Sensational Songbird #5
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Wreck of the HHC Cadmas, International Waters, Somewhere in the Atlantic
Melissa sprinted down the aft hallway into the downed helicarrier’s mess hall, the tables flipped over and the remains of the former HAMMER agents who had commanded it sprawled across the floor. Looking from right to left she spotted a caved in door and walked cautiously towards it, stopping as she heard someone move behind her causing her to spin round, the muscled bulk of her ‘teammate’ Anaconda towering over her.
“Sidewinder ordered you to stand guard on the upper deck with Puff Adder.” Anaconda hissed, as she cracked her knuckles and glowered at the smaller woman. “What are you doing down here Cascavel?”
“We were attacked, Black Mamba turned the guns on us and blew up our transport. After that SHIELD counter-attacked, I thought it was wise to come down here and warn Sidewinder personally.”
“Right? And you couldn’t just call him on the radio once you had slithered away from SHIELD of course?” Anaconda sneered, “I knew something was off about you ever since you Sidewinder brought you in, so who do you work for? The Mad Thinker, HYDRA, maybe Baron Zemo?” She asked, with Melissa flinching slightly at the mention of the last name. “Ah so we have a winner!!” Anaconda boomed, as she lashed out with her fist the blow sending Melissa slamming into a wall. Before she could recover Melissa saw her foes arms snake out and grab her by the neck before retracting swiftly, the accelerating G-Force knocking the breath out of her. “Don’t worry I’m not going to kill you,” Anaconda purred, “In fact you could say I have a bit of a crush on you!” She added, as her other arm wrapped round Melissa’s shoulders and started constricting her.
“Thanks…” Melissa gasped, as she activated her arm mounted blasters, “…but you are just not my type!” She grunted as she opened fire, the sonic onslaught forcing Anaconda to release her, before falling to the floor.
“You…you broke my ribs?” Anaconda gasped as Melissa aimed a kick at her face, the impact knocking her out.
“I broke your cheek bones too.” Melissa informed her unconscious foe just as a figure appeared in the door way behind her. “Do yourself a favour Racer and suren…” Before she could finish Black Racer had darted away from the mess hall. “C**p, Abe, Diamondback I think Black Racer just made me when she saw me take down Anaconda, I’m going to keep looking for Death Adder but we’re now on a timetable, the society will be desperate to escape now.”
“Roger that Songbird.” Diamondback answered. “At the very least we have Puff Adder and Black Mamba, reinforcements arrived a few minutes ago to secure them freeing MACH VII and myself to assist you in the ship interior.”
“Yeah I have just spotted Bushmaster in the Port Gunnery section.” Abe added, as he smashed through the enlarged gun-port, his armour smashing through a derelict anti air battery. “Diamond and I have your back, happy hunting MACH VII out.” He added, as Bushmaster lunged at him, his sharpened blades leaving long streaks along the suits armoured exterior. Retaliating Abe aimed a punch at the serpent, only for his foe to slip under his blow and wrap his tail around the body, the pair of them falling to the floor.
“Jenkins you made a mistake coming here.” Bushmaster hissed as he stabbed one of his blades into the MACH VII armour’s visor.
“Maybe, but a friend asked for my help after Death Adder helped Taskmaster and Killer Shrike snatch a teenage girl.” Abe stated, as he fired an electro-bolt into Bushmaster’s tail, the prosthetic limb convulsing uncontrollably giving the former Thunderbolt to break free. “He’s the one I came for but you will do.”
“Wait, he did what?” Bushmaster hissed, as he crawled a few steps away from Abe. “He took a girl?”
“He supplied the toxin used to drug her yes.” Abe answered, as he levelled his weapons at the Serpent Society member. “Who knows what Taskmaster’s client is doing to her right now.” He added.
“Death Adder and Coachwhip were to supply the generator room.” Bushmaster sighed. “There is more, the reason for this mission, I’ll tell you if you promise to help me once this is all over. I heard you were a parole officer or something.”
“Or something.” Abe answered. “Melissa its Abe, Bushmaster just told me Adder is in the reactor room. I’ll join you once Diamondback’s SHIELD team arrives to secure him.”
“Wait Diamondback is here?” Bushmaster gulped.
“Yes, she was in charge of the retrival of this Helicarrier.” Abe told him, “What of it?”
“We got a hit order from a client concerning Rachel. Sidewinder and Cobra both decided not to pursue it, we even thought about warning her.” Bushmaster stated. “I always liked Rachel, she always was a good person, even to a freak like me.”
“Who was the client Bushmaster?”
“Scourge, he called himself Scourge.”
**
Rachel Leighton AKA Diamondback delivered a roundhouse kick into Cottonmouth’s cheek, the snake themed mercenary hitting a bank of computer monitors, before slumping on the floor. Clicking her knuckles, she advanced on Cobra and Sidewinder, the two senior Serpent Society members readying themselves for combat.
“Klaus, Volkner, there is no way to escape, SHIELD is coming and your transport out of here is destroyed and while our jammers online you can’t teleport out of here.” Rachel ordered. “Puff Adder, Bushmaster, Anaconda and Black Mamba are in custody, there will be no support coming from them.” She ordered, as Sidewinder locked his eyes on something behind his former teammate.
“Diamondback, Rachel I beg of you, lower the teleportation jammers.” Sidewinder pleaded, as Rachel took a step toward him.
“Why should I do that?” Diamondback asked, just as something shimmered behind her, the faint outline of a demonic horned figure caught for a moment in the Helicarrier’s emergency lighting. “You are not getting away from…” She stopped, her words cut off by a gasp of air followed by the thump of her body hitting the floor followed by her head, the demonic figure behind her supporting a scythe blade attached to his right hand.
“Leave now.” Scourge hissed as he retracted the scythe. “Before I change my mind and decide you should join her.”
**
Black Racer ran towards Melissa’s exposed back as she reached the door to the reactor, her hand resting against the steel plating, sonic energy coursing through the door. Not even turning around Melissa summoned a sonic ridge, just high enough to catch her would be assailant, the obstacle tripping Black Racer and sending her flailing through the structurally weakened door and into the power-plant chamber.
“Cascavel!!” Coachwhip yelled, as Melissa strode into the reactor room. “If you hurt her traitor then I will…”
“Will what?” Melissa hissed. “This is a personal matter between me and Death Adder, so but out of it Coachwhip!” She yelled, her scream forming a sonic mallet that smashed the Serpent Society member round the face, knocking her unconscious. Stepping into the reactor room’s core, Melissa looked around the chamber and the two tiered reactor structure for her target, her eyes straining in the dim glow provided by the emergency lighting. “So where are you then?” She whispered, seconds before something slammed down on her from above and tackled her to the floor. Screaming Melissa summoned up her sonic wings and flung her attacker away, before sending the individual feathers that made up the construct to the edge of the room giving the chamber an unearthly pink glow.
“You helped take someone from me Death Adder!” Melissa snarled as she looked around for Death Adder, as she paced around the room past the hanging detached power cables and ion pump lines. “Now tell me about Taskmaster!!” She yelled, just before Death Adder wrapped his tail round her neck from the tangle of cables he had been perched in, only for his prey to struggle free, the pair of them hitting the floor. Recovering first Death Adder slammed his talons down towards where Melissa was lying only to be intercepted by a pair of hastily summoned sonic sais, sparks of pink energy arching off the constructs. “The silent routine huh, that may have worked with the old Death Adder but from what I remember from the Raft you were all too ready to talk.” Melissa grunted, as she opened fire with her sonic blasters, the blast sending Death Adder leaping up onto the upper level of the reactor core, before scuttling away.
Getting to her feet, Melissa summoned up a sonic shield around the upper layer of the reactor platform, constricting it inwards until there was just enough room for a contained target to stand in. With a sonic powered leap she propelled herself onto the second level of the chamber and looked inside her sonic prison only to find that Death Adder hadn’t been caught inside. Silently Melissa released the construct and dropped to the floor, her ears listening for even the slightest indication of where her enemy was hiding. After a few seconds, Melissa heard a slight scratching sound coming from behind her and spun round, firing a sonic blast at the noise, the energy impacting against the wall, as Death Adder sprung off of an ion pump line and slamming into Songbird, his talons stabbing into her back. Screaming in pain Melissa collapsed, her body convulsing as the venom injected into her body began to take effect.
Half purring, half hissing Death Adder flipped her over and opened his mouth to reveal a bloody stump where his tongue had been, his jaw movement popping out a pair of bone cheek blades. Lining up his blades with Melissa’s eyes Death Adder reared his head back and choked as a sonic bung was stuffed in his mouth. His body thrashing Death Adder swaggered backwards before collapsing into an ion pump line, his blades slashing through the degraded containment shield and electrifying him, a disgusting smell of burning flesh filling the room.
“Abe help!” Melissa called, as she began to vomit, the venom attacking her body just as a metallic figure moved into view and a biting pain stabbed into her arm causing her to black out. Standing above her Abe, depressed the plunger on the syringe of anti-toxin he had packed for this mission, before gently picking her up in his arms.
“Don’t worry Melissa, I’ve got your back.” He whispered. “And I always will.”
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