Month: March 2016

Warning! Graphic deaths ahead.

As the elevator door closed Fury asked Chameleon “Which level?”

“Nine” chameleon dryly answered.

 

After a long silence Sandman was the first to speak again. “What was that about?”

“I don´t know. But we can worry about that later.” Fury volunteered eyeing Loki who remained pensive.

“What could be Doom´s plan?” He pondered. “Maybe he´s trying to befriend with me again … Why? What does he want? Does he really think I´ll fall for that?”

“Loki!” Fury called him out loud. “We can sort that out later. For now, focus.”

Loki nodded his head affirmatively; Fury was right. This wasn´t the best moment to sort out Doom´s intentions.

 

When the lift arrived at level nine Fury told Chamaeleon. “We are here. Where to?”

“To your right, second corridor on your left.” Chamaeleon responded.

The moment they joined them Fury asked angrily. “What´s so freaking important you had to call us down here?”

“See it for yourself.” Chamaeleon answered as he pointed to a heavy looking metallic door with a small glass window on it.”

Fury gave both Mysterio and Chamaeleon a stern questioning look before looking into the opening. After a couple of seconds, he steps back looking shocked, instantly he snaps at Chamaeleon. “What the fuck?”

“Okanjo´s crown jewel … it seems that the super soldiers weren´t his only human experiment.” Chamaeleon informed him wryly.

“They are children.” Fury pointed at the door in dismay.

“Not anymore.” Chamaeleon grimly volunteered. “According to the records we found they are Okanjo´s lead experiment on biological weapons.”

 

While Chamaeleon and Mysterio continued debriefing Fury on what they had found both Loki and Sandman step forward to take a peak into the window. They could see rows of bunkbeds most of them were made but the closest to the door were disarranged. On the other side of the door thirty or fourty children from ages six to twelve were cramped around staring back at their uncommon visitors.

 

Loki paled, this wasn´t part of the plan. Sandman muffled a gasp with his right hand, the children looked sickly and thin; some of them had spots that varied from red to dark brown all over their bodies; at one point he thought some of them were blind. He step back uncomfortable as Chamaeleon ended his report.

 

Loki turned back agitated. “We need to get them out. You really don´t expect us to …”

“We can´t.” Mysterio interrupted him.

“And I wouldn´t.” Chamaeleon added.

“Explain.” Fury looked at them sternly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

 

“We tried at first, but the door has an unbreakable security code. That caught our attention so Chamaeleon hacked into their system to find out what was behind the door that called for such measures.” Mysterio explained.

 

“Not only the door is reinforced with vibranium but it has all sort of security measures magnetic fields, laser fields, it even counts with some sort of facial recognition system. If someone who´s not registered in the system goes in there it will activate a self-destruct system. They really wanted to make sure no one would get in or out unintendedly.” Chamaeleon took a look at them, as no one spoke up he continued. “Even if we could somehow get pass all of this measures there´s still the fact that Okanjo shot them with so many viruses those children are virtually poisonous. And I´m not kidding you about this, if any of us walked in there without a Hazmat suit he would be death within seconds.”

 

“How many of them are there?” Fury asked inexpressive.

“According to the records the experiments began with 200 children; only 33 remain.” Chamaeleon informed him.

“It doesn´t matter how many they are, we got to get them out of here.” Loki told Fury distressed. “It´s not their fault they are here.”

 

Fury looked conflicted. Leaving the children there was condemning them to die of starvation or worse. By the looks of it; it was unlikely any of the children would survive long. But at least they could make them more comfortable before the end. On the other side they couldn´t even get to them; and both their resources and time were limited. As he scowled thinking of a solution he opened the comlink.

 

“Dr. Octopus … is the enemy handled?” He asked sober-minded.

“It will be in a few moments.” Octopus answered almost cheerfully.

“Electro, situation update.” He asked in the same severe tone.

“The remaining officers barricaded themselves in one of the rooms but Venom and I will take care of that in a moment.” Electro reported.

 

“All right.” Fury huffed pensively. “Seems we´ll have full control of the base within minutes. One way or the other we can´t leave them here to die alone.”

Both Loki and Sandman sighed relieved, even Chamaeleon looked more relax.

 

Suddenly an alarm went off; the lights turned red inside the room as the children screamed and hid in terror.

“What the hell is happening now?” Fury inquired angrily.

“I don´t know.” Chamaeleon acknowledged angrily as he pulled out a device from his pocket and started typing on it. Within seconds he spat furiously. “It´s a dead man trigger. If the proper code isn´t inputted every twelve hours, the room is programed to incinerate its occupants.”

“We need to get them out now.” Loki yelled enraged.

“We can´t get them out. We can´t blast through the damn door, all the walls are vibranium reinforced too. If you somehow teleport in successfully the whole room will explode the moment the system recognizes you. And if we found a way the moment we breathe the same air they do we would be dead.” Chamaeleon yelled at him equally enraged, he wasn´t dying for them.

 

“That´s not necessary truth.” Mysterio intervened calmly. “If we can get them out all we need are some Hazmat suits.”

Everyone looked back at him anxiously waiting for an explanation.

“Did I forget to mention I found a locker room filled with Hazmat suits?” Mysterio cautiously asked.

All of them frowned at his answer.

 

“Guys, I don´t think we have time for this.” Sandman suddenly told them as he pointed to a countdown that could be seen in one of the walls inside the children´s room. They only had fifteen minutes.

“Are you sure you can´t just bypass the code?” Fury asked Chamaeleon in hope.

“If I could I would´ve already done it.” Chameleon answered irritated.

“There´s got to be another way, who could´ve had access to this password?” Fury asked again.

“Okanjo and Deiter by the looks of it.” Chamaeleon replied dryly.

 

“Mysterio lead the way, we need to get those Hazmat suits on.” Fury ordered as he opened the comlink. “Electro. I need to know if either Okanjo or Dieter are still alive.” Fury hurriedly asked.

“How the hell am I supposed to know that?” Electro answered displeased. “I´m not introducing ourselves to them before we kill them and my guess is that Venom isn´t even counting.” Electro slyly informed them.

“I don´t need your attitude Electro, we have a situation.” Fury scolded him harshly before proceeding to explain their current problem.

“Fucking shit!” Electro swore out loud shocked by the turn of events. “Are you sure we are the bad guys? Cause I wouldn´t …”

“Electro!” Fury admonished him.

“Ok, if any of them are here we´ll get you the code.” Electro asseverated firmly.

 

“Six minutes.” Chamaeleon stated out loud as they helped each other to secure their suits under Mysterio instructions.

“Electro, what you got?” Fury asked anxiously.

“Just a …” Suddenly a scream could be overheard through the comlink. “Ugh! … a moment.” Electro answered. “We found Okanjo, Venom is … discussing the matter with him as we speak.” More screams could be heard in the background. “And he´s quite enthusiastic about it if I may say so. I´m going to need a raise to pay for a shrink after this…”

“Electro!!” Fury snap at him irritated. “We don´t have time for your rambling. Do you have the code or not?”

“Whatever.” Electro answered displeased. “Yes, we have a code.”

 

Fury smirked relieved as he motioned to follow him. He could hear the muffled cheerful expressions of the rest of the team.

“Five nine, two, one, zero.” Electro repeated Okanjo´s information.

When Fury ended inputting the code the alarms went off. Loki tried to open the door but it wouldn´t move. “Maybe we need another code.” He suggested.

“Worst case scenario we have twelve hours to figure this out.” Mysterio prompt.

“We should be able to get the information out of Okanjo by then.” Chamaeleon volunteered.

“And arrange their transportation to a secure facility.” Fury added.

 

Suddenly all the alarms went off again; the clock´s countdown speeded quickly. Loki tried frantically to pull the door open. “I´m teleporting in.” He said out loud.

“No, you´re not.” Fury grabbed his arm as he told him. “Think of your daughter.”

Loki looked at Fury conflicted. “But …”

“It´s too late.” Chamaeleon grimly informed them as scared screams and painful shrieks could be heard inside the room.

“No!” Loki turned back to the door. He could still make out the silhouettes of the children crouched together as the fire consumed everything.

“No.” He muttered again as he grabbed onto the door witnessing the devastating scene. “Why? What kind of man does that to children?” Angry tears rolled down his face.

 

“What happened?” Electro suddenly asked over the comlink, Okanjo couldn´t stop smirking. He instantly knew the code he had gave them wasn´t the right one.

“He killed them.” Loki growled enraged between his teeth.” “That fucking bastard killed them.” Next he turned to Fury defiantly. “Tell me he´s not walking out of here.”

Fury answered evilly “Of course not, it was never the plan.”

“I´m glad to hear that.” Venom´s purred as he grabbed Okanjo´s head between his claws and began to squeeze.

“What the …?!” Electro complained loudly when suddenly a gushing sound and a hollow scream filled everyone’s comlink. “God!” Electro grumble before throwing up. “Stop laughing Venom! That´s disgusting!”

“He had it coming.” Venom replied dryly. “No one lies to us.”

 

No one spoke again for a few minutes trying to sort out their feelings about what had just happened.

Fury was the first to break the silence. “Is anyone left?”

“Not in our levels.” Electro replied swiftly.

“Dr. Octopus, anyone left in your levels?” Fury asked calmly.

“No, not anymore.” Octopus acknowledged nonchalance. They had all heard everything. By the looks in their faces Octavius knew that both his comrades were thinking the same thing he was, would it had ended differently if they had been down there? It was unlikely, but the thought would bother them for a while.

“All right.” Fury volunteered. “Loki get back to the base and bring all the C-4 and Octanitrocubane you can carry. I want to leave this place as soon as we can.”

Loki agreed, he removed the Hazmat suit as fast as he could glad to be out of that dreadful place at least for a few minutes. “I´m on it.”

 

As he reappeared in the base he had to sit for a moment aware of the knot he could feel in his stomach. He felt angry, disgusted, guilty, sad … he hated with every fiber in his being what Okanjo had done to those children. On the other side he felt glad Venom had ended him in such a horrid fashion. “What does that says from me?” He pondered if Thor would feel the same way he did if he had been in his place. It was hard to picture anyone who would feel anything else but contempt for Okanjo. Surely not even Steve, he probably wouldn´t condone it but he really wouldn´t be upset about his demise either, wouldn´t he?

“There will be time for this afterwards.” He thought as he pulled himself together.

Within half an hour they had wired all the base.

“Five minutes before this place becomes nothing but a bad memory.” Fury stated. “Let´s get out of here.”

“Cough, cough … where … what in Helheim? Cough, cough.” Loki voiced mostly to himself as he tried to figure out what had gone wrong.

 

Everything had been according to plan until a few minutes earlier. He had expected to find some resistance from the miners and the scattered guards of that level, but he hadn´t expected anything like this. He tried unsuccessfully to wriggle out of the rubble that pinned him down from the lower half of his torso all the way down his shins, or at least that´s what he thought he couldn´t see his feet but he didn´t felt any weight on them.

 

“Nothing…” He thought concerned as he stretched as far as he could to get a better view of the collapse that had trapped him forming a small cave. He couldn´t hear or see anyone else around. “Maybe that´s a good thing.” He wryly told himself before coughing again.

The three of them had arrived to the mine through the shaft´s elevator. He had disguised themselves as miners with an illusion to walk pass the guards undisturbed. Their plan included turning off the water pumps that prevented the cave from flooding as well as sabotage the area ground support. Wrecking the water stopcock to expedite the flooding should also complicate the reopening of the mine.

Sandman had been more than reticent about that part of the plan and was glad to be in charge of sabotage the support structures that held the mine ceiling in place.

 

Loki growled frustrated and let his head hang back for a couple of seconds before the cough made him lean forward.

“Dammit!” He spat out loud as he saw his hand covered in blood. With the painful weight of the debris crushing him down he hadn’t noticed he was injured; being immobilized prevented him from finding out just how serious his wounds were.

 

Fury had been in charge of messing with the ventilation system; they had to make sure no one could survive down there after they collapse the shaft. Loki wondered now if that had been a good idea.

“I can´t die here.” He protested mentally as he tried once more to push the rubble without success. He grunted in frustration and pain at his failure.

 

Turning on the water stopcock turned out to be the most dangerous part of their mission due to its location. Placed right in the middle of an open field in the mining level it left no place to hide.

Even after nightfall there were miners working everywhere. Okanjo had established too twelve hours shifts to ensure the vibranium extraction never stopped. Because of the properties of the mineral itself the extraction process was done the old way; with pickaxes and chisels. Explosives were banned from the mine; even a small explosion in the wrong place could bring all the cave down instantly. For the same reason their plan didn´t contemplated explosives except for the shaft itself; their plan was to weaken the structure everyway they could and let gravity do the rest.

 

Reaching the water stopcock wasn´t a problem, no one was actually guarding it. But once Loki opened it the sound of running water altered all the miners and guards of the vicinity something was happening. With one swift move from his spear he broke the valve; for a second he smirked satisfied, they wouldn´t be able to close it.

 

“Cough, cough” Once more his memories were interrupted by his current predicament. “Where are they?” He inquired worryingly. They wouldn’t just abandon him there, wouldn’t they?

 

When the first miner arrived and tried to impale him through the back with his pickaxe Loki successfully blocked his attack with his spear turning around unexpectedly. It had been a good thing Steve had convinced him to spar with him a couple of times, he knew just what to expect from the super soldier’s strength and speed. The miner and him exchange a couple of blows more before Loki crossed him with his spear.

Within seconds he was surrounded by twelve more miners. Using both magic blasts and his lance he took care of them; but more miners were arriving to take the place of their fallen comrades.

“Thor would probably stay and fight.” The thought unexpectedly pop in his mind. In a split second he evaluated his options, he had only minor cuts and bruises and he could probably take a couple dozen more miners. “Yes, he would.” Loki thought to himself. “But then I don´t have me to bail myself out when things get out of control.” Next he ran to a scaffold nearby, moving to higher ground seemed like a good idea at the time. If things got too messy he hoped to reach the elevator shaft just as Fury and Sandman did after finishing their own tasks.

 

As pain intensified on his left side he complained loudly as eh shut his eyes closed instinctively. Carefully he tried to slid his hand under the rocks and twisted steel tubes from the scaffold. He couldn´t reach under then, though he wasn’t sure what good could it done if he had been able too. He still had no idea of what his injuries were, healing himself with a chunk of rock or piece of steal embedded in his body was the epitome of a bad idea.

“I need to get out.” He anxiously gazed at his surroundings again. Trying to blast himself out magically would only cave everything down over him and teleporting was as bad an idea as healing himself. “This can´t be happening.” He could feel his breathing becoming agitated as his options slimed down. He closed his eyes fighting hard to withhold the tears he could already feel stinging his eyes as he mentally pleaded. “Please Norns … don´t … don´t let this be the end. Not here, not like this … not now.”

He still didn´t knew what had caused the explosion that provoked the landslide that had brought the mining scaffold down along with a good size of the wall. The guards had begun to shoot at him when he reached the top levels of the scaffold; maybe they had hit a vibranium deposit.

“If the water reaches me …” Suddenly he remembered the open stopcock. Once again he tried to release himself from the rubble over his torso unsuccessfully when a sound made him turn left. For a moment he held his breath terrified of the possibility that the water had finally reached him.

“Sand…” He let out a small laugh. “Thank you Norns.” He thought grateful his time wasn´t over yet.

Within a few minutes Sandman had removed all the debrief that formed the ceiling of Loki´s small cave.

“There you are.” Nick Fury´s voice greeted him. “For a moment we thought we had lost you.” Next he knelt beside Sandman to help him release Loki from the rocks that covered his body. “Shit!” He suddenly spat as he removed a big rock from Loki´s left side.

Loki looked down worryingly; there was a steel tube coming out of his abdomen just below the waist. “Dammit!” He spat in return before leaning up to get a hold of it.

“What the hell do you think you´re doing?” Fury grabbed the tube himself trying to stop him.

“I´m getting it out.” Loki asseverated.

“You don´t know if it got though an artery. Remove it and you could bleed to death.” Fury added somberly.

Loki smirked weakly, his face was covered in dust, bruises and blood. “Don´t tell me you´re worried about me.”

“No, I couldn´t care less about your sorry butt.” Nick lied as he smirked. “But a certain someone would kill me if you didn´t make it.”

Loki looked at him puzzled for a couple of seconds before he realized he was talking about Leah. “Oh! Right.”

Then Fury added to keep Sandman from asking anything. “Yes, your big brother would kill me If I didn’t get you back.”

Loki smirked again. “Don´t worry. I don´t intend on dying here.” He reassured Fury as he got a better hold of the pipe; frowning he took a couple of breaths before forcible pulling it out with a painful growl. Panting he placed his hands over the now open wound as his aura lit. Within a few seconds the only proof of his wound was a small hole in his armour and quite some blood.

As he laboriously sat up he asked. “What happened?”

“One of those stupid mother fucker guards hit an acetylene tank. They nearly did our work for us; you are lucky this part of the mine is in high ground or we wouldn´t had been able to pull you out” fury explained.

“Speaking of that. We should get moving.” Sandman interrupted them. “All that water is making me nervous.”

“You are right. We should get going. Are you ready for more action?” Fury inquired trying not to sound worried. Even if Loki looked all right using all that magic to heal himself should have a cost.

Loki dusted himself before answering. “Yes. Let´s get the hell out of here. I´ve had more than my share of mines already.“ Next he took a look around it looked deserted.

“We took care of those who didn´t die in the explosion.” Nick answered Loki unasked question. “That´s what took us so long.”

Without any further comment they directed themselves to the shaft´s elevator. In their way fury picked up a couple of acetylene tanks, when both Loki and Sandman looked at him questioningly he told them with a grin. “They make a nice explosion.”

When they reached the elevator they wired the lift with explosives before starting their way up. Once in the second level Fury set the timer before sending the elevator back down.

“Let´s get out of here.” He quickly added. The second level was a battlefield by now. Doom, Rhino and Octopus has succeeded in driving all the troops deployed outside into the base.

“Octopus report.” Fury ordered in the comlink.

“All the troops are in and the base is sealed.” Octopus replied sharply.

“Elektro?” He asked next.

“Moving to the officer´s level. Mysterio´s gas worked like a charm. Too bad it didn´t lasted long … and FYI … I´m a bit scared of Venom right now.” Venom´s mad laugh could be overheard.

“Mysterio, what´s your status?” Fury finally asked.

“Umm, we´ve disable all the weapons, but … I think you need to come down here.” Mysterio sounded nervous.

“What´s the problem?” Fury asked irritated.

“You´d better see it for yourself.” Chameleon answered.

“Fuck!” Fury coursed out loud before motioning Loki and Sandman to follow him. “Can you get us to the labs?” He quickly asked Loki.

“Sure.” Loki smiled as he pulled out a card from his clothes.

 

Suddenly a big explosion shockwave could be felt right behind them. When Loki turned back he couldn´t believe his eyes. One of the tanks had fired upon them but Doom had shielded the unsuspecting trio from the explosion. His armour looked a bit scorched.

Loki couldn’t understand what had drove Doom to protect them. Fury and Sandman were thinking probably the same thing because none of them moved looking open mouthed at Doom who suddenly looked back and yelled. “Move it fools!”

That snapped them out of their trance.

“To the elevator.” Fury ordered.

Next Loki went to wake up Fury who wasn´t at all pleased to see him.
​​
“Fury, we need to …” Loki started to say when Fury snapped at him.
​​
“Loki! I thought we already went through this. I don´t care how young are Okanjo’s soldiers or if they had all been brainwash. They might be teens, but they are teens with guns. Goddamit they are guns themselves! Need I remind you that you´re not immortal?”
​​
Loki growled displeased by his last comment, he knew it. “I agree” He dryly answered.
​​
Fury raised his eyebrows surprised as he added. “All right. Then what do you want to talk about?”
​​
“About how to get this mission done right without getting ourselves killed in the process. 10 against two thousand or more … the stakes are too high for my liking.” He answered grimly.
“Ok.” Fury accepted as he walked back to his room “I´m listening.”
​​
Loki walked in and closed the door behind him before getting Fury up to speed. “I´ve just talked to Mysterio, he thinks he can produce enough paralyzing gas to spread through one maybe two levels.”
​​
“We won´t have any certainty about how long will it work on the soldiers.” Fury reasoned.
“No, we won’t. That´s why we have to act quickly and time this to the minute.” Loki agreed.
“Sounds like you have a plan.” Fury acknowledged.
​​
“I do.” Loki confirmed slightly nodding his head affirmative. “I´ll teleport Mysterio, chameleon, Electro and Venom to the third level, as soon as Mysterio has spread the gas he will go to the labs with Chameleon and start working on properly disabling any threats.”
​​
“While Venom and Electro …” Fury pointed out.
​​
“Yes …” Loki agreed with a scowl.
​​
“You´ve spend too much time with the Avengers.” Fury offered.
​​
“Maybe.” Loki accepted. “But I still know when things have to be done. It’s not honourable but it´s the closest to mercy we can offer them.”
​​
Fury pondered his words. “Right.” He agreed heavily; he too wished there was another way but even using the Tahiti program to erase the soldier’s memories in the remote case they were able to imprison them was far-fetched. He wasn´t even sure the deleting memories process would work on them with their healing factor. Leaving them loose in an unsuspecting world would be like setting loose a pack of rabid wolves between a placid heard of sheep; he simply couldn´t do it. “What´s the rest of your plan?”
​​
“After the paralyzing gas has been spread Octopus, Rhino and Doom will attack their outer perimeter. We need them to draw everyone back inside the base so we can seal it. Once inside they can help Venom and Electro finish the job.” Loki volunteered disgruntledly.
​​
“All right.” Fury agreed with his hand on his chin. “What about Sandman, you and me?”
​​
“The three of us will go to the mine to make sure that reopening it ever again proves to be … inconvenient.” Loki ended explaining his plan with those last words.
​​
Fury stayed silent for a moment mentally searching for the plan’s weak point. “I´m not sure this is fool proof but at least is better than what we had. What does Mysterio needs to get this plan going?”
​​
“We´ll find out in the morning.” Loki volunteered displeased.
​​
“Then we should try to get some rest.” Fury offered as he stood up to show Loki to the door.
Loki stood up ready to step out into the hallway when Fury suddenly stopped. “And Loki…”
Loki looked up intrigued, had he forgotten something?
​​
“Good job.” Fury congratulated him looking back he added. “You´ll make a fine addition to the team once this is over.”
​​
Loki looked surprised by fury´s compliment. “Um, thanks … I guess.” It was the first time Fury had told him anything of the kind.
​​
As he walked back to his room Loki dropped into his bed. As he closed his eyes he sighed. “You’re not immortal.” Fury’s words echoed in his ears.
​​
“I know.” He thought to himself. “Regardless of my sentiments on the matter once we are there I won´t hesitate to do whatever it takes to survive. Whatever it takes to come back to them.”
​​
With that las thought he surrender to dreamless sleep.
​​
As the day progressed and all the preparations had been made there was nothing left to do but wait. Loki retired to his room; it had been a while since he had been in a war… a war yes, there was no mistake there. It would be war.
​​
He was familiar with the excitement before a battle but now one thought weighted heavily on his heart; what if …
​​
​​There were so much he hadn’t told her, so much he wished they had shared. Writing a letter was pointless; if they didn´t succeeded there would be no one left to deliver it. A communication was out of the question as well as a visit or a spell. He needed all his strength for tonight.
“I´ll just have to make sure to come back.” He told himself out loud moment before he raised from his bed. “Whatever it takes.” He muttered as he put his helmet on.
​​
His accustomed armour was too flashy for this mission. He had magically made himself a new one, opaque grey that matched the darken green shades of his clothes. However, he had not changed the original design of his helmet that now portrayed the same opaque grey that his armour. Daggers as well as a short sword were hiding between his armour and clothes in case he had to defend himself on a body to body fight. A three-point spear completed his attire.
Shedding his mind of any concerns he walked sternly to the entrance of their base. His bearing betrayed his royal education. The feeling was oddly familiar; going to battle to defend his realm once again. Midgard had become his realm unexpectedly despite the fact he no longer desire to rule it.
​​
Fury watched him as he arrived and smirked, he had never seen any resemblance to Thor until that moment. “Finally! Are you ready?”
​​
Loki smirked back. “I’ve never been more ready.”