Abe pushed through the torrent of fleeing gamblers as he led the Thunderbolts down the stairs to the lobby, from where the screams of anger and small arms fire could be heard. None of the civilians paid the three 'maniacs' any attention as they hit the landings, they were simply eager to escape from Mr. Hyde's rampage on the main gamming floor. As the bolts hit the third floor the tide of civilians petered off, anybody who wasn't out already was either wounded or hiding somewhere within the danger zone. Abe shot Melissa a look before nodding, they both had been in this situation before; the plan was to get civilians out before facing Hyde and the other Thunderbolts. With a sonic powered kick Melissa sent the emergency door flying and flew through to overlook the main lobby, the centre supporting a dolphin themed fountain, a slot machine now floating in the base as in-house security fired shots from behind a long granite check-in desk. Straining Melissa listened for cries of help and breathed a deep sigh of relief, besides six or seven security agents everyone was outside of the atrium.
Leaping from the balcony Melissa slammed feet first into the tiled floor and flared a blast of sonic energy that caused Hyde to cover his face in order to block the burning light that enveloped him. When he put his arms down he saw that the woman dressed in a leotard had been joined by a pair of armoured figures.
"Mr. Hyde." Abe bellowed, "We would ask you to calm down, it would be a shame for you to waste the second chance that you were granted."
"Get lost you tossers." Hyde growled, "Before I snap you're bloody necks." he added snarling as Satana and Boomerang ran in and looked from their comrade to the security guards who were attempting to leave the area and finally to the costumed heros standing ready for battle.
"This is a misunderstanding." Satana purred, "We are the victims here."
"We saw the shooter but that doesn't cover Hyde's actions, he didn't have to go berserk when he changed." Melissa replied, "We are not here to fight you, we just want to make sure that you don't go back to prison for what could be termed as self defence."
"So you blokes are super lawyers or something?" Boomerang asked removing a pair of his trademark weapons from his belt. "Because we have had it with 'suits' pushing us around." he sneered as Chris lit up his hands ready to intercept any thrown projectiles that Myers was thinking about throwing.
"Stand down and we will help you." Abe ordered, "There are things that have changed since you left."
"Not likely mate." Boomerang answered releasing his weapons as they arched towards Melissa. Reaching out with his powers Chris incinerated the weapons before they even reached half way, reducing the bladed projectiles to ash and charred shrapnel.
"Iridium these Thunderbolts don't seem to understand what there about to lose." Melissa told Abe just as Hyde picked up the floating slot machine and threw it at her. With a flick of her wrist the machine slammed into a hastily erected sonic shield sending coins bouncing around the room. Seconds later Satana had thrown bolts of energy sparking up the shield and back to its wielder causing her to convulse in pain.
"You're the ones who are going to loose." Hyde growled leaping towards Abe before slamming into him feet first and sending him skidding across the floor to rest at the base of the stairs. "I don't know who you fuckers are but you've got the wrong end of the stick just like every other wanker we have come across recently." he added picking up a slab or marble and throwing it like a frisbee straight into Abe's chest. With a groan Abe fired one of his grenades and watched as the projectile was shot down by Boomerang as he threw another razor tipped weapon that cut through the anti-riot round and embeded in his revolver gauntlet.
"You may as well not bother." Myers lectured. "My business is throwing and catching, I was thinking about trying out for the Dolphins when the heat drops off." he added catching the Razorrang while Hyde ripped off a stone dolphin and charged towards Abe holding his improvised weapon like a battering ram. As he thundered towards his target the tiles begun to melt and become sticky trapping the charging behemoth before he could finish his assault. Chris pulled his hand off the floor and looked around to see Boomerang jetting up to the balcony his rocket boots flaring as he escaped the melting floor.
"Nice trick mate." Myers stated, "Now try this one." he suggested as he removed a Cryorang and tossed it down towards the young hero. Concentrating Chris heated up the air and watched as the weapon arched away from him before skidding to a halt in between Satana and Melissa. Summoning her powers over the pain she was feeling Melissa sent sonic waves towards the weapon and pushed it towards her attacker before watching the onboard Freon cell detonate and showering Satana with an icy blast disrupting her spell and allowing her to get to her feet as the witch staggered backwards.
"Myers you idiot." Satana snarled looking up at Boomerang as he threw another projectile at Iridium as he thundered up the stairs towards the marksman. "Can't you do anything right?"
"Hey this ain't my first rodeo." Myers snapped back as he saw Skylark pounce towards Satana as scarlet energy revolved around the daughter of Satan. Blinking he looked wide eyed as she vanished and was replaced with him as Melissa slammed into him, sonic talons outstretched. With a swift rocket assisted kick he knocked her off only to see her spread sonic wings that glowed a cool blue and dived on him before grabbing his shoulders and landing, flipping him over her shoulders. Satana shot Melissa and Boomerang an evil grin before turning to Abe, his cut down sword unholstered as he ran at her.
"Stop." Satana ordered as Abe continued his charge, "You don't want to hurt Me." she added layering her voice with seductive overtones as Abe stalled. Striding forward Satana ran her hands over his chestplate and removed his face plate before kissing him on the lips. Abe smiled and activated his Taser sending a burst if electricity through her body and sending her sprawling backwards. "I always preferred blondes myself." he told Satana while looking down as Melissa and Chris intercepted the hail of projectiles thrown by Boomerang, the felon vaulting over the front desk in an attempt to take cover from his targets counter attacks. Looking across he saw Hyde drag one foot out of the melted tiles before flinging the dolphin towards Chris's exposed back.
"Head's up." Abe yelled as Chris turned and saw the sculpture head towards him. Reaching out with his powers he saw the stone begin to bubble as it came towards him. From the desk behind him Boomerang threw a rang that arched past the young mutant's head and embedded in the statue before detonating showering 'Oxide' with chunks of burning stone. Spinning around Myers saw Melissa run towards him with a sonic blade before throwing a Boomerang that exploded in her face and released a heavy net that pinning her to the floor. "You're a fine catch Shelia." he commented, "Ever think about dating a bad boy like me?"
"And waste my time, hardly." Melissa replied, "You three have just signed your own arrest warrants by attacking us. Nobody is going to believe that you acted in self defence."
"Ain't you heard bitch." Hyde bellowed as Satana sent a pulse of energy straight into Abe's armor that sent him flying off the balcony. "We got pardoned by old Barrack Obama; we ain't got anything to fear from incarceration."
"Wow so you can say words of more then three syllables." Chris snidely replied as he punched Mr. Hyde in the back before being grabbed by the fist and pulled off the ground by the giant.
"You need to cool down prick." Hyde told the young mutant before submerging him in the fountain, holding his struggling captive under the surface.
"Hyde stop this." a commanding voice boomed. Hyde cocked his head to see Centurius standing in the main doorway surveying the carnage from the brief skirmish between the Thunderbolts and the Highway Patrol. "Release him." he added as Hyde pushed Chris deeper to the bottom of the fountain.
"Centurius why the hell didn't you help us subdue these tossers?" Hyde asked.
"Because I was studying them, analyzing their speech patterns, they were telling the truth about not wanting to fight us." Centurius explained, "Besides I have come to the conclusion that the three of them were not here by coincidence. I know that I am right but I would like to here there story as much as they want to here ours. Now release them."
Hyde shrugged and pulled Chris out of the fountain and slammed him into the tiled floor as Boomerang removed the net covering Melissa. "Well who are these punks?" Myers asked as Abe helped Chris to his feet, the latter literally smoking as his powers evaporated the water from his clothes and armor.
"They are the Highway Patrol." Centurius explained, "Vagabond Heros who travel from calamity to calamity, helping folks from threats that the majority of their kind would ignore. The records show four members of the team; Iridium, Skylark and Oxide are here but the fourth Revenant was lost in what SHIELD are claiming was a Thermobaric rocket strike although I am confident that the official events are nothing but a cover story. Am I right?" he asked Abe.
"Spot on." Abe answered, "But from what I heard eight Thunderbolts went missing after the battle of Chicago. Where are Fixer, Moonstone, Ghost and the Asgardian girl not to mention the Man Thing?"
"Man Thing was released into the Everglades." Satana spat, "I would have loved to be allowed to keep the Vagornus Koth but alas it was stolen from me."
"As for Troll she was sent to a preserve in Norway to keep her safe from human intervention." Hyde added, "Ghost was given the same deal as us but since he refused to provide a name they locked him back up in the Raft. Karla is there too she joined the Dark Avengers rather then come with us, something about us being idiots for not joining up."
"And Fixer?" Abe asked.
"Dead." Centurius answered, "You don't need to know the details lest it change the way you perceive time and space."
"That sounds ominous." Melissa answered, "Now that we…wait something is coming, I can hear it moving through the hotel."
"SWAT perhaps?" Boomerang suggested, "You guys are still going to vouch for us right?"
"Oh so now we're friends." Chris stated, "You would be lucky to have us help you after you tried to drown, electrocute, freeze and slice us up."
"It's not SWAT." Centurius stated, "They are three minutes from deploying."
"That and they would send more then one man." Melissa added, "Contact in twenty seconds by the sound of the footsteps. Arrival point will be the balcony." Turning the Thunderbolts saw a single figure walking along the raised platform before dropping the three stories to the floor and flipping to where the group was assembled.
"Joystick." Abe snarled, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"What we were ordered to do Iridium." Joystick replied a massive smile stretched across her face. "What we were paid to do."
"And that is?" Melissa asked.
"Are you kidding me Lark face, we were paid by an anonymous source to make the Thunderbolts look bad." Joystick stated before slamming Hyde in the face with one of her power truncheons. As various hands reached for her she slipped through the fray and landed on the edge of the fountain.
"You deceived us." Hyde roared as the assorted Thunderbolts got to their feet and reached for weapons or summoned their powers. "You'll pay for this you wankers." he bellowed grabbing at Melissa's legs as she took to the air before slamming her into the floor.
"Don't be a fool Hyde." Centurius snapped, "This is obviously…" his words were lost as Joystick sprung over Satana and landed on the doctor's chest knocking him to the floor before slamming her truncheons together, a wave of concussive force knocking her target out. Spinning round she aimed a snap kick at Abe's groin, the blow causing him to double over as she vaulted over a pair of boomerangs and a volley of sonic daggers before stopping by the doors to the Strip. "And Game On." she bellowed before exiting the Casino. With a roar of rage Hyde followed with Boomerang and Satana in his wake leaving the Highway Patrol alone with the unconscious Centurius.
"Well we now know what happened to the others." Chris stated, "I suppose we are not going to let Hyde tear our 'teammate' limb from limb."
"I really hate that woman." Melissa told Abe, "But if we do let Hyde get her he goes back to the Raft with Boomer and Satana only a few seconds behind. Plus I want to know what Doc here meant about Fixer's death destroying time and space."
"Right so Plan A and B are scrapped, Plan C is capture Joystick send her to the Raft while keeping the others out." Abe announced as a mercifully empty police car flew past the window. "First things first, we neutralize Hyde, people are going to get hurt if this continues."
Joystick literally danced through the hail of thrown vehicles springing from one to the other before landing next to Satana, pinning the daughter of Satan to a bench. With a quick flick Joystick had smacked one of her elbows into the Thunderbolts chin causing her to stagger backwards into the path of a flying SWAT Van, it's occupants opening fire on Hyde as Boomerang threw screaming projectiles at a second van, the officers holding their hands over their ears and convulsing in pain. With a scream Melissa burst onto the scene as a blue rocket trailing sonic energy behind her straight into Joystick before getting a baton to the chest, sonic energy flaring behind her and chewing a crater in the pavement.
"You wankers again?" Hyde bellowed as Abe vaulted over a toppled SWAT Van and fired a Taser at the giant before being grabbed by the trailing wires and slammed into a trio of officers setting up a rocket launcher. Boomerang spotted what was going on and quickly leapt over to the four felled bodies and removed a Razorrang from his shoulder and dragged an officer to a standing position whilst holding the weapon against his throat.
"Welcome to Club Hostage amigo." Myers told the officer, "If any on you blokes come any closer then this good officer dies in the line of duty." he added turning to face Abe as he got to his feet and levelled his grenade revolver at the hostage taker. Putting his hands up Abe stepped back as Boomerang turned to face Chris who was busy melting the tarmac below Hyde's feet causing the massive Thunderbolt to leap further down the road to where Joystick was fighting Satana and Skylark.
"Time to put away you're toys Boomerang." Chris bellowed turning to face Myers, the former Thunderbolt looking down to see the majority of his prized weapons melting into piles of slurry. "I can still snap this feller's neck." Boomerang replied seconds before an anti-riot round slammed into his face causing him and his hostage to fall backwards onto the concrete the later rolling off unhurt by the impact.
"I've wanted to do that for a while." Abe admitted as he turned to see Joystick slamming crippling blows into the back of Hyde's legs while Melissa and Satana were exchanging sonic blasts and fireballs from opposite sides of the street. "Come on Boomerang won't be getting up for a while." Abe told his team-mate, "We still have to deal with Hyde, Satana and Joystick and they won't go down as easily as Myers."
Melissa watched as one of Satana's fireballs incinerated a massive hole in the coach she had been using as cover leaving her exposed to a follow up blast. Plugging the hole with a sonic shield she watched as the orbs of flame slithered over her shield before dropping like heavy flies onto the road causing the area to burst into flame. With a scream of anger Melissa sprung over the bus and slammed a sonic bubble over the impact site in an effort to keep the flame contained. With an evil chuckle Satana placed a hand on the tarmac, a pulse of energy streaking through the asphalt before landing under the jar, the sonic construct shattering like shrapnel, blades of hard sound glass biting at all the other combatants left in the fight. Melissa turned and threw a sonic hammer at the daughter of Satan, the weapon knocking her out.
"Skylark." Abe yelled, "We need some chains to hold Hyde while I administer the tranquilizer."
"Got it Iridium." Melissa replied as sonic chains sprung from the ground and held Hyde as he made a grab for Joystick, his lithe target easily springing to safety.
"Okay Joystick hit the pause button." Abe ordered as Boomerang crept up onto a burning truck his last boomerang clamped in his hand. "Who hired you?"
"You mean us." Joystick corrected him. "We are a team."
"Enough of the charade." Melissa hissed, "Tell us who you and the sniper are working for." Joystick smiled before running a pair of fingers across her lip and throwing her baton up into the air, intercepting the boomerang that Myers had just released, the impact causing the whole block to erupt with concussive energy and knocking everyone down. Staggering to his feet Abe saw Joystick sprinting away and locked on a shot with his grenade revolver, it was a long shot but doable. Behind him Melissa screamed a warning and Abe aborted as a sniper bullet drilled into the road where he had been standing. Looking up he saw the flash of sunlight on a glass scope and watched as Melissa dragged Chris behind the remains of the bus.
"Go." Abe yelled, "Satana and Boomerang are out and I can deal with Hyde," he ordered. Melissa nodded and took to the air heading for the rooftop of the Venetian Casino where the sniper was positioned. Scanning the roof top she saw the gun connected to a miniature satellite dish, the weapons camera scope sending information back to the shooter. Kicking the weapon over Melissa heard footsteps behind her and spun round to see a man clad in ballistic armor, his face covered with bandages save for two scopes their tinted lenses glowing red over his eyes and a filter mask over his nose and mouth, his hands wrapped around a pump action shotgun.
Flinging up a sonic shield Melissa breathed a sigh of relief as the blasts ricocheted off the surface of her barrier, whoever the shooter was, he was green, and he simply seemed to be unaware that his weapon couldn't breach her defences. Behind her something whirred and she turned to see three CROW turrets unpack and open fire on her, causing her to shift her focus and expand her shield, the hail of bullets ricocheting off her barricade. The bandaged sniper cocked his head and picked up a weapon with a satellite dish on the end and fired, the beam of energy enveloping Skylark's shield and causing it to implode in on itself the force of the blast throwing Melissa off the rooftop.
Abe slipped over Hyde's blow and jammed an armoured fist into the giant's face, electricity running across the monster causing him to grunt in pain. Following up his first attack Abe stabbed his cut down blade in the Thunderbolts thigh before activating his Taser again, the electrical blast causing Hyde to fall to his knees, his eyes glaring at Abe as he reached out to grab his foe. Stepping back Abe heard gunfire and looked up to see Melissa falling from the roof. Removing his blade from Hyde Abe threw his weapon at his team-mate, the sword slashing through Melissa's shoulder and pinning her to the side of the casino, her fall terminated on the fifth floor. With a sigh of relief Abe turned to see Hyde's fist slam into his face knocking him to the floor, the giant towering over him.
"I am going to enjoy this." Hyde snorted as he grabbed Abe by the arms and begun to pull, pain running up and down his victim's armor, the titanium plates screeching as they were pulled apart until Hyde stopped and begun to sway, his tongue lolling. Abe narrowed his eyes and kicked, his blow knocking the Thunderbolt down the floor. Rubbing his head he detached his gauntlets and slipped out to see a woman in a SHIELD uniform clutching a set of throwing knives, one of the blades already embedded under Hyde's ear-lobe as a Quinn Jet hovered over the strip, armoured agents repelling down to the floor.
"You're welcome." the woman announced, "This is Agent Leighton; the last of the Thunderbolts is down, move in and secure them for transportation."
"You're taking the wrong people." Abe protested, "Joystick is the real cause of the carnage."
"Plus the man with bandages." Melissa added as she glided over to where Abe and Agent Leighton were standing, "Thanks for the save." she added shooting Abe a warm smile as a pair of agents gagged Satana and walked her over to the Quinn Jet.
"Ma'am we have three of the targets, the fourth is still missing." An agent told Leighton. "Centurius isn't out here with the others."
"He was knocked out as he tried to prevent the fight from escalating." Abe told Leighton, "While the others did make a mess of things out here he wasn't involved."
"It doesn't matter he will be held with the others." Leighton told them, "We don't need anti Avenger extremists joining up with the X-Men; we already believe that the Beetle and Songbird are gathering criminals to act as a second front for the forces of Utopia."
"I doubt that." Melissa mumbled, "Leighton you we're Diamondback right?"
"I still am." Diamondback replied, "What of it?"
"You are a massive role model of mine," Melissa bluffed, "But Hyde and the others were provoked into going berserk, surely a reformed criminal such as yourself will at least give them a chance to reform as well?"
"It's not that I don't believe they can change it's just that the evidence you have given me is inconclusive. Okay the Bandaged Man could be anybody but I know from regular reports from FACT that Joystick is still incarcerated in the Raft." Diamondback explained, "My hands are tied but if you can bring me proof then SHIELD may reconsider the fate of the Thunderbolts." she added as a handcuffed Boomerang was moved into position. "Of course you only have four hours before our escort is re-armed and re-fuelled as well as the shift change on the mini-carrier we have stationed on the outskirts, after that then you will have to deal with FACT."
"Thank you." Melissa replied sincerely as Chris staggered out from behind the bus. "At least now we know who sent Bandages and Joystick."
"Who?" Chris asked.
"FACT of course, now all we have to do is prove it."
Thunderbolts #18
The Thunderbolts are in a race against time to prove the involvement of FACT in the attack on the Las Vegas strip. But with quarry as canny and elusive as Joystick and the mystery sniper will the Road to Redemption terminate in the city of sin? Find out in the arc finale as the fates of Mr. Hyde, Centurius, Boomerang and Satana are determined once and for all.