The battered VW Camper Van slowed down as it passed the burning service station, its occupants surveying the carnage that had occurred. "Not again." the woman in the back seat moaned.
"Should we get out there and help?" the other back seat passenger asked as he stroked his blonde goatee.
"Shit." the driver yelled swerving away from the station as a rocket came flying across the forecourt towards their van. Behind him the sound of a loud horn caused him to flinch and he saw the eighteen wheeled juggernaut barrelling towards them. Shutting his eyes he heard a loud humming sound and forced himself to open one just a peek to reveal clouds moving up above him and the truck steaming past underneath the van.
"Is this heaven?" he asked, "Did we die?"
"No sir." a female voice announced as a woman in a skirted leotard flew past, sky blue energy emanating from her hands as she dragged the van out the way, "Although you should be careful where you park next time." she added putting the vehicle and it's occupants down in a lay-by on the opposite side of the road. Giving a quick salute she flew up and hovered over the scene of carnage. "Iridium see if you can take down Bushwhacker that's the third car he almost took out, we are running out of room to put them."
"I'll get on it once I've dealt with Buzzsaw. He just cut through a Buick and is heading back towards the hostages." Iridium answered, "How's the situation with Blackbird?"
"She dropped down by the water tower." Skylark replied, "I haven't seen her since." she added as she flew over the petrol station where Boomerang was laying prone on the floor clutching a pair of his trade mark weapons. "Boomer what the hell are you doing?" she screeched as she avoided a hail of fire from Bushwhacker's entrenched position."
"Getting an angle." Boomerang answered, "Whacker is sitting on a whole heap of munitions, a well placed Shatterang would blow it up nicely. My only problem is that every time I put my head above water he starts shooting at me, I need a distraction so I can throw one of these little beauties down the range."
"That all." Skylark mocked as she dive-bombed Bushwhacker causing him to turn round and fire up at her as she danced across his field of fire. Boomerang pulled himself up and deactivated the safety on his exploding 'Shatterang' and adjusted his arm before throwing the weapon, watching as it arched over Bushwhacker's head and curved back towards him before embedding in the platform the villain was standing on. Counting down on his fingers while watching Skylark sail off towards the diner where the 'B-Team' was keeping their hostages Boomerang tapped the trigger and watched as the entire platform was vaporized leaving a dazed Bushwhacker staggering towards the petrol station before collapsing next to the bullet ridden chassis of one of Shield's mobile prisons, in reality a massive truck equipped with power dampers and stasis tubes. Bushwhacker, Blackbird, Bison and Buzzsaw had escaped when the truck had stopped for gas murdering the SHIELD agents and taking the staff and travellers who had been using the service station hostage.
Chris flinched at the sound of explosion and turned around to see the column of smoke rise from the area around the petrol station. He had deliberately lured Bison away from the area due to the very threat his powers presented to the fuel stored in the pumps, hopefully nobody had been hurt by the explosion. He looked around just in time to see the genetically altered thug come charging towards at him, the big bruiser of a man snorting and bellowing as he tossed cars aside as if they were children's toys. Chris dived out the way as Bison reached him and watched as the larger man skidded into the car-wash, slamming into the rollers and roaring in anger before ripping his way out, his hide glimmering in the New Mexico afternoon sun.
"Why couldn't you just let us leave without being hassled?" Bison snorted as he thundered towards Oxide, the young hero closing his eyes as the air simmered around him. Bison begun to feel the water evaporate of his skin and laughed before making a crack about his adversary being a human hand drier. It was only when his skin begun to steam that the laughter turned to screams of panic and roars of pain. Oxide quickly sprung over the few scattered obstacles between them and slammed his fists into the villains chest, hitting him again and again, each blow feeling like a burning hammer strike to Bison before he eventually fell, the weight of the blows and the agony of being caught in the steam explosion too much for the felon to take.
"This is Oxide." the hero announced, "Bison is out for the count."
"Good." Iridium added, "I have managed to move Buzzsaw away from the hostages. Boomer has already taken out Bushwhacker, meet up with him and get them somewhere secure while Lark and I finish off."
"Roger that Iridium." the hero heard as he leapt back from a spinning disc punch that Buzzsaw threw in his direction. With the majority of his armour's offensive systems still being repaired the armoured hero Iridium had very few options left to his equally armoured opponent. Slamming against the chain link fence Iridium looked from left to right taking in the number of abandoned cars, some of which even had their engines still running.
"End of the road hero." Buzzsaw cackled causing Iridium to jerk his head back round, "You all think you're so smart, well lets see what happens to you're IQ when you have no head." he threatened as he revved his saw blades to maximum speed. Thrusting them at the hero he watched as his target ducked, his weapons entangling with the fence and immobilizing the blade. Spiting in anger Buzzsaw watched as Iridium removed the covering of the heavy duty cables that powered the service stations neon sign before connecting them to the fence. With a scream Buzzsaw was catapulted away from the fence leaving the entangled saw stuck in the wire smoking as spitting before the portable fuel tank attached to the weapon exploded. Getting to his feet he saw Iridium walk over before pinning him to the floor with an armoured foot.
"End of the road Buzzsaw." Iridium told him as Skylark flew overhead, "The Highway Patrol doesn't allow thugs like you to get away with things like this. If you simply had run you wouldn't be heading for the Raft right about now."
The image paused and Miss King brought up a series of stats. "We are currently overcrowded here at the Raft." she explained to the man on the other end of the video link. "With the Avengers fighting the X-Men we won't be able to effectively contain all the prisoners that are sent our way. With 42 destroyed and the Vault offline we will be forced to put super criminals in standard prisons, the number of escapes will triple. That's why we want to petition for a new prison to be built, we know that you are thinking of submitting plans to SHIELD which we fully back them, all we ask is that you think of us when you look for a regulating body."
"We will need a catalyst to help us push through this motion." Mr Lane added, "Something akin to Stamford or Soldiers Field although hopefully on a much smaller scale. We already have ideas for something acceptable. Losses will be zero, damage mild and we already have super powered agents waiting to respond if things get out of hand. If you back our idea then such a thing won't happen."
"I will think about it." the contact replied before terminating the link. Lane turned to the others and shrugged. "We appear to be making progress; the mutant problem is defiantly something we can spin to our advantage."
"And the 'escaped prisoners'?" Umbridge asked, "Are they ready for the task?"
"Ready?" King asked, "They are already in play. If they succeed then we win two victories; the death of the Thunderbolts and the expansion of our empire."
Myers sat in the back of the camper van as the rusting hulk limped over the state line into Texas; it had been a day since the skirmish at the service station, the siege ending with Melissa slamming Blackbird head first into the water tower. At first he had been happy about the attention he, and to a lesser extent the others, had got after their defeat of the B-Team but all too soon the news had shifted towards more series events. SHIELD and the Avengers were reported to have started an invasion of Utopia down in San Fran, easily eclipsing the news of four backwoods vigilantes capturing four C-List super-villains. To be honest he should be enjoying the lack of attention, the slaying of his former teammates had been in the news a lot, people were even blaming him although he denied it and his new team were backing his alibi, at least for now.
After a week of travelling he believed he had a good handle of how the others worked together; Abe was the boss, at least on paper, as well as their tactician when they planned anything big, the team's fateful trip to the Grand Canyon sprung to mind although evil living cacti aside Myers thought it hadn't gone to badly. Melissa was the field leader, she was more pugnacious then Boomer remembered although her concern with saving civilians had grown, almost as if she believed saving every single life would make a difference. Apparently something had happened in California but so far nobody was filling in the blanks for him, especially the moody teenager he was constantly sharing the back seat with. Chris disliked him that was plain to see, although Myers had no idea why, he had never heard of the Melter before joining the team in Vegas let alone met him before, but the kid had instantly decided to hate him and no matter what Boomer tried to reverse his opinions on him they always failed.
"Time for a switch over." Melissa stated as Abe yawned at the wheel, "Boomer we got you insured to drive this piece of junk back at Phoenix, since Abe and I are virtually exhausted we need you to drive us to Odessa, we have accommodation booked there for the night."
"I won't let you down boss." Boomer replied happily as Abe pulled the van over onto a lay-by on the side of the highway before slipping out of the driver's seat and walking round to the back. Hoping out the back Myers took the keys and strolled round to the front before opening the door. Re-setting the seat and mirrors he looked for an opening back onto the road. Starting the engine he felt something impact with the side of the van, an explosion drowning out the sound of the vehicle clearing the crash barrier and rolling into the barren plains that ran along each side of the road.
"What the hell hit us?" Melissa screeched as the van came to a stop, driver's side up. Kicking the door open Boomerang crawled up and saw a gunman dressed in military fatigues clutching an automatic rifle standing at the point where the VW had rolled off the road. Ducking down he landed hard on Melissa causing her to violently shove him into the back-seat.
"Somebody but the shields up on this thing." Boomerang yelled, "I knew coming to Texas was a bad idea, we are in the state for five minutes and we already are being shot at." he complained. Not retaliating Melissa listened and heard the sound of a safety being removed before slipping into the back and putting up a sonic shield around the vehicles interior. Just as the bubble closed the shots rang out and the van's chassis melted away as bullets chewed through the metal but thankfully bounced off the sonic shield.
"Looks like Firefight." Abe stated peeking through one of the larger holes in the metal. "One of Count Nefaria's former lackeys and leader of a group of former army veterans known as the Death Squad. If any of the others are in the area then we need to suit up and get somewhere remote to minimize casualties."
"Well we have several thousand square miles of desert to our left." Melissa stated, "A perfect playground to deal with our new friends."
"Agreed." Abe answered, "Everybody grab you're equipment and get ready to run. Chris melt through the roof on my mark, Myers can you throw us some decoys to help cover our withdrawal?" he asked removing a set of recon orbs from a case and handing them to Boomerang.
Firefight stopped firing and tapped his ear-piece, cycling through the channel to one of his men, the bulky Rocket Launcher and the team's heavy artillery. At current Launcher was sitting two clicks away manning an Ultra Light One Man Howitzer, awaiting orders to fire again on the target vehicle.
"Hunter 4 this is Hunter 2 I need some more fire power. Enemy forces have strong defences, too strong for my weapons."
"Hunter 4 here, loading another shot and awaiting you to laze the coordinates." Rocket Launcher replied. Firefight didn't reply he simply flipped the end of his rifle and shinned a beam of light onto the vehicle. "Lock on confirmed." Rocket Launcher announced, "Firing for effect." Firefight watched as the round whooshed past him and contacted with the overturned van in a brilliant explosion. As the smoke cleared it was clear that the shell had hit the vehicle from the hellish red glow of the remaining chassis but other then the numerous bullet holes it appeared intact.
"Hunter 4 we have contact but negative results, hold fire I am heading in." Firefight ordered, "Hunter 5 move up to Overwatch and cover me."
"Roger you're last Hunter 2." a female voice replied. Without even turning around Firefight knew that Smokescreen was in position and slipped over the barrier, switching his rifle to a SPAS-12 Shotgun. Reaching the vehicle he tapped on the shell and felt the ambient heat, almost as if the heat had breached the shield but not the pressure. He know knew what had happened, one of the targets Oxide had melted an escape route, vaulting over the vehicle he saw his targets escaping and opened fire, rounds shredding the withdrawing heros until they fell to the floor.
"All Hunter Units, targets down. Hunter 3 get ready for exfill, Hunter 5 converge on me and help ID the bodies." he ordered as he strode over to the dead Heros. Kicking the first, the female Skylark if his information was correct, he felt something roll under foot. Looking back he saw Smokescreen perching on the van, ready to give cover if he required it. Slowly he bent down and picked up the source of the image, a small orb covered with camera sensors. Wearily he tapped his communicator, "Hunter 3 switch to recon, targets are still active I repeat targets are still active. Pursue but don't engage, Hunter 6 is the 'avenue' prepared" he said looking out to where the plains dropped down into a small gorge.
"Prepared and ready for activation." Hunter 6 answered, "If they enter the kill zone they are not coming out."
Melissa slowly lowered the platform down into the gorge that bisected the seemingly barren plains. The actual divide was twenty meters wide and about fifty deep and the floor was dotted with Mesquite trees. Amazingly the worse injuries anybody had from the ambush was a few bruises, the Death Squad had initially failed but she knew enough about them to know that they were professionals, the hunt was far from over and would only end until their pursuers were captured or her and the rest of the team were all dead.
"Anybody want to fill me in?" Chris asked as he hopped off the platform. "Who are those guys?"
"Mercenaries." Abe replied, "Firefight is the leader with Airborne, Boobytrap, Rocket Launcher and Smokescreen as his backup. I tapped into their communications. for a bit and it looks as if we have a sixth player, Firefight referred to himself as Hunter 2 suggesting that he is playing second fiddle, to who I don't know. For now let's just concentrate in getting far enough away from the road."
Firefight felt the need to salute, something he rarely had down even when he had been in the marines as the armoured figure walked up to where he, Smokescreen and Rocket Launcher were sorting through the contacts of the Highway Patrol's Camper Van. He had been relieved to find it hadn't been booby trapped, finding an IED had been his worst nightmare back during service and it was something that still haunted him to this very day.
"Hunter 2 report." the man wearing a ballistic mask ordered.
"No casualties on either side yet Hunter Lead." Firefight replied, "Hunter 3 and 6 are tracking our targets now."
"When they make contact tell me. I have met 'Skylark' before when I served under Director Osborne. Last time she escaped and that action cost me the respect of my men, I plan to pay her back for that action." Hunter 1 replied removing his mask. Firefight winced as he glimpsed his commander's face, the injuries looked painful, no wonder he kept it covered.
Boomerang kept an eye on the sky, from what Abe had shared one of the guys chasing them could fly and she would no doubt be the vanguard for the Death Squad's attack on the Thunderbolts. He was so engrossed with craning his neck that he missed the warning line of disturbed dirt and put his foot down somewhere he shouldn't have. A slight tick caught his attention and he looked down to see his mistake, slowly he activated his rocket boots and jetted backwards, the release of pressure causing the landmine he had been standing on the leap up and explode. Looking around he saw the entire ground in-front of them had been mined.
"Everybody stop the wankers have set up a little trap for us." he yelled as he got higher above the field. Melissa soared up to join him and put a hand over her mouth before silently cursing to herself. The gorge was a prefect trap, any fleeing targets would hide in the crevice and immediately be blown to bits, the area where they had touched down was clear and that only served to increase the worry she felt, Firefight or whoever was in charge had been counting on them to escape the van and find there way in here.
"Melissa get down." Abe yelled and Melissa dived as missiles and canon fire ripped up towards her and Boomerang as a set of remote AA platforms opened fire. Hitting the ground the pair of them looked round to see they had landed in the mine field. Carefully Melissa created a bridge of sonic energy and clambered aboard as Boomerang leapt on after her. "They knew what we would do." Abe stated as he walked across the safe passage his teammate had created. "They knew how we would react. It's clear that somebody has been studying us and our reactions to danger."
"So this wasn't a random meeting then." Chris stated, "These guys came to kill us."
"I would wager so." Boomerang answered, "These blighters are good, they even knew which car we were in." Melissa nodded before looking at Abe, they were both thinking the same thing, somebody had betrayed them but who the rat was and the people they were reporting too where still mysteries. Their silent conversation was interrupted as one of the mines suddenly shot through the sonic road and exploded. Chris reached out with his powers vaporizing the shrapnel but as he did more mines exploded.
"They must have sonic triggers." Abe yelled as he ran away from their landing zone, "We need to fall back." he added as the others followed him. As they ran the mines were joined by flying darts launched from camera operated stations, the tips melting before they could reach their targets or embedding in sonic shields. Dismounting the sonic road at the end Abe kept running, there were no more mines but now they had to deal with strands of razor wire strung up across the path often with grenades hanging from the strands, the shrapnel bouncing off his armor. Slipping past the last obstacle Abe saw salvation, a uni-bomber style shack, not thinking he dived through the window, glass shattering behind him and fell at the feet of a man dressed in black holding a Desert Eagle.
"Hunter 2 this is Hunter 6, one target in sight all others are absent." the man stated, "Hunter 2 come in. Blast it." Cursing Boobytrap removed Abe's faceplate and trained his pistol at the hero. "I'll figure out what you did to my communications later." he added removing the safety on his pistol. Abe quickly shifted and the bullet missed causing Boobytrap quickly spun round as Abe lashed out, the blow kicking him through a table with a laptop on the top showing former news footage of the Highway Patrol in action. Getting to his feet he watched his opponent remove a knife and jab it upwards into his arm. Grimacing Abe removed the knife and plunged it through the computer, the screen sparking as Boobytrap headed for the door. Picking up a second monitor Abe threw the device at the techno-gremlin's head, the blow knocking him to the floor. Grabbing the smaller man Abe cuffed him before tossing him against a large server unit. Turning his attention to the computer Abe picked up the dropped pistol and shot them before watching the computerized traps shutdown.
"Skylark this is Iridium come in." he yelled.
"This is Skylark, we are somewhere in the wire-field where are you?"
"Boobytrap's shack, target is subdued and I have shut down the remote AA system. Fly on in and we'll see if anybody is hurt as well as talk to our very own POW, find out what they know?"
"Sounds good Iridium." Melissa answered.
High above her Airborne broke off and landed on the far side of the gorge before transmitting data to her teammates. So far everything was going to plan, the shack while appearing to be shelter was the biggest boobytrap of all.
"Yes Sir." Hunter 1 replied, "Current SitRep shows that our targets are at point November Fife. We are about to initiate Phase 2 of the attack, we are expecting casualties from our assault."
Back at FACT's headquarters Lane swivelled on his chair to face the man on the screen. "Are plans are on schedule the Death Squad has engaged the Highway Patrol. As expected the heros have led the mercenaries away from populated areas reinforcing our promise of no casualties. And if our agents get out of control we have nanite standbys ready to subdue them. Before we initiate Phase 2 we would ask for approval from you first Mr. Stark."
The man on the screen stroked his chin before nodding slowly. "You have permission to proceed Lane." the man replied, "Be advised that I am five minutes out from the combat zone just in-case you're safeties fail." Lane smiled before shutting down the screen and switching back to the face of Hunter 1, the burnt skin revealing his metal skeleton covered by a few remnants of the US Flag that he had tattooed over his features.
"Nuke skip Phase 2 head for Phase 3 you're about to have company." Lane growled, "From Iron Man."
Thunderbolts #20
The Death Squad is closing in for the kill. Will the Thunderbolts make it out of the 'kill box' while pinned down by several vicious killers. And who will Iron Man side with and will the Highway Patrol's true identities be revealed? Find out in the next issue of the New Thunderbolts.