Brutal Out Here
Back at the table, the gambling had gone quite terribly for Sam and Bucky. The thing was, they didn’t have any money on their person. They were expecting an arrest or fight, not to make poor bets and lose cash. Claws was, of course, enjoying their losses with a hoarse chuckle every so often. The fourth game ended and Claws raised his hand to stop before another game could start. He then turned his head to look at Sam and then Bucky.
“Now how are we gon’ do this? Are you two going to keep pretendin’ like you don’t know me or are we gon’ fight?” Claws uncrossed his arms, still leaning on the table.
“So you do know who we are,” Sam nodded his head, locking eyes with Bucky for a second.
“Everybody in this place knows who ya are. Bein’ Cap’n America ain’t exactly a stealthy thing,” He paused before adding, “Or the Winter Soldier, for that matter.”
Bucky flinched at the use of his old title. Claws noticed his reaction and reacted with a slight grunt as he pushed himself off the table and onto his feet.
“You two need better disguises. My people found ya fast,” Claws continued on, cracking his knuckles.
Sam looked at him with concern, “You’re not alone.”
Claws chuckled, “Ya might wanna check on yer pals.”
Sam quickly held up his comm to his mouth, “Torres, Walker, anybody there?”
No response.
“Torres, come in!” He whispered and shouted urgently.
Nothing.
Bucky reached for the gun hidden in his outfit. Claws spotted him immediately and squared up. He was getting ready to unsheath his claws.
Then Bucky heard a BAMF! And a cloud of purple briefly floated from behind him. Before he could turn, he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard another BAMF! And was suddenly teleported to the roof of the casino.
Bucky whipped around, pulling out the gun and holding it up. It was cold and dark up on the roof, with a slight fog setting in. He heard the BAMF! Noise again and turned in the direction he thought he’d heard it from. This was probably Paws, he thought. Paws the teleporter. The fog began to clear slightly and Bucky spotted a strange clump nearby. He approached it slowly with his gun still raised. As he got closer, he realized what it was. Both Torres and Walker were laid down on the cold floor, completely unconscious. Torres had a few scratches on his face while Walker looked like his nose had been broken. Otherwise, they had few injuries.
Bucky heard another BAMF! and stayed by them, raising his gun again. He saw a shadow run through the fog and pointed his gun in that direction. He then heard footsteps and then Paws teleported in front of him, instantly hitting him with a front kick. Paws landed in front of him and hopped slightly, getting ready for a fight.
Bucky fired the gun and found that action to be useless once Paws teleported away and behind him, punching him in the back before swiping the gun with his tail. He discarded the gun and then squared up, hopping slightly.
Bucky flew off the handle and launched towards the blue mutant, the two exchanging hits every so often. As they fought, he noticed a similar fighting style to his own. He tried to use his vibranium arm to pin the teleporter down, but then he utilized his power to teleport them somewhat above the roof, successfully disorienting Bucky enough to shove him away and leave him to fall to the roof as he teleported away.
Paws giggled before a strange watch looking thing on his wrist blinked orange and he heard Claws’s voice shouting at him over the comm. He waved to Bucky and then teleported away. Bucky groaned and then got up, having landed on the roof with a thud. He composed himself and looked around for the discarded gun, finding himself unlucky as the fog began to set in again.
Back in the casino, Sam had engaged in a controlled fistfight with Claws. Despite his nickname, however, the claws had not come out yet.
“What’d you do to Torres and Walker?” He asked aggressively as he tried to land a hit on Claws.
“Relax, one of my pals dealt with ‘em,” Claws responded as he used the hit against him and launched him away. Claws shouted something at an orange watch on his wrist, causing the two men to witness Paws appear in a cloud of purple smoke. Paws flew towards Sam and landed on his shoulders long enough to teleport him to the roof and then, seconds later, Claws as well.
Once Sam appeared, Bucky ran over and stood by his side. They were now face-to-face with Claws and Paws.
“I think I’ve had about enough of Claws, you want the other guy?” Sam asked Bucky in a half joking manner.
“Sure, what the hell at this point,” Bucky accepted, reluctantly.
The two groups of men ran towards each other and began to fight, Bucky with Claws and Sam with Paws. At some point during the fight, things intensified as Claws unsheathed his claws and began to fight brutishly. Redwing arrived not long after, dropping the shield into Sam’s hands.
For whatever reason, Paws seemed excited by the entrance of the shield and his attacks became more rapid. Sam adjusted to this change and managed to strike Paws in the nose, throwing him off his rhythm and causing him to stumble back and grab his nose.
“Had enough yet, Smurfette?” Sam rhetorically asked with a confident grin.
Paws looked back at the blood that had trickled from his nose onto his hand and then chuckled, “Noch nicht!” He then returned to fighting, now using his teleportation.
Meanwhile, Bucky had engaged Claws and the two fought viciously. Claws managed to scratch his metal arm a few times, but rarely ever caused him any harm to his human body. Bucky tried to figure out how to best neutralize Claws without killing him. He saw an opening and took it, kneeing him in the side and then successfully attempting to break his wrist, causing the orange watch to fall to the floor.
Claws snarled at him, “Wrong move, bub.” Seconds later, his wrist fully recovered.
Healing factor. Right. Bucky recalled and then returned to fighting Claws.
As their fight continued, Claws yelled something at Paws. Paws seemed to frown, having looked like he was enjoying his fight with Captain America. He then managed to step away and teleport off with a final BAMF!
“Guess I have both of ya to myself for a bit,” Claws held up his metal claws, looking between Sam as if trying to decide who to engage first.
Luckily for him, Paws returned about a minute later with a new player. The person was smaller than the two men and had a hood covering their face. The person looked towards Claws, Sam, Torres and Walker, and then finally Bucky. The person froze, seemingly forgetting to breathe before snapping out of it as Sam launched forward, trying to fight Claws again. Paws jumped towards him and managed to teleport Claws away back to where he’d been with the other person. The trio took advantage of the moment and then were teleported away with a final BAMF!
“Crap,” Was all Sam had to say as they watched their targets disappear into purple fog.
Bucky nodded and then adjusted his metal arm, checking it for scratches that were dispersed all over the vibranium. He frowned. If he ever got back to Wakanda, Shuri would probably kill him.
He then noticed a faint buzzing sound. He turned around and spotted something on the ground.
“We got nothing. They’re just gone. Redwing has no way to track them,” Sam shook his head, pinching his nose in frustration as he walked over to Walker and Torres, checking them for any kind of serious injuries.
“Not true,” Bucky walked over to him and held out the object he’d found on the ground to show him.
A broken gray watch that flickered orange.