Chapter 5.- One last effort.
Evil-Note.- Well, my dear readers, it took way longer than I had anticipated, but here it is, the final chapter of Marvelous Zombies. What to wait now? Obviously a sequel, though I'm not really sure if there'll be more after that, especially since I've planned something different for Marvelous Zombies: Return, well, aside from some multiversal adventures for Spider-Man and Ladybug.
Without any more to say, I'll see you next Halloween or Day of the Dead with the start of the sequel
(October 31, 2016 [Local calendar] - 09:35 hours since initial infection - Mission clock of the Resistance - Location: Aboard Quinjet Victor-245, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean)
After just over two hours of uninterrupted flight, the Quinjet's radar finally picked up the Helicarrier's signal, which was constantly changing to prevent the infected geniuses from tracking it.
And upon finally managing to get an approach vector, Trixie gave a victorious laugh at her achievement and breathed a sigh of relief, for they had almost depleted the Quinjet's fuel reserves and according to her estimates, if they hadn't found the Helicarrier at that time, they wouldn't have had more than another 15 minutes of flight.
So the girl activated the ship's communicator and made sure it was encrypted on the same frequency as the Helicarrier to prevent her signal from being intercepted and said:
"S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, this is Quinjet Victor-245, requesting landing on the main runway. Our crew is made up of 7 civilians and one wounded, all uninfected. Over."
However, when she closed her transmission, all she received in response was static, which Trixie was taken aback by it, since normally any transmission sent to the Helicarrier was answered by either a grumpy person or a very paranoid person who kept asking questions.
The young illusionist sighed and had a bad feeling as she received no answer and for a moment, the young woman considered if continuing towards the Helicarrier was a good idea, then she saw the Quinjet's fuel reserves once more and sighed as she remembered that she had no other choice.
At that, Trixie simply raised the Quinjet's nose and continued to approach the Helicarrier, unable to see it through its recently installed retro-reflection panels, however, the radar didn't lie.
But when the Helicarrier came into view, Trixie began to wonder if it had not been better to plummet to their deaths due to lack of fuel, as several flames and explosions were seen on the deck and inside the massive transport, as well as a fierce fight between what she assumed to be agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and uninfected heroes against the infected who had somehow boarded the Helicarrier.
And before she could decide what to do, a thud was heard from outside the Quinjet, followed by an explosion that destroyed one of the engines.
As the ship began to descend and Trixie did her best to land in the best way on the Helicarrier's main runway, another thud was heard outside and the young and inexperienced pilot could see how American Son had tackled an infected Iron Man to then fire a repulsor ray at him that damaged his ARC reactor and made him plummet down.
"We're gonna die!" Scootaloo yelled.
"I thought you said you knew how to fly this thing!" Daryl snapped.
"Iron Man just attacked us!" Trixie said. "Fasten your seat belts! We'll crash into the Helicarrier!"
A series of screams was heard as Trixie yanked on the Quinjet's control to try to stabilize it, resulting in a harsh crash that turned into a rough skid on the Helicarrier's main runway, which tore the transport apart and rendered it totally unusable.
Regardless, however, the passengers were somewhat shaken from the landing but alive, and before anyone could say anything, Trixie unbuckled herself and helped Officer Kennedy do the same while Ash, Daryl, and Ethan did the same with the girls.
"We gotta move! We have to find a way to escape the Helicarrier!" Trixie said as she opened the back doors of the Quinjet.
The group ran out the Quinjet's hatches, with Trixie appearing her acting attire out of nowhere and taking the lead, readying all her gadgets and aces up her sleeve in case she had to fight any of the infected, hoping that anyone that could come across them wasn't one of the powerful ones, or else she wouldn't have the slightest chance to win.
Meanwhile, inside the ship, Lana Loud, clad in her Monkey-Maniac suit, crashed backwards into a wall, hitting her head and ending up a little dazed, though not enough to ignore that the warm fluid running down the back of her neck was her blood. So, the 6-year-old girl jumped up, still dazed, and blocked Carapace's shield lunge with her staff, then took advantage of the infected's momentum to make him crash into the wall and jumped away, then spun her staff around in her hands and, before Carapace could recover, Monkey-Maniac smashed his head open with her weapon, managing to finish off the infected.
Seconds after doing so, the girl retched and was unable to hold back her vomit, emptying the contents of her stomach onto the floor.
After her stomach was empty, Monkey-Maniac wiped her lips with a sleeve and spat on the ground in an attempt to get rid of the horrible aftertaste in her mouth.
Then, she heard a nearby scream and ran towards the source of it, finding Flash Sentry and Sheriff Rick Grimes fighting hand to hand with a couple of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had been infected, while Juleka Couffaine, better known as Umbra, and Sabrina Raincomprix, aka Mentality, were fighting the newly infected Iceman and Firestar, while a woman who was carrying a baby stood behind Flash, Umbra, and Mentality, screaming in horror while the teenagers tried to keep them safe.
Without a second thought, Monkey-Maniac rushed into action, kicking the agent Flash was fighting and then throwing her staff straight at Iceman's forehead, managing to crack his ice armor and giving Umbra the perfect spot to attack by creating a shadow pike that shattered the infected's head.
Almost instantly, though, Firestar let out a howl of rage at the death of her best friend and aimed her hands on Monkey-Maniac, who had reached out to retrieve her weapon.
Fortunately for the young Loud, Mentality took her opportunity to use her powers to draw two supply crates and crush Firestar's skull before she could launch her attack on Monkey-Maniac.
And finally, Flash and Grimes took advantage of the commotion caused by the heroines with them to make one of the boxes that Mentality had attracted ending up hitting the other of the infected they were fighting with, in the chest, and to finish them off.
Flash took the rifle on his back and emptied the magazine of the gun into the head of the one Monkey-Maniac had knocked down, creating a huge smear of rotting flesh and decomposed blood on the wall and floor, as Grimes emptied the barrel of his Colt .45 into the head of the other.
"Thanks for the help, Lana." Flash said as he reloaded the gun. "We could've dealt with the infected agents but Ladybug, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Wolverine ambushed us."
"Luckily, Luka, Harry and Kagami managed to get them away." Umbra said. "Although not without them infecting Firestar and Iceman."
"Where are Lori and Tom?" Asked Monkey-Maniac.
"Tom didn't make it." Mentality sighed. "Marco and Trini set him up. And Lori is outside, leading the charge against some infected villains who also snuck onto the Helicarrier."
"We have to look for those who are still left and get to the Damocles Base, since it seems that the Siege has fallen too." Grimes snapped.
"I have to find Lola, Luna and Lucy." Said Monkey-Maniac. "They're the only family I have left besides Lori..."
"Luna was on the main deck when the Hulk appeared..." Mentality let out sadly. "Literally no one survived..."
At that moment, Monkey-Maniac let a tear fall down her cheek as she clenched her teeth in frustration at hearing that yet another member of her family fell victim to the plague.
"I have to go get Lucy and Lola, I know Lori will be fine, she is one of the most powerful Avengers, but Lucy and Lola..." Said Monkey-Maniac.
"We'll help you look out for them, the only way to get out of here is to find Hekapoo, anyway." Flash said before making a gesture to the woman they were protecting. "Let's get going and don't fall behind."
With that said, the group began to run through the corridors of the Helicarrier, having to deal with the odd agent or infected civilian that suddenly appeared.
"Any idea where Hekapoo, Lucy and Lola might be?" Umbra asked.
"Possibly in the training rooms, they're the most protected places and without a doubt, Hekapoo would be there, she is probably the most important person right now and I doubt that Fury would put her at risk." Flash said.
"Are you sure?"
"No, but it's the best we've got. Iron Man destroyed the communications and K.A.R.E.N.'s unreliable due to her outburst before deploying the containment groups."
"Let's just get there..." Monkey-Maniac said as she tightened her grip on her bo.
On another side of the Helicarrier, not far from there, Trixie had managed to use her illusion devices to trick several agents and infected civilians, while Daryl, Ethan, and Leon provided covering fire for the small group of survivors with a couple of guns they'd found along the way, plus Daryl's crossbow.
However, there was a problem, and that was that the guns and the crossbow were slowly running out of ammo and Trixie was running out of tricks, and at the rate they were going, they would soon be completely defenseless.
And although they still had the shotgun that Ash was still carrying in his only hand, in the condition that Sarah had left it, it was practically useless.
However, as they continued to run through the corridors and after Leon shot his last bullet into the infected Maria Hill's mouth, Ash noticed something out of the corner of his eye and stopped dead in his tracks, alarming the others.
"Williams, this ain't no time for sightseeing!" Daryl snapped when he saw him.
"There's a storeroom here!" Ash said as he knocked on a room door. "And it looks like it's unlocked!"
"So what? We need to move on!" Ethan said.
"Without ammo or more of my gadgets, we won't get far." Trixie said as she opened the door. "Everyone inside, and don't touch anything without consulting the Great and Powerful Trixie."
"Since when are you a superhero to call yourself that?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Actually I just use my show name to stand out. Although I have helped Sunset and her friends in heroic conflicts."
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at Trixie's comment, then the group rushed into the storeroom, with Ethan, Leon, and Daryl quickly blocking the door with a nearby shelf.
And with a gasp of astonishment from Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom, they all realized that the storeroom was crammed with all sorts of gadgets confiscated from supervillains, and equipment for the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"The S.H.I.E.L.D. storeroom has a total sale-out..." Leon let out.
"As I said, do not touch anything without consulting the Great and Powerful Trixie, these are not toys nor museum replicas." Trixie said as she fixed her gaze on a display case. "And I think I saw something I need."
Without saying anything, Trixie walked over to the display case she was staring at, as Ash noticed the remains of an old robotic arm that belonged to the Winter Soldier, as well as equipment for repairing and building electronics near it.
The injured man walked to the table where everything was and put the shotgun on it, then he saw a chainsaw and took it, turning it on after having an idea.
"Didn't I tell you not to touch anything without consulting me?" Trixie asked as she pulled a green suit out of the case.
"I know what I'm doing, I have an Engineering degree." Ash said as he used the chainsaw. "Plus, I'm sick of not being able to do anything..."
With some difficulty, Ash began cutting parts of the Winter Soldier's mechanical arm on the table and using the equipment to modify both the hand and the saw.
For their part, Ethan and Daryl stared intently at the door of the room, hoping that nothing and no one would notice them inside, or else no one would survive, even with all the weapons at their disposal.
However, something soon caught Daryl's attention, an old quiver of arrows and bow that belonged to Hawkeye from his time as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, so he walked over to it and wondered inwardly if he would be as good with that bow as he was with the crossbow as he reached for it.
On the other hand, Officer Kennedy was uneasy, although he never believed he would have to find himself in such a situation, he knew that he needed a calmer mentality to be able to process everything that was happening and to be able to make the best decisions.
And while the officer was thinking about a way to get out without risking too much, or having to give the girls weapons, he saw a rocket launcher hanging from the wall, although this one looked very curious, because its ammo was colored red.
Thinking that it might be useful in dealing with some of the more powerful infected, the police officer took the weapon and hung it over his shoulder, also taking an extra rocket.
Finally, Trixie was finished putting on most of Mysterio's costume that was in the display case she had opened, although of course, she wouldn't wear the ridiculous fishbowl helmet that characterized the villain so much.
And as she finished donning the gauntlets and adjusting the cape, she noted all the little buttons that activated the suit's various tricks in the gloves, inwardly glad that Quentin Beck had been smart enough to mark each one with symbols that could be felt through the gloves.
"The Great and Improved Trixie is ready." Trixie said, showing off Mysterio's gloves, boots and cape.
"You're not the only one with upgrades." Ash said as he fitted the saw to his stump and used it to cut through the bent part of the shotgun.
"Kennedy, that won't help us, it's too heavy and we're in a closed space." Daryl said as he adjusted the quiver straps across his chest.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." Kennedy said as he imitated Daryl but with the rocket launcher strap. "Besides, I already took some ammo for my pistol."
"I'll just take this gun..." Ethan said sheepishly as he grabbed a rifle and some ammo from a nearby shelf.
"And what about us?" Asked Apple Bloom. "I also want to fight."
"Me too." Snapped Sweetie Belle.
"And I just don't wanna die." Scootaloo said.
"You're too young for this." Trixie said firmly.
"Lana, Lola, Lisa, Lily and Lucy Loud are too, and they're all even younger than us..." Sweetie Belle said.
"They have powers, none of you do."
"Enough talk, we have to move before the infected find us." Daryl said as he tested the tension on the bowstring. "Damn, this Hawkeye guy really has a good arm..."
After saying that, Ash turned on the chainsaw he now had instead of a hand and cut the shelf they had blocked the door with in two, causing the group to roll their eyes at how unnecessary cutting the shelf had been, before running out of room, almost crashing into Flash Sentry's group head-on and scaring each other after a couple of corridors.
"Trixie?" Flash asked.
"Flash?" Trixie said.
"Ethan!" Said the civilian who was carrying her baby.
"Mia!" Ethan said as he smiled and shed a happy tear. "Thank heavens you're both fine! I feared the worst when all this stuff happened..."
"You'll get time for reunions later, we have to go." Daryl snapped.
"We're going to the training rooms, Flash says that it's possible to find Hekapoo there." Umbra said.
"Why do we want Hekapoo?" Trixie asked.
"She sealed all the portals of the dimensional scissors." Flash said. "And she has the only pair that still works, so she's our ticket to Damocles Base."
"Excellent, so let's go, as I remember, we're not very far from those rooms." Trixie said.
"I'm not leaving without Lucy and Lola." Said Monkey-Maniac.
"At this point, they might no longer be alive, like Applejack... and Rainbow Dash..." Scootaloo sighed.
Before anyone could reprimand the purple-haired girl for her pessimism, Apple Bloom pounced on Scootaloo and started hitting her with all her might in every place she could, breaking her nose and roaring in fury as she did.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT MY SISTER!" Apple Bloom roared.
"Enough, you two!" Sweetie Belle said as she managed to separate them.
"I know how worried and scared you can be about what has or hasn't happened to Applejack, but we can't fight each other!" Monkey-Maniac snapped.
"We're wasting time with talk, someone take the purple-haired girl, I don't think she can walk after the apple girl did to her..." Daryl blurted out.
Wasting no more time, Ethan scooped Scootaloo up and carried her as the group resumed their run to the training rooms.
And after a few minutes, the group finally reached the training room, opening the room and gasping as they found something horrible.
The floor of the room was bathed in blood and several corpses could be seen on the floor, including those of Luna Loud, better known as Shockwave, Billy Cranston, aka the Blue Ranger, and Mabel Pines, the latter with her twin Dipper still eating from her corpse.
However, the real horror was seeing Lucy bathed almost completely in blood, holding a pair of dimensional scissors that still dripped the vital liquid in one hand and grabbing a Hekapoo that had her throat slit from side to side, by one of her horns.
"We're too late..." Flash said, feeling that they had no hope left.
"Lucy...?" Monkey-Maniac said as she let go of her staff in shock. "W-what... what's going on?..."
"I was afraid they would find out before time..." Lucy said as she released Hekapoo's body. "The truth is... I was on Lisa's side. It could be said that I am the mastermind behind all this, although well, Richards and Lisa were always naive enough to be manipulated."
"What the hell did you do...?"
"What had to be done, sister. Lisa and Reed were foolish to believe that this is an evolution... No, this is merely a simple purge."
"From what?"
"Humanity. That false civility that we call society is based on lies and false union. That rubbish we say every day about being civilized. All the evils we have caused or created. We are a plague and we should be purged, the Hunger Virus is a necessary evil to end all the evil we have created."
"This doesn't fix anything, Lucy." Trixie snapped as she frowned. "Besides, there are thousands of innocent people who..."
"It is naive to believe that any of us is innocent of anything." Lucy said as one of her eyes peeked through her bangs, glowing in purple. "I can see everything, even without using my mystical abilities... Lust, greed, envy, conflict, murder, pride... Each and every one of us has fallen into at least one, and many of us have not even learned from our mistakes and we still commit them. And now all those who remain alive reveal their true faces, their true intentions, and the infected... They are just the incarnation of the sin that each one has inside, without masks, without taboos, without false moral restrictions, only innate savagery."
"Ok, I'm done with this shit and I'm not gonna sit idly by in front of an edgy girl who just screwed up my day even more than the stupid zombies..." Ash said before pointing his sawed-off shotgun at Lucy. "Time to purge you too..."
Before anyone could react, Ash pulled the trigger and the shotgun fired, however, Lucy just laughed out loud as the shotgun pellets slammed into a magical barrier the young sorceress had conjured.
"Poor deluded human... Do you really think you can face the army of darkness with something as banal as a firearm?" Said Lucy, before a repulsor ray hit her magical barrier.
"If you don't mind... We're still gonna try..." Said American Son, with a battered but still working armor. "Avengers Assemble!"
Almost instantly, Lucy levitated and covered her hands in purple magical energy, at the same time Dipper covered his hands in a bluish magical energy and lunged at the group, smashing into an invisible energy shield Trixie created with her gauntlets.
"Juleka, Sabrina and I will take care of Lucy! Trixie, Flash, get rid of Dipper!" American Son said as he fired a repulsor ray at Lucy.
"Winters, stay with the girls and your wife! Kennedy, sheriff, let's help these kids!" Daryl said as he managed to shoot an explosive arrow at the sorceress.
Officer Kennedy and Sheriff Grimes promptly shot at Lucy, while Daryl cursed himself for his decision to switch his crossbow for the bow, for while it was more destructive, he couldn't entirely use it as the string was so tense that he could barely draw it, however, there was no longer time or opportunity to change his mind and he would have to adapt to the bow.
For his part, Ethan put Scootaloo down and Sweetie Belle helped her stay on her feet as the man started shooting at Dipper.
"Your skills are pathetic!" Lucy said with a deranged smile. "You know you can't beat me, Harry!"
"Maybe he doesn't, but you forget that I'm an Omega-level mutant!" Umbra roared as she created several shadow tendrils around her.
"And me too!" Mentality yelled as she tore several metal plates from the walls with her powers.
"And I just beat Rhodey, Pepper and Tony with this armor! All at the same time!" American Son said as he fired several micro-missiles from his shoulders. "You're no way near their danger level!"
As American Son's micro missiles hit another barrier conjured by Lucy, someone caused an explosion at the door of the room and before they could realize who had caused it, American Son was tackled and slammed into the ceiling by someone also using armor, while several other infected entered the room.
"You will pay with your flesh for what you did to Pepper and Tony..." War Machine said.
"I've had enough!" American Son said. "Juleka, Sabrina, get everyone out of here...! I'll distract the infected!"
"We're not going to abandon you, Harry!" Trixie said as she disappeared with a smoke bomb, dodging one of Dipper's spells.
"Just do it!"
"We couldn't even if we wanted to!" Flash said as he struggled with Daredevil. "We're surrounded!"
"Mia, we'll make way for you! You take the girls with you and get out of here!" Ethan said as he blew an infected Toad's head off with his rifle.
"No!" Apple Bloom said. "I'm tired of being a burden and not being able to help!"
"Girls, we have no way to help..." Mia said as she stood in front of the girls in a vain attempt to protect them.
"That doesn't stop either Mr. Winters nor Flash!"
With that said, Apple Bloom slipped away from Mia and took advantage of Daredevil's distraction to steal one of his billy clubs to try to attack an infected Black Widow, but the latter simply deflected the staff and picked her up by the neck, to start pulling her closer to her jaws, while no one could do anything to help her.
At that moment, time slowed down for everyone, and when Scootaloo saw what was about to happen to her friend, something woke up inside her.
A warm energy quickly engulfed her entire being and a light emanated from her, momentarily distracting the infected and those fighting them, and without anyone noticing, the purple-haired girl ran towards Black Widow and gave her a backflip kick to the arm, shattering the limb and freeing Apple Bloom.
Then, with extraordinary speed, she ran to one end of the room and gathered momentum to run back and tackle the infected Avenger, managing to send her crashing into Daredevil and giving Daryl and Leon a chance to finish off both infected with some bullets and an arrow.
After seeing that, Lucy growled and, taking advantage of Hekapoo's dimensional scissors, she opened a portal from which more infected emerged, including Black Panther, Palom Paix, Elektra, Luke Cage and something that broke Monkey-Maniac's heart, since the last infected was her twin sister, Lola, better known as Bunnix.
"Lola, if you want to keep eating, go to the past and kill them all before they discover me!" Lucy said.
"She won't!" Scootaloo said firmly. "If she goes to the past, I'll go with her!"
"Not if you're dead first, girl!" Elektra roared before throwing several shuriken.
At that moment, although Scootaloo dodged the shurikens running, they still did not reach the wall, as they hit a greenish shield, projected by Sweetie Belle, who glowed in the same way as Scootaloo moments before her.
"You won't, Elektra..." Sweetie Belle said. "I would give my life for my friends and for all those who are still with me, and I will not allow you to hurt them..."
At those words, Luke Cage did not say anything and jumped to try to attack Sweetie Belle. Although she created a shield to protect herself, Apple Bloom jumped from the other side of the room and tackled the infected with such force that practically she snapped him in half, giving off the same glow as her friends.
And as the battered Luke Cage fell unceremoniously to the ground, Bunnix used the opportunity to open a temporary portal to follow Lucy's command.
However, Monkey-Maniac, who had been motionless ever since Lucy had revealed herself as a villain, saw what her twin had done and, taking advantage of everyone's distraction from Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom's new abilities, ran after Bunnix and tackled her, taking her into her Burrow and preparing to fight her, though a part of her begged her not to hurt her.
"Lola, please, stop..." Begged Monkey-Maniac.
"I can't, Lana... please... just go... don't make me kill you too... I'll do it with Lucy, but I don't wanna hurt you..." Bunnix asked as she opened a temporary portal back to the battle. "Your friends won't survive, but you... I want you to live..."
"We can heal you... please, just stop..."
"It's too late for that, Lana..."
With that said, Bunnix did not resist her instinct any longer and lunged at Monkey-Maniac to devour her, but the young heroine was already expecting it and, still against her instinct and with her eyes full of tears of regret, she roared and hit her twin directly in the head with her staff, sending her to the ground and then repeating the action several more times until her twin's head became a bloody and putrid mass that caused Monkey-Maniac to retch again and made her vomit again, although this time, there was only stomach acid and bile, all thanks to her previous encounter with Carapace.
And when her sister's infected kwami appeared, Monkey-Maniac roared and crushed it with both hands with an applause.
After this, Monkey-Maniac fell to her knees on the ground, staring at the decomposed remains of her sister and wept bitterly for a moment before being brought back to reality by a jolt in Bunnix's Burrow, which began to crack and vanish as neither the bearer nor the kwami who had created no longer existed.
So, Monkey-Maniac took her staff and jumped through the last portal created by her sister, narrowly escaping and returning to the fray, noting how Ash ended Black Panther's life by cutting him in half from the head, Kennedy and American Son finished off War Machine in a joint effort with the armored hero's remaining micro-missiles and the red rocket launcher, Trixie and Flash finished off the infected Dipper Pines thanks to an illusion trick by Trixie, and while Daryl, Ethan, Umbra and Mentality were finishing off the rest of the infected who had sneaked into the room.
The calm was short-lived, however, as Lucy got tired of fighting the Crusaders and bound them all, even Ethan's infant daughter, with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, and pulled Mia close to herself as she took some of Elektra's remains in one hand to infect her, having a sinister smirk all the time.
"You may have ruined my plans, but you will pay... starting with you." Lucy said. "How will you feel after devouring your daughter and your husband, Mrs. Winters?"
At Lucy's words, Mia simply begged and tried to get away from her, until a whistle stopped Lucy and made her turn around to let out a surprised sigh as she noticed Monkey-Maniac with her staff on the ground and glaring at her.
"You survived..." Lucy said.
"You sound surprised, Luce." Said Monkey-Maniac. "I'll only say it once... Give up."
"Or what, dear sister...?"
"Or I'll kill you. It's that simple."
"You don't have the guts."
"I already did that with Lola and I loved her much more than I love you..."
"Prove it..." Lucy said defiantly.
At that moment, Lucy laughed evilly and created a sphere of dark energy in her right hand, at the same time that Monkey-Maniac mumbled Uproar and a bone-shaped chewtoy appeared in her hand.
Both sisters glared at each other like gunslingers in the Old West, both with hands trembling with eagerness and not even blinking so as not to take their eyes off the other for even an instant.
Suddenly, Lucy used her left hand to cause a noise behind Monkey-Maniac, distracting her for a moment, which she used to fire a magical beam at her with killing intent.
However, to the sorceress's bad luck, Monkey-Maniac expected such a sneaky trick and managed to dodge Lucy's attack just barely, at the same time she threw the chewtoy at her face, not doing any damage but alarming her greatly.
As soon as Monkey-Maniac's toy hit the ground, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak were replaced by streamers, freeing the captured humans as Lucy put a look of despair on her face.
"No!" Lucy yelled. "This can't end like this...!"
While Lucy was still distracted by the effects of her power, Monkey-Maniac raised her staff with the tail of her suit and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to it, throwing the weapon with all her might at Lucy, who tried to create a shield spell to defend herself, but thanks to Monkey-Maniac's Uproar, instead of a shield, she conjured a bullseye.
Ironically, the staff hit the dead center of the bullseye and impaled Lucy in her stomach, sending her slamming into the wall, with the weapon pinning her to it.
Then, as the sorceress began to bleed out, Monkey-Maniac detransformed and walked towards her, taking Hekapoo's dimensional scissors from her pocket as her heroic alter ego's staff faded and Lucy fell to the ground with a thud, then the Miraculous holder walked away with her kwami on her shoulder.
"I told you I would kill you..." Lana said as she turned her back on Lucy.
"It doesn't matter... I... I can still... get infected..." Lucy chuckled.
"No... You can't..." Said Ash as walked towards Lucy as he reloaded his shotgun. "Swallow this..."
After that, Ash pulled the trigger, unceremoniously splattering the wall behind the corpse with blood and brain matter, then flipped the shotgun before placing it on his back with a strap tied around his torso.
And as Lana approached the group of survivors, Trixie tried to say something, but Lana stopped her short, looking at the ground with a tired expression.
"We have to go now..." Lana said.
"Soon, my suit's computer is hacking the Helicarrier's controls." American Son said. "We'll blow it up along with any infected left inside. That way, even if we don't make it, we'll take all of them to hell with us."
"We must search if there are other survivors." Flash said.
"Only you and the infected remain." Said K.A.R.E.N. through Harry's armor. "And no, I just arrived, with the Stark network almost completely offline, it takes me forever moving through the electrical and computer networks that still remain."
"How sure are you about that?" American Son asked.
"Not too much, the Helicarrier's sensors were damaged during the battle, so these are just estimates I got from the security cameras. Anyway, I recommend you come to the upper deck, Twilight put an anti-dimensional scissors spell on the Damocles Base and only I can get you there."
"How can we trust you?" Trixie asked. "Flash said they had a problem with you before they were sent to try to rescue us all."
"You can't, that's the thing. At this point, you can't trust anyone, except maybe Apple Bloom, she's the new incarnation of Honesty it seems..."
"That's very comforting..." Ash said sarcastically.
"Just move if you want to stay alive, I'm your best and only chance to do so. I left a map with the smallest influx of infected on Harry's suit, you have 5 minutes to reach the upper deck. After that time... you'll be on your own."
With that said, the group began to run, still feeling apprehensive about having to trust Spider-Man's AI, but managing to remain inconspicuous thanks to K.A.R.E.N.'s map, all the while Lana fed her kwami a small banana she pulled out of her overalls.
However, upon reaching the upper deck, the survivors gasped as they found themselves surrounded by several other infected and saw K.A.R.E.N. with her android body talking to Spider-Man at the distance.
"We got betrayed again..." Kennedy said.
"Goddammit..." Daryl said as he grabbed the bow again.
"I didn't betray you." Said the voice of K.A.R.E.N. through the armor. "On my signal, run to that Quinjet behind me..."
"What...?" Trixie said.
"I told you she'd betray you, Peter!" Ladybug shouted behind the survivors.
"Now!" Indicated K.A.R.E.N.
Without further explanation, the physical K.A.R.E.N. hit Spider-Man in the torso and sent him inside the Helicarrier through a hole in the deck, while she managed to create a kind of tunnel with an energy shield around the survivors.
"Xuppu, it's show time!" Lana shouted as she and the others began to run.
At that moment, the survivors began to run at full speed towards the Quinjet, with the infected hitting the energy barrier with all their might, trying to devour the survivors while K.A.R.E.N. lunged at the Hulk in an attempt to prevent him from destroying the barrier.
The android grabbed the infected Avenger by the head and channeled a massive amount of electricity through it, managing to knock the Hulk out, at least momentarily, as the group continued to run.
However, as they continued to run, Ethan felt a little prick in his neck that made him stop suddenly and hit the area where he felt the prick, then he looked at his hand and gasped when he saw a stain of blood and traces of something that was definitely not a mosquito as he had initially believed.
"Winters, what's up?! We must go!" Trixie snapped as she stopped too.
"This..." Said a scared Ethan as he showed his hand to the illusionist.
At that moment, the rest of the group noticed that Ethan was standing and with an expression that they could only describe as total desperation, which worried them when they heard Trixie gasp at the sight of something in the man's hand.
"It's Yellowjacket!" Said K.A.R.E.N. while she was fighting Ladybug and Rena Rouge outside the barrier. "According to my scanners, Mr. Winters is infected!"
"No..." Mia said as she ran towards her husband. "No, no, no! It can't be!"
"Stay away, Mia..." Ethan said as he took a step back. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you or Rosemary... Just go away and leave me here."
"No, we're in this together. It can't end like this, not after everything we've been through." Daryl said.
"Come with us, surely they can cure you." Ash said.
"There's no cure! Just leave!" Snapped K.A.R.E.N. while she hit Rena Rouge with her own flute. "I'm afraid Winters is dead!"
"There has to be something you can do!" Monkey-Maniac snapped.
"No, but there is something I can do..." Ethan said. "That guy Harry said that he was going to blow up the Helicarrier, well I'll do that, so I'll take as many infected as I can to hell with me I just need that edgy girl's dimensional scissors and a way to do it."
"I'll do it remotely, Winters, let's go to the Quinjet." American Son said.
"There are no communication networks, Harry! Go away! I'll help Winters...!" Said K.A.R.E.N. before a rumble behind her alerted her.
Before the android could turn her head to see what had made the noise, she felt something stick to her back and yank her into the wreckage of the Quinjet Trixie had crashed on the deck earlier, then Ethan felt a pain in his stomach that made him bend over and grab his abdomen.
Knowing that he had only a few minutes before succumbing to the infection, Ethan lunged at Monkey-Maniac, who attempted to hit him with her staff until she realized that he wasn't after her but rather Hekapoo's dimensional scissors. Ethan grabbed the scissors and ran backwards, while Spider-Man and K.A.R.E.N. had a duel to the death, which K.A.R.E.N. was losing because of her reluctance to hurt her father.
While K.A.R.E.N. still taking a beating, Ethan clutched his abdomen again as he opened a portal, thinking back of that room where they'd faced Lucy Loud. Mia managed to wriggle out of American Son's grasp and tried to go after Ethan to convince him, but Monkey-Maniac stopped her, still resenting both having to kill her sisters and Ethan's future death just as everyone were going to be safe, and moved her away, practically dragging Mia onto the Quinjet as she and baby Rosemary wept bitterly.
Harry then gritted his teeth and yelled in rage as he threw the detonator at Ethan, who caught it and nodded as he went through the portal and threw the scissors at Kennedy, who along with Daryl, Grimes and Ash nodded at him, thinking it was a real pity that of all the survivors, the only one who had his family in front of him had to die.
Finally, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Flash and Trixie gave the man a sad look as he disappeared through the portal and it closed. Then, Sweetie noticed out of the corner of her eye how Spider-Man ripped K.A.R.E.N.'s arm off and hit her with it, knocking her down with all the infected determined to finish off the android.
"You betrayed me..." Spider-Man said.
"No... you betrayed everyone... especially Uncle Ben..." K.A.R.E.N said. between gasps. "You forgot his teachings..."
At that moment, Spider-Man grabbed his android's arm and prepared to ram it through its main reactor to shut her down once and for all, however, Sweetie Belle created a powerful shield around the android and connected it to the tunnel. that K.A.R.E.N. had created for them, then Scootaloo and Apple Bloom ran up to her and carried her into the Quinjet as the other survivors boarded it, just as the Hulk got up and the other Infected hit Sweetie Belle and K.A.R.E.N.'s barriers.
"Don't take risks for me... I'm just... a machine..." Said the battered K.A.R.E.N.
"A machine with more humanity than many people I knew." Apple Bloom snapped. "'Sides, we've already lost too many friends to lose yet another one..."
"Trixie, you better get this thing flying before Winters kills us all by mistake!" Flash said while everyone was adjusting their seat belts.
"I'm already on it!" Trixie said as the takeoff sequence began.
At that moment, the Quinjet took off, with Harry using the rotary cannons to keep the infected at bay from trying to damage their only means of escape, while Trixie noticed some small notations on one of the multiple screens in the Quinjet's control cockpit, which she deduced were the coordinates to find the Damocles Base.
Meanwhile, in the room where the remains of Lucy Loud still laid, Ethan fell to his knees while clutching his stomach, unconsciously releasing the detonator and feeling an intense hunger that was prompting him to approach the corpse of the sorceress, however, using his last bits of self-control, he retrieved the detonator, lifted the cap that covered the button, and said:
"I'm sorry, Mia... please, take good care of Rose..."
With those last words, Ethan Winters pressed the detonator button and a series of explosions began inside the Helicarrier until the massive S.H.I.E.L.D. was engulfed in a huge blinding light and a withering shock wave, which forever ended the existence of the Helicarrier and that of Ethan Winters.
However, as the most attentive readers will have already noticed, Rainbow Dash's unfortunate fate in the previous chapter is proof that the Helicarrier explosion was far from being the end of the existence of the Marvelous Zombies.