Wondertwins of the Alpha Team
Author's Note: This was so much fun to write! I definitely wouldn't have taken on this challenge without the prompt, but I'm so glad I did. I had an absolute blast coming up with powers and playing with the full-team dynamic. Neric-centered superteam fic!
"Get out of my head!" Sam yelled as the team stepped off their transport ship. Nate, waiting at the other end of the landing bridge, grinned patronizingly.
"There's no need to shout," he reassured as they approached. "I can hear you loud and clear."
"Someone's a little testy today," Callen joked, although he stayed clear of Sam's arm. He had experienced the super-punch one too many times.
"Had to rescue another cat from a tree?" Deeks asked, laughing as well. Kensi spirited him away before Sam had a chance to reach out his other arm, the breeze that followed her speed causing goosebumps to appear on Sam's arm. Before he had a chance to recover, Eric materialized beside the team.
"President Granger's on the big screen," he announced. He grabbed Sam's arm in one hand and Callen's in the other, dragging them with him as he teleported back to the control center deep in their headquarters. Kensi ran to meet them there, pulling Deeks along with her. Shrugging, Nate transferred his consciousness into Sam's mind so he wouldn't miss the beginning of the briefing while he walked to the control center. He could have chosen another member of the team, but he wanted to watch the replay of Sam's latest cat-saving adventure through his own eyes.
"Welcome back, team," President Granger began as images of their day appeared on the screen. "Well done today. Abdul Habaza was not an easy target to take down, but you were able to do it without any additional civilian casualties. And Sam even saved a cat while you were out." Nate could feel Sam's rage grow as he watched the clip. "But your work isn't done for the day." Deeks groaned at this announcement, causing Kensi to elbow him in the ribs before he could voice his complaints.
"We have been monitoring an ongoing threat for some time now," Chief Hetty picked up where President Granger had left off. She appeared before them, startling the whole team as she dropped her near-constant invisibility to speak to them. "His name is Isaak Sidorov." With a nod of her head, Chief Hetty signaled to Nell that the image should appear on the large screen beside President Granger's image.
"He has been planning to steal nuclear weapons and detonate them in America's busiest metropolitan areas. Our latest intelligence indicates that he has obtained a nuclear device. Your task is to prevent him from detonating the device by any means necessary." Without leaving time for questions, Hetty returned to her invisible state and most likely exited the control center (although no one knew for sure).
"Copy that," Callen responded to the air. "We'll take the jet so that the transport ship has time to cool. Nell, forward all of the intel you've gathered so far to our on-board computers. We'll pick up the trail and then we'll let Sam take out his anger."
"I'm not angry," Sam countered.
"You're a little angry," Kensi disagreed.
"I think it's all the cats," Deeks tagged on. "Also, if we're taking the jet, can Monty come along?" As if on cue, Monty the Mutt bounded into the room, sniffing at the team members' hands to see if any of them had any treats. Deeks rubbed Monty's head to settle him.
"There isn't room for Monty with Kensi's mess," Sam pointed out. They turned to leave just as Nate arrived.
"You're late," Deeks teased.
"I was here the whole time," Nate grinned, sending Sam a pointed look. Callen laughed, leading the team out to the jet, and Nate walked through the control center to his office pod, leaving Nell and Eric alone in the control center, a common occurrence at headquarters. Despite Callen's public leadership of the team, Nell and Eric were truly the ones who made sure that they reached the pinnacles of success to which the world had become accustomed.
Very few people had initially thought that the plan would work. Bringing a half dozen superheroes together had been no easy task, and it probably wouldn't have happened at all without the constant support of President Granger. The team had nearly collapsed a few times over the years, once when they lost one of the original members – a young hero named Dom – and again when Chief Hetty had presented her letter of resignation, leaving Nell temporarily in charge. Despite the fact that she had been running the team for some time before this occurred, the shift had not been a welcome one, and Nell was the most grateful of the whole team when Hetty had resumed her post.
"This is the Wondertwins to Alpha Team, your coordinates are set and you are cleared for departure," Eric announced into his headset. Nell rolled her eyes. Eric had been her rock during her time as Chief, supporting her every choice despite her own doubts, but she was still entertained by his insistence on using codes and radio talk during the team's missions.
"Copy that," Callen confirmed, indulging Eric's tendencies. As the jet cleared the runway and lifted into the sky, Eric leaned back in his chair, relaxing as he turned his attention from the precision of the flight to his continued support of the intelligence gathering process.
"Settle in," Nell advised. It's going to be a long day.
Nell had been right. Nearly 18 hours after they had first taken on the assignment, the team finally brought down Sidorov, effectively silencing his whole operation without allowing a single nuclear device to detonate. Eric programmed the jet's autopilot to return to the base before turning off the extra computers and monitors for the night – or rather, the morning. They had been given 6 hours to sleep before they returned for debriefing.
"Six hours," Nell sighed. Eric grabbed her arm and transported them both to the residential hallway. The team all lived on base, and they had additional quarters for other heroes, most of whom worked independently, who needed a place to stay. The whole base was hidden on a private island that was not included on any maps, and any law enforcement organizations that needed to contact them did so through official encrypted channels. Nell and Eric filtered the information that came in from across the globe and either sent the Alpha Team to handle the situation or relayed the information to a local hero who could take care of what was needed. Their willingness to share information had earned the Wondertwins – so named for their tendency to act on a single wavelength – a positive reputation among other superheroes across the globe, and it was one of the reasons that the residential quarters were regularly inhabited by at least a dozen international heroes.
Nell pulled Eric into the room that they shared, and they both collapsed on the queen-sized bed still wearing their mission suits. Despite the fact that they rarely left the base, Nell and Eric had both been issued mission suits to wear during the day. The suits helped to protect their true identities from foreign groups that reached out, as it provided them with a masking protocol that they could use during video relays. Nell mainly wore the suit because of its protective aspects. Eric was such a geek about heroes (he was the only superperson that Nell knew who freaked out every time he met another superperson) that Nell was pretty sure he wore it just for fun.
Eric kissed Nell's forehead as they curled up together. She smiled as she cuddled in closer to him. They lay together in silence for a moment before Nell forced herself to break through with a few quiet words.
"I missed you today," she whispered. While Eric had been running the Alpha Team's mission, Nell had been handling the response to a natural disaster in Asia. "I hate busy days like this."
"You mean you hate the petty politics," Eric countered. He had heard her chastising more than one hero during the long effort to evacuate the areas that would be hit the hardest. Nell sighed.
"Why can't they all get along?" she asked. Eric pulled her in tighter, pressing his lips to her temple once more.
"What's important is that you got all those people out safe. We'll deal with the cleanup in the morning. Right now, just get some rest."
When they stirred a few hours later, it was Eric who pulled Nell out of bed and dragged her to hallway, from which he could teleport them back to the conference room to debrief. Nell grinned. There were certainly benefits to dating a teleporting tech wiz, and not having to get up early for meetings was her favorite. They arrived at the debrief just seconds before it was set to start, so they took their seats and Nell kept part of her mind focused on the meeting while the other part brewed two cups of hot cocoa across the room. She sent Eric across the room to grab them, not trusting her telekinesis to deliver the cups without spilling them in her still-exhausted state.
When the meeting adjourned, they returned to the control center and programmed the transport ship to join the rescue efforts in Asia. Nell hoped that the presence of the world's most famous team of superheroes would calm some of the fears plaguing the area after the devastation that had rained down on them, but she was simultaneously worried about the potential friction between the Alpha Team and the local heroes, some of whom had been on the scene for over 24 hours.
"A job that never stops," Nell sighed as she rolled his chair across the command center to monitor a new set of blinking feeds. Eric crossed her path, pushing his own chair in the opposite direction to relay a series of messages to the heroes on the ground. They frequently found themselves working in this way – crossing each other's paths but working on two completely separate things. They had been this way through their whole careers, long before they became the Wondertwins of the Alpha Team. In fact, when Nell was first recruited to the team – a team to which Eric had already belonged – the pair discovered that a few times, they had been in the same city, even on the same block or in the same building acting on different aspects of the same mission. Even earlier, before they had transformed into individual heroes, they had grown up in cities just 30 minutes from one another.
"I know the feeling," Eric agreed. They worked in silence for a few hours longer, ensuring the safety of hundreds of lucky survivors when the storm they had been tracking finally made landfall. As the team boarded the transport ship bound for headquarters, Eric whisked Nell back to the residential quarters, pulling her into the room and pressing her against the wall for a slow, sweet kiss. "Missed you today," Eric whispered when they finally broke apart. Nell smiled.
"Always right beside you."
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think!