Sorry for the wait. Here's the next chapter of Inversion!

Anti-Venom was not happy.

To tell the truth, he was quite the opposite. He knew that getting into the Diablo Muerte base would be difficult, but now he wouldn't have S.H.I.E.L.D. backing him up. All he had was his little crew of misfit heroes – the Thunderbolts – and the Secret Avengers. He didn't even have the full roster of the Secret Avengers – he had Moon Knight, the second Ant-Man, and Beast of the X-Men!

Looking over his shoulder, he was once again proud of his Thunderbolts. There was Darkhawk, who was twitching with the anticipation of a fight. There was also Firestar, her red hair flying in the wind. Molten Man kept giving Firestar "the look", hoping to score a date with her. When is that idiot going to take a hint? Anti-Venom wondered.

Then there was the Thunderbolts' secret weapon. She was easily the world's deadliest assassin before the Resistance was even formed. She had even managed to kill Bullseye for a while, before his friends in the Resistance brought him back. Her black hair clung to her body as she twirled twin Sais in her hands.

"Distance to entrance at 500 yards, Anti-Venom," Elektra reported.

"Good," Anti-Venom replied. Turning to the other Thunderbolts, he said, "Now listen up. Those guys in there aren't like those idiot HYDRA agents we took down. These guys can – and will – hurt you in ways that will remind you all of the week before Norman Osborn was brought in. Do not give them the chance to take a shot, because they will take it."

Turning back in front of him, Anti-Venom said, "That's enough talk from you guys. We're going in."

Darkhawk released a blast of pure blue energy, shattering the door into lots of little pieces. People started running for cover as the Thunderbolts and the Secret Avengers started tearing the place apart, brick by brick. All the while, Anti-Venom was shouting, "Come out here, you cowards! Come on, Osborn! Come out, and we won't kill these losers!"

"First," a voice shouted from up near the ceiling, "You'll have to go through us!"

Looking up, Anti-Venom saw his nightmares realized. It was the Collective, the Resistance's best agents. There was Sabretooth, one of the oldest mutants in existence. Carnage was there as well, tendrils of his red symbiote flicking around like they were whips. Curt Connors was there in his Lizard form, having joined up with the Resistance after S.H.I.E.L.D. kidnapped his son. Electro didn't have time to put on his costume, so he was wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans. Finally, there was Bullseye, twirling twin Sais as Elektra twirled hers.

"It's been a while, Brock," Carnage said, his voice dangerously calm. "Do you remember the last time we fought?"

"It wasn't against each other," Anti-Venom replied. "We fought Magneto, bringing him to his knees. I wanted to kill him. You had other ideas – mainly turning him in to the Resistance. Then came the evacuation, and well… here we are."

"Why did you do it?" Carnage roared. "We were partners! I even thought that you were my friend!"

"Because you and I were working for an evil cause!" Anti-Venom roared back. "And you still are! The Resistance is hurting innocent people just by existing! It needs to be torn apart and its members imprisoned! It's the only way that we'll achieve any sort of peace!"

"Relax, Carnage," the Lizard said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's useless to try to reason with a man like that."

Carnage said nothing, only jumped down and started fighting the Secret Avengers. The reason he wasn't fighting Anti-Venom was simple; if he got anywhere near fifteen feet from him, Carnage's symbiote would disintegrate. The other members of the Collective jumped down and joined in the fray.

Sabretooth landed in front of Darkhawk and swiped at him with his adamantium claws. Darkhawk dodged it, coming in with his own claws. (Author's Note: I was not able to find what material Darkhawk's claws were made out of.) Catching his arm, Sabretooth threw Darkhawk into a pile of crates.

"I'm actually happy that you came in, 'Hawk," Sabretooth said. "You're the perfect venting exercise."

"Oh, man. This is my lucky day," Darkhawk said. "Once I defeat you and bring you in, I'll graduate to one of the Avengers teams."

Darkhawk leaped at Sabretooth, using his claws again. Again catching them, Sabretooth started pounding away at Darkhawk, not letting up in the slightest. After about a half a minute, Sabretooth released him, letting him slide down to the ground. Darkhawk's armor started to liquefy and flow into the amulet on his chest. Sabretooth had known this would happen, having read Darkhawk's profile. Darkhawk had the unique ability to switch from his armored form to his human form, and the human form inside wouldn't be harmed at all. He had to move fast before Darkhawk regained consciousness and healed himself. The instant Darkhawk turned human, Sabretooth grabbed the amulet and put it in a pouch on his belt.

Across the way, Electro was fighting Ant-Man. None of the ants could touch Electro without being electrocuted, but Ant-Man had shrunk down to his smallest size, making targeting very hard. As the fight went on, Electro noticed that fleeing civilians were swatting ants of themselves. Some ants were carrying drops of liquid TNT.

"You're willing to sacrifice innocent people just to get at me? Not very heroic of you," Electro remarked.

Electro could barely make out the next squeaks. "Who gives a damn about heroics? I'm just doing this for the paycheck. It's why I applied for the job in the first place."

"In that case," Electro said, his voice starting at a growl and growing in volume, "would you stop calling yourself a hero?"

Electro then magnetized the air in a twenty yard radius, freezing everything inside. The reason why was simple – he did it in a way that magnetized the very iron in the ants' (and Ant-Man's) blood. With that taken care of, he turned his attention to helping the evacuation.

Curt Connors wished that he had that sort of luck. Molten Man was all that he could handle, even with the added abilities he got as the Lizard. He would either get burned by his skin, or Molten would slip out of his grasp like an oiled bar of soap. Molten Man had no such difficulties – Lizard was taking a beating, and he wouldn't last much longer.

Looking to his left, Lizard saw what could be his salvation. What he saw was a canister of chloroform. Running as fast as his legs would take him, Connors grabbed the chloroform with both hands. He then ripped open the top, showering Molten Man with its contents. None of the liquid got down his throat, but the fumes were more than enough to make him drop his defenses. The Lizard wasted no time in hitting him with a punch that rivaled any the Hulk could have done. Molten Man then found a very comfortable seat… located in the wall ten feet above the ground.

Carnage was proud of the work his team got done. Now it was time to stop his former partner.

That ends chapter four. Keep a lookout for chapter five!