1
Everything stopped. Just like it had when September 11th brought the War on Terror that had been raging since the 70s to the American public's consciousness. Just like New York had slapped the world so senseless that all the things that were promised (like human understanding and unfathomable technology in the light of a confirmed alien intelligence, or the consalodations of the world religions once proof of a god was confirmed) never happened. But that was craziness from without. And the famed 'heroes of New York' and the S.H.I.E.L.D. crews in the aftermath had shown that there were people to protect...
And this shattered it. The Cheesecake factory's staff stood around the small tv. Each stared at the tiny screen showing huge helicarriers firing rail gun rounds and even planes into the sky. The very protectors that stood between the now literally existing killer robots and alien annihilation were tearing themselves apart in front of the country's eyes.
Penny needed Leonard. He'd make sense of this.
2
"This doesn't make any sense.", Leonard pointed out. "Even if it was a catastrophic computer malfunction, there's no reason for three separate incidents on three separate ships. Back me up here, Howard."
There were entirely too many people stuffed into Sheldon's office, straining to see the feed displayed on his laptop. Not just for his tastes or his accusations of fire codes. He could just hear the floor groaning under the weight.
Howard shook his head. "S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers are more secure than nuclear submarines or space shuttles. Even if they were getting a bad signal from a central source, they're crewed. The signal could be cut off from the inside. There's no-ohmigod."
The engineer finished short when the three air ships apparently armed everything and pointed more fire power than was used in all of the Arab Spring. Alex was so shocked she even let Barry comfort her. Barry was so shocked he was even sincere. Thousands of tons of metal sunk from the sky. What the news revealed was the Triskellion collapsed under the weight of one of them. And the myriad of Quinjets, F-35 next-gen raptors, attack helicopters seemed to want to keep on fighting whatever nigh-invisible enemy rather than rescue anyone.
"President Ellis has declared a state of emergency for the entire District of Columbia.", the news anchor was reporting. "Unlike a state, this declaration automatically declares DefCon/"
The assembled scientists snapped out of their near trance like states as Dr. Gablehauser cut closed the laptop. "All of you probably have people you'd rather be with. There's no science getting done today-go home people."
Nearly expectedly, Sheldon objected. "Now wait a minute. Your duties are to the university, not the feelings of these people. Instead of relaxing the reigns in order to coddle their emotions, you should be dedicating your efforts to finding alternative sources of funding. The craft we saw being destroyed as well as the facility that served as collateral damage did not appear cheap by any means. Any resources that may have been previously ear marked by S.H.I.E.L.D. for every field, from far field study to ancient linguistics is in jeapordy of being reallocated. Many of these people aren't going to have jobs to come back and employ."
The room went silent. Fortunately, Dr. Gablehauser turned to Sheldon before the mob did. "Ms. Jensen. Please see that Dr. Cooper is off campus immediately."
3
Howard turned to his wife. "What are you smiling about?", he asked worriedly.
"I'm not smiling." Bernadette tried his best to make this the truth. "It's just that repulsors may leave a residue that's harmful to biological cells, a few repulsor engine air ships were sunk in a populated area today and a certain microbiologist may have cooked up a protein that scrubs the circulatory system with no side effect nastier than what Pepto-Bismal could give you. And that would turn into a boku-bonus if that was the case.
"It's not like I'm happy all those people are hurt."
The rest of the people in Leonard's living apartment stared at her in amazement.
Testily, Bernadette preempted. "Well, I'm not."
Penny turned back to Leonard. "So what does this mean for national security? It's not like the Iron Man weapon can keep us all safe alone."
"Then you're not Sheldon.", Leonard replied. "He was adamant that it wasn't an *ahem* real emergency that he kept his date night with Amy on the sole basis that the Iron Patriot wasn't deployed."
"Sweetie, if the only difference you can tell between me and Sheldon is that, then I think we're at very different places in the relationship."
4
Amy continued with her analysis and behavior prediction of the populace in light of the latest disaster, as well as it directly affecting the security apparatus designed to protect the populace from such disasters. "So in conclusion, I cannot postulate that the population will be cowed into giving up civil liberties to any governing agency-old or crisis fashioned-when the instigating event is stemied from a governing agency."
"Darn.", Sheldon replied between bites of apple cobbler. "Now people will be as sentimentally illogical as they were the last time they viewed the world as threatened, just with out a guiding savior. This blows."
Amy held out her arms hopefully. "Would you like a comforting hug?"
Sheldon considered. "No. It's late and I'll have to be leaving soon. We might as well start on the end date physical intimacies."
Sheldon wiped his mouth and stood with Amy. She reached up on her tip toes to press her lips to his. After she let go he made for the door.
"Don't you think you're forgetting something?", Amy reminded.
Sheldon stopped and turned. "Oh, of course. This whole day has me flustered."
He returned to her and whispered into her ear. "Hail Hydra."
