Avenging

Act 5

Chapter 10

Welcome to Bitterfrost

Part 2

Any and all C+C appreciated. You can contact me at:

tsommer

All the previous chapters and my other works are stored at:

At :

www. fanfiction

Standard disclaimer: I don't own any of the Marvel characters or other characters from the numerous animes which are within.

Here's a great reference guide for many characters and objects in the Marvel Universe.

www marvunapp com /Appendix /index. htm

Last Chapter: Thanks to events unfolding as they did, Councilwoman Ariyoshi is forced to consider dealing with the Russian mob for power armor for Kerberos. At the same time Iron Rose has discovered information on where her brother, Silver Samurai, is and how to bring him down.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Black Lagoon made its way across the Siberian tundra. It was an all-terrain armed personnel carrier, vaguely similar in appearance to a World War II patrol boat, sold by AIM. It was designed as a hovercraft that could traverse any terrain. This one had been modified with additional armor and weaponry, giving it three times its initial firepower, which was sufficient to destroy just about any vehicle on any terrain, as had been proven by its crew over the years.

Travelling behind it was another vehicle, which resembled a hovering platform. Clearly it was a transport of some kind, since it was little more than a large flat bed with an engine.

The pair of vehicles continued across the wasteland, encountering nothing. The land was as inhospitable as any in the world. The air was cold, the sort of cold that ensured all water in the clime would never know a liquid state ever again. It was also flat, as though god had stomped on it so one could gaze in any direction unimpeded as far as the naked eye could see.

The monotony was broken when a small building appeared in the distance. It was as non-descript as a structure could be: just a single story, mid-sized building of concrete with a slanted roof. There were no windows, just several doors, including one for larger vehicles. It could have been used for anything, as long as the function had no need of personality, bright color, or any emotion in general.

The Black Lagoon pulled to a stop several meters before the building, turning off its hoverjets and landing on the frozen ground that composed the tundra. The platform behind it did the same. After several moments, five figures exited the vehicle.

The first to emerge was a very large man in a black uniform that covered his entire body, including his face. Red gloves and a red belt with pouches were the only part of his outfit that broke the all black color scheme. Two sticks, each nearly a foot in length, were attached to the belt.

The second was a woman dressed in a full body uniform as well. It was mostly white with some blue around the arms, legs, neck, and head. A skull face mask gave her an intimidating visage. A brown ponytail stuck out of a hole in the back of her head covering. A pair of guns were in holsters under her arms, while two more were at her belt.

The third came out in a parka and snow pants. He was male, of average height and weight, with a bit of blond hair poking out from under the hood over his head. He was unremarkable in any way, especially when compared to his more gaudily dressed compatriots.

The fourth was followed closely by the fifth. This one was a blonde woman also in a parka and appropriate winter gear. She too was blonde, and would be considered attractive by most, until they looked into her ice blue eyes. There was something about them that telegraphed she was different from most, and in a very fatal way. The eyes of an alpha predator, but one that was in control. Upon realizing that, most wouldn't consider her attractive at all, save those that were into that sort of thing. Aside from those eyes she was as common in appearance as the third member of the group.

The fourth one was also female, extraordinarily attractive, dressed in a parka, furry white boots with black stripes, and nothing on her legs. The revealed flesh showed they were shapely, well-toned, and curiously not turning blue and frostbitten, which is what normally happened to skin exposed to those sorts of elements north of the Arctic Circle.

Steam rose from the mouth of the one in the skull mask. "I gotta tell you, Dutch, that doesn't look like a lab filled with a bunch of power armor. It looks like a shed in the middle of nowhere. And it's cold enough my nipples could cut glass."

The large man turned to the woman with the ice blue eyes.

She answered the question, "The power armor should be stored in the sub-sections of the base. It was meant to look basic and standard so as not to invite attack. Bitterfrost's reputation was well-earned. Many weapons of the Soviet war machine came from here. I should know. I used many of them."

"I thought you were one of them, Balalaika," the skull masked woman said.

"It's Firefox when we're out in the field," she replied. "It's more appropriate using my old code name since we're revisiting my old life." For a moment a brief glimmer of the past haunted her cold eyes, and emotion broke through. Then the moment passed, and she was composed of an even colder ice than the type that surrounded them.

"We should all use our code names since we're on a mission," the girl lacking pants said enthusiastically. She pointed to the first three to emerge from the craft. "So now we're Bloodstain, Enforcer, Microchip, Firefox and Dragon Pink." She pointed to herself to indicate it was her name.

The others stared at her curiously, even the normally unflappable Firefox.

"There's nothing about you that's draconic in any way, shape, or form, Pink," Microchip told her.

"Maybe 'The Pink Cat' or 'Pink Kitty," Bloodstain suggested.

"How about 'Well Pounded Pussy', or 'Spread 'Em Wide Girl'?" Enforcer laughed uproariously at her joke.

Pink pouted. "I want to be taken seriously as hired muscle ,so I need an intimidating name to go with it. Dragon sounds powerful."

Firefox spoke in a tired voice. "We had this discussion before I would let you come on the trip. You only get to be hired muscle when I need you. The rest of the time you're still a prostitute."

"Aww. I want to be respected and tough. No one respects a hooker. I don't want to be known as 'the hot cat girl with the tits', for the rest of my life."

Firefox said, "Learn to use two guns at once and you can be known as 'the hot psycho with the tits', instead."

"Hey!" Enforcer snapped.

"We should pay closer attention to the business at hand," Bloodstain said, removing the sticks from his belt and firmly gripping them in his hands.

Enforcer went for the guns holstered under her arms, one in each hand as well. Rather than any type of normal firearm, they were clearly high tech, with large barrels and no visible magazines. She looked at them and frowned under her mask. "I hate these things. Give me my Cutlass's any time."

"Revy, if things go south, we're going to need your firepower, and those are perfect for the job," Bloodstain reminded her. "The defenses here are automated, and we need something that will disrupt electronics as well as shatter mechanisms."

"I've got modified ammo that can do that," she said.

"And how much can you carry? Those things have more shots and can recharge. Hydra knew what they were doing when they made those. Besides, if you had your heart dead set on your regular guns, you could have been brought them as your backups."

"Ha! There're too many 'invulnerable' super types around. Sometimes the modified ammo works and sometimes it doesn't. Remember Iron Curtain? Emptied every type of round I had and nothing. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't managed to jam the grenade launcher in that oversized mouth of his. I don't go anywhere without at least one sidearm that paralyzes tissue. Skin might be tank proof, but it's still got nerve endings. This baby takes care of that." She tapped one of the holstered sidearms with the butt of a gun.

"You could have ditched the other one. It's useless"

Enforcer was aghast. "Useless? Are you nuts? My grapple gun has pulled my hide out of tons of situations. You never know when you need to swing out of danger, like Arachnaman."

"I think it's Spider Man," Microchip said.

"When you're named after a bug, what difference does it make what kind of bug it is?"

"So how do we approach this?" Bloodstain asked Firefox.

"What we do is wait for two more people to show up before we can enter. They should be here shortly. In fact…." She stared off in the sky in the distance. "One is approaching even now."

The others looked in the same direction she did, but saw nothing. Enforcer was on the verge of making a snide remark when they noticed a small green dot, flying through the air, approach. Slowly it grew larger and larger until it became evident it was a giant figure in green power armor flying via boot jets.

The man landed with a roar amongst the group. He was huge, towering around eight feet tall, and weighed nearly a ton with the armor he wore. It was simple in design, though heavily armored. The helmet was designed to extend past the faceplate, which was painted black, making it appear featureless save for two glowing lights which looked like eyes. Whatever weapons systems it had were in-built and not obvious. Given the size it looked like it could hurl a tank, probably one in each hand.

Firefox approached him. "Comrade Bullski, it is good to see you again."

"And you as well, Comrade Pavlova." He saluted.

Microchip snapped his fingers. "You're Titanium Man. You're part of Remont 4."

"No longer!" he snapped. "For far too long I held out hope my motherland would come to its senses and embrace communism once again. It is the only reason I remained in the hollowed-out shell of what was once the greatest land in the world. But it is obvious we have abandoned our way, and all is lost." He turned to Firefox. "You were right the whole time, Comrade. I am only sorry it took me so long to realize the obvious. Now I live only for revenge. It is the decadent Americans' fault that our great country was brought low. I will be instrumental in their downfall."

"Darn capitalism," Enforcer said.

Before Titanium Man could decide if she was being serious or mocking him, Firefox spoke, "Do you have the data?"

"Yes, though I was required to execute many traitors before the general would give up the information. Then I executed him. It was liberating, as well as serving to cut my ties forevermore." He handed a small portable hard drive to the woman. "In exchange I am to receive what was referred to as the Credit Card Armor that is reputed to be stored here."

"Of course." Firefox brought out a second portable hard drive from her own pocket.

"I thought you hated capitalism," Pink said. "Why do you want credit cards?"

The armored man clenched his fist, the sound of metal grinding against metal filling the still air. "It is all part of a plan I have. I will recruit former American soldiers, abused and neglected by their own motherland, as Comrade Pavlova was, and reveal to them it is their disgusting billionaire elitists that ruined their lives and country. I will provide them with the technological means to wreak havoc with their banks, and even Wall Street itself. They are the proletariat that are deserving of the pigs' money. I have even chosen a name, 'Green Liberation Front', for the cause. And is there a reason you aren't wearing pants?"

"It saves the guys time so they can dive right in," Enforcer quipped.

"Just take my advice and disguise yourself," Firefox said. "Americans rarely embrace communism openly, and you are an icon for that bygone era. Now we wait for one more. Then we can begin."

Three minutes later that one more arrived. There was a golden glow that emanated out of nowhere, and a sparkling figure began to materialize in the middle of it. In less than a second, a man in silver armor, stylized in samurai fashion, appeared in the middle of it.

Firefox again took the lead. "Welcome, Silver Samurai."

He bowed in greetings before the woman. "Your beauty is like the rising of the sun, Balalaika"

Enforcer said, "Don't fall for it. She's had so much work done she's practically all plastic."

"I'm all natural," Pink provided.

Seeing the attractive cat girl, Silver Samurai bowed again. "Another dazzling damsel. I find myself besieged by beauty in all directions and taking delight in the onslaught. Why aren't you wearing pants?"

"I'm not coming up with another snappy retort," Enforcer said. "Can we get on with this, or are the entire Magnificent Ten going to show up next?"

Firefox said, "I'll need the data Mantis gave you."

Silver Samurai pulled out another portable drive and handed it to her. She in turn handed them to Microchip. "This should get us inside the base. They are the entry codes. If they don't work, try hacking past them, though I warn you Gargoyle was a genius. If you can't get them open, we'll try blasting our way in. That will also activate any defenses he has, so expect trouble from that moment on."

"That could end up damaging the merchandise," Bloodstain warned.

"Which is why I went to such great lengths to obtain the entry codes," Firefox explained.

They allowed Microchip a few moments to download the information on his handheld computer. Once he had the information on it, the group trudged through the snow and approached the main door of the building. Once there, Microchip said. "I don't see any access ports."

"Voice verification is necessary." She spoke to the building as though it was a person rather than unliving mortar. "Captain Sofiya Pavlova, code 422KJ0."

A part of the wall next to the door retracted and was replaced by a computer pad with a port next to it. Microchip examined it for a moment. "Okay, I see the adaptor I have to use." He brought it out, attached it to his computer, then attached it to the port. He typed in a few commands, and the sound of heavy metal scraping came from behind the door. Everyone was tensed, weapons aimed at the doorway as it automatically opened.

Nothing else happened.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Bitterfrost," Firefox announced.

Beyond the doorway was a featureless hallway with another, more standard metal door at the end. Firefox walked into the building as though she owned it. The others looked at each other, then followed, Titanium Man having to bend over to keep from scraping his head against the ceiling. The sound of their feet reverberated in the hallway. Silence made it feel like a tomb despite the hallway being well-illuminated from florescent lights embedded in the ceiling.

Firefox opened the door at the end, then walked into a larger hallway with more doors branching off along its length. With purpose, she continued to the end, and opened that one into a stairway which led down. Again, the group followed in her wake.

At the end of the stairs was another door, this one leading to a huge warehouse-sized storage area filled with a variety of items. Spread throughout the space were machines that could manufacture a wide array of products, from electronics to metal work to everything in between. There were shelves with boxes, crates, vehicles and parts for them. Unidentifiable pieces of equipment were all around, but organized. It was like a musty Radio Shack, if they had a branch in the middle of nowhere.

Everyone looked around, assessing the room, each coming to their own personal conclusions, but all agreeing there was no obvious threat. They noted that the interior was a comfortable temperature, a stark contrast to the exterior, and a bit curious since the place was supposed, and appeared, to be abandoned. They took off their winter gear, with Firefox revealing an old Soviet style captain's uniform, Microchip in casual street clothes, and Pink in a skimpy black and white tunic that barely extended past her bottom and had a huge' V' down the middle showing off a lot of ample cleavage. The cat ears on top of her head twitched from being freed from their confines.

"Ooo. Guns." Enforcer went to a rack that held a variety of unique rifles, not one of them looking remotely conventional.

"Ooo. Restraints." Pink went to a table that held a variety of high-tech devices that were clearly meant to detain unwilling individuals.

"I see no swords, though none would surpass my own impressive blade," Silver Samurai pulled his sword from the scabbard to allow his temporary allies to grow envious of his superior weapon.

The others remained focused on their reason for being there. "Where's the power armor stored?" Bloodstain asked Firefox.

Her eyes scanned the room, and consternation furrowed her brow. "This isn't right."

"This is the wrong lab?" Titanium Man asked.

"No. This is Bitterfrost. I've been here before. But there should be far more equipment here. More results from Gargoyle's labors for our lost country. He worked here for decades. Produced many wondrous things."

"There are things here," Microchip mentioned.

"This is a showpiece." Firefox looked about, then focused on the bespectacled man. "If you were an inventor and only wanted to show some of your creations, where would you store the ones you didn't want anyone to know about?

Microchip scratched his head and began to walk around the room. He continued speaking as he moved, "How often do I have unwanted guests?"

"Never. No one wanted to visit Gargoyle for anything other than official business. Either because he told them he had completed a weapon for them, or an obligatory visit to tell him he was doing great work. In either case he was always informed in advance. His only staff were robots he created, no humans. It was a testament to how much he unsettled the leadership that he was given the largely free reign that he had. He never complained, always delivered, and never caused trouble or questioned his commands, so he was mostly left to his own devices."

Microchip nodded. "Then I won't need to worry about someone doing an intensive search of the place unless I give them a reason. I'll want to make access easy for myself. Conceal it just good enough so no casual observation can stumble across it. I like inventing, can do my own thing most of the time except when the bosses need something."

He began walking around the walls as best as he could, looking at where wall joined floor. "It's got to be underground. There has to be some sort of doorway."

"I will take care of this," Titanium Man declared. "Stand clear!"

Once everyone did, he raised his arm and shot an energy beam from his hand into the wall, knocking a chunk out of it, revealing nothing but more rock behind it.

"You do that enough and you'll bring this place down around our ears," Enforcer warned, fingering one of her sidearms in case he took offense to the comment.

"Indeed," Firefox agreed. "There must be a more efficient method."

"I could use my sword. It can cut through anything." Silver Samurai swung the weapon, leaving a glowing trail of energy behind.

"Not what I meant." Firefox released a sigh.

"I could use my feline senses," Pink said, pointing at her ears. "Just rap on the wall heavily, but not so much you chip more than a little concrete."

Titanium Man did as she requested. He had gone over nearly half the room when Pink told him to stop. However rather than point at a wall, she looked at a section of floor. "Step on it like you did before."

The armored Soviet did so. Pink pointed to the spot. "It's hollow."

Titanium Man stomped his foot through the floor, knocking a hole in it. When he retracted his leg, the others could look down into a very wide and tall passageway that led downward. Rather than steps, it was sloped. Silver Samurai cut the hole more evenly with his energy sword, allowing everyone easier access to the lower level. As they dropped down and entered the passage, lights came on.

Firefox examined the walls, which were rough and barely hewn from rock. "This appears to be a mostly natural passage. He must have stumbled on it when making the lower storage area we were in."

"Let's see where it goes." Enforcer had both her energy weapons drawn and took the lead, not so much heedless of the danger, but rather eagerly hoping to find some so she could put many holes in it.

They continued downward for a surprisingly long distance. Titanium Man said according to his armor they were nearing 600 meters when the passageway opened up.

As they entered the area, all of them froze in shock. It was a huge cavern, which would have been amazing enough, but there was also what was unmistakably a small city in the middle of it. One giant stone column, that appeared to be a natural form, like a stalactite, was in the center of the city and it had been built around it. It appeared to be the largest support for the huge underground area. There was no sign of life within it, nor did its architecture resemble anything the others had seen before. It was quite plain, and colors sedate. Likewise, it appeared basic, as though it was nothing more than a series of stone buildings that had allowed people to live in it.

Everyone was in awe. Enforcer was the one who broke the silence. "Damn, that guy sure was busy."

"This is impossible," Firefox declared. "He did not have the resources to build anything like this. He would have needed the government to do this, and if they had built an underground city, they would never have abandoned the base. This makes no sense."

Microchip looked closely at the structures. "None of it looks modern or recent. He was an inventor of technological marvels. Anyone with enough time and material could have constructed something that's as basic in design as this. I can't see a recluse who makes gadgets squandering time making a city for him to use alone. It's not like he was inviting friends over for parties."

"It almost feels Lovecraftian," Bloodstain said.

"Maybe he found it already under his base and decided to use it?" Pink suggested.

"Who the hell would build an underground city, Pussycat?" Enforcer asked.

She began ticking off the potentials on her fingers. "Aliens that want to conquer the Earth and need a headquarters. Atlanteans. Mole People. Lava Men. The list is endless," Pink said.

"Your STDs are making you stupid," Enforcer informed her.

"It doesn't matter," Firefox said in a tone that informed both women the discussion was over. "The fact is there is a city before us, and regardless of its origins, Gargoyle undoubtable used it for his own designs. We will find everything we seek in this place."

"It's… big," Microchip said. "It might take us a while to find what we're looking for."

"We could split up and cover more ground," Bloodstain suggested.

"And get picked off one by one by some hidden killer? Not a chance." Pink shuddered.

"For once, the 'ho and I agree," Enforcer said. "Not that I can't handle myself, but if there are some kind of protective devices, like robots programmed to blast intruders or some mutated guard dog that looks like a triceratops or something, I'd prefer facing it as a group."

"A wise precaution," Firefox agreed. "It will take longer, but there is safety in numbers when traveling in potentially hostile territory."

"With the blade of the Silver Samurai at your disposal, all foes will meet defeat." He raised his weapon high in the air.

"Then you get to take the lead," Enforcer said, brandishing her own weapons. The shiny villain was delighted at being assigned the task of encountering any foes or traps first.

As the group made their way toward the city, Firefox said to Enforcer, "By the way, Lava Men tried invading the Soviet Union back in '52."

"You're making that up."

"When Maly Semyachik erupted it was the invasion route they used." Titanium Man confirmed, "It was a glorious victory for the motherland in repelling foreign invaders."

Pink stuck her tongue out at Revy, which was met with a middle finger in return.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"We need to hurry! If Silver Samurai slips through our fingers again, we may never find him!"

In the pilot's chair, Iron Rose turned the engines on with full afterburners as the Avengers Quinjet sped over Siberians skies like a silver bullet shot out of a mass driver. It was the maximum speed the vehicle could attain, and still she felt like she was moving at a snail's pace. Why did another country have to be so far away? Why couldn't she have spent time working on a device that could fold space, like the Silver Samurai's ring? Clearly, they needed to find someone with teleportation and add them to the Avenger's roster. Only it was too late to do them any good.

A full compliment of Avengers resided in the passenger section of the ship, most worried about their teammate's near mania. Glances were exchanged between the concerned parties. Finally, Bucky spoke.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be risking an international incident like this? It's not like we have permission from the Russian government to go wandering into their airspace. They kind of get all 'act of war' when stuff like that goes down."

"We violated Chinese airspace when bringing down the Mandarin," Iron Rose pointed out, still focused on the skies ahead and how much distance remained.

"We were a lot more stupid back then," Bucky countered.

Iron Rose ground her teeth behind her helmet. This was all that idiotic Silver Samurai's fault. Her original plan had been to be lying in wait for when he arrived in Bitterfrost. With the entire team present, his downfall would have been guaranteed. Unfortunately, that plan went to hell when Chameleon had contacted her an hour ago and informed her that the timetable had been moved up so that he'd be arriving at the base within the next two hours. That meant Iron Rose would almost certainly get there after he arrived. While that was inconvenient, the real issue was in confronting him before his ring had recharged and allowed him to flee in an instant. So she had summoned the Avengers with an alpha priority signal and by chance all of them had shown up. Even the Hulk, who had been trying to locate Avengers Mansion because he was hungry and ever faithful Sasuke would always supply him with unlimited beans and plenty of American game shows.

But now she found herself confronted with this negative attitude. Why couldn't they blindly trust her when important matters came up? She needed to enlist someone on her side. At least the choice was easy given the subject matter of the mission.

The armored Avengers turned to Wasp. "You were correct in that we have left too many of our nefarious foes running about, and we were long overdue in collecting them for the authorities to punish. I've been trying to track down some of them and came across vital information on Silver Samurai and feel we need to bring him to justice right now. This might be our only chance to do it."

The fires of conflict were lit, more than usual, in the diminutive Avenger's eyes. "You're absolutely right. I'm sure if the Russian authorities find out why we're here, they'll be happy we brought in a Japanese super villain that had been operating on their soil. Why, we might even be heroes in their eyes for stopping a menace like that. We have to do this!"

"Hulk is up for smashing stupid swordsman." Mostly because once they did, he could eat. They had departed before Tiny Mouse Man could feed him.

Thor weighed in. "The sounds of battle have been missing too long from mine ears. Let the clash of arms ring nigh."

Daredevil nodded. "If we grabbed the Swordsman… I mean Silver Samurai, he could tell us who really killed the Shinsengumi. Ariyoshi threw a lot of heat our way over that, claiming we had something to do with it. Even though we were officially cleared by the police, having one of the bad guys point the finger conclusively at someone else would go a long way to making her eat crow."

That was enough for Hawkeye. "I'm with Daredevil."

Tigra shrugged. "Have fur to keep warm. Siberia too, too cold this time of year. All year, actually. All centuries if one think about it. Probably last time warm when everything Pangea."

Since everyone else was on board, Bucky shrugged. "I'm all for bringing Shiny Butt down. I'm just pointing out we might get some flak over it."

"This craft has some of the most advanced stealth technology on Earth. It is all but imperceptible to any form of detection," Iron Rose boasted.

"The last time you said that we got shot down by the Mandarin," Bucky reminded her.

Iron Rose went to pouting behind her helmet.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Upon approaching the coordinates, the Avengers could see the vehicles parked outside the small structure in the middle of the icy plain.

"Blast!" Iron Rose spat. "We're too late. At least we can be relatively sure he hasn't left yet, otherwise the vehicles would be gone."

Bucky pondered the situation as the Quinjet landed. "Got any idea who the hostiles are besides Silver Samurai?"

"The information I received was not that specific. Just that it was the branch of the Russian Mob known as Hotel Moscow."

As the door descended, Thor smiled. "It matters not. The full might of the Avengers can be brought to bear upon whatever foes await. They will not prevail."

Hulk said, "And if they do, then Hulk will smash."

Bucky rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we're good at winging it."

They approached the building, Iron Rose in the lead and moving faster than caution warranted.

"Nice of them to leave the door open." Hawkeye had an arrow nocked in her bow.

Daredevil extended his senses beyond the door. "I've got nothing."

Tigra said, "Have big cargo machine. They here to pick up stuff. Might be prepared for trouble, but not expecting to find it. Otherwise leave guards."

"We are out in the middle of nowhere at a base that was supposed to be abandoned years ago," Wasp pointed out.

"We're on the clock, people," Iron Rose said. "I don't want to find Silver Samurai just to have him wink out of existence as soon as we lay eyes on him." And so she entered the structure.

Bucky stared at the direction the armored Avenger had gone. "What's up with her? She's acting like Shiny Butt owes her boss money."

"I think it's a refreshing change of pace that someone's taking bringing in super villains so seriously." Wasp flew quickly, intent on catching up with her teammate.

The others followed, though Tigra hung towards the back with Bucky. She sidled up to the redhead. "Know what mean. Shellhead act like this personal, but not know why since she not act like that about Shiny Butt before."

Bucky shrugged. "It's not like we have any reason to pry. She'll tell us when she feels like it. Nice to see you using my nickname for that idiot."

"Has too, too nice ring to it." She gave Bucky a toothy smile, toothy as in fanged. But as the redhead turned her attention to what lay ahead, Tigra's eyes glimmered in thought.

The team went through the base, seeing nothing until they got to the storage area underneath the base. There they spotted the large hole sliced into the floor. Iron Rose made a closer examination of it. "These cuts are consistent with Silver Samurai's weapon. He went this way."

Again, they set off down the trail, stopping only when they entered the massive cavern housing the city inside. Their reaction was much the same as their predecessors.

"Oh my god!" Hawkeye said in awe.

The sight made even Iron Rose momentarily forget her obsession. "How can there be an entire city down here?"

Bucky gave a derisive snort. "Evil super villain masterminds always got stuff like this. There're underground cities all over the place. Aliens, both outer space and extradimensional, make them for invasions. Atlanteans. Subterraneans. If there was an active volcano around, I'd say Lava Men built it."

"That's absurd!" Iron Rose said.

"Indeed." Thor nodded in agreement. "Atlanteans had but one underground city and they still inhabit it. Mostly they live in underwater cities on the ocean bottom. Lermurians live there as well and are often mistaken for them. You can tell the difference because Lemurians are green and scaly."

"And you know this how?" Iron Rose asked.

"Neptune, the obnoxious Olympian, always boasts how he has the most worshippers left and talks about them all the time. Having followers is passé. Do you see myself insisting mortals should go about throwing themselves to the ground, prostrating themselves before me and crying out mine name? I say thee nay. The power in my arms and Mjolnir is sufficient for me."

"Thank you for clearing that up," the armored Avenger stated dryly.

"Mine pleasure."

Iron Rose gave up. "Let's not worry about where the underground city came from and focus on where Silver Samurai went. Again, there is a time issue. While I long to say' let's split up', given what happened with Kang I say we err on the side of caution and stick together to face both him and whatever company he's keeping."

Agreement reigned, and the group went down into the city. Despite it being in a cavern, the city's construction made the streets narrow and buildings so close they were practically on top of one another, perhaps because it never had much room to expand and the builder had been mindful of the fact. The group noted the city itself had an aura of antiquity around it, as though it had lain there for millennia rather than the Russians having constructed it a few decades ago.

The search quickly proved fruitless as there was no indication of where their foes had gone. At one point Wasp suggested causing a disturbance to gain their attention, but the others preferred having the chance to ambush them rather than being ambushed by their enemies.

As the group passed a building, Tigra broke away from her companions and looked at the rock in front of it. "Something big move past here. It scrape rock. It not new, but not old."

Offered a break in the monotony, the group entered, Tigra in the lead since she had been the one to spot the clue.

Inside was a modern-day lab, complete with computer banks and several machines which only Iron Rose could fathom. The purpose of the lab seemed to be centered on a what appeared to be a slender piece of computer board, about the size of a credit card, held between two metal clamps.

Iron Rose activated the power to the lab, and to her delight everything started up. Once the main computer booted up, she examined its ports, determined which type it was, then had her armor configure an adaptor to interface with it. The adapter sprang from its housing in the back of her gauntlet and she inserted it into the port. Information began scrolling across her heads up display and she spoke aloud for her comrades' benefit.

"The encryption on this is dated. It should only take a moment to pierce it. There we are. Now let's see what we can learn about this place." She then went silent as her mind focused on absorbing the data being sent to her. Then she gasped, "Impossible!"

"What's impossible?" Wasp asked as the others looked on in concern.

Iron Rose went to the card and removed it from the clamps. She examined it for a second, then set it on the floor. She took a step back, then sent a transmission to it. There was a brief surge of movement, and then, almost as if it was unfolding, the card grew until a dark green set of basic power armor stood before them, devoid of anyone inside it.

"Did that just grow like Wasp?" Hawkeye asked.

"No," Iron Rose said as she sent another transmission which returned it to its original state. "It was able, and I'm not quite sure how, to digitize matter and store it in the 'credit card' armor. It was literally converted to digital information. Whoever made this was a genius. I'd have to study the interaction of the various energy fields for a while to grasp the science behind it. I know Reed Richards has written a paper or two on the idea of digitizing matter, but it didn't go this far." She looked around the room, then found a storage container with several other Credit Card Armors and stored them in the pod unit at her hip. She then stood motionless, her mind racing.

Wasp prodded her. "We really need to find our opponent."

That shook Iron Rose out of her reverie. "Oh, yes, very important matters at hand. Silver Samurai. There was nothing in here that can help us find them, I'm afraid. The only information had to do with this project, no layouts or diagrams of the city or any likely locations they might be. We should continue searching."

And so, the group did, time passing and Iron Rose growing increasingly agitated. More than an hour had passed. Her brother could have absconded anywhere and her opportunity to bring him to justice missed. There was no telling when Chameleon would be able to find the next location Tatewaki teleported to, or if she and the Avengers would be there in time to capture him.

The group walked to one of the few larger public areas in the city when another group emerged from an open doorway opposite them. Each of the people bore at least one very bulky, dated outfit of power armor. One even wore a unit while carrying a second. A large man encased in a huge set of dark green power armor, and a man in a black outfit, each had two slung over their shoulders. Only a woman in a blue and white uniform with a skull mask had hands that were empty.

The cat girl of the group said, "You are going to carry one next time, Enforcer. It's going to take forever as it is moving all of these without you helping out."

Enforcer said, "You need somebody with their hands free in case of trouble, and I'm the one that can deal the best with it." She spotted the Avengers across the way. "See?" And drew two identical guns from her shoulder holsters.

"Finally!" Iron Rose aimed a repulsor at the target that had her total attention: Silver Samurai, which was why two bulky power armors slammed into her, rather than her getting out of their way. They struck with such force she was knocked backward head over heels.

Titanium Man shouted, "Decadent capitalist! Now you will face the unfettered fury of the pinnacle of Soviet technology!" He aimed both hands at her fallen form, and a tremendous burst of energy erupted from them.

Iron Rose had just started to return to her feet when the bolts slammed into her, knocking her out of the plaza altogether and causing her to sail through the air like a black and grey missile. Titanium Man activated his boot jets to pursue her.

And that initiated the battle. Thor chose the man in black, who appeared to the be the strongest of their remaining foes. As she rushed to him, he tossed away the suits of power armor he had been carrying as though they were weightless and grabbed two sticks that had been attached to his belt. As he gripped them, a pair of axe blades composed of pure energy surged from them. A weapons user. Fortune favored her, since he would not fare well against the might of Mjolnir.

She swung said hammer at him, but he blocked the blow with both axes. She noted that regardless of his successful parry, the strength in her arms should have at least driven him back, if not tossed him aside. But he had stood his ground, legs only buckling slightly. He was quite strong.

Now it was his turn to attack, which he did. But over the years Thor had become acquainted with dual weapon users, ever sacrificing the superiority of a single weapon by trying to use simultaneous vectors to attack. She would guard against the attacks until he exhausted himself enough to leave an opening. The splitting of concentration and necessity of constantly attacking always tired them out as well.

And so she did, though he proved himself proficient in the use of both weapons. Truly he had trained with them for a while, but it was only a matter of time before the opening she sought presented itself.

However, Thor failed to understand one of the threats of her foe. He came in high with one stroke and low with another. Thor chose to block the first and fall back from the second. However just as the low blow would have been parried, the energy blade disappeared. With only the handle portion of the weapon it slipped past her hammer's guard and reactivated just in time to strike her in the side.

The pain was unlike anything she'd felt before. It wasn't a sharp piercing thing -her flesh remained intact—rather it was like someone had sent an impact directly into her body. Like a fist that went through flesh and hit one's insides. The pain was immense even to one of her divine endurance.

A side effect of the pain was that her guard was down, and the overhand attack struck. Her shoulder suffered injury in similar manner.

Now she was fully forced on the defensive as Bloodstain pressed the attack. She kept retreating away from blow after blow as they sought her form.

Yet another axe strike hit her in the body on the opposite side of the first. This had become a losing proposition. She needed to gain enough distance to come up with a new strategy. She thrust Mjolnir in Bloodstain's direction and fired a lightning bolt from it at her foe. It wouldn't be as powerful as one summed from the heavens, but as mighty as her lightning was, even it wouldn't pierce nearly a mile of rock.

Bloodstain crossed his axes in front of him. The electricity struck them and was blocked, though the energy blades changed color as they dealt with the electricity directed at them.

Now Thor had a moment. She hurled her hammer up and flew with it. To her delight Bloodstain didn't follow. A landbound foe was always at a disadvantage against one who could travel though the air. She landed on a nearby roof, an idea already forming. She had noticed the blades change color from her lightning strike. Perhaps there was a limit to their defensive capabilities. While she still could not summon a bolt from the clouds on the surface, there were other ways to deal damage to one's foes.

She spun the hammer overhead and summoned increasing amounts of power into it, making the air crackle with electricity. While she was immune, had anyone else been close enough, their hair would have stood on end. It took time to build up this attack, which was why she rarely employed it, but Bloodstain had no distance attacks, and his allies were tied up in combat with the others and couldn't interfere.

When the maximum charge built up, Thor shouted, "Have at thee!" and unleashed the bolt at her foe.

Again, Bloodstain blocked with the axes. This time they changed color through several shades, the last being magenta, before shorting out. With the blades gone the remainder of the electricity flowed into him, making his body jerk and spasm. However, when the bolt played out, he remained standing, if smoldering, much like the now fried circuits in the handles of his weapons.

With her primary concern out of the way, Thor flew again, landing a short distance away from her opponent and pointed her hammer at him. "I bid thee surrender, miscreant."

Tossing the useless handles aside, Bloodstain said, "If you're so impressive, take me one on one without the hammer. Show me what you're really made of."

Thor laughed. "The Goddess of Thunder need not prove her worth to some criminal." She then tucked the hammer in the belt at her waist. "But the day I do not have to prove my mettle to myself, is the day my conceit will be complete."

And the two lunged at one another.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As the initial fights broke out, one cat girl found herself squared off against another.

Pink gushed, "I am such big a fan of yours. It's why I wanted to become hired muscle, so people would take me seriously like they do you. I actually wanted to go with a bikini too, I mean I usually work in nothing so it's not like it's a big deal, but I figured I'd be copying you too much, so I went with the tunic. What do you think?" She spun around, the bottom of the outfit flaring up.

"Tigra think might want to wear panties next time."

The gushing turned to a pout. "Shoot. I knew I forgot something. But I never wear bras since I can't sag, and like I said, clothing's not a big thing in my other line of work, so I hardly own any panties either. Anyway, if I can take you out, the Boss has got to let me work as a bodyguard. I'd be worth way more doing that than flatbacking."

"Enough stupid talk!" Tigra launched herself at her feline adversary, all fur and claws. Pink instantly became as fierce, through with less fur. The two met and began tearing and ripping at each other like they were more cat than woman. As in angry cat dealing with another cat who was intruding on what they perceived as their turf, which made it nastier than humans could normally do.

And if someone had filmed the two scantily cat girls cat fighting, they would have raked in more money than most moderate sized-businesses made in a year.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Hulk found himself confronted by a beautiful blonde woman in a military outfit. Not the sort of villain he was used to, but he'd met all kinds in the business. The Two-Legged Rat was a guy in a rat mask. The Sticker was a guy who secreted glue. Cactus, who was literally a walking cactus. He was turned into cactus pulp when the Hulk punched him. Just some strange people.

He said, "Hulk does not want to smash girls, unless they are red and as big as Hulk, then Hulk will smash a lot. But you are not red and big, so Hulk will let little woman give up instead of smash."

"An eminently reasonable approach." She held her arms up as though she were about to raise them above her head in surrender. As her left arm was pointed at the Hulk, the wrist dropped down, as though it was on a hinge. A long metal tube was revealed within her arm.

From it came a small grenade which struck the Hulk in the face. The explosive force was small, however a white cloud formed around his head. As he bellowed, he breathed a great deal of it in. Immediately he knew what it was.

"Gas." He tried shaking his head clear of the effect.

While doing that, Firefox brought her other arm into play. Several mechanical devices shot out from along the length of the arm, showing it to be cybernetic. It reconfigured itself until it was clearly a gun of some kind. A pulse of light fired from the barrel, a particle beam, and struck the Hulk….

…Right between the legs.

"AAAAHH!" the green goliath cried out in a pitch higher than his comrades had ever heard. He clutched at his groin and reeled, but remained standing, if mindful of covering his crotch now.

Firefox now reconsidered her strategy. She had been hopeful a particle beam to the junk would at least incapacitate her foe. But as she had learned from experience, if a shot to a guy's genitals didn't drop them, a woman had best run for her life as said male tended to be far more vengeful and violent after such an attack than if it had never occurred. It was like an unwritten rule that chivalry was dead once you went for the balls.

She ran back the way she had come. When her makeshift group had finally located the power armor storage facility, there had been a room behind it: a rather large one that had been a test firing range. The others hadn't realized what had been tested in there, but she had. It had been no conventional firearm, but a pair of gauntlets that were part of a weapon system called, 'Devastator.' An apt name if what she had read in the report had been true. And it was the only thing she was aware of that might be powerful enough to kill the Hulk.

And if it did, she was keeping it for herself.

Thanks to her cybernetic body, she was able to run seventy kilometers an hour, which, with the way the Hulk was still gingerly moving, gave her the head start she needed to get the weapons on her wrists.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As some of the opponents began squaring off in one on one duels, others took different courses of action. In Microchip's case, he didn't care if he was in one of the Super Trooper armors. He was no expert in their use and had only put it on in order to transport one armor while carrying another. And in any case, this was the Avengers. He wasn't tangling with them for any reason, since he wasn't stupid or masochistic.

He discarded the armor he carried and took off. Flying was pretty basic, and he knew where they had entered the cavern. He'd get the Black Lagoon fired up and its weapon systems on line. And the instant an Avenger showed their faces, even Wasp, he would lay down a covering barrage and run for it. He was loyal to his teammates, but not to the point of having an Avenger wipe the floor with his body.

He had barely taken off when an arrow impacted with his boot jets. It spat some substance over them, clogging the intakes and abruptly ending his flight. He landed hard, though he was delighted the armor took the brunt of the landing and he suffered no ill effects.

The ill effects came after an explosive arrow struck him in the chest, damaging the Super Trooper armor into irrepreable junk and taking him out of the fight.

Bucky found herself up against Enforcer, which she was fine with since her shield made dealing with the average gun toting costumed criminal a walk in the park. At least as a rule. The first several shots were on target, and Bucky deflected them. Then she did a high leap in the air as she threw the shield in a direction that wasn't anywhere near her foe.

More shots came at her, but she focused on evasion and while they came close, failed to hit. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shield ricochet off a wall and head right for what she had been aiming at the entire time: Enforcer's guns. She even had the shot lined up to take both out in one throw.

However, Enforcer must have seen the movement out of the corner of her eye as she managed to get one of the firearms out of the way, the spinning weapon turning only one of the energy blasters into scrap. It also meant the return arc on the shield was off, and she'd have to leap in a different direction to recover it.

Even as she mentally recalculated what to do, Enforcer drew a more slender pistol from a holster on her belt. The barrel was so thin it appeared to be more akin to a stabbing instrument rather than a firearm. It was proven very much a gun as a sliver of azure energy shot from it, striking Bucky on the leg she was planting to make her leap.

As the beam struck, her leg went numb. Unable to use it, she collapsed instead of jumping, and her shield went flying off. Before she could come up with new tactics that took her bad leg into account, Silver Samurai charged her, sword drawn back, crimson aura of energy crackling as the weapon sliced towards her. She tried rolling out of the way, but prone on the ground she was easy prey for the skilled villain. Fortunately for Bucky, rather than striking with the sharp side which would have severed her in two, he employed the flat of the blade. The shock of the energy field scrambled her nervous system causing her to pass out, quite alive.

"It pains me to fell such a beauteous maiden, but duty calls and the Silver Samurai must beckon its siren summons."

The rest of his pontification, if there were more to follow, was cut off as Daredevil unleashed twin clouds of white vapor from his billowing sleeves, encompassing the shining warrior's entire form, blinding him. He hadn't used the fire extinguisher trick in a while, but it was reliable.

"Maneuver 21!" Daredevil shouted at Hawkeye.

She drew the snarl shaft from her quiver and fired it into the cloud where she had last seen her opponent. Luckily for that particular arrow, she didn't have to hit a specific point on the body. Wherever it hit, it would shoot out thick cables which would entangle her foe. Sure, Captain U.K. or the Hulk could snap the cables, but someone like Silver Samurai would be in them until he was safely handed over to the authorities.

As Silver Samurai fell under assault, Enforcer wasn't idle. She drew a bead on Daredevil with the energy blaster rather than the paralyzer, at an angle he couldn't possible see her from, and fired. To her surprise, while her shot was on target, he darted out of the way of the beam. There was no way he had seen that coming. It had to have been luck.

She was taking aim again when a blast of energy came from right in front of her, courtesy of Wasp, impacting fully in her chest and knocking her off her feet.

Wasp felt satisfaction at her handiwork. That awful woman had been instrumental in knocking Bucky out of the fight, but now Wasp had returned the favor. Now she intended to fly into the cloud and blast Silver Samurai at point blank range, since his armor was sturdy, and it would probably take at least that to knock him out the fight. Dispatching at least two of their foes would make her day.

As she flew toward him an energy blast caught her from behind in mid-air. The impact was so great it was like she had been swatted like a fly as she was sent soaring through the air and onto the ground where she lay unmoving.

Enforcer smiled under her mask, more grateful than ever at having her outfit armored. It's first order of business was bulletproofing since most of her opponents in Madripoor, hell everywhere, loved guns and enjoyed firing them at her as much as she enjoyed shooting them. But it served well enough for bio energy blasts from diminutive heroes, though her chest still ached from the impact. She hoped the annoying bug was dead, though once the fight was over she'd be sure to finish the job.

A movement to her right caught her eye, and she saw Hawkeye fire an arrow. With no chance to evade, she brought her other energy blaster up to block the shaft as she fired her paralyzer in the archer's direction. The arrow hit the weapon, sending it to the scrap heap with its twin, but the slender beam struck Hawkeye in the arm, making it go limp. Well, that was good enough. An archer with one arm was as useful as a eunuch trying to knock up a woman.

As Hawkeye was firing her arrow, within the cloud Silver Samurai found himself annoyed. While blinded, some foul miscreant had tied him up. Undoubtably that impertinent Daredevil. He would have to be brought low once again, like he had done back in his Swordsman days working with the Mandarin.

While the confining cables wrapped around nearly his whole body, he had enough range of motion in his wrist that he could maneuver the sword upward. The energy surrounding the blade made cutting through the cable as easily as though it were a hot knife through butter. Which he had done once with the sword to see if it could cut through margarine like the saying implied. It had.

He had finished slicing through the cable as the cloud dispersed, revealing him in all his splendiferous glory. Perhaps his foes would realize their inferiority and surrender. Their defeat was inevitable.

But no, the silly man in the devil mask continued trying to fight him, kicking him in the gut hard enough that he could feel it despite the armor. The knave would pay.

And then a thin beam of energy shot past him. He saw that rather than a foe, it was one of his new allies, the foul-mouthed woman. "Be wary where you shoot, for you almost inadvertently struck me. I need no assistance in dispatching my foe."

"Don't worry about it. The paralyzer doesn't work on people in armor." Enforcer fired again, despite hero and villain being so close together, and with Daredevil flitting about, she could have hit either one.

Hawkeye looked on in panic at her boyfriend's peril. He wouldn't last long against the combined attacks. Enforcer nearly hit him in the face with the last one. No one shot her boyfriend in the face! Hawkeye was so angry she briefly considered trying to hit Enforcer with her bow, one handed no less, when a better idea occurred to her. Normally, she wouldn't use it with other Avengers around, but it was only Daredevil, and it would work even without a bow.

She pulled the appropriate arrow from her quiver, held it high in the air, and shouted, "Maneuver 8!"

Enforcer and Silver Samurai both turned to the sound of her voice, which proved a mistake as she set off the magnesium flare. The light was so bright that even with her eyes closed, Hawkeye could see an afterimage from the brightness. The villains had their eyes wide open, suffering the full effect as both recoiled at their inability to see anything.

Daredevil, already blind, went into motion. From his sleeves two sets of bolas fell into his hands, and he threw both at Enforcer. While he would have preferred something more impactful, she had already endured Wasp's powerful bio blasts and couldn't take the chance on her resisting something else. He needed to get down to one opponent no matter what.

Blinded, Revy failed to dodge either primitive but effective weapon, and she found both her arms and legs wrapped up in confining cord. It didn't stop her from trying to escape, but she wasn't Razorblade and kept knives in every orifice. It was all about muscle, and she wasn't strong enough to escape the bonds.

Daredevil tried to end things with a hard punch to Silver Samurai's face, but as blinded as he was, he reeled about and the crimson adventurer's fist struck helmet rather than unprotected jaw, nearly breaking his hand in the process.

The punch allowed the blinded warrior to locate Daredevil and he lashed out in the direction the punch had come from. It was luck rather than design that the blade struck Daredevil in the midsection with the flat rather than sharp side, since Silver Samurai was not in a merciful mood with a male opponent being so unchivalrous in his eyes. And like Bucky before him he passed out from the attack.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Iron Rose struck Titanium Man with all her armored might. Given his much taller stature this meant hitting him in his midsection rather than the head. He staggered back a step from the blow, then unleashed one of his own, which had a far greater effect that then heroine's. Before she could recover, he unloaded another punch which sent her teetering backward, swaying like a drunkard trying to get home after an all-night bender. He followed up by unleashing a pair of energy beams from his hands, hammering her once more. Even through her armor her body was starting to feel injured, a rarity considering how durable it was.

The battle was not going well for Iron Rose. Titanium Man was built for two things: power and endurance. She had no doubt her armor was light years more sophisticated and versatile than the Soviet 'pinnacle' of technology, but they had done their work well in regard to raw power, which he knew how to use. He was hitting her so hard and fast she had been unable to figure out how to gain an advantage. She needed a moment's reprieve or else she would lose this battle.

A change in tactics was called for. She unleashed her ribbon attack from her gauntlet. The bands wrapped themselves around his body and she sent a huge charge of electricity into his armor. He stood there, impervious.

"Foolish little capitalist. My armor is insulated against such pitiful attacks!" He then wrapped his hand around the ribbons and played 'crack the whip' with Iron Rose as he used his superior strength to lift her off the ground, then smash her back into it. She had enough of her wits to detach the ribbons before he repeated the motion.

And then he was over her fallen form, reaching out to her. Judging by the way his arms moved, he was intent on ripping her armor apart… with her still in it. Worse, he might be able to pull it off.

As he bent low, she saw an opening for an unorthodox attack. She placed her feet against his armor and activated her boot jets at full power. Since she was braced against the earth itself, she went nowhere. Titanium Man on the other hand went flying back into a wall which he rebounded off of and hit the ground himself. Finally she had knocked him off his feet.

She had to press the attack! She activated her chest laser. Rather than aim it at him, where it might have had limited effect, she targeted the wall above him. It cut through the rock easily. He had just enough time to look up before he was buried under a massive amount of rubble.

She flew over and landed on top of the highest lump in the middle of the rubble, which should have been the spot her foe was in. She was rewarded by feeling the pile shift. Just as his head started to break free, she targeted the back of his neck and unleashed her most powerful dual repulsor blasts at point blank range. The impact caused him to cry out in pain, and she saw that she had finally torn a rent in his armor. It was small, but enough to work with. She dug in her fingertips and began to pull.

Titanium Man must have sensed the threat, as he shot to his feet. He was so tall Iron Rose's boots were lifted off the ground, and she was forced to hang on rather than pull to keep her handhold. He slammed backward into a building, smashing her into another wall, hoping to squash her or make her release her grip, but her armor was resilient enough to endure it. He then shot up in the air and flew clean through another wall, hoping that would knock her off, but still she clung to him like a remora on a shark.

He landed and reached behind for her. Finally, his armor's thickness worked against him as he lacked the range of motion in his arms to do more than scrape his fingertips across her helmet. Since she was no longer suffering from attempts to smash her off her perch, she pulled with all her might, ripping the armor open slightly more and exposing circuitry beneath it.

Then she heard a humming next to her ears. She pivoted her head wildly to see that while Titanium Man might not have been able to pull her off, he could direct his energy blasts behind his neck. He had both hands aimed behind him, her head between them. Considering how powerful his blasts were, he might not just destroy the helmet, but the head within. They started to glow, meaning she had less than a second to act. She sent another electrical charge into the hole in the armor. Lacking the insulation, the exterior of the armor provided, it went directly into the suit's systems, frying everything. The light at his palms died just in time as he fell forward to the ground, unmoving.

Iron Rose breathed a sigh of relief, then realized the sounds of battle had died. That could be a good or bad thing. She flew back toward the original site of the battle. The moment her eyes alighted upon Silver Samurai, who stood alone and triumphant around her comrades, she felt enraged and attacked with a repulsor blast.

He had just been blinking his eyes clear of Hawkeye's flash of light when the beam hit him and knocked him off his feet, his sword slipping from his grasp and falling next to him. Iron Rose landed nearly on top of him, declaring, "You are beaten." And held her palm up, intent on finishing the fight with a close range repulsor beam.

Lightning fast the blade was in his hand and he slashed across her palm. The blade cut through both armor and repulsor unit, making it inoperable. She tried bringing her other one up, but he slashed through it, too. Then he struck her in both flanks with lightning quick speed, sending pain into her. She had built that damned sword too good, and unless was mistaken, someone had increased its energy field so it was actually hurting even more than it should have. He'd probably be able to pierce her armor if he hit the same spot more than once.

"You will fall as every other opponent has from my blade! I am the greatest swordsman on the planet!" he announced.

Hearing her pompous brother espouse the same ridiculous blatherings he had done his whole life, which had earned their father's approval while nothing Kodachi did could, enraged her. He was now officially the villain while she was the hero. Yet despite that he could still take away everything she had earned with Kunou Enterprises, could leave her unconscious a second time, like he had in China. He was still always on top, while she could never seem to best him no matter what she did.

No more! She went for her final attack and released her deathblossom bolt from her chest mount. There was a brief image of a rose surrounding it, before a lance of power emitted from the center of the holographic image as it struck him right in the chest, smashing him unconscious and to the ground.

And then her shoulders slumped. Her armor's power was down to almost nothing. Had that attacked failed, she would have been at his mercy, his sword could have flayed the armor from her, and she'd have been helpless. But now she felt the satisfaction of a clean cut victory over her sibling. For the first time in her life it was an unequivocal win.

And it felt good.

"I see our foes have tested our mettle, and while taking us to task, failed in the end."

Iron Rose saw Thor had her foe slung over her shoulder, unconscious. She looked worn, but geminately satisfied at victory. Kodachi knew the feeling.

"Stupid kitty cat been dragged through litter box for not knowing proper place."

Iron Rose saw Tigra had been victorious as well, though she was far less noble in victory than Thor as she was dragging the defeated cat girl by her hair. There was also another detail Iron Rose picked up on.

"You seem to be naked."

Tigra shrugged, uncaring of her nude state. "When fight have lots of claws and little clothing, often ends with no clothing." She then tossed her equally naked foe, save for her boots, next to Silver Samurai's unconscious form.

Iron Rose didn't care for the annoying feline's nonchalant nudity. At least her Captain was spared the obscene sight of two over inflated balloons jiggling around like they were filled with Jell-O.

Wasp flew around the area, peevish about getting knocked out of action and missing out on the 'fun'. Hawkeye was shaking Daredevil awake, showing more than a healthy amount of concern for her comrade, while Bucky was coming around as well. With everyone present and with their wits about them, it was time for Kodachi to implement the next part of her plan.

She quickly removed the teleportation ring from Silver Samurai before he came to and teleported away. Then she said in a loud voice, "Let's see who this really is!" She removed the helmet and gasped, "Why look, it is the brother of my employer, Tatewaki Kunou. Apparently, he was not really missing, but instead has become a wanted felon. In doing so he has disgraced the Kunou name and now has no legal authority to the company, as per the late President Kunou's instructions in his will. And everyone has witnessed this so it will hold up in a court of law." She looked at the other expectedly.

Everyone was a bit confused but nodded their heads. All save Tigra, who lifted a curious eyebrow at the whole scene.

"You sure it's him?" Bucky asked.

"Of course it's him! I'd recognize his stupid face anywhere! If his eyes were open, you'd see the vacuous look to them as well!" She then realized her reaction and said in a calmer voice. "Because there are pictures of him in my employer's office, and I see them all the time."

Tigra rolled her eyes, though made certain no one could see her do it.

"Now it's off to prison for his worthless hide," Iron Rose said happily.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Elsewhere in the Bitterfrost, Firefox ran into a room and hit the door closing mechanism, making sure to lock it as well. The Devastator unit had been one of the few secured rooms in this part of Bitterfrost, with an osmium door nearly a foot thick.

Firefox hoped it was durable enough to slow the Hulk down for several seconds.

When the gamma spawned behemoth hit the door, it lasted two point three seconds, so she technically got her wish.

The Hulk roared, "Hulk hates robots who shoot Hulk in the ding-ding! Hulk will smash robot into tiny pieces! Then Hulk will smash some more so robot is in tinier pieces because Hulk is very, very angry!"

Wonderful. Now there was no chance if she lost she'd be taken alive. True, there was only a bit of spinal column and her brain left of her original body, large quantities of napalm and white phosphorus had that effect on flesh, but she was attached to what little of her original self remained.

Fortunately, she had gained enough time to slip on the large gloves and wrist bracelets which made up the primary weapon of the uniform. That was what was going to decide if she lived or died today. She just prayed the weapon was as powerful as was claimed.

Despite the rage on the face of her impeding death, which would have made most humans quiver, Firefox remained stoic. One didn't head a major part of the Russian Mob without the expectation of potentially painful death. And she did remember the consuming of much of her body to flame. Either she would survive, or she would not.

She looked down at the readout on the gloves and saw it was connected to the satellite and the power relay was up.

She pointed at the Hulk and fired.

Twin continuous beams of power emerged from the gloves, combining into one in front of her and striking the Hulk. He had sensed something about to happen when she had pointed at him, since she had blasted him in the genitals the last time she had done it, and braced himself, as well as slightly tilting his body and keeping his leg in front of him so she couldn't hit him there again. When the beams struck his body they not only hurt, but he shockingly found himself pushed back from considerable kinetic force. And since the stream was continuous, it remained constant. Considering how angry he was, it was a *lot* of force.

But he grew angrier and began pushing against it. He made nearly a meter of headway when the force against him increased, first stalemating, then pushing him back again.

Two irresistible objects were meeting head on.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gargoyle was in his office, looking over some of Kronos' notes again. While the former Soviet was a genius, this science was beyond his ability to understand. In actuality he thought maybe it was nonsense. Or at least part of it was. The whole project reeked of a scam of some kind, but Biko was determined to exhaust every avenue Kronos could offer. True, if it worked she could not just rake in ungodly amounts of money, she might be able to rule the world. But it just seemed too far-fetched to be realistic. She should stick to grounded sciences, like he offered.

And then his phone pinged him with a special note. He couldn't believe it! Someone had activated the Devastator unit!

Biko had been quite serious about him trying to sabotage the power armor heist in some way. The only means he could come up with was if someone used Devastator. It really was one of his greatest inventions, a tribute to his intellect. He had created a satellite that generated enough microwave radiation to sterilize half of a continent. He then developed a means of transmitting the power to a pair of gloves, that could then emit the radiation into powerful beams of pure force. The one time he had field tested it, he had completely flattened an entire abandoned military base in three and a half minutes. Nothing had been left intact.

The military had been delighted at the potential it offered. Then they realized just how much it cost to manufacture and launch satellites of this nature. And then he had informed them that without vibranium, it wouldn't work. The substance was rare. So rare they had exhausted the U.S.S.R.'s entire supply of it in making that single set of gloves. It was decided they simply couldn't afford to make any more.

Then another fact set in. If there was only one unit, then the individual using it might become *too* powerful to be effectively controlled, since there were no other units to create a system of checks and balances. So, the system wasn't deployed, though they allowed Gargoyle to keep the thing just in case there was an emergency so great they would chance letting someone use it.

And now someone had gotten their hands on it and was using it. He tapped into the satellite and learned it was indeed transmitting power directly to Bitterfrost. Excellent, that was all he needed to know. He sent the command he had prepared in case this happened.

For a moment, he felt a pang of regret. Bitterfrost had been his home for so long. But it was also cold, desolate, and held no happiness for him. While Felicity's betrayal had hurt him, at the same time she made him realize what he wanted was happiness with other people. Bitterfrost had ultimately been a prison and to return to it would be like a freed prisoner willingly reentering his cell.

Best to destroy the prison, then there was no chance of being trapped in it again.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Firefox could scarcely believe her eyes. She had fully expected Devastator to pulverize the Hulk into a bloody puddle by now. Instead not only was he surviving, but he was starting to gain ground on her again. How strong could he be? Was there no upper limit to his strength? Nothing should exist that could resist the sort of power being directed at it.

Then there was a sudden surge of power, one that quadrupled the output. Even the Hulk couldn't endure that. He was struck with more physical force than he had ever encountered before and was sent in a straight line through every physical object in his path.

Firefox felt the thrill of victory course through her body. She had defeated the Hulk! Forget the Super Trooper armor. Devastator was so powerful, she might be able to bring Madripoor to its knees with it.

Then she realized the gloves were locked open, and about to overload.

"Oh hell," she muttered.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Everyone's heads jerked in the direction of the tremendous explosion that shook the ground. Not a little tremor, but a full out cause your body to sway movement.

Bucky was the first to speak. "That sounded pretty destructive."

Iron Rose said, "It's probably Hulk related. But as long as that large load bearing stalactite remains intact there shouldn't be any real issue."

A moment later there was a loud sound from thousands of tons of rock creaking. Then a crack went up the stalactite in question.

"According to my senses, you just destroyed this cavern," Daredevil told her.

"That is not the way reality works!" Iron Rose protested.

And then a piece of cavern ceiling detached itself from the ceiling and fell, becoming part of the floor of the cavern in a loud impact of something very heavy landing very hard.

Everyone began to panic. Wasp shouted, "We have to make it to the surface right away!"

Another piece collapsed a good distance away, and in the direction of the initial pathway they had taken to enter the cavern. Ceiling on top of pathway meant no more pathway.

Bucky grimaced. "Yeah, about that…."

More impacts could he heard throughout the city as more ceiling became flooring, and the Avengers found themselves between the two.

Hawkeye said, "This is very, very bad. This place is coming down around our ears. We'll never make it to the surface in time."

Iron Rose looked in her hand. "Actually, there might be a way." She showed them Silver Samurai's teleportation ring. "This can get some of us out. Two at least."

"That's all?" Thor asked.

"Well, two people and a small amount of additional material. Oh! That means Wasp can go with whoever uses the ring. But aside from that, yes, only two."

Thor looked to her teammates, then nodded. "My godly form might endure a mountain dropped upon it. I shall remain behind."

Iron Rose sighed. "My armor might enable me to survive as well. I shall stay." And hoped someone could dig her out before her two-hour air supply ran out.

Daredevil and Hawkeye both said the other should go at the same time. Then they started arguing their points with each other, insisting the other should go.

Tigra kept her council to herself.

Bucky held a hand to her chin deep in thought as the others alternated from discussing to arguing about who should go and who should stay, though hearing none of them. Finally, she smirked and announced, "Okay! I am declaring this an official emergency situation in the field, which according to the rules puts me in charge of it."

"What rules are you talking about?" Wasp asked.

"Our bylaws."

"There's no rule like that in the bylaws." Daredevil knew since, as a student of law, he had read over and memorized them all from start to finish. Actually, he'd have been surprised if anyone remembered them since no one really seemed to care about them. Had they ever been invoked? Not that he could recall.

"We'll add them when we get back," Bucky said. "Now since I'm in charge of the situation, I will decide who gets to go."

And she told them.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There was a flash of light in Avengers Mansion. When the flash died, two figures stood in the middle of their meeting room, a Wasp-sized hero hovering between the pair.

Iron Rose and Thor looked around.

"So that is what teleportation is like," Iron Rose said with a touch of awe. "If I can figure out how to reverse engineer this, it could revolutionize travel. No, wait. Giving it to all of humanity would be a bad idea, like handing out the schematics to this armor. Hmm. I wonder if I can incorporate the ring into my armor without ruining it? I have no idea how the energy fields would interact with one another. I'd have to test it extensively." Her mind began racing with all the possibilities.

Wasp cleared her throat. "Perhaps we should make certain our friends are all right?"

"Oh, yes." From one of the pods attached to her armor, Iron Rose extracted nine slender pieces of metal and placed them a small distance apart on the ground. She then sent a signal which caused them to suddenly increase in size to nine suits of power armor, four of them upright while the rest remained prone on the ground.

Four helmets were simultaneously lifted off, revealing Hawkeye, Tigra, Daredevil, and Bucky.

"I swear I felt my body being compacted." Daredevil shuddered.

"Unlikely," Iron Rose said. "The process is instantaneous and your reduction in size has to do with converting matter from the physical to digital. Your mind goes into a null state for obvious reasons. It couldn't process information when converted into that state. I'm going to have to study this as well. You don't age when you're just information. It could be a form of virtual immortality."

"I'll take regular shrinking any day," Wasp said, then grew to normal size.

Bucky casually tossed her helmet up and down like it was a baseball. "Told ya' I had everything figured out."

"Bucky too, too smart." Tigra flashed a toothy smile to her buxom comrade in arms.

"Well, I'm not one to brag."

"Tigra happy to do it for you," she assured her.

"I'm not one to deny the obvious either." She smirked again.

"Thanks for saving everyone." Daredevil wasn't enthused about directing her the compliment, especially when she was displaying this level of ego (she had to be related to Ranma. There was no other explanation,) but she had saved Ukyou from a near certain death situation, so he'd cut her some slack. He was also annoyed he hadn't come up with the solution himself. It wasn't like the information hadn't been there. But he'd been so wrapped up in protecting the girl he loved he hadn't been thinking straight.

Iron Rose walked over and began removing the armor from her brother. "We'll have to take Silver Samurai to the proper authorities, and definitely let them know who he really is." And once in jail, her legal team could see to it he never saw a yen of Kunou Enterprise's money. Let him rot in prison and play swords with the other prisoners.

Hawkeye said, "Well, that was one of our harder missions. I think we should avoid any underground adventures for a while. I for one did not relish the idea of being buried alive."

"Hey, we're Avengers. Getting nearly killed while defeating bad guys and saving the world is what we do." Bucky shrugged, then scratched her head. "You know, I have this nagging sensation we're forgetting something."

Tigra informed them of what they had forgotten.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A giant sinkhole now decorated the Siberian Tundra. No sound, other than the wind, emanated from the barren wasteland. The noise of the sinkhole being created had long since passed, and the rock had settled. Silence reigned supreme in one of the harshest climates on the face of the planet.

Then a green fist burst up from the center of the newly created feature of the terrain, sending rock flying in all directions. It was as though someone had set off a bunch of dynamite next some nitroglycerin and shook it as hard as they could just to see the wackiness that would ensue.

The Hulk crawled out of the hole he had just created. "Hulk hates it when hills crash down on his head! Hills always attack Hulk! Hulk will smash big hill!" He surveyed the terrain for any hills to smash but saw there weren't any nearby. On the contrary, the only feature of the terrain besides a bunch of flat, was the giant pit that he was standing in.

"Hill has already been smashed. Hulk is satisfied justice is served." He looked around to determine he was now alone and in the middle of nowhere. This failed to unsettle him since it was a frequent occurrence. "Hulk wonders where friends are." He looked around, and realized flat terrain let him look in every direction for quite a distance. No Avengers anywhere.

"Hulk will find friends." And he began jumping in the direction of the slowly setting sun. Which meant west and towards the heart of Russia.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[End Chapter]

Yes, of all the cat girls I could have used, I chose one from a hentai series. I don't even really remember it other than it happened. Considering how many series I've used, perhaps it should be more surprising I hadn't used hentai until now.

So what Marvel villain should the Overfiend be? How about Galactus, literally a ravager of worlds?

Yes, Titanium Man did use the GLF credit card armor in a plan in Thor, of all places. It's not the contrivance you think it is.

In Marvel canon, Gargoyle's son, Gremlin, ran Bitterfrost and did indeed have a genetically altered dog that resembled a triceratops named Droog. It spoke in rhyme and fought the Hulk to a standstill. The base collapsed around them before a winner could be decided. Kind of like Aquon, actually. Always had a soft spot for both. But I couldn't really fit him in, so I passed on it this time.

Aquon and Droog. I might still slowly be reducing my collection of comics, but I'm still a Marvel nerd at heart.