MOU: Quasar
By H.R.C. Stanley
Chapter One
My name is Avril Kincaid, and this is the story of how I became the superhero Quasar as well as how I survived many battles, such as that of Pleasant Hill. And believe me when I say that, even surviving alone wasn't exactly the easiest of tasks. In retrospect. we really should've seen it coming. You take a being with unspeakable powers and the mind of a child, and you tell her to create a paradise. You tell her to get rid of anything and everything bad. And then you feign surprise when it all goes terribly wrong, especially when evil makes itself known again. I guess no one really gets away with anything in this life.
The brownish-redhead woman was backed up against a wall by a duo of bald muscular blood-red skinned humanoids in tight blue suits.
"Please don't hurt me!" she begged with hands up and trembling.
"You all shall pay for what you've done to us, human!" one of the red mutants threatened. "The Blood Brothers are prisoners to no one!"
However, their speech was interrupted when a wall was suddenly knocked down, causing them to duck and cough.
"Or..." a stern yet posh and familiar male voice spoke in the fading cloud of brownish dust. "You could just take a medication. That works too."
"Pretty much," another female voice agreed.
As the dust cleared, the iconic figures of Captain Britain and Psylocke were revealed, standing proud and valiantly. Almost immediately, the Blood Brothers charged at the dynamic duo, just as the Cap whipped out his quarterstaff and his sister formed a blade and shield, both made out of bright-purple psionic energy. Dodging a throwing red fist, Captain Britain swatted the growling humanoid at the thigh with his quarterstaff, causing the foe to grunt from irritated pain.
As for Psylocke, she blocked off a fist attack with her shield and slashed at the adversary with her blade, just enough to leave a small cut. In the meantime, the shaken civilian woman crept a few inches back from the action as to not take part unarmed and potentially get hurt. Crouching down, she crawled to the nearby desk and pressed on a button from underneath.
"Hey, Gaffer," the young woman called as she peeked up from behind the desk. "Would you mind opening up the whiteboard for me please?"
"Engaging day-care armoury, weapons ready," a calm, almost robotic voice replied.
With that, the whiteboard spilt in half horizontally, opening up and revealing a small array of thick-steel hi-tech rifles and guns. Without hesitation, she pulled out one and fired at the distracted Blood Brothers, paralysing and knocking them both out.
"Good to meet you, Captain Britain and Psylocke," she greeted before introducing herself proper. "I'm Agent Avril Kincard of S.T.R.I.K.E."
"So you're a member of S.T.R.I.K.E. as well?" Captain Britain recognised. "Must be a recent recruit."
"You'd be right about that, sir," Avril confirmed.
"I guess that's what happens if ever we make assumptions, Brian," Psylocke commented.
"I was made Head of Plainclothes Surveillance recently," Avril explained. "Essentially, I run the daycare for imaginary children. Well, except for one..."
"One?" Psyclocke questioned.
"I might get into that another day," Avril said.
"That reminds me, why didn't you pull those weapons earlier?" Brian the Captain asked.
"I was acting as bait," Avril admitted. "I had them right where I wanted them. Apparently, Zemo has Commander Hunter held hostage."
"As in Lance Hunter?" Brian recognised before Avril quickly nodded. "Have you figured out where he is?"
"Not yet," Avril answered with a shrug. "Anyway, my plan was to get these idiots here to take me to them so I could figure out a rescue mission."
"Sorry about that," Psylocke empathised. "So why don't you tell us what else is going on and what you know so far? Just so we're on the same page here."
"Certainly. Apparently long story short, the Commander was overlooking some weird project our American friends over at S.H.I.E.L.D., including Rogers, Barnes, Wilson, and even Maria Hill of course, were working on. Some kind of sentient cube, I think. Supposedly, Hill intended to use it to build the most hellish prison on Earth, one where criminals would have their very lives rewritten." Psylocke and the Cap looked at each other, upper lips stiffened and eyebrows cocked, as Avril explained as best as she could. "At least that's how I recall her wording it. And as you might expect, something went wrong and all the prisoners there somehow broke free and are starting a revolt of sorts, with Zemo as their leader."
"When has bad stuff like that not happen at S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Psylocke folded her arms.
"A million-pound question, Betsy," Cap agreed with his sister.
"But now you two are here, maybe we've a chance. That is..." Avril paused before she looked around the area, especially at the two Blood Brothers, still unconscious. "...presuming we clean up this mess first."
"Okay then, fair enough," Psylocke cocked her head for a bit. "We might've also infiltrated a few S.T.R.I.K.E. installations that were taken by some Hydra agents. How else do you think I, or rather we, found out about this place?"
"I'd vouch for Psylocke on that one," Captain Britain added. "However, I still do trust S.T.R.I.K.E. more than S.H.I.E.L.D., or S.W.O.R.D. for that matter, but looking about these days, we should maybe get the help we can take."
"Fine, not like I thought any of this would be a good idea or anything," Avril sighed before she muttered under her lips. "I already cancelled my Plan-A when I was unable to make contact with anybody else in my unit. This could need to be a two-team job overall."
"So what shall we need, ma'am?" Captain Britain asked.
"For one, I need access to the Pleasant Hill Museum," Avril continued. "Terrorists and criminals aren't the only things we're hiding down there; there's also an inventory, not only hidden but also transformed by something called Kobik. In that inventory, there should be an experimental weapon and armour that I think we can use to turn the tide. The Prototype Light Ordnance Titanium armour."
"P.L.O.T. armour?" Cap quickly figured out the acronym before snickering. "Boy, the names those people come up with at times. Can't wait to hear the catch though."
"I know," Avril admitted. "Anyways, the catch is that it's on a top-level security lockdown, and the only way to get through is to shut down the system within a remote station."
"And the location of this station?" Psylocke asked.
"Yeah, well..." Avril paused again before taking in a deep breath. "Let's just say it might get a little bit crazy right about now."
To be continued...