Little chapter to start the new arc, the next one will be really large, I mean really large. This is what is going to happen, after the Age of Ultron arc there will be another OC arc and then it will focus on the rest of the MCU until Infinity War. If you want you can actually suggest something for the story, situations, pairing (If you like, I'm not focusing on that but if you want you can suggest something. I'm not against it), anything you want. Also, a Review would be nice. Infinity War is right around the corner, I can't wait!
Chapter 22: Assault to the Base
(Hydra Research Base Sokovia, Eastern Europe)
Baron Von Strucker, the leader of Hydra's Research Base, was staring at Loki's scepter with proud. Thanks to it, they have achieved more than they could've imagined. They were really close to making something completely new, something that will change the world... Something that will make them unstoppable. One of his scientist stand next to him, he looks really nervous. Strucker looks at him and he could tell already that there was something wrong.
"What is it?" He asks and in his mind, he had a long list of thing that might be the problem. "Don't tell its the twins because I swear" He was a little worried that the Twins that volunteers for the human experiments were not going to make it. Pietro and Wanda Maximoff were the only ones that survived and they prove to be quite powerful on their own rights, but he couldn't help but feel that their powers might get out of control. Especially Wanda's Power.
"No, Baron. They are doing great. In fact, they are ready for a field test" Said the scientist, despite Struckers insists on holding them here. They were not ready for that yet. "The problem is... That woman again. She's been messing with our computers... She now is demanding to talk to you" He said and Strucker let out a huge sigh. He walks away and gets out of the secret room where the scepter was. He walks up the stairs and enters the operations room. Another man was standing in front of the big monitor, in it, there was a woman in a black suit and long black hair. She smiles as soon Strucker appear. Her smile was the smile of someone that was very sure of herself, someone that always had a plan and was at least five steps ahead of everyone. Strucker remains calm.
"Are you trying to steal from us, Miss Kiyohara" Said Strucker. "I thought we had a deal"
"The deal was that you will send me some of those weapons and me in return will give you information on how to deal with the last remaining Gods in case they got in your way. Especially, Kokoro Nakamura considering that she's one of Hydra's top threat alongside the Avengers. You didn't send me anything at all... But I did send you valuable information that cost millions, if not billions... So in return for your lies, I will steal from you right under your nose"
"Are you sure you want to do that? You will regret this"
"No, you will regret this. You abuse my generosity so... You will know what happens to those who betray me" Kiyohara then punch the screen and the video call ended. Strucker look at the scientist next to him.
"Make sure she don't steal anything from us. I don't want that woman to replicate our technology" Strucker walk away and the scientist takes out a USB and without anyone noticing he plug it in and copy all the data. The data transfer end just in time when the security was compromised.
"Alert! Alert! Report to your stations immediately. This is not a drill. We are under attack. I Repeat, we are under attack!" The scientist unplugs the USB and walks away with it. He takes out his phone when there was nobody around.
"Miss Kiyohara. I have it all. Where's the extraction point?" He asks as he makes his way outside the base. In the way he takes a briefcase he was hiding in his room.
"Get out of the base and head north. A helicopter is waiting for you. You sure you have everything? You better not fail me on this" Said Kiyohara with a demanding tone. "If you fail I swear to Zeus that I will disintegrate you"
"I can assure you that I have everything you need. Stole one of their weapons when they weren't watching so we are ready"
"Good. Make sure to not get killed. The Avengers are there... Somehow they find out about the base"
"Lucky. I can get away easily thanks to the chaos"
Outside the Base, near the city of Sokovia, Natasha and Clint were driving through the battlefield. Natasha was driving the jeep while Clint shoots his arrow at every single target he saw. The soldiers of Hydra try to catch at them and stop them, they were shooting at them with high tech weaponry but they were nothing against Clint's precision and Natasha's driving skill. She avoids them in order to reach their destination. Not so far away from them, Iron Man fly in the sky, shooting at the enemies ahead to open the path for them. Thor landed on top of the vehicles chasing Natasha and Clint, he crushes them and takes them off their backs. Steve Rogers ride his motorcycle, throw him shield to the soldier of Hydra. The Shield hit them hard before finding its way back to Captain America's hands. Hulk did what he does best, smashing everything that was in his way and lastly, Kokoro swings her sword left and right, clearing the path for the rest of the Avengers and avoiding enemies ambush from both sides. They all were near their destination. Tony Stark go ahead and try to reach Hydra base before everyone else. Kokoro follows him from behind and to their surprise, Tony hit an energy barrier surrounding the Base.
"Tony!" Kokoro yell. "Are you alright!?" She asks and Tony only say one thing.
"Shit!" Tony cursed.
"Language!" Steve said. He couldn't help it but say that every time someone says a bad word. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?" He asks and waits for Jarvis to give him the information needed.
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," Said Jarvis. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken"
"It's possible for me to go in?" Kokoro asks.
"The Shield is made out of pure energy. Nothing goes in or out unless is taken down" Jarvis explains.
"I'll try to find a way in then" Kokoro fly right at the base and try to break the shield with her sword, but it was impenetrable. "Dammit! It's harder than expected!" She saw missiles flying right at her. She swings her sword and cut them in half before they even reach her. One missile finds its way toward her and instead of avoiding it, Kokoro raises her hand and grab it by the tip. The missile explodes and Kokoro walks out of the explosion unharmed. She knew those things couldn't hurt her, but those lasers of pure energy were something else entirely. She had to avoid those.
"Loki's scepter must be here" Said Thor as he fights a small group of soldiers. "Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it... At long last"
"'At long last' is lasting a little long, boys" Said Natasha.
"Yeah. I think we lost the element of surprise" Said Clint.
"Since when we were good at that?" Kokoro asks. "It's easier to kick down the door and start shooting like madmen"
"Wait a second" Said Tony. "No one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said "Language"?" Tony asks.
"Yeah, I know... Just slipped out" Said Steve.
"I couldn't care less about that. Let's get this over with" Said Kokoro.
"I'm on it," Said Tony and prepare to break in the Base...
Strucker goes back to the operation room and talks to the rest of his men in response to the sudden attack from the Avengers.
"We will not yield!" He yells. "The Americans sent their circus freaks to test us. We will send them back in bags... No surrender!" He yells and every yell with him with determination.
"No surrender!" Strucker then moves to one of his scientists and whisper in his ear.
"I am going to surrender..." He admits. He knew there was nowhere he could escape now. This was the last Hydra Base left. Even though there are more member around the world, he knew they won't recover from this. "Make sure to delete everything. If we give the Avengers the weapons, they may not look too far into what we've been working on..."
"The Twins" Said the scientist, interrupting Strucker.
"They are not ready to take on them"
"No, no, I mean..." He points at the corner, where the Twins, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff were standing just a second ago. "The twins... They are gone..."
Clint hides behind a tree. Behind him was a bunker of Hydra. He takes a deep breath and quickly take out an arrow, look at his target from his relatively safe spot and shoots before hiding again. He was waiting for the explosion of his arrow hitting the target, but it never came. He then takes out another and gets out of his hiding to shoot but was hit by something he couldn't see. He falls to the ground and saw a young man with white hair, he was wearing a black jogging suit and he had a huge smirk on his face. Pietro Maximoff was enjoying himself.
"What? You didn't see that coming?" He asks Clint before running away so fast he became a blur to him. He couldn't catch him with his eyes. Nevertheless, he stands up and prepares for anything. He focuses on the young man and didn't notice the rifle that shot from the bunker. It hit him on his side and fall to the ground again, this time he was bleeding pretty badly. Natasha saw him and run to help him. Steve was to do the same but Pietro hit him from behind and disappear again.
"We have an Enhanced in the field" Said Steve.
"And Clint's hit!" Said Natasha.
"An Enhanced!?" Kokoro stop. "Describe it"
"I didn't look at him that well. He was fast, really fast" Said Steve.
"Fast? How fast?" Kokoro asks and she hears footsteps behind her. She closes her eyes for a moment and those footsteps that were coming at her with an incredible speed become slower. She stands up and quickly turn around only to see Pietro running at her. His eyes widen when Kokoro make eye contact, he knew she saw him coming because her eyes move so fast and were analyzing his expression. Kokoro smile and before Pietro could stop, Kokoro take several steps toward him and grab him by the throat. She was faster than him. Time went back to normal for both of them and she smirks.
"Well hello there, Handsome. Was I too fast for you?" She squeezes his neck and throws him to one of the trees. "I got him Cap" She said and Pietro runs away from her. Kokoro chuckled. "Looks like I scare him off"
"Stark, we really need to get inside," Said Steve as he keeps fighting back the soldiers. Kokoro found herself surrounded by a couple of them. She takes out her sword and stabs it in the ground. She then creates a small tornado that clean up the area. She joins with Steve just in time for Tony to get rid of the Energy Shield.
"The drawbridge is down, people" He said.
"Finally" Said Steve and retrieve his Shield. Thor joins them too.
"The Enhanced?" Thor asks.
"He runs away. He was fast, but not fast enough" Said Kokoro.
"Of all the new players we've faced, I've never seen this... In fact, I still haven't" Said Steve.
"He must be still around so be careful" Kokoro advise. "He hits from the back, so watch out"
"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys" Said Natasha. "We're gonna need evac"
"I'll get him to the jet" Said Kokoro. "The sooner we're done with this the better. Find the scepter and get this over with. Clint needs medical attention" Kokoro fly away and in a matter of seconds arrive with Natasha. Clint was on the ground, screaming in pain. "Easy, Hawkeye. You are still in one piece" She said and lift him. "Nat, go and help them. I'll take care of him" Natasha nodded and Kokoro fly away with Clint back to the quinjet. Tony enters the Hydra Base through a window and was received by people shooting right at him.
"Guys, stop. We gotta talk this through" He said and shot at each one of them with small bullets coming out of his shoulders. "Good talk"
"No, it wasn't" Said one of them. Tony get pass them and saw a scientist trying to delete all the data. He shoots at him and gets out of his suit.
"Sentry mode" He gives the order to his suit and keeps an eye in case something goes wrong. Tony walk to the computer and save all the data. "Okay, Jarvis, you know. I want it all. Make sure you copy Hill at HQ... I know you are hiding more than files" Tony whispers and look around the room. "Hey, J, give me an IR scan of the room, real quick" Jarvis take a quick scan.
"The wall to your left" He said and Tony look at his left at the odd-looking wall. "I'm reading steel reinforcement and an air current"
"Please be a secret door, Please be a secret door" He whispers and push the wall. It moves it and opens a new path. "Yay" He looks inside and found stairs that took him to the basement of the Base.
"Guys, I got Strucker" Said Steve and Tony reply.
"Yeah, I got something bigger" He almost whisper as he saw all the Chitauri technology that Hydra was hiding in the giant basement. From small weapons to the giant armored creature that was part of the invasion from almost three years ago. He looks in silence all the weaponry, including some prototypes of his suit and the Iron Legion he created. Far away from all that, Tony saw the scepter surrounded by a ring of energy that was protecting it. "Thor... I got eyes on the prize" He said and without him noticing, Wanda Maximoff attack him from behind. Not with a physical attack, but a mental illusion. She moves away and saw how he witness the nightmare. Tony blinked his eyes and hear the noise of metal bending. He turns around and the giant creature flies away. He follows it with his eyes and he realizes that he no longer finds himself in the Hydra Base. He was stepping on a giant rock in outer space. In front of him, there were all the Avengers... Defeated... Killed... Tortured. Hulk has been impaled, not being able to dead he suffer from all the spears that were thrown at him. Black Widow, Natasha, was laying next to Hulk, her eyes were empty. She was dead, just like Clint, Steve, and Thor. Thor's hammer was destroyed, just like Steve's Shield that was torn apart like it was nothing. He runs to check on them but it was too late. He checks on Steve and to his surprise, he grabs his hand, which make him jump of fear.
"You could have saved us..." He said before he stops breathing. Tony could still hear him in his head. "Why didn't you do more?" Tony looked up and saw Kokoro floating in space trying to stop the Chitauri from invading earth. Tony only could watch how she was outnumbered. She kept them at bay, but she was stabbed in the chest by a golden sword, this sword absorb all her powers and the Chitauri finally got her. He watches powerlessly how she was getting eating alive by the armored creatures. She yells in pain and begs for mercy, begs them to stop and beg for her mother to come and save her before there was nothing less from her besides the sword and part of her clothes. Tony couldn't look away at the horrible vision of a possible future that might still happen. Tony closed his eyes and found himself back in the real world. Everything was a vision... Or was it?
The Avengers were coming back from Sokovia in the quinjet. The mission was a success despite some major issues, like Clint almost dying and the surprise attack not going according to plan, not to mention that the city of Sokovia find itself in the middle of the battle and even receive collateral damage from it. Despite all that, it could've been much worse. Kokoro checks on Clint before walking away and looking at the scepter. It was a while since she saw it, she didn't imagine having it in front of her again. She touches the box where it was being contained and close her eyes. Again, she witnesses the same vision from before when she touches it the last time. Someone giving the scepter to Loki, but this time she saw more. A huge man threating him and that image was replaced by another. The same huge man walks over a golden gauntlet and smile. Kokoro opens her eyes and keeps quiet about it. She didn't want them to worry the others. She'll tell them when the time is right. Stark join her and pat her on the back.
"How does it feel?" He asks.
"Excuse me?"
"It's been a while since you enter the battlefield. The last Bases we take, you just stand aside. How does it feel to fight alongside us again?" Tony points out. The last Hydra bases they took, Kokoro didn't help. She stays behind, not getting involved at all. She was starting to choose when and when not helping the Avengers. She sometimes sees it as they don't actually need her, that she was there just in case things go south real quick. She was the last resort at this point, the one they call when there was no other option. That's how she sees it. She wasn't wrong, with the Hulk was enough.
"It feels... Good" She smiles. "It's been a while"
"Good... That's good. I was worried that you have changed. Sometimes I notice that you become more..." Tony was trying to find the right word to describe her. Kokoro take a guess, Steve and Thor join and guess too.
"Distant?" Kokoro asks she feels it like it was the correct answer.
"Isolated" Said Thor.
"Grumpy?" Steve asks.
"I was going to say Psycho, but those work too" Tony nodded. "Didn't you notice?"
"Notice what?"
"Come on. Don't tell me you haven't noticed it" Tony then look at Steve. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"I get where you are going" Steve nodded. "You look like you are going to murder someone sometimes. Your mood change from normal to crazy in the blink of an eye. I hear you talking with the Enhanced, you sound menacing. And it doesn't help that you sometimes whisper to yourself even when we are all together and the fact that you tend to break a finger when you are nervous" He said and Kokoro grab her right hand, rub it a little and then break her thumb. It was involuntary of her. "You just prove my point"
"I... I mean, this is nothing" Kokoro lay in the wall with her arms crossed. "It's not a big deal. Don't worry about me"
"'Not a big deal' she said..." Tony whisper. "Just don't isolate yourself in your room when we get back. You start to do that after you came back from Japan to check on your mother... Did something happen?"
"... Everything's Fine" Kokoro look away. "I'm just trying to get used to my powers. That's all"
"... Anyways" Tony look at the scepter. "It feels good isn't it?" Tony asks Thor. "I mean, you've been after this thing since S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but..."
"No, but this... This brings it to a close" Said Thor.
"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for. I don't just mean weapons" Said Steve. "Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?"
"That's an interesting question. It makes me wonder about the true nature of that gem" Said Kokoro. "There's nothing like this in the entire world"
"Banner and I will give it the once over before it goes back to Asgard" Said Tony. "Is that cool with you?" He asks Thor. He needs to ask first before examining an alien artifact. "Just a few days till the farewell party... You're staying, right?"
"Yes, yes, of course. A victory should be honored with revels" Said Thor.
"Yeah, who doesn't love revels?" Tony look at Steve. "Captain?"
"Hopefully this put an end to the Chitauri and Hydra... So, yes, revels" Steve agreed.
"Good. Kokoro, you coming to the party too. God knows you need time to enjoy yourself"
"... I don't know. I'm not good at parties" Kokoro shrug.
"Come on. It'll be fun. I bet you'll even find a guy" Tony try to light up her mood.
"Yeaaaahh... Noo" Kokoro shake her head. "I'm not interested"
"Don't be like that. Enjoy life a little"
"... Life... Yeah, I guess you are right" Kokoro look down. "Sometimes I wonder if its even worth enjoying..." She whisper and luckily for her, nobody hears her.
"It'll be fun. You can invite your mother too and some friends you had in Japan" He said and walk away. That made Kokoro's eyes widen. She then looks away.
"Yeah... I'll call her... God knows she wants to hear my voice" She whispers and walk away from her teammates. She stays in a corner, looking away. Not wanting to talk to anyone right now. She had a lot of things in her mind and her mother was one of those things. She didn't want them to know, but they'll eventually find out. "... Am I really changing? They must be overreacting... I'm fine... How couldn't I be?" She thought and without thinking about it she breaks another finger. "Dammit... I have a messed up habit now"