History time, kiddies.
760 United Nations Plaza, Turtle Bay, Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, New York, December 17, 2012
There were three moods that one could describe Colonel Nicholas Joseph Fury as being in; the good kind of bad mood, the bad kind of bad mood, and the kind of mood that had one looking for the deepest cave on the planet to bury oneself in to avoid his righteous wrath.
The third mood was getting close to having its day in the sun.
The Director of Operations was currently sitting at a long table facing a three-quarters circular bench that contained fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council; not its representatives, but the actual members of the Security Council. The five permanent members, being the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China, were complimented by the ten non-permanent members, Morocco, Togo, Guatemala, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, South Africa, India, Columbia, Germany, and Portugal. Normally, the UNSC was a televised thing for the global peacekeeping intra-governmental organization so that all nations and people could see what bills and resolutions were being passed and introduced. Created in the wake of World War II by the victors of that brutal conflict, the Security Council included ten two-year term seats for the members of the United Nations so as to say that all nations could be represented in the highest echelons of international interests, no matter the size, population, power, or even stability of said nation. While it wasn't the greatest system in the world, it was a working one that had done its job well; staving off the worst kinds of war and keeping conflict down to a more local level than pandemic as both World Wars had seen.
Unfortunately, today everyone would be getting a black eye. And he only had the one. Security Council Emergency Sessions were like that.
"Director Fury," began the elected President of the UNSC Gerard Araud, the representative of France and the 'lead seat' of the Security Council for the month of December; hilariously the month least likely for anything to happen with the holidays of Christmas and New Year's being celebrated by many. Nick tried not to find the irony in the fact that France would be leading the charge. "What we are doing here today…"
"I know why we're here today, Monsieur Président." The Director replied, his tone not brooking any nonsense. Normally, it would have been one of the members of the World Security Council dealing with things like the UN Security Council, but that wasn't happening. Not when two-hundred and fifty terabytes of information and intelligence had been unleashed onto public domain internet for all to see labeling who were HYDRA members… to include all five members of the WSC. Nick was still processing that one. Especially how the hell that escaped his notice. "In case you've forgotten, I just came from DC dealing with it." Not even eight hours ago, he had been clearing levels of the Triskhelion for any hidden personnel, either SHIELD or HYDRA, as well as any surprise packages that might be squirreled away. Thankfully HYDRA had been arrogant in the thought of their victory, and hadn't left anything dangerous for a final fuck you like a dirty bomb or some buried nuke. Thank God they weren't like him, preparing for every scenario!
"Your organization is now responsible for the indiscriminate attack upon a sovereign nation with the intent of murder and hostile takeover with the added inclusion of the possibility of global takeover and domination." The French Council member announced as if each of the fifteen members weren't now aware of that very thing. Everyone had woken up to a brand new day no one wanted to wake up to concerning what had happened the previous days.
"I'm well aware of what HYDRA was intending, Monsieur Président. Not only was I on the hit list like several members here were," Nick retorted, "but they also actively tried to get me dead with DC cops going on a vehicular rampage and shooting spree with yours truly. I escaped by faking my death and finding what few people I could trust to fight back." Fury didn't have to think long or hard about the attempt on his life about five days prior when several DC Metro police cruisers had rammed his Cadillac Escalade into a killbox and over a dozen police officer had tried to kill him. It was only because the vehicle was made to take such attacks that he survived. He had faked his death by getting a reasonable facsimile of himself from a local morgue and putting it into the vehicle where someone with a grenade launcher did him a favor and blew up the vehicle about an hour later, catching the gas tank on fire and destroying evidence that would have proved the corpse not his own. With Tony down (he didn't believe Stark to be dead in the first place) and the Avengers having gone off-grid (which he expected), Nick had gotten about seven people he thought he could trust to get to the bottom of things and thwart what he could. When the Office of Naval Intelligence got hit with mass illusions and a damn zoo, he knew he wasn't alone in the fight.
"It is the responsibility of this Council to determine whether or not to put the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division on the terror watchlist and its members on the terrorist watchlist." The Council member proclaimed. That wouldn't be a good thing, not at all.
"Mind if I have something to say?"
Nick wasn't the only one to turn to see who had walked, no, rolled in as he saw none other than Jennifer Susan Walters in a wheelchair, being pushed by one of the UN staff members. Looking worse for wear was an understatement; it look like she had gone on a bronco ride with a Brahma bull and lost, and then mauled a little bit. She was wearing gray sweatpants and an oversized gray sweater with her Alma Mater UCLA printed on the front, hardly professional attire. Yet the sight of several metal rods embedded in her right hand with metal connectors of an external brace, the sight of a cast on her right leg, several pieces of bandages on her head and face, not to mention the bruises, split lip, blackened right eye, and probably a host of other injuries not easily seen, was certainly a reason not to show up in the normal suit-and-tie attire. She looked like a straight up mess, and the Director was damn surprised to see her in New York City when she had just fully awakened from extensive surgery in Walter Reed just yesterday. The staff member rolled Jenn towards the long table and opposite of Nick, and while he had seen worse on a man, the sight of her was certainly a mess. Well, picking a fight with a Hulk would do that.
"You never do cease to surprise." Fury said quietly to the lawyer, snorting at her presence. How the hell the woman got her ass out of Walter Reed so soon after surgery and looking the way she did was a wonder. Probably had an Iron Man suit rescue her and came over to New York on a private jet for this meeting. "Thank God most lawyers aren't a tenth as tough as you."
"There'll be a few that would surprise you." The Esquire and Chief Executive Officer of the Avengers told Nick with a nod and a smile before returning her attention to the attending representatives. "So now that real legal representation has show up for an organization you supported," that line was delivered with venom towards the men and women at the mostly-round table, "we can get this witch hunt underway." Oh, Nick knew he was in for a show.
SHIELD and the World Security Council had been supported by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, secretly funded and supported to be its clandestine action arm while publicly only being a peacekeeping initiative. It had been a secret that only the permanent members of the UNSC had known, and even then not to divulge to the larger portions of their respective governments as well. It had been in part because of HYDRA as well as the Cold War that SHIELD had existed and thrived when tensions between East and West waxed and waned from everything from the Berlin Airlift, the lost Soviet submarine baring nuclear missiles, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the Soviet-Afghan War, and the radical build-up of nuclear weapons between America and Russia. There were other threats, of course, but SHIELD had been designed to be that action between diplomacy and outright war to stave the inevitable.
Jennifer Walters knew all this. And belonged to an organization that had absolutely no part in it. Unlike the UN Security Council.
Witch Hunt was an apt term, but Nick was going to go on a limb and say it wasn't about to be his black ass tied to a stake and torched. Something about the Supreme Court losing a third of its membership just six months prior thanks to a Southern Californian lawyer on a revenge trip against malfeasance and corruption gave him that impression. Oh, he knew that, inevitably, SHIELD was going to fall. The Division had been thoroughly and deeply corrupted, and the thought of the organization that he had given twenty-five years of his life to evaporating like fog on a sunny day didn't please him at all. Men and women had devoted their efforts and lives for the cause, but something rotten had lived within. There was a big difference between fighting a cancerous growth and knowing when to make ones' accounts settled for the inevitable end. But Fury had a duty to his people to spare those who had remained true to its ideals, not to be labeled as failures, traitors, or whatever else the political mouthpieces in front of him could come up with. Several of the representing nations were hardly better, and none of them had a clean history. He was banking on the fact that Jenn was going to use that kind of tactic to remind these politicians masquerading as Ambassadors that throwing a stone meant one had best make sure one's hands were clean first.
Fury knew what to do; sit back and enjoy the show.
"In 1946," Walters began, never even touching the attache bag that hung off her wheelchair that no doubt contained incriminating evidence, going off memory alone, "this very chamber elected to create in secret a multinational clandestine agency whose efforts would stymie nuclear proliferation, the trading and sale of other weapons of mass destruction, global conflict, and other exotic threats that weren't defined at the time but made apparent in dealing with items, objects, means, and use of things that might be crafted later on that wouldn't easily fit the previously declared threats. The five permanent members did so without the notification, consultation, agreement or approval of the non-permanent members, the General Assembly, or the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In fact, it was only those five members that were made aware of the existence of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division created by General Chester Phillips, Howard Stark, and Margaret Carter after the end of World War II with the use of resources and finances of the defunct Scientific Strategic Reserve as well as the 107th Airborne Regiment known as the Howling Commandos." This was all history Nick knew. But this was history that many in the chamber didn't.
"When the growing threat of West and East tensions rose," Jenn continued without pause, "especially after the Rosenberg Trial when an American engineer sold the plans of the Manhattan Project to Soviet Russia through the intermediaries of Communist fifth columnists living in America, Russia and China were sold a fiction by their American, French, and English counterparts that SHIELD had more-or-less petered off into uselessness due to a variety of factors. SHIELD was anything but useless as Agents were sent to Warsaw Pact countries and those friendly with the Soviets to not only spy and action on, but committing acts of espionage and assassination that didn't involve Western assets. While the Cold War continued on with the CIA and the KGB playing their games, a very real shadow war was being fought under everyone's radar between SHIELD and what the Soviets had developed as a counter known as the KGB's secret project known the Red Room." The Red Room hadn't existed since the mid to late-90's. Officially, at least. "Covert operations involving enhanced individuals were committed on both sides, to include such figures as the Ant-Man and the Wasp for SHIELD, and the Winter Soldier and the Black Widow for the Red Room. What neither side knew was that both organizations had enacted a program that we in America called Operation: Paperclip; the use of German scientists who had worked for National Socialist Germany to purloin their technology for their own use, such as rockets, gas warfare, the burgeoning Nazi nuclear program, and their undeveloped space program.
"Several of those scientists who ended up in SHIELD and the Red Room were, in fact, HYDRA sleeper agents given permission to defect and infect."
"I fail to see how this equals to where we are at today." That actually came from the representative from Portugal. Several members of the Security Council looked to the man with frowns. It was pretty clear how it equaled to today with anyone with a pair of braincells.
"While the Security Council continued to fund SHIELD and the Red Room; America, England, and France for SHIELD, while Russia founded the Red Room," Jenn continued, ignoring the man and his lack of intelligence, "HYDRA grew within both organizations, and spread its influence to other government entities. While elections could have made backing a political figure difficult, HYDRA helped control the polls through interest groups, campaign contributions, calumny campaigns against opponents, falsified documentation of wrong-doing, and questions of political reliability in several nations, both East and West. By the late 1970's, HYDRA had a high-level member in every government in the Northern Hemisphere. EVERY single one of them."
"How high?" That was the English representative, who was looking a little pale at the thought.
"Privy Council for England. Prime Minister's Cabinet for France. Chancellors' Committee for Germany. President's Cabinet for America. Secretary's Senior Advisers for Russia. The Diet for Japan. The People's Revolutionary Council for China. The Prime Minister for Canada… yes, the actual Prime Minister." That had the CEO look around at the room. "Every single nation with a powerful military, nuclear power, advanced sciences and engineering, and a shit ton of money had tentacles in some of the highest positions of their governments. Clandestine or State Security agencies? Federal level police? Cabinet members? Judiciary members? By the year 2000, even most of the third world nations hosted HYDRA membership in key positions in the government and the military, preparing for the day when they would strike out and conquer the world with one deft stroke."
"No offense, but why did they wait so long?" That was the female representative for Pakistan. "If they had that much coverage and infiltration, something like this should have happened sooner, should it not?" Most of the non-permanent members were learning of SHIELD for the first time, so a question like that was to be expected. Actually, Fury was a little curious himself. He had wondered why now as oppose to before.
"While I'm not an expert on the World Security Council and their decisions in leading HYDRA," Jennifer stated, "there were two incidences that pushed back their agenda to a later date." The lawyer shook her head and snorted. "The first incident involved HYDRA pressuring and coercing the instability of a Soviet Russian General who was made to believe his country was going soft and that America had influenced the Soviet Government through a disinformation campaign to elect a weaker General Secretary of the Soviet Union to force him down a path of destruction; he launched a MIRV-armed ICBM against the city of Los Angeles in the year 1987." That had the Director go even more quiet if possible. He knew of the story. "SHIELD had sent two of its finest agents to stop the launch when Soviet Russia couldn't dissuade the man, and the scientists known as Doctor Henry Pym and Doctor Janet van Dyne, known as the Ant-Man and the Wasp, intercepted the intercontinental ballistic missile mid-flight with the intent to stop it… and unknowingly stopping HYDRA's first move for a global takeover with nuclear war as its doormat." Fury had to harrumph at that. Honestly, it made sense. "Doctor Janet van Dyne sacrificed her life to spare millions of lives in Los Angeles. Including that of President Regan and the First Lady, who were visiting at the time, as well as myself, Mister Howard Stark and his family, Doctor Banner, and Hope van Dyne."
Nick knew of the story, but not that HYDRA had been a part of it. He hadn't been in SHIELD at the time. In fact… he was in Los Angeles for a part of that year. His life too had probably been saved, not to mention avoiding what might have been a nuclear exchange following such an attack. He'd have to ask Carter about that; she had been the Director at the time.
"And then there was 9/11."
"What?" Now that had his attention.
"Someone went and stopped three of the planes that were a part of the plan to take over America." Jenn looked right at him with a smile. "HYDRA had trained thirty people to capture, pilot, and crash land into six targets on American soil." She's about to do what I think she's about to do, Fury realized. "On September 11th, six planes had been abducted by Islamic extremist hijackers with the intent to destabilize America economically and politically, and then HYDRA was to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately for them, a select few thwarted them unknowingly by stopping three of the planes; two by subduing the attackers before they could take over the planes, and one who was forced to crash United 93 to keep it from reaching its intended target; Capital Hill." The Director of Operations remembered well that day, sending three of his best… and only getting two back. "Because of the actions of three SHIELD Agents and the Deputy Director of Operations at that time, Deputy Director Fury, HYDRA didn't get what they want and sent them back to the drawing board for a global take over. You spared us a HYDRA victory, Director." Jenn's eyes looked right at him. "The worst attack on American soil would have been a prelude to something much worse if it hadn't been for you and your hand-picked team in which two of them serve under my leadership today. I had no idea that Miss Romanov and Mister Barton literally saved Norfolk Naval Base and the White House from becoming targets."
"I picked people I could trust to do the job." Unfortunately, he hadn't had enough people at the time for all the planes, and he had to pick and choose with limited intelligence and a great deal of faith at the time. Because of that choice, the Twin Towers were brought down and the Pentagon hit to spare Capital Hill, the White House, and Norfolk Naval Base where vessels with nuclear reactors and a great deal of American military power existed. It was a choice that still haunted him though he would choose to do so again with the same choices made. He lost a damn fine agent that day. Some lost much worst than that. But he hadn't a clue that was actually a HYDRA plot.
"That trust spared us. We would be living under the squid if it weren't for you." Ah, now he saw what this was about. Walters was going to highlight the successes of members who weren't HYDRA to prove that they were worth keeping. SHIELD wouldn't be spared… but its men and women just might. "HYDRA had many acts to keep our nations at each others' throats, such as the London Station Chief of MI-6 being a Soviet mole, the assassination of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich, the financing and aid of the Jackal, the funding of several terrorist organizations. Yet there were those that opposed them without knowing it, thwarting them and their plans. But HYDRA was forced to accelerate their plans from their deadline of September of 2014 because someone threatened them with an idea that actually scared them."
"Which was?" That was the representative of South Africa. That had Jenn smile.
"The denuclearization plan that was created by the Chief Executive Officer of Avengers, Incorporated."
That had the chamber silent.
"This chamber," Jenn continued, "was responsible for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology… and hilariously failed. HYDRA funded and armed several nations to fuel conflict and chaos, to include Russia, China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and North Korea." Everyone save North Korea was present in that very chamber. "They also funded several revolutions and revolts, to include the colonies of Portugal, Columbia, the Arab Spring, Apartide and consequently anti-Apartide, East German Stasi members induction into the united German government, and the Saran Gas attack in Tokyo. There is further evidence that members of your governments," Walters looked around the room, "were not only in the know, but supported such things. The 20th Century was their plaything, and everyone danced to their tune. The only three things that they feared was denuclearization, unilateral partisanship, and a woman named Carol Danvers."
That had Nick pause. He never told Jenn about her.
"So, for your witch hunt," the lawyer steamrolled on, "if you wish to start prosecuting and persecuting to the fullest extent of international law, by all means, please do so.
"Because four members of this very Security Council are active HYDRA members." Jennifer Walters finalized as she looked around with a smile. "Director Fury? If you could be so kind as to escort a lady to her ride? I'm afraid that I might need to make another trip to the hospital."
"I'd be glad to." Nick stood up from his chair, leveling a gaze at the men and women who thought they were going to roast him alive reeling from the shock that they, too, didn't know whom to trust. He moved behind the chair and began pushing it out of the chamber, trying not to seem smug as he left the Security Council chamber with a nice victory in his belt. Yes, SHIELD was done (that was a pain he'd deal with later), but for now, his people had a defender on their side who would fight with truth and justice, not politics and knee-jerk reaction. He had all the power he needed with Jenn Walters going to bat. "That was a pretty impressive display, Jenn." Nick said softly as he pulled her through the wooden doors that were the portal to the UNSC chambers, the suited man who pushed her in initially following. "I can't believe you showed up so soon after surgery."
"I didn't." Jenn looked up with a smile and a wink, her hand going through his arm to prove her point. Fury barked out a laugh at that. "But I wasn't about to let them tar and feather you and lose one of our best fighters, Nick. I wasn't lying when I said four members of the UNSC are HYDRA. I don't doubt they would love to fry SHIELD and place something else in the works. This buys us time to thwart them, hunt them down, and give them the day in the spotlight they so sorely need."
"They're going to rue the day you packed your bags in San Bernardino, Miss Walters."
"If they aren't already, then I almost feel sorry for them." The lawyer commented as the image in the chair began to flicker, as they reached a hallway that was mercifully empty. "Almost." The image flickered and died as a single Freeform Light Holographic Projection Drone hovered above the chair, gaining altitude and disappearing from view.
"That's a hell of a woman." Fury commented, looking over to see that the bodyguard had disappeared and showed itself to being Colonel James Rupert Rhodes instead.
"Yes, yes she is." The War Machine replied with a solemn nod.
Agent Angelica Marilyn Jones found herself walking the corridors of Walter Reed Medical Center dressed in attire that was more befit that of an Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigations; Clint had quipped and called it her penguin suit… and then told her that it fit her well. Two hours prior, she had gotten a call from the Director of the FBI himself, Mark Summers, confirming her installment into the Bureau after apologizing what had happened to her at Quantico. She didn't blame the man; HYDRA had hoodwinked everyone, but she was glad to see that the man was taking responsibility of the organization that was his responsibility even if there were members acting outside of their mission statement and orders. He then invited her to meet him at Walter Reed, of all place. She hadn't known he had gotten hurt.
She reached the room, took a small breath for courage, and entered to find it occupied with four women and a suit not made of iron despite the name.
"Oh, sorry, wrong room…" Angel began to say until she saw who the people were. That was most certainly Jennifer Walters on one bed, and Jessica Drew, the Tempest, on a hospital chair in front of a laptop by one wall.
"Come in, Agent Jones. We're expecting you." The lawyer said from her bed, laying down and looking like a car accident patient. Her right hand had an external brace surgically embedded into her hand and wrist, and there were casts on her forearm and right shin. The other woman on the bed was Major Maria Hill, who had been attacked the previous day by an Senior FBI Agent that had somehow passed through scrutiny. Senior Agent Richard Marshal hadn't been vetted (the wait list for that was sadly long and taxing) but his story about being shot at by his partner who had shot at the Director of the FBI had passed with accounts, so everyone had assumed. That… was a very sore point with her. "I take it you weren't expecting to be in this particular room?"
"I thought Director Summers might have been hurt." Jones replied, a little off-put. Then again, everyone was playing with their cards very close to the chest, now. She saw a young teenage woman in one corner typing like a madman on a state-of-the-art laptop and wearing strange glasses over her face. Oh, that was Miss Marvel, the one that had saved something like over three hundred lives thanks to illusions. God, she really was a kid, fifteen or sixteen! "I hope you're feeling a little better, at least." Jenn Walters had taken on Emil Blonsky head-to-head, wearing a gigantic armored suit to take on the Abomination. Angel had only seen small bits and pieces of that fight, still under HYDRA's control. The thought that someone had taken on that beast and survived was astonishing. The fact that the CEO of the Avengers wasn't a puddle was a miracle.
"The painkillers are nice, the nurses aren't too annoying, and I'm making her pay half the rent." The lawyer tipped her head to the SHIELD Agent laying in her own bed, who snorted at the comment. Maria looked to be doing well after having been tazed in the back of the neck, no doubt a few tests done to clear her. She was on a tablet, no doubt working as well. Even in a hospital, these women were at work, Angel knowing that the CEO of the Avengers was running things from her bed thanks to her time helping out SHIELD and the Avengers on TR Island in the wake of the Civil War. "Now how are you? And please don't say 'fine'. I don't think anybody is 'fine'."
"I'm…" That was a question the redhead didn't want to answer out loud, but the lawyer was far from being fooled. "I'm trying to make up for the things they made me do." That was barely more than a whisper, and that had Jess look up from her laptop. Yes, the CIA-trained woman would understand that feeling, wouldn't she? "I know it's on them, but I'm the one that has to live with it, too. I thought… in these days, when everyone's hurt and recovering, showing what I can do now that I'm free will show not only what I'm made of, but… down the road, perhaps it will help me."
"That's a good plan there." Jennifer sighed as she raised the bed's head portion to better talk to her. "We're getting into contact with a few psychologists and psychiatrists, some with experience with PTSD and night terrors. I'm not letting those who were used falling to the wayside and suffering even more. I may not have a great answer as to what to do, but my answer isn't going to be I don't know." That Angel got. "As soon as Director Summers shows up, I can tell you why you're here."
Angel gulped at that. She was beginning to connect dots considering that she was standing in front of no less than four Avengers.
There was a knock on the door. And in walked the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Marcus Allan Summers.
"Miss Walters. Ladies." The sixty-plus year old man was practically the portrait of an old-school cop; older, not softer. He was still athletic-looking and had eyes that could rival a snipers' with their piercing quality. The suit he was was a common one, not a high-priced one that one might see politicians in, but a working mans' suit. Angel knew of a few stories of the man, and wasn't too surprised to see that he was armed. He was the face of the FBI, and that face exuded competence and authority. Just want the Bureau wanted and needed.
"Director, it's good to see you once more." Walters said, shifting slightly in her bed. "I know things are a mess and we're all pulling triple-time right about now, so I do appreciate you coming here. The answer I want to give you isn't one I want going over a phone or a cell tower. I'm sure you understand."
"Fully." Angel was confused. She tried not to look it. She was looking at her ultimate boss for a moment, who was giving her a respectful nod. "I hadn't told Agent Jones anything, because I wanted you to explain the situation and opportunity. And as you said, some conversations can't be trusted on phones."
"Angel, is it okay if I call you that?" The redhead nodded, still feeling lost as to what was going on. "When I first started the Avengers as a public company, one of our missions was to prevent illegal experimentation and development of radical science projects geared towards the evolution or metamorphosis of the human genome. The kind of thing that made the Red Skull, Captain America, and the Incredible Hulk, along with several others." The bed-ridden woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath and sighed. "In that, we failed. We failed you and many others." Walters looked over to Jessica Drew, who stopped her work on her laptop to look at the lawyer, giving her a smile. There was something more there going on than boss and employee. "More than a few actual smart reporters and individuals, such as Mark here," Jennifer nodded to the Director, "noted that it was a bit of a hypocritical stance that we, pretty much the only 'superhero' team in the world, would shut down any kind of program to make more while basically hogging the goodies. They weren't wrong, but I also told them the why of it; who would understand better than us that program where someone goes too far… and someone else suffers for it." Yes, that Angel completely got. There had been mentions of that on the Avenger website, and Angelica had thought it a pretty righteous stance; whom better to judge than those who had suffered such a thing? Now she was having to live with it.
"I think there's a big difference between failure to stop and failure to do." The young FBI woman replied. "Law Enforcement is meant to prevent and prosecute crimes, but we're always outnumbered. But it's still our job."
"Exactly." The Esquire said with a smile. "I realize that while keeping a task force of those who can prevent such things regardless of the agency in question, legal or illegal, is a smart choice, we were utterly blindsided by HYDRA right in our own damn backyard. I'd be a fool to think HYDRA is dead and gone; they've played that card before. I don't doubt that the next few to several years for us, the Avengers, will be hunting them down to the very ends of the Earth and capturing all that they've done and fix the messes that they've made. I'm not thrilled with that thought at all, the world doesn't need another paramilitary group running about ad nausium without permission or even notification, but that might be exactly what we have to do. But that leaves me with a few concerns that likely would have bothered me or horrified me a year ago before I took this job."
"HYDRA changed you, too. Your heart." The FBI Agent pointed out, seeing the lawyer nod slowly.
"Jessica's my daughter." That had Angel look over to see the Tempest looking right back at the FBI Agent. "When I first learned? My heart broke in ways I don't think English is qualified to explain. But I think you could understand." Jones gulped and nodded. "This is personal to me, and I have a hard time believing that HYDRA did this to her benignly considering I was on the very top of their VIP hit list. I think of those that HYDRA altered, I absolutely refuse to call you want they called you;" HYDRA had called them Inhumans, and Angel hated that term, "and I know that there are parents, siblings, children and friends that will be just like me, horrified by what happened to their loved ones. That fucking organization did its best to keep such things hidden, but now we've got them exposed and on the run. Things like what happened to you will likely still occur, but at a much smaller scale and at a much deeper level. That will likely be our mission for the next several years; hunting down HYDRA while they try to coerce their way into defaming us or knocking us down with bribes or calumny while plying their operations in deep, dark holes.
"Which leaves me with a dilemma and why you're here."
So far, this conversation hadn't actually surprised her. Angel hadn't been expecting this, but everything sounded about they way she figured it would be. Most certainly the Avengers hunting and exterminating HYDRA.
"Two-hundred and thirty-two people that we know of have been altered by HYDRA." The lawyer continued. "Actually, it's a great deal more than that, but those were the 'successes' while the feebles and the failures were proverbially left behind to rot. You know of the feebles, right?" The FBI Agent looked to her boss with a frown, shaking her head as the older man's face went to stone. "The success rate for a 'success' was about eighteen percent, give-or-take. The ones who didn't make it was about thirty-four percent, dying in the process. And… don't ask me to explain how they died." The bed-ridden woman shuddered, and Angel felt her throat go dry. She knew of the 'death-toll', but not the how of it.
"That's only fifty-two percent." Jones pointed out. Jennifer looked away for a moment, the lawyer silent before finally turning her gaze to the FBI Agent.
"The other forty-eight percent didn't exactly come out according to plan. And the results range from bothersome to horrific."
Angel felt her heart shudder at that.
"As of now," the Esquire continued, "I'm pressuring a few key legislators into implementing a few ideas to help these people, as they are people as well as American Citizens, and they are our duty. But now I'm left with almost a quarter of a thousand changed individuals that are physically able to live their lives… and over six hundred super-powered individuals whose future lies uncertain because some of them can't even turn off their abilities or, in one extremely heartbreaking case, the man in question is quite literally a living puddle of liquid flesh." Angel was almost nauseated at that. "The dilemma that I see is that people will have a hard time understanding. How could they, after all? They didn't suffer what you suffer, they weren't affected like I was, the sad result of what HYDRA did is thankfully a very small number, but that means that the American public, and its lawmakers, just aren't going to know what you went through. All they're going to see, in their mind, is a twisted HYDRA experiment running loose. And I'll be damned if I just lie here and see good people judged and segregated because of something they had zero control over and may even struggle to control now."
"You're talking about our future." Angel realized, licking her dry lips as the realization came to her. She now had the ability to combust into flame and even project it to upwards of twenty-five feet, controlled by her will. When Jones learned that she had been confirmed that she was to be an FBI Agent despite what happened, it had been both a relief and a balm. She hadn't been sure what her future would be.
"And I rather it be me than some double-speaking politician in the middle of a knee-jerk reaction lobbying for polls, a seat, a following, or a damn cult." Yeah, she got that. "So I'm pushing quiet bills that makes sure that you are seen as people, that you're held to the same standard, but with some clauses inserted. Because I do get that having superpowers injected to you doesn't include a training manual or an ingrain knowledge of how to cope with it during a bad day or when some pissy asshole gets in your face because he isn't getting his soy latte fast enough." That had Kamala snort and giggle a little at her corner as she continued to work. "Did you know that the Hulk is my cousin?"
"I… kinda overheard that at the Trisk after the battle. I wasn't sure I believed." Jones replied slowly. She had met a Doctor who had been handling intelligence on the Gungnir along with Doctor Henry 'Hank' Pym, who seemed to be a nice gentleman that was deliberately being hands-off from the mess of tents that was a mess of HYDRA prisoners and SHIELD Agents that were still being vetted along with everyone else. She had been introduced to him, learned his name was Doctor Banner, and was told that he was an Avenger. Angel knew that there were ground team members and support members, and had assumed the man to be one of the support members. He had the title 'Doctor' in his name, after all (Doctor Doreen Green notwithstanding). But she also knew that the support members had been very active in the fight against HYDRA; the Chief Financial Officer, Hope van Dyne, had some specialized shrinking suit, and even Kamala Khan had somehow turned herself into a giant and punched an Aircraft Carrier (Angel knew it to be an illusion now, but when it had happened, she had been utterly blown away, even controlled!). She put two-and-two together and highly suspected that the quiet, non-assuming Doctor was the Hulk somehow.
"He came to me right after it happened. Even you can't imagine it, I think." The CEO closed her eyes, obviously reliving that event. "The Army had been mobilized, just about every law enforcement agency was on a manhunt and a dragnet, all because some General wanted the perfect killing machine in the form of a science experiment he sold off as an anti-radiation treatment fight after Nine-Eleven. Got what he wanted, but that cost was way too damn high, and a good man and a brilliant scientist now has to live the rest of his life with that incredible burden. So… I know a little of what you might go through and what you might have to face because of Bruce. I was there for him during his darkest days, helping him avoid capture so more weren't made and helped him escaped not only for his sakes, but for all of ours. This situation is no different, and my dedication is no different. You need someone to see you for who you are instead of what you are, and I think I've found a way to help others see that picture, too."
"I'm listening."
"The future… is going to be a rocky one." The lawyer continued. "I have no idea what the next year might be like, but I don't doubt people are going to panic once they're told that there's about two-hundred plus people with powers ranging from looking different to manipulating metal with their mind. That's going to be a big scare; the kind of thing I wanted us to avoid. But now that it's here, it's my job to make the most of this outcome without people losing their damn minds and going off the deep-end. The reason why I've asked you here, Angel, is because you were a part of the twenty or so percent of people that HYDRA procured from various government organizations such as the Armed Forces, the FBI, and the CIA. That meant that you wanted to be there initially.
"Is that still true?"
Angel felt her throat constrict a little. But she already knew her answer.
"Yes." She knew that she might have an opportunity to be an Avenger, to stand amongst the greatest the world had ever produced. And yet it had been her dream to be a cop, to protect and serve. As she understood it, Jennifer Walters' father had been a California Sheriff. She had been barely involved in the fight against HYDRA, though she had certainly been instrumental in the fight against Flint Marko, the Sandman. And the way Miss Walters was saying it, she had an idea that Angel figured would be something just as important as being an Avenger.
"Good." The woman on the bed smiled. "With SHIELD decimated and HYDRA scattering to the four winds, what we need are those dedicated few who are willing and able to hold the line, to stand and deliver for others who will never know that pain or cost. It was SHIELD's responsibility to monitor for exotic threats, to prevent nuclear proliferation and other distribution of weapons of mass destruction, and to curtail wars going beyond two squabbling nations. Yet HYDRA was responsible for much of those things while under the guise of SHIELD, and now we're left with the pieces of the wreckage. We at the Avengers have the good will of the people to be able to hunt for HYDRA members and their shadowy associates for the time being, though I don't doubt they will do their best to erode that good will in the near future with whatever calumny and political pressure they can muster. While we scour the Earth for them… our nation is in need of its own protection. I did my best to keep enhanced individuals out of the hands of the government because I feared some hardliner using you as either scapegoats or superpowered enforcement. I talked to Director Summers about this," she nodded to the man, "and he understood fully why I have that fear when I showed him files and evidence of government experiments in this very nation trying to create Super Soldiers and other things with very little success but a great deal of consequence. As the arbiter of Federal enforcement geared towards intelligence, investigation, and prosecution, I wanted him to know that I will hold him to that ideal while helping him create a division within the FBI that would answer to the threats that are above and beyond what a normal man can face. HYDRA altered hundreds that we know of… and I don't doubt they have the means to continue to do so.
"With that in mind, I asked Director Summers to create the Department of Enhanced Individuals. For now, we're calling it the Varsity."
Angelica noted the name Enhanced Individuals. It wasn't Inhuman, superhuman, or superhero. It labeled people such as herself for what they were; enhanced individuals. Still people, but not exactly of the garden variety. The code name was certainly different; 'varsity' usually meant first string or starters, the best players of a team. It certainly had a people-friendly connotation to it.
"The idea is this; we know that there are enhanced individuals in the world, and not all of them are with either the Avengers or with what HYDRA did." Jennifer continued. "I already placed laws in play to help protect and prosecute individuals based on laws that already exist; someone such as yourself using your abilities in self-defense or the defense of another is seen in the eyes of the law as the same as anyone else, be it armed or not. Likewise, committing a crime with abilities will be prosecuted in the same way as anyone else. I am doing my best to see to it that you are treated as equals and given the same opportunities and consequences as anyone else. I don't doubt some mouthpiece will be crying soon to get themselves attention, which is why I pushed for these laws months ago when the only ones anyone knew of were the original six Avengers."
"Well, that's handy." God, they had really lucked out. It looked like the lawyer was trying to close off as many loopholes and politically-motivated means to criminalize or federalize superpowered individuals for their own gains.
"Well, considering we knew of Captain America since the Forties but no one put anything into place tells me that either no one was thinking about it… or likely HYDRA was purposefully burying any attempts so as to keep people in the dark and bring in anyone into their fold if they were discovered." Yeah, Angel could see that. Miss Walters was also cutting off avenues that someone might hold an ax over their heads just as much as reminding everyone that they were American citizens; according to the Constitution, they were suppose to be treated the same. It was a difficult path, but the CEO of the Avengers was covering bases long before there were issues. Oh, no doubt issues would arise, but someone had already laid the groundwork. And the idea of this new Department sounded like she was throwing the American Government a bone in having some enhanced individuals of their own while at the same time reminding them where their duties laid.
"So you're asking me to be a part of this Varsity?" Jones asked.
"People… are going to be concerned." Walters sighed as she grimaced slightly, her mangled hand flexing slightly. "We got lucky that the big reveals in the past were during a horrific World War with an individual imaged as a national icon, and then at the doorstep of a planetary invasion that was not only halted, but defeated as well. That earned good will from many, and took a lot of steam out of detractors." Angel remembered some of those nay-sayers in the aftermath of the Battle of New York, wondering just how 'dangerous' they were. But the knowledge that they had literally saved the planet and then images of the Avengers helping out with rescue and relief operations had done well for the public image. And then Jennifer Walters had showed up and flipped the script on everyone by turning the team into a private organization with the intent of planetary defense, clean energy promotion, philanthropic activities, and actioning against any illegal, immoral, or unethical scientific research and development endeavors as defined by the United Nations regardless of national membership.
There had been a rather surprising strike in September involving a British National in Berlin using mind-control to subvert people to his will and make them do whatever he wanted. The Avengers website had released video evidence of a man named Kevin Thompson using his abilities in London, New York City, Toronto, and Berlin committing crimes ranging from theft to murder (and a whole host of others that went from appalling to soul-shaking) as well as his subsequent capture inside a public restaurant where not one person had been hurt or even involved (save for the woman who had been enslaved by Thompson already). While the knowledge of the strike had alarmed some, the Federal Government of Germany hadn't issued one negative comment or call of the Avengers' action… likely meaning that Germany had asked for help. Thompson had disappeared off the face of the Earth… and pretty much everyone with a pulse knew what that concluded to.
That was the very thing that Jennifer Walters was asking her to do, Angel realized.
"So you giving the Government a few enhanced individuals and having us as the authority means we're going to hold the responsibility of those enhanced individuals while also making sure they are not being castigated or biased against?" She could see what the lawyer was trying to do. Giving a little bit of authority to the government meant that they had some control and influence, but only a limited amount. Having enhanced individuals in the FBI meant they had the role of Federal Agents in case there were disturbances and just issues with people who needed help. Jones saw something else in the act as well; someone such as her would show their worth and that they could be productive members of society. While there wouldn't be any real pretty or perfect answers, the one that Jennifer was coming up with was a good starting point for the people that had been altered. "What of the people that just want to live normal lives?"
"They can… but the situation isn't going to be normal no matter how hard we try." The lawyer admitted. "I don't doubt that someone is going to cry segregation, separation, registration, or a few more unconstitutional terms. One of the reasons why I have Mark here," she weakly gestured towards the Director of the FBI, "is that I fully expect him to go to bat to keep the stupidity to a minimum."
"Mom… you're pushing yourself too much." Jessica said softly from where she sat, the Tempest with a look of care and concern on her face. "I know there's a lot to go over, but I think Angel understands what you're trying to do for us."
"You're right, honey." Miss Walters looked over to to both herself and Director Summers. "Are you willing to set the foundation for those who need you most?"
"Yes." Angelica replied, already having decided that she wanted to do something along those lines before arriving in the hospital room. She hadn't been able to fight HYDRA nearly as much as she would have liked, but helping those that had been affected by them was just as good, perhaps even better. It was a part of what she had wanted out of her life before, and she was getting a little of that back.
"Good." The lawyer blinked several times, obvious still needing to recuperate.
"I'll see her out, Mom." Jessica said as she stood from her seat, sliding over to the bed to give Jennifer Walters a kiss on her forehead before looking over to Angel and Director Summers, her head nodding to the door to indicate where their conversation would be held. The Director opened the hospital room door for them as the two women exited with him in tow as the raven-haired woman leaned against a wall after looking down the hospital corridor to see that it was mostly empty and containing only normal activities. "Director Summers knowns most of the details, but Mom wanted you to hear it for yourself as to what she wants to see as a way to help quell problems before they arise. She wanted you to have the opportunity to hear what was going on and then choosing for yourself, Angel." There was no need explaining why, and Jones appreciated that.
"The last thing I want to see is some asshole getting a hold of one of us and using us for their benefit. Something like this will likely stymie most issues, but not all." The FBI Agent concluded.
"No, not all. Which is why I and Kamala looked over a few names for those we think might be a help to you." Jessica replied. "Sadly, HYDRA thought it would be a great idea to comb through prisons and get felons turned into superpowered question marks, but surprisingly enough Marvel found a couple that might actually be good choices."
"A convicted felon that might work for the FBI?" Angel scoffed, trying to imagine that. Then again, there was a long list of people who were just that in the FBI; rated expertise when that expertise came from the other side of the law. The FBI got the best people to do the job… period. "Okay, shoot."
"The first one's an electrical engineer who went whistleblower against the company that he worked for when they decided to embezzle millions from their customers. He may have purloined some of that money after the discovery." Angelica grunted at that. That didn't sound too horrifically bad, a man who went and committed a white-collar crime against white-collar criminals. It wouldn't surprise her if the creeps responsible for the original crime completely got away with it all or ended up with a few months house arrest. It never did make sense to her how someone could steal a TV and get three years and a pyramid scheme scam artist could get less. "Family man who got divorced while at prison, three years, cute little girl that he wants to do right by. Initial offer looked pretty optimistic, and, hey!, the reformed thief now has the ability to phase and walk through walls. That's hysterical irony for you. The second one's a rather noteworthy hacker who was somewhat onto HYDRA but got found out. Felon might be too strong a word since they threw her in the pokey without trial or anything and decided to turn the little codebreaker into a superpowered bitch. She's… the typical stick-it-to-the-man anarchist with a laptop and a chip on her shoulder." That didn't exactly sound so promising. "Good news is she blames HYDRA for all the things she hated and went wrong with her life, reinforced by all that they did to her, which…" Jessica looked to the FBI Director for a brief second, "similar to us," Angel didn't need further elaboration, "and the little girl who wanted to shake things up a bit has now got her wish. You're just going to love this little fact; she now has limited short-ranged tectonic generation abilities."
"She can produce… earthquakes." The redhead wasn't sure if she was thrilled with that thought. Then again, Angel could literally set everything on fire at once within twenty-five feet.
"Well, beggars and choosers and whatnot. She's actually interested in helping out, and you even get to teach her how to spell 'team player'." Jones snorted again. "But the both of them have skills inside and outside the proverbial office, he's got a Masters' Degree, and she's a pretty top-notched 'software engineer' or whatever the W-2 is for self-employed software penetration testers call themselves these days, so you've got brains and brawn to work with. Mom's not going to hold their prior convictions or whatnot over their heads, giving them clean slates and a good running start."
"Recognizing them for their skills and talents instead of their deeds would make them more affable." And it wasn't like the FBI hadn't hired top-tier criminals in the past as expertise. Who was that check forger guy again? They had even made a movie about him!
"I think we could all do with a little more of that." Jessica said softly, and Angel wasn't going to disabuse her of that notion, especially when that was what she wanted herself. "The Director will tell you the rest, but it's… it's good to know that are people out there that want to do more than just sit and bitch and moan."
"Likewise, Tempest." Angel smiled, knowing what the woman had done; for her, for those at the Trisk. Jessica had fought against HYDRA, no doubt fearing the organization like she did. When the call came, Jessica Drew had showed the world her worth, fighting alongside true SHIELD Agents as well as saving many lives when someone in HYDRA decided to dump a MOAB on them. "So what are their names? My new co-workers?"
"Scott Lang and Daisy Johnson."
Author's Notes: The late release is due to me moving about a hundred and fifty miles south from Tacoma, Washington to Portland, Oregon. Otherwise I would have made sure to wish everyone a wonderful holiday (no matter which one you celebrate) and that mine was spent with my six-year old daughter having a blast. And yes, I'm teaching her to read with Marvel comic books! I got her a rather big Omnibus of Ms. Marvel comics and I read to her every night. Then we play Fortnight together. (I'm an awesome dad and her friends are totes jealous!)
The first part of this chapter is not to forget the man who ties in all the Avengers movies, Nick Fury. Literally only the second time I used him, here he isn't dead and also facing the UN Security Counsel.
For those who don't know of the UNSC, I did a pretty decent job depicting what they are and how it works; there are five permanent members (England, France, America, Russia, and China) and ten non-permanent members that switch out every two years, being staggered so five are being replaced every year technically. And it is true that any UN signatory country can serve the UNSC, no matter how small, and can say they have a vote and the ability to affect world policy (I believe in the year 2019 Lichtenstein and Luxembourg, two of the smallest European Nations, were on the Counsel). The only stipulation is that they must be a signatory country, so thus the Vatican City and Palestine are observer states (the Pope doesn't get involved in international affairs, and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict will prevent this until there is a truce and likely a two-state pact… which I'm not holding my breath on). Non-Member States include Kosovo (a part of former Yugoslavia and formally recognized by 102 countries), Taiwan (because China is pissy and recognized by 16 countries), Western Sahara (that's actually a conflict and soft civil war and recognized by 44 countries), South Ossetia (I'm assuming somewhere in Greece by the name and recognized by 5 countries), Abhazia (no clue, honestly, and recognized by 5 countries), and Northern Cyprus (which the Greeks and Turks have been fighting for since Aristotle got out of nappies and is currently divided in two, so I'm pretty sure Northern Cyprus is recognized by Turkey and Turkey alone[I looked it up, I'm right]).
The UNSC President rotates every month, and generally has the ability to call to meeting, call to order, call to vote, and deliver the vote's result. I specifically didn't name anyone. To give you an idea of how important being the UN Ambassador is, the US Ambassador to the UN (known as the 'Mission to the UN') is approximately the second-highest position in the State Department, right behind the Secretary of State. SecState and POTUS have sat on UNSC meetings, such as Secretary Colin Powell delivering 'evidence' to the UNSC of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Several US Presidents in the past have sat in meetings.
I've set up something that you will see in Season Four, but I wanted to put something into effect that you saw in Agents of SHIELD; the thought of what to do with Inhumans. Season Three will deal with something different, but then you'll get to see what I have in store for Season Four: The Inhumanity Of It All.
The Varsity is my answer to the little Agents of SHIELD superhero squad. And yes, how could I leave out Daisy Johnson? But Scott Lang as Ghost? Well, I did kind of write out Ant-Man, but I busted him out of prison early, too.
