Back to GatefoldIssue #5 by Ben Jolly
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Dallas Riordan, the young woman sometimes known as the costumed vigilante Citizen V, stepped out into the bright Colorado sunshine. It was a cool afternoon in the forested valley where she had stopped. After evading the V-Battalion the previous night, she'd been laying low in several small towns north of Mt. Charteris. She believed they were no longer following her, but it seemed like someone was always out there watching her. And it still bothered her how easily she had escaped capture. They somehow found her hideout in Burton; could they have planted a tracer on her during her time as an agent?
She locked her Toyota pickup and walked past the gas station towards the mini-mart. She bought several bottles of water and a six-pack of lighters. Most of her supplies had been lost when she abandoned her apartment, and she thought it best to keep things simple for now. She still needed to find a new HQ, and equipment could wait. The old man tending the cash register handed her her change, and she was about to leave, when a tremendous explosion rocked the store. A flash of light lit up the windows, and a man in the back dropped a bottle of beer, spreading glass and booze across the floor.
Dallas turned sharply around to see a fiery wreck where her pickup had been just minutes before. A burning tire hit the sidewalk as she raced outside. There was an even stronger smell of gasoline now, not to mention the odor of burning rubber. But what she really noticed was the pool of burning gasoline quickly spreading from the wreck towards the station.
Both men from inside were now standing outside the door. She grabbed them, threw them behind the safety of the wall, then glanced back at the blaze. There were cracks in the asphalt -could it leak all the way down to the tanks of gasoline? -And she was running out of time. Whoever did this was probably still out there. The station was surrounded by forested hills, and anybody could be hiding only a few meters away.
Dallas started running along the side of the rural highway, but then paused to look back at the station. All she could see was the blinding flash of light and enormous flames rising high above the charred corpse of the gas station. It was all gone, now -including her car. She looked warily at the dense forest around her. She decided it would be prudent to move along, before whomever or whatever had attacked her decided to strike again. Citizen V jogged silently down the road, not quite aware of the eyes still watching her...
# # # # # # # # # #
At Mt. Charteris, the headquarters of the Thunderbolts, the team was relaxing. Songbird was attempting to e-mail Mach-1 for the third time in the past week, while Moonstone watched the Ogre scan every system in the base. He had cleaned up just about everything, but there were still some bugs. She-Hulk and Atlas were watching the NL Division Series on the big screen TV while the Living Lightning and Charcoal were listening to music in their quarters.
"I don't get it!" Songbird said, frustrated. "Abe still hasn't answered me. What's he doing?" She looked up at Moonstone, hoping for some reassurance, but the T-bolts' leader was busy helping Ogre track down any hardware glitches within the mountain.
"The hangar doors are still stuck open," she said, "and the radio antenna up top is broken... But looks like other than that, the base is ship-shape once again."
"You can thank me later," the Ogre said as he hacked away on a keyboard. "I still need to get the proximity alarms working once again. And that should do it," he said, hitting one last key. But all of a sudden, an alarm went off.
The PA system blasted "BWOOP BWOOP BWOOP BWOOP INTRUDER ALERT!!" over and over.
"What on earth?" Moonstone shouted above the din. "Ogre, we've got an intruder. Someone's in the mountain!"
"So I noticed," he replied, "I'm tracking him down right now. A map of Mt. Charteris appeared on his screen; it showed a little red dot racing through the interconnected caves and metal passageways that honeycombed the mountain. "I can get a video screen in a few seconds."
"How's he moving so fast?" Songbird asked.
"I have no idea," Moonstone replied. "More importantly, where are the others? They should have raced up here as soon as the alarm sounded!"
"Uhh... actually, I think the PA system is only working here, in the control room. Yet another thing on my 'to do' list. Wait, here's the video." A screen appeared that showed an image of a hallway near the living quarters. Suddenly, a human-shaped projectile flew past the camera.
"What was that?" Asked Moonstone.
"It appears to be a man wearing a jetpack," the Ogre told her. "And he's heading towards Charcoal's room. He'll be there in less than a minute!"
Charlie Burlingame, AKA Charcoal, and Miguel Santos, AKA the Living Lightning, sat at the desk in Charlie's room listening to 'Minority' by Greenday ad nausea. One of the benefits to living in state-of-the-art facilities, Charlie thought, is the T1 modem. They could download just about any song off Napster in seconds. In fact, they had the volume up so high that they didn't even hear the urgent video communication from Ogre. Neither of them even heard the roar of a jetpack speeding down the hallway towards the room... until it hit.
There was a jarring crash as the thick steel door split open, revealing a man in a yellow suit of body armor standing in the hall. He stepped inside just as Miguel switched to his electric form. The intruder hobbled toward Charcoal and said softly, "Charcoal... the Empire needs your help. He came, and... killed... killed..." He collapsed in Charcoal's arms, and his helmet fell off, revealing a gaping wound on his forehead.
"Meier!" Charcoal shouted.
"What?" asked his puzzled teammate. "You know this man?"
"He is -was- the head of security at the Secret Empire's compound where I grew up. But he always hated me... why would he need my help?" He set the body on the floor, and noticed that the man's fist was wrapped tightly around a piece of paper. Charcoal opened the hand, and picked up the paper. He read it, then looked up at his teammate.
"What is it?" The Lightning asked. Charcoal showed it to him. It said: "Living L" and the last part was smeared with blood. "Is he trying to accuse me of something?"
"No, even worse," Charcoal replied. "I think it means the Living Laser."
Just then, Songbird flew into the room. "Charlie! Lightning! You're alright! What happened here?"
"I'm not sure," said Charcoal, "but I think we've got a problem."
She-Hulk and Atlas were watching the baseball game when Songbird reached them. She flew into the room, which stored a couch and an enormous TV. "Hey guys, we've got to go. We think the Living Laser is back!"
"Well, fighting deadly creeps is better than this," Atlas responded as he got up from the couch. "The Mets beat the Giants..."
"What'd I tell you, high pockets?" She-Hulk glared up at him. "Now give me my money."
Songbird left the two bickering and used her hard-sound wings to soar up to the command room. "Hurry up," she told them before leaving.
The rest of the T-bolts were waiting for her in the command room. The Ogre was talking to Charcoal about the Secret Empire. Songbird caught the last of their conversation: "Yes," Charcoal said, "I'm pretty sure that the Empire's Nevada compound is where Meier was stationed last. They've got some sort of nuclear power plant there-oh, hey Songbird."
Moonstone turned from the Interpol files on the Secret Empire that she had been studying to look at Songbird. "Where are Atlas and She-Hulk?" she asked.
"Coming," Songbird replied, "I hope."
A moment later the two appeared, laughing about something. Hmm... Moonstone thought. Still not sure if we should trust She-hulk. Or the Living Lightning for that matter. Then again, Songbird was eager to have them on board, and I can trust her, right? Ogre cleared his throat and Atlas and She-Hulk suddenly seemed to be aware that they were being stared at.
Charcoal stepped forward and said, "Awright guys, we're going to go to Nevada. If my suspicions are correct, then the Living Laser was one of the criminals who escaped from the Vault. And for reasons which may become clearer shortly, he has attacked the Secret Empire. We know that this may be a trap, but if it isn't, we could let all those innocent people the Empire has hypnotized die. I know the Nevada compound; it was one of the places I stayed at when I was a kid. Ogre?"
The Ogre sat up out of his chair and said, "For this mission, I suggest you take the Champscraft, which I've modified to be completely invisible to any scanning devices the Empire may have. If this is a trap, we will be prepared. Also," he continued, holding a number of small electronic devices in his hand, "I've created these communication devices which will fit in around your heads. These will let your teammates hear everything you say as long as you are within a 200-mile radius of their position. Good luck."
With that the Thunderbolts made their way down to the hangar. Songbird stopped for a moment when she passed by her computer. Still no word from Mach-1. She was beginning to really worry about Abe. Songbird wondered what he was doing right now as she flew down the corridor to catch up.
# # # # # # # # # #
It was in the early hours of the morning when Mach-1's captors came for him. He was locked in a hotel room, of all things. At least that's what it looked like to him. The room seemed to have been taken right out of a Holiday Inn, except there were no windows. And it seemed that everywhere he turned he saw tiny spy cameras. In the lamps, in the fire extinguisher, in the VCR. And he was almost positive that the mirror in the bathroom had two sides. He was in a high-security jail cell... yet somebody wanted him to be comfortable.
Only minutes after he had woken up, two men in SHIELD uniforms rushed into the room and grabbed him. He was dragged up the hallway, which was definitely not from a hotel, then thrown into an office. He rose to his feet as somebody said, "Thank you, gentlemen, that will be all." He looked up at a plump, balding man sitting behind a large desk. "Good day, Mr. Jenkins. You may call me Mr. Worton, I am the commissioner of the CSA. And I'd like to talk with you about the Thunderbolts."
"The CSA?" Abe said. "Let me guess- you want information about the Thunderbolts, right? Well you're never going to get me to tell anything. I'd never betray the T-bolts or Hawkeye."
"I'd beg to differ if you knew what he's lying to your team about. But that's actually not why I wanted you here. I need to contact the Thunderbolts. If they want to be completely legit, I can arrange for that. If they succeed in taking down Justin Hammer."
"I'm afraid I can't just tell you how to contact them. But if it's Hammer you want, I think I can deal with him solo. All I need is an engineering team."
"Well, Mr. Jenkins, we have a deal," Worton said, reaching across the desk to shake his hand, "if you destroy Hammer's supervillain army, the Thunderbolts will be accepted by every law enforcement agency there is."
"Agreed," Abe said. "But what do you mean they'll be accepted by the law? Hawkeye already arranged that for us. That's why I went to jail in the first place."
"I believe that superheroes don't lie. Hawkeye obviously did. Make your own conclusions, Mr. Jenkins." Worton called the guards in and a bewildered Mach-1 was escorted to an engineering lab.
# # # # # # # # # #
The moon shone down on the Nevada desert and there was the faint glow of a city to the South, when the Thunderbolts landed. It was a chilly night, and coyotes were howling somewhere in the distance, but they had other things to worry about. They walked on foot until they came to the immense metallic structure sticking out of the rocky desert. Here, everything was dark and still, except for some strange moans.
Charcoal lit up, illuminating the area. What they saw was horrible: bloody, burnt corpses were spread all over the ground, there were holes that looked like an artillery shell had hit them, and most of the compound's walls were gone.
Charcoal walked silently through the carnage and the T-bolts followed. The sounds of fighting were still coming from deep within the building. They walked into the broken down building and past many more dead bodies. After a long time of walking down halls filled with blood and fire, the team came upon the fight.
It was indeed the Living Laser, and he was shooting down a handful of soldiers. Members of the Imperial Forces lay on the ground all around the battle. The soldiers tried valiantly to protect the civilians behind them, but their bullets didn't affect the Laser at all. The Thunderbolts ran into the small room and began assaulting the Laser. "T-bolts, go!" Moonstone shouted. "Atlas, She-Hulk, distract him! Lightning, Charcoal, pour on some energy, try to weaken him! And Songbird, get him in your sonic bubble now!"
The Thunderbolts followed her orders smoothly, thanks to their practice sessions, Moonstone assumed, but it did no good. The Laser shot bolts of energy at them, knocking down Charcoal, She-Hulk, and the Lightning while he continued slaughtering the Empire's soldiers. She fired a beam of energy back at the Laser, just enough to distract him, then Songbird moved in from above and threw a sphere of hard sound around him.
"You pathetic morons think you can stop twice the same way?" the Laser asked pompously as he effortlessly broke out of the sphere. There was a sonic backlash, though, making Songbird scream out in every direction. Everyone in the room was knocked down except her and the Laser. Then he pointed his arm in her direction. "Die, Thunderbolt!" He fired a fierce laser bolt at her, and Songbird thought for a split second this was the end.
But then somebody pulled her down, out of the way of the blast. She looked up to see a man with a gold and black mask staring down at her while he fired at the Laser. "This should slow him down," the man said, firing at the concrete ceiling. An avalanche of debris fell on top of the Living Laser. "The name's Maverick," he said, pulling her to her feet. "And you, I'm thinking, are the infamous Thunderbolts."
"That's right," Atlas said, shoving a hunk of concrete off his shoulder. "But what are you doing here?"
"About a week ago," Maverick replied, cautiously eyeing the pile of debris, "a good friend of mine, sometimes goes by the name of 'Bolt', went missing.* I aim to find him. The Secret Empire's base here has the largest database on superhuman activity in the world. Larger than the CIA, Interpol, and Mossad put together. I thought that if there was anyway I could find him, this'd be it. Unfortunately, by the time I got here, this monster had destroyed the main computer. Now I'm just trying to get out of here alive."
(*See the Apocalypse: Ageless Fury mini to find out what happened to Bolt - Russ)
"Well we've got a mutual problem, buddy," Atlas said, "cause that concrete isn't going to hold him for long."
# # # # # # # # # #
At the US Meteorological Survey office in Colorado, it was getting dark. The new secretary, Alice McKinley, was cleaning up her desk and preparing to leave when her boss, Mr. Wolsey called her into his office. "You need anything, sir?" she asked.
"Just make sure to deliver those notes to Bob," he replied. He was looking out the large windows in his office, down onto a great view of the nearby wetlands. There were hundreds of birds flying around, silhouetted by the setting sun. "So how has your first week here been, Alice?"
She was about to respond, but noticed that one of the birds was getting larger. No, she thought, not larger- it was coming closer! In a few seconds, it would reach the window. "What are you loo-" Wolsey turned around just before the bird crashed through the window. And it was an enormous bird, as large as a man. All that Alice could see was feathers and shards of glass filling the room. Then she saw two flashes of red light, and Wolsey screamed for an instant- then stopped.
She could see more clearly now, and she saw some sort of man with wings standing in the window. It looked at her, then somehow threw a filing cabinet at her without touching it. She was knocked back, hit the wall, then slid onto the floor. She looked up to see the face of a bearded man. Then his eyes turned red, there was a burning flash of crimson light, and she was gone.
# # # # # # # # # #
Citizen V ran hurriedly up the steep grade. She was hiking along a trail in the forested Colorado mountains, trying to evade an enemy she wasn't sure existed. Then, when she had moved out of the cover of the trees, onto a section of trail right next to an old rockslide, she got her answer.
"Citizen V!" a voice called out, "stand down and you will not be harmed." She pulled out her sword and studied the rocks above her. Then, someone tried to shove her down the rocky slope. She fell off the trail, but caught herself on a boulder. She looked up to see the Constrictor looming over her. "Fine," he said, "prepare to die."
Constrictor shot one of his coils out at her, but she dodged it, jumped up, and kicked him across the chest. Then she saw her two other adversaries: Coachwhip and the Blizzard were flanking her, ready to strike. She ran up to Coachwhip, a woman roughly her size, feinted a kick, swung at her with the sword, then spun around and threw a V-shaped blade at Blizzard. Coachwhip ducked and came up with her whips flying towards Citizen V, but Blizzard was struck in the hand, and grasped at it, cussing loudly.
Coachwhip picked Citizen V up and slammed her on the ground. "Aaaarrggh!!" Blizzard wailed. "That stings!" Citizen V grabbed Coachwhip's whips and pulled her down hard, hitting her head on a rock.
"Shut up, you imbecile," Constrictor said, jumping head first off the boulder above Citizen V, he was about to grab her with his coils, but she rolled onto her back, lifted her legs, and kicked his gut. He winced, gasped for breath, and rolled off the edge of the cliff.
Then it was a simple matter for her to sit up, throw a blade at Blizzard's ankle, then watch him plunge onto the rocky slope. She stood up and stared at them through her mask. They had all teleported away. But perhaps not very far... Citizen V continued down the trail, heading back towards Burton Canyon.
# # # # # # # # # #
The Thunderbolts-Moonstone, Songbird, Atlas, She-Hulk, Charcoal, and the Living Lightning, plus their newfound ally Maverick, staked out the room, waiting for the Living Laser's inevitable return.
"Maybe he's left," the Lightning said.
"No," Maverick replied, "I've been watching him. His goal is to kill everyone here, that now includes us. Just sit tight and wait."
"I think I hear something," Songbird said, "below us." It seemed like she was always hearing things other people didn't. Maybe it was a part of her powers.
All of a sudden, the floor erupted in a burst of energy. The Living Laser appeared out of the hole in the floor, and said: "guess what, boys and girls, I discovered that the floor right beneath us contains the controls for the nuclear plant deep within the compound." He glared at them, an evil grin on his face. "And being the nasty sort of person I've become, I rigged it so that the whole place is going to blow soon. Nuclear explosion, a big mess, all that. Hope you dips survive!" He blew a hole in the wall and ran off before they could stop him.
"Should we follow?" Charcoal asked.
"No," Moonstone responded, "our priority is stopping whatever he's done."
"You go ahead," Maverick said calmly. "I think I can deal with a nuclear apparatus. I've done it before and lived to tell about it."
The T-bolts took off, chasing the Laser through the abandoned halls and passageways. When they reached the entrance, they could see him standing on top of a small hill, glowing in the darkness. They raced up the hill, as Moonstone shouted, "After him!"
"So, going to try, try again?" he asked smugly. "Face it, you can't beat me, and you never will. Besides, don't think I'm your worst problem here. I just called in reinforcements."
"Reinforcements?" She-Hulk asked.
"Yes... the local media. News vans should be here in ten minutes, the copters sooner. I wonder what they would think if they knew you were responsible for allowing a nuclear explosion on US soil. Unfortunately, I really can't stick around to find out. Adios!"
And with that he vanished into thin air, just as the Masters of Evil had after their fight. The Thunderbolts just stood there, somewhat stunned. As the copters appeared out of the night sky, they realized that someone had set them up for the media once again. They had been slaughtered in the media after the Laser's goons had gotten away with stolen cash, after they had let Graviton slip out of their hands, and after the Masters had escaped capture. It was beginning to look like an orchestrated plan.
And when they found out who was behind it, there would be hell to pay.
NEXT ISSUE: It's the Thunderbolts Vs. the Masters of Evil, round 2! And this time, it ain't going to be pretty. Plus, who exactly is behind the Masters? Oh, and parts of San Francisco are demolished. Don't miss it!
She locked her Toyota pickup and walked past the gas station towards the mini-mart. She bought several bottles of water and a six-pack of lighters. Most of her supplies had been lost when she abandoned her apartment, and she thought it best to keep things simple for now. She still needed to find a new HQ, and equipment could wait. The old man tending the cash register handed her her change, and she was about to leave, when a tremendous explosion rocked the store. A flash of light lit up the windows, and a man in the back dropped a bottle of beer, spreading glass and booze across the floor.
Dallas turned sharply around to see a fiery wreck where her pickup had been just minutes before. A burning tire hit the sidewalk as she raced outside. There was an even stronger smell of gasoline now, not to mention the odor of burning rubber. But what she really noticed was the pool of burning gasoline quickly spreading from the wreck towards the station.
Both men from inside were now standing outside the door. She grabbed them, threw them behind the safety of the wall, then glanced back at the blaze. There were cracks in the asphalt -could it leak all the way down to the tanks of gasoline? -And she was running out of time. Whoever did this was probably still out there. The station was surrounded by forested hills, and anybody could be hiding only a few meters away.
Dallas started running along the side of the rural highway, but then paused to look back at the station. All she could see was the blinding flash of light and enormous flames rising high above the charred corpse of the gas station. It was all gone, now -including her car. She looked warily at the dense forest around her. She decided it would be prudent to move along, before whomever or whatever had attacked her decided to strike again. Citizen V jogged silently down the road, not quite aware of the eyes still watching her...
# # # # # # # # # #
At Mt. Charteris, the headquarters of the Thunderbolts, the team was relaxing. Songbird was attempting to e-mail Mach-1 for the third time in the past week, while Moonstone watched the Ogre scan every system in the base. He had cleaned up just about everything, but there were still some bugs. She-Hulk and Atlas were watching the NL Division Series on the big screen TV while the Living Lightning and Charcoal were listening to music in their quarters.
"I don't get it!" Songbird said, frustrated. "Abe still hasn't answered me. What's he doing?" She looked up at Moonstone, hoping for some reassurance, but the T-bolts' leader was busy helping Ogre track down any hardware glitches within the mountain.
"The hangar doors are still stuck open," she said, "and the radio antenna up top is broken... But looks like other than that, the base is ship-shape once again."
"You can thank me later," the Ogre said as he hacked away on a keyboard. "I still need to get the proximity alarms working once again. And that should do it," he said, hitting one last key. But all of a sudden, an alarm went off.
The PA system blasted "BWOOP BWOOP BWOOP BWOOP INTRUDER ALERT!!" over and over.
"What on earth?" Moonstone shouted above the din. "Ogre, we've got an intruder. Someone's in the mountain!"
"So I noticed," he replied, "I'm tracking him down right now. A map of Mt. Charteris appeared on his screen; it showed a little red dot racing through the interconnected caves and metal passageways that honeycombed the mountain. "I can get a video screen in a few seconds."
"How's he moving so fast?" Songbird asked.
"I have no idea," Moonstone replied. "More importantly, where are the others? They should have raced up here as soon as the alarm sounded!"
"Uhh... actually, I think the PA system is only working here, in the control room. Yet another thing on my 'to do' list. Wait, here's the video." A screen appeared that showed an image of a hallway near the living quarters. Suddenly, a human-shaped projectile flew past the camera.
"What was that?" Asked Moonstone.
"It appears to be a man wearing a jetpack," the Ogre told her. "And he's heading towards Charcoal's room. He'll be there in less than a minute!"
Charlie Burlingame, AKA Charcoal, and Miguel Santos, AKA the Living Lightning, sat at the desk in Charlie's room listening to 'Minority' by Greenday ad nausea. One of the benefits to living in state-of-the-art facilities, Charlie thought, is the T1 modem. They could download just about any song off Napster in seconds. In fact, they had the volume up so high that they didn't even hear the urgent video communication from Ogre. Neither of them even heard the roar of a jetpack speeding down the hallway towards the room... until it hit.
There was a jarring crash as the thick steel door split open, revealing a man in a yellow suit of body armor standing in the hall. He stepped inside just as Miguel switched to his electric form. The intruder hobbled toward Charcoal and said softly, "Charcoal... the Empire needs your help. He came, and... killed... killed..." He collapsed in Charcoal's arms, and his helmet fell off, revealing a gaping wound on his forehead.
"Meier!" Charcoal shouted.
"What?" asked his puzzled teammate. "You know this man?"
"He is -was- the head of security at the Secret Empire's compound where I grew up. But he always hated me... why would he need my help?" He set the body on the floor, and noticed that the man's fist was wrapped tightly around a piece of paper. Charcoal opened the hand, and picked up the paper. He read it, then looked up at his teammate.
"What is it?" The Lightning asked. Charcoal showed it to him. It said: "Living L" and the last part was smeared with blood. "Is he trying to accuse me of something?"
"No, even worse," Charcoal replied. "I think it means the Living Laser."
Just then, Songbird flew into the room. "Charlie! Lightning! You're alright! What happened here?"
"I'm not sure," said Charcoal, "but I think we've got a problem."
She-Hulk and Atlas were watching the baseball game when Songbird reached them. She flew into the room, which stored a couch and an enormous TV. "Hey guys, we've got to go. We think the Living Laser is back!"
"Well, fighting deadly creeps is better than this," Atlas responded as he got up from the couch. "The Mets beat the Giants..."
"What'd I tell you, high pockets?" She-Hulk glared up at him. "Now give me my money."
Songbird left the two bickering and used her hard-sound wings to soar up to the command room. "Hurry up," she told them before leaving.
The rest of the T-bolts were waiting for her in the command room. The Ogre was talking to Charcoal about the Secret Empire. Songbird caught the last of their conversation: "Yes," Charcoal said, "I'm pretty sure that the Empire's Nevada compound is where Meier was stationed last. They've got some sort of nuclear power plant there-oh, hey Songbird."
Moonstone turned from the Interpol files on the Secret Empire that she had been studying to look at Songbird. "Where are Atlas and She-Hulk?" she asked.
"Coming," Songbird replied, "I hope."
A moment later the two appeared, laughing about something. Hmm... Moonstone thought. Still not sure if we should trust She-hulk. Or the Living Lightning for that matter. Then again, Songbird was eager to have them on board, and I can trust her, right? Ogre cleared his throat and Atlas and She-Hulk suddenly seemed to be aware that they were being stared at.
Charcoal stepped forward and said, "Awright guys, we're going to go to Nevada. If my suspicions are correct, then the Living Laser was one of the criminals who escaped from the Vault. And for reasons which may become clearer shortly, he has attacked the Secret Empire. We know that this may be a trap, but if it isn't, we could let all those innocent people the Empire has hypnotized die. I know the Nevada compound; it was one of the places I stayed at when I was a kid. Ogre?"
The Ogre sat up out of his chair and said, "For this mission, I suggest you take the Champscraft, which I've modified to be completely invisible to any scanning devices the Empire may have. If this is a trap, we will be prepared. Also," he continued, holding a number of small electronic devices in his hand, "I've created these communication devices which will fit in around your heads. These will let your teammates hear everything you say as long as you are within a 200-mile radius of their position. Good luck."
With that the Thunderbolts made their way down to the hangar. Songbird stopped for a moment when she passed by her computer. Still no word from Mach-1. She was beginning to really worry about Abe. Songbird wondered what he was doing right now as she flew down the corridor to catch up.
# # # # # # # # # #
It was in the early hours of the morning when Mach-1's captors came for him. He was locked in a hotel room, of all things. At least that's what it looked like to him. The room seemed to have been taken right out of a Holiday Inn, except there were no windows. And it seemed that everywhere he turned he saw tiny spy cameras. In the lamps, in the fire extinguisher, in the VCR. And he was almost positive that the mirror in the bathroom had two sides. He was in a high-security jail cell... yet somebody wanted him to be comfortable.
Only minutes after he had woken up, two men in SHIELD uniforms rushed into the room and grabbed him. He was dragged up the hallway, which was definitely not from a hotel, then thrown into an office. He rose to his feet as somebody said, "Thank you, gentlemen, that will be all." He looked up at a plump, balding man sitting behind a large desk. "Good day, Mr. Jenkins. You may call me Mr. Worton, I am the commissioner of the CSA. And I'd like to talk with you about the Thunderbolts."
"The CSA?" Abe said. "Let me guess- you want information about the Thunderbolts, right? Well you're never going to get me to tell anything. I'd never betray the T-bolts or Hawkeye."
"I'd beg to differ if you knew what he's lying to your team about. But that's actually not why I wanted you here. I need to contact the Thunderbolts. If they want to be completely legit, I can arrange for that. If they succeed in taking down Justin Hammer."
"I'm afraid I can't just tell you how to contact them. But if it's Hammer you want, I think I can deal with him solo. All I need is an engineering team."
"Well, Mr. Jenkins, we have a deal," Worton said, reaching across the desk to shake his hand, "if you destroy Hammer's supervillain army, the Thunderbolts will be accepted by every law enforcement agency there is."
"Agreed," Abe said. "But what do you mean they'll be accepted by the law? Hawkeye already arranged that for us. That's why I went to jail in the first place."
"I believe that superheroes don't lie. Hawkeye obviously did. Make your own conclusions, Mr. Jenkins." Worton called the guards in and a bewildered Mach-1 was escorted to an engineering lab.
# # # # # # # # # #
The moon shone down on the Nevada desert and there was the faint glow of a city to the South, when the Thunderbolts landed. It was a chilly night, and coyotes were howling somewhere in the distance, but they had other things to worry about. They walked on foot until they came to the immense metallic structure sticking out of the rocky desert. Here, everything was dark and still, except for some strange moans.
Charcoal lit up, illuminating the area. What they saw was horrible: bloody, burnt corpses were spread all over the ground, there were holes that looked like an artillery shell had hit them, and most of the compound's walls were gone.
Charcoal walked silently through the carnage and the T-bolts followed. The sounds of fighting were still coming from deep within the building. They walked into the broken down building and past many more dead bodies. After a long time of walking down halls filled with blood and fire, the team came upon the fight.
It was indeed the Living Laser, and he was shooting down a handful of soldiers. Members of the Imperial Forces lay on the ground all around the battle. The soldiers tried valiantly to protect the civilians behind them, but their bullets didn't affect the Laser at all. The Thunderbolts ran into the small room and began assaulting the Laser. "T-bolts, go!" Moonstone shouted. "Atlas, She-Hulk, distract him! Lightning, Charcoal, pour on some energy, try to weaken him! And Songbird, get him in your sonic bubble now!"
The Thunderbolts followed her orders smoothly, thanks to their practice sessions, Moonstone assumed, but it did no good. The Laser shot bolts of energy at them, knocking down Charcoal, She-Hulk, and the Lightning while he continued slaughtering the Empire's soldiers. She fired a beam of energy back at the Laser, just enough to distract him, then Songbird moved in from above and threw a sphere of hard sound around him.
"You pathetic morons think you can stop twice the same way?" the Laser asked pompously as he effortlessly broke out of the sphere. There was a sonic backlash, though, making Songbird scream out in every direction. Everyone in the room was knocked down except her and the Laser. Then he pointed his arm in her direction. "Die, Thunderbolt!" He fired a fierce laser bolt at her, and Songbird thought for a split second this was the end.
But then somebody pulled her down, out of the way of the blast. She looked up to see a man with a gold and black mask staring down at her while he fired at the Laser. "This should slow him down," the man said, firing at the concrete ceiling. An avalanche of debris fell on top of the Living Laser. "The name's Maverick," he said, pulling her to her feet. "And you, I'm thinking, are the infamous Thunderbolts."
"That's right," Atlas said, shoving a hunk of concrete off his shoulder. "But what are you doing here?"
"About a week ago," Maverick replied, cautiously eyeing the pile of debris, "a good friend of mine, sometimes goes by the name of 'Bolt', went missing.* I aim to find him. The Secret Empire's base here has the largest database on superhuman activity in the world. Larger than the CIA, Interpol, and Mossad put together. I thought that if there was anyway I could find him, this'd be it. Unfortunately, by the time I got here, this monster had destroyed the main computer. Now I'm just trying to get out of here alive."
(*See the Apocalypse: Ageless Fury mini to find out what happened to Bolt - Russ)
"Well we've got a mutual problem, buddy," Atlas said, "cause that concrete isn't going to hold him for long."
# # # # # # # # # #
At the US Meteorological Survey office in Colorado, it was getting dark. The new secretary, Alice McKinley, was cleaning up her desk and preparing to leave when her boss, Mr. Wolsey called her into his office. "You need anything, sir?" she asked.
"Just make sure to deliver those notes to Bob," he replied. He was looking out the large windows in his office, down onto a great view of the nearby wetlands. There were hundreds of birds flying around, silhouetted by the setting sun. "So how has your first week here been, Alice?"
She was about to respond, but noticed that one of the birds was getting larger. No, she thought, not larger- it was coming closer! In a few seconds, it would reach the window. "What are you loo-" Wolsey turned around just before the bird crashed through the window. And it was an enormous bird, as large as a man. All that Alice could see was feathers and shards of glass filling the room. Then she saw two flashes of red light, and Wolsey screamed for an instant- then stopped.
She could see more clearly now, and she saw some sort of man with wings standing in the window. It looked at her, then somehow threw a filing cabinet at her without touching it. She was knocked back, hit the wall, then slid onto the floor. She looked up to see the face of a bearded man. Then his eyes turned red, there was a burning flash of crimson light, and she was gone.
# # # # # # # # # #
Citizen V ran hurriedly up the steep grade. She was hiking along a trail in the forested Colorado mountains, trying to evade an enemy she wasn't sure existed. Then, when she had moved out of the cover of the trees, onto a section of trail right next to an old rockslide, she got her answer.
"Citizen V!" a voice called out, "stand down and you will not be harmed." She pulled out her sword and studied the rocks above her. Then, someone tried to shove her down the rocky slope. She fell off the trail, but caught herself on a boulder. She looked up to see the Constrictor looming over her. "Fine," he said, "prepare to die."
Constrictor shot one of his coils out at her, but she dodged it, jumped up, and kicked him across the chest. Then she saw her two other adversaries: Coachwhip and the Blizzard were flanking her, ready to strike. She ran up to Coachwhip, a woman roughly her size, feinted a kick, swung at her with the sword, then spun around and threw a V-shaped blade at Blizzard. Coachwhip ducked and came up with her whips flying towards Citizen V, but Blizzard was struck in the hand, and grasped at it, cussing loudly.
Coachwhip picked Citizen V up and slammed her on the ground. "Aaaarrggh!!" Blizzard wailed. "That stings!" Citizen V grabbed Coachwhip's whips and pulled her down hard, hitting her head on a rock.
"Shut up, you imbecile," Constrictor said, jumping head first off the boulder above Citizen V, he was about to grab her with his coils, but she rolled onto her back, lifted her legs, and kicked his gut. He winced, gasped for breath, and rolled off the edge of the cliff.
Then it was a simple matter for her to sit up, throw a blade at Blizzard's ankle, then watch him plunge onto the rocky slope. She stood up and stared at them through her mask. They had all teleported away. But perhaps not very far... Citizen V continued down the trail, heading back towards Burton Canyon.
# # # # # # # # # #
The Thunderbolts-Moonstone, Songbird, Atlas, She-Hulk, Charcoal, and the Living Lightning, plus their newfound ally Maverick, staked out the room, waiting for the Living Laser's inevitable return.
"Maybe he's left," the Lightning said.
"No," Maverick replied, "I've been watching him. His goal is to kill everyone here, that now includes us. Just sit tight and wait."
"I think I hear something," Songbird said, "below us." It seemed like she was always hearing things other people didn't. Maybe it was a part of her powers.
All of a sudden, the floor erupted in a burst of energy. The Living Laser appeared out of the hole in the floor, and said: "guess what, boys and girls, I discovered that the floor right beneath us contains the controls for the nuclear plant deep within the compound." He glared at them, an evil grin on his face. "And being the nasty sort of person I've become, I rigged it so that the whole place is going to blow soon. Nuclear explosion, a big mess, all that. Hope you dips survive!" He blew a hole in the wall and ran off before they could stop him.
"Should we follow?" Charcoal asked.
"No," Moonstone responded, "our priority is stopping whatever he's done."
"You go ahead," Maverick said calmly. "I think I can deal with a nuclear apparatus. I've done it before and lived to tell about it."
The T-bolts took off, chasing the Laser through the abandoned halls and passageways. When they reached the entrance, they could see him standing on top of a small hill, glowing in the darkness. They raced up the hill, as Moonstone shouted, "After him!"
"So, going to try, try again?" he asked smugly. "Face it, you can't beat me, and you never will. Besides, don't think I'm your worst problem here. I just called in reinforcements."
"Reinforcements?" She-Hulk asked.
"Yes... the local media. News vans should be here in ten minutes, the copters sooner. I wonder what they would think if they knew you were responsible for allowing a nuclear explosion on US soil. Unfortunately, I really can't stick around to find out. Adios!"
And with that he vanished into thin air, just as the Masters of Evil had after their fight. The Thunderbolts just stood there, somewhat stunned. As the copters appeared out of the night sky, they realized that someone had set them up for the media once again. They had been slaughtered in the media after the Laser's goons had gotten away with stolen cash, after they had let Graviton slip out of their hands, and after the Masters had escaped capture. It was beginning to look like an orchestrated plan.
And when they found out who was behind it, there would be hell to pay.
NEXT ISSUE: It's the Thunderbolts Vs. the Masters of Evil, round 2! And this time, it ain't going to be pretty. Plus, who exactly is behind the Masters? Oh, and parts of San Francisco are demolished. Don't miss it!