No-One But You (The Zephyr Endeavor)
Chapter 71: The Beautiful People (Part 1)
Ezekiel Stane slowly opened his eyes beneath the appearance of Rae-Ann. He was concentrating through all the noise, and mapping out where everyone on his team was located.
The Jackal glanced toward his left, then he brought his hands up toward the door of his cage. The chain-wire fence in that section was designed to contain mutants that had their powers suppressed, meaning they were docile and too weak to break themselves free.
His eyes studied that low-grade steel wire in front of him until the last chess piece was put in place, then he told them all to simply melt the fence, if they had one, and break free…
They all had their shiny new suits, while the rest of the group had tricks of their own to free themselves with. The first "trick" was served up by Donna Strange. She simply formed a portal and made her way out into the open, while her companion utilized his version of Kheima.
…
"The Iron Mongers will activate as soon as you initiate a threat. So, move in."
…
Get going people. The Jackal quietly covered his skin with Zephyr, then his eyes scanned across the space for Wade Wilson.
He knew that the mercenary was far from his current location. Wade was taken where all the men were placed, but Ezekiel could tell that Deadpool was on the loose by the sudden sounds of people screaming…
Those "Purifiers" didn't stand a chance against Wade, and the Jackal was counting on his "Red Devil" to serve as the perfect distraction.
Ezekiel walked away from the caged mutants, then he turned down a long and narrow walkway. Charles Xavier received an alert to move in as well, as promised, so Ezekiel left it up to the X-Men to handle all of the rescuing…
The Jackal had his own path mapped out, and he knew what was coming as soon as everything within the compound went dark. A sense of chaos suddenly took over the area. An alarm was tripped and the security level had increased. More "Purifiers" started moving in to handle Wade, but Ezekiel kept going in the opposite direction.
He stopped in front of the first Iron Monger, and he took in the sight of the giant machine. It stood tall, like a tree, then four more of them rose to an active position.
Inwardly, Ezekiel said a faint hello to his deceased father. They were reunited, in a sense, and the notion of that made the Jackal stop in his tracks for a brief moment…
Truthfully and specifically speaking, the Jackal didn't know who "purchased" and powered those suits. There were things about the Iron Monger that haunted his soul, so he used that mission, and he used that precise moment to potentially see.
He had to know, and figuring it out was worth the risk.
The first Iron Monger identified Zephyr as a threat, but something happened as soon as the giant machine took Ezekiel into its sights.
All five of the Iron Mongers in that location received a command to collect Ezekiel Stane. The Jackal didn't know it yet, but that command was also sent to every single machine across the country.
You see, Ezekiel was there to hunt for information, just like Tony Stark, but he flew backward as soon as his father's machine tried to attach itself to Zephyr's arm…
The "Monger" actually tried to somehow fuse itself to his suit. Ezekiel didn't design the suit to have features like that. He also didn't mass produce them either, so he could tell that someone else was altering his father's suit.
The Monger grabbed his arm once again, and that liquid-like fusion was nearly successful too… then the rest of them tried to accomplish the same thing.
A giant red flag flared up in Ezekiel's mind, so he took off and started making his way up to the surface.
Chapter: END
Thanks for reading.
NOTE: Just a heads up, the next set of chapters are going to be pretty plot-heavy. Thanks for sticking with the story if you're here!