BRIDGING THE GAP

PART II

By David Golightly

The Box
Approximately 20 miles from the California coastline

“Any bright ideas, boss man?” the Scarlet Spider asked as he sized up the situation.

To his right, Dinah Soar, the aerial Avenger, spit blood from her mouth as she tried to untangle herself from the chain that Thundra had wrapped her in. To his left, both Hercules and Machine Man were smoking husks thanks to the onslaught of the armored Firepower. Directly behind him, his back pressed against his own, was the newly formed West Coast Avengers’ leader, Citizen V, who so far hadn’t fared any better than the rest.

“Working on it,” the Citizen replied.

The orange Stegron the Dinosaur Man roared as he took another leap forward, flanking the Scarlet Spider and Citizen V opposite Firepower, whose bulky armored form looked like it was powering up more weapons. Thundra, her nearly 7-foot frame looming over them, smiled and glanced over the heroes at the fourth member of their villainous party, the relentless Whirlwind, who looked like he was ready to tear them apart with his bare teeth.

Four villains – the Lethal Legion – had not only obliterated the protocols of the maximum security penitentiary of the Box, but had also wiped out the West Coast charter of the Avengers on their inaugural case.

“Work faster,” Scarlet said as he quickly reloaded one of his webshooters. “These guys mean business.”

“Can you slow down Thundra and Stegron?”

“For a second, yeah. What are you going to—”

“Plan Delta.” Citizen V fiddled at his belt. “Just keep them clear of me. They won’t be affected by what I’m about to do.”

“I don’t know what Plan Delta is!”

“Didn’t you study the maneuvers I sent you?”

“No! Of course not! I was at the pool instead of studying! Making me nervous, boss man.”

“Just move!” Citizen V shouted, and the Scarlet Spider leapt into the fray, launching himself at Stegron while firing a blast of impact webbing at Thundra.

The muscular brunette was too slow and the impact webbing hit her square in the chest, catching her off guard. She stumbled back, but only a single step, as her near invulnerability kept any real damage from being done.

The Scarlet Spider tangled with Stegron at close proximity, his speed and agility put to the test as an orange spiked tail slashed at his head alongside claws and teeth. Scarlet twisted his body in almost impossible ways to avoid being vivisected, all the while coating Stegron’s appendages in thick, gooey webbing.

Thundra screeched as she jumped behind Scarlet, grabbing the webhead from behind and squeezing his arms tight to his sides in a bear hug. “You’re just as annoying as the real Spider-Man!” she exclaimed. “Stegron! Rip out his spleen or whatever it is you do!”

Stegron roared, spittle splashing over Scarlet’s crimson mask. Scarlet struggled, but even the proportionate strength of a spider wasn’t enough to burst free from Thundra’s crushing grip. Just as he was about to bite down on the hero’s exposed neck, the sound of turbines roaring to life gave them all pause.

From the rear hatch of the Quinjet that had brought the heroes, a silver streak flashed out, nearly as wide as the aircraft itself. It rocketed through the air, twisting out wide and abruptly turning around to face the collected superhumans. Shaped almost like a pointed boomerang, the unmanned drone knifed through the air toward Whirlwind.

Taken aback, Whirlwind quickly spun together a slipstream to throw the drone off target, but he wasn’t fast enough. Citizen V’s V-wing slammed into his chest and kept going until it smashed into the prison’s outer wall.

With their attention lapsed from the outburst, the Scarlet Spider managed to slip away and land a haymaker on Thundra’s jaw. “That’s your Plan Delta?” Scarlet yelled over his shoulder and he ducked under Stegron’s lashing tail.

Citizen V fiddled with the controls on his belt buckle, but the V-wing was unresponsive. It was completely jammed into the concrete wall, pinning Whirlwind in place, and there was no amount of thrust that the turbines could generate to free itself.

“If you had read the manual I provided…” the Citizen replied as he recovered his adamantium sword to rejoin the fray.

Scarlet webbed up Stegron’s tail to his arm and delivered a pulverizing punch to the dinosaur man’s jaw. “Right, because that’s why people join the Avengers,” Scarlet said. “To read instruction manuals on how to be a hero.”

“A thousand curses upon your metal head!” Hercules screamed as he leapt into the air.

The demigod smashed his fists straight down into Firepower’s black armor, denting the helmet, but surprising not doing much more than that. Indeed, Hercules was a bit flummoxed that he hadn’t completely flattened the villain.

“Even Hephaestus’ armor wouldn’t stand to a blow like that,” Hercules said. “Is your suit bewitched, tinman?”

Firepower angled his forearm-mounted cannon right under Hercules’ chin, saying, “If you count quantum field projection as bewitched, sure.” And he pulled the trigger, blasting Hercules in the face with an armor piercing shell.

Hercules was tossed head over heels thirty feet away, but was caught by a pair of telescoping arms before he hit the ground. Machine Man, the self-aware android, gracefully set Hercules down as he kicked his boot jets into overdrive, hitting Firepower in the torso like a battering ram.

Firepower staggered back, but fired his retrorockets and brought them both to a standstill. The two joined hand to hand, fingers intertwined in a contest of servo-powered strength. Machine Man was brought to one knee as Firepower’s superior torque started to tip the tide in his favor.

A torrent of air rushed over the nearby Citizen V, causing him to pause right before he was about to close the gap between himself and Thundra. Quicksilver appeared at his side, saying, “Mind if I borrow this a second?” and was gone without waiting for a reply.

“Yesterday’s model,” Firepower’s amplified voice said. “Why even bother?”

“Because,” Quicksilver replied, “he’s the distraction.”

Firepower looked up just in time to see a green slipstream rushing toward him, too fast for him to react. Quicksilver, with Citizen V’s adamantium sword in hand, raced forward and sliced into the side of Firepower’s armor, slashing it wide open. Wires and electronics alike were cut clean through, deep enough that the ribs of the pilot were exposed and bleeding.

“Holy sh—” was all Firepower managed to say before Quicksilver returned, repeating the attack three more times.

In mere moments, Machine Man was back on his feet while Firepower literally crumbled in front of him. X-51 placed both hands on either side of one of the tears that Quicksilver had made, forcing it open wider to see the terrified face of the nameless and unfamiliar pilot.

“You are under arrest,” Machine Man said as he extracted the scared man.

“Here you go!” Quicksilver said as he casually tossed the sword back to its owner.

Citizen V, while irritated, had to admit the effectiveness of the maneuver. He grasped the solid handle of his adamantium blade, a cherished weapon that had been handed down to him through the V-Battalion. He swung it briefly to test its weight out of habit, and was about to thank the speedster when he found himself issuing a warning instead.

“Behind you!” Citizen V screamed.

For as fast as Quicksilver is, he can only react to danger if he’s aware of it in time. The Citizen’s warning came a second too late, as Stegron’s teeth punctured Quicksilver’s shoulder, dropping him to his knees as blood began to pour down his emblazoned chest.

Citizen V came in fast and low, spinning around once to build momentum with his sword, which he sliced into Stegron’s side to dislodge him from Quicksilver. The dinosaur man roared as Citizen V deftly leapt over his slashing claws, landing right behind him.

Without warning or hesitation, Citizen V sliced his unbreakable sword straight through Stegron’s tail, instantly separating it. The orange spiked tail flung up into the air, spraying drops of blood over Citizen V and Stegron alike.

“Holy crap,” the Scarlet Spider muttered as he approached.

Stegron, shocked, forgot Quicksilver completely and simply stared at his lost limb. There was a moment of frail pause as no one seemed to know what to do next, and then Stegron fell to his knees in surrender.

“I’ve contacted authorities and medical attention is on the way,” Machine Man said as he approached with the unidentified Firepower pilot wrapped up in his telescoping arms. “I suggest we apply a torniquet to his limb before he bleeds out.”

Citizen V unstrapped his cape and draped it over the oozing half tail, quickly wrapping it up and tying it tight to stop the trickle of blood. Stegron, still in shock, allowed him without retaliation.

Scarlet began to say, “That just leaves—”

“Thundra!” Hercules screamed as he traded blows with the towering woman.

Thunder echoed off of the nearby concrete prison walls as their fists smashed together, knuckle crushing against knuckle, resulting in window-shattering waves of force. They might have been evenly matched, with experience and technique their only real difference.

“You test mighty Hercules!” the demigod shouted with glee. “It has been some time since I was given a honest challenge. I thank you, bountiful lady!”

Thundra paused in her next strike. “Bountiful? Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“Aye! In this one’s eyes, you are quite astonishing, and a fine warrior as well!”

Thundra almost blushed, but Hercules drove an uppercut into her chin. She managed to take a half-step back and most of the force was lost from the blow.

“Listen, just back off!” she said. “If we get the Grim Reaper we’ll just take off, okay? Is this really worth all the property damage for one creep that no one even cares about these days?”

Hercules kept up his onslaught, with punch after punch driving Thundra back on her heels. “The Grim Reaper? Verily! What a wretched villain to be after. Why would you want that poor excuse in your good graces?”

Thundra grabbed Hercules by the forearm, smashed her fist into his chest, and then slammed her forehead down into his. “He’s a moron, sure, but he’s our moron! The Lethal Legion is lost with him!”

Hercules laughed. “You would have him lead you to defeat, surely!”

The demigod drove his elbow into Thundra’s stomach and she buckled over, allowing Hercules to jab into her side. He smiled from the thrill of battle as he positioned himself to drop an elbow onto the back of her neck.

“Should we intervene?” Scarlet said. He had finished webbing up Quicksilver’s wounded shoulder to keep it sterile until the ambulance could account for him.

“Honestly,” Citizen V said, “I think he would be more upset if we did than if we just let them duke it out. He’s sort of…having fun.”

“Huzzah!” Hercules shouted as he cracked Thundra in the ribcage.

She returned the hit with one of her own, driving her piledriving fist into Hercules temple. The demigod dropped to one knee, and Thundra would have followed up with a double-fisted hammerstrike to the crown of Hercules’ skull, but something pink behind the demigod caught her attention.

A sonic screech ripped into her, slapping her back off her feet. The source, a very angry Dinah Soar, rocketed in on her spread wings, her fists outstretched. She slipped right over the kneeling Hercules and collided at full force with Thundra, tipping her head over heels onto her back.

“Thank you, dino-woman!” Hercules said with a smile. “Let it never be said that noble Hercules did not respect the fairly sex in battle.”

The demigod stood over Thundra, blocking the sun. He was flanked on either side by his teammates, and Thundra felt the fight drain out of her. She slumped to the ground, irritated that she had been talked into getting the Lethal Legion back together in the first place.

“How are you feeling?” Citizen V asked.

Quicksilver rubbed his shoulder where Stegron had bitten him. He worked the arm up and down, glad that his metabolism helped speed up the healing process. He wasn’t as impressive a healer as some of the mutants he was on a first name basis with, but he could get back up and running faster than most.

“Fine,” he said curtly.

Back in the Avengers’ compound in the medical bay, Quicksilver stood up off of the hospital bed and shooed away the automated robotic arm that was desperately trying to apply more bandages. He glared at Citizen V, and while he couldn’t see through his opaque mask, he knew the star-spangled hero was staring back at him.

Finally, he stuck out his hand. “Looks like the Avengers are in good hands,” Quicksilver finally said. “I’ll be on my way then.”

After a pause, Citizen V accepted the offer and shook the mutant’s hand. “I’m sure there’s a place for you here, Pietro.”

Quicksilver shook his head. “No. If I’m being honest, I’m not a good team player. Even when I was part of Cap’s quirky quartet. Sometimes doing my own thing is just—”

“Easier?”

“Faster.” Quicksilver smirked. “Look, we got off on the wrong foot. The Avengers mean a lot to me. They took me in and made me a hero when the world assumed that the son of Magneto was just as horrible a human being as he was.”

The Citizen sighed as he released Quicksilver’s hand. “I get that. I have my own issues to work out, being part of a legacy and all.”

“The V-Battalion?”

He nodded. “For me, the Avengers is a chance for me to prove that I belong right up there with the likes of Cap, Thor, and the rest. So, I take it seriously. Maybe a little too seriously.”

“No hard feelings. Just keep fighting the good fight and all that.”

Before Citizen V could respond, Quicksilver vanished in a whirlwind. The air momentarily shifted as the vacuum refilled itself from his departure, the Citizen’s cape being thrown around haphazardly.

When it settled and he was sure that he was alone, Citizen V went to the wall-mounted console and dialed a number for a video call. After a handful of rings, the image on the screen went from the Avengers crest to that of a legendary hero.

“Citizen,” Captain America said with a curt nod. “Good to see you. I was just reading your report on apprehending the Lethal Legion. Impressive teamwork.”

“Thanks, Cap. Actually, teamwork is the very subject I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Something wrong with the team?”

“Not at all.” Citizen V collected himself, and then said, “We came together a lot like the original group of heroes. A select set of circumstances brought us together and we just happened to work out okay.”

“But…”

“But having Pietro here made me realize that we shouldn’t just leave the line-up to fate.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying we need to have a recruitment drive and assessment of current team members,” Citizen V replied. “The people that depend on us deserve the best team we can put together. Not just what fate happens to throw their way.”

Cap pondered the comment for a moment, nodding. Finally, he said, “Makes perfect sense. Looks like we’re going to have a little assembly soon.”

END