Storm ≛ Tony Stark ≛

78.

Sue was shocked at the strength of the first Outrider she encountered. It charged at her on all legs and arms, its brothers and sisters doing the same and fixated on humans to gobble up. She tried to not let fear take hold at the sight of its sharp teeth and wide jaw. One bite and a limb were gone, or her insides were ingested. No matter how strong her suit was, it would be no match for the alien's chomp.

Her first attack was meant to be fatal to the beast. She encased it in a sphere of shimmering blue, raising it off the ground with her hand stretched outwards. The Outrider bashed against the walls, its tongue flicking and jaw attempting to latch onto an edge to rip. Sue wanted to move on to the next assailant, which she could see coming at her in the corner of her eye. So, she went to shrink the ball and crush the alien, but it's four arms pushed outwards and broke through the lining. Sue pulled her arm back at the rebound and the Outrider landed on its back legs, towering over her.

It lurched forward with a roar, two of its right arms raised to attack. But Sue disappeared and side-stepped. The Outrider couldn't stop its pursuit in time and followed through with its hit but sliced through nothing but air. In her invisibility, Susan encased her hand with a large disk. Its edges sliced through the Outrider's middle, and she forced her arm to follow through its thick abdomen.

The Storm's arm emerged the other side covered in thick, green blood. The abdomen's middle was gone, and the Outrider fell to the grass; dead. Its long tongue laid out of its open jaw, but Sue didn't have time to be disgusted, as she was knocked over by a falling Wakandian solider. At the unexpected, she materialised into view and let out a groan as she hit the ground. After a few rolls, she got into a crouch to see what had hit her.

An Outrider feasted on a dead Wakandian soldier. With its teeth piercing through meat and its gruesome tongue licking over bone, Sue felt anger pour into her veins. As another Outrider jumped at her from the left, she held one hand out to produce a half-dome around herself while concentrating on the feasting alien. At the feeling of its chest expanding from the inside, the Outrider looked up and roared. Its mouth was covered in blood and its claws were still latched into the soldier's armour. The other Outrider collided with her forcefield and attempted the same technique it did on the barrier around Wakanda, throwing itself against it until it faltered.

An explosion of guts and blood blanketed the ground. Sue's forcefield continued to expand out of the Outrider's body and dispersed once there was nothing left of its form. Surrounding soldiers and aliens turned when they were caked in Outrider guts. The sight of their dead brother/sister enraged the aliens, and they attempted to get through their opponents to Sue, who turned to the Outrider that she held at bay behind her.

'What a woman,' M'Baku stared in awe at the Storm from across the battlefield. He watched as she pierced through the other Outrider with a spike of transparent blue, before turning invisible to weave through the fighting.

Each of the Avengers battled for Wakanda. The Outriders were powerful in their masses, but the humans were dynamic in their skill, abilities and dominance. From above, Rhodey, Sam and Johnny worked together to take out clusters of raging beasts. Outriders fizzled from streams of fire, their cries of agony teaming with the burning infernos that Johnny produced from his hands. He swooped low and Outriders attempted to swat at him, but their arms were singed and burnt to their shoulders. The smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air and Sam's nose crinkled in disgust.

'God, that stinks,' the Wilson coughed, flying down to let his wings cut through the heads of aliens.

'Barbecue, anyone?' Johnny snickered through the earpiece. Those who weren't neck deep in Outriders let out a laugh.

'Very funny, Johnny,' Bucky's voice came through the Storm's ear. 'Can you get down here? These things just keep on coming.'

'I got it!'