Attack! On Alpha Base
On the surface of the ocean over Alpha Base…
By the time the S.H.I.E.L.D. armada arrived at Alpha Base's doorstep, the underwater facility's early warning detection systems alerted R.O.G.U.E. to their presence, and the element of surprise was given away…
…exactly as planned.
Without a moment's hesitation, the R.O.G.U.E. heli-destroyers stationed activated their defenses and unleashed a barrage of missile fire at the approaching heli-carriers. As expected, they hovered into a defensive blockade to protect the area of water approximately over the base.
Ember, having expected this, jumped forward, off the flight deck of the Judgment and into flight using a stream of fire to glide her towards the defensive heli-destroyers. Her hands began to glow a bright orange tone of flames as she charged up her fiery powers.
Dodging the missiles, she circled the blockade of about six or seven heli-destroyers and sped up until a cloud of amber-colored fire began to form around the blockade, effectively burning through their shields and causing two of them, closest to the edges of the firestorm to lose critical systems and send them spiraling down towards the ocean.
Panicking, the commanders on-board the heli-destroyers called on aerial support from jet fighters parked on-board the R.O.G.U.E. heli-carriers and U.S. Naval aircraft carriers on the water's surface below.
That call was immediately answered, with jets showing up in attack formation as they deployed. They appeared in large groups of red blips on the radar screens of the S.H.I.E.L. -carriers. As expected, S.H.I.E.L. up their own jet fighter squadrons, which outnumbered that of R.O.G.U.E.'s since they were thinly stretched across the globe.
Within minutes, the two factions were openly battling each other in the skies, with each roar of a missile explosion complimented by the boom of thunder as lightning surged across the dark storm all around them.
Ember grinned as she saw the phase of attack progressing smoothly, directing her attention to the R.O.G.U.E heli-carriers beginning to hover towards them in an attempt to rescue the trapped heli-destroyers within the firestorm.
"I'll take care of these bozos!" Ember shouted over her communicator, "You flush out the base, Rip!"
On the surface of the ocean, Riptide continued to surf at an incredible speed towards the U.S. Naval Fleet, which was already stationed in a defensive blockade.
"…with pleasure," he murmured.
He jumped up off the surface of the water, raising his trident high and hovering slowly above the blockade. He swung it around and used his powerful hydro-abilities to begin pushing the water away from Alpha Base…
…effectively draining the area out, naval warships included.
The draining process was slow, but it was working. The sleek, metallic surface of Alpha Base began to appear as the water level began to lower, exposing the tips of the aquatic communication antennas.
Suddenly, Riptide felt bullets begin deflecting off his back armor. He glanced up and saw jets stream ahead of him.
"Keep them off me, Ember! This won't take much longer now!"
"On it, Rip!"
At the bridge of Sitwell's flag-ship…
On-board Judgment, the S.H.I.E.L.D. specialists were busy routing orders and communicating with the specialists on-board the other heli-carriers while Director Sitwell watched the battle ensue from the front window overlooking ahead.
He clasped his hands behind his back, grinning ear to ear while R.O.G.U.E.'s heli-destroyers were being set aflame from Ember's firestorm and while the U.S. Naval Fleet was being capsized by Riptide's ocean drain as the edges of the water were pushed away.
All of it was going according to plan.
As the water level began draining further and further down, exposing the entirety of Alpha Base and its immense platforms, Sitwell gave the order for the heli-carriers to deploy the full might of their armored troops to take over the platforms.
The call went out and troops were readily transported down towards the circular landing pads that were exposed from the ocean drain in a storm of troop transports.
Inside one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. troop transports…
The sounds of clunking armor and rattling of the hull surged through the main cabin of the modified Quinjet troop transport. About twenty or so troops stood, all facing the rear ramp of the transport, lined up in three columns. They made last minute checks on their weapons and armor while the pilots maneuvered past the laser and missile-fire from the enemy fleet.
"Switch on your communicators, troops!" the commanding agent ordered from the rear of the columns.
As they did so, they heard Director Sitwell's voice project across their communicators.
"Agents, the time has come. I send you forward in our final killing blow against these terrorists, who have done nothing but place the entire world in jeopardy. Today marks the end of this insolent resistance and the first of many victories for S.H.I.E.L.D.! Your commanders have their orders. Ensure that this entire base is secured. Godspeed."
Some of them were beyond nervous, with a lack of confidence in their leader's words.
One of them began breathing heavily, having never been in combat before. He was now worried for his life, glancing over to his fellow agents for some sign of confidence.
They felt the sensation of falling finally come to an end as the descent leveled out. The troop commander ordered them to make ready to dash out into the fray.
The rear ramp's entry clamps snapped open and the door fell forward. Within seconds, the troops facing the ramp were gunned down by laserfire from enemy R.O.G.U.E. agents taking cover from the other side of the dim-lit landing bay. The troops behind them rushed forward to take cover behind anything they could find.
As more troop transports began landing, their numbers were bolstering, and steadily pushing the enemy troops into the base itself.
Inside the hangar bay…
The circular bay's only exit was through a main corridor where R.O.G.U.E. agents were making their stand, doing everything in their power to prevent the S.H.I.E.L.D. troops from forwarding through into the rest of the bay and into the base.
Just as they were being pushed back…
…an arrow whizzed out from behind them, squarely through the chestplate of a S.H.I.E.L.D. trooper. Dazed and confused, the trooper couldn't react fast enough before the arrow exploded, taking out a number of agents out with him.
"Fall back to the command platform!" Hawkeye ordered out to the troops, drawing out his bow and shooting off several arrows to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. back.
A few obeyed while others tried to help keep them back.
"Y'all heard him!" Gambit was heard shouting, running up behind Hawkeye to deliver a surge of kinetic energy against the troops with the might of his metal staff.
"They're pushing into the hangar bay, guys! Where are we on the evacuation procedure?!" Hawkeye questioned into his earpiece while shooting off more arrows as both he and Gambit began to fall back.
"Emergency heli-carriers are spinning up," Coulson answered over the radio, "Captain, Stark, what's your status?"
In the firestorm above…
The R.O.G.U.E. heli-carriers were engaged in a heavy firefight against their enemy counterparts in the skies above, all while trying to free the trapped heli-destroyers from Ember's firestorm. Without their help, their defense is greatly weakened against S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bolstered offensive.
Ember's laugh was heard throughout the ambience as she glided across the skies in a vibrant blaze of fire, burning through enemy ships and jets alike. Throughout her fiery dance, she wasn't able to see a Quinjet sneak through the firestorm and onto one of the trapped heli-destroyers.
Black Panther, Captain America, Bucky, and Dr. Strange unloaded off in a rush, giving the Quinjet seconds to take off again towards another heli-carrier.
"We're on it, Coulson," Steve radioed back from the flight deck, "We'll see if we can't take down their enhanced friend so that we can free these guys from the firestorm!"
"Any ideas on that?" Stark questioned while he was at the helm of the Quinjet.
Thor grabbed ahold of a handle on the side of the rear ramp, peeking out into the storm and eyeing the maniacal Ember continuing to rip through the R.O.G.U.E. blockade.
"I've one."
Stark glanced back at the god of thunder.
"What?"
He merely smiled at Stark as he spun up Mjolnir and shot himself out through the rear ramp.
"I hate when he does that," Stark murmured, "Okay, guys, look alive! The rockstar just jumped off the jet!"
Cap and his team looked up to see an electrical pulse slash through the skies, followed by a very loud crack of thunder.
Ember looked up just in time to get knocked out of the sky by a sharp bolt of lightning. She regained flight and charged up her fiery powers to beam columns of fire at Thor. But, the god of thunder dodged quickly through each attack, flying close enough to throw Mjolnir at Ember's stomach, slamming her against the hull of a S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier.
"I'll distract her for as long as I can!" Thor alerted the others, "…be careful about the other one!"
"What about the firestorm?!" Steve questioned.
"I'll handle that," Strange assured him, "Just watch my back, this might take a while."
The Sorcerer Supreme suddenly jumped up off the deck of the heli-carrier they landed on and began hovering in mid-air, drawing on his magical abilities to try and force the firestorm to dissipate.
Just as he was doing so, a formation of S.H.I.E.L.D. fighter jets flew by, unleashing a fury of bullet-fire to try and knock the magician down.
"I said watch my back!"
"We've got this," Bucky calmly assured him, drawing out a heavy rifle slung on his back and aiming down at the fighter jets as they fast approached.
"Let's just hope Director Hill can evac everyone in time!" T'Challa commented as they took cover from another hail of bullet-fire.
On-board the command platform…
The sudden attack from S.H.I.E.L.D. had thrown everything into disarray. Communications with their teams around the globe were severed and they were now sitting ducks with the might of the S.H.I.E.L.D. armada at their doorstep. Despite this, they had already ran countless defense training scenarios that had prepared them for this moment. Emergency life-ships were being fast-deployed to evacuate all the refugees on-board the underwater base to Wakanda.
But, they hadn't counted on Vanguard mutates to help in the attack.
"Deploy the remaining fighter squadrons from our heli-carriers to help buy us time!" Hill ordered, "What's our evacuation progress at, Coulson!?"
Coulson, by her side and at the command terminal, quickly answered.
"Less than 30%!"
Behind her, Peter and his teammates waited for further instruction. While the Avengers and the X-Men brought the fight to S.H.I.E.L.D., Specter Haven, the Defenders,and the Guardians of the Galaxy helped in the evacuation process. That left Peter, Ava, Luke, Danny, and Sam as the last line of defense on the command platform.
"This is bullshit," Sam complained, "We should be out there, fighting!"
"We must not rush a confrontation," Danny warned.
"My ass we shouldn't. We're just here twiddling our thumbs watching Hill lose her head!"
"Danny's right, Sam. You've got to keep your cool," Luke concurred.
"At least you guys can handle the fight. I don't have my costume or my gear to put up anything other than my acrobatic hand-to-hand," Ava sighed.
"All I've got is these," Peter showed them his web-shooters.
"Yeeeaaaah. Sorry about ruining your costume, Pete."
"If there's one person who's allowed to get away with taking off my costume, it's you, Ava," he flirted.
She warmly smiled back.
"Oh sure, let's take a moment to just flirt while the ENTIRE BASE is on fire!" Sam sarcastically shouted.
The platform began to shake as the bombardment from S.H.I.E.L.D. began to rupture the outer hull. In that moment, Director Hill ordered everyone to the refugee platform to finalize the evacuation process. She ordered Coulson to follow the agents as she stayed behind with the rest of the team.
She glanced back at them.
"You five, follow me."
"About time!" Sam commented.
They all followed Hill down the commander's terminal and into the lower levels of the command platform. In a small vault-like room, was an armory. Most of the weapons and gear had been stripped off its holding racks, but there was a stack of black field cases with Wakandan symbols engraved on them that were still locked tight on the far end.
Hill took out a key from her pocket and jumbled it into each of them, waiting until the last one was unlocked before opening them all. The others all looked at each other in confusion, wondering what the hell she was doing.
"Um… Director Hill?" Peter broke the silence.
When she opened them, she revealed their costumes. Or at least, heavily modified versions of their original costumes.
"His majesty, King T'Challa, went ahead and requisitioned these to be made according to your sizes. His sister, Shuri, personally saw to their design and capabilities according to your powers," Hill urgently explained, "We used the sizes from your old costumes, so if they're a little snug, try losing some weight."
Danny's new costume was completely green, but designed with yellow streaks across its arms, with the forearms exposed. The iconic black dragon icon was still marvelously printed on the chest.
Luke's costume was heavily armored, with shock pads geared around his forearms and shoulders to absorb kinetic energy and expel them the moment he makes impact with an opposing force.
To her expressed joy, Ava was outfitted with a new White Tiger outfit. Instead of the signature grayish tiger stripes on her original costume, they redesigned it with black stripes with an enhanced kinetic energy-absorbing material much like the Black Panther costume King T'Challa utilizes.
And lastly, Spidey was equipped with a new vibranium-infused costume with a dark blue and red primary color tone and a white color for the web pattern on the signature look of the Spider-Man costume.
"Holy crap," Peter subtly exclaimed.
"Not bad. Mine's still better, though…" Sam joked.
"Alright," Hill stated after giving the team a moment to look at their costumes, "Suit up, meet me near the main evacuation site."
The team looked at each other, realizing then that Hill was about to place them right in the middle of the fray. She marched off, out of the armory…
…with her pistol withdrawn and gripped in hand.
On-board Vengeance…
Tombstone continued to monitor the progress of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attack on Alpha Base diligently. To his right, Moros observed as well on the holographic war table. They both stood silently, watching Ember put up a fiery fight against the Avengers. They were underestimating her at every move, but she was continuously running into trouble from Dr. Strange's magical abilities that were preventing her from causing further damage to the ships.
Moros zoomed the hologram in on Strange, specifically, the amulet he wore around his neck. He squinted as he tried to identify the glowing item encased inside of it.
"Is that…?"
Tombstone shifted closer, getting a clearer look. His eyes widened once he could see what it was. He turned to Moros and simply nodded.
"...another Infinity Gem."
In the skies over Alpha Base…
With the combined efforts of the Avengers, Ember was beginning to get tired. Her flame attacks were weakening, presumably from an agitating spell that the magician set on her. She was becoming defenseless and wouldn't be long now before they overwhelmed her and shot her out of the sky completely.
She retreated to Sitwell's flag-ship and perched herself on one of the turrets, opening her communications link with Riptide, who was busy trying to lead S.H.I.E.L.D. troops through the internal corridors of the base.
"Rip! I'm getting shredded up here!"
She tried to catch her breath but saw that the magician was moving in on her once again, sending a debilitating sound spell that felt like it was ripping her ear drums off.
"Argh!"
The mutate grabbed for her ears but subtly passed out from the intensity of the spell.
Strange watched as she fell off the flag-ship turret and hurdled towards the ocean's surface. Until then, Riptide shot up from the water, having responded quickly to Ember's call, and grabbed her before she hit the water at full speed.
Once he hit the ocean's surface, he surfed around, holding her body in his arms, and returned to Alpha Base.
"What are you doing?!" Sitwell angrily shouted over the comm link, "My ships need air defense up here!"
"We're not going to kill yourselves over your pathetic fleet, Sitwell," Riptide snapped back, "We have one mission here."
"Your mission is to help me! Your master instructed…"
"Our master gave us one order. You were just an accessory."
Without another word, Rip tore the earpiece out and carried Ember's body towards another platform of the base, away from where he was leading S.H.I.E.L.D.'s men.
On-board Sitwell's flag-ship…
Enraged, the S.H.I.E.L.D. director ordered his men to prepare a Quinjet to escort him down to the base, where he would personally lead his men to slaughtering the rest of R.O.G.U.E.
"I want them all dead!" he shouted, "Have my Quinjet ready now!"
"Sir," one of his lieutenants interrupted, "What about the refugees? What will we do about them?"
Sitwell's eyes flashed a bright red for a split moment.
"To hell with them! I want all ship cannons aimed at those life-ships! The moment they take off, we fire indiscriminately!"
This order raised up eyebrows amongst everyone at the bridge. They were astonished. Did the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. just order them to fire upon civilian refugees? Without another moment for explanation, Sitwell stormed off towards the flight deck, leaving the specialists at the bridge severely pondering whether they were doing the right thing or not.
Inside the mess hall platform…
Riptide tore through the metallic hull of the platform and landed squarely in the middle of the mess hall. It was empty, having been abandoned in a rush with some trays of food still left on the tables. The sounds of the refugees crying to get on-board the life-ships were faintly audible throughout the ambience, with the booming sounds of cannon-fire interrupting every few seconds outside.
The overhead lights slowly began to dim and flicker, as central power generators on-board the platform began to fail from the constant barrage from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s forces.
The mutate gently placed his fallen comrade down on one of the tables, resting her on her back. Her ears were steadily bleeding and the flaming glow in her hands had simmered. Her heart was beating fast too.
Slowly, she began to open her eyes, recovering from her unconsciousness.
"You okay?!" he shouted.
She swiftly slapped him across his helmet.
"Why are you yelling, idiot?! Can't you see my eardrums are blown out?!"
"Well, come on! Get back to the fight. This isn't over yet!"
"I can't," she grunted, "That wizard's got some moves on him. Not to mention their lightning god. I can't handle them on my own, Rip."
"You can't say that! We're here on Reaper's orders."
"I know," she sighed, sitting up and grasping her right side, "…Those Avengers are no joke. You and me alone can't handle them all. We need our forces, we need Moros and Tombstone…"
"We don't need them!" he snapped, "We can handle this on our own!"
"Not at this rate, Rip. But…"
She finally forced herself back on her feet, igniting the flaming powers in her hands.
"…we'll be dead either way. I'd rather die out here than at the hands of our master."
"We're not going to die."
Riptide was so confidant in his words, so ready to return to the fray of the fight. But, he had seen now that Ember was losing the will to continue on her own.
The two of them weren't remotely ready to handle a direct fight against the combined strength of the forces they tackled. It wouldn't be long now until S.H.I.E.L.D.'s armada falls.
In the skies above…
With Ember out of the fight, the firestorm around the R.O.G.U.E. blockade dissipated, freeing the remaining heli-destroyers and bringing them back into the battle. Both factions began exchanging cannon-fire at their full might. Fighter squadrons supplemented the freed heli-destroyers, helping keep S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fighters out of the skies.
The Avengers kept up their assault, turning the tide of the battle into an offensive against their attackers. Thor's control of the lightning around him allowed him to eviscerate whole groups of fighter jets with the power of Mjolnir. Dr. Strange, at his side, used his ability to manipulate the mirror dimension to isolate sections of the battle, keeping parts of the R.O.G.U.E. fleet intact while he routed the flow of the battle away from the base.
"Status report," Stark ordered over the radio chat.
"We're evacuating the last of the refugees now," Hawkeye answered.
"Yeeeeep, and we're keeping the stragglers off the life-ships. Are we about to dip out or not?" Star-Lord brought up.
"We need to delay S.H.I.E.L.D. here as long as possible," Hill sternly responded.
"Wait," Phantom's voice then cut through the chatter.
"What?"
"Where are the Vanguard mutates? Where did they land?"
In the corridors near the mess hall…
Peter and the team ran through the emptied corridors. With the power generators finally giving away throughout most of the base, they were running in almost complete darkness. Sam's energetic ambience illuminated the pathway, but it didn't help that it was eerily silent, with the ambient noises of cannon-fire heard overhead.
Nova led the way, keeping the team behind him.
"How much longer, Sam?" Luke asked after they made a sharp turn.
"Uhh…."
"We should have gotten to the evacuation site by now!" Danny remarked.
"Ehhhh…."
"I think we passed by that window already…" Peter pointed out.
"Well…. I…"
"You don't know where you're going, do you, Sam?" Ava sighed in question.
He stopped short of the entrance to the mess hall platform.
"Well, I thought the evacuation platform was this way!"
"Did you not read the signs back there?" Luke questioned.
"I mean, I did but they had like ten different arrows pointing to a hundred different places. You'd think they would invest in better navigation of this place."
Ava rolled her eyes.
"Typical buckethead."
"Watch it, Tiger! I'm doing my best here!"
"Well, where are we now?" Peter looked around, noticing the entrance to the messhall.
"I'm pretty sure we're not going to stop by for a quick snack. I think if we follow this corridor down that way, we'll end up at the evac platform," Sam pointed out.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps softly echo throughout the messhall.
Peter furrowed his eyebrows beneath his mask.
"Did you guys hear that?"
The rest of them nodded. Ava placed her finger against her masked mouth to signal for them to go quiet.
Slowly, they approached the entrance to the mess hall. The door had slid halfway open. It must've lost power halfway through opening or closing so it remained stuck in place.
Once inside, they snuck closer to the center of the large room, where they heard the source of the noise. As they reached it, they could make out the glowing flames of Ember, one of the Vanguard mutates.
"Come on, Ember! We're wasting time!"
They recognized the male's voice. It was Riptide. His heavily armored figure clunked around the glowing ambience of Ember, growing impatient. His hammerhead shark helmet greatly distorted his silhouette to make him look more like a creature than a humanoid.
"We need to rethink our strategy here, Rip. We can't handle all of them out there."
"You're being a coward."
"I would like not to die, Rip."
"You just said we'll be dead either way!"
"I know what I said! It doesn't help our situation here!"
She sighed.
The team observed closely, watching the mutates argue.
"Then what should we do now?" Riptide angrily questioned.
Ember sat against a fallen table, wrapping her arms around her legs and placing her head on her knees. She obviously wasn't sure of what to do.
Peter ordered his teammates to take position around the opening to the center of the mess hall. That way, once he gave the signal, they could spring down on them.
"Wait, we're going to take on them?" Sam nervously and quietly asked.
"It's just two of them. We can handle it." Luke observed.
"Vanguard mutates. We can take on Vanguard mutates. Are you serious?"
"They are vulnerable. We have the upper hand," Danny remarked.
"Didn't one of them almost kill Fox when you guys were in D.C.?"
"Sshhhhh, they're talking," Ava interrupted.
Ember finally stood up to look at her counterpart in the face.
"We need to contact the master for further instruction."
Riptide hesitated for a moment.
"You're out of your mind, Ember. That will make us look cowardly."
"We should appeal to get Moros and Tombstone out here to help us in the fight. We could defeat the combined R.O.G.U.E. forces here and now!"
He sighed.
"Fine."
He withdrew a cylindrical metallic device and placed it on the floor in front of them. It beeped for a moment, seeming to be some sort of beacon.
"Crap. I hope Reaper isn't planning to show up soon," Peter whispered to himself.
Suddenly, a blue hologram projected from the top of the device and Reaper appeared before them, sitting on a metallic throne adorned with bones and skulls of the same material. His red eyes beamed from behind the helmet's mask.
"This better be good," Reaper's voice echoed menacingly throughout the mess hall.
"Master… we've…" Riptide tried to find the words to explain their situation.
"We need additional support, master," Ember butted in, "We cannot face the full might of R.O.G.U.E. on our own. We'd like Moros and Tombstone on our side here."
A moment of silence followed. Reaper's expressionless presence puzzled the two mutates for a moment, before finally he answered.
"I send two of my finest mutates… only to be told that you cannot complete this mission on your own? What am I to make of this?"
"Master, she didn't mean that…."
"And now, you expect me to abandon my few remaining mutates guarding Manhattan to make up for your failures?"
"We wish only to complete your wishes, master, we…"
"Enough!" He shouted, slamming his armrest with his fist. It sent red sparks of electricity as he did so.
"You've both have resigned yourselves to your fates. You've failed as my mutates. If you do, somehow, survive this skirmish, then you will die by my hand upon your return."
"No…. No, but master…"
Riptide fell to his knees, holding up his hands to try and beg him for forgiveness.
As Riptide did so, Reaper glanced up and spotted Peter sticking his head out from the upper-floor.
"It looks like you've both got company," he chuckled.
"Shit, cover's blown," Sam quietly whispered.
Without a second thought, Peter sprang forward into action, shooting a blast of web towards the device and shutting off the transmission to Reaper.
Riptide withdrew his trident and Ember's fiery powers activated onto her hands.
The rest of the team followed, jumping behind Peter to back him up.
"What now?" Luke murmured.
They stared each other down for a few moments. Riptide held his trident up at them, ready to fight, with Ember ready to do the same. The moment was tense.
Peter decided to cut the tension with humor.
"Sounds like things aren't going to plan, guys. Big bad dad doesn't want to help out?"
"You're the least of his concerns for now, bug," Riptide snapped.
"Ah, crap, and here I thought we could parlay, come to some sort of agreement?"
Ember laughed in an almost haughty manner.
"Us… work with you? Please. We're not stupid."
"Looks like we're going to have to settle this the hard way, then," Peter sighed.
A/N: Hey my dudes! Sorry for the late chap update! College is kickin' my ass! x(, hope everyone had a good summer. Whether y'all worked or what not, always good to take a break, ya know? So, I'm goin to go ahead and take another look at this chapter planning list. we're still shooting for a 2019 completion date, so keep an eye on it, plz.
much love, Jack m.