The fog kept rolling in, enveloping the Thunderbolts in a thick grey soup as the insidious figures advanced. Apart from Springheel Jack, Abe couldn't make out any of them although Melissa was screaming about Norman Osborne. Standing back to back around Tony, Abe gave Melissa and Diana a nod and all three of them opened fire with riot control rounds, sonic blasts or electrified pellets in the hopes that they would be able to stall their attackers.
"Abner why did you do it?" a voice croaked from somewhere off to the left. Abe turned his head and saw the form of the Ringer lurch from the fog, his body half melted away, his hands clutching his trademark set of weaponized rings. "You made me suffer for nothing; you're not even a villain any more."
"What I did to you was wrong." Abe replied, "You think that I don't see what I did every time I close my eyes. If I could trade places I would have but it's the past I can't do anything to help you."
"You're wrong, you can suffer." The Ringer snapped as he threw a ring, the projectile 'ghosting through Abe's armor before solidifying around his waist. Looking down Abe saw numbers counting down from thirty on the band as he tried to pull it off to no avail, the count down reached zero and the ring exploded. Screaming Abe looked at his hands to see charred bone poking out from the remaining slithers of burnt flesh. With an angry snarl he wrapped his hands around the wing-blade on his back and slashed through the Ringer's form causing the apparition to dissipate.
"You were never real." Abe whispered as he looked over to the circle he had broken. Diana was still standing, firing at shapes moving through the fog but Melissa was struggling, a sonic shield pulled across her arms as she slithered backwards on her knees in the mud. "Melissa fight it, the apparitions are only real if you believe they are."
Melissa heard some white noise coming from what seemed far away, she couldn't here what had been yelled over the Green Goblin's cackle as the fiend scratched at her shield with sickle like claws, flakes of sonic energy chipping off until he stuck his head through and cackled causing her ears to bleed. "Do you know how long I have waited to do this?" the Green Goblin cackled as he grabbed Melissa by the neck. "Since you opened that pretty mouth of yours." the fiend continued dragging his victim away to the side of the road. "Now my Songbird sing for me."
Melissa opened her mouth and tried to scream but all that came out was a goblinesque cackle, one that caused the Green Goblin to smile and add his own laugh into the mix. As she laughed Melissa blinked and saw her reflection in the Goblin's armor, revealing a woman with goblin like features staring back at her with cruel eyes. "Why you're just like me, all I had to do is peel off the heroic layers of skin you're true self was hiding behind."
"I am not like you." Melissa yelled and the force of her words sent the goblin flying back. Getting to her feet Melissa walked over and summoned a sonic axe, her eyes glowing in the darkness causing eerie shadows to run across the goblin's chest.
"You…you won't kill me." the Goblin yammered his body melting to reveal the human features of Norman Osborne.
"I would be doing the world a favour." Melissa hissed swinging the axe before detonating her construct into a shower of blue sparks over Norman's face. "But if I did then I would be no better then you." As she finished talking Norman's form rippled before returning to the mist that it had been made from. Looking around Melissa saw Abe walking over to Tony while Diana scanned the surroundings, as the mist figures retreated, some walking back with a solid form while others simply reverted back to fog disappearing completely.
"Okay that was way creepy." Melissa stated as Abe helped Tony to his feet. "Anybody have a clue what's going on?"
"It wasn't a virus that penetrated you're systems." Diana stated. "No virus acts that quickly. In addition you're sonic filter and Iridium's armor systems stayed intact. I can only speculate but I would suggest that you came in contact with an agent that can diffuse through the skin barrier. At current my biological scanners are analyzing samples that my internal security networks were able to quarantine before they accessed any of my organic systems."
"But the only thing we all came in contact with was the fog." Abe replied. "In fact it was exactly as the mist rolled in that we started to experience the visions."
"So you're saying we are marinating in fear gas or whatever is causing the hallucinations." Melissa spat. "We could relapse at any time."
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Abe announced. "But I think as long as we know that the visions are just that, knowing that maybe we can fend it off until we destroy the source of this nightmare. I say we head for the church, the spire appears to be above the mist."
"Better then the plan I had." Tony moaned, "Which was running and hiding."
As the Thunderbolts advanced into town only Melissa kept count of the number of bodies that were lying all over the streets; some were dead, most were worse, trapped in their own heads as fear gnawed at their bodies. Silently she accessed what they knew about the terrifying situation that had grasped Port Angeles. There were a number of villains and entities that could be responsible causing Melissa to try and determine what they were up against. The Worthy were her initial culprits but she quickly realised that while the timing of both events was similar there had been no reports of fog at any of the affected sites. Her next guess was Alan Fagan AKA Mister Fear, it was defiantly close to his MO but the effects were lasting too long plus the fact that just days before she and Abe had left Melissa had seen Fagan incarcerated in the Raft. It also didn't explain the strange animal behaviour either; Fagan's drugs were set up to effect humans only, other animals simply died if they were exposed to a large quantity. She shivered, it was strangely cold for a late August evening, even at these latitudes and she doubted that it had anything to do with the gas but it somehow made everything more sinister.
"Melissa are you okay?" Abe asked. "You looked like you were drifting off."
"Oh I was just figuring something out." Melissa answered giving Abe a nervous smile. "Do you realize that tomorrow it will be a fortnight since we left Burton Canyon."
"It will also be September." Abe commented, "But yeah I know it doesn't seem possible."
"I have a theory." Melissa stated, "About the gas. Revenant is the chemical an organic adrenal enhancer."
"It has markers in common with most known adrenaline boosters." Diana replied, "I still haven't found a match or anything that will counter the effects."
"Don't bother." Melissa told her. "The gas is meta-produced. My hunch is that Port Angeles is being affected by Ebenezer Laughton AKA the Scarecrow. It explains the hallucinations, the animal attacks and how it easily affected us."
"Laughton escaped when Marko slit the Raft open." Abe added, "He's still on the loose. If he is here then we have to find him, technically it was our responsibility to keep that freak on a leash."
"One problem with you're theory." Diana said her voice grating. "His power's only affect people within a certain radius. From what his SHIELD file states the pheromones he produces only have a thirty meter radius. Everything matches except that"
"Please tell me that you didn't alert SHIELD to the hack." Abe moaned.
"I just used a back door installed into the system." Diana replied, "And no I didn't leave any trace of my hack. Is there anyway that this Scarecrow could have boosted his powers"
"I plan to ask him when I catch him." Abe told her before looking around the street. "Shit where did Melissa go."
As soon as Diana had started critiquing her theory Melissa spotted movement, it was small but defiantly human (or close to it) and for a brief second Melissa knew that she shouldn't follow. A second later she started running, using her sonic energy to quicken her stride and catch up with the fleeing humanoid. Darting down an alley and vaulting a chain link fence Melissa saw her prey run across the street and hop over the broken window into a mini-mart. Melissa frowned, was she chasing something real, she shook her head, from what she could tell from the glimpses she had seen her quarry was a small child. Striding across the street she ducked in through the window and saw who she was hunting, uneasiness turned to joy.
"Gunna." she called, "Troll it's me, it's Songbird."
Troll looked up and pointed with a long bony finger and Melissa turned to see what she was pointing at. Behind her there seemed to be a rolling wall of darkness, its black surface glistening due to the moisture caused by the condensing fog. "Gunna get behind the counter and cover you're ears."
"Little Troll won't be hiding anywhere." a voice said from behind Melissa, causing her to spin round just as a knife came throwing at her. Reaching out, her hands shrouded in sonic energy Melissa caught the knife as Bullseye clapped sardonically before pulling another blade of his belt.
"Bullseye you're not real." Melissa said calmly, "Neither are you Venom, you don't even have the Symbiote anymore Mac." she added addressing the hulking dark form stood behind her. "You are nothing but figments of my imagination summoned up by a madman and his bad science experiment."
"And what about me?" a female voice purred as Melissa felt something stroke her neck. Grabbing the hand she pulled the assailant over her shoulder before stepping on her neck. "Moonstone, figured that you might make a cameo." Melissa snarled. "I'll admit you guys scare me but I'm not afraid of you."
"But Melissa." Moonstone cooed, "We just facilitate you're fears, you are afraid that people will think that you are a monster just like us. But guess what, this disguise," Melissa felt Venom wrapped his tentacles over her clothes, round her hands and feet, even wrapping his tongue round her face. "It's got to come off." she finished sticking her hands through Mac's Symbiote matter and pulling Melissa out. "Now run little girl." she added as Venom stood aside and let Melissa run past him, leaping through the shop window she rolled, her skin cut by the glass before seeing Abe and Diana vault the fence and stand across the street from her.
"Abe, Di thank god. Venom, Bullseye and Moonstone are here." Melissa said panting.
"Who is that?" Diana asked Abe.
"Screaming Mimi." Abe replied, "A pathetic lost little girl playing dress-up."
"Abe don't you know who I am." Melissa screamed, the words erupting out and causing Diana to exploded into a hundred fragments of metal while Abe covered his ears, blood leaking out of all his orifices before collapsing. Melissa put her hand to her mouth and walked over, reflected in the blood she saw herself, once again dressed up in her old Screaming Mimi getup. And standing behind her was Bullseye, sneering as he fingered a Sai in his hand.
"Please don't." Melissa squeaked.
"You're nothing but a disappointment Melissa just like you're fucking mother." Bullseye roared in a voice that was not his own before plunging the Sai into her back. As she fell Melissa saw Bullseye's reflection take off his mask and saw her father's face sneering at her before disappearing. And without meaning too Melissa started to scream as fear clutched at her bosom and made itself at home.
Abe heard Melissa scream and saw flashes of pink erupt from a nearby street, with a roar he took off and headed down the alley leaving Diana alone in the street. Smashing through a wooden door and into a shop selling knick-knacks for tourists Abe saw Melissa lying on the floor, her body butchered as a pair of hoods with machetes stood over her. Angrily Abe slashed through both of them knocking them to the side before bending over Melissa and feeling her pulse fade before stop.
"No." Abe screamed just as flashing blue lights started up and the sound of knocking could be heard. Abe ignored it and cradled Melissa closing her eyes and sobbing as he held her hands, as if to comfort her. The door crashed open and silhouetted against the lights of the police car stood Diana dressed up like a slutty police officer.
"Abe what have you done?" she asked walking over and looming over him.
"They killed her." Abe yammered pointing at the two hoods. Diana walked over and pulled the first one's jumped off revealing another Melissa, this one bleeding out and gulping for air. Abe begun to choke as Diana looked at him and walked to the second and removed her hood as well to reveal a third Melissa this one blue as if she had been strangled.
"Chief we found him." Diana called into her radio. "Yes I repeat the mass murderer Abner Roland Jenkins had been found."
"Mass Murderer?" Abe asked.
"Duh." Diana announced waving at the knick-knacks on the shelves all of them dead women dressed like Songbird. Abe got to his feet and pulled out a pistol shooting Diana in the head, the bullet rippling through her causing her features to morph into those of Melissa's. As she fell Diana screamed, "Let the punishment fit the crime." before the call was taken up by all the dead Melissas, massive rove beetles crawling from their bodies and swarming over him. Screaming Abe fell to the floor thrashing clawing at the non existent beetles as he too submitted to fear.
Diana walked along the main-street heading for the church. Abe and Melissa had seemingly vanished and something was blocking her scanners from locating them. Luckily none of her systems appeared to be compromised by the Scarecrow's fear pheromones, at least not yet, she mused. Opening the cast iron gate, its hinges squeaking Diana saw hundreds of eyes staring at her from the trees. Lighting up an exterior panel of her costume she saw they were crows, all staring at her, all of them gleaming like extensions of the darkness. So distracted as she was by the crows, Diana almost missed the church doors opening and the gaunt figure that emerged, its face covered in a burlap sack, while its ragged body had a noose tied around its neck as long bony fingers drummed on the pitchfork it held.
"You must be the Scarecrow." Diana announced, "Surrender and give me a cure to this madness."
"You must be fearless to have made it this far." The Scarecrow hissed, "I so rarely am challenged these days especially with all the backwoods idiots that populate this miserable town."
"I am not fearless; I just know how to control my fear when I feel it." Diana stated morphing her hand into a four barrelled blaster. "One last chance, give me the antidote." The Scarecrow cackled before springing forward, pitchfork out stretched to skewer Diana as the Thunderbolt evaded the attack and opened fire, a blaster shot striking her attacker but not coming anywhere near close enough to stop him. Spinning around the Scarecrow lashed out again with the fork tripping his target and sending her flailing to the floor, a few wild blaster shots clipping parts of the church and sending chunks of masonry falling to the ground as he followed up his attack stabbing Diana through the chest with his fork.
"Everyone knows fear." the Scarecrow sneered, "Now tell me yours before I die. I need my jollies after all."
Diana blinked and watched as a warning light flashed on her built in HUD as the fear pheromones penetrated her deep tissue layers. Her cyber-chemo defences would kick in soon but in the mean time she would have to get away from the Scarecrow. "I'm afraid." Diana whispered causing the Scarecrow to smile and lean in to listen. "I'm afraid you're an idiot." she told him before firing a blast at him sending the Scarecrow flying as she scrabbled to her feet, ripped out the pitchfork and ran holding her chest as her enemy sprung to his feet with an agile flip and picked up his pitchfork. "I will find you." he called after her, his voice causing the crows to scream and fly from their roosts. "My dear, fear always finds you." he cackled before retreating back into the church.
Diana ran panting, half limping as she looked for a sanctuary from the monsters chasing her, their mechanical feet pounding like drums as their forced smiley faces gleamed in the light of her lit panel. Dashing left she slipped and fell smashing her head against a parked car as the Right exoskeletons clustered around her, their weapons trained on her, ready to fire.
"You are not what I fear, not anymore." Diana told the smiles, "I beat you and learnt how to defeat you."
"But you cower before Me." an old and terribly powerful voice announced as the smiles were picked up in the air and smashed together, melting to form one giant form. "You disappoint me, I gave you a chance to serve me but instead you flee like a common criminal."
"No I won't serve you again." Diana announced through gritted teeth. "Nor will I run from you anymore My Lord." she added.
"Then you will die." the man announced before using his powers to rip her apart causing her head to roll down the street before being forced to look up as the armoured and helmeted man hovered above her before fading into mist. Diana closed her eyes, trapped in her nightmare, as she lay face up on the street, her systems compromised as Fear took the last of the Thunderbolts as her own.
Thunderbolts #11
Melissa stabbed in the back? Abe consumed by beetles? Diana ripped apart and left in the street? As fear takes the Thunderbolts an unusual hero arrives. Will he arrive in time and will his heroics leave a burning impression on the Thunderbolts? Find out in the finale of 'A Town Called Fear'.