AVENGERS EVOLUTION
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"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 EIGHT
Deep within the Canadian Wilderness
April 2005
A lone silhouette slipped through the woods, stalking its prey with stealth and precision. Finally locating its delicacy of choice, a wild rabbit chewing on a large green leaf, the wildcat licked his chops as it came closer and closer – it's claws extended. It was about to pounce, and devour the rabbit whole – until a loud roaring noise caused it to bolt, and the wildcat to climb up a nearby tree to get an elevated view of this creature making a noise so extravagant.
It watched as a giant shape came down from the sky, eclipsing the sun within minutes as it hovered down to the ground, sending dirt and leaves flying all over the place – the wildcat sank his claws into the tree just to avoid being blasted off.
As the object finally came down, managing to quiet down and causing the woods to return to it's serene silence. A small hatch opened up at the rear of the mysterious object, and a orange and black clad figure stepped out, overlooking his surroundings.
The wildcat leapt down from the tree, to confront this new intruder, ti gave a loud roar – baring his gleaming fangs. But the figure roared back, and with a loud "SNIKT!" - he revealed long metal claws.
The figure had only to take one menacing step forward, and the wildcat turned and bolted – willing to fight yet another day; it was obvious that this cat never faced THIS kind of Wolverine.
With a quick "SNIKT!", Wolverine drew his adamantium claws back in and headed back for the X-Jet. It had been a while since the battle with the evil Apocalypse, and Logan was looking to tie up some loose ends and maybe even recover some of his memories that were lost to him when he first became Weapon X.
It was almost several months since he had confronted a young girl called X-23 (Wolverine didn't care for that name at all, he thought that she deserved a real name), she was cloned by HYDRA from stolen DNA from the Weapon X project. She had originally escaped from the clutches of HYDRA, and went on a crusade to find Wolverine and exact revenge, but she failed, and feeling some sympathy for her allowed her escape before SHIELD agents could take her in.
The next time was when Wolverine found her again in the Canadian woods (actually it was more like she found him). He been kidnapped and hijacked onto a plane, it wasn't until he managed to escape from the plane and fall into the woods several feet below. While trying to recover from his fall, his mutant healing factor took a while to kick in, he was quickly captured by two mutants, one wearing a Hydra armband, the other was a Russian mutant known as Omega Red and a mutant bounty hunter called Gauntlet. After X-23 had rescued Wolverine, allowing them both to escape into the woods, but his rescue by her was not planned and Wolverine discovered the truth that X-23 wanted to be captured so that she could get access to the Supreme Hydra base and take them out permamently. After Wolverine had witnessed the HYDRA saucer crash and explode in the woods, all of the remaining HYDRA agents - including Omega Red - were captured and rounded up by SHIELD. When Fury asked where X-23 was, Logan told him that she didn't make it - but after leaving Wolverine managed to catch a familiar scent and gave a little smile to figure out the truth.
The last time was during the battle with Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen (the brainwashed Professor X, Storm, Magneto, and Mystique), X-23, other mutants, the Brotherhood of Evil, and the rest of the X-Men team helped to bring down the mutant tyrant for good and returning peace to the world once more. Wolverne and Professor X managed to convince her that it'd probably be best for her if she were to remain in the institute to work with the X-Men, in hopes of working to strengthen the bond between humans and mutants.
Even though Madame Hydra and what was left of the HYDRA conglomerate seemed to have died a fiery painful death, Wolverine had found out from his connections of this HYDRA secret base that was being revived in the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies outside of Banff.
Xavier had warned him against this, trying to convince him that since his previous battle against Apocalypse was tiring enough, he couldn't be physically ready to fight in another war against HYDRA. But to Wolverine, this fight was more than just a war – this battle was personal.
Inside HYDRA Castle Stronghold
April 1942
Captain America and the others had gotten rid of their HYDRA disguises and wandered down the hallway, the lights had gone out as planned, now Cap knew that Red Raven and the others were beginning to destroy the communication tower.
Suddenly the lights came back on, both Cap and Logan found that suspicious.
"The reserve power generators couldn't have come on that quickly," suggested Miss America. "Could they?"
Whizzer shook his head. "Not a chance," he spat out. "Those lights came on too quickly."
Thin Man thought otherwise. "You worry too much,."
"He's right," muttered Logan, he sniffed at the air – as if something didn't smell right.
Suddenly they turned to see Blue Diamond running up to them, a frightened look in his eye. "HYDRA .." he gasped. "They caught us – it was a setup."
Captain America spoke up. "A setup? By whom?"
"It was Bucky ... He betrayed us .. betrayed us all ... I managed to escape with my life."
Miss America broke into tears, while Whizzer and Thin Man consoled her – but Cap and Logan were a little harder to convince.
Finally Logan had heard enough. "He's lying." He growled.
Blue Diamond could hardly believe his ears, neither could Thin Man. "You dare even think Blue Diamond is being dishonest?" snapped Thin Man. "Are you questioning an All Winners Squad member of team loyalty?"
This also infuriated Diamond. "I'm NOT lying." he snapped back. "We don't know anything about you either, except that the Captain has worked with you in the past – how do we know you're not a traitor too?"
Logan gave off a low growl, clenching his fists extra tight, he looked like he was about ready to explode. But Cap tried his best to calm his friend down, to avoid a unnecessary fight. "Logan is my trusted friend," he told everyone, especially Blue Diamond. "But I've also known Blue Diamond just as long. Logan, do you have proof to back up such an accusation?"
Before he could respond, everyone's attention was averted to a strange rumbling sound, that was beginning to get louder. All six stared at the source, as there was a large explosion causing dust and debris to fly everywhere, when the cloud finally cleared there they watched both Jack Frost and a non-ignited Human Torch were duking it out.
"I'll kill you!" he shouted. "You'll pay for taking Toro's life!"
Jack Frost noticed the moisture on the Human Torch's uniform, that was the reason why he couldn't flame on – and he decided to use that to his advantage. Launching a blast of cold ice sent Human Torch flying and crashing into the wall. He then began to freeze the moisture around him, covering the Torch's entire body with solid ice. - leaving his head exposed.
Captain America had seen enough. "What is the meaning of this!" He demanded.
"Jack Frost is a traitor," snapped Torch. "He killed Toro, and also admitted to killing Red Raven." But before he could say anything else, Jack Frost had used his power to cover Torch's head with solid ice.
"Is this true, Jack?" Cap asked.
Jack Frost shook his head. "If anyone is the traitor," he hissed, "it's Torch – I was only defending myself. He killed Red Raven and conned Toro into fighting me too, he didn't give me any other alternative."
Thin Man had heard enough, he turned to Blue Diamond. "Only one way of dealing with traitors," he said.
Blue Diamond nodded, morphing into his diamond form. He walked up to the frozen Human Torch, and raised his fist – cocked back ready to drive a punch straight through the frozen hero – but he turned and drove the punch right through Jack's chest. As he pulled his fist out of his chest, a large gaping hole remained, Jack dropped to his knees and fell to the floor. Miss America and Whizzer watched in utter shock, she buried her face in Whizzer's arms and burst into tears as Jack lay on the floor lifeless.
Inside HYDRA base
April 2005
Two HYDRA troopers walked down the corridor, both too engrossed in their own little conversation to notice Wolverine skulking in the shadows.
Suddenly one of them finally caught on. "What was that!" he said to his friend. "Did you see that?"
Both troopers raised their rifles, pointing them towards the shadows – they could see some kind of reflective gleam residing within the darkness.
Wolverine lunged out of the shadows, his claws extended, he sliced both their rifles – reducing them to spare parts. One of the troopers managed to get away, and hit a button along the wall. The corridors were filled with the shrilling sound of the intruder alarm.
As the troops turned and made a retreat from the savage Wolverine, panels opened up within the wall Making a huge crunching sound, out of the panels emerged 7-foot armored troopers – they were called Mandroids.
Originally they were used as a heavily armored personal combat suit that was used by SHIELD – it was obvious that HYDRA managed to get their hands on some and decided to use it against a common enemy; like Wolverine for example.
Each Mandroid raised an arm, and opened fire on Wolverine. Each one of them were equipped with twin high neuornic-frequency stun-cannons, powerful enough to render a 230 lbs man unconscious within a 175 foot radius for 1.25 hours. They also had mag-force punch blasts with a concussive force equivalent to 150 pounds of TNT, high-frequency, high-voltage electrostatic beams of up to 60,000 volts – to make a long story short these Mandroids were armed to the teeth and could also amplify a man's strength 30 fold.
Wolverine dodged and jumped out of the way of every concussive blast the Mandroids threw at the mutant, even managed to deflect some blasts out of the way with his adamantium claws.
In a hidden control room, a middle-aged man watched from a closed-circuit monitor as Wolverine gutted and sliced open the powerful HYDRA Mandroids. These Mandroids were different from the originals, due to the fact that they were unmanned computerized drones.
In the original design, the Mandroids would follow a preprogrammed set of instructions should the operator be incapacitated in any way, so that way the suit would still attempt to achieve what it has been instructed to - with or without the operator.
A HYDRA technician approached the man. "The final preparations are underway, mein leader. We await your instructions."
The HYDRA leader turned to the man. "Continue the preparations until they are completed."
The technician saluted, and turned back to work - while the leader pressed a button on the console under the monitor. "Withdraw all the troopers and Mandroids, I will take care of Wolverine on my own."
"Understood," replied a trooper. "Hail HYDRA!"
Pressing a button on the arm of the chair opened up a hidden compartment, the leader reached inside and pulled out a gas gun - making sure that it was loaded. He was approached by a curvaceous young woman with short dark hair -some of it covering the right side of her face -and matching colored eyes, she wore a dark green bodysuit with light green boots. She was known only as Viper, her past was a mystery to all around her - known only to a select few.
"Do not soil your hands, mein leader," she whispered in his ear, her arms wrapped around him from behind. "Allow me the pleasure of disposing of this intruder."
He stepped out of his chair, turned to face Viper - her face in his hands. "You remind me of your father every day," he smiled. "Nein, mein freulein - I am capable of taking care of this intruder on my own - you must not interfere."
Kissing her lightly on the forehead, the leader walked out of the control room, leaving a dejected Viper behind.
'The leader is not aware of what he's getting into,' she thought. 'If Wolverine is anything like the reports have said - mein leader does not stand a chance.' And with that thought, she rushed out after her leader.
After searching through the mountain of scrap metal that used to be HYDRA Mandroids, Wolverine was no where closer to getting the answers he was searching for.
It had been several minutes since the rest of the Mandroids and HYDRA stormtroopers had vanished, obviously recalled by whomever they take orders from.
"Ya filthy cowards!" Wolverine shouted. "Is that the best that you got, bub!"
He heard a sound from behind him, turning around, his claws going "SNIKT!", he faced his adversary.
"You will pay for intruding in HYDRA territory," replied the old man. "Pay with your life!" He drew out the gas gun, ready to fire it at Wolverine.
With a slash of his claw, he reduced the gas gun to ribbons. "Ya didnt think ye'd get rid of me with that lil pop gun, did ya bub!" He mocked the old man. "Now where IS your leader - ya better tell me before I really getted pissed, bub!"
The old man glared at him, fists clenched. "I am the leader!" He shouted back.
Wolverine was unimpressed. "You're the leader? Don't make me laugh!"
"Nein! I plan to do more that make you laugh - I plan to make you die!" And with that, he produced a small dagger from his boot, then began to thrust at Wolverine.
He dodged the blade being thrust in his face, barely avoiding the sting of solid steel. With a blind slash, he knocked the knife out of the man's hand and caught him in the face. The old man covered his face with his hands and staggered back as Wolverine quickly retracted his claws.
"Do yerself a favor, bub!" snarled Wolverine, "Don't get up!" Suddenly the whole place began to shudder and shake, it felt like they were going through an earthquake, but how was that possible? The rocky mountains were no where near any fault lines of any kind - so how could this be happening?
He looked at the old man, who still had his hands over his face. Suddenly he heard the man starting to laugh, from a common chuckle to a psychotic guffaw. "You fool!" The man retorted. "This isn't just a HYDRA base you've infiltrated - it's also a fully functional airship." He pulled his hands away from his face, glaring at Wolverine with an insane glare. He could see the scar left on the man's face by his adamantium claw, he was just lucky that it just grazed his face. Wolverine could see the mark, although it was blood red - it was not bleeding.
The man gave Wolverine an evil smirk, "Nein? You do not believe me? Open that door and see for yourself, herr X-Man." He pointed to a large door behind Wolverine.
He turned and opened the large door the old man had motioned to, what he saw was unbelievable. The door lead to the outside, and they were about 50 feet off the ground -and slowly ascending.
"You believe me now, herr Logan?" the man smirked.
"How do you know my name?" Wolverine began to get concerned. Suddenly he cried out in pain, Viper had come up behind him and sunk her fangs into the side of his neck like a vampire. As she removed her fangs from his neck, he dropped down to the floor while the old man and Viper argued in German.
Wolverine approached the man, the venom had made him weak. He grabbed him by the shirt, hauling himself up to eye level, Wolverine reached blindly, grabbing onto the man's face where he cut him. He pulled off more skin as he staggered back, what he saw he couldn't believe his eyes - the old man was missing half of his face.
It could have been caused by the venom that began to run through his bloodstream, but the half of the old man's face was a blood red skull. Viper grabbed him from behind, and hurled him out the door - causing him to take the long 500 foot fall into the woods below.
Could Wolverine had survived that fall? And what more happened back in 1942? More traitors will be revealed!
To be continued...