Initiative 2028
President
Mercy Gold-Jenkins entered her boss' office, her long brown hair braided down her back this week. "Ma'am," she said respectfully, "it's time for your weekly SHIELD briefing."
Valera Richards had been looking out the window at a Iron Patriot armor, the red, blue and silver figure gleaming in the sun, and jerked guiltily as she spoke. "Sorry," Valera said as the blond haired woman got up, "I was lost in thought."
"No problem," Mercy smiled back warmly as they walked along the hallway to the elevator, then down to the command center built beneath the White House. The room was dominated by a screen denoting hot spots around the country and a table with a excellent view of the screen.
Camilla Black frowned as the black haired agent of SHIELD stood by the view screen, the unique metal glove that controlled her 'scorpion sting' gleaming silver. "I must repeat my objection to having Ms. Gold-Jenkins here," she said formally to the President, "she is the daughter of the leader of the Thunderbolts, she's a security risk..."
Valera gave her a flat look as she answered, "Mercy has proven herself to me repeatedly, Agent Black. Kindly drop it."
"Yes ma'am," Camilla sighed. "What would you like to cover first," she asked, "domestic or international concerns?"
"Domestic," Valera said.
"Yes," Camilla activated a key, and data codes appeared in each state, along with added information for some cities. "The new Initiative program has established teams in all the states including Alaska and Hawaii, other than California."
"Why not a team in California?" Mercy asked curiously.
"We think the X-Men would take it as a provocative act," Valera answered mildly, "considering their history with this administration."
"You got that right," Camilla muttered, having been on ground zero with the Initiative teams fighting the X-Men months ago.
Valera smirked as she added, "After that mess I stuck the X-Men with the job of officially protecting the state. Cyclops wasn't happy, but wasn't in a position to refuse either."
"I see," Mercy murmured.
Carrying on Camilla said, "We now have Scarlet Spiders in the majority of US cities, as well as Iron Patriot armors available to the National Guards." She frowned slightly and added, "However, armor deployment to US Army units has been set back slightly due to a raid by Power Pack against a SHIELD distribution base.
"Power Pax," Valera corrected dryly. She rubbed her temples, "How many Mauler, Beetle and other armors did we loose?"
"Over forty, and they slso destroyed two Iron Patriot suits too," Camille reported reluctantly. She looked at the President, "Ma'am, we KNOW from her own news reports that Julie Power was on site, we can bring her in and sweat her about her family..."
"No," Valera shook her head firmly, "if we go after her it'll look like we're targeting the press. We have enough problems there already."
"Understood," Camilla said, even though she didn't sound happy. She brought another section of the screen up, "The Shadow Initiative hit Shinobi Shaw's Dallas Texas facility and destroyed the Nimrod Sentinel prototype."
"Good," Valera smiled grimly, "I warned Shaw I would not tolerate him developing that technology. I have enough issues with the modern Sentinels..."
Mercy shuddered slightly, having read the briefings on the Nimrod project. The Sentinel would have the ability to self-repair, adapt, and could not be defeated the same way more than once. To a superhuman, much less a mutant, the machine was a nightmare.
Camille smirked and added, "We also planted evidence that it was Xavier's covert team X-Force that did it."
"Nice to have them come in handy for once," Valera muttered. "Anything else local we have to worry about?" she asked.
"Karla Sofen is still keeping an eye on Zeke for us," Camille checked her notes, "no red flags so far. The Asgardians have shifted their city up the coast into Canada, so far the PM has not asked us to intervene."
"Wanna bet they're trying to talk to Thor?" Valera noted thoughtfully.
"No bets," Mercy shook her head. "Is Sasquach still head of their superhuman program?"
"Department H, yes," Camille nodded. "I'm concerned about how they're expanding their teams...," she noted.
"We have super teams in every state," Valera noted, "we're not really in a position to point fingers at anyone. Contact Sasquatch and see if he's interested in information exchange." She smirked, "Maybe we'll tell him what really happened to his old teammate Nemesis."
"Noted," Camille nodded. She hesitated, "We have a unconfirmed report of the mercenary team Six Pack hitting Latervia, but not many details yet."
Valera stiffened visibly. "Did they attack Doomstadt?" she asked flatly.
"Yes," Camille confirmed, "though we lost satellite tracking on the team when they entered the city itself."
"As usual," Valera agreed, frowning. "Maintain survelance on the city, I want to know whomever goes in or out."
"Will do," Camilla confirmed. It was interesting, she clearly wanted to ask why, but couldn't quite get up the nerve. "Do you want me to find out who sent the Six Pack in?" she asked.
"If you can," Valera nodded. She smiled grimly as she mused, "I'd bet they were sent in after Doom's time travel platform, it's the only artifact worth the risk of running the international ban on entering Latervia."
The briefing was soon concluded, and Valera and Mercy headed out of the bunker and back up to the offices in the White House. Mercy smiled at the guards she knew and her fellow staff members, even as Valera looked somewhat preoccupied.
"Damn it, it just keeps getting messier," Valera muttered as she sat behind her desk, activating the built in computer and opening files. She looked up at Mercy, "Grab a seat, we need to do some Presidential stuff."
For the next hour they worked on legislation to send to congress, a new program for food stamps in lower income cities and a expansion on police emergency powers. Through all the mind-numbing paperwork Valera maintained a fairly cheerful manner, even joking with Mercy somewhat.
"Ms Richards?" Mercy started.
"How many times have I told you just to call me Valera?" she asked, sipping a cup of coffee.
"Valera," Mercy conceded. "You seemed kind of... upset, when you heard that Latervia was being attacked. I was wondering why?"
Valera put her cup down and smiled wanly, "Because my brother is hiding out there. Or at least he thinks he's hiding, I've known he was there for months now."
Mercy's jaw dropped as she looked at her boss in surprise. "You know where he is?" she blinked, "But you have SHIELD looking for him..."
"If I tell SHIELD to stop looking they'll wonder why," Valera noted with amusement. She sighed, "If Frank feels it's necessary to hide, I don't feel it's my place to tell him differently."
"I see," Mercy said, though to be honest she really didn't.
Valera smiled slightly at her assistant's confusion. "Frank thinks I became President out of some need for world conquest, or some such," she noted mildly. She sighed, "I suppose I could explain to him why I did it, but I doubt he'd believe me anyway."
Mercy nodded attentively, as any good minion should. It was a nonverbal version of 'Would you like to talk about it?' pretty much.
Valera laughed softly, relaxing a bit. "Should I do the whole speech about my evil plans?" she asked, smiling.
"I kind of doubt they're evil," Mercy noted.
"Depends on your perspective," Valera admitted as she sat back. She looked thoughtful, "What do you know about time travel?"
"Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom have both got methods to do it," Mercy quickly tried to remember various briefings, "and apparently you can't change history. If you go back in time you make a alternate timeline, while whatever future you visit is merely a possible future."
"Very good," Valera nodded. She looked serious, "One of the most common alternate futures is a world where Sentinels have taken over, slaughtering mutants and effectively taking over the United States. One of my major objectives is to try to prevent that future."
"That's incredible," Mercy murmured. "And very noble."
"No, I'm very selfish," Valera corrected, "in most accounts the Fantastic Four die fighting early." Grimly she said, "I want to try to save them all."
"I see," Mercy nodded. She looked up to meet Valera's eyes as she said sincerely, "If there's anything I can do, just ask."
"Will you do my paperwork for me?" Valera joked, lightening the atmosphere a bit.
"Well, maybe not that," Mercy laughed as they both went back to work.
Some hours later Mercy left for home, even though the President was still working. The younger woman insisted Mercy go home at that point, promising that she would be going home soon too. Before Mercy left she stopped in on Camille Black to tell her the President was still working, and ask her to remind the President she needed to sleep eventually.
The apartment was in the suburbs of the city, a area chosen for security and comfort, more or less. If Mercy wasn't making quite a bit at the Whte House, she would never have been able to afford it. She parked and headed inside, taking off her coat and heading in to the living room.
"You're late," the quiet voice said, nearly making Mercy jump in fear.
"Damn it, don't do that!" she exclaimed to the man sitting on her couch, calmly waiting for her in the darkness.
Nick Fury had a bit more white in his hair and he moved a bit slower, but the former secret agent and spy master didn't look much different than he did back in his heyday. "Have you got anything new to report?" he asked calmly.
"Are we secure?" Mercy asked only to get a glower from the older man. "Right, I forgot who I was asking."
"Heh," Nick looked amused, "well?"
Mercy felt a twinge at betraying Valera, but she firmly drove it down. "I think I've discovered the reason behind the President's radical programs..."
To be continued...
