Showdown
At a Resistance outpost in Lower East Side Manhattan…
General Fury was escorted back to a secure location in the Lower East Side, where an enclave of Resistance soldiers was posted with a number of civilians. The location itself was a hollow within a massive pile of debris leftover from a building toppling over. It was stable enough to lay low there.
He spent an hour getting examined by the medic while two of the lieutenants posted there briefed him on the situation.
"Where are the civilians we were able to save from my party?" Fury firmly asked, "…before we were ambushed."
"They stayed put in the tunnels until one of our other teams found them. Unfortunately, a pack of Wraiths had discovered them, and we were only able to save half of them," one of the lieutenants, a red-haired woman, responded.
Fury gritted his teeth, balling his right fist at hearing this.
"I need to contact Director Hill right away."
The two lieutenants looked at each other, a gesture that Fury noticed.
"What is it?"
"Sir," the other lieutenant, a black-bearded man started, "…we lost communications with Alpha Base about an hour or so ago. We haven't re-established transmissions since."
"Get a communicator on the equipment. Is it on our end?"
"No, sir. Our intel analysts believe S.H.I.E.L.D. has begun to lay siege on the base out in the Pacific."
The general closed his eye and took a soft sigh.
Now, he was unsure of the future of R.O.G.U.E. If Sitwell had finally found the nerve to attack R.O.G.U.E.'s headquarters directly, then their only fighting chance against Reaper might've just been lost.
"Are you both still trying to re-establish a link?"
"Yes, sir. We have our communicators trying to work a transmission around the clock," the male lieutenant answered.
"But sir, that's not the only issue we're facing. We're losing the connections to other outposts on the upper sides of Manhattan. Our posts in Harlem have gone silent, past our emergency time windows, which means…"
"…they're lost," Fury finished for her, "We're effectively losing the island."
"And rations are depleting at an alarming rate, general. Soon, we won't have enough to feed neither the civilians or the troops."
This was an increasingly problematic situation. If the RSF has begun to eliminate their outposts in the upper side of Manhattan, it was only a matter of time before this sweeping campaign reaches them. Without assurances from R.O.G.U.E. or their superhero assets, he knew that he needed to make one last stand. He needed to regroup all Resistance assets and form a singular defensive line in the lower parts of the island, closest to the upper bay.
"We're running out of time. We need to proceed with our duty here, whatever the costs."
"What can we do, general? All routes out of the city have been cut off. Sentinel patrols have increased along the waters surrounding the water…"
Fury got on his feet, off the medical gurney he had been sitting on. The medic finished his examination and left him alone.
"There is no running from this evil, lieutenant. If S.H.I.E.L.D. has brought the fight to R.O.G.U.E. then we need to bring the fight to the RSF with all we've got at our disposal. Order up the officers in the remaining outposts. Tell them to begin movements to the lower side of the island, towards the financial district. We'll bolster our numbers and bring the assault to them head-on from the lower side."
"But, general… we don't have the manpower or the resources to fully take on the RSF by ourselves."
"I'm fully aware of that. We have no choice in the matter anymore. If we keep wrangling up the civilians like cattle then we're only presenting the Reaper with more livestock to convert or slaughter…"
He glanced around the hollow, seeing scores of civilians nestled in groups with blankets, surrounding a barrel with a fire burning inside to keep them warm.
"…from this moment on, the civilians are to be fully armed and part of our ranks."
The lieutenants looked at each other once more, realizing the gravity of the general's request.
"That will take time, sir," the female lieutenant calmly responded.
"How long?"
"A week, at most, to both have the outposts migrate to the lower part of the island and to equip the civilians."
"Then so be it. You have your orders. Now go."
On-board Vengeance…
Moros and Tombstone continued to monitor the battle between S.H.I.E.L.D. and R.O.G.U.E. closely on the holograph hovering above their war table at the bridge. They both studied the types of attacks and the strategies that the Avengers displayed in their fight against S.H.I.E.L.D. They did the same in the other universes they've traveled to, recording their enemy's fighting styles and coming up with their own offensive strategies for when the fight is taken to them.
They learned this from Reaper, who, in his respective timeline, was taught how to use combat-mimicking abilities from Taskmaster. Although it wasn't as perfect as Taskmaster's, it allowed him to think ten steps ahead, making Reaper a master tactician.
Reaper wasn't at the bridge with his remaining Vanguard mutates. After the call with Riptide and Ember, he skulked off to the room where he was holding Maria. He had removed her from her restraints and simply chained her to the corner with shackles, to give her some movement so that she could eat the food he gave her.
She was sleeping, with her front side against the wall, when he entered. He observed her naked form carefully, while keeping himself at a distance. Shortly after his arrival, she awoke, presumably from the screaming effect.
Once she spotted him, she covered herself and sat with her back against the corner of the room.
"What do you want?"
He didn't answer. He simply sat down, on the floor, his armor clunking as he rested his back against the wall perpendicular to her corner.
"I sometimes tire of speaking only to my mutates. It's been a long time since I simply 'spoke' with anyone, especially with you."
"I have nothing to say to you."
He didn't answer hearing this. He just simply looked down at the floor in front of him, his red eyes glowing through his mask.
"I am not the monster you perceive me to be, Maria. Why can't you see this?"
She simply sighed.
"If you can't see what you're doing is wrong then there is no point answering that."
"I will do what I must to save this planet from the plague humanity has brought upon it."
She didn't answer to this, just stared off into the wall ahead of her, avoiding his gaze.
He studied her expression for a brief moment before resuming his focus on the floor.
"Can I ask you something?" She suddenly asked.
"Of course."
"What happens if this all falls apart for you?"
"What do you mean?"
She turned to glare right into his eyes.
"What happens if the Avengers or somebody shows up to finally defeat you? Your army goes down, what then? Will you surrender?"
"You ask this as though it's a remote possibility," he humored, "I assure you, it's not."
"Then why avoid the question?"
Reaper's expression beneath his mask turned vile. He knew what the alternative was. But, he didn't feel like expressing that to her. He knew well that she wouldn't understand.
Instead, he got onto his feet, and turned to leave the room.
"Answer me, Alejandro," she calmly ordered.
He stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder to her.
"…then this entire universe will perish at my hands. It will be gone in the blink of an eye."
Inside the evacuation platform at Alpha Base…
The Defenders and Specter Haven all helped escort the remaining refugees onto the last life-ships available. Coulson finished doing the math and discovered too late that there wasn't enough life-ships to help evacuate the remaining refugees. He turned to Director Hill, Phantom, Phantasm, Professor Xavier, and Cable, who were overseeing the evacuation process.
"We won't have enough ships to finish evacuating everyone," he gravely pointed out.
"Shit," Hill sighed, "quickly, what are our options to get everyone else out?"
A loud boom shook the entire platform. A missile must've hit the hull.
"We can use Dr. Strange's teleportation magic to escort everyone else," Xavier suggested.
"No, he's providing a great deal of support up there against S.H.I.E.L.D.," Cable retorted, "What about the other ships we have in our arsenal? The Eidolon, The Milano, for example."
"That's a great idea," Phantasm concurred, "There's enough room in The Eidolon's lower level to house a good number of people."
"And we can divert the remaining Quinjets we have to help people out," Coulson added.
"We need pilots to commandeer the Quinjets, then," Hill pointed out, "The last pilots we have are flying the life-ships."
"We've got able pilots on the teams. We just need to assign them to the Quinjets," Phantom gave a solution.
"I hope I don't regret this."
Inside the cockpit of one of the Quinjets…
"I hope you know what you're doing," Frank Castle murmured to Deadpool as he fooled around at the pilot's controls.
"Why does everyone underestimate me?! Don't you know that's how you get killed… by me?"
"I'd rather not have people die because the dumbass driving this train flies us right into the water."
"It's actually a jet, Franky-boy. I know grunts like you don't know jack about flying."
"And you do?"
"Good point!"
They began filing refugees in, having them take their seats along the inner hull of the jet and strapping in. Women and children were closer to the cockpit while everyone else stayed close to the rear ramp.
"Try to stay in formation once we're in the air," Frank pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah, I know how this works! Let me tell you about the time I flew Taskmaster's personal heli-carrier over Manhattan!"
Castle shook his head as he walked out of the rear ramp. Deadpool glanced back at the refugees as the rear ramp closed. The looks of fear were evident in their faces. Some of the women were crying, holding their children close to them. Some of the men's hands shook nervously, unsure of their fate.
Near the pilot's chair, he spotted a little girl. Her mother appeared to be Indian and she was trying to console her toddler, who was crying in fear.
"Ssshhhh," Deadpool placed his finger on his mouth, "Don't cry, little girl. It'll be okay! You've got me as your pilot! I won't let anything happen to you!"
She continued to cry.
"Hmm… let me see if I can fix this."
He reached into his dufflebag underneath the pilot controls and pulled out a half-burnt stuffed animal that looked like a cross between a teddy bear and a bunny. He held it out for the little girl and she gradually ceased to cry when her eyes fixated on the stuffed animal. She reached out for it and slowly took it from his hands, holding it tight.
Her mother smiled, seeing this kind gesture from the masked mercenary.
"There, no more crying now, okie dokie? And don't tell Cable. That's his stuffed animal I took from him when he wasn't looking."
"I hope this works," Coulson sighed, watching as different members from the teams took position inside a hangar bay full of Quinjets.
"Me too," Hill responded.
They both turned to see Phantom and Phantasm approach them.
"Director," he started, "I'm taking my daughter, Wren, Fox, Wolfe, and Firewalker back into the interior of the base to find the Vanguard mutates that landed. While they're still here, they remain a threat."
"Speaking of which… Where is Parker and the others? I told them to meet me here after they were finished suiting up with the new suits from Wakanda."
Coulson pulled up the navigation map on his communicator.
"It's reading that they're in the main messhall platform."
"What are they doing there?" Phantasm inquired.
"Wait," Phantom interrupted, "…isn't that where Riptide and Ember landed?"
Inside the main messhall platform…
"Stand down, Spider-Man," Riptide warned, keeping his trident trained on them, "We are no match for you."
Nova burst out laughing.
"Seriously, guys? We just heard you guys whine and complain about not being 'strong enough' to face everyone. I'm calling your bluff."
"For the Avengers, maybe. But, you're just a bunch of kids," Ember chuckled, "Just give up. I'd hate to have to barbecue a bunch of children."
"We are not children!" Iron Fist furiously pointed out, concentrating his chi into his fists.
"Prove us wrong, then," Riptide simply stated.
Without a second to hesitate, Riptide lifted his trident, and channeled a violent stream of ocean water to come crashing through the hole in the platform's ceiling, and directly onto the team.
The water washed them away from each other in different directions.
With ocean water beginning to flood the cafeteria, Ember activated her powers and hovered above the water to stay dry. As the young heroes were getting back on their feet, Ember unleashed blasts of fire through her hands at each of them.
Nova reacted first, shooting through the air to push Iron Fist out of the way of the blasts, getting him to the higher levels of the messhall. He glanced down and saw Spidey shoot a line of webbing to swing both himself and Tiger up to the upper level.
"Where's Power Man?!"
Spidey looked back down. Riptide was beginning to manipulate the water around him to form huge walls of water and lashing them out at Luke, who was punching through to try and get to him.
"Hey big guy!" Nova shouted, floating down towards him, "Need some back up?!"
Finally, Luke had broken through to Riptide and reached to disarm him. He swung his right fist deep and punched the mutate at the stomach, but his fist seemed to bounce right off. Riptide was too heavily armored.
Swiftly, the mutate swung his trident violently and slashed Luke across his chest, throwing him backwards all the way to the wall.
"Oh no you don't!" Nova shouted, shooting several beams of energy at Riptide, who jumped forward to dodge the beams.
Above them, Ember began laying siege upon the others. They were running away from her while she gained on them from above, continuously shooting balls of fire at them. They jumped and pushed past tables and chairs to keep from getting burnt.
"We can't run from her forever, guys!" Tiger pointed out.
"Any ideas?!" Spidey asked, taking a quick peek back.
Iron Fist saw a metallic platform sticking up from a pile of broken tables coming up in their way. He saw an opportunity.
"Hey guys! On my mark, turn around!"
"Are you crazy?!" Spidey blurted out in confusion.
"Trust me! Once you see your opening, do not hold back!"
Finally, they reached the platform on the other side of the messhall.
Without missing a step, Iron Fist ran forward, jumped onto the platform, and used it to bounce backwards. As he glided across the air towards Ember, he charged up the chi in his right fist, and punched her across the face.
She crashed down onto the floor.
"Now!"
Tiger and Spidey turned around and didn't hesitate.
Using the super-improved vibranium web-shooters from his suit, he was able to shoot out multiple shots of strong webbing to pin Ember onto the ground.
"You got it, Tiger!"
"With pleasure."
She ran towards the downed mutate and withdrew her claws. Drawing on the balanced powers from her Jade Tiger Amulet, she unleashed a flurry of slash attacks while Ember was down.
"Argh! Get off me, bitch!"
The mutate cried out in pain, but quickly recovered and reignited her flames, burning off the webbing and getting back up into the air.
In the lower level, the water level was beginning to rise. Luke had to climb a pile of debris to stay above the water. Nova, on the other hand, was continuing to blast beams of energy at Riptide, trying to keep him from trying to drown Luke.
One of the blasts caught Riptide by the side of his hammerhead helmet, slicing off half of the iconic hammerhead figure.
"Argh!"
Riptide backflipped onto a platform in the level above. Nova took a quick glance below and saw Luke making his way up towards the level Riptide was on now from the pile of debris. By now, the lower level they had started on was completely flooded.
"Impressive," Riptide then spoke, holding the sliced part of his helmet with his left hand, "I see now why my master had such interest in you all those years ago."
"Ugh, don't remind me of that. It sucked."
"My master did say you were the most insolent one of them all."
"Aw, I'm flattered."
Nova tried to shoot off another blast of energy at Riptide, but the mutate jumped off the platform and dodged it.
"Just stay still!" Nova shouted, "I promise it'll be quick!"
As he dodged another blast, Riptide swung his trident forward and sent a wave of water rushing up from the lower levels and blew Nova down to the floor next to him.
Nova tried to get back up, but the mutate rushed towards him and stomped his boot onto Nova's back, pinning him to the ground.
"You're a fool for denying my master's will, Nova. He once favored you above the others, even Spider-Man. But, it's obvious. You are weak."
"Grrr… trying to get into my head… that's so old, dude!"
"Even now you try to use humor to save your sanity. Pathetic child."
Nova looked over his shoulder and saw Luke finally get through the debris and onto the level they were currently on. He slowly approached them while Riptide's back was turned to him.
"Well, you might think I'm weak… but one of my best friends definitely isn't! Now, Luke!"
"Huh?"
Before Riptide could react, Luke rushed forward and punched him off of Nova. He tried to raise his trident to defend himself, but Luke grabbed it by the shaft and disarmed him, tossing it aside while he delivered a pattern of timed punches at the weak parts to his armor.
Finally, Nova came up behind Luke and delivered the final blow to Riptide. Luke jumped out of the way as his most powerful blast of energy tore right through the Vanguard mutate's armor plating, knocking him out of the fight.
"Well, now that that's done…"
"Not so fast, buckethead. We still got to help the others."
Luke pointed to the level above them to see it was practically on fire from Ember's continuous blasts of fire.
"Ah, shit. Let's go!"
Back in the evacuation platform…
With Specter Haven and the Reality Jumpers en-route to aid the young superheroes, Director Hill gave the go-ahead for the last life-ships and Quinjets to take flight off the platform, finally clearing Alpha Base of the refugees.
The director, Agent Coulson and a team of R.O.G.U.E. agents were the last ones within the platform. They were prepping up a Quinjet to fly them up towards the main R.O.G.U.E. tri-carrier, Justice I, that will serve as Director Hill's flag-ship.
As she walked down towards the Quinjet, she spoke with Coulson.
"I want regular updates from the lead life-ship on the route to Wakanda, I want no surprises out in the ocean from the RSF."
"Don't worry. King T'Challa has assured us that they'll be safe upon arrival to the African continent, so long as they follow the flight-plan."
"Good. What's the status of the battle?"
"Steady, we're beginning to push back the S.H.I.E.L.D…"
Suddenly, a missile flew out from the platform's hangar opening and destroyed the director's Quinjet, killing the pilot inside.
"What the!?"
A Quinjet with the S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia hovered into the platform from the darkness outside. It activated its front lights and completely blinded Hill and her agents.
"Who is that?!" Coulson inquired.
Her team of agents moved forward, training their rifles upon the Quinjet. But, before they could get in a defensive line, the jet landed, and its rear ramp opened.
A team of armored S.H.I.E.L.D. agents came running out, training their rifles upon the R.O.G.U.E. affiliates. Behind them, Director Jasper Sitwell marched out, wearing his black S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuit with the directorial symbol and with a pistol gripped in his right hand.
Coulson held his arm out and pushed himself in front of Hill. He had withdrawn his own pistol and aimed it down at Sitwell and his men.
"Well, well, well, at long last I've found your little secret hideout, Hill. What a surprise," Sitwell haughtily greeted.
"You're finished, Sitwell, you traitor!" Coulson lashed out, "Surrender S.H.I.E.L.D. before we end up killing each other!"
This caused the director to laugh.
"Coulson, you honestly think that I'm going to give up the organization? We are humanity's only hope in this global situation, and you are the ones trying to sabotage our salvation!"
"Salvation?" Hill questioned, stepping forward, "Jasper, you're murdering innocent people! We're trying to save as many people as we can and what have you've done? Death camps in Brazil? Working with the Reaper?"
"Mutants have become a stain on our existence, Maria! It was a mutant who created abominations like The Phantom and his ilk. No, they must be removed. They are not protected by 'human' rights laws and if I need to work with my enemy in order to eradicate them, then so be it."
"You idiot. He's using you!" Coulson tried to point out.
Then, at that moment, Sitwell's eyes flashed red, which caused him to twitch for a moment.
Coulson and Hill both noticed it.
"No… I can't believe it," Hill gasped, "He… he has you under his control!"
"Control?! No! No, nobody has me under their control!"
The agents under his command began glancing at each other. It was apparent based off their looks and worrisome gestures that they too began to realize that Sitwell was going off the deep end.
"Of course. It'd make sense for the Reaper to influence you. He now has the control of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its resources. You've become humanity's trojan horse!"
Sitwell began to grit his teeth in anger.
"You think you're so smart, don't you, Hill? Don't you realize what you and that traitor Fury have done to this organization?! We've lost the influence we once held because of both of your inequities! We need someone who can make the hard choices, no matter the cost!"
"You're deluded," Hill disapprovingly answered, "I would've never have sacrificed our moral codes for ambition. You've doomed humanity."
The agents around him began to slowly lower their rifles, realizing what Director Hill was saying is true.
Sitwell snapped.
"What are you morons doing?! Keep your weapons up! We're not here to make peace!"
Suddenly, the cannon fire from the heli-carrier battle above the base stopped.
"What the hell?" Coulson thought aloud.
"Director," one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stepped forward, "We've received orders from Judgment to cease fire on R.O.G.U.E. We ask that your ships do the same."
"W-What?! I didn't give any order! How dare you overstep my authority!"
"With pleasure," Hill smiled, "Coulson, let our guys know to stop."
As Coulson did so, Sitwell was shoving his men.
"What the hell are you idiots doing?! This is mutiny! You can't overthrow me! I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
"You have been found unfit for command, director," the agent answered, "Your order to attack civilian life-ships violate the laws of war we've been sworn to abide by."
"To hell with those laws! You can't place laws on war!" Sitwell shouted, "We've already gone far beyond the point of no return!"
Once Coulson gave the order to cease fire, the cannon-fire from R.O.G.U.E.'s heli-carriers stopped.
"No! This can't happen!"
"Looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. has finally come to their senses," Hill commented, "You're finished, Sitwell."
Then, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents trained their rifles on Sitwell.
"You're coming with us, director."
The disgraced director turned his back on them, with his pistol still in hand. He gazed up at the hangar opening to the thundering skies.
"Director Sitwell," the agent repeated, "Put your weapon down."
He took a deep and audible sigh.
"I've given my life to this organization. I've sacrificed everything to preserve the ideals that this agency started with… I don't plan on stopping now."
In a rapid movement, he swung his pistol and shot off six rounds that fatally wounded his men, causing them to fall as they bled out.
"Dear God, what are you doing, Jasper?!" Hill questioned.
He dropped the magazine in his pistol and reloaded it.
"What must be done, Hill."
At this moment, the irises of his eyes glowed a bright scarlet red color. His skin began to pale from his soft tan to a deathly gray. Reaper's influence on him as finally shown its colors.
"Take him down!" she ordered.
The R.O.G.U.E. agents fired off several shots at Sitwell, but they simply shot right through his body, splashing blots of blood everywhere, but he remained standing.
"Holy shit."
Sitwell laughed, his voice sounding disembodied.
"The deal I made with the Reaper has given me the power to surpass death itself! You fools won't live to see the glory of his gifts!"
"He's lost it…" Coulson gravely observed, glancing over to Hill, "Get to Phantom, Hill! We'll hold him off!"
"Coulson, no! I'm not going to stand down!"
She held her pistol up and began firing off rounds at Coulson, but each shot, along with the rounds fired off by her agents, seemed to make Sitwell stronger. He slowly approached them, holding his pistol up and shooting her agents one-by-one.
They tried to run to cover, but he was quick. Enhanced by Reaper's influence, he shot down her team, leaving Hill and Coulson all by themselves.
The two of them fell back to cover behind a set of tall metallic food crates. He continued to fire at them, slowly closing in.
"There is no use hiding!" he taunted, "Your death will be your salvation!"
"You've got to run, Hill! R.O.G.U.E. can't survive without your direction!" Coulson implored.
"Damn it, Phil, stop being so chivalrous! I'm the director! I'm not going to run away! He killed my men!"
"Stop being so prideful! I'm going to provide a distraction, you make a run for it!"
"No, Phil, wait!"
Without another word, he jumped up out of cover and shot off the rest of his magazine at Sitwell until finally the pistol's empty clicks indicated he ran out of rounds.
"You've run out of time, Coulson."
Coulson threw his pistol to the side and tensed himself up.
"This is for Fury!"
He ran towards Sitwell, trying to close the distance to engage with him in hand-to-hand combat, but Sitwell fired off his pistol.
Hill watched in horror as Phil was shot in both his legs and then his lower abdomen. He fell forward onto his stomach, lifeless.
"NO! Phil, God damn it!" Hill cried out.
Sitwell chuckled, swiftly kicking Phil's body aside.
"You were always somebody's lap dog, Coulson. It was high time you were put down."
Hill kept her back against the crate, doing everything in her power to not break down. She just watched her best friend get killed trying to defend her. Now, she definitely wasn't going to back down.
"You're going to pay for that, you son of a bitch!" She cried out from behind the crate.
He merely chuckled and continued to advance on her.
She started looking around, trying to find an edge to try and outmaneuver him. While she didn't know what capabilities he had now with his enhancements, she knew that he wasn't completely invincible. Reaper's own Vanguard were easily killed off.
She needed to disarm him and engage him in hand-to-hand combat.
To her right, there were other sets of crates she could stay in cover with. She could stay low while she tried to attack Sitwell at a different vantage point.
She peered over the crate and quickly ducked back after Sitwell shot another round off. He was moving slow in a zombie-like tread, but he was closing in with a few meters away.
Without another second to lose, she jumped forward, ducking behind the crate next to her, dodging another round off Sitwell's pistol. From there, she started crouching towards the side of the hangar bay, with Sitwell still firing off rounds at the crate she'd jumped behind, thinking she was still in one spot.
"Just let it be over with! Nice and quick!" he continued to taunt.
She cornered the stack of crates and peered over, seeing Coulson's lifeless body lying in a pool of blood. Taking a closer look to the right, she saw Sitwell rearing the corner to the crate she was hiding behind. She didn't hesitate, crouching closer for an attack.
Sitwell reloaded the pistol and reared the corner to the crate, shooting off several rounds with the certainty that she was behind it.
"What the?"
"Looking for someone!?"
He turned and felt the painful kick from Hill's heel, knocking him backwards a few feet and disarming him at the same time. She jumped forward and kicked the pistol away before Sitwell had time to recover it.
Enhanced with his newfound abilities, the crazed former director sprang back into action almost instantaneously, flashing his crooked teeth as he smiled.
"No matter! I'll just tear you apart with my bear hands!"
He lunged forward, swiping his hands at her. She didn't notice until then that his nails had grown, sharpened into claws.
Side-stepping the wrong way, he slashed across her abdomen, drawing blood from her skin.
"Argh!"
He drew back his claws and licked the blood off of them.
"They say the blood of enemies makes one stronger!" he snarled.
"Jesus Christ, Sitwell. What's become of you?! This isn't you!"
She began to step back slowly, trying to find a stance. He paced closer towards her.
"This is my destiny! You and that fool, Fury, have stood in my way for far too long!"
Finding a footing, she side-stepped and punched him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. She followed up with a knee to his face and a swift kick across his chest that sent him staggering backwards.
"Stop this, Sitwell! This isn't you! You've allowed yourself to be controlled by the Reaper for God knows how long! Stop this! Please!"
He chuckled, getting back on his feet.
"You're not fooling anyone with your lies, Hill. This is nothing more than everything the Reaper has promised me and more!"
His claws lunged forward once more, trying to slice her up in a flurry of slashes, but she was able to dodge most of them, except for a few slices on her right arm, causing her to bleed profusely.
"Damn it, Sitwell! I never disrespected you! I showed you nothing but respect my entire time with S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
"But did Fury do the same? No. You were quick to lick his boots like the bitch you are. But, it doesn't matter. This is over for you now!"
He side-stepped and dug his claws deep into her thigh, causing her to scream in pain.
Ignoring it for a brief second, she withdrew a dagger from her waist and sunk it into his collarbone, which caused him to gasp in pain.
She dug it deeper, twisting it to try and drag it across towards his neck. But, it almost seemed like his skin was tightening up. Shocked, she watched as his flesh began to retract the blade out of his skin, chucking it out as it healed.
He laughed, picking her up with his claws still sunk in her thigh and threw her several feet out, where she landed a few feet away from Coulson's body.
She coughed, trying to get back on her feet but the pain in her thigh was too much. She couldn't stand up.
She reached for her radio, as she should've done earlier.
"I need… I need assistance…" she grunted, pressing her hand against her wound.
She glanced over, seeing Sitwell stand nearby, grinning ear to ear.
"Who's available?" She heard Stark say over the radio.
"Coulson's down… my men are gone… Sitwell… Sitwell's…"
Sitwell's boots began to march towards her. She tried to crawl away, keeping her radio hidden.
"Bruce? Can you assist now?" Stark requested.
"Tony… You know I can't…"
"You're the only one not in the fight, idiot…"
Before she could say something, Sitwell yanked the radio out of her hand and crushed it into pieces, throwing the remains at her face.
"At last, I have you right where I want you," he chuckled.
"Please… just stop this…"
"No," he stated, "Before I kill you, I'm going to let you look upon me as my final form, the gift the Reaper has given me: perfection, as I strived for."
Suddenly, his form began to grow. His face shifted violently as his entire body grew and in muscular bulk, ripping off parts of his uniform. The gray turned a greenish gray and the white of his eyes were replaced with the full red glow of his irises. Gills had formed on the sides of his neck. Sitwell had become hulk-like in size and form now.
He raised his arms, as though to display his titan-like body to her now.
"You're an… you're an abomination."
"And now, you're dead," he grunted, his voice having become deeper, monster-like.
He marched forward, the ground beneath him rumbling as he stepped. She tried to crawl away, but he swiftly grabbed her by her legs, grasping them whole with one hand and whipped her up above him, where he grabbed her arms with his other hand.
Then, he stretched her, trying to rip her in half.
She felt excruciating pain for what seemed an eternity, hearing her spine crack violently, experiencing her skin beginning to burn as though it was about to shred right off.
She accepted her fate.
Before…
A loud roar caused Sitwell to stop. He turned to find himself being knocked back several meters against the hull of the hangar bay.
Hill fell, right into the arms of The Hulk.
He calmly placed her down next to Coulson's body before redirecting his attention to the Abomination that Sitwell had become.
"Wh-Where did you come from!?" Sitwell growled.
Hulk didn't answer, instead, just roaring once more, sprinting forward and slamming Sitwell against the hull, punching him multiple times across his face and abdomen. The entire platform shook as the two hulks fought. The crates around them turned into debris as they battled it out.
Hill crawled over and turned Coulson onto his back.
He coughed up a wad of blood. He was still alive.
"Phil!"
"I'm… I'm sorry, Maria. I thought… I thought that would work."
"You idiot! Now you've gone off and gotten yourself killed!"
"I'm not dead… yet."
She nervously laughed, relieved that he wasn't dead.
"Is that… is that The Hulk? And… Sitwell?"
"Yeah, don't ask," she shook her head, "Come on, let's try to get up…"
"Holy shit," he commented as he watched.
Hulk slammed Sitwell's face onto the sharp end of the hangar bay's opening rods, stabbing his right eye. Before it had time to heal, Hulk slammed the other eye into the opening rod, temporarily blinding the Abomination.
"Argh! I'm going to heal, you stupid green monster!" Sitwell growled, covering his eyes.
Hulk chuckled, slamming Sitwell onto his stomach and pinning him down. As he tried to get up, Hulk grabbed Abomination by his neck.
And snapped it.
Killing Sitwell.
His abominable body went limp and the grayish green color of his skin went into a pale white tone. Hulk lifted him up, walked him towards the edge of the hangar bay door, and threw him out into the ocean, where he sank into the depths below.
From the same door, Stark came flying in with the Iron Man suit, scanning the room.
"What the hell did you just throw out?" he asked Hulk.
"Stupid director."
He glanced back into the ocean.
"That didn't look like Sitwell, Banner. It looked like a giant glob of snot."
Hulk shook his head, pointing at Hill.
"Oh shit," Stark quickly hovered closer, landing next to them, "You guys okay!?"
"What does it look like, Stark?"
"Damn. You're still a mean one, even when you almost just died. Friday, activate the medical probe."
A section of his suit then detached from the left shoulder blade and hovered over to Hill, scanning her thigh wound.
"Don't worry about me! Coulson's almost dead here!"
The probe stopped and hovered over to Coulson, scanning his body and applying the necessary aid with some sort of black and white foam to cover his wounds with.
"What's that?" Hill inquired.
"A first aid tool made with some help from my Wakandan connection. It'll stabilize him for now, but he needs to get off this platform."
"I will take care," Hulk grunted, "I will take him up to heli-carrier."
"Take Hill too," Stark requested.
"Wait, Tony. Specter Haven went back into the base to find the web-head and his friends. They're somewhere in the messhall. Make sure they make it out alive."
"Yeah, yeah. What else do you need, hun? Cheese, eggs, milk? The usual stuff, right?" Stark joked, hovering off towards the interior corridors of the base.
Hulk carefully picked up both Hill and Coulson and jumped off the side of the hangar bay door, up towards the Justice I tri-carrier flag-ship.
Inside the flooding messhall…
"Get behind me, guys!" Nova shouted, prompting everyone to rush over behind him.
Ember charged up a massive ball of fire and blasted it at them. Nova quickly used his powers to deflect the fire with a wall of energy. He held it back as long as he could, until it finally dissipated. He took a moment to catch his breath.
"Damn. She's a tough cookie, guys."
"Thanks for that, Nova. We would've been grilled by now without your shield."
"I'll remember that. I'll collect the debt if we survive this."
She hovered closely to them, chuckling to herself as she did so with her hands on her hips.
"Looks like you kids are out-matched."
"Was that a pun?!" Nova questioned, "Because you suck at making puns!"
He unleashed a column of energy, which Ember deflected. In turn, she conjured up her own waves of fire columns, forcing the team to hide behind the debris of overturned cafeteria tables.
"We need a plan, guys!" Iron Fist pointed out, "With the messhall falling apart, we will not last much longer."
"Who knew fire would be so hard to take out," Luke commented.
"Can't you take her on with your indestructible skin?" Tiger asked.
"Sure, but I can't fly. I can't sit there and get cooked while she continues to fly away."
"Any ideas, web-head?" Nova inquired, peering over the debris.
"I'm trying to work that out right now, actually."
"Well, you might want to hurry."
In the level below them, Riptide opened his eyes, recovering from the knock-out. The waters had flooded up and he floated right at its surface, healed by its abundance. He glanced to his side and saw his silver-and-obsidian trident floating next to him.
He could hear the battle above him, seeing the bright flaming blasts from Ember's hands. He felt some relief, knowing they weren't defeated yet.
Swinging the trident around, he forced the waters to flood at a much more rapid rate, waiting his opportunity to surprise the young heroes and flush them out once and for all.
Back at the top level…
Luke held up a slab of metal from the hull that had melted off from Ember's blasts, using it as a shield to keep her at bay while they tried to come up with a plan to counteract her.
"If I can get an opening, I can knock her down like last time. With our combined powers, we can take her down for good," Iron Fist suggested.
Spidey checked his vibranium-infused web-fluid in his shooters. The spare canisters had melted to the point of no use after a close brush with one of Ember's flames.
"I've got enough webbing to keep her down, but I'm out of it after that."
"It's alright," Tiger assured him, "I've still got the electric pulsators in these new gloves, so let me go for the final blow and I'll electrocute her out of the fight."
"Who will be the diversion?" Iron Fist lastly asked.
Spidey and Tiger glanced over at Nova, who simply sighed.
"Y'all ready?!" Luke irritably asked, losing his ability to hold up the slab of metal for much longer, since it was slowly melting down.
"Here goes nothing," Nova murmured.
He hovered up and out of cover, blasting off several beams of energy at Ember, who took the bait and directed her firepower at him. While she tried to take him out, Luke lifted up the metallic slab and acted as a platform that Iron Fist could jump off to get enough momentum to knock her out again.
Tiger and Spidey were standing by for her to crash down to take her out.
Then, Iron Fist took the jump, focused his chi into his right fist, and launched towards her. As he closed the distance between him and her, time seemed to slow down. He realized too late when a giant splash of water flowed from beneath of him.
Riptide reappeared with his half-damaged hammerhead helmet, smacking him across the face with his trident, and knocking him backwards, crashing into Luke.
"Argh, damn it!" Nova shouted.
The two Vanguard mutates laughed in brief victory.
"It'll take more than a few punches to knock me out, children!" Riptide taunted.
Tiger and Spidey ran to Danny's aid. The Iron Fist seemed a little dazed from the trident's swing.
"Are you guys okay?!" Tiger worriedly asked.
"I am fine, I am fine," Danny shook it off.
Without warning, Ember launched another massive fire blast, trying to eradicate them. Nova hovered back around and beamed up another energy shield, trying to hold it back as hard as he could.
"I can't hold it again for much longer, guys! If you've got a plan, do it now!"
"We need a way to extinguish the both of them," Danny suggested, holding his head from the throbbing pain.
"Extinguish both of them," Spidey repeated, realizing now what they had to do.
It was apparent now that Ember was the most damaging of the two, and her powers are directly weakened by Riptide's manipulation of water. They can knock her out easily if they can get Riptide to attack her on accident. He then thought of Ava's electric claws.
He relayed the plan to Ava, Luke, and Danny, who all agreed it could work, but how?
Nova's energy shield began to break under the enormous heat of Ember's fire.
"A little help here, guys!" Nova cried out, "What's the plan!?"
He felt Danny's hand on his shoulder.
"When we give the word, Nova, release the energy back onto Ember."
"But, we'll be exposed, man!"
"Do it."
Nova sighed.
"One well-cooked team of junior avengers, coming right up."
He withdrew the energy shield, redirected it, and blasted it back against Ember's fire, causing it to temporarily dissipate as a cloud of black smoke whirled from the aftermath.
Ember and Riptide watched as the black smoke escaped through the hole in the platform's ceiling. When it finally faded away, the young heroes were gone.
"What the?" Riptide took a closer look.
"Where did they go?!" Ember angrily questioned, scanning the entire place.
Suddenly, a cafeteria table was thrown in Riptide's direction. He swiftly dodged it and swung his trident to increase the flooding up to the top floor of the messhall.
"Where are you?!"
Then, a shot of web blinded his helmet's visor opening. He angrily started swinging his trident around, sending waves of water splashing all over the messhall.
"Watch where you're pointing that thing!" Ember complained.
"Damn webbing!"
She hovered closer to him to try and rip it off his visor, but two strings of webs caught her at her wrists, holding her place.
"Hey! What the hell?!"
Another blast of webbing solidified against Riptide's visor, causing him to go into a frenzy where he started sending wave after wave of water splashing everywhere. A rogue wave caught Ember and extinguished her flame.
"Rip! Rip, stop it! My flame is out!"
Nova flew into view and ripped the webbing off her wrists, causing her to fall right down into the watery abyss in the middle of the messhall. Without her fiery powers active, she couldn't use it to hover in the air. She began to thrash around, gasping for air.
"I can't see!" Riptide cried, trying to control himself.
Iron Fist jumped off another platform and focused his chi once more, knocking Riptide out of the air and sending him flying face-first into a pile of debris. Power Man came up behind him and picked up Riptide and slammed him into the floor.
The webbing had dissipated by now. He chuckled while he got back on his feet.
"Fool. The water heals me! We are in the middle of the ocean! What use do you have against me?!"
Luke looked down at his feet, seeing the water rising up past his ankles. He took a step back onto the debris behind him, out of the water.
Riptide furrowed his eyebrows seeing this. He glanced behind him to see Iron Fist do the same, step out of the water. Above him, Spider-Man clung onto the ceiling while Nova hovered above him with his arms crossed, grinning ear to ear.
"What's going on here?! Don't you realize you kids are no match for me?!"
"Let him have it, Tiger!" Spidey called out.
He looked over to across the abyss in the middle that Ember was drowning in. White Tiger stood on a slab of concrete, charging up her electrical claws.
His eyes widened.
"No… No, don't do that!"
"We're not kids!" She exclaimed.
She launched her claws down to the water and sent an electric wave that completely electrocuted the two Vanguard mutates, knocking them out of the fight.
"Let's get them before he heals up and she dies," Spidey ordered, shooting webs down at Ember and pulling her up onto the ceiling.
Nova sighed, hovering down and picking Riptide up as well.
"Why can't we just let them… you know… die off?"
"Because they are more use to us alive than dead," Danny answered.
"Specter Haven will have questions for them," Ava added.
"Yes, we do," a deep voice loudly spoke from across the messhall.
From the top-level entrance to the messhall, Phantom apparated from thin air, along with Fox to his right, Phantasm to his left, Wolfe behind him, and Wren and Firewalker following behind them.
"Impressive work," Phantom pointed out, crossing his arms.
"You guys saw all that?!" Nova questioned, "Where was our back up?!"
"We just got here, homie," Firewalker answered, "Besides, y'all looked like y'all had it under control."
"Like White Tiger said," Phantom continued, "You guys aren't kids anymore."
Peter removed his mask and looked at the rest of his team. They all looked at each other, smiling and grinning. They'd done it.
They'd defeated two of Reaper's most powerful mutates together. As a team.
Author's Note: Hey my dudes! Sorry for the super long chapter in this one! I got this one done ahead of schedule for this Friday since I've got a major exam this week and a major presentation/speech next week for one of my classes. So, I'm preoccupied, unfortunately. Blehhhh. Thanks for the recent reviews, though. I love your thorough reviews, The Story's Shadow, as I always do! =D To answer your question, no, Ava still has the jade tiger amulet but she's keeping it in check since it overstepped its powers in her story arc chapters in Brazil. Also, I've got to give credit where credit is due and thanks Death Fury for the vibranium suit idea! =D Sorry for not realizing you got there first, my dude! Thanks, though! =D Thanks everyone else, y'all are great! Next chapter update is due by Oct 5, so keep an eye out! Peace, love, and french fries,
jack montero