The ammunition splattered against the ground in front of them in a stark contrast of color, hissing as it dissolved significant portions of ice and snow. They'd never seen anything like it, but feeling steam in the polar climate was enough introduction to know none of them could survive a direct hit.
"I can't block them," Joey yelled, "they're not metal!"
Lincoln peeked over the top of the snowbank. A squad of tactically armored individuals in grey masks were almost finished disembarking from a weathered submarine hatch several meters in the air, sliding down the side of the vessel even as they prepared for another volley. His expression turned stormy, as did their outlook for the future.
Daisy was using too much of her energy masking her pain and holding herself upright despite the damage to her sides. The metal binding offered some support, molded perfectly enough to be a second skin. But it was wicking away what body heat she had left. Her holding back now might very well get them all killed. Her numb fingers pawed at the straps of her gauntlets, first one then the other. They fell against the ice, ringing like a bells amidst the soft roar of the super heated reaction melting the environment all around them.
"Daisy you're already injured!" Lincoln made a move towards her arms as if to stop them reaching out. The gauntlets were designed to dampen the effect of her powers on her own body, and allow her greater control over them. But now was not a time she could concentrate on control.
Opening her eyes, she released her focus on herself outward, launching what remaining cover they had at their attackers.
Lincoln and Joey were pushed back and watched in horror as their leader collapsed further into the snow and as the wall of white, moving as a vertical avalanche with several tons of force, was utterly obliterated in bright orange flame and vanished, leaving only a light dusting of powder snow on the enemy combatants.
"What now?!" Joey fired several ICER rounds, knocking out four before they could finish reloading, but in the split second as the remainder raised their weapons to fire a third time he seriously considered raising his arms in surrender. He hadn't been trained for this. Daisy was down, Lincoln was looking at her lost, not focused on the battle at hand or their impending doom, and the submarine was beginning to sink back into the abyss, likely to call for reinforcements. He aimed his firearm at the head of the closest target, centering them in his sights.
The storm had passed, presumably in Donnie's absence, but Joey could have sworn he smelled ozone. The arms of Joey's jackets, as well as the rest of it, fluffed rapidly to almost four times its normal size, obscuring his vision and target. He let himself hit the ground with his new extra cushioning, and looked up, chin on freezing ice. Lincoln was breathing heavily and an encompassing blue flash of rage arced forward from his heart, traveling up his shoulder, and launching out his fingertips at the retaliatory wall of nitromene, illuminating him in a bone-chilling glow that had nothing to do with the temperature.
The lightning hit the closest pellet and the globs of the substance within detonated surrounding pellets, as the lightning bolt branched and traveled back to each of the pellets' sources, leaping from one to the other, in the chain of automatic fire, before scoring glancing hits on stored ammunition. Eight of the men were unable to react as they were disintegrated by the resulting nitromene explosions.
Joey's vision narrowed as he spotted the remaining attacker fling his ammunition away from him, making some movement and scattering them in a sparse cloud, directing Lincoln's devastating attack away from him. An Inhuman?
"Melt the sub! Finish this," Lincoln turned to Joey with the mental fog still lingering in his eyes.
Joey ran forward at the vessel, hoping to disable it at least, avoiding the splatters of former humans, only to find himself running on empty air. He glanced back at Lincoln, six meters away and definitely below him. The last figure threw him back at his partner, and before the team could pick themselves back on their feet, the remaining combatant dropped below sight, the hatch closing as if on its own, and the submarine itself dipping out of sight.
Anton Ivanov's submarine had been built to be utilitarian, as the man himself was. The grim walls were sturdy, capable of withstanding extreme pressure and offering sizable protection. They would be paper to the Inhumans outside. Giyera trained his pistol at the captain's head. "We're all that's left. Get us out of here."
His work with Malick allowed him access to many sensitive details. Including the holding carrier for Hale's downed pilots. He grimaced. Perhaps if they cleaned up some loose ends this expedition wouldn't be a total loss. They'd track down Donnie soon enough with his emergence from hibernation.
"The Lemurian Star is going down sir!" The officer was panicking, "direct torpedo hits from an unidentified submersible. We aren't outfitted with depth charges or mines to retaliate."
Fitz examined the radar instruments scrunching his eyebrows, "they're right about one thing, but the submarine is escaping at full throttle. We don't need to fight when our priority is getting non-essential personnel off ship."
"Understood," said Coulson, taking charge, "May grab a lifeboat to the Zephyr and bring her up to us. Talbot coordinate with your people and do whatever you need to keep this ship afloat as long as it takes to get everyone out. Joey, go with them and seal the breach as best you can and then join us on deck. Simmons, report on the HYDRA prisoners?"
Simmons walked into the bridge with perfect poise despite her quickened pace and the slowly tilting floor, "Dead, sir. Directly in the impact zone, they appear to have been the target. Is Zephyr One ready to fly?"
"She'll have to do as is. There's enough lifeboats on board for crew but if HYDRA is willing to hit us so openly here, we can't join them there. We need to evacuate our team from HYDRA's operations down south." Coulson's pocket buzzed as he finished speaking. A message from Hill. He'd read it on the trip to a rendezvous point.
"What happened to you?" Daisy was bombarded the moment they had lifted off from Antarctica and she had been strapped to a stretcher.
"You should see what's left of the other guys. What happened to you?" She leveled at FitzSimmons, still somewhat ashy and standing amid an unusually messy Zephyr One. With no containment module left, the craft had swooped down and May had expertly landed near the wreckage of the drilling site.
Simmons spoke first, "We spotted those results from the air. And HYDRA attacked with air and sea support."
"We ran into them too." Lincoln muttered. He was still shuddering. From the cold or the surge of electricity he had conducted he couldn't tell.
"We never saw Donnie. We're sorry." Joey looked down as he sat in the chair beside Daisy's bed, "I should have crippled their submarine before it surfaced and maybe we'd have had more time to look."
"Daisy needed that evac." May countered, "and you don't have half the training that Lincoln or Daisy had. You did well."
"So that's it? We're going to abandon our search?" Daisy squirmed against the gentle bandage wrappings all over her.
Fitz casted a simulation from the tablet he was cradling to a projector on the wall. "When the storm vanished, we were able to pinpoint an origin and what it'll look like compared to natural phenomena. It's not much but now that he's awake he'll be a lot easier to find I imagine, especially since we can narrow the range. He's made a lot of progress since the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy and Morocco."
"Easier to find, but we have at least one more pressing priority," Coulson said firmly, "I just finished talking to Maria Hill, from Stark Industries. There's reports of almost outright warfare in Bogotá, Colombia. Highly suspected Inhuman involvement. Donnie doesn't want to be found, by us or HYDRA from the looks of that camp. This woman has some sort of speed or invisibility powers and might be more willing to lend her violent tendencies to them."
"Stark Industries? If it's on their radar why not have them solve it? They're the Avengers right?" Lincoln inquired indignantly.
"This is our territory, not theirs. Stark Industries monitors for potential Avenger-level threats that domestic and foreign Intelligence Agencies are too proud to report. And it's good recruiting for Mr. Stark's own purposes."
"I hear that's how he found Spider-Man to deal with enforcing the damn Sokovia Accords." Daisy muttered.
"You'll recruit someone better soon," Simmons assured gently.
"Understood, sir. I'm a fluent Spanish speaker, I can help in the field while Daisy and Lincoln rest." Joey offered, standing to his feet.
"Good. And good work shoring up the Lemurian Star. Let's hope we reach Colombia before things get any more interesting."
A/N: Four year anniversary of this story, and the longest piece I've contributed to :) The show has progressed very far from this point, but I'd still like to try and catch up while integrating with the timeline as smoothly as possible. Comments, suggestions, feedback, and critique are all appreciated, and I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season!