Avengers: Wreckage

Chapter 43 (AIM WARS: Aftermath)

THEN the AIM troops started getting ejected from their mechs, as well as the various machines then blowing up.

"You're kidding me," Thunderstrike blurted.

"We've got to rescue the pilots," Warbird ordered.

"Firepower?" Agent Hand demanded.

"Gone," War Machine admitted. "Disappeared right off our sensors."

One of the SHIELD guys noted, "I got a weird energy burst just before... they might have teleported out."

"That's a thing?" Brass had to ask.

"I HATE teleporting," Hand sighed. "Yes, the tech has gotten into the criminal underworld."

"Okay, let's get the AIM mooks rounded up," Brass said dryly. Having BEEN a former villainous mook, she could sympathise with the poor suckers.

The SHIELD troops, Harbour Patrol and some of the LA Police helped recover all the guys dropped in the drink, and thankfully there were few losses. Also quite a few AIM dudes were still fighting, even with their mechs destroyed.

"MODOK IS SUPREME!" the soaked goon yelled.

"Rappaccini is our true leader!"

"Hail MODOK!" then he tried to punch him.

"Break it up you...," Thunderstrike sighed.

"We'll try questioning them, ssee if we can find out where MODOK or Rappaccini are," Agent Hand added.

"Good luck. AIM troops tend to be very indoctrinated." Warbird said.

"Thank you for your help," Hand added, "we at SHIELD appreciate it."

With that, Force Works took off.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"I'm SO sorry!" Ultra Girl blurted later that evening.

"Where WERE you?" Rachelle Burroughs, Agent of SHIELD, demanded as the young woman finally answered the emergency alert.

"I was auditioning," Ultra Girl admitted, "they made us turn our phones off."

Rachelle facepalmed.

"Sorry," Ultra Girl said sheepishly.

"All right, I'll talk to my boss about issuing you a communicator," Rachelle said firmly, "you keep it with you, it does NOT get turned off. Okay?"

"Yes ma'am," Ultra Girl vowed.

Rachelle nodded, patting her on the shoulder, "Well, at least things got handled."

"I saw the new footage! There were AIM Mechs, Force Works and SHIELD! It was AWESOME," Ultra Girl added.

"I saw," Rachelle agreed. She sighed, "Senior Agent Hand was there... "

Ultra Girl noted with some amusement the dreamy tone Rachelle got, talking about Hand. Well, while it wasn't her thing, women in uniform were hot.

"Anyway," Ultra Girl continued brightly, "I could help with clean up, I guess? I am super strong, after all."

"Teams from SHIELD and Damage Control are on it," Rachelle said, "but thanks for offering."

"Agauin, sorry," Ultra Girl sighed as she headed out.

Rochelle then sighed again as she considered she was STILL stuck in the office while Agent Hand was on the scene. Worse, there was nothing to DO other than boring paperwork!

Rochelle sighed, gazing out the window...

"Agent Burroughs, get in my office."

Rochelle got up and hurried in, stopping in front of Victoria's desk. "Ma'am?" she asked.

"You've been a bad girl...," Victoria purred.

"Ma'am?" Rochelle gulped.

"Strip," Victoria ordered.

"But I...," Rochelle begged.

"Get over my lap," Victoria ordered, "spanking time..."

"Yes, Head Agent"

"Call me Mistress."

"Agent Burroughs," a voice asked.

"Eeep," Rochelle yelped, jerked out of her daydreams.

The Mayor's face looked amused on her view screen. 'God I hope I didn't say ANY of that out loud,' Rochelle thought desperately.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Thank goodness everyone's alright," Olivia Stane sighed, a few hours earlier once everyonew made it back to base.

"They were more focused on shooting each other than us," Warbird noted as the team gathered for a debrief.

"I was TERRIFIED. How do you DO this?!" Donna Blake noted, back in street clothes after she got out of the Brass armor.

"You get used to it," Thunderstrike noted mildly.

Donna scoffed loudly.

Jennifer Swensen patted her on the shoulder, "You did good. And I promise, we'll only have you doing this until we figure out who's trying to kill you."

"Thanks," Donna sighed.

"SHIELD officially sent their thanks, as did the City of LA," Olivia added. "The Mayor wants to meet you, too."

"Pass," Warbird rolled her eyes. "It never works well, mixing government and heroics."

(In Washington, where Tony Stark was meeting with officials to organize Superhuman Registry, he sneezed suddenly.

Unaware of the folk tale you sneeze when you're being talked about, Tony carried on.)

Thunderstrike shrugged, "Let's keep the politicians happy, hmm?"

Jennifer nodded, "Hopefully it's just a hand shake thing anyway."

Olivia agreed as she said, "I believe we might even discuss some form of official relationship with the city too."

"I've been at odds with the cops a few times," Warbird conceded, "sucks."

"When did the Mayor want to meet?" Jennifer checked.

"Won't be until next week, at least," Olivia reassured them all.

"I need to get home, my girlfriend is probably wondering what's going on," Thunderstrike admitted.

"We'll call if anything else comes up," Warbird waved.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, Amora the Enchantress was watching a replay of the mayhem, eating popcorn.

"You're taking this calmly," Lorelei, her redheadded sister, said.

(Lorelei had been away from Asgard when it was destroyed. She had been involved with Pluto of the Olympian Pantheon, and frankly Amora didn't completely trust her. Then again, Lorelei didn't trust HER either.)

"As AIM was helping Lady Octopus and her allies, I'm perfectly happy to see them in trouble," Amora noted.

"Fair point," Lorelei admitted.

"So," Amora said as she studied her sister, "why come looking for me?"

"I can't just check up on my big sister?" Lorelei looked innocent.

Amora just LOOKED at her.

Lorelei chuckled, "Well, I'm here to make you a offer."

Amora looked dubious, "I'm listening."

"The destruction of Asgard is a chance for us to create a new order," Lorelei said excitedly, "one where WE lead! With Pluto's help..."

"And you trust Pluto?" Amora pointed out. "No, thank you."

"But..," Lorelei started.

"Not interested. Good luck though," Amora added.

Pouting, Lorelei disappeared in a burst of magic, then Amora transformed back into 'Amy' and sat back waiting for her date. Jackie would be back soon.

To be continued...

Notes: Lorelei is canonly Amora's sister. She's worked with Loki as well as plotted with other Gods from different pantheons.