Power Play
Viper tsked and clicked off the viewing screen. "They found it."
Baron Zemo, hands clasped behind his back, hummed softly to himself. "'Twas only a matter of time. Then again, you putting him under the scepter's control was a bit much."
Loki's scepter, gold and bronze with the shining blue gem at the tip, rested in her gloves hands. She twirled it around her fingers for a brief moment and glanced at Zemo before setting it down on a table beside her. "Call it an extra precaution. Nevertheless, we have what we need."
"Do we?" he questioned. "All we know is that they are in one of 41 bases." He gestured toward the radar display on the holographic map in the center of the room. It somehow showed 41 different pings from the tracer planted in Sitwell's eye. "Which one, I don't know. I want them found before they can cause us any more trouble."
"We won't be able to search through 41 different bases before then. They already know that Hydra is onto them; they'll be more careful with their plans."
Zemo rubbed his chin and rested his eyes upon the map. "What did you see, exactly?"
"Nothing of import. Fury was smart enough to curb the talks of his plans when around lower level agents. I couldn't get to any other high level agents." She approached and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "I can order missile strikes on their bases. That should flush them out; if not, then we'll narrow it down until they're cornered."
He pondered it over for a brief moment, and pondered why her hand was on his shoulder even longer. "Make it so. How long before the first launch."
"Fifteen minutes."
He nodded and watched her leave. Alone, he placed his hands behind his back and paced the room silently.
Viper strode down the hall, alone until she was flanked by a Hydra agent. "Madame, we've received word that Fury is calling for a screening of all his agents to find more of those carrying the eye cameras," he reported.
She smirked. "He'll be sorely disappointed. Tell the fighters to initiate protocol 3463. They have fifteen minutes."
"Yes ma'am! Hail Hydra!"
She nodded and continued walking down the hall, until she reached and entered an abnormally large room. Amora was sitting casually in the only chair in the room, an immaculately crafted throne from the finest woods in Asgard. Two dozen silver and gold pillars flanked by an Asgardian soldier led the way from the door to the throne. At her feet, giving them a gentle massage, was Thor himself. "Viper. To what do I owe this visit?"
Viper considered the scene taking place before her with an amused smile. "Nothing. I was just checking in to see how things are doing." She clasped her hands together in front of her. "And to see how everyone's favorite prince is faring."
Amora smiled. "Ah. Thor and I are faring quite well. Very well." She flashed Thor an impish smile and ran her hair gently through his blonde locks.
"I thought as much." They tended to be fairly loud at night. "Before I go, I should tell you that we'll be making our final push very soon. We will be moving out of the shadows and into the light."
Amora inclined her head back and into Viper's green eyes with her own. "We are already in the light," she pointed out.
Viper just smiled. A fang-filled smile that would have sent chills up Amora's spine, had she not seen the same from Loki. "Yes. Yes, you are, Amora," she said cryptically. She turned to leave.
Amora watched her closely with narrowed eyes.
"Does something vex you, my love?" Thor asked.
Amora felt her divine jaw set ever so slightly. "Aye, love. I believe there is something." Mortals.
Peter hadn't seen anything as advanced as the eye camera before. Even in all his dealings with Norman Osborn and Oscorp, he hadn't seen anything like this. The camera was small, no bigger than a fly. All the components inside it were embarrassingly simple. He doubted that he'd have much trouble replicating something like it on a larger scale, even on his skin tight budget.
Agents Fitz and Simmons conducted some chemical tests, and determined that the camera was several years old. That made Fury curse sharply and pace impatiently around the lab. "He's seen so much," he barked. "For years! Was he ever actually a SHIELD agent!"
"No sir. I don't think he was," Fitz said quietly. Fury's look said that that was a rhetorical question. "Sorry, sir."
"Five steps forward, ten back." He shook his head and continued to pace around the room.
Peter watched him. Confusion was evident. "Alright," he said, "just how many of these eye camera guys are there?"
"That's the problem. We don't know. We won't until Fitz and the rest of our scientists scan them. Then, there's the issue with Loki's scepter. Who knows how many agents Hydra got a hold of and poked with that thing."
The more that was revealed, the higher the odds seemed stacked against them. He had been in this position plenty of times, so he was going to lose his crap now. "We'll figure this out," he said in an attempt to boost morale.
"We'd better. This is our one shot to get it right. After this, it's all over."
Peter sighed. So much for optimism. He supposed that it was the nature of the beast in this game. So many things happened at once, a lot of them negative; staying upbeat and positive was next to impossible. That was what made Captain America such a pillar. He never let anything get him down; he always tried to see the positive outlook in everything.
All he had to do was see the positive outlook in this. Now then… the positive outlook… It was around there somewhere. "Um… since they've seen what we've been talking about, that means that they know our plans, right?"
Fury looked at him strangely. "Depends on who's seen what, but I suppose yes."
Okay, so far so good. "Since they know our plans, they probably think that they know what we're going to do. So, let's do something so off the wall that they'll never see it coming."
Fury rubbed his goatee. "Off the wall. Like?"
"Instead of being reactive, we get proactive. We start attacking their assets. Sitwell said that they have Sentinels; I propose that we attack their factories and destroy what supply that they have. They have Extremis? Let's raid their labs, destroy their supply. Then, once their army has been depleted, we attack with everything we've got."
He's was almost completely positive that that was the plan already, but it probably needed reiterating.
"That's the idea. Time to fast forward our plans, then. Hit 'em hard, fast and don't leave anything standing." Fury nodded and pulled out his phone. Before he could even press the screen, Hill came sprinting into the lab.
"Sir! Hydra is bombing our bases!" she screeched.
"What?!" He tapped his comm. "Coulson, talk to me. What's going on?"
=They've just nuked twenty bases in the last minute. At this rate, there won't be one left in the five minutes.=
"Son of a bitch! Hill, order a full scale evacuation from the remaining bases if they haven't already!" He started to run out of the room, but stopped and looked at Peter. "Off the wall, right, Parker?"
Just when he thought the potential horde of double agents was the main issue. If all the bases were destroyed, then they'd be stuck in this dimension. But, it sounded like Fury had an idea. "Yeah, off the wall."
He smirked grimly, if such was even possible. "Then pack up. You and the other Avengers are out of here."
He sputtered. "Wait, what? But, what about you guys?"
"We'll be stuck here. Hydra is forcing our hand. They're trying to flush us out, and that's partially what we'll do." He stopped to give the order to the others on the team, as well as Pym. "You all will leave, but we'll stay behind. If I assume correctly, Hydra will spend most of it's energy making sure I'm dead. They'll never see you guys coming until its too late."
"And when they realize that you're not, then what?"
"Don't worry about that. I've got that taken care of."
They'd have to move fast. They attack the first Sentinel factory and the Mandarin would know that something was up. Then again, brute strength may not have been what was needed. "Okay. I think we can handle this." He hoped.
"The Quinjets have a cloaking mechanism designed by Black Panther. He'll be going with you, to give you even more help. It'll be touch and go, since the base will likely be about to be nuked, if it's not already, so move fast. Good luck."
Peter nodded and sprinted out of the room. He nearly ran into Hand. "Vicki!"
Despite the chaos happening right them, with agents and heroes alike sprinting all around them, she had the nerve to be offended. "I told you not to call me that, Parker."
"Okay, Vic. Are you coming with us?"
She rolled her eyes and shoved a briefcase into his chest. "No, I'm staying here. Give this to Barnes when you're safe. You guys will be needing it when you go public."
He raised an eyebrow. "Public?"
"Public. Good luck." She walked off, disappearing in the throng of frantic SHIELD agents.
Peter didn't have time to think about what she meant, not that it needed that much thought, or to think about what was inside the case. Maybe it was a bomb or some kind of high-tech gizmo Fitz made for Barnes.
Why not just give it to all of them, if that was the case?
"Gotta go, gotta go." He didn't unpack, so gather his things meant stuffing his suit in his bag and sprinting out into the hall. He ran up along the wall to avoid a huge bottleneck of agents clogging the hall.
"Janet, we have to go! Just pick one and come on!" Hank yelled from his lab. Peter skidded to a halt and peeked inside. Hank had just closed his briefcases and was handing a metal helmet to Scott while Janet was kneeling in front of a closet, a purse in each hand.
"How can you possibly expect me to choose between Louis Vuitton and Dooney & Bourke?! How?!" She looked pensively between the two before very reluctantly choosing the white purse. "Goodbye, Doon– Gah!" Hank grabbed her arm and pulled her to the door. "Scott, do you have to the suit?"
Scott was struggling to juggle his suitcase and helmet and hold his young daughter's hand. "Got it."
"Good."
The others were already rushing through the dimensional gate by the time he arrived. He wasted no time in passing through himself into the SHIELD base.
=–EPORT TO THE NEAREST EVACUATION STATION! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!=
He wasn't joking about touch and go. As soon as they took off due South, two jets from the West fired five missiles on the base. The explosions were deafening. It was the closest he had been to what could probably be considered a warzone.
Debris and fire exploded out of every shattered window and every crack in the brick and mortar that kept the building standing. Black smoke billowed skyward, choking out completely what little sunlight was peaking through the murky clouds above. Just under the roar of the engine, he could hear screaming. Frantic, barely restrained panic below that was merged with calm, authority for a select few.
He couldn't watch anymore. All those people, dead. For what? For trying to stop them from killing even more people? He couldn't understand it; he didn't think he wanted to understand it.
They killed and killed and killed. They were killed, and they killed back. It was a never ending cycle that didn't go anywhere, because for every step one took, the other pulled them back to the start and rushed ahead, only for the first to pull them back and rush ahead.
It was a never ending game. That was all it was, when it came right down to it. It was a game that no one would ever win; either because everyone playing would be dead or the eternal struggle between two sides of the same coin would never surrender.
SHIELD, Hydra; two sides of the same coin. They weren't the only currency.
There was them, the New Avengers. They were the force that could tip the fragile balance between good and evil either way. This was their chance. This was their chance to end the fighting, end the violence, end the never ending cycle of back and forth between SHIELD and Hydra once and for all.
There was no going back, only forward. Back meant failure, and that wasn't an option.
