Arc Eleven. Chapter Three-Hundred Ten. Transforming The Odds

"Master Mould Rejects Your Conditions. You Are Inferior, We Are Superior." As the cables ejected from the back of the giant machine they hissed, "Older Models Ineffective. Upgrade In Progress." and its chest slid open and a smaller Sentinel jumped out.

It was the size of a human, and was thicker in its build, like a squat no necked musclemen.

Flicking his wrist the acid impacted once more but rather than hissing the webbing just slid off its white armoured skin,

A cable shot out of the giant and attached to the back of the smaller one's head, and its eyes glowed momentarily.

"Upload Complete. Nimrod Online. Target Acquired. Alien DNA Detected. Sample Unverified. You Will Comply And Provide Genetic Material For Assimilation," and as the robot raised a hand it became a large sliver blade, "Resistance is Futile."

"Yeah, the only people who get genetic samples are my girlfriends, and you aren't my type," Peter quipped as he sent two different types of webbing toward Nimrod. Both slid off once more,

"Adaptive Armouring Successful. Scanning. Peter Parker Identified. Files Indicate Symbiotic Life Form. Files Updated. Inferior Combat Potential."

"Seriously? I mean, I did organise the resistance, did stop all three of the lead Enhanced, and I did track you here. Not so shabby if I say so myself," Peter retorted.

"File Updated. Combat Potential Upgraded. Threat Level High. Termination In Progress." and two beams of energy streaked from Nimrod's eyes, blasting Peter back into a workbench of tools.

Me and my big mouth, he thought. "Yeah, stealing Augment abilities, isn't that proving Augments are superior?" and Nimrod raised an arm but paused,

"Mutant Abilities Prove Threat Level. Approaching With Mundane Weaponry Ill-Advised. All Means Necessary Must Be Taken To Ensure Sucess Rate Of Primary Mission,"

Can't argue with that, "What is your primary mission?" he asked, please don't say kill everyone please don't say-

"Termination of Mutant Species To Ensure Survival Of Human Species."

Dammit, "Augments are humans though, we have evidence of genetic tampering." Peter hoped he could reason with at least one of these murderbots. Even if Ultron was behind all this, it seemed like it was still following its programming.

"Reason For Genetic Divergence Irrelevant. This Discussion Is Over. Mutant Species Shall Be Eliminated As Per Directives. There Will Be Peace, No Matter The Cost."

"Fine. Violence it is." and Peter wrapped the thicker mark two armour around himself. Liv had already started on the mark three but this was good enough. It had taken a beating during the day of strife, but it was still functional, and it still packed a punch.

Knowing his webbing was already useless, Venom charged up the repulsors around his wrists and crouching leapt towards Nimrod. The machine seemed unphased and as he punched it in the kidneys and discharged the repulsor it went flying, a smouldering gap in its armour sparked as the circuitry underneath tore and shorted.

"Upgrade Complete." and Venom watched as the armour started to rebend back into shape and the hole slowly vanished. "Energy Successfully Mapped And Neutralised. Proceeding With Subjugation."

Nimrod seemed to blur as it sped towards Venom, and a fist repeated the move Venom had used. Venom went flying as the impact blew him back into the same workbench, this time splintering it into a million pieces,

"Oww," he said, Maria, get your ass to the repair bay. Bring Laura and get Fury out of here. I've got a Super Sentinel,

"Interesting. Insufficient Force To Neutralise The Target. Increasing Strength Fifty Per Cent." The machine stood and it twisted similarly to one of the larger models. Its armour shifted, bulking its frame and the now shorter but squatter Nimrod was almost as wide as it was tall, with thick massive arms.

It blurred again and a fist impacted the wall behind Venom as he rolled out of the way. Spraying the floor with a greasy webbing, he hoped that it would buy him some time.

Claws sprang from each hand, and the tips glowed red as he slashed at the stumbling machine. Sashes were scored along the chest and Nimrod's eyes glowed once more and as Venom stepped back and then forwards again a cloud of supercooled gas was blasted into his face.

The red of his talons faded and they shattered as they impacted against the machine's chest,

Oh come on, he lamented, iceman, and he now knew they had been collecting a database of Augment powers from each Sentinel. Analysing and creating countermeasures for each one. This needed to be a brawl, no powers and once Talon and Vengeance got here, it would be a lot easier.

"Enemy Combatant Strength Insufficient. Adapting Tactics." Nimrod pushed itself backwards, sliding along the floor using the grease Venom had spilt. As it stood it raised an arm, and the thick muscles parted and a cannon rose. "Enemy Strength In Close Quarters, Eliminating Advantage." The huge cannon on its arm began to glow and a beam of bright purple energy shot out, obliterating the workbench and wall behind where Venom had been standing.

"There Can Be No Peaceful Coexistence."

Who the hell had the Sentinels been fighting to have that kind of power, he realised that if Scott or even Carol had blasted one, then Nimrod would be able to replicate it, and Scott had always held back to avoid large scale devastation.

"Yeah, arm cannons are bad, that was mega dumb," and he fired off two balls of black webbing, super sticky and like cement, they coated the end of the barrel, and Venom as had hoped, the end sizzled as the energy tried to fire through it, but contained within the barrel it blackened and began to smoulder.

"Arm Cannon Disabled. Switching to Optics." and smaller purple beams lanced out, forcing Venom to cartwheel across the bay.

I hope nobody was behind that door,

"Too late, incoming," he heard Talon yell, and two metal blades sliced through the thick metal door and then again to create a temporary door. He heard banging and both Vengeance and Talon kicked the door section in and ran into the room,

"What the hell V?" Vengenace said as she saw the thick but short body of Nimrod, "I mean, shall we let the kids duke it out, it should be adorable."

Talon growled and took a stance as the machine floated upwards, "Escape Route Procured. Plan Adjusted." and Nimrod sent out two more purple blasts from its eyes as its shape reconfigured once more. Now it was back to the squat neckless robot look but its arms and legs were more streamlined, with fins between each arm.

Nimrod stood, and looked at the sparking and broken arm cannon. Talon had sliced clean through it and the energy discharge had blown them onto opposite sides of the factory floor.

"Hostile Mutants Sufficient to Terminate Life. Escape Route Plotted."

Two thrusters on its back ignited and sending out two more blasts it sped towards the hole cut by Talon and Vengence.

Nimrod brought his hand together and there was a blinding flash as sparkling lights and small explosions like bright fireworks filled the workspace with light and ear-piercing noise. Venom heard Vengence and Talon both swear and they dived to one side, expecting an attack but blinded and deafened by the noise instead.

Nimrod flew past them but Venom had been the victim of that type of attack before and sent out a line, catching Nimrod on the back of one foot and was pulled out after it.

"Dammit, Fury, get your ass in the air, It can fly!" Venom yelled into his earpiece

"No can do, local authorities have been alerted. The base was evacuated after the Sentinels started on the military. A Gamma squad is en route, thankfully they don't think we're Sentinals but I cannot engage. Sorry, Peter."

Dammit, "can either of you fly?" He asked

Talon touched the controls on her wrist and the pack on her back test-fired and she nodded,

Vengeance shook her head, "mine's fried."

"Stay here, make sure the military doesn't screw this up more, and take care of that." he said as he pointed to the still form of Master Mould, "I have no idea if it's dead or not, plus, files." and Vengence nodded and slowly approached the giant Sentinel.

"I'll do what I can, and good luck," she said as the pair nodded to each other and jetted out of the workroom.

Venom and Talon took to the skies, and as Nimrod was the only other thing in the sky they spotted him quickly, "you go low and fast, try to get ahead of him. I'll tail him and make a nuisance of myself," he told her and she nodded and sped away. She held her arms out in front of herself and sped along the ground. Venom took himself up and routing power to the flight systems took off like a rocket after Nimrod.

"Give it up bot brain, you can't fly faster than me," Venom shouted at him.

"Assessment Agreed. Alternate Escape Route Initiated." Nimrod stopped, and once more his eyes glowed and Venom avoided two beams of energy as they flashed out, followed by a burst of bright light. His helmet had glare protection built-in and it darkened as the light flashed out,

"Not good enough," Venom shouted back and blasted two shots of acid webbing followed by repulsor stuns at him.

"Assessment Faulty." as Nimrod batted the webbing away and his skin shone for a second as the repulsor energy was reflected away. "Tolerance of Presence Peter Parker Falling, Elimination In Progress."

The arm cannon slid from Nimrod's arm once more and he aimed it at Venom, who floated across from him,

"That won't work," Venom said as he waited,

"Tactics Updated. Inferior Peter Parker Cannot Survive."

Venom shrugged as the end of the cannon glowed he looked down.

Talon screamed as she flew up, and Nimrod's arm separated from his shoulder.

As she passed him, she kicked him in the head, spinning herself around and sending him crashing into the ground. He glared at the pair, and finding his arm, they watched as small tendrils spread out from his shoulder and attached it.

"Secondary Augment. Odds Of Survival Nil, Termination of Current Plan, Adaptive Technology Deployed."

A light strobed from Nimrod's chest it played over the people who were now hurriedly leaving, and as Venom swore, he dived but Nimrod just changed.

Venom had never seen a shapeshifter before and Nimrod was a strange boxy muscular robot one minute, and his outer shell rippled and folded back on itself, and he was a large toned man.

He was still huge and muscular, like some kind of barbarian bodybuilder, but as his skin rippled and a biker's jacket and leather trousers morphed over his body, he stared up at Venom and shouted "I'll Be Back!" before he took off running into the crowd.

"Can you see him?" Venom asked Talon but she shook her head, "dammit" and even using the Mind Stone, Nimrod was gone.

It was useless, and as the pair were attracting a crowd, he looked at Talon and they shimmered and vanished.

Fury looked over at Peter who was regaling him with the tale,

"It transformed?" Fury asked and he nodded, "into a person?"

"It was bizarre. It scanned the crowd for a few moments and then boom was some random guy. We need to get some satellites up and running. We should be able to track its power core. If it's Arc tech then they give off a unique signature. Otherwise, we're never finding it until it starts killing people."

Fury rubbed his forehead, "I know a few people, but Coulson wasn't happy about you charging into a NORAD base, and he won't be happy to find out you also copied its server data."

Peter laughed and shifted in his seat "You mean, you copied the server data. I was too busy joyriding a death bot, Maria did the hacking." Fury raised an eyebrow and glared at him, "So? Nobody objects when I pay you guys." and leaning forwards he undid the mark two armour, "the Mark Three will be even better. Liv's got it fabbing now and should be done by the end of the month. Just need to give her colours, but let me guess, black and maybe black, with black trim, and,"

Fury scowled, "Funny. And your armour is what colour?" and Peter just laughed "So what now?" and Peter shrugged,

"Ask Maria. Coulson wasn't too forthcoming on where Trask got his tech, and I guess he knows that I'll get pissy about it."

Maria waved a hand as the files transferred to her laptop, Vengeance creating a bridge between the two while they worked.

Laura had busied herself in the small galley kitchen, making cups of instant noodles for everyone. She had heard from Logan that he was around here, and had been tempted to go look for him, but as he was hunting Hank Pym, she didn't want to blow his cover or his fun.

"Hoover Dam. The source of the metal, the tech and the AI was at Hoover Dam. Project Ice Man, but that's it. Shipping invoices and requisition orders, but no more, just the name."

"So, we're heading to Hoover dam?" Fury asked but Peter shook his head

"No, We cant go. I'll contact Coulson and do this officially. I know the government is looking to nail me to a wall. Stark and Gwen are already under investigation, and Liv is only off the hook because of you." As he leaned back and Laura sat next to him, handing over a cup full of steaming noodles, "We need to do this right. "

Fury snorted, "You know I was head of Shield, Coulson won't ever admit this was his plan, but he'll let you walk in there and then fix everything, take the glory and let you swing."

Peter shrugged, "I live with nine women. Coulson doesn't scare me."