Pepper Potts, stark industry's "manager", secretary to Tony Stark himself, and Iron Man's babysitter lay sprawled in the couch, in front of the TV in the avengers tower. Beside him Thor was munching his popcorn noisily while watching the "moving pictures box" which is playing the movie Pearl Harbour. Steve's jaw dropped wide open as he saw the japanese plane wreaking havoc all over the US ships, he still couldn't believe that there was still an enemy other than the Nazi at the European front. Clint meanwhile was at the kitchen, trying to find something that The god of thunder hadn't put into that belly of his.
Both Stark and Banner were down in the lab, studying the Chitauri's weapons that were left on the aftermath of their batlle against Loki and the horde of aliens that he had brought to New York. S.H.I.E.L.D. had requested them to find if they could apply the alien technology to their devices. But Stark had a more hideous plan, he's going to fit whatever he can get from the Chitauri into his Bentley. Banner knew what Stark got in his head, and had tried to talk to him as well, S.H.I.E.L.D. would not be pleased to see a car with alien technology on it, but it looks like nothing could ever stop the billionaire from getting what he wanted. Anyway he decided to try one more time "I don't know Tony" he began "it doesn't sound like a good idea for me to try fitting something from outer space into a car." Tony grinned, then replied "Banner Banner Banner, i don't see why we shouldn't have a little fun with-"
"We? It's you who's trying to do that, not me." Banner replied as-matter-of-factly
"-science" Tony continued as if he had not been interrupted "tell me Bruce, when was the last time you-" his words were cut short by a sound above his head
"Excuse me sir" Jarvis said politely "director Fury wishes to speak with you and-"
"i've had enough business with that man, and this is holiday." Stark said "tell him i'm not available."
"Unavailable" a deep voice sounded just right out of the lab, and Stark immediately bit his own lip when he recognized the sound, and Banner's eyes crinkled in amusement "Unavailable, when you are- what was it again? Playing with science?" Fury said as he punched the code and entered the lab.
"i was about to say that Director Fury was outside the lab, sir" Jarvis finished.
"thank you Jarvis." Stark said while gritting his teeth
"you're welcome sir" the AI replied
"good afternoon sir" Banner nodded towards the director
"Afternoon doc" Fury replied with a ghost of smile, then glanced at the blueprints Tony made for his alien-Bentley "what is this now Stark? Trying to put on a little... decoration?" in front of him Bruce chuckled lightly.
Tony answered almost immediately "no err it's just, you know my drawing hobby" Fury rolled his eyes " i've always liked cars, do you like cars? No i suppose you don't, you got a ship that could fly, why'd you care about cars? Anyway" Stark clapped his hands together "what brings you here?"
"it's important, call the others in" Fury said to Stark "we got a situation in North Canada"
Clint has been searching for food all over the kitchen, does the God of thunder need to eat SO MUCH? He thought to himself. He's pretty sure he had flipped the whole kitchen inside out, but still couldn't find anything to eat, dammit he's starving. He was still poring over the fridge, hoping against hope that he could find at least something to cease his hunger.
Romanoff walked into the kitchen, a bottle of empty vodka in her hands
"looking for something?" she asked
"yeah" he grumbled without looking back "food"
Romanoff simply slid open a drawer and put a sack on the table, which landed with a soft thud "this?"
Clint looked back, and when he saw the pack of toast Romanoff had just miraculously conjured out of nowhere, he was simply struck dumb for a full minute. After that he laughed, and she joined in with one of her rare smiles. "thanks" he said, as he reached for it however, a voice interrupted him.
"Apologies, agent Barton and Romanoff, but director Fury requires both of your presence on the laboratory." Jarvis announced.
"What? But can't he wait until-" Barton said, unbelieving his bad luck
"NOW, agent Barton" this time it was Fury on the speaker
Barton just sighed, as he walked dreadfully towards the elevator that would bring him down to the lab, once in the elevator Romanoff nudged him slightly "I'll help you make the French toast after this" she knew just how much Clint hates it when he's hungry and not allowed to eat, he grins back "Since when do you know how to make a French toast?" "maybe two seconds ago" she shrugged.
When they arrived at the lab, everyone was there already, Thor, the captain, Stark, Banner, and Fury. And they were quite surprised to find Pepper there as well.
"alright, now that everyone's here" Fury announced "let's begin"
The lab's screen lit up immediately, and showed them a S.H.I.E.L.D. stronghold, Tony could tell it from the large logo, and the advanced guns and artillery defending it.
"This" Fury began "is our stronghold, equipped with the latest stealth technology, which could conceal them from radar, satellite, thermal imaging, and other scanning devices."
"Might be useful for a party" Stark quipped in, Pepper rolled her eyes
Fury continued as if he hadn't heard anything "Two weeks ago, we had lost contact with them, any attempted communications from damned mobile phones till satellite transmissions couldn't reach them. After that we sent some agents from Fort Albany to investigate and report back." He paused as he threw his serious glance at all of them "but no one returned." he said in a voice that contained a slight hint of pain and regret. The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at the table understood how he hated it, when he had sent his agents to their death, even when it is involuntary.
"Then, after two weeks, our satellite finally picked up a picture, this-" he pointed to the screen which now shows a nearly demolished fort "-is the fort now."
Everyone seemed to fell into silence when the picture of the fort appeared on the screen, each busy with their own thoughts. Thor's huge fists clenched tightly, wondering if he'll be able to stop something that could cause so much damage. Steve on the other hand, is thinking what could possibly cause a damage like that, he unconsciously turned his gaze to Bruce but immediately looked away and apologized when Bruce caught him. "It's ok" Bruce said "I'm thinking about the same thing too." The two assassins, who are both expert with weapons tried to see if there's anything, bomb shell, bullet marks, anything that could give them clue towards their attacker.
Tony however noticed something that the others don't, he seemed to be very serious which is rare for him. "Jarvis" he spoke up "give me a view from the top." The AI responded instantly, giving Tony and everyone else a good look from above and that's when everybody saw it.
Everything near the fort, random plants and even the soil itself seemed… dead. "Now what on earth is that?" Bruce said as he adjusted his glasses, so that he could look better. "Biological weapon?" Pepper asked thoughtfully. Fury seemed a little surprised himself too, he clearly hadn't paid attention to the blackened soil when he saw the picture horizontally. The room was silent again until Fury finally asked "What do you think Stark?" Tony shook his head "I don't know, it doesn't seem like a biological weapon to me… unless we're dealing with aliens or something like that again, what about you Banner?" The doctor frowned "I think…" he began slowly "we should go and take a look, samples too."
Fury nodded his head "Very well then, agents Barton and Romanoff will be heading there at 0700 next morning, there'll be a chopper to pick you up. Once there, I want both of you to scout the surroundings, we'll have some men there to help you out." He continued as both of them nodded their understanding "The rest of you will be heading there at 0900, along with the main convoy. You'll regroup with each other and set up a camp there, find out what exactly happened." He noticed that Stark had put up a hand "What?"
Now the serious moment had passed, and Tony was himself again "Now, now this is just ridiculous, look Nick, can I just call you Nick?" he asked the director.
"No." he replied with a glare
"Okay, so Nick we've been through a whole lot over here, fought the aliens and all. And it's been barely a few weeks, and now you want us to go back into action again?"
"That is why we create the Avengers, so that-"
"Fine, fine alright, whatever I'm in." Tony put his hands up in defeat, not wanting to hear Fury's speech again.
Fury nodded and got out of the room, "Good luck Avengers" he said "you're going to need it."
