Thunderbolts #11 - The Flame that Burns Brightest...
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Outskirts of Salt Lake City, Utah
Atlas hit the ground so hard, that the earth cracked around him as the metallic form of the Thermal Man stomped towards the suburbs. Groaning, he got back to his feet as Thor and MACH VI regrouped around him, the robot ignoring them as it charged up a thermal beam.
“This thing won’t quit!” Erik moaned, as Abe opened fire on the robot, only for it to completely ignore him.
“Neither shall we,” Thor replied, as an explosion sounded behind them. Turning the three heroes and the robot turned to face them. There staring down the Thermal Man, was every member of the Avengers all armed and ready for battle. “And it appears we are no longer alone in this battle.” He added, as the Thermal Man opened fire, hot lances of energy slashing through at least three of its targets, their bodies collapsing into showers of photons.
“Holograms!?” Abe yelled, “They are holograms?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Erik grunted, as he shrunk down to his normal size. “This is our last chance, move up while it’s distracted, if we can get close maybe we can do enough damage to put it out of commission for good.”
“Aye, it is here where we take our stand.” Thor added, as the Thermal Man stomped a holographic Captain America into the ground. “We either stand victorious here, or perish, there is no second front, no stalling for time. Either we face oblivion or our foe does on this field of battle!”
**
Hesperus Chadwick Centre of Neurology, Nevada
The window shattered, as Rock Python was flung through the glass and down the tiered platform, the rows of indoctonated workers not even turning to see what the disturbance was. Getting to his feet, his foe, a silver skinned woman named Ingot, came charging down to meet him. Taking a single long breath Curtis braced himself, heavy blows slamming across his skin, each one leaving a dull purple bruise behind.
“This is almost too easy Thunderbolt.” Ingot snapped, as she added a few kicks to her onslaught. “At least fight…gah.” Before she could finish her taunt, Rock Python stirred and brought his right elbow into his assailant’s chin, the blow sending her sprawling backwards. Getting to her feet, Ingot dodged left, as Hoopsnake’s body came crashing down the steps, his fall knocking chairs and their occupants flying. And hovering above them all was Songbird, her body radiating acoustic energy that sparked overhead with a chorus of pops and cracks.
“Stay down both of you.” Melissa ordered, as Hoopsnake and Ingot regrouped, the former spitting in anger.
“Not on the orders of lowlies like you!!” ingot hissed, as she leapt towards Songbird whilst Hoopsnake surged towards Rock Python, his venom burning a line in the floor as it dripped off his claws, and drooled out of his mouth. With a snort of content, Rock Python sidestepped the charging villain, as he flew past, his tail thrashing desperately as he tried to get a grip on his Thunderbolt foe. At the last moment he grabbed hold and revered direction, his body looping around Rock Python’s body.
“I will enjoy crushing the life out of your body.” Hoopsnake hissed, his tongue flicking over his prey’s cheek, as Rock Python flexed his muscles before slowly pushing back, against his foes crushing coils. “How are you resisting…” Hoopsnake asked, as Curtis pushed his coils away enough to slip out of his foes grasp.
“Can’t strangle a snake, especially one who was Anaconda’s squeeze for a while.” Rock Python answered, before head-butting Hoopsnake, his rock hard skull’s impact causing the serpentine villain to collapse to the floor. “Her friendly hugs were harder to escape then your feeble attempt.” He added, as Ingot bounced off a sonic shield and into an unoccupied chair. Seconds later, before she could recover, sonic cables sprouted around her wrists and legs as the brain-washing device activated.
“Sorry Ingot, but you just got schooled.” Melissa purred, as she landed next to Curtis. “And it looks like your receiving another lesson right now.” She added, as the villain in question stopped thrashing and hung limp, just like the other strapped down workers. “We’ll help these people once the Thermal Man has been stopped, I just hope Nightshade has managed to find a way to get Chadwick out of the driving seat.”
**
Nightshade watched as Atlas tried to pin the Thermal Man to the floor, only for a thermal blast to send him flailing backwards. Taking a deep breath, Tilda unclipped the ECG wire, and pulled Cheer Chadwick out of the chair, before turning down the theta wave amplifier, the young woman convulsing as she was placed in the corner. Looking at the screen she took a deep sigh as the Thermal Man shuddered to a halt.
“Abe this is Nightshade, the Thermal Man is down but not out.” Tilda called, over the team’s radio link. “It will be back online in a few minutes, the original programming is rebooting as we speak, and you need to remove the robots atomic…guk.” Before she could finish, a hand wrapped around her throat and a handgun was placed against her temple.
“Spoilers Thunderbolt.” Cheer Chadwick sneered, as she removed the weapons safety. “Stay still and be quiet, you do that and I won’t put a bullet in your head when we get out of here.
**
Outskirts of Salt Lake City, Utah
The Thermal Man shuddered and rumbled, as it got slowly to is feet only to be knocked down as a salvo of rockets impacted with its chest. Jumping onto the machine’s chest plate, Thor swung his axe down, the blade cutting through the armour just enough to reveal a hint of the robot’s atomic pile. Raising his weapon again he was flung off, as the Thermal Man got to its feet again, its eyes blazing with blazing energy. With a horse metallic scream, the machine opened fire, burning beams of energy.
“We need to get it back down on the ground again.” Abe sighed, as he flew past, the machine opening fire as it tried to lock onto him. “We also need to find something to shield the atomic pile when it’s removed.”
“I have an idea.” Valarie called over the Thunder Hawk’s radio, as the Thermal Man blasted a twelve foot gash out of the ground in a vain attempt to incinerate Thor. “Atlas, when the core is exposed get ready to drain the atomic energy from the fuel cell.” She ordered, as she activated the jet’s autopilot and afterburners, before setting the plane on a collision course with the Thermal Man. “I hope you have good reflexes Abe.” She added, as the canopy popped open and she was ejected out of the cockpit, seconds before the jet slammed into the Thermal Man, the impact sending the robot sprawling backwards.
“NOW!!” Abe bellowed, as he swooped in and grabbed Valerie by the scruff of the neck. Without any hesitation Erik dashed forward and slammed his hand into the Thermal Man’s chest, radiation and ionic energy arching across the robot and into his body. Desperately the Thermal Man shifted its head to the left in a vain attempt to get a clean shot at its attacker, only for an axe to slam into its face, the thermal build-up detonating with enough force to warp half the robots face-plate and throw Thor and his battle axe a good twenty feet away. With one last metallic scream, the machine shut down, its chest cavity fading from a brilliant orange to a dull grey, its remaining working eye blinking once, twice, three times before closing for good.
“Ha the day is won.” Thor snorted, as he got to his feet, a mad and jubilant look spread across his face.
“Only when I’ve got rid of this extra radiation, I need to find a place to vent before it builds up to much.” Erik groaned, “I’m thinking high-earth orbit, it should only take a few hours.”
“Go, we can celebrate when you get back.” Abe told him, as he placed Valerie back on solid ground. Scanning the ground his eyes narrowed on a single point, and after walking over he bent down and picked up a gleaming green and purple cube no more than a few centimetres long. “And after we figure out who dropped this and summoned those holograms.”
**
Hesperus Chadwick Centre of Neurology, Nevada
Cheer Chadwick backed onto the rooftop, her hostage still held firmly in her arms, her eyes focused on her two pursuers. Daring to look behind her, she sighed in relief as she caught sight of her private helicopter parked on the roof and smiled, before turning back to see Songbird and Rock Python stood before her.
“Take one more step and Nightshade gets the full benefit of the breeze whistling through her brain!!” Chadwick warned, as she focused on the projectile clamped in Rock Python’s hand.
“Curtis, Tilda I’m talking to you via an ultra-low frequency that’s been directed only to you. Don’t reply, but I have a plan, I’ll create an opening Curtis, you take advantage of it. Tilda just get ready to duck.” Songbird stated, as she concentrated on the gun, and took a step forward. With a hiss Chadwick pulled the trigger, only for the weapon to jam, as the barrel glowed pink. Pushing Nightshade aside, she pulled the trigger again, this time aiming at Rock Python, only to receive the same result.
“What have you…?” She screeched, as Rock Python threw his bolas, the projectile exploding on contact with Cheer Chadwick, with the internal cables bursting out and pinning her hands to her sides. With a smirk Nightshade got to her feet, and flicked Chadwick on the face, the impact enough to send her toppling to the floor with a resounding thud.
“Done?” Songbird finished for her. “What do you think…how did you put it?”
“Lowly?” Nightshade suggested innocently, as she walked back to the others. “So we did it right? We saved the world or at the very least the American Mid-West.”
“Yes we did. Good job guys.” Songbird answered. “From here it only gets better.” She added, as she looked out west towards the setting sun. “This time we’re going to get it right.”
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