The whoops and cries of ancient warriors on the prowl sounded in the valleys and hills as the three hunters ran from their home, bodies stained red by the setting sun and the blood from their fallen comrades. The group consisting of two men and a woman clutching at a bundle seemed tired and their weapons were near broken, looking back they saw torches glowing at the summit of the last hill they hadf crossed and stopped at the base of an ancient oak tree, it's limbs barley supporting a few blackened leaves. Without saying a word both men embraced the woman and doubled back, their spears poised ready for a last stand. Weeping the woman ran over to an oak tree, its bark covered with moss, and sliced open a hole in the trunk. Tears now flowing like rivers down her cheeks she kissed the bundle before hiding it within the tree, sealing the child up in the trunk before turning back to see her pursuers finishing off the last of her companions. Stoically she sat by the tree clutching the knife until the first arrow pierced her heart pining her to the tree, blood rushing from the wound over the trunk and all things concealed within. Looting the bodies the murderers never saw the forth figure dressed in black leather watching the scene from the rocks to the side. Even when they glanced around the scene they never spotted her and by the time they had left they had forgotten about the massacre that had just occurred.
Silently Diana bowed her head in respect for the fallen, instinctively she knew that the bundle in the tree had been a child, hidden from her family's murderers and now entombed for ever inside a bloody trunk. Still forced to watch she spotted a scorpion lugging her babies on her back get stuck in the blood as if it was amber and become entombed alongside the child in the tree. Angrily Diana ran to the tree and tried to rip the child free but her hands ghosted through the trunk and she realized that she was witnessing the entity inside the Scorpion Tree's memories. Looking up she saw a light and reached for it, she knew she was trapped inside the tree just like the long dead infant but unlike the child she could fight for her freedom.
"Crap." Chris swore as he narrowly dodged a punch from Colossus, the armoured mutant seething at the mouth. "Anybody fancy a trade for an armoured unstoppable killing machine?" he yelled as he slipped over a second blow before delivering a burning punch to his attacker's midriff.
"Sure I'll take him off you're hands." Melissa replied as she scythed through an attacking root with a hard sound axe. "But you will have to deal with the evil tree."
"Deal." Chris answered as Colossus threw a punch that knocked the Thunderbolt across the glade to where Abe was yelling in pain as Emma Frost mentally attacked him. Melissa dived through the flurry of attacking roots before slamming into Colossus's stomach and springing off into a crouched position.
"So you got Juggernaut's powers?" Melissa asked, "Because I've played this game with him before." she added goading Colossus on. With a earth shaking roar he charged straight at Melissa as she stood stone still watching him get closer before diving out the way in the last moment, projecting a hard sound ramp where she had been standing and letting Colossus's momentum do the rest, as he sailed over the edge of the glade before smashing down somewhere outside the vineyard.
"And he's outta there." Chris cheered as he grabbed one of the Scorpion Tree's roots and melted it back to the base of the trunk. "What about Abe?"
"Just cover me." Melissa instructed, "The Lash twins are getting closer and old Juggs will be back soon enough." Chris nodded and watched as Melissa glowed a vivid blue before sending out sonic shockwaves across the glade.
Emma Frost clawed through a little more of Abe's brain cutting through the psychic barriers that he had placed to stop her. The man had a canny well excised mind but against a trained telepath it was nothing more then paper and matchsticks and sooner or later he would relent. She barely gave the memories that she ripped through any time so eager she was to finish the fight before it could get started. Up ahead a barrier formed glowing blue and she reached out and sliced through it, a satisfied smirk on her astral form's face. As the final shards dissipated it was as if a flood gate had been opened, her targets head was filled with noise, hundreds of voices screaming at her and causing her to retreat back to her own mind. Blinking she saw that her target had shifted and that sitting in-front of her was a woman rather then a man.
"I'd advise staying out of our heads." Melissa warned her. "It's a bit noisey and while I am positive that eventually you would drown out the ambient sounds it will take a while and a chunk of you're sanity to do so." Emma snarled before telekinetically flinging the Thunderbolt away before turning back towards Abe as he cut through an attacking root.
"Tell me what you have done to her." Emma growled as Abe turned to face her. "You will pay for torturing her."
"I am not responsible for that." Abe replied, "You saw what I did when we were briefly connected through my old battle armor. I have no more idea who is responsible then you do but I know that I am not."
"It doesn't matter." Emma hissed, "You will still pay, Magik do it now." As the words left her mouth lightning flashed across the sky and four shapes emerged from the vines. Abe recognized Cyclops, Storm and Magneto but the other woman was a mystery although he didn't doubt that she was a powerful mutant just like the others. The situation was quickly going from bad to worse and he still hadn't forgotten about the Commeasure and the Lash Twins, while alone the pair of twisted freaks didn't amount to much when coupled with the X Men and the Scorpion Tree they pushed the needle way into the red zone.
"One last chance." Cyclops bellowed as Melissa and Chris huddled behind him, each one of them nursing bruises from the earlier fight. "Surrender Sage and we will see that you come to no further harm."
"Give us a moment to consult." Melissa replied before watching Cyclops nod in agreement. "Okay guys I'm linking you through a direct sound, you won't be able to reply so just listen. I am not willing to surrender Diana to the X-Gits so we will need to take them out so that we can finish off with the Tree and get out of here before SHIELD figures out who we really are. Colossus will be back in a minute or two, leave him to me, in the meantime I need you to get Storm off the ground. As for the others; Chris I need you to grab Magneto and heat him up, doing that will reduce his ferro-kinetic abilities. As for the others, well Frost won't dare look inside our minds again leaving Cyclops and the extra to deal with, by the time we focus on them we should have a morale advantage."
"Times up." Cyclops yelled over a blast of thunder. "You're decision?"
Melissa pursed her lips listening for Colossus's return hearing each foot-fall as he charged towards them. Another sound caught her ear as well and quickly she summoned her powers tripping everybody in the glade with sonic ties as gunfire erupted all around them. Rolling onto her back she saw Jimenez dressed in a business suit and swapping the ammo clip for the MP7 he held as Backlash and Whiplash threw away the Glocks they had been carrying and reached for their trademark whips.
"I don't know why any of you are here?" he said calmly. "But you are all trespassing on private property so I suggest you leave now."
"They came to kill me my servant." Diana hissed. Melissa had not forgotten about the possessed Thunderbolt but the accented tone of the tree's voice emanating from its captives throat sent shivers down her spine. "All of them, I am so close to my ascension all it will take is a little more blood."
"In that case kill them." Jimenez ordered his henchmen, "Spill their blood on the soil." Melissa winced and looked over at Abe before watching him spin the grenade launcher attachment to his gauntlet. Overhead another clash of thunder sounded joining the chorus of slaps and thwacks that were created as Backlash and Whiplash advanced. "Eyes." Melissa screeched at Chris as Abe fired the grenade he had selected, the projectile bouncing off the bark of the Scorpion Tree and landing between the three apposed parties before detonating showering the area with bright light and loud noise. Before either could fade the Thunderbolts were moving as the X-Men begun to recover, their targets now among them as Chris sprinted towards Magneto, his hands blazing while Melissa threw a hail of sonic daggers at Storm, the weather witch quickly lifting off the ground as the thunder grew more intense.
"You are a fool human." Storm chided Melissa, "You are no match for our power no matter who you are."
"Maybe." Melissa replied smirking as she avoided a blast of energy fired at her by Cyclops. "But since you are a flyer I figure that this might be the absolute nightmare for you." As she spoke a sonic bubble closed around Storm trapping her inside, with a flick of her wrist Melissa sent the bubble and its occupant falling before watching it slam into the ground before burrying it in the earth. With one of her targets down the next one came thundering towards her and she swiftly set up a sonic channel as Cyclops changed his focus to Whiplash as she slashed at him. Ploughing through the vines, stone benches and Magneto and Chris, the pair sent flying as the later attempted to grab the former while he was preoccupied by the follow up rounds that Jimenez was firing, Colossus emerged and ran straight towards the Scorpion Tree, smashing through the trunk reducing the obstacle to kindling.
"No." Diana screamed grabbing her head before collapsing.
"Well that was melodramatic." Abe stated as he swiped at Emma Frost with his sword, the blade snapping off her diamond form as Backlash snaked his whip round the Thunderbolts legs and heaved him backwards. "As for you get off." he spat at the mercenary as he kicked himself free.
"My wife and I often do." Backlash sneered flicking his whip and creating a sonic boom, the blast of energy causing Abe's ears to burn while Emma staggered backwards from the blow. "Time for forty lashes." the thug announced, "Let's see how long it takes you to cry out." he added slashing down at Abe as his target reached up and grabbed the whip.
"Let's see how conductive you're whip is?" Abe replied as he sent a pulse of electricity down the weapon, its owner dropping to the floor and rolling away to safety before he was struck. "Wuss." Abe added as Emma levitated the remains of a bench at him, the stone fragments bouncing off his suit leaving big dents across the surface. Setting up another grenade Abe felt something curl around his neck and lashed out half expecting to come into contact with Whiplash or Backlash but as he continued to levitate upwards he saw Magneto lifting him up, using some snapped wire from the vines to hang him above the remains of the Scorpion Tree.
"Chris, Melissa, Diana anybody help me." Abe spluttered the words barley audible. It was no use Chris was currently playing don't get trampled or shot as he dodged Colossus's charges and shots from Jimenez, the arms dealer having reacquired his machine pistol. Melissa was just as occupied, she was currently shielding herself from Cyclops's optic blasts while fending off numerous strikes from Whiplash and while amazing as she was the cuts on her cheek showed that she was never going to keep it up. Struggling even more Abe watched as Emma stalked over to Diana's collapsed form, telekinetically shoving Backlash away and placed a finger on her neck, checking her pulse before picking her up and dragging her back to the unnamed woman who was staying as far away from the fight as she possibly could.
"Melissa they…have…got…Dia…na." Abe wheezed, his metal noose crushing the life out of him. "Do…something." Melissa turned and fired a sonic dagger up at him slicing through the nose and sending him plummeting. As he fell Abe saw Whiplash slash at Melissa again knocking her down while Colossus slammed Chris into the floor and placed a massive foot on the teen's chest, the sound of popping bone audible even to his ears. Stumbling he headed towards his teammates in an effort to aid them but a blast of energy floored him as Magneto stalled his armor and flung him into the hole created by Storm's descent, the earth flashing before him as he blacked out from the pressure and the G-Force.
Diana stood on the edge of a canyon looking across at the Pleasant Hills Vineyard and the fighting that had erupted around her body and the Scorpion Tree. From the looks of it the Thunderbolts were losing with Abe already fallen somewhere below the surface. Cursing herself for whatever reason the tree had chosen her to be it's mouthpiece she looked up and down before spotting a building spanning the gorge suspended by a column of binary figures swirling up and down. Diana cocked her head, normally she would investigate such an anomaly before proceeding but this time there was no time. Sprinting over the rocks and craggy outcrops she reached the 'bridge' and pulled on the only available door which opened with a flash of light before fading to reveal a dark and dingy alley. Diana stepped forward and felt her body move on its own, she had become a spectator in her own body but who or what was in control remained a mystery.
Stepping up to a grotty door, its paintwork dented with bullet holes and scorched black, Diana's body shifted the back-pack it had somehow magically acquired and knocked on the door, the word FEAST scratched in the grime. Seconds later a latch clicked and a pair of eyes stared out of a peep hole before disappearing as the latch was closed and the door opened. "Teresa," the bulky man standing in the doorway grunted. "Come in quick before anybody sees you." Inside 'Teresa's' head Diana gasped, she recognized the man from SHIELD files and mug shots. The guard was Herman Schultz AKA the Shocker; just a few weeks ago Diana had fought him and the rest of the Sinister Syndicate, she knew that he was a bad guy so maybe she was in the head of a criminal.
(As seen in Something Sinister - Part I, II and IV)
"I brought some food." Teresa told Shocker, "I hope Mr Li can find some use for It." she added. Diana analyzed the voice and accent, it sounded familiar and as she scanned the hall she found herself in a sense of déjà vu as something stirred in her memory. Maybe she had been to a place like this back home, while her memories started from her torture and transformation into a cyborg she must have been somebody before then.
"Teresa." a woman called, "What are you doing here? You know the government doesn't approve of people like you coming to places like this." Diana surveyed the room, besides Schultz there was a family waiting for food at a table, a young couple sharing a meal, some costumed mercs talking in low whispers, a doctor examining a young woman with burns on her arms while a man in a weathered suit told jokes distracting the patient from the pain she was feeling.
"How am I any different to them?" Teresa asked, "I may be a mutant but I am also a human being. Besides the government gives mutants more food then sapiens and I don't need to eat so much."
"You don't know the kind of hell your actions are going to bring here." the woman snapped, "Mr Hudak finally got a job last week, Mimi and Agner there have enough cash for a demo disc, Schultz is about to graduate from night school, Mary is beginning to trust us and Grif actually got a laugh yesterday evening. We are beginning to turn lives around and you coming here could ruin it." Just as she finished there was a knock on the door and Schultz opened the notch before slamming it shot.
"Inspection, everybody have your papers ready so we can avoid trouble." he told the room as he opened the door and a group of armoured figures walked in.
"You girl." a short particularly hairy man at the head of the inspection team snapped at the woman Teresa was talking too. "Get Li and any one in the kitchens out here now."
"Hey man chill out." the suited man, Grif to his friends, told the leader of the guards. "Hey buddy." he said looking up at the tallest of the figures, his skin gleaming like armor. "You want to hear a joke?"
"Da." the larger man replied grapping Grif by the head and twisting it until it snapped and the smaller man fell to the floor. All the patrons of the centre gasped and seconds later the doctor bent down and shook his head while the larger man flexed his muscles. "Anybody else want to piss us off today?"
"You fucked up Ruskie basted." a voice cried and Teresa/Diana turned to see one of the mercenaries had risen to his feet, his hand clutching a large chain gun that had been hidden under the table. "I fought in Nam so fucks like you didn't ruin my country but because of the old house they invited you anyway. Well me and my friends here won't take you're abuse anymore."
"Frank sit down." Schultz ordered, "Please don't turn this into a firefight." It was too late Frank had already spun up his chain gun and the rest of the mercs were silently locking onto targets as well. Siding over to the Hudaks Teresa motioned for them to slip down under the bench as seconds later bullets started flying. His skin rippling like steel the Russian inspector charged through the hail of projectiles and grabbed the shooter ripping the chain gun and his hands off his body as the other mercs scattered. A second man dressed in black with dark glasses on twirled a spade and slashed towards a female inspector as she dodged under his blow and slashed through his neck with a bone knife. Over in the corner a scantily clad woman smacked into a third guard before convulsing as their contact reversed her powers and wrapped her in a shroud of darkness. The last mercenary kept firing his pistols, the skull like mask over his face hiding his emotions until he too was struck down by the guard's leader as he stuck metallic claws into the man's neck causing him to bleed out onto the floor.
"Casualty report now." the clawed man snarled as his blue skinned second in command walked over clutching a data pad.
"The dead are all human; Frank Simpson AKA Nuke, Timothy Malloy AKA the Sexton, Tanya Sealy AKA Black Mamba and Tony Masters AKA the Taskmaster. All of them are wanted by SHIELD for numerous offences. We also have two civilian casualties Griffin Gogol whose death started the shooting and David Angar who was killed by a stray round"
"You killed him." the woman who had been sitting next to Angar screeched, "You are responsible for his death but we all know what you do to humans who are casualties." Diana suddenly recognized the voice, the woman Mimi was Melissa, somehow she was both here and if the flashes of sonic energy were anything to go by also outside on the other side of the canyon.
"Toad shut her up." the short clawed man ordered as a green skin man hopped over to the morning blonde. With a quick flick of his tongue the guard had silenced Melissa leaving her wheezing on the floor due to her punctured larynx.
"We have a mutant." one of the agents purred, "Teresa Lipitza." she added pulling Teresa out from behind the overturned table.
"You are monsters." Teresa snapped as she was pulled in front of the guards. "You are being cruel just for the sake of it these people are struggling because of the recent coup."
"You think we are cruel?" the short commander snarled, "Why not tell Lord Magnus that." he added, "Of cause we need to set a reminder that mutants are superior to humans. Colossus kill them all." The Russian grinned before picking up the dropped Chaingun and scything the room, bullets ripping apart the remaining patrons of the aid centre. "And now for a second example." the man growled extending his claws into Teresa's jaws and pulling to the left breaking her lower jaw. "Take her, burn the rest." he ordered as he kicked Teresa out of the door and into the street. As Teresa fell Diana felt the impact and looked up, she was no longer in the canyon or the rundown back alleys she had made it back to the vineyard. Looking up she saw her teammates pinned as the mutants psychically locked Jimenez and the Lash twins against the vines.
"No you idiots you did what she wanted you to do." Diana screamed, "You have to release them now before it is too late."
"What do you mean Teresa?" Cyclops asked. Diana was about to reply when the ground shook and light erupted from the earth as crawling out of the ground came a massive creature, its bald humanoid head covered with a raven feather headdress while its scaly slender body and scorpion tail crawled with translucent growths and warts. Its pincer like hands held two orbs that glowed and pulsated revealing sickle like claws on the three pairs of legs that were arranged down the monsters body. Black smoke that emitted in jets everytime the creature breathed finished the frightening picture, one that had been scrawled across the bark of the old tree as a warning so very long ago. The Scorpion Goddess had emerged and judging from the screams she was creating not only was she insane she was angry as well.
Thunderbolts #14
The Scorpion Goddess is loose and is looking for a new kingdom to rule with an iron fist. Will the Thunderbolts and X Men be able to put their differences aside to stop her plans of conquest? And what happened to Abe and Storm? Find out in the next Issue of the New Thunderbolts.