A streak of bright blue light shot low over the neon city streets of Madripoor, lighting up the dark and cloudy sky for just a moment, before disappearing again. Spreading wide from its source were shining wings, gleaming silver, red, and navy. Hanging beneath the wings, was a dark man, wearing a suit to match his wings. And on his back, bearing a single, shining star through the foggy night, was a circular shield that many knew all too well.
"Bucky? Bucky, do you copy?" Sam Wilson asked, touching his forefingers to the comm in his ear to switch it on. He curved around another skyscraper as he continued his flyby. Since he had become Captain America, he and Bucky had taken only a few days off to enjoy the quick peace that came with the downfall of the Flag Smashers. However, quickly after the fact, the President had contacted the two of them, requesting assistance. Multiple US assets had been compromised in the past few weeks. On more than one occasion, reports of superhuman strength had been filed. And since Bucky and John Walker were both accounted for, all of them had agreed that only one person was capable of this. The problem was that the power broker had gone deep, deep underground after he was exposed as the benefactor of the serum that had given the Flag Smashers power. So finding him was off the table. But finding his men was not, which meant that a prisoner could lead them to the power broker. And somewhere under him, Sam knew, there was a deal going down.
"I copy, Sam. do you have eyes on the contact?" Bucky Barnes replied from his position in the streets.
"Negative. Anything on your end?"
"Well, aside from a few seedy back alley deals and a street performer high on helium, no, I haven't seen anything," He said sarcastically. "But there is an unusual amount of mercenaries in this part of town, so I'd say we're close."
"Hmm," Sam thought, switching his goggles to thermal mode. Red blips all throughout the buildings below appeared, some in occasional great density, others with only one or two people inside.
"You'd think a private Madripoor elite gathering would be a little more obvious from security and all…" Bucky muttered in his ear.
"Wait a minute," Sam interrupted as his scope suddenly lit up with color coming from a building. "The skyscraper on the northwest end of the city. I'm reading heavy steel reinforcement and at least three signatures on every floor, two holding still and a third one moving about."
"Fortifications and guards, huh?" Bucky guessed.
"That's what I'm thinking," Sam responded, he blew himself to the tower just across from this conspicuous building, landing on the roof and folding in his wings. "Get over here as fast as you can. I'm ready when you are."
"Copy. On my way."
Sam switched his goggles from analysis to control mode, launching the small vibranium drone he had from his back. "Red wing, get me a scan and body count on that building."
With a small electronic tone of acknowledgement, the drone flew over to the east edge of the tower in question, emitting quick, subtle pulses of blue light as it captured full-spectrum images one after another. On Sam's heads-up display, or HUD, a 3-D outline of the building began to appear, that he could manipulate and search through from the control surface on his wrist. He began to weave his way through the model as he radioed back to his partner. "Alright, Bucky, where you at?"
"Still a few blocks away. Why? Do you have something?" He asked. Sam could make out the faint sound of his jogging footfalls over the microphone.
"Not yet…" Sam began to answer, but stopped as he noticed a difference in positioning on one of the levels. And a higher body count. "Wait. I think I have something. There's a small group under guard in about the middle of the building. Eighteenth floor."
"Okay, that's, like a good couple football fields over my head. I'm gonna need to climb some stairs," The Soldier said. "Can we get audio in the meantime?"
"Let's find out," The Captain challenged himself, looking back down at his control center on his wrist. He entered a quick series of commands, instructing the drone to use its full-spectrum analysis program to capture and isolate vocal waveforms. Very quickly, he got a big dose of feedback as Red Wing tried to identify the voices, and sure enough, in a few moments, the voices began to come through.
*static* "...completely genuine. First off the line, too. They've already run tests, and I'm telling you, this stuff works."
"How effective is it?"
"After all the improvements they made, stick this thing on, and you could easily take on Steve Rogers."
Sam cursed under his breath. "More super soldier serum? I thought Nagel only made twenty vials!"
"He did. Karli used four. Walker used one. Zemo destroyed the rest," Bucky reminded him. "This is something else. A different type of super soldier."
"Hmm. And this is just the first batch?"
"Yes. Production is going to be increasing too, so that means more money for me, and more soldiers for you."
"And how many are in this shipment?"
"Around a dozen."
"Perfect. The payment is in the case."
"Okay Sam, I'm in position. Ready when you are," Bucky cut through the chatter. Sam looked up for a moment and caught a glimpse of his silver-gold arm flashing in the neon light on the roof of the skyscraper to the north.
"You can make that jump?" Sam asked, stunned.
"Probably. If not, I'll be only a few floors short," He guessed.
Sam sighed. "Just don't get yourself killed, man."
"Don't worry, it'll be fun," Bucky replied assuringly. "It wouldn't hurt to have Parker here though…"
Sam mumbled in agreement. He had only really met Peter Parker twice, and the first time had been when the two of them and Bucky had squared off, and the second time was at Tony Stark's funeral, so they had never really gotten a proper introduction. Needless to say though, his powers had many unconventional applications, including impromptu ropes and sticking to walls. Hell, he even had super strength, enough to give Bucky a run for his money. But the kid had been laying extra low after his face was sprayed all over the internet as Spider-Man's true identity, so finding him was almost impossible. "Alright. Here we go," He announced, clearing his HUD and swan diving off the building.
"Right behind you," The soldier said in his ear. Sam unfurled his wings as he dove, slowly pulling up towards his target. The moment he leveled out, he slid the vibranium shield from his back and threw it hard at the window. It struck the reinforced glass hard, sending massive cracks out to the corners around it like bolts of lightning. Sam rolled to catch the shield off the rebound, then fired his thruster, crashing into the room in a spiral of red, white, and blue.
Within seconds, bullets were peppering his wings, trying to find a gap and land a hit to no avail. "It's him!" One of the guards shouted. "Captain America! Shoot him!"
"Nice to see you guys too!" Sam shot back, holding the shield in front of him protectively as he leapt forward and spun the wings in a spiral, knocking anyone that was too close out cold.
"Well, this has been fun, but I must be going," A man in a suit and trench coat said, cuffing a black briefcase to his hand and signalling his finely tailored enforcers to clear out. "Take the merchandise too."
"You haven't paid!" Someone protested from somewhere behind him. Sam whirled around and threw his shield in the direction of the sound, watching it make solid impact in the rather underdressed man's chest. The shield bounced back to Sam as the man slid back into the windows, gasping for air.
"I didn't pay for any business with Captain America," The buyer replied. Sam heard an elevator ding behind him. "Now, I wish you luck with your fight. Good day."
Sam growled in frustration, turning and unsuccessfully trying to hold the elevator doors open with the shield. "Bucky!" He shouted into his comm, ducking a punch. "The buyer's in the elevator trying to make off with the shipment!"
"Alright, I'm on it," His partner replied. The sound of shattering glass somewhere below followed quickly. Sam caught another blow on one of his wings, then made a hard uppercut to deliver one of his own to the face. The enforcer staggered backwards, holding his nose in pain. Sam reset his fighting stance to one more suited to melee. The shooting seemed to have stopped for now, so either they ran out of bullets or realized that they couldn't hit a mark on him. Or they were all knocked out on the floor. Either way, it was a nice change.
The guard pulled his hand away from his bleeding nose, wiping it off on his jacket. Then he reached into a long pocket on his left leg, and drew out a device that was about a foot long, notched at regular increments, and filled with a murky orange liquid. He pulled up the sleeve on his right arm violently, exposing his skin.
"No! Don't!" The downed salesman shouted from across the room. But the enforcer didn't listen, holding the device onto the underside of his forearm and pressing a small button on the side. He let out a sudden scream of pain, and Sam could see mechanics on the side of the device moving, embedding themselves into his arm and bloodstream. The enforcer continued to howl, and sank to his knees, clutching his arm in agony. The flesh underneath suddenly glowed bright red through his skin, pulsing and seeming to seep deeper into his body. It progressed little by little, until every visible patch of his skin had the same burning look under it. Then all at once, it stopped, and the soldier collapsed on the floor.
Peering over the edge of his shield tentatively, Sam inched closer to the body. His free hand moved up to his goggles, switching them to thermal mode. Is he dead? He wondered as the readings began coming in. And very quickly, he got the answer, that the soldier was not, in fact, dead. Despite the outward appearance, his thermal signature was rising, well over 150 degrees fahrenheit. What the hell? He thought. "What's happening?! What did that thing do to him?!" He suddenly demanded, risking a glance at the prone seller behind him.
"I- I don't-" The injured man stuttered, looking at the rest of his men that were strewn out across the floor.
Sam was about to bark at the dealer again when the drugged soldier's eyes suddenly snapped open, glowing an unworldly red. Sam backpedalled a step, holding his shield out slightly more as the soldier started to get to his feet. "Okay, so I don't know about you, but whatever that thing is doesn't look like it's good for you, man."
The enhanced mercenary responded with a deep yell of rage, pulling back his fist and throwing a vicious punch at the shield. Sam braced himself, strengthening his hold on the shield and thinking of what to do as a counterattack. But when the blow connected, he staggered back from the intense force. The vibranium hummed as it absorbed the bulk of the hit, but even the fact that he was affected through the shield was what frightened him. The super soldier serum that the Flag Smashers had used couldn't even do that, and they had proven incredibly difficult to fight, let alone capture. This new thing, whatever it was, was much more powerful even to start.
The soldier's eyes faded for a moment, and he looked at his hands in wonder. Sam could see it behind his eyes. He could feel the new power flowing through his veins, and the feeling had surprised him. But he liked it, and Sam could see, he wanted more. "Okay, I'm going to offer you one chance," Sam attempted one last time. "Stand down, and we can talk this out."
The soldier looked at him once more, and started advancing as his eyes flared red again. He threw a second punch, which Sam caught on his shield once more, bracing himself with his wings this time. This was enough to stop the blow in its tracks. "Alright, fine. No more talking," Sam concluded, ducking a swing from the offhand. He twirled overhead, striking the soldier on his back with his wings. He stuck the landing strong, quickly looking up as fast as he could to keep his eyes on his target. The enforcer swung hard once more for the side, then the head, the legs, the shoulder, and on and on, trying to break through Sam's tedious guard. Each time, Sam was able to defend himself from the blow, evading or blocking, and dancing his way around his foe until he finally saw an opening for a strike. He slammed the soldier in the face as hard as he could with his shield, hoping to knock him out. But after the strike, the soldier simply turned his head back towards where Sam was facing. "Oh… shi-" He began to say, but was flung across the room by a punch to the gut.
He skidded to a stop by the far wall. "Ow," He groaned, waiting for his eyes to roll back around in their sockets. He found his opponent in front of him once more, advancing slowly, and hardened his gaze. He fired his jetpack, bringing himself back upright and off the ground. He wove his wings into a spiral and thrust the shield above his head, then changed the direction of the thrust suddenly. He rammed into the enhanced guard, tumbling over him and coming back up in a roll, keeping the shield above him and waiting for the retaliation blow. He heard the soldier let out another rageful yell and raise his arm up again, but when Sam knew the blow would strike, it didn't. He blinked in confusion, peering out from behind the shield to see what had stopped the blow.
A strong hand, made of metal, had grabbed the enforcer's arm just as he was about to throw the punch. The guard suddenly found himself being spun around to face the man that had come up behind him. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size, pal?" The Winter Soldier said casually. Sam exhaled in relief at the welcome voice, watching his friend lift and throw the juiced enforcer across the room.
Sam watched the fight ensue as he caught his breath. The guard seemed to be somewhat surprised to be facing an opponent that could match his strength, and despite having more raw strength than Bucky, he lacked the decades of training and experience that Bucky had, and was losing the fight. Every punch thrown, Bucky dodged and landed two. He had the enhanced man up against the wall, essentially down and out. Bucky pinned his arms up, getting a good look at the device on the man's right arm. His expression suddenly changed to something unreadable. "Where did you get that?!" He demanded. The soldier refused to respond, struggling against the cyborg's grip.
The dealer that had been down and out suddenly tried to make a break for the staircase, using the chaos of the moment in his favor. Sam just barely caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, flying his shield hard at the door that the man was running for. It ricocheted on impact, bouncing straight into the fleeing man's chest again. He went down once more, gasping for air. Sam rose and made his way over to the shield, sliding it back onto his arm. "I wouldn't try that again," He advised. The dealer groaned in response, clearly not going anywhere. Sam nodded, satisfied with the answer, and looked back to Bucky, who was still struggling to hold the enhanced one back.
"Stop it!" The Winter Soldier growled, and the man stopped struggling. "Who made that?! Where'd it come from?!"
The man laughed in a low tone. "Like I'd tell you," He hissed, then kicked Bucky hard in the chest with both legs. Bucky staggered back, clutching his chest briefly.
"You've had your chance, then," The cyborg replied under his breath, raising his fists. The enhanced man charged, swinging around as hard as he could again. Bucky caught the first blow with his right hand, wrapping his left leg around his opponents and spun under his arm, pinning it behind his back and exposing the device. He strained to hold it there for a moment, clutching it with his vibranium arm and ripping backwards. He shouted in effort as the cybernetics on the device struggled not to give. His arm made a grinding sound as it doubled down on the tension. The enhanced soldier began to shout as the device was forcibly removed, struggling to get out from the vice-like grip of the older super soldier. They continued to strain against each other for a few moments, until finally, with one last yell of effort, the device was torn free, sparking and broken, from the man's arm. The enforcer collapsed on the ground.
Sam bent down, checking for a pulse, and finding nothing. "He's dead. Whatever that thing was, it killed him when you took it off," He announced, turning to Bucky. "Did you catch the buyers?"
"No. By the time they reached the elevator, they were already gone," The Winter Soldier informed. "I came back up to see if there was anything I could do up here."
"Thanks for that," Sam said gratefully. "I don't know if I could have gotten this guy down without you."
"He didn't exactly give up, though," Bucky replied, looking at the strange item he held.
"What is that, anyway?" Sam asked. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen. Its components looked eerily like an evil cybernetic caterpillar.
"Something I thought didn't exist anymore. This thing-," He replied, shaking it in his hand and looking at Sam, "-is old Hydra technology, codenamed 'Centipede'. I thought it had been put to bed with the rest of those squid-heads."
"Well, I was there when Hydra fell, so we can both say for certain that there's no one left to tell us where the hell this one came from," Sam responded, sitting down against the wall.
Bucky suddenly perked up at that line. "No… but there are still old S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives left. Centipede was run by a Hydra sleeper agent in the organization. Maybe one of the survivors knows more about it."
Sam let the words wash over him for a second. "Nick Fury," He realized. "If anyone knows, it's him."
"Yeah, but we have no way to contact him. He's in the shadows, showing himself only when he chooses to. He's legally dead, remember?" Bucky reminded him.
"Would one of the others know? Maybe Banner? Or Rhodey?" Sam suggested.
"Or Bartan," Bucky said. "He was one of Fury's top operatives. One of Hydra's biggest targets, too."
"So he might know…" Sam agreed. He looked up from the floor at his friend. "Do you think it might be worth making a trip to his homestead?"
"It might yield some results," Bucky guessed. Sam nodded in agreement.
"I'll fly back to the jet and get the engines running. Any idea what to do with that? And him?" Sam asked, looking at the Centipede.
Bucky turned his attention to the device once more. "No. But it is evidence, so we should probably hang onto it until someone does know what to do with it," Then he looked up at the incapacitated dealer on the floor. "As for him, I say we tie him up, and take him with us. He obviously got this thing from somewhere."
"I agree. Just… try not to touch that thing to your skin. We don't know what it can do, even as damaged as it is," Sam warned. He didn't care how broken it looked. He didn't like it.
Bucky sighed. "Sam, I have a metal arm. This won't be a problem."
"You're sure?"
"Yeah. I've got it."
"Alright, I'll see you back at the jet."
About thirty minutes later, plus a few hustlers and attempted muggings, Bucky was walking up the back ramp and into the bay of the Quinjet, prisoner in tow. The small, mobile space was a welcome change from the deadly streets of the criminal city outside. Combined with the fact that they were lifting off and leaving, and it made for a sanctuary in one form or another. Once he was aboard, he found two pairs of cuffs, one for hands and one for feet, and secured him to the structure of the aircraft. "Okay, here's your one and only warning," Bucky said. "Right now, we are taking off across the pacific ocean at over 30,000 feet. You have nowhere to run if you do escape those cuffs, and if you do, keep in mind that you also have the two of us stuck in here with you. Am I clear?" The seller quickly nodded in acknowledgement. "Good."
Bucky rose from his crouch, walking up to the cockpit to find that Sam had already called Clint over the communication system, throwing him up on one of the control screens. "...so we tracked it here, and found, well, we aren't really sure," Sam was explaining to the archer.
"And that's why you called me," Clint guessed. "Because you thought I might know something about this something."
"More like we thought you might know how to find someone who might know something about this something," Bucky corrected. Clint's gaze shifted to him. "Hi, Clint."
"Hey man," Clint responded. "So, what's this thing you found?"
Bucky held it up to the camera. "It's called a Centipede. It's an old Hydra program, but I only know of it vaguely."
"So why did you call me, then? I hardly know anything about Hydra."
"Well, we figured your old boss might be able to shed some light on the situation," Sam explained, initiating the takeoff process.
"Ah. Him," Clint said, nodding to himself. "Well, he usually finds me, being a dead man and all. But I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks man, we appreciate it," Sam responded.
"Can we meet you there? Without the compound, we don't really have a set place to go," Bucky added. He didn't like asking for hospitality from others, but he also wasn't wrong. Without the Avengers compound, they didn't have a place to run their operation from.
Clint smiled. "Of course. We won't mind the company."
"Thanks again. See you in a few hours."
With a final nod from Clint, the transmission ended. Sam rested his hands on the controls, looking over his shoulder at his 'co-worker' as they referred to themselves. "You buckled in? We're gonna have to burn hard to make it from Indonesia to Iowa in a decent manner of time."
Bucky sat down in the copilot seat and strapped himself in, feeling the jet begin to accelerate forward out of the fog. He didn't know much about Centipede, even with all the time he had spent working for Hydra. That wasn't what had begun to nag at him. Hydra had gone out a long time ago, almost a decade. He had assumed all the projects they had been running died with it. But the device that he now held was sharp evidence to the contrary. Someone, somewhere, had been able to find the remnants of the project and, without too much difficulty, started the project again. And that wasn't even the worst part. He had known of over a dozen Hydra projects that were just as dangerous as this one. So even though only the one had shown up, it meant that the others might have life being breathed back into them as well. And unlike when he was a Hydra agent, he didn't have any backup, reinforcements, or support systems. All he had was Sam, and this jet. They were a good duo, but that's all they were.
A duo. And it took both of them to even get the best of the one rogue soldier.
Hey guys! That was the first chapter of Avengers: Tectonic. As many of you probably noticed, this is very different from the short teaser I put out around a year ago. The change is due to a few reasons: I now know what the plot is going to be, I wanted to include the new Marvel content, and just general adherence to the MCU and its current state. But anyway, there it is! Chapter 1 of a long-awaited title. Leave some reviews! I want to know what you think. If you'd like to follow the fiction to stay updated on when a new chapter is released, please do so, and if you like it, consider giving it a favorite. I'll see you all in the next one, and Happy Fourth of July!