“Pfah! You are at best only an annoyance, air-breathing turncoat!” Llyron struck out at the Mimic and sent Calvin Rankin, the former super-terrorist reeling.
Around them lay a scene of vast destruction. The Brooklyn Bridge was, for all intents and purposes, gone. Carol Danvers, the hero known as Warbird surveyed the scene, her Kree-born energy powers ferried her from one locale to another as she attempted to save those caught in the path of Llyron’s destruction.
Mimic flew back; using Cannonball’s powers to ram into Llyron but the Atlantean-Lemurian Warlord took the blow with ease and returned the favour with fervour as he viciously brought his fists down on Mimic. His blast-field absorbed most of the blow but it rattled Calvin nonetheless.
“Why do you seek to fight me? I am your superior in everyway, you cannot hope to best me,” Llyron started in with his vain rhetoric.
“Do you have any idea how my powers work, Llyron? Over the years they’ve grown and changed quite a bit, originally I was cursed—unable to control who or what I copied but now I can. Now I can retain any five powers I want—albeit at half potency. I’ve borrowed and practiced with the powers of several mutants: Warpath, Jean Grey, Cannonball, Cyclops and…Colossus!” Mimic’s skin turned to bright, shiny steel now, as his hands grasped Llyron’s and the two struggled.
“No matter, air-breather, I remain the stronger!” Llyron laughed, while Mimic’s strength had increased, perhaps doubled, Llyron still had the edge and he was slowly twisting the would-be hero’s arms, weakening him.
“You’re right…Llyron, you are stronger,” Mimic grunted as he gave it all his strength to keep from being torn in half. Mimic possessed—at half strength—the attributes of Colossus and Warpath, that gave him immense durability and power but Llyron was just one step above. “You know, Fish-Man, as much as I like Cyclops’ optic blasts…there are better energy wielders to copy; right now…I’m willing to give it up for a boost in muscle….” Mimic felt himself de-power, losing Cyclops’ abilities.
“What do you mean to say, air-breather?” Llyron questioned haughtily, excited by the impending defeat of his traitor team-mate.
“Now…I have a slot open…and I’m gonna copy you!” Atlantean-Lemurian mutant spawned strength rippled through Mimic and he now easily overpowered Llyron. A steel fist crushed Llyron’s wrist and Mimic grabbed the shocked water-breather, blasting off at full speed leaving the battle and all of New York behind. He didn’t slow down until he’d made it to a wide tract of uninhabited land, then he dived down to the ground, holding Llyron under him and crushing the Atlantean into the ground, dragging him over rocky ground, through forests, up hill and down dale until his foe was neutralized. He turned swiftly and left, leaving the defeated Llyron behind, he unarmoured, powering down from his steel form so he could fly faster. With all available speed he hastened back to the battle
Mimic knew the Mandarin would have been watching the entire exchange and now with Llyron out of the way, and with Mimic himself revealed as a traitor to the new Lethal Legion, more of the Legionnaires would be dispatched.
When Calvin got back, he found a much larger battle than what he left. Paibok—fresh from retrieving Stark for the Mandarin, Dragonfly, Quicksand and the Enchantress were there but the Avengers were not without reinforcements, as the Human Torch, Vision and Darkstar had joined the fray.
Jim Hammond flew in circles around Dragonfly, as Warbird fought off Paibok near them.
“Carol, what’s going on here and who’s that new guy?”
“We’ve been attacked, not sure who by—and that guy’s Mimic, one-time evil mutant terrorist, now he’s a S.T.A.R.S. operative. Hard to keep track sometimes.”
“Yeah…switch up!” Hammond calls out to Carol, in mid-air they change trajectories, Warbird barrelled into Dragonfly while Hammond did his best to make Paibok sweat. Dragonfly folded easily enough, Carol flew up high, arcing down and slamming into Paibok, her fists charged with searing energy.
Paibok laughed with venom and his body turned to metal. He conducted a large bolt of electricity through his form and channelled it towards Warbird. She surprised him by simply absorbing the energy and going in for more, her fists flying wildly in hopes of connecting with the Skrull warlord.
“I hate this planet. I hate being stuck here, you backwards disgusting wretched humans. But I must say I’m pleased that before I go, I get to stamp out a filthy Kree,” Paibok sneered, blocking most of Carol’s blows. “Can you smell that, Kree? The temperature’s going down. We’re going to win,” he laughed again with sadistic mirth.
“Temperature? What are you talking about,” Carol spat out as she landed a blow.
“Hahahaha! You Terrans! Skrull pups know more about tactics than the wisest Terrans, your whole powerbase is in New York. Were we to disable that…”
“Who’s we?”
“A terrible name, but a fun cause…the Lethal Legion, Kree-girl.”
“What did you mean take out our ‘powerbase’?”
“Ah, that would be giving away our strategy. Don’t you know anything about war, Kree-girl?”
“I know enough,” and with that she launched herself at Paibok with full fury, unleashing energy from her hands and channelling all her strength into a would-be devastating blow. Paibok reacted calmly by encasing her in ice, freezing her solid. The now frozen Carol fell into the water below.
“Apparently, you don’t.”
Mandarin’s Satellite:
“This new team of Avengers has begun to fall, Tony. Does it pain you, how poorly they live up to the Avengers name? My Legion is superior, it may be presumptuous of me but I doubt even your Avengers could have bested us. Ah, how we will remake the world, Tony. But rest assured, I will keep you in mind, a man such as you deserves so much more, my eternal foe. I think I shall keep you around, perhaps as a lobotomized manservant,” the Mandarin mused aloud to himself and to the shackled Tony Stark, while he surveyed the battle via some advanced monitoring technology.
“You and I know…that’s all hot air, Mandarin,” Tony coughed out “yeah…some of the Avengers have fallen but Mimic turned on you…you’ve lost some big muscle with Llyron gone.”
“That water-breathing savage meant nothing to my plans, if need be I could go down there myself and turn the battle, though such mundane labours are beneath me.”
“So instead you hang around here, berating me? Why exactly did you capture me?”
“My most hated foe should be here, forced to watch as his brain child the Avengers finally dissolve, crushed by the machinations of his great foe. To be vulgar about it, I want to gloat, Stark. How many times over how many years have we clashed? How many times have you dragged my name through the mud? And finally, I am here, at the cusp of victory, I am going to kill your allies, your friends and remake the world. You will be my slave. As I rebuild China with my blend of mysticism and technology, I will send you out into the fields, as a peasant, to harvest rice out in the paddies. You will be stripped of your beloved technology and I will watch you toil as a common man. Then one day you will fall down in the dirty water of the paddies and die, your last sight will be me laughing at your disgrace.”
Stark was silent. The Mandarin laughed as he exited the room.
New York:
“Warbird!” Jim Hammond yelled out as he watched his fellow Avenger fall, frozen, into the water. He had Paibok coming at him and dodged, leaving only flames for Paibok to try and grasp.
Hammond upped his speed and dove for the water, increasing his temperature to melt the ice, all around water vapour rose as he boiled away water. Finally there was a gasp as Warbird broke free of the ice she’d been encased in.
“Carol! Carol!” he shouted to get her attention, she was confused and shocked, most of her power reserves were gone, her body had been expending most of her absorbed energy as heat to keep her alive in the ice. Hammond controlled his flames with utmost precision, while the rest of his body continued to flame, his arms returned to normal as he carried Carol from the water and to the shore.
“Go…help them…” her voice trailed off, she was still weak but recovering. Paibok’s mastery of the cold was devastating, for he was able to dispatch even a powerful superhuman like Warbird almost with ease.
As the “Human” Torch tended to his team-mate, high in the sky the Avengers avenged their own.
“You have harmed our friend. You should not have done that, Paibok,” The Vision floated like a ghost, his ethereal intangible form hovered, unmoving in the air while near him Darkstar stood on a platform made of darkforce energy. With but a gesture she enveloped Paibok in an inky prison of darkforce energy and the Vision unleashed the full fury of his solar blasts at the alien villain.
“Avengers, ready yourselves,” The Vision ordered as Paibok fell.
“What is it, Vizh?” Rhodes flew past with a blast of prism energy, as he directed some of the prism constructs to engage Enchantress and Quicksand.
“My sensors have picked up a fast moving cold front, by its speed and size it can only be artificial in nature. Again, ready yourselves.”
“How fast is it moving, Vision?” Darkstar asked her new team-mate.
“It should be here momentarily, I was distracted by the battle or else I would have picked it up sooner. Rhodes erect a dome to protect us, Laynia reinforce it where Jim needs help. My sensors detect we’re the only ones in the harbour and the front is moving directly for us. Hammond and I shall round up our fallen adversaries, they do not merit death. Mimic, your help would be appreciated.”
“I’d love to lend a hand, Vision,” Cal Rankin replied to his newfound robotic ally. He sped off to collect the fallen foes: Dragonfly and Paibok. Vision was able to reason with Enchantress and Quicksand, who had been caught in a bubble by Rhodes. Seeing the imminent danger, they put aside any enmities.
Mandarin’s Satellite:
“What’s going on?! Why have they stopped fighting? We’ve given them enough money to face down the apocalypse. Wait, what’s that on the sensors, incoming threat?” Blackwing asks astounded at the sights.
“That, dear Blackwing, is the second part of my plan. A plan you are not involved in, though the Mandarin thanks you for your cooperation thus far,” and the wicked warlord unleashes the force of his Impact beam ring, sending the bat themed villain into the wall; leaving him unconscious after his percussive meeting with the hard steel structure.
“Now to deal with the alchemist,” the Mandarin mused darkly, unaware that the immortal Spaniard watches from unnatural shadow.