Thunderbolts

Castle Zemo

Clint Barton lunged first for Jack O’Lantern, knocking him from his glider. He grabbed the villain’s pouch, removing a pumpkin bomb from it and throwing it into the path of Dr. Octopus.

The mad scientist easily swatted the bomb away with one of his mechanical tentacles, another one following the former Avenger. Clint leaped over it to avoid the strike and Zemo simply stood against the wall, arms folded, and shook his head.

“Barton, please,” said the Baron. “This childish outburst is really beneath you.”

“Obviously you haven’t been payin’ attention to me over the years, Zemo!” responded Clint.

“I don’t want to fight you, I simply want to talk,” said Zemo. “I would think breaking you out of the V-Battalion’s custody would be proof of that.”

“Yeah, well it isn’t,” said Clint. “You gotta do better than that.”

“Jack O’Lantern, Dr. Octopus, stand down,” said Zemo.

“Are you serious?” asked Dr. Octopus.

“Doctor, I believe I gave you an order,” said Zemo, a crackle of energy in his eye. And Clint noticed something he’d never seen on the face of Otto Octavius before, something that made the scientist stand down.

It was fear.

“If that’s not enough, perhaps another show of my good faith,” said Zemo. He gestured with his hand and golden bands of energy swirled around Clint.

“What the hell is this?” asked Barton.

“Patience, Avenger,” said Zemo.

The light dissipated and Clint now stood in his Hawkeye costume, complete with his quiver full of arrows and collapsed bow on his back.

“Now, if you wish to have a fight, you’ve your weapons,” said Zemo. “However, it will be rather one-sided as neither myself nor my teammates will fight back.”

Hawkeye relaxed his body, keeping his gaze trained on Zemo. “Your cronies leave.”

“Cronies?” asked Dr. Octopus. “I will not stand for these insults, Zemo!”

“Then perhaps you and the Jack O’Lantern should do as requested,” said Zemo. “Leave us. That way, you won’t have to stand for any insults.”

Zemo waved his hands and golden energy caused Dr. Octopus and Jack O’Lantern to vanish. “Are you satisfied, Barton?”

“You’ve got five minutes, Helmut. Make ’em good.”

“I understand why you are so judgmental of me, Hawkeye. However you must understand that I have changed,” said Zemo. “Before, my desire was to rule the world. Now, I simply want to make it a better place and help humanity achieve their full potential.”

“And you do that by trying to take over their minds,” said Hawkeye.

“I admit, my goals were rather short-sighted, but I’ve had a change of heart as of late,” said Zemo. “I believe now that the best way to make this world a better place is by first removing those elements that seek to hold it back.”

“What elements would those be?”

“We have a common enemy, Barton,” said Zemo. “Strucker. And yes, I am aware of your past alliance with him, you and your Redeemers.”

“Then maybe you also know that he said something similar about you,” said Hawkeye. “Hydra’s been a pain in our ass for years, that’s true. But you, you’ve got threemoonstones now. You can move between dimensions. You wanna tell me why I should believe you’re the lesser of two evils?”

“I have newfound power, it’s true. But Strucker has friends in very powerful places. Hydra is little more than a front organization for something far, far worse.”

“Which is?” asked Hawkeye.

Zemo wagged his finger. “Not so fast. I’ve shown you my good faith but I still don’t know if I can trust you, archer. It’s time for a show of good faith on your part.”

DARK KNIGHTS

Part III: Reactionary Forces

By Dino Pollard

Arizona

“How’s it look?”

MACH-IV ignored the words of his teammate, too busy scanning the Hulkbuster facility in the distance.

“Abe…?”

“Hold on, Mel.”

After double-checking the results, he shook his head and faced her and the rest of the Thunderbolts. “Nothing. Can’t detect a single lifeform in the facility.”

“Maybe Zemo was wrong about this place,” said Songbird.

“No, you don’t get it,” said MACH-IV. “I didn’t say there weren’t any humans, I said there weren’t any lifeforms. Meaning rats, insects—nada. If this place were abandoned, the things around here would be able to get inside.”

“What does that mean?” asked Blizzard.

“It means the best security money can by,” said the Fixer. “Enough to block out every scan so that anything inside the facility—including security systems and layouts—are invisible to our scans.”

“I take it you had the same luck?” asked MACH-IV. The Fixer nodded.

“These guys are good, I’ll give ’em that,” he said. “They’ve got something in there they’re trying to keep secret.”

“What’s our strategy?” asked the Swordsman.

“The good Doctor Chen will provide us with an entrance,” said the Fixer.

“Ebersol, this is a Hulkbuster base. Regardless of whether or not its being used for its original purpose, the construction remains the same,” said the Radioactive Man. “These bases were designed to withstand attacks from that green behemoth. What do you expect me to do?”

“Doesn’t matter how strong the metal is, it can be melted,” said the Fixer. “You guys are going to be the distraction so I can get in and do my thing.”

“And what would that be?” asked MACH-IV.

“Finding out what this place is hiding, for starters,” said the Fixer. “For this level of security, it’s gotta be something big.

“We all ready?”

Nods in the affirmative followed. “Good. Songbird, give the Rad Man a boost, would you?”

A translucent pink platform composed of sonic energy appeared beneath the Radioactive Man’s feet. It pushed him forward, sending him soaring towards the Hulkbuster base. He landed right in front of it, placing his palms against the building and concentrating. The alloy resisted him at first, but he pushed harder. Soon, he could feel the metal beginning to bubble beneath his hands. He melted a hole large enough to accommodate him and the other Thunderbolts, who arrived momentarily by his side.

Songbird erected a sonic bubble around the group so as to avoid any of the dripping metal and they entered a large hangar area. “This must be where they kept those tanks the Hulk enjoyed tossing around,” she said.

“And look what we have here,” said MACH-IV. “Now that we’re inside, I’m picking up lifeforms all over the place. A lot of them rushing right—”

The sound of guns cocking interrupted Jenkins’ statement and the Thunderbolts found themselves surrounded by soldiers armed with high-powered machine guns. MACH-IV sighed.

“I hate being right.”

Castle Zemo

“You’re outta your mind if you think I’ll do that,” said Hawkeye.

“What choice do you have, Barton?” asked Zemo. “There is more going on here than you realize and I am offering you the chance to bring down one of this world’s greatest villains.”

“And by doing that, I’ve gotta let another of the world’s greatest villains walk free?” asked Hawkeye.

Zemo chuckled. “You’re hardly letting me do anything. But now, you are well aware of the danger posed by Strucker and his superiors. You already made a deal with him.”

“To take you down.”

“And Strucker?”

“The plan was always to go after him next.”

“Quite a simple strategy, too simple to succeed I’m afraid,” said Zemo. “You are the best lead I have. You know how to get in touch with Strucker. You must broker a new deal with him. One that will have him vulnerable to attack from my Thunderbolts.”

“I see you’ve been recruiting,” said Hawkeye. “Jack O’Lantern’s one thing, him you can control. But Octavius? What makes you think he isn’t plotting against you?”

“I’m positive he is. One expects such an eventuality when one works alongside villains. And one prepares for such an occasion. But neither of them will be part of your team. They are just two free agents I have employed for certain missions.”

“So who will I be working with?”

“My main team—Songbird, MACH-IV, Blizzard, Radioactive Man, the Swordsman and the Fixer.”

“A mix of new and old, eh? Thought three of those were with the new Masters.”

Zemo smiled beneath his mask. “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t,” said Hawkeye. “What you’re asking me to do, it’s going to be difficult. Strucker won’t be so easy to sway.”

“You’ve a silver tongue, Hawkeye. Use it.”

With the Thunderbolts distracting the guards, the Fixer was able to find another entrance and hack into the base’s security system. It took several minutes and he was sure he tripped a few alarms. But with the Thunderbolts launching a full-scale attack, he was certain he wouldn’t be bothered.

The door opened with a hiss of depressurized air. “Open sesame,” he said with a grin.

The Fixer moved to the elevator and just as he arrived, the doors opened with two guards inside. Just as they were about to raise their weapons, shoulder-mounted guns connected to the Fixer’s tech pack put a bullet in each of their heads.

“Pardon me, gentlemen,” he said, stepping over their bodies and into the elevator. He pushed the button for the lowest sub-basement floor and a small, cylindrical device extended from the elevator at his eye level.

“Retinal scan, looks like you guys are wising up,” he said. He held his left eye up to the scanner, which was covered by a sophisticated lens. When the scanner tried to confirm Ebersol’s identity, the lens sent a signal back inside, a signal which told the elevator’s security that the Fixer had access.

The doors closed and the elevator began its descent.

“This is too easy.”

Blizzard avoided gunfire on his ice-slide, controlling it with one hand while his other hurled bursts of ice at his attackers. He felt the pressure getting to him, as he maneuvered himself around. Iron Man was one thing, Donnie Gill at least know old Shellhead wouldn’t kill him. But these soldiers, that was a different story. He needed something to get his courage back up. Something he’d have to ask the Fixer about later.

MACH-IV and Songbird worked together like a well-oiled machine. Him with his repulsor blasts and her with her sonic constructs. They watched each other’s backs, giving aid when it was necessary and getting out of the way when they were about to cause problems. And they did it all without exchanging a single word.

The Radioactive Man had his body surrounded by a field composed of his namesake. It melted any bullets that tried to pass through it and he issued bursts of energy to turn their weapons to slag.

The Swordsman was less forgiving, however. He leaped around the area, easily dodging past the gunfire. Blizzard watched him move in awe, wishing he could be that athletic. Andreas Von Strucker wielded a sword in each hand and Blizzard doubted he could swing one of them with both hands, let alone two.

However, Strucker was less forgiving in his assault. Whereas Songbird, MACH-IV and the Radioactive Man were content with keeping their targets alive, the Swordsman gave no quarter and no thought to slicing them open or frying them with the energy blasts from his blades.

[I’m in.]

The voice that came over the Thunderbolts’ earpieces belonged to the Fixer.

“What’ve you found?” asked MACH-IV.

[We’ve hit the motherload, Abe.]

Down in the sub-basement, the Fixer stood before a series of tubes. Each of these tubes held a fetus growing inside, floating in a nutrient bath and connected to wires. His tech pack was plugged into the console’s data port, downloading the information and cybernetically transmitting to his brain.

“These guys are making their own homegrown Avengers,” he said into the mouthpiece.

[Cloning?]

“Not quite, they’re using the genetic material, though. They’re creating the next generation of Avengers. Earth’s Future Mightiest Heroes, working for Control. And these records…holy shit.”

[What is it?]

“These records, this has been going on ever since the Avengers first popped up.”

[Are you saying they’ve been making Avengers for the past fifteen years?]

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. We’ve got to level this place. Think you can handle that, Doctor?”

[What do you mean, Ebersol?]

“Chen, you’re a walking A-bomb, do I have to spell it out for you?”

“You can’t be serious,” said the Radioactive Man.

“Hey, consider it revenge for when this country dropped one on you,” said Blizzard. The Radioactive Man sneered.

“America dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

“So?”

“Those are Japanese cities.”

“And?”

“I’m from China, you imbecile.”

“Oh…” said Blizzard. “My bad.”

“Fixer, are you crazy?” asked Songbird.

[Not the first time I’ve been asked that.]

“A nuclear explosion on American soil? Why don’t we just send a declaration of war to the White House?”

[We’re talking a contained blast,] said the Fixer. [You can contain an explosion of that magnitude to just this area, right?]

“Fixer, what you’re asking me to do could leave this area a nuclear wasteland, not to mention kill everyone here.”

[This is war, Chen. That means we have to break a few eggs.]

“You may just yet get your war if you make me do this, Fixer.”

[You think there’s gonna be any record of this explosion? Control doesn’t want people to know what happened here or even that there was anything out here.]

“Fine,” said the Radioactive Man. “All of you, get to a safe distance.”

The Thunderbolts departed from the base with Songbird holding Swordsman aloft in a sonic bubble. As they left, Chen Lu’s body began to charge as he generated massive amounts of radiation, concentrating to ensure it wouldn’t be released until he was ready.

[We’re out of range, Chen. Let’s see what you can do.]

From a safe distance, the Thunderbolts stood and watched as an explosion in the shape of a mushroom cloud illuminated the night sky. Songbird and MACH-IV shared a glance and Abe Jenkins saw Melissa Gold speak a silent sentence.

“What have we become?”

 

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