Iron Man dropped down through one of the holes they had created on the surface and landed on the floor of of one of the upper subsurface levels, the rest of the aerial assault team landing behind him. "Sam, take Vision and Wanda. Meet up with Bobby's team. Rhodey and I will intersect Wyatt and Bobby." Knowing his instructions were being followed, he stalked off in the direction of Wyatt's transponder. There were only a few areas within the Vault that could truly hold Peter and Wyatt and Johnny happened to be closest to a couple of them. FRIDAY still couldn't distinguish the radiation signatures clearly enough to pinpoint Peter so he was having to rely on logic.
The radio chatter told them that all of the teams were still encountering resistance although their increased number meant that all of the confrontations were going in their favor. Tony had thought originally it was too much of a risk to have so many teams and so many people that hadn't worked together before. But the wisdom behind the overwhelming number had swayed both himself and Steve. So far, it was proving to be a good call. He just hoped it continued.
xxxxxxxxxx
Davis closed a portal behind him. To avoid having to fight them a second time, Bobby had set up an ice prison in one of the open areas. They knew how cold it had to be before Peter had a problem breaking it so they figured it should be able to hold the unconscious super soldiers. He and Jean had just deposited the last group. They had made it down to some of the lower levels but still no sign of Peter. This floor seemed to be made up of workrooms and lab space. He doubted they would find Peter here but the directive had been clear each floor. So that's what they were doing.
"Has one of the other teams already been here? This looks like a lot of damage." Scott looked around at debris littering the floor.
Bobby frowned. "We're the only ones on this level. Maybe it's left over from the breakout."
Logan shook his head. "This is fresh." He sniffed the air. "And there's people in there." He stepped over some of the debris leaving the rest of them to follow.
The group made their way further down the hall. Logan knelt down next to a body. "He's still breathing." He looked back at Davis. "Can you portal from here or do you need more clearance?"
Davis looked around, "More clearance. Some of this stuff seems like it's not exactly stable."
Logan reached down and picked up the unconscious lump, throwing him over his shoulder. He started to follow Davis back out of the debris when Bobby stopped him.
"Hang on." Tilting his head he looked at the unconscious figure. "I think that's Basil." He tapped is ear piece. "We just found Basil. Unconscious. Looks like he's wearing some kind of interface." He nodded to Davis to keep heading out.
Logan looked at the three remaining in the debris, "There's someone else in here. Why don't you wait until I get back."
"I think we can handle it." Scott looked down the hall. "We'll let you know what we find." He watched Logan and Davis walk away before heading deeper into the debris. Scott looked around him. It looked like the wall of one of the rooms had been disintegrated. He looked over at Jean who was staring down at a hand held device. It was helping them track the radiation emitting from the super soldiers as well as the transponders from the others. "Are you getting anything?"
Jean frowned and looked over at the room. "Massive amounts of radiation is being detected. It's not like a leak or something that would be harmful. More like 3 times the amount Tony was detecting before." She looked over at Scott. "It's like there should be 50 soldiers in there...but there's not."
Scott turned stepped into the room. "Ok...so let's see what's causing it."
Jean and Bobby entered behind him. Jean started moving debris around, clearing a path so they could see what was in the room. They finally had the first layer moved out of the way and could see a melted cabinet. "Wait, what is that?" Jean shifted some twisted metal out of the way. "I thought I saw a glint of red underneath."
Scott felt the urge to roll his eyes. Everything he saw was red. Leaning over he pulled what might have been a cabinet door out of the way and saw something that was distinctly shaped like a leg, it way larger than a human leg. "Maybe Abomination?" He felt Jean and Bobby tense behind him. He kept an eye on the unmoving leg as they continued to clear some of the debris.
"That's not what I remember the Abomination looking like." Bobby took a piece of metal from Scott. "I thought he was more...not red."
Scott shrugged and picked up another piece that was covering a shoulder. He stopped when he detected movement. "Jean, are you getting anything?"
Jean frowned. "A lot of confusion. Regret. Anger. Scott, step back." The anger was what bothered her the most. It was a deep seated anger that had taken root long ago.
Scott shook his head. He could tell that the other arm was trapped under some fused metal. Focusing his visor he shot a tight beam that broke up the metal, allowing him to remove it. He heard a gasp and felt Jean's hand on his shoulder, ready to pull him back if needed. The body shifted next to him, slowly pushing itself against a wall into a sitting position. "Are you ok?" Laughter was not what Scott expected to hear.
"I've been better." He focused on his hands in his lap. He had regained consciousness briefly before. He had hoped that it had been some trauma induced nightmare but the impossibly large red hands were still there, resting in an equally large red lap, tatters of his clothes remaining in places. He started laughing again.
"We can get you out of here and to safety. We can help you." Scott looked down into blue eyes that were a sharp contrast to the large face.
"Help me? You don't know who I am." He pushed himself up until his legs were under him and stood, head touching the top of the ceiling.
Scott stood up. "Doesn't matter."
He laughed again. "Tell Peter when you find him that the irony isn't lost on me." He was familiar enough with the island that he knew how to get off and where he could go until he could figure out what in the hell he was going to do. Stepping past the group in front of him, he punched a hole in the wall and left through it.
"Well, that was weird." Bobby crossed his arms and watched the figure retreat through walls. "Kinda what I imagine the Hulk to be like but not green and with more words."
Scott shook his head. It wasn't the first time someone had opted to go off on their own instead of accept what they offered. He knew it wouldn't be the last either. "Come on. Finding Peter is the objective."
xxxxxxxxxx
Peter cradled his wrist against his chest as he strained to hear. The problem was he could hear too much from too many different directions. He would love to have a com right now. Or his HUD. Or some nanobots. Or Dr. Cho. His wrist was aching which probably meant it needed to be set. The healing process only did so much. He had never gotten the knack of setting his own bones. He had watched Bucky put Nat's shoulder back into place once and it seemed horrible. He had no idea what needed to be moved where in his wrist so until he could get it set he'd have to deal with the ache.
"Can we please just try to get out of here?" Amanda did not understand why Peter wouldn't just leave.
"My friends are here. I need to find them so we can stop Zeke. And then stop Ross." Peter frowned and listened again. He thought he could hear a repulsor but he couldn't figure out which direction it was coming from.
"If you're just planning on stopping Ross, why did you let him out. Why not just let Zeke kill him?" Amanda frowned at Peter. She didn't understand anything that he did.
"I don't kill people." Peter started walking in the direction he thought the repulsors were coming from.
Amanda trailed after him. "You wouldn't have been killing him. Zeke would have been more than happy to do it."
"If I had left him there and Zeke killed him in his cell, I would have been responsible for his death. That's not something I want to live with. I fight the bad guys. I don't want to become them." Peter saw an opening ahead. Amanda has said that most of the stairwells were near the open areas. He thought he needed to be up a level.
Amanda slowed down and thought about what Peter was saying. She had spent her life either being hurt or hurting others. She didn't like the way either option made her feel. Zeke had cleaned her up and she thought maybe he was trying to save her but he ended up being worse than the rest. He had used the memory of her father to manipulate her, he had tried to tell her that she needed to be like her father. She barely remembered her father, but she needed to be like someone because she didn't like who she was. Maybe she could be like Peter and Johnny. It was an odd thought that sunk her deep into her head. She didn't realize how far ahead Peter had gotten until she saw him slow down at the opening of the room. Then she froze, the voice she had come to dread echoed through the empty hall.
"Look what I found."
