The sound of screaming echoed around Port Angeles, the sonically amplified screams of Songbird penetrating the darkness. Standing on the edge of town, leaning on the motorcycle that his employee had given him the man dressed in biker leathers flipped open a chunky mobile phone and dialled the only number saved onto the SIM card. He waited as the phone rung twice before being picked up by his contact.

"I'm at the CDC's barricade around the Port." he told the person on the other end of the phone. "What should I expect to find inside?"

"A large number of casualties but I am only worried about two of them. Skylark and Iridium must be extracted and they must be alive and undamaged, do you understand me?"

"I understand you. What of the third member of the team? Revenant I think her call sign was. What are my instructions for her?"

"Whatever you like." the voice answered, "She is not part of our plans but so far she has not shown any sign that she would cause any problems. Before you go in make sure that you're suit is sealed."

"Because of the disease that is eating the city right." the agent stated removing an armoured pair of gauntlets and sealed hazmat suit complete with gas-mask and oxygen cylinder. "You know I hate costumes right?" he asked as he pulled the helmet over his head, brushing his shoulder length hair so that it would be trapped inside the suit.

"And do you realize that while I hold you're beloved in my custody that you are my creature?"

"I do you fucking wanker. No reason to rub it in." the agent spat, "So when I get the targets you'll send exfill to the LZ and then you and I are done."

"As long as both targets meet the specifications that we set you are." the voice commanded, "Oh and Mr. Colchiss fail me and you're precious Sylvie dies, we may even be generous and just let the cancer do it but trust us she will die." Colchiss closed the phone and squeezed it in his hand until the device begun to bubble and hiss before being liquidated into chemical slurry that leaked through his fingers and onto the floor. Taking a few steps towards the town he looked back towards the mountains, it would be easy to run but he knew if he ever wanted to see the woman he loved again that he would do what his employer told him to do, even if it meant doing the worst things imaginable.

Diana watched the progress bar slowly fill as her bodies electronically and chemical defence network begun to report initial success against the pheromones invasion of her body. She frowned the progress was taking too long; it had been four hours since they had arrived in town. If Abe and Melissa were infected it might be too late to save them even as her body created a partial antidote to the Scarecrow's chemical assault. How had the Scarecrow even managed to infect Melissa and Abe without them even being in proximity to him? Silently she brought up the villain's information for the fifth time that hour but there still was no clue to who or what could have aided the Scarecrow in spreading the poison across the city.

Running through every article she could find about Port Angeles, Diana was blinded by a cyclone of data ranging from the renovation of the church to the school timetables; nothing seemed to stand out, no small piece of data twinkling like salvation for her friends. Cursing Diana ran the search again re-arranging everything in date order, watching numbers and titles dash around her HUD before spotting a familiar article. It was about the construction of a new spire for the church, the completion date was in a few years yet Diana was almost certain that she had seen the building completed not a few hours ago. Somehow the Scarecrow had finished the construction and installed a device that spread his pheromones over the town, perhaps even further since animals seemed to be affected as far away as Forkes. Straining Diana staggered to her feet, the damage from the Scarecrow's attack only partially repaired. With a grimace of pain she moved her leg, the mechanized parts still offline, and took a step towards the church, now she knew what she had to do.

Christopher Colchiss AKA the Melter walked down town actively avoiding the cowering townspeople. Not that the majority were aware of him but those that were had growled at him from the shadows, their brains reverted to a feral mush by whatever had infected the town. What had happened in the city was terrible and deep down inside something that had been long dormant stirred as Chris walked deeper into the infected zone. He had always wanted to be a hero ever since he had accidently killed his mother and father but due to the nature of his powers he had been forced to play the villain. Maybe when he was done with this assignment, when Sylvie was safe he would try again although he had little idea who in the hero community would support him. Shaking his head Chris heard something move and saw a woman sneak into an alleyway, silently he followed watching as she ducked inside a boarded up shop.

"Abe." Diana said bending down at the stricken man's side as he screamed and thrashed. "Hopefully this will work." she added as she forced one of her nails to elongate into a syringe, grunting with the pain of completing the transformation.

"Stop right there." a voice announced behind her. Diana paused, the voice seemed real but so had the master's shortly after the Scarecrow had attacked her. At least she could rule that fiend out of the list of possible suspects, the tone was very different. "Stand up and turn around." the voice commanded "Do it slowly." Sighing Diana stood up and turned to see a man in a hazmat suit, his hands covered in metal gauntlets.

"Are you the cavalry?" she asked dryly.

"Drop the syringe and step away from the body." the man announced.

"Can't do that." Diana snorted, "Now back up and let me administer the urgh." Something had smacked her on the back and sent her sprawling at the hazmat guy's feet. Looking up she saw Abe clutching his sword, his gauntlets charged and sparking with energy. It was clear he was still demented from the alternating cackles and sobs that he was emitting from behind his mask and Diana hoped that there was enough of a mind left to cure, who knew what the long term effects of the pheromones was.

"Don't worry Melissa I'm going to save you." Abe cackled swishing the sword around. "We will be together." he added thrusting the sword down towards Revenant's chest. The blade never made it there, its tip melting as Diana kicked up knocking her former teammate back before getting to her feet. With a scream Abe leapt at her but his movements were feral and very predictable, allowing his prey to sidestep him and elbow slam him in the back of the neck. With a hiss Abe turned and slashed with his gauntleted hands, the blow leaving a charred imprint on Diana's chest as she grabbed his arm and tried to remove one of the armoured plates before being thrown off.

"Iridium surrender I have orders to extract and escort both you and Skylark to a secure medical facility." Chris yelled at Abe causing the feral monstrosity to glare at him before charging at the speaker as he emitted a gargling roar. Chris braced for the attack and ducked under the charging Thunderbolt before grabbing his arm and flipping him onto his back. "I just want to help you." Chris snarled as Abe pawed at his arm spitting and snarling as he was pinned to the floor.

"If you want to help him remove one of the arm bracers on his suit." Diana snapped as she helped restrain Abe. "I have a partial antidote to the chemical effects but I'm not strong enough to remove his armor when he's like this." Chris nodded and watched as Diana slammed Abe's head back down to the floor as he tried to snap at her. With a deep breath he slammed his fist into Abe's left arm bracer and watched as it bubbled away leaving a red smear on the skin below. Scrabbling over the struggling Thunderbolt, Diana jammed the syringe into his flesh before retracting the tip. With a howl of anger Abe threw both her and Chris off and picked up the melted remains of his sword, the tip still smoking before towering over them snickering to himself. "I must protect you Melissa." he screamed before plunging the sword into his chest, the tip slicing through his chest plate but not going any further, the melted tip stopping short of his flesh. Falling to his knees he began to sob as Diana walked over and removed his mask. "Why can't I save you Mel." he cried as he hallucinated Melissa looking into his eyes, her features skull like as she punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.

Diana rubbed her knuckle, she still was running on her biological systems as the robotic part of her body continued to fight the invading pheromones. "Okay lady." Chris yelled behind her, "Tell me what the fuck is going on before I melt something you'll need later."

"Maybe you should calm down while I inoculate you." Diana snarled back. "I don't know if you're infected but I am not taking any chances."

"Infected with what?"

"Pheromones! A felon called the Scarecrow is holding the townspeople hostage to their fears." Diana replied, "Not let me inject you so you don't get infected as well."

"You keep that thing away from me." Chris snapped, "I don't even know who you are."

"My code name is Revenant and since you know Iridium and Sky Lark I assume that you're lying or very badly informed."

"Oh right," Chris sighed, "Sorry but we have no file photos of you. My name is Chris but I go by the call sign of Melter. The CSA and CDC are running a joint mission and sent me in when their satellites detected supers going into the city limits. There is a reason the place is quarantined but I guess they didn't know that err the Scarecrow was in town. Ouch." As he was talking Diana jabbed him with the syringe, she wasn't sure if she could trust Chris but he seemed to be an ally for the moment and that was good enough. It also didn't help that behind the suit he was kind of cute, silently Diana cursed her human hormones rocketing out of control, usually her mechanical side kept such things in check but alas at the moment they were occupied.

"So does the needle thing work?" Chris asked. "I'm just saying that the suicide king there didn't seem in control of his actions."

"Hormonal changes take time, my guess is that reducing the level of adrenaline in his system is only half the battle, as long as the pheromones are in the air it's a losing battle. That's why we need to get to the church and destroy the source as well as capture the Scarecrow." Diana explained, "If you can use you're powers to level the structure I'll deal with Laughton."

"Sorry that's not in my mission parameters." Chris stated as Diana scribbled something on a post-it before attaching it to Abe's chest plate.

"Part of you're mission is to protect me right?" Diana asked Chris before he nodded. "Good, protect me then." she added as she brushed past him and headed back towards the street. Chris rubbed the area where she had jabbed him before shrugging and following her into the fog. From where Abe had been left it was only a short trip to the church and the two 'heros' stood outside and looked up to the spire, the whole area still save for the occasional crow ruffling it's feathers.

"So do we knock?" Chris asked as Diana opened the church doors and peaked inside. The smell was terrible, the pews were filled with the dead as the beheaded priest stood at the alter as if he was midway through a sermon. Silently Diana led the way through the room, there was nobody living in the chamber save her and Chris, if the Scarecrow had been here, he would already have attacked. That very thought wasn't comforting, Diana knew that her foe was agile and armed; she couldn't even count on her ally. Maybe 'Chris' was another apparition, one formed to lead her to Laughton so that he could finish the job he had started. "Found the stairs." Chris announced, his voice echoing through the hall. "I've melted through the lock so we can get up to the spire." Diana nodded and put a finger to her lips before entering the stairwell and climbing up the curved staircase.

Reaching the first landing she slid over and watched Chris melt the lock before opening the door to peek inside. Slumped in a chair was the Scarecrow he seemed to be asleep but it could be a ruse, the convincing snoring included. Carefully Diana edged out and stood next to the sleeping villain before carefully jabbing the needle into his arm and retracting it as she pumped the antidote into his body. Walking up to join her Chris pointed to a computer on the end of a desk as she attempted to remove the noose from the villain's neck. With a grunt the Scarecrow slapped at her but didn't awaken and at last she got what she had been after, quickly tying the fiend to the chair he slept on.

"Looks like Scarecrow was bottling something." Chris announced as Diana left Scarecrow where he sat. "Got a bio-hazard sticker on the canisters." he added gesturing to a neatly stacked cage of gas tanks.

"All the more reason to crack the computers open." Diana replied, "If he was shipping this crap I want to know where the hell it is being sent."

Abe awoke with a grunt and looked down at the sword embedded in his chest before groaning in relief. Using the counter he got to his feet and wrapped his hands around the blade and removed it before disconnecting the breast plate to survey the damage. It looked as if he had been fortunate, the armor had held up just enough to prevent the blade from penetrating his body, the blade itself had been melted and probably would have been able to cleave him in two if it still had been sharp. Replacing the breast-plate Abe removed the sticker and crumpled it in his hand, Diana had headed for the church to confront Scarecrow, in his heart Abe knew it was the right thing to do but instead he decided to find Melissa. His suit's acoustic tracker would make the job easy, the hard part would be making Melissa snap out of what fear inspired nightmare she was going through.

Heading up the scaffolding Diana let her processers store the data for later analysis, while she had some electronic systems back online the majority where fighting off the chemical attack and working on a more effective inoculation. As she ascended the fog became less dense and with a triumphant stride she broke through the clouds and came to a second landing as Chris stumbled up the last step to join her. The floor space of the top layer of the spire was taken up by a large number of pipes leading up to a column, it's side covered with miniature chimneys that vented jets of pheromone laced fog, the gas quickly descending, as dials monitored the remaining capacity of the canisters attached to each of the supply pipes.

"Hopefully we can take the down out of melt down if I use my powers on this." Chris stated, "Well here goes." he added reaching out with his abilities, the tanks already burning before shooting out gouts of flame that raced through the machine and ignited the fog before spreading across the town.

"Well that wasn't subtle." Diana mused, "But it looks as if the pheromone content of the atmosphere is dropping, hopefully all the infected will have to do is wait for their bodies to purge themselves." she added.

"And maybe all you have to do is re-submit to fear." the Scarecrow hissed as he climbed up through the fog, his body smouldering as he spun his pitchfork. "You will never be able to defeat me."

Abe watched a fire spread across the sky and a rain of burning cinders fell onto the street melting holes in the tarmac and scorching the concrete. The infected residents of Port Angeles seemed to have enough sense to run for cover, the majority ducking into buildings while others ran screaming for the outskirts of town. One figure didn't scream or run, she simply stood in the middle of the street staring at the floor as Abe ran towards her.

"Melissa." Abe yelled, "Melissa its Abe."

"Abe?" Melissa replied as she kept her head bowed. "Have you come to rescue me?" she added her voice sounding almost child like with a hint of mania creeping around the edges.

"Yes Mel I have, you have to believe me when I say what ever you're seeing right now isn't real."

"I know." Melissa replied, "Abner Jenkins isn't a hero." she looked up and Abe saw blood smeared around her lips and in her hair, even over her eyes giving them a menacing glow. "Why didn't you save me when I needed you?"

"Melissa please you have to trust me." Abe yelled

"I do." Melissa stated as she pulled a pistol out of her pocket. Abe ran trying to cover the distance, to reach her before she pulled the trigger but he was too late as a gunshot rang out and a body hit the floor.

The Scarecrow ran at the pair of saboteurs like an enraged bull, hoping to gore them with his pitchfork. As he reached them they dived out the way and his fork shattered on the surface of his fog machine. Spinning around he saw the woman slam her fist into his gut, the blow hitting him surprisingly hard, usually his powers reduced the pain he felt. Quickly he blocked her next blow and shoved her back as the man tackled him and knocked him to the floor before picking him up and throwing him down the stairs. With a scream of pain, he grabbed the banister and saw that his opponents had already followed him down into the burning church.

"Do you fear what will happen to me?" the Scarecrow cackled as he picked up a scythe leaning against the wall next to the door down to the main hall. "You needn't bother I have no fear of the flames. I'm ready to die but I will not be denied you're deaths. And when you die I will see the fear in you're eyes as you learn what awaits meddling kids like you." he screeched as he leapt across the room thrashing wildly with the scythe. With a quick dodge Diana evaded the blow and disarmed the villain throwing the scythe away before being slapped in the face as her opponent tried to free himself. A second blow caused Diana to recoil and the Scarecrow giggled manically as he slammed her face first into the cage full of the fear canisters. His counter attack was short lived; with a punch Chris knocked him to the floor as Diana slid out of reach

"You forgot to mention our dumb dog as well." Chris joked as Diana pulled herself up. "We'd better get out of her before…" his words were cut off as the Scarecrow slammed him round the face with a canister before beginning to smash his prone form with the metal butt. Reaching to intercept Chris caught the canister the third time his attacker dropped it, his powers melting the valve and causing the pheromones to leak out dousing the Scarecrow with his own fear gas.

"You think that my own powers can be turned against me?" the Scarecrow sneered.

"Actually you have no powers. I inoculated you when we came in, it effectively neutralizes everything. I suppose you noticed that you're slower, weaker and can't take a punch as well as you used to." Diana stated. The Scarecrow looked down at the canister before running to the window and jumped off the edge screaming. Dashing after him Diana grabbed him and dragged him back inside before knocking him out. "Idiot." she hissed, "You believe you're own hype way too much."

"Revenant the burning church." Chris stated, "Time to leave." Diana smiled and threw the unconscious villain at him before jumping out the window, landing on the ground below unhurt. "Show-off." Chris muttered. "I think we'll take the stairs."

Melissa walked down the street her head bowed as she carried Abe his body bleeding from the gun-shot wound to the chest. As soon as he had pulled the gun away from her head she had begun to come round but she still had pulled the trigger. Acting quickly she had used her powers to harmonically disintegrate the bullet and had placed a sonic barrier over the wound but it still wasn't enough to save him. Tripping she fell down outside the church, Abe's body rolling a good ten feet as the church spire exploded, chunks of stone and slate flying through the air like shrapnel.

"Melissa." Diana yelled as she spotted her fallen team mate. "My god what happened."

"I didn't mean to." Melissa sobbed, "I was still living my nightmare and Abe tried to save me. He didn't know I had a gun until too late."

"This is bad we need to close the wound up or he'll be dead in minutes." Diana announced as she checked Abe's body. "Help me carry him, we need to find Chris."

"Chris?" Melissa asked. "I'm guessing it's a long story." she added. Diana nodded and helped carry Abe to the church as the door melted and Chris sprinted out, the Scarecrow slung over his shoulder. Dropping the felon he ran over and pulled his helmet off before putting his hand over his mouth. "Listen Chris I need you to cauterize the wound."

"I can't." Chris replied, "My powers are…unpredictable."

"Listen to me." Diana snapped, "I wouldn't ask you to do it if I didn't think you could. I analyzed you're abilities so I know that you are capable of doing this. This is you're chance to become more, to be the hero." Chris nodded and held his hand over Abe's chest and closed his eyes concentrating on delivering the right amount of power to seal the ruptured blood vessel. Opening them he saw that not only had he closed the artery but he had also sealed the skin as well. Pushing him out the way Melissa took Abe's pulse and screamed. "No Abe you can not fucking well die. We were Masters of Evil together, Thunderbolts together and I know that you are tougher then this. A stupid gun held by a scared woman is not going to stop you." As she finished she kissed him hoping it would revive him, hoping he would kiss her back. There was no response and she collapsed crying as Diana put her arm around her. "He's gone." Melissa cried, "I killed him." Behind her Abe spluttered and touched her hand.

"You're right." he coughed, his touch causing her to flinch, "You killed me. By the way it hurts like hell." Still sobbing Melissa kissed him again before holding his head in her hands.

"Scare me like that again and you will wish you were dead."

Epilogue

Abe strolled out of the hospital in Forkes, a doctor had inspected his wound but had been confused, suggesting that he had received it a few months earlier and that there were no signs of infection. Heading into the town centre he quickly spotted Melissa, Diana and Chris sitting outside a café all drinking coffees and enjoying the mid-morning sunshine. Ebenezer Laughton had been taken off their hands minutes after the church exploded and the National Guard had sprung into action an hour later to help the citizens of Port Angeles recover from their weeks of exposure to the Scarecrow's pheromones. All in all it felt like a win, the team even had a new name, the Highway Patrol and already stories were spreading around Washington state abut what had happened. Some people had already linked them to the events in Newcastle but nobody was saying a word to four normal people sitting at a cafe in Forkes.

"So Chris where are you heading?" Melissa asked.

"Well I am officially unemployed." Chris replied, "I've got my bike so maybe I will go see America, help people like you guys do. Oh and you're secret its safe with me, I don't think anybody would believe me if I told them anyway."

"You know you could come with us." Abe stated. "I watched you in the Raft and read you're file, you are a perfect candidate for the Thunderbolt programme."

"You're being serious." Chris spluttered, "Man I would love that but I don't know, my powers are hit and miss, I could have killed you."

"But you didn't and I am very grateful for that by the way." Abe stated, "Everybody has problems with their powers. Hell back when we started the Thunderbolts Melissa couldn't fly at all and now I figure she could out-fly the entire air force if she wanted."

"Plus it wouldn't hurt to have some back-up." Diana added, "For all of us. I hate to say it but the Scarecrow almost beat us and from what I have seen he is just one of the many dangerous super villains still absent from the Raft. Crossfire, the Brothers Grimm, Death Stalker and the U-Foes are just some of the others who would cause us problems if we came across them. And while I loved the three against the world we do need help with what we find."

"Then I'm in." Chris announced, "If you'll have me."

The man pressed pause and turned to the two other people sitting around the table before addressing the man on the TV screen.

"I must applaud you Silent Partner." the dark skinned man announced, "You took what we gave you and came up with results beyond what we could expect."

"Laughton's operation was spiralling out of my control anyway." the man on the screen answered, "He was supplying the pheromones to the Hood. At current Parker Robbins represents only a minor irritant to my plans and by extension yours so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone."

"And we can trace Mr. Colchiss with the tracking nanites you implanted?" the blonde woman asked. "Does he know that he's carrying them?"

"The idiot is unaware that he is still my creature. I have assured him that my surgeons will help his Enchantress."

"Is it wise to keep her alive?" the dark skinned man asked.

"Ms King, Mr Umbridge, Mr Lane you asked me to do a great many things." the Silent Partner replied. "The Asgardian will be a powerful weapon against the Thunderbolts. Soon you will have what it needs for the main agenda to succeed and I assure you that when it comes for the final part to fall into place the Thunderbolts will not be a threat. The only thing I have is my word so you can take that to the bank."

"Very well." Lane sighed, "Just remember what we are offering you. Cross us and the Thunderbolts will not be the only ones to fall to the power of F.A.C.T"

Thunderbolts #12

The Thunderbolts are California bound and heading for a relaxing weekend in wine country. Of course they would be lucky to get that as they discover a deadly secret hidden under the vineyards of the Napa Valley. Not to mention they are about to enter the territory of the state's most well known superheroes; the X-Men.