Little Bird's Vengeance Chapter 46 Plans
Tim landed the Quinjet on the Tower roof, having flown across the states as fast as possible. Betty Ross had been his first choice – her dual specialities and familiarity with Hulk made her ideal – so he'd gone straight to recruit her, but now it was nearly time for his rendezvous with Spiderman, and he didn't have any new data.
"We're here," he told his passenger, toggling open the door and leaving the cockpit.
"Thanks," Ross said shakily. "Your jet isn't exactly the most comfortable form of transport."
"It's fast," Tim shrugged. "You should try being pulled through the air at twice the speed of sound with nothing but a pair of arms around your chest."
"I'll give that one a miss," she answered.
"Good choice. This way." He led her across the rooftop balcony to the living room.
Stark had apparently come to meet them. "Hey, Red," he said. "Who's your new friend?"
"This is Dr Betty Ross. She's a molecular biologist and physicist. Dr Ross, Tony Stark."
"Dr Ross," Stark said. "Bruce has told me a lot about you. How smart you are, how loyal you are, how beautiful. I see at least one of those is true."
"Thank you, Mr Stark," Ross answered coolly. "I see you are as shallow as the media says."
Tim smirked. He'd heard similar responses to the 'Brucie' act B tended to put on sometimes. Generally it was a sign that the lady in question had more than air between her ears.
The air blurred and Bart appeared, holding one of the computer interface tablets. "Hey, Rob, I finished the test," he said, passing the tablet.
"Thanks," Tim murmured, taking it. "Could you ask Drs Banner and Foster and Miss Lewis to join us?"
"Sure." Bart vanished once more.
Tim started flicking though the results on the tablet. The blood from the alley matched that of the victim. There were indeed traces of sedative, and thankfully no other drugs. The last thing the bereaved family need was to be told Sam had been taking illegal substances. The various fibres collected has analysis readouts, but nothing to be compared to yet.
He looked up as the other scientists arrived. Foster greeted Ross in a professional but friendly fashion, and then let Banner go forward.
"Hello, Betty," he said hesitantly.
"Bruce," Ross said calmly. And she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close.
Tim smiled. Banner deserved his happiness, and now he had his lover back.
He turned around at some near-silent footsteps. Romanov was approaching, with a fully suited-up Red Hood behind her. "Red Robin," Romanov said quietly. "I have been informed you requested information on the Sons of the Serpent. Fury assigned a small team led by Agent Quartermain to the case. He's here to brief you on the current progress."
"Right, thanks," Tim said distractedly. "Hood, can patrol wait an hour or so?" Jason grumbled for a moment before acquiescing. "I need to meet Spiderman; he should probably come to the briefing. He did first report the incident."
"Agreed," Romanov nodded.
Peter pulled the bottom of his mask up to his nose to sip the coffee he'd been given. Red Robin had brought him to Stark Tower, and shown him to a large conference room. It was occupied by Peter's new acquaintances: the Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk/Dr Banner, War Machine, Black Widow and Hawkeye), the Titans (Superboy, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash), Red Robin's brother Red Hood, four female 'civilians', as Red Robin described them, (Pepper Potts, Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis and Betty Ross), and a SHIELD agent named Clay Quartermain.
Quartermain started his briefing. "The Sons of the Serpent are a white supremacist hate group; "white" taken to mean Caucasian and Christian. Their website manifesto states their aim to be to 'drive from America the impure; the black, the Latino, the Muslim, the Jew, and all else who do not belong.' They describe their methods as racial cleansing."
"So they're a modern-day Ku Klux Klan?" Tony Stark, Iron Man, asked.
"Essentially," Quartermain replied.
Colonel Rhodes, War Machine, spoke up next. "The Klan was brought down years ago. Can we use the same methods on these Sons of the Serpent?"
"No," Red Robin and Red Hood replied in unison. Everyone turned to look at them.
"By the time the Klan finally, permanently went down, they weren't actually doing much by way of lynchings and burnings and so on. They didn't need to. Their forefathers had done all that effectively enough that the Klan just had to turn up to cow their enemies," Red Robin elaborated.
"The final incarnation was more of a secret society for bigots," Red Hood continued. "Sorta…the Freemasons of white supremacists. Call signs and rituals and fancy titles and so on. That secret fraternity was what attracted the members, and with them, the money."
"These secret rituals were distributed on the radio for the whole country to hear," Red Robin continued. "And as the secrets spread, the glamour faded."
"Who wants to be in a secret society when the kids in the street use your call signs in their games?" Red Hood asked rhetorically.
"So membership dropped, the money went away, and I think the leader eventually got arrested for tax fraud," Red Robin finished.
"Not the kind of tactic that works here," Red Hood concluded.
Everyone else kept staring at the two brothers. "Why am I not surprised you two know all that?" Wonder Girl asked eventually.
"Because B would have been rather remise in our education if we didn't know," Red Robin shrugged. "Agent Quartermain, can you describe the structure of this new group?"
"They call their leader the Supreme Serpent. There's no indication of any other rank as yet," Quartermain answered.
"That's simple enough," Red Hood shrugged, turning to Red Robin. "You do id, I do elim?"
"Identification and elimination," Red Robin clarified. "I'll see what I can do. But remember we need this Supreme Serpent alive for a trial."
"Roman Sionis never made it to trial," Red Hood retorted. "You didn't mind that much."
"No, but that doesn't mean it was right," Red Robin answered. "Besides-"
"Alexander Luthor didn't," Red Hood continued, starting to get angry for some reason. The Titans all seemed to be getting rather tense, and Peter's spider sense started to tingle just a little.
"Enough," Red Robin said firmly. He continued in another language that, judging by the vacant expressions on the rest of the room's occupants, was unknown.
Red Hood growled back in the same language, and an increasingly angry argument grew, but without anyone understanding. Peter glanced at Wonder Girl, Red Robin's co-leader, and while she looked exasperated and a little concerned, saw she was letting them be.
After a few minutes, Red Hood stormed out. Red Robin sighed. "I'll have to go after him. Agent Quartermain, thank you for your time and information. Please convey my regards to Director Fury. I'll be in touch. Spiderman, perhaps the agents can give you some advice?"
"Sure," Peter said slowly. He hadn't specified that he needed help, but it was probably obvious.
"See you around," Red Robin said, walking out after his brother.
AN: Ugh. I am so tired of being late. Here's hoping it's not so bad next week.
In case you're wondering, it's Romani Tim and Jason are speaking.
Also this week: the next chapters of Family Ties and Death's Avenger.
Next week: more Family Ties, more LBV, and the next chapter of Rise of Harry Potter.
See you then,
Katara