Chapter 10
BATTLE ROYALE: PT 2
Meanwhile, back in the Helocarrier’s training room, the battle between the Avengers and the new Thunderbolts continues to heat up. Especially in one particular battle with the Serpent Society, led by Madame Hydra, taking on the Avengers such as Black Panther, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, as well as Nick Fury and his fellow Secret Warriors, Misty Knight, Sharon Carter and Quake. And its here that Nick Fury once again showed his fighting prowess by blocking numerous punches from King Cobra. Finally, after holding up his left arm to block an incoming punch, Nick attempted to counter with a right uppercut.
King Cobra, however, leaned back to avoid the blow and after popping out a taser from out of his right gauntlet, threw a low right hook into Nick’s side, ramming the taser into the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director’s ribs and electrocuted him. With Nick stunned, the former leader of the Serpent Society threw a left legged front kick into Nick’s chest, knocking him down to the floor, all which made the smug King Cobra smile as he looked down at him. “Getting slow, old man!” he said defiantly to the S.H.I.E.L.D. veteran, then popped out a taser in his left gauntlet, wound his left fist back and threw downward straight punch, with the intent of driving his second taser into Nick’s abdomen and torture him for his own amusement.
However, Nick quickly rolled to the right side, which caused King Cobra to ram his fist into the floor instead, breaking his hand in the process. As King Cobra screamed and held his hand in agony, Nick stood back up, ran towards his pain ridden former attacker and threw a right legged round kick into King Cobra’s open mouth, knocking out few of his teeth and sending down to the floor outcold. “How’s that for speed, punk?” Nick told the unconscious Serpent Society member in defiance, then through the corner of his remaining eye, he noticed on his left side that the red skinned Rattler fired a bolt of electricity from out of his tail, which forced Nick to jump and roll forward to avoid it.
Rattler himself hissed in frustration, then charged up his tail once again to fire another shot, with the kneeling Nick still in his sights.
However, before Rattler could fire another bolt, he was stopped when Quake, another one of Nick’s best agents, pointed her open palms at Rattler’s feet and produced waves which in turn, shook the floor beneath him and brought him down to his knees.
This in turn gave Nick the opportunity to run towards his red skinned attacker, jump up and deliver a double legged mule kick to Rattler’s face, knocking him down hard on to the floor. Nick then back-flipped in mid-air and landed safely right next to Quake. “Nice save, Johnson,” he told his fellow agent, then spotted Rattler get back up on his feet, and quickly got into a fighting stance. “I’m hoping you still got enough fight left in you.”
The battled hardened Quake also got into a fighting stance, all the while channeling her energy into hands, making them glow blue. “I’m barely warmed up, sir.”
“Good to know,” Nick replied as he stayed focused on Rattler, who then shot another bolt from his tail, forcing Nick to dash to the right, while Quake dashed to the left, allowing both agents to avoid the blast.
Meanwhile, in another one on one bout, the Black Widow, Natasha Romanov, was trading blows with her former ‘comrade’, the Madame Hydra herself, Viper. At one point, Viper used her right hand to catch an incoming left back fist from Natasha, then fought back by throwing a swift left knife-edged chop underneath the Widow’s left arm and into her side. With the Widow stunned and bending down in pain, Viper pulled back that same hand and used it to throw a hard cross to Natasha’s face. Afterwards, she released her hold of the female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and allowed her to fall to the floor. “Such a shame,” said Viper as she looked down at Natasha with both disdain and disappointment. “You would’ve made a great agent for H.Y.D.R.A.,” From then on, Viper lifted her left leg up and went for an axe kick, looking to drive her heel into Natasha’s skull.
However, thanks to her years of training, Natasha was able to anticipate this and thus held up both of her arms in an ‘X’ fashion and successfully blocked the axe kick. Moments later, she pushed Viper’s leg outward to the left, causing Viper herself to flip in a corkscrew motion to that side. Once she stood back up, Natasha saw Viper lander perfectly on her feet, and thus rushed in and feinted a right punch, which distracted the Madame Hydra long enough for Natasha to secretly throw a middle punch into Viper’s abdomen, knocking the wind out of the green haired fem fatale and making her take two steps backward. This gave the Black Widow the opening she needed to throw a right legged round kick and nail Viper in the head and sent her down too the floor. Now in control, Natasha had only this to say to the fallen Viper while still in her fighting stance. “Happy to disappoint you.”
Elsewhere, the Black Panther found himself fighting for his life against the truly snake-like Bushmaster. The Wakandan King used his cat-like speed and agility to avoid slashes from the machete blades from Bushmaster’s cybernetic arms. After side stepped to the right to avoid a right overhead slash from the literal snake man, Panther finally went on the offensive by placing his right foot over the blade to prevent Bushmaster from pulling it back, then with the vibranium claws on his left hand, slash upward and in the process, sliced Bushmaster’s bladed arm off by the elbow.
With his cybernetic arm chopped off and his circuitry exposed and sparking, Bushmaster hissed with rage as he used the blade on his left arm to throw a horizontal slash, intending on taking the Panther’s head clean off his shoulders.
Luckily for the Panther though, he easily dodged the slash by ducking, and upon standing back up, he spotted Bushmaster going for another overhead slash, and thus used his left hand to catch the metal arm by the wrist, and used the claws in his right hand to slice downward, and just like before, cuts off his reptilian opponent’s arm by the elbow, leaving Bushmaster, for lack of better term, ‘unarmed.’ “It would be wise for you to surrender, creature,” said the determined Panther as he threw the arm away.
Angrier than before, the now armless Bushmaster went to sink his teeth into the Panther’s neck and inject his venom into his body, like a true snake striking its prey.
Fortunately for the Panther though, he easily avoided this attack by jumping and flipping over Bushmaster’s head. After safely landing on his feet, the Wakandan King spun around with his claws drawn and watched Bushmaster slither around and face him. All which caused the Panther to let out an unsurprised sigh. “Of course, how foolish of me. Your kind are never wise.”
Meanwhile, another Avenger, Hawkeye, was busy jumping and flipping to avoid the rubbery arms of Anaconda. Finally, after flipping over Anaconda’s long right arm, the archer landed on his feet a drew one of his electric arrows, taking aim at his female attacker’s forehead. However, before he could take the shot, he noticed something that troubled him.
Mainly it was two of his female comrades struggling against two members of the Serpent Society, with Misty Knight using her bionic right arm to deflect claw slashes from Death Adder, while Sharon was busy ducking and jumping to avoid the coils of the Constrictor.
Though Hawkeye never showed it, he was still chivalrous enough to want to help Sharon and Misty, but at the same time, this left him wide open for Anaconda to successfully wrap her arm around the archer’s waist and squeeze him tightly as she lifted him up into the air, causing him to yell in pain.
Anaconda herself just looked up at the struggling Hawkeye, licking her lips. “Such a shape that a handsome man like yourself to be my enemy. Of course, you could surrender and allow me to make you my personal toy. And thus, make your service to me worth your wild.”
Feeling both the pain of the mutated woman’s arm squeezing his waist and inches away from snapping his spine, as well as the urge to vomit on her ‘offer’, Hawkeye nevertheless shook it off, and thanks to the luck of having his arms still free and holding his bow, he managed to pull out one of his arrows and point it at Anaconda’s face. “Sorry, you’re not my type. Don’t blame you for wanting me though,” Hawkeye said straining but with defiant sarcasm, and thus fired his arrow.
However, Anaconda saw this and opened her mouth and caught the arrow with her teeth. The blonde female brute laughed at Hawkeye’s face for his supposed failed arrow shot, but soon received quite the surprise when the arrow he sprayed gas in her mouth and nose, causing her to cough and inadvertently drop Hawkeye and allow the archer to flip and land safely on his feet. It wasn’t long before Anaconda could feel the world around her spinning, and moments later, dropped to the floor unconscious.
From then on, the now free Hawkeye drew another arrow, then turned to the right side and fired at his new intended target.
That target being the coil in the Constrictor’s left hand, to which the purple suited villain had raised above his head. Once the arrowhead made contact with the coil, it set off a large flash that sparked into the Constrictor’s face, which blinded and disoriented him.
This allowed Sarah to double click two secret buttons in her gloves, causing her hands to glow bright blue. She then ran in and gave the Constrictor a two-punch combination, name a left cross to his abdomen, followed by a right uppercut to his jaw.
Elsewhere, a three on three battle was taking place amongst the team of Ms. Marvel, Luke Cage and Iron Fist and Tombstone, Silver Sable and Titania.
Luke was throwing punches at Tombstone, who blocked them all effortlessly. Finally, after using both of his hands to catch the Hero for Hire’s right fist, Tombstone countered with a swift left back fist into Luke’s face, then delivered a stiff left side-kick into the Power Man’s sternum, one that was strong enough to send flying and slamming back first against the wall. Now in control, the former Big Man calmly walked towards Luke, who by this time was down on one knee and holding his chest in pain. “So, you are the so called ‘Hero for Hire,” said Tombstone with a look of disdain. “You’ve caused a few inconveniences for the people in my empire before. Something in which I cannot and will not tolerate.” The pale skinned former crime boss then wound his right fist back and threw a straight punch, aiming for Luke’s face.
However, Luke managed to avoid it by ducking sideways to the right, causing Tombstone to ram his fist into the wall, making a huge dent. The Hero for Hire then fought back with a right hook into Tombstone’s side, and once the mobster winced and bent to the right side, Luke drove his left elbow upward, making a direct hit on the former Big Man’s chin, causing him to take two steps backward. “If by ‘trouble’ you mean being hired to beat up your brain-dead thugs for trying to hassle protection money from a few small business owners in Harlem, then yeah.” Luke replied, then stood up, walked over to the dazed Tombstone and gave him a right cross to the jaw. “And your sorry butt, I’ll gladly whoop for free!”
Meanwhile, in another fight, Ms. Marvel blocked a right hook from Titania and responded with a left cross.
Unfortunately, Titania spotted this attack coming and thus held up her left arm to block the punch, then retaliated with a left knee strike into Ms. Marvel’s abdomen, followed by a right uppercut to her face, which caused the Warbird to stand straight up, but make her stagger backward a bit. “Oh, come on!” Titania exclaimed, sounding disappointed. “Is this really all the great Ms. Marvel is cracked up to be? I’m insulted!” With that said, Titania threw a right legged round kick, intending to put this fight to an end.
Luckily for Ms. Marvel though, she surprised her red-headed opponent by recovering fast enough see her attack and acted by using both of her hands to catch Titania’s leg, then threw her to the left side like she was nothing. As she watched Titania flip in mid-air and landed on her feet, the Warbird narrowed her eyes at her. “Don’t feel too insulted!”
Titania only smirked, as she saw how Ms. Marvel might just be a challenge after all, then charged towards the Warbird.
As for Ms. Marvel herself, she flew straight towards Titania at full speed, then moments later, both she and the villainess threw right hooks and their fists collided with one another, with the impact strong enough to make a loud bang.
Meanwhile, Iron Fist found himself trading lighting fast punches and kicks with the platinum mercenary, Silver Sable. From his days in training in K’un Lun, Fist had long since learned that opponents come in all shapes, sizes, and genders and knew to never underestimate them. However, the Living Weapon still felt a little uneasy when he fought against female opponents. Nevertheless, she still kept his guard up against her, secretly impressed by how fast and precise Sable’s attacks were. Finally, knowing that that this fight had to stop to help his teammates, Fist held up his left arm to block an incoming left hook. “My apologies for this,” Fist said politely, then used his right leg to throw a inward crescent kick, intending to quickly knock her out.
However, Sable easily spotted this and quickly ducked underneath the kick to avoid it. Upon standing back up, Sable spotted Fist going for a left spinning back-fist, which caused her to move her arms to the left side in order to stop the attack. Not wanting to be on the defensive forever, Sable waited for Fist to take his left hand away and go for a right legged spinning back-heel kick and ducked underneath it. As she stood up, Sable soon delivered a swift right upper cut to Fist’s chin, and while he was stunned, she threw a hard left legged front kick, nailing him in the chest and sending him tumbling backward.
But before he could trip on his own feet, Fist was stopped when he felt like he bumped his back into that of another person. More specifically, with that of a woman. As he looked over his shoulder, Fist found out that he was standing back to back with Misty Knight, who also appeared to be having a little bit of trouble defending herself against Death Adder.
Misty soon looked over her shoulder and saw that Fist was right behind her and was surprised. “Danny ?!” Misty asked dumbfounded. “Where the hell did you come from?!”
“Oh, not far,” Fist replied nonchalantly, then looked over his shoulder to see Death Adder. “And apparently, you’re having just as much of hard time with your dancing partner as I am with mine.” With that said, Fist turned forward and saw that Sable was now running towards him, then jumped up and threw a right legged flying kick. “DUCK!” he yelled, and thus both he and Misty quickly ducked and allowed Sable to fly right over them and caused her to accidently kick Death Adder in the face instead.
As both she and Fist stood back up, Misty saw Sable both baffled and angry on how the now unconscious Death Adder got in her way. Finally, as the platinum mercenary turned around, Misty moved in and threw a left hook, nailing Sable in the jaw and her down to the steel floor outcold. After dealing with Sable, Misty turned around and gave Fist a somewhat flirtatious raised eyebrow. “Well, I’ll give you this, Mr. Rand, you know how to make things exciting.”
Fist couldn’t help but give Misty a returning smile. “What can I say? It’s part of my charm.”
Misty gave Fist a sly smirk, but then looked ahead and noticed Nick Fury and Quake still struggling against Rattler. “Well, think you can use that charm in helping Fury deal that thing?”
Fist turned around to see Nick and Quake fighting to stay alive against Rattler, and thus answered Misty while channeling his chi into both of his fists, causing them to burn. “Gladly,” Fist replied in determination, and thus he and Misty ran over to aid Nick and Quake in taking down laser tailed member of the Serpent Society.
Meanwhile, Ms. Marvel now found herself on the defensive as she blocked numerous punches from the aggressive Titania. Afterwards, she threw a right uppercut to try and fight back.
However, Titania saw this and leaned back to easily avoid it. “Okay,” she said in a calm but frustrated tone. “It’s been fun, but let’s wrap this up!” With that said, Titania went for a right legged front kick, with the target being Ms. Marvel’s abdomen.
Ms. Marvel was just as fast to counter as she used both her hands to catch Titania’s foot before it could reach her gut. Then, with her Kree enhanced strength, she threw her red headed attacker’s foot up into the air, forcing Titania herself to flip backward. The Warbird brought the fight to an end by pointing her right fist at the airborne villainess, charged it up with energy and fired a blast at Titania while she was still airborne, making a direct hit on her chest and sending her flying across the room and slamming back first up against the wall. With her fist still smoking, Ms. Marvel looked at the defeated Titania as she slid down the wall and fell to the floor unconscious. “You need to consider a new line of work,” she told the now outcold villainess, then turned around to see if she can find another villain to take down and help bring this chaotic fight to an end. However, before the Warbird could make a move, she is stopped when she saw a disoriented Thor coming towards her after being thrown, and moments later, tackled her to the floor.
Thor was a bit shaken, but he managed to sit up and shook his head to regain focus. However, he soon felt that he was sitting on someone, and as he looked down, he saw that it was Ms. Marvel groaning in pain, mostly from the Thunder God sitting on top of her. Which, of course, prompted the worried Thor to quickly get up off her, while still looking at her in worry. “Friend Carol, are you hurt?”
“Just my pride,” replied a straining Ms. Marvel as she sat up, sore but with no bones broken.
Nevertheless, Thor still offered his hand to help her up, as he would any other fellow warrior down on the ground. Once Ms. Marvel took it, the Thunder God used a small amount of his strength to pull her back up to her feet. “Well, be grateful that your body was not broken,” he told her. “For we may require your aid.”
Before Ms. Marvel could answer Thor, her eyes grew wide as she saw Iron Man heading towards her, also appearing to have been thrown by something powerful. This caused her to push Thor to the right side so they could allow Iron Man to backflip and shoot both his repulsers backward, helping him stop. Afterwards, Ms. Marvel looked straight ahead and saw what just tossed Iron Man and Thor like they were rag dolls.
It was that of the Red Hulk, who by this time was now literally burning with fire and growling angrily.
All which made the now worried Ms. Marvel say this to Thor as she charged up both her fists. “Thor…there’s no ‘may’ about it!”
In another part of the room, the clawed mutant that was Wolverine found himself in another brawl with his longtime foe, Sabretooth. The two mutants’ fight to the death was being watched by that of the human Bruce Banner, who was sitting and curled up into a corner.
At one point, Sabretooth threw a left-handed claw slash, but Wolverine intercepted it by taking the claws in his right hand and plunged them right through Sabretooth’s open left palm, causing his blood thirst rival to let out a pain filled scream. Moments later, the feral X-Men turned and threw a left legged back kick into Sabretooth’s abdomen, causing him to back away and allow Wolverine to pull his claws out of his murderous opponent’s hand. Once the Clawed Canadian was face to face with the still wincing Sabretooth, he ran in and threw a right legged scissors kick, nailing Sabretooth in the face and causing his old rival to fall on his back. After taking a moment to retract his claws back into his hands, Wolverine turned and ran over to the still curled up Bruce. “Banner!” he yelled as he grabbed the frail scientist’s arms and picked him up off the floor and on to his feet. “In case you hadn’t noticed, this ain’t no spectator sport! So, if there’s a time for you get mad and bring out the big guy, it’s here and now!”
“I’ve been trying!” Bruce replied, hating to say those words. What was even more troubling was the fact that he felt sluggish and had little to no energy, all which led him to this conclusion. “They must’ve drugged me just as they locked me up. I can barely focus on thinking of things that would trigger enough stress to-!” Suddenly, Bruce felt a sharp pain in his abdomen…like the feeling of very long blades piercing into him. As he looked up, he saw that it was Wolverine plunging the three claws in his right hand into the scientist’s gut.
After committing such a drastic act, Wolverine pulled his claws out of the stunned scientist and backed away so he could allow the now critically injured Bruce place his hand over the stab wound and slump to the floor. “Ain’t nothing more stressful than that,” said Wolverine in self-loathing, as he hated to stab a defenseless man, but in Banner’s case, it was a last-ditch effort to help ‘motivate’ him into bringing out his bigger, more destructive half to help turn the tide. Moments later, the feral X-Man heard the loud, rage filled roar of Sabretooth, causing him to turn around and see his savage enemy running towards him and try to tackle him. Luckily, thanks to years of martial arts training, Wolverine used both of his hands to catch Sabretooth’s wrists, then placed his right foot on his rival’s abdomen, felt back and gave him a stomach throw.
However, Sabretooth proved to be just as battle tested as he managed to roll forward end up back on his feet. He then spun around to face Wolverine, who by this time was also standing and popped the claws in his left hand and standing ready for another attack. Before he could make a move though, Sabretooth noticed the suffering Bruce Banner, something which made the sadistic mutant chuckle. “You stabbing an innocent man, runt? Gotta say, never knew you had it in ya.”
“Shut up and fight, bub!” Wolverine barked back, then through the corner of his left eye, saw the still skinny and dying Bruce Banner, hoping that the wound he inflicted on the scientist was enough to start his transformation. “Come on, Banner,” thought the clearly worried Wolverine. “Don’t make me hate myself for nothin!” The feral X-Men then turned his attention back to Sabretooth, and both mutants let out roars as they ran and jumped towards one another.
As for Bruce himself, as he bled out heavily and struggled to keep his entrails in his body, so many things were going through his mind. Confusion, shock, fear, not to mention the seething pain from his stab wound. All which was enough…to make his eyes glow green!