Avenging
Book 2: Act II
Have a Hydra New Year
Chapter 6
As always you can contact me
My works are stored , A03, and mediaminer for older stuff.
Last Chapter: The Avengers have noticed Wasp's mental decline, and are concerned something will have to be done about it. Hydra Commander thought he had a good idea in killing Ryouga in human form, but his assassination team's gamma detectors found Tarou instead. Oops. And Kodachi is finally aware of someone stealing from her to make a robot.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
At 1:10 AM Greenwich Standard Time, the gamma bomb was dropped on the remote Indonesian island of Nakku. The island was located far enough from any other populated island that the radiation and subsequent fallout from the blast didn't affect them. The total population present on the island at the time of the drop was 5,178. All were caught in the blast.
38 Heavily shielded Hydra craft standing by swept in to collect survivors. Over the course of the next 1 hour and 49 minutes, 216 survivors were located and evacuated before any other authority could be called in. The victims were placed in isolation for observation.
By the end of the week, only 19 individuals survived the onslaught of gamma ray bombardment, classified as 'gamma mutates'.
Of those, 10 were so hideously deformed, they were liquidated.
3 developed mutations that were determined useless for the operation that was required. These were given to Eliot Franklin for study.
1 developed a high degree of hyper intelligence. The ability was determined to be too dangerous, and the individual was liquidated.
4 were determined to possess abilities deemed suitable for the operation.
1 was catalogued as 'anomalous', but his abilities and intelligence were such he was included in the operation.
The five were informed by Hydra agents posing as SHIELD operatives that the Avengers, in conjunction with the Japanese government, had inadvertently set off the bomb and were involved in a cover up of massive proportion. Due to political maneuvering, the UN determined no official responsibility could be laid at Japan's feet for the incident, and the organization known as Undertow would be blamed for the bombing. Any accusation toward Japan being responsible for the incident would be summarily dismissed, with the accusers put on watch lists.
However, clandestinely it was determined that the Avengers could be killed as a sort of balancing for the incident and that Japan should not be so clumsy again. To that end the survivors would be trained by SHIELD to kill the 'monsters' partially responsible for committing such an atrocity. While it would be a covert operation, SHIELD operatives would secretly help the gamma irradiated victims achieve some form of justice.
Mentallo was brought in from his assignment to secretly use his abilities to manipulate the survivors into believing the cover story being fed to them. Four of the five proved very susceptible to the mental influencing, mostly due to the variety of traumas suffered in the short amount of time. They were eager for someone to blame and Hydra was providing them with a target. It was, in essence, a form of therapy for them.
Only the anomalous entity proved immune to any form of telepathy. Mentallo explained the inability to influence him was because, "He's fucking dead."
But since the entity was animate, and seemed to believe everything he was being told, it was determined he should be assigned to the mission because the remaining four would probably be insufficient to eliminate the Avengers.
Three weeks after the gamma bomb was detonated, Hydra Commander determined the preliminary work was done and it was time to set the plan to kill the Avengers into motion.
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Imperial Hydra was in her new office, which was located a good distance away from Hydra Commander's. Since he was taking over she removed the temptation some might have of reporting to her instead of him were she close by. Old habits did die hard, and there were some who, in the back of their minds, thought he was some kind of puppet she was using as a shield against attack. But no, she was sincere in her desires and he was well on his way to becoming a proper head of Hydra. She'd probably stay on to lend support should he need it, or a reliable set of eyes to watch his back, though Madame Hydra VI was being groomed for that role. The two had hit it off quite well. That was reassuring since the poor boy was still emotionally hurt by that tawdry woman who had led him on and broken his heart.
Some women didn't know a keeper when they saw one.
It was an added bonus that Madame Hydra sincerely cared for the boy, since her primary mission in getting close to him and been a little… well, he might have seen it as meddlesome. But she was more than a leader when it came to him and really was looking out for his best interests. It was as natural as breathing to her.
As she pondered the matter, she received the beep that served as her doorbell indicating someone outside the office wanted to report to her. To Imperial Hydra's surprise, it was the woman she had just been thinking of. She admitted Madame Hydra into the office and the two exchanged the ritual greeting.
Madame Hydra was practically glowing. "The side project you assigned me has borne fruit."
Under the mask, the robot Kin Ono was operating dropped its jaw just as she did in the real world. That she had just been thinking about the assignment and to have Madame Hydra confirm its success… it was a sign. It had to be.
Imperial Hydra collected herself. "Thank goodness. I was getting a little worried since it was taking so long. But not everyone can get it right in one go." Madame Hydra had been medically tested and it was determined she was an ideal subject ideal for the operation, so the former leader had been convinced it was only a matter of time before things were taken care of.
Madame Hydra smiled. "I admit, I had a lot of fun seeing your plans through. It's been very satisfying. So much so I hope you don't intend for me to discontinue the activity."
"Absolutely not!" The insistence was emphatic and sincere. "You two make an excellent team. Ideally, I would like to see it long term if you're both willing. It's your choice, though. However, it would be for the best if we didn't bother him with the results of this side project of mine. Hydra is at a critical juncture in our plans and he doesn't need the distraction. In fact, it would be best if we didn't mention it was a project at all, and just let him assume it was happenstance."
"I concur wholeheartedly. Although we could have waited until we've successfully conquered the world to do it."
"No." Imperial Hydra said sadly. "For all our planning, there are too many variables and too much of a chance of things going wrong. Disastrously so, as the Death Spore Bomb proved. Since your safety is now paramount for the next few months, I'm going to put you out of likely harm's way. That's not to say you'll be sitting around munching bon bons for the next few months. I'm going to tell him I have to reassign you to a delicate secret project. I can only entrust it to someone of your competence and loyalty. I might overstate the difficulties involved, but whatever it takes to get the job done."
That piqued her interest. "What is the assignment?"
"You'll be reopening our base at the Isle of Exiles."
Madame Hydra cocked her head curiously. "I've never heard of it."
"It was established in the earliest days of Hydra, when we were first starting out. It used to be a leper colony, hence the name. Likewise, even though it was cleared out decades ago, no one wants to go near it due to the stigma. I mean… leper colony. No one thinks of those as vacation spots. Its isolation made it ideal for what we used it for."
Madame Hydra nodded her head in understanding. "Which was?"
"That was no ordinary base we had concealed there," Imperial Hydra softly intoned. "During the waning days of WWII, the Germans asked the Japanese government to store some of their super weapons for them."
"If they were so super, why didn't they use them?"
"By the time they finished creating them, it was too late. They wouldn't have won the war, and they really didn't want to take a chance of the Soviets getting their hands on them. So Japan chased the lepers off, then built a secret base to house the weapons.
"As providence would have it, the German ship that delivered the weapons was sunk by a US sub right after departing. Since it was a secret mission, radio silence had been maintained and the German government and had no idea the cargo had reached its destination. When the Germans came asking, the Japanese claimed they had never received it. The Germans assumed the weapons now resided on the bottom of the ocean. Then they had more important things to worry about with Berlin getting flattened in the invasion.
"As further providence would have it, the handful of Japanese military who knew about the operation realized our own war was lost, and decided to lay the groundwork for revenge by forming Hydra. So they told their own leaders the cargo never arrived as well. We are the only ones aware of their existence."
"Why haven't we used the amazing weapons ourselves?"
"We did use one," Imperial Hydra said, a bit of wistfulness in her voice. "Back when Baron Von Strucker briefly ran Hydra, he activated a flying weapons platform. The thing looked like a flying saucer. Only an interfering group of do-gooders called the Sky Wolves came out of retirement and destroyed it. It cost them their lives in the process, but screwed up Von Strucker's plans. Chromedome got kicked out shortly after that, so no more were used. Since the base wasn't active, we mothballed everything and put it under lock and key to save on operating costs. Don't be fooled, running a proper terrorist operation isn't cheap. Revenue streams have to be maintained and costs balanced, something governments fail to understand. They seem to think being able to print money and taxing everything that moves means you can buy the moon as well as everyone's votes. No wonder we need to clean the place up.
"But thanks to our machinations, we're flush with cash and have room to maneuver. I want to reopen the base, and I'm putting you in charge of the operation. Once Fixer is finished up with Computrex, I'll toss him your way to upgrade the tech. Powerful they might be, but they do date back to WWII. They'll need brought up to date. That should keep you out of harm's way while doing important work. I'll have you inform Hydra Commander of the good news when the time is right. Congratulations, by the way."
Madame Hydra smiled, saluted, and left.
Imperial Hydra breathed a sigh of relief. The future was secured. While Hydra was positioned so they weren't dancing on the edge of the abyss, a hard shove could still send them tumbling into Nietzsche's reflecting pool. But overall the outcome looked promising. Progress was being made on all fronts in one way or another, especially on the SHIELD matter.
That the Helicarrier had been a massacre meant none of the UN's pool of stooges had petitioned hard for the old command positions. As a general rule, political lap dogs who wanted prestigious jobs didn't want to die in fiery explosions while working. Well, there had been that one Czech who was angling for reinstating the Director's position, but Hydra had taken care of him while making sure it looked like a terrorist act to scare anyone else off. Since most people didn't have Fury's brass balls, folks wanted the jobs even less than before.
In leu of that, a 'Ruling Council' had been created to replace the old director's position. Everyone at the UN had hated Fury telling them they were screw-ups when they tried implementing their inept plans- as if the UN had any other kind- but a council had things like votes, and no individual could tell them "Eat Me, Goldbricks". Also, while one person might not be corrupt enough to be bought off (like Fury), you could always find someone on a council who could, and work your magic from there.
But thanks to careful positioning, every member of the current council who had been pressed into service was a loyal member of Hydra. And they had been doing every stupid thing the UN insisted as effectively and efficiently as possible with the smiles of drooling idiots. Being delighted with their performance, the UN made them permanent replacements.
That meant Hydra ran SHIELD, and that resource was leading to bigger bounties than they anticipated. They were now able to peak around corners and into shadows Hydra never could with the intelligence apparatus SHIELD had accumulated over the years. Much of the information was obtained illegally, but since they weren't going to court with it, it didn't matter. It had been a testament to Fury's restraint he hadn't used the organization that way, leveraging his way into a position of real power and money. He was the textbook definition of 'idealistic roadblock.'
What sort of fools believed in 'intelligence agencies' anyway? They were designed to be run by professional liars and backstabbers whose job was to lie and backstab. If you used them at all, you kept them small, had ten layers of oversight when they wanted to do something as complicated as going to the bathroom, and let them know any abuse would be met with a prison sentence so long most of the people you'd been illicitly looking in on would have died of old age by the time you got out.
Oh well, the world's stupidity was Hydra's gain. She made a mental note that once Hydra ran the show, she'd dig up so much dirt on all the other world's intelligence agencies, and make it public, people wouldn't trust them when they claimed water was wet. There would be no such thing as a 'conspiracy theory' when it came to them. Just assume whatever skullduggery they were accused of either already happened or would when they got around to it.
Fixing the world was such a pain in the ass, it made her think Hydra Commander might be as old as she was now by the time Hydra made it semi-functional.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Kodachi Kunou's attention was riveted to the screen before her. She didn't like pulling her attention from the scheme someone had run under her nose. It was clear the robotics division had nothing to do with it, having been used and discarded. That the hacker had somehow wiped out *all* computer evidence of the action was beyond impressive. A part of her wanted to hire someone that good with computers, if for no other reason than to keep someone else from doing it again. But no, jail time would be served once she discovered who the culprit was.
Now something else of more immediate importance had drawn her attention. The Robotic Division's staff might not have had anything on file about their creation, but they remembered a lot of details since they had to build it themselves. Whoever had created it must have been a genius, especially when it came to that cyberbrain. If it really did work as the staff thought it would, she could market that for billions. Of course they didn't remember enough to actually recreate the entire thing, maybe 70% of it, but every section was missing a critically vital part. What she needed were the original models or plans. Maybe eventually they could fill in the blanks, but for now the partial construct would be mothballed.
However, that was now all on the backburner. She received a call from a very important agency. That meant clearing her schedule and left her now in the middle of the video conference call.
The SHIELD agent continued his pitch. "You see, Miss Kunou, we're concerned about the terrorist group known as the Life Foundation who are operating out of your area of Japan. They're ideologues determined to 'reduce the excess human population' with some sort of catastrophic event. So far they've never done anything large scale, but we believe that's about to change. They are in the process of acquiring launch capabilities for a missile, a large one.
"Normally we'd take care of the matter ourselves, but due to the tragedy in Rumekistan, we're still in the process of recovering and our resources are spread far too thin.
"Normally we'd ask the Japanese government to intervene, but we're concerned that might not be a good idea. Recent intelligence suggests the Life Foundation has gained some super-powered talent. Not along the lines of the Masters of Evil or Zodiac, but enough that government forces might have some difficulty in going head-to-head with them. If casualties occur, it might create tensions between us and your government since we sent them in.
"The Avengers could deal with the matter quite easily. It wouldn't even take your entire team. Half should be more than enough given the power levels in question. Perhaps Thor or your own Iron Rose should be present to be on the safe side, along with two or three others, if it wouldn't be too big an imposition. We'd appreciate the help, and would remember it if you, or your company, required assistance we could provide."
So that was it. She wondered why he was so insistent about it being her and the team helping out. Clearly they wanted to build an unofficial link between them and the Avengers. While she liked to think the world's largest peacekeeping force was being forthright and honest, well, even if Nick Fury was still in charge, she'd have been wary.
Still, it would behoove them, and her, to gain the favors of so powerful a force in the world. If the Avengers got into some sort of international trouble, like what could have happened with the Mandarin or the Bitterfrost incident, it would help if SHIELD went to bat for them. And perhaps SHIELD might need a new weapons contract. Since they knew she was trustworthy, that would weigh in her company's favor.
"This sounds agreeable. I can only speak on Iron Rose's behalf for certain, but I'm confident the rest of the team will be more than happy to help out one of the world's foremost forces of good."
"We're relieved to hear that ma'am. Believe me, we'll remember the favor you've done for us."
It was music to her ears.
Xxxxxxxxx
Ryouga looked at the widespread destruction around him. It wasn't *too* bad, which was fortunate, since he was in an underwater city with a clear dome surrounding it, one that kept the air in and water out. Very useful for air breathers, that was.
In assessing the damage, he tallied the usual assortment of wrecked military-looking vehicles, though most of them were lightly armored compared to the ones he was used to. A number of men in blue uniforms with lying around, with broken weapons scattered about. One of them was clutching what appeared to be an energy rifle to him like a child with a favored stuffed animal. If the animal was shaped like a gun with the stock missing and the barrel twisted into a half circle. And… hey! There was a merman looking guy. Not very big, though. It was doubtful he had been much of a challenge to Ryouga's emerald alter ego. Sometimes you just knew. Maybe if their fight had occurred in the water the tale would have been different. But since his Hulk self had calmed down after the fight, it couldn't have been that bad.
He examined the other people surrounding him, mostly Westerners, whose variety of outfits were similar to those who would be vacationing in a warm environment near the ocean. All of the clothing was in varying degrees of unkemptness. He didn't know who they were due to, until a few moments ago, being Hulked out. While most of them appeared scared, there was also a lot of uncertainty rather than immediate terror. That was a good sign. Most people were closer to 'I just soiled myself' when the Hulk went around destroying everything in sight.
The last thing he remembered as Ryouga Hibiki was being in a colder region of what turned out to be North America. Canada to be specific. Apparently Hulk had gotten really lost until calming down in the Great White North. Ryouga's English was good enough he eventually found a town in the Northwest Territories to try and figure out the best way to get back to Japan. Everyone he ran into had been agitated, convinced some kind of man-eating creature called a Wendigo had emptied out an entire town of people, like that movie about vampires that had done something similar. That had made him tense since Hulks might be mistaken for man-eating monsters, and if he turned into a behemoth, that might lead to an international incident if the people attacked him in panic.
Only his fears were for naught as an actual Wendigo did show up. Nearly ten feet tall and a ton of solid savage animalistic muscle. One of the few guys bigger than Hulk. That was the last thing Ryouga remembered as the drool came out of the creature's mouth. Ryouga knew languages enough he was confident in his interpretation of: Yay! Buffet! Then he went green and didn't come out of it until now.
Since this wasn't any part of Canada he was aware of, it was time to find out where he was and what had happened. He crossed his fingers and asked in English, "My memory is kind of shot. Was destroying all this stuff a good thing, or a bad thing?"
One of the more coherent women shouted, "Rypel was a madman! He was going to cause the San Adreas fault to rupture and sink the West Coast, then make it look like the Russian did it to cause World War III! He was going to repopulate the world with all of us abductees!"
"A good thing, then." Thank goodness he had saved the world, rather than dooming it. It was always a bit of a crap shoot since he wasn't the brightest of guys when in his altered state. There was always this fear in the back of his mind he'd turn into Ryouga, then be informed, "You sort of destroyed this military base and caused a malfunction that set off a nuke."
But not this time. He couldn't wait to tell his friends what he had done.
Once he figured out how to get off the bottom of the ocean.
Xxxxx
Mousse sat in his apartment, feeling horrifically ill. Even super heroes got the flu, sadly, which was why he wasn't going anywhere nor near anyone. Passing on Iron Rose's offer for busting heads had been a no-brainer. He'd have been a liability to the gang. He also hoped Ukyou would pass on the event. Not that she needed him looking over her shoulder -she could handle herself- but it always made him feel better knowing he'd be around if things went south, which happened all the time in this business.
Like making the mistake of getting into a juggling contest with an idiot super villain juggler.
Uh oh. Time to vomit again. He went as fast as he could to the toilet since he didn't want the lingering smell of a trail of vomit leaving a path on the floor, filling his superior sense of smell as it did the first time when he woke up and came up puking.
Sometime having hyper senses sucked as well.
Xxxxxxxxx
Ukyou cooked up another batch of okonomiyaki and served it to the customer at the bar. Business was booming today, and she needed both the money and increase in reputation for more reliable hours today would bring. Iron Rose said the favor for SHIELD didn't require everyone, and her beau was out sick with the flu, so it made skipping out on busting terrorists' skulls, and a super villain or two, an easy choice. Her personal life needed taking care of first if she hoped to take care of everyone else's.
The nice thing about being a member of the Avengers was when you dealt with the power level they had, even half the team could take care of business and be back in time for lunch.
Preferably her okonomiyaki. It was the best stuff on earth, after all.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Kasumi lay on her couch, feeling better than she had in weeks. Her high stress levels, which had been a constant presence most of the time, had made her want to lash out at anything that moved. Everything felt so wrong in the world, and she had no idea of how to go about fixing it. Blasting stuff had been her go to thing for a while, but now that she was calmer, she realized she'd been going about everything wrong since the Revengers incident. Sure, it could be vitriolic taking down outright super villains to violent street gangs, but it wasn't a *solution* to whatever it was that needed to be done. Even if she had no idea of what that exactly was.
So many things in her life had been going against her, almost as soon as she had gotten her apartment. Independence wasn't the issue; moving out had been one of the best choices in her life. It was the never-ending lack of respect she was being served on all fronts that wore her nerves down. She was an Avenger. She had saved the world multiple times. She kicked as much butt as anyone else. But lately no one seemed to think that mattered, outside of her teammates, who were indeed looking out for her because they cared. She was a discarded afterthought all too often of late. The Revengers situation had been the worst, though. And in the end they had escaped police custody despite being beaten, though she suspected Gargantua in her role as Goliath wouldn't want to cross paths with her personal David again. Or wear adamantium earplugs at least.
But even with a calmer approach, no answer was coming to Kasumi. Perhaps it was her destiny to be overlooked due to her size. While Giant Man had been an ass, he was more noticeable, and if the price of notoriety was being like him, she'd rather go around unnoticed.
She was still pondering her dilemma when there was a knock on her door. Being an Avenger meant you didn't have to worry about who it was, since super villains didn't knock; they kicked the door down. And anyone less powerful than that could be dealt with far more easily. She'd have to be discrete doing it out of costume, though. She'd nearly blown it a few times when she'd been under stress. Most people couldn't knock a two-hundred-pound man out with a single slap.
She opened the door to see two uniformed police officers standing there. One of them spoke, "Kasumi Tendou?"
"Yes."
"We have a warrant for your arrest."
Her heart nearly leapt into her throat. Had they somehow divined her identity? Were they arresting her for assaulting someone? She had never beaten up anyone who didn't deserve it, but the people on the receiving end of her sting rarely felt that way. Not once could she remember someone saying, "I had that coming. Terribly sorry for everything. Thanks for putting me in my place." Had someone pressed charges, and they decided to arrest her in her civilian guise?
As little as five days ago she might have blasted them while shouting out, "You'll never take me alive, coppers!" But now she was a little more clearheaded about it and would allow the scene to play out. Whatever happened, happened, even if there was no way the result would be good.
As she continued standing there panicking while resisting the urge to shrink and fly off, one of them said, "Your employer, MUFG Banking, is pressing charges against you for theft."
What? Theft? She'd never stolen anything in her life, money or any other kind of valuable. And she wasn't employed by them. "I've never worked for MUFG Bank. I work for Kunou Enterprises."
"We'll get that sorted out later, Ma'am." He held out a pair of handcuffs and indicated she should hold her hands out so he could put them on.
This was clearly a case of mistaken identity. She held her hands out and allowed them to handcuff her, then pat her down before escorting her to their car. Even if it was some sort of bizarre trap, she could just shrink her way out of it and blast them. But it felt real. These two radiated 'just another day on the job doing the usual.' She'd get it sorted out soon enough.
Due to her being in police custody, she missed the message that came through on her Avengers ID three minutes later asking if she wanted to help SHIELD break up a terrorist ring.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Two Hydra agents were walking down a hallway of one of their many secret underground bases.
"Come on, Miki. Let's go out on an official date. You won't regret it."
"For the third time, Miki: no," the Hydra Agent said.
But her companion persisted. "We make a great team. I'm the muscle, you're the brains. I'm the beast, you're the beauty. I'm the chocolate, you're the peanut butter."
"Tainting chocolate with peanut butter is blasphemy. If you approve of that, we can't be friends anymore."
He placed his hand over his heart. "I'll swear off Reese's Cups for life. Throw their Pieces in the trash. Burn the company to the ground, all just for you."
She laughed. "Razing capitalist interests is the way to a girl's heart."
"We're morally obligated to become a couple. Everyone already calls us, 'The Two Mikis', We're destined for one another. And I guarantee we'll have a better outcome then 'The Two Jakes'."
"Who are they?"
"It's an 'it'. The movie sequel to the noir classic, 'Chinatown'. It was an inferior follow up that bombed hard."
"Never saw either of them."
He made an appalled noise. "If you go out with me, I'll make you sophisticated by introducing you to the greatest one hundred movies ever made."
"Alternatively, I could look up someone's list online." She fingered her outfit, a skin-tight mix of light blue/ dark blue ensemble. "I hate this thing. Why couldn't we just wear our Hydra colors?"
"Ah ha. Questions like that are why I'm the brains, oh brawn of our pairing."
"You said you were the brawn and I'm the brains."
"It's fluid. Sometimes I'm the brawn, sometimes you are. Sometimes you're the beauty, sometimes I get to be the beauty. When that happens you're the beast."
She playfully pinched his cheek. "I can see you being the beauty, but you need some make up to hide that blemish on your forehead if you really want to be hot."
"Anyway, our cohorts think we're SHIELD, so Hydra outfits are a no go. But we can't wear SHIELD outfits since the Avengers are coming and thinking they're hitting a terrorist operation. So we go with 'Life Foundation' paraphernalia. It shows off my cute butt better than our baggy Hydra gear." He wiggled his bottom at her.
She smacked it playfully. "Tell you what. You take down an Avenger, and I'll go out with you once."
"Nonsense. Once we go out, you'll never leave me. I'm a sexual Tyrannosaurus."
"I went out with one of those. Turns out I'm more of a sexual Velociraptor sort of girl."
"That's what I love about you. That quick wit and the ability to pronounce 'Velociraptor' correctly. Ask any guy; that makes you a keeper."
It was at that moment their communicators blared. "Avengers are inbound!"
And then there was the sound of an impact. A resounding one. Five seconds later, there was another one that made the underground lair tremble. It was quiet for ten seconds, then another louder, closer one.
"Reminds me of an earthquake," female Miki said nervously.
"Nothing so safe."
And then Iron Rose burst through the wall of the corridor ahead. Sadly, it was intentional, rather than something throwing her through it.
"Date night, coming up!" male Miki proclaimed, not managing boldness, despite his best efforts. There was too much tremble in the voice.
He was wearing a battle harness assigned to him by the Heavy Weapon's Division. It was mostly backpack, where the battery was kept, with straps holding it in place. Wires and metal tubes reached from it and around his waist to the center of his stomach, where a circular projection was. That was the energy projector.
He grabbed the handle at his waist that connected to the harness, and hit the plunger. A beam of scintillating yellow and green energy sprang from it, hitting Iron Rose squarely in her own stomach, knocking her off her feet.
"I did it!" That was said firmly in the camp of surprise.
And then the hero rose to her feet, uninjured and unaffected.
Female Miki used an energy blaster, its shots ineffectually deflecting off the armor's surface, as her partner went to hit the button again. He was too late as a repulsor beam knocked him out, then her.
Iron Rose went further in the base, looking for new targets.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
The quartet of Avengers rendezvoused in the final location of the underground lair, a silo several stories high. It looked like it should house a missile, but none was present. Only a gantry and elevator.
"Anyone run into actual trouble?" Bucky asked.
"Hangnail." Tigra made a show of playing with her pinkie.
"Those things drive me crazy."
"Thus far SHIELD would have had no problem taking care of this matter," Iron Rose said.
"No foes of a super powered bent?" Thor asked.
The others confirmed there had been none.
"Perhaps their intelligence was not as thorough as they believed. Or perhaps they lied to get us to do their dirty work," Iron Rose suggested.
Bucky became defensive. "Hey now, they lost a lot of people when the Helicarrier went down. They're doing the best that they can."
It was then the elevator to the gantry, which had been at the top, began to descend.
"Hmm. That seem too coincidental to be coincidental," Tigra said.
"Conspiracy Theorist. The next one you'll run on about is that politicians do what's best for them, rather than what's best for the people they serve," Bucky quipped.
Thor kept her entire focus on the matter at hand. "Methinks our foe, or foes, are about to make an appearance."
The elevator arrived at the ground floor of the silo. The large door to the elevator rose and the Avengers found themselves confronted by five obviously altered humans.
One was a man, unnaturally tall and slender, with eyes that were clearly too big for their sockets. He was like a pug dog, only somehow worse. His outfit was similar to the other Life Foundation members the Avengers had fought.
Another one was also male, looking like a normal teen for the most part. His uniform was also similar to the other.
And that was it for normality. The third one, also a man, wore golden armor over everything other than his head and hands. Those parts of him that were visible looked desiccated to the point he might have been dead. Even his eyes were white orbs, lacking pupils. He wore a smile more akin to a rictus grin.
The fourth was female, but monstrous in form and shape, larger and more powerful-looking than Hulk. Her face was bestial to the point it would unnerve all but the hardest of people.
The last was the most bizarre looking of the lot. The upper half was that of a woman, with long hair which draped over her front, obscuring what was clearly a topless state. Her bottom half was that of an avian, with overlarge talons for feet, ones that looked like they could tear through anything. Wings sprouted from her back, large and functional. She appeared for all the world like a harpy of myth.
There was one common thread throughout the quintet: all bore a shade of green similar to Hulk's.
"Looks like we're up against the Shrek Appreciation Squad," Bucky declared.
Just as the heroes were about to go into action, the slender man's eyes somehow became larger and shined with a venomous bright glow. All of the Avengers suddenly found themselves reeling, their equilibrium destabilized. Up and down lost all meaning as they teetered and tottered, Tigra falling to the ground despite her near Weeble Wobble-like status.
It was more due to luck than anything when Iron Rose, desperate, fired a trio of repulsor blasts that went in all directions. By chance one stuck the man, rendering him as insensate as the people he had used his abilities upon.
The other four had already gone into motion. The largest of the opponents slammed into Thor hurling her through the air like she had been picked up by a tornado and driven into a wall, destroying much of it with her godly form in the process.
The pain served to clear her head of the lest vestiges of her lack of balance. "Thou are not only larger than my own emerald comrade, but are more powerful as well… at least before he becomes angry. Let us see if your durability matches thy strength.
The two slammed into each other hard enough to cause the entire silo to quake.
Xxxxxxxxx
Harpy flew to Iron Rose, using her claws to grab the still disoriented hero by an arm, nearly jerking it out of its socket despite the armor's durability. The hybrid turned in mid-air and released her hold, slamming Iron Rose into a wall just as Ogress had done to her foe. Being tossed about like an unwanted doll left the armored Avenger still disoriented. Energy blasts leapt from Harpy's hands, and slammed into her again. Keeping her on the defensive.
Not a good way to start the fight. Not at all.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Bucky found her foe was the only normal looking one, save for the hue of the skin. Since each opponent had displayed a different ability so far, and his wasn't as obvious as that of Stilt Man, she went for an information probe. "Before I lay you out, and that isn't anywhere near as kinky as it sounds, you mind telling me your name?"
"It's Hotshot, murderer!" He drew back his arm and a red spear of energy formed in his hand. He then threw it at the heroine.
Bucky darted out of the way and allowed the shot to strike the floor. Curiously, it did no damage to the concrete, like most energy bolts would. The impact had no discernable effect. Hotshot clearly thought it was dangerous, so what was going on with it?
"What's this murderer, crap, pal?" She darted out of the way of another small spear. The guy was a quick reloader.
"You killed everyone in Nakku but us!" He hurled two this time, one from each hand.
Again she dodged, noting neither was as accurate as the single shots he threw. She got the impression he was new to this. "We had nothing to do with that tragedy, buddy. You're either misinformed or crazy."
"Liar! They told us everything! Today you'll pay for what the Japanese government did!"
Japanese Government bombing random islands? The guy thought he was in World War II. This was a lunatic who needed put down. She decided to block the next blast with the shield, then toss it at him to see what sort of damage it could do. He didn't look durable. Maybe he was a glass cannon of some kind.
Only her plan didn't turn out the way she thought. Rather than being blocked, the blasts went through the shield as if it was insubstantial. One of them struck Bucky in the shield arm, causing it to go completely numb and hang limply at her side. She tried moving it with the shoulder, but all she got was pure noodle limb.
"This ain't good." Now she was forced to do nothing but evade as the dead weight of the limb put her solely on the defensive.
xxxxxx
Tigra found herself confronted by the armored dead-looking guy. He even smelled of decomposition. It revolted her heightened senses, though she kept her cool. Like Bucky, she went for an information probe. "What Zombie Man want?"
He leered, which was made horrifying since part of his cheek near the mouth had rotted away completely and she could see the gums and muscles above it. "I'm not pissed off like the others. I'm kind of happy since you brought me back from the dead with that gamma bomb. No one knows how, but hey, I ain't complaining. I might not be all the way back exactly," he waved at his decomposed features. "But a half life is better than none. That's my code name, by the way."
"Nice to know." This guy was creeping her out. He was as unnatural as it got. While most would have been freaked out by his appearance alone, that he was setting off her other senses made it worse on every front.
"As to what I want, being six feet under sort of messes up a sex life. How about letting me cop a feel?" He held his hands out and wiggled his rotted fingers.
"You not the kind of stiff thing Tigra like," she retorted.
He lunged at her, but he only moved with normal speed and she easily evaded. That armor of his was a problem. Looking at it, she was certain it was very durable. Probably more than her strength could deal with. His only vulnerable parts were his head and hands, both gruesome. But she braced herself for what she would have to do.
He hurled himself at her again. This time she used her feline grace to deliberately barely stay out of reach while at the same time could dart away farther if it looked like he had some trick up his armored sleeve. It seemed he didn't, as he just tried to grab her, aiming for her breasts each time, with normal human reflexes. Perverted corpses weren't her thing.
She was close enough to counterattack. She racked his face with her claws to see what damage she could inflict on a corpse. Her claws went though it as though it were as rotted as it appeared. However, where her hand had come into contact with flesh, she felt a tingling sensation from that area and her hand grew weak.
Despite being slashed open, Half-Life didn't react in pain. Instead he landed a hand on Tigra's hip and grabbed it like he would bring her in closer for an intimate embrace. She felt strength drain out of her, but she retained enough to wrench herself free of his grasp and out of easy reach.
He smiled once again. "That's the stuff. Bring me to life, Baby." And now he moved just a touch faster than before.
She wagered he had absorbed something out of her that made her weaker and him stronger. Some kind of vampirism. This was not good. Given his armor, protective abilities, and her limited methods of attack, she had a bad feeling about how this fight might end. Stalemate until a teammate could help might be the best outcome she could hope for.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The battle continued on with the gamma victims keeping most of the Avengers on the defensive. Greater numbers might have enabled the heroes to press the attack, but the even odds and the nature of the foes' abilities made the battle one of the worst they had in a while.
Finally one of the bouts came to a conclusion. Bucky moved just a hair too slow and an energy bolt brushed against her leg, slowing her down. Because of that, the next one hit her in the chest. The muscle paralysis was so severe it nearly stilled her heart. It was sufficient to render her unconscious.
Tigra saw what had happened and came as close to panicking as she could. The man she loved might be dead, and if he wasn't, the bolt the youth was drawing back might finish the job. She hurled herself at Hotshot's back, knocking him over and nearly out.
As she regained her feet Half-Life, who was well out of reach, shouted. "I got a neat magic trick for you to check out, Sugar Tits."
She looked at him. He remained where he was, with his hands behind his back. Was he inviting her to attack? She wasn't falling for it if he was. "Is Zombie going to eat own brains?"
"I said it was a magic trick. I'm going to make something disappear." He brought his arms from around his back, one hand concealing the other. He just continued smiling.
As near as she could tell, he was doing nothing. Yet it was clear he thought he had an advantage. She thought it might be a distraction, but his remaining two conscious allies were engaged with Thor and Iron Rose and couldn't help. What was he up to?
He pulled one hand from the other. "Look, my hand disappeared." And sure enough, it was missing. Only a stump with dead ligaments, bone, and nerve endings was on the end of his arm.
It was at that moment she felt something grab her ankle. Looking down it was clearly the missing hand, latched on tight as the life flowed out of her. She reacted instantly, grabbing it, which caused her hand to go weak. Using her fading strength she was able to pry it off and throw it away.
Which was enough time for Half-Life to close the distance and wrap his arm around her, his remaining hand draining more of her lifeforce out of her and transferring it to him. For the first two seconds Tigra thought she had enough strength to free herself, but then the odds tipped in his favor, and she passed out in his grasp.
Now looking slightly livelier, he released her and looked down at her unconscious form. "Yeah, that's the stuff, Babe. Better than sex."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The irony of this confrontation was not lost upon Iron Rose. Here she was, a representative of the present, a warrior encased in the most sophisticated technologically advanced armor money could buy. Science par excellence. She was an icon of what is and what the future would bring.
This creature was the opposite; an abomination representative of ancient myth. A throwback to darker times when fear of the unknown, rather than optimistic intellect, ruled humanity. Now the two forces clashed in the same eternal combat that occurred when past met present.
Only she wasn't so certain of the outcome.
After waging war for several minutes, Iron Rose finally reoriented herself and now engaged her opponent in an airborne duel. Had someone posited the question, she would have wagered her high-tech hardware could deal with some primitive creature. Instead she discovered herself confounded. Harpy was not just agile, but super strong, durable, and she had those energy blasts. She was also ferocious almost to the boundary of being feral, screeching like some animal rather than uttering threats like the half human she appeared to be. The contradictory being was disconcerting on a primitive level. Perhaps fear of the obscene held more rule over Kodachi than she believed.
Harpy's other abilities were more concerning since they were damaging the armor. While Iron Rose was more maneuverable in mid-air, what attacks she did land had little effect on the creature. She might have tried flying a distance and using long range assaults, her jets were more powerful than wings, save that the silo was enclosed. While she might have been able to blast a hole through the roof to gain the outside and its greater distances, she would not abandon her friends.
She decided to try and grapple Harpy, get a good grip, and simply overpower her wings with the armor's jets and drive her into a wall as hard as she could. Maybe that would produce a desirable result.
However her timing couldn't have been worse. Just as she lunged, Harpy unleashed a power blast which Iron Rose flew into head first. Stunned, she froze up which allowed the winged mutate to grab onto an arm with a talon and squeeze hard enough the armor ruptured. With the circuits exposed and vulnerable, an energy blast went into the exposed area, causing critical damage and all but shutting the armor down.
Harpy once again threw her foe's now motionless form, driving her into the ground. Iron Rose lay there unmoving.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Thor met her opponent blow for blow in a clash that got her blood flowing the way few did. There was no need to hold back against this giantess for she could both deal and absorb punishment in equally excessive amounts. It was like taking on a troupe of Storm Giants, and she was happy. This was no weak foe she had to hold back against, fearful of causing permanent damage. Nor was it some horrific trick ability, like Duet who made her raise her voice in song. Nay, this was true combat, one foe facing another with all the strength and sinew they could muster. Finding out what one's true mettle was worth. No quarter asked. None given.
This was what life was about.
Their fists struck with force that could reduce bone to powder. The strength they employed could rend 20-centimeter-thick steel. Impacts produced shockwaves that moved the earth underfoot.
Thor found their strength comparable, meaning this Ogress did not grow more powerful over time as her own comrade did. A relief since for all her godly might, there were indeed forces mightier than her. But after long moments that stretched into minutes she had taken the measure of her foe and was convinced she would emerge triumphant. It would take time, but with the din of combat in her ears it would fly like a Valkyrie on winged horse championing the fallen to Valhalla.
Then she was struck in the chest by a full power blast courtesy of Hotshot. Energy that could paralyze a heard of hippopotami weakened her sufficiently so that Ogress' next blow blasted Thor into the cement of the floor, leaving her insensate on her back barely able to twitch
"Yes!" Hotshot shouted. "We beat them! Now we'll have a chance to avenge our people and kill them. At least the ones that bothered to show up. We can track down the rest la…ter. Why do I feel… so… weee."
And he hit the floor, unconscious. He was followed moments later by Harpy and Ogress (Equilibrious was still motionless from the repulsor blast). Everyone in the silo lay unmoving save one.
Half-Life stood looking livelier than ever in every sense of the word. He had gone from a rotting, desiccated mess out a horror movie to a normal looking man in his mid-30's, save for the green skin. Even his pupils had become brown once again.
"That hits the spot!" he shouted out in delight.
In the intervening moments, Thor recovered enough of her bearings to return unsteadily to her feet. "What transpires here?"
Half-Life continued grinning ear to ear. "Let me fill you in. So there I was, dead. As dead as a parrot in a skit. Then someone set off a gamma bomb. Boom! I'm suddenly reanimated. Not dead. Not alive. A sort of half life, which isn't just a name: it's a way of existence. The scientific types couldn't figure out how, but who am I to complain? Results are what matters.
"So the problem was, the gamma energy I got animated with was slowly draining off. I discovered I could leach the life out of anything and use it to sustain me, but I could sense what could really recharge the old batteries was organic gamma radiation, like my partners had. My connection to it is so great, I don't even need to touch them to get it like I do everything else. Proximity will do. I held off leeching it out of them, hoping your Hulk buddy would show up. That was one lollipop I'd love to lick, but it looks like I'll have to wait. I settled for them once we trounced you."
"Truly thou have no morals."
He held his hands up defensively. "Don't go making misassumptions. It's not like we were buds. We were strangers thrown together in common cause; killing you. Heck, I saved your lives by stopping them from finishing you guys off. I mean, I did it because they were so close together and distracted, not because I like you or anything, but I wouldn't complain if I were you."
He examined his hand curiously. "Now that I'm focusing on it, I can feel the gamma bleeding out of me. It's a lot slower and is going to last a hell of a lot longer than regular juice, but it's not permanent like I'd hoped." He held his hand to his chin in thought. "Your Hulk buddy can keep me going, but I'm still going to need more gamma mutates eventually. I'm going to need those guys to build me some more gamma bombs. I drop them in more densely populated areas, I can get more suckers to drain than that piddly little island, and that can keep me going. Yeah, sounds like a plan."
Thor stared at him in horror. "Thou would commit more such atrocities over and over again?"
His mirth finally left, a haunted look in his eyes replacing it. "Trust me, Babe, once you're been dead, you'll do anything to avoid going back. If I have to clean out half of humanity to do it, so be it. Tell you what. I'll kill you, you come back, and then we'll talk about what's right or wrong. Of course, I can only do the dead part, you'll have to figure out how to return from the grave on your own." He approached her menacingly.
In response, Thor began spinning her hammer in a circle by the thong. It whirled so fast it looked like it there was an unbroken circle before her. Then it started to glow until there was a portal where there should have been naught but a spinning weapon. It looked like some grey desert, what wasn't shrouded in fog. There was something unearthly about it, as though the fog was eternal and to end up in it would mean wandering lost forever.
Half-Life had a bad feeling about it. "No thanks, Thorsy." He made to run away, but a suction from the vortex portal tried to drag him into it.
But thanks to his draining of his allies, his strength was superior even to Ogress herself. With it he started to walk away from the portal. With each step he took the pull decreased.
And then a laser from a chest beam cut the floor out from under him. Lacking support, Half-Life found himself drawn toward, then into, and finally through the portal.
Once banished Thor ceased twirling her hammer. The portal disappeared as though it had been nothing but imagination from the beginning.
Iron Rose staggered as much as she walked, both from the beating she absorbed and the damaged condition the armor was in. "Where did you send him?"
"Hel, in Niffleheim," Thor answered. "Tis the Land of the Dead in Asgard. As one might divine by the name, no life exists there. Let the murderous miscreant try to sustain himself in those blasted lands. Twill be like a man filled on water being dropped in the middle of a desert with no oasis."
While some might have seen it as bloodthirsty, Iron Rose had no problem with the outcome. When a vampire had to feed, it was either him or you. She'd choose herself every time. And she had overheard him talking about gamma bombing everything in sight. One Hulk was quite enough. And judging by Half-Life's 'origin', the others were almost certainly the creation of gamma ray bombardment as well. She examined their other fallen foes and discovered something shocking. "They seem to have reverted to normal human beings."
"Maybe they're like our own jolly greenskin?" the now recovered Bucky suggested. She moved a bit unsteadily, numbed all over from Hotshot's paralyzing blast.
"All at once?" Iron Rose asked. "I doubt it. I believe the undead creature leeched all of the gamma radiation out of their bodies. I have no idea what side effects that might entail, but it is imperative we get them into the hands of the proper authorities who can detain and examine them as they see fit."
Tigra also returned to her comrades' side, moving with her typical feline grace. Her regeneration had been muted, but not totally inhibited by the draining and she was in as peak condition as Thor. "Since we do favor for SHIELD, let's give them our bad guys, as well as bad guys running this place."
The others agreed. Bucky then added, "Let's not do any favors for SHIELD again. They ain't too intelligent for an intelligence agency. These guys were way tougher than we were led to believe and came way too close. We needed everybody for this one."
"That suggestion has merit." Given how the events had transpired, she went from backing SHIELD to sharing Bucky's opinion regarding doing repeat business with them. Besides, there was some concern about working too closely with a government agency and being seen as their enforcers. Ariyoshi had soured all of them on all but the most superficial government ties, meaning paying taxes and little else. Maybe they'd suggest SHIELD ask the Reborn next time.
At least they had been successful in the end.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hydra Commander ordered everyone out of his office and that no one was to intrude under penalty of death, not even Imperial Hydra. Once the room was clear, he went ballistic. The desk was too heavy and had too many devices in it to destroy, so instead he went on a rampage and broke everything else into pieces. Chairs. Wall hangings. The one pot of plants Imperial Hydra insisted were needed to brighten up a room. When he was done with all of those, he emptied his side arm into the wall until he ran out of ammunition, then threw the gun against a wall. During the entire time he had shouted at the top of his lungs in incoherent rage.
Once everything that could be actively destroyed was, he stood there and hyperventilated. His throat was too raw to shout any longer. His vocal cords would be shot for the next day or two. Instead he mentally raged in depths that would have made Man Beast nod in approval.
He had been so close! Secret cameras in the silo had monitored everything. The Avengers had been beaten. They were about to be killed, half the team in one go. After they were finished off, Kasumi, who had been kept from helping thanks to the false charges his spies had leveled against her, would be despondent at her inability to prevent her teammates from being murdered. Her misery, combined with most of the Avengers being dead, would have sent him into a level of delight he hadn't thought possible.
Instead, that bastard Half-Life screwed everything up. He'd have had the mutate tortured, then killed if he knew where to find him. Or maybe not. Torture wouldn't have worked since his body's nerves were so dead he could remove pieces of himself and joke about it. He might have settled for reducing Half-Life's body to ash, then having every Hydra agent piss on it contempt.
But in now typical fashion –at least when it came to the Avengers- they had all survived against the odds. By the narrowest of margins, but that was all one needed when the test was life or death. All of the resources Hydra had committed to the project had been wasted. Sure, the flexing and getting away with annihilating an entire island full of people impressed the rank and file, but they had nothing of substance to show for it in the end.
Hydra Commander was uncertain what steps should be taken against the Avengers next. He had been counting on the gamma bomb mutates being the solution, so he didn't have a back-up plan. It wasn't as though the Avengers were a threat to Hydra's schemes at present -the heroes had no idea it was their organization who were gunning for them and taking over the world at the same time- but he *wanted* them dead. True, his satisfaction at their demise was personal, but it was also a necessity. They would be a threat someday. That was how super heroes operated.
At least he'd make Kasumi pay. That plan was working out wonderfully. It's ending had been delayed due to pulling Mentallo off her for the last couple of weeks since he'd been needed with the gamma beings, but that wasn't happening again. The telepath would be working exclusively on Kasumi from now on. If for some reason the required another, he'd hire an independent contractor. Mentallo would be there until he drove her mad enough to froth at the mouth and chew on the furniture. She'd be too unstable to be an Avenger, and while she was the least of them, she was the one he wanted broken most of all. Maybe once she was totally mad he could have her committed to an asylum Hydra owned, and continue to torment her for fun. They didn't own any, but he could buy one: they had that kind of money. Maybe getting that criminal psychiatrist, Dr. Faustus, on the payroll would help out.
Hydra Commander started calming down. While it was personally infuriating, in the big scheme of things nothing of consequence had been lost. Their grasp was slowly extending into every facet of the world it needed to. It would have been nice to have Madame Hydra around, but Imperial Hydra was correct and there was wisdom in accessing the German super weapons they had in storage. When an important job needed done, she was the one you sent. Fixer was nearly finished with that Computrex project of his. That would prove useful. And the scientific branch was convinced they were on the verge of perfecting the Super Soldier Formula. More weapons at Hydra's disposal.
But for all of his successes, the disappointments continued to rack up as well. Maybe once Kasumi was totally insane he'd feel better. A few more weeks was all it would take, even with the delay. Some satisfaction would be attained.
Long awaited plans would see fruition at last.
Xxxxxxxxxx
[End chapter]
Finally got things balanced out to my liking for this one. I believe the next chapter will be easier because, we are approaching the end of the arc and there are only so many more things I need to complete.
It was nice having the team lose in a way that made sense to me, and that they would survive in a way that made sense as well. And that old Rogues' Gallery of Hulk foes was a roster that could do it. Half-Life's betrayal made perfect sense as well. The unnamed guy with glowing eyes was based on a Savage Land Mutate name Equilibrious.
And ha! I got to use that story from the old Rampaging Hulk Magazine as the setting for where Hulk was. It really wasn't very good, but once the magazine went color all the stories tended to be emotional and weaker, except the one with the really cool Hulk vs a giant robot on it. Loved that cover and the story worked. But the one with Rypel and his brother Jeremy was not exactly… memorable.
And I even made a reference to the Sky Wolves. Master of the Obscure, I am.