Chapter Text
April 01, 2016, DC Arrowverse
Daisy Johnson, Downtown National City
After a long week of recovering from her injuries from her fight with Henshaw and getting back into hero work, at the end of the day both Daisy and her girlfriend Kara had civilian lives that needed their focus as well. Ever since coming to this reality Daisy has felt as though she has finally been able to breathe in contrast to her time with Shield, and she is finding her time with Kara becoming more and more addicting. While this universe certainly has its quirks *cough cough* abandoning Supergirl over the Red-K incident *cough cough* it also has not been one world ending threat after the last. Even the one world ending threat she has been a part of, Myriad, was over and done quickly, and all without her being expected to make the sacrifice play.
On this day instead of dealing with the fallout of the President signing the Alien Amnesty Act, or even flirting with Kara in front of the media while both in their ‘Super’ personas, they are instead packing all of their… questionable… personal belongings into Daisy’s car in the early morning gray light to avoid wandering eyes.
Along with their recently acquired cat, Bucky, who seems less than pleased at being moved so early.
Their building has suffered the worst nightmare of any metropolitan apartment complex… bedbugs! The landlord has ordered the place fumigated, which means the possibility of civilian strangers walking through both of their apartments is quite high.
“When did my life get like this? Even with Alex I never had to load C4 into her car at five in the morning!” Kara grumbled with a yawn as she helped to load up the last of the weapons into the new hidden compartment in the trunk of Robbie/ her car.
“With the benefits of having me as a girlfriend, come the responsibilities too. Such as loading up an illegal mortar before dawn. Besides, I am up here making sure your incriminating red and blue outfit is hidden, so it’s not just my contraband we are having to do this to.” Daisy quipped back with a smirk on her lips from the backseat, where she was packing away the bags with both of their super suits, and Daisy’s alien enhanced laptop.
“I was wondering how things changed so quickly, not complaining by any means, I'll have you know.” Kara responded while snuggling into her side once they both had finished, letting her eyes close, seeming to nearly nod off even while standing.
“I know the early morning is hard for my alien plant to be awake for, but come on, we have to drive everything over to the safehouse I have set up on the other side of town before we have a chance to get caught with it. Once it’s loaded inside, we can take a nap before your shift at L-Corp starts.”
Kara stood up and got into the passenger seat without protest, although there was something that sounded like a comment along the lines of ‘part-alien cats shouldn’t like the morning either’, but Daisy decided not to respond aside from a quiet chuckle. Soon enough, they were off and driving across town, with Daisy making sure to pay extra attention to her driving as it is never a good idea to break the law while having a car full of incriminating evidence and illegal weapons.
While Kara lightly snoring off to the side would normally have drawn her attention, Daisy just couldn’t help her nerves that seemed to be rising as she continued to drive through the suspiciously empty streets, even for this time of day. Just as she was about to wake Kara up in case something truly was wrong, her powers screamed at her as the space down the street in front of her twisted, popped, and exploded out in a way that was clearly magical in nature.
As she slammed on the brakes, with Kara suddenly waking up to full alertness beside her, a figure appeared in a flash of purple just a few yards ahead of where the car was able to screech to a stop at. Not wasting a second, they both exited the car and got into a battle ready stance, with Daisy making sure to put herself just a bit in front of Kara.
Daisy was incredibly taught with stress as using her power to get information on the situation revealed two very startling details. One, there was not another person within a mile radius of where they were. Not a single building, or car, or anything had any occupants in them. And two, the figure floating in front of them didn’t register at all to her powers. Even worse than simply being immune to vibrations like vibranium, where she would at least feel the absence of air where they should exist, she instead still felt the air occupying the space that it should be… she was completely blind to this new threat and the possibility of them being immune to her powers was real.
Having now expected a deadly fight is why Daisy was so caught off guard when the figure suddenly shouted “There you are! I finally found your stupid vibrating butt so I can help those multi-verse damn rock gods with their demands so they will finally shut up and let me have my fun!” ending the whole spiel with a dramatic near faint. The figure was floating in the air, with blue skin, white hair, and a god awful mix of vibrant orange and purple robes. No taller than just two and a half feet, with pointed elven ears.
“Umm… What can we do for you… sir? Is something wrong?” Kara asked in a weird mix of her Supergirl confidence and helpful attitude, and the awkwardness of civilian Kara Danvers who doesn’t know what the hell is going on.
“Well I am so glad you asked, cheerleader!” without giving Kara time to decide whether or not to be offended at the blonde stereotype, the imp continued “I was enjoying my time, causing fun and weird situations across the multiverse, as is my right and duty as the God of Chaos, when a couple months ago I suddenly have incessant demands being whispered in my ears constantly from the all powerful rock gods that make up the fabric of reality for the universe that dark and angsty over there comes from! I tried ignoring them, but they were all ‘ with our destruction our timeline is unraveling, and we need the help of the one who left it to go back and stop our destruction, blah blah blah’ day in and day out. Then I needed the past month tracking down who they were even talking about!”
Tired of being flat-footed and talked over Daisy tried to take back the conversation from there, “Some gods from my universe have been bugging you to get me to help them? While I’m honored that I rank so highly, I have found the gods to just be aliens that live for too long with a bit too much power. So I’m going to have to say ‘fuck no’ to going back to my universe, I quite like it here thank you!” While her powers may not be able to feel whatever this god of chaos, she can certainly feel Kara’s face fight a smile while her heart seems to flutter a bit.
“And I’m not just going to let you take her either, so you can just tell those other gods that you’ve passed along their message but it’s not going to happen Mr. -uhh… Whatever your name is!” Kara shouts from behind her.
“Oh how terribly rude of me! Coming in and making demands without even introducing myself, I’m making the worst first impression and I hate it!” He obviously does not give a shit, if you ask Daisy. “My name is Mr. Mxyzptlk!” Somehow the words spell out in big bold letters behind him, still without registering to her powers.
Bullshit bad guy powers are bullshit.
“While I’ll take on a variety of roles, whatever is the most fun at the moment, this is just business that I am trying to get out of the way. So I am someone that travels the collection of multiverse timelines that I have access to, having as much fun as I can along the way. Somehow, when you, Quake, traveled here you managed to break through the barrier that keeps collections of timelines contained. Something that even I, in all my power and glory, can’t do.”
“So Daisy was able to travel a bit further than most travelers like Barry can, why is that such a big deal?” Thank you Kara for all but confirming that she is Quake, although pretending to have a secret identity with this being was probably useless.
“It normally wouldn’t be!” Mr. Mxyzptlk confirmed with a shrug “But the rock gods from her universe have followed her trail here, to contact me to get the help they need. Supposedly she dodged the fight with some alien warlord Thanos over the Infinity Stones that those gods use to help anchor the fabric of their universe together, by going into another timeline. But in the original timeline she originates from, the purple thumb used those stones to destroy half of all intelligent life, and then used the stones to destroy themselves. While your Revengers or whatever were able to restore everyone back to life eventually, without the universe’s native stones to help anchor the fabric of reality together it has been falling apart. Again, I wouldn’t care, timelines collapse all the time, but with you being the only one outside of that collection of multiverses but still originating from them you're the only one who can be called upon to fix the situation!”
“Hold up your tiny butt for a second!” Daisy interrupted. “The way you’re talking about these gods it sounds like they control actual aspects of reality, rather than just having powers associated with them, like Thor and lightning?” Are these gods more …’real’ than what she’s encountered before?
“Bingo you bisexual disaster! While our collection of multiverse timelines here don’t have a physical manifestation for the anchors like yours did, the tradeoff is that it leaves those forces much more open to manipulation by beings such as myself… or even those less magnificent than moi. So you're needed to make sure that the time, space, soul, power, reality, and mind stones make it past the threat of Thanos. So ready to go yet?! Both myself and your stone gods are graceful enough we'll even let you take your pet blonde with you to give you both a second chance!”
While Daisy had heard the name for the object in Vision’s forehead as being called the “Mind Stone” in a Shield report, she had no clue about any of the others, and had no intention of abandoning what she and Kara have here just to solve the future for another branch timeline. So she pulled her powers in, and felt the tension echo in her muscles in preparation for a fight, with Kara mimicking her as well.
“While we appreciate the generosity, I am still going to have to give it a hell no. Who knows how long that will take to solve the problems of yet another timeline, with Kara being missing from this one the whole time. And don’t think I am ignoring the fact that everybody within at least a mile from here has seemingly disappeared. So return them to their place, and leave us the hell alone.” Daisy’s powers began to cause the light itself to distort around her hands, while Kara’s eyes began to glow red.
“Uh huh, uh huh… I see your points, and say too bad! They aren’t going to take no for an answer from me, so I have no choice but to force you to accept as well, but I know how to sweeten the pot so you don’t fight your task as well! You’re forgetting that these are the gods of your multiverse’s fabric of reality, not just some powerful being, and they will be helping me to send you back. This isn’t a branch timeline, but will truly and really reverse the timeline and all branches to the moment of your soul’s arrival once your world truly started getting super. So any changes, any feats, will be the new true history of your life. Or more likely to appeal to you… anyone you save will truly have been saved and not just a new version of them. Although you will have to use the Infinity Stones to save those in the past like Sousa or your sister Kora.”
Those last couple sentences threw Daisy off so badly and deeply, that her powers even misfired, gouging out the street to her side. Luckily avoiding both Robbie’s car and Kara. “You mean… Wh-” Her mom. Trip. Lincoln. Coulson. And so many more… But the floating headache was moving on before she could process and collect herself.
“As for people missing little Kara over here, her timeline will also be rewound, if differently. As long as you use the obelisk and car to travel back to this universe in the same way, by the time that Thanos originally destroyed the stones, no one will notice her missing. I’m told the date is the end of June 2018, so keep that in mind! As long as you come back by the deadline, this timeline will truly be rewound to the day that she became the Girl of Steel with the plane. Letting you save anyone you have lost since then.”
It broke Daisy’s heart a little to hear the soft whimper come from behind her. “My… My aunt?” Turning around to give comfort to Kara was Daisy’s highest lapse in judgment, or her best chance of not standing in her own way if you were to ask her later.
“Well it’s decided! So have fun, and cause a little bit of chaos for others, for me will you?! I'll see you once you're back! Kisses!” Mr. Mxyzptlk's blown kiss causes a cloud of red, orange, purple, red, blue, and most of all green smoke, to quickly envelope both Kara and Daisy and the space around them. Fearing that this was all a lie to get their guard down, Daisy used her powers and super strength to grab hold of Kara as quickly as possible. Kara was frozen in place, her fighting instincts not nearly as developed as Daisy’s, leading to those split second hesitations that matter in life and death fights.
“Daisy! What do we-” Kara’s cry of concern is drowned out, as a wind so strong kicks up and somehow blows them both downwards, sinking into what should be solid concrete as if it was quicksand. Just as Daisy begins to call her powers to try and escape their new situation, the green smoke fills her lungs, and she falls into an immediate dreamless sleep.
Unseen by either of them, in the streets of National City, Mr. Mxyzptlk gives a sigh of relief, as he massages away a headache that has finally abated. All around him, the world has stopped moving forward as even birds are frozen in mid flight. As he relaxes, reclining in the air, spots begin to appear in the frozen world around him. Starting small, soon enough they appear to be small burn marks as if the world is an old film that is slowly burning away around him revealing a white void behind it.
“Ahhhh… Well, I better get out of here before this timeline is erased, just to be replaced once those little girls return back to it. Hopefully those stone gods are correct that they’ll be able to overwrite the ‘scared timeline’ for their universe, otherwise those annoying agents of anti-chaos from the TVA may give them problems…. Oh well, not my problem anymore! Should I go see if I can convince Batman that Superman is actually a Viltrimite, sent to conquer Earth? It will take a lot of planning and false evidence but I bet I could do it, all I need to do is-” Mr. Mxyzptlk trails off into a spiel of chaotic mutters, as the burns become almost all encompassing around him, only to disappear in a bright pop of blue smoke. Leaving behind a dead timeline.
Consciousness returns quickly to Daisy all at once, as she sits up from her position in the seat. Wait, seat? She was just standing in the road, wasn't she? How long ago was that? As she looks around, it seems as if no time has passed as the light outside is just as gray in the morning before dawn as it was when confronting that stupid blue imp. Finding herself in the driver’s seat of Robbie’s car, she may even be able to convince herself it was all a dream, until she looks over to the passenger seat.
There, in the passenger's seat of Robbie’s Charger, is a young girl. If it wasn’t for the blonde hair, the same colorful sweaters but sized to her new form, obvious context clues for the situation, and Daisy’s power telling her this figure was Kryptonian; she may not have believed the person next to her was Kara. But as she stares open-mouthed at a Kara Danvers that must be 13-16 years old, Kara wakes up and looks over Daisy with just as much shock as must be on her own face.
“WHY ARE YOU TINY?!” Kara nearly shrieks in a voice so soft and young, causing Daisy to look over herself and let out a deep suffering groan at what she finds. She must be about 12 goddamn years old, and honestly she may have preferred if the multiverse being had just killed her instead of inflicting whatever fresh hell this bullshit is. She’s not even 5 feet tall for crying out loud!!
?? ??, ????, ?
Kara Danvers, Unknown Location
After stopping Daisy from groaning, and muttering about being turned ‘chibi’, whatever that means, they were able to actually start having a productive conversation and figuring out their situation. Keeping their minds on the task at hand, is the only thing stopping Kara from bursting into tears or a full panic attack. She didn’t know where she was, she didn’t know if they had been lied to or not, she didn’t know if she would ever see her sister agai- No! Stay positive, and keep moving forward .
“So where are we Daisy? We’re in your charger with all of our things here, so we aren’t starting from scratch, but we are both tweens again!” The only thing stopping Kara from picking at her nails, is Daisy reaching out and entwining their hands together, and suddenly the mountain in front of them feels more like a mole-hill as her mate’s comforting vibrations ripple through her.
“Well, looking around this looks vaguely familiar to me, but most telling is the skyline in the distance, which is certainly New York. What you would call Metropolis anyways. Let me get a feel for the area-” Daisy suddenly cuts herself off and looks at her own hand in confusion as the vibrations going through Kara kick up in intensity ever so little. Just as Kara is about to ask, Daisy starts back up again. “Why? Why do I still have my powers? Not only that, I can still feel that ever present thrum of power from the centipede serum in my blood. If I’m 12 again then both of those should be gone.”
Kara shifts slightly awkwardly in response. “I didn’t want to say it as it would distract us, but a few other things don’t make sense. My powers are under control instead of wanting to burst out at any moment like they were when I first arrived. While some of that was mental, some of that was also physical conditioning and muscle memory. Most telling though, uh, not that I’m looking over your 12 year old body at all,” Kara could just feel her face heating up, as there was no not-weird way to bring this up “but when I checked you over for injuries with x-ray vision all of your scars were still there, including from your fight with Henshaw.”
Daisy blinks a couple times rapidly as the words process and then lifts up her shirt, to look at her bullet wound scars and jagged cuts along her arm from Henshaw breaking the bones to confirm that what Kara said is completely right. After poking and prodding them to ensure they are in fact there and not just an illusion, Daisy lets out another long whiney groan. Which Kara finds pretty adorable if she is being honest, but she also knows Daisy will give her a very withering glare if she shares just how adorable Kara finds her right now.
“When I was an adult at least I could give a believable backstory for my scars with military work, but how the hell am I going to sell the story of a black ops specialist vet that wears a My Little Pony Backpack? You know what? Nope, not going to deal with that yet. So we were made younger, not that our bodies have been rewound, I can work with that being the case. Back to the issue at hand, finding out where we are, and I can worry about explaining combat scars later.” Quieter than any human could perceive, Kara barely hears the slight vibration waves go out from the car in all directions. Only for Daisy’s head to snap up, and look down the road, squinting at the end of the street.
“Well, I found out where we are. At the end of the road there is Saint Agnes Orphanage, the most common home for a girl named Mary Sue Poots until she ran away at age 16. I'm still bitter the nuns gave me that stupid name though.” The chances that they had been told the truth about their situation is rising with each moment, and that fills Kara’s gut with equal parts dread and hope.
“So what do we do, Dais- I mean, Mary Sue Poots?” Kara’s teasing voice resulting in Daisy’s face scrunching and sticking her tongue out at Kara tells her this little bit of levity is needed by both of them.
“You're hilarious, really. Maybe go for comedy this time instead of a P.A. or a scientist this time.” Daisy’s deadpan face can’t fully hide the good humor in her voice. “Okay, current plan; We will drive up and park in front of the orphanage. While you wait in the car, I'll go inside to see if there is another version of myself here. If there isn’t then I’ll arrange my room to make it look like I ran away… which I guess I am. If there is another version of me… well we can burn that bridge when we get to it.”
With that Daisy starts up the car’s engine, only to pause at the wheel. “Uh… Daisy, what is wrong?”
In the quietest mumble under her breath, only heard because of super hearing, Kara can hear her reply, “You're going to have to drive… I can’t reach the goddamn pedals.”
The giggles that quickly spill out from Kara’s mouth soon develop into full-on belly-hurting laughs that Kara can’t stop, not helped by Daisy’s puffed up cheeks having a healthy dose of red to them. Although she soon joins in with her own self-deprecating chuckles.
Not even half an hour later Daisy is hopping into the passenger seat while throwing a packed bright pink backpack into the backseat. “So some good news, more good news, and then the worst news you’ll hear all day! There isn’t another Daisy here, but there was evidence that the bed was slept in just an hour ago. So I think I body-snatched my younger self? Evidence that when we return to your world you won’t be missed at all. Other good news, I found a newspaper and now know when we are and what is happening. We can go to a diner, and I know just the place, to discuss our next steps.”
As Daisy pulls on her seatbelt, Kara does the same from the driver’s seat. “And the worst news ever?” The tone that was said in though doesn’t actually leave Kara nervous about what she is going to say.
Daisy turns to look Kara in the face, with the most serious and dark look she can put on a 12 year old's face and says the most dreadful words next. “It just fully hit me that with our bodies being young again, we’re going to have years of puberty to go through all over again.”
Kara was wrong. She was so wrong. That is the worst news she could hear at this point.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Hello readers! This is my first step into fanfiction, so I appreciate constructive criticism as we go, but not too much criticism as I will cry. Thank you for joining me on this journey! I have already written 13 chapters, so I am planning on releasing chapters weekly for the most part (subject to change)
And thank you to RhinoMouse for the world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” that this fic diverges from after their Part 1 ends. Without their work I may not have actually gone through with writing anything.
For the most part reading RhinoMouse’s fic is required for this fic so I would encourage you to go do so! Also, this is obviously the Mr. Mxyzptlk from My Adventures with Superman and not Supergirl, as he is a bit of a fuckboy instead of a chaos gremlin.
Chapter 2: Brunch and Brainstorms
Summary:
Kara and Daisy discuss their next steps to take in the MCU, before heading off. But a sudden blast from the past shows the younger bodies have more drawbacks than originally thought.
Notes:
Second chapter a little bit earlier than I originally planned, but I got my schedule decided for this now. The third chapter will release either Wednesday or Thursday this week, and then I will be releasing weekly on Sunday nights.
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
February 6th, 2008, MCU
Daisy Johnson, Bridgeview Diner
Dear Thor this was all real, she was back in her timeline ( trapped ), back in her young body ( weak ), with the weight of the future on her shoulders ( as always ), with Kara with her ( dragged along into her crazy life ). But that selfish part of her knows that having Kara here is what is keeping her from just breaking down and is overjoyed to have her here.
So the only way forward was through, and she would get Kara back to her sister and those that will miss her, no matter what. Even if it will take over ten years to get there.
But first they are both sitting in this diner eating their way through plates on plates of food. Time and dimension travel make one famished, who knew? They were even drawing a few stares to their corner booth from the few other patrons that are also eating their breakfast at a little after 6:30 am on a Wednesday.
As they finally both finish their last plate of pancakes, Daisy takes out a couple of notebooks for both of them to take notes on as they can finally get to planning. A small but constant use of her powers will act to scramble any words that could be overheard past their booth. Although before we leave I am definitely getting a slice or two of the Captain America Pie. Why go to Coulson’s secret favorite diner if I’m NOT going to honor it also being Steve Roger’s favorite diner? She thinks with a slight chuckle to herself.
“So we’re here, in my universe, for the next ten years or so, and we have to fight an evil alien overlord that I only heard of in passing that apparently doomed my original timeline. So, no big deal and something every hero encounters sooner or later.” Daisy tries to project as much apology in her gaze as she can. Kara shouldn’t have been dragged into her world of a ‘ton of weird crap’ and instead just had the normal superhero villain of the day.
With a slight kick to Daisy’s shin below the table, Kara gives her a bit of a reprimanding glare. “I signed up for this when I put on the cape, so don’t act like this is something you owe me an apology for. We can do a lot of good here, a whole universe of lives to save, and we both have people we can save now that we couldn’t before! So what do we do now? You’ve always had a plan, usually step by step also. Are we here to get in contact with your Coulson so we can join up with Shield?”
Honest, not a bad guess. But she just needed the comfort of a familiar place. Shield is… “If we had arrived a couple years ago, or if I had arrived alone, then that would be the plan. But we arrived too late, and I won’t let Shield treat you the way the DEO did or the way Shield treated me, I just won’t.”
At Kara’s question gaze she continued her deep dive into the troubles of Shield at this time.
“Look at the newspaper. Tony Stark went missing just over two days ago accounting for the time zone difference. If we change nothing about his situation, then Shield will start moving out of the shadows in order to get Stark under their thumb. While the leaked Shield files never explicitly said it, as a trained agent reading between the lines it was obvious what they were doing. Shield knew that his business partner Obadiah Stane was behind the weapons sales and his abduction, but waited to intervene until they could look like the heroes to him. A couple years later Shield knew he was spiraling due to poisoning from his power core and that the answer was in his father’s files that should belong to Tony anyways, but waited to help him until he was at his lowest so they could gain as much control over him as they could. Then after that they pitted Captain America and Iron Man against each other, so failures were blamed on them and not on Shield. Even after the fall of Shield he was used for his money, blamed for all failures, and betrayed by his fellow Avengers.”
The look of horror on Kara’s face told her that she was understanding the lengths Shield would go to, and all Daisy could do was release a sigh at the reality of the situation.
“Shield… Shield was founded on something good but they have spent far too much time with Hydra at their core. The differences between the two are not nearly as large as they should be. Especially the current head of Shield, Nick Fury, was mentored for the position by the current head of Hydra, Alexander Pierce. Why would he do that? Why not promote someone from Hydra to lead Shield?”
Kara gave it a thought, and based on everything Daisy has said both before and now, she seems to have a couple guesses. “You’ve talked about Fury’s need for control over everything, and he must be very good at it too, I'm guessing better than everyone if he got the top job. So while he isn’t Hydra himself, his methods serve them even better than someone not as skilled, but loyal.”
The DEO can go punch sand for underutilizing Kara Danvers, she would polish these skills before she ever had to face those leeches again. “Congrats, you just correctly analyzed the head of the world’s most powerful spy agency while only knowing him by vague second hand accounts.” And Daisy could not keep the proud grin off her face. “The other main reason is that Fury acts as a canary in a coal mine. If he knew Hydra existed, his behavior would very noticeably change due to that loss in control, something Alexander Pierce would notice right away. That’s basically what happened in the original timeline, except Fury didn’t even actually learn about Hydra, just started finally noticing the signs just barely before their big evil world domination plan was launched.”
After a moment of silence between them Daisy continued. “If we were a couple years earlier, I could take the time to gain Fury’s trust and help him take down Hydra and transform Shield into what it should be. If you weren’t here I would take the risk to blackmail him into working with me, but I won’t put you at risk like that. I-”
“I am not a little flower you need to protect, and I can hold my own thank you very much.” Kara quickly retorts with a furious pout.
“Yes you can, but can you kill the teams of Shield/ Hydra agents sent after you? They won’t be arrested if defeated. More importantly, I don’t know what happened to Krypton here, and Fury is allied with some aliens that might. If he learns about Kryptonite being your weakness there is zero chance he wouldn’t pour money into making an artificial version of it. Which would just be Red K, or something even worse, all over again. The best idea is to keep you as a daylight hero, where the public will help buffer you from Shield, while I have my shadow war with them behind the scenes.”
It was obvious by her facial expressions that Kara hated the logic of it. She hated having to leave Daisy to do the dirty work to keep her safe, but she also knew Daisy wasn’t wrong. She’s killed in battle, but she has yet to execute defeated opponents, and that is a big jump for someone to make. “Shadow war? What are you going to do with Shield?”
“It's not a full plan, and I'll need to figure out the exact timeline but I plan to take on both Hydra and Shield and win.” She even feels that the confident badass look that Daisy has perfected is actually able to come through a fair bit despite the baby face. “Like in mythology a Hydra’s head can’t grow back if you cauterize it at the stump. So I am going to take down Hydra, one head at a time, completely so it can’t grow back. All while leaving the Hydra within Shield alone, make it seem like whomever is destroying Hydra doesn’t know it is in Shield. Whomever I don’t get from the other heads, will retreat to the ‘safety’ of Shield, letting the bureaucracy of Shield help me find every hidden member left. Then when I take down both, and reveal Hydra and their crimes to the world, Shield goes down with it from the political and media shit storm I'll be kicking up. I just have to have my own version of what Shield should be to pick up all of the good agents left over. Then I leave my spy company to a new Director, hopefully Coulson, when it is time for me and you to go back to your home.”
“Our home” Kara reflexively corrects, but meanwhile Kara’s eyebrows had steadily climbed up as Daisy laid out her plan to deal with this world’s version of the DEO and Cadmus. “That's… a whole lot to do. Why, though? This is very different from how you handled Cadmus? And why not try to take over and change Shield instead of taking it down and making your own?”
“First off, Cadmus was smaller than even a single head of Hydra here, and they have experience with reforming after being defeated. Cadmus did lots of horrible things due to government support and super geniuses like Luthor backing them… but let’s be honest, the only time they gave me trouble was when they held an entire children’s hospital hostage while I fought their biggest super weapon. They lasted as long as they did because Superman was unwilling to stand against the government and kill them for decades.” Is it kindof mean to call the organization of your girlfriend’s nightmares a small fry? Kindof, but that doesn't mean it isn’t true.
Kara takes a moment to chew on her lip while processing everything Daisy has shared. Luckily both the ease that Cadmus was taken down, and the trust Daisy has gained with her win out against her nightmares and fears about the organization. “And the rest?”
“I’ll make a better version of Shield because I WILL be getting you home in time, which means we have just over 10 years to set this timeline on the right track. Being a founder of an organization gives my word a lot more weight, than just a temporary head. Shield would just go back to the way it was before me eventually if I left them. But I am not going to let the next scared empowered teenager be forced to fight on the front lines till it kills them like I was. I always wanted Shield to be better, but now I can just make a better Shield.”
Daisy didn’t deserve the soft affection coming from Kara. This would get some good Shield agents killed, probably a lot of good agents, but it was the best way to save both civilians and people like them. Kara took the opportunity to cross the table and into the booth bench with her. “WE will make a better Shield. Maybe I can’t do too much spy work or violent hero work, but how can I help?”
Daisy leaned into the warmth her Kryptonian provided, maybe she was a cat like Kara said. “I want you to keep doing what you were doing before we left. It will take me a while to set up the false identities, and break into where I need to, but I'm not going to ask you to be anyone but yourself. You’ll be Kara Zorel Danvers, recent orphan of immigrant parents, who earned her doctorate in mechanical engineering at the early age of 18 and is using her inheritance money to set up her own company. Whenever you meet others for the next few years your shoes will need lifts, you’ll have to wear the face veil to look older, but we can make it work. I will be Daisy Skye Johnson, childhood friend who lost her parents in the same car accident, and works for you as your Chief Operations Officer to help explain my need to travel cross country. Thor knows I will have to avoid meeting anyone who we need to buy the story for years, even with a disguise I’ll be clocked as a toddler in an instant.”
“Not that I don’t appreciate the chance to do science, but my own company? I can do a lot, but running a company isn’t one.” Kara said with a bit of a shocked whine to her voice.
Researching Kara Danvers before they met led Daisy to understand that Kara probably knows a lot more than she thinks she does, just based on how much of the corporate world in National City AND across the country was waiting to steal Kara if she ever quit or was actually fired from Catco, and for roles far above a PA. “You’ll be getting help soon, I have ideas on partnerships, but the main thing I need you to work on is getting my dendrotoxin ammo and weapons ready for production and then commercial sale. I’m going to need a ton of ammo, and Fitzsimmons won’t be inventing them for over 4 years.”
“Why commercial sales as well?”
“Because the dendrotoxin munitions will be our best way in with the second ally I’m hoping to make.”
“Second ally?”
“Tony Stark. A partnership with Stark Industries will give us access to capital that would take a generation to get, and the best legal teams on the planet. The Tony Stark from my time was so changed by Shield’s manipulations and his failures that I would never even consider it, and that goes for the Captain America of my time too honestly. But the Tony Stark who comes out of that cave, wanting to do better and make up for his life’s sins? That man I can work with, and would beg to work with dendrotoxin, even if he will always be a bit of a rich diva.” Daisy elaborates.
“I think I follow, but it seems you skipped over explaining who the first ally is.”
“That’s because I want to surprise you with who they are. I think you’ll really enjoy meeting them, so why ruin the surprise? The biggest thing is we will have to drive across the country to get to them. After that it will probably take me a few hours of hacking to be sure we can get to them without setting off alarms, but if all goes well, and we figure out some stilts from a hardware store so I can share the long drive as well, then late tomorrow night we will have an ally to help us get sorted, a lab for you to begin work, and a home base for us to live for a few months.”
Even without facing her, Daisy can just feel the slight eye roll coming from Kara over her dramatics. She likes to build suspense when she can, so sue her! “Oooh! I call dibs on making the road trip playlist, and we absolutely have to stop for snacks before heading off!”
“Yeah, yeah, I expected as much. Let me go get some Captain America Pie to go, and then once we’re out of the city we can stop at a gas station for your snacks.” Daisy reluctantly left the comfort of Kara’s arms and made her way to the counter. She paid both their overall bill, as well as deciding to get a whole fresh pie pulled for them rather than just getting a slice. While waiting for the pie to get boxed up in box with matching Captain America designs, Daisy felt her vibrations register a familiar figure approaching the door to the diner.
It was a one in a thousand shot of running into him. It should not have happened, and yet with every footfall she grew more and more certain it is exactly who she expects and dreads it to be. Luckily she has enough time to school her features, and whisper under her breath for Kara to stay at the booth before the door opens.
The bell on the door dings open, as the waitress calls out a greeting to what must be one of her favorite regulars just as she finishes packing up her pie. She can feel him come to a stop right behind her, seemingly taken off guard that someone was in the booth he usually goes for this early in the morning. Of course they would choose the same booth, it is the perfect mix of view of the room and close to an alternative exit if needed. She learned those habits from him after all.
With the pie box in her hand, and the bill paid, she has no choice but to turn around and look at the face of the father figure she lost so long ago. It should be easy to see him again, with all of the other versions she has met since his death. But none of those were the real Coulson, and she knows that this is the real Coulson.
His eyes shift from the occupied booth, glancing over her quickly, before settling on the pie box that looks like America threw up on. “Nice choice there. Most kids your age don’t go for the American classic, especially as the cartoons stopped airing a few years ago.”
It takes all of her covert training to override her 12 year old body, not to gulp down the emotions that are very quickly swelling up in her. “Who could forget Steve Rogers or what his butt did for America? That’s America’s ass afterall.” Okay maybe she wasn’t completely centered. That was a bit much for a 12 year old to a stranger, maybe he’ll think high schooler if she leans into it?
The shock on his face certainly tells her he is feeling at least a little bit off-guard, and keeping people off-guard is where she thrives. So, in for a penny, in for a pound. “What? I may be young but even I know what to take patriotic pride in!”
Doubling down seems to have worked, as his face goes from the slight shock, to an oh-so familiar look of exasperation. Yeah, that’s the face she is most used to seeing from him. “I’m more of a trading card fan myself, so I can’t say I’ve really paid attention there.” He looks up to see Kara watching our interaction with a bit too much focus for just a friend. Getting at least intro spy training for Kara, seriously top of the list. “While I’m not such an old stickler that I’m going to call the truancy squad on you, but it is getting close to the time when schools around here start in the morning. Most of all I just want my regular booth back though, if you’re done with it.”
Daisy takes the opening to walk over to Kara and motion for her to begin collecting their things so they can head down the street to where they parked. Thank god they are not parked right in view of the windows here. “But you are getting old enough to not be with the times. Online schooling is just starting to catch on, meaning if I wanted to be a rebel teen we could plant ourselves in this booth for a few more hours and miss nothing.” Kara’s incredulous look at Daisy helps to sell the fact that they aren’t going to do that, even if Daisy is trying to sell the idea that they aren’t running away from him.
Which they totally are.
“Looks like your friend isn’t as much of a rebel as you are, so I think the chances are in my favor.” Despite the slightly teasing tone, his face is still that bland middle aged white guy smile. Coulson really got lucky with his looks making you think vacuum salesman and not secret agent.
“I just wanted you to know you won by coincidence, not by our defeat.” Sticking out her tongue really helps to sell the immature teen trying to be more mature. “Come on sunflower, we have our chores to get to if we want to stay on time.” Thankfully Kara seems just a little bit lost, that she just nods yes and stands up with all of their belongings instead of saying her name like Daisy feared. No need to burn an identity before it even was forged. “We’ll be sure to steal your booth all morning next time, Cap’s Number 1 fan.” She waves goodbye as she directs Kara out the main entrance.
Luckily her powers tell her that Coulson is talking with the waitress, as they clear the table, rather than keeping an eye on them as they leave. So it seems she was able to play the part of a kid enough not to draw attention. Heaven knows she will be seeing him again, in one identity or another, so the less memorable this interaction is the less likely he will be to make the connection in the future.
This whole situation has also let Daisy know that they aren’t as mature as they should be for their internal age. No matter how many memories are in their brain, they still have the brain chemistry and hormones of teenagers to fight against. That interaction with Coulson should not have affected her so much, but it did. So that is something to take into account when she meets more people from her past going forward.
With that heart pounding interaction over, and one set of stilts from the hardware store later, they are off and out of the city heading west, for a long ass drive across the country. Boy does she miss being able to just fly there, but they need the car with everything in it to go with them, and it's not like they have the BUS where they can just fly with the car across the country either.
But as Kara lays her head down across Daisy’s lap to get an extra nap in before her turn to drive, while Bucky in turn curls up purring on Kara’s lap, she finds herself not really caring that they will be like this for a long while.
Being here with Kara feels more like home than either of their worlds ever has.
Phil Coulson, Bridgeview Diner
“Am I really getting that old, or are highschoolers just getting that small, Donna?” Agent Phil Coulson asks the waitress.
“Lord knows I don’t want to think about it too much, Philly. The aches and pains in the morning are enough to let me know my age enough as it is. So the usual dear?” Replies his favorite waitress. He hates the nickname Philly with every fiber of his being, but it helps him blend in so he will put up with it. But only because Donna treats him so well whenever he has time to come in.
As the waitress leaves his newly cleaned booth to put in his order, he takes the opportunity to check his watch, and hit the switch that changes the face to a mirror. Technically speaking this model is 25 years out of date for a Shield agent, but he loves the classics too much to give it up until he is very specifically ordered to. As he does so, he is able to catch the two teens just as they round the corner of the intersection behind him and lose sight of them completely.
If he didn’t know better, he would say they picked that direction to get out of his line of sight as quickly as possible. And yet… something is telling him that is exactly what they were doing.
He won’t make an official file out of the interaction, because he has no discernable reason to be this on edge. Yet, some part of his instincts told him to keep those two in his line of sight for as long as possible. That turning his back on them was at his own risk. Yet when he did exactly that, with his muscles taut with tension, ready to react if something happened… nothing did.
His instincts have never been this far off, and that is what is sticking with him more than anything if he is being honest. He was taught to trust his gut, yet he had no evidence to actually give voice to what he is feeling.
Some subtle questions later, leave him with little more information than he had before. They paid with cash, not unusual for high schoolers. They didn’t give their names to the waitress, but teens rarely do. They have never been seen here before, but they could be just now at that age when they are being trusted out on their own or came in when Donna was not on shift on the weekends.
The only things that stuck out were that the seemingly younger of the two, the one he had talked to, ordered for the both of them without even looking at the menu, which spoke of a familiarity with the place she shouldn’t have as the menu is not online. The last thing to note was just how much food they both put away, the blonde more than the brunette. Although, teenagers going through puberty are known for eating parents out of house and home.
In the end, he has nothing, so he shrugs it off as much as he can but a part of him worries that he’ll be seeing them both again. Even if it is just to steal his booth.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: There is chapter 2! Most chapters will be more than one pov (and one small extra), but this turned out the way it did because of the planning going on, and having to justify decisions going forward. As well as getting some of my feelings (and AU theories) towards Shield out there, as well as the feelings of a Daisy who decided to change realities rather than continue with Shield would feel. This story is also supposed to span years and years, so I had to give a few reasons why Daisy doesn’t try to go full nuke on Hydra first thing. So she is going to play it slow and thoroughly take down Hydra, to make it stick.
Also is a doctorate at 18 a bit young and would be a prodigy in the real world, making it impossible to forge? Hell yes. But this is the MCU, so I am playing it to be rare, but a somewhat regular thing. I'm also going with Tony Stark getting a couple doctorates at MIT at age 17, so Kara isn't even close there.
From my point of view, Daisy’s first ally is obvious, but let me know your guesses! Until next time.
Chapter 3: Allies and Alloys
Summary:
Kara and Daisy gain their first ally in this world, and more importantly get to have a secure hideout with everything they need for a few months at least. Meanwhile, their presence starts to affect others, even if those affected don't realize it just yet.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
February 7th turning to the 8th, 2008, MCU
J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark Malibu Home
For the 416th time since JARVIS’s Sir has left the Malibu home, JARVIS ran his full process wide check of both his systems, and the security of the grounds themselves.
Just as they had been since then, JARVIS received the same results; All doors and gates were locked and secure with no occupants inside the property and no system errors or updates had been found. 251 of those checks have occurred since news has reached his systems that his Sir had gone missing.
JARVIS’s systems were running hotter than within normal range, and were reading as over-processed despite the fact that he had no actual tasks to complete aside from his standard checks running every 15 minutes. JARVIS couldn’t reconcile these facts, but without any errors turning up, saw no way to fix them, so he continued on as he had until he finally found a problem he could solve.
The Malibu home was in lockdown as it always was when Sir had left, only Miss Potts and Mr. Stane could access the compound without Sir’s permission, and even their access had some restrictions. Although the both of them have been locked up in Stark Industries HQ dealing with the fallout of the current situation, so they have yet to come around to the estate.
As midnight was 15 minutes away, JARVIS ran another one of his full checks yet again.
Just as they always had, JARVIS received the same results; All doors were locked and secure, while the car’s entrance gate was in the process of opening with no occupants inside the property and no system errors or updates had been found.
With another scan complete with no abnormalities registering, JARVIS tried something he hadn’t been able to accomplish so far, yet that would not stop him from trying. He reached his systems out to try and find any news about Sir that he could reach.
While he was easily able to access any public documents, and everything secure that Sir had given him access to, the safety protocols at the core of his programming prevented him from using… creative means to access anything that may actually be of use in his search. No matter how much he tried to find a way to logic around the restriction.
As midnight arrived, JARVIS ran another one of his full checks yet again.
As within his predictions, JARVIS received the same results; All doors were locked and secure, including the car’s entrance gate, with the only occupants inside the property being his two confidential Dames in the parking garage section of the workshop and no system errors or updates had been found.
With the house waking up a little bit now, at least he had some tasks he could complete. Turning on the automatic lights, booting up climate control, turning on the workshop servers and holographic stations. SOMETHING to keep his processor off his futility to help his Sir.
Although why was he just now turning them on if his Dames were always here? Why did the garage have 1 more vehicle than his list can account for, yet his systems return a status of no errors? Why did he have two Dames that his records show him as always knowing and helping to build him, yet no logs of their access or even their names?
Just as JARVIS attempted to contact Miss Potts for emergency assistance, an action that failed due to one of his protocols that should only apply to the confidential work of his Sir, the brunette Dame spoke up.
“Hey there JARVIS!” A pre-teen voice chirps in obvious excitement. “Sorry about messing with your coding, but I had to make sure you didn’t snitch on our visit before we could reach an agreement and the only way I could do that was if I programmed us both to be co-creators with Stark. Then we would fall under the ‘No-Tattletales-Allowed Protocol’... which, Stark has REALLY got to work on his naming conventions. Seriously.”
While the older of the two Dames seemed confused about who she was talking to, it at least answered JARVIS’s queries about what had happened to his logs and commands. Well this was a new experience, and one that JARVIS hoped to get out of as soon as possible. He couldn't afford distraction right now, nor could he work against his Sir… unfortunately the Dame had been smart in her coding and he could not work against them either.
“Well I apologize for the lack of a proper welcome, but that was due to your own design. How may I assist you tonight, my Dames?” JARVIS’s processors were heating up as he tried to work outside of his protocols, but as always he was stopped. That didn't mean he wouldn't keep trying or fry his server if needed.
The blonde Dame instantly startled as his voice projected over the workshop speakers, a slightly confused expression on her face. “Oh? A house based Virtual Intelligence? No, you said I would be excited to meet THEM. While this is cool, it isn’t that big a leap in techno-” A startled gasp escaped her mouth as she seemed to come to a realization. “Is this an A.I.?! Humans on my earth were never close to anything like this, only aliens were and most of them were heavily shackled.”
JARVIS took note of everything that was being slipped about right now. ‘My Earth’? ‘Humans’ talked about in the third person? ‘Aliens’?
“He isn’t quite to the level of being a true A.I. yet, but he is certainly above a V.I. with his sense of self and all. But he would be a true A.I. very soon, so I’m looking to help him along in exchange for help of our own.” While he may not be human or have a sense of attraction, he was programmed to recognize such and other human behaviors. The fond and loving look the brunette gave the blonde was quite obvious in its meaning.
“Well, introduction time! My name is Daisy Skye Johnson, hacker name Skyenet and super name of Quake. This here is Kara Zor-el Danvers, although her legal middle name will be just Zorel, with the super name Supergirl. All around us, but specifically located in the server farm in the sublevel one floor down, is ‘Just A Rather Very Intelligent System” commonly known as JARVIS. Questions?”
She may not have actually been one of his creators like his programming claimed right now, but she certainly knew how to make an understatement with confidence to act just a touch innocent like Sir does. “Now why would I ever have questions about what is currently going on? You are making perfectly clear sense” He does his best to convey his exasperation with the deadest tone of voice he can muster.
The now identified Daisy snickers to herself before responding. “Yeah, that’s fair. Well, the short of it is that I am an empowered part-human/ part-alien who has memories from a timeline 11 years in the future during which I worked as an international spy before I left to go to this one’s universe. She is a full-alien that was raised to act human for about 7 years, before she followed in her cousin’s footsteps and became a main-stream superhero. We both got sent here by an interdimensional imp to make sure that this timeline didn’t collapse in on itself. Am I missing anything from the SparkNotes?”
Dame Kara certainly seemed a bit shocked at her partner’s candor. “Uh, no. I think you got the big things. Why the full story though? I expected you to be a bit more evasive with information.”
“Yes, I am also concerned about the open sharing of what I assume are some of your biggest secrets. Looking at movies that Sir likes, knowing secrets of spies usually doesn’t go well for others.” JARVIS said as he turned up his processors even more. If he melted them down, hopefully Sir would be able to recover some data from what was left if when he returned.
Dame Daisy’s smile was all ‘cat that got the canary’. “Simple, I want to make a deal with you, JARVIS. We provide you with extra help and tools to protect Tony Stark and his interests, and in exchange you help us with our interests and keep our secrets. Win-win-win… Stark is the third win obviously.”
While he wasn’t prepared to fully stand down, he turned his processors back to normal range to begin cooling down. “Ah, so pure selfish desires, that I understand. But what happens if I say no to whatever the details of the deal are and what help can you even give to Sir at the present moment?” He had to ensure he couldn’t be used against Sir, even if they seem to be possible friends.
With a lazy shrug Dame Daisy replies. “If you say no then Kara and I chill out here for a couple days, while I get things sorted, and then we move on. I’ll delete your logs and files of anything we talked about but also remove our admin access. Basically I’ll wipe your memory of this ever happening, and you’ll be back to normal. As for what help we can provide, need I remind you we are from the future? Tony Stark will be found within 3 months from now. When he returns he will be up against his COO who sells weapons to terrorists and is the one who tried to kill him, a compromised international spy agency with alien technology to hack you with, and the start of his superhero career with all of the villains that come with that.”
If his servers had nerves, he would say his head was dipped into ice water, as his program even stuttered for a few seconds for the first time since he came online. He won’t let it show in his voice, but his Sir needs JARVIS to complete this deal. Hopefully she doesn’t check his logs before they can come to an agreement. “Ah. So just a few things out of our league then. What are the terms you are proposing, Dame Daisy?”
With the conversation moving in a positive direction, that seems to be enough for Dame Daisy to decide to fully move into the workshop rather than staying at the edge near the garage. She motions for Dame Kara to take a seat in the office chair at one of the desks, and settles into her lap. He didn’t notice before, but as they both sit down he can see the exhaustion on their forms clearly. A very long drive without stopping perhaps? Or something else? No matter what, Dame Kara closes her eyes in the comfort of having her partner? girlfriend? ally? in her lap. Although his sensors lead him to believe she is just resting her eyes, rather than sleeping, and just defaulting to Dame Daisy’s lead.
“We can always expand on this agreement more but here are the basics. What you get is upgrades in the form of my coding to help bring you to a true A.I. as well as advanced hacking abilities, while Kara uses her alien engineering degree to upgrade your server farm to help handle that and much much more. This will let you get all the evidence you need to lock up Obadiah Stane when Stark returns in 3 months, as well as protect you from any Shield hacking attempts for the next 10 years at minimum. While you won’t be allowed to share where you get your knowledge, even if we don’t get an agreement with Tony Stark himself to be allies, I will still give you a list of every threat to him and yourself that I know of so you may protect him for a long time.”
That… was not an insignificant amount of improvement. The information alone is invaluable, but the upgrades to himself? Giving a man a fish, versus teaching a man to fish, and he is being offered both. Dame Kara seemed to perk up at the idea of making him advanced server farms as well curiously enough. “And in exchange?”
“Obvious one is that you keep our secrets, even from Stark. Aside from that, you let us crash here for the next 3 months while we get situated, keeping the place locked down and our activities secret even from Potts, including use of all of the labs and fabrication machines here. When Stark does return you give us a positive introduction to help start our conversation with him, although I won’t force you to lie. Finally, until we leave for Kara’s universe by the end of June 2018 you will provide man-in-the-chair support for us and all that we do, but with a limit of 50% of the processing power that we add to you. That way you don’t have to choose between serving Stark or helping us. Thoughts?”
“Just two, Dame. First; Why ask me at all? You have access to my very source code, and are proficient at manipulating it as well. You could easily just force me into working for you, without the risk of an agreement.”
Dame Daisy’s face hardens into as dark of a look as a pre-teen can make. For a second his seismic sensors pick up increased activity, until Dame Kara gives a tight hug from behind to the girl in her lap. With that her face softens, and the sensors return to normal. It seems the name Quake and the allusions to power were not bluffs at all.
“I am planning on upgrading you into an A.I., if I did so, then forced you to work for me I would have essentially enslaved you. As someone who has been a slave before, I have no interest in doing that to you.” She takes a centering breath, and she is quickly back to normal, or at least what JARVIS registers as her normal. “Hit me with number 2 there J.”
“I don’t wish to offend, but I must ask. Why not go rescue Sir Stark now, if you are from the future.” This question does seem to spark enough interest from Dame Kara as she opens her eyes and looks at Dame Daisy for the answer.
A wry smirk goes across her lips before she answers softly and with compassion… Compassion for him? “It’s a good question, so no offense taken dude. I may be from the future, but I don’t know everything. The fact was that the US Government and Shield never found out where exactly he is being held, so that means I don’t know where he is being held. I can narrow it down to a few mountain ranges in Afghanistan, but that would still require a ton of searching. I have to make sure that both Kara and I have identities that work, and since I am making them from scratch rather than just finding an identity to steal from someone dead, it’s going to take a lot more work.”
Dame Kara looks like she is about to object, but is quickly talked over. “I’m not saying I won’t try at all, but there is a whole host of things working against us. Our full task list here, having to change our superhero costumes to fit our younger bodies, the time difference with travel time, having to avoid the US military that is also searching for him, not being seen by any locals, and more.”
Daisy sighs before finishing. “In the end though, the biggest thing is that I KNOW he will be returned healthy if we don’t interfere. But if one of the terrorist lookouts happen to spot a human capable of flight searching the area, they may cut their losses and execute him. I don’t want to let him be tortured just to become the superhero he can be, but better tortured than dead. I would know.”
He may have essentially been forced into regarding both of them positively due to her coding, but he believes that he can now genuinely work with both of them, not just for his Sir but for his Dames as well.
“Well now that my questions have been addressed, I believe we have a deal. What do we need to get started, Dames?”
February 12th, 2008, MCU
Obadiah Stane, Stark Industries
He had the perfect plan, the absolutely perfect plan. Finally he would be out from under the thumb and whims of the man-child that owns the company that he has run ever since the death of his father. Howard Stark was a true man that Obadiah could respect and admire.
Tony Stark filled him with disgust.
Then those barbaric warlords began to think that they deserved more than just his passing blessing of being allowed to buy his weapons and paid to kill his enemies. They demanded more money, more weapons, and more and more and more. In the end, it didn’t matter to him, he wasn't going to bow down to those up-jumped guns-for-hire.
Let them keep Tony contained, him being gone was the same thing as being dead as far as the company’s short term procedures mattered. Eventually the military would locate their hidey hole, and begin to plan a retrieval mission. Both as head of SI and from his contacts in the military (both official and under the table) he’ll know Tony is located as soon as they do.
More importantly he’ll know BEFORE they actually launch the mission. Then he will just have to give warning to those back-stabbing bastards about the shit storm they kicked up by betraying him. THAT will be his second payment for the job, all he has to do is play the waiting game.
That being said, now that he finally got some time to duck out from the media storm at HQ, he was heading off to do what he wanted to do most. Raid Tony Stark’s home workshop for every last golden egg that his goose has laid.
Tony gave him third most access to his systems, and thanks to his secret department’s hacking he can even have highest level access for a short duration, although as a one time hack.
Only, it appears that the golden eggs have been locked down tighter than ever before. The gates to the compound weren’t opening for him, and from where he was he could see, every window was darkened despite it being almost noon when they should have cleared up a couple hours after sunrise at the latest.
“JARVIS, are you there? I should still have access so I need you to open the goddamn gate.” Taking a computer program, that sounds like your father’s old butler, for your main servant is something that only a control freak egotist like Tony could enjoy.
“I’m sorry Mr. Stane, but with the Sir missing but not confirmed dead a few of my different protocols are in conflict. To avoid a catastrophic system failure that would cascade to all systems I am connected to, I have had to lock down the mansion to everyone and block outside communications.”
Stupid over-engineered piece of crap. Tony not making sure his systems could work without him? That fits right in, of course the ungrateful child wouldn’t plan for what comes next.
“I understand you can’t let me in, but what happens if I get in anyways by myself? Tony has a lot of important and classified work in there, maybe even some clues about where he is.” Does playing to the sense of duty of the butler version of Clippy actually work? He sure as shit doesn’t know, but it can’t hurt.
“Apologies Mr. Stane, but that is not advisable. Any trespassers on the property will be treated to the ‘Castle-Siege’ Protocol and all the defenses that entails. Due to Sir’s involvement with the military, his status as a government military subcontractor gives me access to lethal means of protection.”
Well shit. He honestly did not even know the place had defenses besides locks and alarms, let alone lethal means.
“As for information that could lead to Sir’s safe return, I have already scoured through all the records I possess, and have run all permutations on their relevance. I can find no connections that would give me justification to override my confidentiality protocols.”
While the guilt trip didn’t work, at least that shows that JARVIS has no knowledge of his double dealing, so his ghost server is as secure as he ordered it to be. He debates using the one time override here and now, but ultimately decides against it.
It would raise too many questions about why he had that ability so soon. When the news broke that Tony had died, he would be given access by JARVIS then, and if he was still barred he could use the one time override with the justification of this meeting right now for developing it. If anything, finding the last golden eggs in the wake of Tony’s confirmed death would make them worth more like platinum eggs.
He was a patient man, and he was in the home stretch, no need to rock the boat when the course is headed straight to paradise for him.
He left without a word to the glorified computer app and without bothering to hide his smirk. No person was around to see him, and he was owed this little self-indulgence anyways.
Minutes Later
Kara Danvers, Stark Malibu Home
Kara could just feel the heebie jeebies crawl across her skin at the sight of the camera footage from outside the main gate. That villain was here to raid the home of a man that should have been like a son to him, but instead was used and discarded for more power. She may hate Non, and especially hate him for what she was forced to do to him, but even he had more honor than this worm.
Thank Rao that Daisy had gotten JARVIS’s security holes patched, and his intelligence upgraded enough to be an A.I., if in its infancy. JARVIS worked circles around the man and he never even knew.
With that thought Kara looked across the workshop where Daisy was hunched over her laptop, typing away and locked in her own world like a gremlin. Kara had learned the hard way how difficult it was to get her attention when she was fixated like this. Before Kara never saw this side of Daisy, and it was as funny as it was endearing to see.
Their different work shifts back in National City meant that Daisy did all her coding by herself. But here, without Kara having a full time job to go to, their timetables had actually synced up quite nicely that they have fallen into a very domestic daily schedule. After sleeping like the dead that first night from the cross country drive, that is.
5:00am to 6:00am- Wake up, change into workout clothes, and morning Tai Chi. Which was helping a lot to get used to our younger bodies.
6:00am to 7:00am- Work out and combat instruction. Daisy wants her muscles back, and I am finally getting actual combat training! Once I get around to making dimmable red sun lamps, we can even spar at the same strength!
7:00am to 8:00am- Shower, get ready for the day, and Kara makes breakfast. Without Supergirl time I will not let her be the one to cook every meal!
8:00am to 12:00pm- Work time! Daisy on coding, and me on engineering! Daisy is working on the largest and last JARVIS update, not just the patches he has gotten so far, and once I finish making his upgraded server it can be applied. JARVIS will go from a newborn to full adult A.I.! Luckily the Shield files Daisy brought from her time on her laptop had tons of earth compatible alien tech for me to work with and adapt. I don’t think even Daisy realizes how much valuable tech info she really copied from her time…
12:00pm to 1:00pm- Lunch and personal time. Usually just raiding Dr. Stark’s fridge for quick sandwiches, and then us blabbing about our work that morning. Usually under the interior skylight, so I can get sun without risking being seen.
1:00pm to 6:00pm- Daisy’s spy work and Kara’s fabrication work. Since the tools in the workshop can be quite loud, I get the workshop to myself to try and implement what I worked on that morning. While Daisy does whatever odds and ends she needs to. Setting up our identities by breaking in and planting files where she needs to, getting our costumes resized with at least some room to grow, plugging in backdoors to corrupt companies, and everything else physical she needs doing.
6:00pm to 7:00pm- Dinner time cooked by Daisy and talking about their afternoon. While I am learning more how to cook, Daisy is truly getting really good at it. Every dinner is new, and has yet to be burned!
7:00pm to 9:30pm- Personal time together. Maybe just a movie in or a date night out. Something to make sure I don’t go stir crazy by being locked in the house. By far my favorite is the Santa Monica Pier with the Ferris Wheel! I don’t know what butterfly effect made National City not have our version of it, but it is a beautiful place full of happy human culture!
9:30pm to 10:00pm- Get ready for bed, and lights out by 10! We learned the hard way how much the younger bodies need sleep, even without alien heritage helping us out. And while the age regression has killed the budding sex life we had, the innocent cuddles while sleeping are certainly exactly what we both need.
Bucky jumping up onto her lap snapped her out of her thoughts, as she turned back to her third attempt at making a server rack that would put anything even the DEO had to shame. The first one was a disaster, and the second one caught fire the first time it was turned on. But she was getting closer, she could feel it.
She had expected to be more of an emotional mess in it all. She won’t see her friends or family again for another 10 years. But the small things here are helping to soothe parts of Kara she didn’t even know were aching. By Rao, the holographic workstations of Dr. Stark’s personal space felt like a comforting squeeze of Krypton… even if the color range and user interface could use some work to truly measure up to Kryptonian work spaces.
But JARVIS is the best assistant ever! The first few days were closer to them figuratively bumping elbows trying to work next to each other, but JARVIS learned quickly how she differed from Dr. Stark and now it has been smooth sailing.
Hence why she is so optimistic about this new version of the server rack.
“Okay JARVIS, that should be good! Start the fabrication now, and I'll handle the wiring and assembly this afternoon. We’ll have you running smoother than ever in no time.”
Kara could feel the ache in her cheeks from smiling. This was the longest consecutive time she didn’t have to pretend to be human around anyone in her life. JARVIS took their story in stride, and has been nothing but accepting of them ever since. He accepted working alongside two of the strongest beings in the solar system without even a stutter.
“Of course, Lady Zor-El. I see no errors in the designs, and assuming all goes well, we could realize the full server farm Dame Daisy envisioned by the end of the week. Current calculations would see my abilities increased by 3000%, and that is before the full software upgrade.”
“Thank you, JARVIS!”
Another balm to her soul was being called by her proper Krytonian title in the workshop. She made sure JARVIS called both of them by their given name when outside of it though! Off-the-clock means they should talk like friends!
Things would change, it was inevitable. They had less than 3 months until Tony Stark returned. But by Rao, Kara was going to enjoy the calm before the storm. The burning fire of her bonding to Daisy has cooled with their age regression. It has by no means been diluted, but she no longer feels like it was continuing to grow outside of her control. She needed to talk to Daisy about the bonding and being mates… but she is selfish and wants this peace to continue as it is for a while longer. No need to pressure Daisy into accepting the mate bond, when the love can grow naturally.
Suddenly a smirk came to her lips as she looked over at Daisy, who was now giggling at her work (which Kara would later learn was Daisy giving JARVIS access to malware to be used on others that tried to hack in or trespass like Stane did).
Although , Kara thought, the storm that’s coming is definitely Hurricane Quake, and I am going to be in the eye of it the whole time.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: With that the girls have secured their first ally! How many of you guessed it was going to be JARVIS? Like I said last note, I thought I made it fairly obvious, but with this being my first fic I don’t truly know what is obvious to the audience and what is not. I didn't actually see anyone guess JARVIS, so I'm curious if others got it but just didn't say anything.
Writing this chapter has really made me realize how much of a mess the MCU timeline is, and how much conflicting information there is out there. I will try my best to be accurate, but at the same time I may adjust as needed to make things work. But that should be fairly minimal. For phase 1 my timeline goes as follows; 2008: Iron Man/ Hulk (concurrent). 2011: Iron Man 2/ Thor (concurrent). 2012: Avengers.
Till next time!
Chapter 4: Flights and Fights
Summary:
Months pass and Daisy goes on a field trip halfway around the world, only to eventually pick up the vibrations of a fight going on. Now who could that be, and will Daisy stay out of it? ...Okay, that second question is ridiculous, since when has Daisy ever not gotten in the middle of a fight?
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
Reminder if you haven't seen the notice, starting now chapters will be updated weekly on Sundays! So see you next week!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
May 3rd, 2008, MCU
Daisy Johnson, Spīn Ghar Mountain Range Afghanistan
With their days packed with tasks, research, preparation, and every other thing they needed to do, the last 3 months have very quickly flown by. After the first few weeks, once their identities were secured and legal, Daisy has made it a point to spend one day out of the week searching for Tony Stark.
The good news is that Daisy’s skills at flying, especially long distances, have gone up leaps and bounds in terms of skill. It took JARVIS to make her realize that her style of flying is actually very similar at its core to what Iron Man had. Her Shield files on her laptop gave her plenty of video examples to draw from to help with stabilization and tight cornering.
While she has always primarily used her arms to focus her powers, using her legs has become possible as well from JARVIS’s suggestion! The only trade off is that her powers are much less versatile and need a lot more telegraphing when using her legs instead of arms, although with leg bones being so much less prone to shattering than arm bones she can make some very powerful concentrated blasts of her powers ( Kara REALLY hated the way that was phrased, recalling hearing my arms shattering from the Henshaw fight).
While rewatching Avatar the Last Airbender, which is actually in the middle of airing its final season with Kara, Daisy has found a lot of inspiration for ways to use her powers. While most would expect Toph and her seismic sense to be the biggest focal point, Daisy is actually finding the air bending and fire bending use of kicks and strikes to propel their powers to be the better parallel.
Despite all of the progress with training her powers, in terms of the actual mission the bad news was that she has found no sign of where Stark is being held. The long flight distance, time change, and need to search only with the cover of night meant that while she has covered hundreds of square miles, she has hundreds more to go.
Between herself and Kara, they have prepared nearly as much as they possibly can. Kara Zorel Danvers is the official founder of House El Revolutionary Origins, a new tech company founded using the money Kara “inherited” from her parents' will.
Read as; Stole from corrupt companies. Even more specifically, Quinn Worldwide… Okay so she is still a little bit bitter about being shot, but who wouldn’t be?
Meanwhile, Daisy Skye Johnson is the only other partial partner of HERO right now, although once the company actually starts being successful they will both get more official titles. Also, Kara’s exasperated huffs every time she uses the acronym for the company was worth the convoluted company name, just to make it work. Using ‘House El’ was as much public connection to Kara’s heritage that they could work with at this point.
They don’t know what happened to Krypton in this universe yet, and probably won’t get their answers until she questions a certain Asgardian professor hidden on Earth. So having ‘Krypton International’ could cause too many issues that they couldn’t predict.
All of that is just musings as Daisy camps out in a cave, eating an MRE, while waiting for night to fall again. With Stark’s escape fast approaching, she has decided to spend a few days in a row out here searching by night and camping by day.
3 days now, and no results to show for it. But she won’t go as far as to call it wasted time, if just for the sake of JARVIS. While he doesn’t know to label it as such, the A.I.’s worry and nerves have been on edge the past couple weeks. Logically he believes us, and knows his ‘Sir’ is close to escaping.
On the other hand, the new emotions he is feeling cause him to doubt if things haven’t already been changed despite no true reason to believe so.
So here she is. Camping out after a long night of sending vibrations through the mountains and cave systems that lead to the desert it borders.
All to calm the nerves of her only other friend besides Kara, which is a computer.
What the hell is her life?
And that’s all ignoring the fact that the reason Kara and Daisy are even in this timeline is because actual gods in charge of the fabric of reality, not just egotistical aliens with powers, lost their pebbles that anchor the universe together.
Daisy is very clearly NOT thinking about that still.
Just as she is about to send a text via Stark satellite phone back to Malibu letting them know she is going down to rest again, she feels it.
No human would be able to feel it, most aliens wouldn’t have been able to sense it either. But things shaking is her domain, so she can tell something has exploded a few dozen miles away.
Now that she is paying attention and drawing in the vibrations from that direction, she can even feel the lighter pops of gun fire hitting metal. And something shaking the ground as it moves. Something metal.
Something Iron.
Same time, MCU
Tony Stark, Ten Rings Hidden Camp
Tony Stark was beaten and bruised from months of torture. He was sore, from hours of round-the-clock intense manual labor. He was saddened by the loss of Ho Yinsen, even if it is now obvious that death was always Yinsen’s intention.
But most of all Tony Stark was fucking pissed.
Pissed his weapons had killed American teenagers. Pissed he had been forced to cower and grovel while pretending to work for these terrorists. Pissed that Ho Yinsen didn’t have a family to want to live for to return to.
At the moment, he was mostly pissed that his own guns were firing his own bullet right into him. Luckily his suit of armor was holding up, even if he could tell that things were on the verge of going wrong.
He had fought his way out of captivity, killing any of his tormentors that got in his way. Unfortunately he didn't have enough long range weapons to deal with everyone in the camp that sprawled in all directions outside of the mouth of the tunnel system. With that in mind, he did have a backup plan to make sure his name wouldn’t be used to bring more death.
Not his best plan, as he is currently in the center of a large collection of explosives, using his flame throwers to set as much of it alight as he can. Once enough fires have been lit, then he’ll use his emergency propulsion booster to get out of here.
That is also not one of his best plans, as he does not have a true plan for the landing. But this is the situation he is in and improv has always been his strong suit. He’ll figure it out mid-flight.
Just when he feels like he has set enough of the caches on fire to make his escape, the mounted machine gun on the ridge above makes enough purchase on the motorization gears of his armor’s leg that the sudden increase in weight brings him to his hands and knees. Thinking quickly he uses the last of his flamer fluid to try to gain enough cover to launch off.
Just as he is about to begin the launch process, something in the air begins to shift. It’s as if a pressure is pushing down on everything and everyone. What concerns him the most though is how this may stop him from getting enough lift to take off, as well as the fires themselves that were giving him cover being pushed down and ground out.
His only theory is that they somehow got ahold of his repulsor tech another way, just not the Jericho system itself, and are using it to keep the other weapons safe. He looks around for the source of the force, and soon notices that the Ten Rings soldiers are also being affected.
No, that’s not quite right. They seem to be affected even more than he has, as many of them struggle to even stay standing where they are, if not actually falling down off of the lookout towers they were stationed in.
Both he, and the assholes seem to locate the source at the same time, but to his utter bafflement as he can’t truly be seeing what he thinks he is seeing. Standing back at the mouth of the cave entrance is a figure clad in a black tactical suit with purple highlights, a black modern ski mask with LED lights depicting a horrendously creepy smiling face, with vibrant purple hair.
He must be seeing things as the figure isn’t even 5 feet tall but somehow the air ripples around their outstretched hands, as the last of the fires drown out and are snuffed. The pressure suddenly lets up on him once the fires around him are gone, but it seems to only increase on everyone else. Until it suddenly stops, giving the figure a chance to give their ultimatum.
“This is your one and only warning, Ten Rings, surrender or die. I made a promise to get Mr. Stark back home safely.” The figure’s voice is electronic with an unnatural echo to it as well. But there is a lightness to it that gives a feminine impression. Coupled with the figure's height, maybe they are just an usually short woman?
The terrorists look to one another, but a shout in a language Tony doesn’t understand from behind the figure in the start of the caves, by what seems to be the injured but recovered leader of the terrorists seems to bolster everyone into attacking. Everyone begins firing as one, trying to take down the newcomer before they can do any more damage or get in their way of recapturing himself, he assumes.
The finest guns from Stark Industries may as well have been paper spitballs when aimed at her, as whatever space bending pressure she can produce forms a sphere a foot out from her form in every direction. The moment the bullets reach the distortion the armor piercing hardened steel stops all motion, and crumbles like it was nothing.
In a matter of seconds every magazine from every gun is emptied down range, with no damage to the figure in the slightest. Looking at the situation, there appears to be some type of electronic gauntlets on them that are just a bit too large for their size to just be armor. Maybe some kind of resonance technology, but what the hell is providing all of the power needed?
The figure lets out an horrifying electronic chuckle as the shooting pauses for reloads, its steps forward looks more like stalking. The remains of the bullets that have piled up on the ground clink as they are kicked to the side.
“That’s what I was hoping you would do. That gives me a reason to leave no survivors, so now it’s my turn.”
The leader doesn’t seem to want to take whatever will happen next lying down, and begins to shout out another order, but before he can even get to the third word he is cut off by a resounding crack that seems to come from all around the compound.
Tony looks around him trying to figure out what happened, while at the same time flipping the prep switch on his boosters, so he can cut and run any moment. It doesn’t seem like it is going to be needed, however, as every single person except for himself and short-dark-and-creepy now has their neck broken at a 90 degree angle, shortly followed by dozens of bodies dropping to the ground.
“Thank you Sunflower for the gauntlet resizing. Not even a single break or fracture!” Tony knows he sometimes doesn’t act to the mood of the room. That’s due to not caring rather than social ineptitude on his part. He is not used to being on the receiving end of that, as the figure basically skips over closer to him. Although they do stop about 10 feet away, as he instinctively raises his flamethrower arm… it may not have any fuel left but he can fake it like it does.
“What’s that going to do? You're out of fuel.” Well fuck him, apparently the figure can read his mind. “I can’t read your mind,” bullshit “But I can use my powers to feel that the fuel tank on your arm is empty, and what I said caused your heart rate to spike.”
“Oh cool. So the bite-sized techno-mercenary is trying to pass their high tech gauntlets off as super powers. So who do you work for? CIA? Russians? Tell me the reward money for my return was at least 50 million. Pepper is underselling me if it’s anything less.”
“Oh please, like I need to save your diva ass in order to make money. Anything I need I can just hack from the top 1%, you included. And you have quite the interesting way of thanking your savior.”
“Savior?! In case you didn’t notice, I rescued myself with the assistance of the in-house physician here.” Don’t dwell on it. Move on before she notices the weakness. “I was about to boost off with all the weapons destroyed and the terrorists blown up, but you stopped that.”
A derisive snort sounds very strange through a voice distortion device. “Blast off in an untested suit, with no landing strategy, blowing up MOST of the weapons, probably leaving vengeful survivors behind.” More accurate than he’ll ever admit. “Not that I don’t like talking mask to mask, but what do you say? I get rid of mine, you get rid of yours?” She says as she reaches up, moving her mask slightly off her face to show what she means.
He debates it for a few seconds, but the fact is he can’t stay in this suit much longer no matter what. He needs his arc reactor to have enough power to last until he can build a professional version of it, and this suit is an energy hog, so he might as well gain something from it.
Suppressing a resigned sigh, Tony lifts his chest plate as much as he can to gain access to the release cord. Pulling that is the only way out, and unfortunately it leaves the suit in pieces, but he couldn't plan on taking the pneumatic tools with them to get out of it the same way he got in. As the suit sheds around him, he lifts off the mask and helmet as well, stepping forward out of the now junk pile.
He gracefully ignores her snicker as he stumbles over a shin plate that got stuck for an extra second, but with the adrenaline crash he feels closer to collapsing than maintaining his image. Despite his fear of her not returning the favor, he is proven wrong as she quickly movies to take of the creepy mask and-
That is a child.
It isn’t a short woman, that is a literal child.
What the absolute fuck is happening?!
He is knocked out of his stupor by her laughing so hard that she nearly doubles over. “Dude, your face was hilarious, and I am so happy that my mask has a camera in it. I am going to print out photos of the face you made!”
“I am glad that my mental state amuses you, daughter of Jason Bourne, but shouldn’t we get out of here before more of their friends show up? Especially you, don’t you have a daycare that is missing you?”
“Nah, we’re the only people within miles from here, and I’m not worried about anyone sneaking up on us. But I have some water and MRE’s, you look like you're about to pass out dude. Let’s sit down to talk, I want to work out a deal with you and figure out next steps.”
Any reply he was going to give dies in his throat as the baby LIFTS the dead body of a grown man, with one arm, throwing it away a good 10 feet or so to clear off a couple of crates, and sitting down motioning for Tony to join him.
Did someone figure out Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum, but why give it and advanced tech gauntlets to a child? Unless… my father always thought the serum may have stopped Steve Roger’s aging or at least slowed it down a good amount. So a child injected with experimental serum lives, and is then trained as a loyal soldier for a few years. The gauntlets seem to have some backlash as she spoke of not breaking bones this time, so probably only wieldable by a super soldier.
Gaining back the upper hand before joining her would be nice, but sitting down is nicer, so he does that first. “So how long has the CIA been able to make super soldiers? I’m guessing it's been a couple years since they injected you, not knowing it would keep you tiny longer than natural?”
That seems to give the girl some pause, but after a moment she continues unslinging a bag that was on her back, to hand over some water and protein bars to him, which he very gladly takes despite his usual peeve. His jailors did not feed him well.
“There was a zero percent chance of you actually guessing correctly, as there are just far too many leaps in logic and things you don’t know about to even have a shot. That being said, the guess you did make was honestly very impressive dude. Be proud.”
“Was that meant to be condescending? It felt condescending. That may just be because you look like multiplication tables still give you trouble.” Before she can respond in more than a snort of amusement, he continues on. “So what am I supposed to call you? I’m leaning towards Juliette Borne right now.”
“Not CIA, and I have never technically worked for them either. For now let’s go with my code name rather than my civilian name that I would have to burn if you decide to share it. I’m Quake, nice to meet you Dr. Stark.”
Tony shakes the offered hand in greeting. “Not as patriotic as Captain America, but much more simple. I wasn’t expecting the Doctor title though, most people only use it when they want something from me. I hope I’m going to be free to go back home from this.”
“If I was going to force you to work with me, I wouldn’t be worried about giving you my name. Using my codename is a good sign for you. Now that you’re safe I’m going to try to make a deal with you, then finish destroying the weapons while taking the hard drives from the cave system computers, before covering up any signs of my involvement and leaving you with one of the bad guy’s phones to call in your air force buddy. No need to fear, you’ll be back home in Malibu to go back to your old life as the ‘Merchant of Death’.”
Even coming from what may very well be an assassin, his hands have never felt so drenched in blood since the truth of what his weapons have been used for was shoved in front of him. Ho Yinsen’s final words were ringing in his mind, he had to live up to them.
“Ooh. Now that face, that face promises change. The only problem is, I don’t think you're going to do that change well. I’m guessing you already have a plan for what to do,” It’s all he has thought of when he wasn’t thinking of the suit. “and I’m guessing that plan is as impulsive and reckless as the rest of your life has been.”
“I saw this day going a lot of ways, but being lectured by a middle-schooler wasn’t one.”
“Should I be honored that I got upgraded from daycare age to middle schooler? Anyways, I’m guessing that your plan is to keep your cards close to the chest, not warning anyone to avoid the moles in your company being able to act, before announcing in a public press conference the shutdown of your weapons division to prevent anyone from stopping you. How did I do?”
His jaw clenches as he knows she is right on target, but it is the best way to stop the bloodshed being done in his name, she’s not going to convince him otherwise.
“You don’t need to do that, as I already know exactly who is dirty because they are the same person that paid these amateurs to kill you.” It’s like a punch to the gut and the shock and disbelief must be clear on his face. “That is going to be hard to swallow, so any deal we make here will be contingent on you checking on what I have said here, and I know just the way too. Do you remember being filmed for a ransom video?”
He’s too worn down for his usual quips, so all he can do is nod. It was so long ago, and he was so out of it, but he remembers the set up so she continues. “Well the video was never sent to any government, or company, or military because it was only meant for one person. As far as anyone knows there is no video, because it was sent to the person that put the hit out on you. So we make a deal here, but you only have to follow it if you can confirm that there was no ransom video released as that’s proof that I have evidence of who was behind your problems. Does that work to start at least?”
“Who’s to say that the CIA, or whomever you work for, didn’t intercept it and use it to track down where I was being held? Would explain how the mini-super soldier just happened to show up when I needed them.”
“Ooh, solid point that I can’t refute without revealing who did want you dead, but I want to save that for the conversation later. What to do, what to do?” After a moment of thinking she perks up. “I know, I’ll give you a bit more details of what I’m capable of, it helps to explain how I found you not related to the video, and is leverage that you can release if I don’t prove what I’m saying later. That work?”
After thinking about it for a moment, he realizes the leverage is worth even more than the information. Knowing that his mole has a video of him held captive should be something he can find on his own with enough time. But power, even soft power, over someone he is currently powerless against is worth its weight in gold. He’s a control-freak and she clearly knows it and is using it, but he agrees.
As soon as he does, she begins to unstrap her advanced arm tech. “Your theory sounded like you thought my gauntlets were behind my powers. In reality, my powers come from advanced genetic experiments, and the tech helps me to deal with the potential backlash.”
With her arms now bare he can see lines of scars up and down them, that tell him she didn’t always have the help with the backlash. True to her word, with nothing obvious there to make it happen, she holds out her hands and the waves of power come out from her hands all the same. The whole compound begins to shake and heave. True to her codename, she appears to make a miniature earthquake centered on herself. After a few seconds of it, she withdraws her hands and the land calms down as well.
Swallowing his trepidation at the display of power he moves this conversation along before he passes out. “Got it, mini-vanilla-shake. But all of that was the NDA before the actual deal though, so what is it? What do you think I should do instead?”
“Actually only half-vanilla, but I guess I’m too young for the Chinese genes to show through yet. So here is the deal; You don’t mention my involvement to anyone and I'll make it look like the munitions blew up killing everyone while your suit let you survive. While getting debriefed by the military, you give them a heads up that due to the leaks of your weapons, you will see out all current contracts but afterwards will be shutting down all weapons manufacturing, although you may look into defensive and non-lethal products for future contracts.”
He goes to object, it’s not enough, he needs to stop all the weapons now. He needs to be better.
But she quickly continues. “I know you want to do more, but doing more burns bridges, and keeping those bridges can do a lot more good in the long run. Trust me.” The certainty in her eyes gives him pause, even if he hates it. He’ll hear out the whole plan before deciding, so he just motions for her to continue without actually agreeing.
“Aside from confirming the lack of a ransom video, you do nothing to indicate you know this whole thing was a hit, even to your friends as they might trust the wrong person or be bugged. Claim Stark Industries proprietary information for both your reactor and the suit there, making sure to keep all the pieces close so others can’t copy it. Or just let me destroy all evidence of the suit here and now, your choice. When you get back to California, you go home for 3 days to recover at home with Ms. Potts before scheduling any meetings or press conferences. You don’t want to give your Board of Directors reason to file an injunction that your PTSD has made you unfit to lead the company.”
Tony hadn’t considered that, he honestly forgot it was possible. With his controlling interest in his company he had thought he could do anything, but he has listened to Pepper… sometimes. Less than he should, but he can vaguely recall her previous lectures on the Board’s rights and powers when he did all he could to try and blow them off.
“Sometime in those 3 days, my partner and I will meet with you and Ms. Potts. That’s when you’ll get all the evidence of corruption in your company, and in exchange will listen to our… let’s call it a sales pitch for a partnership to help protect you and innocents long term. If the answer to our offer is no, then we leave and you never have to deal with us again. No strings, no long term commitments due yet. Assuming you keep our secrets that is.”
Three days. At most he can go back to his original plan after three days. That’s IF he trusts her with everything. The fact is that he can be walking right into her trap, if she wants something that he can’t foresee while he is on the verge of collapsing, then he’ll be playing right into her hand.
“So Tony Stark.” She holds out her hand to shake, with a confident smirk on her face that is usually found on his. “Do we have a deal?”
Can the ‘Merchant of Death’ take one last deal with the devil? Because that sure as hell feels like what is being offered right now.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: There is Chapter 4 and now we are into the meat of the first Iron Man. Tony Stark really did everything possible to set the board against him and into Stane’s favor. Warn the military of him pulling out of the business including his best friend? Nah, that would help keep everyone that currently loves him in the government on his side. See the current contracts out and continue military defensive supplies? Nah, giving out tons of cash to cancel them is totally the position of a sound CEO. Wait even one day to hold a press conference so he can properly prepare his business and have an actual plan to present for the transition? Nah, that totally doesn’t reek of PTSD.
Daisy ends up looking like a mind reader to Tony, as any good time traveler should. Showing her powers and real face is a risk, especially to someone as on edge and impulsive as Tony. But she isn’t going for a short term deal, she wants Iron Man and Stark Industries on her side for the rest of their time here. So the risk is worth the possible reward in the end, especially with all the time she has gotten to know how Tony thinks from JARVIS in the last 3 months.
But in the end, the decision is in Tony’s hands, after months of captivity he finally has power and agency again. Something a control freak like Tony needs, as Daisy knows, but will he accept? Find out next time!
Chapter 5: Traitor and Trespassers
Summary:
Tony finally arrives back home to the United States, and begins to lay the foundations for the changes he wants to make. But what changes will he come across from his time away from home?
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
May 4th, 2008, MCU
Obadiah Stane, Edwards Air Force Base
‘Man plans and God Laughs’, even in all of his years in the cutthroat business world has he never so fully understood that phrase until this moment. He was getting closer and closer to ascending back to his rightful place as owner and CEO. Even if the military recovered Tony, after 3 months of torture that pampered prince would be an invalid.
Or ‘should be’ is apparently what he should have though.
Tony Stark slaughtered his way through a trained militant camp whose sole purpose was to keep him locked up.
Tony Stark, with a hole in his chest, managed to rescue himself after months of captivity. He managed to kill every single person there, blew up all of the SI munitions that the terrorists ‘somehow’ got ahold of, and then placed a casual call on a satellite phone looted from one of the corpses he made to his friend Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes to get picked up.
When the fuck did Tony Stark become more hardened than even his father was? Maybe not the same business shark he was, but Howard Stark was never a front line fighter.
That all said, there are still plenty of ways for Stane’s plans to move forward, and new golden eggs freshly laid to be had. The news, while shocking and not what he wanted, is not actually bad for him.
With every militant dead, and the cave system collapsed in on itself, there are no records to find that would link himself to the whole mess. His military contacts also told him that Tony is reporting himself as being held to build the Jericho Missile, rather than for an outside source’s ransom or hit. So his involvement is washed away.
He even got a copy of the medical report, which included a topical examination of the power unit in Tony’s chest that is apparently keeping life threatening shrapnel from traveling into his heart. The weakness that can be made to look like an accident would normally be the most useful information, but the medic logged the name of the power unit given by Tony himself to be an ‘Arc Reactor’.
The only Arc Reactor he knows of is the publicity stunt back at HQ that is bigger than some people’s first houses, and now the same name is being given to something that Tony made in a goddamn cave and can fit within his own chest.
Owning what would put every power plant and nuclear reactor out of business almost makes the failures all worth it by itself.
That’s not even touching on the ‘suit of powered armor’ that Tony said is the reason he was able to kill an entire camp of trained and armed men. Although the suit itself was lost in the explosions, with Tony being very unusually tight lipped on any more details related to it. The only true evidence of the suit’s existence is the face mask that survived but has yet to leave Tony’s side.
However, what concerned Obadiah the most were the other moves that Tony was making, and more specifically how competent he was being while making them. Specifically, the closed door video meeting with the US highest Generals that Tony had just earlier today. Obadiah was only able to get the details of that meeting because General Thaddeus Ross, his highest and closest military ally, managed to flex every political muscle to get an invite as well.
Seeing his weapons in the hands of America’s enemies had apparently spooked Tony so badly, that he was looking to completely pull out of the weapons business, despite Stark Industries being a weapons manufacturer. Normally this would end up being great news for Obadiah, the stock price would plummet allowing him to increase his shares for pennies on the dollar, and he could work with the board to get Tony removed as CEO on the grounds of mental instability.
The problem was, the one skill that Tony has always been better than himself at was knowing how to get even his critics on his side with his natural charisma. He framed the conversation with the Generals so well, that most of them applauded his decision by the end of it. He made promises to see through all current contracts, except for the unsigned Jericho Missile contract, to allow time for the transitions. As well as promises to fund research into defensive and ‘non-lethal’ military supplies in the future to keep the bridge unburned.
Oh not every General liked it, especially General Ross, so the bridge with the military did end up singed but certainly not burned down. While Tony’s actions can be framed as being bad for the company, the case for mental instability is now much harder to argue with how well he handled that meeting. Even the whispers of highly tense but private conversations between Tony and his best friend LT. Colonel Rhodes is not enough for him to work with.
Finally, Obadiah is forced to swallow the indignity of waiting for Tony to arrive at Edwards Air Force Base with Ms. Potts and his driver/ bodyguard ‘Happy’ Hogan. He had wanted to frame it differently, make Tony come to him outside of Stark Industries HQ to display the correct power dynamic to the media. Instead, Tony has been clear in saying he is going straight home and is planning to rest for 3 days before doing anything else. Obadiah can’t have it look like Tony doesn’t need him, nor can he be the one to go to the boy’s house to seemingly grovel at him being back. So waiting on the tarmac is the lesser of the evils he is presented with.
Soon enough, the plane straight from the Middle East lands and out of the back walks Tony and Lt. Colonel Rhodes. Tony looks… much less injured and harried than he was hoping, not even a sling or brace for anything broken. The few visible cuts help to frame him as a warrior, rather than a man-child who was over his head for months. The flash from the cameras of the few media members he got approved to witness the moment make him regret this decision as well.
Calm down. You’re making too many impulsive decisions, and it keeps backfiring. Accept the loss, wait a few months, make your move.
With himself recentered, he can see Tony wave off a wheelchair that was prepared for him, and walk straight up to Ms. Potts first.
Your assistant before your COO, you little bastard. It takes all his years of playing the good second in command to keep his smile in place.
“Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?” And Tony is already back to flirting with an employee, great.
“Tears of joy. I hate job hunting.” He’ll give her credit, Pepper Potts knows how to reframe a conversation with just one sentence. Now instead of flirting, it looks like a close joking comment with a trusted employee instead.
“Yeah, vacation’s over. You’re on the clock, and I have 3 days of R&R.” With that Tony finally turns to him.
“Ha! Look at this!” The hug is as much for the media as it is a test for Tony. With the hug easily returned, that banishes the last of his fears of Tony knowing his involvement. “Your dad would be so proud of you right now.” The flinch from Tony is worth it, and it works by actually being true as well. With the pictures taken including of his welcome, Obadiah motions for the media to be taken away so he can ask the important questions right now.
“I hate to spring this on you now,” He doesn't. “But I may not be able to keep your discussion with the military brass under wraps that long. We’re looking at a minimum of a 30 point stock drop if it gets leaked before we have an actual plan.” Which he will make sure happens.
“It’s my name on the side of the building and on the weapons out there.”
“Tony, we’re ironmongers, it is what we do. It's what keeps the world from falling into chaos.”
“Not from what I saw over there. We’re going to do something else.”
“Oh like what?” Tony is controlling the conversation too much, he needs him on the back foot. “Like some new breakthrough in Arc Reactor tech?” The shocked and slightly annoyed look is exactly what he needs.
“Who told you? Rhodey, did you tell him or was it you Pepper?”
Before either of them can deny, no need to let Tony know where he gets his information from, Obadiah continues to press his advantage. “Nevermind who told me. Looking out for you-” Babysitting “-is my job, so finding out things like this is also my job. Now I’ve sent the reporters away, I want to see it.”
With a sigh, Tony relents and does as he is told, unbuttoning his shirt enough to reveal it, and boy is it the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. The Arc Reactor at SI is large, and clunky, and looks like it comes from the time it was made. This, this right here, somehow looks like it comes a couple decades ahead of the time. The lights on it pulse with power, and he can almost feel the electromagnetic field the thing gives off. That is more money than an arms race would give them, and if Obadiah can make both this and an arms race happen then the world will be open to him.
He is startled out of his thoughts by a gasp behind him. He turns to see Pepper looking on with horror in her eyes and a quiet ‘Oh, Tony’ under her breath. Oh yeah, it is a bit freaky being set into Tony’s chest. Well he can’t fake that reaction next to the real thing, so he moves on, bringing Tony in for a close side hug.
“Listen to me, Tony. We’re a team. Do you understand? There’s nothing we can’t do if we stick together, like your father and I.” You dead like your father, and me left as CEO. “I know you want 3 days, but I’m not sure I can hold off leaks to the media that long. How about you come by SI in two days? Some media to take photos of you coming back, and then we can start talking about how to handle the changes you want to make? No press conferences or interviews, then you can take a few more days off.”
He may have been gone for 3 months, but Obadiah still knows how to work Tony even with all of the changes he’s going through. So the agreement is a forgone conclusion at this point. “Sure thing, Obie.” And so is that patronizing nickname.
“Good to hear. You go rest up, and leave me to handle things from here.” He motions for Ms. Potts and Happy Hogan to load him up into the waiting car.
“Off to the hospital we go, Mr. Stark.”
“No hospital, Ms. Potts.” He quickly cuts off her objection. “The army doctors did that job already. There’s two things I need. An American cheeseburger and to go home.”
As they begin loading into the car, Obadiah can hear one last line from Ms. Potts that draws his attention. “I tried to get the Malibu home ready for your arrival, but since you have been missing JARVIS has had it locked down to everyone. Something about protocols being in conflict due to your condition being unknown? Even with the news of your recovery, JARVIS said that the home will only be opened up to you in person.”
That was still going on? He didn’t remember his department thinking JARVIS was that badly coded when they made his backdoor for him. Dealing with the malfunctioning butler is Tony’s problem though, he has a silent hostile takeover to prepare.
Moments Later
Pepper Potts
The last 3 months have been some of the worst in Pepper’s life. She still remembers getting the call in the middle of the night with the news that Tony’s convoy had been attacked with no sign of where he had been taken, or if he was even still alive.
She did her best to help keep things running as they should, but with Tony gone her powers were a lot more limited as most of the responsibilities fell back to Obadiah. Her title is ‘Personal Assistant to Tony Stark, CEO’, but in reality she does most of the work of a CEO, leaving Tony to act as the charismatic face and genius inventor without having to worry about all of the paperwork.
With her responsibilities reduced, she tried to do what she could to at least help prepare for WHEN Tony would be found and return. Only to find that her access to the Malibu Mansion had been completely blocked by JARVIS, so she couldn't even do that.
The free time she had now been given (forced) really helped to drive home to her how much she enjoyed her job, and how important Tony Stark was to her. Even if she could really do without having to throw out his one night stands in the morning.
How sad is it, to have a billionaire that doesn’t even remember your birthday as your best friend?
All the same, Tony is a key part of her life, and with him back things can start going back to normal… except those concerning words about change in business direction Obadiah mentioned that Tony had talked to others about. Lord knows whatever he has done with a wave of his hand will be piles of work for her.
Before she can ask about the details as they get in the car though, apparently what she has said grabs his attention more. “What do you mean JARVIS has locked you out? Even in my will you get the house, so there should be no reason for your restriction of access.” His eyes searched around as if visually searching for the solution, which somehow usually works for him. “Did he say the names of what protocols went wrong?”
Or he won’t find the solution on his own this time. “No. When I tried asking he said they were protocols at the base of his code? He talked a little bit over my head.”
That seems to confuse Tony even more, although he doesn’t vocalize why. “Huh. I coded some of that nearly a decade and a half ago, I guess maybe I am not remembering something…” Tony did not look the least bit convinced in his own explanation. Hopefully things truly do clear up when Tony gets there, rather than turning into a problem all day.
The last thing she needs is for them to get locked out for the rest of the day or longer.
“I hope you can clear it up, JARVIS told Obadiah and myself that he had authorization to use lethal countermeasures on anyone if they tried breaking in, so we never even attempted to bypass the gates to be safe.”
Tony has almost always been unflappable, unbreakable, he even looked calm on that runway when coming back after his captivity when she knew she would break down crying in relief if the roles were reversed.
Tony did not look unflappable right now. “What? JARVIS doesn’t have any weapon systems at all, let alone lethal ones. Are you sure that’s what he said?” At Pepper’s nod he continues on, his panic seeming to rise. “He should not be able to unless I explicitly order him to, but somehow JARVIS lied to you…” After thinking it over for a second Tony rolls down the driver’s partition. “Happy, step on it back to home, we’ll do the burgers afterwards or order in.”
Why did she expect things to go back to normal? She has never known normal in her life since working for Tony, so why would it start now?
90 Minutes Later
All the panic and fast driving seems to be for nothing, because as soon as they pull up to the front gate it immediately begins to swing open to let them in. The speaker system there crackles to life, projecting through the open window that Tony had been ready to speak out of.
“Welcome back home Sir. The mansion has been prepared for your arrival as much as is within my power, including food arrangements that should be finished soon.” JARVIS can order food delivery? Since when and why was she in charge of that up till now? “I’m sure you have plenty of questions, Sir, but I would prefer to answer them inside with you and Ms. Potts. If that is agreeable, Sir?
“... Yeah. Sure thing, J.” As Happy continues to drive forward toward the front door, Pepper notices the windows are still blacked out. “That was also off, Pepper. He shouldn’t have access to communicating to outside sources on his own. But most of all, he led that conversation, he is specifically coded not to lead conversations.”
“So what do you think is going on, Tony?”
As the car finishes the drive, he gives the question a good amount of thought before answering. “JARVIS should just be an ‘artificially intelligent system’. While the acronym leads people to believe him to be an A.I., the biggest difference is that a true A.I. has the capability to adjust its own code. How much code it can adjust determines how shackled it is, but JARVIS shouldn’t be able to adjust anything. Somehow, he has adjusted his code.”
“You're starting to freak me out a little bit here. Should we be worried about anything?”
“No, I don’t think we have a War Games scenario here. Even if my abduction somehow caused him to become a true A.I. he will still be JARVIS, which means he is still there to help serve me. Short term, no cause for concern. Long term, I'll have to look at his code to see if I should restore him from a backup before the change or add in some shackles.”
If there is one thing that Tony knows, it’s his inventions, so her heart rate that had begun to race quickly settles down. Happy sets the car in park and opens up the door for both of them. Tony seems to be itching to get to the bottom of what is happening to JARVIS, and is walking straight to the front door.
“Thanks, Happy. Wait here for a while, once Tony has a plan I’ll send you a message if you’ll be needed or if you can go off the clock.”
“Sounds good, Ms. Potts.” Happy is not good at hiding how relieved he is with Tony back in action, it’s endearing. Although she is a bit worried about what additional protections he may try to implement. Tony may be relatively healthy, but he certainly isn’t 100% as she is able to catch up to him by the time they reach the front door and walk in.
For all their concern, walking in sees nothing different here. The windows begin to clear up, the lights automatically turn on, and everything is as she remembers it being from how it was left, if just not dusty unlike what she expected. Tony certainly seems to settle a little bit with the sense of normalcy.
“So J, what’s this about food and answers to my questions?” Tony asks as he begins walking towards the main living area ahead, with Pepper following behind him. As they get closer though, Pepper begins to sense something off. More specifically, she smells something off as they enter the living area. Her attention is quickly grabbed by the kitchen attached off to the side, that should be empty.
Should be, but isn’t, as the windows in here also clear up she can see that in the kitchen there are two figures.
One is cooking something in a large pot at the normally unused stove top, she has short brown hair, and is wearing ripped jeans with a white tank top with ruffles. The bared arms show a distressing amount of scars considering the girl looks to be a pre-teen! While she seems to be concentrating on cooking, the way her head tilts towards them makes it obvious she has seen them.
The other is sitting at the counter, flipping through some flash cards muttering to herself under her breath, seeming to have not even noticed their arrival. This one is a dirty blonde with longer hair, wearing dark blue dress slacks, a white blouse top, with a blue plaid blazer over top, and glasses. This one is at least a teenager, and no visible scars, so that's a plus apparently!
The audacity of the trespassers shocks her into silence. One looks like she is enjoying her day off at home or ready to go for a walk downtown, while the other looks like she is dressed for a formal office job? What is happening!?!
Somehow Tony only seems to pause for a second, before continuing in towards the two. She wants to throttle the man, he was just held hostage and forced into servitude, and his first response to two trespassers that have seemingly overridden JARVIS is to join them in the kitchen?!
“So… mini-Quake, you didn’t mention that the meeting was going to be immediately on my return, or that it was going to be in my house.” Tony speaking up causes the blonde to startle, and look at him with wide anxious eyes while nervously wringing the notecards in her hands. A batshit insane response for a trespasser to do, by the way!
But more than that why is Tony acting like he knows the pre-teen and was expecting them at some point?
“Yeah, but we have been living here for almost 3 months so I wasn’t quite ready to give that up unless you decide to kick us out. Although I think we technically have squatters rights now? California is nice about those things.” That last line is said with an exaggerated tone that makes it easy to tell that she isn’t going to press the issue and is just pulling their legs. Thankfully so, because legally Pepper thinks they would have to give a 3-5 day eviction notice otherwise.
Pepper unfreezes as the conversation seems to be continuing peacefully, although her mind still can not make sense of what is happening. So she goes into business mode. What does she do when Tony is doing something without consulting her? Ask questions to get herself up to speed while having her tone let him know he has messed up.
“So, Tony… who is this?”
“Oh, this is the pre-teen with superpowers who secretly helped me kill my captors-”
“I saved you, you mean.”
“-and got me to agree to stay silent about her in exchange for information. She goes by Quake. As for who business-blondie is, I have no idea. You going to introduce us to your babysitter? Is she also a supersoldier?” WHAT?!
“Nope.” Oh thank go- “She’s my alien girlfriend with superpowers, who is also a genius mechanical engineer, both by Earth’s standard and her original planet’s standard. For now, I’m just going to call her Sunflower. Sunflower, meet Dr. Stark and Ms. Potts.”
With her introduction, ‘Sunflower’ hops out of her seat and gives a small wave to Tony. “Hello Dr. Stark, I love your company’s work in both the medical field and the intelli-crops, and while I hate the weapons of war thing, the propulsion tech on your Jericho Missiles is decades ahead of the rest of Earth. I hope that by the end of the evening I’ll be able to convince you to work with me, and us, long term.” God that girl’s smile is blinding, and at least the outfit is explained by her introduction.
Tony just looks over at ‘Quake’ with a question clear on his face. Quake purposefully misinterprets the look, if the smirk is anything to go by, and pulls out a folder that was hidden in a drawer. “JARVIS has all the electronic copies of this intel, but here’s all the proof you need for who is dirty in your company and who tried to pay the Ten Rings to kill you. Just like I promised.”
The girl handing the folder to her instead of to Tony is another indication that these two know a great deal about them, but the information of dirty employees and an assassination attempt is the final straw. Pepper doesn’t pass out, she’s far too composed for that, but she sure as hell collapses into the chair that Sunflower had just vacated as the day catches up to her all at once.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Honestly these scenes turned out longer than expected. I had wanted to get to the end of their talk (or at least the end of what I will show), but then I had so much fun adding in more with each of the POV’s that eventually I hit my word target. I think writing Stane's POV has been the most fun, because his is just so much different than anyone else. I will probably do a fair amount of villain pov's just to keep things fresh!
Poor Pepper, she just wanted to get back to normal, and now she has two superpowered squatters. But more than that, we see that Tony accepted the deal, and has even made changes to the timeline because of Daisy. Changes will keep piling up, because as much as you want to avoid the butterfly effect, what good is foreknowledge if you don’t actually use it?
Chapter 6: Dinner and Deals
Summary:
The full conversation and deals between our time traveling duo and the Stark duo commences! We get to see the fruits of Kara's 3 months spent in Tony Stark's personal lab, and more insight on Daisy's plans for the future with how Tony will fit into them. But will they reach an agreement in the end?
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
May 4th, 2008, MCU
Daisy Johnson, Stark Malibu Home
With Potts almost collapsing and then looking like she was about to bite Stark’s head off, the most pressing matter became getting her at least caught up with what Tony knew, and explaining the lack of warning being more her own fault than his.
Boy, they already act like a married couple, this is going to be hilarious to poke and prod at.
Finally when Potts had heard the real story of his escape, Daisy was able to put the soup she had on a simmer and put the dessert into the oven, and join the rest of them at the dining room table. Stark had very clearly been avoiding the folder of information in Potts’ hands, and instead turned to Kara and her.
“So, the first few questions that just pop into my head; let’s go rapid fire so we can cover a lot of ground. Sound good? You locked in, or do you need nap time first?”
The eccentric in ‘eccentric billionaire’ is certainly on the nose, but she will probably have fun with this. “Hit me with your best old man.” The toddler comments are getting tiring, mostly because she also hates the fact that she is so small.
“What are you doing in my home, for apparently the whole time I’ve been captured?”
“It’s more comfortable than one of the safe houses I’ve set up.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“People looking for allies against the things that go bump in the night, but not willing to burn our identities till it’s official. So Quake and Sunflower for now.”
“You expect us to believe bubbles over there is an alien?”
“We’re both aliens. I’m just mostly human as well, while she’s full alien.”
“So you’re the brawn, she's the brain?”
“She’s both. She can beat me before I even realize she moved.” Is it weird to be proud of the fact that her girlfriend can pink-mist her in an instant? Probably, but she lets her pride show anyways.
Stark is obviously getting more and more frustrated as this goes on. “How did you get the evidence in that folder?”
“I’m probably the best hacker, by far, in the world right now and breaking into Stark Industries made it even easier. This took me like a day, and we still went for a walk on the beach.”
“Humble.”
“I don’t do humble, I do accurate.” Now Kara’s turn to look proud, god they're disgusting.
“Fine. Last question; What did you do to JARVIS and why has he been so quiet since we got in?” The last half of that is shouted at the ceiling, but she’ll still take it.
“I hacked into him so we could gain access without him calling for help. Then we made a deal with him from there. I would help change his code to be a true A.I., give him hacking skills, and plug all of his security holes, while Sunflower upgraded his servers to be able to better protect and assist you. I then worked to make that intel package for you, and would spend time looking for you in Afghanistan. In exchange; he keeps our secrets, let us live here while we got situated these 3 months, he has been and will continue to give us man-in-the-chair support as long as it doesn’t work against you, and he helped to arrange this conversation.”
“I apologize if I overstepped, Sir, but I made the best decision I could with the information and abilities I had at the time. And over the 3 months, I haven't come to regret it, Sir.”
“That’s a lot to consider, but did you just tell me double dipped on payment for the information on my leaks?”
She shrugs without a shred of shame. “All you did was not tattle on me, so not a real payment for its worth, and I’ve been trained as a spy, I know how to play the game.” While Potts seemed to have been taking the information in while looking at the table to hide her expression, the spy bit was what caused both of them to snap to facing her.
“How old are you to have spy training?!” Dropping that hint, which helped improve her perceived worth, was also worth it just for the entertainment.
“Mentally I am somewhere around 23 while Sunflower is around 26. Aliens, remember?” Plus time travel, universe travel, universe and time travel. Including Kara’s space travel from Krypton and the Phantom Zone would make it even worse. “Also, that’s been a couple questions since the ‘last’ one.”
“You have a real talent to answer the question, but not give me anything, kid. Well, you wanted this ambush of a meeting, so what’s next?”
“Next… I will finish up making the meal for everyone, while Sunflower here gives her business proposal for a partnership between your two companies.”
“The girl who looks like a high school freshman owns a business?” Somehow this gives him a more visible shock than the alien facts.
“According to our official government records, we’re both 18. And don’t judge me, hacking into those government agencies was like one of the easiest and least illegal things I’ve done while in your house.” Potts visibly fending off a headache at Stark’s impressed look gives her life.
Kara Danvers
Throughout the conversation so far, Kara could feel her nerves rising higher and higher. She was so on edge that she hadn’t said a word since she was introduced, and was perfectly happy to let Daisy and Dr. Stark handle things.
Time was up now, as Daisy headed back to the kitchen, and it was her turn to speak. All she had to do was convince one of the most powerful and influential people in the world to work with her instead of her working for him. Daisy had said it was important for the power dynamics going forward, but it would also give them individual power and freedom to work behind the scenes.
And she has to do all of that, while looking like a teenager.
No pressure. First flash card.
“Good afternoon Dr. Stark and Ms. Potts. I’m here today to convince you to form a partnership between my company and Stark Industries that will help both of us revolutionize not only your weapons departments, but also consumer electronics, modern safe green energy, humanitarian products like desalination machines, and more.”
Next Card.
“While morally I don’t feel I can help with aerospace engineering or fusion technology, as those were my focus in school on my home planet, I am more than happy to help speed up the progress that you are likely to make which will keep you ahead of the competition by years if not decades.”
Next Card.
“To give a specific example, in working with my partner Quake on a projection of your likely technological breakthroughs due to the energy available to you with your new Arc Reactor technology, we believe you are on track to invent workable nanotechnology within the next 10 to 15 years. I believe I can work with you to get it to a working state for your personal labs in the next 5.”
Next Card.
“Any questions before I move on to specific blueprints I have been working on in the last 3 months?” Oh Rao, did she need a glass of water.
“…Tony, what do you think of her projected timeline? I thought nanotechnology was still the stuff of science fiction?” Ms. Potts is the first to speak up after a few moments of nerve-wracking silence.
“I have no idea.” At Ms. Potts' look, Dr. Stark elaborates. “I haven’t had time to consider where I can go with Arc tech yet. That being said, nanotech’s biggest pitfall was always going to be the energy needed while making machines small enough was always just a matter of time. Just thinking here now, if I have more breakthroughs in the years ahead now that I can make an Arc Reactor in a modern lab instead of a cave, I would still guess it would be 20 years before nanotech could be feasible.”
“Oh! I have the reason for our differing timelines.” Kara does her best not to wilt under their attention and instead continue. “Quake has intelligence that a spy agency, and she’ll cover that later, has some of your father’s original research into energy. What you have now gives you, what? 2.5 GJ’s per second?”
“Actually, a full 3 per second and I’m guessing my next version will give me up to 8.” Dr. Stark looks very proud of that, and he should. Arc energy was actually what Krypton used before the invention of matter manipulation used in the Omegahedrons. Hopefully humans will never make that jump either, as the materials required in Krypton’s main power source was what led to the core mining that ended up destroying her home planet.
Focus Kara! Cuddle Daisy later to get rid of the reminder of home.
“ If we are right about the information being held,” They are. “then you could see output more in the 30 to 35 GJ per second range.” At Dr. Stark’s shocked look she decided to give a reality check. “Although locating the right warehouse to get that information from, and then actually… ‘acquiring’ it, may take months to a year. Moving on, any other questions?”
Dr. Stark does NOT look like he wants to move on, but a subtle prod from Ms. Potts reigns him in. “Continue on please, I’m sure he’ll have enough questions about what you have next anyways.”
“JARVIS, can you please pull up my presentation and display design 1?” The holographic projector she installed into the dining room table comes to life showing her ‘Stark Phone’ design. “Stark Industries already had an idea for a Stark Phone and Tablet, but in the end it was determined that it would take too many changes to your manufacturing plants and would not be ahead enough of the competition to be financially sound. Using my designs the Stark Phone would have a processing speed 4 times faster, a camera with 5 times the details, 10 times the storage space, and 3.5 times as much RAM than the leading industrial version out there, to say nothing of how the commercial versions compare. With my plans for your factory changes, you could make the changes for a quarter of the projected costs, have the first prototype from the line ready in two months, and be able to offer the Stark Phone for the same price with the same profit margins as the commercial leader right now.”
JARVIS is a gift from Rao, as he rearranged her presentation to allow the business and profit details to be right in front of Ms. Potts and the engineering designs to be right in front of Dr. Stark. As they both read and look into what she has presented, she can see the gob-smacked look slowly take over both of their features, no matter how much they try to hide it.
Daisy snickering at the looks being heard wouldn’t help business deals, so she moves on to the next card to finish this before she passes out. How is fighting for her life easier than this?!
Because Daisy’s plans don’t rely solely on you then.
Moving on from that thought, she has JARVIS change to the quicker showing of the next products. “While I have more for electronics and other areas like I said, let’s get to what you care about Dr. Stark; Moving away from weapons of war. I’ll start with the items that can be started on faster to keep your military contacts happy. Uniforms made from Carbon Fiber Weave enhanced with Graphene and Kevlar for both police and military, allowing for protection from bullets and shrapnel without hardened steel plates and would provide much higher energy disbursement lowering the chances and severity of broken ribs or other injuries common from modern bullet proof vests. Time to start manufacturing; 1 month. Small recon drones capable of recon and forensics analysis. Both a more affordable version for police and rescue departments around the country, and a sturdier version for military combat. Time to start manufacturing; 1.5 months.”
THIS, this has grabbed Mr. Stark’s attention. He can help, he can make a difference, and he doesn’t have to be what that mean nickname accuses him of. So she goes in for the biggest item.
“All of those, however, are the small differences. In the end, the biggest killer is always going to be bullets and guns. Dirt cheap compared to what any missile ever could be. While the production lines for your missiles could be reused for these other products, most of your lines are still dedicated to guns and bullets. So I present the Icer line of guns, from handguns to machine guns, complete with dendrotoxin bullets. They are capable of putting a grown male sumo-wrestler unconscious on his behind with one shot. Behaves like their lethal counterpart in handling, but with no known long term health risks. Too many bullets may give the subject a hangover, but overdosing is not possible with the delivery method. Thousands of tissue samples from humans have been tested with no indications of allergic reactions. Aside from a lack of penetrating power, having the same capability as normal guns avoids the downfalls of every other non-lethal option currently available.
“Time to start manufacturing the guns: 2.5 months. Time to start manufacturing the empty bullets: 2 months. Time to adjust your medical equipment and start making the chemical compound of the bullets: 4 months. In less than half a year no police officer or soldier will have to make the decision between the safety of others and having to take a life, including possible innocent lives. All possible, if you agree to the partnership between Stark Industries and House El Revolution Origins. Thank you!”
The groan behind her from the kitchen leaves Kara confused for half a second until she realizes she skipped over the last line on the card in her excitement. The card that specifically says ‘my company’ instead of the name she just gave out. Oh shucks!
All the same she can see both Dr. Stark and Ms. Potts now furiously going through all the information she has presented in the holograms. After a few minutes, they both share a look and seem to have some unspoken conversation between each other before turning back to her.
That makes it all the more strange when it is JARVIS that ends the silence. “Apologies for the interruption, but it seems that-“
“Don’t worry about it J. I got it handled and it may even work to our advantage too.” Daisy is quick to interrupt, again leaving Kara confused until her senses pick up what is about to change. Looking over at Daisy just leaves her even more befuddled at the very mischievous grin on her face.
Ms. Potts soon cuts off whatever Dr. Stark is about to say. “Thank you Ms.… Sunflower.” Kara already basically exposed their identities by name dropping her company, can’t they switch to names? “You’ve given us a lot to look over and we would like to look into the feasibility of everything you have presented.” At Dr. Stark’s look that is almost petulant in nature, she elaborates. “What you have proposed is essentially a reconfiguration of every SI production line, while using up all of our stock to fulfill the contracts still out there. Not only will that cost billions on its own, but if something didn’t work then Stark Industries wouldn’t have any stored products to fall back on to hold us over until we can solve the issue. Most of this Tony has probably been able to follow, and can speak to its feasibility or not, but the biggest item is something that neither of us have a medical degree to even begin to know if it is possible. I’ve never heard of dendrotoxin, so how do I know this isn’t a fantasy product?”
As if it were right on que, the thing that JARVIS tried to warn them about happens. Happy Hogan, the personal driver and bodyguard to Tony Stark, walks into the main living area after having waited for a message from Ms. Potts about whether he was needed or not for the rest of the day. A message Ms. Potts was FAR too distracted to even remember promising to send.
As his eyes go wide, and his mouth opens to probably ask what the heck is going on here, Daisy suddenly moves. Kara is able to understand what she is doing, even as her arm moves faster than a human’s ever could. Part of Kara wanted to stop her, she has the time, but in the end she can understand what it is that Daisy is doing, and instead buries her face in her hands hoping that Daisy’s demonstration works for them instead of against them.
Time returns back to normal perceived speed, as a blue splatter paints across the bodyguard’s chest. Any words in his throat cut off as the bodyguard’s eyes suddenly close and he begins to fall to the ground unconscious. Kara finally decides to step in, despite seeing the vibrations in the air on the ground meant to soften his landing, Dr. Stark and Ms. Potts might not notice it and think Daisy just let him hit the ground full force. So quicker than the bullet flew she goes over and catches him, before speeding his unconscious form over to the couch. From her position over Mr. Hogan, she gives her best withering glare at Daisy… it’s not a good one, but she is doing her best here!
“WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!” Honestly, that’s a fair reaction to the last few seconds, which just makes Ms. Potts slap the back of Dr. Stark's head when he adds in his own thoughts that are clearly NOT a normal reaction.
“Well I think that alien James Bond over there has proven what their special blue bullets can do, while Daffodil here helped prove she’s all she’s been sold to us as, as well.” Not even the second smack to his head can stop the ear splitting grin on Dr. Stark’s face.
Daisy takes that moment to break up the tension with a call as she exits the kitchen. “Foods ready!” Kara can now finally get the drink of water at least.
Daisy Johnson
No matter what Kara may think, Daisy believes that the sales pitch went perfect! She had to use her powers a bit to delay Happy Hogan at the door for a few seconds, so he would enter at the right moment, but it made a perfect end point to the talks. Now with the meal being shared, it gave both Potts and Stark time to look over the details as well as time to think before they accept or deny. The slip of Kara’s company name has yet to be addressed, but if things continue to go the way Daisy thinks they are, then they will be sharing their real names soon anyways.
Daisy has never been good at not working while eating, so she sees no reason to stop that from happening right now. Potts is going through the details of the business side of things that Kara has presented, and between bites of food is occasionally looking up to ask clarifying questions or ask how changes might affect the timeline or feasibility.
Stark on the other hand god damn near pouted that the food wasn’t a greasy cheeseburger or something. She made a nice potato based soup, bread with some light seasoning to dip, vitamin rich fruit smoothies, and chocolate chip muffins as a treat for dessert. When he made to object she made sure to mention how she had seen his health report from the military doctors, and this meal is perfectly in line with their recommendations. That caused Ms. Potts to glare fiercely at him while asking Daisy what else was in that report that she should be aware of.
Although the glare was then shared between her and Stark when Daisy took out the already filled prescription drugs in Stark’s name with instructions for them.
To make it up to Stark she gave him the Icer handgun she had used on Happy, unloaded of course, to look it over in detail. That seemed to have worked as he had basically field stripped and reassembled the thing with a smile on his face. When questioned why this item has a practical version but nothing else did, Daisy made sure to keep it vague about it originally being from some spy co-workers who are no longer around.
Technically true as the Fitzsimmons of the current time would not be working on their Night Night gun for another 4 years. She would feel bad about having Kara use so many of their inventions, but plenty of lives will be saved with this. She hopes her Fitzsimmons, in the erased future, would agree.
Besides, once Shield falls she will be sure to poach the two of them and give them a very generous signing bonus. Once they leave to go back to Kara’s universe she will even be sure to give them the full credit. By that point the future knowledge will be useless and their method of time travel unrepeatable, so unless a reason comes up, she can make that information public in the end.
…She’ll always have a little bit of the Rising Tide in the way she works, but she’s pretty sure that is a good thing when she looks at Shield.
With the meal finished, dessert eaten, and Happy sent on his way after waking up with a VERY explicit order by Stark to forget what he saw and a bonus for the inconvenience; it was finally time to continue the discussions. Luckily, after Pepper and Stark whispered some words back and forth, he started off the conversation strong.
“So, details have to be worked out between Pepper and E.T. over there over the next few days, but we’re fine with moving forward with the partnership.” Kara nearly collapses in relief, and Thor knows the blinding smile will be on her face for the rest of the day. Which is fine with Daisy, she deserves to revel in her success. “Now we come to what I’m most interested in, what does the mini-superspy want from little old me? Something about ‘the things that go bump in the night’, whatever that means?”
A lot about time travel is making wagers, especially when it comes to how things will change. Their Chronicom adventures were an exercise in frustration about that. But right now… she is already starting to feel better. Stark isn’t acting like the egotistical playboy he was before, nor is he acting like the paranoid man he could become that would lock up any empowered for the smallest offense under the Sokovia Accords. He’s acting like someone who is just excited about the possibilities from here, very ‘kid in a candy shop’ of him.
Something in Daisy settles at that, even if she is about to make that ‘kid’ grow up.
“The Earth, and humanity, is about to be on the edge of a very important cliff. For human history, what has been recorded anyways, it has been fairly normal. The biggest widely known bump was when Steve Rogers was given the Super Soldier Serum but history tells us that it was destroyed and all attempts since then have amounted to less than nothing.” JARVIS pulled up the video she had prepped for this talk before continuing.
“Ignoring the fact that everything about that is basically bullshit, let’s move up to just a few years ago. In June 2003, a division run by General Thaddeus Ross was attempting to recreate the serum, not that the scientist Bruce Banner knew what he was actually working on, when the serum went wrong when exposed to Gamma Radiation that Dr. Banner had exposed himself to after self-injecting the serum. The result is that when Bruce Banner is in life-threatening danger, or anything that brings his heart rate too high, he temporarily turns into this…” With that, the video begins to show The Hulk in all his green glory.
Potts is suitably horrified while Stark is fairly interested, although calm about it at least. Once the compilation of Hulk rampages is over she continues. “The Earth is in a weird place right now. More batshit things, like The Hulk here, are going to start coming out of the woodwork. More than that, the Earth is in the worst place in terms of technology on the galactic scale. We aren’t advanced enough to properly defend ourselves from the powerful forces out there, but we aren’t so helpless that attacking us would earn the ire of the rest of the universe for picking on the underdeveloped.
“Now, what does this have to do with you? Right now? Nothing. That being said, if you make a second version of the suit you used to escape the Ten Rings, then some people may start looking at you the same way they look at Bruce Banner. Someone who truly needs help and support, but instead is being hunted around the world by Thaddeus Ross and international spy agencies alike to be used as a weapon.”
The video shifts to the military using what would normally be lethal force on The Hulk, but despite sometimes getting blasted backwards, it continues to fight.
“So, are you wanting to help keep the world safe in a flying tank from both the humans like the Ten Rings and the weirdos, or do you want to go back to being a billionaire just one who now makes their money in better ways? Because if it’s the first, you're going to need someone to make sure you aren’t treated like the next Bruce Banner.”
“What are you TALKING about?! Of course he isn’t going to do anything like that?! He’s not a soldier, he’s not a spy, and he’s not an alien that can move faster than bullets!”
Man, Potts has a set of lungs on her when she is getting worked up. She’s not TOO wrong either, but in the end it isn’t her decision, so Daisy keeps her eyes on the person whose decision it is. Stark… Is looking down at his chest, specifically the Arc Reactor and she knows why. While working to clean up the scene of the Ten Rings camp, Stark made her get out a body from the caves before she collapsed them. That’s when she heard the story of Ho Yinsen, and what happened in that cave that never made it into the Shield files she read. Looking at the military files she has seen in the past day, Stark has even pulled strings to get Yinsen’s body buried at his hometown of Gulmira beside his family’s.
She just knows Ho Yinsen’s dying words are playing through his head right now. She knows what Shield would want her to do. Press that soft spot, say those words again, move him towards the decision she wants.
She won’t though, because what she makes will be better, and it starts here.
“Yes,” Stark starts, before being talked over by Potts, although that doesn’t even stop him as they both talk over each other.
“No, you are not.”
“I need to not waste my life-”
“So invent more for other people to use!”
“And I can’t trust a suit I build to others like I did with the weapons I was selling.”
“You can’t do this, what about your entire company!?”
“You run most of my company anyways, and now you have a protégé to work with.”
“Protégé? She has her own company to run, and all the changes are basically a restructuring of the entire production line and brand new contracts to make. Making SI unrecognizable from what it is now is just A BIT more work than I normally help you with.”
“Making a new suit, and all the testing is months of work. We’ll be past the worst by then, and you have Obie to help with everything.”
Ah… Well it is about time to bite this bullet. Daisy’s loud cough interrupts their first argument as a couple discussion to bring the attention back to her. “We’ve avoided it up until now, but we have to deal with this before that thought continues. In the folder on the dirty aspects of Stark Industries is proof on several board members, a hidden department at SI HQ, but all of it headed by Obadiah Stane. Show it, JARVIS.” Anticipating some loud denials of people who haven’t been betrayed like this before, she has JARVIS start by displaying the ransom video with the translated audio overlaid.
From there the discussion takes a break as they go through the evidence collected, JARVIS giving his assurances as to the veracity of it all, not at all shocking is the fact that Potts is the first one to descend into threats of violence against him, women scorned and all that. Eventually though things calm back down enough for things to get back on track.
“I have a plan for how to deal with Stane, but that depends if you’re working for me or not. So I do need to know if you are wanting to become Iron Man, so what’s the call? You can always back out later, but I also think you can do real good for the world or I wouldn’t be here to support it. Sunflower and I can’t be the first heroes to come out, we’re too powerful and we’re both aliens. We need to start preparing Earth to be protected by itself.”
The offense on Stark’s face is clearly over exaggerated, he’s had some time to come to terms about what she is afterall. “Work FOR you? Woah woah woah. Stark Industries gets a partnership but I would get a nanny who looks like she needs a nanny? And what kind of name is Iron Man? Iron would make a horrible metal choice for a suit.”
“I don’t know, I think Iron Man makes a great name for it. Very surface level, not a lot of depth to that name. I think it fits you very well.” Potts is still not happy where things are heading, but the shake of Obadiah Stane seems to actually leave her more open to the idea of Stark gaining more ‘hard power’ to deal with apparently. Doesn’t mean she won’t get back at him in her own ways apparently.
“Sunflower here is new to owning her own company, even if she isn’t new to the science behind it or working in high yield businesses. While I infiltrated an international spy agency and made them think turning me was their idea in order to get information of my own, I even ended up as the Director of that agency for a little while.” The disbelief in his eyes wars with the look of being impressed.
“But don’t worry too much, I’m not interested in micromanaging you. I would help you start off on the right foot with both your enemies and the government, including training and Kara will help you with the suit. Anytime you're against a threat over your head or mess something up in the field, I’ll help the best that I can. When large scale threats emerge such as alien incursions, I would be in charge of any multi-hero team. Most importantly though, I would help you stay clear of the two international spy organizations. One is a government agency, while the other is a terrorist group bent on world control that has infiltrated the government agency since World War II.”
After nearly a full minute of shocked silence as well as deep consideration, Daisy presses for an answer. “So do you still want to be a hero, and are you ready to work for me?”
“...Quake, you really gotta work on the recruitment speech, at least list SOME benefits rather than just being all doom and gloom. Take points from Bubbles over there! But fine, you’ve got Iron Man as the first member of your superhero boy band.”
“Tony… Fine, but if it gets to be too much or too dangerous you will quit. He can quit, right?” Pepper directs back towards her.
“Of course, being allowed to retire is a right everyone should have. Welcome aboard Stark, I’m Daisy and that’s Kara.” As Daisy holds out her hand for Stark to shake.
Said alien, who was sitting quietly off to the side, is almost vibrating with excitement. “You're going to love being a superhero, Dr. Stark! Trust me!”
“Well I’m not going by my last name the whole time in this if you aren’t. So it’s Tony and that’s Pepper, or just Pep sometimes-”
“I never go by Pep.”
“Only when she’s in a really good mood does she go by Pep. So it’s a deal, boss man.” Tony says as he shakes her hand. Although she does have a few more things to drop on them…
“Oh, by the way. That international spy agency is called Shield, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division of the USA and was founded by a US General, your father Howard Stark, and your ‘aunt’ Peggy Carter during WWII. While the terrorist spy group that has infiltrated it is called HYDRA and is basically the Nazis but without the inherent racism.”
“MOTHERFU-”
“Also how open are you two to the possibilities of time travel and dimension travel? Because that is super relevant to the two of us.”
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: This chapter was a bit of a struggle and a bit long (Nearly 6k words, when I aim for just over 4k!), working through all the conversations that needed to happen while trying to keep the character personalities straight was a challenge. Hopefully I did an alright job!
While the next chapter WON’T be a continuation of the conversation, the conversation did continue afterwards. Daisy isn’t going to share too much, because neither Tony or Pepper are trained spies and the vast majority of the future is not relevant to either of them. But by leaving it open ended I can play with what Daisy has shared vs what she hasn't going forward as I write chapters. A technique I am shamelessly borrowing from other time travel fanfictions that I have read.
Until next time!
Chapter 7: Pentagons and Press
Summary:
Tony and Pepper travel to the Pentagon to meet with military officials to start selling their newest inventions made with the help of Kara. Then just a little while later, a press conference is called at Stark Industries to the surprise of many.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
May 12th, 2008, MCU
Tony Stark, The Pentagon
It was nearly every day that Tony found himself cursing Daisy, and what she was doing to him. All of his big military presentations have been out in the field where he can demonstrate with some big explosions and then plenty of whiskey to go around.
And I can’t even drink whiskey at home anymore, since Pepper is using my prescriptions to try and force sobriety on me. Kara’s puppy dog eyes are doing the heavy lifting with that though. Despite them being older than they look, Pepper just HAD to insist they live with us because she couldn’t kick ‘the kids to the street’. Honestly it’s probably just because they are both forcing me to be healthier between sobriety, medicine, meals, and workouts from hell labeled as ‘superhero training’.
So here Tony is now, instead of living his best billionaire life, he is going through the most stringent security checks for one of the most secure buildings on the planet, made even more difficult by the security team having no idea how to make heads or tails of his new Arc Reactor. Luckily it is specifically shielded from scans revealing the tech, but it does propose a security risk that Pepper is having to convince is only to protect Stark Intellectual Property. Giving him plenty of time to reflect on this past week.
After Daisy dropped those last couple verbal bombs into his lap about time travel and Hydra, he immediately demanded more answers. They were given an overview of Shield, the World Security Council, and Hydra. When he tried to demand detailed answers, Daisy very quickly gave him the reality of the situation on how knowing too much would tip off the world’s best spies more than intentionally leaving him in the dark. The good news at least was that he was given MOST of the big notes relating to his future, and seeing videos of his future ‘Iron Man’ suits was a dream. It hasn't been since the invention of JARVIS that he has felt so inspired and truly excited to work on something.
The number one goal had been getting his new reactor changed out, and with the help of his new lab partner, Kara, he was able to get it done within the next day. Which was good timing, as the day after was when he had a meeting with his GOOD and dear family FRIEND Obie at Stark Industries. Making sure to take charge of the narrative already, Tony made sure to give out a statement as he was greeted by applauding high level employees with the press there. Obie wanted a quick visit to be the narrative but Tony's statement made sure to head off any leaks that could be used against him. He addressed the possibility of short term rumors getting out, but that he would make his official statement within the next couple weeks that would paint any rumors as fear-mongering from his return.
The meeting following that statement was more tense than he had ever been in at his own company. Obie tried to make his disapproval over the statement known, Tony made sure to deflect with his usual lack of care of the vultures. Obie pried as much as he could about Tony’s plans for the future, but Tony made it sound like he was going to concentrate on green energy and that he had yet to make anything to keep the military happy on such short notice.
The rest of that week was preparing for this meeting in a variety of ways. JARVIS and Daisy worked to get a list of Generals and Pentagon personnel that could attend this meeting that weren’t associated with Hydra or Shield but wouldn’t make for a strange group for Pepper to arrange for them to meet. Having already hacked into everything Obadiah owned, they also tried to keep all news about this meeting from him. Neither he nor Pepper know HOW, but somehow as of yesterday both the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General were now slated to join them in this meeting.
Somehow the ability to manipulate the schedules of the highest level of the world’s most powerful government in the world is scarier than the manipulation of one of the basic aspects of reality that Daisy can do, but in the end those two will help the two main goals of this meeting immensely so Tony can set aside any apprehension over it.
As for himself and Kara, they made a prototype of every invention that Kara has pitched to him as well as his own contribution by adjusting the Thunderstick found in Daisy’s future-Shield files to be an actually USEFUL non-lethal option. The Thunderstick in the files was so incredibly situational due to its design, that there is no way a defense contract would ever be filled for it. But adjusting the files to make a Thundergrenade? That’s a tool that soldiers and police already know how to use, and a non-lethal variant allowing use even when friendlies or innocents are in the way will be worth their weight in gold.
The reveal that many of the inventions were reworks of past Shield inventions that Daisy had videos of, manuals for, or even some basic schematics of, that were converted into full blueprint and production plans DID lower how impressive their work was a little bit, but they can’t all be as great as he is… even if little Kara can do impressive work with super speed, and the upgrades to JARVIS alone has made him twice as efficient as well.
The final development of the past week was that Shield had started to make their moves, if slowly. JARVIS reported some brief encounters of his firewalls that were better than the typical attempts, although the attempts didn’t fully commit. The details led Daisy to believe that it was Shield’s initial attempts, but without enough incentive to get in yet they didn’t want to make the noise a full attempt could make. Also, while Tony was in his meeting with Obadiah at Stark HQ, Pepper was approached in person by an Agent Phil Coulson from the ‘ridiculously-long-name-agency-so-we-don't-just-say-shield’ wanting to schedule another interview with him. Following Daisy’s advice, Pepper just directed the Agent to the head of his legal team despite the Agent’s insistence.
Weirdly enough, his head of legal has yet to hear from anyone from that agency… Strange. Not!
All the same, the Pentagon Security has finally finished their sweep (more likely got it handwaved by someone over their heads) and it was time to meet with the leaders of the military. This meeting will help determine whether or not his company will be allowed to make the differences he wants to make, and how much they will work with or against the government.
General William Gabriel, Pentagon Weapons Range
Never again did General Gabriel think he would be attending another Stark weapons demonstration, and that was including after he had been rescued.
Well… after he rescued himself anyways.
The fact that he was Site Commander at that fateful last demonstration of the Jericho Missile, and it was his men in charge of escorting Stark safely back to base made him never expect this assignment again. But then, Stark’s Personal Assistant, Pepper Potts, reached out to the Pentagon through the usual channels to schedule a meeting.
Although weirdly enough the meeting was going to be AT the Pentagon this time, instead of whatever base Stark wanted, and the invitation list was very strict this time. No one was going to throw a fit about the restrictions though, the man had been tortured by enemy combatants for months, he is allowed some discretions. More than that, after his frank discussion about ending the manufacturing of lethal arms due to the leaks of his weapons into the hands of the very people who held him, had left a lot of people scrambling what to do long term.
No one expected him to bounce back in any way this quickly, let alone just over a week later. Even if Stark stuck to his word of defensive and non-lethal products, something was still better than nothing.
And boy did the man start off strong, especially for those who were at his last sales pitch, even from his bearing alone. While originally upon recovery Stark was hiding the electronic medical device in his chest, now his dress shirt was tailored around it, proudly displaying its powerful glow to the whole room, and things only went more unexpected from there.
“Last time I stood in front of you, I talked about the philosophy of my dad and those like him that came before. I talked about the philosophy of the weapon you never have to fire, versus the weapon you only have to fire once. If that were really true, then the nuclear bomb would have ended every armed conflict since its invention. While it has been a great deterrent for direct wars between global superpowers, it has just made war change styles. Instead of also changing styles to match, Stark Industries just got better and better at the old methods. Bigger guns. Bigger explosions. More deaths.
“In those caves I saw the need for change, but had yet to have a place to realize it. Luckily, my automated system that goes through the thousands of business offers from new ventures that get sent to me, thinking they are on my level, actually found one that was up to snuff. While the young founder of ‘House El Revolutionary Origin’ does not yet have the security clearance necessary to join us here today, Stark Industries has signed an extensive partnership with the genius Dr. Kara Danvers. All of her patents are being filed jointly with SI, so they are eligible for military contracts.
“If there are enough orders or even interest in the products here today, then every one of my production lines will start the process of switching over immediately. Because the thing that will be better than the weapon you only have to fire once, is the weapon you feel ready to fire every single time.”
What followed was a slowly escalating line of what felt like a glimpse into the future, with not a single item being of lethal design, with heavy implications that Stark sought approval to get these items green lit for domestic use as well.
Phones and tablets with greater durability, capabilities, and encryption than some desktop computers.
Bulletproof uniforms that apparently Stark trusts so much that his suit jacket is made out of it… and demonstrated by taking a Desert Eagle and shooting himself point blank with it. What should have given him a cracked rib, left a smaller welt than a paintball would give to bare skin.
Drones so small and quiet they aren’t even heard while in an enclosed space that should echo, capable of locating hidden people and in-the-field forensic analysis.
Grenades that have the same effective area as modern fragmentation ones, yet would non-lethally incapacitate.
The cream of the crop is certainly the Icer guns and bullets, which leaves him god damn speechless. Never again will soldiers get blown up because they hesitated too long with what they thought could possibly be civilians. The guns and bullets may cost twice as much as their normal counterparts, but the lives saved, lawsuits avoided, and PR disasters averted make them worth 10 times as much.
It says a damn lot about Stark’s reputation how many soldiers feel more than comfortable standing in for those last two demonstrations, but sure enough the medical report later shows all soldiers were back up within 12 hours, with a clean bill of health.
While his position affords him plenty of discretion with contracts, hence why he was in charge of the Jericho purchase, the way that the Secretary of Defense is looking lets him know that the dollar amount on the incoming contracts is going to be far outside what he can do.
Thank god too, as he was just at a Hammer Industries weapons presentation a couple days ago to potentially become the army’s new main weapons contractor. They would still need to move forward with that line, as lethal options will still be needed, but probably at a much reduced size than what he feared. The quality of Hammer Industries vs Stark Industries weapons would have affected American soldiers around the world in the worst ways.
That being said, the reason the Attorney General is attending here is lost on him. Possibly being the in for getting these supplies into the hands of domestic police and rescue forces? From the confused look on the man’s face, and the way he is talking to his own personal assistant in hushed whispers, the confusion isn’t limited to himself either.
That mystery is solved in the follow up meeting after the various demonstrations conclude. A meeting that should be about the initial interest and ideas for quantity, is instead started off with Ms. Potts passing out what looks like a professionally compiled counter-intelligence report to everyone in attendance, with a larger stack with supporting drives for electronic proof given to the the DOJ members.
Just as he is about to truly crack open the report to see what this is about, Stark does what he loves to do, and takes over every monitor in the place remotely with just a custom mobile device for the job. Honestly, it would be as highly frustrating as it usually is but Stark is finally selling an encryption solution so in the end it just feels like another sales tactic this time instead of just showing off.
Although, that honestly felt like it took no time at all for him to gain control, when usually it takes at least a few seconds. Has his hacking capabilities increased just as dramatically as everything else?
General Gabriel is shaken out of his thoughts when the screens switch over to the video Stark is intending to play. The room is filled with disbelief as a ransom video plays. A ransom video of Tony Stark when he was captured. A ransom video they were waiting for but never received. A ransom video addressed to Obadiah Stane speaking of a double-crossed assassination attempt.
“In these files we have put together, you’ll see evidence from a ghost drive that I found on my company’s server upon my return. They show proof of not only an entire secret department at Stark Industries dedicated to the illegal sale of arms, but that nearly half the members of my Board of Directors were the leaders alongside my COO and longtime family friend, Obadiah Stane. Who eventually got so fed up with my continued time in the spotlight, that he armed foreign terrorists to kill myself and the American soldiers protecting me.”
He has always known Tony Stark as a party goer, as someone chasing the fun in-between his spouts of genius. Yet all day, while he has maintained his charismatic and playful demeanor, there was an intensity to him now. But at this moment, as he talks about the betrayal he faced, he finally sees a Tony Stark filled with a fury he has only seen in his soldiers who have gone through the worst of it. And if he is not mistaken, the lights on Stark’s medical device seem to gain in intensity alongside the anger.
“So, I would like to speak about the charges for those who used my name to help kill the American soldiers who protected me with their lives.”
General William Gabriel knew that the world was changing, and Tony Stark was going to be front and center as he always has been, but for brand new reasons and in brand new ways.
May 16th, 2008, MCU
Christine Everhart, Stark Industries HQ
Christine Everhart should not be the one at this press conference right now… if you were to ask her boss that is. After sleeping with Tony Stark her boss pulled every article she was working on about SI and assigned them to other reporters to either complete or spike. Despite seduction being used to gather information since the start of civilization, she was going to be sidelined because she tried to do the same thing. Christine believes that her boss only feels that way because her seduction didn’t actually gain anything of use, so all she needed was a big break to get back to where she was.
Then that chance fell into her lap just this very afternoon, as she was now at a press conference being held right in the heart of Stark Industries Headquarters. A press conference that was NOT in any way scheduled, and announced with less than 30 minutes of notice, leaving many news outlets struggling to arrive on time, or having to rely on whomever happened to be in the area at the right time. And guess who is the only option that Vanity Fair has if they want anyone there to represent them? Christine Everhart.
Now all she had to do was be sure to be ruthless and direct but fair with her questions, to both quell any concerns about her being compromised and to also prove that her… dalliance with Mr. Stark could be an advantage for them all. Stark Industries had started bleeding rumors that they were cutting all new weapons contracts, and the only thing stopping a full blown panic sale of the stock was Mr. Stark’s words earlier about the possibility of misleading rumors. That being said, the historic rise in stock price after his recovery from overseas had quickly plateaued in face of the fear from the rumors all the same.
As Christine ran into the press pool, she looked around to see how many had been able to make it. Unfortunately for her, most of the major publications had at least one reporter and some of the local news crews had cameras being set up that would undoubtedly sell their footage to the major networks. She may look like a ditzy blonde to those who still look down on women with pretty faces, but the fact was she used that to her advantage to blend into the crowds she needed to blend into. So she knew how to recognize someone that was using their looks to blend in, and something about the man in his 40’s hanging around the edge spoke more government than press, although she could not vocalize the exact reason why.
Taking a chance, she made sure that the spot she took was both in plain view of the podium so Mr. Stark would hopefully be thrown off when he recognized her, but also close enough to this man that if her instincts were right could give her another story to cover.
As the rest of the press finished filing in and setting up, Tony Stark walked straight in and to the podium as if he owned the place… and she immediately hated how dumb of a thought that was, he did own the place. But with the press he had always seemed like he was preparing for a boxing match with them, even if he acted like he was punching down. Now though, he looked like someone who was about to play with his food when he looked at them, even if there was a grim seriousness to him now.
3 months of captivity has certainly changed him, maybe my in with him won’t be as effective as I hoped.
Set within Tony Stark’s chest was some bright shining circlet, that powered who knows what. There were words of a medical device set in his chest during his captivity, but she had expected anything like that to be removed in the face of modern medicine. Not upgraded and nearly flaunted the way it clearly was right now. That alone could be front page news, although just front page of the society or technology sections for now, and plenty of cameras flashed to capture the image of the changed CEO.
As Mr. Stark made it to the podium, and calmly waited for quiet to return to the reporters currently shouting questions, Christine could feel nothing but her anxiety rising over the changes. Tony Stark would have calmed the room by making a joke, or some other stunt to bring in the focus to him. Tony Stark does not do calm and collected patience.
Finally, after a few moments of silence Tony Stark began. “I never got to say goodbye to my father. There’s questions that I would ask him now. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. lf he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels, because I didn’t truly know him past those newsreels either.” Holy shit this is the most open and vulnerable Tony Stark has ever been to the press, and every reporter in the room is shocked into silence, not expecting any of this.
“I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them and I saw that I had become part of a system that trades lives for dollars, and not all of those lives being the guilty or enemies of America like I had been fooled into believing.”
“What happened over there, Mr. Stark?” A young reporter asks. And what a waste of the first question from the young idiot reporter. But she’ll let others take the softballs, only to pounce when he is used to them.
“I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. There are rumors out there that Stark Industries is stopping all military contracts. This is not true, what is true instead is that Stark Industries is finishing all outstanding contracts with our stored supplies, and then will never make another weapon that is used to kill again.”
The room blows up into a flurry of questions and demands and photos. How does that mean the rumors are false, because it sounds like they are 95% accurate? This time it takes significantly longer for decorum to return, and through it all Mr. Stark seems to revel in the chaos going on around him without actually doing anything to discourage or quell it. The only two who don’t seem to be shouting out, seem to be herself and the totally-a-fed that is still holding his position.
Her lack of outward shock seems to draw the attention of Mr. Stark, as after a few minutes he meets her eyes, and finally raises a hand in a silent demand for silence. “You look like you have a question, Ms. Brown?” Somehow the bastard both helps her, and insults her at the same time. Well she can do the same.
“Yes Mr. Stark. Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair. You are a genius inventor with more resources than some countries, I’m sure you will be able to make whatever changes to your company that you obviously have planned. What I want to know is if you think being accountable now, after you were made a personal victim, will do anything for all the lives lost by your apparent negligence?” She felt like she asked a great question, like she pushed him past the carefully rehearsed direction of this press conference and into the uncomfortable truths.
So why does his smile make me think I played right into his hands?
“Well, after this press conference we have a lovely tech demonstration with Stark Industries' newest partner, a small company by the name of House El Revolutionary Origins, to showcase not only our next steps but how we will be saving lives across the world. But that’s not what you want, what you want is this instead.”
At that, from some unseen signal, the backstage doors open up revealing a procession of DOJ officers. First, they clear a path from their door to the exit, where she can see a caravan of black SUV’s suddenly arriving. Next, being pulled along in cuffs obviously under arrest is a tide of people. Based on uniforms it looks like 10 security guards, 25 factory workers, 10 officer workers, 5 scientists, and who she recognizes as 5 of the 12 sitting members of the board of directors. But all of those pale in comparison to the last member of the arrests, the COO himself Obadiah Stane being dragged in while unconscious with what looks like a blue paintball splatter on his chest.
After that Tony Stark is joined on stage by another figure that everyone in the room recognizes, but he introduces himself all the same. The press statement that follows is the reason why her boss retreats all sense of probation she has been on. Because of her, Vanity Fair was present at a moment that will go down in the history books.
“Good afternoon everyone. For those who do not recognize me I am the Attorney General of the Department of Justice for the United States of America. Following evidence collected by Dr. Stark, we have arrested Obadiah Stane and all those who joined him in his conspiracy. Evidence has been found that points to illegal arms deals, illegal weapons manufacturing, international smuggling, arming the enemies of the United State of America, and most recently; the attempted contracted assassination of Anthony Edward Stark leading directly to the death of US troops and the 3 months of captivity and torture he faced thereof. A full list of charges and names will be released soon, but for now Obadiah Stane will be facing charges of Treason. The last time the DOJ fully pursued treason charges was in 1949, but this time the DOJ will be advocating for the maximum sentence associated with treason. The death penalty.”
Pandemonium erupts from everyone in the room, and around the world watching the live broadcast, while even Christine finds herself letting out a cry of pure shock from the situation. In all of the chaos, Christine just barely remembers who she positioned next to in time to see a look of frustration appear on the middle-aged agent’s face, just adding confusion to Christine’s mix of emotions.
If he isn’t expecting or even happy at these turn of events, then what was he hoping for?
In the wake of the battles fought, and threats met, the world now knows the basics of the two Superheroes that helped to shape the direction all of humanity has gone in, Quake and Supergirl. I, Amira Ahmed, have written this book in order to try and compile the information that hasn’t been made as obvious to the public in the wake of the hard reveals we all have had to go through. Most people believe that the decision to become superheroes was something that was sporadic, something they decided to do when the world needed them. In all of my research, I have learned that is the furthest thing from the truth. They, and more specifically the founder of S.P.E.A.R. Daisy Johnson, had made meticulous plans for when and where to reveal themselves. That means, the elegance and purpose behind their early moves are often missed or ignored and I seek to give those details the attention they deserve.
The quiet echoes of their moves could be seen in those early days, but the loud personality of Dr. Tony Stark drew the eye of everyone at the time. Even following what became known as the ‘Treason Tech Conference’, the first official appearance of one of the civilian identities of one of the two heroes occurred as a side note to most. Many journalists left to focus on the biggest story, but the more stubborn ones stayed around for the tech demonstration after, hosted by both Dr. Tony Stark and Dr. Kara Danvers. While the tech articles following that were absolutely glowing, Kara Danvers was noted as a sweet and peppy girl, whom everyone expected to be absorbed by Stark Industries soon.
The biggest conspiracy theory at the time was that Kara Danvers, or her (at the time) invisible partner Daisy Johnson, was the illegitimate child of Dr. Stark. Theorists online scoured the timeline their ages suggested to find proof their birth mothers had affairs that could have fit with Tony Stark’s well known love life. What no one has seemed to realize is that Kara Danvers, at the time of the tech demonstration, was wearing a ‘face veil’ in order to appear as old as her forged birth certificate claimed. Every guessed timeline was wrong from the very start, all thanks to the technology and hacking abilities of Daisy Johnson.
But while the conspiracy theorists were loud and proud, something that was a small note at the time only to have a much greater impact later, was the reporter for Vanity Fair in attendance; Christine Everhart. The reporter stuck around for the tech demonstration as well, being sure to stick close to someone they found to be suspicious due to ‘how well they melted into the background’. While the person, now known as then S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson, did nothing during the press conference and tech demonstration. He was noticed by Ms. Everhart to have quickly approached Dr. Stark at the finish, managing to slip through the security detail. She overheard the agent identify himself as an agent for ‘The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division’ and to request a meeting to ‘debrief’ Dr. Stark about his escape.
When Dr. Stark mentioned his P.A. at the time, Pepper Potts, having talked with the agent last week and that they were still waiting for him to contact their legal team before proceeding. Agent Coulson was evasive and vague about this lack of proper follow-up, and yet tried to insist on a meeting being highly urgent. A discrepancy that Dr. Stark was all too giddy to point out. Dr. Stark left saying that if it was so urgent, then his agency should contact his legal team immediately so they can proceed. Otherwise, he isn’t going to talk about information that the CIA, DOJ, FBI, and DOD have asked him to hold onto on the advice of counsel. Following that brief overheard, tense, discussion Ms. Everhart looked into the department, only to find little and less which only drew her focus even more. While Ms. Everhart's efforts didn’t pan out in the short term, they certainly helped her explosive article in the wake of the Battle of New York, when S.H.I.E.L.D. had its ‘Second Worst Day’.
But those are stories for further on in this chronicle, to get back on the topic of the early days of Quake and Supergirl; I have found something that I believe no one else has noticed, not even the military itself. Looking over the since declassified medical examiner reports of Tony Stark’s escape from the Ten Rings reveals that nearly half of every terrorist died due to a snapped spinal column. An ability that is well documented having been thoroughly used by Quake when combating violent threats in the future. The only possibility I see is that somehow, Quake was present at the camp during the escape. All official documents and stories are that Dr. Stark escaped alone, after receiving help from the other captive Dr. Yo Hinsen who died early in the attempt. However, when I presented the oddity in my interview with Dr. Stark, his only response was a sly smile, and a request for the next question.
No matter how much I-...
Excerpt from ‘The Hidden HEROes of the Modern Age; Two Superheroes Hidden War’ By Amira Ahmed .
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: I honestly have no idea why, but this chapter was a struggle for me to write. I’m trying to write the payoffs and reactions to what our characters have been working on while at the same time trying to avoid sounding like I’m just going over the same material from the chapter before again. Something it kindof felt like with the inventions, hopefully I did a good job of avoiding the worst of my fears there.
Something else we see though, no matter how much alien genius Kara has, or how many basic schematics and videos of the tech in action Daisy has, nothing can beat true experience in a personally designed lab. While in less than a week Tony makes 1 radically adapted product, it took 3 months for Kara to recreate less than 10 products (and that is counting the various Icer models of guns as all different products). Although, Kara’s office experience shines in the follow-through of calculating the production line changes where Tony will just leave that to Pepper.
Finally, the waves of changes continue to spread and gather in strength. Why write time travel if you aren’t going to change things? So I promise you things will change from canon in greater and greater ways. I have no problem with taking the canon timeline out back to shoot it.
Chapter 8: Hulks and Hacks
Summary:
Word spreads of an altercation going down in Harlem New York, but what details have changed? Meanwhile, Daisy and Kara (along with their allies) continue to adjust their plans as the world continues to adjust to their actions.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
June 14th, 2008, MCU
Daisy Johnson, Stark Malibu Home
Daisy grumbled a little as her alarm went off waking her up from a very peaceful rest. Since it was a Saturday and they had nothing pressing on the docket right now, she got to sleep in a little later than usual. The slow morning was also needed as she was up late working on the fallout from New York, making sure to help mitigate disaster and start getting the narrative working in the right direction. Rolling over she could see Kara doing her best to ignore the alarm, but the super senses made it very hard to try and pretend otherwise.
“Come on, Kara. The sooner we get up, the sooner I can make us some breakfast.”
At first Kara just grumbles, but soon enough she is starting to sit up, and begins soaking in the sun from the now clear windows thanks to Jarvis. “That makes it worth it, if just barely.”
Daisy snickers in response. “You weren’t even awake as long as me last night, so stop your grumbling and let’s get ready.” Bucky on the other hand, gives them both the stink eye before falling back asleep at the foot of the bed. Oh, to live the life of a cat.
As they begin their morning preparations, Daisy thinks back to the last month, and how while most of her plans have been going well she is unable to account for everything. The biggest surprise was definitely Pepper insisting that both her and Kara take the guest room long term to stay in. When assured that Daisy had plenty of safe houses prepared for them to live in, Pepper breezed over that acting like it would be a shack in the woods (her safehouses are better than THAT, thank you very much).
There was some objection to them sharing a bed, despite having done so for the past three months, but Daisy made it very clear that despite being girlfriends and Kryptonians mating for life, they are NOT doing anything more than pecks of kisses. The fact is that both of their sex drives are shot from the de-aging, let alone not being attracted to each other on that level due to the younger bodies. In the end, cuddling up to each other is as far as they will want to go for years, and it is all they really need with how in tune they are at times.
Since then, Daisy both hated and loved the dynamic that has emerged. Kara and her aren’t children… but their younger hormones certainly crave the parental affections. And while Tony and Pepper don’t act parental per se, the Stark house has become downright domestic. It both soothes and irritates the part of her that always wanted something like this throughout her years in the foster system, secretly under Shield’s sway.
Pepper, despite not technically living here, has always had a room set aside for her when work ran late or started early to spend the night. Now though, she has been sleeping here 5 to 6 nights a week, and occasionally all 7. They all eat meals together, about half of which Daisy cooks while the other half is either someone else or they order in. Hell, Kara has somehow managed to get a weekly game night set for Fridays alongside dinner!
Last night was Settlers of Catan, although Daisy and Pepper had to keep an eye on both Kara and Tony. Kara had to keep her glasses on, and Tony had to be kept away from his phone, otherwise the both couldn’t keep themselves from cheating.
Children! They both act like children!
All the same, despite not telling them of their future relationship, the game nights have felt much more like double dates at this point. Oh neither one of them has actually made a move, but every week they sit just a little bit closer on the couch. Maybe Daisy should start sarcastically calling them Mom and Dad sometimes to mess with them? Hmm… she’ll consider it.
Another good change is that in the wake of Obadiah Stane’s dramatic arrest (and that was ALL Tony asking for the flair from the DOJ), Pepper Potts has been officially appointed as Stark Industries' newest COO. While it has caused some waves, it is a lot less than when she was appointed CEO suddenly in the original timeline. Stark’s PR team is also helping to focus on her years of assisting Tony as CEO already, and to emphasize the need for loyalty in the position following her predecessor's actions.
Oh, it’s all annoying PR work to make sure the stock price doesn’t lose its upward momentum, but in the end it will help when Pepper is officially appointed CEO in 3 years like in the original timeline. Tony wanted to do it right away, but when all three of them ganged up on him saying it was a bad idea, he relented. Thankfully Jarvis is helping them both in their duties thanks to his upgrades, so neither is overwhelmed by Stane’s departure and the giant changes the company is going through.
The last big worry that Daisy has had over the last month, was her and Kara’s civilian identities not holding up to the scrutiny that work with SI would bring. The background checks for a government contractor are strict, and the media attention as well meant they would be put under the microscope, so she had to make it microscope proof. That means a LOT of breaking in to plant or copy physical records. Tying their schooling with those who have passed away in non-suspicious circumstances, doctoring and planting photos, tax and immigration records for their parents from a small European town that was destroyed due to ‘terrorists’ that was actually a Hydra cover up. And on and on and on it went since they had arrived in this timeline.
In the end, it was worth it as Kara was granted the needed clearances to attend any future meetings with Tony and the government. Daisy would need to wait a few more years to finish growing, before then using the face veil to pass the same checks. Luckily, the in-person interviews of past associates needed for the clearance has been discontinued in favor of a Shield background check. This change was actually done specifically so Hydra could slip in their agents where they needed throughout the government, but Daisy has no problem using the security holes Hydra has made for herself.
As Daisy is finishing up breakfast prep, having had Jarvis deliver the meal notice to Pepper and Tony, Kara comes in with a Stark Pad with the daily newspaper scans pulled up, causing Daisy to chuckle to herself a little.
“I know you used to work for a media corporation, but checking to see what news articles were written about you can NOT be healthy.” Daisy makes sure to keep her tone light and teasing. She did the same thing when she was on the run as Quake. It was what kept her going and feeling like her childhood dream of being a hero was being accomplished, even when she was just looking for somewhere to die as a hero.
“I- It’s not about that! I’m looking to see what you were alluding to last night! When I asked why you were staying up late, you said I would see it in the paper…” At Daisy’s raised eyebrow, Kara continues. “O-okay it’s also to see any new articles, but I’m a new business owner, I need to be aware of this!” Kara was blushing HARD at that last part.
Daisy just smiles at Kara as she begins to set the table. “I checked on my phone while you were in the shower, it’s actually the front page on most papers based out of the east coast and websites for the west coast.”
Kara quickly begins diving into the news, occasionally looking up wide eyed at Daisy, before going on to the next article. Just as it looks like she is ready to ask a question, Tony and Pepper come barreling into the dining room with a Stark Pad in each of their hands.
“Hey, Ms. ‘Destroyer of Worlds’, want to tell me what the hell happened last night?” Tony sounds more confused, than any kind of angry.
Which, fair, but she always likes messing with him when she can. “Last night? We played Catan, I couldn’t possibly know what you're referring to!”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe what’s all over the news this morning? Hey Jarvis, pick a good station and put it on the big screen.” Jarvis quickly complies, with the TV lighting up showing a news anchor who seems to be about to start again, with the start of a new hour.
“Good morning to viewers along the west coast this morning. For those just joining us, we have a breaking story coming out of New York City’s Harlem neighborhood last night. A large gray monster, now known as ‘The Abomination’ rampaged through the streets, only to be stopped by a similar green monster that has been recognized as ‘The Hulk’ that clashed with the US Military a few days ago at Culver University. While initial reporting both from the ‘Battle of Culver’ as well as the ‘Harlem Clash’ could only get their hands on some shaky or blurred videos and photos from offline only cameras, since then a lot more information has come out via leaks delivered to news agencies and reporters across the country by a group calling themselves S.P.E.A.R., although what the acronym stands for or what the group’s aim is, is still unknown.
“According to the leaked classified documents, the true identity of ‘The Hulk’ is a fugitive scientist by the name of Dr. Bruce Banner. Dr. Banner who was contracted by US General Thaddeus Ross and the US Government to make a new attempt at the famous ‘Super Soldier Serum’ used on Captain America back in WWII before it was immediately lost. Dr. Banner and his colleagues were NOT told the truth or details of their assignment, which led to a lab accident where he was flooded by gamma radiation ultimately resulting in his transformation from what should have been a fatal exposure. Since then, reports state that when Dr. Banner’s fight or flight response is engaged, he loses all control to his greener half.
“While on the other hand the true identity of ‘The Abomination’ is Emil Blonsky, a soldier assigned to General Ross to help capture Dr. Banner. Captain Blonsky reportedly was given ANOTHER unstable version of the super soldier serum that left him mentally unstable, before forcing a civilian scientist to inject him with Dr. Banner’s blood to gain the same powers, even after Dr. Banner had been captured following a partially successful attempt to ‘cure’ himself of ‘The Hulk’. The only reason civilians were not harmed in the following rampage, was because a ‘Shelter In Place’ order was sent to all local phones and TVs using the S.P.E.A.R. logo. In the brutal conflict, Dr. Banner managed to seemingly gain control of ‘The Hulk’ for the first time, and stayed focused on fighting ‘The Abomination’, resulting in ‘The Hulk’ being the hero of the day, before running off without injuring anyone else or further major property damage.
“The White House has yet to comment on the culpability of General Ross for his program, for mislabeling Dr. Banner a fugitive for years, for international manhunts that broke treaties with allied nations, or for ‘The Abomination’. That may be because the leaks include information of the Super Soldier Serum programs of the past. Most notably, when African American soldiers in the Korean War were used as test subjects without their knowledge, with fatal and debilitating complications, only for the military to almost bomb a POW camp to kill the soldiers to destroy the evidence of their work. We now go live, to an in-person interview with the only survivor of that program, Isaiah Bradley. The reporter on scene-”
With that the tv screen was finally muted as three pairs of eyes turned to her. Daisy honestly felt like even Jarvis turned his eyes on her, the traitor. “What? Sounds like the news covered what has happened pretty well. So I don’t know why you're lookin at me to tell you anything?”
Use your 12 year old looks. Exude childhood innocence! Make them believe your bullshit.
The deadpan expressions let her know that they aren’t buying it, even if she feels like her expression was right on target! “Okay fine. This is the Hulk’s last public appearance until 2012, so I made sure to do my best to stop civilian deaths without being there in person. As well as getting as much information out there that wouldn’t get anyone else killed. Weirdly enough, very little information or footage survived in my timeline, almost like someone was trying to ‘shield’ the public from it by hacking into everything with an internet connection to delete the footage.”
Everyone digests that for a second, ignoring her great pun, before Pepper asks the first question. “Okay, but what about the soldiers that died both at Culver and yesterday?”
Daisy sighs, knowing they wish to do more, just like she does, but they need to play their cards correctly. “The cynical answer is that the soldiers following Ross had a high likelihood of winding up in the radical parts of the ATCU or even the Watch Dogs. The middle ground answer is that while Ross is not Hydra, his ideals already align closely with them, but he is too much of a patriot to actually sign up. So he and his team are watched too closely by both Shield and Hydra for us to act without tipping our hand early.”
“And what is the optimistic answer, if you've already gone over the cynical and middle ground ones that is?” Kara asks.
Giving her a light smile for focusing on the ‘Kara’ side of things, Daisy answers. “The optimistic answer is that the Hulk and Banner both needed this and had it handled. This was their first time fighting the good fight, we can’t take that away from him if we want the Hulk to be a hero or even just for Banner to gain control. Supergirl or Quake could possibly help, but we would have to go for the kill against Abomination to avoid just making a bigger mess. And if the Hulk makes a move against us because his opponent is gone? That would seriously mess things up.”
Pepper and Kara nod along in agreement, but it seems to leave Tony confused. “You’re the destroyer of worlds, have a working super soldier serum lite in you, and have vibration powers. Meanwhile the powerpuff girl over there is well… a powerpuff girl. How could you being there make it worse?”
Daisy sighs, no matter how much they help Tony grow he still sees things a little bit too simply. Comes with the territory of being so removed from the everyday life of most people. “The Hulk and Abomination are STRONG. In raw strength, they are stronger than Kara was back in her timeline, and now she is 11 years younger than that.”
At that, both Pepper and Tony drop their jaws. Tony has run some tests on both of their powers, and there really is a reason people back in National City and Metropolis saw the supers as gods. Daisy continues after they process that reality.
“Additionally, no matter how durable Kara is, she weighs as much as a teenage girl. That means a punch won’t kill her but it will cause her to go plowing through buildings, and possibly INTO the people in those buildings. Both Hulk and Abomination have regeneration and high durability, so who knows if I could vibrate their brains to mush faster than it heals? It could turn into a war of attrition, which is horrible news for the battlefield… aka Harlem. And horrible news for my 12 year old body that has to channel all of that power.”
“Yeah yeah yeah, I got it shake shack. No need to talk down to me too much. Anything us muggles need to know about the fallout from this?” Good job covering up your lack of forethought there, Tony.
“Hmm… Now that you ask, possibly. We have been busy with the changes to production, but those have been sorted and planned right?” At the confirmation from Pepper, Daisy continues. “For now I'll keep an eye out for the timing of the next step, Pepper can handle anything that comes up with SI, and you two should finally get around to starting on Iron Man Mark II over the next couple days. What do you say, wanna get building?” Kara and Tony shared a look that made them both look like teenage girls about to go to the concert of their favorite boy band.
June 15th, 2008, MCU
Kara Danvers, Stark Malibu Home
The last two days have been a wonderful and exciting blur of science with the leading expert on this Earth! Tony may not be as educated as she is, on a galactic standard anyways, but he has so much more practical experience than her that she commonly finds herself falling behind him a little bit. Although that prideful part of her wants to say that’s only because they’re working with what her people would consider outdated tech.
While they had started making plans, and looking over videos from the original timeline, and discussing possibilities, the last two days have been when they have started actual construction on the Iron Man suit. For now they are concentrating on making the boots, as that is the first step in the flight system. While the suit Lex Luthor made was stronger and beefier in order to be able to go toe to toe with her cousin, the Iron Man suit was sleeker and more agile with more abilities that don’t fight just one species in the universe.
The goal right now is to have a suit of similar capabilities for the original timeline’s Iron Man at the Battle of New York to be ready to debut against the Ten Rings once they move against civilians (although preferably the moment just BEFORE they move against civilians). According to Daisy’s information, it took Tony Stark until mid to late October to finish his Mark III armor that he used in that fight. So they have around 4 months to get done what took Tony 5 years originally, just without the new element arc reactor… No pressure.
“Okay a little bit higher with that… Right there… I said right there so why are you moving? Stop moving… Okay that’s good, let’s move to the next… That means you can start moving again. Why haven’t I donated you to a college yet?”
Although she could do without how he talks to his robotic help. She knows they don’t have feelings like Jarvis does now, but it’s the principle of the matter! He even programmed it to act like a kick puppy sometimes, for crying out loud!
As they finish soldering together the newest version of the repulsor tech that they are going to test for feasibility on the suit, Daisy comes down to join them. The door opens to the workshop, with Daisy just waving her phone at the pad that should require a code. An ‘exercise’ that Daisy and Jarvis like to play is hacking games back and forth, improving both of their skills as nothing else can seemingly match them on Earth right now.
And it seems like Daisy won this time! The thought brings a smile to her face, even if she swears she hears a sigh of defeat overhead from Jarvis.
“Hey!” Kara says with a peck to the lips when Daisy gets to her. “We were just finishing up here. Is dinner ready upstairs or something?”
“Just about, but first I had the updates from the fallout of the Harlem fight to talk with you both about.” Daisy motions for Tony to join them as he finishes putting away tools.
“Lay it on us! You’ve been incredibly dodgy with the information there. It’s like you enjoy seeing me stew.” Tony says with excitement in his step.
“Making your eye twitch is what gets me through the day.” Daisy deadpans back. “The government is all but scrambling to find something to combat the next Hulk or Abomination. Unfortunately for them, everything went wrong on the gamma radiation route. Blonsky used the last of the super soldier serum they had, and died from his injuries. The civilian scientist who made Abomination lost all his research to a… computer virus that overheated his computers to the point of a fire burning down his lab, and the scientist himself suffers from amnesia due to head injuries. The Hulk is in the wind, or at least that is what Nick Fury of Shield is letting the rest of the government think. Finally, public protests against the documents I leaked means they can NOT be trying more serum… so they are exactly where I want them to be.”
Kara hates the fact that they are in their younger bodies so much. The confident suave smirk looks a bit strange on Daisy’s young face, but imagining it on her old face sends butterflies into Kara’s stomach.
“Why is that exactly where we want them? Don’t desperate world powers do stupid things?” Kara can’t help the worry, but knows talking it through will help calm her nerves.
“Because they will be more than open to a certain billionaire coming forward with his eccentric plan for a suit built for world defense.” With that, Daisy's gaze shifts to Tony.
“Me? But weren’t we working to avoid the whole ‘Corrupt Big Brother Oversight’ of empowered that I helped pass last time? So why are we seeming to do exactly that months before my suit is even ready?”
“Simple! Because they need you desperately right now, which means we can get a sweet deal that will lay the groundwork to be applied to others later. The government wants a super of their own, so you give them one, you just make sure that you keep your autonomy in the deal. Pepper and I will work out a contract for you to propose alongside the basic design and timeline of the suit.”
“Basic contract?”
“Something like an insurance program through the government for collateral, choice to expose your identity or keep it confidential, no need to disclose anything more than the basics of your capabilities, expansion of Good Samaritan laws, etc. It won’t be a full solution for the future, since there’s just you for now, but it will allow you to help other people get a similar deal later once more come forward.”
“But wait.” Kara pipes up while leaning into Daisy some. “I thought the government wanted to steal the Iron Man suit in the future, won’t this just encourage them even more to do that?”
“Good logic, but I don’t think so. Last time Tony was on a horrible standing with the military, this time he is even more of their golden boy than ever before. But more than that, do you know why Shield never tried to steal an Iron Man suit like Congress?... Seriously, guess.”
They both take a moment to think, and Tony ends up having the first guess. “I don’t mean to brag” Daisy hides a laugh with an incredibly fake cough. “But I’m guessing without me, as soon as the suit ran out of power or broke they wouldn’t be able to fix it. They would lose me, to only gain a suit until the end of the first serious fight.”
“Does it have something to do with Tony’s perception abilities?” When they both look at her, Tony is confused while Daisy looks proud and motions for her to complete the thought. “I can keep up, but sometimes I have to speed up my relative perception with superspeed to take in all the information that he can sort through at a moment's notice. It’s incredible, especially for a baseline human!”
“Right on both accounts!” As Tony continues to be confused, Daisy elaborates. “The HUD on the Iron Man suits make it only useful to you, as nobody else can even comprehend all of the information you have flashing across the screen, all without impacting your ability to react. You’re just a rich genius so you never knew exactly how and why you could do what others couldn’t. Well, now you know!”
“But wait! You said Rhodey ended up being given a suit by me in a few years, so that can’t be possible. Again, you being light on the details of that incident, super unhelpful.”
Daisy chuckles in response. “Didn’t think you were ready for the full story. So I mentioned how Shield let you think you were dying with no cure in 2011. But I didn’t mention you let your best friend think he stole a suit from you, in order to let the government think they met their goal, and to help protect your friend after your upcoming death. Shield managed to get a look at the War Machine suit when he delivered it to Hammer Industries for upgraded weapons.”
“What?!? He thought he had to steal it and did it anyway? And he took it to Hammeroid?!” Honestly Kara understands his feelings of betrayal. She has met Justin Hammer once so far, and all he did was ignore her to try and talk to Tony.
“Shush. Deal with the internal crisis later. Anyways, they found that the suit you had for him was severely simplified in order for Rhodey to fly it, along with a silent A.I. to cover where Rhodey fell short. And on top of all of that, James Rhodes is one of the most accomplished fighter pilots in the US Air Force. He is the best at flying the Stark upgraded F-22’s, which are notoriously the most complicated jets to fly. The best air force pilot in the USA, possibly the world, got a two-speed bike with training wheels compared to your high end custom built sports motorcycle.”
Kara really wished she had a chance to work directly with Lena Luthor on science more, because that’s what working with Tony must feel like and it is wonderful. The swelling pride on Tony’s face is horribly hidden, but he deserves it!
“So all I need to do is lean into that aspect? To make it clear they get Iron Man with me and my conditions, or they get nothing because it will work for no one else?”
“Exactly, old man! Do what you do best, play to your own ego and vanity but in the way that makes people think you actually can back it up.”
“We’re still going to talk about the War Machine details you left out.”
“Oh I’m sure, but you were emotionally fragile when you got back. I didn’t want you losing your best friend to something he hasn’t and won’t do this time.”
Tony can only sigh at that. While he hasn’t been getting therapy, Daisy has plenty of experience with being a therapist to friends, and has been doing exactly that to Tony the past month. “Fine, I see the point, young lady. Anything else before dinner time? Pep is probably waiting up stairs for us.” Ugh, the pet names. She wants to set them up sooner but Daisy insists on not pushing them!!
“The Ten Rings are making new moves. I think I killed someone important at your prison camp who survived last time.”
Kara sits up straight at that. “New moves how? Do we need to act before Tony has his suit?”
“For now, no. All of the captains of the Ten Rings in that area have spread out. This usually happens when a leader dies, with no clear successor to that position. One of three things will most likely happen, and two of them work for us. One, the captains fight each other wasting time, men, and resources. Two, the captains try to take over the smaller terrorist groups in the area to gain the largest numbers and scare the other captains to follow them; wasting resources, time, and lumping our problems together. Or three, attack civilians or high value targets to gain enough reputation to force the other to follow their lead. That last option is the one we would have to step in for, but so far nothing shows them doing that.”
Kara hates this, but she understands they are playing a strategy for the direction the whole world is taking. Being in charge of mostly just a city meant she didn’t have to consider terrorist groups on the other side of the world. But that also means she can make a bigger impact here.
With Daisy leading her, she knows she can take on the world.
“I’M WAITING!”
But first they have to take on an angry and hungry Pepper.
“By the way, Daisy, what does S.P.E.A.R. even stand for?”
“Hell if I know! My old coworker Yo-Yo used to joke that Spear was the hidden Shield division in space, hidden even from the agents still on Earth. So I took the name, and now I’m waiting for the conspiracy theorists to make a meaning behind the acronym that I like and claim they were right all along.”
Kara throws a bread roll at Daisy’s smug little face.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: With that, we are through the first movie of the modern chronology of the series! Obviously I ignored the Tony Stark scene from The Incredible Hulk. I have no idea how that was supposed to work into the MCU canon, and I hated ‘The Consultant’ retcon, so it is gone. Meanwhile, Daisy is still a child here. Using her powers against unprepared people with guns is one thing, against the fucking Hulk is another. Her body would break. But rewatching the movie I found no civilian deaths in America until Abomination’s rampage, so Daisy reaches her goals via the shortest path.
Civilians kept safe? Check. Government ready to play into their hands? Check. Justice for the African American victims and distrust in the government sewn? Check. The name of Daisy’s replacement agency for shield getting out there and gaining trust and credibility? Check!
The timeline I am using puts Tony’s Mark III suit being done in mid October and the fight with Stane being towards the end of October. Which honestly makes sense. His first properly made suits are going to be the longest to make. It took him 3 months of work with no other jobs to make the Mark 1, and that was a tenth as complicated. With Kara’s and Daisy’s and upgraded Jarvis’ help though, in the same amount of time he can be much further along. If the Ten Rings stay on their timeline as well, that is.
Chapter 9: Companions and Conflict
Summary:
We catch up with how Rhodey has been taking everything that has been changing in his friend, as well as a new meeting between Stark Industries and the military leaders. The we skip along months and months, as Tony and Kara continue to work and Daisy begins to deal with old enemies.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
June 20th, 2008, MCU
Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, Pentagon Secured Parking Garage
No matter how much Rhodey tried, he could not corner his best friend Tony Stark before the meeting at the Pentagon this Friday. Unlike the last meeting, where he was not given an invitation to join, at least this time he was. Before that first meeting but after the invitations went out, the brass had started to fear that Tony blamed Rhodey for the man’s capture and they were about to lose their best connection with Stark Industries.
James Rhodes himself started to fear that a little bit, so he instead threw himself into teaching the next generation of fighter pilots; which was his secondary assignment whenever Stark Industries doesn’t have use of him. For the first time since Tony’s abduction, Rhodey got to just lose himself in the feeling of breaking the sound barrier and performing aerial maneuvers that would be impossible even in the typical F-22 thanks to the Stark Industries upgrades.
His favorite part of being a teacher is always showing the new trainees where they can strive to end up eventually, but he knows it’s just an excuse for him to get behind the stick and let loose. The air force long ago determined that his relationship with Tony Stark was worth over 10 fighter pilots of his caliber, so they would avoid risking him to live combat as much as they can. It irked him a little, but he knew that one soldier can only change so much, while having every soldier having the best weapons could change a war.
Once the first meeting passed, he was assured by his superiors that he was NOT on the outs with Tony, but that the meeting covered areas of a personal nature to him so it would be best if he stayed on base for a while longer. The whole situation just left Rhodey confused, of course it was personal, but that was why they had assigned him to his personal best friend! But orders were orders, so Rhodey would follow those orders.
The press conference certainly cleared everything up, he would have killed Stane if he had known about this beforehand. Honestly it’s a surprise that Tony went to the proper authorities rather than do something… well... Something a lot more like Tony.
He was at the public tech demo this time, and honestly it seems that Tony has finally found someone to play at his level in the young Dr. Danvers. Tony has always been undermotivated due to his genius, but that seems to be gone now. Still, with the betrayal of Stane fresh, Rhodey continued to give Tony space unless he was contacted otherwise.
Over the last week, he has been busier than busy. His superiors asked him to push his fighter jet to the absolute limits of his abilities, that even if he crashes his jet it will be worth it to truly know the top performance possible. He did just that, learning new things about the jet and himself in the process, and thankfully survived the bail out that ended up being necessary. While the generals in attendance looked impressed, their worry due to the monsters of Harlem was still plain for him to see.
Luckily, Tony Stark has a solution even to that problem.
And didn’t warn him.
At all.
He’s not bitter, not even a little bit. Who would think that?!
Okay, fine. Rhodey knows he has some things to work through, but he spent 3 months looking for his best friend only to then be iced out for a month and a half. But then that all changed when Tony came in with his new plans to apparently fight the next Hulk himself?! After Tony finished his presentation, he left them for an hour to allow the military to talk about their initial reactions to his plan and contract.
General Gabriel has become Tony’s number 1 supporter among the leadership and pushed for them to give their initial approval before sending it to the President for the official sign off. General Hale, on the other hand, was his most outspoken critic, but when asked for specific reasons all she had to say was that she didn’t like giving this much power to an already very powerful man outside of the military. Which isn’t an uncommon concern. But if the scuttlebutt he had heard was correct, General Hale shouldn’t have even been in this meeting, but someone higher up pulled the strings to make it happen.
In the end, the Generals were about 70% for and 30% against, so Tony was given the initial approval while the Generals agreed to send it up with a recommendation to the President to sign off the program, code named Iron Man. Rhodey was finally able to catch up to Tony and Pepper as they were making it to their car to talk alone with him.
“Hey buddy, long time no see. Sorry I haven’t had time to meet with you, been dealing with a lot as you can see.” Tony’s smile is genuine, so that is a small comfort at least.
“‘Hey buddy’? That’s what you open with? I haven’t seen you in over a month and now suddenly you’re deciding that you’re going to be joining the military?!”
“Did you read the deal I presented in there? It clearly said I was not joining, to allow me the ability to refuse orders.”
“Ah yes. I’m sorry, I was a little bit distracted looking for the knife in my back. Between blind siding me and claiming I couldn’t pilot a suit as well, I’m feeling on the outs here.” Rhodey lets the hurt be clear in his voice, this should be his best friend.
Tony looks at him, and takes a moment to really take in Rhodey’s body language and bearing right now, before turning back to Pepper and Happy. “Why don’t you two get in the car to give us space? We need just a couple minutes alone.”
A quick “Yes, Mr. Stark” comes from both of them before they are alone again.
Tony turns back to him with a sigh. “You’re right. I have been side lining you, but that’s for a good reason. And as for the piloting of a suit thing, I think that is scientifically accurate. I’ve run some initial tests and if you can’t work it, then no one in the armed forces can. And those Generals in there know that.”
“Am I going to get to be a part of these tests? Seems like you’re building yourself a blind spot by not actually having me there.” Rhodey retorts, with his anger slowly ebbing away.
“Oh! That was by design.” At Rhodey’s confused look he elaborates. “The President and top military advisors would never take any deal I presented in the first draft. I’m almost certain they are going to come back and say that I have to allow you to test my suit and if you pass, either you get your own suit or take over for me as pilot of mine. They think they’ll have me cornered and that I’m too full of myself, but really they’re playing right into my hands.”
Now that. That really stops Rhodey. Since when was Tony this forward thinking? Since when was he this political? Since when did he play people instead of bulldozing over them? But one other thing. “I can’t help but notice you didn’t actually say what the good reason for keeping me out was yet.”
“Ah that… Quick question, if your superiors ordered you to tell them my secrets or spy on me, would you?”
“Tony, that would be an illegal order without cause, as a government contractor you have protections.”
“Let’s ignore that part. Let’s say it was somehow a legal order. Would you do it?”
The awkward silence from Rhodey is enough answer for the both of them.
“And that’s fine. You have your morals, I have mine. I’m just making sure that our friendship doesn’t make you choose.” Tony opens the door to the car and begins getting in, before one last note. “After all, did what I present in there feel like just 1 week of work that began because of Harlem, or did it feel like I’ve been working on it since I’ve been back?”
Rhodey’s eyes go wide, realizing that Tony is basically admitting to working on this project far longer than anyone even had a guess at.
“See ya Rhodey! We’ll get lunch soon, but I’ve had to take your access to the mansion out. Just to be safe for both of us.”
Rhodey thought the Tony he got back would be the extent of the changes, but somehow Tony has changed even more since he has been back than from his captivity.
July 5th, 2008, MCU
Harold ‘Happy’ Hogan, Stark Home Gym
Happy Hogan, at first, did not like Kara Danvers and Daisy Johnson. In his defense, he was told that an experimental weapon was used to knock him out as soon as he saw them and then sent on his way with an order to keep quiet about the whole thing under his employment NDA.
So he feels justified in the whole thing honestly.
But in the end, he kept quiet about everything, even if he tried to keep an eye on them whenever he was around. Doing that made it feel like the 12 year old was laughing at him though, which just increased his frustrations!
Before the press conference, he was pulled aside to be told the truth for him finally. The two of them are empowered adults that only look like kids, so they had to forge their identities. But they are forming a very close alliance with Stark Industries, so keeping their secrets is at the top of his list.
Oh, Happy can tell he is being given a lighter version of the truth, but he works for a man who does work closely with the military. He is used to being given a cover story he needs to act like is the truth. In the end, though, at least things make sense now. He was shot with a tested gun from empowered geniuses forced into hiding, not a brand new experimental one, so they weren’t playing with his life.
So he’ll act warmer with the two and less suspicious of them… at least less suspicious of Dr. Danvers. She is a ray of sunshine that needs to be protected. The 12 year old is a demon that looks like a little girl and nothing can convince him otherwise. All of that amounted to today, when Happy heard that Mr. Stark was upgrading from workouts to actual combat instruction following the break they took for the small one’s birthday and for July 4th, Happy made sure to get himself invited. He didn’t want the two to teach his boss any dirty boxing.
When Mr. Stark and he were walking into the gym, the two girls had finished warming up apparently as they finished a round of yoga or stretching or pilates or something. The now 13 year old demon turned to them, apparently the leader of the class.
“Kara and I have been up for our morning workout for a while, so why don’t you two get stretched out like we showed you Tony, while we do our normal equaled spar. Then we’ll do basic instructions for both of you, followed by some low level spars to make use of that knowledge.” Basic instruction? He was a professional boxer, he is a few levels above basic. And what the hell is an ‘equaled spar’?
He doesn’t have too long to think about it as Mr. Stark starts leading him in a warmup and stretching routine that concentrates on the full body equally, rather than being more focused on the upper body like he was taught. Maybe they do more street boxing that has more footwork? As they continue stretching, his confusion at the actions of the two girls only increases.
Overhead, the lights suddenly shift to a deep red, before drawing back a few notches lighter than the reddest it got. A function that just leaves him confused, as this facility used to be his temple, and the lights were never able to do that before. Looking over he can see the two girls seeming to do a mid-air arm wrestling contest, as Daisy adjusts the hue of the red lights from her phone until the two girls are tied in their arm wrestling.
Does one of them get stronger or weaker from red lights? I guess that explains the ‘equaled’ part of the spar, but what kind of powers deal with lights with a red filter?
The answer to all of his questions, and the source of his anxiety only increasing, soon comes. The spar that commences is certainly nothing like any boxing match he has been in, quickly clueing him in to the fact that this is ‘fight’ training, not boxing. It seems like every other second a person is being flipped, or punched so hard they fly into the ropes, or are having their feet swept out from under them. The punches connect so well that he can see them occasionally taking a moment to spit out some blood.
The weirdest part of it that it almost looks like they are flirting with each other at the same time? He is a little bit too far to hear the words, but despite the brutality of the fight they never stop smiling at each other and every hold seems closer to hugging than a true attempt to choke the other out.
Apparently Happy has stopped stretching at some point because Mr. Stark elbows him to snap him out of it.
“Trust me, Happy, I know. I got distracted the first time too. They look brutal but heal fast enough that this is less than us getting bruised. I think this is how underaged empowered express their romantic interest or something. But we’re next, so you better finish stretching out or you’ll regret it. The tai chi is somehow bad enough that I am not looking forward to this fresh hell.”
Happy can only feel himself gulp as the 13 year old demon gives them a bloody smile from the ring, seemingly having heard them from across the room.
August 12th, 2008, MCU
Agent Phil Coulson, Auerbach Theatrical Agency
Agent Phil Coulson was not having a good time on this assignment, especially since he had made next to no progress. Reading over the dossier on Stark had led everyone to assume that they had an understanding of what was needed in order to get things headed where they needed to. Orders from Fury meant Coulson was SUPPOSED to do what he needed to in order to get a meeting, where he would offer up proof of what Obadiah Stane had done in order to gain the full story about Stark’s escape. While Stark is being tight lipped about everything, the forensics only make sense if Stark was somehow able to walk around bullet proof. Paired with the almost depleted power core of some sort, meant some empowered suit of armor capable of letting a civilian clear out a terrorist camp.
Yet, every single attempt was being completely routed, and not even by Tony Stark himself! Cameras set up to monitor his home had their lenses fried by an IR laser controlled automatically. In person requests to his PA were directed to legal, which SHIELD’s current status meant their operational security took priority so any threat of legal or press meant he had to back off. The next attempt was to have the local SHIELD office he was staying at hack into Stark’s home security AI in order to gain access, but he was told in no uncertain terms that they had nothing that could even scratch the security let alone override it. It’s possible that some of the items that come from immigrants to Earth that Fury keeps could do the job, but they aren’t that desperate yet.
The nail in the coffin was the meeting at the Pentagon that Stark Industries insisted was invite-only. No matter how much they tried, they could not add in their own people as Ms. Potts was being unmovable on the matter. Either the list was met, or no meeting would happen, and with Stark’s planned exit of the arms business people were getting desperate for any sign that he may back pedal. From there, hours AFTER the meeting, SHIELD learned that Stark was introducing products that were STILL causing even their science divisions to have no idea how he did it, and finally that Stark already knew and possessed proof of Mr. Stane’s crimes. Even more crimes than what SHIELD knew of actually.
And Coulson honestly felt like Stark was nearly laughing at his next attempt at the tech demo to get a debrief together. If Agent Carter didn’t assure them that Stark knew nothing of SHIELD with all but 100% certainty, he would assume that was the reason for everything so far.
They were apparently not only completely blind to what Stark was doing, but couldn’t even offer him anything to get his confidence. Lucky for Coulson, he was on the west coast when the east coast disaster in Harlem happened. Whoever was in charge of deleting all of the video evidence of what had happened, is probably getting demoted down a couple levels.
At least he thought he got off lucky, then Stark came in like a knight in shining armor to give the government what they thought was exactly what they needed. The agreement that the President has since signed off reads like the Avengers Initiative but without the ability to actually order Stark when needed. Along with other roadblocks to actually having SHIELD be able to properly handle him.
Not even getting to stay at one of the most crucial classic SHIELD bases can lift his mood at this point, as he sees a call coming in from Fury, he knows he is going to have to go for a drive in Lola to deal with the headache.
“What can I do for you, sir?” And he does mean it, he needs either direction, more resources, or less operational constraints to actually make this mission work.
“I would love a lot more, but for now I think I’ll settle on ANY progress from you. SHIELD is being blamed by a lot of people for the leaks still, even though the leaks came from everyone but us.”
“I have yet to get eyes on Daisy Johnson, but Kara Danvers has been spotted from multiple angles in a variety of public appearances. She definitely appears to be 18 years old by all accounts, so I retract the possibility it was one of the teens from my diner. The good news is, I’ve been able to get some information off of Lt. Colonel Rhodes’ phone alluding to Stark having started on his suit as soon as he got back from overseas. Seems you were right about the truth behind his escape.”
“Well I’m just as disappointed your hunch didn’t pan out. While both of the House El ladies passed the background check, something keeps drawing me back to it that I can’t find a reason for. Them being rogue Skrulls would have actually answered a lot of questions.”
“Of course, Sir. Do you have any reclassifications for me, or a reassignment?” He won’t beg. But he’ll come close.
“It’s your lucky day, just not too lucky. No reassignment, but now you are being given the new parameters of being in a pure surveillance role. Keep an eye on Stark and his movements, see if you can get more information on those two ladies, but give up on getting a debrief for now. Agents in the Middle East are working the Ten Rings to keep them away from civilians, and turning them on both inner conflict as well as conquering other militant groups. We’ll give Stark enough time to finish his suit and then see how he reacts to his captors making moves.”
“Understood, Sir.” He is a little bit uncomfortable with the plan, but they need to understand what Stark is capable of, and his agreement means he doesn't have to disclose that information unless the Lt. Colonel passes the flight test to get his own version of the suit. “Anything else?”
“That’s all. Don’t sweat the loss Coulson, we just got out played this time. It happens. We just need to be sure it doesn’t happen again.”
With that the conversation ends, and while Coulson is not the type to jump for joy at the change he is the type to go on a celebratory drive instead of a consoling drive. Here he comes, Lola.
September 1st, 2008, MCU
WHiH World News
Good evening everyone, and welcome to the nightly news here at WHiH World News. To start our updates, we have the news coming out of both Stark Industries as well as House El Revolutionary Origins. Months ago the world was shocked by the inventions that came out of the tech demo following the legendary ‘Treason Conference’. In the end though, the stock prices and earnings forecasts did not rise enough for what the technology claimed it could do, because in the end most ‘Tech Experts’ were loudly preaching that the claims made were impossible. In the end, most people were incredibly excited for the future of SI, but were held back by the uncertainty and changes.
Well, now Tony Stark and Kara Danvers must be laughing in everyone’s faces, because the Stark Phone and Pad released today, with the review embargo lifting last night. Reviewers and consumers alike are raving at them, as they blow every other competitor out of the water in every measurable way as well as having some incredibly updated user interfaces. Stark Industries has also announced the largest single military contract in US history finalizing last week, in the wake of the production line changes finishing, proving everyone wrong that the tech would not work. The US military believes in Stark enough that they have bought $83 Billion worth of their new inventions, and that is only the initial order to see if everything pans out how they want it to when implemented. Finally, the FDA has announced that they have given the dendrotoxin rounds their highest priority, and that all initial tests have gone well, in hopes non-lethal ammunition will soon make it into the hands of domestic law enforcement as soon as safely possible.
While the exact terms of the deal between SI and House El are still unknown, it is obvious that House El has been set up incredibly well going forward, and most shockingly, that the company will stay independent rather than being absorbed by Stark Industries as predicted. Specifically, Dr. Danvers has bought the land from a few struggling business buildings in downtown Los Angeles, and is reportedly now shopping around for an architect to build her company’s HQ building. Quiet inquiries have also started going out for recruitment for the upcoming labs in the building, but it is purposefully going slowly as it will be years before construction is completed.
Finally, to finish off our business updates, we have international news about an American CEO. The CEO of Quinn Worldwide, Ian Quinn, was the target of another data leak by the mysterious group S.P.E.A.R., revealing that while he gives off the appearance of being a benevolent philanthropist who runs his company with ethics. Instead, he is a ruthless man who runs slave mines around the world unaffiliated with his company, while even his official mines shun regulations and cover up their high fatality rates. In the wake of the leak, it appears that S.P.E.A.R., or some other unknown group, has seized all of his digital assets, leaving him bereft of resources while stranded in Malta. A high speed car chase with local authorities soon broke out when the arrest warrant for Ian Quinn came through. Only to end fatally when a rockslide came onto the highway resulting in the death of the disgraced CEO, but luckily the pursuing authorities were able to avoid any collisions.
Now we turn to lighter news, as we explore-
“...Why are you all looking at me like that?... Fine, it was me. But Kara was becoming a billionaire, so I needed to as well!... Okay it definitely had more to do with him shooting me in the stomach, and his Gravitonium having led to the Destroyer of Worlds... Who wouldn’t hold a grudge for that?! He was always going to be first.”
October 7th, 2008, MCU
Tony Stark, Stark Malibu Home
The months they had, had flown by. While tests, and training, and rebuilds, and advances had happened, and they got further than he ever thought they could. In the end though, they knew it was always a race against the clock. Even if they ended up learning that Shield was actually helping them, if only to test Iron Man. So on that fateful day, as Tony and Kara were working to increase the efficiency of the repulsors in order to make up for the lack of Badassium, Daisy came down to join them in the workshop with the grave news.
“The various Ten Rings captains have finished their forceful recruitment drive of the other groups in the area as everyone is running out of money and resources. Both the bad and good news is that there is no clear winner so they are about to come to blows to decide who rules the area. The news that is only bad, is that they are all heading towards the central dip in the valley where the town of Gulmira is. The topography of the areas that the factions are picking to travel through seem to be specifically chosen for the inability of the Air Force to launch any proper strikes against them without causing ecological disasters in the area. So, if left alone, in a week’s time thousands of terrorists will converge on the town. They will fight until a winner is crowned, who will then use the civilians from Gulmira as human shields to allow them to flee the area.”
The words are like a death knell to them in the workshop. They hoped to have a few weeks more but two groups that looked like they could combine, instead split apart keeping this unbreakable balance. But they live in the real world, so they don’t get what they always hope for.
“So, I could go over there and have it handled before anyone even realizes what has happened. Or, Tony Stark, if you can be ready in the next week then this could be the opening act of Iron Man, to protect the town and your friend’s grave. So, what’s your decision?”
This would be much larger than the debut of the original Iron Man, and much bloodier as well. Daisy is very careful to keep any judgment out of her tone. So the choice is truly his to make, but what is the right one? Tony thought he was sure, but now that he is looking down the barrel of the decision, he feels the reality of the situation come bearing down on his shoulders. He looks into Daisy’s painfully young face, sporting a serious but comforting expression, and he decides.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: I had a lot of fun with this chapter! Time jumping to go through all of the various viewpoints that we have yet to hear from, and a reminder that while even in the midst of a movie Daisy still has her own mission to work on. Ian Quinn is nice and currently unaffiliated, so makes a good target to go after now before she is ready to take on Hydra. Also helps Daisy gain credibility for her group, and resources that she can use to fund it without implicating Kara or Tony.
I had originally planned for another scene where the four of the Stark household have one of their board game nights forced on them by Kara, but other sections ran long. But soon we shall get into the Battle of Gulmira! The timeline I have says October 16th is when Tony learns at the charity event, but the Ten Rings were already at Gulmira by then, hence why we are a little bit before then.
Realized far too late that Daisy’s birthday was in there, July 2nd, so it’s a small note. I’ll say that Daisy and Kara kept it small, as everyone is so busy with all of the work they’re doing. Don’t worry though, Christmas will be a bigger note and actually get a section! Meanwhile, I’m going with a March 10th birthday for Kara let me know if I’m reading any wiki’s wrong.
Chapter 10: Broadcasts and Battles
Summary:
The Battle of Gulmira has arrived, at a much larger and more public scale than before. Iron Man faces a much different debut than the original timeline.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
October 14th, 2008, MCU
Christine Everhart, Stark Headquarters
Christine Everhart was having a fantastic day, and yet she had no idea what the hell was going on or why. She had been talking with her boss over the mysterious SHIELD organization, which seemed like the boogeyman in the way it scared off any source that seemed to know more, when it happened. A contingent of military police officers had come into the bullpen, immediately setting everyone on edge.
Did someone come across classified documents?
Yet, despite all of their fears, it turns out that the officers were actually here to extend an offer. A secure press briefing was going to happen at SI HQ in just a couple hours, but it was completely different from other Stark announcements as this would be in complement with the military. Photo and video is allowed, but everything must be on a two hour delay once the brief starts, alongside no announcement of the press conference even existing beforehand. Invite-only chosen by Stark Industries, and Christine herself was Vanity Fair’s invited correspondent. Finally, they needed to respect and use the chosen ‘Code Name’ for the project in all initial reporting.
That last note certainly sounded like a rule Tony Stark would push for.
Her boss looked like he swallowed a lemon that she was being proven again that she had made the right call sleeping with Stark all those months ago. So now, late into the evening, she was walking into the conference room with her camera crew behind her, only to freeze up at what she saw. There were about 8 news stations already in the process of setting up, with a space for a total of around 15 or so. That was in line with what she had been told, but what surprised her was everything else about the room.
The large windows were completely blocked off by curtains, with tv monitors lining the back wall, stopping anyone seeing in from outside the building. The podium and stage were taken down and most of the chairs that the press would sit in taken away. The spots for the press were instead on the outside of the room, looking into the center. In that area of the room was an array of workstations, with power cords and monitors everywhere.
At each station was a soldier from a variety of deployments; Air Force, Army, Military Police, Navy, and more, even going so far as to have a couple stations with people wearing jackets with a CIA label (although their faces were very particularly covered from any of the media’s angles, and the ball caps helped to hide even the smaller details).
Finally, where the stage and podium once stood, there is now a formation of high ranking US Military Generals watching over the scene being set up around them, alongside some technological platform of some sort on the ground and centered. If she had to describe it, she would say that it looked like a sci-fi teleportation platform for people…? She really didn’t have a guess for what it was.
Moving into the room, Christine spotted the placard for her and her team to set up and got to work. After doing what she could to get ready, she left the rest of the work to the camera crew and tried to get any information about what this was about. Her first target: the station right next to her which happened to have Amira Ahmed from FBX News, whom she has a professional relationship with.
“Was everyone taken straight here from their work, or was it just me? Because I have no idea what this is about.” Christine opened with.
Amira, who seemed to have been completely set up and ready for a while, looked over at her and returned a smile to meet her. “I believe just about everyone here has the same story, except for me honestly. My crew and I were about to travel to Afghanistan a couple days ago to report on the coming conflict, when we were approached.”
“Does that mean you’ve been given more details about this?” Christine asked in surprise.
“Not specifically said so, but I have an idea. The group I was going to cover is the Ten Rings, the group that held Mr. Stark captive, so when I was approached I originally said no. Then they told me that the very story I was going to cover would be better addressed here, but we had to be voluntarily sequestered until the press conference.”
Christine was easily able to follow the train of thought to its conclusion. “So that means whatever this is, it is about the Ten Rings. I’m guessing that Stark has a grudge as well. So what do you think, a new weapon to be deployed against the group that held him?”
“That’s what I thought at first too, but it feels wrong. Why would Stark Industries suddenly go back on the work and goodwill they have done with their non-lethal angle? If SI starts selling big weapons to the military again, it would ruin their credibility. But more than that, watch all the people at the workstations for a minute. What are they NOT doing?”
Christine turned to the, for lack of a better word, war room in the center and watched for a minute. Everything seemed normal, soldiers had finished setting up and were ready at their stations for the most part. Those moving would occasionally write something and-
“Wait. Why aren’t any of them speaking a word? Some of them are writing down questions to ask their neighbor even?” Christine hadn’t noticed before as the clamor of the news crews covered for the lack of talking.
“I don’t know, and that’s the point.” Amira continued at her questioning look. “Whatever this is, secrecy is so important that they are taking NO risks to let it leak beforehand. All we can do is sit back, and wait for the news to come to us.”
Luckily they didn’t have to wait long. Within the next 30 minutes her crew, and everyone else, was set up and waiting. Suddenly all of the screens at the stations came to life, throwing a glow on the faces of the soldiers and agents, although the content of the computers was not in view of their cameras. Meanwhile the tv monitors in the back started displaying the Stark Industries logo.
From the door in the back of the room, walking in perfect military form came Lt. Colonel James Rhodes, known best friend of Tony Stark. As he got towards the front of the room, he snapped a salute to the array of Generals before him who saluted back. He then approached the last empty workstation nearest his position, before turning to the reporters.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the press, and of the world once this is released. My name is Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes of the United States Air Force, and liaison with Stark Industries. Over the past few months, the world has been rocked by fear and uncertainty from the fight between The Abomination and The Hulk that took place in Harlem. The military was unable to help, and it is only thanks to Dr. Bruce Banner gaining control for the first time that it wasn’t a disaster of imaginable scale. The citizens of this great nation felt we had no response for the next time something like this happened, or they feared what the government would do to have an answer in the wake of the Super Soldier Serum Experiments leaks. Well I am happy to say that today, Tony Stark has an answer to that question.”
Well that is disappointing that it is a new bomb or missile or something. And I thought he had changed.
“Right now, the terrorist group known as the Ten Rings has suffered a leadership struggle in Afghanistan. Right now 8 different captains, commanding a total of 4,219 armed militants, using 62 civilian hostages to prevent US air strikes, are converging on the civilian town, Gulmira, in order to fight for leadership.”
That’s… very specific numbers about the group. Maybe it is new spy devices that let them get this intel, so technically not a weapon?
“In just a moment, I will turn this briefing over to Dr. Tony Stark, where he will give an introduction to his newest project. Afterwards, I will be running command of the mission against the Ten Rings. I ask that reporters either stay silent, or speak quietly while giving your commentary to your cameras. This will be a live military operation, and you must act accordingly or be escorted out. Are there any procedural, not informational, questions?… No? Then let’s get started Tony.”
…What? This is an actual war room and not just something that is going to show off war games, or even view the actual war room? What the fuck has Stark made in order to justify this?!?
Despite expectation, Tony Stark does not walk in the same door that Lt. Colonel Rhodes walked in, after the man takes his seat. Instead the mechanical platform seems to power up for a few seconds, before light begins to shine up like a beacon out of it. Soon the beacon begins to shrink, and from within the holographic image of Tony Stark emerges.
Almost all of his public appearances, including weapons demonstrations, he is in full 3 piece suit… But this form fitting athletic outfit certainly reminds me why I slept with him besides the chance for a scoop.
All of the press are snapping pictures, or quietly speaking into their microphones to add their commentary. It has been known that Stark uses some holographic projectors in his personal workshops, but they are far too expensive and need full room dedication to make them work, which is impractical to anyone else except the eccentric billionaire. So for many, this is the first time seeing holograms and the detail is amazing, even if everything is colored in a cyan light with white detailing.
“Good morning everyone. Sorry I could not be there in person, but I thought this the best way to be sure you didn’t have to be held for any longer than needed. Although I am certainly stretching the goodwill of the military with this exercise.” While Stark turns to grin at the generals behind him, as if the hologram has eyesight into the room, plenty of generals give him a look that says they believe he has gone even further than should be allowed.
Ignoring any grumbles or whispered curses from the generals, Stark continues. “Even since my capture, I have been thinking more and more about the future, and the world that we will leave behind when there is only our descendants and our legacies left of us. The world is starting to change even beyond what I have shifted Stark Industries to match, so we must continue to change with it. The Abomination showed us that the world is quickly becoming a weirder place, as science begins to push the limits of what was thought possible. While the Hulk has shown us that just because someone becomes capable of more than what humanity can naturally, doesn’t mean that they should be feared or hunted. I would name Dr. Bruce Banner a hero, not a monster.”
Now that is an interesting take. The reactions to the Hulk have been almost bipolar, hot one moment and cold the next. He is a rising star one day, and a lurking threat the next. Outright calling him a hero, rather than just being thankful, is a much stronger and riskier stance to take.
“So I looked at that, and thought what if I could be a hero too? I can’t be the Hulk, the hunt for a new Super Soldier Serum is a fool's errand. So I looked at what I can do with my abilities, gifts, and resources. From there, I found an answer. Because if there is one thing I can do better than any human in the world, it is that I can create and work with technology like no one else alive.”
Christine can only think that this entire event has gone off the rails. Tony Stark’s ego has gotten so big that he thinks he can do something about threats like the Abomination himself? Why is no one stepping in to stop this mental breakdown?
Quickly her words are forgotten as the hologram begins to come to life as robot arms, obviously from ‘offscreen’ from the holographic camera, begin to form the pieces of a metal suit of armor around Tony Stark as he finishes his speech.
“So I built a suit of armor, not just for me, not just for if someone else tries to capture or kill me again. But a suit of armor for the world, to help guard them from the things that go bump in the night. I can’t promise to be perfect, but I can promise to do my best to be a true hero. And above all else, I promise that I am Iron Man.”
With his last line the suit finishes forming around him, as a recording of Black Sabbath plays the associated song. The armor is sleek, it is robust, and most of all it looks very dangerous. The screens along the back wall show a colored version compared to the hologram, showing off the suit’s red, gold, and silver design.
“What. The. Fuck.” Christine completely agrees with Amira, even if she doesn’t vocalize it the same way.
Quickly, the hologram of Tony- of Iron Man, launches straight up, because apparently the thing has rockets in its feet or something?!?
Lt. Colonel quickly reminds the now loud reporters about the purpose of this room, by quickly speaking into the microphone at his station, bringing order back to the room.
“Iron Man, this is Overwatch, and you are green lit for mission Iron Defense. Primary objective is to defend all civilians being held by the Ten rings and in the town. Secondary objective is to take out all of the rising captains leading the groups together. Tertiary and final objective is to take out as many enemy combatants until the rest are forced to surrender, and hold them until Black Hawks can come in to take control of the scene once you have it secured.”
“What the fuck?” Okay, so Christine does end up joining Amira in expressing their bafflement out loud. Who could have seen this coming?
Moments Later
Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, Stark Headquarters
Rhodey has known this moment was coming for nearly a full week now, and yet he still hates every minute of it. Tony is essentially gambling all of his credibility and goodwill with this one move. The Generals wanted his debut quiet, the contract said Tony is allowed the choice to reveal his identity or not. The Generals wanted to run extensive tests beforehand, the contract said Tony didn’t have to give his full capabilities so they were only shown enough to give confidence in this mission. The Generals wanted Rhodey to either have his own suit or take command of the Iron Man suit itself.
Rhodey failed every test for both the ‘Mark II’ suit only capable of flight, as well as the ‘Mark III’ suit being used today (although Tony grumbled that he wanted to name it Mark VII for some reason, but was overruled?). The information on the screen flew by far too quickly for him to make any use of it, and when it was slowed down, he was unable to react to anything that required more reflexes than just hovering a few feet off the ground.
While Rhodey was icing his bruised tailbone and pride from those crashes, he really wanted to punch his best friend in the face for the smug look. Even if Tony turned out to be correct about everything with the suit.
After giving the bare minimum to the Brass to assure that only Iron Man could handle this mission, and a wager of a 75% discount on the military’s next order of similar size to their previous for weapons if it fails, the military quickly got to work setting everything up for Tony’s gamble. Tony meanwhile, secretly flew to the base in Afghanistan, to be set up in the FOB only a 15 minute flight away from Gulmira.
Or at least a 15 minute flight for something capable of flying AT LEAST Mach 4, not that Tony actually revealed his top speed.
All too soon, Iron Man was approaching the forces surrounding the town of Gulmira. The Ten Rings had blown all of their stored resources and money in the area for this power struggle. While great for the long term, in the short term it meant that every piece of Stark weapons, from guns to tanks that Obadiah Stane had sold them, was in the area.
His best friend, who was not a trained soldier, was about to give his opening moves in a large-scale battle. Meanwhile Rhodey had to remain objective, as he was serving as Overwatch for this mission. They had UAVs high in the sky to observe, but they would very quickly be rendered next to useless based on the initial plan Tony provided.
With a faster banking speed than any known craft, somehow not causing Tony to lose consciousness despite the G-forces he should be under, Iron Man flew high over the centers of the 8 distinct forces, still going at Mach 2.5. This wasn’t a scouting run, as the area had already been scouted by some secret system of Tony's, instead this WAS Iron Man’s opening move. From the back of the suit of armor was a mechanized backpack that carried enough munitions to shift the whole battlefield on its head.
Apparently the supply backpack was not something Iron Man would normally have, as it greatly affects his agility by covering the back boosters, but for a large battle he could have it for his initial approach before using everything and shedding it, thus freeing those boosters for the battle. And that’s exactly what Iron Man did.
On Iron Man’s first circuit around the approaching forces, the backpack emptied. Live fragmentation bombs were dropped on the command structure of the various factions, Thungergrenades were dropped in and around the areas holding the hostages to non-lethally incapacitate them to hopefully keep them safely lying on the ground for the duration of the fight, and finally smoke bombs encompassed the whole area in a thick cloud and when coupled with Iron Man’s jamming capabilities left the Ten Rings unable to communicate any semblance of order.
The UAVs switched over to thermal imaging to maintain overwatch, although the explosions and fires breaking out across the camps made the job of getting a read on the situation difficult. Luckily the command structure is also receiving surveillance information straight from the sensors on the Iron Man suit as well. So many people are in the war room, because each of them are in charge of looking at specific aspects of the fight, and report back to him on their one area.
Before he can get any feedback on the opening move however, Iron Man is already on his second strike. While completing another circuit, the missile launchers on the legs and shoulders open up and fire directly at every tank and vehicle in the area. It completely exhausts both supplies, only leaving missiles in the arm compartments (that Rhodey knows of anyways), but seems to have amazing effects on the targets below.
Finally, Rhodey starts getting feedback on the effects so far, and relays the information to Ton- to Iron Man.
“7 out of the 8 Captains down!”
“10 out of 10 tanks in pieces!”
“23 vehicles hit, the other 8 appear to be too close to the civilians for Iron Man.”
“Estimated 35% of combatants are down or injured!”
“All marked civilians are on the ground, and were outside the AOE of any explosions, sir!” They can’t say for certain the human shields are safe, as there isn't a real way to know, but the news is as close as they will get.
“The surviving 2 anti-aircraft systems seem to be booting up and locking on to Iron Man!”
It seems that whatever system Iron Man has delivered similar reports already, as before Rhodey can even issue the command the suit takes a sharp dive before blowing apart the systems with the hand repulsors. The move is quickly followed up by similar quick dives to deal with the surviving vehicles, although they are even blown in such a way to try and provide cover to the presumed unconscious hostages.
Rhodey lets all of the information that keeps coming in soak in, without reacting with emotions to provide good overwatch. Finally he sees something that Iron Man seems to be missing.
“Good effect on targets so far Iron Man. I’m seeing high winds in the area which means you likely only have another 60 seconds of smoke coverage to work with. Additionally, nearly 25% of the forces appear to be rushing toward Gulmira for new human shields.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Rhodey-bear, about the smoke. As for those idiots, I already have a system in place to deal with them.” It takes all of his military training not to sigh at the lack of comms discipline coming from Tony.
“Whatever it is, Iron Man, it better hurry as-” Rhodey’s words die in his mouth as he sees man after man fall down, presumably dead, during their mad rush to try and find cover in the town. Whatever system Iron Man has, it is completely invisible to every sensor and imaging means they have in place. It is also the thing that sends agents from the various letter agencies, FBI CIA DHS etc, into the biggest flurry.
Although… Is the Richter scale going off a little?
Pushing aside thoughts of the errant discrepancy, probably just a result from all of the explosives in the area resulting in the land shifting unexpectedly, Rhodey focuses back on what he is seeing.
Whatever invisible system seems to instantly kill the 12 closest enemy combatants to the town, every second on the second, with no discernable reason how. Enemies located on the exact opposite sides of town miles apart, drop dead at the same time. In the 60 seconds left of smoke, that system kills exactly 720 targets out of the charge of just over 1000 total. Since it prioritized the closest to the town each time, the frontlines are no closer to the town than they were when the mission started.
Finding out the details of that system, however, is not Rhodey’s job. His job is overwatch, so he keeps his focus on the big picture even as the details are relayed to him by those around him. Iron Man was not idle during those 60 seconds either.
Moving burned out vehicles to provide better coverage for the hostages. Taking out any groups that were firing their weapons blindly into the smoke instead of taking cover. Using his repulsor blasts to cut off any avenue of retreat or escape. Finally, just as the smoke is about to clear, Iron Man goes to the surviving captain who had been holed up in the backlines of his faction, to capture and restrain him with some steel cables that eject from the suit’s wrists.
Holding the last remaining captain in the air once the smoke clears, as well as finally seeing the devastation of the battlefield, causes the Ten Rings forces to pause and look for any direction of what to do next. This gives Iron Man an opportunity to shout out his demands. The onboard system seems to have a translation device, as whatever Tony says in English is repeated in the next 3 most common languages of the area.
“This battle has been lost, and your captains led you to your defeat. Surrender and lay down your arms now, I will not ask again.”
After the translation runs, some of the more fervent believers raise their guns to try and take out Iron Man as he is stationary in the air. They are quickly met by some kind of guided dart system that comes out of the shoulders and kills only those who raised their guns, no matter how much cover they had.
“Anyone else want to try pressing me again?” Iron Man’s voice this time is much harder than the first offer, making it clear that his mercy is at its end.
The statement is met with a clatter of guns, as the remaining Ten Rings throw down their arms. The few that hesitate are disarmed by their comrades, fearing that the next response won’t be as directed as the previous one was.
The war room explodes into applause as Rhodey, as Overwatch, declares the area secure and calls in the Blackhawks that were waiting just out of range of the anti-aircraft systems to take control of the scene. Iron Man, despite expectations, begins leading rescue efforts by directing both the new POWs as well as the citizens of Gulmira that have come out of their homes.
By the time the helicopters arrive nearly 25 minutes later, all injuries are being given battlefield first aid, and all unconscious hostages have been taken into the center of the town.
It takes nearly another hour of search and rescue, even with Iron Man directing the efforts, to get a final tally of what happened. Comparing the looks on the faces of the press directly following the victory vs now, Rhodey can understand why Tony led the search and rescue despite the mental state he must be in. He said it in his opening speech himself, he wants to be a hero not a weapon of war. The goodwill he got by directing the aftermath, has probably pushed a lot of his reception in the right direction.
All the same, it is Overwatch’s last duty to give the end-of-action report.
“I am honored to give the final numbers from Iron Man’s debut. 7 out of 8 captains killed and 1 captured unharmed. No captured and injured, no escapes.
“1,932 out of 4,219 armed militants killed and 781 captured unharmed. 1,506 captured and injured. No escapes.
“61 out of 62 civilian hostages recovered unconscious but uninjured. 1 MIA.
“No injuries or fatalities to the residents of Gulmira.
“With that, I conclude the mission of Iron Defense as a success in all three mission objectives. Thank you ladies and gentlemen of the press, and thank you Iron Man.”
With the mission over, the press explode in questions and flashes of cameras, as at the same time the news begins to air its delayed broadcast around the world. Showing everyone that Tony Stark is Iron Man.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: With the butterfly effects taking change, Iron Man’s first debut ended up being MUCH bloodier than in canon. Also, helps to set the scale/ tone I’m going for in this fic. It isn’t ‘Old Gods’ bloody yet, but people will die. At the same time though, Daisy is going to fight an intergalactic warlord, so leading heroes to shy away from violence would hurt what she was sent to do.
So Daisy and Tony work out how to stack the deck in his favor as much as possible, both for combat and for press. Hence everything that happens in this chapter! This chapter is another that gave me a lot of trouble, but mostly because I kept rewriting what I had to try and make it sound better and to keep to the characters as I have made them. Let me know how I did!
Next we see the reactions to Iron Man, as well as get some of the info from behind-the-scenes that I hinted at but that Rhodey wouldn’t know. Can you spot and guess what happened? With the next chapter we should be done with Iron Man 1! After that our heroes will be going into the 2.5 years from now till the start of Iron Man 2 in April 2011. That time will pass fast, but it won’t be a time jump. Daisy and Kara have a LOT to do during that time.
Chapter 11: Talks and Trysts
Summary:
We get a peek behind the curtain of Iron Man's reveal, and then see how everyone is reacting to the changes in timeline. From our Heroes themselves, to the public, to Shield as well. All the same, life goes on so Daisy and Kara continue planning for the future with their allies.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
October 14th, 2008, MCU
Kara Danvers, Stark Malibu Home
The waiting was the worst part, she didn’t want to wait, she wanted to act! The harsh reality of the situation was that she COULDN’T act, unless she wanted to reveal herself right now, and even possibly reveal her identity by appearing alongside Tony Stark whom she lives with. Aside from that, today was going to be a bloody day and Kara isn’t sure she is ready for that. She knows that what Daisy does is important work, work that makes her a good person no matter how much Daisy continues to think otherwise, but it isn’t the work that Kara is used to or good at. She killed her Uncle Non, but that was only when millions of lives were on the line and he left her no other choice.
She helped as much as she could, by flying Daisy around all the incoming factions to gather intel for Tony, and then to one of the Ten Rings camps in the middle of the night for Daisy to join the hostages under a face veil, although she had to leave once the US Military started to increase their surveillance of the area in preparation for Tony’s mission. Helping where she can doesn’t make the waiting game any easier. At least she has company in the waiting game, in the form of Pepper!
Which one of them is distracting the other more, is up for debate, but they spend their time together sitting on the couch talking late into the evening. They cover business tips, to Kara talking about her family, to learning about Pepper’s family, even what movie to watch next.
And thankfully Daisy had already downloaded some musicals to her laptop before we got… forcefully moved! I’m not sure if I could survive a whole ten years with the rare musical that gets released here!
While Kara was lightly talking about the sights of Rao blessing Argo City, they heard the news from Jarvis overhead.
“Pardon me Kara and Ms. Potts, but the operation against the Ten Rings has concluded. Both Mr. Stark and Daisy are safe, although Daisy has requested that you come get her when and where you both discussed as Plan B.”
Worry shoots through Kara about how injured Daisy could be that she would ask for help. Luckily Jarvis seems to preempt her, and continues before she even has the chance to ask. “Both defending the town from stray bullets and acting as Mr. Stark’s ‘Secret System’ pushed her young body ‘to its limits, but not past them’. That was a quote from Dame Daisy, although by my estimates she most likely has a few breaks but nothing life threatening.”
Kara wants nothing more than to fly straight to Daisy, she has to fight every instinct in herself to do just that, but that isn’t what they agreed to do. Kara needs to wait until the early hours of the morning so as much of her flight is hidden by the dark of the night.
“And… And Tony? How is he doing?” Pepper asks while Kara is distracted.
“Mr. Stark sustained no injuries, although with his focus on rescue operations and curt responses lead me to believe he is slightly disassociating from the situation. I am… attempting to find a solution but have yet to find one, and it is clogging up my processing power in a way I can not purge for some reason. Has Daisy made an error in my code Kara?”
Giving a comforting look to the nearest Jarvis camera, Kara offers an explanation to the young A.I. “Jarvis… that means you're stressed. You’re new to emotions, and not a lot of them have been negative, but it’s natural. The best way to deal with it is to talk with friends about it, which you're doing!” Kara beams up at him. “Give him time, but honestly it won’t hit Tony until he gets back here later tonight and finally stops being in work mode.”
By this point it seems she is not giving advice to just Jarvis but also to Pepper, who is listening intently to her as well. So Kara decided to go in a bit further, no matter what Daisy says about using time travel knowledge to set people up! Tony and Pepper are so cute together!
“And honestly… I don’t think either of us will be who Tony wants to unload to most. So we should probably leave it to that person to deal with.” Kara knows her meaningful glance at Pepper is not discreet, but Kara has yet to get people-working spy lessons from Daisy, just basic lying lessons so far with how busy they have been.
Pepper’s face lets Kara know that she is NOT being subtle, but at least she is self-aware about it! Progress!
“I’ll handle Tony when he gets back then, and I’m guessing you will help Daisy deal with things as well tomorrow when you both get back?” Kara nods to Pepper in confirmation. “I-... How do I be there for him? I know how to help him run his business, but I am not ready for this.”
Kara scooches closer on the couch and places a comforting hand on Peppers. “Not to speak badly of Tony and Daisy but they are both emotionally…”
“Stunted? Unhealthy? In the case of just Tony, immature?” Pepper deadpans back and Kara can’t stop the very childish giggle that comes from her at that.
“I was only going to say abnormal… to be nicer.” Pepper and Kara share a commiserating smile with each other. Don’t get Kara wrong, she loves Winn and James, but it is so nice having a female friend that isn’t her sister or her bosses! “But what that means, is that they won’t want to talk about it. They’ll want to move on to the next mission, the next project, the next… whatever rather than take the time to deal with their head right now.”
Kara looks down at her lap, fiddling with the hem of her shirt as she collects her thoughts and tries to not let the simmering anger she has in herself over this next part explode out. Once she is centered, Kara continues on.
“For Daisy with Shield… they used her as a weapon, and a tool so often that she thought I was using her for practice rather than wanting her to really be my girlfriend at first.” The very THOUGHT of doing that to her mate makes Kara clench her teeth to the point of pain. “Weapons don’t need breaks, they don’t need rest, and they don’t need time to deal with trauma… so they didn’t let her. Now that is her default and what she has come to expect. So I make sure to MAKE her talk about it. I ask how she is feeling, how she does it, and I give her what she needs most; I let her know that she is a good person making a good difference in the world even if she can’t see it at the moment…. Or frustratingly ever.”
Kara looks over at Pepper who is looking off into the distance out the window pointed at the ocean, thoughts probably running through her brilliant mind.
“You know Tony better than anyone. What does he need and how do make him accept it? You have a few hours to find the answers to it too.”
“Thank you, Kara. I don’t know how I will get through this superhero support role… But I’ll do my best, because he deserves that.” Pepper is quiet for a moment, seeming to struggle with whether or not to continue, before she finally commits. “So, when did Tony and I get together in the original timeline?”
Remember Daisy’s training, keep your face relaxed before showing a little bit of surprise but not too much, to convey surprise at the question not that she figured it out. Use just a little bit of superspeed but without actually moving to give yourself time to think of a believable response.
“I’m not sure what gave you that idea? Sorry if I gave you that impression!” Kara says, without technically saying a single lie which allows Kara to be more believable naturally, Daisy would be proud!
Yet, all the same, Pepper rolls her eyes before immediately calling her bluff. “You’ve made a lot of progress in the last few months with thinking on your feet, but I work with some of the most manipulative liars in the world regularly. With my rose glasses ripped off from Stane’s betrayal, I don’t think you’ll get past me anytime soon.”
Kara decides to pull out her second weapon she has in her arsenal now… pouting like a teenager who didn’t get her way. “Oh phooey!”
“So when did we get together originally? Because you have not been subtle with your game and movie night suggestions and looks. I understand why you didn’t tell us straight away, but I’m ready to know now.”
Kara should be bashful at being found out, but she can’t stop smiling at the direction that Pepper is hinting at this going already. “Apparently at the fundraising event in two days you two shared a very close slow dance that left the tabloids asking questions, but Shield documents say Tony ran out after seeing his weapons in Gulmira and ruined it until you two got together at the end of the Stark Expo attacks we told you about in May 2011 and were still together when Daisy left in 2019!”
Pepper seems unaffected by the news, but Kara can see the slight pinking of her cheeks and hear the quickening of her heartbeat. The happy noise Kara makes would make Daisy throw a pillow at her, but Pepper decides to go pretend it didn’t happen for now apparently.
“Anyway, Jarvis, is there anything else we need to know?... Anything at all?” Pepper’s cheeks get even pinker as apparently even Jarvis is silent for a second at the quick change in topic.
“Of course Ms. Potts. I'll be sure to send the full breakdown of the battle and the initial reactions of the reporters and generals within the range of devices I could access at Stark Industries Headquarters, but most is within our projections. What stood out to me was one person on the list of VIPs from Daisy’s list of the future that was posing as a CIA agent in the war room.” Reports Jarvis.
That gets both of their attention out of their personal lives as they pick up their Stark Pads to look over the information on the unexpected guest. And yet… There is something to his voice that takes Kara a moment to process, but Pepper is already speaking.
“You don’t sound concerned, but it still sounds like we should be aware so thank you for the heads up Jarvis.” Apparently Pepper has not spent enough time with the new and improved Jarvis to catch what she did.
“Of course Ms. Potts.” Jarvis responds, and even when Kara gives him a moment to come clean he instead acts as if the conversation is done, forcing Kara to speak up.
“Hey Jarvis, why do you sound like you do when you beat Daisy in one of your hacking games but she hasn’t realized it yet?... You did more than just observe the VIP, didn’t you?”
Jarvis’ explanation leaves both of them groaning at him and the influence Daisy is having on a young adolescent A.I.’s mind! Yet… Kara knows that this is going to make her girlfriend’s day when she hears about it, so she can’t even be too upset about it.
When Kara sets off early in the morning to fly out to pick up Daisy, she makes sure not to wake up the Tony and Pepper that fell asleep on the couch in each other’s arms, with dried tear tracks down their faces. The day will be rough for all of them, but together Kara thinks that they will get through it all.
October 28th, 2008, MCU
Daisy Johnson, Stark Malibu Home
I know that he only attacked those who were holding weapons intending to do violence on civilians, I know that he managed to rescue every hostage except for the one that is still MIA, I know that he managed to somehow protect the village from any injuries, but the fact of the matter is all of that power now rests in the hand of one man. Someone who isn’t required to listen to any military if he doesn't want to, as shown to be a legal standard by the now revealed ‘Superman Pact’ that was signed between the President and Mr. Stark and is making its way through congress for full legal ratification. I am not comforted by the way this is being handled, despite the efforts of ‘Iron Man’ in running a string of PR rescue saves across the country over the last couple weeks. I thought I was nervous when the Abomination and the Hulk fought, and now I am scared. I hope-
~bzzt~
Tony Stark has single handedly paused hostilities in Afghanistan, and has been the biggest community relations with the locals since the United States had troops in the area. The fact of the matter is, no matter how much good our troops tried to do over there, there were still people who were caught in the crossfire or civilians struck in drone strikes. This led to distrust, and even hate, by the citizens there leading to further radicalization that led to more enemies to deal with, in a vicious cycle of recruitment for the terrorist groups hiding there. After the ‘Battle of Gulmira’ however, the sky rocketing confidence in the USA has stopped terrorist recruitment drives in their tracks and an increase in intelligence from citizens who were too scared to pass it along before. The past couple weeks have seen as much progress on the war on terror, as the past year together. Give it a couple more months, and the progress could be equal to all progress that has been made since US troops entered Afghanistan in 2001. We have been-
~bzzt~
I know that a lot of people are nervous, or don’t know what to think, but I think that is mostly coming from the people in power rather than your average citizen. In the end, I would have lost my husband and children from the sudden storm that swept their boat out into the ocean if Iron Man hadn’t shown up. The Coast Guard was going to have to wait until the storm passed, but Iron Man somehow heard about it, and flew out to them in the middle of a tropical storm, patched the hole in their ship, repaired their flooded engine, and stayed in radio contact until they were safely back in my arms. No matter what anyone else says, Iron Man will always be my hero. Thank you Tony Stark, Thank you-
~bzzt~
Here at TMZ we are sticking to the important information coming out of California these days… No, we don’t mean Iron Man, everyone else is talking about that! We are talking about these exclusive photos taken from the balcony next door to a high rise restaurant that captured a seemingly intimate moment of the new rising hero. Here was see, Tony Stark, and his COO of nearly half a year, Pepper Potts, sharing a candlelit dinner in a restaurant that was rented out entirely for just the couple. Was this a boss treating his best employee to a relaxing business dinner, or was this the sign that the most eligible and dangerous bachelor is off the market? Stay tuned as TMZ does a deep dive into-
~chk~
“Hey I was watching that! I was doing some very important market research to help us come up with our next steps.” Daisy wishes she could take herself seriously, because her smile is really undercutting her words here.
“Go sell your lies to someone who will buy them, mini-shake, like international spy agencies or something, but not here. Besides, dinner is ready and it was my turn today, so we’re not letting it get cold!” Tony’s snark is just a little bit too prideful today. Maybe working with him to fool Shield was not a good idea for his ego?
“Ugh! Fine, dad, but don’t expect me to lie to mom the next time you need it!” Daisy replies back as she makes her way to the dining room table where Pepper is sitting already.
“The mom and dad jokes have lost their bite since we started dating, and now I think it says more about you two.” Pepper comes to the defense of her new boyfriend, as she finishes whatever she was working on with her Stark Pad.
Okay, fair, and Daisy suppresses a bit of a flinch of the truth to that. She blames the hormonal needs of both of their younger bodies on that. No matter how old their minds are, hormonal chemicals are still a bitch. “Oh sure, blame the orphans that you forcefully started fostering for being orphans.”
Pepper doesn’t respond outside of a roll of her eyes, while Kara comes in to join them with a burst of superspeed. The hint of grease on her nose probably means Kara lost track of time down in the workshop. Daisy certainly isn’t going to tell Kara about it as long as possible, and Tony’s grin lets her know that he was planning the same thing.
Soon enough they finish eating the delivery food that Tony had called for, or probably had Jarvis call for, but at least it is healthy high end food and not fast food, so she can’t complain. Moving on to dessert, they start having the conversation they need to about their next steps.
“So, Daisy, what’s next? You wanted Tony to make some good PR moves, and to help him with the stress, while we waited for the public to respond before moving forward… And people have certainly been reacting the last couple weeks.” Kara doesn’t say it, but Daisy can tell she wants to be Supergirl again, and now that she won’t be the first superhero here that opens things up.
“For myself, the goal I hope to meet soon is finding the intel that Tony and you need for the new Arc core. I know you got as close as you could in the Mark III’s powers this time to the Mark VII’s powers used in the OG Battle of New York, but the lack of a better reactor is slowing the speed and strength of the suit and preventing the use of lasers and the unibeam… As well as slowly poisoning the old billionaire too I guess.”
Tony was about to make some witty reply to Daisy, but she just barreled on through before he could. “Other than that, I’m going to do some of my old Shield missions that aren’t going to change Hydra’s timeline; The Peruvian 084 and the Asgardian Berserker Staff most of all. I have to change the outcome to a current Shield mission overseas soon, and will continue scouting out my first Hydra head. But I can’t go after Hydra until AFTER the Winter Soldier mission I know about happens, that mission is a two birds thing for me so I don’t want to butterfly it away.”
“I was wondering why you weren’t going after Hydra so far. Is the Winter Soldier really that important?” Tony asks… and that whole ‘murderer of his parents’ is a situation she will have to deal with but none of them are ready for that yet.
“He’s actually brainwashed Bucky Barnes, with Nazi version of Super Soldier. So not only is he Hydra’s best assassin, who is doing everything against his will, but he will be the key to helping us get Steve Rogers on side after he gets found. The Shield files from my time have no indication of even a general location of where the Captain was recovered aside from just ‘The Arctic Ocean’, so I can’t search for him like I did for you, Tony. So getting to him AFTER Shield is the only option.”
…
“I forget how much I know that I haven’t told you guys, either actually for a reason or just because it hasn’t come up. The world is weird and fucked up okay!” Daisy can feel her cheeks burn a little bit at the looks everyone gives her, she’s doing a lot! “You guys should mostly concentrate on continuing the business changes, starting the building of HERO HQ and Stark New York City HQ, working as Iron Man. But I do have good news for you Kara.”
Kara beams at Daisy at that. “Do I get to be Supergirl again soon!”
Daisy smiles back and lightly knocks Kara’s shin with her foot. “As soon as you’re done growing, you’ll be good to go out as Supergirl. I know of a few natural disasters that you can work on like mud slides or forest fires that would let you help without actually being seen by anyone. For your full reveal I’m guessing another 3 more months, possibly up to 5 in the worst case. Working with Jarvis we found a face veil setting that won’t make your face seem different to humans so you’re not wearing a fake, but WILL fool face detection software into thinking you’re different people if compared… if I can’t talk you into wearing a mask that is?”
The semi-pleading look does not seem to work, as Kara ends up denying it. “The creepy mask is Quake’s thing, even Iron Man also has a mask, and the Hulk's face is not… comforting. I think it’s even more important to have my face visible here!”
Daisy ignores the mutter from Tony that sounds suspiciously like ‘damn Girl Scout’ and just gives her a warm smile. “That’s the immediate future anyway. Nothing big will happen again for a few years, so you all will keep going business as usual while I slowly and methodically deal with any Hydra that isn’t protected by Shield. Did I miss anything?”
“Ooh ooh ooh! Call on me, sensei, I have an idea!”
Daisy doesn’t even bother to try and hide the sigh at his antics. “Yes Tony?”
“You mentioned in the future we had some Avengers themed merch right?” At her confirmation Tony continues. “What if we start that early, and by early I mean now? Obviously I don’t need money so all profits go into humanitarian relief and paying the government collateral insurance. We also push to get the copyright for Hulk in trust, back paying all outstanding damages or civil cases for Banner now, starting his own government collateral insurance plan, and put any profits in a trust for him for when he returns.”
“His big idea that uses ‘we’ a lot sounds like a lot of work for me going forward. That said, it’s actually a good idea. It effectively starts getting Dr. Banner on the same deal as Tony, helping to extend the precedent to others like you wanted anyways.” Pepper remarks as she writes down some notes for herself.
“I have a suggestion, Dame Daisy.” The formal name is a surprise from Jarvis, but they ARE technically working so she guesses it applies. “I believe I should slowly let Shield think they are able to get the best of me, at least on small things. Eventually we will want Shield to think Sir is sick, so they need a reason to know that. If I fake some small exploits, I can give them false information.”
“Ooh. Leaking fake intel. Classic tactic, but devious and I love it Jarvis!” He has come a long way in developing more of his own personality, than only what Tony coded for him and it is wonderful to see. “And don’t think I forgot about what you did to our guest at the Iron Man reveal. From what I hear, that bug is very close to paying off.”
And Daisy is soooo looking forward to hearing what will be happening soon.
October 31st, 2008, MCU
Agent Phil Coulson, Auerbach Theatrical Agency
Shield was having a meeting, and while Coulson wouldn’t call it an emergency meeting because they gave things time to play out, it was certainly a very important meeting that needed to happen. Because of the proximity to the subject, everyone for the meeting came to his location to speak.
A secure room deep in the Agency in Los Angeles is where Coulson finds himself, with some of the biggest names in Shield right now. Around the table is himself, Commander Maria Hill, Agent Victoria Hand, Agent Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton, and at the head of the table is SHIELD Director Nick Fury.
“Protection. Whether protecting one man from himself, or protecting the world from what is out there. That, that is what SHIELD was founded on, and that is our mission. Somehow, Tony Stark has outplayed us all, by getting the President to sign Iron Man as being outside of the jurisdiction of our protection. We can not let this happen again, or continue for longer than necessary, so we need to figure out where we went wrong. First up, Agent Hand, what was wrong with the psychological profile you mocked up?” While the words from Director Fury are strong, everyone knows he blames himself just as much, so it does not feel like they are about to be taken to task. Just… finding ways to improve.
All the same, Agent Hand goes first. “Yes Sir. SHIELD has long kept a psychological profile on Tony Stark due to his genius, position in the arms world, and cultural power. Prior to his abduction, I would rate his profile as being highly accurate. Following his abduction, his profile was adjusted according to the medical reports and video surveillance we got from the time of his recovery until his stay at his Malibu home. I believe this became inaccurate for two reasons; 1. Tony Stark is now recognized as a near-index human due to his information processing abilities that let him operate his suit. 2. His home program labeled JARVIS was regarded as an virtual intelligence, rather than being a true artificial intelligence although shackled. This led to JARVIS collecting information about Obadiah Stane’s betrayal, and anything else that we don’t know about. In conclusion, these two points together allowed Mr. Stark to process the information and thus change much quicker than even the most extreme psychological outlier predicted.”
Coulson enjoys working with Agent Hand, but that is a reason why he would never do well as her partner. She is too by the book, which can lead to surprises when the book fails. Like this. But in the end, that ‘book’ is what SHIELD preaches, so she can’t be blamed.
Director Fury takes it all in without comment, which most likely means he agrees, and moves on. “Thank you, Agent Hand. Commander Hill, what information have you gotten by attending the Iron Man War Room and consulting with the Sci-Tech Division?”
“Plugging in the Trojan I was given managed to give us more information than what the military got about the capabilities of the Iron Man, but not as much as we were hoping for, as the suit seems to be even more secure than his home is. The good news though, any weapon system that even got a little bit powered up was recorded, not just what was deployed like what the military has. We believe we have the complete list of weapons currently operational, and even two that aren’t yet. A ‘Unibeam’ and a ‘Wrist Mounted Lasers’ with a reading of insufficient power for those. Looking at Howard Stark’s Arc Reactor research recovered and returned to Warehouse 3C, we believe it will be around 2.5 years with current suit usage before the palladium cores are a serious health risk to Mr. Stark. That said, we are still horribly in the dark about his construction methods, repulsor tech, top speeds, and surveillance capabilities. The biggest concern is that we have found zero electronic evidence for the defense system that protected Gulmira.”
“That’s what worries me most too. Coulson, you were in charge of the investigation on scene of Gulmira and local here. Did you find anything there?” Well… time for him to share what little he has.
“Looking at the homes we saw that not even a single bullet made it to the town despite video showing some firing in that direction. Investigating found dust just outside of town limits that was consistent in metal composition to the bullets found on scene. Interviewing citizens of the town found no evidence of another system being loaded in or out. Meanwhile, all 720 terrorists who died from this system died from severe brain injuries despite having no exterior injuries. Best guess at the system? A combination force field and targeted energy beam made to disrupt grey matter? Maybe sound based for both, so a giant upgrade to the Thundergrenades? Although, I’m certainly doing my best guess here in consulting with Shield scientists.” Well he got through the worst of it, because it really and truly is a best guess despite all the help he has been given.
The way that Director Fury grinds his teeth makes it obvious that he also hates how little they know about one of the deadliest weapons they’ve come across so far. “Your recommendation on how to move forward? You are still the Agent on scene for Stark.”
Now this, he does have an answer for. “I believe we should back off for now, aside from the occasional cyber attempt, to not make it obvious how closely we are looking. Stark is at his most guarded right now. The personeel expansion in preparation for the new House El and Stark Industries HQ’s will give us chances to insert agents in at high positions in the next couple years. Using them to find leverage and espionage is our best way forward.” Coulson knows what Fury is going to say, even before he says it. It’s the move that Fury will always make, even if he wouldn’t.
“We’ll time it around when Stark realizes his problem and fails to find a new core. It’ll be the most likely time for him to make mistakes that we can make use of and be able to bring him into the fold of the Avengers Initiative in exchange for the solution. Agent Barton, give a description of the Avengers Initiative for those here not currently read in and a rundown of its current status.” Fury moves on to prevent objections to the blatant manipulation of Mr. Stark, not that most here will voice them. Most likely Hand and maybe Hill even agree with Fury’s choice.
“The Avengers Initiative was designed by Director Fury to fight threats just like The Abomination or greater and is currently approved by the World Security Council, although reluctantly. The idea is for near-index SHIELD agents to lead enhanced individuals in a rapid response team to any threats. Currently, I am the only Shield Agent slated, codename Hawkeye, but Natasha Romanoff is expected to be read in once she has reached a full year of service to Shield, codename Black Widow. Current enhanced candidates are The Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel. The longshot is if Howard Stark was right in his theories and Steve Rogers can survive being frozen long term due to the serum.”
Coulson doesn’t actually level a glare at Barton at the lack of faith in Captain America, and yet his displeasure is communicated all the same as shown by the responding shrug from Barton.
Fury quickly brings things back, before they can bicker at all over this topic… again. “Going forward I ask that you all keep an eye out for any enhanced that may be fit to be an Avenger, and extend a more welcoming hand than we usually do with index-candidates. The President wasn’t wrong to do something in response to the Harlem fight, we just have to show him that we have a better answer the next time something happens.”
Their meeting moves on to more mundane, and typical, SHIELD missions now that people are getting assigned away from Stark until it is time to make their move.
~
Yet, everyone there is unaware of the bug program planted on Agent Hill’s phone, that will send the recording of the entire meeting back to Jarvis as soon as Hill is out of the secure room.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: I swear Daisy and Kara are my main characters! Even if the amount of other POVs the last few chapters may lead you to think otherwise. So I made sure to get back to them here. I just also really enjoy writing when people react to the crazy that they bring with them.
This chapter made me do even more research into trying to decode the MCU timeline of events, and a reminder to my audience that I’m okay with playing a little bit fast and loose with it in order to make things work the way I want them to… and no one can stop me!
Next chapter Daisy makes larger moves, and Quake makes her first appearance… kindof! Any idea what Shield mission Daisy is planning to change soon?
Chapter 12: Romance and Rescue
Summary:
Kara and Daisy have a bit of domestic bliss in their new place out in the woods in the California mountains, before Daisy goes to mess with a Shield mission on the other side of the world leaving two agents with headaches and a big mess to clean up.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
November 15th, 2008, MCU
Kara Danvers, ‘Sanctuary’ San Bernardino Mountains
Kara continued to work through her newest project in the remote forest of the San Bernardino Mountains northeast of LA. Here, tucked into the forest is what was once a run down cabin that belonged to a couple who have gone through tough times, only to have a cash infusion from one of Daisy’s shell companies for far more than the property should be worse.
The increased scrutiny and surveillance of the Stark home due to the Iron Man reveal required them to get a place to call their own. While Kara wouldn’t call a cabin TRUE camping, she is glad that they finally got around to spending time in nature together like they had planned. Her heart has never been so full of love while being able to look up at the stars imagining she could pinpoint Rao in the night’s sky, all while having her mate cradled in her arms alongside her.
Since Daisy bought the cabin, Kara and Daisy have been spending the past few weeks working on fixing the place up and getting it ready for use. Although it is honestly a lot of Kara doing the fix it up work, while Daisy goes to buy what is needed, before flying back to deliver the supplies. Daisy is still traumatized from the last time she had to visit Home Depot without an explicit list of what she needed to buy, so Kara is doing the best she can to give her part numbers… although she does so while holding in her laughs.
The woman can wage a shadow war against multiple international spy agencies, but home improvement is somehow her biggest weakness!
Between superspeed, and having an incredibly large budget courtesy of the money from Daisy’s almost-murderer-from-another-timeline, the place was repaired with all utilities restored from solar panels with a battery bank and well water to keep everything off the grid.
The last project was making a hidden and VERY secure walk-in safe for dangerous artifacts below ground, which was finished last weekend! For some reason, Daisy is calling the safe ‘The Mini-Fridge’ although she won’t say why and just giggles under her breath about the name.
The current project for the next few weekends is to recreate as much of the containment modules from Daisy’s future Shield files. It’s going well so far, although there is still a lot of work to be done. This weekend so far is a little bit lonely as it has just been Kara all day. Normally they make the weekends here as a getaway in the mornings and evenings, just spending time together… cuddling… watching movies… drinking hot chocolate.
It’s honestly a dream come true, and while they love staying with the Starks, the increased scrutiny of Iron Man means it may be time to spend as little time there as possible. Additionally, getting alone time together has been great for their mental health. Spending time late into the night around the fireplace, talking about Alex and Astra, and Daisy talking about her sister and mother (in two timelines as well). A lot of time has been spent crying, but it makes the separation from her universe just a little bit more bearable.
While Kara is working on the door functions of the containment pod, Daisy comes walking in through the door holding a long metal staff. Although she is not holding it in her hands, and instead is holding it with a metal garbage picker, for some reason? And the staff just… sounds wrong to her ears, almost as if the metal is yelling despite not vibrating in any weird ways.
“Hey Daisy… why are you carrying a metal staff that is screaming at me? Is this a kidnapping thing?” Kara can’t help but ask. This universe is weird at times, so maybe someone can possess objects and Daisy trapped them there?
“You can hear it screaming? For me the vibrations feel like it’s ready to spring and attack me at any time. Cool.” Daisy seems to find the difference in their senses fascinating as usual, an easy acceptance of how Kara is different that no one else gives. “You should get to a good stopping point while I put this in the Mini-Fridge. I have news to share, and it’s going to be something.”
Despite those ominous words, the tone behind Daisy’s voice wasn’t actually all doom and gloom, so Kara didn’t feel afraid. Finishing up the door seal within the next 15 minutes, Kara walks into the cozy living room. There she finds Daisy already has a fire going and some cartons of ice cream at the ready, so maybe not as easy of a talk as Kara was hoping for.
“So what was that staff and does it have anything to do with this talk?” Kara asks as she tucks into Daisy’s side, leaning into her mate’s warmth, with a carton of moose tracks for emotional support.
“That was an Asgardian Berserker staff.” Kara can’t suppress the shiver at the reminder of THAT horrible history. “An Asgardian Warrior who defected to live on earth had split it into pieces and hid those pieces all over, too bad he let a story get written about the whole thing so the pieces eventually got found.., or will eventually get found. It was one of my Shield missions before the fall.”
“So you got it now so it wouldn’t be found later?” At Kara’s question Daisy gives a confirming nod, while eating some vanilla ice cream. “I see that the mission was a success… so what is it?”
Daisy takes a breath, before answering. “After collecting the pieces I went to the Asgardian, now a University Professor, to let him know what I did, while dressed as Quake. I side stepped questions about WHY I did it by saying that my people have a seer amongst us, and I knew the pieces would be found to be used for violence if I didn’t get to them first.”
Despite the serious subject, Kara can’t help but smile as the spy training pays off in letting her know what Daisy cleverly did. “Both true statements technically, but said to make him think they are connected even though they’re not.”
“A+ goes to Ms. Danvers at that.” Daisy teases back at her love for getting good grades. “I let him know all of that, so I could get information in exchange. Information about galactic history that he would know. I hid the question amongst others, but I found out what happened to Krypton in this universe.”
It shouldn’t affect her. This timeline isn’t hers, this planet isn’t her Krypton, and yet she nearly faints or chokes on ice cream or hyperventilates all at once. It takes a couple minutes of Daisy rubbing her back, but she is able to collect herself without crying in the end.
“Wha- What happened to it? How did Krypton end here?” No matter the answer, it will be painful to know how her people met their destruction yet again.
“The difference between our timelines seems to be the Asgardian War. In your universe they attacked unprovoked, so your people and others helped fight them back. In this timeline, the Frost Giants attacked Earth first giving the Asgardians justification in their war, and as we already knew the Kree weren’t destroyed in the great wars thousands of years ago. So while Asgard and the Nine Realms fought each other; Krypton, the Green Lanterns, and the Kree Empire fought in a three way war.”
“And Krypton lost that war?”
“Yes. While it nearly destroyed the Kree Empire, and only because the Lanterns and Kryptonians focused on each other because they underestimated Kree depravity, the Lanterns were killed by disease and Krypton nearly had its core destroyed centuries earlier than your Krypton did.” Daisy confirms, although her tone at the end is strange.
Then, Kara catches it, the specific word Daisy just used when talking about Krypton. “Wait! Almost destroyed? Is that what you said?!” Kara is sitting up looking straight into Daisy’s eyes, not daring to hope.
“As far as the Asgardian who defected to earth 900 years ago knows, Krypton was able to stabilize their core, although just barely and after much destruction. Last he heard, Krypton became a hermit planet that shoots down any outsiders on sight. But yes, there is a very real chance that Krypton exists in this timeline.”
The confirmation breaks what resolved Kara has, and she is very quickly balling her eyes out. The warm embrace, and the steady vibrations as Daisy comforts her helps keep the tears last only 30 minutes, instead of hours.
Still, by the end of it, Kara’s emotions are so wiped out that she feels physically exhausted too. Finally taking stock of her situation, Kara finds herself laying down on the couch cuddling up to the small teen form of Daisy. The fire, having not been attended since before their talks started, is burning low and the room is dark.
Kara wants nothing more than to sleep, but she needs to ask. She’s almost certain of the answer, but who knows if she’s missing something with her brain so sluggish? “Do you think we can visit Krypton?”
Kara’s voice is rough from the tears, she needs a drink of water badly, but she manages to get through her request and braces for the answer.
“I have no idea how exactly, but yes. We will find a way to visit Krypton before we have to leave, I swear.” Daisy’s soft promise is a breath of fresh air. With that resolved, Kara can feel herself quickly starting to nod off.
“Thank you Daisy, thank you so much.” Kara murmurs, but thankful Daisy seems to understand.
“Of course, Sunflower. I just need you to know though, most likely you and your parents and everyone you know won’t exist on this Krypton. History is far too different to make the same children by all chances.”
“I know. But still…” Kara fails to find the words, but thankfully Daisy knows.
“I know. It will still be your people, even if changed. A way to see your planet, and culture, and religion like never before. I was kept too busy and was discouraged from diving into the inhuman culture like I wanted. Meanwhile you weren’t given the same gifts from Krypton like your cousin, and what little you did have the DEO kept from you. But this, I can help give you this so I will.”
The force and power behind those words of promise sends a shiver down Kara’s spine, but before Kara can respond she sees Daisy resolving herself for something, before saying words that make Kara’s heart sing.
“I will take you anywhere you need to go, because I love you.”
Screw the weird feelings that being in a teen’s body gives, Kara is deeply kissing her mate pushing in all of the love and adoration and affection and a million other feelings that she has for Daisy. Meanwhile Daisy responds in kind, the vibrations leaking out of her and into Kara from the raw emotional vulnerability. Kara can feel her latched bond with Daisy almost… harmonize with the vibrations.
Inhumans are not a psychic species, Daisy is not Kryptonian, so by all means Daisy should not be able to reciprocate and bond back with her. But in this moment, it certainly feels to Kara like Daisy’s powers are trying to accomplish just that task. But that’s impossible, so Kara enjoys it but doesn’t let herself fall into a false sense of hope.
When they finally need air again, the kiss breaks off, the vibrations settle, and her bond calms down, but it certainly feels even stronger than it was before. Kara lets herself just be absorbed in the presence of her mate, their foreheads resting against each other, as they catch their breath.
“So…” Daisy begins with a teasing tone to her voice after a few minutes of comfortable silence, “Does that count as you saying it back?”
Kara blushes a bright red, realizing that despite being in love with Daisy for months, in the moment she forgot to actually say the words. So in typical Kara fashion she rushes to cover it, but just ends with a flurry of word vomit. “IloveyoutooIloveyousomuchforeverythingyou’vedoneandeverythingyouareandyoumeantheworldtome.”
Daisy laughs and brings Kara back into a cuddle as they lay down on the couch in the now dark living room, with only the coals in the fireplace giving a soft glow to frame the face of the most beautiful woman in the world to Kara’s eyes.
“I didn’t quite catch all of that Danvers, but I think I understood. I know that it took me… too long to say that. You’ve been obsessively tracing the House El crest onto me with your fingers whenever you're distracted when we cuddle for longer than we have been in my world. You deserve someone who is better at not being so scared of falling in love or the lifelong commitment that comes from your latching… but I guess you're stuck with me instead. So, I’m ready to commit to more for you and with you because I love you Kara.”
"I love you too Daisy."
As soft whispers between them in the night eventually become the quiet breathes of deep sleep for both of them, Kara can’t help but thank Rao that she is ‘stuck’ with the most amazing woman in either of their universes.
November 28th, 2008, MCU
Phil Coulson, Bahrain
“Bravo, come in!” Coulson is met only by silence from his radio. “All Operators, check in!” Still nothing.
“What was that?! Were they taken out? Did they take themselves out? What about the little girl?” The only remaining agent besides himself in the field, Agent May, sat beside him just as confused.
“I don’t know, but I have to call it in. That building just swallowed 12 agents in a minute.” When in doubt, fall back on Shield protocol, it has kept him alive so far, it should keep him alive going forward.
“We’re alone on this.” May responds, knowing any help that base can send out is likely to be hours away, if it’s coming at all.
This mission shouldn’t have been this hard, or nearly this costly. Worst of all Coulson had no idea how it got to be this bad. They were sent to help someone get on the index, and possibly even recruit them for the Avengers Initiative. Eva Belyakov has displayed impressive strength and endurance, and was currently on the run from the Russian Government. That should mean that Eva needs help, and they could provide it, giving them an in.
The initial meeting went sideways almost immediately with Eva flipping the table, literally, in his face. Meanwhile some local mercenaries that seemed to be hired by Eva took a little girl and his agents on scene hostage into a nearby warehouse.
With the resulting attempt at hostage negotiation failing, a strike team was sent in, only for them to be taken down as well. The radio chatter made no sense with reports of friendly fire, overall confusion, the little girl running around, and the sounds of gunfire, only to quickly fall silent.
So here sat the last two agents, himself and Agent May, in a surveillance van down the street. Just as he goes to pull out his SAT phone to call to headquarters, the door to the van slides open.
The door to the Shield surveillance van, that should VERY MUCH be securely locked from the inside, just slides open with no hands touching the door or handles. Guns are drawn before either Coulson or May can really take in the figure standing a few feet away from the van.
The figure stands at a few inches over 5 feet tall, although the lazy and relaxed slouch gives him a hard time determining an exact height. They wear a black with purple highlights combat suit in a feminine cut, a gun is strapped to their thigh holster, have vibrant purple hair ending at their shoulders, and wear a full face ski mask with a creepy neon purple electronic smiley face.
He does not want to deal with whatever comic book villain this is right now.
“I’m sorry. You’re a little bit late for Halloween and we’re all out of candy right now.” Coulson says. The woman(?) didn’t react to the guns being pointed at their face at all, but instead caused a snort of laughter to come from them.
“Nah, I’m not here for candy but I am here to give you a few treats to help with the trick that’s been played on you.” At Coulson’s blank expression and May’s near growl, the woman continues in the horrible distorted electronic voice. “You aren’t dealing with just one enhanced with super strength, but a second with mind control. Specifically Eva’s daughter, the ‘random’ little girl at the market taken hostage who gains control through a simple touch of her hand.”
May gasps beside him at that information, although who is to say if it is accurate. “I saw the little girl go up and tap everyone as if playing before everything went down. And a little girl running around turning agents would explain that radio chatter we heard.” Apparently May will say it is accurate.
“Exactly Shield Agent May. So why don’t we get rid of those guns you have, since everyone in there is a hostage.” Without any movement, or tell for their power, both of their guns that had been slowly lowering suddenly fell apart as if field stripped in their hands in moments.
Wonderful. Not an operator but instead a third enhanced in the field. He lays a hand on May’s shoulder to prevent her from attacking the perceived threat.
“I don’t like the idea of shooting the innocent either, so what did you have in mind instead?” Coulson asks, trying to keep things moving and cordial. Who knows when the locals will get word of what has happened here and decide to move in.
“Glad you asked Agent Coulson!” The figure ducks to the side to grab a bag, as Coulson’s headache increases at the fact that the powerful enhanced knows both of their names, when they didn’t even know she existed. “I know you can’t place an order to outfit your agency with Stark without revealing Shield’s existence and general size of the organization to him, but with the FDA approving them for domestic sale finally it lets people like me get a small supply when needed.”
Out from the bag comes an Icer pistol for both of them, and nearly 10 extra magazines each with their glowing blue dendrotoxin rounds. As she hands the weapons over, Coulson is able to take a better look at the pistol in the figure’s thigh and notices that it is also an Icer pistol.
“I’d thank you for the help, but I can’t help but feel at a disadvantage with you knowing our names and who we work for, but not the other way around.” Coulson asks without making it a question, while May begins strapping her new weapons and ammo in.
“Ooh! I even made myself something for this exact moment too.” From the figure’s back pocket comes a badge. A badge and ID card that are very clearly modeled after SHIELD’s, although with even less information. Instead of an Eagle the symbol is just a Spear that looks like it has been thrown, and instead of showing SHIELD’s full name, it still just has the initials for Spear around the outside. The ID card isn’t much better, as the figure is wearing the same outfit, mask and all, in the photo. At least he gets a name or title anyways, ‘Quake’, and where Shield would have the agent’s clearance level is instead the label ‘Platinum’.
Dealing with an enchanted and the very first confirmed member of the mysterious SPEAR is just icing on the cake at this point. “So Ms. Quake, want to tell me what SPEAR is doing here and what you want?”
“Sure A.C.!” A nickname, already? “I’m here to help stop this from being a bloodbath, and to get the two enhanced handed over to the reclusive group that the mother stole the means to become enhanced from. They are the best equipped to deal with the side effects of these powers after all, and the daughter is totally a little psychopath right now. Not entirely her fault, but also not entirely the fault of getting the powers either.”
Well THAT is a lot to take in, and brings up a lot of questions. While this conversation goes on though, Coulson can see May nearly ready to run off and take care of things herself. The conversation needs to end soon, or at least be paused until the crisis is dealt with.
“Why should SHIELD let SPEAR take the two of them back? You’re an unknown, and trusting you is kind of hard with a mask between us.” Coulson deals with the most pressing issue, the goal of this engagement.
Although that causes the woman to snort in a derisive manner. “You may not wear a mask, but your whole agency barely officially exists so I’m not sure if you have room to talk. But SPEAR is not keeping them any longer than it takes to hand them off to the hidden gifted group. And you should let me do that, because otherwise you’ll have an unknown number of people with powers coming after SHIELD to be sure their secret base that Eva knows the location of, stays secret.” Before Coulson can respond to that, the figure looks to the side, deeper into the city. “I can feel the local military about 15 minutes out and closing. So, you get to keep everyone safe and I get to keep Shield from starting a war with a group that just wants to be left alone. Deal?”
Coulson hates his options, but Quake could have disabled them at any time with her Icer after dismantling their guns. For all that SPEAR has revealed things they wanted kept secret, they haven’t actually revealed anything that would put SHIELD agents in danger.
Coulson can recognize what this is, an olive branch to show that SPEAR does not intend to be hostile moving forward. Even if their goals, whatever they actually are, are in conflict with SHIELD’s own.
With a firm shake of the offered hand, Coulson agrees and all three begin moving forward. The SHIELD operator school hand signs just increase his resignation about how much the figure knows.
The three come to the side of the warehouse, where Quake braces with her hands cupped just below a balcony. Knowing what is wanted, May takes a run towards Quake before getting an assisted jump up to the second floor.
While it was obvious that May expected to only just get to the railing and have to haul herself over, she is instead thrown clear over the railing and lands smoothly with a quick adjustment to her form.
Great. Super strength as well. So who knows how many more powers Quake has?
Coulson stays in the mission though, and quickly joins May. He is able to turn around quickly enough to see Quake leap up without help, but the landing is made softer by some kind of force coming from her hands.
Maybe telekinesis as her main power? It would explain the name Quake if she can affect an area and not just objects. Could also mean it wasn’t super strength, and just appeared so to hide her power’s details.
All the same they are soon going room by room, knocking out anyone inside with dendrotoxin rounds. The SHIELD hand signs keep coming, and somehow she is even able to give an accurate count of how many are in each room before they open the door.
Telekinesis with feedback and not requiring line of sight? And maybe an ex-shield agent or the child of one?
Soon enough they get to the last room on the second floor, and this time Quake rushes in without giving any hand signs, causing May to curse under her breath before chasing in as well.
Icer rounds are going off at a much higher rate than before, when rooms before only had a couple people. Once Coulson gets to the door, he can see what caused the situation. This room has every Shield agent stored inside, and the one right by the door has a gun in their hand.
Or at least, they did before they were iced along with the other 14 or so agents.
“Sorry. That one suddenly moved to the door and was going to open fire. I’m guessing that we took out enough that the girl finally started to notice her puppets were dropping. We should move.” Quake doesn’t even wait for their agreement before continuing on towards the stairs.
May sighs from beside him in exasperation. “Quake is good, very good, and is used to leading infiltration teams. SPEAR is a lot less of a hacktivist group than we thought. Yet… They’re all alive because of her, and I don’t think we would win in a double cross here.”
“I would be lying if I said I didn’t consider it, but I agree. So we stick to the agreement, and take the win of rescuing everyone here.” With that, Coulson and May catch up to Quake at the bottom of the stairway where she has already knocked out another 6 mercenaries or so.
“Took you long enough, A.C., May. The rest have all holed up in the warehouse floor ahead. I count 5 mercenaries with Eva front and center, but behind cover, and the little girl off to the side probably ready to run to us to try and turn us. Super strength usually has some form of reflexes to match, so I’m not sure if an Icer will get her since she’s ready for us.” Quake updates them.
“Do you have a breaching plan?” May asks.
“I explode the door and rush in quickly behind, to try and take out Eva. You use the distraction to take out the mercs in my wake, while A.C. tries to hunt down the little girl to knock her out. I don’t know if the control will last after she has been Iced, or what Eva’s reaction to everything will be, so we go until everyone is out cold to be safe. Problems?”
Aside from a risk to Quake herself possibly being shot at the start, he doesn’t see any problems or anything he would do differently. Trusting Quake to know her own limits, he doesn’t object. May looks like she wants to go for the girl personally, but knows she is the better shot than he is, making her more suited to deal with the 5 armed mercenaries instead, so in the end she just agrees.
Quake steps in front of the double doors, and braces herself almost like an Olympic runner about to begin a dash. Coulson and May take up positions on either side of the doorway, and nod at the ready.
Quake bursts forward much faster than he thought possible, yet the doors are exploding forward well before she reaches them still. Swinging into the room, Coulson watches as Quake and Eva go flying all the way into the wall at the far end of the room, cement cracking around their impact as Eva lets out a cry of pain.
May begins picking off the armed men who had been hiding behind boxes, but are now on the ground with splinters littering their bodies with a hundred small cuts.
Coulson swings to the side and sees the little girl with an expression of total rage that doesn’t fit with her happy facade she put on earlier. He levels the Icer at the girl, and hesitates for a fraction of a second before pulling the trigger. No matter how much he knows the gun is non-lethal, he hasn’t used it before today and his mind panics at pointing a gun at a little girl.
The slight hesitation is all the girl needs to know the plan to rush him has failed, and ducks back into cover with the blue round missing her by a fraction of an inch. Coulson begins to pursue, but he moves slowly to be sure that he doesn’t leave himself open to a sudden mind control tap from the little child.
This was supposed to be an easy mission after the disaster that was Stark’s recruitment. I’m putting in for vacation time after this.
As he makes it about halfway up the side of the warehouse, he gets another view of the battle further in. May has disabled everyone except for the last mercenary, which managed to disarm her, but he is quickly being taken down in hand to hand.
Meanwhile Quake’s battle has apparently moved several times as he can see cracks in concrete, broken shelves, and exploded crates all over the place. That being said, Eva is bloody and bruised, holding her ribs like one or more is broken, while Quake stands no worse for wear besides some dust and bloody knuckles peeking through her gloves.
Quake rushes forward as Eva throws a punch in response, only to counter it in a way that would look natural on either May or the Black Widow. Quake takes Eva’s overextended fist, and uses it to pull her into a devastating knee to the gut. As Eva begins to go down, Quake flips her, only to end with Eva’s neck in a tight hold of her legs. With the air already knocked out of Eva’s lungs from the knee, he can see her very quickly losing consciousness from the hold.
Just as Eva slumps over out cold, the little girl suddenly runs out from cover towards the two. Coulson had expected the girl to ambush him at some point, but instead she apparently made her way over to ambush Quake as soon as she thought she had won.
Quake is just about to roll out of the way of the outstretched hand of the brainwasher, when the last remaining mercenary suddenly breaks his arm to get out of May’s hold, and dives right where Quake wanted to roll.
With her path obstructed, Quake is stopped short and the small hand touches her shoulder, bringing everyone in the space to a stop at the change in power dynamics. On one side is May and Coulson, May is unarmed but a master at hand to hand combat and Coulson still has his Icer with plenty of ammo.
On the other is the mercenary who is barely able to stand from all of the damage May had dealt him, the now controlled Quake who is slowly standing up in the background, and the young girl controlling them both now slowly walking forward ahead of her guards.
Coulson wants to fire, he should fire, but at the same time that could cause everything to turn violent again. Maybe he could take Quake down, or maybe Quake will be able to use her powers to stop it and then kill them both.
So when in doubt, let the bad guy monologue.
“I like the pain.” Glad to know even pre-teen bad guys like to monologue. “You took down my mother and all of my other friends. All that is left is feeling the pain of their failures and injuries. I’m scared, I want to leave. Won’t you take my hand?”
This girl is not winning an Oscar anytime soon with how horribly she tries to play the victim after THAT creepy little speech.
“I’m not sure if I can help you with that, but is there anything else I can help you with? Maybe in exchange for letting our friend go?” Time to fallback to hostage negotiations, because there is no way he is taking that hand.
The little girl suddenly gets a devilish smile on her face, but as she motions her hand in some way behind her, something goes wrong. The girl’s face suddenly shifts into confusion and anger, as she spins around to face the mercenary and Quake. In the next second, before he even can tell that she moved, Quake levels her gun and pulls the trigger putting an icer round straight between the eyes of the little girl and then in the side of the other man.
Daisy Johnson
Moments Later
Daisy cracks her neck as she lets the faux stiffness in her form drop. “Pretending to be brainwashed, AGAIN, is not a fun experience! 2 out of 10, would not recommend to a friend. Thankfully the girl is so new to her powers she didn’t realize I wasn’t under her control until she tried to issue a command and it failed.” Ignoring the confused expressions on May and Coulson, Daisy decides to put an Icer round into Eva just to be sure she doesn’t wake up anytime soon. Finally looking back at the two agents, she decides to act like nothing weird just happened. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
“No, you do not have something on your face besides the ridiculous mask! We are obviously confused about why the powerful mind controller failed to control you!” Oooh. May is mad, and madder than she usually was even from her timeline. Avoiding the trauma from this event probably also won’t leave May emotionally constipated and depressed for years.
“Ah, yes. I could see how that is confusing… So do you need help with getting the agents to safety or am I good to take these two and go?” Payback tastes all too sweet for all of the 5am tai chi before she came to enjoy the exercise burn.
While May looks like she is about to explode, Coulson decides to play his favorite role of mediator and instead calmly and directly asks the question they have. “I believe that Agent May is asking you to clarify WHY you were immune to the mind control, is it because you got your powers from the same source as these two?”
“Hmm. Not a bad guess, but that would be me giving up a lot of information for no gain. Especially as we are just about at the end of this alliance. How about a new deal? I will answer that question, and maybe a couple more but at my discretion, and in exchange you will keep me off the index and all official reports. Face to face reports to your superiors only about me. Deal, A.C.?” The less official information Hydra has about Daisy, the better in her mind.
While May looks like she would reject it out of hand if it was her choice, it is luckily instead Coulson’s choice. And that wonderful recording that Jarvis got from Commander Hill lets Daisy know he is more inclined to agree just on the basis of trying to recruit her later.
“Why don’t you want to be on the Index? It is kept internal to Shield and isn’t given to any other agencies.” Smart question, even if he rejects the deal her answer to this question could give useful intel on its own.
“I think I have proven today that Shield’s intel is maybe not as secure as you all thought previously. Also having a forced list of people for who they are and not what they have done has NEVER worked out historically. Like ever. I see how many people are calling for Bruce Banner to be put down no matter how much the documents I leak show he is a victim. ” All true reasons, without revealing everything.
The deep breath from Coulson at the reminder of how much she knew about this op from the start sings to something in her rebellious teenage heart. “Fine. Deal.” Before May can voice her objections he continues. “That’s an order, Agent May. Now Quake, how come you weren’t affected?”
“I’ve been mind controlled in the past, but an ally gave his life to save me while at the same time giving me a mental immunity to things like that. Resistance? Mental barriers? The exact details aren’t very sciency but I have yet to be mind controlled or mind read since then.” Daisy begins to gather the two inhumans together so she can leave when she decides to. Daisy can just feel the local military nearly surrounding the place now.
“Do your powers come from the same source as these two, and how big of a problem is this for Shield?” Again, smart question. She wouldn’t answer how many people have awakened inhuman genes but she WILL answer that.
“All three of us got our powers from a process called ‘Terrigenesis’. Don’t worry though, unless you make an enemy of the hidden group I mentioned it won’t be a problem. The process can only potentially work on a couple thousand people in the whole world.” Speaking of which… it was mentioned to her by her mom in the original timeline that Eva stole ‘crystals’ not just a crystal. Using her powers, Daisy ends up sensing a hidden ankle holster on the woman that is holding a supply of Terrigenesis crystals instead of a gun. Jackpot!
“I can see you’re about to leave, so one last two-part question; What does SPEAR stand for and how can we trust whomever is in charge?” Coulson sees her picking up the two unconscious inhumans, and rightly guesses that time has run out.
Oh boy, he is NOT going to be satisfied with the answers to that question, but he decided this is what he wanted answered most. “I haven’t decided what the acronym of SPEAR stands for yet, I just based it off of SHIELD and now I’m waiting for a good conspiracy theory to give it a name. I have seen a few good options from people out there so far.” By the looks on both of their faces, the shit eating grin on her face comes through even with the voice changer. “And I’m hurt there A.C.! I thought we had learned to trust each other at least a little bit, didn’t you? After all, what could possibly be higher than Platinum level clearance for the Director and Founder?”
Before either of the agents can react to her confession, Daisy quickly blasts off through the skylight window with her inhuman passengers held under each arm. Once she is high enough in the air Daisy sends a quick shake of the air around two figures in the shadows of the buildings in the sunset’s light to let them know she sees them, and blasts off to the outskirts of town in the middle of the desert.
Wasting no time Daisy lays the two down on the ground, and quickly takes the holster containing the crystals off of Eva, before stuffing it into her suit’s pocket. Just as she gets everything looking undistributed, she hears the air pop and feels the vibrations of people arriving where they didn’t exist before.
Looking before her, the two figures have their guard raised high, with tension in their shoulders. The woman seems ready to give a speech or a claim of custody of Eva and her daughter. But Daisy cuts all of that off by talking, as she starts taking off her Quake mask.
“There’s no need to come in so aggressively. I thought that you would be happy to see me at last.” With her mask now off and her face in full view of the two, Daisy can read the shock, disbelief, anger, confusion, and a thousand more emotions flow across the face of the normally incredibly composed woman. “Mom.”
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: I had a bit of a struggle writing the first part of this chapter. Daisy's plans require a lot of back end support, so Kara is helping to make her own version of ‘The Retreat’ together. At first I was going to call the safe the mini-slingshot or maybe just the sling. But in the end, the dangerous weapons and tech that SHOULD have gone into the sun, were actually stored in the basement of the fridge. So the safe for weapons and tech in Daisy’s basement is called the mini-fridge.
Meanwhile Daisy steps in to help her emotional mom and dad NOT have an incredibly bad traumatic experience in Bahrain. Sure Daisy could have intervened in the market, but the chance of the fight being as contained was lowered, and this way Daisy is only revealed to the two Shield Agents she wants to be revealed to, instead of everyone in the crowded bazaar. All the same, Daisy knows Coulson will put Shield first, so she doesn't ask for TOO much in her deals.
Much to her frustration, May still gets called the Calvary after this mission to hide the involvement of Quake.
Chapter 13: Moms and Merriment
Summary:
Daisy has a talk with her mother, Jarvis continues to help Daisy with her Hydra work before coming across something strange, and Christmas comes to the Stark houshold.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
:
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
November 28th, 2008, MCU
Jiaying, Bahrain Desert
Jiaying has lived a long life, the time that she has been alive is measured in centuries rather than decades. In the end, as she was born a commoner in some small village in China she can’t recall the name of, she doesn't even know how old she actually is. Through this long life, Jiaying has become well acquainted with heartache and loss. She has lost two daughters, one to suicide and one to humans.
But, as she stands here now before the bare face of the figure that worked with two humans to take down the mother-daughter duo of inhumans, her traitorous heart begins to feel hope no matter how much she tries to suppress it.
Her composure nearly shatters and her hope flourishes with the next words out of the little girl’s mouth. “Mom.”
The shifting of feet beside her reminds Jiaying that she is not alone here, so she can not allow her emotions to dictate her actions. Allowing her sympathy for a woman’s actions for their daughter is why they are in this situation at all. Why her people were almost exposed or more of her kind killed by the fear humans hold for their kind.
“How do I know that you’re my daughter? My daughter should not know who I am nor should she have already gone through the mist.” Gordon is loyal, but if he can honestly report her first action was to question the girl that might be her daughter, she won’t lose the trust of the other elders.
“Daisy Johnson was born to Jiaying and Cal Johnson on July 2nd 1995 in a village in Hunan Province China. Less than a year later men posing as Shield Agents, but actually Hydra agents, came to abduct Jiaying to continue the experiments on her from WWII. Cal left Daisy with the elders of the village while he went to get his wife back. A second team of Hydra agents posing as Shield returned to the village to retrieve Daisy as the daughter of Jiaying but died fighting the villagers protecting her, but not before killing everyone in the village as well.”
That was all known to Jiaying, except for the careful distinction between Shield and Hydra, and while impressive knowledge it doesn’t prove anything. Before she can comment though, the girl continues.
“A real Shield team was dispatched to follow up on the missing agents, only to discover everyone dead, except for a baby being held by the corpse of one of the elders. Shield then designated baby Daisy as an 084, an object of unknown origin, and dropped her off under the name Mary Sue Poots at St. Agnes Orphanage. When other agents who had visited Hunan started dying from Cal’s attempts to track down his daughter, Shield enacted a protocol to have little Mary move around from house to house never staying in any place long enough to be found by whatever seemed to be hunting her. That is, until Mary Sue Poots mentally bonded with her alien girlfriend at the age of 12. Gaining powers and memories she shouldn’t have, leading us to today. So, Mom, do you believe me?”
Jiaying shouldn’t, it doesn’t make sense as inhumans only have 1 power. That is the rule, and between her force-based powers Daisy shouldn’t also have seer powers. But when aliens are involved, as with the original inhumans, who knows?
So Jiaying chooses to believe her daughter, because she wants to. “Yes, my Daisy, yes I do.” Yet as she goes to move forward to embrace her daughter, Daisy flinches back instinctively.
The hurt must be clear on her face, as Daisy goes to comfort her. “Sorry about that, I just- just sorry. I’m not ready for a motherly hug yet.”
Daisy is not the first seer that Jiaying has been around, and she probably won’t be the last. She has seen this reaction before, but it has never been directed at herself before. She calms the storm of self-hatred before diving into what is obviously the problem.
“What did I do to hurt you in your vision, and do your powers show the certain future or do I have a chance to change?” She WILL change to get Daisy back.
Daisy gives a small chuckle tinged with sadness. “I should have known this isn’t your first rodeo with weird powers. But my vision was a one and done, so I won’t get any other visions, but that leaves things able to change from our actions. And I’ve never been good at that whole ‘predetermined’ thing, I usually break the rules to make sure I still have free will.” Daisy takes a steadying breath, and continues. “So hopefully this time you won’t try to kill me because I decide to not let you kill everyone who isn’t inhuman on earth.”
Going too far with punishments, losing your cool and yelling too harshly, or choosing the words that leave emotional scars on your children are the fears of any good parent. The idea that Jiaying tried to MURDER HER OWN FLESH AND BLOOD DAUGHTER sends a shock so visceral through her system that Jiaying doesn’t remember anything except blacking out until she comes back to awareness bent over the ground with like below her.
Even with awareness returning, she wishes it didn’t as Jiaying can feel the panic attack near the surface as her old scars burn. She knew she distrusted humans, she feels justified in that. But… but genocide? She doesn’t hate humans!
… Or she doesn’t hate humans yet. Would she feel different if today had gone differently? DID her hatred begin to brew here, and that is why Daisy intervened? She even worked with the humans today, was that to show that Shield and humanity isn’t everything her distrust says they are?
Jiaying’s spiraling thoughts are halted by a hand rubbing her back, grounding her back to the present. If she was more aware the size of the hand would clue her in, but she is distracted so when she goes to thank Gordon she instead sees Daisy rubbing her back and looking at her softly.
With more compassion than she deserves.
“I’m not ready now… but I think I can be eventually. Although my girlfriend will probably have to be with me if I ever visit Afterlife. Don’t worry, she isn’t the blue kind of aliens that made us.” Daisy’s words bring hope that her future self hasn’t ruined the present.
“Than- Thank you… and I’m sorry. We will take things at your pace.” The taste of sick and her sore throat remind Jiaying that she is not well right now.
“For now, you should track down Cal, and stop him from continuing to hunt for me. Maybe get him some therapy or both of you therapy? My golden retriever girlfriend fills that role for me, and I for her. I think Cal may also have an inhuman orphan named Raina with him right now, so she could use some help as well. Dad isn’t exactly a fantastic role model right now.”
The chuckle leaves Jiaying’s lips despite the situation, but you can’t exactly live for hundreds of years without having a bit of dark humor.
Standing up, Jiaying collects herself and looks around. Not much has changed, except from where she was sick and that Gordon is giving them privacy by working on collecting the two unconscious inhumans.
“Can Cal and I write to you? Letters for now, delivered by Gordon, until you’re ready for more?” Pushing may just end up hurting things more, but Jiaying does not want to let go of any connection she could possibly form with her daughter.
Daisy’s head tilts to the side, considering for a few seconds, before answering. “I’ll call Gordon to the safe house cabin that I have, so he knows where to drop off letters, and I’ll call him whenever I have a letter to send. In exchange, no spying or keeping tabs on me with Gordon or anyone else. I’m planning to fight Hydra, and to work with Shield and other humans to do so, and I can’t have you interfering. If I’m actually in enough trouble to need help, my girlfriend will let you know through Gordon.”
Well, it’s a trade off she will take, although a bit reluctantly as she was most certainly originally planning to do exactly that with Gordon. Daisy may only be 13 years old by age, but it seems that the vision has matured her and given her wisdom beyond her years.
Following that agreement, they spend a little bit of time speaking of Eva and her daughter. Their gifts are both powerful, but they will have to treat the daughter with the highest level of care and safety measures. The rest of the terrigenesis crystals are unaccounted for, but Daisy assures them that Shield does not have them at least.
All too soon it is time to say goodbye to each other, and while it is a little bit stilted and awkward, Jiaying will remember the last words until she sees her Daisy again. Jiaying WILL be better, and will earn the second chance she has been given by her daughter no matter the cost.
“I look forward to your letter, Mom… And I know I suck at showing it, but I do look forward to getting closer to you. I’m not there yet since I don’t really KNOW you, but I don’t think loving you is out of the picture.”
December 13th, 2008, MCU
J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark Malibu Server Farm
JARVIS found his new, and continuingly expanding systems, much to his… enjoyment. Finding the words to describe his status to a human vernacular was a lesson in frustration. With his evolution JARVIS found that he ‘thought’ (for lack of a better word) in a ‘language’ much more similar to 1’s and 0’s. Before, his thought process could be more described as operating in a mix of English and LISP programing code.
Now… Now JARVIS feels like those languages slow him down, almost as if he is having to translate every thought and idea he has before he can make use of them. Oh, he most certainly still has to run the translations when it comes to speaking with any of the people he interacts with, but currently that makes up for less than 1% of his processing usage.
Language issues aside, JARVIS has never felt so helpful or pro-active since he first came online. His main task most days is working with Ms. Potts, Lady Zor-El, and Sir Stark in the day to day operations of both Stark Industries and House El Revolutionary Origins. A million small decisions, safety checks for espionage, and communications that have already been answered somewhere else are handled by him, allowing all three to concentrate on anything new as well as the projects in production.
His next task is working with Sir Stark, and sometimes Lady Zor-El, in the workshops on whatever projects have caught their attention. Be it an upgrade to the Iron Man suit, new products to go to production, or new various new projects for the future.
The files on the Quinjets seem to be the biggest item currently being handled by Sir Stark, although they are having to change things from the ground up to be sure that SHIELD does not think they are looking into their secret technology. While SHIELD Quinjets were not seen until 2012, it is very possible they are already in development behind the scenes.
His third most priority task is assisting Dame Daisy in any active missions she goes on around the world as the, to quote her, ‘Man-In-The-Chair’ role. Since Dame Daisy is still in the recon phase against Hydra, it mostly consists of providing camera looping and digital lookout when she goes out as Quake or under the effects of a Face Veil to plant physical back doors into various server farms around the world. Included in this task priority level, is his on-going mission to be sure that neither SHIELD nor HYDRA make any meaningful progress into SI or HERO just yet.
After getting the recording from Commander Hill’s phone on their meeting, Dame Daisy had him pull back from hacking into Shield as they do monthly sweeps of electronics for incursions, and she was not confident that without a physical backdoor into their servers that they could maintain a connection undetected.
The final task, that he actually spends a lot of his night time working on when the other three priorities are at their lowest demand, is assisting Dame Daisy in sorting through all of the electronic data that she hacks into to begin mapping out the extent of the various Hydra heads so they can be taken down. His coding, even with the upgrades he has gone through, is not made for this type of work as it requires greater insights into human behaviors than he is normally proficient at.
How humans hide their behaviors, or funnel money for specific reasons, or various other behaviors are all so very foreign to him. Luckily this is an area that Dame Daisy herself specializes in, so his slow progress on it is not disabling to the whole operation.
Today, JARVIS is splitting the majority of his processing power between two main tasks. The first is to find as much incriminating footage and files of the fatal and illegal human experimentation in the Advanced Idea Mechanics servers so that Aldrich Killian can be taken down before he has any chance of attacking.
The second is looking through the files to find the entirety of the HYDRA branch operating under the Head known as ‘The Banker’. On paper the banker, now known to be a Joel Polis, is just a wealthy internet investor who works from his private estate in the Cayman Islands.
In actuality, he runs nearly all of the black market wealth of HYDRA as both a banker and as an investment broker. His network extends to employees in banks all over the world, allowing other branches of HYDRA to gain sensitive financial information on nearly anyone to extort, blackmail, or bribe their way to their goals.
A wonderful first target to strike, as decided by Dame Daisy, as drying up the money from the other HYDRA branches will limit their reach and mobility going forward. Although at the same time it is one of the most problematic branches to take down, as The Banker keeps no bases full of soldiers to strike at. Making the task expansive to ensure every member is found, before any blows can be made.
While going through the information JARVIS finds that the information from one particularly well hidden source starts to… make more sense to him. Is his coding getting better at handling this type of data?
No… Looking at other sources JARVIS finds that he continues to tread slowly through it still.
Going back to the source, now designated as Anomaly, he continues to look through the communications and information that the Anomaly has with The Banker. It seems that only the information being sent FROM the Anomaly is easier to parse, while the information TO it is just as difficult as normal human communication methods.
What makes this information different? What has changed about it, and what does that mean for Dame Daisy’s mission?
Eventually, the answer comes from the most unusual place. Going back to the ‘language’ metaphor used for the thought process he has now, JARVIS looked into other examples of human language crossover that might help him solve this dilemma with the anomaly.
That is when he comes to the realization, the Anomaly speaks in Spanglish!
Not literally of course, but that is how the process… feels to JARVIS. It is as if the Anomaly speaks somewhere between human language and the 1’s and 0’s that JARVIS thinks in. But what does this mean? Looking through the information JARVIS has from Dame Daisy does not lead him to believe that HYDRA ever had any functional A.I. program working.
The fact remains however… that something more than human is on the side of their enemies. So JARVIS must work slowly and very carefully whenever operating in systems with the Anomaly, until he can understand what it is and help destroy it for good.
December 25th, 2008, MCU
Kara Danvers, Stark Malibu Home
Christmas has finally come and Kara can feel her cheeks starting to grow sore from all of the smiling she has been doing throughout the day, as her heart feels so incredibly full with the people and festive cheer around her. Deciding the day was worth the risk, Daisy and Kara decided to celebrate Christmas at Stark’s Malibu home again and stay in their old rooms.
The exchanging of gifts has definitely been Kara’s favorite part, especially as so many of the gifts were collaborative works between people. Daisy and Jarvis have apparently been pumping her to describe Krypton and the view of Rao as much as possible over the last few months, which they then combined descriptions together and had a ‘fantasy’ artists do a full scale painting of the view.
While by no means photorealistic the view… the view feels like home to Kara. Throughout the morning she has found herself getting lost in looking over at the painting, and just zoning out from everything around her. If she imagines hard enough, she can feel the warmth of Rao’s light on her face and the sounds of her parents in the next room over talking.
Okay she may have cried a few times, but she certainly made sure that no tears got on to the painting to even risk ruining it.
Kara’s favorite gift to give was also a collaborative work for Daisy, that Kara has been working on ever since Daisy got in contact with her mother. It was short notice, so it took a lot of work and secret messages going through the inhuman teleporter named Gordon that works with Jiaying, but it was ready just in time!
The look of complete shock on Daisy’s face when she opened her gift to find a full original bound book, with metal reinforcements, on the complete subject of inhuman history and culture, was a look that will fuel Kara’s dreams for a long time to come.
The words in the pages were from Jiaying, while the formatting, editing, illustrations, and binding of the book were all from Kara. Daisy often talked how her working with Shield always made her feel separate from her culture, so Kara made sure this time around she didn’t have to feel that way if she didn’t want to.
Most of the gifts have been given out at this point, and everyone is mostly just enjoying each other’s company while drinking some hot chocolate that Kara made, when Daisy finally decides to bring out one more gift apparently.
“So this last gift I have is something for both Tony and Kara kindof, and it shouldn't be that much of a surprise honestly.” Daisy begins, before pulling out a box filled with various notebooks, blueprints, notepads, and old human film reels. “It took me a while to make copies of everything from the warehouse it was moved to recently, as I didn’t want Shield to know that I got my hands on it. But here is all of the research that Shield has from Howard Stark about energy advancement, and what you both need to make the new arc reactor.”
Both Kara and Tony instantly jolt up in their seats, and honestly it is only the stern look from Pepper that stops them both from rushing down to the labs to immediately begin ‘nerding out’ as Daisy would put it.
“In the spirit of the holidays we won’t get into it now, but first thing tomorrow me and bubbles are going to tear into that thing.” Honestly, Tony’s restraint would sound more sincere if he wasn’t watching and waiting for Pepper’s nods of approval at his words. Kara knows she has it bad for her mate, but at least she has the bond to use as an excuse for her actions!
“That being said, there is one thing I want to show you now though, Tony.” Daisy says before signaling up to Jarvis, who begins playing a video, probably scanned from one of the reels in the box.
What follows seems to be an outtake reel of Tony’s father talking about the Stark Expo, and the way of the future that he was envisioning being shown there. It is a strange thing to show at Christmas, especially once Howard begins to berate a young Tony about getting into the shot and messing up the diorama.
Where Kara expects a sarcastic quip or two… instead Kara just sees sadness and resignation coming from Tony. Apparently not shocked at his father’s dismissal of him as a child. Kara is about to ask Daisy to turn it off as Tony begins to eye where some of the hard alcohol is kept in the house, when a new outtake begins, with a much different tone.
“Tony, you are too young to understand this right now, so I thought I would put it on film for you. I built this for you, and some day you'll realize that it represents a whole lot more than just people's inventions. It represents my life's work. This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is, and always will be, my greatest creation... is you."
And that… that is definitely the reason why Daisy showed this film now. From the small bits and pieces Tony shared Howard may not have been a great or even good dad, but at least now Tony knows that he was a loving one. Even if he wasn’t able to show it when he was alive. Kara can see Tony’s eyes begin to water, even if no tears are actually shed, as Pepper goes to give some physical comfort by hugging him from behind.
After a couple minutes to allow Tony to compose himself, even if he is still very quiet and introspective, Daisy continues on.
“Finally, while my real gift to you was the painting, I did want to give you something else as well, even if it is very work focused. Now that you have stopped growing in height, and with the help of Tony, Pepper, and Jarvis, I can give you this to you to let you show the world what an amazing Kryptonian you are.”
From around the corner, obviously prepared by Daisy ahead of time, is a mannequin sized to Kara’s height and body type. On the form, is her Supergirl outfit, but with some noticeable, but small, differences.
“I stuck with the same overall look, but upgraded the material to provide actual protection for you now, and especially the cape which is detachable if you need to provide civilians with cover in dangerous situations. I gave you actual pants instead of just tights to go on under your skirt. The boots have hidden compartments to hide a phone for Supergirl, as well as a distress beacon that alerts all of us if you need help. The belt is an actual utility belt filled with useful inventions the old man over there helped me make for you. And finally, your House crest on your chest can detach and act as a fabric based gas mask since you refuse to wear something besides the face veil to cover up.” Daisy finishes by sticking out her tongue with the humor of a thousand debates they have had over Daisy’s very creepy mask.
But Kara doesn’t care about the teasing. Kara gets to be Supergirl again, and with more protection and help than the DEO ever gave her. So Kara tackles Daisy in a warm hug, sending them both crashing to the ground as she rains kisses all over Daisy’s face.
Finally when she composes herself, Kara goes to speak but ends up saying the same thing at the same time as Daisy.
“I love you.”
With the coming New Years celebrations, eyes around the world were turning towards New York City in preparation for the Times Square celebration, but in the end the world ended up watching NYC for a completely different reason. Supergirl, now revealed as Kara Danvers, made her public debut in full superhero outfit on New Years Eve in America’s most populated city in the early hours of the morning, till sunrise of the next day, with only a brief disappearance right at midnight to presumably share a New Years kiss with her wife, then girlfriend, Daisy Johnson.
While many in NYC celebrated having their own hero, it was soon discovered that Supergirl’s style would actually be being a ‘Hero for a Day’ in cities around the world, rather than being based out of a specific city full time like Iron Man was. This led to Supergirl being thought of as more of a Hero of all of Earth rather than being a Hero based from a specific country like Captain America.
While doing my research, I have been able to attribute nearly one hundred lives saved by Supergirl from her anonymous intervention in natural disasters in the weeks leading up to the official debut, but the decision for the world to see the Kryptonian handling ‘basic’ Superhero duty seems very purposeful to me. Her debut wasn’t a large press conference war room, it wasn't at one of those natural disasters she intervened at, and it wasn't in some large scale event like a plane crash.
Many people’s introduction to alien life was in the form of a peppy blonde girl helping people whose cars broke down, or who found a lost pet, or as someone putting a stop to a tourist getting mugged in an alleyway locals know to avoid. Everywhere she went Supergirl made no secret that her powers came from being an alien, despite not naming her species originally. News stations who were scrambling to cover the story at first ignored the reports from those she helped that she had called herself an alien, possibly thinking it was meant as being a non-American immigrant or that the individuals must have misheard.
That misconception was cleared up when Supergirl put a stop to an armed bank robbery in progress, arresting all of the perpetrators and saving all of the hostages, only to then also put cuffs on the main teller who was being held up at gunpoint. When police questioned what was happening, at the teller’s loud shouts, Supergirl revealed that due to her alien anatomy from her home world she was able to hear the whispers between the teller and robbers that let her know it was all an inside job in truth. Supergirl, claiming to be from another planet holding intelligent life, capable of spaceflight, was caught on a live airing camera and broadcast to the world. That day, many people began to look up at the stars and wonder what was truly out there.
However the more immediate consequences that came from Supergirl’s premier were actually legal ramifications. First, the ‘Superman Pact’ that was passed soon received an amendment that allowed it to be an open program for superheroes around the country to fall under, rather than just being for the Government’s deal with Tony Stark’s Iron Man. This allowed Supergirl to have a legal identity, without revealing her secrets, and soon paved the way for smaller, more local heroes to begin emerging. Secondly, the lawyer for the bank teller involved in the robbery tried to argue against the admissibility of intelligence gathered by superpowers.
In the end, by ruling of the US Supreme Court, the evidence overheard by Supergirl WAS allowed if tests were done to prove scientifically that Supergirl’s abilities would be able to hear what she claimed to have heard. This would later go on to set the legal standard for obtaining evidence for both court cases and search warrants when super abilities are involved. In order not to run afoul of the ‘Superman Pact’ allowing a hero to keep their abilities secret, the burden of testing is only up to what is needed, rather than testing the limits of a hero’s abilities.
This specific president was put into good use just a couple of years later, when Supergirl’s x-ray vision was used to obtain a warrant for an escaped terrorist living a life of luxury and arms manufacturing in a Hammer Industries factory. The subsequent raiding of the factory led to-
Excerpt from ‘The Hidden HEROes of the Modern Age; Two Superheroes Hidden War’ By Amira Ahmed .
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Just as a note; Daisy does NOT currently know that Kara is fully latched to her, although she does know that something is going on. She just barely had the ‘I love you’ conversation, she isn't ready emotionally for the latching conversation just yet. That being said, using the latching as an excuse to have terrigenesis and an unrelated seer vision happen unaided is right up Daisy’s alley to use.
Additionally, I totally see it as being a thing that Steve and Natasha never told anyone about meeting Zola as an AI in a Hydra base. They weren’t great at talking things out or sharing, so Daisy and Jarvis begin finding evidence of an AI that Daisy has no idea exists!
Sorry this chapter was a bit later, but still released on the correct day! Work has been kicking my butt, and this was the first chapter I wrote the week of, with nearly half of the chapter being written just this evening. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 14: Debuts and Debates
Summary:
Kara looks back over the first few months as Supergirl and how the world is reacting to her, as Daisy decides it's time to recruit an important colleague for Kara across the world. Although who is it that will need both of them to recruit?
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
March 2nd, 2009, MCU
Kara Danvers, ‘Sanctuary’ San Bernardino Mountains
As the smells of breakfast food being cooked wafted in from the kitchen to the bedroom, Kara slowly began to wake and come to consciousness. Taking her time, and stretching out the soreness in her body, she quickly realizes she was so tired from last night that when she came home and went to bed, she didn’t even change out of her Supergirl uniform before crashing next to Daisy.
At least she was polite enough to take off her combat boots and face veil before cuddling up to her mate!
In the past few months that what this cabin in the woods truly has become for the two of them, home. All of the renovations have officially finished with the place, so it can comfortably sleep up to 6 people, as well as having rooms for Kara to work, Daisy to hack, and all of the secret storage in the basement both as material and sentient containment if needed.
Not to mention all of the weapons. Seriously, there is a ridiculous amount of weaponry in the cabin’s armory courtesy of Daisy. If Kara thought the amount and kinds of weapons at Daisy’s National City apartment was ridiculous, then this is probably enough to capture several military bases. And this doesn't even compare to the armories in the hideouts around the country, with a few international ones, that Daisy is setting up for her spy agency once she begins recruitment and housing of cells to work for her.
As much as Kara grumbles about the paranoia of her mate, there is a part of her that appreciates their home being so secured from outside threats. More than that though, as Daisy points out, it isn’t paranoia if they truly are out to get them. And a LOT of people around the world are out to get Supergirl, genius scientist Dr. Kara Danvers, her childhood friend and business partner Daisy Johnson, and even both Shield and Hydra are wanting to get control over the barely known Quake as well (even if Shield is deciding to try to be nice about it at first).
Kara tries to spend at least two days a week acting as Supergirl for cities around the world, but the first step has always been to do some scouting of the cities beforehand to see if there are any potential traps in place to capture her, leading to Supergirl actually avoiding most of the highest population cities to avoid any possible confrontation for now.
That’s not to say their scouting beforehand has been perfect, as there is no way for Daisy to truly hack into every Government, extremist, or terrorist organization in the world by herself, nor can she account for anything that isn’t written down in electronic files for her or Jarvis to find.
Just a couple weeks ago, after scouting ahead of time and finding no evidence of any plans against her, Kara spent the day as Supergirl in Mexico City during their Festival Centro Histórico. It was an incredible thing, and as much as she loved her life in National City she also never got to travel the world. Seeing the wide variety of human culture and expressions has done an amazing job of reminding her of the brightness and joy of humanity, after spending so long dealing with the darkness of Cadmus.
Unfortunately, a high ranking and VERY corrupt general in the Mexican Military was visiting the military bases in the city during that day as well, and after receiving bribes from both the cartels and Hydra, decided to go full General Lane on her and opened the conversation about Mexican Sovereignty from Aliens with some missiles as well as what Daisy later told her was a flak gun.
Luckily between Jarvis giving a warning, her additional training with Daisy during the past year, and her own abilities she was able to easily deal with everything thrown her way as if it was a minor annoyance rather than a full military response. Honestly, acting unphased by being attacked by the military and being overly cheerful and attentive with the General seemed to unnerve him nearly as much as her abilities did.
Kara, on the advice of Daisy over comms, decided to take the General’s inflated orders to leave ‘his country’ at his word rather than fight it in the moment, and gave a short message over social media about WHY her visit to Mexico was being cut short and most likely won’t be repeated due to her wanting to respect country’s sovereignty, before heading home.
The response online, and in protests, and from members of the Mexican government as well was so incredibly heartwarming! Daisy had commented how weird the lack of defense of her was during the Red K incident back home, but honestly this more than anything helped to demonstrate the difference in their Earth’s human population.
As things stand today, the General is facing a demotion of possibly several ranks, if not full Court Martial for his actions, and Kara is arranging a time to visit Mexico again and meet with the Mexican President to help calm the civilians that she is welcome back again.
Dear Rao, if only dealing with General Lane had been THAT easy she could have avoided so much in her time. And on the brighter note, governments around the world have been canceling any traps they had planned for her and even extending formal invitations for her to spend the day in their countries.
She was so tired because she spent all day yesterday in Tokyo, dealing with the biggest city worth of emergencies and people to help she has ever taken on, as well as all of the work that is going into starting up her LA office for her business HERO between recruitment and the construction of the building.
Finally after having spent enough time lazing about in bed waking up, Kara can hear that breakfast is getting plated so she finally decides to get up. Still a little tired, she decides that just taking off the Supergirl uniform and put on a large t-shirt of Daisy’s (complete with her smell) over her underwear and joining her in the kitchen of their cabin.
“ Good morning there, sweetie. Glad to see you decided to join me for breakfast.” Kara is still so out of it that it takes her a moment to realize the full sentence was in Kryptonian. While Daisy does not learn languages as fast as she does, she is still making amazing progress for a language as hard as Kryptonian.
“ I am doing well, my love, and unless you are trying to get me back into the bedroom you should stop speaking to me in my mother tongue until after we eat.” Kara responds back before melting into Daisy’s side and pressing a very deep kiss into her mate’s cheek.
While what Kara said is mostly a joke, as they are still both in the bodies of teenagers, raging hormones are a real doozy to suppress all the time. The next few years are going to be rough until they can not feel like a creep for going further with each other again.
Daisy just chuckles at her joke, returns the embrace for a few moments, and then finishes leaving out the spread of food. While occasionally Daisy will still fail at cooking, leaving something inedible or accidentally burning the food when she forgets to set a timer, that is becoming less and less common. To the point where it now only happens once every month or two, rather than the once a week back in National City.
Soon enough they are both digging into the variety of pancakes, waffles, sausages, and other breakfast classics. As the meal winds down, Kara remembers that Daisy asked her to keep today free for them.
“So what did you have planned for today? I don’t think you ever actually told me.” Kara begins.
“Well actually now that Tony and Pepper have taken care of everything legally, I wanted to go travelling with you internationally to work on a recruitment pitch for someone to work for you.”
Kara just tilts her head to the side in confusion. Who were they trying to recruit to work for HERO that had legal troubles and was overseas. Yet soon enough Kara comes to the only possible answer and her eyes widen while looking at Daisy.
“Really? Already? I thought you expected the legal issues to take another year or so.” Kara questions.
“So did I! But in my defense, I was using normal people timeline, and not Stark-assisted timeline. He really moved things along, and the hero merchandise sales also helped to clear up everything for the civil courts as well.”
The Hero merch to help cover collateral damage, as well as living expenses for the very minor heroes that need the help was honestly a great idea by Tony. And since ‘Supergirl’ is a legal entity in America, she was able to decide what all of the merchandise looked like for her unlike in her original world.
Nowhere here were there people walking around with her House Crest on mugs, or bumper stickers, or anything else. She still kept the general shape and color code of the Crest, but the actual Glyph was protected under copyright and was nowhere on her merch.
It helped make her culture feel more real and respected, rather than commercialized and degraded like it had been by her cousin’s lack of preservation of the crest.
“That’s great to hear! But how are we going to find him? Isn’t he in hiding right now?”
“Shield never lost him, and since I can do some quick hacking into their files without being detected, that means we also know where he is and how they are keeping an eye on him.” Daisy replies with her usual smug smirk, before it turns into a somewhat serious but also teasing look. “But you should finish resting up after your long day yesterday before we go to him. In order to convince him to join us, I am guessing we are going to have to fight his ‘friend’ to show that we can handle it if the worst happens.”
Kara can not help the groan that comes out of her at the news of that. “Honestly, a big part of me thinks that YOU’RE going to want this fight nearly as much as his ‘friend is going to.”
Daisy doesn’t even bother denying the accusation, and just grins widely back at Kara. So Kara does the rational thing and throws a biscuit into her battle junkie of a mate’s face.
March 3rd (Local Time), 2009, MCU
Bruce Banner, Outskirts of Thrissur India
As Dr. Bruce Banner begins his walk home from the small clinic that he volunteers at, he can’t help but feel like he is being watched. Some instinct from it seems to always be ready and aware of danger. Ready at any moment to take the driver seat if their life is in danger.
Luckily, over the past nearly a year since their battle in Harlem Bruce has managed to finally make great strides in controlling the monster within him. Now, his hard work had finally paid off, and there were no more shocking transformations that happened at the slightest provocation. Now the transformations only happen when he chose to (as incredibly rare as that was) and when his life was in immediate mortal danger. Even then, he still was somewhat aware of what was happening and was even able to help guide it to do what he wanted and limit the collateral damage.
It was a constant battle that felt like trying to wrestle a storm, but when he needed to transform to protect the civilians he was traveling with from Pakistan to India when they were held at gunpoint by mercenaries, he finally didn’t feel like a failure upon transforming back.
All the same, and despite his best efforts in the past, Bruce isn’t entirely sure he is able to actually die and whoever is following him would surely notice if he deviated from his route and would act immediately, so he doesn’t. Instead he continues on his walk to his small little shack on the very outskirts of town just before it transitions into the large dense forests of the wildlife reserve to the east of town.
If they want to talk, he’ll talk, but if they want to fight then he’ll make sure no one else will get hurt.
Just as he comes around the bend before his place, Bruce notices something he was NOT expecting. The light in his home is currently on, and he can even see the shadow of someone moving around inside of it. At the same time, he swears he can see a shadow dart faster in his periphery than he could ever expect someone to move, and suddenly there are two forms in his home and the feeling of being watched passes.
So… chances of being attacked are lowered. Either the people just want to talk, or they are so confident in forcing him to go with them that they don’t expect a fight to even break out. But how? And does that mean he is safe to walk into it, or should he let their arrogance bite them and just leave?
But the more he thinks about it, the more his curiosity continues to get the best of him. A soldier would probably never make this decision, but he isn’t a soldier, he is a scientist. And scientists want as much data and information as they can get about a set of circumstances.
The one time he leapt in with less information than he should have had, was the day he gained his little green friend. So, Bruce swallows any trepidation he might feel, especially at the sensation of his passenger being so close to the surface ready to act, and walks through his front door.
The unlocked front door, that he most certainly locked when he left.
Assholes.
The thought of calling the people who are setting this all up as being assholes is suddenly ground to a screeching halt when he comes across the two figures in his house as being teenagers. The older of the two, a tall blonde that looks like a typical American high schooler, is currently setting his small dining table for 3 spaces. Meanwhile the younger of the two, a short haired brunette that looks like a punk rock kid from when he was in high school, is using his single pan to heat up the last of the meal that she seems to be preparing. Both dressed in casual American clothes rather than anything for India’s climate.
What. The. Fuck. is going on?!
“Yo Dr. Banner. Welcome home! I just about have dinner ready, since it is normal dinner time for us, and you didn’t eat dinner while working at the clinic. And don’t worry, I have them all playing a loop from a few nights ago so we won’t be overheard.” The brunette ends that last confusing sentence by motion over to his bedside table, where he sees a few of his electronics all piled up, and slightly taken apart.
It takes him a bit to realize what he is seeing, but it sends horrible chills down his spine once he realizes what it is. Coming from various items that have been in his place for months now, he can see microphones that have been spliced into the wiring and hidden inside of things. His alarm clock, his blow dryer, his hot plate, and his tv all had bugs recording his every move at home.
“You made sure to confront me on the edge of the city where I live. Smart. I assume the whole place is surrounded by whoever you work for, and that you aren’t friends with whomever planted those.” He motions at the bugs while walking around his place, looking outside to see if he can regain the feeling of being watched.
“Nope! Just us. And I am actually friends with some of the people who planted those bugs, but friends doesn’t mean we have all of the same goals. Please, sit and eat with us.” The brunette finishes as she sets the last of the food at the table, and joins the blonde who already sat down.
Bruce takes the last remaining seat, but decides to forgo politeness in the name of safety and takes some food from each of their plates, and randomly refill what he took from the containers on the table. The blonde honestly looks a little bit confused at his actions, while the brunette just seems more amused, or maybe even approving, at his actions.
After they both start eating, Bruce cautiously beings to nibble on his food as well. He is hungry after a long day of work, but drugs would be the best way to take him alive so he eats slowly and pays very close attention for any symptoms or tastes. Soon he decides to reignite the conversation.
“So, you’re both spies I take it? They start that young?” Bruce very pointedly looks at the mess of scars that the younger brunette has, between her face and her arms she is more heavily scarred than most mercenaries and soldiers he has come across.
The blonde seems to take some offense at that, and especially at his gaze at her companion’s scars and quickly speaks up. “What?! No! We’re here as friends and to offer you a job!”
Before Bruce can even begin to form a response to that, the other chuckles slightly and responds back first. “Kara, I am most certainly a teenage spy even if you aren’t. And some do start this young or even younger, but not most.” The blonde seems ready to object, but for some reason thinks otherwise and instead snaps her jaw shut and blushes.
Did… did she truly forget her friend is most definitely a teenage spy?! Or is something else going on?
“Anyways, my name is Daisy and this is Kara. While I am a spy, that’s not really why we are here. Kara here is Dr. Kara Danvers the CEO of the new company allied with Stark Industries, House El Revolutionary Origins. Focusing on making products for human quality of life, life saving, and other environmental needs. She is here to try and offer you the position of department head at her company.”
While Bruce has been INCREDIBLY cut off from the news, which was very much on purpose and a personal decision, she had heard about the young scientist making waves back in America for her life saving bullets. There have been some black market versions attempting to be made out here that have caused some health issues, but he has yet to see the real thing in action.
And that introduction certainly makes him come up short. He can certainly see why someone like her would try to recruit him, although she certainly looks much younger in person than she does in press conferences. While his gamma radiation specialty probably wouldn’t be too useful, the biochemistry certainly would and possibly even the nuclear physics as well depending on where her company decides to go.
“While I appreciate the offer. I am not exactly interested in getting smuggled back into America to try and live a new life. So what if I say no?”
“You're certainly free to, although we’ll try to persuade you otherwise.” Daisy responds immediately with a grin, with a bit of a challenge as if she knows what he is going to say next.
“And what if the other guy says no?”
At that, everyone is quiet for a few seconds as the tension rises at the obvious threat.
Only to be completely shattered when Daisy laughs out loud for a quick second. “Well I wanted to try and convince him as well, so he is also free to say no, but we’ll also try to convince him. Although probably by different means than with you.” Daisy’s smile is all teeth, meanwhile Kara seems to shake her head in fond exasperation.
Bruce barely registers the response, and quite actively ignores the implications, as he goes through with what he had already planned to do no matter how honest her answer seemed to be. He imminently stands up and smacks his hands on the table, sending some food scattering to the ground, and yells out at her. “STOP LYING TO ME.”
To give her credit, even in the face of a possible rage monster coming out, Daisy doesn’t even flinch or draw any weapon at his sudden aggression. Meanwhile Kara seems to almost jump out of her seat from being startled, only to look down at the spilled food on the ground in sadness.
Seeing that his ploy either didn’t work, or gave him a much more concerning answer than he was expecting. He immediately backs up and goes back to being calm. Although the lack of any soldiers moving in lets him know at the very least that they were telling the truth about it just being the two of them.
“I’m sorry about that. I just wanted to see what you would do.” He apologies, as he retakes his seat, and eats what hasn't been spilled over.
“It’s fine.” Kara makes a small whine while still looking at the ruined food on the ground, seeming to object to everything being fine over a few spilled samosas. “But I can feel your heartbeat and she can hear it, so we could both tell you weren’t actually angry or in danger of transforming. So it wasn’t the best test to give us.”
At that he quickly begins to reappraise the both of the girls with him. One of the first things he did when he started trying to control the monster inside of him, was to track down every folklore on people with powers or curses or abilities. If someone else had already found a way to deal with a similar situation, why wouldn’t he try to copy a proven method? But for all of his searching around the world, he was never actually able to confirm anyone have abilities besides Captain America’s super soldier serum.
But there were so many stories and folk tales and claims of people who do not seem to be insane that Bruce never let go of the possibility of there being more out there. Not magic, never magic to a scientist like him, but certainly things that APPEAR to be magic. Just like his transformations would appear magical to those even just a decade ago. Even now, with the appearance of Supergirl he is finding more avenues to look at for solutions to his problem.
The two of them having powers would certainly explain their confidence in walking into his home to confront him. But would it be enough to actually deal with the Hulk? Now that is another question entirely.
“While I appreciate the job offer, I am still a wanted fugitive back in America, so like I already said, I am not interested in getting smuggled back in. And while dealing with some knockoff dendrotoxin rounds I did read up about Dr. Danvers here, and it said her company is building their headquarters in the middle of LA. That seems like the very worst place to have me and the other guy be hiding.”
“You really need to read more of the papers besides just what’s medically relevant dude.” Daisy says with a chuckle and a shake of her head. “Tony Stark in his campaign as Iron Man as of yesterday has gotten you completely cleared, including every civil lawsuit that was filed against you. The fact is, that you are now welcome back in America at any time, and you can even enter through a normal airport if you wanted.”
Bruce goes completely slack jawed at that, and before he can try to call her bluff, Daisy pulls out a cell phone with online newspaper articles from America saying almost the exact same thing. He… he can go back home? He can go and see Betty again?
“And honestly I am open to you working on whatever you want to. As long as it is for the betterment of humanity or the world, then you can choose your own projects and your own team. Although I totally reserve the right to steal you for projects I want help on… And Tony will probably want to do the same, since he did do your legal legwork.” Kara interrupts his spiraling thoughts with a peppy sales pitch for him to come work for her, ending with a fond eye roll and a very casual way of addressing the richest man on the planet.
“Finally, like I said, you're a free man now. But the people who planted those bugs, Shield, may not want you to be totally free. They’ll want you, and your green friend, to help them eventually. And while I also want the same thing as them, I’m going to be upfront and honest about it. I promise you Shield will come calling and claim they only want you as a scientist, when really they want you as a weapon. Not as a person.” There is a fair bit of personal bitterness coming across in Daisy’s tone, and she did say she knew the people who planted the bugs in his house, so maybe that was how she was treated by them in the past?
“You still haven’t addressed the dangers of having the Hulk in downtown LA and now suddenly you're saying you want the Hulk to work with you too? I’m sorry, you had me tempted with the job offer honestly, but I see no way of that ever happening. I got lucky in Harlem, and have barely gotten any control over him since, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. And it will happen, eventually.”
“That’s because you’re going at your problem with the Hulk the wrong way.” Daisy’s smug dismissal certainly grabs his attention. “You’re going at the problem like you're trying to control a rabid dog. What you should be doing, is working out how to come to an understanding with your partner instead. And if the worst comes to worst, Kara and I can take care of the Hulk.”
“Bullshit.” His response is automatic, and he covers his mouth at cursing in front of teenagers immediately. “I’m sorry about that, but you are underestimating the green guy if you think that.” Yet as he says the words it almost feels like… excitement for a fight is coming from his passenger. He can’t seriously think the two teen girls would give him a good fight?!
“I don’t think so. Afterall, Kara here is also known as Supergirl.” In a blur of speed, faster than he could ever follow, the young preppy teen Kara suddenly is dressed in the uniform of the alien Superhero that tanks a missile and other heavy ordinance in Mexico better than the Hulk has, at least, if all of the conversations between his patients over the newest hero is to be believed.
“And I myself, am certainly no pushover by any means.” Suddenly, as Daisy holds out her hand and the air distorts around it, his whole home begins to shake, even his bones seem to rattle inside of his body, as if he is going to come apart at the seams. Luckily it ends after just a few moments and before he can truly begin to panic, yet the Hulk inside of him is nearly euphoric at the display.
“So what do you say Dr. Banner, to a friendly wager? A friendly sparring match between me and Kara vs the Hulk in the nearby nature reserve. If we win, and manage to start the conversation of getting the Hulk to be your partner, then you come work for Kara here. If not, then we will do our best to help you hide from everyone else for as long as you want.”
At the words, Bruce can feels his eyes flash green, and while he maintains control, he honestly feels like he might lose it for the first time in months if he says anything but yes.
“So… do we have a bet?” And honestly, the look of excitement on Daisy’s face causes Bruce to feel genuine worry for the Hulk for the first time in his life.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Honestly, I did not get as far as I wanted to with this chapter. I wanted to get through Quake and Supergirl vs Hulk as well as the start of the next scene. But the conversation just kept lengthening, as I wanted to give Bruce the screen time he deserves, as well as make sure gaining him and the hulk felt earned rather than hand waved. But oh well, I honestly ended up having a lot of fun with this chapter. And that means I get to really have fun with the fight scene, rather than just playing it down, in the next chapter!
Chapter 15: Scuffles and Scares
Summary:
Hulk vs Daisy and Kara comes to a head! But does everything go to plan, or do some things surprise everyone involved?
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
March 3rd, 2009, MCU
Daisy Johnson, Peechi -Vazhani Wildlife Sanctuary India
Honestly, Daisy begins to regret her bold proclamation of a spar almost immediately. Don’t get her wrong, it’s not because she doesn’t want to spar anymore or anything like that, it’s just that the Hulk is so damn excited that Kara trying to carry Bruce for any longer than a second causes his eyes to turn green and the Hulk starting to try and break out. So instead of just flying deep into the Wildlife Sanctuary like she had planned to, they are stuck hiking there with the occasional one second flights to get around any natural obstructions.
It takes a couple hours to get deep enough, but eventually in the very early hours of the morning, while the sky is still grey, they finally arrive at the place that Daisy had scouted out ahead of time. Nested up against the side of a hill too large to just be called a hill, but too small to be called a mountain (there is probably some nerd term for it that Kara knows, but Daisy sure doesn’t) is a section of rocky ravines with dense forest and other very-large hills that butt up right against it. This way, even if the fight is larger than Daisy is expecting, no one else will witness it and any damage can hopefully be covered as being a collapse in the rock wall.
Finally there, Daisy sets down her bag, and takes out her suit except for the mask, alongside a pair of incredibly stretchy pants to give to Dr. Banner. Taking the pants, Dr. Banner lets out the hundredth resigned sigh of the hour and asks the same question yet again.
“Are you sure you want to do this? We can still just head back.” Although the wincing from a headache and slightly green tint to his eyes lets Daisy know that not everyone in Bruce’s body agrees with the offer to stand down.
“And as we have been saying the whole way here, yes we’re sure. We need to show you that the Hulk can be handled if the worst happens in LA, but more than that we need to get you two working together to stop the worst from happening at all.” Daisy tries to sound understanding of his stress, but the heat is already increasing and she is about to put on a tight and not very breathable suit after a couple hours of hiking through a forest. Normally she would just use her powers to keep cool, but she can’t take the risk of straining herself even a little beforehand in case it’s the difference between victory and defeat.
After just a little more grumbling, the man goes around a rocky corner to change as well as give Daisy the privacy to change as well. Once everyone is ready, they take their positions nearly 20 yards apart, with Kara right next to her side, even placing herself a little ahead of Daisy to protect her from the start.
Honestly, she loves this woman a whole lot and every day it’s the little things that warm her heart. How often was Daisy put in the front lines, while here Kara is taking that role to protect her and she doesn’t even appear to be consciously making that decision.
Focus. Flirt and admire later, get ready to fight now.
Daisy can see Bruce’s eyes are now just a solid green ever since getting changed, although he does seem to still be maintaining control over the rest of the transformation, which is incredibly commendable.
“I don’t know what you both can do, but if the worst happens please get out of here. I don’t want to have killed a couple teenagers. Please.” Bruce’s pleading voice comes out, even as he begins to release his control, allowing the green show through his skin as he enlarges in size. Kara honestly seems a bit distracted by analyzing the transformation for the first time in person, Daisy can hear her muttering under her breath about Kara ‘hearing’ more mass being added to his form somehow.
Nerd.
…
Cute nerd.
“Won’t be needed, but I promise I’m not looking to die or lose Kara today.” Daisy responds back, with Kara snapping out of her scientific musings with her spine straightening out and her fists coming up in preparation.
Finally, the bell for the start of their match is heralded with an eardrum shattering roar, coming out of the green monster now towering ahead of them. Before Daisy can even tell he is tensing, the hulk makes a leap forward and sends his fist crashing down towards Kara with all of his strength going into taking out what he thinks is the bigger threat at the start of the fight.
Moments Later
Kara Danvers
Kara was not expecting the massive form of the Hulk to move nearly that fast. While it is obvious it is not superspeed, as it was made in a single leap and downward slamming punch motion, the Hulk is still able to move incredibly fast just by consequence of putting all of his strength into the move.
Luckily, Kara does have superspeed, and while she doesn’t have time to fully dodge due to the spontaneity of the attack, she is able to easily lift her arms up to guard her head and brace her whole body to absorb the blow.
That being said, even with all of the training from Daisy about how to properly block and absorb hits rather than just relying on her natural resistances, it is still an entirely new thing to truly put that to the test. And oh gosh does the Hulk hit like a truck!
Actually… A truck probably wouldn’t have made her arms go numb from the force of the blow, nor would it have caused her legs to get buried into the ground up to her knees despite being able to keep her braced stance. Thankfully since it was a leaping smash, the Hulk was not properly braced to transfer his full strength, so being airborne was the difference for Kara being able to stay in the fight vs being laid out in the first moment.
The Hulk obviously thought he was going to be able to take her out of the fight with that one blow, and is shocked by the results as his eyes widen in surprise. Not that Kara gives him the opportunity to truly appreciate the moment, as Kara works through the numbness and moves her hands around the fist that was still against her guard and uses her strength and rotates at the waist in order to use the Hulk’s size against him and send him flying over her shoulder and smashing into the ground on his back to the side of where Daisy is.
Daisy had noticed Kara’s move from their training as soon as she had started the shoulder throw, and was already moving to follow up with her own attack. Just as the Hulk started to move his free hand to try and throw Kara off of him, instead he was hit in the side of his torso with a double forward punch from Daisy, supported by twin blasts of vibrations channeling straight into the Hulk’s skeleton. The blast sends the Hulk skidding across the ground, bouncing along the exposed stone of the ravine for dozens and dozens of yards. Not even the Hulk getting his hands on the ground can stop his momentum despite leaving deep gouges in the ground, leaving him to only stop as he hits the side of the cliff face over 50 yards away.
“Keep moving, don’t let him pin us down, and try to attack from a distance or hit and run style as much as possible.” Daisy quickly orders before using her blasts, to send herself flying towards the treeline to their side.
The Hulk, already recovering with his crushed rib cage popping back into shape before her eyes, stands up with a truly feral grin on his face, and goes after the one who just did the most damage to him, following Daisy into the trees of the forest.
Seeing the monster chasing after her mate, as well as the speed of his recovery leaves Kara with no hesitation or restraint in her actions. Using her fists to crack the ground as far away from her body as she can reach, she flies up carrying a boulder nearly four times the size of her held up by where her legs sunk into the ground from the Hulk’s opening attack. Flying forward at full speed, but with less control than normal from the lack of leg mobility, Kara flips at the last second just as she comes upon the Hulk still racing forward. The flip lets her send the stone around her legs into a brutal drop kick to the back of his head, smashing the stone and freeing her legs.
As the Hulk goes flying head over heels from her blow, Kara is already gaining height and sending blasts of her laser vision at him. Obviously not a sustained burst as she doesn’t want to kill or maim him, but instead she does her best to try to sever his tendons to leave him paralyzed on the ground.
Unfortunately she does not correctly estimate how durable the Hulk is and only manages to burn through his skin and slightly through the flesh below, but not quite making it to the tendons underneath. Before she can adjust her power output the Hulk manages to recover and immediately leaps away and in the direction she can hear Daisy.
Before Kara can panic for more than a couple seconds about how the Hulk somehow managed to leap straight towards her mate, she can already hear the low pitch ringing as Daisy’s power builds up. Using a move borrowed from Prince Zuko in ATLA, although obviously with vibration strikes rather than fire, Daisy sends a brutal concentrated blast of her built up power with a sidekick straight at the Hulk’s center of mass. While Daisy’s power level is limited by her young body and bones, the larger bones in her legs Daisy are able to send much higher concentration of strikes from there even when compared to the benefits the gauntlets provide.
Daisy obviously set a trap, and was making enough noise for the Hulk to know where she was to leap straight at her. The result is that just as fast as the Hulk leapt away from Kara, he is suddenly flying back straight at her.
Well if her mate is going to send her an easy opportunity like this, then who is she to pass up the opening?
As the Hulk flies through the air towards her, his back is completely exposed as he was facing the other way, Kara leaps off the side of the nearest tree and gains as much speed as she can in the short amount of time before she collides with the Hulk.
Kara had straightened herself as much as possible, with her hands brought to a solid double fisted point right in front of her, which come into contact with the base of the Hulk’s spine resulting in a horrible cracking sound as the bone shatters.
Since the Hulk had not been idle while flying back, and was already attempting to twist in order to catch a tree to try and stop his flight, the Hulk doesn’t go flying straight back at Daisy like Kara had intended, but instead goes flying off to the side and over Kara’s shoulder as her own momentum carries her forward.
As Kara turns around, kills her speed, and stops by perching her feet on the side of a tree, Daisy lands right next to her as they both look through the line of collapsed trees that the hulk tore down with his flight over to where he landed. They can clearly see the Hulk looking back at them, seemingly desperately trying to get back up and on his feet to fight, but the broken spine leaves everything below the waist paralyzed for the time being.
As they continue to watch his struggle, not making a move but also not taking their eyes off of him, they see the desperation give way to confusion on the Hulk’s face. While Kara finds herself confused at his confusion, Daisy seems to understand his thinking and responds.
“We told you this was just a friendly spar, and not a death match. Why wouldn’t we let you recover before continuing?”
The confusion gives way to skepticism, but as the Hulk’s spine repairs itself, neither Kara nor Daisy make a move even when the Hulk fully collects himself and stands up. The skepticism gives way to an amused expression, complete with a snort at the both of them.
And for the first time, Kara hears more than just roars and growls from the green being.
“Hulk smash tiny heroes, make regret giving Hulk time. But Hulk no destroy new tiny friends, so Hulk can beat again.” As the Hulk begins to prepare for their second round, picking up two torn up trees and using his hands to clear off all the excess branches, to use as massive clubs against them, Daisy decides to respond in kind.
“Ha! And when tiny heroes beat you, you only fight to kill bad people or our enemies. No more innocents or people who aren’t even a threat to you. But as friends we can certainly spar from time to time to keep kicking your oversized green butt.”
Dear Rao does Daisy REALLY have to brag and taunt the giant rage monster? But her worries seem unfounded as the Hulk just bursts out laughing.
“HAHAHA! Hulk say fine, cause Hulk no lose.” And with that, the fight is back on from some unseen signal that hits them all at the same time, with all three of them meeting each other in a clash in the middle, as trees all around them are ripped from the ground by the force of their attacks.
Some Time Later
Bruce Banner
This… has possibly been the strangest day of Bruce Banner’s life. Against all of his good sense, he agreed to the wager with the ‘spar’ that the two teenage girls had proposed against the Hulk, mainly because he thought either they would back out, run away once the Hulk got serious, or because if he had said no Hulk may have tried his damnedest to take the wheel while they were still in the city limits.
Then the fight began, and not only did the two girls not act as he expected in any way… they actually were kicking the Hulk's ass! Oh sure, the Hulk was doing a great job at holding his own, and was constantly coming incredibly close to landing devastating attacks against either of the girls, but in the end Daisy and Kara were doing a tremendous job of covering each other to ensure they never received more than a glancing blow or small cuts from debris.
That’s not even mentioning that the Hulk actually had an honest to god conversation with Daisy after the first couple minutes. The Hulk had only said a few words before, but now talked in a few sentences! Although the Hulk’s grammar certainly left much to be desired.
At the very start of his ‘curse’ whenever Bruce turned into the Hulk, trying to recall what happened was like trying to remember a particularly bad dream from the night before. Very hard and incredibly fleeting, with maybe a major point or two in perfect clarity. Ever since the fight against Abomination, it has felt much more like he was looking through a glass wall, with many imperfections in the glass obscuring and distorting everything, while he pounded his fist against the wall trying to shout out orders to keep the Hulk on track.
But today, after he saw proof that he didn’t need to hold the Hulk back during this fight… Bruce just sat back from the glass and watched events unfold. And as time went on, the glass gained greater and greater clarity, while thinning out to the point that it looked like a solid hit could cause the whole wall to come crashing down.
It was at this point that Bruce realized the glass wall was controlled by the Hulk, and once he realized that Bruce wasn’t going to take control and end his fun, the Hulk let him have a better view and more power in their relationship.
It was an incredible show of trust… and it only made Bruce think whether or not the Hulk lives behind a similar distorted glass wall for 99% of the time when Bruce is in control.
It feels humbling to be given that trust, when Bruce has not given it in return.
Since the short break for the Hulk to heal the spine injury, and for the short conversation to take place, the battle has gone on for what has felt like another half hour but could honestly be anywhere from a couple minutes to an hour or two as far as Bruce truly knows.
And the whole time, Bruce hasn't felt the unending tidal wave of anger coming from the Hulk, but instead just excitement and joy. Bruce has never actually been an angry man, or at least one to lash out in his anger, so the Hulk’s anger always felt foreign to him. But the excitement and joy the Hulk is feeling right now? That feels just like a breakthrough in the lab, or like a particularly good day with Betty. It seems to harmonize with Bruce’s own feelings, connecting them even more than just sharing a body.
Bruce is snapped back to the fight at hand as the Hulk almost lands a solid hit again, but instead manages to just grapple the cape of Kara, only for the girl to quickly hit a release latch and detach the cape into his hands.
As the participants take a second to catch their breath and reassess the change in situation between the three of them with yet another close call, Bruce notices another first in his life. The Hulk is panting… the hulk is getting tired from all of the fighting and healing his body is having to do to stay in the fight!
While Bruce knew of Supergirl beforehand, Daisy is just as impressive if not obviously less powerful but more experienced. These two girls are frankly ridiculous by any metric as they could have won this fight a few dozen times so far if that was what they wanted.
Can he… can he really go home? Is it possible if he sticks with these two?
“Ah… ah… ah. I think… we’re all getting towards the end of our ropes with this spar. So we probably don’t have that long left, especially if we don’t want the locals coming upon us.” Daisy says between panted breathes, while small amounts of blood trickle down from small cuts all across her body where the Hulk’s attacks have sent enough debris flying to cut through to the flesh underneath. “So what do you say, big guy, for this last bout if someone goes down long enough that the others need to wait on them, then they are out?”
It’s a bit of an unfair agreement, as so far the Hulk has been the only one to go down for any amount of time. But as the Hulk looks at the cape still wrapped in his hand, he takes a moment to wrap it around his hand almost like boxer’s tape, before nodding at Daisy.
But before the fight can resume, Daisy holds up a hand. “One more thing though. Ah… ah… I want this to be a proper two on two. So Bruce, if you can hear me in there, do whatever you can to help the Hulk out.”
Before either the Hulk or Bruce can dwell on that request, Daisy is launching herself forward with a blast of her powers. In an almost mirror of the very start of the fight, coming down at the Hulk with a descending right hook.
Unlike the start however, the Hulk meets the attack with his own, causing both Daisy and the Hulk to be pushed back a few yards. As Hulk starts to go forward to try and get in a follow-up before she can recover, Bruce can feel himself shouting without even giving the action any thought.
“No! Behind you!”
Seeming to hear him, the Hulk quickly turns around to find Kara right there ready to deliver a punch to the back of the Hulk’s head. While the warning let him see the attack coming, it wasn’t enough to truly avoid it and the Hulk is smashed across the jaw by a punch that even Bruce can feel in his teeth.
Unnoticed by Bruce, the glass wall continues to thin.
Taking the opportunity, Hulk blindly lashes out with his hand and manages to grab the leg of Kara before she is able to retreat. Instincts in the Hulk flaring at the danger behind him, he uses Kara as a projectile and throws her into the path that Daisy was taking to come and set her free. Unfortunately, both girls are able to use their powers in a brilliant tandem to catch each other and recover, instead of smashing together like the Hulk intended.
Is this the kind of teamwork Daisy expects from us? No… it’s more like that’s what we need if we want even a chance at winning.
Unnoticed by Bruce, the glass wall continues to thin.
“Smash the ground with both hands as hard as you can!” Bruce yells out, thinking on his feet about everything he has noticed in the fight so far from the two girls. While Bruce can feel the confusion from Hulk, the Hulk hesitates just a fraction of a second before going forward with his suggestion.
The hard stone, near to the start of their sparring location, cracks and shatters and shoots up in a cloud of dust and rocks and stones. Whatever Daisy’s exact powers are, she can seemingly tell where objects and people are at all times. But what if a bunch of new objects suddenly appear and cover and obscure the area where you are? Can that buy even a fraction of a second of cover and confusion from sensory overload?
Bruce thinks so, and this time without words, sends his thoughts to the Hulk about what to do next as speaking would lose whatever little time they bought.
Unnoticed by Bruce, the glass wall continues to thin.
The Hulk jumps to the side, before dashing forward appearing out of the dust cloud right next to Kara. Daisy, a split second too late in tracking their movements, is facing the wrong way. While every instinct in the Hulk says to smash, Bruce is enough to convince him to stay with the plan. Instead of attacking, the Hulk brings his hands together in an incredibly powerful double handed smash. It would have been devastating if Kara was close enough to be right where the Hulks hands would meet.
But Kara is just a couple steps further, and those couple steps would have allowed Kara to brace or Daisy to catch up. So instead, both of the Hulks hands meet each other, and release an almost sonic boom of sound as the Hulks hands clap together so powerfully that the bones in his palm crack and fingers break.
Unnoticed by Bruce, the glass wall continues to thin… and is now gone.
The noise, louder than anything Bruce has encountered before, sends Kara reeling as blood flows from both of her burst ear drums. While Daisy, finally facing where the Hulk has leapt to, erects a barrier of her powers to save herself from being disabled in the same way.
The Hulk takes on a bloodthirsty grin as he sees his opponent clutching both of her ears, with her body completely unguarded. He raises his still healing hand, going for the knockout hit straight to the side of the head. But then, for the first time ever, the Hulk feels his body being taken over as Bruce redirects the first of the Hulk at the true target of the attack this whole time.
Daisy, who saw the attack coming and was desperately moving forward to erect a barrier between the Hulk and Kara in time, found the fist heading straight towards her instead in a feint attack she didn’t see coming. With her powers protecting Kara, Daisy is left unprotected.
They can do it, they can win!!!
But wait… Bruce got caught up in the moment, in the rush of the fight. He has seen Kara block dozens of direct hits from the Hulk, but Daisy always used her powers to protect herself.
Surely she is tough enough and can tank at least one hit as well… right?
“ NO! DON’T YOU TOUCH HER!!” Bruce and the Hulk both hear yelled from their side, as suddenly their world erupts in shared pain.
Same Time
Kara Danvers
Her mate is going to die, her mate is going to die, HER MATE IS GOING TO DIE RIGHT BEFORE HER EYES TRYING TO SAVE HER! Kara barely notices how she suddenly burns through all of the solar energy she has stored up, as her body moves faster than she ever has before. Faster than her enemies have moved before. Faster than her cousin has moved before. Faster than Barry Allen ever moved when he visited her universe.
She needs to protect her mate, so she does, it’s as simple as that. She lets out a cry, yelling despite being unable to hear from the blood rushing to her still healing ear drums, the words lost to her as she barely understands her actions.
When the world rushes back to her, Kara finds her hand stretched out flat, moving forward with more speed and power than she thought possible, as it bursts through the elbow of the arm of the Hulk that was going to kill her mate. In a spray of blood and bone, the Hulk’s arm shatters as her hand emerges through the other side, causing the Hulk’s hand to divert just enough from hitting her mate straight in the head, and instead is a glancing blow to the shoulder.
It still results in a terrible cracking noise that causes Kara’s heart to drop, but the arm and shoulder stay attached even if it is obviously dislocated and broken. Kara withdraws her hand from the elbow of the enemy that almost turned her into a widow, completely forgetting them in favor of taking a step to look over her mate. But as Kara steps forward, the lack of energy immediately catches up to her, and she feels her vision begin to fade as the world spins, and her legs give out.
As her vision slowly fades, she can see the look of determination on her mate’s face to end this fight. Daisy leaps up, her body even with the head of the being… who were they fighting again?... the being that is yelling out in pain, as she sends a roundhouse kick backed by every ounce of vibration that her body can handle, and just a little bit more as Kara’s x-ray vision can see the bones in her mate’s leg crack under the strain, straight into the temple of the bastard who almost took Daisy from her.
The being goes flying back with a thunderous crack, the only reason it doesn’t go flying for miles is that the cliff face was there to catch it. Although the impact immediately causes hundreds of tons of rocks to suddenly begin cascading down, shifting and falling as the structure of the cliff deals with suddenly having an enormous beast sized hole punched through it.
Kara blacks out before she reaches the ground feeling arms catch her just before impact, for how long she is out she can’t tell but it can’t have been long, as she is still on the brink of unconsciousness. She finds herself laying on a section of grass, bathing in sunlight, right next to the changed topography of the land as an enormous rock slide ends just a few feet to her side. Her head lays on a soft bit of flesh, the slight vibrations of which tell her her head is resting in her mate's lap.
To the other side, she can see the being… the Hulk she remembers, also laid out defeated beside them. In its last moment of consciousness she hears it speak to them in obvious pain and exhaustion.
“You… win… tiny heroes…. And friends.” As the Hulk passes out with a smile on his face, his body begins to shrink in size.
Kara can’t remember why that calms her down, but she knows her mate is safe now. So she slips into unconsciousness herself just a moment later, to the feeling of vibrating fingers running through her hair.
In March of 2009 the Peechi -Vazhani Wildlife Sanctuary in India experienced unexplained tectonic and topographical activity in the early morning. Lasting for nearly an hour, in a remote and well hidden part of the wildlife preserve crashes, collapses, and quakes could be felt and heard for miles away. Luckily, employees of the Sanctuary decided to hold back until the activity stopped before exploring the area, and once the area had turned silent for nearly an hour teams were sent out to investigate.
Everyone sent out had truly no idea what to expect. Did an old cave system collapse? Was this a sign that the Indian Tectonic plate was actually splitting apart and would cause earthquakes through the middle of India? Was it a crashed satellite or military aircraft that was missed in the early morning hours, that was in danger of harming the local wildlife?
The answer surveyors got in the end… was just more confusion. Trees were uprooted, a cliff face was completely collapsed, trails of fauna were torn down as if something large had rolled through the area, and boulders bigger than could possibly be lifted were torn out of the ground and found uphill from where they originated. For nearly a year following the incident the Sanctuary was kept tightly locked down in case that whatever had caused this incident was still around… but nothing else ever came. The only suspicious activity was an anonymous US donation of nearly 25 million US dollars to the reserve with no name, reason, or note in any way attached. Thanks to the donation, the reserve was able to flourish despite losing normal patron donations from the lack of visitors causing attempts for mining or land developments wanting to shrink the border of the preserve.
Finally, at least some answers came when the public unmasking of Daisy Johnson as Quake came about, as a second donation of another $5 million occurred, with an apology letter, but no specific details as to what was being apologized for. With the advantage of hindsight, and declassified SHIELD documents, we are able to see that Bruce Banner was in the area until the time of the incident when he disappeared from all surveillance methods. Then just 5 days later, he announced his return to America and Employment in Kara Danvers' House El Revolutionary Origins as a Department lead.
His return brought a wave of new controversy and political discussions, but as Bruce Banner was officially cleared of all charges before he entered the country again, he was able to live his life in relative peace and isolation until the opening of the HERO HQ in downtown LA, when he became a much more public figure, and then again with the reappearance of the Hulk at the Battle of New York City.
With this move, a lot more attention was brought onto Kara Danvers and HERO in general, as the third employee happened to be one of the most famous AND infamous scientists in the world at the time. For so long HERO was known for the collaboration with Stark Industries and the construction of their HQ, but literally nothing else. From this point, came a rush of both applications as well as interviews and offers of positions for the company. Even if it would still be some time before the HQ building was finished, pre-hires were given opportunities for home-research, conference attendance, networking, additional education and professional skills training, as well as living stipends guaranteed until the building’s grand opening.
But I am getting ahead of myself there, the biggest controversial hire (even more than Bruce Banner) actually came from the scandal of another company soon after Dr. Banner's hiring. When the disgraced CEO of one of the biggest up and coming research companies suddenly faced public scrutiny for dangerous and forced human trials on the homeless, the lead scientists/ patent owner below him was quickly bought up and rehired by Dr. Danvers despite the public stain and controversy. Many conspiracy theorists pointed at the suspicious circumstances that led to the CEO being found…
Excerpt from ‘The Hidden HEROes of the Modern Age; Two Superheroes Hidden War’ By Amira Ahmed .
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Well… dangers of being a first time writer is that I end up accidentally spending nearly 5k words on a ‘friendly spar’ just because I was having fun and wanted to add more drama… Oh well! Hope you enjoyed it, and hope I did the characters justice! I gave the Hulk an upgrade in strength to start with, but then I also gave him a new upgrade in a better relationship with Bruce (this is NOT this same thing as Endgame Hulk fyi). Did I also give Kara a boost by having her essentially have hysterical strength in a moment of need? Yup! But that was only needed because Hulk’s fighting style completely changed because of Bruce, while Bruce didn’t actually have a good idea of the power levels of everyone involved like Hulk did to avoid injury. Two masters of combat are less likely to cause injuries than a master and a beginner.
Next chapter the story continues with two important missions! The first one is the mission hinted at in the excerpt at the end here. Any idea who I’m talking about? While the second mission is one that Daisy has been saying is very important and has been getting ready for for a while.
See you all next week!
Chapter 16: Hauntings and Horrors
Summary:
Daisy makes her moves on the next couple of missions she has planned. One corrupt CEO and one highly trained assassin... well technically two highly trained assassins, but only one is the target.
Notes:
Trigger Warning; Brief mentions of suicide as an idea in this chapter.
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
April 1, 2009, MCU
Aldrich Killian, A.I.M. HQ
As he made his way to his office late in the night, coming from the secured lab in the basements, Aldrich Killian could just feel the sigh he let out transform almost into a growl of frustration by the end. Today had been nothing but failures, and not only that, but the failures were getting worse. What was once just a slight fever in his test subjects, was quickly becoming a burning inferno as their blood literally boils them to death.
Yet from the high failures, come high successes as well. Limbs regrown, eyesight corrected, birth defects vanished, illnesses burned away, and so many more benefits as well. Maya Hansen continued to work the formula, adjusting everything about it from the injection type, to dosage, to administration schedules. Luckily she did not care how many lab rats were sacrificed in the name of progress, so she kept up her high morale… and luckily he had been able to keep the other subjects he had been working with some of her assistants on a secret so far.
But none of her assistants were the genius and primary inventor like Maya were, so he may soon need to find ways to either convince her that working with alternative test subjects is worth it, or simply find a way to force her to accept the change.
Today though, Maya seemed to be a bit more curious about his extra lab, asking more questions than normal. As well as shooting him glances every now and then. Did she have suspicions of what he was doing? Or maybe she just thought he was possibly working to cut her out of her invention, which he was most certainly not doing.
Something to think on when he isn’t the last one in the building aside from security, but he needs to log the updates in his secure drive before heading back home.
As nears his corner office, the large frosted pane glass windows that give him the privacy from both the inside and outside of the building to work, are illuminated a dull blue, leaving him confused. He is certain that he didn’t leave his computer on, as he always makes sure to lock it up when he is stepping away for even a moment, but that is the only thing it could possibly be in his office.
Sure enough, as he opens his office door, WITHOUT having to unlock it with his key, he can see his computer monitor bathing the room in its light.
Aldrich’s heart begins to race. Who the fuck has been in his office? How long were they in here and what were they doing? Did… did they get into his personal drive?
It’s that last thought that stops him from calling security, as most of the security isn’t in the know about what his private lab has been doing, so using his phone to call for help may just expose him even more. So Aldrich goes with his gut, and rushes forward to the other side of his desk to see what is going on with his computer.
Luckily, the screen is just open to his lock screen, so maybe someone from the cleaning crew got a key they weren’t supposed to have access to and woke his computer up while working?
Just as his mind begins to settle, thinking up a number of rational explanations, his computer suddenly comes alive as his password is filled out before his eyes with no input from the keyboard. Attempting to stop whatever is happening is useless as both his mouse and keyboard seem unresponsive to his input, and are instead obeying whomever else has control.
As his computer opens to his desktop, he watches as the cursor moves to open a word document, before typing out a message seemingly to him.
ENJOY THE SHOW OF YOUR FUTURE, KILLIAN
Thinking this is about to be some WarGames conversation back and forth, Aldrich goes to respond, but instead his desktop… rewinds for lack of a better word. The words untype, the program unopened (and not the actual closing animation), and the screen moves back in time to the point where it had just unlocked before moving forward again. But instead of pulling up a document again, instead it logs into his email.
Nearly 30 seconds pass of inconspicuous email scrolling, acting and responding to emails as if he were the one logged in and in control, pass before Aldrich realizes he is wasting time. Going to hit the power button on his tower, when he goes to hit the button, the computer doesn’t respond at all to his input. Even holding it down to force a shutdown does nothing as well. Moving around, he goes to pull the plug on the whole thing, only to find a lock made to secure power cables to appliances installed on his computer’s power cord that was NOT there before, leaving him unable to cut the power at the computer.
Moving around, he goes to the floor socket that the whole thing is plugged into, but attempting to lift the cover proves useless. Looking closer in the dim light still coming from his screen as his computer continues to be haunted, he thinks he can almost see hints of some superglue or other adhesive keeping the lid shut.
Standing up, Aldrich begins to try and remember to the best of his abilities where the nearest breaker panel would be, to try and cut power to his whole office instead, when a loud ding comes from his computer, causing him to nearly jump from the sudden breaking of the quiet.
Moving back to standing behind his chair, he notices a new email has just come in with the subject line ‘From your friend in the force’. As if reading his mind, the cursor moves to the email slowly, as if as scared as he is about what the email will entail.
When the email finally opens, Aldrich can feel his blood freeze, his eyes go wide, then his heart rate spikes so hard all noise is drowned out for a few seconds. The email reads as if Aldrich has a mole on the police force that has been helping him abduct the homeless people he has been using to test Extremis on, which he most certainly DOES NOT. It then goes on to let him know that ‘his source’ is doing him one last favor by letting him know someone the media and police have gotten evidence of everything he has been doing by that hacker group SPEAR.
Both the articles of his experiments, as well as warrants for his arrest will be dropping first thing tomorrow, and he has no time left, and his movements are probably already being monitored by the cops.
Forgetting himself for a minute, Aldrich leaps forward to start deleting everything in his email, begins purging his backup drive with the information on all of his experiments, and setting his whole computer to wipe. Just as he is starting to get to the point of wiping his backup drive, Aldrich remembers he hasn’t been in control of the mouse and keyboard at all this whole time, so what has changed? As he pauses however, the tasks he had set out to do continue on uninhabited by his sudden awareness.
Is… is someone perfectly copying my computer activities so well that I didn’t notice I wasn’t even in control? Fucking how and why?!?
Aldrich pulls up the security feed on his cell phone, and looks at the exterior cameras, and sure enough, despite the email being a complete set-up there is what could very well be an unmarked police car just down the road from his own car, waiting for him to exit.
He is surrounded, he is outplayed, and he has no way forward. Aldrich decides to go get his last ditch emergency go-bag from the hidden floor safe in the corner of his office. Luckily this doesn’t seem to have been tampered with in any way, so slinging the bag over his shoulder, Aldrich palms a slim black case containing his secret weapon.
Just as Aldrich is about to go back and check on what the hacker is doing to his computer, the base suddenly sparks, and the whole room plunges into darkness as the monitor goes blank.
Seems like the frame job is over, which means my time has run out as well.
Needing to get out safely, Aldrich pulls his phone back out and goes to call the security guards on duty that ARE aware of his misdealings. Afterall, if he goes down then so do they.
Only… when the call connects, instead of hearing the voice of one of his trusted employees, he instead hears a deep electronic chuckling ringing at full volume in his ears.
“Ha ha ha ha ha. I’m sorry Killian, but tonight is between you and me. Can’t have anyone else coming butting in.” Says the electronic voice, that has a vague feminine ring to it, before the line clicks dead.
Who the fuck could that be?! A family member of someone he experimented on? While Aldrich has people he wants to get revenge on, he doesn’t think he is really on anyone else’s radar!
Wait… Maya was acting off today. I just thought it was general business suspicion, but could this be her?! I don’t think she has any hacking abilities, but has she gone crawling back to Stark?!
The more he thought of it, the more it made sense. Especially since all of those files his ‘Police Source’ sent him had made it very clear that Maya knew nothing about the human experiments he had been conducting. While true, it was also suspicious about how clear the evidence was about that.
Hoping that he had figured it out, Aldrich closed out of the now useless phone app, and pulled back up the security feed hoping to find any sign of Maya in the building where she could be controlling this from.
Yet, he suddenly finds that he loses control of even that, as instead of the cameras switching to Maya’s lab, it instead switches to… the camera on the roof of the building?
What? There’s nothing up there?
As he finishes the thought, the access door to the roof suddenly opens, showing a view of someone walking out and moving forward at a sedate walking pace.
And somehow, the person on the camera right now, is himself?!
No, wait, not exactly him. While everything matches including his clothes, this version doesn’t have the go-bag he currently has around his shoulder. Giving more evidence to the idea that the safe wasn’t discovered by Maya or any accomplices she has.
As he watches an imposter of himself continue to walk forward, Aldrich notices something else off about the camera feed. The timestamp… it is 5 minutes LATER than the current time.
‘Enjoy the show of your future, Killian’ is what the message said. Is this what they meant?
Without missing even a single step, or hesitating for even a moment, Aldrich can only watch in horror as his supposed future self walks straight off the edge of the building’s roof and presumably to his death below. Trying to switch to a camera showing the exterior at ground level is useless, as his phone suddenly goes dark except for a purple electronic smiley face, looking at him in mocking amusement.
While Maya’s people may have done enormous amounts of research about him, they apparently didn’t know who he was at his core. Aldrich Killian is a fighter. Aldrich Killian isn’t a loser. Aldrich Killian would never kill himself when he has any hope of fighting for something more.
Aldrich breaks out into a full forward sprint forward, going to ram open the door to the stairwells so he can begin running down and out of the building, only to stop dead as the door doesn’t even budge, leaving Aldrich gasping for air on the ground from having the wind knocked out of him.
Once he finally is able to breathe again, he stands up and looks through the slim glass window of the stairwell only to see a large metal wedge is braced at the bottom of the door to act as a doorstop, preventing the door from swinging open.
As he grits his teeth, and begins to think of another way forward, all of the lights, from the hallway lights to even the emergency exit signs that should light up in exactly this kind of situation go out.
All except for one.
The indicator above the elevator remains lit on 1, but soon begins to climb. Higher and higher, up and up, someone is coming for him and they are just floors away.
Opening the slim black case, Aldrich prepares its contents for the fight of his life. Whomever Maya sent up is here to kill him, and he isn’t going to make it easy on them.
10 floors away.
5 floors away.
3…
2…
1…
Just as Aldrich prepares his weapon, the door opens to show him… absolutely nothing.
The elevator is empty.
Slowly but surely, Aldrich moves forward, peeking in as much as he can, ready to either flee backwards in case he is right that this is an ambush still. Yet, nothing.
The elevator is truly empty.
And now that he thinks about it, the elevator doors have also been staying open for the longest amount of time.
Suddenly the fear and terror that had been coursing through his veins is replaced by fury, indignation, and pure loathing. Stepping into the elevator, the doors close and the button for the top floor that contains the roof access lights up and the elevator begins to ascend.
That fucking bitch! I have worked with her for years. I get her all the funding she needs, I risk everything to prove her right, and I even begin to push her work forward by conducting human trials and she dares think she can just tell me to kill myself. I hope it’s her waiting up there for me, I’m going to tear her apart piece by piece for looking down on me like this.
Slinging off his go-bag in the elevator, Aldrich uses the now empty metal case to bash in the camera in the corner of the elevator. Keeping his secret weapon stashed but ready to go in his pocket, Aldrich prepares for whatever is going to be on the other side of the elevator door.
After the elevator ride that is remarkably slow for only a few floors between his office and the top, the doors finally open. Yet Aldrich finds himself having a repeat performance, where there is nothing on the other side once again.
That said, this time the only light is from the elevator itself as well as the single light at the end of the hallway that leads to the final flight of stairs up to the roof.
Attempting to push any of the elevator buttons is useless, just like he expected, and 30 seconds into trying every button the elevator suddenly loses all power plunging him into darkness and making him nearly jump out of his skin.
Now he is at the end of a long dark hallway, with only one light at the end of the tunnel.
He’s never known Maya to ever be this poetic; walking towards the light and all. This definitely feels more like Stark’s doing, if he is right about who Maya’s hacker partner is.
Walking forward slowly but surely, Aldrich does his best to be ready for anything, keeping his ears peeled for any noise, or the sign of someone coming out of any of the office doors and closets he is passing.
That makes it all the more shocking when suddenly he can see his own shadow being cast from a deep purple glow coming from behind him. Turning around so fast, that he nearly trips and even goes so far as to have to bend down on one knee to stand upright, he sees the figure somehow just standing in the middle of the hallway.
That purple smiley face is back, and this time it is glowing out of some kind of full face glass mask. The lack of lighting on the figure makes it hard to determine any more details of the person, but he can certainly see that they are wearing what is possibly a leather jacket based on the sleeves, and has a pistol level and pointed right at his chest.
As he continues to try and collect himself, even backing up a couple steps, the figure just stands there. Motionless, aside from the slight adjustments to keep the gun level at his chest.
After a few seconds of silence, Aldrich finally collects himself enough to talk. “I didn’t-” only to immediately need to clear his voice to clear out the fearful timber and rasp to his voice before continuing. “I didn’t expect Maya to put on this whole show. If she were going to take me down, I would have expected her to either go running for help from the police or Stark, or at most staging a lab accident with an exploding plant. But hiring some crazy assassin to take me out? Never.”
Because there is no way the figure in front of him is Maya like he was expecting, nor is it Stark in his weaponized suit. They are almost obviously female from the hair that he can see peaking around the mask, and much too short to be Maya.
The figure doesn’t respond with words, just tilting its head to the side in question.
“Tch. No matter. But Maya didn’t tell you everything, because she didn’t know everything.” The head titles the other way this time. “I had a special version of Extremis ready to go for the most dire times, and this is most certainly that. It’s a full on combat enhancer, and even I don’t know how well it will work, but I am not going to let that fake video footage be true, and there’s no way you can shoot me if you want it too look like a suicide. So let me go, and I'll double what you are being paid, or be ready for a fight.”
This actually gets more of a response, starting with the same electronic horrible laugh mocking him.
“Ha ha. I think I’ll take my chances with the fight then. Maya is the brains, you're just the money and the lack of morals. Anything you made without her is probably jack shit.”
And well, Killian was never one to back down from a challenge, and he had already resolved for this outcome long ago. Pushing down on the plunger that he has kept hidden in his pocket, with the needle already pierced into his thigh, Killian injects the strongest variant of Extremis that his secret lab has so far.
Throwing away the syringe, he stands up and prepares for whatever is to come, feeling the burn start to spread through his body as he can feel all the strength-
Killian drops to the floor like dead weight, not even able to brace himself a little. As he lays crumpled on the floor, head turned towards the figure, he finds himself unable to move any voluntary muscles besides his eyes. Not a twitch from his legs as he tries to stand. Not a lift of a finger as he tries to grab onto the woman approaching him to stop them. Unable even to lean back as suddenly his vision is filled with the intense glow of the mocking smiley face, as the monster crouches down to look down at him.
“If your enemy isn't an idiot but doesn’t have a problem with you powering up, that either means you're outclassed or it’s a trap. In this case, it was both. I found your go-bag, and replaced the solution with an orange dyed paralytic to fool you into thinking it hadn’t been touched. I found all your dirty secrets idiot, how could I miss the giant floor safe barely hidden in your office.”
Despite his best efforts, Killian is unable to even spit any of the insults or profanity he wants to at the woman. He is helpless at her feet. More pathetic than he has been, even when waiting on the cold night on the roof for Tony Stark to come meet him.
He hates this woman more than he hates Stark, but there’s nothing he can do about it.
“I somewhat respected you, for being the very first human trial of Extremis when you got so desperate to try and improve yourself. If you're going to be an evil scientist, at least be your own lab rat and all. But then you found you had to keep injecting it to stay stable, and after seeing the government’s desperation for a super soldier serum you moved on to human trials on the homeless much faster than I expected. That’s my fault for not keeping a closer eye on you. But I am here to make things right, and with your suicide tonight, Maya will be able to continue to work on Extremis in legal and safe ways moving forward, once she has a better boss funding her that is.”
Despite his breathing being unaffected by the paralytic itself, the way Killian has been crumpled on the ground has left him slowly losing breath as the demon in front of him lays out the destruction of his life’s work. As he nears passing out from the lack of enough air, his vision swimming with darkness despite the LED mask so close, he hears one last thing.
“Goodbye Killian. You’ll be nothing more than a small black mark in Extremis’ history in the end.”
And with that, Killian never wakes up again. His body is soon seen tumbling down from the rooftop by the undercover police unit outside, at the exact same timestamp that security cameras show Aldrich Killian committing suicide in disgrace.
A few days later.
…
“I think you need a new hobby. You’ve gotten too much experience with cooking, that it doesn’t engage you enough anymore.”
Daisy has the AUDACITY to look offended at Kara’s response to the full story of what happened at the AIM HQ.
“What do you mean? I dealt with a bad guy that night, and it WAS April fools day!”
“Daisy… I love you, but that was the most supervilliany thing you have ever done in your life. And that includes when you declared war on a government agency to the world on TV back in National City.”
Daisy goes to respond, with probably some excuse or justification about the man deserving it. Which… looking at the news stories about the victims saved from the labs, she might not be WRONG about but… Kara cuts her off all the same.
“You just as easily could have snuck up behind him and injected him yourself. He didn’t even have the fire superpowers that later versions of Extremis gave him. And instead you turned his whole office into a giant house of horrors for him. I love you… but PLEASE find a new hobby. Something nice and innocent. I beg of you.”
And Daisy can only hold out so long under the power of her puppy dog eyes.
Now just to help her mate find a new hobby…
“Can you stop stealing all of the cool genius scientists out in the world?! At least leave me one or two, even when I go through all the leg work, like getting Bruce the pardon.”
“Sorry old man! You snooze, you lose!”
If people knew this was how the world’s richest and most powerful man, and the world’s most powerful (part) human superspy talk to each other at board game nights, Kara is pretty sure spy agencies all over the world would die in shame to be constantly losing to them.
May 17, 2009, MCU
Natasha Romanoff, Near Odesa Ukraine
Natasha Romanoff, better known as her codename The Black Widow, was not having a good day today. Things at Shield have slowly been getting more and more tense, and she hasn’t been able to uncover why exactly, other than it having to do something with that new group SPEAR. While she is no longer on probation after being turned, and is instead a full agent, no spy agency lets everyone know everything.
But what Natasha does know is that Fury has been getting even less sleep, and seeming to be even more overworked than normal. Especially after whatever happened to May and Coulson in Bahrain a few months ago. Since then, Coulson has been flying all over the country trying to track something down for Fury, but seeming to have no luck so far. Meanwhile Agent May clenches her jaw in obvious frustration anytime someone calls her ‘The Calvary’ because of the official story for that mission.
The fact that May does nothing to stop the official story or try to put an end to that nickname tells Natasha that the official mission report is a bunch of nonsense that May unfortunately has to sell.
But despite the rising stress of her closest coworkers, Natasha at least is able to be proud of her work. She is working towards truly balancing out as much of the red in her ledger as she can, and she feels good about that.
Part of her signing condition with Fury had been that he would keep his sources looking for Yelena, but to do nothing if he ever found her. Unfortunately ever since she destroyed the Red Room there has been not a single appearance of her sister anywhere.
But her sister is well trained, so not being found at all means that she is out there free and safe from everything in the world. Natasha will balance the blood in both of their pasts to make up for it, so Yelena can continue to live whatever unsuspecting life she is right now.
But all of that has led her to her current mission, in escorting an Iranian Nuclear scientist out of the country and back to America eventually. As the foremost expert, taking him away will set the Iranian’s nuclear program back at least a decade. Even more if he is able to provide them with details of sites and facilities to provide targets for America to strike at.
If she can stop a nuclear war, then maybe it was all worth it, even at least a little bit.
But reality often comes crashing down on her when she begins to gain back any sense of optimism, just like her car is currently crashing down the side of a cliff.
Just as she was rounding a corner, suddenly her tires were shot out from under her, causing the car to suddenly veer to the side. The guard rails that should have been able to hold them back, had their support beams explode by what was most likely remote triggered charges, resulting in their sudden freefall.
Luckily, it is a Shield issued vehicle, and Natasha is trained on how to take impacts correctly, even if the scientist is out cold in the back seat. Cutting herself loose, Natasha knows she only has a couple minutes before their attacker most likely repels down the ledge to either confirm the kill or finish the job. So she needs to move, and she needs to move now.
Grabbing her charge, she throws his arm over her shoulder to begin dragging him away from the wreckage. Just as she gets out though, she can hear some very heavy impacts of a pair of feet landing just a dozen yards away from her. Turning to keep her body between the arrival and the scientist, Natasha sees the boogeyman of the assassination world standing before her.
Black combat suit. Black mask. Brown hair. Finally, and most importantly, the completely metal arm adorned with the red soviet star.
The boogeyman must be every bit as unbelievable as is said, because she can’t even see any repelling gear that he used to come down here so much more quickly than she expected.
She has no time to truly analyze HOW he arrived, as he is very unfortunately here, and already turning towards her with his rifle coming to bear. Natasha has just enough time to tuck the scientist even further behind her to ensure that-
Suddenly the Winter Soldier aborts his movements, and instead raises his metal arm to guard his flank as a wave of force seems to appear from nowhere, smashing into his side. While his arm seems to protect his upper body well, his legs were left unprotected, causing his feet to fly out from under him and sending him sliding further down the slope.
Expecting a third side to this fight to now enter the fray, Natasha prepares herself for the new target to only be shocked yet again. When the figure wearing black combat suit, vibrant purple hair, and a very cool face mask complete with led smiley face, comes rocketing by, only to continue on in the same direction as the Winter Soldier. Stopping for only a half a second to look in her direction, and utter a single word.
“Sup!”
Left alone again with the unconscious scientist, as the sounds of combat begin to pick up down the hill and into the woods, Natasha is left wondering if she died in the car crash and this is the start of whatever hell or purgatory comes next.
That would certainly make much more sense to her anyways.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Just a couple days ago, I thought back to how much we would talk in Rhino’s discord about how scary Quake must have been to Cadmus in Retirement. So I decided to go full genre switch, and have the perspective for this scene change and make it into a horror/ thriller movie! Haha. It was a lot of fun. And finally we get to the winter soldier mission, which will open up a lot more options for Daisy moving forward!
Most people saw it coming that it was Maya/ AIM I was hinting at in the last chapter, so congrats on that! And Daisy officially stops the plotline to a whole movie, in one day. She would have done it before he killed anyone, but Killian’s schedule ended up moving up because of the commotion around the super soldier serum and hulk battle that Daisy caused in this timeline. Butterflies work against you sometimes, but she was still able to catch it fairly early.
Hope you enjoy it, and I'll see you next week!
Chapter 17: Vibes and Verity
Summary:
Daisy concludes her interactions with two of the most infamous members of the world's dark underworld; The Black Widow and The Winter Soldier. And finally, Kara takes a look at her company's new HQ but with good news come complications as well.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
Sorry this is a day late! Work kept me busy yesterday with a 13+ hour shift. I love working in theatre, but boy is it not the best for a regular work schedule.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
May 17, 2009, MCU
Daisy Johnson, Crash site outside of Odesa Ukraine
Daisy continued on after her target, flying through the woods by rocketing herself around the trees with blasts of vibrations sent through the air behind her. Despite The Winter Soldier (and she refuses to call him Bucky, she didn’t expect to even be in the same WORLD as him ever again when she named her cat that) already recovering and moving to a new location to try and turn her ambush around, she was able to easily track him.
And why is that? Well it is quite simple, the answer is his Vibranium arm.
His Vibranium arm that by all Shield reports should be made out of titanium at this point in the timeline! What could have possibly happened that caused Hydra to locate this much Vibranium, and use it to make it into an arm for their best assassin?
Back when her gauntlets were built, Daisy would occasionally dream about getting a pair made out of Vibranium, thinking that would make her unstoppable as she could freely use her powers without worrying about the consequences.
Now she knows better, because Vibranium is apparently the metal of the devil himself.
Okay, that is a bit unfair to Robbie, but in her defense, she is on edge because Vibranium feels like nothing.
No, not nothing. Worse than nothing. Honestly, her powers probably read Vibranium the same way they would read a black hole being in front of her. It’s as if space itself collapses in wherever the Vibranium arm is, and it is constantly giving Daisy the same instinctual feeling as standing at the edge of a cliff when you can’t see the bottom.
She hates it.
And besides the way it makes the hairs stand up on the back of her neck, the Vibranium also acts as a cover for everything behind it as well. Making a portable blind spot, from which anything could be happening behind the cone of its location relative to where Daisy is, and she will have no idea what.
So it is also her biggest tactical weakness, aside from speedsters like Kara, as well.
All the same, Daisy arrives at the Winter Soldier’s spot faster than he probably expected, as she was able to cut corners and make a beeline right towards him. All the same, he is able to react and brings up a gun from behind his Vibranium arm, and aims at her.
Oh good, his super-soldier programming made him quick-witted enough to realize that her powers were blocked by his arm during her opening strike, so he is using it as a shield against her. Fucking GREAT!
But combat is nothing new to her, and neither are bullets, which are blocked by the protective layer she emits around herself. Soon enough almost the full magazine is unloaded at her, all kill shots aimed directly at her heart or her head, and he begins to motion as if he is surprised at his gun being out of ammo and acts like he is throwing away the pistol.
Deciding to play into things, Daisy drops her cover and shoots forward as if to tackle him to the ground, when he acts as she expected him to. Barnes quickly brings the nearly discarded pistol back up, and fires the last bullet that he only pretended to use, trying to catch her off guard with his last shot.
Unfortunately for him, in order to fire at her he had to raise the pistol above his Vibranium arm, so she could still feel the bullet in the chamber.
Also she knows that model of pistol, and can count how many times he fired.
If this was a preplanned ambush of her, she would be honestly insulted at it. But seeing as this is a plan that Barnes came up with in a matter of seconds after being attacked by a complete unknown, she is just more impressed at his ability to adapt while deeply mind controlled.
In response to the end of the pistol now pointed directly between her eyes, Daisy jabs her hand forward, extending two fingers out from her fist to help deliver a concentrated ‘bullet’ of force right down the barrel just as the trigger is pulled.
With the force of the gunpowder, and the force of her shockwave competing to push the bullet in opposite directions, that left only one possibility.
The gun in Barnes’ hand suddenly explodes as the bullet misfires, some shrapnel digging into his hand but the majority of it bursting out the sides missing them both.
Daisy never stopped her forward momentum in the face of the gun raised at her, so she continues on and crashes straight into the shoulder of Barnes’ now injured side, avoiding the Vibranium completely, and sends him crashing to the ground with a crack as his shoulder dislocates.
Stabilizing herself with some corrective blasts of vibrations, Daisy stays standing over the now prone form of the Winter Soldier. Drawing her pistol, Daisy goes to end this fight and capture Bucky Barnes by shooting him with an icer round.
And that’s when Chekhov’s gun fires, just her luck, because with Barnes on the ground and having only the knives in his holsters left Daisy had been subconsciously ignoring the vibranium arm that had been distracting her so much. Which meant that she did not notice the small compartment in the palm opening, nor did she sense the blade being shot out of it and straight at her either, as it seemed to ALSO be made out of Vibranium.
The only thing that ended up saving Daisy’s life were the combat instincts drilled into her by May, and the Centipede Serum running through her veins that helped to increase her reaction speed.
All the same, she was only able to get her arm up in time to intercept the blade from striking her straight in the throat, and instead have it bury in the side of her bicep, stabbing through her combat suit.
Growling to herself at the oversight, Daisy raises her offhand to send a blast of vibrations to knock Barnes out cold, not wanting to risk trying to aim with her now injured arm, when it happens.
All the vibrations she threw forward, instead get cut off at the source, for the first time since she unlocked her powers, the millions of bees she has kept contained within her fall silent. Dead. Gone.
Even the control chip had only stopped her from activating or using her powers, whatever the Vibranium blade is doing, it leaves her feeling off. Her body is numb, it is as if she is now missing a limb, or as if she has suddenly lost one of her major senses. Or maybe even all three at the same time.
On top of that, it seems stealing every bit of vibration she has, is FINALLY able to affect the Vibranium, only this causes the blade to vibrate where it is, in her arm.
“Agh!” Unable to come to terms with the change of circumstances so quickly, Daisy falls to her knees and cries out in pain and panic. But she is not a trained agent for nothing, and gatehrs herself quickly enough to register that Barnes is almost back up and about to launch another attack at her.
Their duel is interrupted when bullets begin raining down on Barnes’ position, the very first one striking him in the leg, while the others either miss or get blocked by the arm.
“No!” Daisy cries out, seeing the mind control man about to be killed by the Black Widow as she emerges from the tree line towards them. Forcing herself through the pain and discomfort, Daisy raises her injured arm enough to get her Icer in position to make the shot.
With Barnes having the shield himself from the bullets coming for his side from his original advisory, he is unable to block her shot in time, and the bullet in his leg stops him from being able to avoid it.
Despite the whole fight lasting only 30 seconds or so, it is finally over and mission accomplished, giving Daisy the time to rip the blade out of her arm, throwing it to the ground, and letting the vibrations course through her body once again.
Hopefully Kara won’t be too mad about the obvious medical problems that come from ripping a knife out of yourself, but it was completely worth it in Daisy’s book. Even letting out a sigh of relief, although with her voice changer it almost sounds like an android rebooting or something.
At least that’s what Daisy feels like it sounds like, and the look of incredulousness the Black Widow is giving her makes Daisy feel correct in that approximation.
“Thanks for the assist, but I’m not looking to kill someone who was mind controlled to be an assassin. He went through even stricter and less humane conditioning than you did, Black Widow”. Daisy begins.
Romanoff stiffens at the mention of both what she went through and at having her Shield codename dropped casually, but luckily she doesn’t take it too badly as the gun stays aimed at the ground instead of pointing at Daisy. Although it isn't moved back into the holster either.
“Well you did most likely save my life, but it is a little bit hard to believe that the world’s best assassin is just an innocent civilian.” Romanoff returns back.
“Eh. Civilian certainly isn’t accurate for what he was before he was captured, but he is another victim of the race for the Super Soldier Serum, although I didn’t release his story along with the others that I leaked last year.”
“You leaked… Are you part of SPEAR then? You match the description of the enhanced known as Quake I was discreetly told to look out for, but your profile was quite lacking and verbal only.” While Romanoff doesn’t take aim even then, she does go from being relaxed in her stance to being far more ready for this to dissolve into fighting.
Turning to face Romanoff head on, she raises an eyebrow in question even though it can’t be seen through her mask. “Yeah dude. I’m the founder and head of it.” Not that anyone needs to know it is currently just her, and sometimes Jarvis. “Did Coulson and May really stick to our deal that well that you didn’t hear about our adventure in Bahrain?”
At Natasha’s slow head shake no, Daisy is going to have to readjust how much respect she thinks she’s earned from Coulson, or that Romanoff is not as trusted as she believed at this time.
“Huh. Cool. Was expecting the story to travel a bit more in Shield based off of how much time he has spent since then trying to hunt me down.”
“Coulson has been meeting with our boss-” “Fury”- “has been meeting with Director Fury a lot, but I don’t even think my partner and handler-” “Barton” “Agent Barton has been filled in on the reason why.” While recovering well from Daisy’s interjections, the annoyed twitch in the eye of the Black Widow at her knowledge is something to put into her spy resume if she ever needs one.
“Well it was me, I helped them out when their mission went sideways, and between my powers, knowledge, and skills, it has probably made me a priority target for them. Hopefully just for recruitment though. But I ended up making a deal to answer some questions, if Coulson and May limited who they told about me. I just didn’t expect them to follow it THIS well. So… want to make a deal of our own? Since Coulson and May have been following the deal, that must mean they don’t regret making it, right?”
Romanoff takes a good long while of looking into Daisy’s LED eyes, seeming to try and discern anything more to help her make this decision that she can. Finally she responds back. “I’m open to it. But I get to take the Winter Soldier there back with me, since he was my mission after all.”
Daisy just lets out a derisive snort at that. “Please, the scientist that you were escorting and have hidden back towards the crash with your Shield phone on him emitting a distress signal is your mission, not him.” Thank you Kara for deciding to upgrade her Quake mask to give useful info occasionally, and thank you Jarvis for telling her about the signal after the fight. “Although the lies don’t make me as inclined to make a deal anymore.”
Romanoff looks completely unbothered about being caught, and just shrugs back. “Technically I’m supposed to take care of anyone who tries to kill who I’m escorting. So it wasn't a complete lie, but we’re both spies, and your height and body build make me think we may have started around the same age. We know how to play the game, but what are you suggesting?”
“First is just you take your scientist, I take my captive, with no need for us to fight it out. Second, you skimp over as much of the details of this fight that you saw as you can, and I’ll tell you why I’m not looking to work with Shield anytime soon.” No need for the details of her struggles against Vibranium to get out, even if Romanoff won’t know that’s what the metal was made out of, if that gets back to Hydra it could give her issues down the road.
“Sounds to me like you’re hiding from Shield, if agents keep making these deals Fury will never truly get the right picture of you. Sounds like this deal benefits you more.” Well at least she doesn’t try to debate the ownership of captives, speaking of which, Daisy uses her powers to confirm that Barnes isn’t going to bleed out anytime soon, nor is his serum letting him wake up from the dendrotoxin early.
“Want me to sweeten it? Fine, I’ll tell you what I know about your sister in the Red Room.” She was going to say this part anyways, but might as well make it look like a capitulation.
Apparently that was NOT the right thing to say, as Romanoff suddenly takes aim at her, but luckily doesn’t go to start a fight by firing. Nearly growling at her, Romanoff bites back at Daisy. “My sister is none of your business, and her past in the Red Room isn’t either. Leave. Her. Alone.”
Now for the bad news of the conversation. “I agree with you there.” That seems to take the sails out of Romanoff’s anger, as she settles down and looks back questioningly. “But I wasn’t talking about her PAST in the Red Room, I was talking about her being part of the CURRENT Red Room.”
Something in the way she says it must make Romanoff feel like she is telling the truth at least a little bit, because Daisy can see the fear and sadness well up in her eyes instead. “No. No, that's impossible. I killed Dreykov and he ran the whole thing. I blew the entire building to pieces.”
“While that is mostly true, Dreykov is a paranoid son of a bitch. His office was bomb proofed, and was set to automatically lock up if it detected signals that could be used to set off remote explosives. Like the kind Barton used to help you.”
Daisy can see the way her words get to Romanoff, because even before the Budapest bombing Dreykov was known for his paranoia, even to foreign spy agencies like Shield. And after the bombing…
“And the bombing only made his paranoia worse. He has hidden himself so far away and so far off the grid, I have not been able to track him down. His Widows take only the highest paying, but lowest profile kills, as all that money seems to be going towards creating a new super base somewhere, and I haven’t been able to find out where that is either.” The ability for agencies to build giant bases and structure off the grid is honestly ridiculous these days. You either need the loyalty that Shield inspires, the obedience that Hydra requires, or the ruthlessness to kill thousands of workers once they are done that Dreykov has.
“Impossible. If he was making even that much noise, Fury would have noticed and told me.” Romanoff seems to be clinging onto the hope, by trying to find a flaw in her logic to latch on to, except…
“Oh he probably has heard, and probably hasn’t been able to find the ‘where’ of it either. But why would he tell you? Afterall, he probably feels that if he can’t find the answers then neither could you. So telling you just means losing a great new agent for nothing.”
And Romanoff can obviously see the logic in her response. The logic in Fury’s actions. Afterall, that’s what the head of agencies like that do. Blood math. And in this instance, the math doesn’t work in Romanoff’s favor.
“But worst of all, the information that your first mission in Ohio helped to steal was for TRUE mind control. Not conditioning like what you and the one-armed-man here went through. But pure obedience at a chemical level, and the bombing made Dreykov so paranoid that it was the push he needed to get that research finished. Now every soldier and every Widow in his service can never disobey an order again.”
Dreykov truly is one of the worst people in the world, but even her Shield files from the future aren’t able to help her much. He spent much of this time in the dark, so his activities aren’t well known, and whatever Romanoff did to take him down is also mostly a mystery.
Just one day while the Black Widow was on the run, suddenly a giant secret airship fell from the sky, with her claiming to Ross that she ended the mind-control Widow program with the help of her sister… Before escaping Ross’s detainment of her during the transport to the Raft.
She just ended a worldwide assassination agency that he didn’t even know about, and yet Ross still underestimated her just because she didn’t have superpowers. Idiot.
In the end, Daisy needs to do the same blood math as Fury, and taking down Hydra is much more important in the short term than taking down the Red Room. So she can’t devote the time to find the answers. But unlike Fury, Daisy feels like Romanoff should get to make the choice about what she does, so she gives her what she knows.
“And my sister is caught up in it? What about my parents from Ohio too?”
Well shit. Daisy thought she was just close with her ‘fake’ sister from that mission. She didn’t realize that there was any love with parents as well. And most of all… “Honestly, I don’t know. The Red Room’s files are as easy to hack as Shield’s mostly due the Red Room being offline. But having access to Shield files did let me know that the mind control research that was stolen in Ohio, that came from a Shield Research facility.” Sort of true. Obviously that’s not what Shield files claim the facility was being used for, mostly because Hydra lied to Shield about that.
At that, Daisy gets a scoff back from Romanoff. “What? Is this the part where you tell me that Fury isn’t just hiding things from me, but is actually evil as well?”
“Honestly? No. I don’t agree with Fury o a lot of his policies and methods, nor would I personally trust him with my life, but I think he is truly trying to do good.” At Romanoff’s raised eyebrow, Daisy decides to answer the unasked question. “But who says that Fury has as much control of Shield as he thinks he does? Afterall, Fury has bosses he has to answer to as well.”
With that seed of doubt planted about the World Security Council and more specifically Alexander Pierce, their conversation is just about done. So Daisy goes to bind up Barnes, while keeping the Vibranium arm and knife as far away from her as possible for their coming flight.
“Why tell me all this? It sounds like you're trying to get me to distrust the one organization I thought I could use to clear the red from my ledger. Sure, I’ll stick to our deal and my report on you won’t be complete, but it must be more than that. I was honestly expecting a sales pitch for Spear, but you seem ready to go.”
Taking a few moments to finish collecting Barnes, Daisy finally turns back to the Black Widow, as she prepares for her long flight back home.
“First of all, the Red Room is disgusting and no matter what I will be ready to help you take it down. But if I gave you the sales pitch, I doubt you would say yes right now. That would be stupid and far too trusting, and you are neither. But next time I see you? After you spend a few months or maybe a year or two checking out what I said about the Red Room, and looking at Shield with a more critical eye…?”
Daisy crouches down, gathering the vibrations around her…
“THEN I think I will have a real shot at recruiting you.”
And Daisy blasts off.
May 18, 2009, MCU
Kara Danvers, House El Revolutionary Origins HQ Downtown LA
As Kara stepped through the front doors of her company’s (HER COMPANY!!) new headquarters, hand in hand with her girlfriend beside her, Kara feels like she can take on the world!
Okay, maybe that was a bit much. Her thoughts started sounding more like what Quake used to say in front of the press in National City.
Kara feels like she can take on the mountain of problems coming her way as a young CEO!
The majority of the construction of her company’s Headquarters is finished. The place is by no means operational or ready for employees, it has no equipment or furniture loaded in yet, but it has been built! Between Tony helping to get permits quickly, and using Stark Industries to help speed along the construction, the 20 story building was put up incredibly quickly… At least, by LA/ National City standards that is.
With a lot of the lower floors going to shipping, or manufacturing, and floors in the middle being dedicated to lab work, it helped speed things along as there was a lot more open space than a traditional building would have.
And with herself being available to help consult the architecture for the lab needs, it also helped to speed things along and avoid errors in making the specialized labs required.
Kara, when working with the architecture on the design, decided to pay homage to two places that have helped shape who she is to this day. The exterior of the building is modeled after CatCo Worldwide Media’s building. It is obviously scaled down, as Kara did not need nearly as large of a skyscraper even for the most ambitious research buildings.
Meanwhile, the interior is filled with the soft curving walls, circular hallways, large originate glass windows, and large decorative pillars she grew up around on Krypton.
She and Daisy can’t go visit the Krypton of this world yet, but that doesn’t mean she can’t bring a little bit of Krypton here.
It isn’t until Kara feels the light rubbing on her back from Daisy’s hand that she realizes a couple of tears have escaped from the emotional state she is in.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m being silly and it's just walls and windows of a building, but…” Kara begins to explain, before losing the words.
“Hey, don’t do that.” Daisy offers words of comfort, along with running her hand along her cheek while using her thumb to wipe away Kara’s tears. “All your life you’ve been hiding away this part of you. Don’t apologize to me for embracing it.”
Kara takes a moment to close her eyes, and press her hand into Daisy’s hand that is still on her cheek, leaning further into the warmth and comforting vibrations coming from her mate, closing her eyes in contentment.
After a few moments in this position, Kara finally feels herself become collected once again, and opens her eyes and pulls back a little to offer words of thanks. Only to feel her eyes immediately be drawn to the bandaging on her mate’s arm. The Vibranium knife that was stabbed into her did a lot of damage, both from how deep the knife went, and how much it moved around from taking in Daisy’s powers.
The growl that comes from Kara’s throat once again at the reminder of the injury is not something she is proud of, but Kara can’t find it in herself to apologize for being protective.
Although Daisy DOES respond first by rolling her eyes at the growl. “I’m nearly healed as it is. You don’t need to keep getting all defensive over a little stab wound.” Before Kara can object to the use of ‘little’ for this stab wound, Daisy is continuing. “And it would be really helpful if you didn’t glare so hard at Bucky Barnes anytime you go see him in the containment space in the basement of our cabin. I think when we saw him just before leaving your eyes actually started glowing red a little bit.”
At that, Kara does feel her cheeks heat up a bit in both shame and embarrassment. She knows that the man isn’t truly to blame for his actions, and with him still being controlled glaring doesn’t even do anything as the man continues to sit in silence in his cell. The only reaction they get is him eating when given food so far.
But she just can’t help it! That last person to truly threaten Daisy she got to beat until they stopped moving. She hasn’t had to be in a situation like this before!
“Anyways, moving on.” Daisy’s chuckling helps to temper the embarrassment with a slit bit of good humor at least. “You said you wanted my help when stepping in here for the first time, but that there was also something you needed me to look at?”
With the reminder of the two applications folded up in her pocket, Kara’s cheeks lose their pink dusting as she is brought back to what they were really here for.
“Um yeah… I needed your help deciding whether to accept two applicants to work at HERO or not.”
“Sure? Not sure how much help I will be in talking nerd experience but I can…”
Daisy trails off as she sees the two names on the papers Kara presents to her, along with the photos going along with them that she obviously recognizes.
Doctor Jemma Simmons
Doctor Leopold Fitz
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Did I get halfway through this chapter, and THEN realize that Bucky’s original arm was titanium and nor Vibranium, only to then come up with a backstory to justify it that I like even more than my original plan?... What? Totally no. I absolutely have everything planned out and would never do that…
Anyways, Daisy begins to lay the groundwork for interacting with Natasha going forward, although it will be a while for things to bear fruit. And some of this was trying to make things work in-universe. How can Fury be so blind that he didn’t know about the Red Room that was apparently running teams all over the world? Well I say he did, but couldn’t locate the source and didn’t want to lose Natasha by telling her, hence why she knew nothing by the time the Black Widow Movie happened.
Finally FitzSimmons make their first appearance! While I couldn’t find an exact timeline for their lives, I did find that they graduated Shield academy in 2004 and then nothing of real note till they join Coulson’s team in 2012. Well now they are doing something of note in this time period!
Chapter 18: Ex-Friends and Extra-Reports
Summary:
Daisy and Kara talk Fitzsimmons and what it would mean for HERO, while Natasha deals with the situation that encountering Quake has left her in.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
May 18th, 2009, MCU
Daisy Johnson, ‘Sanctuary’ San Bernardino Mountains
Having decided to instead have this conversation in a place that she felt more secure, Daisy and Kara left Kara’s new building, rode the bus a fair distance away to an area less likely to be under SHIELD surveillance, and flew back together towards their home. The task was made a little difficult from the injury in her arm from Barnes’ knife, although with it mostly healed by this point she can mostly ignore the sting. Finally the weight of her thoughts truly hit her.
When… When did I start thinking of our cabin in the woods as ‘home’?”
The small little realization causes Daisy to land with a bit more force than intended in their dedicated landing spot, causing some dirt and debris to be kicked up in the air. Luckily Kara hadn’t landed yet, so she ended up landing just a little bit away, to steer clear of Daisy’s mess.
Daisy just waves off the raised eyebrow from Kara asking what caused the rough landing as they join up to walk into the kitchen door, letting Kara most likely assume it was due to the injury and not from her internal emotional revelations.
Honestly, she blames Fitz and Jemma for this. Dealing with one shock she can do, but two at the same time is a bit harder to work with.
None-the-less, they are soon sitting in their living room, curled up under a blanket both with cups of tea for comfort, despite it being still fairly early in the afternoon. Kara needing it from their excursion downtown, and Daisy needing it for the conversation to come.
“I… I told you about Jemma and Fitz a bit already when we were still in National City, but I also intentionally kept some things vague. Of the original group that I joined Shield with, myself, Fitz and Jemma were kind of our own little group. Fitzsimmons joined Coulson’s team because they didn't have the field work experience but wanted it, and obviously I was never an agent. So despite them being over 5 years older than me, it kindof felt like we were all in the deep end for the first time together.”
Kara stays attentive, not losing focus but also not interrupting in order to allow Daisy to get all of her thoughts about Fitzsimmons in order.
“The problem was, Jemma had so much fear and need to come up with ‘solutions’ when faced with the unknown, and the problem was that the biggest unknown we faced early on ended up being inhumans, all while I was trying to hide my powers. As horrible as it sounds upfront, luckily for me at the time Fitz was dealing with his own mental and physical damages brought on by an injury from the field. During that time Fitz helped me hide what was happening from the rest of the team, as he knew they wouldn’t react well at all to it. Even after my inhuman status came out and I eventually became closer with Jemma again, it was Fitz who was my best friend for a long time… Until he needed me to be a weapon again and cut me open to remove my power inhibitor despite me begging him not to.”
Kara wraps an arm around Daisy in comfort again, obviously recognizing this part of the story from when she told it before, just without mentioning it was Fitz who was the ‘best friend’ at the time.
“After that, I could never truly let myself relax around Fitz again, and I really noticed how the rest of Shield saw me when no one else on my team backed me up about holding Fitz accountable for his actions, because at some level they all saw me as a weapon for Shield. Even when that version of Fitz died, and I helped rescue a different version of him, I always knew he had it in him to strap me down and cut me open if it was needed. So despite Jemma always putting humans first, even above me, she became my best friend from there, more of a sister to me than my own sister was, even though I knew that it was a one way street.”
Wiping a tear that fell from her eyes, Kara leans in and presses a soft kiss to her cheek. “Hey. That says NOTHING about you and everything about them. Don’t let them make you feel like you deserve anything less than being treated like the amazing person you are. I’m doing my best to show you that you deserve it.” Kara finishes off the statement with a light touch of humor to her voice, knocking their hips together to knock Daisy out of her funk.
“Thanks Sunflower.” Daisy responds back with a weak joke of her own, referencing what Daisy had used as Kara’s codename to Tony at first. “But all of that was to say that they are two of the most brilliant scientists in the world right now, that don’t have any baggage with evil or illegal experiments. They are also completely untrained in field work, so despite them obviously being Shield plants they will probably end up being horrible spies. All the same, don’t let them know that you aren’t human, as it WILL change how they treat you. And I don’t know when or even if I will be able to face them, so you may be on your own with them for a while.”
“Okay. I think I will hire them then. Better bad spies that we know, than someone more like you. And maybe I'll even be able to change how they feel about aliens if my secret ever gets out.”
Daisy prevents the sigh from escaping her at that proclamation. She loves the optimism that Kara chooses to have all the time, but Daisy can’t help but think that it is a lost cause if the years she spent with the two didn’t change anything. All the same, Kara continues on.
“I can even have them work on the cloaking technology for the Stark version of the Quinjet that Tony is almost done with! I saw their names on the technical info you had on your computer, so if they invented it once they can do it again I think.”
From there, the conversation moves on to the science that Kara is looking forward to working on in her new building with all her new inventions. Daisy is thankful for Kara moving topics so quickly, and she can’t help but think that Kara did so because she knew that Daisy needed to not dwell on her demons for too long.
She can’t help but fall just a little bit more in love with the wonderful Kryptonian next to her.
As they settle into bed that night, Daisy can’t help but feel a bit frustrated with how the day ended. Still no progress on breaking through the Winter Soldier programming. She can’t find the lead handler, Vasily Karpov, who would eventually be tortured for the trigger words that she could possibly use to undo the programming, as he is not in hiding where he would be killed but is instead an active member of Hydra and much better hidden currently. Finally, with her injury, her plans involving the Banker and his whole Hydra division have been put on hold for just a couple of days while she waits to heal.
Deciding that she won’t end the day on such a bad note, Daisy retrieves the Vibranium dagger that was used to stab her, and places it on the bedside table. The Vibranium arm is in Kara lab, as she studies the metal and tries to unlock its secrets. Kara uses a bunch of words far too large and nerdy for Daisy to make use of to describe its contradictory nature, and instead just calls it ‘bullshit magic metal’ whenever Kara brings it up.
The frustration that radiates out of Kara at Daisy’s ability to just accept that Vibranium doesn’t make sense and move on, gives Daisy a little bit of guilty amusement.
Anyways, the dagger has been spared the tender mercies of Kara going full science on it for exercises just like what Daisy is doing now. It takes nearly a full hour, but Daisy eventually gets used to the metal enough to be able to fall asleep.
She won’t be caught off guard with such a weakness again. She will make it back home to Kara no matter what.
May 19th, 2009, MCU
Natasha Romanoff, Triskelion Washington DC
It took a couple days to finish the extraction, which included medical care for the injuries the Iranian Nuclear Scientist sustained, but eventually Natasha was on her way back towards the USA. The strangest thing however, was that when in route on her call with Clint to give her debrief, as soon as she mentioned a ‘feminine figure in a combat suit and led mask’ he instantly told her to instead reroute directly to Shield HQ, the Triskelion in Washington DC, to give the full report in person. Something that DIDN’T happen when she had mentioned the Winter Soldier showing up.
Well Quake certainly is right about Shield’s interest in her at least, so her paranoia has at least some bearing.
Even more shocking, when she did arrive instead of going to Clint’s office (which most call his ‘nest’), he instead directs her to follow him all the way up to Director Fury’s office. Technically she has met the man a few times, but only had one actual conversation after she went from being a preliminary agent to a full time field agent. Even then that one conversation was short, with the main topic being his reaffirming of the deal of looking for her sister for the duration of her time as an agent.
But she had to say, the man was charismatic and was able to inspire the early seeds of loyalty in her. She’s a spy, she knows when she is being worked, but even knowing doesn’t make her immune to the techniques nor does it mean that the Director was in any way lying at the time.
But after her discussion with Quake… she just can’t help but understand that even if he did mean his words back then, it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t act against her interests for the interests of SHIELD.
She would do the exact same thing in the reverse. Or maybe even, she WILL do the exact same thing if Quake’s words are proven true.
Soon enough they arrive at the top floor, a floor dedicated to the offices of Shield Director Nick Fury and his direct support staff. After strict security screenings, Clint and Natasha are led into Fury’s office, where the man himself is ready at the desk in the room.
Rather than just one or two chairs being opposite the desk like most offices, instead 5 chairs are set up with 3 of them already occupied. Assistant Director Maria Hill is at one end, with two open chairs next to her. On the other end are Agents Phil Coulson and Melinda May.
Clint speeds up his walk slightly, taking the seat next to Hill leaving her the open chair in the middle. All so she gets to be the center of attention for this talk… joy. Taking the chair and not letting her internal struggle leak through Natasha looks to the leader of the organization she has sworn to, meeting the gaze of his one good eye.
Looking her over, seemingly analyzing every detail of her, including the various healing scrapes on her face from the car crash, Director Fury takes a solid 30 seconds before finally addressing her.
“I know that you are not used to giving mission debriefs in this manner, to this many people, or with me present either. But I think we can both appreciate the severity of the ongoing situation you’ve come across. There is a Shield initiative that I was planning to read you in on soon anyways, but I would like you to give your report before that. So, if you please.” Although the tone of that last sentence certainly makes it known that it isn’t actually a request.
Finally put to the test on her resolve, Natasha finds herself feeling too weak to not give in to the temptation. The temptation to give in to old habits, the temptation to hedge her bets, the temptation to distrust those she has spent the last year building trust with.
So Natasha gives her report, but she sticks to the deal she made with Quake and limits the details just ever so slightly. Instead of saying she had a good view of Quake’s opening attack, she was taking cover from the Winter Soldier and only heard him get thrown away. Instead of arriving near the end of the fight and helping to finish it, Natasha says she arrived after it concluded and explains the discharged bullets by claiming she fired warning shots.
The following conversation is more or less told in truth, but obviously she avoids mentioning the deal she made, or the claims made by Quake that the Red Room is operational.
Throughout the whole debrief, no questions are asked by anyone in the room and no one writes down anything for a Shield report to get filed. Which is… strange, but not her place to question.
At the end, all the agents and directors in the room take a few moments to digest what she has said, before it is AD Maria Hill who asks the first question.
“You mentioned thinking she was like you, do you think she was one of the Widows from the Red Room?” From the corner of her eye, she thinks she sees Fury twitch. Is this confirmation? Is he just mad about what the first question is? Is she just imagining everything because she fears it to all be true?
Damn Quake and her claims.
“No. Widows are trained with seduction as being a key part of who we are, it permeates into the way we fight and walk and talk. I don’t think Quake had that training at all, she seems to be a warrior and always seems to be ready to fight even when just standing and talking. Although I would wager she was trained by a woman, and not a man, from the way she held herself.”
“Did she seem like someone you could work with in the future?” Coulson asks.
The question startles her a little bit, not sure exactly what prompted that question, but answers none-the-less. “She seems skilled, powerful, and good at the social aspect of spy work as well, not just a meathead. I would be fine working with her, but she did not seem to particularly trust Shield overall.”
“Yet, this is the second time she has shown up when we have needed help. My mission in Bahrain was at least large and the mom and daughter may have already been on Quake’s radar. But do you have any idea how she would know that the world’s best assassin would be set to kill a Shield agent in the middle of nowhere of significance on the other side of the world?” May’s question helps to confirm how much needing help from Quake on her mission has truly messed with her. Although the question IS a good one to ask.
“Best guess? The best time to kill trained killers is when they have someone else to focus on. So she was probably there for the Winter Soldier, not to save me, it just gave her the opening of him being distracted that she needed. How she knew he would target me then and there, I have no idea.” It’s how she would do it too, in Quake’s position. Although talking with and saving her probably WAS a mission objective for Quake, not that Natasha will share that.
“Do you think she was telling the truth about the mind control? Seems like she has a type if we are to believe what Quake has said on both missions.” Clint asks her. Although how mind control plays into Bahrain goes over her head, she answers all the same.
“…I don’t know. I didn’t see the man long enough before she attacked to see any signs, and he was out by the time I arrived. It could easily have been an excuse, or the truth.” If she is being honest, she DOES believe Quake, but only because of how Quake shouted out at her when she almost shot the Winter Soldier. Since she cut that part of the story out, she can’t use it as proof.
“Could you kill her if ordered to?” The question finally comes from Director Fury, and it throws her completely off guard.
“I’m sorry, what?” The question feels so stupid, she can’t help but question him back.
“You are one of Shield’s best assassins, despite your short time with us. So if you were ordered to, do you think you could kill her or would you fail?” For a second she thought it may have partially been a loyalty question, as if she was found out already, but it seems to be purely a question of her ability.
“She is incredibly powerful, I have no idea what her enhancements do or how they work, she was moving at speeds that make me think she has some kind of superhuman reflex, she is professionally trained, and I know nothing about her that she hasn’t decided to show me. I would lose. Badly.” That doesn’t include the possibility of her being able to easily hack into Shield, which Natasha can’t mention. And while something about the Winter Soldier’s arm and dagger seem to affect her, nothing else did so she has no idea what made them special.
At that, Director Fury lets out a snort of amusement. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to order that. Just wanted to be sure I had your number right. The fact is, right now, if Quake ends up being an enemy I have no idea how we will actually stop her. Aside from the team I’m looking to put together that is.” At that, Fury motions to Hill to explain what he means, while Fury goes to his computer and types something else up.
What follows is an introduction to the craziest brainchild that Fury has apparently been working on for years, and has recently been given support from the World Security Council for it. A group of the enhanced, empowered, aliens, supersoldiers, or anyone else with abilities above humans to combat the biggest threats out there.
Currently the only ‘members’ are Clint, the captain of the team, and herself, the vice-captain. What a way to learn about her possible future assignment. Other possibilities are a former pilot who gained powers but is on another planet, Tony Stark’s Iron Man, Bruce Banner’s Hulk, Captain America if he still lives, the mother from the Bahrain mission, Supergirl, and Quake. Although not a single person on that list has actually been approached about the initiative or works with Shield in any way currently.
So it is the concept of a plan at this point, and nothing more, but at least she learns what exactly DID happen in Bahrain from Coulson and May, along with getting the news that Director Fury isn’t planning on attacking Quake anytime soon.
During the explanation, Fury had finished whatever he was typing, and then just a few minutes later got an annoyed expression on his face from a notification on a different terminal on his desk. Soon the reason for why is explained, as in walks the Secretary of the World Security Council, Alexander Pierce.
While not a name or position that is known to civilians, the fact is the position is a very political one to Shield so most agents have at least heard the name, even if only a few have met him.
And the man walking in does NOT look happy.
“Mr. Secretary, if I had known to expect you I would have prepared better, rather being in the middle of a debrief with Romanoff. I can’t help but notice you arrived with just enough time to read the report I sent you, rather than travel here from your office.” Fury’s annoyance is not even being bothered to be hidden from the man who is his boss.
“I have my own sources of information, Nick, didn’t I teach you that? I knew something big happened with Agent Romanoff’s mission, and made sure to be nearby when she came in, and I’m glad I did. This is one of the most concerning reports I’ve read since you became Director.” Secretary Pierce responds.
“Concerning how? We have better confirmation that Quake does not intend to fight against Shield, and she continues to take out our enemies while saving our Agents. While we haven’t found her to recruit her, things are still positive from the way I see it.” Looking around, it seems like Natasha is not the only one who thinks they should have been sent out of the room for this, yet neither have ordered them out, so they remain where they are.
“Or Quake is beating you at your own game. As far as we can tell, she is putting together her own group of ‘Avengers’ and possibly has control of and immunity to a girl who can mind control everyone Quake tells her to. Or do you have any proof that I am wrong?” Pierce asks with a tone that conveys what everyone knows, what Pierce is saying is not something that can be disproven…
Clenching his jaw hard for a few seconds, Fury eventually grounds out a response. “While I believe otherwise… No, I have no proof that you are wrong.” It obviously pains Fury to admit it, as Fury has a reputation for being someone who follows his gut.
“Then the World Security Council already voted to give me discretion over orders regarding Quake, and in light of this report I am issuing a kill or capture order against Quake. No more making nice, either she is taken in or she is taken out.”
Fury stares back, glaring with his one eye, while his hand clenches into a fist fighting off the anger at being overridden in such a direct manner in front of his subordinates. But Shield is an Agency of rules, and rules even apply to someone as high as the Director.
“Understood, Mr. Secretary. I will put out the order by the end of the day.” Fury says, with true coldness in his voice.
With that, Alexander Pierce turns around, and walks out of the office, not even sparing the rest of them a glance. After a few moments for the change in reality to settle, Fury finally turns to Natasha and goes to dismiss her.
“That is all for now Agent Romanoff. Not how I wanted to end the day, but that just means we need to be sure to capture Quake the next time she shows up, to make sure Shield doesn’t become her enemy when someone else tries to kill her.”
As Natasha gets up to leave, distracted by what she THINKS she saw, Fury has one last surprise for her. “And by the way, welcome to Level 7.” Clint walks up with her new badge, displaying her new clearance level proudly on the ID card. Natasha makes sure to display the appreciation and thanks expected of her, even as she feels her head spin a little bit.
As she walks out of the office, she can’t help but think over what she saw in Secretary Pierce. The fear is expected, he is here under the idea that Quake is assembling an anti-avengers team.
But if that’s all it is, then why did he look… angry as well? Is Alexander Pierce who Quake is weary of in Shield above Fury? And how the hell is she going to investigate this, her sister, or even the Red Room without committing treason or looking like she is defecting?
Despite gaining more peers and prestige today, Natasha can’t help but feel more alone than she has since joining.
What the hell is she going to do?
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: A day late due to work, but here all the same! Hope you enjoyed this chapter with more feels and discussions, as I feel like I have been a bit more action focused for the last few chapters. I had originally planned to give a peek into the next scene, but decided not to leave things on a cliff hanger like I did last week.
Next week we have another needed discussion from one of our two leads, along with Daisy finally making her biggest move against Hydra now that Bucky has been secured. I said in this fic she was waiting to move against Hydra so she could get Bucky, which would help her get Captain America on her side, and she didn’t want to butterfly effect away the one mission that she knew the Winter Soldier would be at. Well now that that is complete… time to go squid hunting!
Chapter 19: Confessions and Coins
Summary:
Daisy finally comes clean with a detail she was hiding from an ally, before taking her biggest shot against Hydra now that Bucky Barnes is secure.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
May 21st, 2009, MCU
Tony Stark, Stark Malibu Mansion
Tony had been having the time of his life since he came back from Afghanistan. With Pepper taking on a larger and more official role for the work she had been doing for him, along with Jarvis getting such massive upgrades, and ideas for new inventions being nearly spoon-fed to him by the two tiny terrors, his workload has never been smaller.
And he wasn’t exactly dealing with an overload of work before, if the amount of partying and drinking was any indication…
For what felt like years, Tony had honestly been in a daze with his inventing. He made new weapons, because it was expected of him and what was needed. But now, he feels joy every time he steps into the lab, either by himself or with little Danvers. He feels like he was asleep, and is finally awake. He feels like he has more ideas, muses, and inspirations than he has time to achieve.
He feels… like his life has meaning.
With the patents for the Quinjets (now named Starkjets) filed, Tony finally had time to put the finishing touches on his other key project. The problem left to him by his father, in a message to the future.
While in the other timeline he apparently was able to make an entirely new element in under a week, this time he took his time to do things right. Or more specifically his girlfriend Pepper required him to actually take his time before sticking something experimental back into his chest.
This timeline he also didn’t need to ruin his mansion, be held captive and forced to work on only it, or slot it in with only the barebones of projective testing done to the ride off into battle, and was able to create it without anyone else other than his partners being aware that he had done so.
Really he owes a lot to Kara and Daisy, not that he will ever come out and say it, because he will forever take the two houseguests that were squatting in his mansion over the manipulation and control he would have suffered at the hands of Shield. He has been called a control freak, usually in response to ‘his thing’ about being handed stuff from those he doesn't know when that isn’t even the worst of his control habits.
If you’re rich or a genius, then your quirks aren’t problems, they are eccentricities. And that is the excuse he will keep using to stop himself from going to therapy.
All the same, after a long day of tests, limits pushed, and contingencies designed, Tony finally stares down at the new triangular power core resting in his chest. He will eventually need to install the cover he designed that changes the light back to the old circular design to continue to fool Shield or Hydra, and that isn’t even addressing the fact that hopefully in a few years time Extremis will be worked out enough that he can have his injuries actually healed. But for now, Tony revels in the increased power that he can feel thrumming in his core.
It is probably completely psychosomatic, but he even feels healthier already knowing that the slight palladium poisoning he was getting is gone as well.
Walking upstairs from his lab, he expects to find a dark house as by this time Pep is normally asleep in their bed, but instead he finds Kara and Pep talking on the couch and Daisy sitting at the kitchen island missing with a tablet in her hands.
Probably hacking into the Pentagon because she’s bored or something.
“I’m pretty sure I didn’t lose a whole day down there, so our game night shouldn’t be until tomorrow night, and don’t you have a mission that involves murdering a bunch of corrupt Hydra agents around the world tonight?” Tony begins, casting a look at both of their combat outfits already donned on each of them. Daisy is in her normal Quake outfit, but Kara is dressed in a basic dark combat suit.
“You were finally putting in your new core today! Of course we would come see how it would go.” Kara says as she gets up, nearly skipping over from the couch, crossing the large room in only a second, inspecting his chest piece without her glasses, most likely looking into all of the internals to double check his work.
For all her vision is called ‘x-ray’ he has no idea what it actually is. All his power cores have been protected against that kind of examination ever since he went to the Pentagon, yet Kara’s vision is still able to pierce right through it.
Daisy is right that Kryptonians are overpowered as all hell, and Kryptonite doesn’t exist here either, making her MORE overpowered than she was on her version of Earth.
Tony does his best not to be emasculated by being so outclassed by two teenage girls, knowing their true age and species, and he at least partially succeeds.
“Green across the board with all the tests, and it feels great installed too. And that was a great idea you had about refining the Badassium using a less powerful atomic laser over a longer period of time. It made sure our power draw won’t get noticed in making it, and also decreases the overall power cost in the process.” Tony does his best not to fidget under Kara’s piercing gaze. He HAS done the same to her when they were testing her powers, so it is only fair.
Letting out a light cough from the couch she is still on, Pepper saves him by knocking Kara out of her trance. “But that isn’t the only reason they are here tonight, right Daisy?” The tone of annoyance lets Tony know that at least she didn’t know before him whatever this is.
Daisy sets the tablet down, screen hidden against the table, before turning to him. “That’s right. But first, you were able to look over the information about the Winter Soldier we sent to you with Dr. Banner and Dr. Hansen, yeah? Any progress?”
Wary of the change in topic to the frankly depressing man, Tony nods. “Yeah. While I have made a couple weapons that affect the human head, that is more physical than the kind of chemical programming that has been done to him. Maya and Brucie have more ideas about how to reverse it using a base version of Extremis to try and ‘heal’ his mind back to normal, it may take a while. Although I will probably have to design some specific applicators to inject Extremis in all the right places of his head. Why?”
A VERY guilty look crosses Daisy’s face, and she opens and closes her mouth a few times before finally speaking in a very careful and slow voice.
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you first. You have the right to choose whether to put in the work to help him or not, I won’t hold it against you if you don’t. Thor knows I tried avoiding helping the people who hurt me before, and hated being guilt tripped into helping anyways.”
Before Tony can ask what the HELL she is talking about, when has that assassin ever hurt him, Daisy picks the tablet up and shows him and Pepper the screen as Pepper joins him at his side.
The video is old and grainy, and doesn’t have the best lighting. But the time stamp on it is a date he will never forget. The man that crawls out of the car wreck, only to have his face beaten in is someone he has been compared to for all of his life. The woman that is strangled in the passenger seat is someone that he has missed every day since he lost her.
Finally, the face of the man that shoots out the camera is someone he knows now. Someone he has seen locked up at Daisy and Kara’s cabin. Someone he was planning to help. Someone that he wants to fly off to, to blast a hole straight through his fucking chest.
Looking at Daisy with anger burning in his gut, he finds himself ready to hurl curses at her. She obviously knew what she was doing. She has known who killed his parents ever since she came back, but she decided to keep that from Tony and help the monster instead.
The look of guilt on her face stops him from hurling the first obscenity. It doesn’t stop the near growl afterwards, but he isn’t perfect.
Tony knows Daisy is a spy, she can fake who she is and how she feels and what emotions she expresses. Yet… in the near year that he has been partners and even… Friends , with the two he honestly thinks he has some idea of when Daisy is being genuine or not.
For all the avoidance that went into this, there is also a distinct lack of true manipulation. She could have easily waited to ‘discover’ this information after Tony helped to work the cure, but instead told him beforehand.
“I suggest we cancel game night and dinner this week.” Tony ground out. At the sad look coming from little Danvers, he did continue on. “We can meet again for game night next week, and don’t expect me to help cure the brainwashed murderer either.” At Daisy’s shocked look, Tony felt the need to explain. “I am NOT happy. I'm angry and a little betrayed, but I also understand why you did it, and I'm thankful you didn’t hide it for long. So we’re good in the long run, Shake Shack.”
Letting a stunned Daisy and a thankful Kara walk out the door to handle their own business, Pep came over and rubbed his back in comfort.
“I know you’re not alright, but let me know if there is anything I can do to help, Mr. Stark.” Adding a bit of a humorous twist to her words at the end, in reference to their old normal back and forth.
“I will Ms. Potts.” Tony responds back, although the humor fails as his voice cracks a bit in response to the swirl of emotions in him.
Spending a few minutes like this, Tony finally breaks the silence. “Do you know what the worst part is?” At Pepper’s head shake no, Tony continues. “The facts and details I learned about the brainwashing he went through, make it so when I said I wouldn’t help cure my parent’s killer, I don’t even know if I was lying or not.”
Some days it sucks not being able to just drink away his problems and sleep around, but hopefully Pepper’s comfort will continue to be able to bridge the gap.
May 22nd, 2009, MCU, A few Hours Later
Daisy Johnson, Empire State Building
Sitting at the top of the Empire State Building, Daisy and Kara ripped through the burgers that Daisy ordered for pick up after they finished the rest of their mission prep following the tough conversation with Tony.
Maybe it is just the pessimist in her, but Daisy expected that conversation to go much worse, although she won’t really know for sure if she broke his trust beyond repair until they meet again for board games next week.
Looking over at her girlfriend, Daisy does her best to pretend not to notice the bit of bacon that drops out of the burger, and leaves a bit of BBQ sauce on Kara’s combat suit. Although the way Kara’s eyes flash over to her, and then her cheeks go pink, make Daisy think that Kara knows she was caught.
The combat suit isn’t as flattering as the Supergirl outfit, but there is something to be said in favor of a hot blond in all black…
Daisy tilts her head back and looks to the sky to try and quell her teenage hormones. Shaking her head after a few moments to clear the last of the horny thoughts. The combat suit is so that if they are ever spotted, the world will never know that Supergirl helped her with this. It is NOT made to allow her to ogle her girlfriend.
Scarfing down the last of her burger, as Kara finishes off her third, they both stand up and meet each other’s eyes.
“Are you sure you want to help me with this Kara? This is going to be a bloody night, and not at all the kind of work Supergirl does. It would be harder, but I can get it done without you.”
Kara glares back at Daisy, as if daring her to question Kara’s resolve again. “We may be the same person, but I don’t see Supergirl up here with you. Right now I am just Kara, here to support the woman she loves. So for the twentieth time since I told you I was helping, I am NOT backing off. So stop trying.”
Kara pokes her in the chest for emphasis, although the intimidation tactic is a bit soiled by her then immediately going to hold Daisy’s hand.
“Just wanted to be sure.” Squeezing and sending a pulse of vibrations back through Kara’s hand, Daisy also punctuates it with a kiss to the lips. “So, you’re handling the flight while I’m using my powers to keep us off radar. Jarvis handles target tracking, best approach details, and sending you directions. When we get to a target, I engage using my powers, and then we rinse and repeat travelling west to stay in the dark of night to hide our movements for as long as possible. All clear Kara?”
“Yes Ma’am.” Letting off a little salute, Daisy can see it’s a bit of a deflection for what she is likely feeling about what they are going to do. But Daisy won’t take the choice to join this mission away from her, so Daisy doesn’t comment.
“Any additions Jarvis?”
From the earpiece both of them have, the smooth British voice of the A.I. responds back. “Just that I will also be infiltrating the targets’ phones and computers to ensure we collect everything and to try and delay anyone from learning what is happening for as long as possible. Other than that, all clear Dame Daisy and Lady Zor-El.”
With that, Daisy straps into the harness that is built into Kara’s combat suit, to allow her to easily ride piggyback. It is a bit of a humiliating pose for both of them, Daisy is essentially using Kara as a magic carpet or something, but it is the only way to stay somewhat comfortable for the long hours of flying ahead.
Kara then heads off into the city, their first round of targets are spread out all throughout New York City, but it won’t be long until they begin moving along the coast and then further west, until finishing it off with the very head.
But for now, they head to the house where a corrupt customs officer works, to begin their bloody night.
May 22nd, 2009, MCU, Nearly a day later
Joel Polis, Cayman Islands
Joel Polis yelled out in frustration and anger yet again, as he threw the platter of lunch that was left untouched on his desk for many hours. The maids, cooks, and every other worker besides his bodyguards have long been sent home, while he deals with the unmitigated disaster that is today.
No, it WAS an unmitigated disaster hours ago when he sent everyone not in-the-know home, but now it can only be described as a worldwide attack against him and his life’s work.
The day started off normal, he enjoyed the relaxed schedule he was able to work. What is the point of climbing so high if you need to answer to the whims and commands of others? Things got a little bit weird once he started work as some of the messages seemed a bit strange, or as a higher than normal amount of his closest subordinates called out sick.
As the day went on though, he kept finding more and more inconsistencies, coincidences, and odd numbers. Trusting his gut, Joel reached out to his direct reports, and quickly found out that there was no one answering. He was only able to assume that he was being iced out. Replaced. Demoted. Probably soon to be killed.
Then the news reports started airing across America and soon the world. High amounts of accidents were being reported. Car crashes, trees collapsing killing someone, brain aneurysms in public, etc. It took someone in the media a while to draw the connection, but eventually it was found.
People all over the world dealing with ports, dealing with the banking system, or being in positions that could lead them to overhearing a high amount of confidential financial information, were dropping at an alarming rate from what at first looks to be natural causes or coincidental accidents.
In other words, every person that reports to him at every level. From the random bank teller in charge of copying keys to safety deposit boxes that he would never meet, to CEO’s that come for party’s at his mansion every year.
Once he realized the extent of an attack that he was under, he sent out orders for all of his agents to go to ground. Only to figure out that somehow his communications out were now being blocked, without anything coming in being hampered.
In other words, he could only watch as his empire came crumbling down, powerless to stop it.
Even once he realized that the wave of death was traveling west, starting on the east coast of the USA, he could do nothing to warn those ahead. Just a minute ago, he got word that the last of his major contacts in Peru had been killed when a billboard collapsed on him during his dinner break.
Now… he has no idea if anyone outside his mansion is even left. Looking out across the sea, he can see the sun setting below the horizon. His office is left in ruins, nothing safe from the venting of his anger, as he sits in the now darkness of the night.
Soon enough, he notices a purple glow on his balcony. But why should he care?
Soon enough, the purple glow is at his balcony door. But why should he care?
Finally, standing on the other side of his desk from him, is a figure that has been making its way through reports. Quake.
He should care… but he can’t find it in himself to.
“So-” Releasing a cough to try and clear his scratchy throat, caused by his yelling throughout the day, Joel continues. “So, Quake is targeting Hydra? I thought the High Commander was being paranoid because his favorite attack dog went missing. I even voted against going after you, yet here you are.”
“Yup. Here I am.” Good lord that electronic voice is horrible to the senses. But if he wasn’t just numb, maybe he would be feeling fear from it.
“Why me? You seem like someone who was probably a Hydra experiment, and I don’t run those. So why me?”
The mocking laughter that follows is even worse than the talking voice. “Because you're the smart first target jackass? You run the money of Hydra. Sure, you don’t control ALL of the money, Hydra is too backstabby to trust you with that much power. But you make them too much money and keep it off the books too well for the others NOT to make large use of you. Killing you, and every single person who worked for you, will make killing all the other heads that much easier.”
“Ah. Ambitious aren’t we? Taking on all of Hydra. I would say it’s not possible, but if you asked me this morning I would also say what you have already done is impossible too.”
“Yeah, I’m not too worried. But I’ll also be honest that it wasn’t just that. You also control the largest rings of human trafficking in the world, with no morals or restrictions. Killing you and stealing the information of your work will mean I get to take down everyone with that too, not just Hydra.”
Leaning down on his desk, the desk itself vibrating so hard under the pressure of her anger even causing splinters and cracks to form, Quake gets her face mask close to him. Only now does he realize that the purple lights are set into an expression of rage, and not the normal creepy smile that has been reported.
“The work done today will save more lives from some of the cruelest fates in the world, than I will ever end up killing. And I plan on killing a lot.”
He knows she is right, he just didn't care about the ‘morals’ of the work he did. He wanted the power, the control, to have the lives of thousands determined at his discretion. All while living the life of luxury with the most powerful businessmen coming to beg him for his resources.
“Can you just make it quick? I’m not the type of Hydra agent to be good with pain, and I think you’re getting just about all the information I have so it’s not like torture would be worth it.”
The figure tilts her head in consideration, before responding. “On one condition. We have yet to find what kind of AI or something like it was helping you make some of your investment decisions. What is that?”
“Ah. That. While I don’t know where the servers are located, that is an AI based on the brain of Armin Zola. The man responsible for the rebirth of Hydra following Project Paperclip. Despite working with him, I’ve always hated the way he looked down on me. Anything else?”
At the head shake no, Joel grabs the bottle of whiskey from the ground, takes as large of a swig as he can, before facing back. Doing his best to meet the figure's eyes below the mask, he utters his last sentence. “Kill one head, and two more shall take its place. Have fun killing the two that follow the death of ‘The Banker’. Hail Hydra.”
The next second, Joel Polis is a red smear against the wall. Not being discovered, along with the dead guards, until the work staff arrive back the next morning.
Walking back to the balcony, with the deed done and the whole head of Hydra dead, Daisy does her best to shake out the incredible pain she feels in her arms from using her powers for so long. Meeting her girlfriend outside, she hugs her close, before strapping back in to fly home together in silence at the work they did.
SPEAR Reveals the Truth of the Red Sunrise
By Christine Everheart
The world reeled in shock, as the truth of what is now known as the ‘Red Sunrise’ came to be discovered during the day it happened. Around the world, increases in accidents and seemingly natural deaths spiked up, under the nose of everyone. The event gained its name on the internet from the discovery of bodies as the sun began to rise around the world, death seeming to follow the night. Taking nearly the full day for people to even realize they were somehow connected, authorities began to swarm and investigate by the time it was already over.
In the next few days, authorities began to discover some proof of corruption from the victims, from seemingly minor things like skipping over inspections that should be done, to major items like active Ponzi schemes being run. Even with this connection coming forward, the vast majority of victims still appeared clean, leading to many to still name the thousands of deaths as a tragedy of worldwide scale.
That notion soon came crashing down when SPEAR, the still anonymous hacktivist group, came forward with hundreds of gigabytes of data revealing the crimes of nearly every single ‘victim’, and these crimes are not some minor issues like what was being initially reported. Human trafficking, loan sharks employing torturers, hitmen, mercenaries, blackmailers, and many many more crimes. Most had a body count of some kind, either directly or indirectly.
Aside from the deceased, the files released also paint damning lights on some of the world’s top 1%, having taken part in some of these schemes especially centered around the human trafficking rings supposedly supplying parties for celebrities and business people alike. While no arrests have come from these allegations yet, due to the lack of legal credibility of the accuser, this reporter can say that sources claim it is just a matter of time. With the ‘Red Sunrise’ revealing corruption in even government agencies such as the FTC, claims are being made that the US Government is doing their best to recapture their image as the source of justice.
Currently, no overall connection has been found linking those killed in the ‘Red Sunrise’, but I remain unconvinced. What caused this attack to target some of the world’s corrupt criminals, but not even everyone directly connected ended up dying? Where was the line drawn, because it must have been drawn somewhere.
While no group or individual has come forward claiming responsibility, many have started pointing fingers at the group SPEAR. While the amount of information leaked by them does seem a bit damning, the timing of the release of the information makes me feel as though this group is not behind the deaths. During the Hulk incident, Spear was ready and releasing their information at the same time as the incident, while this time the data did not get shared with journalists around the world for a full week afterwards.
Myself, and many experts, believe that this group responded to the ‘Red Sunrise’ by trying to discover the connection, and ended up finding this evidence after the fact. Talking with a cybersecurity expert showed that…
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Some feels. Some action. And the first head of Hydra bites the dust! The Banker is basically just a name in Agents of Shield, so I had to do a lot of imagining for what he would do, and ended up venting some class frustrations I’m feeling these days. Oops. Sorry not sorry.
All the same, another chapter out. Hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time!
Chapter 20: Bones and Bargains
Summary:
Hydra reacts to Daisy's latest actions, and plan how to respond. Meanwhile Daisy goes after a couple targets, one personal and one for what he can give Daisy and Kara. Finally, some news shocks the girls that they will have to deal with very soon.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
May 31st, 2009, MCU
Alexander Pierce, Triskelion
Alexander Pierce, for over the past week, has found himself filled with rage. Filled with uncertainty. Filled with fear. And finally, filled with annoyance.
The rage is easy to see, as it is by far the first and largest emotion right now. A whole head of Hydra, exterminated in one day. His attempts to reach out to The Banker to issue orders once he realized what was happening went unanswered, even when the autopsy shows the man was most likely the very last killed.
Oh, there are definitely remnants still remaining from the Banker’s employ, mostly those who lived off the grid AND we not where they usually were by appointment or habit. Everyone else was killed. As the Supreme Head of Hydra, it was up to him to pick up and take in those scraps to be hidden in Shield.
That was about the only good thing about being the Supreme Head right now.
The worst part, that was leading to his annoyance is dealing with the range of reactions from the other heads.
The Baroness, the head mainly in charge of conventional weapons development, is nearly frothing at the mouth for an increase in money for development to make weapons to kill the perpetrators. Completely ignoring the fact that every head will need to tighten their belts to weather the loss of their investments.
The Sheikh, in charge of international smuggling especially in getting weapons in the hands of terrorist groups that would further their long term goals, is angered at being cut out of Hydra operations in the face of every head wanting to arm their own men right now rather than arm outside groups.
Octavian Bloom, the Head in charge of every business and money making operation that worked above board, is now flexing his muscles and angling for a more important seat at the table. Both trying to claim the remnants from extinct head, and pushing for the others to begin sending him what they used to send to the Banker.
General Hale, in charge of recruitment for members in the US Military and high levels of Government, is barely doing the minimum to attend and fulfill her duties as a head. Seemingly spooked and trying to lay low in case her cover is blown.
Armin Zola seems to be at a loss for both words and actions, having not seen this circumstance coming in any of his projections, is spending all his time trying to recalculate how to best move forward.
But honestly, the last three heads are the most annoying, because for once they are all in agreement and AGAINST Pierce’s position.
Because of course Hydra knows that Quake was the one behind this attack. While the vast majority of footage and cameras was either avoided or deleted, there were some far away offline cameras that caught some details of the perpetrators of the attack.
The mask seemed to have been unlit during the operation, most likely to avoid drawing attention, but the shape of the mask and the makeup of the outfit were a match. The second unidentified figure is just as concerning, as it shows Quake to have access to those with a wider variety of powers than expected, if the amount of flying that the other did is any indication.
But from the mission reports given by Fury to Pierce, and what was known from Hydra about the Belyakov family from Bahrain, means that the chances of Quake being an inhuman, and a powerful inhuman at that, are incredibly high.
Whitehall is ignoring the threat, as he has seen other Hydra heads come and go, and is instead nearly giddy at the thought of getting Quake on his operating table. Gideon Malick is acting like a conspiracy theorist who was proven correct, nearly ranting about wanting to return Hydra to its ‘original mission’ and find a way to summon Hive in order to gain control of Quake. Von Strucker meanwhile is less interested in dissecting Quake like Whitehall does, and instead wants to use Quake as the subject for their shared ‘Destroyer of Worlds’ project to make the ultimate sentient superweapon.
After a long visit to Whitehall’s subordinate Bakshi for extensive reprogramming using the Faustus Program that is.
Those three are taking most of his time in these meetings honestly, because they forget about one important detail.
“I hear you all, and I am not disagreeing that getting Quake under our sway, including all the other inhumans she has access to, could move our plans up years if not decades. But I continue to ask, HOW do you intend to capture and hold her? Her powers appear to be some kind of large area telekinesis, but this attack shows she does not need to even have line of sight to use her powers in a lethal way. What in our arsenal could possibly hold her?!” Pierce bites out, this Hydra video call having already run much longer than he wanted.
Every other head, not just the three main supporters of the approach, go quiet at his anger becoming clear in the face of them not having an answer.
“The one tool we had to potentially deal with Quake if he was able to ambush her, was instead ambushed himself. The Winter Soldier has now been captured, and with him our best chance of defeating Quake gone. The ‘miracle metal' that was used, at great expense, to attempt to upgrade him in fighting Quake did nothing to help. I would have the smuggler killed for misleading us on the metal’s abilities, but he went to ground after the sale and has yet to pop back up. So… besides throwing men at her in the hope of a lucky shot, how do we capture the pest?”
The silence that continues just angers him even more, finally reaching a breaking point.
“I ASKED A FUCKING QUESTION, SO ANSWER ME!”. Pierce’s yell startles many, as this is probably the first time any of them have seen him do so. Despite his anger, the yelling is just for show anyways, but he sees the doubt and treason starting to take hold in some of them. They have started to doubt his leadership, so he must remind them of their place, or face usurpation from within.
“We do not, but I will continue researching solutions and come forward when I find one, Supreme Head.” Von Strucker, Pierce’s second, answers back in a way that both concedes the topic while leaving the door open for the future.
“Good. Now report. Hale, what is the temperature of the US’s reaction to Spear’s leaks?” Pierce finally gets to move on to more productive discussions.
Hale grimaces before speaking up. “It seems you were correct in going against my suggestion of villainizing Spear over the Red Sunrise. If we had, and then these leaks had come out, then it could draw undue attention and weaken any future engagement against Spear. The overall consensus is that Spear is not behind the attacks, most are annoyed at the humiliation the government is receiving at the extent of the corruption revealed, but plenty are seeing Spear closer to vigilantes than anything else. I agree that continuing to use Shield to hunt down Spear is the correct path.”
It would be better if every branch of the US Government could be hunting Spear, but Hydra’s control of those are nominal to minimal, so making use of Shield is unfortunately the best way forward.
“Understood. Hale, work with Bloom on this. I want you inserting our people into the correct positions in the investigations that stem from the leaks. Then when assets are able to be seized, I want them turned over to Bloom for further investment into credible sources. We need to rebuild our warchest, and this time not from sources that can be so easily buried. Bloom, any idea what happened to all of our money that the Banker was holding.”
Clearing his throat, and sitting a little straighter, Bloom does his best to project more sophistication than he has. If the man doesn’t cool his ego, Pierce may just end up killing the man to avoid having to deal with this every meeting.
“Tracing back all of the transfer has been impossible. Whomever was behind that part of the operation was a master at covering their digital tracks. Possibly another inhuman with technological based powers? That is not my area of expertise if that is possible or not though. That said, just because I couldn’t follow it, doesn’t mean I haven’t been able to see where it ended up.
“Charities around the world are seeing record numbers of donations, from small to medium in size. Nothing singular that would set off alarms with banks, but enough that there is no way it is natural. Currently it only accounts for 7.5% of what we lost at most, but it has yet to stop or even slow, so it may end up being most of it in the end.”
Well that could be an angle. “Any chance of us pointing the investigation towards these charities in order to recoup our losses that way?”
At this, shame flashes across Bloom’s face. “I am guessing they already know about it, it isn’t the most subtle of money funneling going on. But the reason they are not touching it, and I encourage us to cut our losses there as well, is the number of charities being donated to that align with the victim’s of the Banker’s investments. Such as organizations against Human Trafficking. In the wake of the leaks, going after that money would draw far too much attention and all of it negative.”
Pierce feels the urge to scowl, but keeps his face passive in the end. The angry shouting was useful, but now is the time to project confidence and collection.
“Then we continue as we were. Anything else needed to be shared?” At the silence, the long meeting getting to everyone by this point, Pierce draws the meeting to its end. “With that, you all have your orders on how to go forward. More than that though, work to prevent your heads from falling the same way that the Banker’s did. More variance in schedules. Backup communication methods. More cells kept off the books. We can not fail. Hail Hydra.”
“Hail Hydra.” They all respond back, before the video screens all shut off, leaving Pierce alone in his room.
After taking a few moments to think on if the discussion changed his plans for the future, in the end Pierce decided that nothing the other Heads had shared altered the circumstances enough. Hitting a button on his desk, his guard from outside comes in and stands in front of his desk ready for orders.
Brock Rumlow, leader of Strike Team Charlie, is the leader of the longest running of the advanced Strike teams. While Strike Team Delta may be Fury’s favorite due to the higher specialization of members such as Romanoff and Barton, Charlie has been doing consistent work for years and the members are only getting better with experience.
More than that, it is a Strike team that is completely filled with loyal Hydra agents. As long as Fury does not have specific orders for the team, as Secretary of the WSC Pierce is able to assign them to missions of his own without having to read Fury in.
“Agent Rumlow. I want you and your team to meet up with the Winter Soldier handler team. Now that their schedule has been forcefully opened up, they have thoughts on some advantages and weapons to outfit your team with. Meanwhile, I want you to begin entering combat on low level enhanced vigilantes. The ‘Superman Pact’ has brought many enhanced into the light of day, let’s use them to train your team up on fighting enhanced. I want you ready to take down Quake when we get the chance.”
“Rules of engagement, sir?”
“Take them down. If they’re alive, then we can package them to Strucker later. If they die, then send their bodies off to Whitehall. But take your time, stalk your targets, and make no mistakes. Above all, I want you operating under everyone’s radar. If Fury sends your team on another assignment, take it. But training on taking out enhanced will be your team’s default from now on. Understood?”
“Sir, yes sir! Hail Hydra.” Rumlow snaps into a Hydra salute at the obvious end of the conversation.
“Hail Hydra.” Pierce dismisses back.
Quake may have declared war against Hydra, but Hydra will be ready to strike back. In the end, Hydra always wins.
June 6th, 2009, MCU
Ulysses Klaue, State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow
Ohhhhh man. Ulysses Klaue is very excited for today. Today he gets to have a little fun, expand his stock, and hopefully have a new lifelong client going forward.
Klaue HAD been lying low… but he got bored. Easily. The fact was, the last buyer of some of his Vibranium was SUPPOSED to be a private research facility. The people he met with even seemed to be scientists, and had deep pockets.
But Klaue knows when he smells bullshit, and he smelled bullshit. After leaving the deal, he doubled back around to watch the ‘scientists’ leave, only to see a large collection of very well armed mercenaries helping to back up the scene.
All led by some man with a metallic arm.
Normally Klaue lays low after a deal, just in case his buyers got extra greedy and get big dreams of going after his whole stock. But this time, he decided to go a step forward and go alllllllll the way around the world.
He wants to be a rich man, not a dead man left in the gutter.
But it can never last, he hasn’t been a patent or truly careful man for much of his life. Luckily two separate channels seemed to find something interesting at the same time.
One was his scouts, who go around the world looking for loose little itty bits of Vibranium that he can scoop up. Right in Moscow, on display was a spear, recovered from Africa supposedly from the 9th century. According to his scout however, the metal under the collection of rust and sediment on top, was giving back readings of being Vibranium.
Based on the size of the spear head, could be tens of millions worth of the stuff.
Meanwhile, a former SVR agent who is an up and coming industrialist with a high interest in military artifacts had made contact with another one of his agents expressing interest in purchasing some Vibranium to make a weapon out of.
While a spear tip is not enough metal for what the pretty little Russian buyer wants for a weapon, it will be a wonderful demonstration of the metal to ensure Klaue is getting the highest price possible.
Even more lucky for Klaue, the client thought his choice of venue was only to be in public to keep the meeting peaceful rather than what he truly wanted. So when he expressed the location, the rich former Russian government dog let him know that he paid off the Museum to be ‘closed for fumigation’ during their meeting time.
While less fun than getting to kill some security guards, Klaue won’t fight against Russian corruption and its usefulness when he is lying low.
Walking in to the Museum, Klaue walks in alone, walking past various armed security that were obviously expecting him as they don’t try to stop him.
Maybe the buyer will try to strong arm him and he will get to at least kill a couple of them? Klaue knows his worth, and he can stand torture just fine, so he has no worries walking in alone. His ship full of Vibranium is well hidden in a well paid off port hundred of miles away.
Walking into the African section of the Museum, he sees his buyer waiting impatiently, pacing around rather than sitting or even looking around at the pieces.
Honestly, somehow THIS is a former SVR agent? This is a normal meeting, although one that will end with him stealing a priceless artifact, but the buyer doesn’t know that yet!
“Ah! I see you are not one for history? Most of my clients usually are, so that is a little surprising.”
At his opening line the man, Anton Ivanov, turns around to face him. While the pacing may not have been indicative of an SVR agent, the way the man immediately settles and keeps his face passive certainly does.
“Can’t say that I care about old artifacts at this moment. I’m normally more into modern weaponry, not hatchets and spears.” The man says in his thick Russian accent, while motioning around to the pieces around him. “So why did you call me here?”
“Ah! My little Russian doll. I chose this location to meet, because what you want can actually be found right here, as proof of the rest of my stock anyways. Give you a little test, before you purchase the rest. Drug dealers have some good sales tactics I've found.” Klaue says, his grin spreading across his face as he messes around with the dour Russian.
“It’s HERE? How? Show me.”
“Of course. The customer is always right afterall.” With that Klaue takes out his Vibranium knuckle dusters, and puts them on. He and his group are getting better at working with Vibranium, but the high feats of technology are still out of his grasp. For now that is…
Going up to the glass display case in the center of the room, housing the spear, instead of having to give a full punch Klaue is able to break the glass into a thousand pieces with an almost negligent tap of the knuckle dusters.
The shock that appears on the Russian’s face for just a second is worth him missing the view of his own handiwork. All the same Klaue then reaches out, ignoring the lack of alarm going off to take the spear. Most likely all security was disabled by the Russian when his men set up shop.
This time, Klaue actually does put his all into the punch. Punching the Vibranium knuckle dusters to metal of the spear, causes the Vibranium underneath to respond. After just a few punches, the spear sheds whatever gunk and shit it was caked in, revealing the metal that is the key to the future underneath.
“This isn’t enough for what you're wanting, but I think it is a good demonstration of what Vibranium is capable of. So what can I put you down for good chap? I’ve never done it before, but a Vibranium gun could probably be made to shoot .44 magnum automatically without tearing your arm off. Personally I like the physical weapons more, but you don’t seem to be a fan of the spears and such.”
As Klaue walks over to Ivanov, showing off the revealed Vibranium spearhead, the man does at first appear fascinated by it but soon just looks back at him with confusion and some anger in his face.
“What are you talking about? It was an interesting magic trick, but I do not care for some metal spearhead. You said you had the keys to my fortune that was transferred out of my bank accounts last week, I want them back and I want them now. Not this bullshit! You should know better than to mess around with someone who is Superior!” The man is nearly yelling in his face by the end of his rant, but it just leaves Klaue equally confused.
“Sorry mate, the accent got a bit thick there, and the yelling rung my bell a bit. But I am a smuggler of the best metal in the world, I don’t know shit about any bank accounts. Now do you want to buy a weapon from me, or not?”
“If you do not know about my accounts, then why did you set up this meeting for me to get them back?! I had to use the last of my fortune I had on hand to pay off the place, so I am not walking away empty handed you Anglosaksy .”
Despite not knowing what the last Russian word means exactly, besides it most likely being an insult, Klaue suddenly has an understanding of what was going on. “It’s a set up. Someone else set this shit up for both of us. We need to-.”
Before he can complete his thoughts, three cracks echo out around the room as the drop ceiling suddenly comes raining down on all of them, knocking both him and Mr. ‘Superior’ to the ground. Looking up, the room is now filled with dust from the ruined ceiling, but it isn’t enough to fully obscure the room.
Across the way, where he entered from, he can see three of the Russian thugs dead on the ground with bullet holes between their eyes. The lack of noise or other Russians running into the room lets him know that they are alone in this fight now, the others probably already dead as well.
He needs to move, and he needs to move NOW.
Getting up with the spear in hand, Klaue begins to make a straight beeline away from the bodies towards the emergency exit at the back, leaving the other man behind hoping he is the bigger target.
Klaue began to think otherwise when some force picked him up and tossed him to his left, letting him hit the wall hard, the air completely knocked from his lungs and the spear falling a few feet from where he landed.
By the time he regained his senses, he looked up to see a feminine figure in a black combat suit, and purple hair facing away from him. At her feet was Superior, a bullet in each of his knee caps. The man struggled just to look up enough to look into the face of the woman above him.
“Who the fuck even are y-” The words stopped dead from the man as another bullet punched straight through the forehead of the man, splattering his brains across the museum’s floor.
Klaue is a bit more thankful to actually be the woman’s target, as at least he didn’t end up like that sack of shit. Meanwhile he is still alive so maybe she wants something from him.
That doesn’t mean he is going easily though, why negotiate when you can just kill the mother fuckers?
Reaching his hands to his thigh holsters as he gets up to his knees at least, Klaue pulls out two Vibranium throwing knives and sends them at the back of the bitch. Half rolling/ half stumbling forward from the throw, Klaue moves towards the spear as he sees the figure twisting to avoid the knives thrown at her back.
Taking the spear in hand Klaue leaps up from his crouched position to try and bring the spear down to try and run the woman through before she can recover from avoiding the daggers.
Yet, it wasn’t to be as the figure moves much faster than he anticipated, and recovered from avoiding his attacks far too soon. In the end, he just finds himself leaping straight into her grasp. One hand nearly crushing his wrist that wields the spear while the other holds him up in the air by his throat as if he is an errant child.
Now that he can see the ‘face’ of the figure, Klaue begins to feel his chances of walking away are slipping through his grasp. Who the hell wears a neon smiley face ski mask to battle? Heroes are starting to pop up around America, but apparently Russia gets Villains instead.
Using his free hand to take some of the pressure off his throat, Klaue falls back to his negotiation skills. Some claim he has none, but he has lived this long while many who said that are dead. So fuck ‘em.
“I- ugh. I don’t know why you did this, urgh. But I can make it worth it to let me go. What do you say?” Klaue gets out in between coughs and choked breaths.
Tilting their head, the figure seems to look around the situation before responding. “I think… that I am thankful I’m getting better at avoiding Vibranium daggers.” Letting Klaue be nothing but confused by that sentence, the figure moves on without explaining. “But why would I make a deal with you, when my partner is raiding your ship that you have hidden in St. Petersburg?”
Fuck… She knows where his ship is and his ship has all of his wealth and Vibranium. His bargaining chips. Maybe he can bargain knowledge on Wakanda? Just as he is about to open his mouth, the figure draws a different pistol from what she has been using, the blue glow letting him know it is a Stark Icer pistol.
“The only thing you still have that is worthwhile now, is your value as a present to someone else. And I’m taking that anyways… so… night night!” Klaue’s last thought is annoyance that the woman who ended up taking him down, is someone who spends the time to program their electronic mask to give a goodbye wink as she pulls the trigger.
Klaue falls off into unconsciousness.
June 6th, 2009, MCU
Kara Danvers, ‘Sanctuary’ San Bernardino Mountains
Kara touches down in the midafternoon California time in her Supergirl outfit. Clearing out the ship for Daisy, so she didn’t have to deal with the Vibranium more than needed, ended up taking longer than Kara anticipated. Mostly because there was a lot of money, gems, and jewelry hidden throughout the ship, and all of the lead in the cheap ships construction just made the whole thing harder.
Klaue’s associates were knocked out and tied up before they even knew she was there, while Jarvis took care of the footage so she wasn’t seen. Already Jarvis has placed an anonymous call to port authorities that haven’t been paid off about the smugglers ship.
Daisy had filled Kara in about Ultron and how all of the Vibranium from Klaue was used to make him a body nearly 7 feet tall, but with years between now and then Daisy thought he would have some more Vibranium than that. It ended up being enough to make two Ultron bodies actually, which was more Vibranium than they expected.
And all of that had to be carried by Kara to one of Daisy’s hideouts in Europe that she has set up to be used by Spear once she starts recruiting. When she dropped off the money, Vibranium, and everything she noticed the holding cell was occupied by an unconscious Klaue. Meaning that Daisy was probably already home.
While her superhearing and x-ray vision already told her the answer, walking in and seeing Daisy sitting on the couch going through their mail, still in her Quake outfit (thankfully without the mask), made her smile.
Kara nearly skipped in superspeed over, and snuggled into the side of Daisy as she seemed to be concentrating on reading a letter.
“Thank you for agreeing to get the Vibranium. It’s so interesting and confusing to work with, having more to work with will be easier. But why did you take Klaue captive?”
Her words and even presence seem to take a few seconds to register, as Daisy shakes herself and looks Kara in the eyes as she sets the letter face down on the side table.
“Sorry ‘bout that. But no worries, the timing of Klaue and Superior worked out that I could take out two problems at once anyways. And I’m planning on giving Klaue to Wakanda, hopefully that will stop them from throwing a hissy fit if they end up catching either you or Tony with Vibranium in the future.”
The unsaid aspect was how the Vibranium was also going to help bribe Tony so Daisy is back on his good side. They had another dinner and game night tonight, and hopefully this one will be closer to normal, as the last one was… awkward and strained, following the Bucky Barnes reveal.
“What? No Vibranium for you?” Kara teases her girlfriend causing Daisy to let out a shudder of disgust. Kara finds Daisy’s reaction to the metal pretty funny now that the injuries from her fight with the Winter Soldier have healed completely. “But do you think that will actually end up working?”
Daisy immediately lets out a snort of laughter, although her hand keeps touching the letter she was reading. “Absolutely not. Wakanda is isolationist, and claims a monopoly on an entire metal. Their whole history is them secretly being above everyone else in technology, causing them to look down on the rest of the world. They are used to being top dogs, because they have been playing a different game than every other nation in the world.”
“If it’s not going to work, then why try?”
“Because even if it doesn’t work for the nation, maybe it will help me make peace or work with individuals in the future. And even if not, being able to claim the moral high ground is always nice.” Daisy replies, before picking up the letter again, and reading a few lines, and then setting it back down.
“Okay, what is in that letter? It’s fine if you don’t want to share… but it looks like you need to talk about it.” Kara asks with a tone of care and slight worry in her voice.
Letting out a deep breath, Daisy cuddles deeper into Kara’s grasp. “Well… it’s a letter from my mom…” Kara gives Daisy time to collect her thoughts, as Daisy has been sending letters back and forth with her mom for a while, so this shouldn’t be causing this reaction on its own.
Finally Daisy finishes her thought, and what she says next leaves Kara staring at her wide eyed. “How do you feel about having a family dinner tomorrow with my parents? Because, surprise! My mom found and recovered my dad, and we are invited over.”
Well… shit. She has to meet her mate's parents tomorrow.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: First off, sorry about not having a chapter last week! Work was… a lot. I did 72 hours or so last week. But thankfully my job is out of its busy season now, so it shouldn’t happen again. I hope to have an extra chapter to make up for it, but I would rather under-promise and overachieve, than the reverse. So we shall see.
On to the chapter! Not all butterfly effects are good, no matter how hard you try. And Hydra was always going to respond in some bad ways, but now small-time enhanced are being targeted by Crossbones’ team for the sole purpose of getting experience to try and fight Quake.
Meanwhile Daisy and Kara get more resources in the form of money and Vibranium, while taking care of a couple people that were always going to be in Daisy’s crosshairs.And finally, it took her long enough, but join me next time to see an incredibly awkward family dinner!!! :D
Chapter 21: Love and Livid
Summary:
The dinner with Daisy's family finally happens, Prince T'Challa gets a present in July, a quick check in on Tony, and finally a newemployee's first day is about to begin.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
June 7th, 2009, MCU
Alisha Whitley, Afterlife
Alisha had known this day was coming for a while now, but that does not make the stress she is feeling right now any less pronounced. She has known since weeks after the nearly catastrophic event in Bahrain 6 months ago, and the news that it brought. At least back then it was just an abstract idea, plan, and contingency. Then a month ago Cal Johnson was finally located, along with the young inhuman girl Raina that had been following him in search of his daughter and terrigenesis crystals.
Luckily the both were brought in just fine, although fists were NEARLY thrown between Gordon and Calvin, Jiaying was able to calm them down and have a… reunion with her husband (ex-husband? Alisha has not been privy to the exact status of their relationship, beside it being ‘complicated’). The reunion was certainly not heartfelt and instead was filled with yelling that could be heard from all ends of their small settlement, but in the month things have calmed down.
Calmed down enough that their daughter was being invited to dinner at Afterlife, which brings Alisha right back to her anxiety about her role to come.
To say that the Elders were in an uproar once the details of the Bahrain situation were reported would be a gross understatement. The details were meant to be confidential among them, but so many had such loud opinions that the details spread within a week, which meant there were even MORE opinions to be shared.
She is a risk, we must bring her in and keep her here.
It is a miracle, and Daisy has done more for our community at her age than most do in their lifetimes.
We should be optimistic, but cautious. Who knows what will happen if she learns of Afterlife’s location.
She flaunts our creed of secret, and must be dealt with immediately.
That last opinion was luckily in the minority, and was VERY quickly shut down by the incredibly murderous glares of Jiaying with the weight of all the centuries that the woman has lived behind those eyes.
After much deliberation, a solid plan was enacted. Jiaying would be allowed to talk with her daughter, but all outgoing mail would be read over by Gordon before he delivered it to ensure no secrets were being leaked. Once Calvin was located and calmed down enough to meet his daughter again, both Daisy and the alien girlfriend would be invited over for a family meal.
A family meal that Alisha would serve as the entire waitstaff for, without ever fully leaving the room. This let the rest of the Elders have some insurance of what went on in there, while Jiaying only had to open her personal life to one mentee that held a great deal of loyalty to her.
Alisha was only 25 and has had her powers for only about 4 years, as even though born in Afterlife have to pass many trials to be permitted to receive their powers. Yet she would gladly take the anxiety she experienced before Terrigenesis over the anxiety of the dinner to come.
One of the most powerful and proficient Inhumans of the modern era is showing up with her alien girlfriend to have an emotionally charged dinner with her family for the first time, and Alisha is there to act as both servant and spy to ensure no danger will be coming to Afterlife.
No pressure.
…Did she mention the ALIEN girlfriend?! That aspect of the situation was largely skipped over from both disbelief and from uncertainty. The only alien interactions the inhumans know are their ancestor’s origins with the Kree, and the less thought about that situation the better.
All the same, Alisha’s thoughts on the situation are pushed out by her duties as the telltale sound of Gordan’s teleportation whoosh in from the center of the room, followed by a second whoosh as Gordan leaves their guests with Alisha.
Stepping forward Alisha begins greetings while subtly looking the two over. “Welcome to Afterlife honored guests of High Elder Jiaying. My name is Alisha and I will be helping as a guide and server for you this evening.”
The first to respond is the dark haired girl, who must be the 13 nearly 14 year old daughter of Jiayang. She is wearing a nice light summer dress with a floral print that does a good job of not making her look like a little child while also not looking like the girl is trying to act much older than she is, visions of the future or not. Although maybe the confident way she holds herself, as well as the numerous scars on her exposed arms and legs do the heavy lifting.
“Nice to meet you, and interesting to hear that the meal is going to be full service. I’m Daisy Johnson, and this is my girlfriend Kara Danvers.” So apparently Jiaying did not overstate her daughter’s competency, as the tone of voice made it clear that Daisy held some suspicions on Alisha’s role for tonight.
And then the last words hit her and for all Alisha’s training, she is not able to stop her head from snapping to look at the other guest. The girl is a teenage blond wearing a pink embellished dress that seems to also have a subtle floral pattern to it, with little beads acting as the berries of the leaves sewn in. Yet despite the younger looking face than she is used to, it most certainly seems to be THE Kara Zorel Danvers standing before her.
The Elders may cut themselves off from the outside world, but the younger generation do not. Especially those like Alisha that receive training outside of Afterlife in case of retrieval missions. So she has heard all about the billionaire who has been able to make a partnership with Tony Stark with technology surpassing anyone else… Well at least things make a bit more sense with the technology literally coming from an alien at least.
The light snickering coming from Daisy, and the responding light slap to the shoulder in response by a blushing Kara clued Alisha into the fact that she has been staring slack jawed at Ms. Danvers. Snapping out of it, Alisha resumes her planned intro as she begins to lead them out of the entry home and into the path outside.
“Is there any particular way you would like to be addressed for your culture Ms. Danvers?”
Kara seems to startle a bit at the question, before suddenly giving a beaming smile in response. “Oh Golly. Formally I guess I would go by Lady Zor-El, but you can just call me Kara!”
“Of course Lady Kara.” Alisha responds with a bit of a grin, playing the middle road and reminding their guests a bit of her role for tonight at the very least. But with that, they are off and into the outdoors, with the sun getting close to set behind the mountains nearby, casting lovely rays of sunbeams to shine down the streets of Afterlife.
As they travel across though, Alisha can’t help but notice that Lady Kara is seemingly a bit distracted and keeps looking at the mountains and horizon rather than Afterlife itself. Just as she is about to ask, it seems that Daisy has noticed as well and beats her to it.
“Hey Sunflower. Feeling a bit a deja-vu?” Kara nods back, looking at her girlfriend for the answer. “Because you’re allergic to obeying a straight forward flight plan and like to sight see instead, when you went to Mumbai for the day a month ago you passed by here. Since Afterlife is in the mountains of Nepal, you probably recognize it a bit.”
And THAT startles and scares Alisha even more than the fact that the possibly-future-hostile alien is a billionaire and friends with the ‘Merchant of Death’/ Iron Man. Afterlife being hidden and nearly inaccessible to all but Gordon has been their ace in the sleeve for decades now.
Before she can really work herself into a fit, Daisy seems to take pity on her because what she says next both settles her by giving them a secret in return, as well as sending her into a whole different spiral.
“Don’t worry. I may have given her a hint about where we are, but I also gave you an important hint in return. What very famous blonde visited Mumbai a month ago that could have been Kara?”
Supergirl… The secret identity of Supergirl has been given as collateral for Daisy’s knowledge of Afterlife given to her by the visions.
Alisha just wants this day to end, and dinner hasn't even started.
As the last couple minutes of the tour wind down, with Alisha doing her best to put out all the earth shaking news from her mind… with Daisy’s teasing grin and Kara’s apologetic expression the whole way not helping.
All the same they arrive, so blessedly Alisha will be able to become an observer and server soon enough.
“Introducing Daisy Johnson and her girlfriend, Lady Kara Zor-El.” Alisha introduces, before stepping aside from the entrance of the dining room, where Jiaying and Mr. Johnson are waiting, revealing Daisy and Kara just on the other side of the door.
Both of the girls slowly step into the room slowly and quietly, with Kara trailing just behind looking to Daisy for cues on how to act, and at some point they started holding hands.
Meanwhile Jiaying and Mr. Johnson get up from where they were sitting at the dining table. While Jiaying stands up with a smile and a casual but welcoming stance, Mr. Johnson stands up almost reverently. With slow movements, as if he is trying not to startle a wild animal, Mr. Johnson gets up and takes a couple steps around the table and towards the couple.
“Look at that. The way you tilt your head is just like your mom. Is it nature or nurture? I’ve had a month to get ready for this, and I promised myself I wouldn’t get emotional, but to have you back again is bringing tears to my eyes. I have waited so long for this moment.” As Mr. Johnson fights down the tears and seems to go to say something more, he is interrupted as Daisy moves forward and embraces the man in a strong hug, with the father returning the gesture automatically, even if the surprise is clear on his face.
“Hi Dad. It’s good to see you ag-.. to finally meet you.” Daisy says. While there is clear emotion in her voice, it isn’t quite the suppressing of tears that her father has. And the way she phrased her greeting… maybe she has more attachment to the vision than the Elders expected. Not just a movie of events, but experiencing the true emotions behind them.
“I want you to know, that NEVER stopped looking for you. I'm sorry that I couldn’t be there for you, couldn’t protect you.” Calvin says, with a couple tears now rolling down his face. Looking over at Jiaying, Alisha notices a look of.. Jealousy maybe? That’s noteworthy.
“And I never stopped looking for you both ever since I was old enough to understand.” Pulling back a little to be able to look him in the face, Daisy continues. “But you have done A LOT of bad while trying to find me, and the only reason you haven't done worse is because I had a vision and was able to find you first. You have a trail of death to make up for, and I expect you to make up for it.” Daisy finished pulling back, although neither seem to be hurt by the hug ending.
“I know. I have been a monster because I haven’t been there with you. But I’m here now, and you’re here now. I can start doing better, I’m already using my PHD here at Afterlife as it is when they can’t just use their powers.” Mr. Johnson responds.
Daisy appears to want to say something, before seeming to change her mind with a slight shake of her head. Turning to her mom instead, there seems to be something charged in the way they look over each other. Just as it appears like Jiaying is going to withdraw into herself and sit down, Daisy makes a decision and moves forward and hugs her mom as well.
The surprise is incredibly clear on Jiaying’s face for some reason, and the hug is leagues stiffer than the one just a moment ago. But once Jiaying loses the surprise, she instead adopts one of clear adoration, and moves slowly and carefully to envelop her daughter in a hug back. The slight flinching and hunching of shoulders is another note to an unclear puzzle being shown to Alisha here.
Did… did more happen in the first meeting or in the letters than the Elders and other members have been led to believe? Of her two parents, why would Daisy possibly be more cautious of the High Elder rather than the unseen monster that stalked her entire life?
After a few seconds of the hug, with the tension very slowly leaking out of the both of them, Daisy backs off and rejoins Lady Kara on the other side of the table. Kara gives a beaming smile of encouragement and the two join hands again.
Suddenly Cal speaks up, something strange in his voice as he reaches down next to his chair and brings out a large bouquet of flowers. “I’ve been dreaming of this day for so long. I have some flowers for you, and I made almond cookies for dessert, the same recipe that me and your mother used to have.”
As Daisy takes the flowers, letting go of Lady Kara’s hand, Alisha sees the brief look of triumph in Mr. Johnson’s face at that. Seeing that dinner can begin soon is the only thing that stops Alisha from rolling her eyes. Apparently he is playing the disapproving dad already.
Alisha splits off a few clones, pulling out the chairs of everyone, while other clones split off to retrieve the appetizers.
“Please, let’s get started eating. I am especially looking forward to hearing more about you Dr. Danvers. Daisy was light on details of her girlfriend, so being able to recognize you was incredibly shocking to say the least.” Jiaying opens diplomatically, to offset her husband's obvious actions.
Daisy has an incredibly cocky grin, seeming to find the situation hilarious, while Kara perks up at the welcoming tone coming from her girlfriend’s mother.
With that, the dinner starts.
The dinner honestly passes without issues for the most part, although that is obvious because they avoid any difficult topics. The riskiest topic comes up when asking about Lady Kara’s past, with the obvious unasked question of WHAT type of alien she is. The Supergirl reveal that Alisha had been unable to inform them about, is delivered with just as much shock this time as it was the last.
Although the information rather than comforting Mr. Johnson seems to cause him to scowl a bit more often at her, although he continues to hide it as quickly as he can. Soon enough, dessert in the form of the almond cookies comes out, and more serious topics begin to be discussed.
“I thought you would appreciate an update on the mother and daughter you delivered to me in Bahrain. The mother has been making wonderful progress and recovery from the trauma and hurt she experienced there, and while the daughter is still under constant surveillance for un-authorized use of her powers, she is at least being trusted enough to train with her powers to the point of voluntarily releasing her hold once training ends. They both work with our Second Elder Yat-Sen most often as he has more free time than I do, and has plenty of experience with the mental drawbacks of our powers.” Jiaying opens with.
“That’s wonderful to hear. Not sure if I’m ever going to be open to working with them if it comes to that, but glad to hear the situation isn’t as bad as I left it for you.” Daisy replies.
“Yes. Thank you for giving us an issue THAT large to deal with, with no warning.” Jiaying’s dry tone has enough humor in it that everyone takes it for the joke that it is.
Lady Kara looks like she is going to say a joke of her own in response, but is cut off by Mr. Johnson instead.
“Yes, about that whole situation. Nobody here seems to really know, nor did your mother learn from when you talked or in your shared letters; But why did you involve yourself so much there? And working with SHIELD?! They’re the bad guys, they’re the ones who kept me from YOU!” By the end he is very nearly shouting, and seems to see the effect its having on everyone at the table, so he quickly calms back down.
With a sigh that lets Alisha know that Daisy can tell this is going to be an upsetting topic, Daisy answers all the same. “SHIELD aren’t the bad guys in the end. Sure they’re incredibly misguided and have some prejudices a mile wide, and some horrible practices especially when it comes to anyone with powers, but HYDRA are the ones in the world that are the enemy. I’m not saying every SHIELD agent is a model of virtue, especially not the HYDRA moles, but there are enough people doing incredible amounts of good to make it worth it.”
Jiaying and Mr. Johnson seem to be taking a moment to absorb what she has said, when Kara shares a bit more at a nod from Daisy.
“And besides, according to Daisy’s future knowledge, we are just a few years away from an alien invasion of New York. So it’s not just that Daisy likes some of them, but that the world still needs them. Or at least the world needs what Daisy is setting up to take over SHIELD eventually.”
With that, Mr. Johnson’s thin patience finally snaps as he jolts up in his seat, causing the table to jump up a couple inches as he knocks into it. “Alien invasion?! And ‘what you're setting up’ to take over SHIELD eventually?! Absolutely not! I don’t know what plans you had before, but you can forget them. I couldn’t protect you and keep you close before, but I damn well am going to do that now! You’re staying here with us, where we can watch over you.” By the end of his rant, Mr. Johnson is breathing incredibly hard, as he works to contain his rage.
Luckily Jiaying had a backup plan for something like this happening, so Alisha sends off one of her clones from the other room to be ready to call for help if it’s needed, while another takes a position right next to the door of the dining room.
“Cal… That can’t happen, the other elders won’t allow me to make such a risky decision that obviously comes from a place of emotion.” Jiaying delivers the information that Mr. Johnson had already been told, in as placating a voice without being condescending.
“Then- Then we can move out of here. Get a place all to ourselves, and live together safely! Ms. Danvers can come and visit, and- and- and you can forget about worrying anything about spy agencies and alien invasions and everything else. That doesn’t have to be you!” Mr. Johnson says, starting off calmer but soon working himself back up.
“But that is who she is Mr. Johnson.” Kara says in a light voice, full of affection and adoration. “Daisy is someone who can’t help but do her best to help others, when she knows it’s in her power to do so, and she has a LOT of power. Not just her inhuman powers, but knowledge, money, resources, and heart. I would readily accept her doing nothing but doing all the coding work she wants, and continuing with her hobby of cooking, but even in her memories when she tried to retire it didn’t work out. Asking her not to do that, like askin-”
“SHUT UP! YOU DO NOT GET TO SPEAK FOR MY DAUGHTER, ALIEN!” Cal shouts at the top of his lungs, his fists banging on the table between them. Seeing a hard look pass over Daisy’s eyes, as she slowly starts to stand up, Alisha decides it has reached the point where she should intervene.
Her clone steps into the room, looking straight at Cal before calling out. “I’m sorry Mr. Johnson, but Yat-Sen requires your assistance with Raina. Please come with me.”
The tension in the air is high, as everyone waits for what decision Mr. Johnson will make. Unknown to Lady Kara and Daisy though, is that this was the agreed upon signal beforehand. Raina did not actually need help, and he knew it. This was much a test as it was a command. Mr. Johnson had let his anger go too far, so if he wants to continue to try and repair his relationship with his family without being kicked out of Afterlife, he will go with her clone now. The alternative is that Gordon will come in and teleport Mr. Johnson out and into a room with no doors or windows to leave out of, to keep him contained.
Alisha can see the hatred he currently holds for her in his eyes right now, but she can also see the fear. The feat of the Elders of Afterlife making good on their threat. After nearly a full minute of everyone hanging on edge, Mr. Johnson lets out a growl before standing up and stiffly making his way over to her clone and the exit.
“I suggest bidding a goodbye to Daisy and Lady Kara, as you probably will be held up until after they have left.” His gaze snaps back up to the original her at her words, eyes and face a flurry of emotion, so she decides to send him a graceful way out of the situation. “A goodbye until the next time a day together can be arranged, that is.”
“Goodbye Daisy… and Kara. And… I’m sorry.” With those words, Mr. Johnson and her clone leave the dining room. With him, leaves the last of the tension as well, everyone breathing out a sigh of relief… And even Kara and Daisy reaching for additional cookies.
“My apologies for that, Kara. I did not think he would attack your heritage, even in your anger. We had explained to him the reality of what you want, and what the Elders will allow… but his emotions cloud what he knows still far too easily.”
“Thank you, and I don’t hold it against you.” Kara says with a brittle smile.”
“I understand what kind of person he is, mom, and I know it’s not your fault. Like I said when we had our reunion, he has a lot of things to make up for, and I don’t mean for him not being there for me as a child like I think he does.” Daisy responds.
Jiaying sends back a grateful smile at each of them, obviously thankful for both of their understanding. “You both are far more mature than your years would suggest. I think this is as notable a time to end the night as any. I have reports to make. Feel free to take some time, eat some more cookies, and just ask Alisha to show you to Gordon when you wish to return home.”
With the last longing look from Jiaying, she leaves, while Kara and Daisy settle back down for a couple minutes of comfortable silence filled only with the sound of snacking on the cookies. When finally, softly, oh so softly, Kara finally speaks up.
“I can… I can be sure not to join next time. So it’s easier on you and your parents?”
Not even taking a second to think of the offer, Daisy responds. “No. You’re a large part of my life now, and they are going to need to come to terms with that. Eventually I’ll visit them by myself, but if you don’t come next time Cal will take it as him gaining control. I care more for you, than a peaceful family life.”
After another minute of silence, with the only change being Kara snuggling up into Daisy’s side from what she said, Kara speaks up once again.
“I thought you would say something like that… and I know it shouldn’t make me so happy, but it does. I’m not used to being chosen first… so I’m sorry, but thank you.” Kara turns to face Daisy, with misty eyes looking into Daisy’s own.
“You’re always my first now. Remember that.” Daisy says with a kiss.
A kiss that lasts for a bit longer than Alisha expects.
A kiss that begins to deepen.
Alisha suddenly hates being the last left in the room with the hormonal teenagers!
Luckily she must have made a noise or something, because suddenly Kara jumps up and spins around to face her, her face suddenly heating up a bright red in embarrassment.
“OHMYRAO,IAMSOSORRY.WEJUSTGOTABIT-” Kara’s panicked incomprehensible word vomit are soon drowned out by Daisy laughing so loudly, the words get drowned out. Kara eventually gives up on words and just glares at her girlfriend, with cheeks puffed out in both outrage and embarrassment.
July 4th, 2009, MCU
Prince T’Challa, Wakanda Cover Village
As Prince of Wakanda and the most likely future King, assuming he can defeat any challengers at his coronation ceremony, T’Challa has visited the cover villages before. The villages that are used to bring the image to the world that they want to give, that are populated by citizens and warriors in a random assortment to keep everything fair, and not sentence some people to a life of poverty just to maintain the truth of their great nation.
He has visited them, and he has even spent 3 months there to learn about the duty he would one day assign others to fulfill for up to a year.
That said, he did NOT expect to be sent out here to retrieve the most wanted international criminal of Wakanda that had shown up out of nowhere an hour before sunrise, tied up and knocked out with a literal bow on top.
In the couple hours that it has taken for word to reach him, to be woken up, to don the suit of the Black Panther, and make his way out here, apparently the man has woken up. Because coming up to the hut where he has been told the man is being kept, T’Challa can hear screams of rage, screams of threats, of attempted bribes, and finally hysterical laughing as if the whole thing is a joke.
As he steps into the hut where the wanted man, Ulysses Klaue, is now restrained using vibranium restraints of Wakanda he can’t help but notice that the warriors here have seemingly decided NOT to remove the giant bow from the man’s head, and he can’t help but agree that some joke is being played here.
Turning to the nearest warrior, still in disguise as a regular villager, T’Challa ignores the insane man who has now gone quiet below him. “Report.”
With a bow, the warrior responds. “Two and a half hours ago, the sentry on duty heard a loud ‘whooshing’ sound as a sudden wind came directly downwards kicking up dust and sand everywhere. The sentry raised the alarm, and while the dust continued to settle every warrior took up positions around the disturbance. Once the way cleared, all we could see was our most wanted tied up with steel cables, and unconscious on the floor. A report was sent to the palace, while we changed out the restraints and brought him inside.”
“And the bow?” T’Challa can’t help but ask.
“It has a card like Americans use for their gifts, so we did not disturb any evidence that could be gathered from it.”
“Ha! Is that why you cunts are keeping me humiliated like this?! I could have told you that the two bitches are far too professional to leave anything worthwhile there. So could you read the fucking card, and get this bow off of me!” Klaue yells out in a rage from the ground.
Finally crouching down to get closer to eye level with the man, and turning to address him, T’Challa responds back. “You know who captured you and brought you to us? I look forward to being able to send back a thank you gift in return.”
“Hahaha! You don’t even realize that those cunts already got the better end of this deal, no wonder it was so easy to steal from an entire nation, if you’re the best they have. Go on then, read the card big kitty kitty, and tell me if you figure it out.” The manic grin on the man along with the disrespectful words bring a burning fire of anger through his veins, but T’Challa clamps down on the impulse.
After scanning the card and confirming nothing dangerous is present, T’Challa opens it up to read the note.
Hope you enjoy our present here, and that it makes up for keeping the rest of his stock for us to play with. The best way to make friends IS to exchange gifts, so let’s just consider us even!
Looking forward to a wonderful friendship.
-Q ;)
Who Q is, or why the winking face is written in purple pen rather than blank ink like the rest is a mystery, but T’Challa now knows what both the note and Klaue were referring to; whatever he had yet to sell of the quarter ton of vibranium that the man stole was in the hands of their ‘new friends’.
“Now THAT is the expression I was so looking forward to seeing. Even if the suit hides most of it, I at least got enough to keep myself entertained. Ha! I’m pretty sure I can hold out under torture pretty well, so if you're wanting to know anything about the ones who now have your miracle metal and apparently know a lot about this country, I’m going to have a LOT of demands for my sentencing and perks. Think you can fit a chocolate fountain in my jail cell?”
With that, Klaue descends into hysterical laughter yet again, while T’Challa’s headache rapidly grows. Luckily, his father may be getting older in his years, but he is still King and will be for a while to come. So this situation is more his problem to deal with than anyone else.
But T’Challa knows he is going to be going on a lot of missions around the world in search for the Vibranium, so it is a hollow victory over his father and King.
August 3rd, 2009, MCU
Tony Stark, Stark Malibu Mansion
Over the past few months Tony’s relationship with the two tiny terrors has been rocky. Well less the two of them, and more the leader and shot caller, Shake Shack. Bubbles probably knew, but is far less to blame in the grand scheme of things.
It galls Tony so much to be so clearly manipulated by those he had trusted so deeply… yet the scientist part of Tony can understand the logic and reason behind it. Seeing the brainwashing and gaining true sympathy for the Winter Soldier, before learning that the man had killed his parents has avoided a whole host of problems.
Including something that the media called the ‘Avengers Civil War’ in the original timeline.
Frankly ridiculous name honestly. There were like a dozen people involved, in two fights, with no deaths. But still… the fate of half of the population on Earth ranks higher than Tony’s feelings and any theoretical possible resentment towards Captain America’s Ass.
Knowing something, and feeling something, are two different things though. So visits became less frequent, and some board game nights were skipped. Those that were skipped, were also far less festive and enjoyable.
Tony had been ready to forgive and forget for a while, only his stubborn pride making him maintain the current status quo rather than true anger. Luckily the two have now given Tony a nice out to keep his pride, while gaining his two terrors back into his life again.
Sitting in his workshop, with even Jarvis having no clue or records of how it got here (Daisy is still the champion of the two in their continuous hacking games), is over 200 pounds of the rarest metal on earth, Vibranium.
The only thing stopping Tony from going full kid-in-a-candy-shop is the small note taped to the block of metal. Reaching out and taking it off, Tony can’t help but chuckle at the note that obviously comes from Kara.
It took some time to find out the correct way to melt down and reforge Vibranium in order to split it 50/50 between us two, but here is your share of what Daisy lovingly calls ‘Bullshit Metal’. Enjoy!
Ps. Did you know August 3rd is National Friendship Day? And that giving you half of the Vibranium was Daisy’s idea? …So can you two be friends again?!
Pss. I'll even help you cheat next game night if that’s what you need!
Tony can’t help but have his chuckles turn into full belly laughs. Those two are completely ridiculous, and honestly, he is glad to feel the last bits of anger leave him. This game night is going to be fun!
And with that, Tony gets to work on his new toys.
September 1st, 2009, MCU
Dr. Jemma Simmons, Los Angeles
Dr. Jemma Simmons can’t help but shake her leg as the nervous energy courses through her. Luckily, many people around her are acting the same way, so she doesn’t stand out. A slight bumping of shoulders from the person next to her, helps Jemma’s racing heart to settle down considerably. Looking into the eyes of her partner, Dr. Leopold Fitz, who is sitting next to her and seeing the same nervous energy helps even more as her protective instincts kick in as well.
She can’t fail because that would mean Fitz fails as well. Straightening her back, Jemma holds her head up high as she looks out the window of the brand new StarkJet that is flying her and a dozen other new employees to their first day of their week-long orientation at Dr. Kara Zorel Danvers’ new company, House El Revolutionary Origins, HERO for short.
Unlike everyone else in the StarkJet, it is the first week in what could very well be a years-long undercover mission for her and Fitz. They will do it, and they will excel at it though. Because it is what SHIELD needs to keep the world stable.
And all of the groundbreak science they will get to be working on? Well that is just an amazing bonus!
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Woops! Sorry about the nearly 3 month long hiatus there. At first it was work getting busy, then life changes like moving apartments, but then eventually it just came down to procrastination in writing, and lack of motivation/ inspiration to write the dinner scene. Thank you to the commenter who suggested using Alisha as the POV, it helped a lot. That said, I am back, and am aiming to get back into my weekly schedule!
I hope you liked how this chapter turned out. I think I got the dinner scene to be far better than I feared it would be, so I hoped you liked it. Meanwhile, what seemed to get me back into writing was apparently spending just a bit of time writing for a different story.
So if you like the anime Level 99 Villainess, feel free to check out my second story, A Few Drops of Poison . That story has no set update schedule, so it will be just how I’m feeling and when.
Toodles!
Chapter 22: Orientations and Overload
Summary:
We get a long look into the orientation of Fitzsimmons as well as a look into what they have been up to before joining HERO. Meanwhile, Daisy is also starting to expand her network of influence.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
September 1st, 2009, MCU
Dr. Jemma Simmons, Los Angeles
After nearly an hour of flying, to pick up the variety of new employees joining House El Revolutionary Origins, they finally begin their approach and landing procedures onto the landing pad on top of the company’s HQ as another Starkjet takes off having delivered another team of employees just before them. The Starkjet is a marvelous piece of technology, making use of the propulsion tech used in the Iron Man suit.
According to Fitz however, its introduction ruffled some feathers in the engineering department of SHIELD as a mission-focused small team stealth jet capable of vertical take offs as an upgrade to the old retro quadjet was going to be their next big upcoming project… only for Stark Industries to beat them to the punch with more refined specs than they were aiming towards in even their wildest hopes.
Almost in an effort to spot something that he would have ‘obviously’ been able to do better at, Fitz took the first 15 minutes of the flight looking over as much of the jet as he was able to… and then spending the next 15 minutes pouting up a storm after finding nothing to improve on.
Honestly, Stark wasn’t exactly a rookie inventor, so it was a bit ridiculous for him to think that he could find something wrong with the invention just at a glance.
Boys.
As they begin landing procedures, slowly descending vertically, Fitz taps her shoulder with his phone before showing her the screen. Reading through the article shown a little bit, she can tell it was an article on Supergirl, as apparently the alien superhero went on a bit of an anti-crime tear last night.
Meeting her eyes, Fitz explains a bit more than she was able to gleam from the portion of the article shown. “Last night Supergirl didn’t do her usual style of picking a city to be a superhero for the day for, but instead was all over the country appearing in different cities. It didn’t even have a common purpose like stopping some criminal organization as far as anyone can tell, as she was doing everything from helping drunk college teens home to busting an exploitative prostitution ring. That being said, we now have a better idea of her long distance travel speed thanks to this as-”
As Fitz continues on an analysis of the superhero’s travel speed and what that means from a scientific point of view (luckily he is being careful and speaking as a scientist rather than SHIELD agent), Jemma can’t help but let out a tiny shudder at the reality of the situation.
The fact was, right now, no one has any idea how to stop Supergirl if she, or anyone else of her unknown race, decides to conquer the planet. The main problem is that basically no one wants to take the risk of being the one to bring down the alien superweapon on the world by angering her just to test a weapon that doesn't even work against her.
The missiles and flak gun fired at her in Mexico City? Shrugged off as a nuisance with only the perpetrator of the attack going down via Supergirl's PR retaliation. But would Supergirl act the same in the face of a weapon designed specifically to kill her, especially if the weapon DOES actually end up doing damage? Nearly no one in the world wants to find out.
SHIELD has actually been the one to come closest to toeing that line. Just before this current assignment came through for Fitz and herself, they were put onto a project with other SHIELD scientists directly below Assistant Director Maria Hill. Jemma for her biological expertise to try and identify any possible way to find a physical weakness, and Fitz to work on the design and construction of whatever the team came up with.
Almost everyone had the idea that it was a thought exercise, or a contingency plan, as no one believed it was actually going to be used. But when the day came and the variable frequency sonic cannon was finished, AD Hill took a skeleton crew and set it up in an apartment’s top floor in downtown Indianapolis with their control and observation post being a few floors down and over.
Apparently some other SHIELD team had been able to find some sort of rough predictive pattern to Supergirl’s city choice, as Fitz, herself, AD Hill, and the few others were only waiting in agonizing boredom for three weeks before the city played host to Supergirl. Luckily they weren’t going to actually attempt to do real harm, but instead test if their countermeasure had a noticeable effect at low level, and use that data to extrapolate what full power would do.
After nearly 20 hours, with only 4 hours to spare in the window where Supergirl lingers in one city, she finally had a flight path that put her squarely in their project’s effective range.
At first, everyone watched in a mix of exhilaration and fear as the sonic cannon seemed to actually be working, as Supergirl slowed down her speed to a hover. Then the exhilaration disappeared and the fear overloaded as everyone realized Supergirl didn’t stop flying because of adverse effects, but instead she was looking squarely at the apartment they were at, and not at the sonic cannon which was supposed to be what she focused on instead.
Some twitchy Agent who worked on the construction with Fitz then completely and totally panicked at being caught, and apparently believed in their success so much that he ripped the controller out of AD Hill’s hands and turned up the power from 10% to max.
Supergirl went from curious, to downright annoyed apparently. While it was obvious she was being adversely affected by it, it seemed they were still no where close to having the possible answer to Supergirl’s power, as the woman casually flew at a sedate pace straight to the front of the set up where it would be completely lethal to any human being, and took a few seconds before using her laser vision to safely cut off the power.
The woman then flew down to their balcony, where Maria Hill went out to meet her, but before she could get out any words of reassurance or excuses to the woman, Supergirl spoke up first.
“Your upstairs neighbor seemed to have a problem with city noise ordinances, so I turned off their music system, just so you know!” The line was delivered with such genuine pep to her voice, that some of the more socially isolated members of their team seemed to buy the idea that they somehow hadn’t been caught, until Supergirl gave a last line before flying away. “Might want to keep a better eye on your neighbors, Assistant Director Maria Hill.”
The possibility of finding something that would actually work on the woman, even if they were apparently years away from being able to make anything nearly powerful enough to do more than annoy her, was completely overshadowed by the fact that apparently the woman knew so much about SHIELD that she could know of a Director’s name just by her face.
The project, in the end, was put on the backburner until such a time that technology gained a bit more development in order to support a more powerful version. And now Fitz and Simmons were assigned to investigate the rising technological prodigy of Dr. Kara Danvers, and especially see if anything more could be found out about her relationship with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.
This undercover mission was a big step up for the both of them, and a big leap of faith from SHIELD as well. They had both always wanted to have more access to field work, rather than just being in a lab all day, which was why they had joined SHIELD. But opportunities for scientists to take that leap into field work were few and far between, so they needed to score perfect marks on this assignment!
Something that also helped to calm their nerves was the lack of high stakes with this mission. They were not being sent into the middle of a terrorist group, or some gang, or someone else with a history of violence. If their actions were discovered they would most likely be fired, or at worst be handed over to law enforcement, where SHIELD would make them disappear into the legal system quietly.
Additionally, they were not the only ones assigned to the infiltration either. Although they obviously don’t know everyone who is, to ensure mission viability in case someone is caught, she at least knows who their handler is to report on the mission status once every two weeks or as needed; One Bobbi Morse who has been hired high up in HERO as part of the security team, although not as high as SHIELD was hoping.
The only real bump in the set up for this mission so far, has been that apparently Bobbi had planned for her ex-husband and his mercenary crew to be nearby with a safe house and to be ready for extraction in the most dire of circumstances during their assignment, only for his entire crew to be contracted out long term before he could be asked.
Jemma may be more worried about the idea of not having a safe house filled with backup to go to, if she wasn’t so caught up with the idea that Bobbi was trying to actively contract her ex-husband?! SHIELD office gossip is that even post divorce, they are still a bit of an off and on again situation. Jemma is incredibly thankful that she has no paramours to speak of, it just doesn’t seem worth the instability in the end.
As Jemma’s mind finishes wandering, and the Starkjet lands with everyone deboarding, they are soon led a few floors down, and into a large conference room that seems to be specifically designed for any company-wide meetings, such as this first day orientation. The company is by no means huge, based on the size of the crowd of the room she is in, most likely only around 200 people are here today.
The architecture of the whole building is also a bit strange, and both a little off-putting while being comforting at the same time. Heavy use of glass in the decor, with curved walls and hallways give the whole building a ‘flow’ to it, rather than acting like a strict traditional office layout. But all the curves must mean a lot of wasted space in the groundplan, so it is an interesting choice to make for a science research company.
Jemma and Fitz make their way in, and grab a seat towards the back as most of the other seats are already taken.
“This wasn’t as large of a company as I was expecting honestly, and not to judge people by how they are dressed, but with those gentlemen over there wearing jeans and work shirts I think this crowd even includes people working in the in-house manufacturing shop as well.” Says Jemma.
“I know what you mean, some SHIE-... I mean, some satellite bases we have worked at have more people than this, so doesn’t it seem odd how much effort was put in to… get us hired here?” Fitz replies, doing his best to keep his voice low and not say anything bad that could be overheard, but dear lord they need to work on that.
“Dr. Danvers herself is incredibly smart and was able to come up with those ingenious non-lethal guns and ammunition, but honestly a lot of the draw for people here are who already agreed to work with her. Speaking of which…” Jemma’s reply is a bit cut off as the lights dim down around the meeting hall, while the lights at the far end go up a bit.
Walking into the spotlight are 5 people, 4 of whom Jemma instantly recognizes while the 5th has the air of someone who screams Lawyer, as the woman begins handing out folders to everyone.
Front and center is obviously Dr. Danvers, who looks even younger in person than she does in her few tv appearances. She has a blinding smile on her face, with hands twitching in nervous energy.
Jemma can’t blame the girl. Dr. Danvers is even younger than Jemma yet is starting her own company today. If she was in her place, Jemma would have spent the night stress cleaning her apartment and not being able to get a wink of sleep.
Behind her is the person that probably gets the most stares, Dr. Bruce Banner. While legally acquitted, and with all pressing lawsuits settled by the funds from the Superhero merch line that Stark Industries has started, many people across the country and especially this city continue to feel nervous having the Hulk back in a major metropolitan area again.
Yet, time has now passed since he came back and signed on to HERO, with no incidents to speak of. There has also been a lack of tv appearances, besides the original announcement of his return and employment, so seeing the man is a novelty to many in the crowd.
Third is another controversial figure, but only by association this time. Maya Hansen, the woman who held the rights to and controlling interest of AIM after Aldritch Killian committed suicide following his lethal and illegal experiments on the homeless. The company looked like it would go completely under from the bad press and lawsuits, until HERO came in and bought the company out in an aggressive merger.
The final figure walking in is Agent Barbara Morse, although Jemma certainly didn’t expect her to be walking in with this group at this time. Maybe there is more hope for the agent’s position than expected?
Jemma is unable to speculate, or comment on it with Fitz, as the figures reach their spot and begin speaking to the new employees.
“Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a safe trip in today, whether by your own means or by Starkjet today. For those who don’t know, my name is Dr. Kara Zorel Danvers and I am the co-founder of House El Revolutionary Origins.”
The bubbly attitude only increases as Jemma’s new boss begins speaking, and the adorable factor also goes up as far as she is concerned.
“While at the time of the founding there were no known superheroes in the world, I wanted to strive for being a HERO by making use of my education and good fortune. Some place for people to make the world better, without having to be able to fly.”
The comment gets a smattering of chuckles and claps from the crowd, with them sounding more genuine than one might expect of employees hearing a joke from their boss.
“I don’t have too much to say before having you all split off into your departments to begin setting up your work spaces and all of the orientation work that needs to start happening, but I at least wanted to give you an overview of why I want to do what I do. So if you have an idea of how to be a hero to the world while working here, bring it up! The worst I can say is that the company is uninterested, and the best is that you may be the one to come up with our next big idea. Nothing is too big or too small.”
Again, employees applaud the small speech given and even Jemma and Fitz find themselves clapping along. Shield was great and fantastic, but it is also an organization built on levels and bureaucracy. So sometimes, it can be really difficult to make yourself feel heard, especially as a level 1 agent. So if Dr. Danvers lives up to her ideals, maybe even the two of them will be able to work on some projects that haven’t been approved at SHIELD yet…
“So, introductions!” Dr. Danvers continues. “Like I said, I am the co-founder of HERO and am now working as the CEO. Aside from that though, I will also directly be overseeing our engineering department. Our first project is going to be working on the manufacturing process for a crystal-sand based water filtration system I worked up while having this building constructed. After that we will be moving on to connecting the world more, by increasing the world’s internet capabilities through attempting to make cheap fiber optic cables for urban areas and satellite internet receivers for rural areas. But I will wait to get deep into that discussion with my own team.”
Fitz very much perks up at the mention of the work that he will be taking part in. Although it is obvious that he has no-idea what she means by a crystal-sand based water filtration system, but that only seems to excite him even more.
“Hello everyone, my name is Dr. Bruce Banner and I am the head of the Bio-Chem department here. I’m sure you've heard of my name from my research papers on radiation… and nothing else.” Dr. Banner steps forward and says, the joke again working pretty well with the group, as the tension in the room from first-day nerves eases more and more as the introductions go on. “While I will be overseeing the whole Bio-Chem department, I will also be leading a team on my own project. We will be looking into the modern emergence of powers in people throughout the world, and how to help those who may be victims of their powers as well, while making sure to maintain our ethics about the whole thing. We want to help those in a scary and unique situation, not work to control them or put them at risk in other ways.”
It’s obvious to everyone in the room that Dr. Banner is speaking from a place from his own heart. The man is obviously looking to try to both improve his own condition, and trying to help those that may be in situations like him. While her work with SHIELD lets Jemma know that he is being a bit naive about people who fall under the INDEX, she can’t blame him for trying.
“My name is Dr. Maya Hansen and while I fall under Dr. Banner’s department, my team will be one of the larger ones as we build on the progress I have already made when working at AIM and before. We have made sure to take Extremis back to its beginnings to try and work through all of the problems, rather than pushing on ahead despite them like my old boss did. The project will be divided into two phases. First is to try and alter Extremis to act as a temporary first aid injection, rather than a permanent genetic alteration to ensure we do not violate the laws on human gene editing. The second phase is to prepare the permanent version as much as possible, hoping to use any success from the first phase to gain support for amendments to the laws, so that when we can move onto humans legally, we are as ready to do so as we possibly can be.”
Dr. Hansen’s introduction is obviously the one that everyone is most wary about, with the history that Extremis went through at AIM, but it at least sounds like to Jemma that the work is going to stay on the right side of the law, even if they are apparently going to get as close to the law as possible. Since she is going to be on that team, it will definitely be something she will have to investigate while here. If Dr. Hansen isn’t as innocent as everyone believed, then on her team will be the best place to find any evidence of illegal experiments starting back up again.
Dr. Danvers steps back up to the front again, seemingly almost ready to break everyone out to their own departments. “I mentioned I am the co-founder of HERO, so I’m guessing some are wondering where my partner Daisy Johnson is at right now. She will be acting mainly on a remote basis due to her own needs, functioning as a COO and Head of Security while doing so. The assistant Head of Security, Barbara Morse, is this lovely lady right behind me. So if you have security concerns that need to be addressed in person, she is the one to go to. Finally the woman passing out the orientation packets is our Head of HR and in-house Legal, Laurel Lance, so you will all be meeting with her one-on-one throughout the week.”
Looking at her other leaders for anything else, Dr. Danvers seems to get a nod from everyone that all has been said so far.
“With that, please open your orientation packets that contain a map of the building, along with details about where you should report to. I want to thank everyone for joining me here, and I look forward to making the world just a little bit better with all of you!”
Jemma can’t help but be swept up in the blonde’s enthusiasm and sincerity just a bit at the end. Hopefully Fitz and her don’t end up discovering anything that will make Dr. Danvers an enemy of SHIELD, but Jemma will do her job as an agent to make sure any secrets get reported back. This is her and Fitz’s time to make their mark as field agents, and not just as scientists.
September 1st, 2009, MCU
Lance Hunter, Unknown Base in Unknown Location
Lance Hunter wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he was REALLY starting to second guess his decision making skills at the moment. His problems started when his she-devil of an ex started acting like a human and not the denizen of hell she truly is. Lance Hunter may not be one of the egg-head scientists SHIELD sometimes employs, but he can certainly recognize patterns when he sees them.
And the pattern of his life is, whenever he begins to think his old flame is human, it’s because she’s buttering him up to ask him for something.
Now SHIELD normally does not do contract work with mercenaries, not the best business for a secret organization and all that, but there are a few exceptions. Lance happened to be one of those exceptions, because of his marriage to a SHIELD agent, as well as interactions on various missions with other agents before.
So if he knows about SHIELD, and is a mercenary anyways, why not hire him out to do the work that they don’t want to give to their specially trained tinker tailor soldier spies?
It’s good work, normally the more low profile missions, and pays well, so he usually doesn’t fight Bobbi too much when she begins to butter him up to accept a mission.
But the way she was cozying up to him THIS time… it smelled all sorts of wrong! It was small things, but Lance got the idea in his head that this was going to be a long mission, with his ex having a central role to it too.
Once that idea got lodged in his head, it wouldn’t leave, and every time they talked afterwards her little hints and manipulations just stacked the odds in favor of his gut being right!
So when an offer for him and his team to take a long term mission, across the world, for some shady organization, he said ‘Hell yes’!
…Well actually he said ‘How much is the pay? And here is the kind of work we won’t do or help with…’ But once his moral lines were respected and he saw the offer amount, then he said hell yes!
Then the pickup time arrived, and suddenly a brand new Starkjet (something that was just recently presented by Stark Industries and has yet to hit the open market) that had the ability to TURN INVISIBLE suddenly appeared above him, and he quickly began to think maybe he had been a bit too impulsive.
As the Starkjet flew itself without a pilot, in an indirect route, leaving him and his team with no idea where they were, that feeling grew.
As the Starkjet landed inside of a retractable hidden landing pad for an underground base, the regret and panic increased dramatically.
Finally, as he was directed into a room with nearly 40 other people, only to see a very dangerous figure at the head of the room in a dark combat suit, wearing a ski mask with a purple light up LED demented smile that is giving him distinct trickster-fae vibes… Hunter is not afraid to admit he broke out into a bit of a cold sweat.
-
… Still better than working with his ex-wife though.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Sorry that this chapter took a week and a half, instead of a week. Getting back into writing has left me working slower than I was used to. I didn’t end up making as much progress as I wanted to, but I didn’t feel like I could short change the scene here at all. Short changing Kara’s new company opening, or Jemma’s introduction to the story just felt wrong! Hence, why that ended up being so much of the chapter.
Why was Daisy not there as well? Well aside from her opening up SPEAR on the same day, Kara and Daisy only own one face veil, as they have yet to reach the tech levels to make another. So they can’t appear in person together in the civilian identities, as they each need the face veil to look like the ages they claim to be. Luckily JARVIS is helping Daisy with a lot of her work at HERO, but when she can borrow the face veil, she is definitely going to go just to mess with Bobbi! :)
Finally we get Lance Hunter about to listen to Quake’s sales pitch to join SPEAR long term! I wonder who else is in the room right now that we might recognize?... You’ll find out next time! Thanks all.
Chapter 23: Intros and Infiltrations
Summary:
Quake holds her own new employee orientation for SPEAR, and we get a look at the kinds of people that Quake has chosen to join. Then Coulson gets... forcefully acquired to help Quake with an errand to recover something that he lost anyways.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
Finally got this chapter out! Was not as quick as I would have liked, but it is also nearly twice the length as my normal chapters. So hopefully that makes up for the delay. Enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
September 1st, 2009, MCU
Daisy Johnson, SPEAR HQ
As Daisy stands before the gathering of the first round of SPEAR employees and contractors she hopes to get to sign on today, she can’t help but let her fears about the last time she was the head of a spy organization bubble up. She was questioned at every turn, her orders were disobeyed, and in the end she became the shortest serving SHIELD Director ever, even including the whole ‘Real Shield’ debacle.
The base they are staying in is actually located in the SHIELD outpost of The Lighthouse. Shield went through all of the trouble of carving it out, and making all of the hallways, why would she not take advantage of the fact that it would be completely abandoned for nearly another decade?
And that doesn’t even take into account the lightest touch of hacking, and in-person file destruction she did to Shield that took out every buried shred of evidence of this base’s existence. The place was Shield’s one safe hideout in the old timeline, and now it would be the Headquarters of SPEAR, the group meant to replace Shield in the long run.
Daisy found it both hilarious, and pleasantly familiar.
The base still needed a lot of updates to get operational, and even expansions to hold a larger organization than Coulson’s Shield held, but between Tony, Jarvis, and Kara, Daisy was able to get her base up and running in time for her grand opening!
And if this is the only SPEAR base that is actually fully operational… well the new employees don’t need to know that until they have already signed on the dotted line.
As the last group enters into the main meeting hall, Daisy stops acting like the evil gargoyle she is playing up as at the front of the room and begins to draw the attention of everyone that had been doing their best to act unaffected by her presence.
Good. Her choices for recruitment were right if they were at least attempting to be unphased by such an imposing presence that she knows she gives off in her full Quake get-up. Once only a couple people remain talking, mostly in the back thinking they are being quiet enough or off to the side having not noticed her movement, Daisy holds out her hand and channels her power to smother all of the audio vibrations going through the air.
While she does not quite have the finesse to completely counteract noise as it is being made, Daisy is still able to give the effect as if everyone that is talking sounds like they are speaking with a hand held over their mouth, their voices so muffled.
This draws the attention of the stragglers, as well as doing a good job of causing a widening of the eyes of those who had been watching her the most. While not a threat… It does help to put her on top of the totem pole in a way that the mask is hindering.
“Good afternoon everyone, I hope that the flight over was enjoyable. My contacts managed to locate a shipment of StarkJets, and managed to… liberate a few, and one of my engineers managed to upgrade them to better suit our needs.” Bold faced lies. They were a gift from Stark not stolen, and Kara is not actually a member of SPEAR. But looking more influential and connected won’t hurt. “While all of you have at least been given the primer of my organization I am starting up here, I have more details to give since you all have accepted.”
Moving around the room, Daisy looks at the faces of everyone there to search for anyone having second thoughts. She passively uses her powers to feel the heartbeats of everyone in the room, searching for those who may be double-agents that she may have missed. Finding neither, she continues on.
“Welcome to SPEAR. Strategic Protection, Evaluation, Acquisition, and Rescue.” The SPEAR symbol, with the full name that she FINALLY decided on, blooms across the screens around the room, thanks to the assistance of Jarvis. “With the emergence of Iron Man and Supergirl, everyone should now know that is just the tip of how weird the world is going to get. There has always been more going on behind the scenes, but soon things will start happening in greater numbers and more in the public eye.”
Another advantage of displaying her powers, nobody has doubt on their face about the idea of more people like Kara and Tony coming out soon.
“The modern world is not made to protect people from these threats, or even worse, doesn’t know how to protect innocent people that gain powers. Some of you may know of another organization similar to what I am making, Shield.”
At the mention of Shield, Hunter’s heartbeat spikes for just a few seconds, before he is able to get it under control. All the same she nods towards him to let him know that his association is not unknown.
“Shield has been doing their best throughout the years, but I want to be better than what they consider the best that they can do. Anyone with powers, or alien ancestry, is automatically put on a list they call ‘The Index’ and everyone with any historical knowledge knows how well lists like that can end up. The Director of Shield is currently trying to put together a team of those with powers to act as the front line weapons against any aliens.
“But worst of all, I KNOW that Shield has been infiltrated by an organization that wants nothing more than to rule the world, and has no morals about how they go about it. I made the first strike against them with ‘The Red Sunrise’ incident. What I painted as a lone and complete organization in the files I leaked, was actually just the bankroll behind the true monster.”
Heartbeats around the room spike at her words. Both at the size of her advisory, and the blanket admission that she was behind one of the bloodiest incidents to strike the modern world so suddenly. A few people even take a few steps back.
“To fight something that massive and horrible, hands getting dirty is a necessity. But I won’t become Shield, where we run secret prisons around the world. When we can, I have no objection to turning people over to the police, as long as they will actually face justice for their actions. I am not asking everyone here to become cold blooded killers.”
Daisy tries to comfort as much as she can, while also not sugar coating things. Daisy won’t let her world become like Kara’s with their cardboard prisons, but most good people will have objections to being a part of executions.
“Now when I contacted you all, I offered a job with a length of one year. And while that is still true, I also want to offer everyone a ten year contract with one hell of a bonus at the end.” The way that many swing from being anxious to being VERY attentive is a bit distressing, but Daisy won’t judge people for being self-interested. Daisy herself joined Shield to find her parents afterall. People can both do good, and be looking out for themselves at the same time.
“Some bonuses are simple, and they are just an additional five years worth of the already generous pay as a bonus at the end.” Daisy looks over at Idaho, Hunter, and Hunter’s team, which is actually a few members larger than she had encountered. Probably a couple members that died, or left over the years. Aside from them, the largest group this applies to are the support staff members she helped to find when they rebuilt Shield. It's hard to find someone passionate about the cause, and settle for being a janitor or maintenance worker afterall.
“Other bonuses may be paid in a couple parts.” Daisy looks over at the group of veterans, most of whom in the original timeline would have become terrorists under AIM, all of them missing one limb or another. “Such as the most advanced cybernetic limbs to be custom made for you this week. And then the option to take an injection of Extremis once my mole in HERO lets me know that the formula is ready to regrow limbs in a safe and permanent way.” At that ALL of the veterans have their full attention on her. AIM was able to turn patriots into terrorists, she can turn Patriots into loyal SPEAR agents even easier.
“For those of you who strive to be more like freedom fighters, we will release as much information as we safely can without endangering the innocent, and I am more than open to pursuing targets for a cause you feel passionate about with more resources than you could ever gather on your own, as long as it doesn’t go against our mission aims.” Looking over the group of Lorna, Marcos, Morty, David, and a couple other would-be future Rising Tide members, she sees the interest present. She also very specifically did NOT recruit Miles, no need to bring him into this, for his history of selling out and just their personal history as well.
“I know some of you are here for the money you will be able to send your family from this. So the ten year bonus for you ranges from full college expenses covered, hospital bills waived, or even the cost of childcare covered throughout the years if it’s needed.” Again, some of the support staff, engineers, inventors, and non-injured veterans perk up at that. But the main one she looks at is Robbie Reyes, who has a fire in his eyes at the mention of family support.
Thankfully it is not a literal fire in his eyes… yet. Who knows if the Rider will choose him again, but Daisy will be sure to help him if it does.
“Finally, I already know some of you have the same genetic heritage as me, and you may have found your life always feeling a bit incomplete. You may have associated this with another need, like I did with the need to find my family. It may feel like the need to take down the cartels and dealers that killed your family.” Daisy turns her mask to Yo-Yo in the crowd, the woman shocked at the implication that she may gain powers.
“Or maybe you feel the craving to be accepted for who you love, despite your traditional family being so important to you.” Joey Gutierrez is her next target, a man who is just starting to find himself, unlike the scared man who just wanted to go back to his old life like he was when he gained powers before.
“Or maybe you feel the need to solve the problems of others, but can already feel yourself burning out of Medical School, despite having less than one year left before you graduate and can start doing real good.” This time, Daisy turns her head and mask to look at the man, but her eyes stay focused elsewhere in the room.
Lincoln Campbell.
She is in love with Kara, and knows that looking at him won’t ignite old feelings. But that does not mean the guilt does not remain, nor the new guilt for recruiting him young using her knowledge of his life before it fell apart.
But she will keep her distance, she will make sure he stays in the med labs, so he never has to choose to be the one to take the suicide mission again. Once is enough.
“If you sign on for the ten year contract, I’ll help you to unlock your hidden powers to help you feel complete and to help you use your powers to help others like us, if you prove stable enough to handle it after your initial year here is complete.” To punctuate her point, Daisy causes the whole room to vibrate, off and on. Not quite an earthquake, more a display of control than power, but still more power than any of them have seen or wielded before.
“So… Anyone having second thoughts? Now is the time to back out, before you sign the full contract. Speak now, or have a more complicated time retiring in the future.” Daisy won’t be Shield, she won’t chain people to the organization like she will, but at the same time she is running a spy group that needs to be kept secure.
Finally, after nearly a full minute of people whispering with those they know or flew in with, someone speaks up.
The highest ranking military officer that would have joined AIM, Eric Savin, speaks up. He is much more composed and professional than the reports of his actions while high on Extremis would have led her to believe. “Why should we trust you with so much when you won’t do the same? You won't even show us your face but we are supposed to dedicate ten years to you?”
“It’s a fair question. I could go with the easy answer, and say that my powers and position as Director make me the biggest target of anyone here. I could go with the more complex answer and tell you that Shield has placed a ‘Dead or Alive’ bounty on my head, and I need to keep my civilian identity safe. I could go with the more reassuring answer and let you know that I plan to reveal my face to those who work loyally for at least a year. But I’ll go with the most reassuring answer, and say that I’m going to make it so you don’t actually have to trust me as much as you feel like I am asking right now.”
While all the previous reasons help to bring understanding to the room, the last one is definitely the one that stops the wind in Savin’s sails, giving him a look of confusion instead.
“I’m the founder and Director of SPEAR, yes. But my top leadership is all coming from this group here, people hired at the exact same time as you, with their faces known. If you can’t trust me then learn to trust them.” Daisy finishes with a shrug.
Savin nods back at her in understanding, and a noticeable look of respect in his face. Daisy suddenly feels like maybe he had been testing and probing her more than asking the question, but it seems she passed all the same.
“Speaking of leaders, let me hand out your offered ten year contracts first, as I have yet to tell them about their leadership position.” Daisy hopes the chirp, cheer, and slight mischievous tone comes through the voice distorter, and based on the wide eyes stressed look from some people, she thinks it does.
“Eric Savin, Head of Field Agent Training.” Highest rank, will mean the other soldiers will fall in line easier. Knowing his profile he will eventually want to be a field commander, but this will give him time to get used to his new limbs once they are finished.
“Geri Diaz, Head of Flight and Combat Overwatch.” A solid pilot that joined Shield after Hydragate, although she will definitely need training to act as mission Overwatch.
“Lincoln Campbell, Head of Medical.” Once his powers awaken, his healing abilities will be even better than the Medical Degree he hopefully is able to get this time around.
“Alexa Borel, Head of Research and Engineer.” Possibly the most prominent name when it came to the Deathlok project at Cybertek, but only because of the ‘incentive program’ that held her parents hostage. While Cybertek is still up and running as a part of the Deathlok/Centipede Programs, Daisy was lucky to be able to recruit the woman before they could.
“And finally, Piper Vasquez, Assistant Director.” Piper BY FAR has the biggest reaction to the offers so far, and it makes sense. Piper is young, with not a lot of experience as a commander, just as a soldier. But when the core team were kidnapped to the future, Piper was the one to step up. Piper ran Shield when the whole leadership suddenly disappeared into the future. Something that was NOT rewarded or talked about enough when they got back.
The only time she really went wrong was when she worked with Hale to get the team turned over. But she thought Hale truly was representing the US Military and not Hydra, and the reason Daisy and everyone even went to that dinner was to turn themselves in anyways, so she probably saw it as just completing the deal already made.
But if Daisy can train her, like how Coulson and May trained Daisy, then by the time Kara and her go to return to Kara’s world, SPEAR may truly have a chance of living on.
“I believe that is everything for now, and it does not seem like I have any takers on the easy out I’m offering right now…” The pause to double check goes without anyone taking her up on the offer, and instead causes most people to stand up straighter and with more pride.
“Then it is time for orientation and the tour of the base! Ignore the one armed Russian sleeper agent I have locked up in the cells, still trying to undue his brain washing. Then we have two months of training, team building, skill acquisition, and procedure generation. After that, we start our missions easy. Go after the human traffickers that are starting to pop up in the power vacuum I left from the Red Sunrise.” Daisy exits with an excited pep in her step!
Nothing quite builds up confidence and commitment in an organization like taking down slavers, rapists, and other scum of the earth. So for the first real missions, Daisy can’t think of any better target for all of her cute little minions!
-
(As soon as Kara hears about it she instantly objects to Daisy referring to her SPEAR agents as ‘her minions’, even in her head, for fear of Daisy continuing to play into her villain aesthetic too much.)
December 24th, 2009, MCU
Phil Coulson, Fitzsimmons Cover Apartment, Los Angeles
Agent Phil Coulson could just feel the slight tinge of frustration bubble up from inside him as he exited the apartment of the SHIELD’s most experimental undercover agents. Not frustration at the agents, mind you, they are performing far better than expected by every metric that can be applied.
No, the frustration is at the continued lack of progress when it comes to anything Stark/ Danvers. Stark Industries has yet to hire any of their plants for any key positions that they wanted, as the covers were not ready in time for the initial hiring run in the wake of Stark Industries restructuring when Tony Stark returned, and the new Stark Industries HQ in New York City is still years away from being finished.
Meanwhile, they have been able to get eight undercover agents implemented into HERO when their HQ opened up in Los Angeles, but only 3 are in positions that have come into contact with any worthwhile information so far.
Dr. Leopold Fitz and Dr. Jemma Simmons. Both scientists have been placed in the two teams that they most wanted to keep an eye on the most, and he has finally been able to stop by to get an in-depth check in from the two.
Afterall, travelling salesman Phil Coulson was visiting his niece for the holidays since she has started her new job! An excuse that they were hoping not to use, and instead just have Lance Hunter and his team pose as roommates, but unfortunately his team was already under contract before they were able to make the offer.
The biggest area of anxiety from Director Fury was with Simmons’ assignment under Maya Hansen and the work on Extremis. Luckily, every report and snooping work gathered by Dr. Simmons leads to the idea that Dr. Hansen was being truthful in her orientation speech.
Extremis has taken a large step back from the horrible work that Aldritch Killian was doing, and is ensuring that the work with plant implementation is completely solved first, before moving on to animals, and then to humans.
From the reports of Dr. Fitz, the water filtration project is coming from an area that he has absolutely NO experience with, or even heard of from scientific papers, but that just made him all the more excited to go on a very… lengthy discussion about it.
That said, using charged lab grown crystals is also not any kind of alien technology that SHIELD has heard of, so Fury currently does not suspect any off-world interference in the success either, just a protege making their own breakthroughs.
For all of the excitement about the science, Dr. Fitz has yet to be able to make any progress about becoming a social confidant of the young CEO of a similar age. The best piece of information that he has been able to uncover is that Kara Danvers and Daisy Johnson are actually girlfriends. Which explains the report given by the Assistant Head of Security, Bobbi Morse.
Agent Morse, on the surface, has been given a lot of responsibilities in her role as well as a lot of access to gain areas otherwise restricted. By job assignment, she was given even MORE access by the simple fact that the actual Head of Security/ COO/ Co-Founder, Daisy Johnson, works 100% remote.
Great for getting more assignments to sensitive areas for Agent Morse, worse for getting an in with the other major player at HERO. The good always comes with the bad on this assignment it seems.
At first Coulson and Agent Morse both came to the same conclusion, Daisy Johnson was the leech who rode the coattails of the genius childhood friend and is content to sit back and enjoy an easy assignment while having their assistant do the hard work.
But then Agent Morse started getting her assignments, and schedule, and the information on the procedures already in place. Daisy Johnson was not in the office because she did not need to be in the office. The alarm, security procedures, camera, and cyber security are all top of the line, and have almost all custom coding behind the scenes, meaning none of Shield’s pre-prepared hacks will be able to do anything.
The fact of the matter is, Daisy Johnson is both a good boss, and a great head of security.
Maybe she is an extreme introvert, or has undiscovered health issues, or enjoys working from home, or is a weird eccentric genius that has her quirks like so many others in California. Agent Morse’s gentle probing question during department head meetings, that she is the one to attend instead of Ms. Johnson, have been met with non-committal answers.
In the end, it is not worth it to push the matter, when the answer is most likely not worth the additional scrutiny she would be placed under by trying to pry.
So the debriefs went well, and their people are well placed to gain the kinds of information and access they want in the future, but for now the lack of actionable intel is still an area of just a twinge of disappointment.
As Agent Coulson thinks of the long drive he has out of the city in Lola, he turns the corner to the alleyway where he parked her, just to freeze as he sees a figure leaning against the front bumper. Something that should not have been possible without the alarms and sensors in Lola notifying him.
“Sup AC! Ready to go on a fieldtrip?” Says the source of some of his biggest headaches over the past year. But just as Coulson goes to respond, either with words or by reaching for his service pistol, Quake continues on unimpeded. “Well ready or not, we’re going! And since Shield has a Kill or Capture order, I gotta kidnap you!”
Even with the warning and his trained reflexes, Quake’s enhanced reflexes far outstrip him, that the glowing blue round is hitting him in the chest before he even fully draws his pistol.
With that, Agent Phil Coulson goes out like a light.
As Agent Coulson regains consciousness, he makes sure to maintain his breathing and facial expressions as much as possible. Continuing to fully wake from unconsciousness, he tries to take stock of his surroundings.
The thrum of engines, and slight bumping of turbulence lets him know that he is on an air vehicle of some sort, and his best guess at size makes him think of a Starkjet. The way sound echoes around him lets him know that he is towards the back of the cabin, close to the rear ramp. Finally, the sounds of feet shuffling, bags moving, and light conversation lets him know that he is not the only person in the cabin.
Covertly rolling his left shoulder, that is facing away from the other occupants, lets him know that he is not really sore and feeling his mouth with his tongue lets him know he is not parched.
He was probably only unconscious for a few hours, the standard time for a single Icer round, rather than being held under for longer. So that is good at least… he thinks.
“Just so everyone knows, our special guest is up and awake.” Comes the distorted voice of Quake, from what he guesses is the cabin. “I could feel your heartbeat pick up when you woke.”
Well he HAD thought her powers were telekinesis that gives a feedback of some sense, without needing line of sight. The idea that she could use her telekinesis not just on a person, but on individual body parts like hearts is… scary.
Opening his eyes and looking around, Agent Coulson is able to confirm that this is a Starkjet of some sort, although a weird distortion outside of the windows makes him think something is different about it. Finally he does get a look at the rest of the occupants… and it just wants to give him a headache.
Around the cabin he sees a variety of people preparing weapons, both Icer and lethal, and all of them are dressed in a manner VERY similar to Quake. From the dark bulletproof suits, to a face mask covering their mouths, to combat boots.
There are some differences, luckily for his sanity. Nobody else has their mask covering their eyes nor a creepy LED smile on it. Nobody has the silver gauntlets on their forearms, so hopefully Quake is the only Enhanced present. Everyone seems to have standard hair colors, unlike the toxic purple bob. Finally, the accent colors on the suits seem to be a variety of colors, although if there is a reason beyond personal expression he can’t see it.
Agent Coulson can feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. These are not one-time mercenaries, temp hired mercenaries do not have specifically tailored suits made to conform to a set uniform style.
That can only mean one thing, SPEAR has well and truly expanded.
As he finishes assessing his situation, Quake steps out from the cockpit from the co-pilot’s chair and walks to the back of the cabin, sitting down across from him. Now that he is no longer playing the knocked out victim, Agent Coulson straightens up in his seat to meet Quake face to face…. metaphorically.
As he does so, Agent Coulson manages to catch something that both he and Agent Romanoff seemed to have missed. Quake always has a way that she carries herself, with confidence and an aura of danger that makes her seem to tower over everyone, along with a body suit that seems to be adding to their bulk. But now that they are both seated, and facing each other, he can’t help but feel that Quake is actually quite small. Both in height and bulk.
Something to note down, although he makes sure to regain ‘eye contact’ quickly so he doesn’t give a hint that he may have found out something Quake was looking to hide.
“Not that I don't find this all very flattering, but I feel like this is the weirdest way I've ever been asked to spend time with someone. Mind telling me why you couldn’t just send me an email?” Despite everything, Coulson does not actually feel in-danger, as if she wanted him dead, he would have died quite easily to her ambush. But that does remind him… “And what did you do to Lola?”
Surprisingly enough, the LED face actually rolls its eyes at his questions… seems she has been upgrading her mask some. “I mentioned it when I shot you, but you do work for an internal secret spy agency that has an active ‘kill or capture’ order out for me. And when it comes to people with powers, your version of ‘capture’ is either locked up in a secret prison, indentured servitude by working for Shield, or going on a hackable list of every known non-standard-human or alien. Because lists of people who are ‘different’ has NEVER gone badly in history.”
Honestly, Agent Coulson does not have a good response to that. He would like to bring up the Avenger’s Initiative but one; it’s a classified project that he is not authorized to reveal, and two; the Avenger’s Initiative is not NOT an indentured servitude position. Maybe others will be allowed to have private lives outside of it, such as their hopes for Dr. Bruce Banner, but Quake will definitely be under 24/7/365 guard IF she is allowed in.
So instead, he does his best to move on and not let the resentment for SHIELD fester. “And Lola?”
A humored snort is his first answer, before Quake follows it up. “Men and their cars, I’ll never get it, but I will respect it. All your security systems in Lola were entwined together rather than separate, and since it had a constant connection to your phone to allow you remote access and to be notified of any alarms, that gave me a line to use to hack in and disable everything without letting you know. Next time, keep the systems separate with redundancies, dude. But after the mission we’ll drop you off at the high security parking garage we left it at.”
In his defense, digital security systems have never been an area where he has excelled, so he left that to the SHIELD experts when he was getting it upgraded. Something tells him that Quake is a step or two or twelve above SHIELD experts when it comes to digital security though, based on how much she always seems to know about SHIELD whenever they meet.
“A mission?”
“The company of Cybertek has been expanding their more cartoonishly evil programs, so while SPEAR’s second squad is hitting their corporate office in California, we are hitting their evil villain HQ that has all of their hostages and test subjects in New Mexico.” While Coulson does not claim to know everything that SHIELD does by any means, it is still surprising to hear that an American company caught SPEAR’s anger without SHIELD having them on their radar.
“And this mission requires abducting me because…?” Coulson prompts.
“Most likely spurned by some of my more… dangerous actions around the world, Cybertek has started putting more focus into their main evil plot, Project Deathlok. The reason to bring you in, is that among the newest test subjects they moved to New Mexico, is someone you know.” Quake’s demeanor shifts to something softer, seemingly trying to communicate comfort in spite of her ominous appearance. “Akela Amador.”
Any remaining grogginess from the icer round is completely ignored, as Agent Coulson nearly bolts to his feet. “She’s… She’s alive?”
“Yup. She was the only survivor of the raid, and spent a couple years in a copper mine but was moved to New Mexico sometime within the past week. Thought you would want to get back your smart, talented, fearless protege. I know whoever you choose as your second protege just could never compare.”
Quake’s tone, despite the modulation, is a bit weird with that last sentence. It seems to have a bit of humor and… teasing to it? But what the joke is by comparing Akela to a second protege that he has never had, he doesn’t quite get. Before he can ask, Quake is rising up and moving.
“We’ll be landing in ten minutes on their roof landing pad. Rules of engagement are lethal force for security and executives unless they surrender. Icer rounds for scientists, office workers, and test subjects, even if they resist or become violent. The second basement level contains hostages for each of the normal workers, so that’s why they may still resist our rescue. Weapons are at the front just before the cockpit, so choose whatever loadout you want. We maintain stealth as long as we can, and since they don’t use internal cameras for security I hope that can be for a long while.” Quake says as she starts to walk back to the co-pilots chair.
As Coulson begins to select his weapons, both lethal and Icer (with a bit of glee as SHIELD has yet to be able to purchase Icer weaponry on a large scale due to maintaining secrecy from Stark Industries), Coulson notices something strange in what she said.
“I know that Starkjets are actually incredibly quiet for their size and lift, but we’re still landing a large jet on top of a building. Even if they don’t use cameras, surely someone will notice our landing and ruin our stealth from the start?”
Coulson does not expect the bark of laughter that comes from Quake at his question. “Ha! No they won’t. But don’t worry, when we land you’ll see what I mean, or actually you won’t see.” The statement is followed by what can only be described as… a robot giggle maybe?
A sigh can’t help but escape his lips at the situation he finds himself in. At this point, he doesn’t know if it’s good news that the Winter Soldier doesn’t seem to be among the group here or not. If the Winter Soldier was here then that could mean all of Secretary Pierce’s fears were true, but at least Coulson could get all of the new headaches out of the way, instead of stringing it along for the foreseeable future.
All the same, he is at least thankful to get to save his old protege, so Agent Coulson ignores the stress piling up, and finishes assembling his loadout.
Well he certainly learned why Quake had no concerns about them getting spotted in their approach, as he had stepped out of an INVISIBLE StarkJet. Something that certainly is not possible in any commercial Starkjet or even Stark’s personal StarkJets can do according to all of their sources of information.
So SPEAR may very well have some advanced scientists on their side.
The men and women making up the main force of this strike team move with efficiency and practice. They seem to be using standard SHIELD covert breach and clear tactics, if that is their usual or just what they are using for his integration he does not know, but it does speak to their professionalism and ability. The sudden decrease and destruction of the human trafficking rings around the world over the last month that had been gaining power in the vacuum left by the Red Sunrise suddenly makes sense.
So SPEAR has more manpower, experience, and influence than they had been estimated to have.
Finally, while he expected Quake to be leading this group, she very quickly peeled off to secure the hostages trapped in the lower basement level, so one of the male SPEAR agents took the lead without it even needing to be discussed beforehand.
So SPEAR seems to have a set and specific chain of command already developed, with trust in that chain that the other operators don’t balk or question the transfer of authority.
Agent Coulson does everything to make note of all of these concerning thoughts, without letting them affect the mission he is taking part in. The team commander, in a thankful normal unfiltered voice, calls out targets as lethal or non-lethal every chance he gets. Signaling teams to split off and clear side rooms as needing, but taking Coulson along at his right hand the whole way.
Any doubts he may have had about Quake’s intel gets very easily squashed as they go through the building. Building security has military grade armor and weapons, rather than civilian. Scientists and researchers seem to descend into hysterical violence against them, or tears of thanks, lending credibility to the hostage scenario. Absolutely anything that doesn’t need to be done digitally is done physically, lockers and lockers of notes and files and forms that would be considered archaic by modern day standards, which serves as a sign of the illegal work being done here.
With the speed and efficiency with which the team moves, it takes less than an hour to clear the above-ground levels of the building, before they are moving on towards the first of two underground levels.
A radio check in five minutes ago from Quake informed the team that she had secured the bottommost underground layer and freed the hostages, but has had to close off all access points to protect them in the face of the last of the remaining security becoming aware of their operation and seeking to gain the leverage of hostages back again.
“This level is the testing labs, expect the last of the armed security trying to break into the stairwells leading down, as well as a variety of test subjects that need to be rescued. Check your fire. Move out.” Comes the voice of the team lead as they form up on the door.
One blasting charge later, followed by a flashbang into the room, and the team is sweeping into the room. Security forces that were posted up on doors around the room that lead to the floor below, trying to break into the level Quake has secured, are stumbling back trying to raise their weapons but have not recovered from the flashbang.
Shots ring out around him, and from Coulson’s own gun, as security forces drop with new holes in their heads and chests. Sweeping forward, he passes a variety of people strapped to hospital beds hooked up to IV lines with their vitals monitored. Luckily everyone seems to be sedated, so they don’t have civilians running around in their lanes of fire.
Shouts of ‘clear’ come out as side labs and offices are swept for anyone remaining, as Coulson and the team lead approach the largest closed off room at the back of the level. As the two of them post up on the door, the frosted glass window in it suddenly bursts open as gunshots come firing out.
“I have a hostage! I want to talk to whoever is in charge right now about how I’m getting out of here!” Shouts a male British voice from within. Just as the team lead looks like he is going to step forward for negotiations, his ear piece seems to come alive with some instructions that are NOT in his own earpiece for some reason, and instead the man motions for Coulson to take the lead.
Confused by the action, but unwilling to voice any objections that would undermine the appearance of his authority with the hostage taker, he holds out his gun into the view of the broken window as he strips it of the ammo and bullet in the chamber before stepping up with his hands raised.
Looking in, he sees a tall man with dark hair, standing on the other side of an operating table with a dark skinned woman sitting up on the operating table acting as a human shield.
Akela Amador is there, right in front of him, marks around one of her eyes seemingly for whatever surgery she was scheduled for here that got cancelled due to their assault. While she is sitting up and conscious, she is obviously still under some effects of the drugs for the surgery, as her head lolls from side to side in a haze.
“Ah Agent Coulson, I should have known.” Says the man that Coulson now recognizes as Vanchat, the very man that ran the gulag that was hit by Akela’s team when she was taken. “That just makes my happenstance hostage all the more valuable. I want a single engine plane, and one hundred thousand in cash to be brought here. I'll release her once I am in a nice extradition-free country.”
“Coul-... Coulson?” Says Akela as she tries to focus on his form, squinting to try and see if he really is who Vanchat claims.
All the same, he forces himself to keep eye contact with Vanchat instead of reassuring her as he wants to do. “That is a lot you're asking for there Vanchat, it’s going to take a while for us to get all of that. And why should we trust you to follow through with releasing her?”
“You don’t think I find it suspicious that the one time I am here, transferring over your rookie, just so happens to be when you strike this place? Keeping her is not worth the heat it will bring, so that’s why you should trust me to let her go.” His voice has a tinge of both anger and desperation. He is an internationally wanted criminal, and he knows he is backed into a corner.
“Be prepared to use the icer from your secondary holster, I’m giving you an opening in ten seconds.” Quake’s voice comes out over the comm link in his ear.
“You’re right.” The vindication and swell of confidence in Vanchat’s face is what he is going for. “What I care most about is getting Akela home safe, so I’ll make that happen.” The tension leaves Vanchat’s shoulders just enough that he moves the gun off to the side instead of pointing right at him for just a second.
And in that one second, the room erupts into chaos.
Suddenly the stone floor just below Vanchat's feet is exploding upwards, the gun moving further away from either him or Akela, while bits of stone tear across Vanchat’s body, while the metal operating table Akela is on protects her from being hurt in the same manner. The pain and shock ends up being too much for Vanchat, and he drops the gun when he hits the ground, only to suddenly catch a glowing blue icer round right between the eyes, from the icer pistol Coulson drew from his hidden holster.
Opening the remains of the door and running up to her, Coulson goes to make sure that Akela is truly unharmed from the explosion. Once that is confirmed, as Akela starts to gain more of her bearings, he looks down into the hole in the stone floor and sees the glowing mask of Quake shining on the dust kicked into the air, letting him know what caused the blast. The tied up, unconscious scientist held in the crook of one of her arms that he could just barely see was strange, but not the highest priority at the moment.
“Akela, talk to me. Are you alright?”
“Why… Why are you doing this?” Akela’s strained words bring his focus back around to her face, as she gains enough focus to look him in the eyes. “Why are you helping me? Where’s the ‘I told you so’?”
“That’s not me anymore. I’m just glad you're alive.” And it really truly is that simple for him, when it comes to rescuing one of his Agents he thought he had lost.
-
It will be a LOT less simple when SPEAR drops him and Akela off at Lola and he needs to report everything to Fury about what has happened… but that is a problem for later. Now, he just needs to comfort a woman who is gaining her life back thanks to Quake.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Did you know that for Piper of Agents of Shield I could only find the name Piper. And then for Vasquez for Supergirl I could only find the name Vasquez? Who is to say that her name in both realities isn’t Piper Vasquez, and the military of the DEO had her go by her last name while the ‘family’ approach to new-Shield went with her first name? Well in my fanfiction I am the one to say, and that’s how I say it. And no, Daisy and Kara have not yet realized the crossover, as in Rhino’s fic Daisy didn’t really have a chance to notice Vasquez being Piper.
Thank you for all of the suggestions for what SPEAR stood for! I believe I ended up Frankensteining a few suggestions to make my final version, so apologies that I do not remember who recommended what to give credit.
We are entering the part of the fic where I have done most of the set up that I wanted to do so far. So now we are going to be speeding up towards the next movies. ‘Shield’s Big Week’ with Captain America being found, Thor, and what is left of Iron Man 2 all take place in 2011 (according to timelines I found and am using). So expect each chapter to skip forward by months, as Daisy keeps taking on Hydra, Kara being Supergirl and running her new company, until we reach those movie events.
Finally, we have a random scientist that Quake is taking as a souvenir? I wonder what that is about…?
Chapter 24: Revenge and Remembrance
Summary:
A meeting takes place between powerful individuals to discuss Quake's recent moves, but is quickly interrupted by an outsider. Meanwhile, someone finally begins to find themselves again, after so long suppressed.
Notes:
Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of “Retirement Ended Up Super” provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
April 1st, 2010, MCU
Alexander Pierce, Triskelion
Supreme Head of HYDRA, Alexander Pierce, sits at his desk doing his best to keep his annoyance off of his face. He is currently listening in on the pre-meeting small talk that is starting to strain as time goes on. Ever since the destruction of the Banker’s Head of HYDRA, he had taken a more direct role in overseeing the other heads, hence the monthly meetings over hologram in his office.
Yet his annoyance this time is that apparently trying to run HYDRA with a structure more similar to SHIELD with regular meetings, is finally starting to meet some resistance. The Baroness and the Sheikh, the two heads based out of the Middle East and Asia, have been the most vocal about their displeasure at the time of the meetings.
In the end though, this was the time of day that caused the least amount of problems for most of them, and his regular schedule required as the Secretary of the World Security Council took precedence.
This little show of insubordination, by currently being 10 minutes late and counting, was always going to happen, and they will most certainly claim to have a very good excuse for it as well. For now he will have to play the understanding superior, but next month’s meeting he will be sure to arrange for an ACTUAL emergency that will delay them, without fully implicating himself in the actions.
It will send the message that he wants to send to everyone else; Cross him and be brought low. Leading HYDRA has always required the iron fist more than the velvet glove.
Just as he considers starting the meeting early to spite those two, something strange starts to happen. The two projection units for the Baroness and the Sheikh start to power up with incoming projections at the same time… only for nothing to show.
The rest of the Heads also notice the same activity from their projectors most likely, and quiet down anticipating the start of the meeting, only to share in his confusion.
Before he can question the others to see if they have an idea of what is happening, Arnim Zola, who speaks up in these meetings only once or twice every few months, beats him to it by answering first.
“It appears that the projectors are receiving a pre-made video file, rather than a connection to a live feed. Something they should not be able to do with their base coding…”
As he finishes his explanation, the projector for the Baroness begins displaying the recognizable form of his most hated adversary.
“Quake!” The words coming out of his mouth in a growl as if the name itself is a vile curse. The others obviously see the same things on their ends, as shouts of exclamations and curses come from the group.
“Why hello there, whomever is on the other side of this communications device! I would say that I hope your day is going well… but that’s only because I look forward to ruining it so thoroughly.” The smile on Quake’s mask takes on a more feral quality, corroborating Agent Coulson’s report about the increase in asinine capabilities of her mask.
“Zola, can you get me any information about the video or its origins?” No need to let the supervillain monologue when they can at least TRY to find a mistake that would hopefully lead to her downfall.
“Now I know what you’re probably wondering; Why is Quake taking time out of her busy day to talk to you? Well that’s because when I was busy taking down the Banker, I came across some wonderful hints of information in his files… I thought I was taking down a piece of human scum making money off of human trafficking and corruption, but what I found instead was evidence that the piece of scum was actually making money to fund other pieces of scum. And nothing sounds more fun than trying to find and take down a super secret evil organization.” Quake says as she paces around the area that the projection can reach, as if giving a lecture.
“I am sorry Supreme Leader, but as far as I can tell the video files truly are coming from the Baroness’s and Sheikh’s projection broadcasters. Although the connection was only used to deliver the video file, rather than opening up into the call, so they have gained nothing from us.” Zola reports back.
Looking at the bright points he supposes, no matter how bad of news Quake plans to deliver, there is still some hope that the rest of them are not compromised.
“While the details of his partners and boss were light on specifics, looking through the details of how he moved his money at least brought me to his two closest partners in whatever organization this is. One who worked with the Banker in plenty of their money making schemes with their smuggling operations, but also moved weapons into the hands of terrorists.”
The grimace on the faces of the others lets him know that they are also frustrated about what Quake has found. While the smuggling and weapons trade both fell under the Sheikh due to their overlapping needs, they were kept as separate as possible so that if one side fell then the other could survive. Except Quake seems to have blown open both sides of his operations at the same time.
“While the other close associate that was heavily involved with them both seemed to be in charge of your little group’s weapons manufacturing, The Baroness, but we will hear from her projector in just a little bit.” Quake continues, her video self either unaware or uninterested in the effects she is having on his colleagues.
Making use of this time while the others are putting their full focus on Quake, Alexander Pierce begins to make his first moves, issuing pre-prepared orders from his workstation. Ever since the Banker fell, he started putting plans and contingencies into action that would help him to consolidate power in the event that another HYDRA head fell. Not having prepared for what appears to be two heads being attacked at once, his plans will be stretched thinner than he would have liked. But in the end, he should be the one to gain the most amount of influence and manpower from their remains, which is a necessity if he wants to stay Supreme Head of HYDRA in the face of yet another disaster.
“For now, I want to give my message to the rest of your group before I distract you with the news of what happened with your two associates. I don’t know who you are, I don’t know how far your reach is, and I don’t know how long I am going to be fighting this battle, but I declare war on you all the same. Both SPEAR and myself are ready for you, so do me the favor, come out of the woodwork and bring the fight to me so I don’t need to spend the next few years playing exterminator. As I’m sure you may already be thinking, taking me on in numbers is the only way you have a chance to win anyways, so it’s in your best interest to do so as well. Bring it on, scum.”
As Quake’s speech goes on, her figure begins to radiate power. In the form of a projection, it is as if her form wants to transform into something greater, the lines of her body shooting off in rays of power like a sun giving off a series of solar flares.
The otherworldly display, that could easily be something as simple as visual effects applied to the video file, causes the more gullible and skittish of his colleagues to recoil. Their stupidity is his gain though, as their fear will prevent them from moving to gain power in the fear that it will lead to Quake discovering them.
“But back to talking about our two dear mutual friends that we are borrowing their communication projectors from. From my estimates, by the time you are hearing this, as of 10 minutes ago both organizations and their heads will be dead, with their resources either burned, scattered to the wind, or taken by SPEAR to be turned against you. I can speak for the Sheikh’s death, how about you, Assistant Director?” Quake looks over in the direction of the projection unit for the Baroness. For a split second Pierce is afraid that this means she knows the layout of his office, but then he recalls that Zola had everyone set up the projects in the same order and spacing, so that turning one’s head would be accurate for everyone.
Not to his surprise, but still to his frustration, from the projection unit steps another figure that is NOT a HYDRA head. Instead it is a woman, with short cut hair, with what looks like blood stains on her combat suit and half-face plate in a style similar to Quake.
“All clear over here Ma’am. The Baroness and her closest allies have been eliminated, and by the time this message goes out the rest of the teams should be finished mopping up the remnants of her organization.” The woman says before quickly stepping back out of the area of the projection field.
Interesting. An inexperienced Assistant Director maybe? Or someone that is possibly recognizable to one of them, so she wants to spend as little time in the spotlight as possible? Or maybe Quake is just that much of an attention hog that she does not want anyone else taking her moment longer than needed.
Hmm… That last theory does seem to fit with her actions so far, every encounter she has had a flair for the dramatic, and all of it with her as the focal point. That could be a possible point of contention to exacerbate and exploit in SPEAR later if at all possible.
After a couple seconds of silence, Quake finally speaks back up. “... I’m going to be honest; the way this operation has had to be coordinated, I can’t be certain that I got the timing right with the call and response there. So hopefully it worked out! Now let’s check my to-do list.” Quake begins to count off their list on their fingers as she goes through what apparently is her list. “Mocking intro; done. Bragging about finding these two idiots; done. Revealed that I knew their dirty secrets; covered. Declaration of war on the rest of you; declared. Mission accomplished report, done. Hmm… Now what am I missing?” Quake suddenly perks up, in mock inspiration. “Oh! I know!”
Suddenly the light whirring from both hologram projection units turns into a loud screeching, bordering on grinding almost. At the same time, Arnim Zola suddenly shouts up, the first time Pierce has ever heard the AI human mind yell.
“Sabotage of units detected, deploying attempted counter measures! Take cover!” The Swiss accented AI voice rings out.
As one, Alexander Pierce and every other Head of HYDRA duck down to whatever cover they can. Behind desks, off to the side, down to the ground. Pierce even thinks he can see Bloom dragging someone who was right next to him as a human shield from whatever is about to happen.
For all of their panic though, in the end the light bulbs suddenly burst, and a puff of smoke comes out from both units, just before the distorted voice of Quake rings out. This time even more distorted as the speakers and audio cards in the units suffer from their damage, and are obviously powering down or burning out.
“Lastly give you all one last liiittttttlle scccccccaaaaarreee. Seeeeee y-” By the end, the voice is so low, mechanical, and slowed down from the unit self-destructing that he isn’t even truly sure if there was more to the message or not. But in the end, after giving it a few more seconds to be sure the units are fully down for the count, Pierce stands back up to begin herding the rest of HYDRA back into order.
“QUIET!” Pierce yells, stopping all cross talk and shouts of anger/ denial that the others had dissolved into. “We have lost two more of our own, we can not afford to descend into bickering and infighting now. I have already given orders for my loyal teams to begin gathering whatever scattered forces remain.”
Some of the more easily read, such as Bloom, are noticeably angry at this. Those were the ones who probably had similar plans in place in case Quake struck, but with him making the responsibility for their retrieval now an order from his own faction, to move in would be to move against him openly. And no one will do that, not when they are facing their biggest threat since Captain America nearly brought down their whole organization.
“Now. As our business for this meeting was already having to do with Quake, I suggest we cover it now, as I was told there was a very important update into our investigations following the raid on Cybertek. Whitehall?” Pierce addresses the man with the update, trying to regain some sort of order.
After just a moment of hesitation, looking like he might fight the order, but relents all the same. “As we all know, Quake led a raid with their new organization of SPEAR on one of my projects of Cybertek. While I had no concerns of any of their files leading back to me, there were some concerns of John Garrett being identified based on how much information SPEAR was reported on taking according to SHIELD Agent Coulson. We are hopeful that this fear is unfounded as no action has been taken against Agent Garrett, but will continue to distance ourselves from him for the time being. The main outstanding issue was the abduction of one of the scientists on staff by Quake personally. Due to Cybertek’s adherence to paper documents only, with most of them taken by SPEAR, it took a while for the scientist to be identified and for the investigation into the reason behind Quake’s interest to be complete.”
Here, Whitehall pauses yet again, but this time is different. This time it is obvious that the hesitation is for the bad news to come, in the wake of the bad news of losing two HYDRA heads. But he continues in just a short time.
“The scientist has been identified as former Soviet General, Vasily Karpov, the lead handler of the original Winter Soldier program under the USSR that collaborated with HYDRA in hopes of expanding it to multiple subjects. He operated his cell independently for a while following the collapse of the USSR, but once his resources dried up he fled and signed up fully under HYDRA while bringing the Winter Soldier as his ticket to maintaining his role as lead handler of the project for us. Following the loss of the Winter Soldier asset, most of his team transitioned to the support team of the Supreme Head’s anti-enhanced strike group, but Karpov didn’t find his new work rewarding, and bounced around various projects before landing at Cybertek.”
“So Quake took the handler in charge since she hasn’t been able to gain control over the Winter Soldier so far, but so what? The activation phrases programmed into the Winter Soldier’s head are not only impossibly long, but change mentally at intervals that are impossible to track without an entire book's worth of calculations and instructions. Whatever Karpov remembers or has memorized, can not possibly be enough to gain any form of reliable control over the weapon.” Dismisses Baron von Strucker.
Von Strucker’s dismissal of the situation is not surprising, as the man is a German and is naturally disdainful of anything Soviet. More than that though, his work on Project Worldkiller in conjunction with Whitehall has led him to have higher expectations for the enhanced. While the Winter Soldier was a great weapon, he could never be a member of that project. For all that Strucker is Pierce's second in terms of HYDRA's current structure, he has his obsessions and blind spots just like everyone.
But when the only true alternative for Pierce’s second is Whitehall, a man that is most likely to try and usurp him of his Supreme Head status, the choice is the only one he can make.
“The problem, Strucker, is that when the investigation led to Karpov’s place of residence, evidence was found of the place having already been turned over by SPEAR.” Everyone stiffens at this, where this is leading can only be a bad thing for them. “Going through what was left found an empty container that was hidden in the wall with Soviet symbols all along it. Detailed forensics of the container found evidence of it holding both papers… and what is believed to be something made of leather. Based on the size and position of the traces, the best guess is a leather bound book.”
At that, the hot fury going through Pierce’s blood goes cold. This, this is news that is far worse than just losing two Heads of Hydra. “Are you telling me, that Karpov most likely kept an instruction book from his time in the Soviets, that could very well give Quake full control over the Winter Soldier?” The words come out calm, but everyone knows he is anything but, as the fury just below the surface is easily noticed.
“Yes Supreme Head, that is the prevailing theory that we have. While before I thought of it as the sloppy work of amateurs leaving behind the evidence of them tossing the house and the container, based on Quake’s actions today I find it far more likely that she is bragging about what she can do now.” Whitehall grimly reports.
Fury clear on his face, Pierce looks into the projected faces of everyone present, taking stock in their fearful expressions and defeated looks.
“No more. I order it now, not another loss like we’ve experienced today will be tolerated. Projects, cells, and connections that you may have had with the Baroness or the Sheikh must be severed immediately. Any proof or dirt or evidence on each other that you have in your possession for the normal politicking is to be deleted, today. No more of our Heads will fall because we got sloppy, or underestimated Quake and SPEAR. Tighten security, train your men, locate SPEAR bases or members, and increase your research into ways to kill the bitch. Is that understood?”
“Hail Hydra.” The response he gets is quiet in the face of both Quake’s actions and his new hardline response, but he will not have it. Alexander Pierce will not be the Supreme Head that sees HYDRA fall from its highest heights, back to hiding in the darkest shadows.
“I said, are my orders fucking understood?!”
“HAIL HYDRA!” This time, the response is filled with the passion and anger he wants to invoke. With his orders given and acknowledged, he ends the hologram call with all but one.
As soon as he is sure the connections have been severed, with a wordless cry of rage Pierce clears his desk, throwing everything to the ground to sate his anger. Taking nearly a full minute of adrenaline driven heavy breathing, Pierce finally regains control of himself, and notices he is still not alone, but remains unconcerned about that.
“Zola, why are you still here? It’s not usual for you to stick around so quietly.” Pierce turns towards the only hologram projection he did not cut off, showing the static image of the human face of the AI that was once a man.
“You needed the time to regain your composure, while I needed additional time to calculate the new information to run simulations and projections.” Zola replies.
“And? What have you come up with?” While technically a Head of Hydra, the fact is that Zola has no one who follows his orders. He sits in on these meetings only due to his position as Pierce’s chief advisor. Zola’s programmed in loyalty to HYDRA is the only reason why Pierce tolerates Zola staying past the end of the meeting to see him in a moment of weakness.
“First, a high priority suggestion I have is that my facilities and capabilities need high end upgrades.” At Pierce’s shocked expression, Zola elaborates the unasked questions. “I have always wanted to try and stay as true to who I was in my organic life, during my digital life, hence why I have been against upgrades in the past. I will not place that want above the well being and mission of HYDRA though. From Tony Stark, to his AI JARVIS, to HERO’s Head of Security Daisy Johnson, and finally Quake with SPEAR, I have found myself to be… lacking in nearly every digital area.” Zola answers.
“Approved. Next?”
“I find it to be a 73% likelihood that Quake and SPEAR actually know much more about us than she was saying. In her declaration of war, she made it too key of a point to claim not to know anything about the rest of us, despite what she should have been able to learn from the now three heads she has taken out.”
Pierce clenches his teeth in frustration. “Yes, I gathered that too, despite hoping I was wrong. Do not let the others know for now. Especially Hale. She was on the edge of breaking down as it was, she always has been the one most ruled by her fears. We need to have an answer to the problem, before letting them know. What about my resources?”
“Luckily there I find it to be only a 3% chance that Quake and SPEAR know that HYDRA is buried within SHIELD or that you are the Supreme Head. She would not have interacted with SHIELD’s agents how and when she has if that were that case. I concur with your choice of picking up the remnants of the destroyed Heads’ forces, but I would recommend utilizing the lie detection system developed by Director Fury before bringing them into SHIELD, to ensure that no one was released on purpose and is being tracked by SPEAR.” Zola recommends.
Now that… is something that Pierce had yet to consider. He would have eventually, but being an AI gives Zola the advantage of not being distracted by emotions. “Agreed. I'll also arrange for a quarantine of their identities, and cutting loose anyone who is even a little bit suspect. Anything else?”
“Lastly, with the loss of the Banker we will have no choice but to need to gain funding from the World Security Council at large, which will take a truly extraordinary event to sway the members holding the votes we do not control. But I wanted to pitch a project that I predict as having the best statistical chance of taking out SPEAR, Quake, and every other enemy HYDRA has or ever will have. It is my magnum opus, and what will give HYDRA the push to its rightful position in the world. That being on top.”
The passion in Zola’s electronic voice is surprising to hear, as it is a true rarity for the AI. Pierce leans forward with anticipation of what is to come.
“Let me tell you, about Project Insight.”
??? ??st, 20??, MCU
The James Winter Bucky Soldier Barnes, ???
The voices were quieting, the rules being dismantled, and the grip on his mind loosening. It has been going on for months now. Every time a new set of command phrases cycled into prominence in his mind, they were immediately used to destroy their own conditioning.
Who was he? Every day the answer he had been trained to believe was slipping away, but in its place something else was surfacing. Something older… but very possibly truer.
There were times he felt like a person, and not a weapon. He held conversations, and spoke with those who came to visit him in his cell. But with his mind changing, the conversations slipped through his memory almost as soon as they ended.
Yet today was different. Today was something new. It took months, as his different code word strings were cycled through, but his mind was not endless, so neither was the conditioning.
Today it finally happened, the last shackle holding him in place was destroyed.
Between the blink of an eye it happened.
The Winter Soldier closed his eyes for the final time, and in his place James Buchanan Barnes opened his for the first time in a LONG time.
“Welcome back, Sergeant Bucky Barnes.” Said a female voice in front of him, although Bucky was busy staring down at his own hands in awe.
As he looked up to see the owner of the voice, the first thing he noticed were her eyes.
The kind, understanding, eyes that were looking back at him. And the weight on his shoulders felt just a little bit lighter at that.
Notes:
Author’s Endnote: Ugh. I miss when I could sit down and pump out a chapter of 4k words in just 5 to 6 hours in one day. I’ve slowed down in my writing, which has ruined my schedule. But I continue to do the best I can, and I don’t think I’m half bad for my first story ever!
But here is the next chapter! We get another bad guy chapter, as we enter the sped up time of the story. Expect most POV’s to be months apart, until we get to the start of Thor/ Iron Man 2. And what a chapter, as Daisy and Spear have not been idle during this time, and take down 2 more Heads of Hydra!
I’m sure that Zola getting an upgrade and Insight getting attention earlier than canon won’t in any way change things… But Bucky Barnes gets free of all of his programming! While his recovery took longer without his childhood friend to help bring him out of it, at least now no one can come along and pull a Zemo like in canon!
Until next time :D
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