Little Bird's Vengeance Chapter 4 Fight Club
Captain America strode onto the helicarrier's bridge, still pulling on his gloves, hood around his neck. "What happened?" he asked.
"Robots," Fury told him. "Someone's hijacked the remaining Hammer Tech drones, and they're wreaking havoc. We can't tell what they're after. Go help disable them."
"Sir," Cap nodded. "What about the boy? He's a sitting duck."
"The drones can't get into the cell."
"They can drop it."
After a moment, both soldiers looked over at the screen. Red Robin had replaced the mask and was now pacing restlessly, constantly looking everywhere and worrying his lip.
"Sir, if he's hostile, I'll take him and drag him back there myself," Cap said. "But you don't think so either. We should give him a chance."
Slowly, Fury nodded. He reached out and hit the button to open the cell door. "Done. Now get fighting, soldier."
Cap saluted, and left.
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Red Robin fell into a defensive crouch when the door opened. He watched the shadows, waited for whoever-it-was to appear. After a minute, he stood, and carefully went forward. No-one stopped him as he left the cell. Alarms were still blaring, but no-one seemed to be paying him any attention. It appeared he'd been released.
The helicarrier...thing was still under attack. He reached into a concealed pouch on his thigh and pulled out an emergency batarang. The extra red polymer layer on the uniform leg looked like decoration, but hid a slim compartment in the layers. He balanced the batarang between his fingers, readying it to be thrown. He padded down the corridors, bare feet making little noise against the cold hard metal floors and memorizing the route he'd taken. A tracker pulled from another compartment automatically honed in on his missing equipment. Luckily, it was on the same level; he won't have to find an elevator or anything.
The fighting hadn't reached the sections he was creeping through, and any soldiers had already left. He followed the corridor, taking occasional forks as he honed in on his target. Eventually he found a door promisingly labelled "Main Technology Lab". Briefly contemplating bluffing his way in, he instead carefully opened the door half an inch at a time, watching both the corridor and the lab.
Three men in white coats and safety glasses were gathered around one of the workbenches, poking at the wing harness and talking over each other. The other pieces of confiscated equipment lay neglected around the room. Keeping beneath the benches, Red Robin skittered over to the nearest worktable and snatched his gloves off the top. Still out of sight, he pulled them on, checking the compartments, each with its own electrocuting security system. The lock picks and blowpipe with darts were apparently undisturbed.
He readied the pipe and three tranquilizer tipped darts, aiming at the techs and preparing to drop them all as quickly as possible. He whispered an apology inside his head, and blew.
When they were all unconscious, Red Robin examined his belts. The forensic and first aid kits, always low-security, were strewn across a bench. He scooped up the various analysis tools, bandages and neatly labelled samples from his last case, packing them up and clasping the belt back around his waist. It seemed nothing else had been opened, so he continued pulling on his boots, and the belts on his upper arms, then turned to the wing harness.
The techs had managed to detach three of the 'feathers'. Grumbling, he pulled out the repair kit concealed in the straps and fixed the strips back in place. He didn't have time for a thorough fix- he'd just have to piece it back together and give it a tune up later.
Before leaving, he peeled his mask off again. The glue was wearing thin; and he didn't want it falling off. He got out the stick of special glue, smeared it over the back of the polymer strip, and carefully stuck it back over his eyes, flicking the tiny switch to arm the electric system.
Whatever was attacking, there was no reason to believe they wouldn't eventually reach this level. The room with the cell was more defensible. He quickly retraced his steps, then melted into the shadows that had plagued his nerves for the past week. He waited, either for the action to find him or the alarms to turn off. He ran through his equipment, checking everything was still in place, and snapped out his staff in readiness.
He didn't have too long to wait. A trio of robots crashed in. Red Robin tossed out a small grenade, which exploded on the first's chest. He twisted, skidding across the floor and knocked down another. He flipped up, but the explosive hadn't taken down the first, and the second was getting up again. The third lashed out at him; he sprang backwards.
It continued for some minutes, until one furious blow smashed the control panel for the cell. There was a furious hiss, as the hatch beneath the cell ground open. Red Robin gasped, the air thinning. The cell groaned and fell, leaving a large opening behind, just as another grenade caught the first robot and it fell away.
Red Robin fumbled for the breath mask in his belt, breathing freely as it supplied fresh air. Another four robots appeared in the doorway. 'What am I doing here? Not like I know who's in the right. This isn't my fight,' he thought, tucking away his staff and trying to disengage.
One of the robots caught him with a massive blow to the chest, and he fell backwards, falling out of the helicarrier.
AN: Yep, stuff really happening now. Please leave me a review. If you have questions, feel free to drop a PM or ask in a review.
I'm afraid I won't be updating next week. Please don't lynch me! Y'see, a number of my loyal readers, including a number of you, have been waiting for some months for an update for my other crossover work Black and Red. So next week, I'll be updating that instead. Hope you don't mind.
So...see you week after next.