40 Chapter 40 (1/2)
James 'Bucky' Barnes/Nomad
Bucky landed quietly in the shadow of the control tower that overlooked the base, where no one could see him. He took a moment to watch as Hulk and, what did Dial call him? Four Arms? Bucky watched as the two massive monsters 'played' with tanks. They were currently throwing a tank between each other in an impromptu game of catch.
It took Bucky back, watching that. To days as a kid in Brooklyn, playing with Steve on his team. He was terrible but damned if he wasn't determined. Of course, once they'd played a couple of games after Steve had gotten his powers, Bucky ended up feeling like the weak link on the team. It was kind of hilarious actually.
Bucky put aside those thoughts as Four Arms batted a Quinjet thrown by Hulk into the distance with a bat made from a crumpled tank turret. Instead, he looked over at the door to the watchtower. His job was simple. Enter the tower, get to a computer, insert a hard drive, and defend it until X and Jarvis had hacked their way in and found HYDRA's main base of operations.
He leaned towards the keypad next to the door, one with green glowing buttons. He had all sorts of tools made to bypass devices like this in his armor now but...
Bucky jammed his metal arm into the door frame, tightened his grip on the door itself, and proceeded to ripe the whole thing off its hinges where it dropped to the ground with a clang. Alarms were already ringing out across the base the sounds of destruction echoing even from over here. There was no need to waste time trying to be clandestine on the keypad when Four Arms, Hulk, and War Machine were already causing a ruckus.
He entered, his rifle up and at the ready. Nothing was there but a hallway leading to stairs.
”This is Nomad, I'm in the control tower now,” Bucky said quietly.
”War Machine, I read you,” Rhodey said, the only other 'professional' in the group. ”Continuing to act as air support, but let me know if you need backup.”
”Copy that, War Machine. Nomad out,” Bucky started up the stairs, moving at a fast clip. As he did, he activated his X-Ray vision, his eyes adjusting to the blue-white vision with long hours of practice. He could see two guards a floor up, waiting to surprise intruders with a hail of bullets. Bucky strode up to the floor, activated the silenced mode on his rifle and took aim. He waited for the flying form of War Machine to pass with a loud burst of sound.
'Ffft, Ffft!', two bullets went through drywall and entered the heads of the guards. Bucky felt a bit of satisfaction. While silencers only made it hard to spot where the noise was coming from, rather than totally muffling it (Nothing on Earth can truly silence a gun) the tech of the BCW made such sound whisper quiet. Along with a combination of War Machine flying past and the other gunshots outside, Bucky doubted anyone would notice something was up unless they checked up on the guards in question.
Bucky moved higher through the floors, switching between his thermal and X-Ray vision, moving carefully and quickly. He ignored several floors full of personnel and soldiers, going for the top. ”X, can you hack them yet?”
”I am unable to,” the AI actually sounded frustrated. ”Samuel Sterns' firewalls are adapting. I can destroy them with a direct line.”
”You'll get it,” Bucky reached for his waist as he came to the final floor, pulling out a round object with a magnet on the flat side. He pressed it against the door and stepped back, raising his left hand up. Catoms flowed to create a massive tower shield from his arm, as thick as two thumbs and chest high. He hefted it, aiming his gun with his right hand as he sent a signal to the object.
It exploded inwards with incredible power, turning the door to ashes. Bucky took the shockwaves on his shield and armor, rushing into the room as soon as the explosion passed.
The top floor of the control tower had windows looking out onto the base all around the room, with consoles and computers everywhere displaying all manner things such as radar. There were ten guards and about a dozen personnel, several of them screaming or holding hands up to block the smoke caused by the explosion. Bucky aimed and shot quickly.
One guard went down, then another. A man ducked behind some computers, raising his gun over them to spray and pray. Bucky ignored him, moving on. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. The guards aimed and fired at Bucky, only for their bullets to bounce harmlessly off his shield. Some would think it sad, in some ways. Bucky was an enhanced cyborg trained in assassination by the most ruthless people in history, covered in the most sophisticated armor ever designed without being worn by Tony Stark. The guards were men with guns in the end.
Bucky felt no sympathy for the men. HYDRA had made their choice in this case. He killed them all with machine-like proficiency, striding into the room. One of the men, a dark-skinned man with wide eyes, tried to tackle him. Bucky shot out his kneecaps, then fired one into the man's head, noting how much ammo he had left. Plenty left for the others.
All the targets were dead when he was done. Bucky moved to the computers and reached for his waist once more, taking a small device out and plugging it into the USB port. ”I'm in.”
”One moment,” X said politely. ”Jarvis and I are working... We're making contact. Uploading virus, downloading files.”
Bucky raised his shield and faced the door, waiting patiently. He kept his head on a swivel, watching the windows as well. Nothing to do but be patient. He was good at being patient.
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
”Raagh!” I leaped into a hanger, diving into a cargo plane's nose. My fingers tore into the nose, ripping through it. Once a hole was big enough to let me in I dug into the rest of the mechanics, red hands rapidly pulling apart steel and wires to get into the plane. I heard the cockpit collapse behind me in a rush of squealing metal. Sparks surrounded me, and I left four-fingered hand holds in my passage into the plane. My head ripped into the cargo hold where I grinned 'bloodthirstily' at the HYDRA soldiers waiting for me. ”Heeeere's Johnny!”
One man let out a loud screech of horror when I said that. Not a fan of movies, I guess.
Once inside, I went wild. I punched everything I could see, ignoring the bullets bouncing off my skin to instead punch the cargo, rip apart the plane, and 'gently' sent HYDRA soldiers flying as I rammed through the cargo doors back into the hanger.
My assault had a purpose. The hanger the plane I was currently destroying was in happened to be far from the main control tower. Any forces getting diverted would be sent far from the tower, giving Bucky less opposition to deal with. Hulk smashed down through the roof and landed next to me as the plane exploded behind us. War Machine flew over to join us as well.
”How we doing Rhodey?” I asked.
”We should be good. Director Hill is on her way and most of the HYDRA forces on the base are-” A shell slammed into me in the middle of his sentence. The force of the shot hitting my chest sent me back a couple steps from not seeing it coming and feeling kinda like what a weak punch felt like when I was human. ”Well, most of them are done,” Rhodey finished, the three of us looking at the incoming group of tanks and APC's, five and eight respectively, joined by a gunship flying in the air and heading towards the hanger.
”Oh you son of-” I was cut off when Hulk leaped into the air, roaring.
”YOU HURT HULK FRIEND!” with that battlecry, Hulk slammed into the gunship, causing it to spin wildly in the air and bringing it down with incredible force as he roared triumphantly.
”Hulk, I'm not... wow, he's really tearing into that thing,” I blinked as Hulk started tearing big handholds out of the gunship, the helicopter's rotors smacking into him and bending fruitlessly.
”Better them than us,” Rhodey said, raising his arms. ”Come on,” he fired a repulsor beam that slammed into one of the APC's, sending it skittering. ”Let's go work for a living.”
With a nod in response, I sprinted forward, running through a hail of gunfire before tackling a tank, lifting the front and flipping it upside-down before kicking it away. Hulk tossed another tank for me to punch out of the air while War Machine flew under my arms to fire a barrage of bullets at a HYDRA soldier aiming a rocket launcher at me. We moved forward, carving a path through the HYDRA soldiers. I leaped up to grab a Quinjet out of the sky, slamming it into the ground in a slam dunk motion. War Machine unleashed a barrage of explosions on a group of Humvees with heavy machine guns. Hulk used a tank turret like a war hammer, destroying more vehicles with a pleased/angry grin on his face.
Then we got the message.
”This is Director Hill, we're on our way,” our leader said over the comms.
”Negative, Director,” X said in response. ”There are several active anti-aircraft weapon emplacements around the base that could prove deadly to any landing force not properly cloaked. I'll work on shutting them down while in the system.”
That gave me an idea as I ripped the treads of a tank and tossed them to Hulk, who used them as a whip to destroy the rotors of a helicopter.
”I know a faster way that will hamper the whole base, ” I said as firmly as I could, trying to seem leadery. ”X, are they all connected to the same power source?”
”Yes sir, a series of generators to the north of your position.”
”Then I'll get them,” I tapped the Omnitrix symbol on my chest.
”Fasttrack!”
”See you guys in a bit!” I yelled to War Machine and Hulk, the latter waving his tank turret/war hammer. With that, I sped away to the north. In mere seconds, I was on the other side of the base. A HYDRA soldier was yelling into a walkie-talkie as I ran by. I punched him aside, sending him flying. A little further was an electrical plant, the kind I'd torn apart in Just Cause 3 a thousand times before, with the tall spires, wires, and large steel boxes, all in an area as large as an apartment building.
”Directly ahead sir,” X informed me.
”I see it!” I replied, tapping the Omnitrix.
”Feedback!”
In the form of the tall and black skinned Conductiod, I could feel the power around me flowing between the wires. I grinned toothily and pointed my hands at them.
In a burst of light, blue electricity flowed from the metal spires, wires, and boxes and into the air.
”Fzzt-cat-fzzt!” was the crackling sound it made as it slammed into the plug like extensions on my fingertips.
”Hahahaha!” I laughed, the feeling of energy flowing into my body getting to the edges of intoxicating. Like feeling a hot tub full of minerals bubbling against your skin, that all over rejuvenating tingle all throughout my body.
”The anti-aircraft emplacements are shutting down, but I suggest you continue taking their power,” X said. ”Troops are heading to attack you, sir. Coming from the southeast. I suggest neutralizing them.”
I nodded, still taking power from the generators, then looked over to the southeast. I could see soldiers running towards me, back-dropped by the forest that surrounded the base. I thought of changing forms before dismissing the idea. Instead, I turned my left hand from where it had been absorbing electricity to raise it into the sky as I kept pulling power in with my right hand. About ten guys.
”...” I stared at the group for a moment. Then I sent power through my body over my head, the tendrils on my head lifting up. An orb of blue power gathered over my head, growing to the size of a beach ball. I reared back and threw it at the group.
They tried to scatter when they saw what I was doing, but few things can actually out-speed lightning. The blue ball grew in the middle of its journey and slammed into every single one of them in a wave of power. Electricity soaked them with hundreds of thousands of volts.
I watched with a neutral face as they shook on the ground from muscles clenched by lightning. Then I turned back to the generators. I took comfort in the feeling of electricity, absorbing it until there was nothing left to pull.
”Very good, sir. All weapon emplacements have been shut down along with the vast majority of enemy systems in around the base,” Jarvis said, surprising me.
”Thanks, Jarvis. How's X?”
”I'm doing well, sir. The virus has done its work, and we will be interpreting the data,” I turned away from the plant and blasted the tarmac beneath me, launching myself into the air on jets of lightning to land on top of a three-story building forty feet away. I looked out over the forest, to where a fleet of Quinjets was flying towards the base, with US military vehicles driving on the roads through the forest to get to us. ”We've won, sir.”
”This fight,” I smiled a bit, looking out over the forest as War Machine flew to land behind me. A loud crack of concrete told me Hulk had done the same. I took note of the powerful energy I could feel coming from them but focused on the view. ”After this though, the real fight starts again.”
The three of us stood on the roof, watching our reinforcements arrive.
Audrey Nathan
Audrey stretched underneath the light she'd been using as her starting point for her run for years. The cellist was wearing a black hoodie and gray yoga pants, her running shoes a bit beat up, but still serviceable. She looked up at the dark morning sky, the sun still a few hours from rising, before taking out her phone and flipping through her playlist, smiling as the familiar sound of classical music began to play. She truly loved listening to music, almost as much as playing it. Hearing each string of a violin and cello get plucked, hearing the wind instruments join in as a skilled drummer took the song along its path. There was a beauty to it, something that spoke to Audrey.
She began to jog, shivering slightly at the chill that suddenly rose in the air as she ran. The beginning of the song played with the steps of her feet, with the beat of her heart, Gustav Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War, playing. The beginning drums and trombones started to pick up, then the tubas, violins, picking up with each step she took on her run through the dark forest-