Avengers: Wreckage
Chapter 42 (AIM WARS: Three)
The east coast Avengers heard about the battle almost as soon as SHIELD found out, but frustratingly they were just too far away to act.
"There's no way we can help?" Luke Cage demanded.
Captain America shook his head, "One of our jets, even at top speed, couldn't get there in any useful time."
Spider-woman swore.
"Why do all the teleporters only belong to the X-Men?" Spider-Man complained.
Everyone just ignored that.
"We could send Sentry," Wolverine suggested.
Cap paused then admitted, "I don't feel comfortable sending him alone."
EVERYONE was well aware that Sentry was crazy. In theory, he had it under control and was managing it. But... they just weren't SURE.
"And Iron Man...?" Spider-Woman asked.
"Top secret meeting in Washington Dc. We can't even reach him with our Avengers Communicators," Spider-Man sighed.
"You GOTTA be kidding me," Cage sighed.
"Hopefully Force Works can handle it...," Cap offered grimly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Was Machine!" Thunbderstrike called, using her hammer to smack a AIM mecha down. "About time you got here."
"We armored up as fast as possible," Warmachine used repulsors to blast one enemy, then fired off a salvo of mini-missiles from a shoulder launcher.
"Wow," Thunderstrike blinked as the eight mini-missiles homed in on one enemy each, then all blew up, disabling them.
The War Machine's other shoulder mounted canon blazed through explosive rounds. Sweeping across more AIM units. "Thanks for keeping them occupied," she added.
"Can I just go home and let YOU handle it?" Thunderstrike asked jokingly, punching a enemy and crumpling the metal.
"There's a bit too many for me alone, thanks," War Machine noted wryly.
"IRON MAN," a furious voice boomed.
"Oh fuck," War Machine blurted as the huge Firepower suit noticed them.
"Do they know you're not Iron Man?" Thunderstrike wondered.
"Apparently no," War Machine said as Firepower started forcing it's way through AIM forces towards them.
"Boss! Incoming!" Brass yelled, the sleeker suit smashing other AIM units.
Just as the Firepower suit was nearing, a black and gold streak suddenly smashed it from midair into the ocean.
"Warbird?" Thunderstrike guessed.
"Warbird," War Machine agreed as they saw flashes of energy as their leader was tusseling with the bulky armor underwater.
"SHIELD is here," Brass noted, "incoming."
The Mandroid suits spread out, even as the two factions of AIM kept trying to kill each other. And a chunk of AIM mechs were also trying to flee the battle, and honestly SHIELD and the heroes were too busy to stop them.
"Should we try to...?" Brass asked as she dodged their attacks, then ripped the weapon unit off an attacking suit.
"No, we need to keep casualties down and stop everyone we can," Thunderstrike said, "if they're escaping, they're not trying to kill each other or us."
"Fair enough," Brass agreed.
A Mandroid suit zipped near them as the pilot introduced herself, "Agent Hand, SHIELD."
"And is Foot nearby?" Brass quipped.
"Ha." Hand sighed. "I saw Warbird engaging Firepower, is she...?"
Before anyone could answer, there was a shockwave from under water. Then Warbird errupted from below, thrown clear in a burst of energy.
"Argh!" the shook herself.
"Are you all right?" War Machine demanded.
"It hit me with some kind of explosive weapon, but I did a fair bit of damage," Warbird noted, her costume singed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Clymnestra Erwin felt the shock absorbers in the Firepower armor actually overload as Warbird hammered her from an insane height. Alarms were wailing from multiple systems, and damage alerts were popping up all over her display.
'From ONE HIT by Warbird?' Cly thought, shocked.
This was, she supposed, the difference between someone wearing a suit of armor and an actual superhuman.
'No time to dwell,' Cly decided. She quickly assessed no critical systems were down... and the suit was still watertight too. 'I need to surface and find Iron Man,' she mused.
Then Warbird hammered her AGAIN.
"Son of a..." Cly cursed, trying to see where she was coming from. She was so much faster than enemies in the simulator!
'Sensors,' Cly realized, 'I should be able to pick up her energy signature.'
The ocean around her was cluttered with wreckage from the AIM base and their attackers, but Warbird showed up easily. She whirled the suit to face her, even as she checked weapons. There were a annoying number she couldn't use underwater...
"Ooof," Cly grunted as she grappled with the attacing woman. It was hard to grab her, both of them thrashing around.
Warbird's mouth moved, though obviously Cly couldn't hear her underwater. Probably ordering her to stand down.
Cly slugged her, and felt a moment of satisfaction at the feeling of impact. From the look on her face, Warbird did NOT like that.
Eneregy flared around Warbird's hands as she blasted her. Again.
'How does that even work, underwater?' Cly found herself wondering.
Something shorted out, and Cly could smell a bit of smoke in the suit. She had taken more damage in this brawl than in any practice fight...
"Cly, are you there?" the familiar voice of Monica Rappaccini came over the communicator.
"Monica, are you all right?" Cly demanded.
"I'm fine, I've reached the nearest safehouse," Monica told her.
"Thank goodness," Cly sighed.
"Break off fighting," Monica ordered, "my troops are mostly clear at this point. I don't want you hurt in this..."
Cly once again felt a odd twinge of pleasure at the woman's concern. "All right," she said, "I'll just need to disable Warbird first."
"Be careful," Monica added.
Cly felt a new surge of determination. She kneed Warbird, driving her back a bit, then jabbed the arm mounted ion canon into her belly.
"Sorry," Cly muttered then fired.
There was a huge detonation as the weapon, not designed to be used underwater, fired. Warbird was thrown backwards, but even more systems were knocked off line or giving warnings.
"Time to go," Cly raced off, engines straining.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
MODOK watched the battle, realizing the super heroes, AIM and SHIELD were going to defeat his forces.
"Have we at least captured Rappaccini?" MODOK demanded.
The command LMD replied calmly, "No reports on her capture. At this point, we have to assume she's escaped."
"Argh," MODOK growled, unleashing a bolt of energy from his crown and exploding the LMD's torso.
The other LMDs took that calmly. "SHIELD forces have found our cloaked Hellicarrier."
MODOK weighed the situation, forcing himself to be calm. "Disengage, use a EMP to force the Mandroids back."
"Electomagnetic Pulse, go." tactical said. "The troops?"
"Eject them from their mechs, then self destruct them," MODOK ordered. "SHIELD and the heroes will be too busy rescuing them to chase us."
"Yes sir," another LMD obeyed.
MODOK watched events play out as they fled. 'Damn you, Rappaccini' he thought bitterly.
To be continued...
Notes: The Avengers team at this point was mostly 'street' level heroes, other than Iron Man and Sentry. And Sentry, as I've mentioned before, is very mentally unstable.
Mind you, the Avengers' Jets are VERY high powered, so maybe they could have jumped across from New York to California that fast. But as I already have a LOT of characters in play, I didn't want to bring them in.
I kinda FORGOT Ultra Girl. I'll cover her next chapter...