Last time we left Ben in the middle of a breakdown and "Donald" in the middle of a smackdown, let's get back to it.
Infinity Chapter XXII
Ball Room Blitz Part III
"Olivia!" Connors calls out, chasing after her, "We need to leave!"
"Not yet!" she returns, slipping his attempt to grab her and pull her close.
"The hospital is under attack. You're in danger," Connors begs.
She looks back at him, eyes glowing a vibrant green, "The patients here are in danger and have been since the Emergence. I need to help them."
She ducked into the first room without another word, spotting four beds, curtains obscuring the occupants.
Connors ducks into the room after her, looking around furtively, "Olivia…."
"Please wait." she returns, walking towards the first bed, her eyes changing to a vibrant yellow.
Pulling back the curtain, she finds a sixteen-year-old boy with brown hair and pale skin, thin threads of black mar the back of his left hand.
She steps forward, a curtain of yellow light crossing up and down his body.
"Name Peter Parker, Human, age 16 cycles, Blood type O, source of mutagenic distress: venom from a spider caught within the chaotic energies of the Emergence. DNA Signature: Meta-Gene not found, compensating, necessary Strands discovered: Arachnichimp. Activating Patch."
She reaches out and softly grabs his hand, the boy twitching in sleep as the venom begins to glow a vibrant green and then dissipate. Connors watches, looking for noticeable mutation, but the boy seems completely normal at first glance, excluding a shock of deep blue that spreads through his hair.
"You're getting better," he notes, checking the rest of the boy's vitals as Olivia moved on.
The next patient was another boy, part of his body covered with deep electrical burns.
Olivia scans him.
"Virgil Hawkins, Human, age 15 cycles, Blood type A, source of mutagenic distress: copious amounts of electricity afflicting the brain. DNA Signature: Meta-Gene Found. Activation commencing, Bolstering Strand: Conductoid administered. Activating Patch."
The burns vanish, the boy's fingertips briefly crackling with vibrant blue electricity.
She continued forward, discovering a young girl.
"Kamala Khan, Inhuman, age 16 cycles. Blood Type A, source of mutagenic distress: Blockage in Terrigenisis Process. Stimulating Process, Bolstering Strand: Unnecessary. Activating Patch.
Connors looks up to see the young girl gasp, a bit of green mist emerging from her mouth, and then suddenly a crystalline cocoon wrapped around her body.
He steps forward in surprise, but Olivia looks up at him with a smile.
"She will be fine," she states.
"I have to ask, these Patches, why not just…return them to Human?" Connors asks.
Olivia pauses as she crosses the room to the last occupant.
"I can't." she states, "Kamala could not be returned. The process would kill her unless activated. As for the others, I am…I do not wish…I can't…."
Her brows furrow as she tries to find the answer before muttering, "I can't."
"Alright," Connors says, reaching out a comforting hand and placing it on her shoulder.
She smiles, patting his hand, then steps up to the last occupant, another boy, though younger than all the others.
"Sam Alexander, Human, age 13 cycles. Blood Type B, source of mutagenic distress: Copious amounts of stellar radiation infused within their body. DNA Signature: Meta-Gene not found, compensating, Strands discovered: Crystalsapien. Activating Patch."
The boy's skin suddenly crystalizes and shimmers from within like a rainbow before returning to normal.
"Alright, next room," she states, darting under Connors' arms.
"Olivia…" Connors begins to admonish, following her out of the room.
She freezes, staring down the hallway.
"Olivia?" Connors asks.
Stepping out, he follows her gaze and spots three individuals leaving a room. The trio, dressed in fairly outlandish clothing, freeze as well, staring at them both.
The tallest, a masked man, has several marbles in one hand that he quickly pockets.
The one in the large blue coat and beanie raises a finger to his ear and nods.
"Take her," he orders, and the three men move forward.
Connors snarls despite himself, tail lashing when another voice cuts through the tension.
"Hey!"
Olivia turns.
Standing flustered in a dark green three-piece suit is her brother, Ben Tennyson.
"What the hell is going on!" he demands, glaring down the hallway, eyes going to her first, then Connors, then the villains beyond.
Janet lances into the air, dodging a tossed hot dog cart, which smashes into "Donald."
"Is that the best you can do?!" he roars, with a laugh, as the Juggernaut appears from the dust choked crater he'd been punched into.
"Not even close," Marko snaps.
He charges forward.
A bullet whizzes by Wasp, several of the Drones chasing after her.
"That's right, chase the annoying gnat," she mutters, diving into a sight spin and lancing several blasts into the closest one, digging deep into its singular robotic eye.
Noticing that several were continuing to harry the guests, a low snarl caught her off guard as off the side of the hospital, one of the gargoyles detached and body slammed one of her tails, ripping into it furiously.
She buzzes to a halt, staring at the display, the beaked entity standing tall and turning to look at her.
"God, this City is so weird sometimes," she mutters to herself, "I'm gonna call you Brooklyn. Is that alright?"
The entity stares at her, tilting its head slightly as its hand comes up to catch a strike from one of the other drones.
A crack like thunder shatters the brief moment of quiet, and a chunk of the creature's chest erupts into shrapnel.
The creature doesn't seem bothered, but that recenters Wasp.
"Take care of the drones," she states, hoping that, whatever this thing is, it can understand that they are on the same side. The gargoyle turns, lurching towards the hole in the side of the hospital.
She launches into the air, spotting the sight-gleam once again.
Another shot, this time aimed at her, she twirls, the bullet roaring past her and striking "Donald," who stumbled right as Marko slammed into him, bull-rushing him into the back of a parked truck.
Another shot, she dives, and then another ring's out, shattering the first in a rain of shrapnel that digs into her back.
Wasp winces, her mind running through the horde of names SHIELD had presented with her from the Breakout.
There were a few people with an impeccable aim and trigger discipline. She'd been friends with one of them for quite a few years.
But most liked to have flair, playing cards, darts, and arrows. They all needed a gimmick.
Another shot, and instead of dodging, she forces herself to go smaller, going from Wasp sized to that of a winged ant. The sound of the bullet-shattering glass urges her forward ever faster.
But much as most of them were loathe to admit it, there was one person who could outshoot them all and needed little to no fanfare when doing it.
Wasp rose over the side of the building and found herself looking down the barrel of an organic rifle.
"Nagant," she remarks.
"Van Dyne." the other woman coldly comments, twirling a blue and pink bullet between her fingers, "I read your dossier."
The gun fires.
Donald groans, ignoring the bullet lodged in his side, and rolls as Marko slams down, attempting to bury him in the metal.
He launches a kick at the back of the larger man's knee, forcing him to stumble, and then punches him in the side of the head.
There is a load-gonging noise, but the Juggernaut doesn't budge.
"Really?" Marko demands, "You looking to break that hand, tough guy?"
"Maybe." Donald snarks, crossing his hand over his face as the other man sends a return punch.
He feels metal shear behind him, the scrape of concrete along his back as he bounces off it, and then the crunching of metal and shattering of glass as he impacts someone's car.
Opening his eyes, he spots his charging opponent just in time to roll out of the way. Marko bodies the car and sends it slamming into the front of a storefront, embedding it into the building.
"How did that feel?" Marko asks, stepping out of the building.
"Someone is gonna have to pay for that." Donald remarks, getting to his feet and cracking his neck, "And honestly, something inside of me is saying it's gonna take a lot more than you to take me out."
He feints, punching towards the head again, sliding in to crack Marko directly in the stomach, cutting off a laugh in a spit-filled gargle. The larger man flies back, skidding and rolling across the ground.
He grinds a hand into the ground stopping his momentum, looking up just in time to catch Donald's knee right to his face.
There is a cracking sound like a gunshot, and Marko roars.
Donald smirks as his head rears down to reveal a broken and heavily bleeding nose.
"How'd that feel?" he snarks.
Marko's only response is a guttural snarl and lunging at him.
Harkness raises an eyebrow at the suit glaring at them from the other side of the hall.
"Listen, pal. You might want to skedaddle. This is about to get ugly," he warns, drawing another boomerang, and aiming it at the snarling Lizardman.
The man takes a step forward, eyes narrowing.
"Then let's dance," Compress states snidely, drawing a marble.
Harley blew into his flute on that cue, an ear-shattering cry, cracking glass and sending their opponents to their knees.
Harkness followed it up by sending a boomerang careening into the Lizard, an explosion sending him spinning to the ground.
"No." the girl cries, inching towards him, even as she struggles against the oppressive sound.
The guy at the other end of the hallway looks up as Compress steps towards her, marble flipping across his fingers.
"Stop!" he orders, and his whole body begins to change. Harkness tosses his other boomerang, an explosion bathing the man in smoke.
There is a flash of green.
A small white figure with a wide head and slitted green eyes, wearing what appears to be a set of headphones, dashes out of the smoke.
"Sorry, you might not have heard me. There is a bit of an echo in here!" the creature shouts, seemingly immune to Harley's music.
And then the thing screams, a rippling, bellowing wave of pure sound slamming into Harley and sending him spinning.
"That's better." the creature says with a smirk, its body rippling, two more appearing, then four.
They dart past the girl and mob Compress and Harkness.
The former slams his cane down, the creature vanishing in a flash of light, then kicking another away, sending it careening through one of the cracked windows.
Harkness lances down with two bladed boomerangs, cutting through several while the original dodges and weaves.
"Get her!" he orders, "Harley, get your ass up!"
Compress whirls, marble sliding along his fingers, only for the Lizard to slam its immense tail into his body and crack the wall.
"I wouldn't." The Lizard warns, clutching the girl protectively to his side.
Harley sits up, blasting the little shouting, cloning thing away with a bolt of music, and attempts to start playing once more.
The creature splits, the one screaming up at Harkness, slamming his body into the ceiling, while the other slides across the floor and tackles Harley, who lets out an undignified squawk as the creature begins pummeling him.
Compress sighs and brings his cane up in a furious strike, catching the Lizard in the base of the jaw, slamming his fanged teeth together, and drawing blood. The creature drops him, clutching his mouth, the girl crying out in surprise and fear.
Another of the little creatures appears, mouth opening as it whirls on him
"Hold that thought." Compress snarks, slamming a marble into the ground, a wave of frost snarling out from him, freezing the Lizard, the creature, and to a mixture of amusement and worry for Harkness, Harley.
"Finally." Compress remarks, pausing as Harkness slams to the ground, "Some peace and quiet."
"Where were you hiding that?" Harkness demands.
"A good showman never reveals his secrets." Compress states, shattering one of the clones and tossing another marble at Harley, a brief flash of fire freeing the man.
Gasping and frustrated, Harley shatters the little clone with his flute and glares up at Compress.
"What the hell?!" he demands, wincing at his split lip.
"You're fine." Compress snarks, drawing the other man to his feet and turning to look at his work, cracks already forming around the Lizard and the little figure before Harkness.
"But we might not be for much longer," he states, kneeling and offering a hand to the girl as she clutches the side of her frozen guardian.
"Come along, dear, do not make this any more of a problem than it already has been," he states calmly.
She doesn't budge.
"Did you really think that was going to work?" Harley snarks, raising his flute to his lips, "You or Me?"
"I've got it, Harkness. Keep an eye on our little friend," he states, drawing a marble.
Harkness kicks the little figure over and then slides him along the floor with another nudge, "Sure, we don't want to take him too?"
"More trouble than it is worth, according to Nagant." Compress mutters, taking out another pearl.
"That's the guy?!" Harkness asks incredulously, spitting off to the side, "Some Avenger."
Compress lets the marble fly.
And with a shatter of ice, the Lizard grabs it, vanishing into the marble, which clinks to the ground before the girl.
"Why can't it ever be easy." Compress mutters, drawing another pearl.
Wasp bolts over the gun barrel just in time, though the sound rocks her entire body. She fights through it, growing and aiming a spinning kick at Nagant.
She catches it with her forearm and retracts the rifle, aiming a punch at Wasp's ribs.
The two continue to trade blows, kicks and punches flying, Nagan drawing a knife, and aiming careful, long practiced stabs, while Janet fires off blast after blast of energy.
"So you read my dossier?" Janet asks, shrinking out of the way of a slash and firing a bolt at her opponent's face, "I got to read yours. That practically makes us pen pals."
"I don't do banter." Nagant returns, dodging backward out of the way of the blast.
"Oh, come on." Janet snarks, "I'm betting it's been a long time since you had a good bit of girl talk. Can't imagine the Raft allowed time for chit-chat."
"This is a distraction tactic." Nagant returns flatly, round-house kicking Wasp in the side.
Grimacing, Wasp nods, "Well, yeah. But come on, I always wanted to ask the world's best sniper how she claimed the title."
"Hard work, dedication, and skill." Nagant fired back.
"See, Clint always thought that since your gun is literally a part of you, it gave you like this 'spiritual' know-how." Wasp jokes, dodging under Nagant's next slash and catching her in the stomach with an energy-infused punch.
"He was just jealous, compensated with trick shots." Nagant returns, hocking a wad of spit off to the side.
"So you do know Clint!" Janet states, "See, now, we are getting somewhere."
Nagant stops, eyes narrowing, "Yes, I knew Clint through SHIELD. We were Cleaners."
She charges Janet, her blows falling hard, her expression becoming wilder and wilder.
"We took care of the messes that SHIELD wanted gone. We were ordered to observe all assets in case they proved to be more of a threat than they were worth. Fury taking charge changed things, but not for us. So many threats never saw the light of day because of us, and so many Initiative Members mad with their own power put in their place." she remarks. "What did we get in return when we finally grew a conscience? He got a promotion and a new partner. I got the Raft. Suppose it doesn't really matter, though. SHIELD turned on us both anyway."
"Clint was HYDRA," Janet states through gritted teeth as she weathers blow after blow.
Nagant chuckles, "You really believe that?"
Wasp falters, catching a punch to the face.
"Since you were fishing for info. I was on the Banner case." Nagant informs, "In the end, his shaggy head was saved from my bullet in a matter of seconds. The Hulk might be indestructible, but his Hyde very much isn't, or that's what SHIELD sold me anyway."
Cold anger shoots through Wasp, and she lunges, her stingers burning with power, catching Nagant right in the jaw and sending her into the air.
Despite the burns, Nagant smiles, "I thought you wanted to talk shop?"
Her sniper emerges, firing instantly, Janet barely able to dodge, the shot grazing across her cheek. Nagant tackles her, planting one of her boots on her throat, the barrel of her gun resting just above her nose.
"You weren't part of the contract." Nagant stated, "But taking one of SHIELD's toy soldiers off the board will probably net me something."
But the shot never comes, as instinctively Nagant dodges to the side, a gleaming metal blade slicing through her hair, a short, blonde man in a blue tunic appearing with a set expression.
"I love that girl," Wasp mutters as the summoned video game character continues to lunge at Nagant.
Ben watches as the Lizardman disappears, and the masked figure shakes his head, drawing another marble. He shatters the ice with all his might he can muster in Echo-Echo's form.
The trio of villains turns to him as he breaths deeply.
"Oh, no, you don't!" the guy with the boomerangs yells, and before he can do anything, he finds his mouth glued shut by a thick, tarry substance.
"Now Compress! This has become an utter shit show," he shouts.
The girl backs away, scooping up the marble with her companion in it.
Ben struggles, trying to pry the substance away from his mouth.
The pearl flies.
A smaller boomerang wings through the window, knocking the pearl aside and vanishing, followed by a slight figure wearing a cape dropping from the ceiling, tossing a smoke grenade, scooping up the girl, and lunging through one of the cracked windows.
"This has become almost comical!" Compress shouts.
Ben stares in stunned confusion for several moments as the world feels like it slows down.
"Nagant, third story window, they have the girl. Wing them if you can!" Compress orders.
Atop the tower, Nagant gets the message. Weaving between her attackers and extending her rifle to its full length, bowing under a sword slash, she sights the cloaked figure and fires.
Donald looks up as glass shatters, a spotting Olivia in the arms of a small cloaked figure, a grappling hook halting their descent.
Marko clocks him, sending him reeling to the ground.
The giant raises his arms in a furious hammer fist.
A gunshot rings out.
The finger goes partially limp as they and Olivia crash through a second-floor window. She screams.
Sounds echoing in his ears, Ben feels a fury ignite inside him, burning his entire body as he begins to change again.
"NO!" he roars, sleek blue and black metal replacing soft, white silicon flesh.
Ultimate Echo-Echo rises from the ground, the sound partially cratering the entire hallway. He shouts again, a focused blast catching the three villains and sending them through the far wall out into open air.
Atop the tower, Nagant freezes up, the scream echoing into her very soul, shaking her.
"What did you do?!" Wasp demands, but she can barely hear.
Donald grits his teeth and kicks up into Marko's chest, he doesn't know it, but his eyes are glowing.
Spectators would later recount the event as a "double thunderclap." An echo of destruction as several figures tumbled to the ground from the ruined wall of the Hospital. A bolt of lighting had fired upward into the sky at the other end.
Compress struggles to find his footing, his whole body aching from the resonant sound that had just assaulted them. His mask is shattered, and the robotic figure appears in the hole, looking down at him through slitted, uncaring green eyes.
Ben stares down at the man, his shattered mask revealing a fearful brown eye.
Compress quickly gages the situation. He can make out two figures approaching Nagant atop her perch and sees Marko slumped in a smoking crater as a tall, homeless-looking fellow leaps away, heading towards the Hospital. The drones are gone, and his partners are barely moving.
"Show's over," he states, speaking the code-word into his comms.
"Already?" their backer snarks.
"Yes, Two Avengers, Marko is down, Nagant is compromised, I have what you need. We're done," he mutters softly as the metallic entity lowers slowly towards him, several blue disks rising around it like a halo.
"Fine."
Ben fires as a black portal emerges beneath the trio's feet, but he only manages to powder concrete.
Wasp fires as Nagant is swallowed, the blows catching her in the back of the head, but she takes them unflinching.
Unseen, Marko sinks into nothing.
Donald lands, pushing into the empty room, spotting Olivia frantically looking over a young man dressed in red and black with a dynamo mask over his eyes. His black hair is a mess, filled with shards of glass, and there is a clean hole right through his shoulder.
"Where is Conners?" Donald asks, and if, by magic, the Lizardman appears, staring around in angry confusion, which falters at the bleeding young man at Olivia's side.
"What happened? Who is that?" Conners asks, leaning in worriedly.
Olivia ignores them, her eyes glowing yellow.
"Dick Grayson. Human, age 13 Cycles. Blood Type A. Trauma: Perforation of Left Shoulder Blade, Brachial Artery severed, damage to arm functionality imminent. Quickened Recovery required. DNA Signature: Meta-Gene not found, compensating, Strands discovered: Citrakayah. Activating Patch."
She gently caresses his forehead, a green flash crossing over his body, and the wound begins to knit back together.
She pulls back.
"Olivia…" Connors begins.
"I know. Let's go." Olivia states.
"We're just going to leave him?" Donald demands, "He's just a kid."
"I'll be fine." Dick mutters, catching the trio by surprise, "Thank you."
He lifts his mask slightly to reveal deep blue eyes, a mixture of fear and relief burning in them.
"Thank you," he mutters again.
"Of course." Olivia returns with a beaming smile.
The kid awkwardly waves at the others, Donald returning it, and then vanishes in a puff of smoke.
"This town is weird," Donald remarks with a shake of his head.
Connors scoops Olivia up, "It's certainly become more…."
"Interesting." Olivia offers.
"Sure, 'interesting' in recent months," Connors mutters. They hear something approaching.
"Out." Donald remarks, pulling his hood up and pointing towards the door, "Now."
Connors rushes out, Olivia looking back, thinking about her brother, and feeling a desire to stay, but pushing it down. Donald follows, carefully shutting the door and pointing towards a window with a fire escape.
Ben looks into the room with the broken window and finds nothing outside of a fair bit of blood.
Turning, he looks down and finally takes in the carnage.
"Ben!" he looks up, seeing Wasp darting towards him….followed by a version of Link with a paraglider.
He lands, transforming back into himself.
"What happened?" he asks.
"An assassin, she got away." Janet remarks, shaking her head, "What about you."
"Bunch of…circus performers?" Ben snarks before turning serious, "I think they were after the kids. The Lizard and that little girl were there too. I don't know what happened or if they got away with any."
"Are you alright?!" Fetch calls rushing towards them, followed by Ben's surprise by a scarred gargoyle.
"We're fine." Janet states, accepting the worried hug from the startled teenage, "Thanks for the help."
Fetch smiles, and Link nods politely.
"This one of yours?" Ben asks, eying the gargoyle.
"No." Fetch states.
"Oh, that is Brooklyn," Janet states.
The other two blink at her, and Ben sighs, leaning backward, "Sure, what a night."
"So…what are we gonna do about all this." Fetch asks, looking at the devastated hospital, "All that money, it might have to…."
"I got it, kid," Ben mutters, looking over to the crowd of people, emerging to stare at them.
"Can everyone please get back within the building?!" he calls out, transforming into a large bronze-robotic entity with a wind-up key atop its head.
"I'm on ze clock, as it were." Ben jokes, eliciting a deep groan from Fetch.
Clockwork raises his hands, and the key begins to turn backward, the carnage around them reversing, leaving the hospital and the surrounding buildings pristine.
"Good as new." Ben remarks, turning to look at Janet, "So…back to the dance? Talk to everyone, calm them down?"
Wasp sighs, "I'll put in a call to SHIELD. How do pizza and scary movies sound for the rest of the night."
"No complaints here," Ben remarks, fighting to keep his composure as he remembers the look of shock and joy that crossed over the girl's face when she saw him.
Bruce returns late that night, finding Janet and Fetch passed out on the couch, several pizza boxes displayed on the table, while a breaking news bulletin plays.
"Wayne Enterprises and the Fisk Towers promise to cover the costs of any necessary reparations following the attack on Linda Carter Memorial. Furthermore, SHIELD officials have announced the disappearance of several children during the event and have stated their attention will turn to hunting down those responsible for the kidnapping. Several have questioned the Avengers' appearance on the scene yet inability to apprehend the culprits. Rumors are circulating on social media about the identity of the now infamous "Donald."
Bruce watched as a grainy cell phone caught what looked to be a rather tall homeless man catch and return a punch from the Juggernaut.
'Bruce?" Janet asks, waking from sleep and blearily looking up at him, "You're back?"
"Yeah, false alarm as best as I could collate." he states, with a shy smile, "Seems like you had a rough day."
"Yeah…" Janet agrees, getting up and stretching, laying a blanket across Fetch.
"Sorry, I wasn't there," he mutters, and she smiles up at him.
"We can't be everywhere at Bruce, I understand," she states, "But you definitely would have been useful."
She stands up and walks over to him, crossing her arms as she looks toward Ben.
"Is he alright?" Bruce asks.
"Not sure." Janet offers honestly, "He saw someone before the attack. It shook him up."
"Someone from his past?" Bruce asks.
"A little girl," Janet states.
"A sister?" Bruce asks, eyeing Ben with a tilt of his head, "Or…a daughter?"
"Bit young, isn't he." Janet jokes.
"Yeah…yeah," Bruce mutters, rubbing his chin, his eyes narrowing.
Wasp smiles and absentmindedly moves some of his hair out of his eyes, "Don't think too hard about it, at least not tonight. It's late."
Bruce looks up at her, her sleep-filled eyes looking at him in a way he didn't quite know what to do with.
"Right." he chuckles, "Was the dancing nice at least?"
"Oh god no, he's terrible." Wasp jokes, pointing a finger over her shoulder at Ben, "Strange, though, he was a nice dancer."
"Stephen?" Bruce asks, his eyes narrowing despite himself.
"Yep." Jan states, "But such a talker."
'Sounds like you didn't have the right partner." Bruce remarks.
"You're right." she agrees, looking him up and down with a soft smile, "Maybe next time."
"Next time." he returns with a nervous chuckle.
"Good night, Bruce," she states, sliding away from him.
"Good night, Jan." he returns, staring after her and then turning back to see Ben staring at him with a smirk.
"What?" Bruce asks.
"Nothing, Doc." Ben states, "How was the Zoo?"
"Good it…well, I'll tell you in the morning, it was quite an interesting time."
"Course, night, Banner." Ben returns.
"Good night, Ben," he states, walking off to his room.
Ben turns back to the horizon, listening quietly until he hears the doors shut. He glances over at Fetch, making sure she is deep asleep, and then transforms into Spidermonkey.
Quietly climbing up the side of the building, he gets to the roof and pauses, staring out at the Dome.
He needs to find out who that girl is, and if he remembers correctly, he knows a good place to start.
He leaps off the tower and into the night, swinging towards what he hopes will be answers.
Location Unknown, Time Unknown, Date Unknown.
The boy stirred, looking around him feebly, a confused expression crossing his face. He wasn't in the hospital anymore. He was in a cell—a cold, metallic cell, with a snarling wall of energy as the only way out.
"Ah, you are finally awake." a cold voice states.
The boy looks around and freezes as out of the shadow, a figure with white human hair, oversized red eyes, grey skin, and fanged teeth leans towards him. They look like a fusion of Frog and Human, like those Grey aliens he heard so much about.
A scream cuts across him, causing his heart to leap into his throat.
"Oh, don't worry." Albedo remarks, "That is an entirely different experiment."
He clicks a button, and the cell is flooded with Terrigen Gas infused with Nanobots.
Albedo turns to Compress, who is leaning against the cell out of sight of the now cocooned child.
"Not a very good haul." Albedo states.
He presses several buttons, and four doors shut and lock. He continues, walking out into a highly-advanced factory-like setting. All about them, drones and individuals in suits resembling Hazmat attire go about their business.
"You didn't pay us 'fight Avengers' money." Compress returns, "Nor did you tell us that 'Everyman' was one of them."
"Everyman?" Albedo asks.
"It's what some folks call him. Everyman, Changeling, Xeno has been making the rounds." Compress explains with a bored expression.
"Hmph, well, I will make sure we are all sufficiently informed next time." Albedo states.
"She's gonna find out." Compress states, "Nagant."
"Let me worry about that." Albedo remarks, "I'm sure the Advanced Idea Mechanics can develop something to curtail a willful assassin."
Compress says nothing, allowing the prideful scientist to revel in his coup and self-confidence.
What neither noticed was Nagant, amongst the catwalks, observing them with a deep, distant look.
And that's it for this part of Infinity. What is next? I am not sure, maybe what Bruce did at the Zoo, maybe what Tony was up to or Quake, or maybe I will finally go about introducing another member to the Team/Ben's hunt in the Dome.
As always, any comments, questions, or critiques are welcome.
This has been VerBeeker, signing off!