Chapter 51: More Back-Up

Chapter 51: More Back-Up

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Thaddeus and the girls call in some more experienced backup. It turns out to be the right call.

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“You were right to call us in for this, kids. Though you’re lucky I’m not currently working for the DA’s Office. The legality of this little excursion is... highly questionable.”

She-Hulk’s words wash over them all as she stands there with her arms crossed over her chest, standing taller than just about everyone in the room save for Thaddeus himself. Meanwhile, over at the bank of computers, Sue Storm is currently typing away, the brilliant blonde’s eyes darting back and forth across the screen as she reads all relevant data on the manufactured monster they’re preparing to fight.

In the end, Thaddeus couldn’t bring himself to advocate for just using the failsafe and destroying The Facility’s creation, even if it was the safest option on the table. Nor could anyone else, not with Cessily being so quiet about it. Maybe if she were more argumentative someone would have tried to convince her, but the fact that she was so accepting had inversely led to no one really wanting to be ‘that person’.

At the same time, trying to fight the thing by themselves was obviously a bad idea. Even if they could manage to take it down, the possibility of losing someone, and it’s ability to feast upon mutants to gain strength and power, meant that their mostly mutant team was not quite up for the task.

Similarly, the idea of calling in the rest of the X-Men had ultimately fallen to the wayside as well. Calling in a bunch more mutants to fight a monster made for defeating and consuming mutants seemed like a bad idea upon further reflection. Which just left the final option... calling in She-Hulk and the Invisible Woman.

In the end, Thaddeus hadn’t been sure what to expect when he’d dropped Jennifer and Susan a line. He’d half-thought they might bring out their entire teams, maybe. But Sue was still a bit estranged from the rest of the Fantastic Four because of her latest (and likely final) breakup with Reed Richards, and Jennifer... well, she’d shown up alone and made it clear that the rest of the Avengers weren’t necessary for this.

Getting them both this deep into the compound hadn’t been that difficult either. It just meant Thaddeus and Kitty went back out, him making sure the guards didn’t see anything with his psychic abilities and Kitty getting him through the walls so they could pick up Jen and Sue and bring them both back.

Now here they all were, with Sue reading up on the threat and Jen... reading them the riot act?

Bristling, Kitty is the one who responds to Jennifer’s provocation, her hands going to her hips as she scowls heatedly.

“We’re not kids, She-Hulk. As for legal... the Facility doesn’t have any more right to be here than we do. This clearly isn’t an above board operation for them, anymore than the last laboratory that they blew up.”

Humming at that, Jennifer looks over at him.

“Speaking of which, you definitely should have called me about that too. Even if only after the fact. You know that explosion has taken out power, gas, and water for a good few city blocks yeah? The emergency first responders should have been aware that it was tied to illegal experimentation for their own safety, and not just a ruptured gas main.”

Thaddeus winces beneath his mask, feeling appropriately chastised. She-Hulk was right, but obviously he hadn’t been thinking about that at the time.

“As for what these mad scientist types are doing here... two wrongs don’t make a right. This land and the buildings on it belong to someone out there, meaning that we’re all trespassing, regardless of our reasons for doing so.”

Jennifer’s words hang in the air for a moment, tasting rather sour judging by the pinched expressions that those with visible faces are currently making. Even the eyes of Gwen’s mask are narrowed in a somewhat petulant manner.

But then, the big green woman cracks a grin.

“Like I said though, you’re all lucky I’m not working for the DA’s Office right now. And you know why I’m not currently practicing as a Public Defender?”

She pauses briefly before delivering the punchline.

“Because sometimes, even when the law says otherwise, you’ve gotta be able to set it aside to crack a few eggs.”

With those words alone, Jennifer defuses the tension in the room. Albeit tension she herself had created... but Thaddeus realizes that’s just the statuesque woman’s way of breaking the ice. She got everyone’s hackles raised, and then made it clear she was on their side. Huh, pretty smart actually.

“Now then, names. I’m She-Hulk, obviously. That’s the Invisible Woman, in case you didn’t know. And you all are?”

Perking up now, Kitty is again the first to answer.

“Shadowcat!”

Only then does it dawn on Thaddeus that he DOES actually have a fairly useful power for this situation. It’s not something he’s had much opportunity to use, truth be told... but by this point, his version of Rogue’s mutant ability is more than strong enough that it should have some effect on the monster that Harkins and his Facility made... right?

“I have something, yeah. If you can immobilize the creature, then I can try and drain it of its vitality and powers. Then, maybe that will weaken it enough for Mercury to take back what’s hers?”

Sue doesn’t look all that surprised by his admission, probably because the question she’d been asking had mostly been directed at him and his hodge-podge of powers in the first place. The others are a little bit more caught off guard, probably because they don’t know about Rogue and now they’re wondering where he got such a thing.

Regardless, in the end... it’s the best damn strategy they have. Stepping forward, She-Hulk is quick to take charge.

“Alright, Talon and Spider-Woman, you two are heavies like me so you’re with me. We’ll be dealing with the parts that Invisible Woman isn’t covering with her Force Fields. Shadowcat, I want one of your hands on Invisible Woman at all times and as soon as that thing is let out, I want you to make the two of you intangible. She doesn’t need to be tangible to use her Force Fields, and if this stupid monster is smarter than it looks, it might try and go after her if it can break free. As for Breaker and Mercury... you’re going to be in the thick of it if this whole plan of ours is going to work. Hope you’re ready.”

It's a good plan. Tactically sound too. Thaddeus can’t help but be a little relieved that he called in Jennifer and Susan, because from the sound of it, they’d been the perfect reinforcements. As everyone nods and gets into position, Thaddeus moves forward so that he and Mercury are stood just a few feet outside of the door to Predator X’s vault.

Finally, from back over at the computers, Susan keys the vault door opening and Kitty grabs her by the shoulder the moment her hands leave the keyboard.

Almost immediately, the creature inside of the vault begins trying to get out. Even before the large door is finished cycling open, its fighting its way out. With Jennifer, Gwen, and Laura watching the sides and razor sharp Force Fields snapping into existence on the top and bottom, Predator X only has one way to go. Right at him and Mercury.

Thaddeus sets himself in place, having already activated the power he got from She-Hulk, increasing his strength and durability. He also reaches out to see if he can get any sort of psychic purchase on the monster now that it’s no longer in the vault... but no. The thing itself is resistant to telepathic attacks, as Thaddeus had expected but hoped to be wrong about.

Still, as it lunges towards him with rows of teeth and lashing metallic whips, She-Hulk interposes herself at the last second, lunging in from the side. Her hulking green arms curl around Predator X’s huge thick neck, squeezing down tight as she, along with Invisible Woman’s Force Fields closing in from all other sides, stop the thing in its tracks.

However, only for a moment. As soon as it’s locked down, Predator X’s ‘flesh’ begins to squirm and surge, shifting under She-Hulk’s grasp.

“NOW, BREAKER!”

Lunging forward himself at her shout, Thaddeus reaches for Predator X’s face. Mercury flows away from his hands at the last second, allowing his palms to slap unobstructed into the monster’s silvery mess of flesh. Then... Thaddeus activates Rogue’s power at full blast on the mad scientist’s creation, utilizing his absorption abilities to their fullest extent for the first time.

Predator X lets out an unearthly screech that rings through the laboratory and causes even She-Hulk to cry out in pain. But Mercury’s full coverage of the rest of his body protects Thaddeus’ eardrums from the damaging shriek, and he holds on all the harder, clawing into the monster’s moldable, shifting flesh.

It tries to pull away, but Invisible Woman is ready for that it seems, because her Force Fields are behind it now as well, pushing it into his grasp and holding it in place. Thaddeus keeps pulling on its vitality, keeps draining it... and feels all the stronger for it. Taking a step forward, he snarls as he thrusts his hands even deeper into the malleable creature. He finally finds something solid, like bone, and he grabs onto that with all his might, gripping down on it harshly and refusing to let go.

It tries to fight back of course. But when it lashes out at him, Mercury is waiting and any parts of it that Predator X tries to cut into him with are soon caught up in the progenitor of its metallic skin.

“Yesss... come to mama...”

At first, Mercury just pulls on what Predator X gives her. But eventually, the weaker the creature gets, the more she goes on the offensive as well, until spikes are lashing out from his armor and into the beast, seemingly siphoning off its entire skin. The last parts of her stolen by that bastard Harkins flow into Mercury bit by bit... and then some.

They grow together as they dismantle the mutant hunter, Mercury’s armored form expanding in size as she skins the Predator X alive and Thaddeus’ own body also growing a bit within it. By the time they’re done, there’s not much left of the creature. It can’t even fight back as it collapses to the ground, a literal skinless husk of its former self.

Pulling back, Thaddeus finds he towers over She-Hulk even more than he did before now, and he’s easily twice as tall as the other women in the room. It feels a little strange, being this powerful, but he certainly doesn’t mind it... and neither does Mercury.

“Oooh. To be whole again. Ah, I think I’m a bit more than just whole, Thaddeus. I think we took everything that thing had to offer.”

She’s not wrong. Thaddeus stands there feeling... spectacular, even as Sue orders them to put Predator X back in the vault, at which point they’re finally free to use the failsafe to destroy every last trace of the creature... or at least, what’s left of it after he and Mercury got done with it.

All’s well that ends well, he supposes. Though... there is still the question of what comes next. He needs to debrief with Emma sooner rather than later. And this... well, these past few days have just been one thing after the other, haven’t they? Good lord, he’s due for a bit of a break...

-x-X-x- The Vote: [X] Stick with Thaddeus' POV - 55%[ ] Switch to She-Hulk's POV - 27%

[ ] Switch to Cessily's POV - 18%

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