"YOU LOST THE SIX CAPTIVES?!" Krieger shouted at the top of his lungs as he punched the walls of his Hydra base with enough fury and strength to tear open a giant hole, revealing a red tinted laboratory where everyone donned typical lab white coats and the white.
Baron Zemo, meanwhile, just simply stood there, trying to figure out what to say to console his boss. "Mister Krieger, I am sorry, but it is true. We have somehow managed to lose communication with both of the pairs of twins and with Drew and Dibny as well."
"They were supposed to be our ace in the hole, Zemo!" Krieger retorted, his neck veins looking like they were about to burst due to his sheer stress. "They could've been the ones that finally brought down the 'glorious' Vanguard of Justice. And it's not like we can just attempt to hack into their security system again, Helmut."
Krieger then paused for a few moments, and Zemo's face was hard to see due to the purple mask on his face, so Krieger could not see how he was currently reacting at the moment. "Well…perhaps we could…" Krieger said with a grin.
"I find that highly doubtful, sir. This is Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark we are talking about. They are probably figuring out ways to improve on the Vanguard Tower right as we speak."
To that, Krieger only smirked. "But even geniuses can only do so much in a certain matter of time. The combined intellect of Wayne and Stark is something to take seriously, that you are right about. But they can't make improve on a system like that in sheer minutes. I give them a couple of days. Probably five. Which is quite quick, but I believe that gives us just barely enough time to figure something new out."
Baron Zemo was now the one pausing, and he just began silently walking around the forest green tinted room that he and his boss were currently conversing in. "Barely is the key word there, Krieger, but we should also be worrying about what happened to the six mutants."
Krieger just stood there, oddly quiet. Zemo wasn't quite sure what to make of this. The HYDRA leader cupped his chin and had a look that suggested deep thought. Underneath his mask, Zemo bore a confused face and had no idea what to make of this. Did he honestly not care for the six mutants that had been lost? What was going through in his head?
"Erm….sir?"
At this, Krieger finally seemed to remember that Zemo had been in the room with him the whole time, watching him in his trance-like state, and the leader's head almost jumped off the rest of his body in surprise.
"Ah, yes, Zemo, I forgot you were there…" Krieger said, with an uncharacteristic chuckle following, before his face then transformed back into the scowl that Zemo was far more used to seeing from his boss. "Forget that happened, okay?"
Zemo just sighed, not bothering to ask. "Okay, sir."
"I will just say that I suddenly found myself pondering about my time in World War II, Baron. How far Hydra has come since those days. But the Vanguard…they will not ruin our plan. I will not let them."
Before either Krieger or Zemo could continue on, sirens began going off in the base. Both of the men knew exactly what this was. This base was perfectly fine, but one of their other side bases had just been attacked. They knew that because on the ceilings to the rooms, the circles installed for the alarms were flashing blue; if it was this base being attacked, they would be flashing red. No matter what, they both had a pretty good idea as to who did it.
Five Hydra soldiers came storming into the room, each carrying an assault rifle in their hands. "Sir, our base in the Siberian region has just come under siege! Security cameras show a majority of the Vanguard plus the Golden Age Green Lantern."
Baron Zemo seemed to light up at this news, though it was hard to tell because of his mask. "Krieger, that was the base where the mutants were last stationed before we deployed them into New York!"
"Why so it is," Krieger replied, almost nonchalantly. "But it just so happens that Giganta and Abomination were stationed at that base two days ago, and what makes them stand out from everyone else? They took on multiple Vanguardians. And won."
"Yes, they did, but there are more Vanguardians attacking here than there were during that incident."
To that, all Krieger did was smirk. "You are correct. And yes, send in any reinforcements in the event that anything goes wrong."
Then that smirk changed into a grin. "But perhaps…perhaps Giganta and Abomination will prove their worth once more."
A swift and sudden blow sent Giganta almost flying towards the walls, and she struck them with enough force and power to break them, and the bitter Siberian environment and winds were now exposed to everyone in the base. The winds blew particularly harsh, and Giganta's face was beginning to get covered in snow the instant she landed on the ground.
Wonder Woman, who levitated up in the air and was responsible for sending Giganta down to the ground, did not seem fazed by the brutal temperatures in the least. She merely glared down at the giant woman below her, before lunging towards her, slashing her leg with her sword all the way through. It was not strong enough to cut the leg off, and that was not something Wonder Woman intended to do. Her intended goal, of harming Giganta to a point where she'd have trouble getting up, seemed to work, as Giganta indeed had trouble getting up. Wonder Woman flew up to Giganta, who grimaced in pain, and lunged her shield right towards the redheaded menace's face, sending her head slamming down into the snow.
Not much time passed before the Abomination was also knocked out of the base as well, courtesy of the Man of Steel. Unlike Giganta, however, Abomination didn't make it to the ground before Superman swooped down until he was ten inches above the ground and punched Abomination right in the stomach, sending him back flying into the air. Superman punched him in the face as he darted upwards, and then twice in the chest before kicking him in the stomach.
"I don't normally get chatty during battle," Superman said as he grabbed Abomination by the head. "But if you thought you couldn't get any more freezing….well, sorry to burst your bubble."
Superman unleashed his freeze breath upon the Abomination, and once he was frozen solid, he dropped the Abomination, sending him almost charging towards the ground below. But of course, Superman was not going to let anyone, even a villain, just fall to the ground like that, so he began flying down towards the frozen creature and punched the ice that contained him, breaking the Abomination free. But then Superman grabbed the green beast by his foot and slammed him down twice – first, onto the frozen Siberian ground, and then towards the nearby Hydra base, further damaging its walls.
Abomination groaned. "You may think your victory is guaranteed, alien….but don't get your hopes up just yet."
Superman shook his head. "I'm afraid I have other matters to. Besides, the Strongest There Is wants a rematch with you."
Abomination heard a mighty roar, and turned around to see the none other than the Hulk, standing opposite a massive pile of defeated Hydra soldiers. Abomination merely groaned due to the injuries he had substained from his fight with Superman, which did nothing to stop the mighty Hulk from slamming his fists onto the cement floor of the base, completely shattering them, and then charging towards the Abomination. Superman flew away from the scene, towards Wonder Woman and Giganta, while Hulk punched Abomination in the face twice and in the stomach three times. Abomination roared back, having seemingly gained his second wind at last, and pulled on the Hulk's hair. The Hulk yelled in pain, and Abomination went ahead and punched the Hulk right in the gonads, which made the Hulk yell much louder.
"Hulk…hate….cheap shots…." He said, before the Abomination let go of him and he kneeled down onto the ground.
"I always thought fightin' dirty wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be," Abomination said as he decked the Hulk right in the gonads once more. "There comes a point in which you have to say 'screw honor' in my opinion."
Abomination grabbed Hulk's head and began slamming it onto the ground. He did this about five or six times before being phased through, then uppercutted, by the Martian Manhunter and then slashed in the back by Wonder Woman. The Abomination yelled in pain, and the Manhunter used his own Super Breath to blow Abomination away, before Wonder Woman elbowed him in the face and slammed him back onto the ground. The beast groaned, but Wonder Woman only bore a determined look on her face. She grabbed the Abomination and extended her knee out, and then proceeded to slam Blonsky against her knee, breaking his back.
She threw him onto the ground, and the Hulk now bore the strength to walk and move again, faster than an ordinary human would.
"Hulk want final blow," He said. Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman had no reply, which Hulk took as a silent approval. Hulk yelled in rage and bashed the back of the Abomination's head with his fist as the latter took a heavy breath, knocking him out.
Superman, meanwhile, had taken over the fight against Giganta, with Wasp in tow.
'Hank's gonna be disappointed that he didn't get a rematch against this gal, but oh well," Wasp thought to herself.
Giganta's attention was only on Superman. She was about sixty feet tall at the moment, whereas Wasp was a mere two inches. This made it rather difficult for the giant woman to see the tiny woman whenever Wasp blasted against her. Superman blasted his heat vision against Giganta, sending her back ten feet. She, however, managed to grab Superman, and closed her fist around him. He struggled to get out, but even his massive levels of strength were countered by Giganta's sheer size, and she began to tighten her grip. By this point, Wasp had flown all the way to Giganta's nose, and now she was at her eyeballs. She began blasting into the giant redhead's eyes, and Giganta couldn't help herself but squint at this. In this moment of distraction, her fist opened up and Superman broke free.
He, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter were all up in the air, flying towards Wasp, while the Hulk leaped up in the air and hit Giganta right in the knee, sending her crashing back down. This time, she reached the nearby woods, and a couple dozen trees were crushed by her landing. She groaned and tried to get up, but Wonder Woman charged towards her and landed a swift kick to her gigantic chin, and Wonder Woman's power and strength seemed to work well enough to knock Giganta out.
Krieger had been proven wrong. Giganta and Abomination's victory had turned out to be a fluke, and now both of them lied defeated, and the five Vanguardians all looked at each other.
"That felt so good!" Wasp said as she landed right on Wonder Woman's shoulder. "That oughta show Hydra! That one defeat at Mercury Labs will never, ever happen again! Ever!"
Wonder Woman sheathed her sword back while saying, "Yes, we did win against these two the second time, but the battle is not yet over, Wasp. We still have to siege the rest of the base and deal with Alan Scott's old flame."
Martian Manhunter had been listening in on his earpiece while Wasp and Wonder Woman were conversing, and he finished right as Wonder Woman did. "Barry, Carol, and the mutants are still in position. Shouldn't be too long before we send them in," He said.
"Good," Superman replied. "Vanguard, let's move out."
Iron Man decked two Hydra soldiers in the face, then used his repulsor blasts to take out four more. He, Batman, Captain America, and Alan Scott were all deeper in the Hydra base than any of the other Vanguardians had reached, having made it all the way to their laboratory. Iron Man was not currently fighting in their lab, due to the amount of dangerous chemicals and weapons that looked to be hiding in there, so instead he was fighting Hydra soldiers in the hallway. About seven of them came charging towards Iron Man from the left side, and Batman ran out of the laboratory and into the room to help the armored fighter combat them.
But all Iron Man did was blast a tiny missile at that, and there was a huge explosion that occurred seconds afterwards.
"Before you get anal with me, Bruce," Iron Man said, knowing how the Dark Knight was about to react to this situation, "I scanned their armor to see how strong and durable. They're all severely injured, but they'll live. Hydra isn't cheap with its suits."
"A organization that can hack into our security system probably wouldn't be so cheap, Sherlock Holmes," Batman said as he launched a batarang towards an oncoming Hydra soldier's helmet, then using said soldier's surprise to knee him in the chest and deck him in the face, knocking him out. "But don't do that in the laboratory, okay?"
Two more Hydra soldiers came charging towards Batman, but he performed the exact same trick on them and so defeated them with ease.
Meanwhile, in the laboratory itself, it was down to Thorn, Cap, and Alan, with the latter two entangled in the former's vines. Even with the Super Soldier Serum in Cap's case, the piercing thorns hurt like hell, as his skin wasn't unbreakable. Neither Iron Man nor Batman knew this was happening, for both were too busy battling the Hydra soldiers
"It's finally nice to meet you, Captain Rogers," Thorn said, walking up to him as he grimaced and groaned. "Alan talked about you a lot when we dated. He truly missed his war buddy, said you brought the whole Brigade together."
The thorny plants curled themselves tighter around Cap, and he let out a shriek of agony. "Good to know," was all Cap could mutter out as he almost tried in vain to break free, only to remember the hard way that any movement would just make the pain worse.
"I never thought I'd meet you, Rogers, but now that I have…I'm disappointed."
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Alan shouted, and he blasted away all the thorny plants with a green bubble. He and Cap both landed on the ground, and Cap just sat there, still in pain from the thorns.
"Your ex is lovely. Just give me a moment and I'll be back on my feet, Alan," Cap said as he began to bleed out from the thorns."
"Stand down, Cap. Don't force yourself to fight. You've been injured too badly," Alan said with his arm extended out, before turning his attention from Cap to Thorn.
Alan created a gigantic lawnmower and used it to plow down Thorn, sending her to the ground. And when she had landed, he created a lasso and entangled her with it, trapping her, before creating a giant target against the wall. He created a similarly sized up dart and lunged it at Thorn's leg, and the force was enough to send her against the target, and it smashed into pieces when she hit the wall.
"You had me fooled, Rose. I'll give you that," Alan said as she slid down the wall. "I truly believed you were just a troubled woman who meant well. You had me fooled real good. But deep down, you're a monster. No good and proud parent would deprive their children of the happiness they deserve."
With her chlorokinesis, Thorn created more vines and now Alan was the one entangled – in this case, in her vines once more. "Hydra would've benefited from your inclusion. They wanted you taken out, Alan, and though I can hardly blame, I thought you could be made into an asset. What a twist of fate that would've been, huh?! One of the great fighters who took down Hydra in World War II, now its champion, helping to bring it to glory!"
She had the thorny vines tightened harder than she used against Cap, and though Alan's ring-constructed armor was better defended from the thorns than Cap's suit was, not even it could defend against the thorns now, and they began to pierce through his armor. Now he was the one yelling in pain, while Cap still struggled to get up.
"But just you wait, Alan. I'm done trying to win you over and turn you over to Hydra's side. You and Captain America die today! No matter what else happens, you two die today! And eventually, our two children will be brought back under Hydra's control!"
"Rose, I'm nearly a hundred, and I didn't spend any of that time in suspended animation. I don't know when I'll croak, but it certainly won't be today, by your hand!"
He used his ring to create an explosion that sent the thorns away, with some even piercing Thorn. However, she used her abilities to entangle Alan's foot, and she walked up to him as he tried to break free and removed his ring, then proceeded to kick him in the stomach.
"You were rather boring as just Alan Scott, I must say," Thorn taunted as she held up Alan's ring in her hand.
Alan spat on the ground. "Well, even as just Alan Scott, I'm perfectly capable of kicking your ass!"
He decked her in the face, and then kicked her in the stomach. Alan then punched her in the stomach twice, and then he grappled her, wrapping his arms around her waist and closing his hands into a fist, and proceeded to pull himself forward and throw Thorn onto the ground. As she tried to get up, he merely stomped on her face.
It was at this point that Cap was finally able to get up, and he too stomped on her face. Thorn had yet to strike back because she was so taken aback by how Alan didn't immediately break upon losing the ring, showing that she had forgotten what he was like
"Whatever we had in the seventies and eighties, Rose…it's gone now…"
Thorn glared at the two. "I agree. That was but a stroke of luck, Alan. One that won't happen again."
Then a massive amount of thorny vines appeared across the laboratory, more than had been there before. Alan and Cap were both daunted by this sight, and neither were sure how they were going to get out of this without intervention from everyone else.
Thankfully, however, intervention did come. Iron Man blasted the wall and created a whole through which he and Batman entered the room, and then the ceiling smashed open with Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Hulk, and Wasp all entering through it.
Thorn, who had been glaring before, now looked overwhelmed. Then Carol came through that same hole, carrying Barry with her, and finally, the group of Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Jade, Obsidian, Elongated Man, and Spider-Woman arrived in the same hole that Iron Man and Batman had arrived in.
Faced against such overwhelming odds, Thorn merely groaned and raised her arms up, surrendering.
Alan smirked. "At least you know when you're beaten. You'll be coming with us now."
Later, Alan and Cap were walking around, outside the Vanguard Tower, it looking like it was about to rain in New York City. Neither of them really seemed to care, however.
"I wish that Charles Xavier and his school for mutants existed way back when. It was nice of him to take my kids and the other four under his wing," Alan said with a smile.
"Yeah, it sure was. Let's see Hydra invade the M-Force's headquarters. With so many mutants, that won't end well. And Thorn's under S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, so she won't do any more harm."
"Yeah…" was all Alan muttered out before looking down on the ground.
He sighed, and Cap could tell what it was all about. Seeing his children and his wife like that….it must've felt odd for him. He placed a comforting hand on Alan's shoulder.
"Hey, at least Thorn is under custody and your children are safer than ever," Cap said.
Alan smiled. "Yeah, yeah. It's just odd. This chapter of my life, with Rose, feels up and truly closed now."
"Wanna get a drink?" Cap asked.
Alan nodded. "Hell yeah. I know a good place downtown. But get out of that suit, of course."
Cap nodded back, and used the button on his earpiece to teleport himself into the Vanguard Tower, and Alan stood there with a content look on his face.