Ruby's eyes clenched shut at the noise of her ringtone, blindly groping for the phone. With her other hand, she rapped her charge with one finger, "Shudup, would ya?"
Danger…
The hissing in her head stopped with that, and Ruby flipped her phone open, pressing it to her ear, "What is it, Nick?"
"That's Director Fury," Nicholas Fury said, to an exhausted grunt.
"And before you, it was Director Keller, and Director Carter before that," Ruby said, sliding out of bed and down the hall of her house so she didn't wake the other inhabitant of the bedroom, pouring water into the kettle and putting it on the stove, "We're not with you."
"If that was true," Fury said, "You wouldn't have kept this phone. How's your degree going?"
"Don't try small talk," Ruby said.
"Student loans are a bitch, in this day-"
Danger…
"What do you want? Ruby asked, stopped from where she was putting coffee mix into one of the three cups to rub her neck.
"One job," Fury didn't miss a beat, "and SHIELD pays for your tuition."
"Sounds dangerous," Ruby said, fighting the giddy grin, "not interest-"
DANGER!
Ruby watched the door to their house buckle and splinter, dropping the spoon and clenching her eyes shut as pain roared through her body, "Dangerdangerdangerdangerdanger"!
"Ruby!" Fury yelled, voice slipping up, "Ruby, are you alright? You just-"
"I'll call you back, Nick," Ruby said, wrapping her off hand around a large butcher's knife.
"Ru-!" Ruby flicked the phone shut, putting it on the island and striding towards the door just as it was blasted off the hinges.
"You better have a good-" Ruby stopped as she stared at the almost skeletal alien standing in her doorway, the bloodstone in the hollow of her neck sending energy down her free hand, forming daggers off the end of each finger, "Well, you're ugly…"
The alien pointed his gun at Ruby, hissing as he fired at her, only for the noise to take a confused lit as the blast washed against Ruby's Aura. Ruby grinned at him, then charged forward, blocking the strike from the gun's bayonet with the knife before digging the claws into the flesh of the alien, the entire thing turning to ash and disappearing.
Which let Ruby see the four other aliens standing next to a chariot-esque ship, guns trained on her. Ruby grinned at them… and then threw the knife into the lead aliens head. Summoning claws onto her other hand, Ruby charged at the aliens, time dilating before her.
Keep them out of the house, keep them away from-
Ruby threw up her arms, soaking up several shots from the cannon on the ship. Bursting through the blue plasma, she drove her claws into the flesh. Kicking the already disintegrating alien of them, Ruby started to slash for the others, her hot knives cutting through two others…
When the last collapsed as a bullet blew open their head, splattering purple blood over Ruby. On the second floor, Ruby's partner was clutching Crescent Rose and bracing it against the window frame.
"Well," Blake said, "This is an interesting way to wake up. What did Nick want?"
- X Blake X-
Blake leaned against the wall of their bedroom, watching Ruby pack a bag, "I don't like this."
"I know," Ruby said, putting a layer of clothes over Crescent Rose, her mare's leg, knife and her rounds.
"No, I really, really don't like this," Blake said, crossing her arms, "He has an entire organization of secret agents, why does he need you?"
"Because they have Clint," Ruby said, "and took out a base… I don't like it any more than you."
That was a lie. Ruby had retired because Blake wanted her to, not because of any exhaustion on her part, she'd still be riding and hunting with Johnny if Blake hadn't asked Ruby to stop.
"And Agent Romanoff can't do it?" Blake asked.
"I guess not," Ruby said, zipping up her bag and throwing it over her shoulder, taking Blake's hand, "it's one job."
"I'm a writer," Blake said, "'One job' only ever ends two ways, dead-"
"-Which we don't need to worry about-" Ruby said, rapping her finger against the bloodstone.
"-or with someone deciding they like the job," Blake finished.
"I'm not doing this because I want to," Ruby said, pressing her lips to Blake's hand, "I'm doing this because it's safer for me to not be around for the moment."
"That isn't true," Blake said.
"Do ya really think aliens bashing down our door this morning was a coincidence?" Ruby asked.
"We don't know they were here for you," Blake said, walking alongside Ruby, "and even if they were, how can you be sure they won't show up again anyways?"
Ruby's eyes grew wide, "I hadn't thought of that…"
"Which is why I'm around," Blake teased.
"Should we call the school?" Ruby asked, "I'm sure Nick wouldn't-"
"We'll be fine," Blake said, leaning against the door, "I'll keep Gambol Shroud on me. Just... get this over with, ok?"
"Ok," Ruby said, grabbing her leather jacket and kissing Blake on the cheek, "See you in a couple of days."
"Yeah," Blake said, watching the VTOL touchdown a few streets away.
"Do you want me to call Johnny or Eric?" Ruby asked, voice low.
"Aren't they on the other side of the country?" Blake asked.
"...Maybe?" Ruby said.
"Then 'no'," Blake said, waving Ruby towards her red sports bike, "Now get going, don't keep the nice secret agents waiting."
Ruby laughed, grabbing the handles and gunning it.
"And put on your helmet!" Blake called after her, before dropping her voice and rolling her eyes, "Of course she isn't gonna do that…"
"Mum?" Blake looked up the stairs, where their eight year old daughter was standing, rubbing her eyes, "Where's Mom goin'? And what happened to the door?"
"Branch broke it down," Blake lied easily, "And Mom's gonna be gone for a couple of days. Business trip."
"With Uncle Johnny?"
"Not this time," Blake said, "Come on down, Elsa, it's time to get ready for school."
- X Maria X-
Maria Hill watched the bike come rocketing around the corner with borderline inhuman agility, stopping in front of the Quinjet in a spit of gravel. The deputy director didn't flinch at it, just casting a dry look at the rider. This was who Fury wanted on their team? At least Stark had a suit of armor and an obnoxiously high IQ, she just looked like a cocksure biker.
"You're Nick's boys?" the woman asked, stepping off the bike and walking towards them.
"We're Director Fury's men, yes," Maria said, "You're Ruby Rose?"
"Yep!" she said, holding out her hand for Maria. Maria took it, instinctively trying to crush the hand. It was important to remind people she wasn't just a pretty face, "Oh, strong grip! My turn!"
Before Maria could wonder what that meant, she got her answer, a spike of agony coursing through her hand. Staring into the other woman's grey eyes, Maria refused to flinch, "I'm Commander Maria Hill."
Ruby's grin grew wider at that, and the grip on Maria's hand broke, Ruby stepping back, "Nice to meet you, Maria. Should we take off before police roll up?"
"Please," Maria said, grabbing Ruby's bike, moving it into the quinjet and strapping it down while Ruby stored the bag she had in the overhead, "What has the director told you?"
"Something got stolen, Clint Barton is working with the people who stole it, he wants me to get it back," Ruby sat down, strapping herself into the harness.
"A brief explanation," Maria said, strapping herself in as the Quinjet took off, "because you weren't on a secure channel. I'm authorized to tell you a bit more."
"See, that?" Ruby said, more to herself than Maria, "That is why I quit working with SHIELD."
"You worked with SHIELD?" Maria asked, taping her tablet and making a note to check the files when she got back.
"Yeah," Ruby said, "Anyho, what's up?"
"That's… where things get odd," Maria said, "The base… was taken out by a god."
"What," Ruby joked, "did… uh… Zeus throw his lightning down at you all or something?"
"Wrong myth," Maria said, cracking a smile, "Loki."
"This isn't my area of… stuff," Ruby said, "isn't he, like, the god of pranks or something?"
"Mischief," Maria said.
"Pranks," Ruby repeated, nodding, "Godkilling might be above my weight…"
"We thought so," Maria said, nodding, "We're putting together a team to do it, Fury will explain more when we land."
"How long will that take?" Ruby asked.
"Let's put it this way," Maria said, "We're not a cruising altitude yet, by the time we are, we'll be going down."
"Cool," Ruby said, leaning back, "I'm gonna rest my eyes, Nick's call and an alien woke me up this morning."
"You sound way, way too blase about that," Maria said.
"You get used to weird stuff," Ruby yawned.
- X Ruby X-
Ruby's eyes snapped open at the noise of the door being smashed open, Johnny's voice booming through the house, "Ruby! Come down here, we need you!"
Ruby slid out of bed, glancing at Blake, who was glaring at the door with a growl, "Uh…"
"Go see what Johnny wants," Blake said, "but if it isn't really important, I'm clobbering him for not waiting till morning for it."
"And tell Blake to keep Elsa up there!" Johnny barked.
Both of them shared a worried look, before springing out of bed, Ruby hammering down the hall and grabbing the rail to spin onto the stairs, taking them three at a time while Blake ran to Elsa's bedroom. Sliding into the living room, Ruby watched the flaming skeleton grapple with a teenage girl with glowing red eyes, "Son of a-"
Ruby dove towards the counter, grabbing a revolver and a lignum vitae bullet, only stopping at Johnny's roared, "NO!"
"What?" Ruby turned, watching the vampire latch her fangs around Johnny's radial. The Hellfire that burned in the Rider recoiled unnaturally from her, leaving Ruby blinking, "...the hell?"
"She's innocent," Johnny insisted, "We have to save her."
"Save her?" Ruby asked, "She's already turned, Johnny, we can't-!"
"Blood," Johnny snapped, latching one skeletal hand against the girl's head and beginning to pull it back, latching the other hand to her lower jaw and forcing it open, "Your blood!"
"My what now?"
"Your Blood!" Johnny repeated, struggling to keep the mouth open, "Please, trust me! The spirit says it will work!"
"Fine," Ruby slid the gun back into the storage spot, grabbing a combat knife and walking forward, "but if this doesn't work… we have to."
"I know," Johnny said.
Ruby's eyes flicked open at the shaking, looking up at Maria with tired eyes, "We here?"
"Yes."
"Good to hear," Ruby said, hitting the release for her harness a bit too hard… by which she meant she broke the thing, "Sorry…"
"It's fine," Maria said, "Shouldn't take more than a day to get it replaced, and we have plenty of Quinjets."
"Still," Ruby said, grabbing the bag and stepping off the plane, sucking in a breath of salty air, "Shoulda been more careful. Are we on an aircraft carrier?"
"Yes," Maria said.
"Then what happens if we need to get to the other side of the world? Last I heard, you couldn't take one of these through the Panama Canal."
Maria smirked, "You'll see. Can I take it from that you're working on a engineering degree?"
"Nope," Ruby said, "is there a place I can set up my stuff?"
"All members of the Avengers Initiative will be living in the dignitary quarters," Maria said.
"You have that?" Ruby asked, "Shouldn't that be on a different boat?"
"This one is meant to be completely autonomous," Maria explained, "Which is why it's a good bit bigger than the Navy's carriers. SHIELD doesn't have the resources to fund a strike team to go with it. Come on, I'll bring you to your quarters before we meet with Director Fury."
"Sounds good," Ruby said, "how many people are gonna be on this team?"
"Five," Maria said, "You'll meet them soon."
- X Tony X-
Tony leaned back, tapping the tablet with a bored sigh, "So, there was just a landing, how much ya want to bet this is our mysterious girl?"
"Did you… hack their sensors?" the soft voiced man said.
"Yep."
"On a tablet?"
"Yep."
"That- that can't be legal," he said, "You can't just hack a military organization's files like that!"
"Well," Tony said, "guess what I just did?"
"Give me an excuse to have you thrown in the brig of this ship when we're done?" Tony froze for the tiniest instance, before meeting the eye of Nick Fury, who strode into the room with a blond man and a red headed woman.
"You wouldn't do that," Tony said.
"Really?" Fury said, "and why is that?"
"Because if you do, I'll get out, and leak the file-"
"Shot, then," Fury said, arms crossed behind his back, "this might surprise you Stark, but the world does not end with you. That information could get my men killed if leaked, if that means you have to die to keep those men safe, then I won't hesitate to do it."
"That's a bit much-" the man that entered the room with Fury started.
"I have countless agents out there, Captain, men and woman with families. One life, especially the life of a man who has implicitly threatened to leak their info, is not a bit much. Having him, his friends and their families executed would be 'a bit much'. This, this would be a necessary sin."
Tony reached for his reactor as Fury leveled a gun at his head, eyes wide, "Woah, woah, there's no need to be like that, Fury…!"
"Put the tablet down,'" Fury said, one eye icy, "this is your only warning, Tony."
"Fury, that's-" the man started to say, only to be cut off by the woman.
Tony dropped it, the gun still leveled at him when the door sprang open, a cheerful voice entering the room, "Alright, Nick, what do you- why are you pointing an empty gun at- is that Howard's kid?"
"...It's empty?" Tony said, voice weak as he took a moment to stare at the gun. Fury moved his other hand, revealing the magazine, before worked the slide, no bullet coming out.
"I still need you, Stark," Fury said, reloading his gun and storing it, "Now, all of you take a seat, and I'll begin to explain what's going on."
"What about introductions?" the short haired woman said.
"We'll do those quickly," Fury said, "Tony Stark-"
"So he is!" the woman said triumphantly.
"Yes," Fury said with a tired sigh, "head of Stark Industries and Iron Man. Bruce Banner, the Hulk-"
"Uh, yeah," Banner said, holding out his hand, "Nice to meet you…"
"The big, green roar-y guy?"
"He's uh… yeah," Banner said.
"Cool," the woman said, flopping next to him and taking his hand, shaking it without a flinch before unzipping the bag she was carrying, "I'm Ruby Rose, no codename."
"You'll get one," Fury said, "What are you doing?"
"Gonna work on my baby while we talk," Rose said pulling out a set of tools, ammo, a lever action sawed off, and a large red box, "That good with you?"
"Whatever. This is Natasha Romanov," Fury waved to the red head, "the Black Widow."
She gave a curt nod, taking a seat across from Banner and Rose, "Been a few years since I've seen you, Ruby."
"Same," Rose said.
"Great," Tony said, shaking of the remaining nerves. He needed some sort of defensive weapon, "it's a reunion."
"And finally," Fury said, waving to the last man, "We have Steve Rogers, Captain America."
"Nice to meet you all," Rogers said, smiling, before looking at Rose, "Do I… uh… do I know you? You seem familiar…"
"Don't think so," Rose said, unfolding the red box into a massive sniper rifle, causing Tony's eyebrows to jump up. That was… unique…
"You mind if I take a look at that, later?" Tony asked. Now that Rogers mentioned it...
"Feel free," Rose said, grabbing a tool.
"Back on topic," Fury said, pacing.
- X Ruby X-
"Shoot," Ruby said, working on the mecha shift with her tools, sticking out her tongue. Wouldn't do to have Crescent Rose jam up on her in the middle of combat, especially with a god.
"Yesterday, at 0200 hours," Fury started, "a-"
"Sorry," Tony said, holding up his hand, "did you actually-"
"-a SHIELD base was attacked," Fury said, practically snarling, "by an alien, god thing named Loki. He then destroyed the base, slaughtered my men and stole an artifact of importance known as the Tesseract."
"Oh, no," Steve breathed, leaning forward and planting his hand into his face, "no, no…"
"Yes, Captain," Fury said.
"Sorry," Bruce said, "What's this tesseract?"
"Fourth dimensional equivalent of a cube," Tony answered, like that explained everything.
"I know that," Bruce said, "I mean what does this one do? Why'd this guy steal it?"
"You should have left in in the arctic," Steve said, the slightest amount of bitterness leaking into his voice.
"It's a potential source of limitless clean energy," Fury defended, "That's worth too much to leave there, Captain. I called you here, all of you, to find it and retrieve it, because that same power in the wrong hands could be beyond destructive."
"And SHIELD is the right hands?" Ruby asked, looking up at Fury.
"They're better than Loki's," Fury said, deliberately and unflinchingly meeting her eye.
"You threatened me with a gun," Tony said, "and you expect me to fight someone for you?"
"For the same reason I pointed the gun at you," Fury said, "to save people. Everyone in this room is a genius, or a warrior, or, in your case, Stark, both. The Avengers Initiative was designed to create a team to fight the fights we can't. The fate of the world is on your shoulders. If you think you can live with yourself, the door is that way. I'll have you flown back home. But if you want to stay on this team, even if it's for just one job, it would be appreciated.
"I'm staying," Ruby said.
"Same," Steve nodded.
"I am too," Natasha said.
"...Fine," Tony said, "one job, one job… and then I'm done. I'm not part of your little club, Fury, got that?"
"What about you, Banner?" Fury asked.
"You want the other guy," Banner said.
"We want you," Fury said, "the Tesseract releases gamma radiation, and you're the world's expert on it, so if anyone can track it, it's you. You don't even need to leave the Helicarrier, if you don't want to."
"...Sure," Bruce said, "are there labs on this?"
"Yes," Fury said, "I'll show you them later. For now, get to know your teammates. I'm needed on the Bridge."
Fury turned, striding from the room, Romanoff with him.
- X Bruce X-
Bruce tried to stop wringing his hands as he walked around the room, feeling the other guy rumble, but also a glowing sense of spiteful victory. He was wanted for his intelligence, that's why they had chose him.
"So," Stark said, leaning across the table from Rose, "What is that weapon of yours?
"Crescent Rose is a High-Caliber, Anti-Material Sniper Scythe," Rose said.
"Ok," Stark said, "first, you named your weapon? Second, sniper scythe?"
"Of course I named her," Rose said, indignation leaking into her voice, "why wouldn't I? And second…"
A startled curse slipped from Bruce's mouth as she hit a button on Crescent Rose, a massive scythe blade unfolding from the gun like a bayonet, "Holy-!"
"Huh," Stark said, not flinching, "I guess you're super strong or something? Because otherwise, a full metal weapon like that must be a bitch to swing."
"Yep!" she chirped, smiling.
"Mind if I try lifting it?" Captain Rogers asked, "just curious about the weight."
"Sure," Rose held out the scythe, letting Rogers grab it and lift it like a weight.
"Not that heavy," Rogers said, more to himself than them, "wouldn't want to swing it one handed though, because I'd probably lose control of it…"
"So would anyone," Bruce said, "That's simple physics."
"Yeah," Stark said, picking up the tablet and fiddling with it,"...You mind if I ask you guys a question?"
"What are you doing?" Bruce asked.
"Turning off the cameras and taps here," Stark said, "I don't care what Fury thinks, he doesn't get to spy on our conversations. You fine with that, Jolly Green?"
"Jolly green-?" Bruce said, fists clenching, "I'm not the Other Guy!"
"Well, do you have a problem with me keeping Fury out for a few minutes, uh… Doctor Banner? Bruce?"
"Not really," Bruce said, "What's your question, Tony?"
"Does this seem… weird, to any of you?"
"What do you mean?" Rogers asked.
"I mean, why were they messing around with this Tesseract thing," Tony said, "if it's a source of 'limitless clean energy', how hard is it to stick the thing in a power plant? Why was it in a SHIELD base, how did it get tracked by an alien?"
"He as a point," Bruce said, slowly, "if this thing is releasing enough gamma radiation to be tracked… that's a lot."
"So, what?" Rose said, frowning, "You think there's something more?"
"Maybe…" Tony said, crossing his arms.
"Does it really matter?" Rogers asked, "The Tesseract still is with this Loki creep."
"Yeah," Tony said, "Yeah, it does. How can we be sure this isn't gonna be used for something bad?"
"He has a point," Bruce said, "Nuclear energy is clean too, but the most destructive weapons we've ever made comes from it."
"I stopped the Parasit," Rogers said. An awkward silence fell across the room, Bruce finding it impossible to meet the eyes of Captain America. He didn't know? "What happened?"
Nothing, none of the three capable of answering the question. None of them seemed to know how to answer it, until finally, Ruby broke the silence, "Two bombs."
"Where'd we lose?" Rogers asked, voice hoarse.
"No where," Ruby said.
"You expect me to believe that? Where did we lose?"
"The US didn't lose anywhere, Steve," Ruby said, "America did it."
- X Steve X-
Steve stared at the three with an open mouth, mind swirling, "What?"
"Two bombs," Rose repeated, "fifteen and twenty kiloton yield, on two Japanese cities to end the war."
"No," Steve shook his head, "no, we would never-!"
"But we did," Tony Stark said, standing up and looking around the room for something, "Dad helped on it, you know?"
"Why-!"
"Because it was war, Captain," Tony said, "and Project Rebirth fell through."
"So we killed innocents?" Steve demanded, "We-!"
"We already were doing it when you went under the ice," Tony said without flinching, "same year, we firebombed Dresden."
"And that makes it justified!?" Steve snarled, stomping towards Tony.
"No," Tony said, "it doesn't! But it happened, Rogers. It suc-"
Before either of them could get any closer, an orange barrier sprang between them, and Ruby stood from her spot, orange energy wafting off her left eye, "Enough."
"I-!"
"I said," Ruby's eye flashed, the barrier shoving Steve back from Tony, "Enough. Nobody here is defending what happened, Steve. But it did happen, and it happened long before either of them were born. We can't go back to change it. Right now, we need to find the Tesseract, because it can be used to create a bomb worse than either of the ones that Howard helped make."
"Can we be sure that they want to use it as a weapon?" Bruce asked, "How do we know that SHIELD wasn't doing that, and this Loki guy got involved to stop them?"
"An alien smashed down my door this morning," Ruby said, "So I'd put money on 'take me to your leader'. Not saying the Tesseract in SHIELD's hands is a good thing, but…"
"Preferable to Loki," Bruce said, "Right."
"So, let's get on it," Tony said, tapping a button on the tablet, "Fury? We're ready to work!"
- X Johnny X-
Johnny Blaze stopped from where he was lifting a shot to his mouth, feeling the familiar, miserable feeling of the alcohol in his system burning away, "Really?"
Yes. We have work to do.
"What?" the bartender asked.
"Not talking to you," Johnny said, downing the shot and flicking out a pair of bills, handing it to the man, "keep the change."
"This is way to much-!"
"Don't care," Johnny said, standing up and walking towards the door with a wave. Once outside, he flicked open his cell, hitting Ruby's number and waited for her to pick up. When she didn't, a worried scowl grew on his face. Ruby always answered her work phone…
Hitting the second number, Johnny paced, waiting for-
"Hello?" Johnny bit back a sigh. Of course it would be her…
"Hey, Blake," Johnny said, "Is Ruby around? I got a job."
"No," Blake said, an audible frown in her voice, "She got a job from SHIELD."
So they know, the rasping voice in Johnny's head said.
"Looks like it," Johnny said under his breath, then louder, "Right, Thanks Blake. How's Elsa doing?"
"Good," Blake said, "Johnny… do you have any idea what's going on?"
"I wish," Johnny said, "Z's being a stubborn son of a bitch. Did Ruby finish that order before she left?"
"I think so," Blake said, "Why?"
"We might be over to pick it up some time in the next day or two," Johnny said, finger hovering over the button to hang up.
"Fine," Blake said, "See you then."
Johnny hit the button, before scrolling down the list and hitting the call button. This one, unsurprisingly given the time, went straight to voicemail, "Eric, I know you can hear this. I'm gonna be there soon, be ready, or I'm dragging your ass out of bed."
Hanging up, Johnny scrolled down one more and hit the number.
"Johnny!" the last person answered in no time, a cheerful female voice immediately coming through, "What's up?"
"Got a job for us," Johnny said, "I'll be there in about an hour, ok?"
"Just the two of us?"
"Nope," Johnny said, putting his keys in the ignition, "picking up Eric too, and Ruby's probably gonna be on site by the time we get there. Blake'll take care of Shogo."
"Good to hear!" she said, "see you then."
"See you then, Jubilee," Johnny said, hanging up, "Where is this even gonna go down?"
Likely? the Spirit of Vengeance rasped, New York. Billions have died from these beasts, we shall bring them punishment.
- X AN X-
Thoughts and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?
