117 Villains

Ivan Kragoff

Ivan watched from his secondary base on a small tv as his decayed nation celebrated the efforts of their new circus clowns, the Winter Guard. The old communist clenched at the arms of his chair, scowling angrily at the tiny screen before him, the tv illuminating his face in blue. The damned fools even rewarded the Americans with a plane!

But that was Ivan's fault. He had failed. He had underestimated them all. Not just the Winter Guard, with their false god and witch. He had underestimated BRIDGE.

And Dial. Dial, who had devoured a NUCLEAR BOMB. Such power in that watch. Ivan had paid the Avenger little mind at first, believing him to be nothing but brute force in battle. But enough brute force had overwhelmed his forces.

Of course, the BRIDGE members had managed to hack his superior technology, destroying his wonderful super-apes. Ivan needed to be more prepared. Even with all the enhancements he'd made to the apes, all the deals he made with HYDRA… with that new American organization, to test their technology in combat. He'd made deals, compromised where he wouldn't have otherwise, all out of his impatience. And now, here he was. A failure!

The tv was suddenly broken. Ivan blinked at the culprit. Large black knuckles had slammed down on the Soviet era technology, shattering it apart while Ivan had been slowly stewing. For a moment, he wanted to shout. Then he sighed.

"Miklho. I understand you're upset on my behalf, but the tv was not the issue."

From the shadows, a gorilla stepped forward. A gorilla that was untouched by cybernetics, and unlike the 'Miklho' that Chernobog had fought, this gorilla was normal sized. But he carried himself… differently. More intelligently. More confidently.

"Ohoh," Miklho walked up, shaking his head. His hands flicker between different signs for a few moments, then shrugged.

"Yes… I suppose I have been rather foolish old friend," Ivan sighed.

The gorilla was joined by an orangutan and baboon. Same as Miklho, they looked normal. Same as him, they carried themselves with intelligence. They swung down from the rafters to land before Ivan, eyes filled with concern.

"I rushed things," Ivan said forlornly. "I compromised my morals, forced myself to work with monsters. To create rush jobs. And now? My enemies are celebrated by the country I love…" Ivan swallowed. Tears fell down from his eyes before he could stop them. The apes looked at each other, worried looks on their faces. Mikhlo sighed, nudging at the baboon, Igor. Igor rolled his eyes and stepped toward Ivan to comfort him.

Then the orangutan hissed, spinning to face the door to the large room. The gorilla and baboon turned as well in alarm, while Ivan snapped to his feet.

"Peotor!?" Ivan snapped toward the orangutan. "What is it?"

There was a knock on the door. Ivan stared at it. No one knew about this place. That was the point of a secondary base, that even when the primary one was compromised you could still have somewhere no one could find.

"Excuse me?" someone said through the door in very rough Russian. "Dr. Kragoff? My big headed asshole of a boss wanted to speak with ya."

"...Mikhlo. Get the door."

The gorilla nodded, walking up to the door. With surprising gentleness, he opened it.

"Jesus, you're even hairier than I expected," the man behind the door said. "Been hitting the Bowflex too, eh? I mean, I try, but I'm a lazy fuck, to be honest."

"Urgh?" Mikhlo said in confusion.

"Yeah, I have that effect on people," before Ivan could say anything, the man slipped around the gorilla.

The man was rough looking. His hair was shaved at the sides and spiky on top, a tattoo on the right side of his head. His beard was rough, peppered with salt, and his eyes were wide, filled with glee. As though he was always in on some joke no one else had heard yet. He was wearing a warm grey jacket lined with fur and a ballistic vest made of some material Ivan didn't recognize on top of that. He had a large futuristic rifle on his back that had some sort of sea-green crystal where the barrel should have been.

He was also familiar to him.

"Klaue?" Kragoff asked, surprised.

"Hey, Terrible," Klaue teased happily. "You look good."

Ivan scowled. "That nickname was never funny."

"Ah come on," Ullyses Klaue grinned. "Ivan the Terrible doesn't like his name?"

"What do you want, Klaue?" Kragoff scowled. "What does a dead man want with me?"

"I come with gifts, Terrible," Klaue grinned, reaching for his pocket. Mikhol growled, Klaue stopping the motion for his pocket with a frown. "Hey. Can you call off Joe Young over here? I come in peace and all that shit."

Ivan thought about that. He thought about that for a very, very long moment. Klaue's smile widened and widened, his fingers flickering. Mikhol, Igor, and Peotor glared at him. Violence seemed to tinge the air.

"...Klaue. If you kill me. You will face horrors unimaginable," three apes growled, filling the room with the sounds until they seemed to bounce off the walls and reverberate off the bones.

"Fair enough," Klaue continued to reach into his pocket and pulled out a round device. He flipped it open. "My boss said you would appreciate this. The big headed bastard is usually right about that."

A hologram floated in front of Ivan. And his jaw dropped. "Where… how did you do this?"

Klaue laughed. "Oh, you think that's good! Just wait, Terrible! We're about to have a hell of a time!"

All the while, the sea-green crystal in Klaue's rifle continued to hum.

Antoine 'Trip' Triplett

Walking through the halls of a base in a secret location in Siberia, Trip led Sharon and Laura to a room in the center of the base. He ignored the various scientists and guards that lived in the base. None of them mattered.

He soon strode down a set of metal stairs in a room with monitors and machinery all over, scientists looking up at him as he entered. Then they met eyes with Laura and quickly looked away again.

Laura had that effect on people. The young woman was always eyeing people in a hostile manner, always looking as though she was moments from embedding a sea-green blade deep into your throat. For some reason, Trip had never seen her giving Sharon and him similar looks. But the fact was that the leather-clad woman was anti-social, to understate things massively.

Trip stopped before the man at the center of the room.

"Sir," Trip said slowly.

Wolfgang Von Strucker looked up from what he'd been doing, which was typing at a computer while listening to music apparently. He was standing while doing so. As always, the Scepter was at his right hip in a holster. On his left was a small table holding a red glove. Once used only to let him use the Scepter without worrying about being manipulated in turn, the glove was larger now, more armored. Behind his back, it had gained a name of it's own. The Satan Glove. He smiled when he saw Trip. "Ah. Agent Triplett. It is good to see you are well."

Trip eyed him. One punch to the larynx. That's all he wanted. Just the chance to do it would be worth the whole world to him.

Von Strucker seemed to notice the intensity of Trip's gaze. He didn't seem to mind at all. Instead he lifted up his glove and put it on his left hand, then gestured for the three warriors to follow him, walking toward a dark hallway with Trip, Sharon, and Laura in tow.

"How did your mission go?"

"Successfully," Trip said as coldly as he could. The image of the helpful Chinese scientist he'd killed flashed into his mind.

"I see you were forced to kill innocents again," when Trip gave Von Strucker a startled look, the scientist smiled. "I have been inside your head, Agent Triplett. I daresay I know you better than you know yourself by now."

That was… galling, to hear. Still, Trip couldn't even deny that. Deep within him, in a sunken place where the last of himself fought to be heard, he tried to scream. But he did not. He breathed while drowning, staring out from eyes that weren't his own. He tried to speak his true thoughts. To raise his gun as they walked, fire it into the leader of HYDRA's face, and find his way home to the people he loved.

Nothing. He was only able to follow silently.

"That is what I like about you, Agent Triplett," Von Strucker said in satisfaction. "Even with the conditioning we've done, you still manage to hold onto your will. It is impressive. But it is also valuable to me," Von Strucker sighed sadly. "I am surrounded by sycophants. Once, I might have liked that, before the events of last year. Now I find your naked hatred rather fulfilling. It keeps me from being arrogant. What is it the youths say? 'My haters are my motivators'?"

He chuckled at the look he got from that. "It is true. I find you enjoyable, Agent Triplett. Funny, even."

Trip tried to reach for his gun. Von Strucker smiled when Trip continued to follow him obediently instead. "You have the chip?"

"Yes, sir," Trip patted the pouch on his left hip.

"Then we can complete the Project," they entered a room that was strangely empty. There was only a table, a large metal armchair, and a tarp covered object resting in the chair. There were dozens of wires stretching from it's back and into the wall. The room was extremely chilly, tinged with a bit of frost. Von Strucker held out his hand. "The chip, please."

Trip opened the pouch, reached into it, and pulled out the computer chip. Von Strucker stared at the innocuous device as though it was made of gold. In many ways, it might as well have been. He took it into this gloved hand and walked around to the tarp covered objects back.

"Months of research, thievery, and work. All to recover what we lost. HYDRA's greatest weapon has always been science. Not the worship of dead deities or dependance on alien powers. Always the science we could use," he slipped the computer chip under the tarp. A small click could be heard. He pulled his hand back out sans the computer chip and nodded when a green light shone from under the tarp. The wires quivered for a moment.

Then the tarp shifted slowly as the object underneath rose up. The sound of fans filled the room, moving the chill air around them.

Snickt!

The sound of Laura's claws popping out of her knuckles filled the room.

"Don't you dare!" Von Strucker shouted angrily.

"..." Laura's claws slowly slipped back into her hands as she stared at Von Strucker. He glared at her, then looked back at the object.

The tarp slipped off, revealing black metal underneath. Gears twisted around, wires curled, and the being beneath rose completely. It was shaped like a man, but instead of a face, it had a metal block with a red lens that glowed. It lifted hands of steel and twisted the fingers around, staring at them through the red lens. Then it reached for it's 'stomach' with it's right hand. It's cool metal fingers met a screen.

It hesitated before speakers on the machine spoke. "What… is, this?"

"Your return," Von Strucker said in satisfaction. "After 42 years your mind truly lives again... Doctor Zola!"

Trip watched the screen in the center of the robot, flashing the green image of a confused Arnim Zola. Then the robot stared at its own hands again. And Arnim Zola slowly smiled.