Avengers: Wreckage

Chapter Thirty-One

Carolyn Trainer grunted in annoyance, as she checked a report. It looked like Donna Blake had eluded her agents' grasp, at least for now. She had been cleaning up loose ends from the SHIELD heist, and Donna was the last target. But annoyingly she was better at saving herself than being a crook, and had dodged four attempts on her life.

"You're certain she's contacted Force Works?" her hologram of the Master Planner asked. The cloaked figure with red, glowing eyes resembled Ultron, striking fear into the minions and diverting attention from her.

Porcupine was the latest d-lister to wear the quill studded suit of combat armor. As silly as it looked it did work against normal, human foes, but your average superhero could generally beat him easily. So very few people were willing to use it. It didn't help that the man who first built it managed to stab himself with his own quills...

"Yes ma'am," Porcupine agreed. "I tailed her to the facility, but I didn't want to get too close because of their security," he explained.

"Very well," Master Planner nodded, "keep a eye on the place, don't attempt any strikes on the target unless I say so."

"Yes ma'am," Porcupine agreed, and with that Carolyn shut down the link.

Once it was off Carolyn helplessly burst into giggles. "That may be the silliest outfit I have ever seen," she sniggered.

"Yet you hired him," Delilah noted with some amusement, the purple haired amazon casually waiting in the office. Not long ago Carolyn had recruited her as a full time bodyguard, just in case someone did figure out she was behind this.

"He was a decent private eye, in his past career," Carolyn shrugged, "he was just dumb enough to get caught blackmailing someone."

"I assume you're keeping a eye on him," Delilah noted.

Carolyn smiled coldly. "He is unaware that his suit comes with a built in explosive charge," she smiled, "if I suspect he's up to something... boom."

"Nice," Delilah complimented her.

"Now if we could just track down Amora," Carolyn sighed.

"I thought the Tinkerer rigged up that Asgardian tracker to detect her from magical traces or something?" Delilah asked curiously.

"It appears to have bugs," Carolyn said dryly, "he's working on it. And with Amora's magic letting her disguise herself, she could be anyone..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Amy Rey, a sometime actress and secretary who looked like many other blond actresses and, not incidentally, like the Enchantress, hurried to the apartment she had rented recently. It was a step down from the luxury she was used to, but it had upsides. Like the sexy woman coming up the hall towards her...

"Jackie!" she beamed, hurling herself towards her.

Jackie gracefully caught her, hugging her a moment then kissing her lingeringly. "Thanks," she smiled at the slightly shorter blond.

Amy had seen Thunderstrike on the news, the heroine helping Force Works stop a Juggernaught rampage. It had taken hours to talk him down, and she could tell her lover was exhausted.

"Let's stay in tonight," Amy suggested, "we can order in pizza and watch a movie or something."

"You sure?" Jackie asked hopefully. "I know you wanted to go out," she added, fighting back the tired valliantly.

Amy smiled, touched. "No, it's fine," she said. "My couch or yours?" she asked.

"Mine," Jackie decided, "It's bigger."

"I won't make any size comparison jokes," Amy teased impishly.

"Please no..." Jackie laughed.

A few hours later Jackie was snoring gently on the couch as Amy looked at her fondly. Part of her wanted to just stay like this... toss aside her life as a master criminal and just enjoy a quiet life, hopefully with this woman by her side. But...

Carefully Amy slid free of the couch, then quietly creeped out of the room. She had a appointment, and she daren't miss it. Outside she released the cloaking spell that concealed her Asgardian nature, then calmly went out hunting for her prey.

The old man was where they had arranged, sitting in a customized audi, of all things. Amora opened the passenger door and got in, then smiled at her enemy. "Beenm awhile, Tinkerer" she nodded to the old man.

Phineas Mason grunted, the wheelchair bound old man starting up the car. "About time you contacted me," he grumped.

"You know I couldn't reach you sooner," Amora shrugged, "the Master Planner would suspect something."

Phineas grunted. "Do you remember hiring Lady Octopus?" he asked.

"The Doctor Octopus wannabe?" Amora blinked. She looked mildly stunned, "That c-lister is the Master Planner?"

"Indeed," he agreed as they carefully cruised through town. "Though I would not underestimate her. She apparently has contacts both with AIM and Hydra."

Amora swore softly. She had never really sought connections with such organizations, which might turn out to be a mistake. "I am very, very annoyed to realize she effectively seized my own resouces and people to do this," she growled. "Her and Morgan Stark."

"Stark is out of reach too," Phineas noted. He snorted in dry amusement, "Tony and friends are rather intrigued at your transformation of him into HER."

Amora smiled wryly, "Too much?"

"Just a bit," the old man said dryly.

"Thank you for the information," Amora nodded. She reaching into her coat and provided him with a folder, "I'm doing what I can to hold up my end as well. I feel reasonably certain your son, Rick, is alive."

Phineas opened up the folder, noting photos and documents. His eyes were drawn to a face that resembled his own, but younger. "How...?" he murmured.

Amora shrugged slightly. "I stayed in touch with the Zemo family, even after we stopped working together, and they're plugged into the international spy community." she explained. She sat back, "As far as we can tell, your son Rick Mason had to fake his death on a SHIELD operation. He found out something sufficiently dangerous his only option was to go deep cover."

"Do you know where he is now?" Phineas had to ask.

"No," Amora admitted, "but he IS one of the top agents in the world. Finding him isn't going to be easy."

"Thank you," Phineas managed a smile. Changing the subject he continued, "Be careful who you give the data on the Master Planner to. She's such a minor criminal, I'm not sure most would believe her capable of it."

"Agreed," Amora sighed as they pulled over. She got out and quietly added, "Be careful, sir. I don't want to hear about something happening to you."

Phineas snorted. "I've taken care of myself a long time, young lady. Best be worrying about yourself," he advised, driving off.

As Amora watched the car drive off she wondered if she should tell him she was thousands of years older than him...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

One of the advantages of working for a newspaper, Carol Danvers found, was that a great deal of useful information was collected there. The disadvantage, of course, was trying to sort through all the useless facts to get to the good stuff.

Thankfully that's why the paper had a VERY good archivist. "Ms Danvers," Helen smiled wryly as the older woman carried out the documents, "that was a tough one."

"But you did it anyway?" Carol asked.

Helen sniffed, "Of course." She passed the papers over, "It's actually quite fascinating, how many paroled or legally pardoned criminals have traveled to California. You'd think someone was encoraging it."

"That's what I'm looking into," Carol agreed, looking with a little dismay at how thick the folder was. How many crooks WAS there?

"I put the costumed operatives on the top of the pile, as I felt they were of primary interest to you," Helen added. "Good luck," she smiled.

"Thank you," Carol said, then left the records office and headed up to her desk. She flipped through the papers then sighed tiredly. She'd take it back to Stane's base and have the team help her sort all of it out...

To be Continued...

Notes: Characters are starting to put the pieces together. Of course, I'll probably have them get distracted next chapter by a monster or something.