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Chapter 35: Choosing Fights
(In Dracula's castle)
The group attempting to follow the Ripper is having their path blocked by a small army of vampires. They look into the blazing red eyes of several vampires who are snarling like hungry leopards.
"That's a lot of them." Nova gasped. "It doesn't matter how many there are. We have to stop Ripper." Cap said, readying his shield. "Weapons ready?" Iron Man whispered. "Yes sir." The Alpha squad leader whispered back, readying his gun. "F..." Stark started to say when something unexpected happened.
Ripper didn't appear in the room, but his voice filled it while saying something in a foreign language. The vampires screeched louder and each pressed a device on their left wrist. Within seconds each was consumed by a strange material that covered their bodies.
"Holy shit." A Nightstalker gasped.
Each vampire now wore an exoskeleton suit. They are tightly fitted around their wearers to decrease possible deceleration in a vampire's movements. Each is colored blood red with twisting gold markings in the shapes of vines with thorns.
"What are they wearing?" A-Bomb asked. "Some kind of exoskeleton suits. Let me scan the…" Iron Man couldn't finish his sentence as a vampire launched itself/tackled him in the air. "Engage!" Cap quickly said.
The squads and Nightstalkers started firing on the vampires, who charged forward. The bullets bounced off the armor as if they were just pebbles hitting a boulder. This alarmed the group. The heroes charged forward who met the vampires in mid-charge.
"Sc-scanning… Agh!.. The armor is made of metal alloy mixed of titanium and iron. It looks like the work of Leader and Modok!" Iron Man shouted out as he wrestled the vampire soldier. "This couldn't have been... more… simple!" Hawkeye said as he dodged a couple of vampires' attacks as he fired arrows at them. "Nothing's simple soldier!" Cap said as he bashed away another vampire with his shield.
Hulk pummeled through vampires as he fought through their ranks. He struggled as some of them began to throttle his neck. He tried grabbing for them, but they kept out of reach.
"Ne… Need some... Agh!... Gah!.. help!" Hulk choked as he tried to grab the vampire.
Dagger pelted the vampire with her light-made daggers. Her target tried to maneuver out of the way of the projectiles, but moved into the way of Hulk's hands. The green goliath grabbed the vampire and drove him into the ground like a hammer to a nail.
"Thanks kid." Hulk said.
He tore off the mask, revealing the bat-like face he'd seen vampires have. Except these didn't have the dark colorations he'd seen, this one was more pale. The head was almost bone-like.
"Something's wrong! These guys don't look like their normal selves!" Hulk called out. "Normal?!.. Rah! How could these ghouls ever look normal?!" Thor shouted back as he batted away vampires with his faithful hammer.
Hulk couldn't continue studying the vampire as more latched onto his body and began punching him. The green giant grunted in pain as the blows dealt more significant damage than usual. Frankenstein's monster noticed this too as one kicked him in his chest, sending him flying backwards knocking into Red-Hulk.
"Get off me Frank!" Red-Hulk grunted. "These guys are stronger than normal." Frank groaned as he got on his feet.
Frank helped his comrade up and both ran back into the fight. Blade slashed at a vampire with his new sword. He had to put away his silver katana for a sword the scientists among them designed. It's fashioned into the style of a rapier. The dhampir growled in frustration as the sword bounced off the armor.
"I hate this thing! Why couldn't you have applied your science to my katana?!" Blade yelled in anger. "It was armed with silver. It wouldn't have made for a good combination!" Iron Man called as he shot his new repulsor blasts at the vampires.
Blade grunted in frustration and continued to slash at the armored vampires.
"We have to get the armor off! That's the only way we'll be able to use our weapons!" Widow called out as she dodged and evaded a vampire's strikes. "You heard her! Try to rip the armor off!" Cap called out.
Werewolf by Night tackled two vampires and grabbed their chest plates with his 'paws' and ripped them off. He pushed the button on another device on his wrist. In just moments, these strange looking metal objects covered his razor-sharp claws. He swiftly, yet gently dug them into the vampires' skin. The vampires grunted in slight pain. He had sedated them, only just to keep them asleep. The weapons designed by the scientists use the concentrated gamma radiation to keep the vampires from being active. It hurts for the first few seconds, but the sedation kicks in.
"It works!" Jack called out before leaping at another vampire. "Good work guys!" She-Hulk called out as she traded blows with a few vampires. "We don't have time for this; we have to get to Ripper!" White Tiger snarled as she dug her claws into a vampire's skin. "She's right! We have to keep moving!" Steve shouted as he blocked a vampire's attacks with his shield.
Hawkeye spotted a door at the other end of the room. The mass of vampires together earlier blocked his vision.
"There's a door at the other end!" Clint shouted as he continued to fire arrows in several directions. "Some of us have to choose to stay here and fight these guys!" Widow shouted as she fired her 'wrist blasters' at a vampire. "Cloak, Dagger, and I will stay here!" Squirrel Girl called out. "The Howling Commandos will continue the fight here!" Werewolf by Night shouted. "The Alpha, Beta, and Giga squads will hold our position here!" The Alpha squad leader shouted. "Me and Red will stay!" She-Hulk shouted. "Everyone else, let's go!" Iron Man shouted.
The two teams dispersed and continued on with their missions. As vampires tried to block the advancing group's run for the door, Strange lifted his hands. They glew with yellow energy which also encircled the vampires trying to cut off their run. The sorcerer launched them to the other side of the room, hitting the other vampires still fighting. The advancing group ran through the door. When the vampires attempted to follow after getting up, they found their path blocked by those who chose to stay and fight them.
"Great! Now what?!" Hawkeye growled as the y came to a 'fork in the road'.
Before them laid two sets of stairs, both leading up higher but in two different directions.
"Which way do we go?" Hulk mumbled.
Wolverine and Zabu sniffed the air. Their eyes opened in surprise. Logan pointed to the stair set on the left.
"I smell Webs's scent coming from this stair set." Logan said. "Peter!" Tiger shouted as she attempted to run up those steps, but Fist stopped her by grabbing her hand. "Let me go!" Tiger snarled. "We need to be cautious, my friend." Iron-Fist replied calmly. "He's right, we have to be careful." Hulk said.
Tiger growled in annoyance. Cap thought for a moment.
"Logan and Hulk, you two take Iron-Fist, Kazar, and Nova up to find Peter. The rest of us will track Ripper." Cap said. "What?! I promised..." White Tiger started to growl when Cap interjected by calmly saying, "Please White Tiger, we all know that's not why you want to find him... It's ok… You'll reunite with him... But we have to complete the mission. We have to choose our fights wisely." "… Fine… And it is because I made a promise to his aunt… That's why I want to find him…" She mumbled. "Thank you." Rogers replied with relief. "Let's go!" Iron Man said.
The two squads parted and ran up the stair sets.
To be continued…