Chapter 34: Clint's Farmhouse
"Unless your plan is to destroy this realm, it is already too late," Thor said sadly.
"No!" she stopped Bucky or Steve from speaking and re-igniting their feud, "It isn't too late!"
"He could have an entire army under his control by now."
"Shut up and-"
"YOU SHUT UP!" she cut Bucky off with only a tremor of fear. "Yes, he could have an army. You said he only needs to be cut off from them to become mortal again. You weren't being too simple? That's all it would take?"
Thor nodded, "As best I know, yes."
"Sam doesn't have someone to fight. If you two don't start on one another we have three people free, so far as we know. Morris will block my powers. If you three figure out what he's using and disable enough of it, I can take him and Thor through to the Valley. Then you turn it back on- lock me out of the area, seal it off on your end and I do the same thing on mine. Nothing gets in or out unless I say so. Cul's connection to his victims might be cut off, and we might be able to kill him. If not, we leave him there. Lock him in forever. He can't hurt anyone if there's no one to hurt."
"That- that might actually work, right?" Banner looked to Thor- they all did.
He didn't speak, but he considered her words carefully. Then he crossed the room in two great strides and lifted Inessa into a tight hug.
"I'm taking that as a yes."
"Take it as a maybe. We can't count on it until we know for sure if it's working."
"Oh, there it is! I was wondering how long you'd let this happy moment last. Three whole seconds, a Steve Rogers record!" Clint was baffled as Bucky and Steve dissolved into argument once more.
"Gentlemen, lady, it is time." Morris distributed small portions of champagne to all. "You each agreed to this venture for your own reasons- vengeance, duty, a thirst for power. Whatever that reason, you are all poised to achieve your goals tonight. Divide them. Seek out your targets and deliver their souls to the underworld without delay, and without infringing on your teammates kills. As I've said to each of you already- do not savor your kill. Savor the sight of the corpse."
"Berny will make our first move, then quickly extinguish the Falcon. Albatross- remember Natasha's betrayal, her failure. Make her pay with her life. John, the Hulk is a beast, not a human. He left you broken and crippled. He deserves to be put down. Give the world that gift and you will be the hero of Hydra. Cul, for all Odin took from you- your throne, your dignity, your freedom- revenge yourself on his whelp. Let him know the pain of a child's death. Sin, last but never least, your mission is to cripple Tony Stark's suit and destroy the man inside. Prove yourself worthy of your father's legacy."
"Our only way across the border to the farm is to release an EM blast, destroy any electronic device active. Iron Man and the Falcon will likely not be stopped by this. Be ready for all hell to break loose the moment they realize they are under attack. While our devices are activating you will have twenty seconds. So will they. Don't let them confuse you, don't let them switch off with one another. They expect us to attack in the daytime- that's why we're going now. Our plan is sound. We have every advantage.
He raised his glass in a toast, "To the last hours of the Avengers."
Inessa felt something. If she hadn't been looking, mind stretched out in the shadows as far as she could manage she'd never have noticed. Coincidence? Or fate? "It's starting," she broadcast to the entire team and immediately ran to her room to begin changing into her uniform. She wouldn't be much use in an honest fight with the scythes, but maybe her limited training could keep her alive until the boys did their job.
Clint came over the comms from downstairs, "Too late to go to the bathroom?"
"Ready?" Ryker was jittery, anxious to see his foe at last. Twenty minutes. Maybe less. A quick victory.
"Give me a moment," Berny's hands shook slightly as he uncapped the two syringes.
Albatross smiled, "Excited?"
"How could you tell?" he jammed both into his legs and pressed the plungers. The effects would only last a few hours, but they increased the range of his abilities threefold.
He watched the speck of light that was the distant farmhouse, pushed his sight as far as it would go and followed it with his hearing and sense of touch. He kept a hand to the ground now that the empty syringes were in the dirt. "Hold," the Cabal froze. A moment later he could hear the heartbeats from inside the house, see shadows in the windows, fell the tremors in the earth as they walked. He waited, listened, identified the targets, then smiled and withdrew.
"They are divided throughout the farm. Thor and Stark are with the Winter Soldier in the barn. The rest are in the house, separated. Banner and Clint are near the front door. He looked over to John, "So you stay with me."
"Have fun everyone," Morris activated the pulse. The farm went dark.
Berny ran at the house with his bow and arrow in hand the entire way. He used his enhanced senses to locate the structure in the pitch black- then shut down his enhanced hearing seconds before Morris' frequency was activated.
He cleared the porch in one leap. Small lights were coming on inside- glow sticks hastily cracked and tossed about. Berny held up a hand and John stopped behind him, panting and holding his custom weaponry at the ready. He felt the others stop in place, waiting for the first kill as their cue. Berny smiled cheekily to John, took, a breath, then knocked on the door and quickly raised his bow and arrow to the ready.
Clint froze when he heard the knock. Banner jumped to his feet, ready to Hulk-out at a moment's notice. Clint held up a hand to stop him. "Fury?" Banner whispered.
"Better not be. We told SHIELD no agents, it'll only feed Cul." he stared at the door a while, "Bad guys usually don't knock though."
"Your lips to Gods ears." Clint wore his bow, but he had a crossbow in hand too. He lifted it and stepped up to the door. There was a lead weight in his chest. Clint never remembered feeling this afraid in his life.
He put a hand on the doorknob, "Everyone ready?"
"As we'll ever be."
"Especially with Steve leading us."
"BUCKY, CRAM IT."
Clint ignored them and turned then handle. He threw the door open and raised the crossbow. It was Berny's face, not the arrow inches from his eye, that made Clint hesitate despite himself.
"Hello brother," Berny spun immediately and released the arrow into the head of John Ryker. He hit the porch, dead, without so much as seeing Bruce Banner's face. Berny lowered his bow and smiled, "Get my pictures?"
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