AVENGERS EVOLUTION
in
"The Chessboard Is Set - Avengers Assemble Part One"
Note: All characters and locations mentioned here are property of Marvel Comics Inc, I claim no ownership to them whatsoever.
Author's Note: Dialog like this ("I am speaking") or ('I am thinking') is in the english language (like duh!) - including "broadcasting on radio" means that it is being broadcast on a radio (which you probably knew already). When you see dialog such as this - example "-I am speaking-" - it means that the dialog is being spoken in a foreign language - now on with the show!!
PART THIRTEEN
The young robber rode the stolen motorcycle, weaving around traffic while the squad car behind him followed behind with sirens blaring. He pulled off onto the highway, hoping to at least outrun his pursuers.
Officer Lonas J. Griebe wasn't about to let him get away, at least one of his passengers - Clint Barton - wouldnt let him let him get away either.
"He's hit the freeway," Griebe shouted to Clint and Bobbi. "If he heads in this direction, he'll hit the county line in no time - and be out of our jurisdiction!"
"Get on the radio!" Bobbi exclaimed. "Have them set up some kind of road block or something!"
Griebe shook his head. "Can't! Radio's not working!"
Clint was beginning to get extremely agitated. "We can't let him get away - not like this!"
"Maybe we won't have to!" Bobbi pointed towards the punk, he seemed to be pulling off onto an exit ramp - and didn't intend to cross the county line anyways.
"He's heading for one of the warehouses!" Griebe swerved off the highway and down the exit ramp in hot pursuit.
The young teen pulled Bobbi's motorbike in front of an old warehousealong the water, and jumped off just as he brought the bike to a stop. Noticing that the cops were right on his tail, and getting even closer, he quickly rushed over to sneak through the small metal door in front of the warehouse - believing that he could find the help he needed inside.
Griebe and Clint watched as the kid quickly dismounted Bobbi's bike and rushed for the metal door of the warehouse. Clint was desperate to catch him, but Griebe didn't seem to be that enthuastic, and pulled up next to the discarded bike just to watch the young thief quickly scurry into the warehouse and the metal door slamming shut behind him.
Clint jumped out of the patrol car, with Griebe not far behind.
"Hey!" Bobbi protested. "I can't help much behind here!"
"No Bobbi," Clint replied. "I want you to wait in the car."
"Christ, Clint! You're not still worried about that dream...!"
"Bobbi, will you do what I say for once!"
Bobbi snapped her mouth shut and glared at Clint with defiance, while he turned and made a dash for the warehouse door.
"Hey!" shouted Griebe, but Clint wasn't waiting for anyone and bolted inside. Griebe went over to open the back door to let his partner out, which Bobbi exclaimed, "Let me out! I want to help!"
Griebe shook his head as he slammed the back door shut - and ultimately shutting Bobbi inside - and watched his partner slip into the passenger side. "You heard the man, you stay here." He then turned to go for the door, he paused as his partner shouted something to him in Chinese which perked up Bobbi's interest, Griebe said nothing in response, only placing a finger on his lips, silencing his partner.
Bobbi watched as he turned to rush into the warehouse after Clint, she was certain that she'd seen Officer Griebe somewhere before - but couldn't remember where.
She looked towards Griebe's partner, which sat patiently in the passenger seat. She began to piece things together, everything started to make perfect sense - if not completely.
"So what is this about a 'mission'?" she asked.
He was silent, didn't even utter a word.
Bobbi leaned forward, to whisper in his ear, "-Don't pretend you don't understand me. I speak fluent Chinese.-"
The officer finally turned to face her. "I completely forgot about that, it was in briefing." He said with a strong Mandarin accent.
"Briefing?" Bobbi echoed. "You'd better give me some answers, pal!"
The man said nothing, he only slipped her what looked like a credit card through the wire mesh. Bobbi took the card and looked at it, she held it levelly flat and suddenly the card lit up to life - before she knew it a small brightly lit figure materialized on top of the card.
"Sorry it had to be like this, Bobbi," said the figure, "but I'm in desperate need of you and your boyfriend, Hawkeye."
Bobbi wasn't surprised, even though she knew that no one knew that Clint Barton was really Hawkeye - she knew exactly who the holographic figure was. "Fury."
Inside it took Griebe no more than three minutes to find Clint, who was in desperate search for the kid who tried to rob the convienence store - not to mention stealing Bobbi's bike.
"Are you crazy!" He whispered loudly to Clint. "We don't even know if he's armed or not!"
Clint wasn't paying much attention, as he was looking through the different crates. "I'm hoping that he is!" He kicked one of the crates opened, and smiled brightly as if he'd discovered the mother-lode. "Bingo!"
Griebe rushed to Clint's side, to see what he found. Inside the crate were several longbows and half a dozen quivers of arrows, Clint did find what he was looking for - as he strapped the quiver to his back.
"You know how to use that thing?" Griebe asked.
Clint smirked. "I've had some experience."
"That's not going to help much if that punk has a gun."
Clint chuckled. "Don't be too sure." And went off into the shadows in search of the man.
As soon as Clint was gone, Griebe pulled out a small radio from his pocket and turned it on.
"Calling Pearly Gates, this is Fallen Angel," he spoke to the radio. "Pearly Gates, this is Fallen Angel. We've run into a snag, permission to deviate from the mission."
The radio crackled to life. "Negative, Fallen Angel. Retrieve the target as planned."
"Roger, Pearly Gates. Angel out." He quickly turned off his radio and rushed after Clint - before he seriously got hurt.
The young teen managed to run up some stairs, he turned to see the cop who followed him here below, and with him was another man wearing a quiver of arrows, carrying a bow, and his eyes were covered with a mask of some kind. 'Who does that guy think he is?' he thought to himself. 'Hawkeye or somethin?'
At the top of the stairs, he managed to find a small office that seemed dimly lit inside. The teen knew full well that he could easily find someone to help him in there, he reached for the knob, turned it quickly and ducked into the office.
He squinted through the darkness, trying to make out whom he was looking for. The boy noticed a large figure standing behind a desk, but the lights were so poor that he couldnt make out who it was.
"Brock!" the boy whispered loudly. "Brock, is that you? It's Eddie."
The figure didn't move, didn't bother to recognize Eddie's prescence.
"Brock!" Eddie repeated. "I need your help, man!"
Finally the figure spoke. "Don't .. call me that." It said, his voice was strong, almost menacingly evil. "Brock is dead."
"C'mon, brother," Eddie begged. "I need your help, man! I need it bad!"
"I'm not your brother," the figure replied, louder this time. "Stop CALLING me that!" He jumped out of his seat, sent the chair flying into the nearby corner, startling Eddie. The figure began slowly approaching Eddie, the shadows were so dim that he still couldnt make out the face of who he thought was his brother.
"The cops are after me - I don't know what to do!"
"Cops!" barked the figure, which was starting to get closer and closer to Eddie. "You brought those filthy pigs here!"
Suddenly a muscular giant hand lunged out from the shadows, and tightened itself around Eddie's throat, slowly lifting him off his feet.
"Br...Brock..." choked Eddie, slowly feeling his life slowly ebbing away. "P-p-please...!"
"MY NAME IS NOT BROCK!" The figure bellowed, tightening his grip on Eddie's neck. "MY NAME IS CROSSBONES!"
Eddie's eyes opened up wide as the figure's face was illuminated by light, a pale white colored skull. His pleas were reduced to gasps, Eddie's white eyes slowly started to roll up into the back of his skull, his cries were reduced to dead silence, he went limp in Crossbone's grip.
Both Griebe and Clint searched through the warehouse, hoping to find their missing fugitive - but coming up empty-handed.
"This is pointless," complained Griebe. "The punk could be long gone by now - straight to Chinatown! Let's head back for the car!"
Clint shook his head, "Are you kidding! You can go back to the safety of your 'car' - I'm not going to let this little snot rag get away with stealing my girlfriend's bike!"
He turned as he heard a sound, it was Griebe crashing to the ground.. Clint turned to see Griebe pulling himself up from the floor, off of the remnants of a broken crate and packing popcorn strewn all over the floor - but then Griebe noticed something a little out of the ordinary.
Jonas shifted through the popcorn and broken crate to find something that just didn't belong. "What is it?" asked Clint.
Griebe showed it to him, it was an automatic rifle. "It seems that our suspect has lead us to something a little bigger than a robbery," he told Clint, motioning around the warehouse. "Looks like we got ourselves a gun smuggling ring going on."
Suddenly they both turned around to a large crashing noise, and a deadening thud like a body collapsing to the floor. Both men rushed out to find a limp body lying on the floor in a sea of broken glass shards.
Clint recognized him right away. "Hey, it's the guy who stole Bobbi's bike!"
Griebe felt the kid's neck, his eyes opened wide when he discovered something that sent a chill down his spine. "The kid's neck is broken," he replied stoically. "He's dead."
Clint frowned, but continued his search. Griebe called to him, "We need to go back to the cruiser to call for ... uh .." he hesitated for a second before finishing, ".. backup."
Suddenly there was another crash, both men looked up towards the source, the window to the outside office was smashed opened and a large muscular figure emerged from the office, toting a sub machine gun. "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE CROSSBONES ALIVE!" the figure bellowed, and fired off a few rounds causing both Clint and Jonas to jump for cover.
Clint launched a couple of arrows over the massive figure's head, causing him to retreat back into the office. The large muscular man burst out the door of the office and fired off a couple more rounds, just so that he could make his escape.
Outside Bobbi and Woo still waited in the patrol car for the return of Clint and Lonas, just as the holographic projection of Fury slowly fizzled into non-existence.
"So what does SHIELD want with Hawkeye?" she asked.
"Do not know," replied Woo. "Our orders were to bring you to Headquarters."
Bobbi just wasnt buying it. "There is something you're not telling me."
Suddenly both heard the loud sound of gunfire coming from inside the warehouse, Bobbi tried to get out of the patrol car but Woo pressed a button that sealed the doors shut.
"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed. She tried to reach through the mesh seperating the back seat from the front, only to discover that it was a plexiglass partition. Suddenly she could hear the faint hissing sound of gas being released into the air around her, as the back seat clouded over Bobbi covered her mouth and coughed profusely, she tried to break the car windows, but they did not budge under the force of her blows. Finally the fumes had overtaken her, and she slowly began to lose consciousness, her eyes slowly rolling back into her skull, and her head drooped down with her long blonde hair covering her face as she passed out.
Woo didn't even look back at Bobbi, he just continued to stare at the door of the warehouse, hoping to see his partner returning with Clint - alive hopefully.
Crossbones dashed around a couple of crates, looking to escape from the fuzz - but he was more than happy to fight if need be. Gripping tightly on the barrel, he readied to defend himself until a sharp stinging pain struck his gloved hand. He turned to notice his gun spinning on the shaft of a purple arrow, one that was buried deep into the crate next to him - he then turned back to see a man with a bow and arrow aimed directly at him.
Clint smirked at the masked man. "Just try and resist - I've had that kind of day." He'd never wanted to intentionally kill someone, but this day was beginning to piss him off.
Crossbones growled at him. "Who the hell do you think you are? Hawkeye or sumthin?!?"
Clint smirked. "I get that a lot - now give yourself up or you'll get one of these right between the eyes." He pulled back tightly on the bow string.
Crossbones made a move towards Clint, he released the string and let the arrow fly at it's intended target - only Crossbones grabbed the arrow with his gloved hand, the tip just inches away from his face. He snapped the arrow in two and lunged for Clint, before he could load up with another arrow - a right cross from the costumed villain sent Clint sprawling to the floor.
He rushed towards him, only to have Clint smack him hard on the kneecap, dropping him to the ground, and sweeping behind his legs causing him to fall in a lying position. Crossbones turned over to see Clint standing over him, another arrow aimed right in his face - and he had it pulled back ready to skewer his mask-covered skull.
Brock glared at Clint, and smirked - although you couldn't tell through the mask. "I can see the fear in your eyes," he growled. "You dont have the guts."
Clint glared at him, saying nothing. Crossbones heard the bowstring tighten, as Clint pull it back further.
"Go ahead," added Crossbones. "Do it ... Make me famous!"
"Don't do it, Clint!!" yelled a voice from behind.
It was Griebe, with his weapon raised. Clint didn't look back at the man, his eyes fixated on the target. "Back off!!" Suddenly he paused. "Wait a minute ... how'd you know my name ...?
Suddenly Clint felt a stinging in his forearm, which made him loosen his grip on the bowstring. He looked over to find a small dart embedded into the side of his forearm, he plucked it out and tossed it aside. He looked back at Griebe, who aimed directly at him, as the barrel flashed again as he pulled the trigger, another dart stabbed into Clint's other neck. As soon as he plucked that one out, he took his focus away from Crossbones and turned it on Griebe.
As he stepped towards the officer, he was beginning to find it hard to stand, he dropped his bow and arrows to the ground - finding it difficult to hold onto. He staggered towards Griebe, ready to wrap his hands around his neck, but was beginning to lose focus - as half-a-dozen Griebes danced in front of him.
" .. you ... you ..." he mumbled, his voice slurred. He staggered towards Griebe, grabbing onto the man's sleeve before collapsing to the ground unconscious, tearing it from his uniform.
Crossbones slowly got to his feet, suddenly he noticed what the sleeve was covering on the cop, it was the logo of an eagle on top of a shield with the US flag on it, and then he recognized the name that was blazened underneath the logo - the word of "SHIELD".
"You're not a cop," he snarled. "What the hell are you?!?"
Griebe said nothing, holstering his weapon and then picking up the unconscious form of Barton. "Not your concern," he retorted. "My business is with him - I could care less about you." He slowly turned away. "Now's your chance to run away - I'd take it if I were you."
This made Crossbones suspicious. "What makes you so sure I wont jump you from behind?" He asked.
The man gave no response, no reply, just slowly walked away with his prize on his shoulder, not uttering a single word - until the masked villain said something that stopped him in his tracks. "You tell Errol Flynn when he wakes up," he snapped, referring to Clint, "that we're not done - not by a long shot!". And with that Crossbones decided to go "while the going was good", he turned away and rushed for the back entrance, while Griebe carried Clint over to the front entrance.
Woo looked to see Griebe emerge from the abandoned warehouse with the limp body of Barton hung over his shoulder. He carried him to the back of the patrol car, and noticed Bobbi lying unconscious in the back seat - he then lay Clint next to his lover.
As Griebe climbed into the driver's seat, and strapped himself into the driver's seat, he took a look back at their two unconscious passengers. "-Was Bobbi much of a problem?-" he asked
Woo shook his head.
"-We've fulfilled our mission,-" Griebe replied. "-Let's get out of here?-"
Woo looked at the warehouse. "-What about ...-"
But Griebe cut his partner off. "-Fury will buy them a new bike, don't worry about it.-"
They both stared at eachother, then broke out in laughter. Griebe pressed a hidden button on the dashboard, causing the entire patrol car to fluctuate - ultimately turning into something futuristic. The wheels started to fold underneath the vehicle as it hovered off the ground, and started to shoot for the sky.
Crossbones ran from the warehouse, turning to watch the SHIELD craft shoot into the sky, he gave off a sigh of relief - even though he knew deep within his soul that he'd see that amateur archer again at some point.
He had a distinct feeling that they'd probably inform the cops of his little hideout, and where they'd find the body of his dead brother Eddie. What suddenly broke his train of thought was a slight whistling sound - and that whistling sound was starting to get louder with each passing second. He started to look up at where the sound was originating, and jumped out of the way just in time, because what looked like a large missle just embedded itself into the ground where he stood.
"Son of a ...!!" cursed Crossbones. "I've heard of 'death from above' - but I never took it seriously!!"
Suddenly a section opened up on the missle, revealing a small television monitor. It quickly came to life, as a black silhouette appeared on the screen.
"Good day to you herr Crossbones!" the silhouette spoken with a strong German accent.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Mein name is unimportant, I have for you .. how you Americans say .. a proposition."
This perked Crossbones' interest. "I'm listening."
"I wish to acquire your services," the silhouette continued. "And I am willing to make it your while." The darkened image was replaced by a clear blue screen, which was filled with a extremely large amount of money - this made Crossbones very interested.
He scratched his head. "I'll just need to check my date planner." He pulled out a small device,extending a small antennae on the top of it, and then pressed the button. In an instant, the warehouse behind him exploded into flames. "I believe I have an opening."
The black silhouette returned to the screen. "Now the last thing you must do is swear loyalty to me," he raised a dark hand into the air. "HAIL HYDRA!!"
Crossbones sighed defiantly. "Whatever."
To Be Continued
Next chapter - the teammates are revealed ... most of them anyways.