Title: The Set-Up
Author: SLynn
Summary: Three months after Clint Barton's death and what remains of the Avengers is still struggling to make sense of it all as the threat to SHIELD, and to them all, looms larger.
Several things happened during the day.
The first was that they'd decided, as a group, to tell Natasha everything that they'd discovered without discussing individual theories. As adamant that Tony had become in believing that Coulson, and possibly Clint, were alive, they decided to let her draw her own conclusions and to let Bruce lay it all out for her to do so. She'd already seen the picture of Phil; for all they knew she was already drawing her own conclusions about Clint.
The second thing decided on was exactly who to consult with about Captain Danvers. Tony did have several contacts he thought might have some valuable insight, but ultimately he pushed for Dr. Betty Ross. Bruce had agreed to go over them himself, but he understood why they wanted Betty involved, it was practically her specialty. He didn't want to agree, but he did.
Tony also put out feelers to Rhodey, to see if maybe they'd missed something in Danvers's military career, but it ended up being kind of a pointless endeavor. Everything was as Morse said it would be, squeaky clean.
After Jasper had tracked down every spare bit of data on all the potential victims, there wasn't much more to do. He had laid out all the information like a puzzle on a smart board, but no one could make any significant connection between any of the agents, aside from Coulson and Barton. Out of all the victims, only Barton's death appeared to be a set-up, which only added to the mystery. Everyone else had died as a part of an accident or some other real incident that appeared uncontrived.
Tony, Jasper, Steve and Thor were all still gathered in the conference room, staring at the information by the time evening rolled around, trying to make sense of it all.
"Okay," Tony said with a heavy sigh, "if the training accident with Danvers started this, what happened after Coulson that made them take Barton?"
"Maybe it was what happened to Coulson," Jasper offered, giving Maria's communicator another thoughtful look as it beeped again. He'd been working on it on and off throughout the day with little success; running basic diagnostics but not much more. "We've pretty much agreed that Fury not following the Council's orders set some kind of warning bells off for the WSC. They really wanted to make those weapons."
"We can assume that by now they know how SHIELD works," Steve added.
"Especially since they seem to be a part of SHIELD," Jasper said.
"Yeah, so... Maybe they went for Barton because he knew how we operated," Steve finished with a shrug.
The all let it sink in for a moment, considering the idea. The assumption had been that they'd been taking out those closest to Fury, but that only worked with some of the agents killed.
"Maybe they've been narrowing in," Tony suggested, knowing it was a long shot. "They took a few from this place, a few from that place," he finished, highlight names as he spoke. "Until they decided where they needed to be and who they needed to go after."
"Then we need to discover who they view as a threat and why," Thor said firmly, in a tone that brooked no argument.
"I don't see how," Jasper said, shaking his head and looking exhausted.
"Until they come out of the shadows," Steve said with a shrug, "neither do I."
Before Tony could comment, Maria's communicator beeped again, indicating a new message, before buzzing to life with a connected call.
"She'd probably want me to answer this," Jasper half-asked, half-stated as he hesitantly pressed the correct button and stood up to cross the room for a bit more privacy. "Um, this is Agent Sitwell... Agent Hill is... Hello? Hello? Huh. It got disconnected," he finished, taking a seat and giving the communicator a different kind of look. "It shouldn't have done that."
"I didn't want to be the one to say this but your tech sucks," Tony said with a grin. "Except the tech you still from me, of course."
"Of course," Jasper returned with a hint of a smile, flipping the device over. "Do you think you could help me pry this thing open? Take a look inside?"
"Yeah," Tony said as if it was obvious, getting to his feet and motioning for Jasper to follow him. "Let's take a break first. Get some dinner, then we'll crack that sucker open in my workshop. What do you say? Good."
They all headed up to the kitchen where they were surprised to find Maria and Morse back in the Tower and talking with Pepper. Maria didn't seem to want to discuss what had happened during the day, despite Tony's endless prying, but otherwise the meal was pleasant.
"Question," Jasper said as they finished up, turning his eyes to Maria. "How's this thing been working for you outside of the random nonsense it's spewing?"
"Fine," Maria shrugged with a look of disquiet. "Why?"
"No dropped calls? Garbled messages? Nothing like that?"
"No."
"All right," Tony said, setting down his drink before stretching into a yawn. "I can take a hint."
"No, you can't," Pepper laughed.
"This time I can," he returned with a smile. "Let's go see what's wrong."
"With my communicator?" Maria asked, getting to her feet as well and following Tony and Jasper out of the door. "I thought it was some kind of joke?"
"Maybe," Jasper said tentatively.
"You think it's something else?" she asked.
"I think we need to see what's inside," he returned, furrowing his brow as he spoke. "Something might be jamming the signal."
"Okay," Tony said, holding out his hand and once he had the communicator, easily popping it apart under the magnified light of one of his workstations. "Let us see, let us see... and what's this?"
"That is not standard," Jasper confirmed, handing Tony a pair of tweezers.
"What is that?" Maria asked aghast.
"Hell if I know," Tony admitted as he carefully removed the small, silver sliver of device that had been implanted in the communicator, "but I am going to find out."
As Tony turned and got to work studying the device, Jasper fit the communicator back together and began to scroll back through the previous messages.
"Stark, you mind if I use this?" he asked, pointing at the nearest computer.
"Knock yourself out," he returned, focused on the task at hand. "What the hell is this thing?" he muttered to himself as he continued to scrutinize the device.
"It was scrambling your messages," Jasper said to Maria, flipping through them and displaying them on screen for her to see. "You had a call come through that was disconnected earlier. The phone number didn't show up before but... Maria, what is all this?"
Maria was staring at the numbers sequences on the screen and shaking her head. Over and over were the same two alpha-numeric sets. Jasper had pushed the entire string along with the phone numbers they'd come from, which she had previously been unable to view, onto the projector screen for them both to see. They'd started from various area codes and numbers before gradually settling into one region; the last of them all originating from the same line. She'd been receiving them for a little over a month now but she still didn't quite believe it.
"This isn't anything I've seen before," Tony admitted, his eyes still on the device they'd pulled from the communicator. "This is very advanced stuff. Is this even metal? I think it is..." he continued, unaware of what was happening around him.
"Maria?" Jasper prodded, still looking at her as her expression went through a myriad of changes.
"Oh my God," she said softly.
"What'd I miss?" Tony asked, turning in his chair; his eyes darting from Maria, to Jasper, and then to the screen.
Maria took hold of the nearest laser pointer, and starting at the top, began going down the list.
"Barton. Barton. Coulson. Barton. Coulson. Coulson. Barton. Coulson. Coulson. Barton. Barton. Barton. Barton. Coulson. Barton. Barton," she said, shaking her head and growing angrier with every utterance. "Fuck," she shouted at the end, tossing the pointer aside. "The last one is Barton again."
"The last one what?" Tony asked confused by her outburst.
"They're distress codes," Maria said, jabbing a finger at the screen. "Personal distress codes. Pick-up calls. If a mission goes belly up, these are last resorts. They are only used if there is no other way for an agent to safely get out."
Jasper looked up at the screen and shook his head.
"Maria, they can't -"
"I know the codes," Maria said sharply, cutting Jasper off. "They're from their last mission together. But that... that was a long time ago. Holy shit."
"Who else had them?" Tony asked.
"Agents pick their own codes," Jasper answered for her, shaking his head and staring up at the screen. "Only the Director and the Deputy know what they are exactly along with anyone pertinent to the mission."
"And you're positive?"
"Yes," Maria nodded, her eyes fixed on his. "Of course I am. That's... Where are these coming from?"
"JARVIS," Tony called out, "the phone numbers on the screen. Track them."
"At once, sir. Would you like it displayed on a map?"
"Yes," all three of them answered as one.
"And ask Steve, Bruce, and Thor to join us," Tony added. "Quick."
"What about Agent Morse?" Sitwell asked quietly.
"Yeah, Morse too," Tony reluctantly agreed.
"I have the information ready, sir," JARVIS replied, displaying the map on the screen next to the numbers.
They were all looking it over when the rest of the group arrived, including Natasha.
Natasha took one look at the screen, at the numbers, and shook her head.
"What has happened?" Thor asked, giving Natasha a thoughtful glance before turning his attention towards Tony.
"Someone scrambled Hill's communicator," Tony answered. "We unscrambled it and got this."
"What is that?" Steve asked not liking the look on anyone's face. Maria looked angry. Tony was a little too excited. Jasper was confused. And Natasha... Natasha appeared almost anxious. Almost.
"You recognize them?" Maria asked Natasha directly.
When she nodded, Jasper asked, "They told you themselves or..."
"They told me," she answered. "I was on that mission. Those numbers were never written down. Not by... not by us. Not between us."
"So they're real?" Tony inquired, hating to do so but he had to be certain. When she nodded again, he continued. "Does Minnesota have any special charm for you?"
Natasha hesitated this time, but after a pause, she shook her head.
The trail of phone calls started about a month prior in Canada before trickling down into the United States, into Minnesota more precisely, and finally centering around one location. The last four calls, including the hang-up, had all originated from the same number and, using cell towers, they had fixated an exact spot.
"Wait," Bruce said, having caught up on his own. "Are we serious? Is this... Are we serious?"
"You think these are messages from the dead?" Thor asked, having figured a large part of it out for himself as well.
"No," Steve dismissed almost out of hand.
"Not from the dead," Tony returned.
"Those distress codes," Morse said, shaking her head, "no one else has them."
"Let's go," Tony urged. "We need to check this out. Right now."
"No," Steve and Maria said at the same time.
"I need to check these out," Maria insisted, her stance rigid and her arms crossed. "These were sent to me; to SHIELD. I need to look into them. It's my responsibility."
"No," Steve said, shaking his head. "Absolutely not. If anyone goes in, it's us."
"If?" Tony questioned disbelievingly, throwing his hands up as he did so.
"Steve," Bruce tried, having not seen him this worked up over anything.
"No," Steve persisted without looking away from Maria. "I'm tired of chasing this thing. We'll go in, but we'll do this the right way. With a real plan and with real thought."
"They're distress calls," Maria argued. "There isn't time -"
"They've been sent out now for the past month," Steve fired back at her, pointing to the screen for emphasis. "A few hours more won't make a difference."
"This is not your call," she said, her voice steadily rising.
"I'm making it my call because apparently I'm the only one here who's thinking clearly," he snapped back at her. "Has no one else thinks that this might be a set-up? That this is just another way to take one or more of us out?"
"Do what you like," Maria returned, having regained control of her emotions. "We're going."
Jasper and Morse exchanged a look, but didn't speak. No one spoke as Maria and Steve glared at one another, almost daring each other to make the first move.
"How about we..." Bruce suggested, pointing at the door and motioning to everyone around him with a fairly vague gesture.
"Are you kidding?" Tony asked, because this he had to see.
"We'll be in the conference room," Morse said, agreeing with Bruce and taking Tony by the elbow, half dragging him from the room. Tony complained the entire way out the door, but did relent.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Maria asked as soon as they were alone.
"Doing what?"
"Undermining my position," she answered curtly, crossing her arms again and squaring off against him.
"I'm not undermining anything," he argued, forcing his own hands to his side but unable to keep his hands unclenched.
"You are."
"I'm not," he shot back at her.
"Those messages were sent to me," she pushed back at him, jabbing a finger in his direction. "They are my responsibility. I'm the one who... I'm the one who let this go. I need to fix it."
"I understand why," he reasoned, and he really meant it, "but just consider what I'm saying."
"No one else knew those codes. They're real."
"No one else was supposed to know Natasha's triggers, either."
Maria paused, and Steve finally felt like he'd gotten through to her.
"What are you saying then?" she asked after a pause as her shoulders dropped half an inch.
"You told me that work was the only way to get to you," Steve finally said after carefully weighing his words.
"They've already tried."
"And we all agreed it was a lame attempt," he said, unable to keep himself from smiling just a little bit. "You've been getting these messages for over a month. Maybe they thought you'd unscramble them sooner. Maybe they didn't know they were being scrambled. Maybe it took too long so they sent some guy as a last ditch effort. But I have to think, and you need to consider, that this is how they've come for you."
Maria looked at him and wanted to disagree. Maybe she just wanted to think this was all so easily fixable. That it was like a mission gone bad and she could swoop in and pick up her missing agents.
"Everyone knows how serious you take your position," Steve continued in a calmer, softer voice. "How dedicated you are to your job. You personally leading this mission would be an easy assumption for anyone to make."
"I'm an open book," Maria said, but it wasn't in the same tone he'd used.
"No," he disagreed. "You're definitely not, but you are dependable."
"All right, Captain," she said, shaking her head but resolved. "What do you suggest?"
Notes: One more chapter to go!