Chapter 7

34 minutes earlier

Taskmaster's POV

Taskmaster slowly made his way through the west corridor and into the kitchen. Erik, Karla and Victor were a little bit ahead of him, there were two cooks in the kitchen but Victor head smashed them together and locked them in the pantry. Once he got a green light on his pager then he knew John, Alexi, and Felicia were close to the server room. Taskmaster laid the Captain Marvel killing weapon on the table and made sure it was properly loaded and ready. Victor approached him and offered a pork rind sandwich "ugh no I'm good"

"It's pork" Victor pointed out

Taskmaster rolled his eyes and accepted the sandwich out of guilt. Victor took a second to lean down and pick up some salt and when he looked back up to see Taskmaster tightening his helmet and his sandwich gone, Taskmaster belched a moment after.

"HEY" a guard screamed

Karla instinctually shot an energy blast at the guard vaporizing him and tearing apart the wall. Victor smelled the air "there's another one" he said charging into the hallway on all fours. Taskmaster and Erik ran after him but paced themselves to keep a distance.

The Guard ran for his life, his heart exploding out of his chest he made a sharp turn around a corner to come face to face with Karla next to amelted wall. He looked to the right and noticed an alarm, if he wasn't going to survive he could at least warn everyone. He scanned his palm print and pulled the alarm causing it to go off across the palace. The guard looked back up to see that all four intruders had just stood there and let him. "Huh" he sighed

"Yeah" Taskmaster said ripping the guards weapon out of his hands "do you want to just go inside the locker or do you want us to make it look like you put up more of a fight"

The guard contemplated this "will it hurt?" he asked

"If we do it right" Sabretooth specified

"Fine, just-" the guard said before punched him so hard he fell unconscious with a black eye

After shoving him into the locker Sabretooth started tearing up the walls with his claws "Yo-Ok we're good"

"Moonstone" Taskmaster Specified. Karla grabbed all three of them and lifted them through the hole in the wall and up onto the roof, through the vents, and into the gym.

"I've really gotta hit the gym more" Karla said sounding tired

"Alright you two know what to do" Taskmaster said as he primed the Captain Marvel killing weapon and positioned himself behind the smoothie stand while Victor positioned himself on the ceiling supports and Erik by the entrance. Karla took a deep breath, blasted a hole in the roof, and flew out to peek outside.

"Hey Marvel come play with us" Karla said making a seriously out of place reference.

Karla stayed in position waiting for their target to come out, and waited, and waited. Karla shot an energy blast into the sky but still nothing. She blasted another one wrecking one of the decorative towers, but still nothing. "Hey we're here, do your job" Karla angrilly screamed "it's what you wanted". She slowly descended back down and looked agitated

"Ok…." Erik said "so what now"

Taskmaster clutched his head "ok ok maybe we just-"

CRASH

A large crashing sound interrupted him, all four of them slowly turned to their van smashed against the floor three feet from where they were huddled. Taskmaster looked back through the hole in the ceiling to see Marvel waving at them before pointing her glowing finger at the van.

Taskmaster leaped into action and got Erik underneath him. He moved just in time before the van exploded sending shrapnel everywhere.

"Ah ah ah" Victor said in pain as the shrapnel was pushed out of him by his healing

Marvel dropped down into the gym and cracked her knuckles. Taskmaster threw a 40lb dumbbell at the side of her head to no avail. She picked it back up and threw it back at him, if he hadn't dodged in time he would've been splattered everywhere.

Marvel hovered into the air and started glowing, as if she was powering up. Before she made it very far Karla launched Victor at her and he had her in a choke hold. She was able to break free and smashed Victor against a wall. Moonstone flew toward her to attack but got caught by the throat. Marvel flew her into the upper atmosphere past their line of sight.

"KARLA" Taskmaster screamed, this was the exact same problem as before except Rhodes wasn't here to distract Marvel. Taskmaster equipped himself with the Captain Marvel killing weapon "Erik, get the others"

"On it" Erik said as he sprinted down the hall

"Ok we gotta follow her" he said to Victor

"Wha- AHHHHHHHHHHH" Taskmaster screamed as Victor lifted him and threw him through the hole in the ceiling. Victor leaped up and pulled himself through the hole. They got a decent view of the battle, Karla had been able to break free and was mostly dodging Marvel's attacks this time. The fight was pretty brutal as Marvel and Karla shot energy blasts and needlessly ripped parts of the castle apart. Taskmaster aimed at them but he only had two shells and couldn't risk missing, which at that distance was pretty likely. And if he accidentally hit Karla, she would surely be killed.

"Over there" Victor said pointing to an empty anti aircraft cannon. He jumped into the seat and squeezed his giant body inside. He aimed toward the battle, Marvel gaining the upper hand again by clutching Karla's arms and flew her out of his view. Taskmaster scanned the area for where he could see them Taskmaster gripped the Captain Marvel killing weapon and ran off to the aiming position.

Moonstone's POV

Moonstone's arms were being crushed so harshly. She heaved on her arms desperately trying to break free. After gathering enough spit she spat all over her mother's face and broke her momentum thus freeing her hands. She took her opportunity and threw a hard punch at Marvel's nose.

The fight stopped dead in its tracks as Marvel wiped a drop of blood dripping from her nose, the look on her face proved that was a first for her. Moonstone's pride got the better of her, as she laughed Marvel grabbed her shoulders and kneed her right in the stomach. She then grabbed her and caught her in a chokehold, her face immediately turning red. Moonstone punched her desperately trying to break free.

All of a sudden they were surrounded by explosions throwing them both off guard. They started to separate and put distance in between them as they desperately tried to avoid the explosions. Her dear old mother looked down and saw the source, Victor blasting an anti aircraft gun (honestly it was kind of a douchey thing to do, she could have been blasted as well)

Either way once Marvel flew towards him she had to chase after her and save them. She flew as fast as she could after her before she hurt them. A split second before she could reach them Moonstone grabbed her leg and threw her to the left, sending her 40 yards away.

Marvel growled at her in frustration and flew at her so fast she may have teleported. They flew 20 yards away and crashed into the pavement. She smashed her glowing fists into Moonstone over and over again. Moonstone couldn't get her eyes open for more than a few seconds as the barrage continued.

Finally Moonstone got a moment of peace and could open her eyes. "You oppose the country of Latveria, the sentence is death" her dear mother said standing over her "and you were not selected for repurposing" she said throwing another hard punch at Moonstone.

Moonstone started choking, she threw three hard punches at her chest until she finally coughed up some teeth. Mustering whatever strength she had Moonstone pushed herself on her feet "you remember Craig Soften" Moonstone spat

Marvel punched her to the ground again "No"

Moonstone turned crimson with anger and focused all her power into her fists "you got him killed… (heavy breathing)... And you left me"

"Irrelevant" Marvel said, barely mustering an expression. Carol continued her barrage at Moonstones face but Moonstone had too much adrenaline and anger to stop

U.S. Agent's POV

John burst through the escape hatch, he had two goals, he had to stop his team from finishing Captain Marvel, then save his team. He had to do this for all those people, for James Rhodes, and for his family, he was not going to be a supervillain here. Captain Marvel didn't have a say in any of this, Doom was forcing her to commit these atrocities.

Wasn't like she was going anywhere, Karla was making their fight perfectly clear. Only way is toward the destructive fight between two deadly alien women, great. John rushed to the fight as fast as he could "KARLA, STOP" he screamed hoping she would hear him from there but the fight continued

He ran so fast sweat was rushing down past his eyes "GUYS HAYWARD LIED TO US" he screeched as he swung his arms repeatedly

"KAR-Ohhhh" he said until he ran into something with a ton of momentum. John got back on his feet to find Tony pushing himself back, he had to straighten his metal skull mask and pick his sword back up "Tony, Tony you ok"

"Yeah" he said as John helped him up

"I've gotta get up there" he said pointing to the viewpoint "Where are the oth-" Tony barely finished his thought before part of the ceiling collapsed towards them.

Before he could think, U.S. Agent kicked Tony a meter back, keeping him safe from the ruble. He fell back just in time, if he had waited a second longer he would have been crushed.

"JO" "JOH" Tony yelled from the otherside of the ruble but couldn't communicate through. U.S. Agent found a small hole to see that Tony was heading towards the edge with the Captain Marvel killing weapon, he had to get to her now. If he hailed her down and told her everything, Tony and the others should get suspicious and investigate, ending the fight.

U.S. Agent rushed through the ruble, he had to get to Marvel before Tony got to Marvel. He had a clear path to face Marvel head on. Rushing right up to a superhero he tried to kill earlier, doesn't sound suicidal at all.

T POV

Taskmaster rushed to the view point, he had some solace that John was alright but he had no confirmation for Felicia, Alexi, and Erik. He would have time to make sure after he dealt with Marvel and got this over with. He was so close to the viewpoint just a little further.

After leaping over some ruble he got his foot wedged down "Come on, Come on"

M POV

Moonstone pulled back and started hyperventilating, she wiped the sweat off her brow but it was more blood than sweat. Marvel quickly held her in a choke hold and started crushing.

U POV

"KARLA YOU GOTTA RESTRAIN HER" U.S. Agent screeched as he ran towards them, the fight had mostly stopped in its tracks, but he couldn't really tell who was winning or losing.

"KARLA" that scream actually got their attention. When Marvel turned around Karla tried to attack her further but that didn't do much damage. "KARLA SHE CAN'T CONTROL IT"

Taskmaster finally ripped his foot out of the ruble and sprinted to the viewpoint.

"SHE'S INNOCENT" U.S. Agent screeched hoping Karla would hear

Taskmaster aimed the Captain Marvel killing weapon, Karla was injured and John was charging straight at her. He had a clear shot at her head and tried to keep his hands from shaking. "Come on Bullseye, one more shot"

Marvel was looking straight at him, shocked to see him with the drive. Karla doing everything to break free and save him "KARLA SHE IS BEING MIND CONTROLLED"

BLAST

Taskmaster dropped the empty weapon, it was over. He looked

Erik burst out the maintenance hall door, leaving behind Felicia's corpse with a knife through the skull. It was quiet