Abe ran his hands over the bumper crop of firearms that had been stored in Boobytrap's shack. The selection of weapons would cause even the most die-hard NRA supporter to swoon in excitement even if the majority were foreign imports. While he wasn't a massive fan of guns Abe found himself removing one of the Tech 9s and swapping the ammo for some 'mercy' rounds, the red dot sight and dethatching the silencer from the barrel, while his suit was so primitive and what gadgets he had were still being repaired the pistol would be a handy substitute when confronted with criminals although the riot control rounds were severely outclassed by the live rounds Firefight and his crew would be firing. From the back of the shack a moan sounded and Abe turned round to see Boomerang giving Boobytrap a swift punch in the gut, the later tied to a chair with some electrical wire in an effort to restrain him.
"Who sent you?" Boomerang yelled.
"My name if Corporal Brian Lee, Serial Number #912744." Boobytrap replied.
"Oh give it up." Boomerang answered, "Cooperate and I will stop punching you."
"Relax Boomer." Melissa stated as she sat cross-legged on the roof, "The guy was a former marine, you won't crack him before the rest of his squad come running so save you're energy for the fight that's coming rather then that losing battle." Boomerang glowered at Boobytrap before spitting on him and stalking to the area of the shack that his prisoner had been using as a latrine. Picking up a bottle he left the cabin cursing under his breath as he searched for somewhere to relieve himself.
"Nice guy." Chris commented as he tapped one of the dead computer screens. "Remind me why we are taking him with us."
"Because he is still in play." Abe replied, "FACT will be after him and we want to know who and what they are up to. That and he is exactly like I was five years ago, if there is a chance for him to reform than I think we should push him towards it."
"Yeah right." Chris muttered, "Because he really wants to be a good guy."
"Quiet." Melissa snapped, "I can here something coming in fast from the South West, the same direction that the road is in." she added dropping down into the shack and closing the access hatch behind her. "Somebody grab Boomer I think their coming."
Boomerang filled the bottle and then threw it down the canyon in frustration that he hadn't got the Thunderbolts very own POW to spill his guts. Turning back to look at the shack he saw that Melissa was missing from the roof, no doubt laughing at his failure with the others. With a snort he activated his rocket boots and hovered above the ground so he could look down on the area around the shack. It seemed quiet our in the gorge save for the sound of wind blowing across the cliffs, blinking in the sun he pulled down the visor he wore and looked back towards the mangled smoking remains of the barbed wire that Chris had melted only to see floating static in that area. Reversing his thrusters he landed and ran to the cabin just as Abe opened the doors, his hand clamped round a pistol.
"We have a problem Boss." Boomer stated, "My visor has been compromised, somehow the wankers are blocking the infer-red setting, probably all the others as well." Abe sighed before toggling his own visor settings before removing his face mask and flipping it over to check the electronics.
"Bugger." he shouted, "Smokescreen must be jamming our electronics. Mel I need you to do an acoustic scan of the entire area ASAP."
Melissa concentrated and felt her powers blossom before ebbing away without even being released. Desperately she attempted to form a basic sphere with her abilities only to see a few blue sparks erupt in-front of her before they died out. "Powers are down too." she screamed back at Abe. "And they are coming I can here Airborne deploying the others fifty meters down the gorge."
"Then grab a weapon." Boomerang replied throwing an R4 Vektor Assault Rifle at her, "Better then fighting bullets with fists and feet." Melissa nodded before checking the ammo, counting each of the mercy rounds before replacing the clip. Chris had also picked up a gun, a multiple shot Grenade Launcher, its revolver reload system filled with riot control rounds. "Better but not by much, Rocket Launcher and Airborne are armoured, mercy and riot control rounds won't do much to them."
"Don't worry about that." Boomer said flicking open a pair of thick ended Boomerangs, "These are designed to take down power armor, it should do the trick, you just worry about the other two." His last few words were drowned out by a massive bang that caused the shack to shake and metal debris to flake off the roof as razor sharp shrapnel. Peering out the window Abe saw Rocket Launcher loading a second mortar into the weapon he set off as Airborne dropped Firefight off at the base of the gorge behind a low wooden fence. The armoured villain quickly flew into position and opened fire with a pair of arm mounted laser cannons, the shots burning holes in the roof with a few penetrating the steel sheeting and scorching holes in the earth. Boomerang smiled as he looked up at his target before removing a Shatterang from his belt and throwing it through the broken window, the thrown projectile soaring round and impacting with Airborne's thruster pack sending her crashing into the roof and jetting off the edge, steel plating falling into the shacks interior and clanging nosily onto the floor.
"One bugger down." Boomerang stated smugly.
"But so is our roof." Melissa yelled as Rocket Launcher fired the round curving up before plummeting into the cabin and exploding, the shockwave flinging the Thunderbolts out of the building. Her ears ringing Melissa looked round to see Firefight advance on the group firing a machine-gun as Rocket Launcher switched over to a pair of shoulder mounted RPGs. Angrily she fired the R4, mercy rounds bouncing off the armoured attackers as Abe staggered to his feet dragging one of the steel plates in-front of him before crouching over Chris, the younger man screaming in pain due to the shrapnel fragment sticking out of his hand. "Skylark cover me, I'm going to try and remotely control Oxide's powers see if I can get him to melt the shrapnel." Abe yelled removing one of the flechettes from his armoured elbow plates and sticking the dart into Chris's other arm. Firing back at Firefight, Melissa heard her rifle click as it ran out of ammo, chucking it away she sprung towards her attacker tackling him to the ground and disconnecting his power pack before being tackled by Airborne, the armoured foe slamming her into the walls of the gorge.
Boomerang swore as he came to, he and Boobytrap had been flung out the other way from the others, and while the villain had been tied down inside he had managed to struggle free and was reaching for a knife. Grabbing a Bladerang Boomer drunkenly walked towards his foe before feeling somebody restrain him from behind. Grunting and thrashing he watched as Boobytrap stepped forward blade ready to gut his former captor, a look of satisfaction etched over his face. Sneering back Myers lifted his feet off the ground letting his captor support his weight and activated his boot-jets, blazing gout of energy washing over Boobytrap and propelling him backwards. At the same time Boomerang shot forward, his captor clinging to him as they darted through the remains of the house and shot out the other side slamming into the ground between Melissa and Airborne, a wave of dust covering the combatants.
Abe watched as liquid metal flowed out of Chris's wound, his powers heating the shard up enough to dislodge it enough for his teammate to remove the shrapnel. With a grunt Oxide cradled his arm and looked up at Abe as Rocket Launcher kneeled down and locked onto the shield. Lashing out Chris kicked Abe in the shins as the missiles were released towards them as Abe and his Ad-Hoc shield collapsed onto him, the blast missing them save for a few pieces of shrapnel that bounced off the Iridium armor. "Thanks for the save." Abe wheezed as he helped Chris up to his feet.
"Don't thank me yet." Chris replied pointing up at where Rocket Launcher was reloading his RPGs. Abe knew that this time the missiles might hit and while his armor provided some protection they had no sure fire way to take down their firer. Looking around he saw Melissa desperately pushing back at Airborne while Firefight reattached his power cable while Boomerang rolled in the muck, locked in hand to hand combat with Smokescreen. Looking back up at Rocket Launcher Abe preyed for a miracle, for anything or anybody to intervene just long enough for his team to escape. His prayers appeared to be answered as a bolt of blue lightning blasted down from the sky cracking the cliff and sending Rocket Launcher and a shower of stones tumbling down the side.
"Sir tactical doctrine suggests we regroup." Airborne told Firefight as she held Melissa in her arms as a human shield.
"Hunter 3 is right." Firefight stated, "All Hunter Units withdraw." he ordered as he clipped a guide line onto Airborne's armor followed by Boobytrap. Rocket Launcher just laid on the floor stunned from the destruction of his perch. Smokescreen ran towards them but before she could reach safety she was struck by a Boomerang, the projectile releasing a heavy net that pinned her to the floor.
"Leave them or we won't make it out at all." Boobytrap yelled at Airborne as the red and gold armoured form of Iron Man descended from the clouds. Airborne looked at her fallen comrades as well as the Highway Patrol and their new ally and gunned it, speeding off as fast as she could, the armoured Avenger pursuing her as Boobytrap released a shower of pellets. Iron Man flew through the projectiles before stalling his Repulsors covered in thick adhesive, crashing down in the gorge as the Death Squad flew up and out of the canyon and back towards the road.
Sprinting over to the crash site the Thunderbolts looked down at the fallen Avenger, his armor systems gunked up by the gel. "Oxide we should be far enough from the interference for you to use you're powers. Melt the gel but only that."
"Got it boss." Oxide replied placing one of his hands on Iron Man's shoulders, heat racing through the armor causing the gel to melt even if the surface was charred by the intense change in temperature.
Chris and Myers sat and watched as Melissa and Abe talked to Tony Stark, the three of them occasionally shooting glances at the pair of them before turning back to talk some more.
"What do you think there saying?" Chris asked.
"Beats me but then I'm not that interested." Boomer replied as he reclined on a rock, "How's the hand kid?"
"It hurts but nothing I won't live through." Chris replied, "Why do you care?"
"No reason." Boomerang replied stretching his arms above his head, "No reason at all."
"And then the Death Squad targeted our van." Melissa told Tony, "That's why we figure that this was an assassination attempt. We also assume that their employer has a way to track us because we didn't see any other smoking vehicles by the side of the road."
"Their employer is the same as yours." Tony told them, "FACT hired them to help convince SHIELD that we needed a new prison especially with the completion of the invasion of Utopia. There are plenty of mutant prisoners that we don't think we could hold at the Raft."
"FACT we should have known." Abe moaned, "Hey guys," he yelled at Boomer and Chris, "FACT sent the Death Squad, raise you're hand if you are surprised by this." Boomerang raised his hand before cocking his head and retracting it. "This is the third time FACT has tried to kill us." Abe added, "Once in Vegas and before that in Burton Canyon."
"You were at Burton Canyon?" Tony asked, "So Songbird and the Beetle are working for FACT."
"No they were targets as well." Melissa corrected him, "FACT sent a virus to the city that sent machinery haywire. Revenant was able to track it back to the Raft and decrypted information contained within. MACH V and his armor was the target, they were assigned to kill us and Melissa Gold before letting the pilot take the fall for the attacks."*
(That's bending the truth a bit. Revenant was the cause of the virus as seen in Persona Non Grata I-III)
"I can't believe that." Tony answered, "Why didn't Gold and Jenkins tell us this before they attacked the New Avengers."
"No idea, maybe they were afraid that you wouldn't give them the benefit of the doubt. Plus you would be sending them into the arms of the assassins who were targeting them." Myers butted in, "Listen if you released the Death Squad then are you also able to call them off and send them home."
"FACT has nanite control." Tony answered, "But we may be able to improvise something by studying Rocket Launcher and Smokescreen." he stated gesturing to the two tied up villains.
"What about the sixth member?" Chris asked, "Firefight was taking orders from somebody in the field."
Airborne touched down at the Death Squad's staging area, letting her remaining team mates detach before taking off to refuel her suit. Stalking angrily through the makeshift camp Firefight saw Nuke surveying images taken by his team's armor cameras. Slamming his rifle down Firefight watched as the super soldier turned to face him.
"You failed." Nuke snarled at Firefight, "The Highway Patrol still lives and now they are under the protection of Iron Man."
"You never told us he was coming." Firefight replied.
"You didn't need to know."
"Oh I think we did. You don't complete a mission if you have faulty Intel."
Nuke removed his mask to reveal his scarred face, "Are you a patriot?" he asked Firefight.
"As much as the next average Joe." Firefight answered, "I lost members of my team today, I have never had to leave them behind until this mission."
"I understand." Nuke answered coldly.
"You don't." Firefight spat back, "We are done, I am going to bargain for my comrade's release with everything I have and then I'm going to leave." he announced turning his back on Nuke. It was the last thing he did, Nuke reached out and grabbed Firefight by his neck and ripped his head off before kicking the body down the shallow incline to land at Boobytrap's feet.
"Nobody leaves my unit." Nuke snarled, "I will lead the next assault myself and I don't care who they bring, the targets will be destroyed."
Sitting in the canyon, her arms and legs bound Smokescreen heard the gasps of Airborne and Boobytrap as Firefight's body continued to broadcast what had happened to the Death Squad's leader. Glaring at her captors she quickly decided what she had to do.
"Hey Patrolman." she yelled at Boomerang. "I'll tell you everything you want to know if you let me go." Boomerang cocked his head before looking Smokescreen up and down before turning back to where Abe and Tony were comparing armor. "Start talking," he ordered.
"You're suit it's so primitive, it's not even retro." Tony told Abe as he scanned the Iridium armor. "Is there anything in here that is electronic?"
"Mechanical power was more my thing." Abe replied, "My suit is EMP proof except for the visor and filter systems."
"How do you survive I don't see any weapons at all, no shields it's almost as if you decided to be a bullet shield."
"Oh he is." Melissa answered, "Everyone shoots at him, in-fact I shot him once although it was an accident."
"So are you two dating?" Tony asked looking Skylark up and down, fixing on her tattoo before moving onto her breasts.
"Yes." Abe and Melissa both answered. Tony shook his head before going back to Abe's armor. "Does it fly?"
Abe smiled, "Not yet although I was hoping to have a look at Airborne's thrusters, see if I can't work something out."
"Well I would trade up, even Shockwave and the Beetle have better armor then this although you could equip a lot of people with this, I assume that it's easy to repair and maintain. Is it patented?" Tony asked.
"No." Abe replied
"Well trust me patent it." Tony told him as Boomerang walked over dragging Smokescreen with him. "Huh he's a little bit of a caveman."
"Very funny and I thought I was the joker here." Boomerang snorted, "Boss you may want to here this." he told Melissa as he let go of Smokescreen. "The sixth man is a bloke called Nuke."
Melissa put her hand to her mouth, she knew about Nuke all too well, the last time they met he almost executed her and it was only through the heroic actions of Paladin, Ghost and Headsman that she and Natasha Romanov had escaped. "Fine, start talking and make it quick, we don't have much time."
Thunderbolts #21
It's the last onslaught for the Thunderbolts and their new found ally but what exactly will Nuke throw at them. And how many enemies do the Thunderbolts have in their camp now that Iron Man has arrived. Find out next issue as the Human Prey faces their predators for the last time.