Disclaimer: I don't own the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
A/N: This is a new story I've been working on along with my other multi-chapter story. Plot has already been hashed out and the couple first chapters have already been written beforehand. I hove this exact story on AO3 as well. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1: A New Adversary?
The Quinjet sped across the Pacific Ocean at hypersonic speeds towards Denmark, the location of what intel suggests is the last and most heavily armed HYDRA base.
Inside the Quinjet were the infamous Avengers, all of them pumping up with adrenaline for the upcoming sedge and preparing in their own way.
Clint sat in a corner folding and unfolding his bow continuously while checking on his arrows for what seems to be the 10th time, Natasha was sat in the pilot's seat, quietly piloting the aircraft to their Scandinavian destination, Thor, clad in his Asgardian and equipped with his trusty hammer was standing with his arms crossed while he stared out into the vast expanse of ocean through the Quinjet's windows, Bruce and Tony were sitting on one of the many benches fiddling with a couple holograms while Steve sat opposite them, staring at nothing, eyes unfocused.
Despite traveling at hypersonic speeds, the Avengers had been sitting on the Quinjet for over an hour, and signs of restlessness were starting to show. All of them itching to end HYDRA once and for all.
"Nat, how much longer?" Clint asked for what must've been the 5th time the past 10 minutes.
"We're just about to make it to mainland Europe. ETA 15 minutes." Natasha replied monotonously.
"Friends! Once we wipe the scum known as HYDRA off the face of this beautiful planet, we should celebrate our victory by inebriating ourselves with Asgardian rum!" Thor suggested excitedly.
"Making ourselves drunk as hell? I'm in! But I'm not sure the good Captain here can even get drunk, so I guess he'll just have to miss out on the fun!" Tony piped up, not looking up from his holograms.
Steve rolled his eyes. "I may not be able to get drunk but I can enjoy alcohol. And also, most people don't like the feeling of being so hungover that they can't get out of bed at 3 in the afternoon." Steve said while looking at Tony, to which Tony just shrugged.
"Do not fear Steve! Asgardian rum can make even the most tolerant to alcohol drop drunk after just a sip! I have doubts that you will be able to withstand the might of Asgardian rum as not even I have!" Thor reassured.
"I'm betting 20 bucks that Steve will drop dead drunk after a tequila glass of that rum!" Clint said.
"I'm betting 40 for 2 glasses!" Tony added.
Bruce, who had kept to himself the entire journey, spoke up. "According to our and SHIELD's intel, this is the last HYDRA base remaining. From what we know, it's armed with proton hovertanks, anti-aircraft plasma turrets, proton missile launchers, the last remaining HYDRA operatives all armed with plasma rifles and last but not least, a localised ion force field. So much more heavily armed than the previous HYDRA bases we've stormed."
"HYDRA must've been using that base to research and develop prototype weapons using the Tesseract and Loki's Sceptre." Steve theorised. "It's also clearly their main base of operations."
"Basically the Bowser of HYDRA bases." Tony rephrased. "So get your A game on, cause we got a princess to save." To which they all nodded silently.
The Quinjet remained silent for the next 15 minutes until Natasha spoke up, informing the rest of them that they had arrived.
"That's strange, I'm not picking up any energy fluctuations that's usually caused by the ion force fields anywhere in the region. Our motion detectors also aren't picking up anything either. Furthermore, our thermal sensors are picking up higher than expected infra-red readings scattered throughout the base, the highest being located near buildings." Bruce informed the rest of the team, slightly confused.
"It seems HYDRA is up to something then, they may have lowered their force fields to lure us into a trap." Steve suggested.
"Even if that was the case Steve, the lack of any motion in the area is, strange, unsettling. You'd think there'd be regular patrols being issued like every other HYDRA base we raided, but according to this data, that doesn't seem to be the case here. The place looks… dead almost."
"Still, keep on your toes, this may very well be another of of HYDRA's tricks. We can't afford to drop our guard." Steve ordered in his Captain America voice.
It wasn't long before they had a visual on the HYDRA base located in the snowy valleys of Denmark.
The base looked like most HYDRA bases, with a central grey imposing complex, covered and surrounded in turrets with multiple smaller buildings located around the central complex. The only difference separating this HYDRA base to the rest, was that it was already destroyed.
Giant black plumes of smoke rose from all of the buildings and turret emplacements. Hundreds of destroyed and burning hovertanks and armoured trucks were scattered across the base. Other than the growing and spreading flames, there ceased to be any activity in and around the base.
"Well, at least we know why those infra-red readings were higher than expected." Clint spoke up, disrupting the shocked silence the team was put in.
"What happened here?" Bruce asked, shocked by the scene below them.
"It seems to me that this HYDRA base was raided and destroyed before we got here by somebody else." Thor said, suggesting what may have happened to the HYDRA base.
"You really think that someone else got to HYDRA before we did? I don't know Thor, that raises more questions than it answers. Like, which other organisation has intel like us? We're the only organisation that has access to SHIELD's more recent data on HYDRA. Unless some secret organisation somehow broke through our firewalls and defences and hacked into our servers to gain that information, there's no way anyone but us could know where this HYDRA base is." Natasha replied, skeptical.
"There is absolutely no way someone broke through the firewalls that I programmed and put in place myself. There's also no way that someone was able to hack into our servers without me and FRIDAY knowing. If what Thor says is true, the other organisation is getting information and data from a different source." Tony said indignantly.
"That can't be possible. What other sources would there be on HYDRA base locations that we don't already know about? The only other plausible option is that said organisation is getting the data themselves, which is highly unlikely since we haven't detected any suspicious activity happening across the globe for months." Bruce added, also skeptical of Thor's theory.
"Well, what other theories do we have on what happened to this base?" Clint asked.
"Before we come to premature conclusions, we should land and inspect the base, maybe we can find some clues on what happened." Steve told the rest of the team, who all silently agreed as Natasha lowered the Quinjet.
Once the back doors of the Quinjet opened, the harsh winter climate was the first thing to strike the team before the smell of burnt metal and smoke permeated throughout the cabin of the aircraft.
"Keep on your toes, there may still be a few remaining HYDRA operatives hiding somewhere. Don't let your guard down. Tony, you should go in the central complex, see if you can find anything through all the rubble, maybe even scrounge up some security footage so we can determine what exactly happened here while Natasha and Thor check the perimeter. Clint, you're with me. We're gonna stick to the smaller buildings and the paths, see if we can assess the damage done and if we can salvage anything of value. Bruce, you're staying here to guard the Quinjet in case any HYDRA operatives decide to test their luck with us." Steve commanded, to which everyone just nodded.
Tony quickly suited up and flew to the burning central complex. Natasha reluctantly let Thor carry her to the outskirts of the base while Steve and Clint set off on foot towards the nearest building, passing multiple obliterated hovertanks and a couple dead HYDRA operatives.
"Damn, whoever did this, they sure know no mercy. These HYDRA operatives are well and truly dead. The new guys must've had a hell of a lot of firepower with them to be able to destroy HYDRA's base this bad. With zero casualties apparently as well." Clint observed while scrunching his nose up in distaste at the sight of the dead bodies and the blood-stained snow.
They passed a couple more destroyed hovertanks until they reached what used to be a storage building. It's entrance was blocked by fallen debris and the flames were quickly engulfing the building, even spreading to nearby trees.
"This building is a no-go. There's nothing inside anyways." Steve said to Clint, who wasn't within hearing range of him, instead, Clint was kneeling and inspecting the damage done to one of the armoured trucks and checking the injuries of the few dead HYDRA operatives near it.
Walking towards Clint, Steve asked. "Find anything?"
"This truck has 75mm of reinforced titanium armour plating and armour-piercing-bullet resistant tires. It doesn't seem like whoever attacked this base did it with conventional weapons, that rules out practically every military on the planet. As I said before, whoever they are, they've got some serious firepower, their weapons penetrated 75mm of reinforced titanium like it was nothing." Clint pointed out. Moving from the truck to a dead HYDRA operative, he then began inspecting the person closer. "From what I can tell from this guy's wounds, the newcomers are using some form of energy or plasma weapons, since they're leaving serious burn marks on HYDRA's armour."
"Looks like these guy's firepower might even rival that of Tony's." Steve added. "It doesn't seem like HYDRA was expecting this attack nor were prepared for it. There doesn't seem to be many signs that indicated that HYDRA put up a fight at all, whoever attacked HYDRA, they must've done it by surprise."
"Wait… But to be able to fool HYDRA's scanners, you'd need to have…" Clint began, realisation slowly dawning upon him.
"Either Tony's cloaking technology or technology comparable to that of Tony's." Steve finished.
"You guys found anything yet? I'm empty, this building... is, uh, completely destroyed, anything that wasn't destroyed by the attack would've been burnt by now." Tony's voiced sounded through the comms. "Though we've come across a tonne of dead bodies."
"Me and friend Natasha are empty as well."
"We're empty also, the buildings we came across are completely inaccessible. Though me and Clint have been assessing a few destroyed armoured trucks and a couple of dead HYDRA operatives and we think we have some useful information on whoever did this." Steve informed through comms. "Report back to the Quinjet, there's nothing we can scrounge up from here, everything's too busted and burnt."
Beginning their walk back to the Quinjet, Clint spoke up abruptly. "So, uh, heard you're bisexual, that's… cool. I guess. I mean, I'm not saying it's bad, being bisexual is completely fine, nothing wrong with that. Just, kinda weird for, uh, you to be bisexual." Seeing the strange expression on Steve's face, Clint quickly tried to save the situation. "I mean, uh, I always thought you were ramrod straight, seeing as you're Captain America and… I'll just stop talking now."
Steve chuckled good heartedly. "It's fine Clint, I don't hold anything against you because you have an image of what Captain America is in your mind. If you're this surprised, imagine how surprised I was when I found out."
"Must've been a big shock for you. Seeing as back then, being what you are now wasn't socially acceptable. Must be strange for you to suddenly change from this being a taboo thing to something that people are fine with."
"Yep, sure was. And I'm still getting used to the fact that it's okay to be what I am and that I'm not diseased or broken in some way." Steve confessed.
The two walked in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes until they reached the area where their Quinjet was parked.
"Hey slow-pokes, what took you so long? I think I earned a few more grey hairs waiting for you two to arrive." Tony teased, smirking while leaning against the Quinjet with his arms crossed.
"That's just because you're old Gramps. Happens to the best of us." Clint teased back, shrugging as well.
"Ouch, I'm hurt, you hurt me and it hurt. Didn't your mother ever tell you to respect your elders?"
"She did, but she also said to ignore what she said if said elder was someone called 'Tony Stark'" Clint replied, earning an exaggerated gasp of horror from Tony, causing Steve to chuckle.
"As amusing as this is, we've got a mystery to solve here." Steve said, effectively stopping their bantering.
"Party pooper." Tony muttered, his grin betraying the nature of his words.
"Only for you." Steve exaggeratedly gushed, which earned a laugh from Tony, causing Steve to smile at the sound.
Once they all entering the aircraft, the Quinjet's back doors closed and it took off back towards the Compound.
As the Quinjet sped away from the HYDRA base in Denmark, the rest of the Avengers began discussing theories about what might have caused the complete destruction of HYDRA's most heavily armed base.
"I still firmly stand by the belief that someone else attacked the base and subsequently destroyed it. I believe that theory is the most believable in this situation." Thor said resolutely.
"But, like I said before, that raises many questions, as to how said organisation obtained such information on HYDRA. HYDRA doesn't simply post the location of its bases on the internet for the world to know. Also, it doesn't seem to me that the HYDRA base was attacked very long before we arrived there if the fires and smoke are anything to go by. I give the interval between the destruction of the base and our arrival a maximum of 30 minutes." Bruce replied.
"Even though Thor's theory has many flaws, it's the best we've got so far. So let's go with that." Steve suggested to the rest of the team, and the response was mixed.
Clint and Tony seemed onboard with the theory, but both Bruce and Natasha seemed skeptical.
"Friend Steve and Clint! Maybe you should share the information you claim to have obtained in your investigation of the armoured trucks and dead HYDRA operatives. Maybe then, friend Bruce and Natasha will no longer be skeptical of my theory." Thor boomed.
"Okay then. What me and Clint found wasn't exactly clean-cut evidence on what exactly happened, but we did manage to deduce quite a few things." Steve explained. "First of all, we deduced that Thor's theory is most likely true, mainly due to the fact that there's no other plausible explanation to what happened at the HYDRA base that would make sense. Secondly, the armour platings on the armoured trucks were 75mm thick reinforced titanium plates. Whoever attacked HYDRA, they have some serious firepower to be able to do this much damage to such heavily armoured vehicles. Clint also deduced that whoever it was that attacked the base, their weapons were mostly likely plasma or energy based. So that rules out any militaries being the culprit."
"Plasma or energy based weapons? Other than HYDRA and the Avengers, no other known organisation uses those kind of weapons, they don't have the available technology to be able to develop such weapons. And the only reason why HYDRA was able to develop such weapons is because they had access to the Tesseract and Loki's Sceptre." Natasha piped up from the pilot's seat.
"Yes, but it's undeniable that they used plasma or energy weapons, all the HYDRA operatives had severe burn marks on their armour." Steve said. "It also seems that HYDRA was neither anticipating the attack or were prepared for it either, unlike with our attacks. There's no evidence that HYDRA even put up a fight with the newcomers. This is most likely due to the newcomers catching them by surprise."
"That's impossible! HYDRA's scanners are extremely difficult to fool, the only cloaking technology that's been proven to work against them is mine!" Tony yelled incredulously, some would say he was overreacting. "I've never introduced that type of cloaking technology to the public at all. I've only ever installed that technology into our Quinjet's and a couple of my suits. There's no way someone could've had access to it, let alone use it."
"Either whoever did this somehow gained access to your cloaking technology… or they developed cloaking technology comparable who your own Tony." Steve finished.
The rest of the team were shocked into silence. Not believing that there might be someone else with technology that's just as advanced as Tony's.
Recovering from his stupor, Tony immediately brought up multiple holograms and began typing radiply on his holographic keyboard while barking commands towards FRIDAY through his earpiece.
"I thought that friend Tony's technology was the most advanced this planet had to offer? Are you saying that there is someone else we don't know about who can rival our friend Tony in technological prowess?" Thor questioned.
"I don't know buddy. We think so, but we've got to keep searching to know for sure." Steve answered while putting a hand on Thor's muscular shoulder.
"Maybe Tony had left one of his suits in a battlefield due to it being damaged beyond repair. Whoever did this may have salvaged the armour and reversed engineered it." Natasha suggested, though even she seemed doubtful of this.
"Nonsense, any suits that are damaged beyond repair in the battlefield are sent back to the Compound where it's stripped for materials. I don't simply leave suits out in the open for god knows who to come across and 'reverse engineer'." Tony scoffed.
"According to our motion sensor logs at the Compound, there hasn't been any movement beyond Mach 1 across the planet for an entire week. This means that whoever attacked the HYDRA base was well within distance of it beforehand or has cloaking technology that's able to mask their true speed from our motion sensors." Bruce added into the conversation, abruptly causing Tony to immediately keep still as his eyes widened.
"Tony? What's wrong?" Steve asked, worried now.
"I… I haven't managed to develop cloaking technology that masks an object's true speed yet…" Tony said slowly, cautiously.
"You're telling me that not only do they have technology to match our own, they have even more advanced technology?!" Clint exclaimed incredulously.
"It seems so." Bruce replied, surprisingly calm.
"Have you considered the fact that maybe our newcomers may be extraterrestrial? We have not yet discerned that they are from this planet. So I advise it is best to keep our options open." Thor piped in.
"I agree, whoever, or whatever they are, we'll need to be open about this. We're venturing into unknown territory here, so we better tread carefully from here on out." Steve spoke up, voicing his agreement.
"Ughhh, I can't work here, there's not enough data on the servers onboard this thing. I'll need to return to the Compound to further my search." Tony groaned out in frustration.
"Well, you should get some rest then, all of you. We've got a long journey ahead of us." Steve suggested thoughtfully.
"Tell me about it." Tony muttered, agitated.
To be continued...
