Chapter 28: Round Up Part 2
"We're entering Transylvanian airspace," Nick Fury reported from the pilot's seat of the Quinjet. Mikey was strapped in next to Doctor Strange, looking out the window at the rain coming down in sheets. Behind them, the Fantastic 4 team rode in the Quinjet's rear seats. All of them were anxious to get to their destination.
"Local weather is dreary with an 80% chance of bad guys," said Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. Johnny was known for his humor, and Mikey had come to appreciate it over the past three hours of flight time.
"We're gonna jump in," Fury said, pushing buttons on the control panel. "Quinjet's on autopilot."
Mr. Fantastic turned to Human Torch. "Johnny, you and I are going to go down and secure the landing zone."
"Sounds good to me," Human Torch said, following Mr. Fantastic to the rear of the ship and opening the door. "Flame on!" he shouted, and his body erupted with flame as he leaped out of the ship and took off, heading for the surface. Mr. Fantastic leaped after him, stretching his body into the shape of a glider and letting the winds carry him down towards the ground.
Doctor Strange turned, noticing Mikey's empty chair spinning in circles. "Wait, where's—"
They all looked back at the jump bay area. Mikey had put on some kind of weird costume. He was now wearing a navy blue turncoat that fell to his ankles, and a tall matching top hat. A necklace of garlic cloves strung together with some twine hung around his neck.
"Michelangelo, what are you doing?" Fury asked.
"We're hunting monsters, dudes!" Mikey said, strapping a miniature crossbow that fired wooden stakes around his wrist. "Gotta look the part."
They stared at him in confusion for a few seconds. "You know what?" Fury said. "I'm not even gonna question it. Let's jump."
They quickly strapped on parachute gear and leaped out of the Quinjet as it carried them through the sky. "Cannonball!" the Thing shouted, as he jumped out of the plane as if performing a cannonball.
As they fell, the ground slowly came into view. They were deep in the middle of the woods, and a giant castle loomed up out of the trees ahead. The whole thing looked like some kind of creepy fairy tale.
They headed for the castle wall, landing on the outer battlements. The Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic streaked through the sky overhead. "Whaddya know?" the Thing said. "Johnny came through for once!"
"I heard that!" Human Torch said over the Fantastic Four's radio watches.
Mikey peered over the edge of the wall at the inner courtyard of the castle. A group of vampires and wolves was pacing the courtyard, grumbling and moaning as monsters do. Mikey recognized them right away. "These guys look familiar," he murmured. "Where have I see these spooky spectacles before?" He tapped the side of his head, racking his brain. Finally his eyes lit up. "Of course! This could only be the work of none other than Savanti Romero!"
"Who?" asked Nick Fury.
Mikey turned back to the rest of them. "He's an evil mutant time lord who wants to take over the world and infect it with monsters. He has some kind of beef with my girlfriend Renet, who is also a time travelling warrior. And super hot, by the way."
The heroes peered down at the monsters in the courtyard. "He's got an army of security guards," Invisible Woman said. "I wonder what kind of benefits he offers?"
"Probably unlimited access to the blood of all his enemies!" Mikey said, as they suddenly became surrounded by skeleton warriors created by Savanti Romero. "And we're next!"
"Ben?" Invisible Woman said as they took up positions. "I think it's time for some clobbering."
The Thing groaned. "Come on, Susie. Ya ruined my line!"
The group attacked the skeleton warriors, who were no match for the heroes. But more monsters, attracted by the noise, poured up the stairways towards them. Suddenly Invisible Woman's wrist radio buzzed. "Come in!" said Human Torch's voice. "Fantastic Four, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Johnny!" the Thing said, grabbing a wolf by the tail and swinging it over his head before releasing it into a crowd of skeleton warriors.
"We're on the other side of the castle," said Mr. Fantastic over the radio. "We could do with some backup. Quick." The transmission went out.
Invisible Woman used her powers to create a forcefield that spanned the length of the battlements, holding the monsters back on one end while they fought the others coming up on their other side. Mikey fired a wooden stake into a vampire creature's neck, which hissed as it collapsed. "Move your shells, dudes!" he said as they took off, heading towards the other side of the castle.
Fighting their way around the battlements, they arrived to see Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic beset by all sides from skeleton warriors. They quickly fought the monsters back, and regrouped.
"I've got good news and bad news," said Mr. Fantastic, pulling a scanning device from his belt. "The scanners indicate that the trapped hero is inside the castle keep. The only way to bring the lift up is to trigger the alarm."
"Which I bet will bring us a lot of unwanted attention," said Fury.
"Triggering the alarm?" Mikey asked. "Isn't this supposed to be a surprise attack?"
While the others battled the monsters as they came, the Thing and Mr. Fantastic made their way up a flight of stone steps towards the lift controls. The Thing punched a hole through the wall to reveal the gears, and the thick ropes that operated the lift. Mr. Fantastic stretched his arm through the hole, yanking and tugging on the ropes and bringing the wooden platform up to their level. As expected, the alarms started blaring, and more vampires, werewolves, and skeletons appeared.
"Here's our ride, team!" Mr. Fantastic called, as the Thing wedged open the thick oak doors to the lift. Invisible Woman shielded them from the monsters with a massive forcefield, and they backed onto the lift. Mr. Fantastic let go of the ropes, and the lift carried them down into the castle's lower levels.
Human Torch unleashed a stream of flames up the lift shaft, setting the wooden lift shaft ablaze. "That'll keep any of those creeps from following us down here," he said.
The good news was, it looked like most of the monsters had been outside the castle. The main hall was practically empty. Fury checked his tracker. "The signal's coming from the dungeon below the castle."
Carefully the heroes crept through the castle, making their way down to the dungeons. Nervous, Mikey hid behind the Thing. "I'll just let you lead the way, dude," he said.
The Thing snorted. "Thanks a lot."
They reached a large, circular pit built deep into the ground, with cells lining the walls. In the center of the pit were four figures. The first figure was a muscular demonic-looking person, with yellow skin, red eyes, and two fangs growing out of his bottom jaw. He also had backwards curving goat horns on his head, goat legs instead of human legs, and a long tail. On his forearms he sported a pair of futuristic-looking gauntlets. Mikey recognized him instantly as Savanti Romero.
The second figure was very clearly a vampire. He had extremely pale skin, red eyes, sharp fangs, and a flat, bat-like nose. He wore a black leather outfit tightly clinging to his muscular body, and a brown trenchcoat over it. His hair was a mop of tangled black, extending down past his shoulders.
"That's the creepiest guy I've ever seen, dudes!" Mikey whispered. "He's like if Steven Tyler was a vampire. He's like a Dracula doppleganger!" He gasped, the powers of naming things swirling around him. "Drappleganger!"
The third and fourth figures, bound and kneeling in the middle of the room, looked to be human. One of them was clearly African-American, with short cropped black hair and a neatly trimmed black beard. He wore a black trenchcoat and dark tinted sunglasses. The second one was a young female, with a futuristic dark blue outfit, a navy blue cape, and an ornate helmet. Both of them struggled violently against the ropes that held them.
"Renet!" Mikey cried, recognizing his girlfriend. The Thing instantly clapped a hand over the orange turtle's mouth to prevent him from giving their position away.
"Doctor Morbius, are we almost ready?" asked Romero.
Michael Morbius, the vampire, gave a shriek from the edge of the room and glided down next to the demonic figure. "Once the moon finishes rising, we will be able to perform the summoning ritual."
"Good." Savanti Romero took several steps forward, staring down at his captives. "Once I use the Time Scepter to bring back Dracula, the original vampire, we will infect you once more with the vampire bite, Blade. Then once you are under our control, we will be able to create a new race of vampires with your abilities."
"And if my calculations are correct," Morbius said, "we should be able to cure all vampires of their weakenesses, making our race invincible."
Blade struggled against his bonds. "You'll still be a couple of ugly sons of bitches," he said.
Renet glared fiercely at Romero. "You'll never get away with this, Romero."
Romero laughed evilly. "Look at you two. Even before your doom, you still fight. The vampires born of your DNA will be honorable warriors just like you. Take comfort in that."
The Time Scepter lit up with a burst of dark energy. Savanti Romero grinned menacingly. "The time has come," he said. "Step back, Morbius."
Morbius backed away as Romero began his incantation, and a swirling portal appeared in the wall next to him. The portal glowed with an orange energy as it grew ever larger, the most hideous evil faces they had ever seen flaming in the netherworld on the other side, howling and shrieking.
Mr. Fantastic scanned the portal with a device on his wrist. "It appears to be a portal to another dimension outside of space and time," he said. "Massive magical energy detected."
"We can't let them resurrect Dracula," Strange said grimly. "I say we strike once the portal has reached its biggest. That's when Romero will be at his weakest. We'll take the scepter, push him through the portal and close it, then we can deal with Morbius."
"You mean 'Drappleganger'," Mikey corrected. "You're new to the whole Doctor Namenstein thing, so I'll let it slide this time. Booyakashaaaaa!" He leaped down into the center of the room, landing on top of Morbius. The vampire shrieked, throwing the orange turtle off his back. Mikey landed on his feet, spinning his nunchuks ominously. "Didn't anybody tell you Halloween was over?" he asked.
Renet's eyes lit up with joy. "Michelangelo!" she cried.
Romero's eyes narrowed. "What? How are you here? I thought the end of the world would have finished you pathetic turtles off!"
The rest of the heroes jumped down into the pit, taking up a fighting stance. Romero began to laugh when he saw them. "Oh, my, my, my. This is a bit of a homecoming, isn't it?"
"Savanti Romero," Strange said. "I thought for sure when I banished you to the Fear Dimension you were gone for good."
Romero laughed again. "No, you pathetic fool. No realm, no prison can hold me. I am SAVANTI ROMERO!" As he shouted his name, a group of man-sized bat creatures were summoned, surrounding the heroes.
"Fantastic Four!" Reed shouted. "Attack!"
The heroes and the bat army began to do battle as Savanti Romero continued to open the portal using the Time Scepter. "Don't let 'em bite you!" shouted Human Torch, unleashing a stream of flames into a crowd of bats.
"Bite this!" the Thing said, grabbing a giant bat before leaping into the air and crushing it under his weight.
Mikey fought his way through the giant bats to reach Renet and Blade, slicing their bonds with the blade on his nunchaku. Renet leaped up, hugging Mikey. "It's so good to see you again!" she said.
"It's good to see you too, Renet," Mikey said, returning her hug.
"Where are your brothers?" she asked, slipping on her futuristic energy knuckledusters and punching a giant bat warrior in the face.
"Well, Raph's hurt pretty bad, and Leo and Donnie disappeared when the world ended," Mikey said.
Renet grimaced. "Oh, no. I'm so sorry to hear that. I came back from the future to see if I could do anything to help, but all I did was fall right into Savanti Romero's trap."
"Well, maybe when this is all over you can come back with me and the FF to our secret hideout!" suggested Mikey. "We're trying to rescue the heroes we find so we can take the fight right to Loki!"
Blade fought his way through the crowd of giant bats to Mikey and Renet. "I don't think we've met, dude," Mikey said. "I'm Michelangelo. But you can call me 'The Ghoul-busting Mike-anator'!" he added dramatically.
"I'm Blade," Blade said. "I'm a vampire killer. And we've all got a whole lot of vampires to kill."
"Let's give them a taste of hot nunchuk fury!" Mikey shouted. "Hiyaaa!" He and Blade leaped towards the giant bats.
Doctor Strange had fought his way to Savanti Romero, who turned from the portal to Hell to see his old foe. "Ha!" Romero laughed. "Games, is it?! Very good! Come on, then!" He roared, unleashing a stream of fire from his mouth at Strange, who deflected it with a magic spell.
He's clever and fast, Strange thought. And fearless—confident. This confidence is his weakness. He spun his hands in front of his necklace, opening the Eye of Agamotto and revealing the Time Stone inside. The Eye began glowing as it emitted the Rings of Raggador, wrapping themselves around Romero's form. Then from Strange's hands flew the unbreakable Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, which together he hoped would hold Romero long enough to take the Scepter away.
"Your abilities are good for show, sorcerer!" Romero said, activating one of his gauntlets and enveloping his body in a shield, disintegrating the Sorcerer Supreme's magic attacks. "But they are useless against me. Once I defeat you, the Time Stone will be mine, a relic truly worthy of my possession. I will be unstoppable. But you are still human enough to perish when my powers come to bear." He telepathically threw Strange through the ceiling and flew out after him.
Meanwhile, Invisible Woman and the Thing were going after Morbius. The vampire was deceptively light and agile, vaulting over the Thing's punches in a single bound. The Thing accidentally punched the Human Torch instead. "Yowch!" he cried, pulling back a fist singed by his friend's flames. "Sorry, Johnny."
"Ngh!" Human Torch grunted as he stumbled back from the Thing's blow.
Morbius leaped into the air, gliding down towards Invisible Woman who was distracted by a group of other bat creatures. It had been almost a day since last he feasted on blood; she would make a good meal.
Nick Fury dove in front of Invisible Woman, covering her from the attack. "Susan, look out—!" he shouted, his warning turning to a shriek of pain as Morbius's fangs entered his neck.
Fury collapsed to the ground as a startled Morbius removed his fangs. In his surprise, he forgot to feed on Nick Fury's blood, and before he remembered his hunger Mikey leaped into the air, firing his wrist crossbow at Morbius. "Eat wooden stake, Drappelganger!" he shouted. "And you're welcome for a super-cool evil bad guy name. You can pay for it in nunchuks to the face!"
"You fool!" Morbius laughed, catching the wooden stake in his hand. "You call me the doppelganger of Dracula? You know nothing. I possess none of the weaknesses that other, lesser vampires have. Allow me to show you!" He threw the stake aside as Mikey flung his nunchuks at the vampire, who grabbed them and swung Mikey around in a circle. The orange turtle hit the far wall hard, dropping like a stone.
Morbius approached him, panting heavily. His thirst for blood was weakening him, and he couldn't afford to keep fighting the heroes otherwise he'd run out of energy. "I've never tasted turtle blood before," he laughed. "No matter. If you fail to sate my hunger, I will just find someone else. Perhaps your little girlfriend."
"Think again, Morbius!" The vampire turned to see Renet standing there, who punched him hard in the face with her energy brass knuckles. There was a blue flash, and a stunned Morbius flew across the room and into the wall so hard the stone cracked. The vampire slumped to the floor, knocked unconscious by the blow.
Renet ran over to Mikey and bent over him in concern. "Mikey, are you okay?" she asked, holding his face in her hands.
Mikey's eyes fluttered open as he groaned in pain. "Oh, no!" he said as he saw Renet. "This can't be happening, dude! I died and went to heaven! Oh, man, I can already see the angels coming to greet me!" He threw his hands over his face. "Back, angels! Back! I'm not coming with you guys unless there's jellybean anchovie jalapeno pizza in heaven!"
Renet laughed, hugging Mikey. "Wake up, you dork, it's just me."
Mikey peeked nervously through his fingers, breathing a sigh of relief. "Oh, whew. It's you, Renet. Sorry I mistook you for an angel."
She giggled some more. "You're too cute, Mikey. Now come on, we still have some vampires to deal with."
Mikey whooped for joy as he backflip-kicked a giant bat in the head, sending it sprawling. "You hear that? She said I'm cute!" he yelled at the monster.
The heroes looked around; all the bat creatures had been taken out. "Is that all of them?" Invisible Woman asked.
Suddenly there was a low, menacing chuckle. They looked to their right, where Nick Fury was getting up from the ground. The S.H.I.E.L.D. director turned slowly to face them. "Not. Yet," he said, his voice a growl.
Mikey shrieked as Nick Fury opened his eyes, revealing them to be a pale shimmering blue in color. "Dudes! Drappleganger turned Nick Fury!"
Fury hissed, revealing his vampire fangs.
"Easy, Fury," Blade said, drawing his sword. "I don't wanna hurt you. Just give up, and we'll take you back and find a cure."
Fury pounced, grabbing Blade's sword arm in one hand and whirling around, elbowing the vampire hunter in the face with the other. He quickly disarmed Blade and punched him in the face, throwing the sword aside.
"Looks like Fury's muscle memory still serves, even in vampire form," Mr. Fantastic commented as the other heroes charged Fury.
"Lucky us," Invisible Woman retorted. "Don't let him bite you!"
The Thing charged towards Fury, who slid through his legs and came up in front of Mikey, throwing a series of four punches to Mikey's gut. Mikey cried out in pain. "Sorry for all those crappy nicknames I came up with for you!" he said. "If you stop I promise to find you a good one!"
This seemed to make Fury angrier. He drew a handgun from his belt and aimed it at Mikey. Mikey yelped, flipping away as Fury fired after him. Suddenly his head jerked to the side as though he'd been hit. This happened several more times before he finally staggered and went down, his nose bleeding profusely. The air in front of him shimmered and Invisible Woman appeared, shaking her bloody fist in pain.
The others ran up to her. "Are you okay?" Human Torch asked.
"Yeah, I just—" Invisible Woman grimaced. "I didn't mean to hit him that hard!"
"I must say, he'd make for some interesting experiments in his current state," Mr. Fantastic muttered. "Any possibility we can get him back to the Savage Land as a vampire?"
"Not a chance, Reed," the Thing said. "I ain't flyin' with one of those freaks on board."
In the skies above the castle, meanwhile, Doctor Strange was locked in a wizard's duel with Savanti Romero. As the Sorcerer Supreme used his Cloak of Levitation to fly around a fiery blast from Romero's mouth, he remarked, "Your magic is much stronger than before, Romero. But not enough to stop the Sorcerer Supreme!"
Waving his hands in the air, he summoned a ball of green mystical fire, the Flames of Faltine, before launching them at Romero. In the middle of his attack, Romero had no time to activate his shield, and the energy blast struck him head-on. "Yargh!" he cried, dropping the scepter. "No!" he shouted, flying after it. "The Time Scepter!"
Strange opened a portal underneath the Time Scepter, and redirected it to drop right into his hand. He closed the portal before Romero could get through, and the demon glared up at Strange. "Give me the scepter, sorcerer!" he growled, releasing another stream of flaming breath.
"I think not," said Strange, as the Cloak of Levitation undid itself from his neck. The red cape flew at a blinding speed towards Romero, at the same time as Strange fell out of the reach of the fiery stream. The cloak wrapped itself around Romero tightly, preventing him from using his gauntlets. He roared, struggling against the bonds.
Doctor Strange opened a portal underneath himself, landing on the roof of the Transylvanian castle. The cloak hovered in front of him, as Romero glared at him. "You may have beaten me this time, Sorcerer Supreme, but I'll always be back," he laughed.
"Not this time," Strange said. "Enjoy the Mirror Dimension." Behind Romero, a construct of crystalline fractals appeared: the gateway to the Mirror Dimension, a parallel dimension impossible to escape from without a Sling Ring, which Romero did not have. The cape unfurled suddenly, flinging the demonic creature through the gateway.
"Noooo!" Romero roared as he disappeared inside the Mirror Dimension with a shimmer. Strange quickly shut the portal and returned down to the castle's dungeons to regroup with the heroes.
They gathered around Nick Fury's prone form. "What happened?" Strange asked.
"He got bit by Morbius," Renet said, as she took the Time Scepter back from Strange. "If I go back in time, I can prevent it."
"Don't." Strange held up a hand. "You are not ready to use such a piece of advanced tech so liberally yet." He used a spell to put Nick Fury into a deep sleep, very deeply so that he was unable to awaken until they were finished. "The Director's will is very strong, even in his vampire state. He will resist my efforts to cleanse the disease from his blood. But with your strengths, we may yet succeed. You will have to occupy his attention in the astral plane to distract him from my own actions here."
"The astral plane?" asked Mr. Fantastic.
"It is a parallel dimension that coexists alongside ours," Strange explained. "Here, the soul is separated from the physical body and exists in a state of pure energy. Days pass there, while seconds pass here."
"Forget it!" said the Thing. "I don't need to be sliced up and mixed back together like a fruit salad. I'll be sittin' this one out."
"Four of you should suffice," said Strange.
They looked around, before finally Mikey raised his hand. "All right, I'm in. Director Fury needs me."
"Me, too," said Renet.
"I'll go, too," said Mr. Fantastic. "I might be able to get some readings while we're there for future experiments."
"All I know is we got a vampire needs taking down," said Blade. "I'm your guy. Count me in."
The four got into position around Fury's form. "You must contain him, and not allow him to elude you in the astral plane," said Strange. "If he awakens while you are there, the rest of us and your bodies will be very vulnerable. I will have to borrow your physical strength here. While in the astral plane you may feel weaker than usual."
Mikey didn't remember much until he opened his eyes and saw himself kneeling before him, eyes closed, palms outstretched. Looking around, he saw the astral forms of Mr. Fantastic, Blade, and Renet all staring at each other in amazement. It was like looking down at themselves and the world.
"Whoah, dudes!" he shouted, doing a backflip. "This is totally awesome!"
"Remarkable," said Mr. Fantastic. He tried stretching his arm, then stopped. "It seems our superpowers are blocked in this dimension."
"Anyone see Fury?" Blade asked.
They were interrupted by the sound of a hiss. Turning, they spotted Nick Fury's astral form floating above them. "Speak of the devil," Blade muttered, drawing his sword.
"His eye is healed!" Renet said, noticing that Fury didn't have his trademark eyepatch. "Why isn't he back to normal, though?"
"Same reason I'm not a dime-store turtle, I guess," Mikey said, whirling his nunchuks.
"Changes to one's spirit in the physical world must be permanent here!" Mr. Fantastic realized. "Oh, I have so much research to do here."
"No, you won't!" With a hiss, Fury leaped for Mr. Fantastic, wrapping his fists around the hero's neck. "You will all die!"
Without his powers, Mr. Fantastic was almost defenseless against Fury's onslaught. "Help!" he croaked, choking.
"Cut us some slack, Fury, would you?" Blade tried to pry Fury's hands from around Mr. Fantastic's neck. "Don't force me to get medieval on your ass!"
"Who will protect you, traitor?" Fury delivered an elbow to Blade's neck, stunning the vampire hunter. "You are a vampire like me. But you betray your own kind. I will cut out your tongue, and then your heart!" He kicked Blade in the gut, sending his astral projection flying.
"Mikey! What's going on?" Renet asked. "They look hurt! I thought this was like a dream?"
"It's real here all right, Renet," Mikey said, running towards Fury's astral projection. "If you die here, you're really dead, so be careful! Same goes for Fury! Try not to hurt him too bad!" He tackled the Director's astral projection in a leaping headbutt.
Fury shrieked. "Foolish demons. I'm stronger and faster than you, turtle freak! You will be the first to—" He stopped, shaking violently. "Die?" His astral projection lay on the ground, gasping and hissing.
"Excellent!" Strange said. "We have purged the vampire virus from his blood and healed his wounds. Now concentrate. We have to return his spirit to his body."
When Mikey opened his eyes he was back in his own body. As the others all returned to the material plane, Nick Fury's eye opened and he grimaced in pain. "What a dream I had. And can I get a bandage for this?" he asked, pointing to his nose.
The heroes breathed a sigh of relief, and Strange slumped in exhaustion at his mystical efforts. "Where's Savanti Romero?" Renet asked, clutching the Time Scepter protectively.
"Trapped in the Mirror Dimension," Strange answered. "He won't be bothering us for some time. What about Morbius?"
"Ahem!" Mikey said. "That's Drappleganger." They looked around, but found nothing. "He must have slipped out during the fight."
"Well, I ain't hanging around long enough to find out," said the Thing. "We got who we came for. I wanna go home. I've had enough trick-or-treaters for one day."
Blade and Renet both agreed to come with them and join the heroes in the Savage Land. As the Quinjet rose up into the air, Invisible Woman looked nervously at Nick Fury in the pilot's seat. "Listen, I'm really sorry about breaking your nose back there, Director Fury."
"Forget it, Susan," said Fury, gingerly touching the bandage around his broken nose. "This nose has been smashed more times than Tony Stark."
MEANWHILE . . .
Locals had always said that the Texas desert night was full of strange oddities. Some claimed to have seen aliens, motherships with flashing lights floating in the air from afar. Others warned of dread creatures like La Llorona or the Chupacabra that stalked the sandy wastelands, preying on hapless travelers.
The Quinjet touched down on a shrub-covered hill overlooking an abandoned smelting plant. The plant had already been failing before the end of the world, and now it was completely abandoned. Well, not completely, according to their scanners.
April and the three X-Men stepped off the Quinjet. April took a deep breath of desert air. "It's so quiet and peaceful out here," she said. "Kind of makes you forget that the world ended."
"Trust me," said Cyclops, jerking a finger at Wolverine. "Where he goes, it never stays peaceful for long."
Wolverine ignored him. "The trackers are inside that smelting plant," he said. "We better play it safe. Whoever's in there is paranoid right now. Keep it cool."
They headed off down the hill towards the plant. They made their way inside through a side door. The place was eerily empty; the silence was deafening. "Hello?" April called. "Is anyone there? We're not here to harm you."
With a snarl, a blue furry figure leaped from the ceiling, tackling April with a roar. April screamed.
"Hank! Stop!" Wolverine shouted.
The figure turned, and its expression changed immediately. "Logan?" it asked, climbing off of April, who shakily got to her feet. "Is it really you?"
A red-headed woman stepped from the shadows, her eyes filled with tears. "Logan?" she asked, her voice cracking.
"Jean!" In an instant Wolverine was at Jean's side, hugging her tight in an embrace. "I thought you were gone again."
"Oh, Logan," she said, bursting into tears. The other heroes stood in a respectful silence, until at last they pulled away. "Scott? Storm? How are you all here? Where are the others?"
"We wish we knew," said Cyclops. "How are you and Hank here?"
"We were captured by HYDRA forces after the world ended," said Beast, aka Hank McCoy. "They took us to a secret facility in New Mexico and did every experiment you could think of. They're trying to use our DNA to create a new race of mutants."
"We managed to escape," said Jean Grey, gesturing behind her as she added: "And we brought a couple friends with us."
From the shadows stepped some very familiar faces. April's jaw dropped as her eyes passed over each one. A giant mutant snapping turtle, with dark blue skin and garb similar to the turtles she knew. A mutant chimpanzee with a helmet and gauntlets built from Kraang tech, hovering over the ground in a cross-legged sitting position. A hideous-looking mutant pigeon. An even more hideous-looking six-foot-tall mutant made entirely out of garbage with an empty right eye socket and a half-exposed skeleton. A four-foot-tall mutant gecko with yellowish skin covered in brown speckles and dressed in a skater's outfit carrying a skateboard. "The Mighty Mutanimals!" she shouted.
The mutant turtle's jaw dropped. "Is that you, April?" he asked.
The chimpanzee closed his eyes. "Telepathic scan confirms, that yes, Spike, they are all who they claim to be. Our very own April O'Neil, and the X-Men Wolverine, Cyclops, and Storm."
"No way, Doctor Rockwell!" said the gecko creature. "That's totally gnarly!" He went up to Wolverine, extending his hand for a shake. "What's up, dude! I'm a huge fan, bro. The name's Mondo Gecko, skateboarder extraordinaire and total ladies' man."
Wolverine stared at the extended hand, and finally Mondo Gecko took it back. "That's cool bro, not a problem. I'm more of a hugger anyway."
He spread his arms, and immediately Wolverine unsheathed his claws. "I'm not a hugger," the X-Man said, as Mondo Gecko shrunk away in terror.
"Logan, be nice," said Storm.
"We can't stay here long," Jean Grey said. "HYDRA's been chasing us ever since we escaped."
"Where are you headed?" Cyclops asked.
"The Weapons X facility in Canada," answered Beast. "Hopefully we can lie low there and start life over."
"There is no starting life over," said Wolverine. "Not for us. Not while Loki's in charge of Earth."
"What do you suggest we do?" asked the giant trash mutant, the Muckman.
"We wait for HYDRA to catch up to you, finish them off, and then we'll take you to a safehouse," said April. "There are other heroes out there. We're growing in number each day, and we're hoping to take the fight to Loki soon."
"You've always been a rather optimistic girl, Miss O'Neil," said Doctor Rockwell. "But I'm afraid that any dreams we had of life getting back to normal are gone."
"You don't know that." April looked around at the group. "None of you do. I know what it's like to be scared. To be practically frozen with fear. My dad being a mutant bat, and not knowing if we would ever be able to find a cure? That was a little scary. But then there would be something that needed my attention more than my fear. Something more important than me sitting there feeling sorry for myself. Guys, I know you're scared. I am, too. But the world needs saving. And that's way more important than being on the run for the rest of our lives and letting the bad guys win."
The room fell silent. Finally, Spike said, "April's right. I know Raph would never forgive me if he found out I was turning tail and running from a fight. Let's take these HYDRA goons down for good."
"They're about five miles out," said Wolverine, sniffing the air. "Alright, here's the plan." Motioning everyone in close, and drawing a map on the floor. "We'll need a decoy, and then we'll get set up here, and here . . ."
William Stryker was a covert ops specialist and military scientist who had served and protected his country for decades. Between field deployment in 'Nam and active duty at home, he'd learned something. The biggest threat against the U.S. was not from communists, or from terrorists in the middle east. Instead, it was from within. The greatest threat to the world was mutants.
That was why he'd been working tirelessly over the past few decades to come up with solutions to the mutant problem. It was the reason his beloved wife Marcy had killed herself, because his freak of a child had tormented her to no end. So he wouldn't stop until every single mutant was under his control, to do with as he pleased. They'd started a project designed to specifically target everyone with an active X-gene, and they'd been genetically experimenting on mutants in a secret lab. Once Loki had invaded and HYDRA had taken control of the United States, Stryker had approached their new leadership, the Council of HYDRA, with his proposal, and been allowed full access to what had previously been S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files on mutants.
A couple of test subjects from Manhattan had escaped the New Mexico facility, along with two of the original X-Men: Jean Grey and Beast. He knew how dangerous these X-Men were, which was why he was taking no chances. In addition to the Reavers, his personal cybernetically-enhanced elite task force, he had also brought along eight Sentinels. These eighteen-foot-tall robots were his pride and joy; they were designed specifically to hunt down mutants. Each weighed approximately 4,800 lbs, equipped with dual Trask 873K energy blasters for armament support, and was able to achieve Mach 0.9 through the addition of two G302-TI-99 enhanced performance ion thrusters. Each Sentinel was also fitted with a Mutant Detection Device, capable of distinguishing between mutant and human individuals and specifically targeting those with the mutant X-gene.
It was these Sentinels that had led Stryker to El Paso, to this seemingly abandoned smelting plant. The Sentinels were leading the way at about 1,000 feet up; he didn't want to reveal his hand before it was too late. He also didn't want Jean Grey's telepathic abilities to interfere, so he and each one of the Reavers had been equipped with psychic mind shields to put a stop to any mind games.
The ATVs pulled to a stop at the front of the smelting plant, and Stryker stepped out as his men moved quickly, surrounding the complex. "Secure the perimeter," he shouted. "We need the mutants alive."
Donald Pierce, the Reavers' first-in-command and head of security for Stryker's project, got out of the ATV's backseat. His orange-tinted sunglasses glinted in the moonlight as he smiled, his gold tooth sparkling in the darkness. "Let's go get 'em, boys," he said.
They made their way carefully, circling the smelting plant until the entire complex was surrounded. Suddenly there was a burst of cooing, and the Reavers jumped, training their weapons towards the sound.
A hideous-looking creature was perched on the roof, looking down at the Reavers with its red, yellow-pupiled eyes. The creature had a human torso with a giant pigeon head and legs. His body was covered in strange mutagenic blue growths, and his arms sported large wing feathers. It was Pigeon Pete.
Pierce looked over at Stryker, removing his glasses. "You sure I can't kill this one?" he asked.
Stryker shook his head. "We need them all alive."
Sighing, Pierce looked up at Pigeon Pete. "Hey, Pete," he said. Pigeon Pete did not respond, making cooing pigeon noises instead. "How bout you tell us where the rest of your buddies are?" Pierce continued. "We'll have fresh bread waiting for you back in New Mexico."
"Hmph!" Pigeon Pete stuck his beak into the air. "Sorry, but Pigeon Pete never betrays his friends! Not even for sourdough!" He took off into the air, leaping and flapping his wings as he dove down towards the Reavers.
"Move!" Pierce shouted as Pigeon Pete landed on two of the Reaver soldiers, talons first. The soldiers screamed as Pete's claw talons tore deep into their skin. Then as quickly as he struck, he was off again, flying towards a hole in the roof of the smelting plant as the Reavers fired after him. All of their shots missed.
"Stop shooting!" Stryker yelled over the noise. Blast it, if Pierce's trigger-happy thugs cost him these mutants . . . their progress would be slowed considerably.
"Move!" Pierce shouted again, grabbing one of his men and shoving him bodily towards the smelting plant. Eight men—half of the group—ran towards the smelting plant's doors. The inside was a maze of abandoned shipping crates and machinery, and the spotlights on their rifles lit the way.
As they entered, Beast watched them come in from a second-story catwalk. The mutant grimaced, his teeth bared in a snarl as he headed off to spring the trap. The men began splitting up into pairs, looking into every nook and cranny for any sign of the mutants.
"Yahhhh!" With a shout Mondo Gecko leaped from the ceiling, striking one of the soldiers in the head with his skateboard. The Reaver soldier dropped, and another, alerted by the noise, turned to see Mondo disappearing behind a crate. He opened fire too late, and headed off after the creature. The rest of the Reavers closed in on the sound of the gunfire.
Further inside, two Reavers approached an old chemicals vat, clearing the room for any mutants. They failed to see Wolverine behind them until it was too late. The X-man mutant leaped with a growl for one of the Reavers, adamantium claws sinking into his neck. He fell with a gurgle as Wolverine leaped from his corpse towards the other Reaver, but this one saw the attack coming and rolled with it, carrying them both to the floor. As Wolverine tried to get up the Reaver brought his gun up, but Wolverine's adamantium claws sliced through its barrel. With the other hand, Wolverine plunged his claws into the man's chest, piercing his heart.
"Let's go!" he shouted, as the mutants began making their way to the outside. Spike charged around a corner, knocking one of the Reavers over in a bowling maneuver before breaking the man's spine with his giant mace.
Wolverine came out a side exit and was headed for the air when Pierce appeared out of nowhere. "Gotcha!" the man shouted, pinning Wolverine to the sheet metal wall with his cybernetic left arm. Wolverine grunted, claws extended, trying to attack, but the cybernetic arm was powerful, and it held him in place. Thinking fast, the mutant kicked Pierce in between his legs, flipping up and around and knocking him to the ground. Claws raised, he was about to decapitate the man when a grappling hook suddenly pierced his chest and he groaned in pain.
Ten meters away, Striker had retrieved a grapple gun from the ATV and fired it, the hook penetrating Wolverine's skin and coming out the front of his chest. Stryker gave an enormous heave, yanking the mutant onto his back and onto the ground. Immediately two Reavers were on him, pinning his arms to the dirt below.
A third Reaver approached with a pair of extra-strength handcuffs. "Hold him down!" he shouted, dropping to one knee and preparing to snap the cuffs on Wolverine's hands. Suddenly a shard of jagged metal exploded through his chest, and with a surprised grunt he fell dead to the ground. The shard came from Jean Grey, who had used her telepathic powers to fling a shard of metal across the yard at the Reavers. She telepathically picked up the man's gun, using the power of her mind to aim at the other two Reavers and pull the trigger.
As the men collapsed dead, Stryker paled. He didn't know how the escaped mutants had met these other X-Men, but he did know that his men wouldn't be able to take them all on. "Send in the Sentinels!" he shouted, heading back towards the ATVs.
Immediately the giant robots dropped from the sky, aiming their weapons at the X-Men and the Mighty Mutanimals. "Initiate capture," one of them said in a deep robotic voice. Pierce, recovering from his kick to the 'nads, headed back towards the ATVs with the surviving Reavers.
"Storm, bring the rain!" Cyclops shouted. Storm immediately floated up into the sky, her eyes sparking with lightning. Clouds formed from thin air, and rain began falling in heavy sheets. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The storm would scramble Stryker's communication systems, so that he wouldn't be able to call for backup.
Doctor Rockwell levitated into the air. Turning his hands towards one of the Sentinels, he used his psychic powers to rip it apart. The ear-wrenching noise of metal scraping against metal filled their ears as the Sentinel was torn to pieces. Rockwell threw these pieces at another Sentinel, which fell with a crash to the ground.
Meanwhile, Pigeon Pete had found himself cornered by two other Sentinels. "Hey, guys!" he called up to them.
The nearest Sentinel identified the pigeon as a mutant and raised its arm cannon. "Halt, mutant!" it ordered, opening fire. Pigeon Pete flew around the gunfire, landing on the Sentinel's shoulder next to its head.
"You guys don't have any bread on you, do you?" he asked. "I'm starving!"
The other Sentinel saw Pigeon Pete and raised its cannon, blasting away. Pigeon Pete, startled by the noise, squawked and leaped into the air. He dodged the shots, which ended up hitting the other Sentinel in the head. The Sentinel's head exploded and its giant form crashed into the side of the smelting plant.
Pigeon Pete flew over to the second Sentinel and landed on the top of its head. "Your aim's off, dude!" he said. The Sentinel clenched its fist and went to punch Pigeon Pete, but Pete saw the attack coming and jumped off, flying on to the roof of the smelting plant. It was too late for the Sentinel to stop the punch, and the force of the blow shattered its head in a small explosion. It too fell to the ground.
Nearby, a third Sentinel saw Pigeon Pete land on the roof and raised its arm cannon to take down the mutant. But Spike saw the threat and, grabbing his mace, ran over and dealt the Sentinel a massive blow to the back of the knee. The giant robot dropped to one knee as Spike jumped into the air, bringing his mace down on the Sentinel's chest plate with all the force he could muster. "Yahhh!" he roared as the Sentinel crashed backwards onto the ground.
One of the Sentinels grabbed Wolverine, lifting him to its face. Struggling, Wolverine plunged his claws into the robot's eye sockets. Electrical sparks flashed as the robot began the long fall to the ground below. Wolverine jumped out, rolling across the ground right to the feet of two other Sentinels. He yelled and jumped, sticking to the chest of one of them by his claws. The other raised its blaster, aimed square at Wolverine, when out of nowhere another Sentinel flew through the air and knocked both of them down. All three collapsed in a tangled heap.
Wolverine turned to see April standing there, her arm outstretched. She must have used her psychic powers. "I don't need your help, girlie!" he shouted.
"If you say so, Wolverine," April shot back. "Let's go!"
Under the cover of the storm, the heroes ran from the smelting plant up the hill. The Sentinels' scanners were slightly scrambled in the rain, but Pierce saw them go. He quickly climbed up on the back of one of the ATVs, getting in the seat of the machine gun mounted to the top. "Follow them! Move!" he shouted to the Reavers, as they climbed into their vehicles to give chase. The Sentinels followed.
The mutants ran towards the Quinjet, which was exactly where they'd left it. "Is that gonna fit all of us?" Muckman asked.
"Sure!" Cyclops shouted back over the sound of the storm.
Stryker spotted the Quinjet at the top of the hill. So, the X-men had an aircraft. This would be very interesting news for his HYDRA superiors when he made it back to the base. "Pierce, target that aircraft!" he ordered.
In the back of the ATV, Pierce caught the Quinjet in his sights and pulled the trigger on the rear-mounted machine gun. Bullets bounced off the Quinjet's hull, sparking in the night air. The mutants dove for cover as bullets flew over their heads. Eventually the rounds pierced the hull, and the Quinjet exploded. The mutants stopped, shielding their eyes from the explosion. When the smoke cleared, April was dismayed to see a smouldering wreckage where the Quinjet had been. "What now?" she asked.
Cyclops fired a powerful beam of concussive, ruby-colored energy from his visor that burned a hole straight through one of the ATVs. "Looks like we're stranded here, boys," he said.
"Anybody have any shocking abilities that they'd like to disclose right about now?" Doctor Rockwell asked, picking up an ATV telepathically and throwing it high into the air.
"I've been learning magic," April said. "I might be able to create a portal and get us back. But it's gonna be real hit-or-miss. And it'll take me some time to warm up."
"Okay, team, listen up," said Wolverine. "Our transport is down until April gets that portal up. Scott, you and I are going to stay here and look after her. The rest of you, start running. Storm, I'm counting on you to get the team back if we don't make it out of here."
Storm nodded. "Come on, this way!" she shouted, flying off. The others followed, as April, Cyclops, and Wolverine stayed behind, taking cover behind a piece of the Quinjet's remains.
"Send the Sentinels after the others," said Stryker from his ATV. "I want to watch Logan die personally."
The ATVs stopped, and the Reavers climbed out, guns ready. They moved carefully through the wreckage, till one of them spotted Cyclops in his rifle's night vision sights. "Contact!" the man shouted, opening fire.
Wolverine had managed to circle behind them, and now attacked, jumping off the ground onto the Reaver's back. "Grah!" he shouted as he went to town, slicing through the Kevlar with his claws. The man screamed in pain and fell face-first onto the rain-soaked dirt.
Cyclops fired two more blasts of energy, taking down two other Reavers approaching. "More Reavers!" he called to Wolverine. "You're not getting tired, are you?"
Wolverine popped his claws out. "Let's separate these men from their machines," he growled.
April, meanwhile, concentrated on summoning the portal. She'd never been very good at using magic under stress, though she was still learning. Concentrating, she tried imagining the portal opening a passageway between here and the Savage Land base. "Ad vitam . . . aeternam," she muttered, her fingers beginning to spark.
Meanwhile, as the other mutants ran, Mondo Gecko began lagging behind. The mutant gecko wheezed for air, bending over and putting his hands on his knees.
"Mondo!" Spike shouted, catching up to him.
"I don't . . . think . . . I can . . . keep going, dude," Mondo panted.
Spike grabbed the small lizard, throwing him over his shoulder. "A Mutanimal never leaves a fellow mutant behind," he said.
A Sentinel landed behind him, raising its blaster. "Halt, mutant!" Suddenly it flew back, breaking into bits as it was launched backwards through the air telepathically by Doctor Rockwell. Another Sentinel approached Doctor Rockwell from behind, aiming its cannon.
"Look out!" Spike charged into Rockwell, tackling him to the ground. Rockwell hooted in protest as a hail of bullets struck the ground where he'd been moments earlier. The two Mutanimals climbed to their feet, and Spike looked at Rockwell. "Doc, throw me!" he yelled.
Doctor Rockwell used his psychic powers to lift Spike into the air. The mutant snapping turtle withdrew into his shell, which Rockwell spun around and around until it was a spiky blur. Then he threw it at the Sentinels with all the force he could muster. Spike hit the Sentinel with such force that he came out the other side, crashing into another one behind it. Both Sentinels hit the ground as Spike landed.
Storm lit up the night sky, summoning a lightning strike that fried the sensors on two other Sentinels. Their motherboards overloaded, both robots crashed in a terrible heap on the ground. Storm landed next to Jean Grey, who formed a psychic shield that deflected the incoming Sentinels fire. "I don't know how much longer I can take this, Jean!" she said, gasping heavily. It was hard for her to keep a storm of this magnitude up for so long.
"Just hold on a little longer Storm!" Jean grunted, focusing all her energy into maintaining the shield.
Meanwhile, Cyclops found himself pinned to the ground by Pierce, who had managed to get the drop on him. The Reaver leader held Cyclops' face in the dirt, keeping the mutant's dangerous laser vision away from him.
Suddenly Pierce gave a shout as his left arm, his cybernetic one, was sliced off. Wolverine pounced, pinning Pierce to the ground and holding his claws an inch from his face. Pierce smiled, his gold tooth glinting in the lightning flash. "I always was a fan, Wolverine," he said, coughing. "Go ahead. Do what they made you for."
What they made you for . . . Wolverine stopped. He wanted to kill Pierce, just like he wanted to kill Stryker, and the rest of the Reavers. That was why he'd been created in the Weapons X lab. But something about what Pierce had said made him pause.
"Ab aeterno, ab antiquo, ab extra," April muttered, as a swirling orange circle appeared in the air in front of her. "Guys!" she cried triumphantly. "I got it!"
"Logan!" Cyclops shouted. "April's got the portal open! Time to go!"
Wolverine shoved Pierce away and scrambled to his feet, heading to April as the Reavers fired after him. They stepped through the portal and out near the rest of their group. The mutants were crouched under Jean Grey's psychic shield. The telepath used every ounce of her power to keep the shield up against the blaster fire from the Sentinels.
"Everybody hang on!" April shouted, as the portal grew beneath their feet. They fell through, landing hard on the jungle floor of the Savage Land. April looked up, her eyes meeting the gaze of one of the Sentinels as she shut the portal quickly.
The mutants groaned, climbing to their feet after the landing. "Aw, yeah!" Mondo Gecko said, popping a heelie on his skateboard. "Did you guys see my awesome karate skills? Hiyaw!"
"Where are we?" Jean Grey groaned, holding her hand to her head in pain.
April grinned as the door to Nick Fury's secret bunker swung open. "Welcome to the resistance," she said simply.
The mutants headed in, Nick Fury waiting by the door to scan each one. Cyclops turned, seeing Wolverine hang back. "You okay, Logan?" he asked. "Something happened in El Paso. With the Reaver soldier. Why didn't you kill him? Not that I'm upset, just—killing is kind of your thing."
"That's just the point, Scott," Wolverine said, sighing. "Weapon X enslaved me, wiped my memory, performed brutal experiments on me, and made me into a biological weapon. I killed mutants. I was built to kill. I don't know, maybe I hoped things could be different. Maybe I could choose to kill for once. Maybe I should have killed him. Who the hell knows."
A sudden tap on his shoulder startled him. It was the garbage mutant Muckman. "Don't let past disappointments determine your future life, man," he said. "Look at me. I grew up a garbage man. You think I thought I was gonna end up like this? Lookin' like a freak of nature? Take it from me, nothing you did in the past can stop you from deciding your future."
Muckman's right eye began to twitch, as his eyeball popped out of his socket and crawled up onto his shoulder. The eyeball had a long snake-like body and small arms made from . . . veins? "Make the commitment to leave the past behind, Wolverine," he said in a high-pitched voice. "Use it as motivation to push you forward. You are more than capable of becoming successful, just remember your past doesn't define your future. Believe in yourself and take action."
Wolverine looked awkwardly at the eyeball, unsure of whether to feel inspired or disgusted. It wasn't as though his lifetime of pain and hurt was going to go away the instant someone spoke an encouraging word his way. Still, the mutants had tried to help him out. "Thanks," he said finally, following the rest of the mutants into the bunker.
"Wait," said Spike, sniffing the air inside the tunnel. "What is this place?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. Safe House number twenty-three," said Nick Fury, as he finished scanning Joe Eyeball and Muckman. "One of twenty-eight such places peppering the globe—probably the only safe place on the planet right now—and only known to thirty-third-degree S.H.I.E.L.D. officers."
"And how many of them are there exactly?" asked Beast.
"Just me," Fury said. "This is where we live for the duration. We're planning something huge out there. This is where we start to fight back."