103 – Mid-tournant chaos
[Nick Fury's POV]
Watching as two of his Agents work together to ta a pack of dire wolves, Fury couldn't help but let his gaze wander to Coulson, who was struggling to make as much progress. It seed that Coulson was facing trendously lousy luck, nearly dying multiple tis already in the past few in-ga days, whether it was being unable to find a jug bug on the first day or a source of drinking water, being chased relentlessly by a Terror Bird, or coming face-to-face with a T-Rex as soon as he awoke on the third day. It was highly suspicious, but he had been unlucky for as long as Fury had known Coulson.
Almost half of the assignnts given to Coulson ended in so accident during the mission, or the mission went entirely off the rails, forcing Coulson to adapt. Despite his terrible luck, he still proved to be one of his best agents and one he could trust. While Fury knew that Coulson had a more than likely chance that whatever assignnt he was to be assigned could go FUBAR at any ti, Coulson had very rarely failed a mission.
The fact that he managed to make it this far despite the very world around him seemingly thirsting for his death spoke volus of his skill and willpower, not to ntion the few hours he had to sleep over the past few in-ga days. However, Fury was beginning to worry that Coulson wouldn't make it to the end of the round and advance to the final round, especially with how far behind he was becoming compared to the other participants.
Fury's gaze flowed over to the other noticeable participants he was concerned about. First was the participant with the pseudonym 'Tyke,' who, by his skills, was the most dangerous. In the first round of the tournant, he killed 29 of the 100 participants of his 'lobby.' Just from the 'clips' made by the other tournant observers, the man was brutally efficient and a fierce combatant with evident skill in CQC, Marksmanship, and guerrilla warfare. Every participant they encountered, he dispatched with ease, tactics, and clever thinking.
Fury wanted to recruit the man, but every ti one of his people attempted to approach him, the man would evade them with ease, losing them whenever they tried to follow and track him down. However, Natasha managed to join his 'guild' and, through that connection, set up a trade deal with the man.
Sohow, the man could reproduce so of the weapons from the 'Fallout world, giving more credence to the fact that these worlds were real, no matter how much 'Zerref' wanted to say otherwise. From this 'Tyke,' we purchased a few crates of 'Laser Rifles,' which were being disassembled and examined by so SHIELD scientists who found that these Laser Rifles used the sa ammunition as shown in the ga, Energy Cells. Tyke also claid to have started production towards basic robotic units such as Eyebots and Protectrons, and we were also interested in purchasing them.
This Tyke fabricated these Laser Rifles and robots himself, which hinted that he operated out of a workshop. It was only a matter of ti before his agents tracked him to this said workshop, and they could glean how and what, though Fury wanted to know why.
Shaking his head from his thoughts, Fury refocused on the tournant, calmly examining each screen and the participants still in the tournant. While he didn't want any of these civilians to get the final 'prize' of the tournant, Fury could at least admit that there were many talents in this tournant, talented enough to beco quite effective agents for SHIELD with a bit more formal training.
However, Fury had focused too much on the tournant, not noticing a stranger locking eyes with his form and motioning forward from behind. This figure was seemingly ordinary, but it had a sowhat athletic build and was dressed in clothes. They had a cap and a face set in a stoic expression, and their eyes were not diverting from Fury.
As the figure got closer and closer to Fury, they reached into their jacket. They began pulling out a small firearm, one so small that it would be nearly unnoticeable unless soone were to see it directly, and as the man leveled the gun from underneath their jacket and aid it at Fury's back, the man suddenly scread as shadows seed to co alive around him.
The people around the man scread and panicked, and Fury hurriedly turned around to see the man get dragged down into the shadows, leaving nothing but one of the 'Zerrifs' standing where the man once was.
"No reason to panic; the problem was taken care of; please enjoy yourselves and have a complintary al on the house," Zerref spoke out before disappearing into the shadows.
...
anwhile, a particular scarlet-haired woman who loved nature was having a difficult ti surviving against nature in the harsh and unforgiving desert. She was used to lush jungles and forests filled with plant life, yet life struggled to survive here on the 'Scorched Earth.' Spiders called small patches of grass ho, covering them in silk that Ivy harvested and used to make a whip, a weapon that she knew how to use, although she was not the best with it due to her friendship with the famous cat burglar, Catwoman. While it would not be the best weapon in her arsenal, it should prove a handy surprise against the other people wandering this desert with her.
She was lucky not to have encountered anyone else, but she feared it would not be long before she was forced to et soone, as on the distant horizon was a massive wall of moving sand. Unlike the island, the storm rolling this way was clearly a sand storm, one beyond the size of any such storm that could ever form naturally on Earth.
Focusing back on the avian creature on the ground before her, she whistled, and the creature took off into the skies. It was a strategic move on her part to ta a Vulture, an early warning system, as the Vulture would keep an eye from the sky trained around her person. If she taught the Vulture right, it would warn her whenever a predator ca close or spotted another human.
Ivy couldn't help but appreciate how susceptible the animals of this world were to training. They quickly learned any orders given and could even be trained to great lengths that most animals on Earth were incapable of understanding on the sa level. It was both natural and unnatural.
She was both thankful and suspicious. First were the giant tal obelisks that floated in the sky, and then there was the strange barrier that surrounded the land. It was too...artificial. She was suspicious, and with clue after clue, she soon realized that this desert and the Island had to be an artificial enclosure or sothing similar. The animals reproduce far too quickly, are far too nurous for the sheer number of predators that call this desert ho, trees grow far too quickly, and so much more, which led to her having three questions. How, why, and when?
How was this place created? How did it work? Why was it made, and when? It must have required a significant amount of effort and advanced technology. Was it an experint that had gotten out of control? A project that was forgotten, leading to people becoming trapped within this artificial ecosystem? How many people had gotten trapped in this place before them? There were notes and signs of ruins, indicating that so kind of civilization had once ford here in the desert, so what happened to the people? Were they alive? Where were they if they were? Did they find a way to escape?
With more questions, she decided to investigate after the tournant to find out.
Reviews
All reviews (0)