The Supreme Serpent has just pressed the button to initiate his plan of the conquest of Seattle...but a small window on his console screen has come up. "Do I really want to Conquer The World? What an idiot question" he ranted as he read the confirmation request. "Yes!" he said, jabbing the 'Enter' button. The computer hesitated a moment, and then he read in outrage and disbelief "What? 'You have caused a fatal error'? What the hell does that mean?"
"It means you should have done it on a UNIX machine" mumbled Viper under her breath. "HYDRA always uses UNIX, AIM always uses UNIX...you can't trust MicroNet."
Sounds of blaster fire began to grow loud outside the access doors. The Supreme Serpent looked up, startled.
"Its beginning to fall apart, Voorhees!" Captain America, strapped to the table, had to yell to be heard above the sounds of the approaching melee. "Surrender now, and recall your troops - it will go over better at your trial." While true, it sounded lame even to Cap's ears.
"Viper! Take command of the defense forces. Go!" commanded the Supreme Serpent. "I shall deal with Captain America". Approaching the table to which Cap was manacled, he leaned over, grabbing Cap by the throat. "I may not win....but you will lose!" He began to constrict his hands around Cap's throat. Free Spirit, having been roused by the din of the approaching battle, screamed out in protest and began to strain at the manacles which held her.
Suddenly the door burst inward, blown off its hinges by two explosive, diamond-tipped darts. Defending SotS guardsmen were hurled backwards by the hard-hitting charge of Diamondback and Taskmaster. Taskmaster leaped forward, gunning down his foemen with a captured heavy blaster while defending himself with his replica of Cap's shield. Assessing the tactical situation with a skill born of years of practice, he leaped to one side and hurled his shield, which ricochetted off the wall, crunching into one of Cap's wrist restraints, off the wall again, into Cap's other wrist restraint, where it remained wedged. "Oh well" Taskmaster shrugged - his photoreflexive skills were one thing, but even they could not replicate the feats of the star-spangled shield-flinger.
"Diamondback! Help!" cried Free Spirit furiously. She wanted free of the restrainst, free of the table, free to charge into the enemy!
Rachel sent another pair of goons to the floor with a deft combination of palm strikes and foot sweeps. She scooped a falled blaster rifle from the ground and sent a pair of blasts towards her bound ally. The manacles disintigrated under the force of the blast, and Free Spirit was able to use her enhanced strength to rip the manacles from her ankles before joining the fray.
His hands freed, Cap brought them together with crushing force in an ear-strike, and the Supreme Serpent fell back, stunned. Cap took advantage of his respite to take Taskmaster's shield and strike the manacles free of his own ankles.
"Lets see you fight against some who isn't bound, Cobra!" he declared, advancing on the Supreme Serpent.
"I am the Supreme Serpent now, you buffoon!" cried Voorhees, his voice quivering with fear as he leaped backwards for the uncovered air-duct. He caught the lip and vanished within as quickly as the snake for which was formerly named, just as the borrowed shield impacted on the outside.
Too narrow for normal people to follow Cap thought, turning back and Waiding (pun intended) into the mass of SotS soldiers.
"Give me back my shield!" whined Taskmaster, using his replica of the Black Knight's sword to block an incoming blaster shot, and then lunge forward to impale another guard.
Meanwhile...back at the front gate.
The heavily-armed assault groups of the Sons Of The Serpent moved towards Batroc Ze Leapair...err...Batroc The Leaper, their guns ready...and they stopped in their tracks. New orders were coming to them through their telecommunications headsets - Building Five had been attacked, and the Supreme Serpent was threatened. All units were to destroy the intruders!
"What about him??" cried one of the SotS guardsmen, pointing at Batroc.
"What about him? That's Batroc the Loser. He's probably on our side anyway" answered the soldier's officer. "Form perimeter on Building Five"
"Pardone-moi, cochon!"
The officer in charge of the heavy weapons unit turned, just in time to have the edge of Batroc's foot shatter his nose.
"Ze name is Batroc...Batroc Ze Leapair!" Without hesitation, Batroc plunged into the group of heavily-armed soldiers. None of the Sons Of The Serpent could bring their heavy weapons to bear without killing their comrades, and were forced to attempt to subdue Batroc in hand-to-hand combat.
"I shall show who ze lozair is, you moonkey-faced wipair of other's bottoms!" he screamed as he dropped eight of the enemy in as many seconds. More SotS surrounded him and converged, and more of them fell as Batroc leaped into their midst, his flashing footwork weaving a web of devastating destruction!
Meanwhile...back in the underground base...
"Taskmaster...no more killing!" cried out Captain America. "Here's your shield". Cap hurled the poor substitute for his own with the sublime skill which decades of constant diligence and practice had granted him. It didn't matter that it wasn't the Shield - Cap had proven on many occassions that any well-balanced replica, such as the vibranium shield used by him as The Captain, or the steel version containing electronics which had been an experiment by Stark and destroyed in battle by the Living Laser, would respond in his hands the same way that any bow responded in Hawkeye's - it did what it was told!
Sidewinder appeared alongside of Cap, holding the Shield. He gave it to Cap with a flourish. "Diamondback told me to find this - that it was a top priority!" The Shield slid over Cap's arm, and as he felt that familiar weight on his arm he thought Nothing like the real Shield - accept no substitutes!
"Thanks. Shouldn't you be in prison?" Cap asked pointedly.
"Well....Diamondback needed help. She said it was an emergency," he explained, adding sheepishly, "She also said that maybe you'd put in a good word with the authorities, claiming Avengers Priority or something..."
Cap smiled. "Lets finish up here first. Teleport to town, and dial the Hotline. Use the password "Revere, Lantern One". Tell them to alert SHIELD that we need backup, and quickly.
"At once" commented Sidewider as he vanished into his teleportation field.
Soon Cap and his co-combatents were alone in the chamber. Taskmaster raided one of the fallen bodies, and listened in on the SotS tactical channel.
"They've got ambushes and guarded points at every major intersection between here and the surface. Viper has taken command of the tactical forces, and Cobra is nowhere to be found." His skull-faced mask seemed to grin contemptuously. "Leading the retreat, no doubt..." He paused. "There is no report from the outside forces....perhaps SHIELD has already gotten here."
"OK...we need someone to stay and hold this room - we can't let them get back at these control consoles long enough for them to fix the computers, and we'll need the computer data to analyse the nature of the software threat. Taskmaster and Free Spirit, stay here." He turned to Rachel. "Diamondback, you and I will force a path to the surface. Do you remember how you got here?"
Rachel grimaced at the flatness of his voice; he was all business, all the time. And she found that...disappointing. She hoped that she would find some welcome in his voice, some acknowledgement of their relationship. She hated this part of him, this part that always took over in crisis - so calm, so inflappable, so confident. So correct. This was a man with 100% dedication to the mission, and he would never change, and if she was honest with herself, she wouldn't want him to change - it was part of what made Steve Rogers Captain America, what made him a standard to which others aspired. No matter how much I mean to him, it'll never be more important than this; than the mission she thought to herself. Is that enough. Can I live with being second in his life, or in anyone else's life?
"Of course. Lets do it!" She tried to force some enthusiasm into her voice as she led Cap up the corridor towards the surface.
Next Issue - "Sleepers In Seattle"