Written by (posted by me coz his computer has issues. Rated MA due to violence, panther people, terse words and some boom-chicka-wow-wow! :) Read, comment (oh and make comments to @ Time_Phantom because it's his work this chapter)
Continued from:
Part 3 http://www.comicvine.com/forums/fan-fic/8/marvel-iron-age-the-wakandan-expedition-part-3/671716/
Part 2: http://www.comicvine.com/forums/fan-fic/8/marvel-iron-age-the-wakandan-expedition-part-2/671013/
Part 1: http://www.comicvine.com/forums/fan-fic/8/marvel-iron-age-the-wakandan-expedition-part-1/669736/
And how it all came to be: http://www.comicvine.com/forums/fan-fic/8/marvel-iron-age-tales-from-the-empire-part-14/668628/
The Wakandan Expedition # 4
Panther Temple, Nightfall:
It was growing dark quickly in the temple, with the last rays of light before sundown beaming into the temple. The team had stopped here when strange readings began to appear on their scanners. Halestrom rolled her eyes and raised a fiery hand at Agent Gallows. “This might burn a little.” Fire arched around the agent, enveloping the panther like creature behind him. The ground beneath them shifted and heaved.
The Swordsman unsheathed his blade and took to a defensive stance. “Everyone get ready!”
Silver Sable caught a glimpse of several Panther like creatures rocketing toward the team. Sable rolled out of their path and took cover behind a stone pillar. She raised her hand, focusing on at least forming a dark blade. “Come on, give me something.” Her hand sparked with black energy and then instantly fired up into a perfect blade. “Now we’re getting places!”
Master Izo and Piotr were surrounded by the panther creatures. Piotr fired his arm mounted guns at the creatures, each shot hitting them with nearly no effect except slowing their charge. “What the hell?” The Shield agent yelled. Master Izo delivered a roundhouse kick that floored two of the creatures. A massive clawed hand reached out and dug its claws into Izo’s ankle, bringing him to his knees. From the ground the creature rose up, roaring as it raised its other hand for a strike.
Halestrom and Agent Gallows defended themselves from waves of the creatures with their backs to the entrance of the temple. “Can’t you just set the whole place on fire?” A terrified Agent Gallows asked, as his voice shook.
A grim smile widened across Montrinque Hale’s face. “I could.” She said, as whips of fire kept the creatures from getting close to her. “Not that bad an idea actually.”
Silver Sable drove her dark blade into the chest of the panther creature in front of her and violently jerked it upward, cutting the creature in half. Another one behind her charged, she replied with a quick spinning kick, connecting it to its jaw. “These things are starking creepy!” She said as she tackled the creature to the floor and lopped off the panther’s head. “They don’t bleed, they don’t feel pain, what the—" As she picked up her head she saw a large number of the panther’s march toward the team from the back of the temple. She groaned, “Oh, stark me!”
The Swordsman cut the panther monster attacking, Izo in half. The synthezoid grabbed the blind man by the arm and lifted him up. “We have to retreat now! These things will overwhelm us if we don’t.”
Izo pointed to the front of the temple and said. “If we aren’t turned to ash first sure.”
Silver Sable and Piotr fought back to back, defending each other from wave after wave of attacks. The ground shifted beneath their feet as more of the panther creatures came from the ground. “Is it getting a little hot in here?” Piotr grunted as he tossed two of the monsters in the air and took shots at them.
Sable noticed the air around them getting hotter and as she turned toward the entrance, she was overwhelmed by heat. “What is that stark doing? She’s gonna—" Silver Sable was cut off by a bright flash of reddish orange that engulfed the inside of the temple in flames. Everything around the team trembled, the air roared around them. The flames disintegrated the panther creatures and set the temple ablaze. The ground stirred as if in pain, the wind blew fierce as the land itself swallowed the temple, closing the team inside!
Wakanda Day:
The Swordsman and Master Izo:
Master Izo had awoken from his ordeal. His body ached and the wound on his ankle tended to. He reached for his flask in his pack, but found nothing but the charred remains. “Of course.” He sighed. “So that was educational. What did we learn robot man?”
The Swordsman who had taken watch in a nearby tree shook his head. “I’m not even going to try.” He leaped down and joined Izo on the ground. “The Temple was sunk or more appropriately swallowed when Halestrom set the place on fire. We were spat out last night and were no longer attacked. My own scans indicate this place is…”
“Alive.” Izo chimed in. “You can hear it in the air, feel it in the ground. Like all of Wakanda just turned into something else.”
The Swordsman nodded. “I haven’t found any sign of the team. I assume they were similarly spat out. A trap possibly.”
Izo stumbled back to his feet and felt a sense of unease. The ground heaved ever so slightly under his feet, and the air was still. The jungle around them was quiet and devoid of life. “We should be moving.”
Silver Sable and Agent Piotr Schmidt:
"Oh…stark me!" Piotr groaned as he awoke. He lied on the jungle floor, the trees stretching high above him.
"Shh!" said a quiet voice over him. He looked up it was Leann. She sat back on a tree, cradling Pior's head in her lap. Her silver hair was greyed with dirt and mud; dry blood covered her face and clothes. He looked down at himself, he was out of his suit and his chest and legs were covered in bruises. "Where is my suit?"
Leann let out a long sigh, "Torn up from the floor up. It took a beating. I don't think you'll be using it the way you did before."
Piotr turned to see his combat suit in shredded and scorched. The suit spat sparks and Piotr only guessed at how extensive the damage was. "That is just unfortunate." He looked up at Leann. "I don't think you had to take it off me, the suit would have healed me up to an extent."
Leann began to laugh and tears started to well up in her eyes. "It did. Whose blood do you think this is? I was so scared... you... you weren't breathing... and... and in bad shape... then you were fine the next second... and..." Her voice was choked and tears streamed down her face and cut lines in the dry blood. "And I freaked out ok!"
Silver Sable sniffled and wiped her face and took several deep breaths to calm herself down. "I did some recon when you were asleep. We are about four miles away from the temple. I'd say we pack up and get the hell outta here, but then you'd say--"
"We have a mission to complete. Yesterday only confirmed that something is at that temple. We aren't leaving til we find out what." Piotr finished.
Leann leaned down and kissed the agent aggressively and pulled back. "I knew you'd say that."
A confused looking agent Schmidt stared at her for a moment. "What was that for?"
Silver Sable rolled her eyes and leaned back to meet his face. "You know that feeling when a plane you're stuck on is about to crash and the first thing that comes to mind is screwing the person next to you? Well this mission is the plane."
Montrinque Halestrom
The ground trembled underneath the mutant. Setting the temple ablaze took alot more effort than she thought. Those monsters just kept coming and she'd burn them all! "Hmrg... where the hell am I?"
She enveloped her left hand in flame and walked forward. This mission was supposed to set her up with the job of a lifetime. This was supposed to get the great Doctor Doom's attention. But all it did was fall to pieces. "Hey!" Her ankle was caught by something, before looking down to investigate a clawed hand shot from the ground and covered her hand, digging its claws into her palm.
She grunted in pain as she tried to run, but her other leg wouldn’t move either. Another clawed hand shot from the ground and grabbed her other hand. She looked up, spikes from the ceiling shot down and drove themselves deep into her shoulders, while three more shot from the ground below her and pierced into her stomach.
She activated her powers covering herself in violent, rasping flames and burning herself free. She fell to her knees and crawled on the floor. She spat out a mouthful of blood and cursed. "Starking Danvers! Stark that silver cow! That drunk starkhole! And stark that starking smart mouthed robot! Stark them all! I hope they end up worse than me!" She continued crawling, even as the ground began to heave more and more rapidly.
"Bleeding on the damn jungle floor; panther men and shield agents getting dead! What kinda mission is this?"
To be continued
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