Avengers: Wreckage

Chapter Twenty Five

"What are you here for, Stark?" War Machine demanded, not deactivating any of her target locks, the lasers painting weak points for her weapons. Not that she had much hope of taking him down, but if it came down to a fight she had to try.

"I need your help," Iron Man admitted.

Warbird raised her eyebrows in surprise, but before she could say anything they heard the sound of emergency vehicles. The first police pulled in moments later, looking in awe at both the superheroes and the wreckage of the Sentry robot.

"How do you want to handle this?" Warbird asked Tony dryly. They had destroyed the robot on his property, after all, and he was a member of the Avengers. The police were also more likely to listen to him, despite their being the 'local' heroes.

"It's fine," Tony sighed as the swarm of reports arrived right after the cops.

Like a pro Tony handled the cops and the press easily, making this into a public relations event. He was all smiles as he praised Force Works' efforts and without saying so, implied they were all close friends. Thanking the team again he told the press that they had to go, and as a unit they took off into the afternoon sky.

"Nice," Thunderstrike admitted, the woman hurtling along, pulled by the magic mace she had inherited. She looked curious, "What did you mean, you need our help?"

Iron Man blazed along, his boot thrusters carrying him along as fast as any of them as he said, "I'd like to discuss this in private, if I could."

"You mind using our headquarters?" Warbird asked neutrally.

"That's fine," Tony said agreeably. A bit sheepishly he added, "I need to apologize to Olivia Stane anyway."

Stane Enterprises was only minutes away and the team was soon descending on the building Stane had set apart for their use. While it wasn't as grand as Avengers Mansion it was a fine building, and one well prepared for defense. This was evident as security systems reacted to Iron Man, targeting him with multiple weapons before a disarm code shut them down.

"Sorry," May Scott said insincerely as the black haired security officer touted a electromagnetic pulse rifle that could turn the Iron Man into a paperweight.

"Perfectly understandable," Iron Man said dryly as they landed in the courtyard in front of the building. As he was talking he noted several men and women watching them from nearby buildings, then Olivia Stane hurried out of the main building towards them.

Ignoring Iron Man for the moment Olivia went up to War Machine as the white haired woman asked, "Are you all right, Jen?"

War Machine flipped up the steel grey mask, the redhead looking a bit sheepish. "I'm fine," she said with a smile, "we managed to handle the Sentry just fine."

"Good," Olivia sighed.

"Oh sure, ignore us," Warbird joked as she and Thunderstrike watched with amusement, "we just did all the heavy lifting."

Iron Man bit back a chuckle as Olivia pulled back, looking a bit sheepish. She tidied the slick business suit she was wearing, then cleared her throat. "I'm glad everyone is all right," she said, "I was worried after reading the files on the Sentry's capabilities." She looked at the outsider as she said, "I didn't expect to see you again, Mr. Stark."

"Please, call me Tony," he smiled slightly. More seriously he said, "If I could speak to you and your team in private, I'd appreciate it."

"Join us inside then," Olivia agreed as she led them in. They ended up in the main meeting room, where Olivia took the head of the table and Tony sat on the opposite end. The others took seats for various reasons, with War Machine nearest Olivia. Tony took off his helmet and set it beside him on the table, revealing a handsome if tired man.

"You said you needed our help," Warbird said as she took off her domino style mast and set it on the table. Curiously Carol Danvers continued, "Why aren't you bringing the Avengers into it?"

There was a undercurrent of bitterness in her voice, but Tony didn't let his dismay show. More than once he regretted how the new Avengers team had come together so randomly. If he had a choice Carol was one of the people he would have recruited, but...

"It's a west coast problem, and there isn't a west coast team any more," Tony admitted, "as well, your team is already involved."

"The technology robberies," Olivia realized.

"Yes," Tony agreed. He hesitated, unsure what to say.

Carol sighed slightly in exasperation. "In addition to standard SHIELD gear they stole experimental cape killer gear your company designed," she said, "if it gets out you lost it your reputation could be seriously damaged."

Tony gave Carol a thoughtful look. "You have a contact in SHIELD?" he guessed at her source of information.

"No comment," Carol smiled slightly.

Tony decided not to push. "I'm less concerned with my reputation than the harm the technology could do," he admitted. He looked across at Olivia, "I'm willing to provide schematics and tracking data on the equipment they stole, if it would help."

"That's assuming we agree to help," Thunderstrike noted dryly.

Olivia sighed softly as she shrugged. "I'm not willing to let someone as organized as these criminals are have access to this technology," she admitted. She looked around the table, "Does anyone seriously object?"

"I'm in," Carol admitted, sighing.

"Agreed," War Machine nodded.

Thunderstrike shrugged, "I figured someone should bring it up, but yeah. I'll help."

"So, are we dealing with one group?" Tony asked curiously. "Or are there factions?"

"I think there's at least two," Olivia admitted with a frown. "One group has mostly used magic and is a conventional mob, we think. The other is using tech based villains like chess pieces."

"And we don't know who's running either group," Carol conceded, "other than coming up with the name Master Planner."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The Wrecker wasn't a genius, but he wasn't stupid either. When that pencil neck Morgan Stark showed up at their hideout as a woman, he barely batted an eye. He had seen much crazier shit over the years, after all. He was surprised he was claiming Amora, the boss, was gone.

"No one's seen her for days," the attractive woman said, "and this new player, Master Planner, is making his move."

"And what does this have to do with us?" Thunderball asked, the black man looking skeptical.

"You need to decide which way the wind is going," Morgan said flatly. "We could use people like you, assuming you're smart."

"You'd better hope Amora is gone, saying that," Wrecker noted dryly. "She's been pretty good to us, you know."

"She's had you hiding for weeks," Morgan argued. "The Planner needs you, and you won't have to cower in this dump anymore."

"I am getting tired of the suite," Bulldozer conceded.

"So what do you want us to do?" Wrecker asked warily, studying the woman. What was most telling was that Morgan didn't even seem scared, and she should be, talking to them like this. Maybe Amora really was gone?

"That's the genius of this," Morgan smiled, "just go out and do what comes naturally. We want you to demolish Amora's base in Awesome Studios."

"That's crazy," Piledriver shook his head, "Amora will toast us."

"If she shows up," Morgan said. She smiled unpleasantly, "And if she does, we'll have a very unpleasant surprise for her."

Less than a hour later Wrecker smashed through the outer gate of the movie studio, the lack of alarms making the purple and geen clad villain raise his eyebrows slightly. "Think she's really abandoned the place?" he asked as they moved across the parking lot.

"Looks like it," Thunderball agreed, frowning as he used his wrecking ball to smash the fake water tower on one side of the lot.

Piledriver and Bulldozer began to smash up a nearby building, even as Bulldozer wondered, "Think Amora left any treasure here?"

"Doubt it," Piledriver said, but he did sweep the rubble for anything shining, just in case.

Wrecker used his wrecking ball to smash the sound stage door down, revealing the room Amora had mostly used as her throne room. It was mostly empty, but the fancy chair she had sat in was still there, along with boxes and bags of stuff.

"Hey, let's look," Bulldozer hurried over to the throne.

The boxes were disappointingly empty, and the bags just had junk. Wrecker kicked over a box in disgust as he muttered, "Bunch of junk."

"Let's finish destroying the place," Thunderball suggested.

"Yeah," Wrecker agreed. A impulse seized him and he raised his wrecking bar, then smashed it down on-top of the throne.

"Wait, what..." Piledriver yelped as they were all suddenly engulfed by a eerie green blow. The light blazed, then when it winked out they were gone.

The Raft was the highest security prison in America. An artificial island off of New York it held the greatest villains deep underground where they couldn't harm anyone. It was, in theory, impregnible. However, it WAS vulnerable to magic.

In a burst of light Wrecker and friends landed in jail cells, even as guards looked on in disbelief. "What the hell?" Wrecker yelled as alarmed wailed.

Thunderball was slightly smarter as he yelled, "Amora, you bitch!"

Back at the base Morgan Stark gaped in disbelief on seeing the four just disappear. "What was that?" she yelped.

Carolyn sat back, the other woman looking more amused than anything. "Booby trap," she decided, "probably left by Amora. Or even something she intended for the Wrecking crew if they betrayed her."

"And this doesn't scare you?" Morgan demanded. "She sent away four of our most powerful soldiers!" she whined.

Carolyn sniffed. "Muscle is easy to find, Morgan," she told him with disdain, "we need more than that." She smiled coldly, "And I know just where to find it."

To be continued...