WARNING: Violence
A/N: As promised the fight scene outtake at the Dr. Doom base. Sorry for the delay in posting but I am become mildly obsessed with the Stargate Universe and can't seem to stop watching episodes long enough to write this for you guys. (Plus I got all the seasons of Spartacus for Christmas and all those yummy men have been occupying a lot of my thoughts lately.)
Chapter 18 Outtake – Battle Royale
Previously
Armed with the code to shut down Dr. Doom's robot army the team got the go ahead from SHIELD to take down the secret American base of the evil scientist. A quin jet ride later and the Avengers were crouched in a wooded area looking down on the compound. Tony used the night vision in his suit to plan out a likely route to avoid patrolling guards.
With Tony and Cat in the lead to make use of their night vision abilities the group stealthily moved in. Silently Cat took out all of the human guards that came near their position, knocking them unconscious and tying them up to face justice later.
Now
The group crept closer to the buildings as stealthily as they could. To Cat's sensitive ears Thor and Dr. Banner made enough noise to wake the dead but she suspected it was actually not that loud. At least no more guards came to investigate any noise they were making.
At the edge of the brightly lit courtyard Tony found them some cover so they could form a plan. There were three buildings on the site that needed to be checked out. One was a huge building that must be a plant of some kind judging by the mechanical noises coming from within it. The banging and whirring a dead give away for large manufacturing machines. The other two buildings were smaller. One was definitely a dormitory for the human workers and the other they could only guess was a storage building of some kind.
The Avengers decided to split into groups so that all the buildings could be searched simultaneously. Natasha and Captain Rogers would take the dormitory. Their goal was to sedate any sleeping workers and guards with some handy little darts Tony provided, Clint mumbled that he didn't even want to know where he had space to keep them in that suit. The sleeping workers would later be interrogated by SHIELD when the fighting was all over and they had woken up. This way they would be out of the way during the main fight to take Dr. Doom.
Hawkeye and Shadow Cat were stuck with the warehouse like building. Cat argued to try and get herself on the main plant group but to no avail. They were sending the heavy hitters and the least stealthy in there which meant Tony, Thor, and the Hulk.
The two smaller teams could surely use the element of surprise so they got a head start before the main attack on the plant would start. The four selected for the two stealth targets set off around the yard, sticking to the shadowy edges until they reached their targets.
Captain America and the Blackwidow
The two agile agents easily dropped down from the low roof of the dormitory building, taking out both guards with little effort. They had been playing cards and their bored chatter covered any noise the two made while on the roof. Steve shook his head at their carelessness before following Natasha inside.
The sedative was easy to administer to the men tucked into the rows of bunk beds. Tony assured them that it would keep them sleeping for a good long time and Steve hoped that was so.
When they had finished they shared a smile, both of them thinking that their part of the mission had been unexpectedly easy. With a nod they set off towards the main building to join Thor, Tony and Hulk in case they needed backup. They didn't bother to skulk in the shadows but took off straight for the plant.
They made it no more than half way across the yard before a huge explosion could be heard from the direction of the plant. Steve and Natasha glanced at each other and took off in a sprint, determined to help their comrades. Before they could make it a handful of steps hatches began to pop open in the ground, giant mechanical spiders scurrying out of them.
One such hatch opened right at Natasha's feet. The spider was on her before she could dive out of the way. It knocked her to the ground with a leg to the face, crawling over her form and attempting to pin her down. For a moment she could do nothing but cover her head to avoid the legs thrashing all around her but quickly she got some traction with one boot. That little bit of friction was enough to push herself out from under the thing.
Steve had been running in front of Natasha when everything went to hell. He turned back to her just in time to see her go down under the robotic thing. His bellow of rage split the night and he wasted no time in jumping on the back of the spider, driving his shield down through its body nearly cutting it in half. It fell where she had been a moment ago before she pushed herself out from under it.
By the time he had pried his shield free Natasha was back on her feet. Her eye was already swelling and darkening with a bruise but otherwise she was no worse for wear. She shook off Steve's concerned hand that grasped her chin to get a better look at the damage. They could not spare the time to patch her up, not with the spiders quickly beginning to surround them.
The two of them arranged themselves back to back, ready and alert for the fight to come.
Hawkeye and Shadow Cat
They also crept toward their destination just as Natasha and Steve were at the same time. Everything in their area was quiet, only the faint sounds from the plant building invading the darkness. The building they has been assigned was the farthest from the lighted area and seemed pretty deserted.
The door was not locked and inside they found several different types of robots in rows as well as boxes and pallets of raw materials. At first the sight of robots put them on edge but it was clear they were all in some sort of standby mode, or perhaps just powered off completely. Cat couldn't help but wish that Bruce or Tony was there to check for sure. As much as she could she tried to keep them all in her line of sight as she checked the rest of the building, feeling uneasy in their presence.
Hawkeye hopped up on a stack of boxes and watched her progress through the building intently. He crouched in a ready stance, an arrow already notched on his bow. Determined to keep her safe he stretched his keen vision to every darkened corner, trying to surmise where an attack might come from.
As she got farther away from him he got edgy and found his way up on one of the I beams supporting the ceiling and jogged towards her. Always sure footed he had no fear of falling from the thin metal walkway, only fear for the woman he had come to care for. He shadowed her movements on the ground with his in the air above, jumping from perch to perch when necessary. Thankfully he was firmly in place when an explosion made the building shudder.
Suddenly the dormant bots came to life. Cat used the shut down code given to them by Dr. Banner but only the humanoid ones seemed to be affected. Swearing Cat threw the device and swung her battle claws down into a robot that looked a lot like a scorpion. A few quick jabs to its body and enough damage was done to shut it down.
"Do you want me to jump down?" Asked Clint from his high vantage point as he shot arrows and notched another in a seamless motion over and over, taking out every target he aimed for.
"No," came the terse reply. She didn't have time to explain that this way she could swing at anything that moved without fear of it being an ally, or that his vantage point might come in handy if she could just fight her way free of the knot of bots surrounding her for a moment.
Caterina was claws deep in yet another robot when it suddenly powered down. Before she could yank her claws out of the fallen one another scorpion like robot sidled up to it and slammed its tail down on her wrist. She felt the bones shatter and a scream tore from her throat, half anger and half pain.
Hawkeye turned sharply at the sound. His attention had been drawn to the far side of the building where a knot of robots had been trying to get passed a row of boxes to come up on Cat's back and now she was hurt. Without thinking he slung his bow over his shoulder for a moment and dropped down to hang off the beam from his hands. Barely waiting for his weight to rest on his hands he dropped down beside her and slammed the arrow in his hand into the offending scorpion's power core. Tackling Cat his momentum carried them both behind a crate before a small explosion set the robot flying away in pieces.
Quickly Barton used a meaningful glance to ask if she was alright. Cat cradled her hurt wrist against her stomach but gave him a firm nod in response. She could still fight though she did curse the loss of one of her battle claws before she even got it properly broken in. Clint held up his hand, rapidly signing to her that there couldn't be more than 4 or 5 robots left functioning from what he had seen before jumping down. Still using his hand he motioned her to go around the box one way and he would go the other. At her nod the two of them gripped their weapons and sprung in different directions.
Even down one hand they swiftly dispatched the remaining scorpions. It was only after they made sure that they are safe that Shadow Cat finally noticed that Clint was limping. Cat didn't bother making a fuss over his injury, knowing that he would continue to fight injured just as she did. Instead she pulled his arm over her shoulder and wrapped her good arm around his waist, taking some of the weight off his injured ankle.
The two of them went off to find their friends and help in any way they could.
Captain Rogers and the Blackwidow
Steve's well placed kick caved in the processing unit of the spider robot he faced. The report of Natasha's guns assured him that she was holding her own behind him as he swung his shield at another spider skittering toward him. A sudden silence made him turn to check on his partner.
She was fine, calmly replacing the clips in her guns with full ones. The spider closest to her had been dispatched by an arrow. Turning in a circle he saw that it was the last of them and took a moment to catch his breath. Even with his enhanced stamina fighting that many of those things had taken a bit of wind out of him. He had taken a few cuts from shrapnel and flailing robot limbs but he could feel them disappearing already.
From the direction of the warehouse building he saw Shadow Cat helping Hawkeye toward where he and Natasha stood. He spared a second to make sure that neither of them looked seriously hurt before moving quickly to Natasha's side and checking on her swollen eye. She rolled her good eye at his insistence to make sure she was fine but let him assure himself that her eye would be alright before making sure that Hawkeye and Shadow Cat were also mostly intact.
"I'm fine Tasha and so is Cat. Go and help the others. That explosion has me worried. We will be there as soon as we can." She didn't need to be told twice. With a nod to Steve the two of them take off running again toward the plant.
Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk
Tony had never been good at waiting so the fact that he was in charge of the 10 minute countdown to the head start the other teams got was probably a good thing. At least he wasn't pestering anyone else about how much time was left because it was ticking down on his helmet display. It took all his willpower not to pace, which probably would have given away their position.
Bruce was sitting down but the tension in his body showed his nervousness. This whole plan depended on the shut down code he had designed working as planned. If things went bad he could only blame himself. Keeping the other guy in check with that kind of pressure rattling around in his head was becoming a strain.
Thor was the only one of the three to actually be relaxed. He knew that Tony would let him know when it was time to attack and until then he simply waited. There was nothing else any of them could do at the moment so why worry about it? Confidence in his teammates was enough to keep him from stressing over the outcome of this strike.
As the seconds trickled away Tony got more and more antsy. He wanted this over with already. "Come on, Come on, Come on!" He whispered into his helmet where no one but JARVIS can hear him. Finally the display read zero and he jumped up to stalk toward the target. "Let's go people. We have an evil genius to capture." This time he made sure his voice was broadcast through his helmet to his partners.
The three of them approach the nearest regular size door, bypassing several loading bay doors. Even Thor figured it would cause too much attention to break in one of those. He settled for using his hammer to bust open the little door instead. Inside his suit Tony was again muttering, this time about how the door was probably unlocked but it was too late now.
Tony and Bruce were surprised that no alarm was sounded at the door flying open like that. Thor didn't even notice the lack of response to his actions. The sound of the machines was a muted roar in the background so Bruce had to assume that it covered any noise.
Looking around the group took in what they could see of the building. It was mostly one large, open floor. Machines, humans and robots moved about the room with no change yet to their presence. Down the left side of the building looked like a series of small rooms, perhaps offices. The far side of the plant was walled off completely, though they could see large openings for a cable system to move parts to the back from the production floor.
The trio moved deeper into the labyrinth of machines coming face to face with some human workers. The men barely registered their presence. Instead they stared down at the floor and went busily about their tasks. It seemed that they didn't care to get in the middle of any fight.
The robots that they encountered likewise seemed to be intent on their assigned tasks. In fact, the first resistance they met was in the form of a security guard. "Stop! Don't move!" He yelled, drawing his pistol from the holster on his belt. He tried to block their path towards the office like rooms on the left but Tony simply pushed passed him, shoving him into a machine. The guard began to panic and fired a shot at Tony's back.
The shot bounced off harmlessly but it did serve to get his attention. Turning back toward the man Tony lifted his hand. The guard seemed to realise that he was way out of his league because he raised his hands in the air. Bruce thought he could actually see him shaking from his vantage point behind a large injection moulder. Tony wasn't taking any chances with him though and shot him with a sedative dart, not bothering to catch him when he slumped to the floor. The bruises he got from the tumble would serve him right for shooting at Iron Man, he figured.
With the alarm finally being raised Tony told Dr. Banner that it might be a good idea to use the shut down code for the robots. He couldn't help but agree. There was just one problem, when he tried to use it only the bi-pedal, vaguely human shaped robots comply with the order. The other production robots keep on going about their business, not acknowledging the intruders.
"Uhm, they are not shutting down Brucey," trust in Tony's ability to point out the obvious. Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to remain calm.
"Yes, I see that Tony. There should be a processing hub for the robots around here somewhere. We just have to find it and turn it off." With those words they set off again toward the side of the building. The computer hubs were clearly not on the production floor so there was a good chance they were in the offices.
Surprisingly they don't meet any more guards on their walk. The first office held, well, an office, nothing of the computer parts that would be necessary to control the robots. Those things they found in the second room.
It was packed with the whir of cooling fans and blinking motherboard lights. Rows of hard drives were mounted on racks around the room. Tony wasted no time trying to use JARVIS to hack into the programs but that would take time and they needed to get these robots offline so they could find Dr. Doom as soon as possible. Bruce also had no luck trying to crack the system manually from the computer interface.
Surprisingly it was Thor who came up with the idea to simply destroy it all. His idea was to just smash all the drives and be done with it. Tony figured it would just be easier to blow it up and set about rigging a few charges. They couldn't know how bad an idea that was.
When Tony set off the explosives the first clue they had that something was not right was that the explosion was much bigger than it should have been. It threw all three of them flying. Bruce lost his control and let the Hulk out, which was probably good thing at this point in the mission because they were suddenly surrounded by robots trying to kill them.
Hulk was smashing two of the offending critters together gleefully before Tony and Thor could even pick themselves up off the floor. Soon all three of them were sending electronic parts flying as they got down to the business of taking out their attackers. It was not just Hulk who was enjoying this more than the sneaking around. That was until one of the spider like robots jumped on Thor's back, he didn't think too much of Tony shooting it while it was still hanging on him.
As Tony was heaving a dead robot into a group of still functioning ones he caught sight of Dr. Doom running into the back area of the plant that was partitioned off. He yelled to get the other's attention and pointed back there, hoping they would get his point.
Apparently they did because Hulk took off in great leaping bounds, taking a portion of the wall with him as he pursued the evil scientist. That missing piece of wall was Tony's second clue that this was all a trap because through the hole he could see one giant ass robot coming to life.
Thor and Tony manage to dispatch the remaining beast like robots and took off to join Hulk. They could hear him roaring but most of the wall was still up which meant that they could not see anything going on behind it. When they did reach the hole in the wall and jump through they find something unexpected.
Hulk hasn't ripped the thing apart yet. They could see him trying but it seems to have some kind of energy shield that prevents him from really touching it. While they watch Hulk jumped to punch the thing in the head but his fist bounced off an invisible barrier before it could touch the robot. Hulk landed back on the floor and roared in fury.
The robot raised its hand and fired an energy beam suspiciously like Tony's reactor discharge at Hulk, who just covered his head. It didn't seem to do too much damage to him, then again most things don't.
Tony and Thor don't even hesitate to attack the thing. Thor's hammer just bounced off the shield the same as Hulk's attack had. Tony's own energy beams made its shield falter for a second but not enough for anyone else to get in and do some damage. He even tried shooting from the arc reactor on his chest but it barely made more of a difference other than making him the primary target of the giant robot.
The robot realised that Tony's weapon might be capable of taking out its shield and so concentrated its fire on him. Thankfully the energy weapon didn't seem to do more than be absorbed by the Iron Man suit. They were at a stale mate. Even Thor's lightning strikes only seemed to make the shield falter for a moment before it was back in place. With the barrier up there was no way to take the thing down.
Tony tried to think of a plan. He would have loved to talk to Dr. Banner but seeing the Hulk throwing himself against the shield again and again that was definitely not going to be an option any time soon. He let the other two distract it while he ducked behind a pillar and tried to come up with something.
There was only one thing that might work but it would take most of the power in his suit to pull off. If it didn't work it was going to be very, very bad. Then again he didn't have much of a choice if they were going to take this thing out and finally get Dr. Doom in custody.
The plan was to overload his reactor to create an electromagnetic pulse that should shut down any electronics in the area. Of course the robot could have shielded electronics like his suit did and then they would be severely screwed but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Taking one last moment to think of Pepper he called for Hulk and Thor to be ready, telling them that he was going to try to bring the shield down. For this crazy plan to have even a chance of succeeding he had to get as close to the shield generator as possible. Calculating how big a radius the EMP would have taken too much so he just opted to air on the side of caution.
He stopped in front of the thing just short of touching the shield. He could see the robot's processor and what he thought must be the shield array on the thing's chest so that was where he aimed. This would have to be done quickly before it could grab him. 'No time to second guess this plan,' thought Tony as he overrode the fail safes and dove into position.
The overload worked, though Tony couldn't be sure if it caused the shield's to drop because the suit suddenly lost power. He dropped out of the sky and bounced with a metallic thud across the floor. He didn't try to move right away, just laid there groaning. That turned out not be a wise decision.
As soon as Tony started to drop Thor and Hulk were on the robot. The blast didn't take out many of its systems but at least it did seem to make the shield fail. Thor's hammer made contact with its head, staggering it and hopefully blinding some of its sensors. Tony later suspected that Bruce was helping to guide Hulk because he tore right into the power core and main CPU.
It took only moments for the robot to go down after that. Go down right on top of Tony, who was still lying on the floor. The integrity of his suit did a good job of deflecting the impact but part of it gave way, crushing him in the process. By the time Hulk had lifted the thing off of him Tony could barely breathe. Thor pulled him out and helped him to sit up.
Tony pushed Thor away and told him to find Dr. Doom. He might be in pain but not enough to risk that maniac getting away. He needn't have worried because when Dr. Doom was fleeing Captain America and the Blackwidow were on their way in. Dr. Doom ran smack into Steve's chest and was efficiently put on the ground.
Dr. Doom sputtered and fumed. He could not believe that they had defeated his masterpiece. That robot was designed to keep all of their weapons at bay. He didn't know what had caused the shield to fail but he would not make the same mistake if he ever got the chance to take out the Avengers again, something less elegant but more effective surely.
He was beginning his next plan when the SHIELD agents arrive to take him into custody.
A/N: Hope you liked it. I know some of you were disappointed that I didn't flesh out the original draft more so this is for you all! Let me know what you think. I hope that you followed the jumping around of the story. I thought it was rather neat. The story ends where Chapter 18 takes back up again. When I wrote it originally I had not idea how they got the injuries I mentioned so I had to come up with something.
And no I am not planning on writing any more about Dr. Doom so you'll never know what he might be planning haha.