Little Bird's Vengeance Chapter 26 Mutant!
Tim walked through the reproduction of the warehouse with Tony. "So these bits are Air Force drones," Tim said, pointing to one stack, "and these Marine. Those Army and that lot Navy. Right?"
"That's it," Tony confirmed.
"What's that in the corner?"
Tony winced. "What remains of the Whiplash suit."
"Vanko's?" Tim murmured. "Self-destructed yet partially salvageable. Let's have a look." He walked over and picked up the pieces. "Jarvis, clear us a space," he ordered, and a pile of holographic scraps vanished. Tim spread out the contraption Whiplash made. There wasn't a lot left. "Tony, you said there were components in those attackers' suit rigs you didn't recognize. Are any of them in this?"
Tony examined it, inflating and rotating sections for a closer look before admitting defeat. "I can't tell. There's something that might be it; see the way these connections are reinforced for greater flexibility? But it's too badly damaged to tell."
"If we had the blueprints, could we recreate the entire thing?" Tim asked.
"If we had them, yes," Tony answered. "If Vanko even made some."
"Then we'll just have to check the filing cabinets," Tim shrugged.
"That'll take ages," Tony whined.
Tim rolled his eyes. There were only six cabinets, only four drawers per cabinet…"Jarvis, clear everything but the cabinets, and give us a bit of space around each one," he ordered, before leaving the lab.
In the adjacent lab, Bruce Banner was looking at something down the microscope. "Dr Banner, do you know where Steve, Clint and Tasha are?" Tim asked.
"Try the gym," Banner replied. "And how many times do I have to ask you to call me Bruce?"
Tim just smiled. "We need a few extra pairs of eyes. Mind giving us a hand?"
"Sure, just give me a moment," Bruce shrugged.
"No problem," Tim said, and went to find the others.
When he got the others to the lab he and Tony were using, the billionaire was just a little irritated. "What's that about?" he asked.
"Take a cabinet each. We need to find the Whiplash blueprints," Tim instructed. "Steve, will that give you problems?"
"Roughly what would they look like?" the forties resident asked.
"Jarvis?" Tony prompted. A picture of Vanko as Whiplash appeared. "A diagram of that," Tony said.
"I can guess why you didn't ask Thor," Clint said, starting to flick through his simulated papers, "but why not Rhodes?"
"He's giving his suit a trial flight," Tony offered.
"Doesn't your suit need repairs, too, Red?" Banner asked.
"Why do you think I haven't slept for three days?" Tim grunted. Actually, the burns across his body had been making it difficult to lie down, making sleep a near impossibility and giving him more than adequate motivation to find other things to do.
"SHIELD medical prefer it if agents get regular sleeping periods," Tasha stated.
"Forget the docs; three days? Serious?" Clint asked.
"I was busy. And I can go nine days without sleep if necessary. Drop it now," Tim growled.
There was a slightly awkward pause. Not even the papers rustled; they were little more than tricks of the light after all. "So what exactly are you hoping to achieve?" Steve asked at last.
"We're trying to track down who made those rigs," Tony replied.
"It's more trying to narrow it down," Tim elaborated. "It all depends on the exact tech being used. It's similar to Vankos's. If it's near enough identical, someone with little creativity ripped it off. If it's completely different, we look for unrelated people who might be able to do this. I reckon it'll be fairly similar, but cleverly updated or modified, which would mean we'd be looking for someone with the know-how who had access to it, most likely at Hammer since it was already in a bad way when the army got it."
"That easy is it?" Clint murmured.
"Anything else you can tell us?" Banner asked.
"To varying degrees of certainty," Tim shrugged. "Later, though."
The communications system crackled, and Jarvis conjured a screen with Nick Fury on it.
"Sir," Steve, Tasha, Clint and Tim said simultaneously.
"Director," Banner and Tony said, one respectfully, one not so.
"War Machine is calling for assistance," Fury said, getting straight to the point. "Central Park. Civilians cornered some mutants and it's turning into a mob."
"Jarvis, cameras on the area?" Tim asked.
Another screen popped up, and Tim's eyes widened. He quickly forced himself still, not thinking to eliminate as many tells he'd be giving off as he could. "I'll deal with it," he said. "Alone."
"Red Robin, are you sure that is the best course of action?" Fury asked.
"Red, we're coming-" Steve started.
"No," Tim said forcefully. "I can do this best solo. I do have experience of these situations. In the extremely unlikely event I require backup, I will call you."
"Red-" Steve tried again.
Tim fixed him with a near-withering glare, then softened it. "Captain," he said, slightly pleadingly. "Look, I can handle it. It's just- easier on my own."
Steve nodded. "Alright then."
"Wait, but-" Tony protested.
"I'm on it," Tim snapped. "You can come just as soon as your team leader mobilizes you."
Before the Avengers could respond, he stalked off to suit up.
For some reason, pilots were not taught how one is to prevent a mob rioting over a trio of mutants while one is dressed in a heavily armed suit of techno-armour. Neither were such skills taught as one advanced up the chain of command, and even liaising with Tony had failed to impart such knowledge.
The mutants were on the defensive, clearly; just rather aggressively defensive. Dressed in bright colours, the girl and larger guy had both showed signs of flying, and the smaller boy was vibrating. No wonder they'd been spotted.
"Please, ladies and gentlemen," War Machine said to the crowd. "Be calm. This can be resolved without violence.
"Yeah, if these mutants go when they're not wanted!" someone in the mob yelled.
"And who do you think you are to decide that?" the large boy retorted.
War Machine moved toward the trio, the crowd parting before him. "If you three just stand down-" he started.
"Don't worry, War Machine. I'll take it from here."
War Machine turned at the voice. "Red Robin," he said respectfully. "I can handle it."
"Nevertheless," Red Robin replied calmly, twisting his grapple in his hands. He fired off his line, and swept over the heads of the crowd.
He landed in a crouch in the opening of the mob with the mutants. He flicked out something glowing and green, and the larger boy fell to his knees. The younger turned into a blur, zooming forward. Red Robin's staff flicked out, and caught the boy midstride, allowing Red to flip onto the mutant's back as he tumbled to the ground. The girl took to the air, a glowing golden rope swung like a lasso in her hands. Red grabbed the lasso while it whipped towards him, pulled, and entangled the girl in her own weapon.
"That's it, folks, nothing more to see," Red Robin said, driving his staff into the ground to pin the lasso in place. He stayed kneeling, restraining the younger boy and girl while the older boy was held immobile by the green glowing thing.
"Okay, you can go home now," War Machine added. "It's all in hand. You're safe." He started to chivvy people away, and when the crowd started dispersing on its own, went to help Red contain the mutants. The boy had been rather quick to attack, but it had dealt with the situation alright. Hopefully it hadn't exacerbated the situation; at least there were no civilians in the way now.
But how had he known exactly how to take out each mutant?
Red saw him approaching, made eye contact and flicked his head from side to side, subtly waving him off. The teen kept his prisoners pinned until the entire crowd was gone, waited a few seconds longer, and rolled off his perch. He pulled up his staff, flicked away the rope lasso and scooped up and stored the glowing green thing.
Instantly the mutants recovered and got up. Red straightened, collapsing his staff and putting it away. Then the trio mobbed him.
"Guys, leave off," Red complained around half a dozen arms hugging him. "What have I told you about watching the ribs?"
AN: Duh duh duh! Who was expecting that? I was; this particular scene turned up during the plotline brainstorm I did back in May. This means we may be as much as a quarter of the way through.
Yeesh, this is gonna be longer than I thought...
Also this week, in Family Ties, Tim's doing some talking and Jason's doing some angsting, and in Dalek Invasion, those pesky cyborgs are trying to invade the Federation. Again.
Next week, there'll be introductions and storytelling right here, a bit of action back in Gotham, and more Daleks and spaceships in Invasion.
Please leave a review ('cause I get especially nervous when I make a major plot point) and don't be afraid to ask questions.
See ya next week
Katara