Avengers: Wreckage
As Maria Hill stood up both women got a good look at each other, and Carol felt a sudden moment of vertigo. "Mary?" she yelped.
Maria looked faintly sheepish, pushing back brown hair as she admitted, "I always preferred Mary with my friends."
"Damn...," Carol shook her head, walking to the fridge to get a bottle of water. Of all the SHIELD agents in the world, it had to be this one?
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Carol Danvers climbed out of the battered old plane with a casual air, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She was dressed touristy, as suited her current cover, and looked around the Madripoor airport casually.
Calling it a airport was a insult to real airports everywhere, of course. The run down shacks and gravel landing field barely ranked the name 'landing field.' There were a crowd of young men clearly hoping to be asked to be her porters over at one side, but Carol ignored them as she walked off towards the waiting taxi.
"Who sent you?" Carol bent down to look in the window at the attractive brown haired women.
"Patch," she answered, her brown hair cut short in a manly kind of cut. She looked intense and somewhat butch, with her leather jacket and blue jeans, but her eyes were almost gentle. "And you are?"
"Ace," Carol answered promptly.
"Get in," the driver smiled, "people around here call me Mary."
Carol got in the back, smiling faintly as the cab took off. She was here in Madripoor, a place many people called the ass end of the world, on a favor from her old friend Logan. Logan co-owned a bar here, and hung out when he could between cases with the X-Men, mostly because he could let his wilder instincts free here. It was a rough and dangerous place, to a extreme, and if you were a fool you could get killed very very easily.
Lowtown was run down and shabby, but the part of town which held much of the crime and profitable organizations. You could gamble, wench, drink and smoke to your heart's content, being sure to keep a hand over your wallet and a weapon ready. It was a deadly and exciting place, which was why it drew so many people.
They reached the Princess Bar dodging pedestrians and other idiots, the driver pulling up smoothly. Mary got out and opened Carol's door, surprisingly, and Carol kind of liked that old fashioned politeness. "Thank you," she smiled, knowing her short skirt was showing a lot of leg.
Mary clearly noticed, blushing faintly as she said, "You're welcome." She gestured to the bar, "Shall we go in?"
"Of course," Carol nodded, even as she wondered who this driver was.
The inside of the Princess Bar resembled every run down bar that Carol had been in, though there was a feeling of faded glory about it. Looking at the gilt in the corners and the hooks for chandeliers, she thought the place must have been quite something, once upon a time.
Logan turned, the silly looking patch that was his namesake here on, the short, burly man smiling warmly. "Ace, good to see ya," he smiled.
"Patch," Carol smiled back, "been awhile."
"Too long," Logan pulled her into a rough hug, his smile warm. He looked at the other woman, "You introduce yourself formally yet?"
"I don't think I really need to..." Mary sighed.
"Hey, you brought this to me," Logan pointed out, "least we deserve is full disclosure."
Carol raised her eyes, wondering what the hell was going on. At the very least, it wasn't what she had been expecting to deal with...
"All right," the younger woman sighed. Looking at Carol she smiled weakly, "My name is Maria Hill, I'm the head of SHIELD in Madripoor."
"I didn't even know SHIELD had a detachment in Madripoor," Carol acknowledged.
"Most people don't," Mary admitted wryly. She said simply, "Our primary job here is to monitor major criminal networks, providing data so that other SHIELD branches can be ready to act against their various operations."
"If you're just monitoring, why did you contact Patch here?" Carol nodded to Logan. "Not to mention him bringing me in."
"Because HYDRA is trying to set up a base here in Madripoor," Mary answered seriously, "and they're dealing for bio-weapons."
Logan lit a cigar, puffing away for a moment. "I don't like HYDRA being in town, which is why she contacted me," he said, "and there ain't no way I'm letting them deal with bio-weapons."
"Problem is, I can't get SHIELD to mobilize for a operation in Madripoor," Mary sounded frustrated as she explained, "because we're a UN run organization, we're bound by the treaties involving this cesspool"
The princes who had ruled Madripoor down through the years had been very canny individuals, all told. One of the things they had managed was to weave a web of treaties and obligations that prevented any nation from easily taking over the island, as well as making the nation a conduit for other countries spies and intrigue. No nation wanted to lose Madripoor as a resource, so they did not interfere in it's internal matters.
"So you need some unofficial muscle," Carol smiled wryly.
"That's why I went to Patch," Mary nodded, "and he suggested I call in you, Ace."
Carol rather suspected the woman knew who she and Logan were, but appreciated her being professional and using their aliases. "All right, do you have a plan?" she asked Logan and Mary.
"Two pronged attack," Mary offered, "you and Patch kick the front door down and make a distraction, I get in the back and deal with the bio-weapon."
"Simple," Carol noted.
"Less things to go wrong," Logan noted. He puffed on his cigar, "You up to this?"
Carol had to grin, "Hell yes. It'll be just like old times."
"Uhm, just the two of you?" Mary looked a bit concerned, "When you said you were calling in favors, I expected something more."
Carol grinned, "Trust me, we'll be more than enough."
While it wasn't long after Carol lost her cosmic powers as Binary, she still had her basic abilities of flight, strength and invulnerability. She and Logan ripped through the armored doors of the HYDRA base and wreaked havoc, tossing around green costumed goons with ease.
Carol punched a massive energy canon, bending it nearly double even as the trooper manning it fled. She wasn't in costume, trying to maintain a low profile, but otherwise she didn't hold back. Logan himself was in a simple black jumpsuit, cutting down HYDRA troops left and right.
Soon the main room was empty, even as a muffled boom was heard off in the distance. "Think she did it?" Patch asked, taking a moment to light up a cigar.
Not long afterwords Mary walked out of the back room, wearing a simple black jumpsuit. "Weapon destroyed, and the CIA puke trying to sell it to HYDRA had been detained," she reported smugly.
"CIA?" Carol frowned.
Mary sighed, "They have to finance their covert ops somehow."
The group packed up and headed out, knowing the local cops would just let the HYDRA goons go. Still, having a major operation like this be crippled would be a major blow, and all three of them took some pleasure in that.
Retiring to the Princess Bar Logan decided it was a time to celebrate, and people around their part of town were glad to join in. At that point Carol really hadn't thought she had a drinking problem, so she joined in, everyone whooping it up full blast. Even Mary joined in, the officer loosening up as the booze flowed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"You've come a long way from Madripoor," Carol finally said, studying Maria Hill thoughtfully.
"You too," Maria acknowledged. "I knew who you were at the time, but I had thought you were retired from heroing."
"I thought about it," Carol smiled, "but a Avengers emergency came up and I found myself back in the game again."
"And now you're here," Maria noted.
"And you're head of SHIELD," Carol acknowledged with a faint smile. She frowned as she asked, "What's going on?"
"It looks like I may need your help again," Maria admitted, frowning. "You know about the robberies recently?"
"Groups of minor costumed crooks hitting various places at the same time?" Carol noted thoughtfully. "Did they get SHIELD gear too?"
"Yes, damn it," Maria looked distinctly unhappy. "I.. want to tell you what was taken, but I need your word you won't discuss it."
"Can my team know?" Carol asked.
"If you think it's necessary," Maria said reluctantly. She puffed out a sigh, "Right now the Congress and Senate are fighting over a Superhuman Registration Act."
Carol's eyes widened in alarm, "Think it's going to pass?"
"Not this year," Maria answered frankly, "but eventually, yeah." She looked away, "In preperation, SHIELD has begun developing weaponry designed to be used against superhumans, in case there is active resistance."
"And whoever is behind the robberies has them?" Carol guessed grimly.
"Yes," Maria conceded. "They're powerful weapons, designed to do damage while also neutralizing the person's powers partially. It's difficult to say how effective they'll be, however."
Carol made a face, "They haven't been field tested too?" She paced around her suite as she frowned, "Can we expect SHIELD support?"
"Some," Maria answered honestly, "we don't want word of these weapons being stolen, so I won't flood the area with agents. But I can and will offer whatever data and other support we can."
"Fair enough," Carol nodded.
Maria got up from the chair and smiled as she walked to the doorway. "Then I look forward to working with you again," she said. A somewhat shy smile appeared on her face as she added, "I still remember that night in Madripoor."
A blush colored Carol's cheeks. "Me too,:" she admitted as Maria slipped out with a smile.
To be continued...