Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 2
Chapter 12: Sunrise
"Anya!"
Tears in her eyes, Brandt screamed upon seeing Anya fall down the side of the mountain on DeWitt's display screen. Sallis stood up and placed his hand on her shoulder as she sobbed. Burchill, Forson, Stane and a red-haired woman in a lab coat were all sitting in the same room on the shuttle. Yelena and two Risk Control troopers were standing guard at the door that lead to the cockpit. Sunset was standing in the middle of the room, looking at the screen over DeWitt's shoulder.
Stane gulped to himself as he looked from person to person within the room. He had seen most of these AIM agents before, aside from the red-haired woman sitting next to him. Looking over at her, he saw that she had a lanyard around her neck, with an identification tag attached to it. The tag had a picture of her, and read "Doctor Debbie Hayward". She noticed his glance and gave him a brief, half-hearted smile.
Sunset showed no emotion as she watched the video of Anya falling to her doom. DeWitt looked up at her, and then back at Brandt, who was still crying. Wiping the tears off of her cheeks, Brandt's eyes then flared with rage as she turned to Sunset, pointing a finger at her face.
"You left her to die!"
All Sunset had to do was turn her head to face Brandt, and instantly everyone else in the room felt a sudden aura of menace pulse through the air. For a few seconds, even Brandt felt an icy tingle snake down her spine as Sunset glared at her. Then, the woman blinked and took in a deep breath as she pulled out her datapad.
"I did no such thing," replied Sunset, pressing a button on her datapad. "Team Two."
The slightly distorted voice of a female Risk Control pilot came in through the datapad.
"This is Shuttle Team Two."
"Have you located the Crimson Dynamo?"
"We have. Locking in on her energy signature now."
"Is she alive?"
"Vital signs are green. She's alive."
"Excellent. Pick her up and then follow us. We'll patch her up when we get to UK headquarters."
"Understood, ma'am."
Sunset turned off her datapad and put in on DeWitt's desk. Reeling her arm back in, she then looked over at Brandt again.
"Satisfied, Miss Brandt?"
Brandt swallowed before sniffling and nodding her head. Putting his arm around both her shoulders, Sallis sat her back down and allowed her to lean into him. Stane watched this sign of affection between the two with a slight glare in his eyes. Sunset then turned over to DeWitt, who was still sitting in his chair in front of the display screen.
"Get Hansen on the phone."
DeWitt nodded and typed in a command string. Within a few seconds, the screen went into video call mode. The face and torso of Maya Hansen was then on the screen.
"Maya."
"Sunset Bain," said Maya, with a hint of derision in her accented voice. "Pleasure as always, although, I suppose it's not as pleasurable for you."
Sunset grumbled to herself, and gave a look that displayed how unimpressed she was. Maya smirked as she continued to taunt her.
"And to think you had such high hopes when you took Killian's position. Maybe I should have stepped in instead."
"All of my top researchers and major project data were salvaged."
"I would certainly hope so," chided Maya. "If you lost anything on Extremis, I'll . . . ."
"It was a minor setback," interrupted Sunset, punctuating each word for emphasis. "Nothing more."
"Yeah, that's what I would call the complete destruction of my headquarters. We try to keep things running smoothly up here."
"And you'll continue to do so . . . . under my command."
Sunset and Maya both stared at each other for several seconds.
"We'll see," said Maya, "when you get here."
Maya terminated the video call. Stane rubbed his hands together as he tried to keep himself calm. Sunset sneered to herself as she crossed her arms.
"She's always been an insufferable bitch."
Chen was sitting down on the bench inside of the radiation containment unit. Ever since he realized that his radiation blasts were not able to break through the walls of the containment unit, he had been silent and docile, simply waiting for whatever would come next. Two officers were sitting outside of the containment unit, which was inside of a police van.
One of the officers looked at Chen as the van continued to to drive along the road. Staring at him for a few minutes, she then looked over to her partner.
"What time you got?"
He looked at his watch.
"Six o'clock."
The female officer chuckled.
"Good morning."
The male officer scratched his hair. She gave him a smirk.
"Yeah, sure look it, don't I?"
"Verified stud," she said, before looking back at Chen. "He's awful quiet, ain't he?"
"Yeah. Good for us, though. Probably get annoying, he was poundin' on the wall the whole trip."
"Yeah, that would definitely . . . ."
The female officer was cut off by the sound of a loud explosion and the entire van hurtling into the air. Both officers were slammed into the floor as the van landed on its side. Chen fell to his knees, but most of the shock was absorbed by his radiation suit. As he stood up, he looked over at the officers on the ground. The male was unconscious and the female was stirring.
After a few seconds, a gunshot was heard from outside the van. Then, a superheated rod punctured the wall of the van and carved a circle, melting the metal it touched. The circle segment of the wall was then kicked in, and the female officer darted up her head in response. She couldn't see anything through the smoke before she was gunned down by two pistol shots.
Chen sharply turned his head as he heard the shots go off. He then watched as a humanoid figure stepped through the smoke and in through the freshly cut circle in the wall. The figure seemed to be mostly metallic, with certain sections covered in leather clothing and modular armour. A black, grey and maroon colour scheme dictated most of the figure's appearance.
The figure was holding a pistol, which it used to fire a shot into the head of the unconscious male officer. It then turned to look at Chen, who finally got a look at the facial section. It was decidedly masculine, but also mechanical. A torn piece of fabric, similar to a bandana, was wrapped diagonally over three quarters of the face, with only the left eye section visible. However, what was visible was metallic, with a silver skull plate and a red, ocular targeting lens over the eye.
Chen stood back as the man reached out with his right arm, which was covered in metal plates and tubes. His hand then transformed into the superheated rod, and he sliced open a hole in the wall of the containment unit. Chen narrowed his eyes as he watched the man work, wondering if thinking about him as a man was the correct thing to do.
After he finished slicing open a hole, the superheated rod transformed back into the metallic hand. Chen did not approach him. After a few seconds, the man spoke to him with a mechanized voice.
"Doctor Chen Lu."
Chen nodded, but did not speak.
"Come with me. My employer would like to speak with you."
The man then turned and walked back out of the hole he had made in the side of the van. Looking down at the two dead officers, Chen then followed him. Stepping out of the van, he held up his hand over his face to block the morning sun. The man was walking away from him, towards a car parked on the side of the street.
Chen looked to the left and right, but saw no other activity in the area. The road they were on was surrounded by hills and trees on one side, and a cliff on the other. He then watched the man get into the driver's seat of the car. As Chen walked up to it, the passenger side door opened.
"Come inside."
Chen ducked his head and sat down in the passenger seat, feeling slightly bulky because of his suit. The passenger side door closed by itself. Chen looked at the dashboard, but was surprised to see that the car had no steering wheel, pedals or anything that would indicate that it could be operated normally.
Instead, there was a large, cylindrical socket between the two seats, which the man placed his right arm in. Several small mechanical appendages locked the arm into place, and then lit up with a blue hue. The car started up, and drove off as the man stared forward. Chen breathed in and out as he pondered his predicament, but did not speak for several minutes as the car took him to a place he knew not where.
Finally, he could not repress his curiosity any longer.
"Who are you?"
The man turned his neck to look at him.
"You can call me . . . . Deathlok."
Tasha was standing on the roof of her tower, watching as a morning sun rose over the Los Angeles skyline. She was still in her armour, with the only piece not equipped being her helmet. The tips of her toes were hanging over the edge, dangling a hundred and twenty stories in the air. As she let out a deep breath, she closed her eyes.
"Tasha."
Opening her eyes again, she then turned her head to look behind her. Rhodes and Pepper were standing there, with Rhodes still being in his armour. Tasha frowned at her friends, but could not bring herself to respond.
"Tasha, what are you doing?" asked Rhodes.
"I . . . ."
Pepper blinked and tilted her head as she waited for Tasha's response. For a few moments, Tasha could only shake her head.
"I don't know," she said. "Honestly . . . . I don't know."
"Tasha . . . ."
"Honestly guys, I . . . . I . . . . I have no idea how I'm supposed to handle this. The last two days . . . . everything's changed."
Pepper sullenly looked down. Rhodes frowned, but kept his eyes on Tasha.
"And I thought I could . . . . I thought I could be . . . . the person who could plan for . . . . anything. Everything. I thought . . . . I . . . . but I was wrong. So, so wrong. Now so much has changed . . . . so much lost."
Pepper closed her eyes as she listened to the pain in Tasha's voice.
"Happy . . . . Bambi . . . . Arthur . . . . all because of me."
"Hey!" called Pepper. "That's not true! This wasn't your fault!"
Tasha glanced at Pepper, who was staring at her with both anger and tears. Swallowing, Tasha then looked down and shook her head.
"I . . . . I don't know if I believe you, Pep. Really . . . . I wish I could."
Pepper closed her eyes again and placed her right hand on her face. Rhodes took a step towards her and put his hand on her shoulder before looking back at Tasha.
"What are you going to do?" asked Rhodes.
Tasha took several moments to consider her answer.
"Sunset is still out there . . . . her base is gone, but she's not done. And now . . . ."
Tasha's voice trailed off for a few seconds before she resumed speaking.
"A long time ago, I made a promise. I promised to keep Obadiah safe . . . . no matter what. I've lost so many people . . . . I can't lose him too."
Rhodes silently listened, waiting for what Tasha was going to say next.
"So I'm going out there, and I'm gonna track that bitch down . . . . I'm gonna find him . . . . and I'm gonna bring him home."
"On your own?" asked Rhodes. "I thought you just learned that you can't do this alone. We can help you."
"And you will," answered Tasha. "Stay here with Pepper. Keep this place . . . . the whole city . . . . keep it safe. Keep her safe."
Pepper opened her eyes and looked at Tasha in confusion.
"She'll need to be, since she'll be running the company from now on."
Pepper's eyes widened.
"Wait . . . . what?"
"Oh come on," said Tasha. "You practically do it anyway. Official promotion, at least for a while. So . . . . can you two do that for me?"
Pepper and Rhodes looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Tasha. They then nodded in unison. Tasha smiled and turned back to the skyline. Rhodes exhaled before speaking again.
"When will you be back?"
Tasha looked over her shoulder.
"When I find him."
Tasha's helmet locked around her face as she blasted into the air. Rhodes and Pepper silently watched as she flew off into the distance, her armoured suit bathed in the rays of the morning sun.
THE END
Iron Maiden Will Return
Epilogue
Maria Hill walked up to Fury, who was standing on the central command hub inside the helicarrier. She stood near him with her hands behind her back. She waited for a few seconds before speaking.
"Sir."
He turned to look at her.
"Hill."
"Sir, I have a report."
"I'm listening."
"I'm afraid it's all bad news," started Hill. "The Council is not pleased that you and General Ryker lost track of Sunset after the AIM base was destroyed . . . . Doctor Chen Lu's police escort was attacked by an unknown party, and he's escaped . . . ."
"And?"
"And . . . . she's been spotted again. The leader of the Syndicate."
Fury raised an eyebrow. Hill held out a datapad, which he took from her. He looked down at the image, which was a blurry reconnaissance photo of a woman with long black hair, a black and blue bodysuit, and a white, blank ceramic mask over her face. Fury sneered.
"Madame Masque," he said. "Well, today just keeps getting better and better."
