Chapter 27: Sebastian Morris' Base - Menno, South Dakota

"Not having second thoughts are you, friend?" Albatross teased Berny as he entered hour 2 of his study of cell phone footage from the Second Battle of New York, "She would make a rather fierce opponent."

"You know our host won't let her near us," Berny laughed, then consulted the complete Hydra file on the girl- the one annotated by the late Commander Dennisson and Nikolai Ryker, "I was just curious about something."

Morris wandered over from where he'd been sitting with Cul Borson, consulting on strategies, "Oh? Anything relevant to your mission?"

Berny smiled at his tone. Morris was on edge with Pryor's report- the Avengers were regrouping and there was no subtle way to prevent it. He didn't like his Cabal distracted from their study of the individuals they'd be fighting, especially not now. "General curiosity, cross my heart. I'm just bored," he shrugged. "No one knows Clinton Barton like me, there's nothing new to learn."

"So then, what is your question?"

He forwarded the footage to the point where a pack of shadowy wolves launched from the Senate House ruins down the streets of New York and paused it, "Here we have the monsters of the Valley, just as Nikolai described them to Dennisson. We know now the failure of Project Echo came when she possessed one of them- her little mental vanishing act. I'm just curious... Is she really human?"

"How so?"

"The one wolf obeys her, always has. She can unlatch from her body, but that has nothing to do with her other powers. If she could just look through shadows, maybe teleport, that's one thing. But jumping ship? What if," he skimmed the report for the name, "Emilie's kid really did die in the explosion and this," he gestured to a blurry, deeply shadowed figure on the screen, "is what possessed the corpse?"

It wasn't a bad question, Morris was impressed, "There is no way to know for sure, but if it is true then the pieces of the puzzle would certainly fit better."

Berny smiled with pride, "Like I said, changes nothing, but it's a thought."

"I like this one, he has a brain," Cul's deep voice filled the room. He raised his glass to Berny in a toast and took a sip of wine. Berny blew him a kiss and the gods expression immediately soured. He didn't approve of such cheeky humor.

"Either way, neutralizing her is our first move. If she has time to open a door and bring the Shadow through before we begin our broadcast, we lose her, the prize. Killing the Avengers is a security measure, but our mission is her. Lord Thanos demands her for his collection."

"That's only because he hasn't met me yet," Albatross wheeled around and threw a dagger at the unknown speaker before his brain even registered seeing her. Berny likewise had a crossbow out and aimed- though he managed to stop himself from firing it.

Morris turned slowly, smiling, "I take it I have the honor of addressing Sinthea Schmidt?"

"Sin," the woman flipped Albatross' blade and threw it back at him- he barely caught it. The name was apt- she looked like a demon. Her hair and even irises were an unnatural, flame-red, matching the red corset loaded down with the hilts of at least a dozen small knives. More blades were latched to cuffs on her arms and she had two short swords belted to her hips. Her eyes moved quickly, analyzing every detail in the room. Albatross smiled. She reminded him of Natasha- minus the overwhelming homicidal urges he felt when looking at his former ally. He didn't know Sin's training, but they had been enhanced by the same serum, this one was an equal.

"Gentlemen, may I present the daughter of the Red Skull. Though, I must inquire as to how you found your way down here. If there is a gap in our defenses it must be mended immediately."

"Lazy guards," she waved a hand dismissively, "dead already."

"Well, thank you for alerting us," there was no sarcasm in Morris voice. If there was, Sin would have slit his throat before anyone had a chance to move. She was everything he'd hoped Dennisson would turn out to be.

"Your plan?" her voice was barely accented, "My handlers did not share more than your location before I ended their service."

Morris motioned for her to sit on a vacant couch. She didn't budge, so he remained standing as well, "The Avengers are a powerful enemy. My master authorized an entire army to be sent against them, but they still won the day without so much as a casualty. When my last ally, Hydra commander Thomas Dennisson, divided their forces he came close to ending them."

"Close is not enough."

"Agreed. That is why I mean to improve upon his plan. He gave them four enemies. I will give them eight. Their greatest enemies, all at once. They will not be able to turn to one another for aid, and divided they will fall."

Sin nodded, it was a plan worthy of her involvement, "Who is my opponent?"

"Iron Man." Morris pointed to Berny who quickly pulled up footage of Tony Stark in battle, "He relies on advanced robotics, but his suits are embarrassingly susceptible to damage. We need a precision tool to extract him from the lineup, and you are more than qualified for this battle."

"My father suspected his technological rival, a fool named Howard Stark, may one day create an automated fighting machine. Provide me with schematics and more film of his fights and I will identify the weakness in the suit of armor."

Albatross was impressed, "This one is Anthony Stark, Howard's son."

"Then I'm in luck."

"We are in luck," Morris corrected, "to have one such as you fighting for the Cabal."

"Yes, you are," she wasn't modest. "My father had me trained by every spy and combat specialist he could find. I even wiped out an entire generation of the Red Room's Black Widows during my time there. This fight benefits Hydra, and so it benefits me and my family."

Dramatic, idealistic, but more than capable of bringing down Tony Stark, Morris was willing to forgive any fault, so long as she lived up to her reputation, "Gentlemen, my lady, my lord," he half-bowed to Cul and Sin, "we are very nearly ready."

"Who's taking care of the bird?" John Ryker spoke up from an armchair near the back of the room.

"Bird?" Sin arched an eyebrow.

"The Falcon," Berny spoke up and pulled up the relevant media, "similar to Stark, but less protected. He could be taken down by anything really."

Morris hadn't decided yet, and Sin could read this on his face, "My father's MODOK device?"

He shook his head, "I've considered it, but MODOK would be useless once we activate the frequencies necessary to trap the Avenger's Shadow."

"Why be delicate?" John smiled, "Battle begins, the Avengers scatter to give one another space to fight, and the Falcon flies up for an aerial view. Great for seeing the war from above, disastrous if something were to happen to his wings."

"You want to detonate an electromagnetic device?" Morris rolled his eyes at the stupidity, "Have we not said often enough that the frequency must be maintained to keep the Shadow grounded?"

"I'm not that delicate," malice glinted in his eyes, "I was thinking more along the lines of shooting him out of the sky."

"Not an option. I don't want him so much as turning on the damned things."

Sin shrugged, "Then remove him before the battle even begins."

Morris' mind immediately went to Doctor Pryor. The woman was capable of impressive feats, could she maneuver the Falcon in such a way that the Avengers themselves might end the threat? The woman had proven too eager in the past- as battle neared he grew more and more certain that it would be best if he handled Inessa by himself, but could she actually still have a use?

"If she fails, they will do everything in their power to extract intel from her." John didn't care one way or the other, but he was playing devil's advocate. He disagreed with Morris- the Cabal was already powerful enough for one to kill at least two Avengers, the least powerful and frankly least impressive of the lot was hardly a threat.

Sin pulled a small disk from her pocket and held it up, "Have her swallow this. Make up a reason why or hide it in her food. Once she has completed her task, detonate it. They cannot interrogate a dead woman."

Morris thought through it slowly, cautiously optimistic. He couldn't get too greedy, eliminating the Falcon would put the Avengers on alert, more so than they were after the little assassination attempt. "If we do this," he said carefully, "no one leaves the bunker until the day of the attack. We give them no way to trace it back to our location. If they remain divided, good. If they come together," he shook his head, "they are doing that already so it is no great loss. But we keep the size and specialty of our ranks a guarded secret." He wouldn't act, not unless everyone agreed to this plan. It was relatively sloppy, but he couldn't see an alternative- there was no way to ground the Falcon fast enough once battle began- and they had no idea what sort of protections the wings might have against manipulation or direct fire.

One by one they nodded, even Cul Borson. Morris approached Sin and took the disk with a nod of thanks, "You have ten hours to go fetch whatever supplies you may need- new arrows, weapons, equipment, then we lock down. With any luck, our short war begins and ends in two days."

In the morning Natasha found two pictures nailed to the door. One was of "Sinthea Schmidt", a woman in red they could not trace. The man had had an "Oh, duh," moment and tracked down a picture of Doctor Pryor taken from the "About" page on her medical practice's website. Across her face he wrote in large, red letters "TRAITOR."

Unfortunately, the warning arrived too late.

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