yelled, flying up into the air and moving around Cloak at great speeds, "Absorb this!" She yelled, firing at Cloak's back.
Cloak staggered at this, but kept himself up, "You've taken my friends, now give them back!" he bellowed in reply, his cloak expanding as if to capture Sasha, who quickly reacted, flying around him once more and repeatedly firing at him. As Cloak began to stagger she flew at him, forming a whip of light in her hands and planning to wrap it around his neck, however she was kicked to the ground by White Tiger and hit with a beam of energy from Nova.
"Ouch, what the hell!" Sasha yelled, firing a concussive laser at them, but they dodged, Nova firing at her some more. "Stop shooting short ass!"
"You're like half a foot smaller than me!" Nova shouted back, dodging as she flew at him.
"You're short for a guy bucket face?" She shouted in reply, dodging a blast of energy. "What? You think an ass like you can even begin to threaten me?!" Sasha laughed, blasting off into the sky, before spinning around and then hurtling towards Nova, "Bet you can't even hope to hit me now!"
"Forgetting someone?" White Tiger asked, jumping off of Nova's back to kick Sasha in the face and knocking her towards Cloak who engulfed her within the folds of his shroud. Ava landed next to him a second later and patted him on the back, "Good job Cloak." She paused for a moment then added "You know this is the most determined I've ever seen you. You're not even whispering or anything."
Cloak paused for a moment, then began to blush heavily, realising how much attention was on him "I-I was worried about everyone…" He muttered quickly, then turned and asked "Are you ok?"
"Slight pain in my ribs, but other than that I'm fine." White Tiger replied, patting him on the shoulder, "I can't complain anyway, not with everyone else captured by that psycho and her brother. Hopefully we can find out where they are from her."
Five minutes later Cloak released Sasha from within his cloak, the girl looking shaken from whatever she had seen. After a moment she scuttled away from the hero, then stopped and grabbed her knees "What was that place?" She whispered, to which Cloak simply glared at her in reply.
"You didn't drop her in a jail cell?" Nova asked, noticing that Sasha had a number of scratches on her arms.
"Dagger mentioned that shadow realm thing you could send people to, I'm guessing that's where she went." White Tiger reasoned, to which Cloak nodded. "So what's in there anyway?"
"I don't know… Dagger told me to use it only if I'm in trouble… or if I need to overpower someone. That place has a pulling force towards people." Cloak explained, "I don't like using it though, it feels… wrong."
White Tiger nodded. She wasn't thrilled with that aspect of Cloak's powers, from the moment Dagger mentioned them she felt uncomfortable about him using them and was happy he hadn't until now, but as long as he knew there were problems involved she felt there was little to fear. "Well then cyborg, where is the rest of our team."
"Like I'll tell you that, why don't you go chase some mice or something kitty-cat?" Sasha replied, causing White Tiger to sigh.
"Wow, that nickname was terrible." Nova said in disbelief, "Even Spider-man wouldn't say something like that."
"And why are you wearing a bucket anyway?" She asked, causing Nova to slump down.
"It's a helmet, all members of the Nova force wore it." He muttered to himself sadly.
"Tell us where the rest of our team is being held." White Tiger ordered, raising her voice.
"Wow, you think that's threatening. How cute." Sasha smiled in reply, causing White Tiger to punch the wall to her left, leaving a dent.
"It'll be your head next." White Tiger said in a chillingly quiet voice.
"L-like I'm afraid of you." Sasha gulped, looking away from her and accidentally finding herself meeting Cloak's gaze.
"Tell us or I'll send you back to the dimension of shadows." He whispered, his voice taking an ephemeral echo.
Sasha looked at him in fear, then after a second broke "A house about a half mile from here." Sasha quickly answered, looking desperate to get away from Cloak "It was really big so I suggested to go in there and watch some TV while we waited. Temugin wasn't happy but he noticed the roof was ideal for a flare. So just look for a flare, that's all." She said, panic in her voice.
"Thanks for your assistance." White Tiger replied sarcastically, before turning back to Cloak "Should we put her in a cell now?"
"You don't mean using that cloak thing again?" Sasha screamed out, backing away. "I'll go with you, I won't make a sound or try to run or anything." She quickly fumbled at her arm, pulling a chunk of metal out and passing it to Nova "Take it! Take it! It's a battery! It powers my thrusters. I won't be able to fight back, so please don't use those powers on me again!" She fell to her knees "I'm begging you."
Cloak looked terrified at the girls reaction, teleporting at least ten feet away as she began to beg and sob. He glanced up at White Tiger, and she saw the worry on his face "I don't know what's in there White Tiger, I don't have a clue." He explained "But I don't want to hurt anyone, and I'm afraid if I go near her right now she'll freak out and bad things will happen... If she's that scared then let her go with us, or leave her with the Falcon."
White Tiger paused for a moment, then gave a sigh. "Falcon has already moved on, I told him to get to a S.H.E.I.L.D. base and work on fixing his armour." She walked over to Nova and got him to give her something from his belt. "I'll put these handcuffs on her, she never showed any extreme strength in that battle earlier and seeing as how I took her down with a single kick I doubt she can break free."
Behind the three of them Sasha smiled, it was just too easy.
Iron Fist struggled to pull himself up, arching his back and rolling over. He looked up at a white ceiling covered in dirt with a huge crack in it and realised he had no idea where he was. He raised his legs and jumped up, pulling his arms free of the ropes that bound him. Upon landing he looked around and noticed that Spider-man was next to him, unconscious. He leaned down and tried to pick up the hero, but heard someone clear their throat from behind him.
"I see you're awake. Good." Temugin smiled, stepping forwards and pushing Spider-man out of his arms. "Come with me." He ordered calmly, turning away and moving into another room
Iron Fist turned away from him and tried to pick up Spider-man once more, causing Temugin to announce "If you don't follow me I'll kill your teammate."
The hero quickly turned around and pursued him, finding himself outside looking at a large square patch of cement, cleared of all rubble. "What is this?" Iron Fist asked.
"An arena. I was preparing it while my sister was gone." Temugin answered, picking up a few stones and juggling them. "I hoped you would awaken soon. When I saw you fight Sasha, when I saw how your chi flowed, I knew I had to fight you."
"How do you know what chi is?" Iron Fist gulped, causing Temugin to start to laugh.
"My father is a master of martial arts, of course he would know what it is." he chuckled, walking over to a chair in which Bobby sat.
"Iceman!" Iron Fist shouted, stepping forwards but he quickly leaned back as he saw one of the stones fly towards him, catching it in his hand and throwing it over his shoulder.
"Good, I would be disappointed if you couldn't even react to that." Temugin said, stepping towards him "Come on, let us fight. It will be fun."
"Get out of my way!" Iron Fist ordered, throwing a punch, which Temugin easily parried. The man stared at the arm for a few seconds then gritted his teeth.
"Are you screwing with me boy?" Temugin asked, closing the distance between the two of them and pushing Danny. "If you want to protect your friend then fight me properly!" He swung a fist forwards, knocking Iron Fist across the arena.
The hero began to cough, pulling himself to his feet. "That is impossible!" Iron Fist announced, feeling pain spread across his chest. "How do you know the Martial arts of K'un-lun?"
"Your little village has kicked out so many people and yet you are truly surprised someone would pass on their knowledge?" Temugin asked, walking calmly towards Iron Fist "Come leader of the pathetic hidden village, entertain me."
Iron Fist jumped forwards, attacking with a flurry of punches, empowering them with his chi and causing the air around them to explode with pressure "Yes! Yes! This is power, keep it up!" Temugin began to laugh, a crazed look in his eyes "With this strength you may pose a challenge!"
Iron Fist span around, kicking Temugin in the chest, then proceeded to take in a deep breath, changing his stance. "Tai Chi?" Temugin smiled, "Good choice." They stood for a moment, watching, then Temugin ran forwards, going in for a strike, however Iron Fist calmly pushed the punch out of the way. As he brought his foot down, he then placed his palm in Temugin's chest and released his chi, the shockwave he emitted caused the wind to howl and the ground to shake. The hero was surprised, however, that his opponent still appeared unscathed, having somehow negated the effect by changing his footing. After a millisecond Iron Fist altered his stance once more.
Temugin frowned at this, bringing his fingers a hairs width from Iron Fist's neck, and then pushing him over. "No, Tae Kwon Do is not a suitable follow up!" He turned away from Iron Fist and walked over to Bobby, reaching down and picking up a small knife, then forcing it into Bobby's shoulder, awakening the hero.
Bobby jolted about for a second in pain, crying out, then looked at what was going on. "Oh great, I'm the hostage." He groaned in pain.
"You bastard!" Iron Fist yelled, jumping at Temugin, who exploded in anger.
"No, a jump kick is always wrong!" Temugin shouted, breaking through his block and hammering Iron Fist to the floor with a push, before proceeding to stamp at him. "You left yourself full of openings, K'un-lun boy. If you're going to fight me do it properly! For each time I get a hit in I plan to stab your team mate!"
Iron Fist spun around, moving into one of the stances taught in K'un-lun. Temugin nodded at that "Yes. You were not apt enough to use the other techniques. A quick change can work, but if you try to move away from your teachings I will easily tear you apart."
"Don't blame me when I leave you sobbing in a puddle of your own blood." Iron Fist growled, causing Bobby to shiver. This display of bloodlust was rare for Danny.
Iron Fist began to move at a lightning fast pace, jumping around his opponent at the limits of that was humanly possible and landing a series of attacks on him, causing Temugin to begin to sweat "Yes, this is much better!" Temugin laughed, "I have to fight back against this!" With that Temugin span past a punch and dug his fingers into Iron Fist's arm, causing it to go limp.
"W-what?" Iron Fist whispered, feeling a flurry of punches throughout his body, and he found all his energy fade away.
"You are a master of those techniques, but I have seen them all before and I have found their weaknesses. You attack to maximise speed and power of the hit, but there is an opening immediately afterwards. If you dodge at the right angle then you can take advantage of it." Temugin explained, walking back over to Bobby. "Well, I made a promise."
"Damn, I thought your sister was the psychopath." Bobby gulped, resisting the urge to cry out as Temugin plunged the knife into his shoulder.
"My sister would kill you." Temugin replied, "Where as I know exactly how to keep you alive," He leaned close and whispered "Even if you don't want to be."
"You know what, I think you really need to cool your head off." Bobby grinned, pulling his arm up and freezing Temugin's arm.
"W-what?" Temugin gasped, jumping back.
Bobby pulled himself up from the chair, changing to his ice form. "You think I couldn't break out of such a crappy rope tie?" He created a club of ice in his hand and ran forwards "It's over!"
Temugin began to laugh, "Oh, that's funny." He smiled, stepping forwards and proceeding to push the palm of his unfrozen arm into Bobby's chin, knocking him to the ground. "You know, for entertaining me with that comment I think I'll put you back. Maybe I should use the mummy girl next. The one who can turn to gas. I have been sure to sedate her properly so she won't even wake up."
"Keep away from Veil!" Bobby yelled, freezing the lower part of Temugin's body. "Iron Fist!"
Temugin twisted around to see the other hero charge at him, moving in to swing a punch with arm enflamed by the ephemeral glow of chi. "Oh that is interesting." Temugin smiled, pushing his unfrozen arm down onto the ice and causing his bindings to shatter, before quickly smashing Iron Fist down to the ground with his frozen arm, breaking it free. "That must be the only attack that has an opening before the punch. It was a poor idea to use that." Temugin lectured, stamping down on Bobby's chest as he walked over him. "Come on kid, get back up." He said, pulling Iron Fist to his feet and patting the dazed hero off. "How else will you entertain me?"
The chaos in New York City had begun to calm, as the forces of the Mandarin were slowly pushed into one location, separating them from the civilians who were rushed out. With the police effectively acting as border patrol for this area and the super heroes taking out everyone inside it was clear the battle would soon be over.
There were still threats of course, even now the Mandarin was still fighting Captain America, who was now assisted by Black Panther, and the few generals left were causing serious destruction in their wake, but they could be handled.
On the outskirts of the battle Thor landed next to Giant Man and they stood together for a moment, regaining their breaths and planning out their next move. "Remind me, man of ants, why have you changed your name?" Thor asked, to which Giant Man sighed.
"I got fed up of all the jokes." Giant Man muttered, flicking away another tank. "So many short jokes… So many…"
Thor nodded then after a moment spoke once more "I may be mistaken, but it seems like there are fewer soldiers around."
"The Mandarin really didn't bring enough people to fight us. I mean a super powered army is impressive, but only a handful of them are as good as any of us." Giant Man smiled, leaning over and picking up a group of people, who he moved out of the war zone.
"Then would it be acceptable for me to go to assist Iron Man and the younger heroes?" Thor asked, to which Giant Man smiled.
"I was wondering why you were sitting around like that." He chuckled, "You don't need to ask, we can deal with this easily."
As they stood there something came hurtling towards them, Thor jumping forwards and bracing himself, catching Hercules. "Hercules, what is wrong?" Thor asked, trying to get him to stand.
"The boy, Cho, I need to help…" Hercules muttered deliriously, before passing out.
"Hercules? Hercules!? Awaken Hercules!" Thor ordered, getting the hero to open his eyes. "What is happening down there?"
"I don't…" Hercules gulped, pushing himself free and limping towards the ledge, "I need to help Amadeus."
Giant Man grabbed him before Hercules fell over and carried him in his hand. "I'll take you to your sidekick Herc." He said calmly, calculating where Hercules must have come from. As he began to step forwards however he felt a nagging sensation in his brain.
"Dr Pym, it may be an idea for you to turn back." A soothing voice said, causing Giant Man to look around for its source. "Ignore the boy, he will be fine."
"This damned voice again!" Hercules coughed, trying to pull himself up, but Giant man kept him from doing so.
"Don't strain yourself Herc, it's just telepathy. I had to deal with this daily when I visited Xavier a few years back." Giant Man sighed, humming in his mind to drown out the voice. "So what is it we're dealing with, another general?"
"I doubt it. He was too strong and too odd for such a role." Hercules muttered, he was about to say more before he caught sight of his sidekick, trapped under rubble. "Amadeus!" He yelled, breaking free and jumping down, "Are you ok? Amadeus?!"
"I'm fine…" the teenager muttered as Hercules pulled some stones off of him. "But the maths didn't work. I calculated the trajectory and everything, but he just…"
"It doesn't matter, I'll get you out of here." Hercules affirmed, getting the final rock off his friend. As he got Amadeus up he turned around to ask for some help, "Pym can you-?" He began.
He turned to see that Giant man had been shrunk down and knocked out by the same man who had previously fought him.
The man was tall, almost eight feet, and towered above everyone he met. He had a soft face, with dirty blonde hair covering a small scar on his fringe. However there was a coldness about him that was characterised by his eyes, that were pure black and endless, anyone who stared into them for too long began to feel an uncomfortable emptiness, as if their soul was being read by the black orbs. "You!" Hercules roared, charging at him and felt an immense pain as he was simply thrown into the air. As he fell back towards the ground the individual began to grow, swatting him with his hand and crushing him into the ground.
"Herc!" Amadeus yelled, trying to limp to his friend, but the villain, who had shrunk back down, knocked him out with a single kick.
"Is that all you've got, little god." The villain said, picking up Hercules's adamantium mace and swinging it at the demigod's head, however just before it made contact Mjonir hit him straight in the chest, leaving a dent and firing him into the sky. "Dammit, how many false idols are there around here?" The man muttered as he smashed into the ground, a crater forming around him.
"Is that all you can say for yourself villain?!" Thor yelled, running forwards and swinging Mjonir, which the man dodged by leaning back, twisting his spine with a sickening crack. After a few uncomfortable spasms he span his torso back into place and stood up to his full size, looking down at Thor with a smug grin.
"No gods-" he went to say, but Thor hit his legs with the hammer, then brought it down on the villains chest. To his surprise it went straight through, trapping Thor's hands as the chest cavity rapidly constricted to hold him in place. The man looked at him with his black, lifeless eyes as his arms began to wrap around Thor like ropes. He stopped as his hands reached Thor's head and releasing a weird energy. "Only men!" He shouted, and Thor felt power drain from him.
"What have you done!?" Thor asked, breaking free and staggering back, finding his hammer now heavy in his hands.
"Your powers are mine to consume, to use to make myself stronger. I am mimic, one of the Mandarin's completed products, and no man nor fake god will stop me." The man said, looking down and growing his arm out, using it to grab Thor and pull him close before punching him into the cement floor. "I must admit, I joined the Mandarin at first purely to get the strength to do this. Creatures like you shouldn't exist, gods shouldn't exist!" He began to stamp down on Thor "Only men, no omniscient being who controls our lives with the fickle strands of destiny!" He stamped down on Thor's head, pushing it into a curb, "No omnipotent being who stops us from pushing through boundaries." His arm wrapped around Thor's neck, throttling him "Only men can control the fates of men!"
As Thor began to cough and splutter, tapping his arms around to try and break free, even summoning Mjonir to no avail, he remembered something Captain America had told him and began to laugh. This reaction caused the High evolutionary to ease up for a moment, letting Thor regain his breath. "What is so funny." He spat.
"The fact you forgot about Pym." Thor smiled, causing the Mimic to sigh.
"I took out Ant Man straight away." He chuckled, surprised that such a pathetic hero could give Thor hope.
"That's what everyone thinks, but then he turns up and saves the day. So, villain, where is his body?" Thor smiled, causing Mimic to turn, looking to see that Giant Man was indeed gone.
"Where did he go?!" The villain shouted, feeling something move across his arm. He looked down as Giant Man regrew to normal size, pulling Mimic's arm off of Thor. The villain's eyes narrowed "Get your filthy hands off of me."
Giant Man glared at him, growing in size so to ultimately tower over Mimic. "You caught me by surprise last time." Giant Man frowned, bringing his fist down on the Mimic, who in turn grew to a size slightly smaller than Giant Man.
"You think growing will help you?" he laughed hysterically, "I have the strength of Thor right now, how can you hope to stop me."
"Oh this." Giant man said, indicating his size. "Yeah, it's a signal."
There was a short pause, then Mimic realised what he had just done. He looked down to see a small army of super heroes converge on his location. "You damned Bas-!" he began to shout, but was pulled to the ground by the Thing.
"It clobbering time." The Thing shouted as the heroes began to attack their opponent.
Spider-man opened his eyes, finding himself slumped against a wall. His body was still in pain and there was a numbness that engulfed him, making it near impossible for him to actually move. He looked around, straining his neck, and found that Tony Stark, Dagger, Veil and Power-man were with him. "Guys!" He shouted, trying to wake them, and after a moment he saw Dagger stir.
"Spider-man… Is that you?" She asked, noting that she could hear once more.
"Yeah, it's me. Can you move?" Spider-man asked, and Dagger attempted to raise her arm.
"No, everything is numb." She replied, trying to remember some more of what happened, "Oh no, Cloak!" She began to strain, using all her energy to lean upwards.
"What's wrong?" Spider-man asked, "Is Cloak alright?"
"I left him on his own, and that bald guy may get him." Dagger replied, falling back down as her energy faded and she could no longer hold herself up.
"You saw that guy too?" Spider-man asked, recalling what he had done to him, "Pressure points…" He muttered after a second.
"What?" Dagger asked, trying again to get up.
"He must have hit a pressure point or something. You know how in some martial arts movies have that one guy who is able to take his opponents out with a single well placed hit? I think he's like that in real life."
"I don't really watch kung fu movies..." Dagger replied, causing Peter to laugh.
"Yeah, spend enough time around Danny and you'll learn all the tropes." He replied.
Dagger found a handle to her left and used it to pull herself to her feet. "Congrats." Spider-man smiled. She began to walk over to him but he shook his head, "I'll just be a burden, see if you can wake up Veil or Power-man, they may be more able then me, but I can't even walk."
"Are you sure?" Dagger asked.
"I'm the leader, I should be the last to leave." Spider-man smiled, and she turned, shaking the two other heroes and Stark with her foot while balancing on a table.
"They won't wake up." She said after a minute.
"Maybe they've been given something?" Spider-man suggested, trying to pull himself up, but falling flat on his back. "My communicator has no signal here." He said, taking off his web shooter, which Dagger took. "If you go outside maybe you could signal for help."
"Ok," Dagger replied, leaning against the wall to get to the door. She tried to open it, but found it locked. "Dammit!"
"Someone actually had the intelligence to lock a door? That puts them above the usual crowd." Spider-man joked, causing Dagger to chuckle a little.
"We're trapped aren't we?" Dagger sighed, losing her strength and slumping to the floor.
"You mentioned Cloak was still there, from what I've seen in the simulation room he can be pretty determined when you're in danger." Spider-man assured her, "Plus White Tiger isn't here, so that's another person who can be a nightmare to face."
"Yeah, I guess Cloak should be here soon." She smiled.
After a moment she began to talk some more, "I've never told you how we met, have I?"
"I've always been a bit curious." Spider-man replied, "I mean you were already a duo before joining the team, right?"
Dagger nodded, "My families pretty rich, and oppressive as hell." She recalled, "Like seriously, I had learn all the proper activities like piano and ballet and all that crap. It was stifling. On top of that my parents never saw me as much, not compared to my siblings anyway." She moved a little, looking uncomfortable, "Well it got too much for me, and I ran."
"You mean you ran away from home?"
"The funny thing is, I think they didn't care. I mean I've been caught on the daily bugle these days, and I'm not exactly hiding my identity, yet I've never even gotten a call." She gulped, shaking her head, "Sorry, I'm going off topic."
"It's fine," Spider-man said sadly.
"Well Ty had just run away too. He told me it was his neighbourhood; he described it a hellhole that tried to swallow everyone up." She explained further, "Well we met at a shelter in Kansas, don't know how we both ended up in that state, but he understood me. We had such different lives, but we got each other."
"Well after a few days on the streets we heard there was an opportunity at Roxxon, they were offering jobs to people in difficult situations. A public relations stunt, sure, but it gave us a chance." She smiled, "Well the actual point was to get a hold of some test subjects no one would miss. They let in a few people so they could cover up the others disappearance, and we were one of those others."
"You're kidding me?" Spider-man asked in shock, "You mean that chemical company? The one that produces the dollar store paracetamol?"
"Well if you go there you'll notice they don't produce much anymore. S.H.E.I.L.D. shut them down. I think at least two of the CEOs committed suicide rather than get caught and the rest disappeared off the map." Dagger said calmly, "They were trying to make super humans, like the Mandarin is now. Thing is they succeeded, Cloak and I are proof of that."
"After S.H.E.I.L.D. closed Roxxon down they let us go, so the two of us tried fighting crime together. I mean when you've got super powers…" She continued, "We didn't need to team up really, but I think it was because he understood what I had been through, and vice versa, that we just became closer. It may look like Cloak depends on me a lot, but to tell you the truth I depend on him just as much."
"I didn't imagine you had such a tough life." Spider-man said after a while, "After Bobby earlier I'm really getting concerned for the lot of you."
"Well, things happen don't they and there is nothing you can do to stop them. And when that's the case you just have to power through and hope things are better on the other side, and they are." Dagger smiled, "I don't like S.H.E.I.L.D., it is oppressive and shady as hell, but this team is fun."
"That's good to hear." He smiled in reply.
Dagger nodded, smiling happily, "You know, when we get out of this, Perhaps you and Ava could go on a double date with Cloak and I. I've wanted to go bowling for ages, but Xavier mansion only lets groups of 4 or more go book a lane."
"How much stuff does Xavier's mansion have?" Spider-man asked, impressed at yet another feature.
"It's a boarding school made by a rich eccentric years ago." Dagger smiled, "Like Willi Wonka's chocolate factory but with a slightly lower risk of death."
After a moment Luke began to stir, causing the two of them to look over to him. "Luke, you awake?"
"Ugh, my head is killing me." Power-man replied, then paused, "Why can't I move?"
"Remember in Kung Fu movies where-"
"No!" Power-man replied, "This will not turn into another Danny fan boy moment!" There was a second where he glanced around, then asked "Wait, where is Danny?"
"Didn't he get away?" Spider-man asked, worry seeing into his voice.
"No, he got hit in the face by the cyborg girl's laser." Power-man gulped, "He should be here. Same with Iceman."
"That isn't good." Dagger gulped, trying to pull herself up once more.
Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps moving around outside the door. "Iron Fist?" Spider-man yelled out, and the steps stopped. The handle moved as the individual began to jimmy the door, before eventually getting fed up and smashing into it.
"That can't be the bald guy or the cyborg." Power-man said, "They'd have the key."
The door was kicked open on the third slam and a tall figure looked down at the heroes.
"You!" Shouted Spider-man, recognising the figure.
Kravin the Hunter reached down, grabbing his arm and pulling him up, "I've got some prey to hunt little spider, and you're the perfect bait."
Temugin began kicking at Iron Fist, who was curled in a ball on the floor "Can you not get back up?" Temugin laughed, "And you're the leader of K'un-Lun, the past rulers must by turning in their graves right now." He kicked Danny in the face, then began to stamp on his ribs, "So what if that special chi empowered you, stronger attacks are pointless if I just dodge them."
He paused for a moment then crouched down and picked up Iron Fist by his hair, pulling off his mask by accident. "Wake up!" He shouted in Danny's face, causing him to jump. "Now get up and fight."
"How are you this skilled?" Danny coughed, pushing himself to his feet and ignoring the immense pain in his ribs.
"Simple, I collect martial arts. I pick up the theory and the actions behind them within seconds, plus with my control over chi nothing can stop me." Temugin laughed.
"What about people with super powers, someone like Captain America." Iron Fist gulped, running forwards to swing a tired punch that Temugin easily parried, landing a few of his own.
"I guess they could cause a threat, but then that is what my sister is for. The first of the completed products." Temugin smiled.
"The what?"
"Completed products, the people working for my father who have surpassed most other super humans. Three in total, Mimic, a man who has the ability to copy abilities on top of a cocktail of super powers obtained from all our research. Then there is my sister, Sasha, the perfect cyborg who when going flat out could crush the avengers. I guess the final one doesn't fully count, the high evolutionary serum, but testing has shown promise. It causes the subjects to adapt quickly to any threat, but as there is no one suitable for it I'm holding on to the serum." Temugin explained.
"Your sister did not appear that strong." Danny said, recovering from a kick to the abdomen.
"Say that after you remove her batteries for 20 minutes. It lets her access her arc reactor and soon as that happens everyone in a 3 block radius is dead. We just would prefer to keep you guys alive." Temugin smiled, before continuing his beating.
White Tiger climbed over a small mountain of rubble, looking around and seeing the red smoke of the flare. "Over there." She noted, pointing out a three story house with a flat roof and the front wall strewn around the street.
"Should only take another fifteen minutes to walk there." Cloak replied, appearing next to her.
"You want to teleport ahead, I can see you're worried about Dagger." White Tiger asked, to which Cloak smiled in reply.
"Thank you… but it's the same for you and Spider-man isn't it." He noted, getting a small chuckle out of her.
"Am I that obvious?" She asked, getting an awkward smile from Cloak.
"N-no." Cloak hastily muttered, "It's just I can… You know, recognise the little moments…"
"Look," Nova shouted from below, "I can watch the girl on my own, you guys just teleport there and I'll catch up. Plus if the brother is there we may have to deal with both of them at once."
"You sure?" White Tiger shouted back.
"Yeah, I can watch her. The worst thing about her is her mouth anyway." Nova sighed.
"Oh, I am so going to break your nose bucket face." Sasha threatened in reply.
"See you in a few then." White Tiger smiled, quickly grabbing hold of Cloak as the two teleported across to the roof.
Looking down White Tiger quickly identified Temugin, and below him was Iron Fist. In less than a second after appearing on the roof she had already leapt off of it, spinning around to kick the villain in the back of his head, smashing him face first into the concrete. She landed next to Danny and picked him up, grabbing his mask in the process, "Need this?"
"Be careful White Tiger, he is strong." Iron Fist coughed, looking up to see that Cloak had teleported next to an unconscious Bobby.
"H-he's bleeding." Cloak gulped, panic in his voice.
"Don't worry, he won't die from it." Temugin said, standing up. "I hate surprise attacks, but that had some serious force behind it. Shall we continue?" he asked White Tiger, walking towards her.
She reacted quickly, lowering Iron Fist then entering a stance. "What is that supposed to be, there's so many openings." Temugin laughed, but he stopped when White Tiger leapt with super human speed, slashing at his face. He leaned back, barely dodging.
Temugin quickly responded, hitting a pressure point in her arm and causing all strength to fade from it, however she quickly kicked him. Anticipating the follow up punch he caught it in his hand, then twisted to bring her to her knees. However as he went to strike her Iron Fist ran forwards, fist aflame with chi, and threw a punch. Temugin stepped back, avoiding contact, but the strength of the fist caused a shockwave that sent him flying backwards.
As he span around, regaining his footing Cloak, appeared in front of him. Realising the hero was nowhere near as well trained as the other two he went to hit him in the chest, but Temugin found his hand being engulfed into the shadows.
With great effort he pulled it out, slipping on the ice created below his feet, and with great difficulty he stopped himself from falling, just to be hit in the face by a chi enhanced punch, which smashed him through a wall into the house the rest of the team was being stored.
He pushed himself up, spitting out a chipped tooth, then found a dagger of light hit him in the back. His pupils dilated as he fell to his knees, begging some divine being to forgive him for his actions. "Well that's him out of commission for a few minutes." White Tiger smiled, "You ok Dagger?"
Dagger however quickly ran over and grabbed her shoulders, "Some guy in a leopard skin took Spider-man!" She yelled, causing White Tiger to step back.
"Kravin… no." She whispered, "Where'd he go? Did he say anything!?" She asked as Cloak rounded the corner.
"He said he'll be back where you first fought." Dagger replied.
"Is something wrong?" Cloak asked, "Can I help?"
White Tiger spun around at this. "Cloak, can you teleport us to Central Park?" She pleaded.
"I… Well kind of? But what's going on?" He replied, "A-and what about him?" he pointed to Temugin, who was muttering through the people he had killed.
"Just dump him in a jail cell or something!" White Tiger shouted, causing Cloak to shrink away in shock. "Please, Peter is in danger!"
Cloak reacted almost instantly, understanding what was going on. "I've never been to Central Park, but I can drop you off a little way up the road." He quickly explained, trying to focus on the location. "Ok, let's get everyone and g-."
But before he could finish his sentence there was a sudden crash from outside, and Nova came hurtling through the wall, landing next to them. "Guys, we need to get out of here! The girls somehow much stronger now!" He quickly shouted.
Iron Fist limped in alongside Iceman as simultaneously Power-man ran over, carrying Stark and Veil on his shoulders. "I'll get everyone out of here!" Cloak shouted, creating a portal within his cloak.
White Tiger was the first to enter, appearing atop a rooftop a block away from Central Park. She quickly turned around, expecting to see the rest of the team behind her, but she found that she was alone. "Guys?"
Cloak clutched at this throat, trying to pull off the arm that was strangling him.
Sasha had punched through the wall the moment after White Tiger had left and was now proceeding to suffocate him. Dagger reacted quickly to the event, jumping through a window to the left of her and throwing her blades of light at the villain, who within a flash had let go of Cloak to dodge them. Before Dagger could react Sasha punched her back inside the house and followed.
"Hey, looks like some people are missing." Sasha frowned, before noting Temugin crouched in the corner. "Hey, brother, you there?"
"Killed… so many bodies… sins of the father." He muttered, causing Sasha to burst into hysterical laughter.
"Oh this is brilliant. Is that what those daggers do?" She asked, "You know how rare it is for Temugin to lose his cool?" Everybody remained silent, waiting for her next move. "Well thanks for that, haven't laughed so hard in years."
"Maybe you could let us go as a reward?" Nova piped up.
"Sorry Bucket face, I'd love to but I just think it'll be more fun breaking your neck." She smiled, walking towards him.
He responded by firing a powerful blast of energy at her. Their short fight had confirmed to Nova that she could survive the hit, but he was shocked to see her brush off the blast like it was nothing. Worse than that was how she began to charge up a shot of her own.
Before she could fire however Power-man grabbed her, causing the energy to be blasted upwards, destroying the roof and creating a pillar of light. "Holy…" Power-man muttered, before being flipped over and punched to the ground. As he rolled away from her follow up attack he rubbed his arm against his cheek and realised he was bleeding. "You've got to be kidding me." He muttered to himself, a drop of sweat rolling down his face and causing the cut to sting.
Sasha began to walk towards the team, creating two long whips of energy. She swung one, which the team barely dodged as it elongated, cutting through walls to separate the entire top half of the house from the bottom. For a moment they stared in awe, before Iceman created a wall of ice between them and grabbed Nova, going to run. To their immense shock however Sasha had appeared in front of them, and she punched Iceman with enough force to knock him through the wall he had just created.
She then pushed herself forwards with great speed, grabbing Cloak and Dagger by the neck and throwing them after Bobby. As Iron Fist attempted to react with a swift punch she used her thrusters to propel herself across the hall, and then fired a beam of energy at the hero. For a second Iron Fist wondered if this was it, but Nova jumped in front of him, absorbing the energy and blasting it back, dazing Sasha. He quickly turned around and ran at Cloak, picking him up as the team jumped out of the crumbling house.
"Quick, I'll teleport us out of here!" Cloak yelled, creating a rift to the same place he had sent Ava within the darkness.
As the Team began to run through Sasha blasted out the house, Temugin held over his shoulder, and collided with Nova as he entered the portal, joining the team on the rooftop near central park.
"Wow, look at those buildings brother. They're so huge!" She shouted to Temugin, the team backing away from her. "Just makes you want to bring them down like dominoes, huh?"
"It's all my fault… I'm pathetic and useless." Temugin muttered, causing Sasha to sigh.
"God, you're such a broken record right now." Sasha yawned, stretching and blasting a beam of energy at one of the skyscrapers, causing it to rumble and shake. The team responded, jumping at her from all sides, however in this open space she was able to quickly react, using a whip to knock them all away. "Well then, who should I cut open first?"
"I killed my teacher for forgetting the correct honorifics, I didn't even care but I wanted to get my father's attention." Temugin sobbed, still reliving his sins.
"Oy, Blondie, how long does this thing last for? It is really annoying me." Sasha asked Dagger, kicking her brother gently.
"I… just watched as my father massacred innocent people for slight disagreements." Temugin continued.
"A few minutes… I guess he has a lot of guilt." Dagger muttered, attempting to throw her blades at Sasha, who idly side stepped to dodge them.
"Good to know." Sasha smiled walking forwards.
"I assisted my father kill my step-mother..." Temugin mumbled, causing Sasha to stop.
Sasha paused mid step, turning around and walking over "What was that?" She said, her voice like ice.
"I assisted in the murder of a group of charity-" He continued, but Sasha picked him up by his clothes and yelled at him.
"What was that about my mother, Temugin!" She screamed, shaking him around to snap him out of his state. As this was going on Nova grabbed her battery and looked at Power-man, pointing to it.
Temugin meanwhile had snapped out of his daze and looked up. "Sister? What is wrong?"
"What were you saying about my mother!?" She shouted, hitting him across the face with enough force to draw blood.
"I have no idea what you are speaking about sister. Let's just calmly go over things and work out what is-" Temugin said soothingly, but his sister struck him again. "Enough of this sister!"
"Why did you say you had killed her? Answer me Temugin or I'll break your legs!" Sasha shouted, but at that moment Power-man grabbed her and Nova pushed the battery back onto her arm. "You damn brats!" She yelled, turning around and firing a blast of energy at them, however the enrgy fired simply knocked Nova back a little bit.
Temugin also reacted, kicking his sister off of him and holding her in a lock. "Damn brat." He muttered, before looking up to the heroes, "Thank you for the assistance, I think she may have legitimately killed me if you didn't interfere."
Before he could say anything else Iceman attempted to freeze him, but he jumped out of the way, abandoning his sister. He landed softly next to the hero, and then kicked at his legs, tripping him up. As Iceman fell back Temugin went to knock him out with a punch, but Iron Fist and Power-man kicked at him, knocking him across the roof.
"You idiots really don't know when to stop." Temugin growled, stepping forwards as Nova sped towards him, casually knocking out the hero with a quick punch to the back of the neck. "Come on now, let's be civilized and go our separate ways."
Iron Fist moved forwards alone, causing Temugin to laugh "Do you really want to do this boy? It will be a repeat of earlier."
"No, not this time." Iron Fist said simply, moving forwards with a swift kick, which Temugin parried, going in for the usual opening. To his surprise, however, it was not there, and a punch followed, knocking him back. After a moment of shock, the villain returned to combat, but each time he went in for an opening he was knocked back. The fifth time this happened Temugin was hit with a chi infused punch that sent him rolling across the floor. He coughed as he stood up, ignoring his headache and feeling his cheek. He was shocked, however, to find that something had his cheek bone was broken.
"How dare you!" Temugin yelled, his voice distorted by the difficultly he now found in opening his mouth. He ran forward, actually attacking Iron Fist rather than simply reacting. He was swift and precise, his movements almost like a dance, each action going into the other without breaking a delicate flow. Iron Fist thought to himself how impressive and well thought-out the style was as he barely dodged a strike with Temugin's palm, but he finally saw an opening and grabbed Temugin, throwing him against the floor. Temugin span around, returning to a defensive stance and simply watched Iron Fist. "How have you improved this much?"
"You showed me every one of my flaws in the earlier battle, so I just took time to correct them." Iron Fist smiled, getting a scowl from Temugin.
"That is impossible, how could you just change things on the fly like that when even I cannot?" Temugin spat.
"Simple," Iron Fist replied with a smile, "I'm just better than you."
Temugin exploded in rage, running forwards and attacking, ignoring all poise., however to Iron Fist's shock this did not mean he was any weaker, in fact it was the opposite. Danny felt the palm of Temugin's hand smash into his ribs and the entire left half of his body went numb, but as he tried to back away Temugin jumped on top of him. "I will not let you surpass me!" Temugin yelled.
Danny knew there was only one thing he could do. He twisted around, kicking Temugin off of him and as the villain ran to land one final attack Danny leaned in and landed a hook, using as much chi as possible to knock the villain out.
Unfortunately Temugin was knocked through the air and off the roof, however Cloak teleported forwards, grabbing him and pulling him up. "I-I got him," Cloak gulped, getting assistance from Power-man to pull him up.
"Congratulations man." Power-man smiled, patting him on the back with enough force to stagger the hero, "Fast thinking on you part."
"Y-yeah… thanks." Cloak muttered, shrinking away from the attention. Dagger on the other hand ignored the rest of the team, jumping on his back and giving him a hug.
"Ty! Good to see you're alright!" She beamed, causing Cloak to blush.
He gave her a quick kiss, then turned to the others "We better hurry up and help White Tiger now." He gulped.
"And what, did you forget about me?" Sasha asked, sitting in the ice, her battery in her hand. "I guess that wasn't the smartest idea." She blasted free of the ice and the team got ready for another battle, however instead of fighting them she simply walked over to Temugin, picking him up. "Thing is I have more pressing concerns than you, so I'll let you run along... this time."
With that she jumped into the air, flying away from the battlefield. "Ok, now we should go and help White Tiger." Power-man said, and the team quickly moved out.
White Tiger carefully sneaked through a series of bushes, watching Kravin, who stood in front of a large tree to which Spider-man was tied by a thick line of cable. He was inspecting the area with immense focus, looking for the slightest sense of movement, and had his finger on the trigger of some kind of assault rifle.
As she crawled behind a tree her foot snagged on a branch of the bush, and Kravin reacted almost instantly, firing at it and setting the plant aflame. He frowned when a squirrel scuttled out from it, then began to watch once more. White Tiger leaned against the tree and took a deep breath before climbing up it.
She looked down upon Kravin and waited for the villain to look away so she could pounce. Kravin however pointed the gun upwards and shot at the branch, knocking her to the floor. As White Tiger landed, catching her ankle and twisting it, she looked up. Kravin stood in front of her pointing to his eyes, "Infrared contacts. I was watching you the entire time." Kravin smiled, pointing the gun to her head.
She reacted quickly, twisting herself out of the way of the bullet and then grabbing the rifle, pulling it out of his hands. Kravin leapt back, using a small device on his wrist to create a shield that protected him from any follow up attack.
"White Tiger!" the two heard someone yell, and turned to look at Power-man running towards them, leading the rest of the team.
Kravin reacted by whistling, signalling to a large group of Octobots to attack. "Kingpin wants your team gone, so I decided to team up with him here. The octobots kill your friends, but you and Spider-man, you are my prey. And when I get you I can leave this damned country!" He spat, pulling a machete out of a holster on his belt and swinging it at White Tiger's throat, which she flipped back to dodge, careful not to land on her damaged ankle. "Kingpin can have the rest of your damn team, I just want your heads on my wall."
White Tiger stepped around, and then jumped on his shield, using it to leap behind him and swing at his legs. Kravin feel back, but rolled over and got himself back up, pulling out a crossbow, which he fired at White Tiger, catching her shoulder as she charged at him. However much to the villains shock she ignored the arrow and kneed him in the face, before grabbing his arm and dislocating it. As he stepped back she punched him with her good arm and knocked him down.
"How?" Kravin spluttered. "Before you and Spider-man struggled when I had all my equipment."
"Unlike you Kravin," She spat with distain, "I've gotten stronger and haven't just sat idly by, hoping some crappy tech would compensate my weakness."
Kravin growled, then looked around at the heroes surrounding him, who had easily destroyed the Octobots. He began to chuckle, "I'll see you again White Tiger, and next time I'll be more prepared." He held up a ring that once belonged to her father, "After all, I know exactly who you are, and when to strike." With that he threw down a smoke bomb and began to run off. White Tiger went to follow, however as she passed Spider-man she noticed the bomb.
She quickly turned around, pulling at the cables and breaking him free. Spider-man quickly fell to the floor, pulling the bomb off of his chest and removing his mask so that he could get access to the gag in his mouth. "We got to do something about the bomb, it has a radius large enough to destroy central park!" He coughed, and to his surprise Dagger grabbed it from him.
"Cloak, open a portal to the other dimension!" She yelled, to which Cloak complied. In turn she lobbed the bomb within the folds of his cloak and the heroes watched as it was consumed by the shadows. "Well, that's that done." Dagger smiled, causing Spider-man to chuckle in relief.
"But it looks like Kravin got away." Iron Fist gulped, leaning against a tree.
As White Tiger went to say something Spider-man embraced her, "Good to see your ok, Ava."
"Same for you, Peter." She smiled and held him for a few seconds longer. Once she let go she muttered, "Kravin will be back, we'll take care of him then. He's no longer a threat to any of us anyway, no matter how hard he tries."
"What should we do now then?" Spider-man asked, however they heard the sound of screaming and instantly knew where to go.
Temugin awoke dangelling from the edge of a skyscraper, staring at the police looking up at him from below. He looked up at his sister, her face filled with rage and sighed. "It would have been better if you hadn't know." He frowned, Sasha responding by blasting him with a beam of energy that destroyed his left side. "Sasha, stop this now." He screamed, shouting in his native language.
"Why did you kill her, Temugin? Answer me before I drop you off this damn thing." She threatened, loosening her grip.
Temugin smiled at this "What, you think I'll answer so easily?"
Sasha responded by digging her fingers into his wound, wrapping them around the loose strands of flesh and pulling. Temugin tried to brush off the pain, but Sasha looked at him with a gleeful expression. "You know how many times I've looked at you and wanted to do this? To bash your head in and see what comes out." She asked.
"Too many." Temugin frowned.
"Well I'll stop if you give me a god damn answer! Why did you kill my mother!?"
"I was following orders!" Temugin yelled out. "I am a good son, that is what I do!"
"Why would he order you to kill her?" Sasha yelled, tears in her eyes. Temugin looked uncomfortable, almost wanting to console her.
"He… was scared that she would take you away from him…" Temugin said. "She had said as much."
"But why would you help him? You cared about her too." She asked, causing Temugin to look away.
"Someone like you, who always got whatever she wanted wouldn't understand how a bastard son like me would feel. After all, I was first allowed in the house after 10 years so to give you a playmate. I was nothing! Leftover trash!" Temugin yelled. "But he asked me to help him, me! What could I do Sasha? What else could I do but follow him?"
Sasha stared at her brother for a moment, pitying him, then punched through his abdomen, ripping out his kidney. "If he is so important to you then I'll let you die next to him."
Thor flew to the air using his now regained strength, and channeled a bolt of lightning through his hammer, aiming it at Mimic. The villain fell back as it he was struck, but quickly got himself back up, pulling energy from Hercules to resist the next bolt. "Don't think that-" He began to brag, but Dr Strange set him ablaze.
He quickly scuttled towards a fire hydrant and pulled it off, using the water to extinguish the flames, however due to their magical nature they did not go out. So not to burn himself any further he charged at the Thing, copying his powers enough so that he was no longer made of flesh and then charged at Captain America, whose battle with the Mandarin now joined into the one the Avenger's were fighting. However before he could get too close Quicksilver began to run around him at immense speed, creating a tornado that sucked him up and threw him into the air. While there Giant man grew in size, swatting him to the floor.
Mimic slammed against the floor with a disturbing squelch, almost turning to a liquid, however after a few moments he reformed. "Get out of my way you damn animals!" He screamed, blasting a beam of energy from his eyes at Wasp and Thor, causing the later to drop Mjonir. Mimic ran over to the unconscious heroes and began to draw energy from Thor, empowering him even more than before.
"Now you peons cannot hope to stop me!" he shouted proudly, however at that moment his powers began to reverse.
He spun around to look at the Scarlet Witch, who was muttering a hex that disabled his abilities. "Damn you!" He yelled, turning back around to see Thor's hammer, which smashed against his head and finally took him down.
"Man, that guy just would not fall down." Tigress panted, nursing a gash on her leg.
From the other side of the battlefield the Mandarin cried out in rage, "How?! How could he fall to you?" he shouted at Captain America, who jumped back to dodge a punch.
"No matter how strong he was, there was no way he could take on the Avengers alone." Captain America smiled.
"Fine!" The Mandarin spat, "But soon my daughter shall arrive and finish you all off, after all, just a short while ago I heard that she had captured Iron Man."
"You're bluffing." Captain America said, bringing his elbow down on the Mandarin's leg, causing an audible crack.
"Oh really," He smiled, pointing out a shape in the sky. It was Sasha, another figure slung over her shoulder. "Then who is that coming now?" He leapt forwards, putting Captain America in a headlock and punching at his ribs. The hero broke free, however was blasted back by a beam of energy from The Mandarin's rings. "Sasha, lets hurry up and finish these pathetic-"
There was silence as Sasha shot her father through the chest with a beam of energy. He simply stared at her with a mixture of shock, horror, disappointment and confusion, and after a few seconds he fell to his knees. "You found out." He muttered, coughing up some blood. "Dammit Temugin, how many more times will you fail me."
At the sound of his father's disappointment Temugin broke free of his sister's grasp, landing on the floor with a large crack, shattering his ankles. Despite the pain however he crawled towards his father "I'm sorry, father, I'm so sorry!" he sobbed, pulling out a syringe containing a viscous black liquid. "I'll make things right, I will. Please just forgive me. It wasn't my fault."
The Mandarin looked at him with disgust, but Temugin moved onwards, pushing the syringe into his father's hands. "It'll make you stronger than before, it will." He explained, tears rolling down his eyes.
The Mandarin took the syringe and upon recognising what it was smiled, injected it into his arm. He paused for a moment and watched as the hole in his chest healed up. "Thank you son." He smiled, but noticed the pool of blood around his child. "Temugin?"
He picked him up and saw the wounds throughout his body, each one as bad as the hole through his chest. "No, why did you give me the serum?! You needed it!"
Temugin looked up with misty eyes, "You care?" He asked, honestly surprised, and reached towards his father's head. A moment later however his arm dropped.
"Temugin?" The Mandarin asked. He paused and carefully lowered his son to the floor. "Sasha! How dare you?!" He screamed, his flesh bubbling and inflating.
"Dammit, the High Evolutionary serum." Sasha cursed, blasting at her father and destroying the area around him. However to their surprise he survived, his skin turning to metal to resist the damage. He pushed down on his legs and Sasha found her father inches away from her. She tried to cut him with a sword of light, but her father casually punched her to the floor.
She landed face first, breaking her nose and causing a series of cuts to cover her body. Suffering shock from the event she simply lied on the ground, watching as her father approached.
The heroes, unable to stomach the sight ran forwards, Captain America and Thor side by side. The Mandarin turned around at this, casually grabbing the Captain's shield and Thor's hammer with one arm each. The two heroes stared in shock as he lifted them up and threw them into a building. "I am a High Evolutionary now, above men and gods." The Mandarin said in a voice like thunder.
The remainder of the Avengers attempted to take him down too, however his immense strength meant their powers were useless. Even the Scarlet Witch's hexes and Dr Strange's spells failed to cause him harm, instead seemingly evolving him to adapt to them. Desperate to take him out the heroes all charged at one, punching, kicking, clawing, burning and smashing at him, however when the dust was gone he still stood and the heroes had fallen, however his body was no longer human.
His skin had now taken a slight reddish hue as the metal changed to one more resistant to heat, and to protect him from attacks from all sides a number of arms had grown throughout his body, swinging about with little control. Due to a hit in the general location, his face was now covered by a mask that grew from his neck and protected him from harm. On top of this, bones now protruded from his shoulders, covered in symbols that seemed to nullify Dr Strange's curses.
He looked around at the heroes, waiting for one of them to move, then glanced down and realised he was finally in front of his daughter. He stared at her for a moment in shame, then picked her up and yelled "You were supposed to be the future, my future! Why did you throw it all away!?"
"Because I would rather die than be anything like you." Sasha spat. Her father stared at her sadly, then shoved his arm into her chest, pulling out the arc reactor.
"So be it."
The Team watched from afar, completely frozen in fear. They had followed the sound of destruction, but now all they could see was the Mandarin standing amongst the bodies of the Avengers. "Are the… even alive?" Nova asked hesitantly.
"I don't think they would die that easily." A voice muttered from Power-man's shoulder. They turned around to see Tony Stark push himself up. "I think I have a plan to take that guy out, but you're not going to like it."
"What do you mean?" Spider-man asked, noticing Stark pull a small device out of his pocket.
"This is the control for an orbital satellite carrying one of the most powerful and focused weapons in the world and it can be used to nullify any threat around the world with expert precision." He explained, "It was commissioned by my father and I always kept a hold of it just in case."
"You can't mean to shoot him with it?" Iron Fist asked, which caused Stark to look away.
"Look, the Mandarin just survived being attacked by hexes, punches and Mjonir. I think we need some heavy firepower to take him down." Stark replied.
"So when does the 'But' come in?" White Tiger sighed.
"But he is too close to the Avengers. I need you to move him from that spot." Stark explained.
"Oh, so an easy job then?" Spider-man muttered, looking around and coming up with a plan. "White Tiger, Nova, you two go to that rooftop. Cloak and Dagger, I want you two to teleport and attack him from behind after Iron Fist engages. On that note, Iron Fist, you go with Iceman down there, I want you to begin fighting as soon as the Mandarin takes me and Power-man down. Nova, at that moment you need to start attacking from afar, you're going to attract him away. When that happens, Tony, you can fire your laser."
"Ok." Everyone nodded, getting in position.
"Well, this will either go great, or will be a catastrophe." Spider-man sighed.
The Mandarin was surprised to see two teenagers walk towards him. "What now?" He asked, keeping his position.
"So are you supposed to be some kind of Martian or something?" Power-man asked, staying back with Spider-man.
"I am the Mandarin, and you should show me respect." He muttered, raising his fingers and firing a blast of heat at the two of them, which they easily dodged.
"Dude, you sound just like your son." Spider-man commented, causing the Mandarin to look at him. "Respect this, honour that. You going to be a sadist like him too?"
His spider sense began to flare up, and Spider-man blinked in pain. When he opened his eyes The Mandarin was there. "Shi-" He began to cry out, but the Mandarin grabbed his throat and threw him through a building.
Power-man jumped onto his back from behind, punching at his head, but doing no damage. The Mandarin jumped up into the sky in response, then threw Luke over his shoulder and to the floor, landing on him with a painful crunch.
To his surprise however Iron Fist appeared, hitting him in the chest with a chi infused punch, after a second however Iron Fist recoiled, holding his knuckles. The Mandarin smacked him across the face, catapulting him into Iceman, who was creating a wall of ice around him. The mandarin used his rings to destroy the wall, and felt something stick into his back.
He stared at the dagger of light, then looked up at Cloak and Dagger, taking a step and appearing next to them. He grabbed the two by their heads and smashed them into each other, knocking them out with ease, but once again felt a niggling sensation in his back as Nova fired a barrage of energy at him.
Sighing the Mandarin jumped to the roof of the building which Nova and White Tiger were standing on and threw the two off, using his ice ring to stop Nova from flying. Just before he hit the floor two Iron Man suits grabbed them. A smile appeared on the Mandarin's mask, and he turned to see Stark standing next to him, "Stark," he said, happiness in his voice.
"Goodbye Mandarin." Tony replied simply, pressing the button on his device and watching as a beam of light vaporised the villain.
He turned around, jumping into one of his suits and picking up Veil, handing her over to White Tiger. "It is over." He smiled.
Suddenly a smouldering body jumped in-between them, knocking White Tiger away and grabbing Iron Man with a number of arms. It tried to make words, however his vocal cords were burned out.
"Impossible!" Iron Man shouted, trying to break free.
"I…. Will… n-no…t fall here" The Mandarin struggled to say, his burned skin being covered by a metal exoskeleton. "I will not."
Iron Man tried to aim a second shot, but the Mandarin crushed the device in his hand. "I wanted to defeat you one last time. You are the only one ever to best me, Stark."
He went to finish Iron Man off, but much to his surprise a fist hit him square in the face, knocking him across the battle field. "Hulk smash puny bug!" The Hulk shouted, jumping on him and flattening him into the ground.
Iron Man fell to his knees, and felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. "Sorry I'm late." The Sentry smiled, "I was in Austin helping to calm down the Hulk." He looked over and saw the Hulk crumpled over in pain, the Mandarin standing above him.
"Annoying pests." The Mandarin growled.
"Sentry, if you give me a minute I can use my suit to fire a weapon at the Mandarin, this time I'll increase the output and not even leave an ash." Iron Man coughed.
"I don't approve of killing, Tony." The Sentry frowned. "If that is the only way you can see, I'll just have to take him out myself."
"W-what?" Iron Man asked.
Within a flash The Sentry appeared next to The Mandarin, punching him into the sky. The Mandarin reacted quickly, growing a pair of wings almost bat like in nature, but The Sentry appeared next to him, pulling them off. He quickly spun around and kicked the villain back to the ground, causing a giant crack to form down the street. He then followed, bashing into the Mandarin's chest and imbedding him into the earth.
The Mandarin pushed himself back out, and jumped at the Sentry, going in for a flurry of punches, however he was squashed to the ground by the Hulk. "It took me a few hours to calm down the Hulk, good job setting him off again. Even I can't stop him when he is like that." The Sentry smiled.
After a second the Mandarin's body began to shake, as it grew gargantuan in size, his many arms contorting and twisting back into his body, except from the two that wore his rings. He stared at the Sentry and Hulk, then jumped forwards, grabbing the two by their necks and dragging them across half the city in a second. He began to smash them into each other, attempting to pound them into dust.
In the face of this power neither of the heroes could do anything, however despite this the Sentry started laughing. The Mandarin roared at him in reply, kicking him through a series of bridges, before appearing behind him and smashing him to the ground right where they started. "Hey, did you need those curses?" The Sentry coughed, before keeling over and vomiting up some blood.
The Mandarin turned his head, noticing the spikes on his back were now gone, and behind him stood Dr Strange. He began to move his arms around, and the Mandarin felt an immense pain, before coughing up a black mass of liquid. The villain quickly grabbed for it as he began to shrink down, "Get back in!" The Mandarin begged, swallowing it in an attempt to regain his powers, before noticing Iron Man landing next to him at the last moment. "Stark!"
"Your war is over, Mandarin." Iron Man said sadly.
"No, I need to win, or else this will be for nothing!" The Mandarin shouted, the hole reforming in his chest.
"It is for nothing! Look around at the destruction you have caused, how many people have died today because of you!?" Iron Man shouted, grabbing his enemy and pulling him to his feet.
"It was for a good cause! If I succeeded humanity could become the greatest species in existence. We need to be able to protect ourselves!" He shouted.
"We are here!" Iron Man shouted, gesturing at the Avengers and the Ultimates, who had begun to stand once more. "And we will protect this world from any threat, including yours."
The Mandarin glanced around, then began to cough up blood violently as the hole was now fully formed in his chest. "My daughter really did finish me off. But perhaps I deserved that." He frowned quietly, "But if I'm going to die…" He raised his hand to Iron Man's head, pointing his annihilation ring at him "Then as shall you!"
The next second seemed like a year to Iron man as he quickly counted all the possibilities and realised he could not react in time to save himself. However at the moment he had given up he felt something tug on the back of his helmet, pulling him out of the ring's path, and causing the annihilation beam to hit a fire hydrant instead. The Mandarin simply gave Tony a sad look at this, before collapsing to the floor.
Iron Man fell back next, quickly feeling the back of his helmet to touch the spider-web back there. He simply sat for a moment, staring at The Mandarin's corpse, before turning around and smiling at Spider-man. "It's over." He said at last.
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Phew, that was a long chapter to write. Sorry I was late with this upload, lots of stuff going on and it took a while to get into the flow. I must admit, at times I wonder whether I should try cutting these chapters down even smaller, uploading little by little as a lot of other people do, as these long chapters require some serious commitment to read, but on the other hand, due to how these early chapters are much more episodic it may not work as well.
So yes, the Mandarin is dead and ultimately his army wasn't as big of a threat as they seemed. It makes sense when you think that the average general was only about as strong as Scrier, who couldn't defeat spider-man without cheating. When these guys took on the avengers there was no way they would win, which meant the big forces where the complete products, all of whom had weaknesses.
Temugin and Sasha were pretty fun to write, seeing as how they relished in being evil, but if I have one regret I feel their fates were a bit too violent, however I wanted to stress the abusive nature of their family is ultimately what killed them. For their mother it was the neglect that caused Temugin to strike her down, while for Temugin it was the freedom and lack of punishment given to Sasha had that allowed her to kill him, Finally for Sasha it was her father's violent reaction to any threats to his beliefs.
In case your wondering why the High Evolutionary Mandarin lost those spikes with the symbols on them, it was as he began to adapt purely to face strength based heroes like the Hulk and the Sentry, meaning he was now completely susceptible for spells. I'll explain how it works in a later chapter.
Next mini chapter will be a celebration and reflection of the end of the battle. The mini chapter that was supposed to go in between here was cut due to being a bit too off topic and also kind of crap.