Avengers: Wreckage

Interlude

Avenger's Tower, as it was unofficially called, rose high above New York City, a gleaming three sided struckture built from state of the art technology. The upper floors were dedicated to the use of the superteam called the Avengers, often considered the world's mightiest heroes. Founded by Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant Man and the Wasp the team had been through many incarnations, the most recent formed after the near destruction of the team by a former friend.

Tony Stark paused the recording as the new War Machine, Thunderstrike and Warbird rounded up a group of criminals calling themselves Outlaws, all dressed in outlandish costumes. The brown haired man was serious as he addressed the others in the room, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Force Works."

Captain America frowned, his armored cowl pushed back as Steve Rogers sipped his cup of coffee. "And they're being organized by a rival company?" he asked, blue eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Stane," Tony nodded, "they're a up and comming electronics company in California, based in silicon valley. They're not as cutting edge as Stark, but they're no slouches either. They're run by Olivia Stane, a woman who's family and I have... had issues, let's say."

Jessica Drew catwalked in, the slim black haired woman drawing men's eyes without even trying. "Who are we dealing with?" she asked as she sat down.

"That's Warbird," Steve Rogers noted a bit disapprovingly, "is it still Carol in the costume?"

"Yup," Luke Cage said, the bald black man sitting nearby. He smiled, his expression unusually friendly as he added, "She called my wife Jess before she signed on, checking out Ms. Stane."

"And that looks a bit like a female Thor," Spider-man noted, the younger man crouched comfortably on the chair. Peter Parker tended to be restless in costume, moving about and often jumping into conversations with off-hand comments.

"I recognize the weapon she's carrying," Steve noted a bit sadly, "Thunderstrike's mace."

"He was a Avenger, right?" Jessica asked.

"Off and on," Steve agreed, "he replaced Thor for a bit, but ultimately died in action. We assumed his mace was destroyed in the battle...."

"Don't assume, it makes a ass of u and me," Spider-man murmured.

Logan chuckled softly, the mutant hero Wolverine lounging in a chair nearby. "No one stays dead in this business," he remarked, his black hair swept back from his face in his distinctive style, "trust me, I know."

"And that's a War Machine," Tony said flatly, "while it resembles my technology long distance scans and other data I've acquired confirm that it's not my equipment."

"So just three members?" Luke raised his eyebrows.

"All of which outpower about half our current team," Steve noted dryly.

"Other than the Sentry and Iron Man," Jessica conceded. She looked at Tony and asked, "Do you think they're a threat, then?"

Tony hesitated, looking rather torn on the idea. "To be honest, I'm not sure," he admitted finally.

"That's not like you," Steve noted mildly.

"As you know," Tony smiled grimly, "I have a predisposition towards distrusting Miss Stane. To be frank, her father tried to destroy me, murdered a friend and tried to kill me, all of which left a bad taste in my mouth."

"But?" Luke had to ask.

"I've dug very deeply into Olivia's background," Tony sounded frustrated as he said, "and to the best of my knowledge she's clean as a whistle."

"Too clean?" Logan offered thoughtfully.

"Do you want me to do some digging through SHIELD?" Jessica asked. As a semi-active agent she had more access than the Avengers might usually get, not to mention all sorts of unusual contacts from her world travelling days.

Tony gave a slight smile, "Yes, please. But keep it covert if you can."

"Of course," Jessica agreed.

"I'll put out some feelers too," Logan nodded.

"Is there any chance of her turning Carol somehow?" Tony had to ask.

Logan made a disbelieving snort, "No way in hell."

Steve nodded, "I have to agree with Logan, I really doubt she'd do anything against her will." He hesitated, "But she might be mislead."

Tony sighed quietly, "I approached her in LA recently, but I think I fumbled it. I was so surprised by her allying with Stane that I all but asked Carol to spy on her."

Logan shook his head, "That wouldn't have gone over well."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

She arrived by train, the brown haired woman sitting oddly aloof. She wore her brown hair short, almost boyishly so, and instead of regular street clothes she had on a simple one piece leotard, made of some kind of light weight yet durable material. She looked around the train station, eyes narrowed, until she saw the man holding a sign reading 'Dr. Trainer.'

"Dr. Carolyn Trainer?" the man asked formally, his golden blonde hair falling around his face.

Carolyn nodded crisply, "Thank you. Will you be escorting me to see Morgan?"

A odd smile twitched on his lips a moment, then was gone. "Morgan's waiting in the car," he said as he lead her out of the station.

"Did my equipment get shipped as well?" Carolyn demanded briskly.

"As medical supplies," he informed her calmly, "they should be at the safe house as we speak."

"Good," Carolyn nodded as they emerged from the station and crossed to the waiting limo. It shone black, glinting in the sun and symbolizing everything right and wrong with the lifestyle of the city.

"Welcome to LA," the brown haired woman smiled wryly sitting, in the back seat with her legs crossed and leaning back in a relaxed way.

"Who...?" Carolyn looked at her, then blinked as she noticed a odd familiarity about the strange woman.

She sighed, "It's me, Morgan."

"Morgan?" Carolyn blinked as she climbed in, "Morgan Stark? But HOW...?"

Morgan Stark sighed, adjusting the skirt that still felt strange for her. "Magic," she saigh with a annoyed snort, "the heat was on and I needed a new face."

"It certainly is that," Carolyn looked amused. She sat back with a sigh as the pretty boy got in the driver's seat and they took off. "So why did I have to take the long way around to get here?" she asked as the city's outskirts whizzed by.

"You're not wanted due to some powerful lawyers," Morgan noted dryly, "but that doesn't mean the police aren't keeping an eye on you. You'd be very easily tracked by plane, but trains are still not monitored that closely."

Carolyn didn't look happy, but she nodded, "Point taken. Is the rest of the team assembled?"

"We're working on it now," Morgan said respectfully, "they should all arrive fairly soon."

"And you think we'll be needed to deal with just three superhumans?" Carolyn had to ask as they pulled up in front of a nice condominium.

Morgan shrugged as the pretty boy opened the door, "Best be prepared, no?" She offered the keys, "Room one, your equipment is there. Please don't do anything too showy yet, please."

"Of course," Carolyn took the keys, wayching as the pretty driver got back inside, the limo smothly taking off. Turning she walked to the building, going up to the driveway and reaching the two doors of the split condo. She unlocked the door, walking to the living room where a crate waited to be opened.

Carolyn gestured, her brow furrowing in concentration, then the box seemed to explode as metal arms extended outward. The silvery tentacles acted like tegs for the central unit, walking across the floor to where Carolyn waited. Gracefully the center unit wrapped itself around her waist and Carolyn smiled, caressing the steel sensuously.

"I'm glad you're back, babies," Carolyn murmured to herself, "we're going to have such fun together."

To be continued!

Notes: Carolyn Trainer was introduced in the Spider-man books years back, temporarily becoming Doctor Octopus when the original was killed. After the original Doc Ock came back she dropped into obscurity, which always seemed to me a waste of a perfectly good character. The last time I saw her was in Bendis' Secret War mini-series, I think.

I'm tempted to play up her rather creepy fixation on Doc Ock and transfer it to her mechanical arms. *lol* Depends on how creepy I want her to get....