Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my stories. So please no lawsuits or court orders to cease and desist.
Note: As always positive reviews will be warmly received, constructive criticism will be considered but not necessarily acted upon and negative/bashing reviews will either be ignored or burned as fuel to keep the story going.
Thena's POV
Once more and their defenses will fall, she thought as she raised Mjolnir over her head to gather the necessary electricity from the atmosphere.
"Don't dial up the voltage too high, Thena." came a voice that had her look down to see Xander rising up to her position. "Dropping those ships on the city wouldn't be very heroic."
"Worry not, friend Xander," she said even as she kept a mental watch on the amount of power she was gathering. "I might not have much experience fighting vessels of this sort, but my aim is only to disable not destroy. Once I see their engines start to flutter, I shall stop and we may make known our demands."
"Take your guns and go home?" he asked with his usual levity.
"A bit simple but aye, that would be the core of the request," she replied with a small grin.
"Okay, let's give it a shot," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just promise me you'll help me get the ship that fails into the harbor if its engines fail. The Kree and the Skrulls are a cocky bunch. Wouldn't surprise me if they didn't take care of their ships properly."
"'Tis a deal! Now watch as I remind both Kree and Skrull why Earth is no easy target!" she declared feeling the gathered energy reach the required level.
With a warrior's yell she unleashed a pair of lightning strikes against the ships beneath her, tearing through their hulls like the claws of a terrible beast. Even should they surrender immediately they'd need time to repair the damage to their hulls in order to keep the air inside upon leaving the atmosphere and survive moving at the speed necessary to make it to another system. They wouldn't be able to continue the fight in such a pitiable state and, with both the Avengers as well as her own ream keeping an eye on them it would easily become known when the ships were fit to leave. When the last spark of lightning petered out, her confidence proved to be well founded when both ships remained airborne albeit with some signs of strain.
"There! 'Tis done!" she said, floating in the air with her power. "Now let us see how confident the Kree and Skrull are with their ships barely capable of remaining in the air."
As a pair they descended from the sky to where the battle had been taking place and now merely had heroes as well as impotently angry aliens.
"Now that the tables have turned, thou shalt hear our demands both Kree and Skrull," she declared, relishing in how the aliens struggled to find something to support further defiance. "Both of thee shalt board thine ships and upon their return to space worthiness leave this system, never to return save when thou have been invited! Refuse and we shall make you leave… whether your ships are space worthy or not."
"You overstate your position, girl!" the leader of the Kree said, sounding quite angry. "You may have disabled my ship but even if you had destroyed it that would not end things. The Supreme Intelligence would merely send an entire fleet to ensure that the son of Mar-vell is conscripted into the Kree navy AND that retribution is exacted upon you for your crimes against the Kree!"
"I find that hard to believe. Where's logic in putting resources like ships and soldiers to work to put Hulkling in a Kree navy uniform?" Xander asked, trying to talk some sense into the alien leader. "He's just one person, one teenager, and it'll take years of training before he's fit for any battlefield. Too long to be any good against the Skrull and that's assuming they don't manage to get him assassinated. It's far more logical to cut Kree losses short and just keep any Skrull ships out of Earth's solar system. You get to destroy Skrulls and if they can't get to Hulkling, they can't use him against you."
"I don't see how this benefits US, human!" one of the Skrulls growled, clearly unhappy with the words spoken by Xander.
"It doesn't benefit the Skrulls to keep spending the limited resources you have trying to force someone to go with you," Janet said, putting forth her contribution. "I've read the Avengers files about how Galactus destroyed your home world and seriously reduced your military strength. You need to find another way to rally your people besides a kid who didn't even know he was half Skrull yesterday."
"You know nothing of the Skrull people!" the Skrull yelled back, sounding offended. "You think we would go to such effort if there were a better option!"
"Probably not but you're going to have to go looking for one anyway," Xander said, ignoring the heat but not the words of the Skrull. "It takes more than a bloodline to rule. Drag Hulkling off to your world and he'll be little more than a figurehead under the control of his advisors or immediate subordinates. Is that what you want? A puppet king?"
She could tell that Xander's words had brought up a point that the Skrulls had not considered or at least not very deeply. While she couldn't believe the race possessed much honor given that their shape changing ability made them naturally predisposed towards deception she didn't want to think that they'd want a figurehead rather than a true ruler. After all, why waste time with the lie of there being a king when they could simply toss the ruler idea aside and let the most qualified of the subordinates lead the Skrull people?
For a time no one said anything but she was certain that all of them were thinking hard on what had been said thus far. In the end, though, it was when a particularly loud explosion rocked the Kree ship that the decision had apparently been made for the two alien races.
"Very well," the Kree Commander said, not sounding particularly pleased in the least. "My ship is ill suited to providing support from the air at the moment and some of the crew require medical attention. We will leave but we will be monitoring all interstellar traffic into and out of this system. Should the son of Mar-vell leave for whatever reason, we will take all necessary action to ensure that the Skrulls never make use of their new 'king'."
"I don't have a problem with that," Hulkling said, showing his support for the idea. "Earth is my home and, as much as I sympathize with the Skrulls wanting to reunite their people, I'm not the right person for the job and I'd only do make a mess of things."
"You heard him, Skrulls. Find something stronger than just blood to unite your people," Xander said with a certainty she couldn't help but be impressed by. "A desire, an ideal, that all of your people from the youngest to the oldest share. That's what you need to bring everyone together."
The Skrulls looked to be on edge, indecisive, but then without warning they took to the air and made for their ship not uttering a word the entire time. While she would admit to wanting the fighting to resume, if only to experience the gift of battle, this outcome was acceptable. It would allow Hulkling to remain on Earth with his friends and family while also sparing the city further damage from a three sided battle between powerful forces.
"Looks like that just about wraps things up," Xander said, sounding happy with how things had come to an end. "I'm gonna go see if my car's patched herself up yet."
Without waiting to let anyone ask him what he meant, including her, the leader of her team flew off, leaving some a bit puzzled by the 'her' part of his statement.
Not her, though.
She had seen enough mortal television to know that many men often confer a gender upon certain favored possessions, with the most often being the female gender. Given that the car was Xander's 'wheels' and secondary method of transportation aside from flight, it was only natural that he would seek to determine its current state.
Perhaps if it was in good condition he would be agreeable to a 'drive in the country', she thought before hanging her Mjolnir on her belt. 'Tis only fair since he took Pepper for one this day.
She wondered what it'd be like to experience in person what she had only seen on the television thus far.
Avengers Tower
Two Weeks Later
Living Area
Xander's POV
"You want us to what?" he asked, not quite sure if he'd heard right.
"Not want. Suggesting," Stark said from what was probably the comfiest and most expensive chair in the room. "You've all made it clear that you want to keep fighting the good fight and from what I've seen you can each handle yourselves. It's been the talk around the Avengers water cooler that too many of us operate here in New York and that it might be a good thing to 'spread the wealth around'. Chicago would be as good a place to start as any and you can be the ones that get things started."
An interesting idea and it'd give them a chance to spread their proverbial wings a bit without the Avengers looking over their shoulders both metaphorically as well as literally. There was even the good fortune of one of the colleges that Janet was considering applying for in order to make her doctorates local was located in Chicago. When added to the fact that he liked the idea of being the founder of Chicago's first resident superhero team, there was just one thing souring the milk for him.
"As awesome an idea as it is there's just one problem: money and a place to operate out of," he said, using fingers to highlight the two points. "Sure, we've got some starter money to work with but that was when all we were looking for was a place to stay and the rest of the essentials. It's a whole different ballgame to fund a super team and somehow I doubt operating out of a house or apartment is going to inspire a lot of people to join up."
"No problem. Turns out there's a facility about an hour outside of Chicago that used to belong to a chain business focused on helping the wealthy 'get back to nature' that is up for sale," Stark said, sounding like he had it all figured out. "It'll be perfect! Close enough for all of you to respond quickly but out of the way enough that if some 'uninvited guests' show up no bystander'll get hurt."
"I'm guessing that 'back to nature' for the rich and famous means its only semi-luxurious as well as sort of opulent," he said, imagining that getting back to nature for some meant something very different for the filthy rich than it did for him.
"Pretty much. Explains why the business isn't doing so good at the moment," Stark said with a nod. "While a lot of their customers didn't mind half-assing it, most of them wanted a REAL back to nature experience making their first visit their last visit. I can probably get it for a song and you can use it as your base for sayyyyy…a dollar a month."
"What's the catch?" Pepper asked, sounding a little suspicious.
"The catch is that a… liaison of sorts will be going with you," Tony said, sounding oddly pleased rather than offended by the question. "They'll be a point of contact between your team and the Avengers while providing support however they can."
"Translation: they'll be keeping an eye on us and put the final polish on our skills before returning to the Avengers lineup," he said, figuring out the truth behind the well-meaning words. "So who is going to be?"
He already had an idea about that, considering recent facts, but he was open to the possibility of being surprised.
"Jessica Drew. Considering she's now the same age as you, she'd fit in best," Tony replied with a smile. "I asked her if she'd do it and she agreed. Thought it'd be fun to experience things from the beginning with the five of you."
It sounded interesting enough and he could understand how appealing it'd be to be on the ground floor of the founding of a new team. Ever since he'd first seen pictures of a superhero in the newspaper, he'd daydreamed about what it'd be like to do what they did or to be among the members of the rest super team. What would it've been like to be a part of the Fantastic Four from the beginning? To have been one of the founding members of the Avengers?
Woah there, buddy! he thought, reining in his thoughts a bit. Just because you're on a super team of your own that doesn't mean you're anywhere near the FF's league, much less the Avengers level.
Still, every journey started with a single step.
"Well, I don't know about you guys but moving to the Windy City sounds like a good idea," he said, figuring it'd be nice to get away from NYC for a bit. "A lot less crowded and a chance for a fresh start."
"The University of Chicago is as good a place as any to start working towards getting my doctorate in molecular biology," Janet said, nodding in agreement. "I'm in. Though I think I'm going to need credentials first. Already a Janet Van Dyne in this reality and I don't think either of us would like people mixing us up."
"Already covered," Tony said before pulling a thick wad of papers out of his back pocket. "If you want it you're now Joelle Van Dyne. Distant cousin to Janet who's been home schooled up until now and after passing her GED with flying colors is looking to go even further. All the details are here with just a few blanks to fill in for that personal touch. Once you're done I can have it entered into the system making it official inside of a week."
"Joelle Van Dyne… has a nice ring to it," Janet said, testing the name on her lips. "It'll take some getting used to but I've been dealing with that ever since I got stranded in this reality. I'll manage."
"Chicago! Home of the… the… what are we going to name ourselves anyway?" Pepper asked, her enthusiasm stalling shortly after beginning. "It's been weeks since we found out we wouldn't be going home anytime soon and we never thought about a name for our team."
"I don't know about you guys but I didn't think of one at first because I didn't think we'd be in this timeline for very long," he replied honestly. "After that we were all getting used to things so I figured that a team name could wait until we'd all settled in a bit. Ya know… assuming you guys wanted to stay as a team instead of doing your own thing."
"We have remained a team thus far and I see no reason to change that," Thena said, showing her resolve to preserve their little group of do-gooders.
"It has been… surprisingly tolerable to remain in the company of the four of you. The fact that only a single male mars our group doesn't hurt," Lyra said, not willing to concede complete satisfaction or even enjoyment. "I will remain a teammate until a reason to leave comes along."
"You know I'm in!" Pepper said, her enthusiasm making it clear that it'd take a world-ending threat to make her consider an alternative career path. "Like I'd ever want to do anything else!"
"I might not've started out wanting to be a hero but being a member of the Ultimates showed me how I can help people in a big way," Janet said with a smile. "I'm not about to settle for anything less."
"Then how about we call ourselves… The Centurions? A Centurion was a commander of about eighty soldiers back in ancient Rome so they were experienced pros," he said, tossing a name that'd stuck in his head. "Plus it's kinda catchy."
"Yes. Like a disease," Lyra said, sounding quite unhappy with the team name.
"Hey! It could be worse," he said defending the product of his imagination. "My second choice was The Infinity Squad."
"Definitely not a good idea. Using 'infinity' in a team name'll remind too many heroes about the Infinity Stones and the villains who've tried to get them," Tony said, sounding like he'd remembered quite a few bad encounters. "Bad memories all around."
"Centurions it is, then," Thena said, supporting his choice for a team name.
"So how soon until we can move in?" Janet asked now that the name of the team had been decided on.
"It's mostly in tip top condition, only got shutdown eight months ago, so all that really needs to be done is some housekeeping and some upgrades," Stark replied, not sounding too concerned. "Give me about five weeks and it'll be all set."
"Time enough to shop for the essentials and get some training in," he said, coming up with ideas and possibilities.
"Training?" Pepper asked, sounding somewhat confused.
"If we're going to be a team of superheroes, we're going to need to do more than look the part," he replied, laying out his thoughts. "We're going to need real teamwork and more experience working together. It'll make coming out on top easier and keep us from tripping over each other when the fighting gets serious."
"You don't think being in the middle of a fight between the Kree and the Skrulls counts as serious?" Janet asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We had an entire team of experienced Avengers backing us up and the aliens shot at each other more than they did us," he replied, pretty sure he was right. Mostly sure, anyway. "If it'd been just us it'd have taken more than just 'do whatever feels right' to keep the damage down and win."
"You really think things'll get so bad that we'll wind up in a mess like that?" Pepper asked, sounding like she might call in sick that day.
"We want to be superheroes right? That means we're going to walk headlong into trouble willingly as often as it gets dropped in our laps," he replied with a bit of humor. "Doesn't say much for our sanity, does it?"
"I didn't know sanity was a requirement for being hero," Stark said, smiling as he shared the humor, "Did any of you?"
'Nopes' and negative shakes of the head were all Iron Man got in reply to his question.
Seeing as how he'd fought against things capable of killing him within three moves for the same amount of years, he was pretty sure that he'd left sanity behind long ago.
An Abandoned Quarry Outside of NYC
One Week Later
Janet 'Joelle' Van Dyne's POV
"Heads up, Trident!" she yelled, warning her teammate of trouble.
"Got it, Pixie!" Xander said, ducking underneath an attack before countering the source with one of his own.
Looking about, she could see the benefits of the training they'd been doing for the last five days in how one member of the Centurions built upon what another started. Both in terms of offence as well as defense, they worked to get the best results with minimal effort as often as possible but she could tell that they had a long road ahead of them. They all had the resolve to see this training through in time to move into their new home in Chicago but a well-oiled machine didn't happen overnight. It'd taken more than a year for the Ultimates to mesh well enough as a team to take on the big threats and she still thought that there'd been room for improvement.
Granted, the Ultimates had been more than a little dysfunctional and with egos that occasionally clashed, causing disruptions in teamwork, so maybe the Centurions would get things right quicker.
Seeing two hostiles heading her way, she immediately kicked up the speed and aerial maneuvers in order to make herself harder to target. It wasn't easy since their aim was good and they even employed rudimentary tactics to maneuver the team into strategically unsound situations. Not that it was TOO challenging but it did make them more than enemies to be blown to bits. Thankfully the only penalty for being sloppy enough to get hit was a nasty sting and being knocked to the ground, but fortunately everyone here was rather sturdy.
"You think these're the same 'bots the Avengers use for their training?" Pepper asked from high above, continuing her job of breaking up any enemy groups larger than three.
"Don't think so, War Maiden," Xander said, faking out two of his robot adversaries before grabbing them by the throats, crushing them. "I think they have some sort of training room with stuff built into the walls and solid light holograms. Maybe these are surplus SHIELD robots… what do they call'em?"
"LMDs, life model decoys, and if they are then they're probably a decade or two older operating under an OS Stark probably slapped together," she said even as she used her wasp stings to target the weapons or the head.
"You mean we're getting TRASH to fight!" Lyra exclaimed, not sounding at all happy about that.
"You can't blame him, Jade. It's not like he had the time to come up with quality training robots with top of the line everything at the drop of a hat," Xander said before spinning the two deactivated robots in his hands and throwing them at a group of three that'd begun shooting bolts at him. "Probably copied the OS of some guard bots the Avengers fought before with a few modifications so we don't get banged up too bad."
"They are plentiful at the very least, Trident," Thena said, bringing her hammer down on the chest of another. "HAAHHH! Ample opportunity to for us to hone our skills and learn to work as a true team!"
"I think we're doing pretty good, Valkyrie," Pepper said after unleashing a barrage of repulsor blasts. "We haven't gotten in each other's way, we've looked out for each other and in another five minutes we should be down to our last four or five 'bots."
"We're doing good but that's not going to cut it," she said, increasing her size to increase the damage of her stings. "If we really want to be Chicago's resident super team then we can't afford to make any mistakes. Mistakes lead to property damage, suffering and death."
"A little high strung but basically right," Xander said before rolling out of the way of a serious of stun blasts. "The cops and the government only let us heroes do our thing because we do our best to live up to the hero name and don't do anything that can't be swept under the rug easily. Sure, we'll never be perfect, but if we want to keep the body count and the property damage to an absolute minimum, we need to be great, not just 'good'."
"A little cynical but he's basically right," she said, mockingly mimicking the son of Namor. "Except for the high strung part. With the exception of a few of the big name teams the only reason we all aren't going to be arrested for vigilantism is because we're more valuable out here than behind bars."
"Well that takes some of the fun out of being a superhero," Pepper said, pausing in her efforts to convey her disappointment. "You'd think they'd trust heroes by now or give us all badges or something."
"Not going to happen unless we all agree to background checks, psych evals and probably mug shots. Governments and the law enforcement community kinda like people with badges to be on file and in the official chain of command," Xander said, not having a high opinion of those that govern. "Either we obey orders like every other government employee or they make it so we can't do our hero thing without it being illegal and having every badge in the country out to put us behind bars."
"Typical overmen. Intolerant of those they do not control and arrogantly believing they know best," Lyra growled before executing a combo attack to take down five robots. "We should ignore them and, if they try to get in our way, they will FALL."
"No. We can't fight an entire country and we shouldn't," she said, stressing this point to the green skinned woman. "Heroes help people, save them, from threats they can't protect themselves from. They don't do whatever they please just because they have power. That's what villains do."
"I am not suggesting we become lawless brigands or villains," Lyra said, a bit of offence in her tone. "Merely that those who govern show the proper respect for those who'd risk their lives fighting beings beyond their comprehension by not interfering."
"No one likes to leave their lives to people or things they can't control," Xander said, as if speaking from experience. "Too much chance. Much more comfortable if they know where to point their guns and where to find the heroes who won't play nice. Accountability is what they call it and most of the time it's a good thing."
"Only most of the time?" she asked with a bit of curiosity.
"The biggest problem I have with making heroes follow the legal definition of accountability is the fact that not all of them are like Stark," Xander replied with all due seriousness. "For a lot of them the only thing keeping jerks like Shocker or Venom from showing up on the front porch is the fact that those guys don't know who they are behind the masks. Ask the heroes to hand over enough info to fill a government file and there's a better than fifty-fifty chance it'll get stolen and used against them."
"If the American government ever did ask for that info, I think they'd make things a little harder than that to get the files," she said, knowing from her time amongst the Ultimates how secure top secret files could be.
"Really? Remind me to look up all the times the Avengers broke into a supposedly impenetrable facility or hacked top secret files from the most secure computer system on the planet," Xander said, not confident of that in the least. "If they can do it, so can other people. People who don't like heroes or see money in selling off secrets. Even if the place where they'd put the info was designed by the top eggheads on the planet, that just means only the top evil eggheads can get past it."
She wanted to counter those words and say something a little more positive about those who governed America but it was then that the robot training robots rallied forcing them to focus on avoiding their attacks. She was happy for that because the kind of talk that they were throwing around was dangerous, even if they were out in the middle of nowhere.
It'd been one of the more worrisome possibilities when the Ultimates chose to separate from the American government and SHIELD in particular. Not only did they dislike being used as super soldiers to carry out America's political agendas overseas but, if the Liberators proved anything, it was that the rest of the world wouldn't stand for it. Both to soothe their own codes of honor and to defuse international tensions that'd spiked when world leaders realized that the Ultimates could kick down their doors if America ordered it.
Nevertheless, everyone from Cap on down were worried about how long America and SHIELD would let them operate as independent superheroes before trying to put them back on the payroll or in prison. It was one of the few reasons why they'd come up with a rough idea of keeping the Ultimates in the limelight as much as possible. As a general rule spy agencies and governments up to shady things preferred to work in the shadows so as not to be seen by others, it'd make it harder for their former bosses to act.
Harder but not impossible.
Given all the tricks that the Liberators and their allies had used to undermine the Ultimates before they stepped into the spotlight it'd be all too easy for America to use the same playbook. A few staged incidents here, some private information there, and a well-timed failure probably on live TV would be enough to make the public agree to anything to see the Ultimates taken down. Naturally that'd be the point where their captors would make their offer: sign on to work for us, with the necessary technological 'precautions', and we'll make it seem that it was all a big misunderstanding.
Refuse to do so and every member would be crucified in the media before being locked away in a prison they'd never be released from.
This might be a new reality but politics, public opinion and paranoia are multiversal, she thought, shrinking to wasp size in the blink of an eye. All it'll take is a big enough screw up and heroes'll be put in chains 'for the greater good'.
That was why it was necessary to sharpen their skills and work on their ability to work together as a team. Whenever something happened in Chicago, they needed to be able to handle it like pros without demolishing five blocks or hurting people in the process. They needed to be able to take down the bad guys like they were in a whole different league from the people or things they were fighting.
Otherwise they'd be the ones who screwed up big time and more than just the five of them would wind up paying for it.
One Month Later
An Hour Outside of Chicago
Lyra's POV
"What an overbearing example of overman arrogance," she said, looking at the place that would be their new home and base of operations. "I should've known Stark would choose such a place."
"It's not all bad," Xander said as they waited for Iron Man to arrive to give them the grand tour. "Good, strong walls, not a lot of places to use for cover between the walls and the HQ, not to mention the house is big enough that there'll be room enough for new members. Plus, just because it's bad now doesn't mean we can't change a few things into something we like."
True.
Tony Stark didn't say that they had to live according to his tastes and rules, so it would be within reason that they could add a few 'personal touches' where they saw fit. One of the first things she would do would be to make this place someplace more befitting a daughter of Milago and a champion of Earth. For one thing a taller wall capable of holding back an attacking force because, while there existed both vehicles as well as people capable of flight, ground-based infantry was still an important part of the battlefield. Another change would be to create defensible positions between the house and the wall, even if she had to concede to their design being made more 'artistic' in order to be less threatening to others. She would insist that the walls of their home be reinforced with the strongest of metals along with the doors. Lastly, a prison in the lower levels of the main building for holding their foes either for punishment or interrogation. Even if they were asked to turn them over to the American authorities, they would still have moments where their foes would need to be contained by them.
We will need sufficient defenses for repelling foes arriving by air, she thought, unwilling to suffer the existence of a weakness either in herself or in the place where she lived. However I will acquire them from places other than Tony Stark.
Hearing sounds that were similar to Pepper's boot jets but different, she looked up to see Iron Man descending, with Spider-Woman gliding down beside him. Whether they'd come from Chicago or had travelled via some stealth aircraft she did not care but rather hoped that they would not waste her time with needless exposition.
"So what do you think of the place so far?" Iron Masked after landing before them.
"It's definitely big enough but I think keeping this lawn under control's going to be a full time job," Xander said with his usual humor.
"Don't worry. I figured you'd have trouble so I went and installed a fully automated group of grounds keeping robots," Stark said, brushing off the concern like it was nothing. "Let's head in."
As one the group advanced towards the building with her likely being the only one who wanted to get the tour over with sooner rather than later.
"The robots, while autonomous, can also be controlled by the central computer core in the property's main building. The same sensor network that lets the robots know when the bushes need trimming will also let you know if you have any unwanted guests drop by to pay a visit," Tony explained as he walked. "I've also hidden weapon emplacements across the property that you'll be able to control or set on automatic. Anything up to a S.H.I.E.L.D. gunship tries to attack this place and it'll be going down in flames inside of two minutes."
Impressive.
Apparently, in the need to prove his overman superiority, he chose to be subtle with his improvements. A sound strategic move since it would allow them a measure of surprise when enemies came expecting a vulnerable headquarters only to find it strong.
"The big pain was figuring out a way to reinforce the house itself without making it look like a military stronghold. Using a Stark patented process I coated the infrastructure of the building with a strong titanium-nanominium alloy so, while it can definitely take a pounding, don't push your luck," Stark said as they reached the front doors. "The frames for both the doors as well as the windows have forcefield generators incorporated into them and will activate either when an incoming threat is detected or when you activate them yourself. Most garden variety weapons and explosives won't make a dent but I didn't have enough time to factor in enemies with energy projection powers."
"No offence, Tony, but this looks more like a mansion than a house, and a big one at that," Xander said with mild incredulity.
She had to agree with him on that point since, through the viewing of television shows, she'd learned enough about the differences between a 'house' and a 'mansion' to tell the two apart.
"Please! This is barely half as big as my mansion out in California!" Stark scoffed as they entered the mansion itself. "Now as far as the interior's concerned I had some people I know work to make it an even balance between the modern and something you'd find in a Roman estate back in Caesar's time. I think they took it as a personal challenge."
Looking about the interior she found herself oddly pleased with what she saw for it reminded her greatly of the city of Milago where she grew up. The colors, the shapes and the curves all struck a chord of familiarity within her, making her a little more inclined to label this place her new home. However she would not show her satisfaction in front of the men for that would concede victory to them in their efforts to persuade her to accept them as… as… likeable.
She had strayed far from the path of the Sisterhood but she would not let herself stray THAT far.
"There are interfaces into the mansion's systems every twenty feet for easy access and so you can contact each other no matter where in the building you are. There are also three different ways up to the next floor or down to the basement, so you won't have to walk far to get where you want to go," Stark said gesturing to the curved staircase that partially encircled a roughly hewn statue of a warrior but without any features to denote gender. "I've also set up security camera hubs along all points of access to the interior of the house as well as any important places that'd need to be monitored. Each of the hubs is equipped with microphones as well that can pick up just about anything within thirty feet of them. Don't worry, there aren't any in your rooms, and even if there were you'd have the access codes to shut them off if you wanted."
Acceptable.
While she wished for their headquarters to be secure, she valued her privacy as well so having a means by which she could be spied on in a place where she should be safest would not have sat well with her. That being said, she would have Boudicca scan her room in order to ensure that the overman Stark wasn't lying to them about their rooms being camera and microphone free.
"Aside from the living quarters that've been designed to match the ones you had in Avengers Tower, there's also a fully stocked library and kitchen. The books are a mix of titles that the Avengers've found useful over the years, some classics, and after a call to Doctor Strange some safe reference volumes in case you come across anything supernatural," Stark said, walking what seemed to be a predetermined route that only he knew the destination of. "Nothing dangerous. Stephen made sure of that. There's also an Olympic sized swimming pool in the back that I've set up so it can be filled with lake water, seawater or traditional pool water, depending on what you want. Seeing as how Namor seems to like the seawater but gets uncomfortable in traditional pool water, you might want to be careful about when you take a dip, Xander."
A valid point and something to keep in mind during future battles.
If pool water could have an adverse effect on Xander then she would need to make sure he stayed clear of any tainted water that could have an adverse effect on him. It would only serve to distract and hinder the others if he were to become ill in the middle of a battle.
"There's also a good sized living room where you can hang out together when you're off the clock and I made sure that if it's electronic entertainment, it's there," Stark said, turning down a hallway at the end of which looked to be a fairly impressive and strong door. "If you want your homey fireplace though it'll be in the library with a nice comfy couch to sit on or sleep on if you want. There's a command and control room in the basement when you want to work on a case with a fully stocked lab next door for analyzing clues and a decent infirmary. Holding cells for any 'guests' you might get are also down there and, while I wouldn't count on them holding up against Abomination or Doctor Doom, hopefully anything big enough to get them involved will have the Avengers coming to back you up."
It was when they reached the door though that a ray of light passed over each of them with Stark being the last to feel its touch.
"Xander Harris, Pepper Potts, Thena Thordotter, Joelle Van Dyne, Lyra Banner and Tony Stark. Identities confirmed," a female voice said but with a manner that did not strike her as human. "Entry granted."
With that the doors slid to the side and they entered a room filled with so many devices and screens, part of her wondered if there were TWO command and control rooms. Looking at the screens, she could tell that some of them were showing video feed from the scattered security camera hubs throughout the building, as well as on the property itself. Others she thought showed information that sometimes had 'C.P.D.' in the corner while others had what looked to be a top down view of the property itself. Considering the height and the fact that she hadn't seen any aircraft hovering above, she presumed the images must be coming from a satellite in orbit.
"Before you ask, this isn't specifically for fighting crime and saving the world," Stark said, approaching a large lit up electronic table in the center of the room. "This is for the security of the property itself in case uninvited guests come calling, as well as another place to access Chicago Police Department files if you don't want to go downstairs."
"This… this is a little more than I thought we'd be getting when you said you were going to set up an HQ for us, Tony," Xander said, sounding in awe of all they'd been told. "It's going to take every second we've got just to keep this place working right, never mind fighting the good fight."
"No, it's not. If being an Avenger's taught me one thing it's that what starts out small can get really, REALLY big. We started out with just the six of us but eventually more people joined until we had so many you'd need a scorecard to keep track of them all," Tony said in a rare candid moment. "Sure, the roster's more manageable now but I don't doubt for a minute that if the call went out we'd get every member still able to fight the good fight on our doorstep in under twelve hours. The Centurions might not be the Avengers but don't be surprised if a few more people decide they want a room here and are willing to help out to pay rent."
The idea, the image, the man presented had her ponder what might come to pass and the possibilities touched a part of her she thought she'd already cut off from the rest of her. Ever since being cast out by the Sisterhood under the pretense of completing one final mission, she had thought the feeling of closeness she remembered lost to her. Living alongside Pepper and the others might have helped but a mere three maidens of war could not make up for the loss of an entire city of them. With this team, though, with this home, a part of her dreamt of the day when perhaps this place could be mistaken as the home of a new Sisterhood that she could be a part of.
She would tolerate Xander's presence in the building until then and when the time came oust him as leader of the team so that she could take his place.
"Until you fill up the ranks and hire some staff you can trust, though, you'll be in the trusty hands of Helen," Stark said, once more acting arrogant and showy. "She'll handle most of the activity in this room as well as anything connected to it."
"Yep," came the female voice before the electronic table changed colors to a bright orange before a head came together above it. "Anything you want and, if it's connected to my systems, I can get it done for you. This place is as much my home as it's yours, so no one's trashing it or my roomies if I can help it and BOY can I!"
So the house has a digital soul of sorts, she thought looking down at Boudicca. At least now Boudicca will have someone like herself to talk to.
"This lovely light lady is H.E.L.E.N. that I named after the lady that caused a thousand ships to sail," Stark said with pride. "Don't know what the acronym'll be but I'm sure I'll think of something eventually. So what do you think?"
"It's… great. Overwhelming, really," Xander said honestly.
"Definitely!" Pepper declared, having similar sentiments. "Still, it beats having to work out of some apartment using stuff we got at the local pawn shop."
"You might not be the Tony from my reality but you definitely have his knack for overkill," Janet said with an exasperated but amused look. "Still, why do I get the feeling that you've been prepping this place for a lot longer than five weeks."
"I told you that me and a few others wanted to spread the wealth around for a while now," Stark said a bit defensively. "So I bought a few places near where the supervillains like to go and got the ball rolling. Five weeks was just enough time to get aggressive with the renovations and get it ready for you five."
A passable excuse and, to be honest, she cared not what the truth was so long as the man didn't plant anything underhanded in her new home.
If he had then she would have precious few words to say to him and, after she spoke, she would make sure he could never speak again.
Two Weeks Later
Centurion HQ Library
Evening
Xander's POV
While some might think him more comfortable in the living area watching television or playing the latest video game console, the truth of the matter was he had more important things to do.
Whether he liked it or not, he was and, for the foreseeable future, would be the leader of the newest superhero team on the block and with that title came certain responsibilities. Chief among them having the facts a leader needed to have in order to lead his team right and not get them killed because he was clueless about something. Almost since the night they'd settled into their new HQ he had set to work learning what he thought he needed to learn and putting the team through two hour training sessions to further sharpen their skills. At the moment he was going over the C.P.D. records of every super villain to ever pass through or commit a crime in Chicago on the off chance they swung by again at some point in the future.
From what he'd read so far there'd been four or five superheroes that operated out of the city at one point or another, so he'd begun looking into the lists of known villain enemies for each one. While it wasn't an absolute that they'd come this way if their usual sparring partner wasn't calling the place home, Chicago was still one of the top cities of the US. Plenty of appetizing targets for theft of all varieties not to mention a few wealthy people to kidnap for ransom. Once he'd read all of the files on each villain he'd work with H.E.L.E.N. to map out places in Chicago that'd be prime targets for each of them should they ever come to the windy city. There would be some ebb and flow, depending on the seasons as well as the flow of commerce, but if they could get a reliable list of hot spots they could come up with a patrol route to keep tabs on them effectively.
As for the non-super villain criminals, he wasn't too worried about them considering the lineup he had on his side. While not as powerful as his biological father, his body was durable enough that nothing short of a high tech death ray would pose a threat, Lyra was the Hulk's daughter, making tank shells a non-issue, Thena was much the same thanks to her blood relation to Thor, Janet could shrink to a size that only an expert marksman with sharp eyes could possibly hit, and Pepper had upgraded Iron Man style armor that'd been pretty impressive during training sessions. In terms of raw power and abilities they were already a-list superheroes in his book so all they were lacking was skill, experience and time. As such he'd already asked H.E.L.E.N. to keep her digital eyes peeled for any signs that high tech weaponry was either in Chicago or had entered the city recently.
Forewarned was forearmed after all.
It's still a mountain of homework that needs doing but it's gotta be done, he thought as he continued reading. Can't be lazy like before.
It was one of the many conclusions he'd come to since his meeting with Willow and his pondering of how he'd been before leaving on his road trip. As much as he'd wanted to justify his membership as a Scooby as well as a frontline fighter, he didn't have much of a leg to stand on really. He might have had the resolve as well as the courage to fight demons but that was about it. No skills and, upon consideration, the inheritance he got from Soldier Boy didn't count given how many holes there were in that particular playbook. All through those three years he'd fought by Buffy's side, not once did he try to make a real effort at getting in tip-top shape or learn a way of fighting that wouldn't get him killed in five seconds flat. Even if the local karate classes or boxing clubs weren't anything special, he could've asked Giles to help him during the summer lulls. Sure, the Brit went back to the land of tea and tweed for a month every summer to debrief his bosses in person, that still left two whole months he could've spent learning to use something sharp and pointy.
If he'd applied himself more, tried hard to be more of an asset, then maybe the others wouldn't have been so eager to move him fray adjacent.
Maybe he wouldn't have been willing to accept Kang's offer if he'd truly nothing more to prove.
I can't let it happen again, he thought, scrolling down at the tablet that'd been in his room. This time I'll get it right!
"Alert! Crime in progress," H.E.L.E.N. said through both his tablet as well as the library's interface into the building's electronic network. "Superhuman presence confirmed."
"Get everyone to command and control," he said, setting down his tablet before heading for the nearest elevator to the basement. "Also see if you can I.D the superhumans so we know who we're up against."
"I'll know everything worth knowing by the time you all get there," H.E.L.E.N. said before cutting the connection to the library.
As he walked he asked himself the obvious question: Were they ready for this?
The training they did waiting for their HQ to be set up and the training they'd done since moving in had helped them get a feel for how each member fought. With that knowledge he'd begun to see the signs of them being able to fight as a team but they were still a long ways away from having an almost telepathic instinct for what each teammate would do in a given situation. The whole action without orders, shooting without looking, and reading each others' tactical tells that the enemy would overlook or misinterpret. Experience would be what would allow them to get better since they'd find out what worked and what didn't hopefully without making too big a mess.
It only took him a few minutes to reach the command and control room but when the doors opened he found that the others had assembled swiftly.
"What've you got for us, H.E.L.E.N.?" he asked, knowing everyone presented wanted answers.
"Five minutes ago a silent alarm was triggered at a local Roxxon facility, making it clear someone was someplace they shouldn't be. I accessed their internal security system to get a peek and found a lot of reasons to believe this isn't your usual B&E," H.E.L.E.N. replied as images of what the A.I. had found were holographically projected from the central table. "It took me until you all got down here to finally find the intruders and let me tell you you're all going to have your hands full with this bunch."
One by one photos popped up above the table with brief summaries of the person in each photograph.
Anaconda, Bushmaster, Cottonmouth, Asp, Rattler.
"All of them are members of the infamous Serpent Society, which is a group of super villains specializing in snake themed costumes as well as abilities," H.E.L.E.N. said, popping up another window to show video feed from the Roxxon facility with the intruders in front of a secure looking door. "From what I can tell they're looking to get into one of the company's secure R&D labs. No idea what's in it just yet, Roxxon firewalls are pretty tough, but with some time I should be able to hack past them and learn more."
Looking at the five intruders, he began to use the holographic interface to peruse their files one after another.
Anaconda: elongating arms, super strength at its best when squeezing and a formidable street fighter.
Bushmaster: bionic arms with fangs tipped with snake venom, snake tail instead of legs and can move up to forty miles per hour.
Cottonmouth: bionic jaw capable of letting him fit in a human head and strength enough to crush a cinderblock.
Asp: capable of projecting venom bolts from her hands that can either temporarily paralyze or kill, skin secreted venom and an exceptional gymnast.
Rattler: Cybernetic seven foot long tail capable of being used as an extra limb, capable of lifting three hundred pounds and striking with enough force to pierce two steel plates in three attacks. The tail was also capable of creating sonic shockwaves capable of inducing vertigo or at maximum intensity could shatter glass, deform soft metals and deflect projectile attacks. Add to that superhuman strength capable of lifting a thousand pounds and the man was definitely the heavy hitter of the group.
"Hmph. Barely worth confronting," Lyra snapped, clearly dissatisfied with the challenge the group would pose.
"If we're going to be Chicago's superhero team, we're going to have to stop all criminals, both small time and heavy hitters," he said, reminding the daughter of the Hulk of their purpose. "I'm not saying we don't let the local cops do their jobs but if we see a crime in progress and we can stop it we stop it. It's that simple."
A look of dissatisfaction on her face, Lyra still didn't reject the mission or storm off to do her own thing. As for the others, they looked willing to make this their inaugural fight as a super team and so was he.
"Then get your gear and meet me in front of the house in ten minutes," he said, already imagining how things should go.
"What're we gonna do then?" Pepper asked, sounding like she expected something exciting.
"Then? Then we're going to make an entrance," he replied, knowing that first impressions were everything when meeting new people or confronting new enemies.
And he had the perfect way to introduce the Centurions to the five members of the Serpent Society.
Just Outside the Roxxon Facility
Fifteen Minutes Later
Pepper aka War Maiden's POV
"That… was… AWESOME!" she exclaimed after opening her eyes and realizing that Thena had teleported them to the Roxxon place.
"You've definitely gotten the hang of teleporting, Valkyrie," Xander said with a lopsided grin before a more serious look fell upon his face. "Now time to put your game faces on, people. H.E.L.E.N.? Are they on their way out?"
"Yep. Carrying some kind of containment chamber almost the size of a phone booth," H.E.L.E.N. replied through her armor's internal speakers. "I've made it into the Roxxon facility's network and managed to find out where in their database the files on it are but accessing them is getting to be a pain in my digital ass."
"Do you at least know what sort of science they're stealing?" Pixie asked, hovering to her right in her shrunken form ready for a fight.
"From what I've been able to find searching for back doors into the files something to do with cloning and physical enhancement," H.E.L.E.N. replied even as a small square window showed up on her HUD with five red dots moving towards the bottom. "Apparently it's been going on for a little over five years, with quite a few resources being pooled into it. Not enough to ping on the radar of any of the alphabet agencies or the Avengers, but enough to tell me it's important to Roxxon."
"Then it's something we can't let the Serpent Society run off with and definitely illegal if Roxxon's behind it," Xander said, sounding like he reached a decision. "Pixie and War Maiden, strike the second they exit the building. Target Rattler and Asp so they have to get in close to fight. Lyra? You handle Bushmaster. Odds are good his arm fangs can't get past your green skin and even if they can I doubt the venom'll do more than give you a headache."
"And what will you be doing, 'leader'?" Lyra asked, clearly opposed to Xander just standing there looking all heroic.
She wouldn't mind all that much but only if she had the time to really take him in and she somehow doubted she'd have the time during this fight.
"I'll be handling Anaconda while Thena takes down Cottonmouth," Xander replied, his eyes never leaving the door in front of them. "Whoever KOs their sparring partner first goes to support whoever's closest in taking down their target. Assuming there're no surprises, we should be able to take all of them down with minimum fuss."
"And if there are surprises?" Thena asked before they all began to hear footsteps heading their way.
"Then we at least make sure they don't get away with their prize," Xander replied, settling into an offensive posture, "Hell, if you can, take it someplace close by without bystanders. It'll piss them off and make them sloppy while also making sure collateral damage is kept to a minimum."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Pixie said as the doors to the building were thrown open. "Time to dance!"
It didn't take long for the five members of the Serpent Society to notice that they weren't alone any longer. Without waiting for a battlecry she targeted Rattler before unleashing a barrage of repulsor blasts, striking the big snake in the chest and knocking him away from the phone booth sized techno-tube the group was carrying out of the building. She couldn't help but smile as her hunch was proven correct: while the bad guy's super strength might make him tougher than an ordinary guy, it didn't put him in the same class as Mister Cage as far as invulnerability went. Taking him by surprise, the big guy was sent tumbling away from the rest of the group and she pursued making sure to stay out of the reach of his friends.
Once she was far enough that she didn't think she'd have to worry about getting attack from behind, she decided to get some more experience with some of the other features of her armor. Focusing the target locks on the cybernetic tail of Rattler, she fired a volley of mini air-to-air rockets, intending to disable it so that there'd be one less threat to face. Unfortunately her brief pause in attacking turned out to be exactly what the villain needed to counterattack as its tail began to rattle, emitting shockwaves, knocking her rockets off course. Not only that but she began to feel a little light headed, making her wonder if there wasn't more to the attack than just deflecting incoming fire.
"Not good! His tail his emitting vibrations through the air that's beginning to give you a bad case of vertigo," Robbie warned her even as some red warning icons appeared on the H.U.D. "Locking down all external audio input and engaging sonics. With a little luck at the right frequency they'll counteract at least some of the vibrations."
It turned out her A.I. backup did good work because the lightheadedness began to recede but did not completely vanish. Deciding she didn't like the feeling she unleashed twin streams of repulsor energy from her palms that punched through whatever defenses Rattler's vibrations gave him and slammed into the villain's chest. So hard was the guy hit that he impacted the ground, cracking the concrete a bit, but it did not prove to be enough to KO him. Deciding it'd be best not to let him get another opportunity to attack she dove straight at him, fists pointed right at the guy, for a perfect double punch to the gut. This actually succeeded in putting the guy a good three inches into the ground but it also had one side effect that she could very much have done without.
What would that be?
Apparently Rattler had seriously chowed down before busting into the Roxxon facility and now, thanks to her attack, it came back up.
Explosively.
"Ew, ew, ew, ew, EW!" she exclaimed, flying back in disgust even as she tried to wipe the mess off of her as swiftly as she could. "Please tell me we've got some tech in the armor that can get rid of all of this quick!"
"The best I could do would be to raise the armor's external temperature and attempt to burn it off," Robbie said, sounding like she didn't like that idea. "However the kind of heat that'd be needed to get rid of all of it would probably give you heat stroke."
"Uuugghhh! That's it!" she said before darting forward on her repulsor boots. "If I'm going to suffer, so're you, Rattler!"
Not satisfied with repulsor blasts or rockets, she chose to attack with simple yet quite gratifying punches, slamming them into the villain's head one after another. Only the memories of her Father, Tony and Rhodey had her reigning in the power so as not to go overkill and keep it limited instead to some cracked bones. By the time she finally decided to stop she was breathing a little hard and Rattler was out cold, missing some teeth, and looked like he had a bloody nose.
Not the coolest way to win but it got the job done, she thought before asking, "He really KOed or is he faking it?"
"Checking… brainwaves and breathing confirm a state of unconsciousness," Robbie replied after a few seconds. "Don't know how long he'll stay that way, though."
"Then I guess better make him less dangerous if he does wake up," she said, popping the laser emitters out of the forearms of both her arms.
With some help from Robbie she surgically cut off the villain's tail without doing irreparable harm to the man himself. Without it the only thing the snake guy would have in to work with was his super strength and the corresponding level of toughness. Nothing she couldn't handle, especially if she kept to the air where he couldn't get to her. Sure, she could've just found something to tie the guy up with, but she had a feeling nothing close by would do any good. When big money corporations build their facilities, they don't usually do it with the idea of heroes using bits and pieces as improvised restraints.
I'll go help the others, she thought, turning around and flying in the direction of the sounds of fighting. Maybe they'll have an idea.
Maybe Rattler would just give up once he saw his tail was gone, his friends defeated and five kick ass superheroes ready to pound him into the ground.
Thena's POV
"You have but one chance, villain!" she declared, pointing her hammer at Cottonmouth. "Surrender! You have no chance against me!"
"Not a chance, girlie! No way am I losing to some Thor fan girl!" Cottonmouth declared, clearly believing that he had the upper hand.
His first error was that he stood any chance at all in defeating her regardless of how strong his resolve was. She'd read the same file as Xander and knew that the man before her was no threat to her unless she wanted to surrender to him. After all, the only thing special about the man was the fact that he could dislocate his jaw at will like a serpent and was strong enough to crush stone in his jaws. There'd been no mention of any hand-to-hand combat skills or the possibility of the man having anything else to attack her with. In terms of combat ability, he was little more than a child compared to her and it went contrary to the warrior ways of Asgard to fight one so much weaker than herself.
However it was his second error that caused her to choose to make an exception just this once.
"FOUL CUR! YOU DARE TO ACCUSE ME OF BEING A MERE FAN?" she bellowed even as lightning began to crackle around Mjolnir and the sky above began to darken with storm clouds. "DOES THIS LOOK LIKE SOME PALE IMITATION?"
With a will fueled by anger at the slight the villain had sent her, she summoned two lightning bolts from the sky and willed them to land on either side of the criminal. So close were the attacks that she could see the man's outfit smoke a little with the proximity to the lightning. Again and again and again she dropped lightning bolts on either side of Cottonmouth until her anger was spent enough that she was willing to see if he'd had a change of heart.
"Thou hast provoked my ire, villain, but as a hero I am required to give you a chance to rethink your choices," she said, not letting the crackling lightning fade from Mjolnir. "Will thou surrender or must I introduce mine hammer to your face?"
"I surrender!" Cottonmouth replied quickly, looking quite shaken by all the near misses with lightning. "No way is job worth getting fried over! Viper can get his own damn merchandise!"
"Finally you speak wisdom," she said before letting the lightning fade and hooking Mjolnir on her belt. "Now to find something suitable to restrain you until the authorities arrive. Do NOT try anything!"
A vigorous negative shaking of the man's head was enough to convince her that he had not the courage to attempt anything bold. Looking about it, did not take her long to find a metal lamppost sticking up out of the ground that looked to be made of sturdy enough metal that it would suffice. Walking over, she reached out with her right hand to pull it from the ground when her skills as a warrior flared a warning, causing her to evade to the side at the last moment. Turning her gaze towards the threat, she found none other than Cottonmouth attacking her and, even as she moved to evade him, he seemed determined to keep her from countering. For a moment she thought that the villain might have some small modicum of courage within him but that idea faded away when she saw his face.
It was not courage that motivated the villain, but rather desperation.
A desperation born of knowing what the price for failure was once one's leader had been notified of it.
Is this Viper truly such a monster to inspire such fear in his own subordinates? she thought as she continued to dodge the attacks sent her way.
Regardless, it became clear that she could not rely on the man to surrender, if for no other reason than his fear of Viper was greater than his fear of her lightning. Tempting though it was to change that to the opposite, that was not how heroes operated so instead she chose to simply render him unconscious before applying the restraints.
Fortunately for her, while the mortal was proving to be surprisingly fast, he was as nothing when compared to her instructors in Asgard. When it looked as though the man would lunge forward in an effort to bite her she repositioned herself before delivering as strong a punch as she could to the man's stomach. She felt some resistance, implying that the man's outfit had some cushioning and protective materials used in its construction.
Sadly it did not prove to be enough to protect him from the lion's share of her strength and so the air was completely removed from the villain's lungs. Bereft of the ability to breath, she was easily able to deliver a second strike to the side of his head, finally rendering him unconscious. For half a minute she waited to see if this was merely an act meant to lull her into a false sense of security but when nothing happened she walked back to the lamp post to make some restraints. While the metal would be poorly suited to confining one with superhuman strength, she'd seen nothing to suggest that Cottonmouth possessed that in any area other than his mouth. So long as she made sure that his jaws could never reach the restraints he would he incapable of escaping.
A minute or so later her work was done but as she turned to render aid to the others, a possibility occurred to her that had not beforehand.
How precisely were the five members of the Serpent Society planning on getting the container away from the Roxxon facility and to its intended destination?
It seemed ludicrous for them to simply carry it by foot wherever they intended to take it, but at the same time a truck big enough to carry all of them plus their cargo would be noticed.
"H.E.L.E.N.? When you detected the silent alarm did you look about the immediate area for signs of suspicious vehicles?" she asked after pressing the transmit button on her com-piece.
"I took a quick look for about a block away from the walls of the facility but nothing popped up as out of the ordinary," H.E.L.E.N. replied with only a moment's delay. "Why?"
"I have a question that needs answering," she replied before directing her gaze to the sky. "Expand your search to anything within a ten block radius from the Roxxon facility. Focus on vehicles large enough to carry the Serpent Society's prize as well as the five of them."
"Gotcha! It'll take a few seconds…" H.E.L.E.N. said, falling silent for several seconds. "Hmmm… nothing really fits those parameters inside of ten blocks. Anything further out wouldn't be very practical either. When you steal something from a shady corporation like Roxxon, you usually want a quick getaway vehicle to be close by."
Just as she thought.
While she had not been as studious about it as Xander was, she had been taught well by her instructors in Asgard. Restricting ones efforts to physical combat would only leave a warrior a victim to the mental side of fighting and part of that side was learning more about the enemies one might face. With this in mind she'd gone through the files their access to the Avengers database provided them with to look for foes that would be a threat both to her as well as her team. She dismissed those without the skills, weapons or powers needed to make it past the defenses of her teammates and focused on those that did. As a byproduct, though, she learned that, aside from a few case, most villains had their own custom made vehicles that they used to commit their crimes. Whether it was due to vanity or pride they existed and, if H.E.L.E.N. couldn't find any land based vehicles within ten blocks of the Roxxon facility, that left only one option in her mind.
An aircraft of some sort.
She didn't know enough about the Serpent Society to know what sort of aircraft they would bring to the battle but it was the most likely possibility at the moment.
"Warn the others that our foes may intend to escape by airship," she said before beginning to spin Mjolnir. "I shall leave to seek it out. I will defeat it if I can or delay it if I cannot. Ask them to secure victory on their end swiftly for, if I can only delay the escape ship, they will need to be ready for when it arrives."
"I'll get right on it!" H.E.L.E.N. said before the communications connection was cut.
With that decided she took to the sky to seek out the escape craft.
Once the city of Chicago was reduced to a collection of lights she hovered in place even as she worked to determine the best way to find the Serpent Society vessel. It would likely be at so high a height that no one on the ground could see it, or perhaps it employed some manner of mortal technology to render itself invisible. While she could look with her eyes it would take too long in her opinion and she was not the most patient person to begin with. In the end she chose to experiment with an idea that might potentially work or might wind up being a complete waste of time.
Through Mjolnir and through the blood of her father she had a connection to lightning storms that went deeper than most were aware, be they mortal or immortal. She had never had the opportunity to explore just how deep because, before receiving the hammer of a Thor from another reality, her own weather manipulating powers had not been strong enough for it to work.
Now? Now she was willing to give it a try.
"Come, oh great storm! Let thy winds howl! Let thy darkness grow!" she bellowed as she tapped into the power that was hers and hers alone. "Let THUNDER shake the sky! Let LIGHTNING link the heavens and the Earth!"
As though it was an extension of her being the skies above Chicago began to fill with dark storm clouds and, once she reached a certain size, the rumbling of thunder began to echo loudly in the air. It was only when the last of the holes in the growing cloud cover were about to vanish that bolts of lightning began to dance about with the odd one descending to the ground below. However the focus of her attention was elsewhere as she closed her eyes while also maintaining her position and tried to become one with the storm.
The concept that she was working with was that, if she couldn't see the ship the Serpent Society intended to use, perhaps she could use the parts of the storm she held dominion over to find it. Perhaps she could feel the things the wind and the clouds touched or could pick up whenever a bolt of lightning encountered something solid when nothing was visible to the naked eye. It was not something her honored father had ever attempted but it had been something she had considered ever since her lessons on the basics of magic and arcane combat. She did not think herself even a dabbler in the mystic arts but it had been her father's belief that to fight one who wielded magic it was often to a warrior's advantage to at least understand the fundamentals. It had been during the moments when she had been pondering the different ways that she could distinguish herself from her father instead of merely following in his footsteps that she had considered this idea as a possibility.
Where…are you…villains? she thought even as she attempted to follow the flow of elemental energy with her mind and soul combined.
She could tell that she was having at least some success with her idea but it was too… too… ethereal for her to make anything reliable out. Perhaps she needed to intensify the storm even further? Concentrate it in the sky so as to make any physical contact it made all the more noticeable?
It was worth a try.
Bringing forth the resolve that had made her a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, she willed her storm to become even more powerful. As the violence grew and some concern existed that her efforts might endanger the very city she wished to protect but it was then that she felt it. Something obstructing her lightning, something being buffeted about by her winds, and when she opened her eyes to look at where the oddity existed she began to make out something struggling to remain hidden.
"THERE!" she cried even as she began to spin her hammer in order to build its momentum. "Thou hast done well to remain hidden from sight but now it is over. HAVE AT THEE!"
With a mighty swing she threw Mjolnir towards the hidden object, careful to measure the power she put behind it. She was not so far gone in her lust for battle that she was not aware of what would happen should she inflict too much damage on the ship or even destroy it outright. Above the city as it was, destroying it would rain fiery debris on the people of Chicago and even eliminating its ability to remain airborne would do damage when it crashed into the ground. Instead she used what control she had learned in her training both in Asgard as well as with her new teammates to do only enough damage to render whatever invisibility tech it had inoperable.
Thus did her hammer strike true and, after she summoned Mjolnir back to her, she saw proof that her training had been well spent.
With a fiery explosion and a flickering light in the air, a craft appeared that oddly enough looked quite similar to the UFOs depicted in some of Xander's favorite movies. However the point that truly made her certain that it was affiliated with the Serpent Society were the numerous snake themed elements in its construction. From what she could tell, while it did not appear to be in any danger of falling from the sky, she would consider it impressive if it could even fly back to its headquarters under its own power.
Flying to where she presumed the cockpit would be, she landed on the hull before it and chose to state her ultimatum.
"Thou hast been found, villains," she said, seeing through the glass between herself and the cockpit to the evil within. "Your compatriots in the Roxxon facility are being dealt with by my teammates as we speak and your craft is no longer capable of escaping me. Surrender! Valkyrie of Asgard demands it!"
If these villains were possessed of even a little intelligence they would realize the futility of further struggling and wisely do as she ordered.
FWOOSH! FWOOSH!
"FOOLS!" she cried as she watched two missiles launch from the underside of the serpent themed UFO and streak towards the city of Chicago below.
Without hesitation she called forth the lighting of the storm still rumbling around her and sent two bolts streaking across the sky in an instant to decimate both fire propelled weapons of destruction.
"If thou doth not possess wisdom enough to know when defeat is certain then allow me to hammer the point home!" she yelled, offended that the serpent villains would dare attempt to use innocents to distract her while they stupidly attempted escape.
With a warrior's yell she brought Mjolnir down on the glass of the vessel's cockpit, shattering it into nothingness before charging in to deal with the crew. She would best them one after the other until one of them proved to her satisfaction that they possessed a brain and piloted the craft down to the ground without defiance of any sort. Should none of them possess intelligence of any sort, she would attempt to fly the craft herself, thinking it no more complicated than others she had travelled on in the past.
Even if matters should turn truly dire, she was confident her teammates would soon arrive to lend their aid.
They would have their first victory! Of that she had no doubt!