As we stepped off the Blackbird, a gust of icy wind imdiately bit at my face. Despite the suit's thermal adjustnt, the cold was sharp. I had to use my ice power to fend off the cold. The North Pole was a bleak landscape of snow and ice—a desolate, hostile environnt. But this scent! Blood!
Logan's nose twitched, his claws instinctively extending.
"Blood," he muttered, his voice low and gravelly.
I used my ice control to stretch my senses, scanning as far as possible. Blood... Dead bodies... Well, another fucked up mission. I quickly searched around us to detect the enemy, but there was none. Nothing that's alive.
Logan sniffed again, narrowing his eyes. "It's fresh."
Psylocke used her psychic power to check our surroundings. "I'm not getting any life signs except for ours."
"Kurt, take us to the base," I said while keeping my senses stretched around us.
Nightcrawler teleported us to the Shield's base.
The temporary base was a disaster zone. Large, grey tal structures, hastily bolted together to withstand the harsh weather, now stood eerily quiet. It was like one of those zombie horror gas with a bunker and zombies hiding inside, except there were only dead bodies. The faint sars of blood streaked across the snow, blackened scorch marks charred the walls, and broken equipnt was all over the floor.
Logan crouched near the bent and slashed entrance of the largest building, sniffing the air. His eyes narrowed as he ran a single claw along one of the deep gashes in the door. "These cuts are clean," he muttered, his voice low and rough. "Whoever did this, cut this reinforced tal door in just a single slash. Looks like our killer got a nice blade or sword. Two blades..." He touched the other slash mark.
I followed him inside, my boots crunching against the icy floor. The tallic sll of blood hit imdiately, sharp and suffocating. The scene inside was worse than I'd imagined. Bodies of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents lay slumped against walls or sprawled on the ground, their black tactical suits torn apart like paper. The blood beneath them was already frozen, but the brutality was just... Too perfect.
I knelt beside one of the fallen agents, carefully inspecting the wounds. Deep, precise cuts marred his chest and neck. "Blade wounds. One short blade and one dium," I said as I noticed the slashes and stabs on the dead body. "The strikes are too perfect. Just look at these slashes..." I pointed at the wound on his chest and neck. "A short blade slashed the neck and a long one punctured his heart."
I moved on to the next body. The sa style. One stab and one slash at the exact sa place.
"I doubt our killer is a human. It's like so kind of a machine... Or, an alien with X-ray vision and perfect reflexes. Well, this is ssed up," I sighed.
"No footprints outside," Psylocke ca in after looking around outside. "The storm's wiped out any tracks."
I am worried about Natasha. I hope she's alright.
"Natasha was supposed to be here," Logan said, his claws scraping against the tal wall as he paced. "She wouldn't go down easy. Where the hell is she?"
"Betsy, can you check once again?" Storm asked with a worried expression.
Psylocke's focus deepened as she reached out with her psychic abilities, her lips pressing into a thin line. After a few monts, she opened her eyes, frustration flickering across her face. "Nothing. No life signs."
The storm outside just got worse.
Storm glanced at the entrance as her eyes beca white. The snowstorm stopped within seconds. "We'll need another way to track her."
I looked around the room again, searching for clues. My eyes fell on a console, its screen shattered but still flickering faintly. A few keystrokes revealed partial logs—fragnts of communication.
[Log Entry 0429: "…alien energy signatures. Unprecedented levels… requesting imdiate backup… hostile presence dete—"]
The recording cut off in static. Another log followed:
[Log Entry 0430: "…Romanoff engaging… defensive asures failing… repeating: hostile presen—"]
I shared the logs with the team. "Natasha was here when the attack happened. She might've fought back, but whatever—or whoever—did this overwheld them fast."
Kurt, who was trying to contact the Professor, stuttered, "I... I can't contact the Professor. So kind of jamr?! This is bad, isn't it?"
Damn it! I can't wait anymore. She might be in danger. No point wasting ti.
"I have an idea," I walked outside and touched the snowy ground, spreading my senses through the ice and moisture. There were a couple of dead bodies outside too, but luckily Natasha wasn't among them. But robots... A few clicks away from our location, there were around twenty giant robots, hiding using camo tech. But they couldn't hide from the ice. I shifted my focus toward that spaceship and wow! Would you look at that? It got so nice weapons and they were all aid at our location.
It was a well-planned trap. But who?
I focused harder, pushing my senses further into the icy wasteland. But as I increased my power, the suit failed to withstand the amount of cold energy I was producing. The nanites inside started breaking down and the circuitry failed, causing sparks to fly from my suit. I ripped it apart with ease. My body finally transford into organic ice.
My senses stretched even further, expanding outward in all directions. Using the storm far away and the moisture in the air, I amplified my reach. Everything in the area beca clear to , from the frozen blood on the ground to the faintest traces of movent in the distance. It was like a 360 surround view. I have never used my ice power to this extent. I could sense the smallest details for miles.
The first thing I noticed was the circle of robots, camouflaged, their tallic forms blending into the icy landscape. At least twenty of them, hidden just beyond the snowdrifts, standing in perfect formation. Great. First aliens, now robots.
I adjusted my focus, pushing my senses further. There, just beyond the line of snow-covered hills, was the crash site. The alien ship lay partially buried in snow, its hull cracked and scorched. But what caught my attention were the weapon systems, active and glowing with faint red energy. The guns mounted on the ship seed active, their red targeting systems locked onto our position. I could hear the faintest of humming sounds, a low vibrational pulse coming from the ship. Probably remote-controlled...
I narrowed my focus even further, searching for any signs of movent. And there—off in the distance, lying atop a ridge overlooking the base, was a figure, covered in a heap of ice. A humanoid, its form was unnaturally still, yet the faint outline of its blue tallic skin was visible even from this distance. It didn't look human, but it wasn't entirely robotic either. A woman! The cyborg got an alien sniper rifle aid at us.
Wait a sec! Blue skin... Cyborg... Deadly with weapons...
Lady Death said that Thanos was targeting , so... My wild guess is that the blue cyborg might be Nebula. Let check once more. I focused my senses on her. The scent of blood was too strong. There were even two blades lying just beside her buried under the snow. Her eyes are black and that tal area around her eye. Shit! That's definitely Nebula, alright.
I pulled my senses back in, narrowing my focus to the group. I used telepathy to talk to them. "Act normal. We've got twenty robots in position, and the alien ship's weapon systems are active and aid at us. There's a cyborg sniper, blue skin, far off to the side, aiming her sniper rifle at us. Whatever's going on here, it's a setup. A trap. And they're waiting for the right mont to strike. And there's no sign of Natasha. Now, here's what we are gonna do. Kurt, get everyone out of here. Teleport back to the ship. This fight... I will handle it alone."
"What? You can't..." Psylocke said in disbelief.
"Trust ," I smiled at her. "I won't be able to use my full power with you all here."
[Bang!] Nebula took a shot, aiming at Kurt. The bullet was fast, but I was faster. With super speed and the power to freeze the bullet in mid-air, I stopped it. "Go! NOW!"
Everyone grabbed onto Kurt as he teleported back to the ship. They took off.
I looked at Nebula and pointed my middle finger at her. "Co and get , bitch!"
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AN: It's ti to unleash full power of ice. And I'm gonna take a few days off to stockpile. See you soon...
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[12 advance chapters] [No double billing]
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