Avengers: Wreckage

Chapter 33

Force Works got the information from a tip line that their boss, Olivia Stane, had set up. The caller's voice was distorted, and the location the call came from scrambled, both of which were quite suspicious. On the other hand it was a tip about weapons dealing... it could be that someone involved just got cold feet.

Either way, they HAD to look into it.

"Heads up! That's CapeKiller tech!" Warbird yelled a warning to the team as energy blasts fired out at them.

"Stay behind me," Thunderstrike answered, spinning her mace in a circle and 'bouncing' the energy beams away.

"Ok, that is cool," War Machine conceded. She brought up her suit's missile launcher, switching from explosive shells to tear-gas/smoke, then fired off a salvo into where the enemy was firing from.

Down below them, crouched between a ship and several piles of containers, a group of costumes villains cursed.

"SHIT," Red Beetle swore.

(He had gotten a generic copy of the Beetle armor from the boss. Wanting to stand out a bit he repainted it in black and red, dubbing himself Red Beetle. No one had the heart to tell him he looked kinda like a Ladybug, now.)

"Someone must have squealed," Cold-Iron said. His suit was basically just a Blizzard armor, with added outer armor bits. Annoyingly it made the suit more cumbersome, but at least he was less likely to be shot.

Nearby, Stratosfire was using her energy bolts to try to force the charging heroes back. Made up of living microwaves sealed in a combat suit, she was working with the Planner to try to return her body to human form.

Master Planner was monitoring the caper via a remote hologram link, appearing to them as a transparent ghost like figure. The cloak fluttered around the figure for dramatic effect, rather than being shifted by the breeze. "Can we recover the shipment?" the crackling voice demanded, sounding somewhat robotic and artificial.

Dreadknight, who was working for the Planner in hope of a tech upgrade, shook his helmet covered head. "No chance," the knight said, "we'd be tailed immediately."

The whole plan had been to quietly pick up the arms, load them onto perfectly normal trucks, then haul them away. That was it. Now that super heroes had crashed the party...

Red Beetle used one of the stolen CapeKIller guns. It had a hell of a kick, but DAMN was it effective. "So what do we do now?" he asked, laying down covering fire.

Thunderstrike was shielding the heroes, and they were advancing steadily. The villains armor was protecting them from the gasses, but wouldn't for long. Worse, they could hear police sirens as the cops were converging on the scene. Getting the weapons out was no longer an option.

"Abort the operation," the Master Planner finally growled. "Scatter, meet back at gathering point Epsilon. Good luck." The hologram winked out, functionally leaving them to sink or swim on their own.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Red Beetle declared, flying off. He was swiftly followed by Dreadknight and Stratosfire, both swiftly flying away.

Leaving poor Cold Iron just sitting there. "THANKS A LOT!" he yelled, then tried to generate a ice-slide and skate away.

"Oh no you don't," Warbird swept in, grabbing him by the collar.

"PLEASE try to start something," War Machine suggested.

"I give up," Cold Iron surrendered.

"I see SHIELD insignia on the boxes," Thunderstrike noted. "I guess we need to call them in?" she wondered aloud.

"Yup," Warbird agreed. She scowled at Cold Iron, "We have questions for you..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Maria Hill and SHIELD were called in, questions were asked, and illegal arms were secured. Eventually, they ended up back at Force Works HQ in LA.

Maria took a small device out and put it on the table. "No bugs.. you're secure. I'm pleasantly surprised," she noted dryly.

"You are not starting on the right foot with me," Olivia Stane replied.

"You would be surprised at how bad some heroes were with security," Maria noted, "the New Warriors had a Hydra Base in their BASEMENT."

Note: This is ACTUALLY canon and, in fact, the New Warriors had a Hydra Base in their basement. Turns out the supposedly 'abandoned' factory they used as a rebuilt base had, actually, been sold to a Hydra faction. Who, amusingly, were ALSO startled as heck to discover their HQ was infested with SUPER HEROES.

We now return you to your reading, in progress...

"So wait a minute," Thunderstrike blinked as she processed it all, "they hijacked the weapons from SHIELD, shipped them to AIM for modification and upgrades, then we caught them recieving the weapons BACK?"

"Apparently," Maria agreed, "which is both good and bad news."

"Why bad?" Olivia asked.

"Well, good we got the weapons back, bad it appears that AIM has had a chance to go over the weapons technology," Maria said grimly.

"Which is REALLY bad, as they're an army of science nerds who want to take over the world," Warbird noted dryly.

In AIM's hidden underwater base off the California coast, Monica Rappaccini, the head Science Nerd, suddenly sneezed.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" a minion asked.

Monica, who firmly did NOT believe you sneezed when someone talked about you, replied, "Probably just a cold."

"We've gotten a report the weapon's shipment was intercepted by super heroes," the minion reported. "Apparently they were tipped off about the exchange."

"Really. I'm SO shocked," Monica murmured, hiding a smile. Apparently Cly had handled it quite satisfactorily.

Back at the meeting, they were just finishing up. "Apparently, the villains think that Ultron is the Master Planner," Olivia noted.

Maria just snorted at that.

"Oh?" Olivia asked, a bit offended.

Warbird had to point out, "YES, Ultron used the identity of the Master Planner, once. But, he's obsessed with Hank Pym and the Avengers. Why would he be setting up here?"

"Point," Olivia conceded, pouting a bit.

"I assume you'll be investigating this further," War Machine addressed Maria, "please keep us informed."

Maria just kind of ignored that as she said to Olivia. "Again, thank you for all of your help," Maria said formally.

"You WILL keep us informed," Warbird told her as she escorted the government agent to the roof where her flying car waited, "it would be terrible if it got leaked to reporters that SHIELD wasn't cooperating with local heroes."

Maria narrowed her eyes at Warbird, "You wouldn't dare."

Warbird smiled back, "Wanna bet?"

Maria grunted but nodded.

Warbird returned to the meeting room, just as Thunderstrike was asking, "... how many c-list supervillains are there IN California, anyway?"

"A lot, surprisingly," Warbird noted, "I'm working on a story for the paper. It looks like Amora's organization recruited a lot of minor crooks and brought them out here, where there's few local heroes."

"Oh, lovely," Olivia sighed. "I think we may reconsider recruiting Ultra Girl. We may need the muscle," she noted.

War Machine took off her helm as Jennifer suggested, "Probably. Or armor up our 'guest' Miss Blake."

"You'd trust her at your back?" Thunderstrike wondered.

"No," Jennifer admitted, "but she needs us to keep her alive, too..."

"True," Warbird agreed. Her phone chirped and she flushed, "Excuse me..."

Olivia chuckled, "It's fine. We're basically done anyway."

"Yes.. yes I KNOW the story was short... because we need to get it online before the competition... yes I have a update... yes..." Carol sighed.

"Being a reporter has to suck a bit," Thunderstrike noted.

Warbird stuck her tongue out, then went back to talking to her editor.

Olivia laughed quietly. "I think we're done for the day if you want to take off and see your girlfriend," she teased Thunderstrike.

"I want to meet her too," Jennifer noted cheerfully.

"Nooooo," Thunderstrike laughed. "Ok. I'll keep my beeper on, just in case," she added as she headed off.

To be continued...

Notes: At some point I need to have everybody meet Amy and figure out she's the Enchantress. I just need to figure out how to write it in.