Avengers: Wreckage
Chapter 44
Carolyn Trainer rubbed her hands together in glee as she looked at the piles of wrecked AIM tech sitting on the floor of one of her many warehouses. They had several types of mechs, beam canons and one sub...
"How did you get all this?" Tinkerer asked, the old man sitting in his wheelchair nearby, examining a piece of gear.
"Paid off a Damage Control transport," Carolyn noted, "through various cut outs. On paper, it'll all been destroyed."
"Nice," Tinkerer agreed. He mused, "We'll have to disguise anything we use so people don't know we swiped AIM gear, but that's minor."
"Or just strip it down for components," Carolyn shrugged.
"Should we keep our people off the streets for now?" Delilah asked. It had been two days since the huge AIM fight, and SHIELD and local police were all on high alert.
"Iron Man just got back from Washington. Honestly, after his meetings there, I'm even more nervous of getting him involved," Carolyn admitted.
"You think the Superhuman Registration Act will go through?" Tinkerer asked her bluntly, frowning in annoyance.
"In SOME form," Carolyn nodded. She mused, "I think Tony will try to pitch something ran through the Avengers."
"Fuck," Delilah cursed. No street level super crook wanted to hear that the heroes were gettiing more organized.
"I'm also thinking about dropping the hunt for Amora the Enchantress, for now," Carolyn changed the subject.
"She's been laying low," Tinkerer noted. "You think she's taken off back to Asgard?" he wondered aloud.
"So, she's not out for revenge?" Delilah asked.
"I've been thinking about that," Carolyn admitted. She gestured, "The thing is... she's a thousands of years old immortal. Does she even CARE about all this?"
"Huh?" Delilah blinked.
"Is all of this just... a minute or two in an immense life span that we can barely comprehend?" Carolyn wondered.
Both Tinkerer and Delilah looked at her blankly.
"Are you sure you haven't been working too hard?" Tinkerer asked her mildly, for a moment actually looking like a kindly grandfather.
"Never mind," Carolyn shook her head wryly. "We're going to stop hunting Amora, for now. If she tries something, then we'll move."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Monica Stewart knew Carol Danvers was Warbird.
She had seen Carol transform on the roof and take off... she was still trying to grasp it all. She had looked up 'Miss Marvel' in the papers archives and it had made fascinating reading. The woiman had a hell of a lot of adventures, and a lot of 'stuff' had happened to her.
"I wonder why she dropped out of sight?" Monica wondered.
May Scott, her girlfriend and head of security for Stane, shrugged. Both were in May's apartment, relaxing after a night out and some very intense sex.
May noted, "Apparently she had a LONG adventure out in space,,, it was her getting hurt that lead to her coming back to the Avengers as 'Warbird.'"
"Damn," Monica muttered.
"So, are you going to tell Carol you know?" Mary teased. "If so, I want to see her reaction."
"You're mean," Monica laughed. "Yeah, I'm going to tell her, if only to remind her to make sure the roof is empty before transforming."
"Ha!" May snickered.
"At least now I know why she didn't want to socialize much," Monica mused. "It must be hard balancing being a superhero and civilian life."
"And finding time to write her news articles," May agreed. "She must speed type or something."
Monica frowned as she wondered, "Will she be upset you think?"
"No, maybe embarassed she got caught," May offered.
"Yeah, I guess so," Monica agreed.
"Now," May leaned over and gently kissed her, "less talking about other women, more making out with me."
"Yes ma'am," Monica purred, pushing her backwards and straddling her.
They VERY QUICKLY got distracted from any serious talk...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
AIM CIVIL WAR! read the headline, with pictures of the conflict off shore and the huge Firepower armor in the middle.
Not, annoyingly, by Carol Danvers. She had been too busy helping mop us the mess as Warbird, but missing the story pissed her off.
"DANVERS!" Ron Black yelled.
"Coming," Carol headed into the chief's office.
Ron nodded, "You missed the story on AIM? Not like you to miss a scoop."
Carol hid a wince, "Sorry, sir. I was working on something else."
"Oh?" Ron asked, "Anything you can discuss?"
"Dangerous tech going missing from SHIELD and Damage Control," Carol answered promptly. She added, "You saw the footage of the Firepower armor?"
"Scary machine," Ron admitted, "yeah?"
"It WAS in SHIELD custody, but disappeared from their lockup," Carol noted, "AND apparently tech has gone missing from Damage Control too."
"Shit," Ron blinked. "All as dangerous as Firepower?"
"Or at least on the same level," Carol admitted. "I'm still digging, obviously."
"Okay, keep at it," Ron agreed, "I also want reporters working on follow ups on the whole AIM mess, too."
"With the whole mess, there'll probably be come villains taking advantage," Carol agreed as she headed back to her desk.
"THERE you are!" Monica Stuart cried, hurrying over.
"Trouble?" Carol raised a eyebrow.
"Something I need to talk to you about," Monica followed her to Carol's desk. "In private."
"Please tell me you're not hitting on me," Carol joked as they headed up to the roof.
"Ha! May keeps me very happy," Monica noted, then looked around the rooftop to make sure they were alone.
"Hmm?" Carol looked curious.
"You need to be more careful transforming up here," Monica said suddenly, adding, "I saw you become Warbird."
Carol froze, realizing at LEAST once she had just hurred up there and took off.
"I won't tell anyone," Monica said quickly.
Carol relaxed a bit, sighing. "Thank you..."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The business complex was on the outskirts of LA, and was (apparently) full on small businesses and flu by night scams run out of offices. This was, in fact, a deception as EVERYONE there worked for AIM and was using it as a cover.
Well actually not EVERYONE. Alicia Hendrix was a college student working part time at the UPACK shop, and was unaware of anything AIM related. Was a good employee, when she left to go back to school full time she would get a flowing reference.
Anyway...
Not long after the battle, the hangar the Firepower armor entered was accessed via an artificial lake. The hsavy armor emerged into the underground facility, staggering a bit as it came to a halt.
"Ugh," Clymnestra Erwin sighed as the woman hit the hatch release.
Nothing happened.
"What," Cly groaned as she tried the release again, then started to go over the systems.
"CLY!" Monica Rappaccini hurried in, then blinked as she saw she was STILL in the combat suit. "What's wrong?"
"The releases are all jammed up. I guess Warbird banged the suit up TOO much," Cly admitted with a sigh.
"Are you all right?" Monica demanded.
"I'm fine," Cly reassured her, "just sore as hell."
"Hmm," Monica accepted that, reluctantly. She examined the suit hatches, "I think we're going to have to cut you out of it."
Cly groaned, "I see."
Monica used her glove blaster on tight focus, slicing into metal. In a few moments she had enough cuts, then grabbed the front plate and yanked. HARD.
Water trickled out, then Cly unhooked herself from the harness. "That's a relief," she started, then wobbled as she tried to stand. Blood running down her face from a scalp wound, she fell forward.
"CLY!" Monica yelped, catching her in her arms.
To be continued...