Camp Hammonfd, Conneticut - 03:27AM
"Enemy Squad located." Crossbow whispered as he lay prone in the undergrowth staring through his visor, "Three heat signatures read as Man Killer, Oxide and Slingshot. Seismic vibrations determine that the Abomination is with them. Only Harrier is unaccounted for."
"Good Work Recon we have your coordinates and are heading to attack positions." his team mate replied, "I'm sending Vapour up ahead to create a smokescreen."
"Staying on station Gambit." Crossbow announced, "Be-aware that I'm picking up a large heat signature in the area, far too big to the Abomination."
"I read you Crossbow." Gambit answered as he sat on the forest edge half a click away from Crossbow's recon position. "Okay Vapour move out we're right behind you." he ordered. Silently he kicked himself, he had accepted Scott's decision to send spies into the Initiative so the X-Men could have eyes and ears on Osborne prior to the Taskmasters split with HAMMER. Now he seemed stuck Scott hadn't done a thing to extract him or Domino and now it looked like they would never return to Utopia. Following the barley visible form of Vapour, he led his remaining troops; an Australian mutate named Death Cap and the criminal Whiplash down the forested ridge towards the other team.
"Crossbow give me audio on the targets." he whispered, for a second there was nothing but static but then voices could be heard.
"Harrier do you see anything?" Slingshot asked.
"No the forest is dark, I'm going to do a full spectrum analysis on my next pass just to be sure." Harrier replied.
"Useless men," Man Killer spat, "We don't need their help for this mission. If I was team leader then they would be heading back to camp as we speak."
"Good thing your not Team Leader then." Slingshot commented, "Now stay silent, Abomination once Harrier makes his next pass, go on point your senses are more attuned to the dark."
"Got it Commander." the Abomination replied his British accent cutting through the night like a knife through butter.
"Got something on thermal Slingshot." Harrier reported, "Something big is moving towards Camp Hammond under the earth, estimated size puts it at around sixty foot long."
"Radio it in to the camp commandant, I have a feeling that something bad is about to go down." Slingshot commanded, "Your up Eves lead the way, we'll find them and make them pay."
Gambit smiled slightly, his ploy had worked Vapour's gas cloud had masked their thermal signature and they had the advantage. The large heat signature burned in the back of his mind, he had seen a lot with the X Men and knew that stuff like this often caused trouble. As he headed towards Crossbow's position he felt the seismic vibrations of the unknown infiltrator moving under the soil, small chunks of rock and earth sent flying the soil missiles crossing the pale blue glow of Deathcap's skin the only light in the darkness save the stars. So engrossed in the mystery contact Gambit put his foot down and felt the thing underneath move, looking down he saw Crossbow emerge from under his camouflage coat.
"You made it." Crossbow remarked, "Enemy contacts 200m to our front in a column, Abomination up front followed by Oxide and Man Killer with Harrier doing recon flights over the area with a turn around time of every twenty seconds. Slingshot is on the ridge but we all know how fast she runs so that's not a luxury."
"Well let's surprise them," Gambit said producing a set of cards, "Vapour remove Harrier, Deathcap get ready to help me light up the sky as soon as he's gone." Vapour took to the sky and intercepted Harrier quickly leading him away as he told the others, "Enemy Combatant Engaged."
"Harrier's off station." Crossbow told Gambit.
"Do it now Deathcap." Gambit instructed, quickly Deathcap fired a stream of almost invisible spores into the air. Gambit waited a few seconds and then used his powers lighting up the cards before he threw them into the air. The cards impacted with the spores making the sky glow a dark yellow as purple lightning sparked and popped across the surface. In the half light Gambit saw the other team and behind them silhouetted in the glow a massive creature raising through the training court of Camp Hammond.
"What the hell is that?" Whiplash cursed.
"Crossbow signal the other team that we want a break in the training mission." Gambit ordered, "Vapour tell Harrier that we surrender and to look at the training field." Overhead a red rocket lit up the sky against the yellow background as the massive serpent incinerated one of the sentry towers, reducing men to screaming torches as gunfire echoed through the camp.
"Gambit this is Slingshot, can you see what's happening at the camp." Slingshot asked.
"Yeah I see it burning down the walls," Gambit replied, "Any ideas what that thing is?"
"Any Ideas on what it is?" Slingshot repplied to her team, "No we've got nothing on our side, comms seem down as well."
"Looks like a Lindworm." Crossbow told the others, "Ancient Germanic Well Dragons, this one is bigger then the one's I encountered in the Paris Sewers though, they were only about twenty foot long."
"Slingshot we're heading to you, get on the horn and find out what's going on." Gambit told her as he slid down the ridge to the area of coppiced trees that made up the edge of Camp Hammond. As his team crossed the open ground he saw men clamber onto the burning wall, they must be crazy Gambit thought.
"Get down," Crossbow called jumping to a prone position as the men on the wall opened fire with rifles on the trainees.
"Slingshot get out of the open." Gambit yelled as Harrier and Vapour dodged anti-aircraft fire from down in the burning compound before heading to their position.
"Go, get to cover." the Abomination roared removing the massive chain-gun from his back and opened fire on the men on the wall as Oxide and Mankiller followed Slingshot to Gambit's slightly safer position.
"It's a bit hairy out their no." Gambit asked Slingshot as Eves peppered the enemy combatants with his Chain Gun. "Some training mission huh."
"I didn't sign up for fighting giant snakes, that's for sure." Oxide replied her voice sounding like grating steel, "Do you think anyone inside is alive?" she added as the Abomination arrived at their position, green blood leaking from multiple wounds as he dragged a struggling man into Death Cap's steady blue glow.
"Take a look at this bloke." he told the others. Staring they saw he has two rounds embedded in his skull and another three rounds in the chest yet he was still alive, kept under control by the Abomination's massive hand. "These guys wobble but they don't fall down. Plus they seem to be cold to the touch like they just crawled out of the snow."
"We have to get inside, Giant Snake and hordes of un-killable warriors or not." Slingshot said, "We all have friends and team mates inside that will need out help." she said getting to her feet ready to lead the charge back to Camp Hammond.
Sand Fransisco, Califronia - 00:27AM
Vector and Ossuary lifted the massive piece of rubble off the trapped bus using their telekinetic powers. As soon as the slab was clear Joystick rushed in and opened the doors and breathed a sigh of relief. X-Ray and Ossuary's scans had been correct there had been survivors trapped inside the vehicle, an old man and a little girl. Reaching out a hand she helped the man up as Ripcord jumped up the steps and picked up the little girl.
"Just a broken leg." Ripcord said smiling, "Let's get you out of here." she added as the little girl clung to her.
"Is Granddad alright?" the girl asked. Ripcord looked over, the old man had a few bruises and a broken arm but he was going to be fine, "Nothing that a few days in hospital won't cure." she told the girl as they exited the bus. These two had been lucky, only the front two thirds of the bus had been crushed, by sitting at the back the little girl and her granddad had survived. Handing them over to the aid workers the Initiative rescue team sat down on one of the unused troop trucks, thanks to Ripcord's powers they had been working for fifteen hours non stop and were responsible for 102 saved lives. HAMMER still didn't have a presence in San Francisco in fear of in sighting riots in the large mutant community just as they had done back in May.
"Got to say Ripcord I could get used to this permanent energy boost." X-Ray stated, "Even my powers seem to be back in check." It was true X-Ray wasn't flickering on and off again and the level of background radiation he was producing had more then halved.
"Well that's it for now." Vector ordered, "Even rescue teams have to eat."
"Can we really afford a break?" Ossuary asked.
"From what I saw in the harbour it looks like the X-Men have sent a team to help with the search and rescue." Joystick told the others, "They can do without us for an hour at least."
"I suppose keeping strong can help us find more people." Ossuary commented, "I remember helping clean up the streets after Katrina, I don't know where I would rather be."
"This isn't a natural disaster Dale." Ripcord told him, "This was man-made, Carrion did this and I hope they make her pay for what she did."
"I'm in favour for that." Vector answered, "Coldheat," he called on the radio he had in his hand, "How's life in the freezer?" he asked.
"Fine the food should keep for a few more days but after that I have no guarantees. How's the Search and Rescue going."
"Two more to the rescue column." Vector told her, "Black Mamba call in yet?"
"Call came in three minutes ago, she and the X Men team and checking out the snow storm at Fisherman's Wharf. I'm heading there myself ETA is five minutes. Whoa stop, stop." the sound of tyres squealing could be heard followed by gun-fire.
"Cold Heart, Cold Heart come in, Colette answer me what's going on." Vector called. "Great looks like food's going to have to wait, Cold Heart has gotten herself into another situation the bloody Neophyte."
"Anyone notice that it's snowing," X-Ray commented, "and that there's a lot of crows around."
"Well there are dead bodies all over the place." Joystick remarked, "Crow's are scavengers so that's normal."
"What about the snow, it's the middle of August?" X-Ray replied.
"Will you two forget the snow and crows, we have to get Cold Heart unstuck." Vector ordered.
"We're not going anywhere." Ossuary replied, "We are encircled, those birds are ancient evil I can feel it."
"There just birds." Vector responded picking up a brick with his powers and lobbing it at the crows. The projectile struck a mound of crows and the Initiative teams watched as a ball of birds fell to the floor squawking loudly as they flew off. "See just stupid birds." Vector added using his powers to pull the brick back for another throw. He suddenly stopped cold as the crows merged into a single figure clad in HAMMER body armor, its head missing as it drew a baton. All around the team HAMMER agents and dead Asgardians formed from the crows drew batons or unsheathed swords and axes.
"We're encircled." Ossuary said calmly touching one of his totems, his hands bursting into flame. "Clear the front ranks, more form behind." It was true behind the first wave more bodies were forming this time armed with spears and rifles.
Down at Fisherman's Wharf Cold Heart came limping out of the snow and mist her hands clenched round the swords, the once shining blades now covered in black blood. She had to meet up with the X Men if she was going to survive she though as her security escort struggled to keep up, firing back at the mob of attackers as the teams Jeep burnt in the distance. Reaching the dock Cold-Heart looked around for the X-Men, Black Mamba or anyone who didn't seem to be a member of the Walking Dead. Suddenly she spied a figure at the end of the wharf in a hooded rain coat holding a fishing pole.
"Sir you have to get out of here." Cold Heart told him, "We have a security problem and it would be a shame to see you get hurt." she added going through the hero dialogue that had been taught back at Camp Hammond.
"Don't worry about me." the man said, "I was a hero once." he removed his hood revealing a scared face framed by long blonde hair and a beard as his blue eyes danced at the thrill of the fight.
"Ms. Wells the attackers have reached the dock what are we going to do?" the head of Cold Heart's security asked.
"Now we fight." Cold Heart replied whipping the blood of her swords as the man shucked his coat to reveal a blue uniform with the logo of the fantastic four emblazoned on the surface. As the enemy Asgardians and HAMMER agents headed towards the defenders the man whispered, "Flame On." before bursting into fire.
The Origonal Characters of Abomination II, Cold Heart II, Crossbow, Ossuary and Oxide are my own origonal characters and are not owned by Marvel Comics