Chapter 56- Death from Above
Special Region- Mage’s base- Hallway 4th floor, March 17, 2008 (Evening)
Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton
“I know I am not an expert on magic or anything, but shouldn’t we be on the first floor to move out, rather than the fourth?” Trip asked after they waited a minute or two after getting geared up.
Clint looked at the robots that were guarding them. They had increased since the three of them were permitted to their equipment. They might prove difficult, but now that he had his bow, he could better customize the arrowheads for his shots, so he wasn’t too worried.
He and Danielle shared a look before he asked. “Did I do any damage to your bow?” She shook her head in the negative, as he tapped on his bow’s remote to confirm his current arrowhead's load out. He could hear them unscrew and re-screw or move to another before re-screwing the new arrowhead.
“No, you took good care of him. Thank you.” Dani said before frowning at the noise his quiver was making before she asked. “Any chance I can get a trick arrow or two?"
Clint smiled before he said. “Maybe one day.”
“Hello, aren’t any of you worried about why we’re up here and not downstairs?” Trip repeated his complaint.
Danielle shrugged before gesturing to the other woman waiting with them. "I don't know, ask the local resident," Moonstar said before testing the clearance of her quiver.
The short redhead shrugged before admitting. "I have never been up here before. So I don't know why we were told to gather here."
Clint pointed at her inhibiting collar and asked. “You’re going in with that thing on?” He could guess by the red light on it, that her powers were currently restricted.
The little mutant also shook her head in the negative, before admitting. “I’ll take it off before we go. They gave me the password to it. I haven’t had my powers for very long, so I wear it to be safe.”
“Seriously boss, why are we up here?” Trip complained again. The young man wasn’t able to not able to let it go.
The archer looked at the young man before saying. “I don’t know either. We are in a magic metal tower that is bigger on the inside. For all we know there will be a Star Gate behind one of the doors up here.”
“Please stow the sci-fi stuff. I get enough of that from Bass.” Pyro said as he joined them from one of the transport rooms. He was followed by the large framed mage, Ryth’lor.
Pyro was in his combat suit, while the mage was in an exotic suit of armor. The mutant had the Hydra pistol on him with a proper holster for it now, unlike when he first met him up on the floating Nazi base. ‘I should check on those prisoners at some point too, make sure they didn’t kill themselves or something.‘ Clint thought as he looked over the warrior mage.
The mage’s armor was heavy overlapping plates on his chest. Not quite like the full plate, that knights wore back in the day, but Clint suspected it would still work against modern weapons. Especially if it was made from the same magical metals the Citadel was built from. Ryth’lor wore a heavy grilled helmet so the only thing of his face that Clint could see was the man's blue-grey steel glowing eyes. On either hip, the mage had a different style of sword, and he had a very large two-handed version on his back. Unlike the ones on his hip, the one on his back didn't seem to have a sheath, and just seemed to float there.
"That the real you in there, or is it still the fire lady with you projected over her?" Clint asked the warrior. And he could tell that the mage was one, the archer could tell the other man had seen real combat from his stance.
“You think I would let the Young Master march off without me?” the gruff man said before crossing his arms.
‘That wasn’t a yes.’ Clint thought, but quickly suppressed it when Psylocke materialized from nowhere. A second later, Nath'aniel and their last participant walked out of the transport room.
Gypsy was still in her fighting robes that she wore during their little meet and greet earlier. But now she had a spiked gauntlet on her left hand. The big boss too was armed. He carried around a long-bladed spear, which had an amber crystal attached to the base of spear tip in one hand. In his other hand were a handful of amulets in the other.
“Each of you take and wear an amulet.” Nath’aniel ordered even before joining them.
The SHIELD agents each shared a look but complied. As they waited their turn, Clint saw the redhead whisper something and her collar opened before contacting into itself. She then handed it to the security robot beside her.
Wanting to maximize their chances Clint asked. “What is the plan and what are we expected to be facing?”
Pyro answered part of his question when he said. “If it’s the same blokes that attacked Mags and Bass. Then it’s mostly just some tribals. Men and women armed with simple spears and clubs, no armor. But they got numbers.”
“And some of, what you call Enhanced.” Nath’aniel added. When the agents didn’t seem to believe him he added. “They have an alchemical formula that they give to their best warriors that causes increased bone and muscle growth. Probably not as fast or skilled as you man Dum Dum, but still stronger and bigger than would normally be possible.’
"On top of that, we will be aiming to stop their cadre of sorcerers, men, and a few women, skilled in the mystic arts. Our goal is not to kill the tribe but to stop their ritual. They are offering human sacrifices to awaken a mighty warrior to their side, but their attempts are childish and simple and it is causing more damage than they realize."
"The tear in reality thing," Dani repeated. It was that which really got the agents to agree to go along with this operation.
Nath’aniel nodded at her comment, before explaining his plan. “Behind those doors is the Citadel’s portal room. Time is our greatest enemy for they have already offered…"
He waited and the disembodied woman answered him. “Nine people have already been offered. They have already gathered another four.”
“That might be enough.” The leader mage muttered before continuing. “I have the Citadel preparing to create a portal above the temple. We will be falling down onto them, thus the amulets. They will cushion your fall, but employ any abilities or techniques that you know as well. Myself, Ryth’lor, Psylocke, and Gypsy have abilities that make it safe to use this strategy, but the rest of you do not, so be careful."
As the young long-haired mage winded down, but before he moved to the room he indicated, Clint added. "We should pair up." When the mutants and mages looked at him he elaborated. "To increase our chances of survival everyone should pair up and look after someone else."
“Astute observation." Ryth’lor agreed before ordering the pairings. “You Hawkeye, you’re with Wolfsbane.” The warrior mage said, pointing at the short redhead. “You, Mirage you’re with me. You, Trip you’re with Pyro. And Gypsy you look after the young master.”
‘Not the pairings I would have chosen, but it works.’ Clint thought before walking over to the short teenager and asking. "So what are your powers?"
“Oh, I am a werewolf.” Wolfsbane admits to the archer. Then she added. “I can get bigger and stronger, and I can heal some of my wounds, but sometimes my emotions get the best of me.”
‘An aggressive front liner, paired with a seasoned ranger. Smart.' Clint thought as he nodded at her. He then looked over the other pairings and saw similar pairings. Most of the agents were better at fighting at a distance and thus were paired with melee-focused fighters, while the rookie agent was paired with the Brotherhood’s only mid-range person.
Nath’aniel then looked Psylocke in the eyes and told her. “For this battle I allow you to use your Noble Phantasm.” She looked confused but nodded at him. Then he led them to a set of double doors. The mage didn’t even pause. He just opened the doors and led them inside.
Clint wasn't sure what that was all about, but shrugged it off for future him to deal with.
The 'portal room', didn't have a Star gate like he had guessed, it wasn't far off. Taking up half of the room was a massively large seashell. The outer shell was carved with runes and glyphs, which were dimly glowing with power. While the two-person wide opening pulsed with purple light.
As he drew closer the light thickened and manifested into a full-on wall of purple light. Then the mage spoke some of the last of his instructions. "Before you enter, you must release any active powers you may have on. The portal must embrace the real you not, some energy-wrapped you. Once on the other side, you will fall, but also once through you are again free to use any abilities. It is only during the single step that you must be relaxed."
Ryth’lor tapped Dani on the shoulder before walking into the light like it was the most natural thing. Agent Moonstar took a breath before reaching out and tapping it, the light rippled but otherwise ignored her. Then she took the last step she needed to go through too.
Clint not wanting to leave her alone didn't even pause to breathe. He just closed his eyes and stepped through just like it was just another jump out of a transport. He was greeted but the sight of some rather large snowcapped mountains before he began to fall. His eyes were quickly drawn to the enlarging ground. Then details started to take shape.
It wasn't buildings that he noticed first, but rather the large red glowing statue, holding what appeared to be a replica of the sun above its head. Then he noticed the various Greek-like buildings surrounding it. Next were the odd flashes of light down in the streets and where he was about to land.
Clint tapped the controls of his remote changing out the heads of his second and third shots. Before reading his first shot, he waited a moment before he fired. The arrow went where he wanted it, into the head of an overly tall and muscular man with a bear's head for a hat. The large man took a step before falling face first towards a robed man with a scimitar.
He shot his second and third shots, before tucking and preparing to roll with his landing. The amulet around his neck began to hum and a counter wind bracing his rolling landing. During the roll, he saw that he was outside of the large complex that housed the massive glowing statue, and there were indeed a lot of men and women in simple animal hides fighting robed men with medieval weapons.
The sound of two explosions as his two hot trick arrows detonated on impact of the squads around him, gave the robed guys a chance to get their breath back. The older guy in grey robes and waving around the scimitar asked, “Who are you?”
Clint was happy to see that the man didn't point his weapon or glowing offhand at him.
“Hawkeye. Nath’aniel said we needed to stop some ritual that was going on here or something.” Clint explained before pulling an arrow and firing it at some fool in a bird headdress waving a stick around in the air.
The arrow bounced off the shoulder of a scrawny tribal, before impaling stick man in the eye.
“Did you just…” the robed man began to ask.
But Clint just said it for him. “Shoot a man in his weapon arm’s shoulder and bounce the arrow into the eye of another man? Yes, yes I did. Now watch me go for a triple."
The archer then pulled out an armor-piercing arrow and shot it at a line of tribals about to gang up on a blonde woman in robes similar to the scimitar man's. The arrow punched through their weaker flesh and tore through the entire line. As they fell down dead Clint added. "I'm sorry, my mistake that was a penta-kill. Oh, and you might want to take a step towards me."
The older man did, just in time to avoid another Enhanced’s overhand chop. The blow was impressive causing stone chips to fly and spider webbing the stone steps where the man was just standing.
A second later the large tribal was tackled by a sudden impact of a massive red-furred wolf woman landing atop him. Wolfsbane like any respectable wolf, bit into the man's neck and easily tore out the Enhanced's throat. After the large man fell, she stomped his head with her clawed bare feet.
‘So that’s why she chose to go barefoot.’ Clint thought before pulling and firing a flechette arrow. The arrow impaled a charging tribal before its secondary charge fired a half circle of darts at his squad mates. The darts didn't score killing blows but did knock most of them to the ground.
"She's with me," Clint told the robed man, before he finished pulling back with his sword arm. Then he fired another shot into the head of a stick-wielding man. That one had prayer beads wrapped around his stick for some reason.
"Is she a mutant?" the man asked, before conjuring a glowing wireframe dagger and throwing it into another group of charging tribals. The glowing blade burned through them, like a blow torch.
“Yep. You ok Wolfs?" Clint answered and asked while firing off a couple more shots. She grunted and growled, he took for a 'yes'. So he laid out a battle plan for her "Good. We have good positions here. The others might see us, so we're staying here. You stay close and I'll cover for you. Try and focus on the big guys you seemed better geared for dealing with them."
She grunted again. Then the robed man noticed his blonde comrade try and run to join them. The older man cried out to her. “Aurica, over here.” She climbed up the steps, fell, and dropped her weapon. A fanged mace Clint noted. As she tried to get to them, he fired again and again to keep her pursuers from getting to her.
In the end, it was another one of them that saved her and cleared a path. A young man with short black hair leaped from the crowd before turning around and throwing what looked to be glass shards at the tribals. But where the glass touched any flesh it quickly became necrotic and the tribals fell and died.
The two robed people joined the older man that Clint had saved. The woman, Aurica began to say. “Master Kaecilius, there are too many we should…”
“No, the Ancient One and Master Wong have already gone ahead. We will stay here and buy her the time she needs.” The older man ordered them. Then he handed his scimitar to the woman, and he drew a short sword for himself.
“Master who are these two?” the male asked. Clint could tell the man had seen combat from the way he held himself, just like how Dugan and Ryth’lor did.
"Allies, I do believe," Kaecilius said and asked.
"Nath'aniel said we need to stop these people's ritual or it will awaken a giant and maybe cause a tear in reality, so unless you want those things to happen yeah, we're allies." Clint explained while he fired another pair of hot trick arrows into the next round of tribals.
“Then we are.” Kaecilius agreed and the five of them turned to face the enemies wanting to attack them.
