August 1, 2016
"What are you showing me, FRIDAY?" Tony Stark asked his AI when a video popped up on the lower left corner of the current screen he was brooding over. He was swiveling about in one of the wheeled chairs he had placed in his favorite lab in the Avengers Compound in upper New York state, working on designs for a new Spider suit for a certain Queens teenager. "I'm kinda trying to have some fun right now." Putting time and energy into the vigilante arachnid child allowed him a welcome distraction from the screaming concerns in his head.
"You asked me to keep an eye out for any potential HYDRA activity," FRIDAY replied. "Something's flushed a sleeper cell out in Cairo. They're on the move and searching for something. Or someone."
He didn't particularly remember adding so much emotion into his artificial intelligence's voice when he wrote the software, but it made him sweep aside the suit prototype and enlarge the video FRIDAY had found. One of his very prominent screaming concerns in his head suddenly started throwing a temper tantrum.
"Who are they after?" He muttered, watching as the grainy video showed at least a dozen heavily armed men in what appeared to be a hotel lobby. They were dropping into positions as though expecting an assault from down the hall. "Can we get the quality cleaned up at all? It's a shitty camera."
"Doing my best, boss," FRIDAY replied, and the image cleared up slightly, though not as much as he would have preferred..
"That's not your best, FRIDAY," Tony remarked sarcastically. "And you sure it's HYDRA?"
"The tattoo on what appears to be their leader," the AI pointed out, and a small screen popped up which zoomed in on one of the group's neck. A still image revealed the unmistakable HYDRA head and tentacles tattooed between the man's man's mask and black military jacket.
"Damn Nazis," Tony muttered, brushed aside this small screen and focusing on the actions. "This live?"
"Yes, boss."
"Get me the coordinates," he said as the leader of the group cautiously began taking a few steps down the hall, his gun hidden behind his back, as though not to frighten someone. He kept his other hand behind his back and used it to send signals to his men. They remained in their places — a few behind the front desk, others behind tables and chairs, all with guns at the ready. "There's no other cameras in the room?"
"Only the one in the lobby."
"Do we have authority to act in Egypt?" Tony's voice was rather casual.
"No, boss," FRIDAY replied quietly.
"Damn," he leaned back in his lab chair, rubbing a hand along his jaw, deliberating intently. "Keep the camera rolling. Pull up all others in a three block radius." He kept his eyes attached to the screen before him, ignoring the others that popped up around him at the moment.
"Get a satellite aligned with Egypt, too, FRIDAY," Tony added, summoning a keyboard and attempting to manually improve the image quality. After a moment, he banished it in frustration. "Shit hardware."
He tensed up suddenly when several of the group of men began sprinting out of the lobby and down a hallway, evidently chasing someone. Several suspenseful moments passed before FRIDAY spoke again.
"I've pulled the cameras from the front of the building," Tony turned to these, which showed the continued chase.
"Record this," he ordered, squinting at the images playing out. A running female figure in white came stumbling to a halt before a group of armed men. Evidently a shot was fired, as the white figure staggered backwards before collapsing to the ground. "Zoom in," Tony demanded, "run any recognition tests we can."
"Tests failed," FRIDAY reported, as the group of men seized the figure before dragging her into the back of their armored van. "The camera can't pick up on a face from this angle, and the image quality is interfering with the others."
Tony Stark ran his hands down his face in aggravation as the screen showed the van speed off into the night. Logic told him to ignore it and put the whole scenario out of his mind. But a howling demon in the back of his mind was clamoring for his attention.
"FRIDAY, prep a chopper. I've a sudden desire to see the pyramids."