Melissa squatted on the roof of the Burton Canyon Hospital, her thoughts conflicted, on one side she was buoyed by the knowledge that she hadn't been responsible for the death of the two officers but on the other the thought that one person was responsible for all the deaths she had witnessed made her stomach turn knots. Spreading sonic wings she leapt off the roof and soared into the sky scanning for the charismatic shape of Abe's armor, eager to join the hunt for the person responsible for the carnage that had been caused. Two minutes into her flight she saw him and accelerated to intercept, judging from his flight pattern Abe was hunting something down on the ground. As she closed the gap Melissa realised that the armor he was using had a massive II printed on the carapace, a strange choice since his current suit was far more advanced.
"Feeling some nostalgia." she yelled as she came up on Abe's wing. Turning his head he glared at her and flared his air-brakes sending him stalling backwards, seconds later Melissa heard the whine of his arm mounted blasters powering up and dived, twin beams of photonic energy blazing past her. Looking back over her shoulder Melissa saw that the MACH II armor was on her six and closing fast. With a quick twist Melissa reversed direction and extended a sonic blade and slashed through the armours left wing ripping off the extended control surface causing the suit to spiral to the ground.
"What the hell Abe?" Melissa yelled as MACH II got to his feet, his head swivelling and taking in the environment around him. The suit had crashed in the grounds of a church and all the information scrawled on the grave markers caused its pilot to stall.
"I asked you a question?" Melissa bellowed. The suit of armor raised its arm and tapped its helmet signalling that it couldn't here what she was saying. Removing her phone Melissa dialled up the number and waited for the dial tone to sound. On the third dial she felt something slide past her ear and she threw the phone down, tentacles reaching for her and catching on her leg as it fell before smashing on a buried tombstone. In the split second that the phone smashed the MACH II armor sprung to life, crossing fifty feet of graveyard and leapt grabbing Melissa's feet and slamming her into the ground before flipping her over and slamming its boot into her gut. Struggling Melissa let her powers bloom, sonic energy ripping from her body and sending everything in a twelve foot radius flying with the majority of the force directed at MACH II, the attacking armor sent into the wall of the church, an ornate masonry spike sticking through the unit's torso.
"Oh my god Abe." Melissa gasped as the armor strained to free itself. "What have you done?" Then she heard the trade-mark whine and ducked as blaster bolts whizzed over her heads, the sudden attack banishing her sorrow and replacing it with anger. In a single swift motion she cut through the armours arms, sonic energy igniting the power cells and setting the suit aflame. Melissa continued her attack and slammed a sonic fist through the visor, the toughened acrylic shattering revealing an empty suit behind the helmet. Kicking off the suit Melissa dropped and combat rolled as the MACH II armor freed itself and ran at her, the once technologically advanced suit now reduced to a walking bomb. Melissa responded without mercy cutting through the suit's legs slowing its advance before taking to the air as the suit detonated. As she rose higher and higher Melissa could see more and more of the city and buzzing around it were more of Abe's suits of armor, at least four others from what she could see, placing her hand over her mouth Melissa though about what had happened to Hope and Williams, if Abe was in the same situation what that meant. She had never considered herself an Avenger, sometimes even hated the word, but Melissa thought, Abe and everyone else who had been murdered by this crazy techno hacker would have justice even if it meant sacrificing the person she had once loved and everything he had worked for.
Diving like a thunderbolt thrown by Zeus, Melissa singled out one suit, its wings beating as it meandered through the streets occasionally landing on the roofs of the buildings and knocking over items. Whatever controlled the suit never thought to look up and Melissa slammed fist first into the suit knocking it to the floor. Scrambling on all fours the suit bucked her off and crawled onto the side of a café before launching itself at its attacker. Melissa recognized the suit know, it was Abe's first set of armor, the Beetle Mk 1 armed only with bladed wings, she gave a wry smile. The Beetle flew towards her and she hastily put up a sonic screen, the armor crashing into the shield, its eyes looking in hopelessly, with a flick of her wrist the shield grew sonic spikes ventilating the suit causing it to spark and fall backwards now inoperative thanks to her powers.
"Abe if you can please fight this." Melissa said as she removed the suit's helmet, "I know you can do this." As she finished the sound of a jet turbine sounded and Melissa turned to see the MACH IV armor bearing down on her, its wrist blaster's charging. Taking to the air Melissa felt the heat from the blast as she flew, the suit lazily keeping track of her, its blasters occasionally firing. "You're herding me." Melissa thought, "But where and towards what." The suit behind her suddenly opened fire this time with missiles, the projectile streaking past and making her veer left towards the town square. The area was more open then the streets, in Melissa's mind it didn't make sense, the suit of armor was faster and more agile since it didn't have to worry about vertigo or nausea, boxing her in a back alley would be more advantageous. Melissa was so busy thinking that she missed the warning beep of a blaster and was hit full force by a concussive blast as a massive suit of armor moved to block her. The blast sent her tumbling and she skidded along the road, the asphalt ripping her skin until she came to rest at the feet of the Beetle Mk 3 armor, the tank like exoskeleton indiscriminately firing mortars and rockets into the surroundings buildings.
"Defiantly herding." Melissa moaned as she got to her feet. The Beetle armor pivoted round attracted to the sound of her voice and almost took her head off with its massive arms, its target ducking and backing up as the MACH IV armor flew overhead, obviously content that its big brother could finish her by itself.
"Meta Human Combatant detected." the Beetle armor rumbled as scanning laser's crossed across Melissa's face and body. Melissa drew back her fist and slammed it into the suit's visor, the blow ricocheting off the hardened cockpit just as the suit flung its wings forward, the bladed tips almost ripping her hands off as she withdrew back to a safer distance. "Target analysis confirmed, Songbird. Threat Analysis determined as Iota Level. Recommended Action - Terminate with Extreme Prejudice." Melissa barley had time to throw up a sonic barricade as the suit unloaded a torrent of flame erupted from the armour's flamethrowers, the sheer intensity of the blast forcing her back even though the shield was holding. The Beetle Mk 3 armor realized this and swapped weapons its antennae glowing as it powered up a radiation pulse from the tips. Melissa dropped the shield and took to the air heading along the street she had just come from as the pulse was released, green energy melting the fronts of buildings and everything else caught in it's path as she cleared the blast zone.
"Switching to missile systems. Selected payload CSA issue A-87 Cicada sound guided rockets." The suit rumbled as it fired a Cicada rocket, the warhead streaking after the rapidly disappearing pink smear. Melissa flew, she knew that the Beetle Mk 3 was an absolute tank, it would be hard to damage and even harder to take down, her best bet was to disable the hackler's master control and let the armor offline naturally. Darting along the streets she saw two more suits; the MACH I and MACH III duelling with the newly arrived National Guard, the acrid smell of gunfire mixing with the burning ozone reek of plasma venting. Shooting past she hopped the two suits would ignore her but seconds later the all too familiar sound of blasters charging up sounded and she found herself flying through swarms of plasma rounds lighting the sky around her with a sickly yellow haze. Looking back she saw that not only were there two MACH suits perusing her but that somebody had also launched a missile at her, the warhead flying past the slower MACH I suit as the MACH III unit climbed looking to blast her from above. Melissa climbed as well keeping pace with the suit until they were level, the rocket and MACH I struggling to follow. As they hit 10,000 feet she dived streaking down with MACH III hot on her heels. As she passed the rocket she saw it turn in the corner of her eye and follow her down. Increasing her speed Melissa saw the MACH I suit heading straight towards her, its rocket pack icing over. Sheathing herself in a sonic shroud Melissa shot straight through the armor like a knife through butter, the bisected suit falling away as she descended before flaring her sonic wings just as she reached the height of the buildings dirt flying up into her eyes.
Blinking once…twice Melissa cleared her eyes and saw that the MACH III suit had overshot, its boosters having carried it far away from her landing point. Listening Melissa heard the missile streak down like the proverbial sword of Damocles heading for her head. Waiting for the last moment Melissa sprung forward, sonic energy propelling her step and took to the streets flying low and bracing for an explosion that didn't come. Reversing she saw that the sonic burst that had allowed her to escape the missile had knocked the warhead up and prevented it from detonating and that it had resumed its lethal trajectory after her. Sonic energy flaring from her hands Melissa sped up and headed for an intercept course until the two forces collided, sonic energy slashing the surface of the missile as it flew past its guidance system removed before detonating as it slammed into the shop at the end of the road. Collapsing to the floor Melissa breathed a sigh of relief before throwing the guidance system away. All she had to do now was find the mystery hacker. Taking to the skies once again she headed for the outskirts of town listing for anything that might give her target away.
Abe tried to listen for anything over the sound of static, as he attempted to break free from his ariel prison but nothing rose over the cocoon of white noise he was wrapped in. Looking out he saw his creations wreak destruction on the city as the MACH V suit flew overhead flanked by the Beetle Mk 2 Armor and the recently returned MACH IV suit. Why was he being escorted? A theory blossomed in his mind, for all the alien computers ability to overtake his systems there must be some way for him to regain control. If there wasn't then why keep him under the watchful sensors of his guards. And then he heard it, words flying up from the deep abyss of hissing and buzzing. "Abe if you can please fight this I know you can do this." Melissa's words slammed into his head like a mental sledge-hammer, the blow waking his brain up. He could fight, lash out and try and take control. Focusing he felt cold fingers of alien intelligence caressing the suit and he reached out touching the unknown consciousness for only a second, what he received was a lifetime of information. Of a mind that had been beaten, broken and made to serve, a mind that had believed her master's promise of a better world, a mind who hated that it had been made to serve and one that had been willing to escape when it had been given the chance. Abe would have felt sorry for it if it hadn't caused the chaos he was flying over. In that one second he knew how to beat it. With great effort he opened his mouth and coughed out the words even as alien tendrils protruding from the armor tried to pull him back, "Melissa I am here."
Melissa circled over the war-zone that until a few hours ago had been the sleepy community of Burton Canyon. As she soared over the carnage she listened catching snippets of sound. The National Guard were digging in, the attacks of the Beetle and MACH suits were overwhelming and they had decided to call the Avengers in. She heard people cursing her and Abe for ever coming here and scything through the background noise she heard Abe call out. With a smile she locked onto the sound and headed for the source unaware that the MACH III armor had been shadowing her. Silently it flared its boosters and perused her as they headed for the grounds of the high-school where Abe and his escorts were stationed.
It took Melissa only three minutes to cross the city to where the trio of suits were circling. Surveying her opponent's she zeroed in on the sound, Abe was trapped in the MACH V armor while the other two kept the manned suit in between them just in-case anybody came to rescue him. Melissa swooped in on her targets; she would rescue Abe no matter what even if it meant her destruction. She never saw the MACH III armor charge it's blasters to full and defiantly didn't here the warning whine that the weapon charge made. She did feel the heat as they slammed into her and as she fell from the sky she heard a scream of rage before she hit the ground, the blow causing her to black-out as the sounds of battle raged around her.
Abe watched as Melissa fell and his anger bubbled to the surface, with a scream of rage he broke the connection with his alien puppet master, his rage burning so hot that it caused the tentacles to retract in fear of being burned by the raw emotion. With a quick squeeze of the trigger Abe fired his own blasters on maximum power, the lance of energy cutting through the MACH III armour's security seal causing the suit to fall apart as it flew, individual components flying off like shrapnel peppering the MACH IV and Beetle Mk 2 armor as they flew on intercept courses. Focusing on the MACH IV suit Abe switched weapon systems and fired the pair of heavy nosed warheads that the suit carried. The MACH IV armor reacted quickly firing off chaff, the warheads veering away from their intended target as Abe fired again and opened fire with the shoulder mounted plasma Gattling, the blasts charring the enemy armour's carapace. The armor sounded a warning of an attack from behind and Abe turned to see a rocket fly in from the town centre and collide with his suit, the impact ripping off the left hand control surface and sending him spiralling into the ground. Dragging himself from the wreck he saw the MACH IV armor land next to the downed MACH V and step over the smoking wreck. Grabbing Melissa, Abe ran for the school as the armor exploded, the blast catching MACH IV in its wake and ripping the chassis into pieces.
"Abe." Melissa moaned as she opened her eyes. "Don't scare me like that again."
"Noted." Abe answered kissing her on the un-burnt cheek. "Our Hacker is in the computer lab, last time she projected a hologram caught me unaware, this time I know how to beat her." Melissa nodded and wrenched a Fire Axe off the wall and handed it to him. "You will need a weapon."
"Keep it I have all the ammunition that I need." Abe replied as they headed up the stairs. As they neared the lab the floor cracked and the Beetle Mk 2 Armor crawled out of the hole. "Think you can take this one?" Abe asked Melissa and watched as she smiled a wicked grin before springing at the armor, slamming the axe into the chest cavity before vaulting over the Beetle's arm as it tried to knock her away. Raising the axe back again Melissa struck in the same spot, this time running sonic energy along the blade so it cut even deeper then the first blow as the Mk 2 armor powered up a gauntlet, its tip sparking with electricity. Melissa dodged the blow and gave the axe a final swing as the Beetle flung its wings forward the tips cutting through the haft and leaving the bladed head stuck in its chest. With a swift kick Melissa hammered the head into the armour's interior with her foot following, sonic energy coursing through the limb and into the suit as the wings closed in around her. Quickly Abe rushed forward and threw her to the floor covering her body with his as the armor exploded outwards, the head propelled by sonic energy across the floor. "Alas poor Yorrik." Abe said as the head rolled past them. "We don't have much time, while I deal with her you smash all the computers."
"Got it." Melissa announced slamming the door into the computer lab with her powers causing it to fly off its hinges. The hacker looked up, her face framed with auburn hair, green eyes staring in disbelief as she screwed up her nose in disgust. Melissa balked; she was using Diana's face despite the nurse uniform she wore. Raising her hand Diana morphed the limb into a four barrelled blaster, beams of energy cutting through the room as the Thunderbolts advanced behind a sonic riot shield. Melissa turned to look at Abe and saw he had his hand's up. "I want to talk it's about how you can get unlimited information."
The hacker glowered at him before lowering the blaster. "Speak and I will end you and your harlot as painlessly as possible."
"Search for Diana Fox." Abe replied. The hacker stopped searching the data as Melissa walked over to the first computer and tipped it over.
"Stop that." The Hacker hissed, "Tell me how to access the information on Fox, Diana."
"Go to Facebook." Abe ordered. "Go and read what she has to say."
"Why?"
"It's information, just read it." Abe ordered as Melissa moved to the next computer and ripped it out of the wall.
"Went to the cinema today. I totally love Tom Hiddelston, semi colon D." As the hacker read the posts she lowered her arm, the barrels morphing back into hands. "Made pancakes today but burnt the lot. Oh well there's always next time." Another computer crashed and she shot Melissa a glare but went back to reading. "Car needs a new tyre grumble. Grant looks so funny wearing my pink cowboy hat. Melissa loaned my 50 shades of Grey. Switching to low fat milk because of my cholesterol." Each read post hit home like a blow to the face and Diana dropped to her knees. "Last Post for a while. Grant's taking me to watch the meteor shower. I already know what I'm going to wish for."
"Well what have you leant?" Abe asked as Melissa unhooked another computer.
"Make it stop, I don't like It." the Hacker pleaded, black tears streaming from her eyes.
"I can't you chose to masquerade as a human you get the emotions that come with it." Abe snapped, "You saw the person you stole the face off and you felt something didn't you?"
"It hurts." the Hacker said making a grab for Abe as he stepped backwards.
"Good it's meant too. It's called guilt. You are responsible for the deaths of hundreds, the destruction of lives; people have suffered and will suffer because of you. And guess what there is nothing you can do to stop it." Abe snapped as Melissa trashed the second to last computer. "I took one life by accident and it still cuts me like a knife in the gut even with all the good I have done."
"Make it stop I order you." The Hacker yelled.
"He can't, you have to serve your time." Melissa announced causing Diana to twist her head round to face her. "You go to prison and serve your time, it helps a bit but you will never be free of the feelings you have now."
"I will not go back to another prison." Diana hissed sparks erupting from her mouth.
"You don't have to, there is another way. Come with us and help make things right." Abe offered as Melissa's jaw dropped open.
"Are you forgetting what she has done to this town, what she did to you." Melissa growled.
"No but I did see where she came from and I know that I would rather not let F.A.C.T get their hands on her." Abe replied, "If they do then imagine the carnage that happened here but on a global scale. And what if she was captured by AIM or HYDRA or some despot like Doom, the world could be destroyed in days."
"I get that but I don't think we can contain something like whatever she is." Melissa stated.
"I said the same thing about Chen and look how that turned out. We were given a second chance doesn't she deserve one." Abe said extending an arm to encompass Diana kneeling on the floor rocking herself slightly.
Melissa was about to reply when the computer behind her sprung to life, news images emerging from the static. "And now for an update on the attack by Abner Jenkins AKA the Beetle on Burton Canyon, Colorado. The Avengers are finally on site and will hopefully have the scene contained very soon. Victoria Hand. The spokeswoman for the Avengers told us that Jenkins and his accomplice Melissa Gold AKA Songbird despite their former hero status will be treated like any other super villain."
Melissa narrowed her eyes and glared at Diana, "The first step to redemption." she said as Abe helped the alien hacker to her feet, "Is helping us stay alive and out of prison."
Thunderbolts #4
With the Beetle Invasion quelled how will Melissa and Abe deal with their newest charge the organic super computer Revenant? And more to the point how the hell are the Thunderbolts going to escape Burton Canyon and the Avengers? Find out in the Finale of Person Non Grata.