Avengers: Wreckage

Chapter 38

The LA office of SHIELD was, bluntly, understaffed and overworked. That, sadly, did not excuse a fuck up.

Victoria Hand, the head of SHIELD in LA, stood at attention as over a video link her boss, Maria Hill, dressed her down for losing the head of AIM, and, indeed, not even being aware that AIM was operating near her in the first place.

Hill finished, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"No excuses, ma'am," Victoria replied stiffly, the red streak in her black hair shining. Mind you, after this she would send an official accounting of this fuck up to Hill, explaining how fucking understaffed they were...

Hill paused, then the brown haired woman sighed. "Okay, I've seen your reports. How badly understaffed are you? No bullshit," she asked.

"We have just fifteen full time agents in an office that's designated needing forty," Victoria answered her bluntly.

Hill looked startled, "How did it get that bad out there?"

"Because Nick Fury staffed us based on having Iron Man and the West Coast Avengers out here, and that LA had only moderate activity we needed to worry about," Victoria said. "Then the West Coasters went away, Iron Man's been busy with his own shit and super-crooks started flocking here...," she shrugged eloquently.

"Ah," Hill said. She had taken over SHIELD after Fury had been forced out, and she was still finding messes to fix. Like this. "We're spread thin all over," she said, "and Fury wasn't recruiting, much. Too scared of a second Hydra infiltration."

Victoria nodded glumly.

"I'll try to get staff as soon as possible," Hill added, "but use local resources wherever you can to make up the lack."

"Yes ma'am," Victoria nodded and the call concluded.

Rachelle Burroughs, her blonde haired second in command, stuck her head in the office. "You survived, boss?" she asked.

"Lost a layer of skin, otherwise...," Victoria replied dryly.

"Got it," Rachelle nodded as she carried in a fresh coffee for her. She tended to look like a LA girl, wearing t-shirts and brief skirts, and was very attractive. "Did she say if we'd get some more people?" she asked.

"Supposedly," Victoria answered as Rachelle bent over putting the coffee on her desk, giving a good view of her cleavage. Victoria made herself NOT notice as she coontinued, "But for now, we use local resources."

Rachelle looked dubious, "Which means?"

"Local and federal law enforcement," Victoria answered dryly, "and the superheroes."

"Oh joy," Rachelle replied dubiously.

Victoria gave her a sympathetic look. "Okay," she said briskly, "we dropped the ball with Monica Rappaccini. We need to fix that."

"Ma'am," Rachelle nodded.

"We need to run facial recognition on surveillance across LA," Victoria said, "both on her and Cly Erwin. As well as any known AIM operatives."

"Got it. It'll take a lot of computer power," Rachelle noted, "and it's almost certain their hold up in some secret base."

"Probably," Victoria agreed, "but we have to check. Especially since Tony Stark is almost certainly going to be breathing down our necks."

Rachelle made a face, "True enough. I'll get right on it."

Rachelle turned and strode out, her hips swaying as the skirt clung to her ass. 'ARGH.' Victoria looked away, 'remember, no dating coworkers! You know what happened last time...'

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The Cordco story blew up, as expected. Carol fielded a lot of calls from various business publications, as well as calls from Cord's lawyers. However, the threats fell flat when she told them she stood by her sources.

Her desk phone rang and Carol picked it up, "Danvers, this call is being recorded."

"What have you done now?" a cranky older man's voice demanded.

It took Carol a second to recognize it, "J Jonah Jameson?"

"It's been awhile, Danvers," JJJ said briskly. "Did you know I own a stake in your paper?" he noted mildly.

"Calling to give me grief?" Carol asked wryly.

"Ha. No," JJJ said, "we're running your story here at the Bugel too." He paused a moment, "Why didn't you contact me when you got back in the business? I'd have thrown you some work."

Carol had worked for JJJ at his Now Magazine, back in her Ms Marvel days. Then various things happened, including an extended stay in space...

"I didn't think of it, sorry JJJ," Carol answered. "Besides, I thought you were mostly East Coast, anyway," she added.

"Fair enough," JJJ conceded. "I'm talking with your boss about including a few other stories of yours, we'll let you know."

"Thanks, it's appreciated," Carol said.

Ron Black wandered over not long after, "You KNOW Jameson?"

"I worked for JJJ awhile," Carol admitted, "bit of a jerk, but a good newspaper man."

"Okay," Ron accepted that, "Cord's lawyer have backed off. Why?"

"Because there's a criminal investigation starting, and the fraud boys are going to work too," Carol noted. "He's now concentrating on not being charged."

"Huh. Okay, fair... you doing a follow up story?" Ron asked.

"I'm keeping a eye on it," Carol answered, "one of my police sources will contact me if charges go forward."

"Okay, good work," Ron nodded as he left.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"I REALLY don't know about this," Donna Blake noted.

The former stunt woman and very short term armored villain had been staying at Force Works headquarters, under the team's protection. Someone was out to kill her, apparently to tie up loose ends by silencing witnesses.

"Look on the bright side, this will let you go out again," Jennifer Swensen noted.

"In a suit of BATTLE ARMOR," Donna complained as the fitted her with the suit.

The suit was based on Swensen's 'MACS' tech, Man Amplified Combat System, and was roughly equal to early Iron Man tech. It wasn't, honestly, up to modern Iron Man levels, but Tony was frighteningly brilliant and kept a lot of the tech a secret.

"Okay, try moving," Olivia said, watching the readouts.

"It's weirdly comfortable," Donna admitted as she took a few steps. The suit was only a few inches thick, and had a silver undersuit with off-gold colored body, gauntlets and boots.

"Helmet," Jennifer passed over the mostly bold helm, "let me know how it feels."

The helmet snapped into place, and Donna blinked as Heads Up Displays appeared before her eyes. "That's weird," she muttered, "and why does my head tingle?"

"That's the cybernetic system synching up," Olivia noted. She checked, "Readings all green."

"And if it hadn't been green?" Donna had to ask.

"We'd get you out of there VERY fast," Jennifer noted.

"Oh joy," Donna said. As she moved about, getting a feel for the suit, she asked, "What do you call this armor, anyway?"

"Well, in my designs I just called it 'Brass.'" Jennifer admitted.

"Well, short and to the point," Donna nodded.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jackie Lucas shook hands with the actor. "Didn't you play Tony Stark on TV?" she had to ask.

Henry Hellrung smiled wryly, "Back in the day, yeah."

"Well, thank you for the work. Re-designing your cabin in the hills looks interesting," Jackie noted, the architect looking forward to the job.

"You come well recommended," Henry smiled.

Jackie lead him out of her office as she said, "I can be up there in a few days, checking out the site. Works for you?"

"Certainly. You have my number, call me," Henry said.

Jackie returned to her desk, sighing. She had gotten the job via a contact through Stane. And it bothered her a bit.

'He liked my designs and could have just hired someone else,' Jackie reminded herself. Her phone rang, "Jackie Lucas Designs."

"Hello, Jackie Lucas Designs," Amy teased, "available for lunch?"

Jackie grinned, "How about we meet at that nice deli nearby?"

"Aww. I was hoping we could mess up your desk again...," Amy chuckled wickedly.

"Considering we nearly got caught," Jackie noted.

"That was half the fun," Amy laughed.

To be continued...

Notes: Victoria is canonly a lesbian in the comics. She dated a co-worker, then got dumped when she was transferred. Rachelle is a OC, and I named her after two actresses who plated Hand on TV.

Henry Hellrung is from the Marvel Comic 'The Order.' I'm debating using some bits from it...