Don't Own anything.
'thought'
"Speech"
"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
The plane I am standing in jostles slightly. I cast a slow glance over to where Steve is standing, fixing his parachute.
I, myself, am already fully prepared to drop down.
There are dull cracks of explosions all around us.
"WE'RE APPROACHING THE LZ!" The man in the cockpit shouts over his shoulder, being forced to shout over the noise of the vibrating propellers outside.
"EQUIPMENT CHECK!" A man nearer shouts.
I look down.
"Check." I nod.
"One, Okay." Captain America nods, his eyes narrowed slightly as a door opens in front of us.
The plan is simple. Cap and I parachute behind enemy lines and capture a Hydra research facility that has been posing a problem for the front line. We're to jump in, cause as much chaos as possible- preferably turning the guns on the trenched in german forces, then the rest of the allied forces, spearheaded by the howling commandos will punch through the weakened front line and help us surround the bastards.
"Cap, have you got the poison resist elixir I gave you?"
"I do." He nods once.
"Good. We might need it." I frown.
A green light appears next to the open door as the man behind us shouts. "GO GO GO!"
Captain leaps from the plane as I walk over to the door and leap after him.
"GIVE HYDRA HELL, CAPTAIN, VENOM!" The man shouts out the open door.
A small smirk appears on my lips. 'ohoho. I plan to.'
Cap pulls the cord of his parachute, pulling his legs up and facing his shield towards the gun encampment as bullets begin to whiz through the sky.
I pull mine a second later as the man begins getting shot at, bullets clanking loudly against his shield as he returns fire with his own weapon, an M3 submachine gun.
As I reach about thirty feet above the ground, most of the gunfire targeting Cap himself and his bright colors, I abruptly free myself from the harness and fall to the ground, landing with a crouch.
My legs briefly strain, but after a moment, the dull ache disappears, and I am as good as new.
I can see Steve land up above, the flash of gunfire illuminating the darkness of the bunker.
I rush forwards as a soldier is hurled over the ledge, falling twenty or so feet and landing with a dull crunch as his head bends at an awkward angle.
I leap, grasping an extended part of the wall with my fingers, I pull myself up quite easily, my body weight being nothing in comparison to what I am able to lift casually.
I scale the wall in seconds, pulling myself up just in time to see steve deck a guy in the face hard enough to lift him from the ground and send him flying.
"Damn." I whistle. "You took care of them all before I even got up here."
"Help me aim this." He calls out, gesturing to the massive artillery cannon pointed skywards.
"I've never used one of these before." I note as I quickly make my way over. "Have you?"
"I practiced before the mission." He announces. "I'll aim. You spin those wheels until I tell you to stop."
I begin turning one of the wheels. "Wait. Turn that one the other way."
I do so, causing the gun to slowly swerve around with a quiet creak.
"Little more... alright stop."
I do so.
"See if you can lower it any- other way."
The wheel I had begun turning quickly reverses direction.
"Almost... stop."
He crouches over the reticle and looks to the open barrel beside him, then picks up a fairly sizable shell and inserts it into the cannon, then seals the end shut with its hatch.
"Firing."
I cover my ears.
*BOOM*
The cannon jerks back as I watch an orange speck explode from its barrel and arc into the distance.
It makes contact with a miniature bunker in the distance and explodes, creating a large dust cloud in the dark of night.
Steve ejects the shell and looks over to me. "Aim a bit more to the left. There's a tank I want to hit."
With a couple more turns of the wheel, our aim is on target, Steve inserts another shell, and in the next moment the darkness is lit up by a fairly large explosion. A large blaze clinging to the metal framework of the tank as the gas and shells within ignite.
"We've got three more shells. Then we should move on. This bunker could be hit by mortar fire any time now. Go right. Further than the original Pillbox"
I begin turning the first wheel.
"Stop."
There's another explosion as something in the distance detonates.
We do this twice more as we can see conflict begin in the distance.
"Let's move." The man orders.
I nod once as I reach down and pick up a rifle, looking over it briefly as the man leaps over the edge of the raised platform, then drops the twenty or so feet to the ground.
I follow after him as we turn and rush into a fairly large forest.
I stroke the head of the snake wrapped around my neck as we creep through the sparse tree line.
"Cap." I loudly whisper. "We're not alone here."
The man in front of me begins slowly glancing across the forest, a cautious look on his face.
Our eyes snap to a metal object sailing through the air.
Steve throws his shield at the grenade, causing it to rebound and knock the explosive device back in the direction it came.
The shield then rebounds off a nearby tree and back into Cap's waiting arms.
'Just as fucking ridiculous as in the movies... does that shield have like... infinite velocity or something? Doesn't vibranium absorb impact? Shouldn't it hit something then abruptly stop? Shouldn't it be literally the worst thing possible to hit something with?'
The men who had begun to step out from clumps of earth and trees let out a shout of surprise as they are ingulfed in an explosion.
My own weapon rises as I shoot another man in the chest.
He falls to the ground as we both rush forwards, spying a large stone wall in the distance.
A beam of light shines over it as a wailing siren seems to echo out in the dark of the night, overpowering the sounds of fighting far behind us.
I fire four quick shots, killing the next group of soldiers as they rush for us, then, Steve and I dive in opposite directions as a large machine gun mounted on the back of a pickup truck opens fire on us.
It luckily seems to track the captain as I am given a moment to aim my weapon and shoot the one firing the gun in the head.
His ally finds a hurled shield smashing into his face as he lets out a shout.
I run over and let out a low whistle at the sheer size of the gun.
It's like a supped up M2 Browning. About twice the size of a normal one, and using shells that mirror that statement.
This thing could likely punch through tank armor... at least, thin tank armor, that is.
"Cap, should we use this?" I question.
He looks it over for a moment, then the faintest bit of a smile appears on his face. "Well, they've been so nice to gift wrap it for us, it would be a shame if we didn't accept it."
I rush forwards and step into the cab of the truck, Steve hopping up into the back and ripping the gun off its setting.
I turn the truck on and drive it forwards, a grin on my face as it bounces on the uneven dirt.
As we reach the wall, I slam on the breaks, there's a brief thud on the roof as I can see Cap use it as a stepping stone to catapult himself up onto the wall.
He unleashes a spray of lead towards the other side of the wall, sweeping his weapon across the facility beyond.
A moment later he leaps down as I climb out of the truck and begin to follow after him.
I easily clear the rock wall and land on the other side to see Steve fighting a-
"Holy fuck... they made a mech suit... eat a dick, Iron man." I mutely whisper to myself.
Honestly? It... looks about on par with what is capable sixty years from now.
Blue electricity crackles around large glass-like spheres in the armor.
Armor is a word used loosely.
It's not so much of an 'Iron Man original' as it is a rip off power loader from Alien two.
There is no metal protecting the head or arms, with larger robotic arms just behind the man's being controlled with little joysticks in the fists.
I leap down as Steve narrowly ducks under a punch that utterly shatters the stone wall behind him, he darts forwards, smashing the edge of his shield into the stone breastplate of the suit, causing the metal giant to stagger backwards.
I reach into my belt and grab a single throwing knife, rushing forwards at high speed.
It seems my swift approach is noticed, as the hydra soldier begins to turn, lifting his hand towards me, lightning booming around the limb-
Steve smacks the limb aside, causing it to shoot wide as I hurl my knife forwards.
I slide on my knees in between the robots legs as there's a quiet 'ting' sound.
The exo-suit staggers to the left as my red, white, and blue ally slams a haymaker into its side.
I glance up, seeing my hurled dagger spiraling through the air.
I reach up and catch it with one hand as the man in the suit slowly turns.
"…"
There's a small cut on his cheek.
Steve raises his shield defensively as I let out a low hum and turn away.
"I can do this all day." Captain America smirks. "Give up."
"he can't do it all day... in fact, I doubt he could do it for more than say... five. Four. Three. Two..."
His body becomes ghostly pale as the paralysis poison finally takes effect, his arms falling limp as his eyes drift shut.
The sound system of this facility spring to life, beginning to play... music?
"He! ho! walduhter ihr schlafhuter mitsammen."
I don't speak... german.
Honestly, I should fix that. Learn some additional languages.
The suit falls over as Steve and I begin to walk forwards, walking towards the large building in the distance.
The hairs on the back of my neck rise slightly, telling me that there is something crucially wrong.
"DODGE!" I shout as I kick Steve's shield as hard as I can and use it as a springboard to launch myself away.
An arc of lightly zips between us, crashing to the earth a short distance ahead.
I flip through the air, landing with a crouch as I can see a large vehicle wheel itself out of a nearby garage... a tank... but instead of a continuous tread for its movement capabilities, it has four large and durable wheels. The hydra symbol- Cthulhu for some reason instead of a legitimate hydra- emblazoned in fierce red paint on the front, back, and sides.
Another change, of course, would be the turret.
Where you might normally see a large artillery barrel, instead, there's a strange tesla coil, an eerie buzz seems to echo from it, nearly muted by the fairly obnoxious music.
"Cap. Venom. That thing looks tough as nails." A voice in our ear pieces begins.
"How do we take it, Howard?" I question with narrowed eyes.
"I think I know how to take it down, but you'll need to do exactly as I say." The voice continues.
"I can do that." Steve notes. "Out of all the eggheads I know, you're my favorite, Mr. Stark."
"Aw. I bet you say that to all the geniuses." The man quips. "Alright. Focus up. The last time I saw something like this, Hydra had a giant flamethrower mounted on it. Hydra must have found a new power source."
"Yeah. Could have probably guessed with the glowing blue robot." I scoff.
"That's Fascinating, Mr. Stark- hrrk-" Steve narrowly avoids another blast of lightning as quickly run around, grabbing onto a little ladder on the side of the tank and pulling myself up onto it. "But can we please skip to the part where we make it go boom?"
"Sorry about that. Sometimes the engineer in me can't help himself. Venom's got the right idea. Part one to breaking it would be getting inside."
"Oh? Is that it?"
He uses the barrel as a hand bar to swing up onto the back of the tank with me. "Maybe we should just knock... they might think we came for a cup of sugar."
"Eh. I doubt they have any." I snort. "Besides. You don't look like the baking sort. They'd probably think we're here to sell them Snake Oil and have barred the door."
I pat the side of Diablo's head.
"Shame." He quips back as he slams his shield down, punching down into the metal, then using the disk he pries the hatch open with a loud 'clang'.
"So, who wants to buy a washing machine?" He questions down into the hatch.
He pauses as there's no reply and tilts his head.
He jumps down.
"Well, this is anti-climactic. There's nobody in here." He calls up. "it's remote controlled."
"Hn. Shame. I was one sale away from employee of the month." I roll my eyes as I hop down beside him.
Surrounding us on all sides are nothing but wires. Wires and glowy lights.
"Damn. This is one heck of a toy... I know what I want for Christmas." I hum.
"Alright, so on your ten-o-clock from the way the cannon is facing, you should see the control box, I want you to pry it-"
*CLANG*
All the lights go out abruptly and we are cast into darkness. A single electrical spark here and there being the only light the entire tank seems to get.
"He hit it, didn't he." Howard deadpans.
"He hit it." I nod once, causing the man to let out a long, resigned sigh.
"I can't see shit in that darkness." He mutters under his breath. "Alright. Is the box open?"
"Yes." I nod once.
"There should be two cables. One red. One black. I want you to touch them-"
The tank shudders slightly then the lights flicker back on. A screen at the far side of the tank appears, showing a front, back, and side views of the tank.
"Gotta say one thing, Mr Stark." Steve begins as he walks forwards and takes a seat in the chair in front of the screens. "I'm glad you're on our side."
"And I'm glad the guy who can lift and probably throw a car, and the guy who can turn me into a smoothy with just a single poke with a needle are on my side." He states.
"How are Bucky and the rest doing?" Steve asks.
"They've reached the German line and have punched through. They are acting as a pillar to expand the assault." Comes the voice from our earpiece.
"That's good. It looks like our mortar fire made a gap that was just large enough." He states as he glances back. "Hey, Venom. Hold onto something, we're about to crash through the wall."
I brace myself against the metal ladder leading out of the tank.
I find myself lightly jostled forwards as I can hear a loud crack, numerous little 'ting' noises echoing from the front of the tank a moment later.
Ah. We're being shot at.
*BOOM*
And it appears cap turned the thunder gun down upon the infantry. Utterly vaporizing them all.
"Damn. I guess all good things must come to an end." Cap sighs as he gets up.
"Complications?" Howard questions.
"Unless Hydra has made a tank that can float, this is as far as she goes." He answers.
"If they have, can you swipe the plans for me? That'd make my next hovercar showcase not end in a total flop."
"Sure, Sure." I agree. "I'll grab it after I see if they have the recipe for the ultimate fruit salad."
Cap leaps from the tank, and I get out just in time to see him skip his shield across heads like a stone on a lake.
"Your shield makes zero sense, Cap." I scoff.
"What do you mean, it totally does." He replies as I hop out.
We scale the stairs as I snipe back at him. "No, it really doesn't. It has like... infinite velocity. It loses ZERO speed when it hits something. It rebounds like its made of rubber and is supposedly absorbs impact. Something that absorbs impact shouldn't bounce at all! It should just smack into a wall, stop, and pathetically clatter to the floor."
"Halten Sie Abstand und schießen Sie nicht, bis Sie das Weiß seiner Helmflügel sehen!"
We rush up the stairs, seeing another platoon of soldiers
I hurl a little glass bottle filled with liquid as hard as I can, causing it to smash against the forehead of one of the centermost soldiers... upon making contact with the air, the liquid rapidly expands, exploding into a large rolling smoke cloud.
We duck back behind the brick corner we just walked past and wait as bullets begin to fly from the smoke.
The gunfire eventually dies down as I peek out.
"…"
"They're down." I nod once, and with another flick of the wrist, I launch another bottle.
This one breaks on contact with the floor, a new smoke billowing outwards.
This smoke seems to consume the first, rapidly dissipating a moment later, leaving a relatively clear path for us.
The music abruptly stops.
"Ah. Captain. And a newcomer to our little game." A man before us slowly begins, looking over the two of us as we briefly stop our run forwards.
The first and most obvious thing about him, would be his head, free of skin, it looks as if someone forcibly skinned his entire head, leaving him with nothing but a... Red Skull.
"Well, I'm here to say that it's game over, Schmidt." Steve growls.
"On the contrary, Herr Hauptmann. I believe that this is merely the beginning. This. Is where your destiny begins."
"The only thing I'm destined to do is put my fist somewhere between your lungs and colon." The red white and blue captain raises his shield with a glare.
I place a hand on his shoulder. "Cap. We should leave."
He shoots me a look of confusion. "What?! Why?"
"He's not really there." I frown, gesturing towards the German super soldier. "He's an illusion."
"How astute, Giftdrache." The man states, his facing making it really difficult to tell his true emotions. "He would be correct. I am afraid that my duties at Hydra are far too pressing for me to attend your final trial in person. Alas. I have sent you a special... gift..."
"It's a bomb." I blandly deadpan.
"You sent us a bomb?" Captain echoes.
"A bomb." The German states.
"QUICK CAP! TO THE AMERICA MOBILE!" I shout as I turn and leap over the edge of the catwalk, plummeting to the floor below, gently echoing out 'Nanananana-'
I land with a crouch and rush towards the tank, with a single leap I clear the edge and sink down into the open hatch.
I can steve enter the hatch just as I take a seat in the driver seat. "Alright. How do you work this thing."
I jerk back on the two joysticks, causing it to whirr to life and crash back through the broken stone wall behind us.
"WOAH!" I grin. "Hell yeah! This is awesome!"
"I think you might be enjoying that too much, son." I hear Howard snort from my ear piece.
"Nah... I'm enjoying it...just the right amount." I smirk.
I swerve the tank around and begin driving full-force towards the outer wall. "Hey, Cap. What now?"
The tank tilts forwards slightly as the entire thing shakes, we are lifted from the ground and hurled forwards as a genuine earth shaking explosion rocks the compound.
The reverse camera was destroyed in that blast...
I glance back to Steve as he slowly climbs the ladder and peeks out.
"…"
"Well... there's nothing more we can do here..." He eventually announces. "Let's get this back to Mr Stark so he can dissect it and see just what we're working with here."
"Got it." I nod once. "Hey, cap. Maybe you should stand on the roof so we don't get friendly fired. There's an ugly paint job on the side of this thing, and I feel like our compatriots might take issues with Red Skull's taste."
"Good point." He nods once.
Pov: elsewhere.
A man with a dull green suit stands before a desk, a large window just behind him, he paces back and forth, lecturing a frail looking bespectacled man.
"For you see, Herr Doctor... toys... can be taken away. Simple weapons can be used against you." He monologues, his pacing increases. "That, is why our first and greatest goal should be turning ourselves into the weapons! Tanks and guns are merely a means to an end. True conflict is won by man!"
"An interesting ideology, Obergruppenführer... one I can see myself fully agreeing with." The doctor flinches and scampers away as a man walks calmly into the office. He appears to be quite old, yet he seems to carry an incredible weight and danger with each and every step.
He is balding, yes, with a clean-shaven face and, frankly, a little fat on his cheeks. His wardrobe choice is unusual. He wears a long maroon robe with little symbols upon it, and in one hand is a little bamboo umbrella.
The man with flesh rent from his face finds himself befuddled. A feeling he hasn't had in quite a while. "Who... are you?"
"Moon Thread. Head of the Emerald Razor Sect." The figure announces.
"That does not answer my question." Red Skull frowns. "Who are you really."
"Moon Thread is my Dao name. It is my identity... and it has been for the past eighty years. And, my dear Red Skull, perhaps it would be better to ask what I do instead of who I am." The umbrella wielding man smirks. "I am quite interested in your drive for human evolution... and from what I can tell from merely looking at you, that drive has near infinite potential."
"I have heard that you have two thorns in your side... one 'Captain America' and a certain 'Venom Dragon'… a man with a Dao name... one of resounding ferocity." He continues. "The Emerald Razor sect is a group of highly skilled assassins. I propose... an alliance. Or rather... a contract that could reasonably extend to a fully-fledged unison of our forces."
"Oh? I take it that you assassins wish to test yourselves against the best the allies have to offer?" Schmidt questions with a small frown.
Abruptly he kicks his desk forwards, the wood sliding across the floor towards the umbrella wielding man at high speed.
Said man leaps, kicking off the desk and flipping through the air as he lashes out with a kick that the Nazi blocks by crossing his arms over his head.
Red Skull's feet sink into the floor as he grasp the ankle of the man and slams him down as hard as he can, sending the man crashing nearly entirely through the floor.
Before he can punch down, 'Moon Thread' flips back, striking the Hydra commander in the chest with a brutal kick which causes him to stagger back a few steps.
A long straight blade is pulled from the handle of the umbrella as the Nazi straightens his uniform.
"Is this an ample test of my skills?" The balding man questions.
A feral grin appears on the face of the Hydra director. "Yes. I believe so. You might just have yourself a deal, 'Moon Thread'. I look forwards to our work."
Well, Cap and Arthur are off having fun, stealing tanks, and breaking stuff. and it looks like the Red Skull has made contact with some villainous cultivators. oh dear.