Chapter Summary: Three of Coulson's best agents follow mysterious cargo into the Russian wilderness.
Author's Notes: There is a lot to keep track of in this story, so I decided to do a shorter chapter and add a condensed cheat sheet to help you keep track of all of the characters and settings. (Yes, the original intention was to help ME keep track.) Check it out after this scene!
Thanks for your lovely reviews. Keep them coming—they make me write faster.
The Red Skull Arena
PenPatronus
Chapter 10
Helicopter's Not Worthy
At 2am in the Kola Peninsula of Russia, three figures left their snowmobile behind and sprinted down a sparse hill to a pair of snow-sprinkled boulders. Two peeked over and around the rocks with binoculars while the third opened a laptop, took some sort of wand-shaped tool out of her coat pocket, and started taking readings. Like giant fireflies, half a dozen black helicopters hovered over rundown, crumbling buildings and shone spotlights down on workers using plain-old shovels to clear away debris.
Skye tugged her scarf away from her white lips. "What is this place?" she asked between chattering teeth.
Bobbi Morse's breath froze in midair when she spoke. "If Natasha Romanoff was here she could tell us for sure, but if I had to guess—"
"It's the Superdeep," Jemma Simmons reported. She squinted, struggling to read her computer screen in the extra-dim light. "According to the GPS we're at the old Kola Superdeep Borehole facility."
Skye pocketed her binoculars and slid down beside Jemma. "A borehole? Like, what, a drill? Hydra's drilling for oil?"
"No, it's a geological research facility—or at least it used to be. Scientists drilled down twelve thousand feet—over seven and a half miles. Somewhere in that debris is the entrance to the deepest manmade hole on earth!"
Bobbi whistled. "So one wrong step and you fall straight down to Hell, huh?"
"All of the drill holes were sealed years ago," Jemma announced. "The researchers didn't find anything unexpected, anything particularly valuable…It's just a hole!"
"Well, they're trying pretty hard to find that hole." Bobbi adjusted the focus on her binoculars and shifted her gaze to the left. "I count at least fifty people, not counting the flyboys in the helicopters."
Skye huffed warm air into her palms but couldn't feel it through her gloves. "When Steve Rogers was frozen for eighty years, is this how cold he was?"
"You're such a wuss," Bobbi said with a smirk in the corner of her white lips.
Jemma's face was nearly frozen in a frown. "Every Hydra vehicle on the continent is heading to Warsaw. Every plane, every truck—"
"Every bicycle," said Bobbi.
"Every pogo stick," Skye piled on.
"…except for the same Maglev that trapped the Avengers…Ward says it's on its way to these coordinates—why?"
"I don't know why, but it's right on schedule." Bobbi tapped Skye, who tapped Jemma, and all three women peeked over the boulders.
Seemingly gliding on top of the snow, what remained of the Maglev erupted through the fog of settling snow and into the helicopters' spotlights. Agents jogged forward with flashlights and lanterns and directed the train west. It stopped abruptly, then shrugged off the caboose. Two helicopters dipped closer and dropped chains like fishing nets. After the caboose was lassoed, the helicopters lifted it into the air. The rear one flew higher, tilting the train car forward.
"What are they doing?" Skye wondered out loud.
"I think they unsealed the borehole—" Bobbi began. All three women gasped when something metallic suddenly slid out of the car, tumbled down and disappeared into the earth. The Hydra agents cheered.
"Oh my God." A red light started blinking on Jemma's equipment. "Oh my God they just—but how could they—he must have dropped it—they didn't move it they just moved the—oh, that's clever—"
"Simmons!" Skye hissed.
"…part of their plan! Separate them from their weapons, of course—how can we get it back—we can't get it back—"
"Simmons!" both Bobbi and Skye barked.
Jemma jumped. "There—there's a unique radiation associated with—with Asgardian technology—specifically with Mjolnir—"
"What?"
"That was the hammer!" Simmons sputtered. She pointed a shivering forefinger at the ground. "Hydra just dropped Thor's hammer into the deepest hole on earth!"
Two beeps were suddenly followed by two more. Three cement trucks rolled onto the scene. They circled around the borehole and started dumping in pudding-like globs of gray cement.
"Oh, shit," Skye whispered.
"Son of a bitch," hissed Bobbi.
"Oh bugger, we're dead," Simmons squeaked.
Skye snorted. "Not yet but we just lost one hell of a weapon."
"No," Jemma whispered, "I mean we're dead."
Guns cocked. Skye and Bobbi whirled around.
They were surrounded.
To Be Continued
"Red Skull Arena" Cheat Sheet
Where the Hell is Everybody? (As of Chapters 9 & 10)
Hydra Base in Warsaw, Poland
The Prisoners
-Tony Stark / Iron Man (Status: unconscious from physical trauma, electrocution)
-Bruce Banner / Hulk (Status: unconscious from poison, drugs, physical trauma)
-Steve Rogers / Captain America (Status: conscious but drugged)
-Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Status: conscious but suffering from gunshot wound, torture, burns)
-Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Status: pissed off)
-Thor / Sir Thunderpants (Status: comatose from poison, drugs)
Arena MCs
-Baron Wolfgang von Strucker
-Sufyan "The Superior" Tsyganov (OC)
Arena Audience
-"Skinny" (OC)
-Grant Ward (Status: undercover SHIELD agent)
-Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver (also a prisoner)
-Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch (also a prisoner)
-Senator Stern
-Raza
-Justin Hammer
Washington, D.C.; United States
-Phil Coulson
-Sam Wilson / Falcon
Prague, Czech Republic
-Maria Hill
-Nick Fury
-Leo Fitz
Undisclosed Location
-Sharon Carter
-General Joseph "the Tycoon" Tsyganov (OC)
-Melinda May
Vermont; United States
-James "Rhodie" Rhodes / War Machine
-Pepper Potts
-Happy Hogan
Seattle, Washington; United States
-Jane Foster
-Erik Selvig
-Darcy Lewis
Kola Peninsula, Russia
-Jemma Simmons
-Skye / Daisy Johnson
-Bobbi Morse / Mockingbird
Dead and/or Out of the Game
-Lieutenant Anders (OC)
-Jonas (OC)
-Amelia (OC)