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The Bucephalus
The team surrounded the hologram of a human-looking Dr. Banner came to life. The Bucephalus was cruising south across the Atlantic towards the Floridian Glades, following Riri's tracker. Skaar had set the ship to autopilot so the team could meet in the hold.
"Riri, Eli, this is Dr. Bruce Banner," Kamala introduced the two recruits to the Avenger.
"How's it going," Banner said respectfully.
Riri shrugged. "Not too bad. You?"
"Had to ditch my little slice of paradise for a while," Banner sighed as a look of annoyance crossed his face. "Okoye had only good things to say about you, by the way."
Riri smiled and went a little red in the cheeks, not responding. Whoever Dr. Banner mentioned was someone Riri held in high regard.
"So you're flying to Nepal?" Banner asked.
"Florida," Kate said, putting her hands on her hips. "Riri's workshop was raided. We think it was the same people who came after us and Eli."
"Florida?" Banner mused, rubbing his jaw as he thought. His hologram began to pace slightly as the young heroes waited patiently for his thoughts. "If Barton's theory is correct, only one agency would have the resources to attack targets in three different cities."
"You don't sound convinced," Cassie commented.
"I'm not," Banner said bluntly.
"Why not?" Kamala asked curiously.
"Because they were in a good bit of trouble recently," Banner explained. "It's hard for me to believe that they'd be stirring up trouble again."
"Maybe you should start from the beginning," Eli suggested.
"Sorry," Banner apologized. "The agency I have in mind is called S.W.O.R.D. —Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division. They deal with living weapons."
"Enhanced individuals," Kamala said quietly. "People with extraordinary abilities like me and Eli."
"Yes," Banner said sadly. "They got into some trouble in New Jersey a while ago and embarrassed the government, so they lost a lot of funding and resources. That's why I struggle to believe that they're behind the attacks."
"They may not be behind them, but someone at their facility took my stuff and we're getting it back," Riri said fiercely.
"That's fair," Banner conceded. "If you're going to break in, there's something I want you to look for."
"What do you want us to look for?" Kamala asked.
"That bullet we took out of Skaar's shoulder, it looked designed to analyze blood," Banner said. "If they attacked Mr. Bradley, I have to assume that they drew blood from his as well."
"There were a lot of wounds on him," Eli said grimly, remembering the day he had come to him and found his grandfather unconscious and bleeding. "It wouldn't have been hard."
"Riri was working on an Iron Man-like suit," Kate pointed out.
"Do you think they're trying to recreate the Avengers?" Kamala posed to the group. "A Hulk, a super soldier, and an Iron Man suit. Those are all people who were founding members of the Avengers. Captain America, Iron Man, and you, Dr. Banner."
"And that's what I need you to find out," Banner nodded.
"We'll see what we can do," Kamala promised. "We'll call after we're done."
"Be careful, all of you," Banner advised.
"We will be," Kate swore as the hologram disappeared, leaving the team alone to figure out the next steps.
"Right!" Cassie said optimistically. "Who wants to cross breaking into a government building off their bucket list?"
"Cassie, this feels weird," Kate admitted, standing behind Skaar with the rest of her team.
"Yeah, you get used to it," Cassie's voice rang in her ear.
Thankfully, Riri had brought more than just her exosuit when they left Cambridge. She also brought earpieces that allowed the team to communicate with one another.
The majority of the team had remained on the ship as it flew toward the S.W.O.R.D. facility. Cassie flew by herself, testing out the new wings she had attached to her suit. They had been an old pair that Hope Van Dyne—Wasp—had discarded before Cassie tinkered with them.
Their plan was simple. Cassie had used her Pym Disks to shrink the team and the ship so they could sneak into the compound. They weren't sure of the defenses that protected S.W.O.R.D. headquarters, nor were they armed with tools that could scramble radars.
So shrinking was their best option.
Once they were past the towers, they would make their way to where Riri had her stuff, where they would revert to normal size and grab the suit before returning the ship to normal and getting out of Florida as quickly as possible.
Hopefully, none of them would get shot in the process.
The only twist to the plan was that Cassie would be off on her own separate mission. As the team recovered Riri's suit, Cassie would search the databases and see if she could figure out if S.W.O.R.D. was behind the strange attacks in Baltimore, Mexico, and Cambridge.
Kate eyed the towers as they passed, waiting for some sort of defense system to activate and for them to be shot out of the sky. Her instincts screamed for her to do something, but nothing happened. They cruised past the facility's defenses and followed Riri's tracker.
"I didn't like that," Skaar grumbled, glaring at the towers.
He had changed out of his human clothes and now wore armor he had once donned as a gladiator: an armored kilt, a studded pauldron over his left shoulder, bracers, and greaves. His sword was sheathed at his side.
"Is that a barn?" Eli muttered, staring curiously at the main base.
"It could be the White House for all I care," Riri said impatiently, working with Skaar and Cassie. "It doesn't have my stuff." She glared at the variety of buildings before pointing at one near the back of the compound. "There, that's where it is."
"Cassie, you know where you're going?" Kate asked.
"Yep," Cassie replied. "I'll catch up with you all later."
"Radio if you need help," Kate advised a tight knot of worry in her stomach.
This was their first real test and she wasn't comfortable with a member of the team going off on their own. She trusted Cassie, but she also understood that they were all still new to being heroes.
Cassie, on the other hand, was ecstatic to have her own mission. She had been grappling with thoughts that she was a "one trick pony" in the group and that her purpose on the team was boiled down to being able to shrink and grow. She hoped to show off her other abilities and prove herself to her team.
"Roger that, Hawkeye," Cassie joked as she flew out of sight.
"Are we switching to codenames?" Kamala asked.
Kate hesitated before shaking her head. "No, we'll stick to our normal names."
It didn't take long for the ship to make its way to the building Riri had pointed out, but it felt like an eternity for Kate, who worried that they'd be shot out of the sky at any second. Nevertheless, they slipped into an outside vent and made their way to the main room through the air ducts without a single issue.
"Is it supposed to be this easy?" Eli asked.
"If you jinx us, I'm throwing you out of this ship," Riri warned as the ship landed. Whatever she was going to say next died on her lips.
In front of them, trapped by bluish-green laser beams, was a white man. Not white as in pale, but white as in it looked like everything about him—skin and clothes—was the same color as sunscreen. The only color he had were his eyes and the jewel in the middle of his forehead, which were the same shade of icy blue.
Of course, Kamala was the first and only person to recognize who it was.
"It's Vision," she gasped.