The Avengers II: Rise of the Outcast
Nick Fury, director of SHIELD, strode past the befuddled agents. "What do you mean, 'They've gone rogue'?!" he roared in their faces. "They can't have!"
The two agents had run in just seconds ago, yelling about a call from one of their isolated bases on the ground. The base had been attacked by another one, and communications had been cut off from the latter. But the biggest problem was that Eagleflight 1, the rogue base, was exactly where the Avengers initiative was. The six heroes had been sent there for "specialized training" by the agents from Eagleflight 1. Yet it was apparently a trap.
Fury roamed around his office, swinging his fist around. The patch over one eye only terrified the already-frightened agents more. "Morales! Sanders! Go try to get communications back! We need to contact the Avengers!" The agents nodded vigorously and ran out of the door, nearly stumbling over each other.
Running his hands over his bald head, Fury sighed and attempted to ease the frown that stretched across his brow. They had had enough trouble with Loki. Now they had a rogue base to take care of. What next?
I just hope that somehow the Avengers will figure it out before it's too late.
At Eagleflight 1, a crimson and gold figure streaked around a tall building, flying at great speeds. Another figure followed, but it held a strange hammer and a red cape flowed behind it. The two heroes, Iron Man and Thor, were training; practicing their flight abilities.
On the ground, four agents trained in martial arts had their hands full with a fiery-haired, leather-clad young woman. Black Widow was kicking and punching her way out of their tight circle. Soon they were all on the ground.
Kneeling on top of the tall building that Iron Man and Thor were flying around was Hawkeye, probably the greatest archer in history. He was aiming carefully at a round object with red, white, and blue stripes on it. Hawkeye let the arrow fly, and it hit directly in the center of a large star on the shield. Captain America, the first Avenger, waved at him and shouted up, "Right on the center, as usual!"
Once they had finished their different training sessions, the Avengers got together and discussed the finer points. Thor and Iron Man were disputing over who the fastest was until Captain America said, "Okay, guys. Forget it. We're just here to train, not argue."
As tempers cooled, Black Widow (a.k.a. Natasha Romanov) asked curiously, "Where's Bruce?"
Bruce Banner, who had a tendency to accidently release a monstrous green being, the Hulk, within himself whenever he became angry, had not shown up for training. Not that this was unusual; he was usually in his lab.
After a few minutes of wondering, Hawkeye spotted Bruce walking toward them. "Hey. Sorry I didn't come. The birds were pretty hungry, so I fed them a few crumbs."
"More like a whole loaf," laughed Tony Stark from within his armor. The playboy had flipped up his face mask and had a huge grin plastered over his face now.
"Okay, okay," smirked Bruce. "I also have some bad news. We all have to go to our rooms immediately. Well, I guess immediately was, like, five minutes ago. So we'd best go right now."
The six Avengers were puzzled, but did as Bruce said and went into the building. Tony pressed the button for the elevator and waited. Soon they all climbed in and were going up to their sound-proof rooms. When they reached their floor, the button dinged and they got out. Thor's room was the closest, so he had his hand on the handle when a faint scream down the long hallway. It was getting closer. Thor gripped his hammer tighter and moved toward the sound.
An agent ran into the hallway and saw them. "Oh, I'm sorry. You all have to be in your rooms, please." Most of them half-heartedly complied after asking about the scream and hearing the quick answer, "I'm not allowed to tell you." But Captain America remained steadfast. "Is someone in pain?"
"No, I just…please, sir." Yet Captain pushed past the stuttering agent and strode down the hall. The agent had to jog to keep up with him. Another agent, dressed in protective clothing and pointing a gun at something behind him, came around the corner. Captain stopped short when more gun-toting agents came, directing the barrels of the guns at someone unseen. Five agents walked in then, struggling to carry something that appeared human.
It was a he. That Captain could tell by the masculine face. But the hair was long, shoulder-length, and wild; and the look in his green eyes was feral as well. He fought the agents restraining him with a passion, and had almost broken free when more agents rushed to hold him. An animal-like scream tore from his lips.
Steve Roger's (otherwise known as Captain America) mouth hung open as he watched the scene. He barely made out the words "Please, sir?" above the shouting. Stunned, Captain America allowed himself to be pushed into his room. The lock clicked from the outside as he was held a captive in his own room.
It was an hour or so before the locks were undone and the Avengers were set free. "What the heck happened?" Bruce asked Rogers, watching his face earnestly.
"I'm not sure…" The captain's voice trailed off. "It was all kind of fast. But I know what I saw was…horrific."
"What do you mean—horrific?" asked Thor in his deep voice. The Asgardian had not taken too kindly to being locked in his room. "And why the blazes did we get locked in? What is SHIELD up to this time?" If he had been on Asgard, the door probably would have been in splinters within seconds. But here on Earth, he used courtesy and did not blast doors unless he knew whoever locked him in was an enemy.
Black Widow tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear. "Strange. Yes, what do you mean, Steve?"
"I can't really describe it. It was a wild boy. A teenage boy. Agents were holding their guns to him. Really, it was strange. And his scream was…terrible."
"Like, terrible as in good terrible; or bad terrible?" joked Stark. Everyone else glared at him. "Sorry," he said sarcastically. "So, what the heck did this boy look like?"
"Like I said, I can't describe it. But if you saw what I did, you'd probably be just as I am right now. Kind of shaken, I suppose."
The Avengers all stood around awkwardly for some time. "Let's go down to the café," Natasha suggested. They went down the elevator to the second floor and stopped for coffee. But Steve didn't get anything. "I'm just not in the mood," he said. "I'm still wondering what is going on here. And why can't we contact Nick Fury?"