AVENGERS EVOLUTION
in
"The Chessboard Is Set - Avengers Assemble Part One"
Note: All characters and locations mentioned here are property of Marvel Comics Inc, I claim no ownership to them whatsoever.
PART THREE
Flying over German-Occupied France
April 1942
"Are we there yet?"
The Human Torch looked over to his younger counterpart. "Patience, Toro." He told him.
Thomas "Toro" Raymond was bored, and being in the small compact cargo hold of the winged bomber. At first, he used to create small fireballs in his hands and juggle them, but the Human Torch recommended against that - trying to avoid igniting the fuel tanks or setting the entire plane ablaze. This decsion was made when Toro was juggling fireballs, and accidentally dropped one, if it weren't for Jack Frost using his frezzing powers to transform it to a ball of ice - they would have been done for.
Along with the group of Toro, Torch, and Jack Frost, was the rest of the All Winners Squad, composed of the Blue Diamond - a large bulky man with a rough exterior; the crimson winged Red Raven, and the Thin Man, an aristocratic-looking man who had the ability to stretch his entire body super thin - hence the name.
The Blue Diamond was too excited, and paced around. "I can't wait to knock some sense into those Nazi scum!" He exclaimed, slamming his diamond hard fist into a nearby locker, making a pretty large dent in it.
With the door to the cockpit open, the pilot heard everything. "Hey!" He shouted back. "Be careful back there!"
Blue Diamond sat himself down on a nearby bench and grumbled to himself. The pilot managed to hear everything, even stuff that couldn't have been heard by anyone else. "Don't make me have to come back there and smack you around!" the pilot shouted.
Jack Frost spoke up from his corner space of ice and frost. "Cool off, Logan," he said with a raspy voice. "Blue Diamond just wants to get some action - we all do." Everyone else muttered in agreement, unfortunately Logan didnt agree with them.
"Listen up, bub! Uncle Sam paid a lot of greenbacks for these planes," he shouted, "and I'm not going to have him tear into my hide just because you guys decide to get punch-happy." He stepped out of the cockpit, after transferring the reigns of the plane to the co-pilot, and stared Blue Diamond down.
Blue Diamond stood up and stared Logan right in the eye. "Maybe I should take out my frustrations on you."
Logan stood his ground, flaring his nostrils. "Just bring it, big man."
Both Toro and the Human Torch restrained Logan while the Thin Man wrapped his elastic body around Blue Diamond, holding him in place.
"C'mon you two," said the blonde haired Human Torch. "We're supposed to be fighting the Nazi's - not eachother."
Finally Blue Diamond and Logan managed to cool down, allowing Thin Man and both torches to let each respective man go. Logan turned and headed back for the cockpit, although he worked for the Canadian Armed Forces, he was recommended by Captain America himself to assist in this joint venture with the USA to take down the evil nazi organization known as HYDRA.
At a nearby airfield, German planes got the order to take off. One by one, three planes shot down the runway and became airborne. The squadron leader barked orders in German to his fellow wingmen.
The orders given to them were crystal clear, to find the lone bomber - and to reduce it to a smoldering pile of scrap metal.
Blue Diamond didn't care much about Logan, but he didn't care about the germans even more. The Human Torch and Thin Man tried their best to maintain order, while Jack Frost focused on other things.
"I dont even know why he's on this mission," snapped BD. "He's not even part of the team!"
"Logan is not only a personal friend of the Captain," explained Human Torch, "but is the only individual highly qualified to help us."
BD gave a loud sigh. "Yeah, well why'd have to be a Canuck - why couldn't it have been an American?"
Suddenly the plane jerked violently, causing everyone to lose their balance - except for Jack Frost.
"What the heck was that?" asked Toro.
Suddenly the co pilot spoke up, "Bandits at 3 o'clock!"
"Seems like we've been found out," Logan shouted to the back. "Everyone hang on while I try to lose them!" Grabbing tight on the controls, he began to make evasive manuevers.
Everyone strapped themselves in, just as the guns blazed and the bullets pinged off the outside of the plane - everyone expect for Blue Diamond.
"Diamond!" shouted Thin Man. "What the blazes are you doing!"
But he didnt answer, he opened up the side hatch of the plane, it rocked as the intake of oxygen began sucking out like a vaccuum. All the men in their gunnery stations, including Logan and the co pilot, all strapped on their oxygen masks. In the blink of an eye, Diamond shot out of the plane.
"That gung ho idiot!" growled Torch, he looked to Toro as he began to unstrap himself.. "Close the hatch after I leave, I'm going after him."
Once the vaccuum effect ceased, and the pressure in the plane was equal to that outside, Torch dove out the open hatch. "FLAME ON!" He shouted, his entire body igniting into flames as he flew off - Toro quickly unstrapped himself and rushed to close the hatch.
The squadron continued their onslaught on the American aircraft, they focused their fire on the gunports so that the plane would become defenseless - thus becoming an easy target.
Suddenly a large object smashed on top of the squad leader's plane, taking the pilot by surprise. "Gotten heimel!" the german pilot exclaimed.
The object was Blue Diamond, and he gave the pilot a cruel gaze. As he transformed his entire body into his rock-hard diamond form, he began to slam his fist into the nose of the plane, destroying the engine. As the engine began to conk out and die, the Blue Diamond leapt towards one of the wingmen who tried to shoot him off, the bullets bounced harmlessly off of his body - tearing the dying plane to swiss cheese.
The pilot cursed in German as he watched the squad leader's plane slowly burst into flames after he shot at them. The same figure was now on his plane, and beginning to dismantle it with his bare hands like a gremlin.
The other wingman was about to radio back to headquarters about what they'd seen, but before he could do anything, the Human Torch had already melted his radio attenna to slag. He shot off the top hatch of his plane and jumped out of the cockpit, just as the Blue Diamond had completed his dismantling of the other plane - that pilot also ejecting out of the plane.
Just as it seemed that Blue Diamond would go do with the plane, the Human Torch swooped down and grabbed him by the arms - flying back to meet up with the others.
Once everything settled, Logan removed his mask and headed to the rear of the plane.
"We're over the target area!" he shouted. "Time to get off the bus!" He began to strap on a parachute, and pressed a button to open the bomb bay doors. Red Raven got out of his seat, and unfurled his large red-colored wings.
Toro looked over to Jack Frost, who got ready to leave. "Need a lift?" the young boy asked.
"Are you crazy?" he exclaimed. "Do you want to melt me or something?"
Toro frowned in defiance as Jack Frost strapped on his parachute.
Back at the communcations room of the castle, the Red Skull had marched in to get a staus report. Upon entry, everyone leapt out of their seats, giving the German salute.
"Report!" He barked as he approached the communications officer. "Has that aircraft been brought down?"
"Unknown," answered the officer. "We have lost contact with all three crafts."
The Red Skull roared in frustration. Suddenly an officer at radar spoke up from the nearby console. "Mein fuhrer! The American craft, it has turned around and retreating back for British airspace."
'So,' thought the Skull, 'they've managed to release their cargo to the rebels.' He reached over for a HYDRA officer. "I want you to assemble a team and search the area where that craft dropped it's cargo. I want those rebels found!"
The HYDRA officer nodded. "At once, mein fuhrer!" He gave the salute. "Hail HYDRA!"
Captain America went out and watched as his teammates slowly came to the ground. He approached Logan as he was the first to hit the ground.
"Logan," he smiled. "So good you could make it."
"Well, I was wondering what you managed to get yourself into," he grumbled, as he began taking off his parachute.
Jack Frost had ditched his parachute several feet before hitting the ground, and landed safely on an ice slide he created for himself. The Red Raven landed with Thin Man in tow, while the Human Torch dropped off the Blue Diamond, Toro landing at his side, both fiery heroes immediately put out their flames upon landing.
"What's the plan, Captain?" asked Torch, as he approached his patriotic colleague.
Cap looked at him. "There's an abandoned cabin in the woods that we've been using as a base of operations. Once you all have gathered up your parachutes, we'll reconvene there for the briefing. Now quickly, Red Skull should have a party of soldiers sent this way - so we need to make certain they don't find any trace that we were here."
They all collected their parachutes and placed them in a pile, while the Human Torch ignited the pile, setting any trace of the parachutes used ablaze. Since he burnt them at a fast rate, little or no smoke was given off. He then turned to go meet the others at the cabin.
What's the plan? We'll find out soon enough - TO BE CONTINUED