Avengers: Wreckage
Chapter 23
Tony Stark had a lot on his plate as he flew his Iron Man suit away from New York, taking it up into the stratosphere and letting himself 'fall' towards the west coast. The Avengers were still hunting down criminals from the Raft breakout, there was the ongoing Hulk issue, there were politicians rumbling about superhuman registry, and now there were the attacks on SHIELD and Stark facilities.
The red and gold figure dropped from the sky, the new Extremis operated armor allowing him to 'feel' the slight course corrections he needed to make, guiding Iron Man down towards Los Angeles. The city of the Angels was as beautiful as ever, but Tony knew it hid many of his personal demons. He had suffered his drinking bouts here and in New York, lost his company and nearly destroyed himself. Only the assistance of good friends and a lot of luck had saved him.
Tony descended to land in a block in what was commonly referred to as Silicon Valley, a place where new buildings were going up and people bustled about. He stood a moment, remembering the small start-up he had worked for there, and how things had gone so horribly wrong. Then, silently, he took off again.
Stark International was a modern marvel, a sprawling complex where thousands of people worked on developing the technology of tomorrow. Most of their work was government contracts, providing everything from the flight packs SHIELD uses to the powerful engines that keep the SHIELD Hellicarrier aloft.
Iron Man dropped to the roof of the main tower at Stark International, then entered a concealed elevator that carried him down into the building. As he descended he shed his armor and donned clothes kept there for the occasion, emerging in his private office dressed in a fine suit and looking the part of a billionaire industrialist.
"Welcome back, boss," Bethany Cabe smiled as she entered the office, the attractive redhead notified by sensors that Stark had returned. The woman wore a form fitting bodysuit based off SHIELD designs, with a stylized SI logo, and her excellent figure filled out the costume nicely.
"Beth," Tony nodded, doing his best not to notice her... assets. The black haired man sat back at his desk, the massive slab of oak and metal hiding any adverse reactions. "Do you have to wear that?" he asked plaintively.
Beth smirked, "I just do it to get a rise out of you."
Tony sighed softly. "If you're here, I figure there's a security problem," he told his head of security thoughtfully.
"I sent you the report on the attack on one of our sub-factories and storage facilities," Beth sat on the edge of the desk, "and it's worse than we figured. They got a complete run of the new 'cape-hunter' gear, and the weapons systems that go with them."
"Crap," Tony cursed softly.
The 'cape-hunter' systems were a fail safe, something Tony was asked to develop by the government in case superhumans went renegade. Coupling the best protective gear with advanced power neutralizing technology, the systems were meant to be used to hunt down super heroes who had crossed a line and killed. The idea of the technology falling into criminal hands was terrible.
"And it gets worse," Beth added, "someone hit SHIELD facilities too."
"Same people?" Tony asked.
"Same M.O.," Beth said, "using costumed B-Listers in battle armor. I'll pass the police reports, but apparently whoever set this up was smart. They used disposable agents as 'cut outs' to recruit the troops, then killed the agents that did the hiring."
"So that's pretty much a dead end," Tony frowned as he used the Extremis upgrades in his body and to skim reports..
"Mostly," Beth said, "one of the guys apparently made it alive to the cops, once he realized his comrades were being offed. He couldn't give a description because the guy or gal was in a hood and robe, and apparently he called himself 'the Master Planner'."
"Master Planner," Tony echoed, already doing a wide ranging search of the web, "According to aliases online, it's a identity used by two criminals, Big Man and the Green Goblin. Both Spider-Man foes, so I guess I should call him about it."
"Want me to sit in?" Beth ask as he mentally ordered the phones to dial.
"It should be fine," Tony waved her back to her seat.
Sadly, his conversation with Peter Parker wasn't terribly fruitful. He acknowledged his old foes had used the Master Planner identity, but he wasn't aware anyone new had. He did promise to shake down any of his criminal contacts for more information.
"A few of my... well, b-listers have dropped out of sight lately," Peter offered as they ended the call, "I don't think they could be doing this, but I'll ask around too. A few might have the technical skills to pull this off."
"Which b-listers?" Beth had to ask.
"Alistair Smythe, Carolyn Trainer," Peter recited with a sigh, "and maybe the Vulture, if he was on the top of his game."
"We'll look into it, thanks," Tony agreed as they ended the call.
"We?" Beth asked.
"Well, probably you," Tony admitted, "I need to see the mayor of LA to talk to her about a superhero project I'm working on, then I think I'll need to drop in on Olivia Stane again."
"Looking to romance the lady?" Beth raised a eyebrow as she teased her boss.
"More like burying the hatchet," Tony sighed, "I've looked into Stane top to bottom, as far as anyone can tell, she's clean." Very reluctantly he added, "And we may need her help with this high tech heist situation."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Amora the Enchantress felt strangely dissatisfied as she sat on her throne, surrounded by the ill-gotten gains she had acquired in her months in LA. She effectively ruled the underworld here, as well as commanding an impressive army of supervillains, but somehow it all seemed kind of... petty.
However, her depression was quickly knocked away when she found out about what had been happening. "A unauthorized criminal attack?" Amora growled, "Why was I not told?"
Morgan Stark shivered under her fierce gaze, but the woman met her eyes as bravely as she could. "I tried to contact you," she said defensively, "but you didn't return my calls."
Amora flushed slightly, feeling a faint twinge of embarrassment. Over the past few days she had primarily been in her Amy Ray identity, first going out with Jackie on a date, then later bedding the woman. She had been so caught up in what was happening she had barely seen the news, much less checked her messages.
"I had expected you could handle things without me being around," Amora expertly turned it around, "was I wrong?"
Morgan looked flustered, which was exactly what Amora wanted. "I've done my best to do what I thought you wanted," she said stiffly.
Amora casually waved that off, "Tell me what happened, in detail please."
In growing horror Amora listened as Morgan described coordinated attacks across the country, hitting SHIELD and Stark facilities, while also distracting the primary super teams. Even the Force Works team had been distracted by a team of agents.
"This is intolerable," Amora said flatly, "it is a blatant challenge to my authority." She fixed Morgan with a deadly gaze, "Who is responsible for this?"
"I don't know," Morgan admitted, "whoever did this was good enough to eliminate all connections back to them. All we know is what was taken, and none of it would be easily sold off or traded away."
"Of course not," Amora scoffed, "whoever stole this intends to arm their private forces." She sat back on her throne, her expression thoughtful. "Who do we have who can operate relatively covertly?" she asked after a moment.
Morgan pulled out her PDA and scrolled through the files. "Well, most of the heavy hitters like the Wrecking Crew are out," she mused, "but Delilah still isn't commonly known. Cutthroat and Diamondback are in town looking for work, as are some of Taskmaster's trainees. We can deploy a fair number of former Ultimatum agents, who became disillusioned about the group."
"All right," Amora nodded, "deploy them in civilian clothes, I want the city canvassed for any signs of the stolen technology. We find the equipment, we find whoever was responsible for this."
"Yes, ma'am," Morgan nodded respectfully.
Amora hesitated then said, "I want all ongoing criminal acts suspended, at least for the time being. All our efforts must be devoted to finding this usurper."
"Not all our people are going to be happy about that," Morgan cautioned.
Amora gave a very dangerous smile. "Then they can come to me," she purred, "and I'll discuss it with them personally." She leaned forward slightly, "What is Carolyn Trainer up to?"
"I wasn't aware she was up to anything, other than upgrading those octopus arms of hers," Morgan offered a bit nervously. "Do you think she can assist with the search?"
"Didn't one of her schemes against Spider-Man involve computer technology?" Amora mused, "I'm terrible with the stuff. Have her use the internet and try to trace any references to the technology that was stolen."
Morgan nodded, "I'll pass your orders on to her."
"Now go," Amora waved the woman off, "I have thinking to do."
Amora sat back, then most uncharacteristically bit her bottom lip nervously. There was something going on, every flinch that weasel Morgan made told her that, but what was it? And worse, what could she DO about it? She might wield a great deal of power personally, but she was more and more aware of how much authority Morgan had with her minions. She could mobilize a army, and Amora would only know after it happened.
'I relied on fear to keep that fool under control,' Amora thought, 'but clearly that isn't enough' Which left her in a difficult position. She could just eliminate Morgan, but replacing her would be difficult. Worse, she didn't know who in her own organization she could trust.
"Other than anyone I personally recruited," Amora growled, knowing that was a depressingly small number.
In a burst of frustration Amora got up, her blond hair shimmering, and strode across the sound stage as her minions scattered fearfully. Leaving the building she stood a moment in the sun, soaking up the warmth before heading to her waiting car. Getting in she decided that she would have to search herself, as well as dusting off old contacts.
'I wonder if the Tinkerer is still in business?' Amora wondered as she started up the car, "And is there anyone in the police I can lean on? I seem to recall the Chief still owes me for helping him get elected back in the day.'
Driving away Amora firmly concentrated on business, trying not to let a certain dark haired woman distract her. Or possibly remind her there might be alternatives to being a supervillain and pursuing this life style...
To be continued...
Notes: Sorry for the talky/thoughtful chapters. I mostly needed to get everyone moving so they could bounce off each other later. Let's say things are gonna start getting messy soon.