Marvel: Incursio

"How's the situation on the floors above here?" Natasha asked.

"About 300 left," Liam replied.

"That many, huh." Natasha sighed.

"I'm going to finish them up now," Liam said. "You guys are good for a few more minutes, right?"

"Yes, but do hurry up. Our agents are getting tired, and there isn't much ammunition left," Natasha responded.

Liam nodded. "If that's the case, I'll clear the upper side from here. You can have the rest of your agents deal with people coming from below and help the injured."

"You're sure you can take that many on at once, right?" Natasha asked.

"Yes, it'll be fine," Liam responded.

"I'll give out the orders then," Natasha said, giving Liam a nod.

He turned and walked towards the entrance where agent Carter was taking temporary command, Natasha following behind him. Despite being shot in the leg, Natasha moved on.

As Liam passed the agents, who were firing at Hydra operatives shooting at them from hidden angles, they looked up at him with questioning gazes. At the same time, Natasha informed agent Carter of the next course of action. Sharon, despite asking Natasha multiple times if she was sure, eventually gave the orders for her agents to leave.

Liam walked up the stairs, putting away his chakrams. Instead, he summoned Neontote into his hand as a stone wall slowly rose to cover the entrance behind him, shielding the others from the gunfire of Hydra agents.

Liam looked around at the Hydra operatives in the room before raising Neontote. According to Natasha and Maria's reports on the total number of people in here, there couldn't be many Hydra agents left on the lower floors since he had already eliminated hundreds. He decided to switch his approach—an option only made possible by saving his energy earlier on.

He looked up at the ceiling and around the room. With a wave of his hand, all the internal walls and hiding spots disappeared. At the same time, the ceiling above the Hydra agents started to disappear. Seconds later, there was a pop, then another, then a large number of thuds were heard, as agents from the floor above fell into the now-open space.

A few seconds passed, and soon all the agents from the floor above had dropped down. The room now had 240 Hydra operatives in one large, box-like space without any obstacles in it. With this, Liam knew they couldn't run or hide anymore.

Confusion spread amongst the agents that weren't brainwashed. Most of the other fallen agents, who were brainwashed, quickly recovered and began firing at Liam with the same emotionless expression as before.

Liam didn't say a word as he raised Neontote. The weapon began to shift into a different form.

Some Hydra members, those not fully brainwashed, realized the danger they were in. They turned to run, heading for where the staircase had been.

'The guys from upstairs said this one's a monster. Even then, I didn't expect him to be able to manipulate the building like this,' one high-ranking Hydra operative thought, desperate to save his life as he sprinted past his emotionless comrades. "Damn it, the stairs are gone. I need another way out."

His eyes searched around the entire room, finding that there weren't any gaps in the walls to escape from. Then he realized that the only way out was behind Liam.

"If I can get past him, I might reach the agents downstairs but I will still have better chances than with this guy," he reasoned, sprinting at Liam with all his might. Some of the other smarter agents soon followed his lead, running at Liam together.

'Good,' he thought with a smile. 'If I time this right, that guy will focus on the others, and I can slip past him.'

As he closed the distance, the agent noticed a small orange glow at the tip of Liam's spear. The light rapidly changed colors—orange to blue, then to a deep purple.

"Wh—" he started, but the words were never able to leave his mouth.

A surge of purple flame came from Neontote. The agent felt a short spike of pain, before his vision slowly turned to darkness and his mind stopped. He didn't even have time to understand what had happened, let alone understand that he had died.

Liam had poured a significant amount of energy into the spear, heating the flames to over 5432 degrees Fahrenheit (3000°C). With a release of power, a purple wave of fire went through the room.

The first row of agents disintegrated into ash almost instantly, their bones visible for a second before crumbling into ash. The flames continued, incinerating everyone in its path. Some agents, slower to understand the danger, scrambled to the back of the room, but the flames engulfed them as well. Others stood still, shouting Hydra slogans until they too were reduced to ash.

Liam slowly moved Neontote from the left side to the right side of the room, making sure every Hydra operative was killed while doing so. When he sensed no life remaining, he cut off the energy flow and released the spear's hold.

A gap opened in the ceiling, and Liam went up to the last floor with enemies on it. There, he dealt with the remaining agents swiftly, using his domain. Sharp spikes shot out from the walls, piercing the necks, hearts, or heads of the Hydra operatives.

Some managed to barely dodge the first spikes, getting pierced in a non-lethal location, only to be finished off by a second spike. Those who survived the first wave found themselves hit and killed by knife constructs that Liam threw instead.

Once the floor thirteen was cleared, Liam went down again. At the staircase, he encountered some agents from Natasha's team, whom were vomiting from the smell of burned flesh. They looked at Liam with fear as they backed away from him and focused on gathering weapons from the staircases.

'Luckily, I don't have to deal with the smell,' Liam thought, thanking Incursio and himself for the air filter that they had adapted for the toxic gases at the volcano.

Now that he had finished clearing the upper floors, he went down and swiftly dealt with the remaining 150 or so enemies scattered across the nine lower floors. He killed them all with the use of his domain and the chakrams.

After clearing them all out, he sighed in relief, knowing he was done for now, and returned upstairs to Natasha and Clint, who had already began making their way down with a group of people following them.

'I can't cancel my domain yet,' Liam thought, aware that doing so might cause people to become trapped in chairs, tables and other reappearing items, leading to injuries or even deaths.