Task Force "AVENGERS"
"At sixteen minutes past three today something unprecedented begun at Fort Knox." The news reporter yelled from his position a few metres behind the soldiers hiding behind a wall firing rounds towards something in the distance. "What seemed a routine alert about a civilian vehicle approaching turned into something much greater when the vehicle was stopped and soldiers approached to question the driver. We have only rudimentary information at this time but an eyewitness described it as a group of people in strange outfits who burst out of the vehicle and proceeded to viciously assault the US soldiers around them." An explosion rocked the area and the man ducked instinctively but within seconds he kept on reporting. "Amazingly, not one of these people were stopped at that time but instead proceeded to storm the base leaving a trail of destruction and death in their wake. Casualty reports are as of this time unconfirmed but thought to be in the dozens as the unidentified group penetrated into the gold vaults. We might be witnessing the biggest robbery in the history of the US as all response mustered has failed to dislodge them!"
"Thank you Phil," The somewhat shocked but nevertheless calm news host said as the TV screen showed the studio again. "Stay on tuned as we keep..." now he stopped, raising a finger to his ear. "I'm being told the president is going to issue a public statement on these events ladies and gentlemen." For a few more seconds he listened before speaking up again. "Ladies and Gentlemen," he cleared his throat. "The president of the united states." Once more the screen shifted, showing the image of a speaker's pulpit behind which the familiar face of the president stood. The man seemed somewhat shaken as well, with a sweating brow and somewhat roving gaze. Nevertheless his voice was steady.
"People of the United States," the man said with a steady, authoritative voice. "In these last years there has been a a wave of a new kind of crime. These last thirty years has seen a meteoric rise of crime performed by exceptional individuals. Most of it has been isolated events but more and more it has organized itself, forming a new threat to the safety of this country. What we are seeing now is the newest and most high-profile form of this crime, bands of these super-criminals to whom nothing is sacred. Rest assured however that the United States does not stand defenseless against this threat. I am honored yet nevertheless saddened to announce SHIELD; the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, a force that will tackle these threats to the stability of our nation."
As he spoke, somewhere between Washington and Fort Knox something was happening high up in the air. A marvelous feat of engineering, an actual flying ship the size of an aircraft carrier was at the moment making its way towards Fort Knox at high speed. It's giant hull was filled with technology never before seen by any civilian in the country and several helicopters were at the moment coming out of it. The helicopters were as high-tech yet perhaps the most amazing thing was the people carried by these helicopters. Men and women in enormously heavy armor and armed with weaponry that would make their kin in the armed forces green with envy sat inside them, listening to the briefing being given over their radios.
"The group has been identified as the Sinister Six people," a calm, authoritative voice said over the comms. "No guesses as to what they are after."
"The gold reserve sir," a man responded with a clear and proud voice, the voice of a hero many would call it.
"Exactly captain Rogers," the man briefing them said, "Seismic scans have picked up some kind of vehicle tunelling under the fortress at this time. We estimate forty-five minutes before it's reached the vault. That must be their escape vehicle people, if they get into that there's no way we can find them unless we blanket the state with seismic detectors. Your helis will be there in fourty."
"Five minutes to stop them sir?" another man asked.
"You got it lieutenant Stark," the man responded, "I'm authorizing use of the "Hulk" serum, twenty ccs, for this one ladies. They are not getting away with that gold. Injection in five, four, three, two, one, injection!" At this every last man and woman inside the helicopters' passenger department tensed up as the auto-injectors built into their suits pumped in the serum whose predecessor had three years earned its inventor the Nobel price in medicine. "Good luck people," the man said before turning off his microphone back on the flying ship. The man in question, a bald, one-eyed man with dark skin and an aura of tough authority around him turned around to face the screen. Upon it the man who a couple of minutes earlier had been addressing the nation stood. "Mister president."
"It's sort of hard to introduce an agency I didn't know anything about until twenty minutes ago," the president said tersely. "What are you sending into Fort Knox?"
"The AdVanced Elite Neutralization Group for Extreme Risk Situations, the AVENGERS," the man answered. "We have put together an elite unit from the best soldiers in the US, armed them with a special line of equipment specifically produced for them by Stark industries and given them a new variant of Dr Bruce Banner's serum."
"You're sending druggies into Fort Knox?!"
"Not druggies sir," the man smirked, "Bona fide super soldiers. Sit back and enjoy the show sir, you are about to see a whole new generation of elite soldiers."
"The existence of your agency rides on this one colonel," the president warned him and the colonel nodded.
"You'll not be disappointed sir."
Above Fort Knox the American soldiers looked up when they heard the sound of helicopters. A group of soldiers close to the entrance to the vault was ducking intensive enemy fire when a shadow fell over them. They only had just enough time to look up before several soldiers rapelled down at high speed right behind them.
"Holy fu...!" one of the men exclaimed before an explosion rocked the wall just beside him. He would have been hit by the shockwave but in the last moment he was torn away to the ground by one of the soldiers. When the explosion cleared he looked around in shock and came to meet a visor-covered face.
"Are you okay soldier?!" the man yelled.
"Uh, yeah. Who are you people?!"
"Captain Rogers, S.H.I.E.L.D," the man answered, "We're here to deal with this situation. Take your men and pull back. We need a hundred meter perimeter around the vault cleared now. Move!"
"Always a charmer Steve," lieutenant Stark said as the soldiers begun to quickly retreat.
"No first names lieutenant!" the captain hissed as he ducked under a blast of electricity.
"And that would be Electro," lieutenant Stark quipped, "Hawkeye, are you in position?" Three-hundred meters away another heavily armored soldier had taken up position on a rooftop with a sniper rifle seemingly more made for destroying vehicles.
"In position sir," the man said, "I've got visual on four people. Electro fifty meters ahead of you. Mysterio to the left of... no wait thermals turn up blank, that's an illusion. Sandman behind the overturned Humvees. Doctor Octopus is by the barracks, bearing down on a squad. They won't last long, do I have permission?"
"Take him down!" the captain commanded and a loud crack rung over the field before one second later the infamous doctor Otto Octavius, more known as Doctor Octopus, fell down to the ground bleeding heavily as the powerful sniper rifle had struck across his back and shredded the anchorings for his tentacles. "Thor!" Rogers commanded, "Sandman behind the Humvee! Give him a Mjolnir!
"By your command," the deep voice of the man carrying a massive rocket launcher said as he aimed the giant device and fired a high-speed rocket that tore straight through the vehicle and exploded first on impact with the shapeshifting criminal. The Mjolnir round detonated and sent an immense surge of electricity across the entire area that knocked the man out instantly. Electro, sensing the discharge as well as feeling the explosion, looked to the side in shock and it was at that exact moment that the two soldiers fifty meters away came out of cover with a speed no human should be able to show and struck the man with a swarm of energy blasts that sent him limply flying backwards.
"Courtyard's secure," the captain yelled as he threw himself over the wall and towards the entrance. "Storm the vault!" across the courtyard now the newly arrived and victorious super soldiers dashed towards the vault. Within a minute the courtyard had been cleared and they now entered into the massive chambers that housed America's gold reserves.
"Stay on your toes people," the captain said as they moved in, "Mysterio, Rhino and Vulture are still unaccounted for. Be prepared for anything."
"Hyah!" a female voice yelled behind him and the captain looked back to see Mysterio appearing by one of the walls down as his invisibility cloak fell away. This wall he now slid down limply to the ground courtesy of a massive kick from one of the AVENGERS. "Good try skippy," lieutenant Danvers said as she grabbed the man and handcuffed him quickly.
"Well spotted Danvers," the captain said as they kept moving. "Two more to go."
"Fuck you!" the wall right beside them now exploded and debris was sent flying everywhere as a giant of a man crashed through it. Several people were sent flying a the massive Rhino appeared at a full pelt heading towards the captain with his horn lowered. The captain didn't even blink however. He merely shot forwards and grabbed the horn before slamming it straight down into the ground with such force that Rhino's face left a crater in the ground. He didn't get up.
"I might say the same for you," One to go."
"Vulture's on the run!" a voice said over the comms. "He's exited via the roof and is heading north-west!"
"Stark!" the captain yelled.
"Already on it captain," the man answered lazily on the surface before putting down his rifle and flexing his shoulders. "Here, chicky-chicky-chicky," he grinned before two powerful jet streams erupted from his boots and two others from his feet. The lieutenant shot into the air and after the fleeing supervillain. The chase was swift and brutal, Vulture being slammed into the ground and handcuffed within a minute.
After two minutes and fifty-tree seconds the operation was over and the supervillains were all restrained and loaded onto the helicopters. When the escape vehicle arrived all it met was twenty heavily armed men and women aiming straight at the driver's seat. With the driver handcuffed as well the soldiers now took off, heading up towards the flying aircraft carrier which now could be seen on the horizon.
Aboard said carrier the SHIELD director enjoyed the awed look on the president's face way more than he'd admit. The naked awe on the man's face was a joy to behold.
"Looks like your reelection is guaranteed sir," he said glibly.
"That was..." the man said breathlessly, "How long have we had those kind of soldiers?"
"You just got them sir," the man said noncommittally, "And SHIELD and the AVENGERS are here to serve." He looked out of the window now, seeing how the helicopters slowly approached the hangar bay. A good first operation for the AVENGERS, that was for sure.