Marvel Genesis Presents: Heroes for Hire - Gods and Demons Part 2

21:06

Cable sprinted down an empty back alley. His mind was racing. The mission was in jeopardy and there was no one to blame but himself. He had anticipated possible delay when he had determined his route to the hospital and had planned contingencies in case of such. Any good soldier would do the same. However these were to compensate for minor delays. He had never anticipated a simple detour would erupt into a confrontation with such a skilled adversary* (*See Marvel Genesis: Daredevil, Chapter 5). Though one ally was gained by the chance encounter, another might very well be lost.

‘On the double, solider boy.’ Cable continued to run; his thoughts berating in tone for potentially dropping the ball on such as simple assignment. According to Misty’s intel Blackheart was due for transfer at 21:00 hours sharp. He could only hope Elsa Bloodstone had managed to delay them, or at least keep on their tails should they be on to move.

Ahead a locked eight foot fence blocked his path. Without pause Cable gained speed. His legs tightened and muscles contracted as he propelled himself through the air, clearing over the fence with ease. His feet planted on the concrete and he continued to move, barely breaking stride. As he burst from the alley he caught the sight of the hospital, dark and ominous in appearance.

He rushed to the ten foot tall courtyard wall, pressing his back against the brick surface. There was no sign of any guards or advanced security systems. A single camera pivoted at the wall’s corner edge and the top of the wall was equipped with barbed wire. ‘Child’s play.’ Cable waited for the camera’s angle of vision to swing away from his decided point of entry and then made his move. With a medium jump his cybernetic hand caught hold of the wall’s top surface, completely unscathed by the wire’s razor edges. His arm’s augmented strength easily hoisted the rest of his body over the wall in a quick effortless motion, landing on the other side in thick shrubs.

The darkness of night and excessive courtyard foliage made it easy for Cable to advance towards the compound undetected. He stealthily moved up a grassy hill to gain a better vantage point and hunkered down next to a large willow tree. With a thought, neural impulses triggered the night vision and scope settings of his cybernetic eye, which zoomed in close to the front of the compound. A heavily armored truck was parked in front of the entrance with security guards and what he assumed were psychiatrist doctors gathered about it. They were clearly arguing amongst themselves and, via closer inspection, he could see a man in a maintenance uniform working on changing a burst tire.

“What have we here? Such a pretty face. One false move and you’ll be an ugly mug.”

The feeling of cold steel against the back of his head came as an extremely disturbing surprise. The clicking of the pistol’s hammer even less so. However, the voice was female. Cable breathed a shallow sigh of relief as he formed the logical conclusion.

“As much as I hate to make nice with people who point guns at me, but you wouldn’t happen to be Elsa Bloodstone would you?”

The woman smirked and pulled the pistol away from Cable’s skull. “I am. And you must be Cable.” She stowed her pistol in its holster. “You’re late.”

Cable flashed a smug grin “You’re quick to assume you know who I am.”

“Misty called ahead and gave me a description of what to look out for. When I saw a heavily armed man hop over the wall, I figured it was a safe bet.” Elsa flicked a finger against Cable’s prosthetic shoulder with a satisfying ‘ping’. “And the metal hardware is a dead giveaway.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, too…” Cable spoke with emphasized sarcasm as he eyed over his new companion. She looked like an erotic amalgam of Little Red Riding Hood and Lara Croft, complete with a hooded cape and dual 9mm pistols at her hips. Elsa reached into a field pack and pulled out a pair of night vision binoculars, bringing them to her eyes and surveying the compound. Cable moved closer, maintaining some degree of cover. “So what is the situation?”

“They are poised to move Blackheart at a moment’s notice. When I realized you weren’t going to make the rendezvous in time I shot out their tires.”

Cable frowned in slight confusion. “You shot them out and they didn’t think to locate the shooter?”

Elsa made an almost forced sounding giggle “Silencer and specialty ‘needle’ rounds. My own design. Same piercing power of an AP shell that shatters on impact. Virtually undetectable unless you know what to look for. Security did a quick sweep of the area looking for ‘hooligans’, but the amateurs were light-years away from detecting me.” She put down her binoculars and pointed towards the man removing the blown tire. “That poor sod has been working on the rig for the last forty minutes getting those tires swapped out. Looks like he’s about finished up though. I’d guess we got about fifteen minutes to get in there and break our boy out before they try to move him.”

Cable nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Do we have a point of entry?”

Elsa smiled. “Of course, you silly man.”

***

21:18

Cable pulled the grapples from the window pane. Luckily someone had left it open on the west side of the building. Third floor. The facility was surprisingly quite. The hallway lights were dimmed to eerie levels and most of the rooms seemed vacated.

“Doesn’t seem like this place is doing much business.”

Elsa glanced around a corner, checking for signs of security or the random wandering orderly. “I tapped their wires earlier. What I gather is they moved most of the inpatients to a sister hospital after the second time Blackheart’s room caught on fire. That’s why they are so keen to get him out of here… and make him someone else’s problem.”

Cable drew a pistol and silently made his way down the hall. “Makes me question our employer’s judgment to recruit him. After reading his dossier seems like he might be more trouble than he’s worth. Fifth floor, right?”

Elsa nodded. “Fifth floor. And yes, I know what you mean. He’s a complete unknown, but Misty wants him for his supernatural connection. Rubbish if you ask me. I could tell her a thing or two about the supernatural. And believe me, nine times out of ten it’s a thing best left where it lies.”

Cable peered up the stairs. He signaled the all clear to Elsa. “Sounds like you’ve had some history with the arcane and all that crap. Care to elaborate?”

Elsa smirked and rushed up the stairs. “I could tell you some stories that would turn your hair whiter than it already is. But this is neither the time nor place for that.” She shot him a quick wink. “If you’re really curious, buy me a few drinks sometime. I might just indulge you. Such things are more enjoyable left as pillow talk.”

The proposition fell on deaf ears as Cable spotted two security guards around the bend. He turned to Elsa and mouthed a silent ‘Wait here.’ She nodded and turned down the corridor. At first he approached cautiously, leading ahead with his pistol. However, while drawing closer he lowered his gun and walked casually towards the two men. Elsa watched from the stairwell, shaking her head and wondering what Cable was playing at.

One of the guards, while chatting with his compatriot, finally noticed the imposing figure strolling towards them. “H-h-h-hey! Who are you?!? What are you doing here…?”

The words barely passed over his lips and Cable had squeezed off a round into his chest. The second guard looked on in horror for a brief moment before a second shot was fired into his abdomen.

Elsa’s eyes grew wide and she retrieved a combat crossbow from her belt. She rushed down the hall, infuriated and pointing the crossbow at Cable. “What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?!? Is that how you like to do things?!? Kill off innocents for no damn good reason?!?”

Cable turned his head back to look at Elsa. He was unperturbed, but his face was stern. “Don’t be so quick to judge me. I’m a soldier, not a murderer. Check ‘em.”

Elsa kneeled down, crossbow still trained at Cable’s head. She checked the guard’s pulse. He was alive. She let out a deep breath and lowered her weapon. “But I saw you shoot them…”

“Tranquilizer slugs. Sedative encased in a nano-plastic coating. The shot hits like a ton of bricks, but can punch through conventional clothing and body armor. Once the nano-machines make contact with flesh they disperse and the sedative is absorbed immediately into the skin. Takes ‘em down in a second and all they suffer is a bruise.” Cable turned to Elsa and offers a hand. “It DOES have the side effect of appearing like a kill shot.”

Elsa frowned and swatted Cable’s hand away. “Never pull a bloody stunt like that around me again! What were you trying to prove?” She got to her feet and stepped over the unconscious guard. As she walked to the next set of stairs she looked back at a seemingly sullen Cable. “Come on, you silly man. I doubt I can stay mad at your cute face for too long.”

***

21:21

Room 507. Unlike the rooms on the lower floors, this one appeared more like that of a prison cell. A solid steel door; several inches thick with multiple locking bolts. Whoever was housed in this room was certainly not getting out.

“Well, this is it.”

Cable glanced at Elsa. “Are you sure?”

Elsa huffed. “Of course I’m sure! Like I said, I tapped their wires earlier and this is definitely the right room number. Besides, how many rooms do you see with charring around it?”

Cable looked closer at the door’s rim. Sure enough there was an unmistakable ring of blackened soot tracing the edges. “Can’t argue with that. Let’s get him outta there.” Cable drew back his cybernetic fist and punched it straight against the steel door. Hinges buckled and locks cracked as the door swung open with a mighty crash. The echo reverberated down the hallway for a few seconds before finally returning to silence.

Elsa’s ears popped. “Not exactly keen on subtlety are you?”

“When I want to be.” Cable said plainly.

She shook her head. “Let’s be done with this quick. I’m sure someone below heard that bloody ruckus.”

Both Cable and Elsa slowly entered the room. There was no light fixture or switch, though by the dim light flooding through the door both could tell the walls were not pitch black due to the darkness alone. They we singed black and peeling. Despite the obvious fire damage there was a disturbing lack of smell to accompany it. Only stale air. At the far side of the room a faint outline of a man could be seen. He was sitting on the floor in a heap, back against the wall. He was bound by a straitjacket and curiously his limbs and neck where actually chained to the wall itself.

Cable moved forward slowly. “Blackheart?”

“That name. Again, that name.” The youth did not raise his head as he spoke and his face was hidden with long strands of dark hair. “How do you know it? Has he spoken to you as well? Did he send you?”

“Who is ‘he’?”

Blackheart snapped his head up and his hair falling to his sides. His eyes were wide with a sense of fear unlike any Cable had witnessed before. “THE RIDER! He will come and burn everything! He knows why I am here; what my purpose is. He whispers to me at night and I must cleanse the air of him!”

Elsa walked up behind Cable and whispered. “That might explain the fires he supposedly set in the dossier. Trying to drive something away?”

Cable paused and considered his words carefully. “I don’t know this ‘rider’, but we are not going to hurt you. We’re here to set you free. We want to recruit you to a team, Blackheart. And I can tell you that if you come with us, your enemies become our enemies and we will stand with you against whatever it is you fear.”

Blackheart sighed and lowered his head again. He mumbled under his breath for a few seconds and then spoke with a significantly greater confidence. “I know you are telling the truth. I can see into your heart and you are an honorable man. I can also see your need for urgency. Especially since those guards are passing the third floor as we speak.”

Cable and Elsa exchanged each other a startled look and Elsa rushed into the hallway. She strained her ears and listened intently towards the way they came. Sure enough; footsteps. “He’s right. We’re going to have company very quickly.”

Cable’s attention snapped back to Blackheart and he crouched down in front of him. He grabbed the metal chains restraining the young man with his cybernetic arm and his augmented strength yanked them clean from the wall. “I don’t know how you knew they were coming and right now it doesn’t matter. We’re here to offer you freedom Blackheart, but we have to leave now.” Cable pulled a serrated combat knife from his belt and with a single cleave, slashed through the straitjacket’s buckles and freeing Blackheart’s limbs. “I need an answer. Will you join us?”

Blackheart flashed a devilish grin as he rose to his feet and stretched out his arms. “You’re asking for my help. You are asking me to trust you. Such tall demands...” He looked directly into Cable’s eyes. They lit up with violet flames and, to both Cable and Elsa’s astonishment, an eldritch vortex appeared behind Blackheart where the back wall was just seconds before. “I propose a compromise; I will join you and give you my trust. In return you must trust me now and follow into the abyss.”

Elsa drew her crossbow and aimed it square between Blackheart’s eyes. “We don’t have time to play any games with you! And there is no way I’m jumping into some hell-spawned hole!”

Cable maintained his composure and placed a hand atop Elsa’s weapon, lowering it down. Elsa began to protest but Cable shook his head and then addressed Blackheart. “Where does it lead?”

“Who knows? That is the point of the exercise! Trust for trust. Seems like a fair trade, don’t you think?”

Cable could hear the sound of the guards closing in on their position. He looked back at Elsa and nodded to her. “Alright Blackheart, I’ll trust you. Now lets do this!”

@nomadicxnightmare: Great chapter and fine work, lad. :)

@nomadicxnightmare: Great chapter and fine work, lad. :)

@nomadicxnightmare: You're welcome!