Ivan Kragoff Ivan watched from his secondary base on a small tv as his decayed nation celebrated the efforts of their new circus clowns, the Winter Guard. The old communist clenched at the arms of his chair, scowling angrily at the tiny screen before him, the tv illuminating his face in blue. The damned fools even rewarded the Americans with a plane! But that was Ivan’s fault. He had failed. He had underestimated them all. Not just the Winter Guard, with their false god and witch. He had underestimated BRIDGE. And Dial. Dial, who had devoured a NUCLEAR BOMB. Such power in that watch. Ivan had paid the Avenger little mind at first, believing him to be nothing but brute force in battle. But enough brute force had overwhelmed his forces. Of course, the BRIDGE members had managed to hack his superior technology, destroying his wonderful super-apes. Ivan needed to be more prepared. Even with all the enhancements he’d made to the apes, all the deals he made with HYDRA… with that new American organization, to test their technology in combat. He’d made deals, compromised where he wouldn’t have otherwise, all out of his impatience. And now, here he was. A failure! The tv was suddenly broken. Ivan blinked at the culprit. Large black knuckles had slammed down on the Soviet era technology, shattering it apart while Ivan had been slowly stewing. For a moment, he wanted to shout. Then he sighed. “Miklho. I understand you’re upset on my behalf, but the tv was not the issue.” From the shadows, a gorilla stepped forward. A gorilla that was untouched by cybernetics, and unlike the ‘Miklho’ that Chernobog had fought, this gorilla was normal sized. But he carried himself… differently. More intelligently. More confidently. “Ohoh,” Miklho walked up, shaking his head. His hands flicker between different signs for a few moments, then shrugged. “Yes… I suppose I have been rather foolish old friend,” Ivan sighed. The gorilla was joined by an orangutan and baboon. Same as Miklho, they looked normal. Same as him, they carried themselves with intelligence. They swung down from the rafters to land before Ivan, eyes filled with concern. “I rushed things,” Ivan said forlornly. “I compromised my morals, forced myself to work with monsters. To create rush jobs. And now? My enemies are celebrated by the country I love…” Ivan swallowed. Tears fell down from his eyes before he could stop them. The apes looked at each other, worried looks on their faces. Mikhlo sighed, nudging at the baboon, Igor. Igor rolled his eyes and stepped toward Ivan to comfort him. Then the orangutan hissed, spinning to face the door to the large room. The gorilla and baboon turned as well in alarm, while Ivan snapped to his feet. “Peotor!?” Ivan snapped toward the orangutan. “What is it?” There was a knock on the door. Ivan stared at it. No one knew about this place. That was the point of a secondary base, that even when the primary one was compromised you could still have somewhere no one could find. “Excuse me?” someone said through the door in very rough Russian. “Dr. Kragoff? My big headed asshole of a boss wanted to speak with ya.” “...Mikhlo. Get the door.” The gorilla nodded, walking up to the door. With surprising gentleness, he opened it. “Jesus, you’re even hairier than I expected,” the man behind the door said. “Been hitting the Bowflex too, eh? I mean, I try, but I’m a lazy fuck, to be honest.” “Urgh?” Mikhlo said in confusion. “Yeah, I have that effect on people,” before Ivan could say anything, the man slipped around the gorilla. The man was rough looking. His hair was shaved at the sides and spiky on top, a tattoo on the right side of his head. His beard was rough, peppered with salt, and his eyes were wide, filled with glee. As though he was always in on some joke no one else had heard yet. He was wearing a warm grey jacket lined with fur and a ballistic vest made of some material Ivan didn’t recognize on top of that. He had a large futuristic rifle on his back that had some sort of sea-green crystal where the barrel should have been. He was also familiar to him. “Klaue?” Kragoff asked, surprised. “Hey, Terrible,” Klaue teased happily. “You look good.” Ivan scowled. “That nickname was never funny.” “Ah come on,” Ullyses Klaue grinned. “Ivan the Terrible doesn’t like his name?” “What do you want, Klaue?” Kragoff scowled. “What does a dead man want with me?” “I come with gifts, Terrible,” Klaue grinned, reaching for his pocket. Mikhol growled, Klaue stopping the motion for his pocket with a frown. “Hey. Can you call off Joe Young over here? I come in peace and all that shit.” Ivan thought about that. He thought about that for a very, very long moment. Klaue’s smile widened and widened, his fingers flickering. Mikhol, Igor, and Peotor glared at him. Violence seemed to tinge the air. “...Klaue. If you kill me. You will face horrors unimaginable,” three apes growled, filling the room with the sounds until they seemed to bounce off the walls and reverberate off the bones. “Fair enough,” Klaue continued to reach into his pocket and pulled out a round device. He flipped it open. “My boss said you would appreciate this. The big headed bastard is usually right about that.” A hologram floated in front of Ivan. And his jaw dropped. “Where… how did you do this?” Klaue laughed. “Oh, you think that’s good! Just wait, Terrible! We’re about to have a hell of a time!” All the while, the sea-green crystal in Klaue’s rifle continued to hum. ------ Antoine ‘Trip’ Triplett Walking through the halls of a base in a secret location in Siberia, Trip led Sharon and Laura to a room in the center of the base. He ignored the various scientists and guards that lived in the base. None of them mattered. He soon strode down a set of metal stairs in a room with monitors and machinery all over, scientists looking up at him as he entered. Then they met eyes with Laura and quickly looked away again. Laura had that effect on people. The young woman was always eyeing people in a hostile manner, always looking as though she was moments from embedding a sea-green blade deep into your throat. For some reason, Trip had never seen her giving Sharon and him similar looks. But the fact was that the leather-clad woman was anti-social, to understate things massively. Trip stopped before the man at the center of the room. “Sir,” Trip said slowly. Wolfgang Von Strucker looked up from what he’d been doing, which was typing at a computer while listening to music apparently. He was standing while doing so. As always, the Scepter was at his right hip in a holster. On his left was a small table holding a red glove. Once used only to let him use the Scepter without worrying about being manipulated in turn, the glove was larger now, more armored. Behind his back, it had gained a name of it’s own. The Satan Glove. He smiled when he saw Trip. “Ah. Agent Triplett. It is good to see you are well.” Trip eyed him. One punch to the larynx. That’s all he wanted. Just the chance to do it would be worth the whole world to him. Von Strucker seemed to notice the intensity of Trip’s gaze. He didn’t seem to mind at all. Instead he lifted up his glove and put it on his left hand, then gestured for the three warriors to follow him, walking toward a dark hallway with Trip, Sharon, and Laura in tow. “How did your mission go?” “Successfully,” Trip said as coldly as he could. The image of the helpful Chinese scientist he’d killed flashed into his mind. “I see you were forced to kill innocents again,” when Trip gave Von Strucker a startled look, the scientist smiled. “I have been inside your head, Agent Triplett. I daresay I know you better than you know yourself by now.” That was… galling, to hear. Still, Trip couldn’t even deny that. Deep within him, in a sunken place where the last of himself fought to be heard, he tried to scream. But he did not. He breathed while drowning, staring out from eyes that weren’t his own. He tried to speak his true thoughts. To raise his gun as they walked, fire it into the leader of HYDRA’s face, and find his way home to the people he loved. Nothing. He was only able to follow silently. “That is what I like about you, Agent Triplett,” Von Strucker said in satisfaction. “Even with the conditioning we’ve done, you still manage to hold onto your will. It is impressive. But it is also valuable to me,” Von Strucker sighed sadly. “I am surrounded by sycophants. Once, I might have liked that, before the events of last year. Now I find your naked hatred rather fulfilling. It keeps me from being arrogant. What is it the youths say? ‘My haters are my motivators’?” He chuckled at the look he got from that. “It is true. I find you enjoyable, Agent Triplett. Funny, even.” Trip tried to reach for his gun. Von Strucker smiled when Trip continued to follow him obediently instead. “You have the chip?” “Yes, sir,” Trip patted the pouch on his left hip. “Then we can complete the Project,” they entered a room that was strangely empty. There was only a table, a large metal armchair, and a tarp covered object resting in the chair. There were dozens of wires stretching from it’s back and into the wall. The room was extremely chilly, tinged with a bit of frost. Von Strucker held out his hand. “The chip, please.” Trip opened the pouch, reached into it, and pulled out the computer chip. Von Strucker stared at the innocuous device as though it was made of gold. In many ways, it might as well have been. He took it into this gloved hand and walked around to the tarp covered objects back. “Months of research, thievery, and work. All to recover what we lost. HYDRA’s greatest weapon has always been science. Not the worship of dead deities or dependance on alien powers. Always the science we could use,” he slipped the computer chip under the tarp. A small click could be heard. He pulled his hand back out sans the computer chip and nodded when a green light shone from under the tarp. The wires quivered for a moment. Then the tarp shifted slowly as the object underneath rose up. The sound of fans filled the room, moving the chill air around them. Snickt! The sound of Laura’s claws popping out of her knuckles filled the room. “Don’t you dare!” Von Strucker shouted angrily. “...” Laura’s claws slowly slipped back into her hands as she stared at Von Strucker. He glared at her, then looked back at the object. The tarp slipped off, revealing black metal underneath. Gears twisted around, wires curled, and the being beneath rose completely. It was shaped like a man, but instead of a face, it had a metal block with a red lens that glowed. It lifted hands of steel and twisted the fingers around, staring at them through the red lens. Then it reached for it’s ‘stomach’ with it’s right hand. It’s cool metal fingers met a screen. It hesitated before speakers on the machine spoke. “What… is, this?” “Your return,” Von Strucker said in satisfaction. “After 42 years your mind truly lives again...... Doctor Zola!" Trip watched the screen in the center of the robot, flashing the green image of a confused Arnim Zola. Then the robot stared at its own hands again. And Arnim Zola slowly smiled. ------ Luke Cage/Bartender “Back again,” Luke walked up to the woman who was lying her head on his bar counter. He smirked at the growling sound she gave him as she lifted her head to look at him. Jessica Jones was gorgeous. It was the first thing someone would notice about her, the long black hair, big eyes, and general beauty. She was also- “What, you wanna send me to an AA meeting?” Jessica growled. Abrasive as hell. Luke chuckled. “No, just noting a fact.” “I’m pretty sure your job is to pass be drinks,” Jessica drawled. Not one to be put off by rudeness, Luke only smiled. “Only when someone actually orders a drink, as opposed to using my bar as a pillow to sleep on.” Jessica scowled, but Luke thought he could note a hint of humor in her eyes. She pointed at a random bottle on the shelf lazily. Taking that as a request, he took the whiskey down and poured a shot, passing it to her. She downed it immediately and gestured. Chuckling slightly, he passed her the bottle, watching with some fondness as she started to drink. With no one else in the bar, he was able to lazily walk around the bar and enjoy the quiet. Then a vehicle outside went spinning past with a squeal. Luke and Jessica both looked out at it. The red van was speeding with no regard for any rules of traffic. They both watched curiously as it spun around the corner. Then another squealing sound filled the air. Luke turned to look at it. A man was leaning out of a lowrider from the back passenger seat. In slow motion, Luke got a good look at him. He was a big man, with skin as dark as Luke’s, and a smile filled with gold. He was clearly laughing as he hefted the weapon in his arms. For a moment, Luke stared at the weapon the man was leveling. A rocket launcher. An honest to god rocket launcher. Pointed right at them. “Down!” Luke dived over the bar to pull Jessica to the ground. She rolled with the movement and yelled out indignantly when he shielded her with his body. He ignored her, closing his eyes as he braced himself. The rocket flew in and exploded against the bar. Fire and shockwaves surrounded them. Luke roared as the building fell on top of him. He could hear Jessica doing the same in his ear. When the shaking stopped, Luke opened his eyes. He was surrounded by rubble, gray dust falling about their heads. He could smell smoke beyond the debris. Rising slightly, he looked down at Jessica. “You okay?” “Fuck no I’m not okay!” she shouted. “What the hell happened!?” Luke scowled. “Someone was trying to blow up that van.” “Well they fucking missed!” Jessica shouted. She stopped moving. “Do I smell smoke?” “I think a fire started,” Luke looked around again. The rubble had fallen around them in a small pocket. He gently pushed upward and felt the building above him move. “...I think I can move this.” “You?” Jessica scoffed. “Yeah, no. Move out of the way, I can get us out.” “You?” Luke replied right back. “Jessica, let me-” She raised a fist and punched upward. Her fist embedded into the rock behind his head like a nail into wood. Luke stared at her as she smiled smugly. “See? I got this. Just move out of the way and I’ll-” Luke pushed upward, his large palms on either side of her. Slowly, tons of weight was lifted up in a complete disregard of reality. Jessica stared at Luke’s face a few inches from her as he smirked. “Yeah. I think I can’t help you there.” She continued to eye him. Then a slow smile came to her lips. Together, the pair began to push together. Stone, wood, metal, and glass were moved with little to no effort by the two superhumans. Soon they had dug their way out of the rubble. The pair rose to their feet, Luke’s yellow shirt and Jessica’s black leather clothes covered in dust. “Goddamnit,” Luke stumbled as he walked off the pieces of what had once been his friends bar. “This is just-” He stopped speaking, clenching a fist in anger. Jessica was standing behind him, watching silently as he stared at the remains of his workplace. All gone. Burning to nothing. Along with everything that had mattered about it. The time he’d spent making sure it was clean and cared for. Wasted. “I’m sorry,” Jessica said, drawing his attention. When he looked over at her she looked away but continued to speak. “I-I know it meant a lot to you.” ...For some reason, he could believe that. The sound of someone laughing drew his attention. He froze. Further down the block, he could see the red van had been overturned. He could also see that his wasn’t the only building hit. Four more had the signs of an explosion, a window high on one billowing out flames, another shuddering, people screaming. The man laughing was tossing aside his rocket launcher as more men were rummaging in the red van. Six men grabbing boxes from the van, two carrying guns, and one insane lunatic laughing as he stood on the roof of a lowrider, another one parked nearby. “Come on boys, get a move on!” the large man in a gray tank top laughed from the roof of his car. “Avengers ain’t going to be distracted for long!” “...” Luke stared at the mess before him. People were screaming, running out of burning buildings. The group of men were still working on robbing the truck. The man on the lowrider saw the running people. He smiled, a gold tinged, deranged smile, and gestured to one of his men, who tossed him an SMG. The man raised the gun to aim at those running away. “Hey!” Luke heard. It took him a moment to realize he was the one who had yelled. The man heard him, looking over at Luke. “Luke,” Jessica protested, moving to stand next to him. “What are you doing?” “...I can’t let them hurt anymore people,” Luke said slowly. He wasn’t a hero. He’d never claimed to be. But apparently, there weren’t any Avengers coming just yet. So how could he stand aside while others might die? How could he not step up? “Well, lookie here now!” the man hopped off the lowrider and grinned at Luke. “What is this nigga!? You wanna piece of this with yer white girl there? Maybe let us have a piece of her too?” Luke scowled at of one of his most despised words being used, then strode forward. He was surprised to find Jessica joining him. “You don’t have to do this,” he whispered to her. “Yeah, I do,” Jessica sounded positively enraged. She pointed down the street, where two more buildings a long way down had been hit by more fire. “I’m pretty sure that fuck hit my building.” ...Well shit, what were the chances of that? “Get behind me if they start shooting. I’m bulletproof.” God bless Jessica for not being as fazed by that as he would have expected. “Oh now look at this,” the man sounded almost polite as he strode forward with his men. “Muthafucka, what exactly do you think you’re doing?” “No one has to get hurt!” Luke called as he and Jessica strode toward the group. “Just leave these people alone!” The man blinked. “Fuck man, you serious? New York’s changed since last time. Used to be muthafucka’s ran from Barracuda! And explosions, come to think of it,” he grinned. “Well fuck, I like you! Hey, how fast can you dodge!?” He raised his gun and started shooting. Jessica ducked behind him as the bullets started hitting him. Small bits of metal rained down on the asphalt along with bits of yellow cloth. For a long moment, the sound of gunfire filled the air. When it was over, the man was staring in shock at Luke. His men lowered their weapons in sheer awe as Luke wiped at his chest, more bullets falling on the ground. “What the fuck is this nig-?” Before he could complete that sentence, Jessica spun out of cover and grabbed the hood of a car. With a twist and an ear-wrenching pull, she ripped the hood off, then spun to toss it at the group. The hood spun like a disk across the space between them, then hit two of the men like a giant frisbee, both men screaming as they were sent flying. “Shit, light ‘em up!” the man yelled, his gold teeth flashing as he spoke. The other men, who hadn’t been knocked down by an enraged woman with a car hood, unleashed hell. Luke ignored the bullets, instead running toward the group. Jessica ducked behind the car, only to come back up and toss a piece of the engine, shattering one of the men’s legs. The leader of the group ran for one of the crates, opening it up. As Luke ran toward him, he came up with a large RPG, one with the words ‘Hammer Tech’ written on the side. “All right you tough muthafucka, lets see what you got!” he screamed as he pulled the trigger. The RPG flew towards Luke before he could make a response. He tried to dodge. But contrary to what some thought, dodging a rocket-propelled grenade was impossible. It hit him hard and exploded in a burst of fire, sending him flying. Luke rolled after his airborne flight, shouting as he bounced off the pavement before slamming into a parked car with the sound of shattering glass and steel. “You fuck!” Jessica, enraged, pulled out the engine block from the car she’d been using as ammo. “Oh damn,” one of the men said in awe as the small woman lifted 300+ pounds of steel over her head. “Raaagh!” Jessica tossed the block. It flew with baseball pitcher speed, bouncing once on the ground. “Oh goddamn!” the leader shouted as the engine block barely tagged one of his mens arm, then hit the red van, sending it skidding across the pavement. “GRAH!” Luke roared as he exploded out of the car he’d been embedded in. Soot rested on his pectorals from the recent explosion. He stared at the leader of the man who had shot him, who was hopping into his car. The leader smiled a gold toothed smile. “Damn, muthafucka, you tough as shit!” he said jovially. He laughed while revving up his engine. Jessica and Luke rushed toward to try and chase him. “Catch you later, bulletproof muthafucka! HAHA!” Jessica poured on the speed, outpacing Luke by a wide margin, but she still was unable to catch up as the car began to speed away. She stopped to crouch, then exploded upwards. She cleared thirty feet, reaching out for the car as she fell towards it. The leader gunned the engine further. Her fingers stretched out. And barely smacked the back of the car. The strength of the impact ripped off a chunk off the trunk. Jessica hit the ground hard, cursing loudly as she rolled with the impact but still scraped her cheek against the asphalt. “Damn, that girl is hot!” Luke could barely hear the driver say over the roar of the engine and Jessica’s caustic cursing. She looked up at him she rose to her feet, her eyes flashing with rage, blood dripping slightly from the scrape on her cheek, an ugly thing that had him wincing in sympathy at the sight of a patch the size of a round playing card that had been scraped to the muscle. “...So, you can fly, huh?” he said as she glared at him. Her glare faded just a bit before she could control it. Luke would have said more, but the sounds of sirens in the distance drew his attention. “God damnit,” Jessica said as the sirens came closer. She turned to walk away. “Where you headed?” Luke asked. “Well,” Jessica glowered. “I was going to head to my apartment. But now I need to see what the hell is left of it.” “Let me help,” Luke immediately said, following her. “Don’t need it.” Luke chuckled, his eyes following her. “No, you don’t. But I still want to.” She didn’t turn to acknowledge that. But that was fine. He could live with that.