Chapter 28: The Hunt for Loki's Scepter
2015:
Explosions, gunfire, thunder crashes. Adora was used to it all as she rode her Motorcycle towards the team's target. The Avengers had spent months searching tearing apart HYDRA cells and bases all over the world until they tracked down a Hydra base deep in Europe. It was under the possession of Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, someone Adora remembers Santos frequently mocking, and the de facto head of HYDRA.
She raced up through the enemy lines, with Catra riding on the back of her bike. Natasha and Clint were fighting off pursuing HYDRA jeeps and a jetpack soldier, Tony flying alongside them to help cover their advance. The pursuing Jeep was brought down as Thor landed on top of it, before leaping his way over to a sniper's tower, swatting aside HYDRA soldiers like flies, even using a broken off piece of the tower as a club. Steve zipped up on his own bike and knocked aside a soldier, dragging him along behind the bike and throwing him at another group. Taking a jump, he threw his Shield at another soldier, it ricocheting around the area. Adora took the lower route, her sword drawn and slashing at passing soldiers. Catra then too the chance to leap off the bike to the nearest tree, leaping from tree to tree and pouncing a sniper nest. A tank rolled in and took aim at Steve, but Thor dropped from the sky and destroyed it, with the Hulk catching and throwing the wreckage.
Catra leapt closer to the team as they closed in on one another. Clint turned the Jeep he was driving sideways and leapt off, an arrow notched. Natasha leapt off alongside him, readying a flying kick. Thor was descending from the sky with Hammer at the ready. Tony flew through the enemy line alongside the team. Adora and Steve took the jump with their bikes in perfect sync. Catra kicked off a tree and pounced forward, baring her teeth with claws unsheathed. And the Hulk was leaping with an arm pulled back ready to punch. From the outside, it would have been one hell of a sight, far too perfect to have been unplanned."
The team came down hard on the HYDRA soldiers, and Tony flew on ahead to try and breach Strucker's castle. Catra tackled and soldier and kicked off of him to land on the back of Adora's bike. "Tony should be reaching the Castle soon." Adora told her. "Any minute now-"
"SHIT!" Tony yelled as he slammed into a forcefield.
"Language!" Steve scoled, prompting Adora and Catra to exchange a glance. "JARVIS what's the view from upstairs?"
"Did….did your father just chastise Tony for swearing?" Catra asked incredulously. Adora simply nodded, restraining herself from busting out laughing.
JARVIS scanned the area from one of Tony's satellites, and gave the team an update. "The base appears to be defended from outside attack by an energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any of the other HYDRA bases we've taken."
"Loki's Scepter must be here!" Thor replied throwing his hammer at a charging HYDRA soldier. "Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it." He called the hammer back and stood to the side as it slammed into a soldier behind him. "At long last…"
As Natasha took on a Machine gun nest, Adora picked up the speed at a fortified position. "Ready Catra? NOW!" She yelled. Catra leapt off her back and grabbed a tree branch as Adora popped a wheelie and dug her feet into the ground, spinning herself and usin the momentum to throw her bike at a crowd of soldier, bowling over them all easily. Catra used her own momentum to swing from the tree branch onto the back of a jetpack soldier, tearing apart his pack with her claws and leaping beside Adora as he crashed.
"At long last is lasting a little long boys…" Natasha commented, gunning down an Artillery team.
"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise." Clint deadpanned after blowing up a pillbow with an exploding arrow.
"Wait a second." Tony commented, flying through the base and firing at soldiers. "Nobody's gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?"
"I know, I know!" Steve groaned over the radio, flipping through the air to throw his own bike at a jeep. "It just...slipped out."
"Jesus Christ Steve, it's not like me and Adora haven't heard worse. Fucking dork." Catra said into her radio, giving off her trademark cackle.
Adora joined in on ribbing her father. "Need me to clean it up a little bit Dad? 'Gee willikers, this is a gosh darn doozy.'" She giggled, throwing her sword into another HYDRA soldier.
"Young Lady-" Steve began, letting a slight chuckle loose.
"Oh Darn, I think Captain America is Flipping mad." Catra cackled, shooting another soldier and moving to regroup with the others.
Natasha even got involved. "Face it Steve, you just acted like a complete tool in front of our little girl." She quipped.
JARVIS then spoke up over the comms. "Sir, the city is taking Fire." Tony ran a scan of the area and saw indeed that the HYDRA artillery and Anti-Air was striking the nearby city.
"Well, we know Strucker isn't gonna worry about Civilian casualties." Tony groaned. "Send in the Iron Legion."
Adora rolled her eyes. Tony had refused to change the name of his army of drones, but at the very least he found a good use for them. They were now repurposed for Crowd control and helping keep civilians out of the line of fire during the Avenger's missions. She was shaken out of her thoughts as Clint was hit by an enemy Shot. Before she could move to assist, her and Steve were both sturck by a blur zipping past them. Catra was barely able to avoid an incoming attack from the same blur and hissed angrily.
"We've got an enhanced on the field!" Steve shouted out, landing on his feet despite being tripped up.
"Clint's hit!" Natasha reported. "Someone wanna deal with that bunker?" A loud roar from the Hulk and the sound of concrete being crushed with ease answered her question shortly after. "Thank you."
"Stark, we really need to get inside!" Steve said, working alongside Adora and Catra to bring down a squad of soldiers. Adora kept her eyes open for any sign of movement, not wanting to get blindsided by that quick little bastard again.
"I'm closing in." Tony reported, before sounding a bit more unsure. "JARVIS, am I closing in? Can you see a power source for that shield?"
"There's a Particle Wave below thew North Tower." JARVIS responded.
"Great." Tony replied, flying deeper into he base. "I wanna poke it with something." He swept around and fires a bunker buster into the mountain. Through his scanner he saw it land a direct hit on the Power Generator, breaking the Shield. "The drawbridge is down people."
As the report came in, Catra, Steve and Adora rendezvoused with Thor. "The Enhanced?" He asked, looking around.
"He's a blur." Steve explained. "All the new players we've faced, I've never seen anything like this."
"Technically dad, you still haven't." Adora quipped, rubbing at her sore cheek, where she'd been punched.
"He's almost too quick for my reflexes…" Catra admitted. "Landed a hard shot on the Super Soldiers here."
Natasha's voice came over the radio, "Clint's hit pretty bad guys. We're gonna need an evac." She reported.
"Right, I'll go pick him up-" Adora started, before Thor put his hand on her shoulder. The group noticed another wave of Hydra troops approaching and Thor tightened his grip,
"Lady Rogers, I can get Barton to the jet faster. You three assist Stark in acquiring the scepter."
"Copy that." Steve repleid, readying his shield.
"Alright…" Adora agreed, albeit reluctantly. It hurt her to hear Clint be injured and not be able to help, but she could also see where she was more needed. She twirled her sword and readied for the oncoming attack.
"Looks like they're lining up." Catra noted, before noticing Steve and Thor exchange a glance and, smartly, ducking. Thor slammed his hammer on Steve's shield, which sent out a shockwave that knocked several of the attackers off their feet with ease and tore the tank in half.
"Find the scepter." Thor repeated, raising his hammer and taking to the sky.
"And for Gosh sake watch your language." Tony quipped over the radio causing Steve to give an exasperated sigh.
"That's not going away anytime soon is it?" He groaned.
"Nope!" Catra replied with a massive grin.
"Sorry dad." Adora added.
"Well, we should move, don't want Tony beating us to the Scepter." Catra commented and the three took off towards the castle. It didn't take them long to arrive and see Tony's handiwork. "Well, guess he started the party without us."
"We're locked down out here." Natasha reported over the radio.
Steve nodded, pulling off his mask. "Alright, then go get Banner. We need a lullaby."
Adora looked over at Catra as Steve spoke. "Still can't believe Mom and Bruce…"
"I'd….rather not thing about how that works, thanks." Catra replied nervously, the group moving deeper into the facility until they finally caught up to Strucker. "Well, hello there Baron."
"Baron Strucker, HYDRA's number one thug." Steve said, knocking out a HYDRA guard.
"Been a while Strucker…" Adora coldly said, walking over with Steve.
"Technically, I'm a thug for SHIELD…" Strucker replied, nervously glancing at Adora, who was cracking her knuckles.
"Well then technically you're unemployed." Steve deadpanned. "Where's Loki's scepter."
Strucker sighed. "Don't worry. I know when I'm beat. You'll mention I co-operated I hope?"
"We'll put that under Illegal Human experimentation." Steve calmly retorted. "How many are there-" Steve wasn't able to finish before a red-haired woman appeared from the shadows and blasted him down the stairs with what appeared to be some form of Magic. Adora acted qucik and swung her sword for the woman, only for her to stop it in place and knock both her and Catra to the floor. She backed out the door and it slammed shut as she exited. "We have a second Enhanced. Female. Do not engage!" Steve reported, rushing up the stairs.
Strucker kept his calm and glared down Steve. "You'll have to be faster than-" He was shut up when Catra round-house kicked him in the face and he hit his head on the wall, falling unconscious.
"He was done." She quipped.
"I got eyes on the prize." Tony said over the radio, before suddenly falling silent.
"Stark, you alright?" Steve called out. "Stark?"
"Tony, please talk to us…" Adora said, beginning to get worried. After the three were about ready to run off after him, Tony's voice came over the call again.
"I'm alright. I have the scepter. Let's get the hell out of here." He said, sounding a bit shaken up. Adora tried to get what was going on out of him but he wouldn't tell her a thing. They quickly cuffed Strucker and made their way back to the Quinjet.
Aboard the Quinjet, everyone was winding down from the mission. Steve was tending to Clint's wound while Adora was keeping him company. Catra was leaning by the Scepter, which Thor was examining. Natasha walked over from the Cockpit, where Tony was flying, to check on Clint as well. Bruce was sitting on the floor, listening to Opera and trying to calm down after needing to use the Hulk during the mission. Natasha walked over to him and comforted him as he pulled off his headphones.
"Hey, the Lullaby worked better than ever." She reassured him.
He chuckled nervously. "Just wasn't expecting a Code Green." He admitted.
Natasha patted him on the arm. "You hadn't been there, there would have been double the Casualties." She told him calmly. "And my best friend would have been a treasured memory."
"Yeah Bruce, Clint's only here right now because of you." Adora told him, smiling. "Thank you."
Bruce smiled a bit and looked down with a chuckle. "You know, sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear." He told her.
"How long until you trust me?" She asked him.
"It's not you I don't trust." Bruce admitted.
Natasha smiled at him, "Thor, report on the Hulk."
Adora looked over nervously. "Mom I don't think-"
"The Gates of Hel are filled with the screams of his victims." Thor boasted, which promtped Catra to give him a swat upside the head. Natasha and Adora both gave him a stunned look, and Banner buried his face in his hands. "But not the screams of the dead of course! No, no, Wounded screams. Mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining." Catra banged her head on the counter in response to Thor's stupidity. "And tails of sprained deltoids and gout."
"Hey Banner, Dr. Cho is on her way in from Seoul." Tony shouted behind him. "Is it okay if she sets up in your lab."
"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around." Bruce responded.
"Alright good. Barton's gonna need the full treatment." Tony commented. "JARVIS take the wheel."
"Of course sir." JARVIS responded, Tony beginning to move his pilot's seat away from the cockpit.. "Approach vector locked."
"Feels good, yeah?" He asked Thor. "I mean you've been after this thing since SHIELD dropped. Not like I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties but…"
"No but this, this brings it to a close." Thor replied, grinning.
"About fucking time." Catra deadpanned.
"As soon as we find out what else this thing's been used for." Steve reminded the two. "I don't just mean weapons. Ever since he lost Dr. Santos, Strucker hasn't exactly been capable of human Enhancement…" Catra's ears briefly fell and she looked away as he spoke, Adora walking over to give her a calming hug.
"I still miss her Adora." Catra admitted.
"I know you do Catra…" Adora replied, despite not understanding why Catra missed such a horribly abusive woman.
"Banner and I will give the scepter a once over before it goes back to Asgard." Tony said as he made an exaggerated hand motion towards Thor. "Is that cool with you? Just a few days until the Farewell party. You're staying right?"
Thor looked up, breaking out of what seemed like distraction. "Hm? Yes of course. A Victory should be honored with Revels."
"Yeah, who doesn't love Revels? Captain?" Tony asked.
"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA." Steve commented.
Adora looked over at him, "And Me and Catra's past." she added.
"So yes. Revels." Steve finished, smiling with a nod.
To Be Continued….
AGE OF ULTRON BEGINS! A couple things of note now that I'm here. One, this is already more fun than Winter Soldier to write. I have a bit more freedom for the girls here. Secondly, wow I forgot how much I hated Wanda Maximoff for the majority of this movie. This does however provide me interesting chances for Catra and Adora development given Wanda's eventual placement in the New Avengers.
I definitely enjoyed writing the initial battle, and am a bit annoyed that with how events play out I didn't get much of a chance to have Adora and Catra confront Strucker. I'll have to figure out how to do that before later events.
Is it Scepter or Sceptre?
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NEXT TIME: A relaxing Party….right?