SHIELD OPS CENTER

MANHATTAN

Ears still ringing from the concussion grenade, Castle pulled out his Colt .45 and fired towards the smoking doorway. The others did the same, most of them had automatic pistols, except for Shotgun who had as Striker-12 automatic shotgun. His codename wasn't false advertising. Elektra had no firearms.

"Walker!" Castle called out to him, while reloading his pistol. "What are we dealing with!"

Shotgun tapped the side of his fashionable wraparound shades. He then answered.

"X-Ray vision tells me we got maybe two dozen muthafuckas armed with assault rifles. Maybe a couple more."

"How the fuck did these assholes find us?" Fury said.

"You have a leak, Nick." Black Widow said.

"Im-fuckin'-possible, Romanov." Fury said.

"Fuck this playing's who's who." Crippler said. "They fuckin' killed G-Wiz. They get to fuckin' DIE! I'm gonna-"

Silver Sable punched Crippler in the face.

"Get a hold of yourself, soldier." She said. "Losing two won't help us."

"Right. Right, boss. Sorry." Crippler said.

Castle unclipped a fragmentation grenade from his gear.

"Walker!" He shouted.

"Way ahead of you, Frank." Shotgun said loading up shells.

"Are those special rounds?" Amy Chen asked.

"Damn right. C-4 slugs, baby." Shotgun said.

"Everybody reload!" Fury said. "Hold your fire! As soon as shit blows up, rush those fuckers! Hit'em hard and hit' em fast. On my mark!"

Everyone nodded. He did a silent countdown with his fingers. Everyone was still ducking down from the never ending barrage of gunfire.

"NOW!" Fury shouted!

Castle tossed his grenade out the door as Shotgun fired three explosive shells.

For a few seconds there was a small apocalypse as a succession of deafening explosions came in rapid fire.

"Let's finish those bastards!" Fury yelled as they all got up as one and left the control room.

There was already blood on the walls, victims of the first onslaught. Ten were left standing. Men in assault gear, complete with flak-jackets and hoods.

Castle shot the one nearest him, still dazed and confused from the blast, between the eyes. The skull burst into a dark red paste. The dead and half headless thug dropped to the ground, dropping an AK-47 with a cylindric drum.

Castle dove to the ground and grabbed the dead man's weapon, rolled and fired a long burst at three sets of kneecaps. Bone and cartilage exploded and their screams of sheer agony almost covered the fusillade.

At the exact same time, Elektra and Amy Chen came out screaming like banshees, waving cold steel, instead of firing hot lead.

Elektra drove each one of her sais into the skulls of two of the enemy, yanked them out and crouched, all in a one smooth motion.

Amy Chen went down, drove the tip of her sword into a killer's groin and it went out the man's anus. She then pulled out her katana and decapitated another man with blinding speed.

Fury, Sable and Black Widow came out firing their sidearms and each doubled tapped two men in the head.

Crippler came out swinging what seemed like straight, three foot long steel baton. He twisted the handle and three inch spikes came out of them. He yelled.

"This is for G-Wiz, you sacks-"

The baton connected with one skull, on the side, and it split open on impact.

"OF SHIT!"

The other one was an upwards swing that caught another man under the chin. The chin and jaw exploded, cervical vertebrae snapped at the whiplash and the man fell down.

And just like that, it was quiet again. Smoke, dust, cordite and blood everywhere.

But Castle and his allies had won. He saw Amy Chen pat Crippler on the back. Crippler nodded. Castle had seen it countless times in Vietnam. Crippler needed to get his head back In the game and he knew it. Killing those two fucks was necessary before he could do it, though. Therapy.

"I have three live ones." Castle told the others.

Fury knelt down and removed the hoods.

"Holy fuck." Fury said. "That one in the middle."

"Who is he?" Sable said.

"Chuck Austin. Mercenary. Hitman. Mutant." Fury said. "Hightened sense of smell and other enhanced senses. These other cocksuckers I don't know, but they have Slavic features."

"Rastovilich and Tatamovich must have sent him after me." Castle said. "That's how they found us. This punk caught my scent from somewhere and tracked me down here."

"Do we need them?" Castle asked.

"Not really. No." Fury said.

Castle fired a long burst from his confiscated AK-47 at them and shattered all three of their craniums. He then went on to empty the rest of the drum into their torsos. It was more than overkill, but Crippler wasn't the only one who needed to get the genie out of the bottle. That last string of bombings across town have gotten to Castle. They got him to his very core. Hundreds of people, murdered, because they were in the way of power hungry bastards.

Like Central Park, thirty years ago. But a thousand fold.

Cold rage was filling Castle's gut and his blood was ice. But, like always, he kept it buried deep within himself.

"So, now what?" Shotgun said. "This place is compromised."

"Spent a lot of seized assets to have it built, too. Pisses me off." Fury said.

"Hey." Crippler said. "A good buddy of mine just died. All you think about is your goddamn base?"

"Who the FUCK do you think you're talking to, punk." Fury snarled. "I started losing buddies on the battlefield when your daddy was a cumstain, you little snot nosed PRICK. Don't you dare take that tone with me, boy. "

There was tense silence.

Castle watched as Fury was boiling. He's been a leader of men, a soldier for over five decades. Rumor has it that some kind of serum or formula in his blood keeps him from aging. Fury is in his 90s. He's seen and done it all. As pissed, big, strong as he was, Crippler couldn't hold Fury's merciless one-eyed stare and turned away.

"Don't be too hard on Crippler." A voice said. "He's special."

They turned around to see G-Wiz standing in the doorway.

"G-Wiz!" Crippler said, running towards his friend and comrade and bear hugging him.

"Ah! Easy, my sides do hurt." G-Wiz said.

"Sorry, bud. But…"Crippler started.

"Remember that gig in Wakanda a while back? T'Challa, the Black Panther, he gave us those Vibranium suits. It's some good shit, that Vibranium."

"It absorbed most of the damage from that blast." Widow said. "Thanks' T'Challa."

Silver Sable said:" I suggest that we go to my HQ, in the Symkarian consulate. We will regroup and re-evalate."

"Good idea, Sable." Fury said. "G-Wiz. Widow. Transfer all data and intel we got to the consulate computers. The rest of you, pack your shit. We're moving out."