A/N: Warning... this chapter contains graphic descriptions of violence. You have been warned!!
Year: 2012
I had to do it. Carlos knows the guilt will eat at me, but it was a necessary and inevitable end for Mom's life. How did Mom find out about the Hydra cell in Trenton? Thankfully, my friends aren't a part of the mess. And boy, was it a mess. I'm glad my teammates are still alive, though many have injuries from their assignments.
Mom had everything linking her to the Hydra cell in her basement. In all my life, I never thought Mom would stoop that low. She has records of calling the hospitals in Florida, checking to see if I had children. Mom doesn't know I had the babies in a private clinic. Tony had JARVIS hide the records of the children's birth by using one of my cover names.
My mom was relentless in trying to uncover that detail. How did she know I was pregnant? Dad knew, but he kept that intel close to his chest. I'm still sorting through the paperwork I found in Mom's basement.
Grandma is angry that I had to kill Mom. She thinks we could have taken Mom into custody. I think Grandma's upset she didn't have the opportunity to complete the task herself. I'm sitting in Rangeman Trenton's conference room, scanning the documents into the database when Grandma calls.
"Hello," I reply.
"Stephie, I'm not angry," Grandma says. "Helen deserved to die for wanting to sell you to Hydra."
"Thanks for saying that, Grandma. I'm feeling enough guilt for having to take her life," I confess.
"Don't feel guilty. She deserved to die. I don't know where I went wrong," Grandma replies, making me smile. I recall Mom saying that about me a few times. "Valerie's coming home."
"For the funeral?" I ask.
"Permanently," Grandma replies. I wonder what Steve did to push Valerie away. Grandma quickly adds, "She caught him screwing the under-aged babysitter. Steve got arrested this morning."
"Oh boy," I mumble. "Does Val need help?"
"She's on her way home with the girls. I'm letting her move into Helen's house," Grandma explains. "I hope you don't mind me giving her the house."
"Grandma, it's fine. I don't need it or the money. I'll arrange a hotel room for Valerie and the girls or find a temporary home. Mom's house is a mess. Literally. Angie and Mary Alice don't need to see the mess Mom made when she exploded."
"Stephanie, your mother didn't explode," Grandma laughs.
"I know. But Mom did release her bladder and bowels when the bites electrocuted her. The cleaners couldn't remove the stench from the floors. Did you know there's hardwood under all that carpeting?" I ask. Should I mention that I added to the shock?
I can't believe Mom tried to kill me. She used Grandpa's old 45 and pulled the trigger. Thank goodness Tony's Kevlar clothes stopped the bullet. I never want to see Carlos that angry again. Holy hell, it was scary… and hot. I wanted to jump his bones right then and there. I'm certifiably crazy.
"No. It already had carpeting when your parents purchased the house," Grandma replies.
"I hired a crew to replace all the flooring and fixtures. It will take a few months to prepare everything and the girls. I'm paying for everything, so you don't have to worry about using the estate to cover the expenses," I explain. Grandma and I talk for a few more minutes before I have to return to my task.
Diesel enters the conference room with Flash and Sylvester. He sits across the table and reviews some paperwork I'm scanning into the computer. "Your mom is responsible for this mess?" he asks, reading the copy of Mom's email exchange with Joyce Barnhardt.
"Unfortunately," I reply. "Why did she hate me so much?"
"Only she can answer that question," Diesel unhelpfully replies. "Slick and Stem are dead."
"I'm sorry, Diesel. I know you were close to Stem." Diesel shrugs off my condolences. "We haven't talked in a few years," he explains. I patiently wait for Diesel to tell me the rest of the story. He rubs his temples while trying to organize his thoughts.
Flash takes pity on his friend and shares, "Stem and Slick hoped to overthrow the Council Of Unmentionables. They wanted to recruit everyone to become the Unmentionable Super Soldiers for Hydra. We couldn't let them live."
"I hated having to kill them, but we really had no other choice. Annie is angry we needed most of her elixirs for healing," Sylvester explains. "Diesel had the hardest job."
"Why? Because he had to take away their powers?" I ask.
Diesel lowers his hands and opens his eyes. I see the pain from disarming his friends. It was more than just removing the powers. "Let me," I whisper. I get up from my seat and walk around the table to sit in the chair beside Diesel. While holding Diesel's face between my palms, I touch our foreheads together and look into his eyes. "Think about everything that happened," I calmly guide.
We don't need the words. I can see everything, like a reflection in the water. It's the same as reading Tony's memories after his rescue. When Diesel touches my face, I can feel the pain in his mind. I want to take it away, but I can't. Diesel needs to remember the pain to keep himself sane and on the side of good. "Thanks," Diesel says. He kisses my forehead. "We have to head home. I need time to decompress before visiting my niece and nephew."
"Jaime and Nate miss their Uncle Diesel," I laugh. "Don't wait too long to visit. Jaime will know something is wrong."
"Visiting her is exactly what I need. When will you be home?"
"In a week. I have a few things to clean up here," I reply.
"See you in a week," Diesel says. He kisses the top of my head before disappearing with Flash and Sylvester.
The rest of my team arrived within a few minutes of each other. I stash the paperwork on the table to discuss the day's events.
"Joyce?" I ask.
Ram clears his voice, "Barnhardt must have arrived early. We met Vince at the bonds office."
I raise my hand, motioning for Ram to stop talking. Vince grimaces and says, "Connie was a tough one. She shot me in the shoulder through her computer monitor." He turns to Tony. "Your Kevlar clothes work. The bullet dislocated my shoulder, but I returned fire, hitting Connie between the eyes. I don't know what serum Hydra gave her, but her head exploded." Vince sends the photos to me in an email. JARVIS displays them on the wall. Connie's head literally exploded like a watermelon when you wrap too many elastics around its centre.
"What happened next, Ram?" I ask.
"Vinnie and Barnhardt raced from Vinnie's office, almost naked. Joyce only wore her four-inch heels. Vinnie's shirt was off, and his pants were around his ankles," Ram replied. "Joyce started firing while using Vinnie as a shield. Her bullet ricocheted and caught Vinnie in the balls. He bled out within minutes. She took the coward's way out and shot herself in the head."
"Vince's shield protected us from her bullets," Hal adds. "I think the impact of her bullet rebounded off his shield and forced the round to return." Hal shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Bomba, but it was unreal. I've never witnessed anything like that before."
Tank grins as he listens to the stories. He sends his pictures to me. JARVIS helpfully projects them on the wall. I couldn't stop laughing. Lula, the famous Stark Street prostitute, is wearing a bacon dress. It's ridiculous. The following few photographs show Lula running away from a pack of wild dogs. Tank caught an image of Lula tripping over a chihuahua. "Oh my God!" I say, laughing hysterically. I gasp when the next photograph shows on the screen. A pack of dogs is on Lula. They're eating the bacon while biting her. She appears to be unconscious. The last picture shows Lula dead, having died from the dogs ravaging her.
"Why was she wearing a dress made out of partially cooked bacon?" Tony asks.
"I told her I loved bacon and said she would look sexy wearing a bacon dress," Tank replies, laughing. Tony looks amused.
Hal asks, "How did you know it would work?"
"That she'd wear the bacon or the dogs attacking her?" Tank questions.
"Both," Hal replies.
I answer both questions. "Trenton always had dogs roaming free. Most houses don't have enclosed yards. Lula noticed Tank in town and wanted to get her hands on his money. She would do anything to get him in bed, then blackmail him to keep his wife in the dark."
Hal swings his head to Tank and raises a brow. "Steph isn't wrong. When I asked Vinnie about capturing high-bond skips," Tank replies, "Lula propositioned me. "She dressed like a prostitute and filed the paperwork for Vinnie. Lula never realized brightly coloured spandex is not a good look on anyone."
I shudder in disgust. Lula wore more clothes under the bacon dress than I found in her police file. Tony interrupts my thoughts, "A homicide detective, Joseph Morelli, wants to question Tank."
"After the debrief," I reply. Tony closes his visor and relays the message. "Steve, what do you have on Alpha?" I ask.
"While I went after Alpha, Bucky destroyed the lab and the storage facility housing the serum. Everything burned to the ground. Alpha wasn't enhanced. It was easy to neutralize him. Benito Ramirez was more challenging. He was enhanced. I needed Bucky to help defeat him," Steve replies. I could tell he was not happy about needing assistance.
Benito Ramirez was abusive before becoming a boxer. Jimmy Alpha found Ramirez fighting on the streets as a young teen. Ramirez spent years in the gym, learning to punch with precision and, at times, deadly force. That was before the super serum. Getting him off the streets of Trenton is the best we could do for the women in my hometown.
"How did you stop Ramirez?" I ask, looking between Steve and Bucky.
Steve points to his best friend. "Bucky approached from the rear as I distracted Ramirez. We used everything in our arsenal. I threw my shield to Bucky when Ramirez had his back to me," Steve explains.
"It was a bloody mess," Bucky replies. Steve gets JARVIS to project the pictures from his phone. Bucky is holding Ramirez's head in his robotic hand, and Steve's bloody shield is in Bucky's right hand.
"That is disgusting," I reply. "Has anyone cleaned up the mess?"
"Bucky and I carried the bodies to the funeral home on Stark Street," Steve answers.
JARVIS played everything he gathered from the street CCTV cameras and body cams. We saw everything played on the screen like a gruesome horror flick.
I recorded everything in the file and sent it to the Pentagon with the video and photographic evidence. "I must say that seeing everything live is much different than seeing photographic evidence," I say after uploading the files to a secure server.
"Detective Joseph Morelli is still demanding an interview," Tony announces. "Ah. The Calvary has arrived."
"Melinda May?" Steve asks.
I smile at my friend. "No. Tony means the men from the Department of Defence. They probably want the hard copies of everything we gathered," I explain. "Bring them up."
Tony sends the message to Bruce Banner. A few minutes later, Bruce arrives with the men. I smile when President Matthew Ellis enters the conference room with Thaddeus Ross and Joseph Morelli. "Your guards are welcome to join you, Sir," I say, standing to shake the president's hand.
"They're waiting downstairs with the other Rangeman employees," Ellis replies. "I wanted to personally thank you and your team for removing another Hydra threat. Thank you for your service, Bomba."
Thaddeus shakes my hand, "Bomba, thank you for organizing this operation with my best Rangers team and the Avengers. Your team's service to our country will be recognized at a ceremony in three weeks at the White House. The president and I expect to see all of you there."
"Thank you, Sir," I reply. Thaddeus shakes the other men's hands. He leaves with the president, Tony and Bruce.
Joseph Morelli stands there, his mouth agape, wondering what the hell just happened. He wants to question us for the murders in the Burg and on Stark Street. We have nothing to hide. Morelli can't arrest us for murder since we were on a domestic mission for the military.
"Do you have any questions, Detective Morelli?" I ask.
"Steph? Is it really you?" Joe asks. I roll my eyes. Is he serious? Carlos steps closer and wraps an arm around me. We're wearing our wedding bands. I brush a loose hair behind my left ear. Joe growls when he notices the ring.
"Yes, it's me. I haven't seen you since I rearranged your nuts," I say, reminding Joe of his attempt to rape me. Carlos grins when Joe covers his crotch with his left hand. "Lester, can you please see Morelli out?"
Carlos, speaking in Spanish, says, "We should call the children." He entwines our fingers when he grabs my hand.
"Can we have them come here with Hector and the others?" I ask.
"Yes," Carlos replies. "I'll arrange it with the others."
Tony interrupts, "I sent a jet. Your family should arrive in a few hours." We thank Tony for his generosity in offering the quinjet for the others to return. He reminds me it was heading this way with Natasha and Clint. Adding a few more people isn't an issue.
Carlos and I continue speaking in Spanish. It's rude, but Morelli was supposed to leave with Lester. He makes to grab my arm, but Lester quickly subdues him. "Are we going to have a problem, Joe?" I ask.
"No. I don't want those thugs and criminals in my city," Morelli snarls.
"Oh? I thought we disposed of the major criminals," I reply.
"Your mother is dead," Joe snarls. I don't have the patience to deal with the idiot.
"Good riddance," I reply. "Helen brought Hydra to Trenton. Think about that, asshole."
Joe shakes his head. I smile when I find a copy of the email messages on the table. Joe recognizes the email address, and his face pales. "Steph," he calls. Lester prevents him from following us. I want Morelli out of my building.
"I have things to do, Morelli. Have a good day," I say. Carlos and I disappear in the elevator and ride it to the top floor. I assume Lester and Bobby removed the detective from the building.
When we get to the seventh floor, I laugh. "What did you do to Morelli?" he asks.
"Oh. Have I never told you the story?" I wonder. Carlos shakes his head. The elevator door opens on the seventh floor. Victoria is standing by the open door of an apartment.
I wait until we get inside and tell him everything about the day I rearranged Morelli's testicles and he had to get surgery to repair the damage. Carlos couldn't stop laughing. "It's why I tell the guys to wear a jock when sparring with me. My knee is lethal."
"Your knee isn't the most lethal part of you," Carlos replies.
"What's Stephanie's most lethal part?" Victoria curiously asks. I won't use it on Victoria because she's pregnant. Tank and Victoria found out a few weeks ago.
"Her abilities," Tank says as he opens the door. "I told you about them."
"Pierre, I thought you were kidding. Can you really taser someone with your finger?" Victoria asks. I nod. "How about you use it on the next person to enter the apartment?"
Carlos, Tank and I place silent bets on who we think will arrive next. Tank believes it will be Lester. Carlos bet on Bobby. I think Hal will receive the jolt. Victoria raises her brow when I move to stand behind the door. When I press a finger to my lip, she snorts and quickly covers her mouth.
The door opens. I touch the hand holding the doorknob. Lester catches Hal before he hits the floor. Victoria is laughing so hard she has to hang onto Tank.