Chapter 18
Shatter
Clint landed the jet back on the roof. Despite their recent victory over the creature dubbed Technovore there was no feeling of victory and no celebration to speak of. Tony was ticked off about the damage done to his most recent armor by the creature but overall just relieved that he was still alive. Clint was for the most part silent thinking about how it seemed the game had changed, that creature could have easily killed Tony making this seem like it wasn't much of a capture the target mission anymore for Tyrell. Natasha was just exhausted from everything that had been happening in the short amount of time. The three entered into the tower again in hopes that Hulk and Steve were alright.
They had found Hulk, now returned to Bruce, and Steve fairly quickly. Soon learning about their recent capture though Ace was unwilling to talk anymore and they knew they couldn't bring the creature with them. Steve had crossed his arms over his chest and stood as tall as he could while making it clear that he didn't want to kill the creature. Steven mainly had gotten the others to agree to his way by pointing out that it may talk once Tyrell was gone, despite how badly Clint wanted to ram a few arrows into it. Tony had offered the use of room that he had designed in order to hold Hulk which was kept deep underground. Bruce wasn't sure if he should be relieved by this knowledge or annoyed that Tony never told him that he had one. Bruce let it be since chances were Tony didn't tell him because he thought he'd get upset or see it as distrust, it's true he would. This room was where they left Ace with the intention of having S.H.I.E.L.D., once it was back to normal, take the creature.
For now they remained at Stark Tower, with the full intention of leaving soon. They all needed a rest even if it was only for a few minutes. It allowed Bruce to use Tony's supplies to re-bandage Natasha, though he was amazed at how fast she was already healing despite her constant activity. The ability to just sit and relax felt good on all of the muscles as was being in the room together.
Natasha, Clint and Bruce had taken turns telling the story of what happened and filling in the parts Steve and Tony didn't know. Steve then passed on what he had gotten out of Ace but no one really had an answer to what could be coming or if it as true. The group had sat in a comfortable silence, almost fooling themselves into believing nothing was wrong. However each time they made eye contact with each other it was obvious; no one believed anything was right.
Finally Clint decided to break the silence by stating what they all knew but didn't want to admit. "Tyrell will keep us running. At least until it's too close to the end of the world for his liking. However we don't know when that end is coming. Crazy alien creature it could be tomorrow it could be five years from now. We don't know how soon it is to him."
"Personally in our profession, the world is always ending," Tony pointed.
Bruce shrugged, "Seems he's look at a specific thing so we don't know what that is. Either way what are you suggesting Clint? We run right to him?"
"No," Steve cut Clint off before he could get a word out, "it'd be stupid. We wait him out for a bit then strike him when he's not as ready for us. Right now with all of us safe and together he'd be ready for us to go straight for him. He'd be counting on it."
"But we wait around and he has more time to get defenses against us or hit us," Tony decided to argue back, always up to go for the charge.
Steve and Tony each got the look of wanting to argue it out for a while, just as they would have when the team was first together. Natasha however quickly stopped them and became the voice of reason, "We need to get to a safe place and think about this for a bit. We can't rush in with what we have and we don't know the damage he'll do if we wait too long. He has S.H.I.E.L.D. files on us which means everyone we know can become a target to him. However we can't discuss it in detail here because fact is this place is kind of obvious. So let's get in the air and talk about it before he sends in reinforcements."
No one was stupid enough to argue against that. Not only would Natasha twist their arms behind their back and drag them one by one onto the quinjet but it also did make sense.
Despite the protest from their bodies wanting more rest they were able to get back up to the roof and onto the jet again. There had been silence between the group for a while. Clint piloting the jet, Natasha beside him, Steve on his own on one row of seats looking over at Tony and Bruce. Tony had broken the silence to ask Bruce a few questions. Tony was more than pleased to have his old friend back. It consisted of the usual asking how he'd been, where he'd been, how Alaska was, why he never called or sent a Christmas card. Apparently leaving the team like that was one thing but refusing to send cards to Tony was another thing entirely.
Steve had interrupted Tony's rant to question about the Christmas cards, on if Tony even sent any. It seemed he did, or Stark Industries did and Tony just sent maybe a few personal ones. Steve then commented that he had never once received one from Tony starting up a lighthearted, playful fight between the two. Bruce let out a light chuckle as he watched; it was like it was before the incident, before everything went to hell like this.
The sound of static filled the quinjet suddenly stopping the playful fight that had been taken place. Natasha glared at the screen at the front of the quinjet that had turned itself on. Slowly Steve, Tony and Bruce made their way to the front to look at what was going on. Bruce hung onto the back of Natasha's seat to keep himself steady, even with Clint's expert flying he wasn't used to walking around or standing on the back of a jet. Steve seemed fine standing beside him and Tony was behind Clint, one hand lightly on the seat just in case but for the most part he barely moved despite the light sway of the jet. The group looked at the screen, even Clint now and then spared a quick glance down at it, not like he was about to run into something out here.
The screen was only static for a while, the sound unnerving with how sudden it had come. It was like someone accidently hit the button on it and no one knew who hit it. Given the looks of confusion from Clint and Natasha though it was rather unlikely, they both knew each button on the quinjet well enough not to accidently turn the screen on, at least not without turning it off right away.
Finally Steve broke the silence with a hopeful, "Maybe Fury's trying to get in contact but having trouble?"
It wasn't that simple as the static stopped and became a clear image. There on the screen staring at them was Tyrell. Clint tried to hide the fear that crept up on him from seeing the man's face again; it was like being in that cell once more despite everything. Clint felt Natasha reach over and touch his arm watching him, he just gave a nod and focused his gaze on the sky ahead of him. The sense of just doing something calmed him. Everyone else though remained glaring at the screen as Natasha withdrew her arm from Clint once he seemed he was fine.
"People of the world," Tyrell started off. A small wave of relief flooded over the group, he hadn't found them, hadn't traced their quinjet. This was just him taking over all of the signals in order to deliver a message to the group and anyone else who would listen. "I come to you today as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. the one who is charged with keeping you all safe. Today I fear to report to you that I have failed in a recent attempt to save you all and must call upon you for help. There are traitors to our world that will harm the safety of everyone. They've committed treason against all of us, selling our secrets to others and arming those who would like nothing more than to see us all dead. It saddens me to inform you that these traitors are those you call the Avengers."
"Bastard," tony spat glaring at the screen, "What does he think he's up to? No one's going to believe this."
"They'd kill you all without a second thought. I know this is hard to believe, I had trouble to believe it at first too. However my predecessor put the team together without much thought as to who he had brought together. A weapon's expert who doesn't play by the rules, a master marksman who was once nothing more than a carnival worker, a Russian master spy, a man who is not in this time, a uncontrolled monster of pure rage and a man who thinks himself a god that comes from another world. It is a dangerous mix that would turn on us sooner or later," Tyrell's speech continued on.
"Sounds like he's getting notes from General Ross on how to make speeches," Bruce commented rubbing his hands nervously.
"To keep you all safe I must ask that if you see any of them you call the authorities quickly. Understand that anyone caught helping these traitors will be punished harshly. We cannot let them continue on with their plans against us. So I ask that in order to keep your families and yourself safe you heed this warning. Never before has the world faced the threats that have come to light. During this time of danger and fear extreme actions must be taken against all who wish to see these so called Avengers succeed with their plots," Tyrell raised a hand to his side to invite someone onto his stage.
Bruce's glare turned to a look of fear and worry as the figures came onto the stage. The imposing figure of Varou made its way on stage with Rick in tow. His hands were bound, his body bruised and broken probably from what they considered interrogation. The group could hear the yells from Rick, his demands to be let go, that Tyrell was a liar. He swore to Tyrell that his friends would show up and that they would make him pay for anything he did. Rick was swearing about how his friends would make Tyrell sorry but if he walked away now it could be over for him. Rick's cries for release fell on deaf ears and eventually Varou moved in front of him and punched him to get him to remain silent.
"This young man aided the most dangerous of the traitors," Tyrell pointed to Rick once Varou stepped aside again. "He made sure that they could escape. He put every single soul on this planet in danger with his actions. You see how he promises wrath upon us with his so called friends, those who have sold you out. Today this young man, Rick Jones, comes to stand before you all after being found guilty of his crimes. He stands here to show you what will happen to anyone who aids these criminals and threaten the safety of the world."
Tyrell gave a brief nod to Varou who moved behind Rick, standing over the young brown-haired man. Varou's reached around grabbing the sides of Rick's head as the camera focused on him. Bruce could see the terror in Rick's eyes, he wanted to cry out but he found his throat dry and no sounds able to escape him. Varou's arms suddenly moved and there was a sickening crack.
Rick's body went limp and fell to the ground as Varou let go. "This is the first and only warning," Tyrell finished as the camera followed Rick's body to the ground. His body was twisted and broken, his eyes open but rolled back, neck completely broken. Bruce's stomach turned as he looked at it, he wasn't sure what feeling was stronger in him anger or sadness. He felt suddenly dizzy and like he was going to throw up as the screen seemed to freeze on Rick for a long while. No one said anything, but everyone did look at the screen. There was complete silence and then the screen turned to static before finally switching off.
((The characters as per usual still not mine other than Tyrell and the idea of Varou. Thanks for the reviews but now things are gonna get a bit bumpy for the group.))