Little Bird's Vengeance Chapter 22 Another Day, Another Mission

Captain America ducked a blast that looked somewhat similar to Iron Man or War Machine's repulsor rays. When Red Robin had sent Rhodes to bring him to the office, he'd not really thought it would be anything much. Turned out to be eight people in bastardised suit or drone mechanisms, flight blasters and stabilisers on the hands and feet and a centrepiece with a power source, but no more than connecting cables and such between them. How it worked, he had no idea. It was just a good thing the flight jets had a high enough heat signature to set off the citywide scanning system Red Robin had managed to set up using SHIELD satellites and…something else.

Red had vanished off to take care of the source, while recommending the Avengers take care of the people actually in the field. The tone of his voice clearly said 'I am ordering you as best I can, considering I don't actually have the authority'. The kid was a leader, even if he wasn't their leader.

So Cap called through the Tower, ordering everyone to suit up even as Red flung himself off the launch pad and into the air. This was followed by a quick and awkward conversation with Rhodes who, as a colonel, outranked him. But Rhodes agreed to both participate and defer command, at least this once.

Now, in the field, they'd split up. Black Widow and Hawkeye had volunteered to take three between them while the rest took one each. Actually, Thor and Iron Man had both volunteered to take two, and Cap had wanted to test himself in the same way,but the assassin partners had seemed like the best choice. When they arrived on the scene, he'd paused long enough to point Hulk in the direction of his target before dealing with his own.

The comm in his ear buzzed. "Captain!" Red Robin called. "You'll have to-"

"Not now, kid," Cap grunted as he engaged his foe. "And keep back. This is no place for a child."

"But-"

"I said later!" He reached up and flicked the comm off as the fight started in earnest.

Dodge, reflect, throw the shield, duck, damn the shield missed, catch it, sling it again, left fast before that blast-! Smash, crunch, power source separated, phew.

Cap paused to wipe a smear of some oily substance from the star of his shield, before grabbing the blubbering would-be villain and dragging him to the rendezvous point- not so coincidently, right next to wherever the Hulk ended up.

Iron Man and War Machine landed, carrying their targets. Hulk was still smashing his guy, smacking him into the ground this way and that far beyond the point of it being necessary. Thor appeared from another direction, his bad guy subdued with Mjolnir on his stomach and being dragged along by his ankle. In just a few moments…yep, there was the Quinjet, the assassins piloting, their trio no doubt unconscious in the back. It had been a good fight, a little tricky, but with the whole team working together, they had won easily and with next to no collateral.

War Machine flipped back his visor. Rhodey took a breath of fresh air; he'd never learn to enjoy the steadily staling air of his helmet. That was a bracing little skirmish. More invigorating than fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq, and more satisfying. The Avengers sure had it going for them.

Tony, for some reason, was insisting on pulling the prisoners out from inside the Quinjet, to have a closer look at their tech, even as Agent Barton sweet-talked Hulk into dropping his baddie. The approach seemed to be similar to that of a misbehaving dog. And when that failed…who knew Hulk liked catch?

Suddenly, it happened. Rhodey blinked as the low-power back-up ARC reactor in his chest piece flared up. A beam of light from the nearest fallen bad guy shot out and connected with the reactor. A beam shot out from that, going in the other direction. Light beams shot in both directions, forming a chain, then a net, between the power sources on the baddies and Rhodey. He felt a pulsing flowing through the suit's systems. The visor slid down, the HUD blanked, leaving him with only the narrow field of vision through the eye-holes. He just caught sight of a red and black blur speeding down towards them, before his attention was caught by three beams of light heading directly towards Tony.

Red Robin landed just in time to be hit by all three beams. The energy pulsed, and exploded.

Cap started. He'd specifically told Red to stay away. What was that? Why had he felt the need defy orders?

"What do you think you're doing?" he barked, looking over at the kid as the burst of light faded. Then he stopped. Red was on the ground in a huddled heap. Iron Man, who was closest, hurried over.

"No," the kid groaned. "Check War Machine." Stark paused, but then turned to his friend as Barton helped Red up.

"The reactor's completely burnt out," Stark reported, looking up. "If I'd been caught in that…"

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Red mumbled. "Damn, security system's completely fried. Gonna take ages to replace."

"How did you know?" Cap demanded, feeling slightly guilty that he was responsible for nearly losing one of his team. If Stark's reactor blew, it would have been a race against time to get him home before the shrapnel in his heart killed him.

"I went to the source and beat it out of him; how else?" Red replied, swaying slightly. "Now how about you deal with the press that'll most likely be turning up in about five minutes and let me deal with all these potentially lethal arrays before someone dies?"

AN: Bit of action, a few things going wrong. Hope you like how everyone acquitted themselves.

In other news, I have just started a new story; really more of a collection of one-shots about the Daleks (from Doctor Who, a British TV show) invading places. Places such as Middle-Earth (from Lord of the Rings), the Republic (from Star Wars), etc is entitled, very imaginatively, Dalek Invasion.

Also updating this week, Family Ties. This week the rating is very much T; so if you're eight and don't get what's going on, please don't tell your parents why you're asking what these words mean.

Next week, more Little Bird's Vengeance. If you're waiting for some more Black and Red, you'll have to wait another week.

See you then,

Katara