Chapter 14
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(4.1m)abny
Clint, Natasha, Thor, and Jane Foster had seated themselves around the various couches in the Avenger common room. A screen that took up the entirety of a back wall showed a view of the city outside the tower. “So why do you think Mr. Stark has called this meeting?” Jane asked the heroes surrounding her. Thor shrugged one muscled shoulder.
“I cannot guess what the Man of Iron’s reasoning might be.” He said thoughtfully. Barton smiled and leaned into Natasha’s side next to him.
“Maybe he wants to play Magic the Gathering.” He said jokingly. Thor’s eyes widened.
“Anthony knows the mystical arts?” Thor said, surprised. Jane put a hand on his knee, smiling gently.
“Not that kind of magic Thor.” She said. Clint looked around the room and lowered his voice.
“I bet he wants to discuss who should lead this merry band of heroes.” He said. Natasha snorted impressively for a woman.
“It should be the Captain, he is the obvious choice.” The Black Widow asserted.
“Captain America?” Jane asked. Clint tossed his hands behind his neck and leaned back on them.
“Who else?” Hawkeye asked sardonically. Thor nodded decisively.
“He is an able mortal.” Thor admitted. “And he proved himself at the battle with Loki’s minions.” Thor added, suddenly looking morose.
“Maybe he should lead, but Cap’s not here.” Clint said slowly. Thor raised his head as his eyes flashed fiercely.
“I have led men,” Thor said with a nod toward Natasha. “and women, into battle many times.” Clint’s eyes narrowed as he rose to his feet and stalked to the God.
“Yeah? Well good for you, but in the really real world I’ve led extraction teams on loads of ops. If anyone should be leading this team it should be me.” Clint said confidently. Thor stood to meet him as they sized each other up. Natasha put herself between them and raised her hands to both their chests.
“Boys, boys, you’re both pretty, but this isn’t helping anything, don’t start tipping the kettle before you’ve boiled the tea.” Thor bowed his head and let Jane pull him back down beside her.
“As long as our leader isn’t Stark.” Clint muttered before sitting back down.
“Agreed.” Thor rumbled. The team exchanged guilty looks as Tony abruptly entered with a downcast Bruce following. Tony started speaking as soon as he came before the group. He began without preamble.
“I’m sure you are wondering why I’ve called you all here. Pepper and Happy are missing and I could use your help to get them back.” The group of heroes stared at Tony, shocked. Jane gasped while Natasha looked straight ahead her face closed off. Clint looked past Tony to Bruce who nodded solemn confirmation. Clint’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times trying to think of what to say, while Thor’s hammer slammed solidity into his fist.
“Of course you will have our aid!” Thor thundered. Jane winced and put a hand to cover her ear. Natasha exchanged a look with Clint and they both nodded gravely.
“What do you need?” Natasha asked. Tony stepped closer to the rest of the team with Bruce solidly behind him.
“Maria Hill and JARVIS are currently trying to track down their whereabouts, they have been missing since yesterday when they failed to catch their plane, their phones are not working, and their limo’s GPS has been…deactivated. It is possible that they have been in a serious accident, but I would have heard something by now if that had been the case. It’s looking like a kidnapping. There has yet to be a ransom demand. It’s possible that they have already been kil-” Tony stopped himself painfully. He looked as if he would have collapsed already if his armor hadn’t been holding him up. He took a deep breath and continued. “Chances are, some enemy of mine is trying to get to me through them, or one of S.I.’s competitors is trying to take out its CEO, meaning Happy just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. While Hill and JARVIS try to follow Pep and Hap’s physical trail, I’ll be checking out S.I.’s enemies and looking up my old evil flames and see if I can’t turn up any likely candidates.” Tony finished. Thor looked grim.
“And what can we do Man of Iron?” Thor asked.
“You can be ready. As soon as I find out where they are or who took them, I’ll be heading out.” Tony said a dangerous light in his eyes. Clint raised his hand into a clenched fist and held it out to Tony.
“And we’ll be with you, man.” Clint said. Tony closed his eyes in relief, reached out and bumped Clint’s fist gently with the suit’s.
“Thanks.” Tony said feelingly. Bruce tried to smile at him.
“Don’t worry Tony, they’ll be alright.” Bruce said.
“Yeah.” Tony choked out. He walked out in the room, heading back down to Maria to start working on sifting through the large stack of S.I’s rivals and his own even larger stack of personal enemies. For the first time in his life he wished he didn’t feel the need to piss off so many damn people. A stern voice stopped him from going any further.
“Stark?” Natasha called from the hallway leading to the lift. Tony turned to her and nodded, his numb eyes looking through her.
“Romanoff?” He responded politely. Natasha hesitated and that drew his attention. The Widow was not the sort of person who hesitated.
“I, might have a way to find them.” Natasha said. Tony breathed through his nose.
“Might?” He asked cautiously. Natasha moved closer to him.
“Do you have anything of Hogan’s or Potts’, something they wore close to their skin?” She asked intently. Tony nodded, confused.
“I have some of Pepper’s clothes upstairs.” He said.
“Anything unwashed?” She asked.
“A feather boa.” Tony said. Natasha arched an eyebrow. Tony sighed, his mouth a thin line.
“A birthday present.” He answered gruffly. She nodded sharply.
“That’ll do, get it.” Natasha ordered.
“You’re not jerking me around are you Widow, cause this would be a bad time to test me.” He said, his tone serious and dangerous.
“No, I’m trying to help save Happy and Pepper, get the boa.” Natasha replied. Tony looked at her a moment more before going and fetching the gold feathery bundle. He came back down and handed it to her.
“Here.” He said. Natasha brought the feathers to her nose and inhaled deeply while closing her eyes. She pulled it away from her face and smiled slightly her nose twitching. Then she looked around the room and then at the elevator. “I will be able to find her, I’ve got her scent.” Natasha said, her entire body focused and leaning toward the elevator. Tony stared at her.
“What are you a blood hound?” He asked.
“Get the others and follow me or don’t, with or without you, I will find them.” The Black Widow half snarled. Tony wisely chose not to argue further with the assassin; he went back into the common room and told the heroes that they needed to follow Natasha as she had some kind of lead. Clint and Thor immediately left to go after Widow. Bruce stayed where he was and gripped his upper left arm with his right hand.
“Aren’t you coming Bruce?” Tony asked softly. Bruce shrunk into himself.
“I can’t.” Banner said, his eyes sunken. Tony took a step forward.
“I need you Bruce. Pepper and Happy need you.” Tony said. Bruce flinched.
“The Other Guy would only hurt them.” Bruce said in a weak voice.
“I’m not talking about the Hulk, I’m talking about you!” Tony snapped. Bruce stumbled back. “They might need medical attention. There is no more SHIELD, please Bruce, I need you.” Tony whispered. Bruce stared at the ground at his feet.
“I…yes, of course, I’ll get my medical bag.” He said and ran for his room. Tony quickly checked in with JARVIS for an update. Apparently whoever had taken his two friends had also managed to cover their tracks. Every device that might have recorded the limo’s progress throughout the city had been erased, beyond even JARVIS’ attempts at retrieval. The implications of that frightened him. There just weren’t many people that could accomplish such a thing. And he wouldn’t want any of them to be holding his friends.
The team gathered together in the parking garage. Tony put his suit back in its container. The Avengers minus Natasha who got on her Harley, piled into the most nondescript car that Tony owned, a black Lamborghini with dark tinted windows. Natasha led the way out of the garage and the Avengers followed, hoping against hope that they would be led to a Pepper and Happy who were alive and well.
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A screen showing two shadowy figures on a gray background glowed in a darkened room of the underground AIM headquarters. The room was seemingly empty except for Maya Hansen. She stood before the bright screen with her hands folded neatly behind her back. “Maya, Maya, Maya, what are we going to do with you?” A clear male voice said condescendingly from the screen. Maya put a hand on her hip and lifted her chin.
“I’m grateful for all your help defeating darling Tony’s tech Mr. Stone, but don’t you dare think for a moment that you can talk to me like that.” Maya said stridently.
“Then deliver us the results you promised. You get what you earn Ms. Hansen. And the only thing you have earned so far is our contempt.” The male voice said. Maya glowered at the screen.
“I took Potts, I’ve extracted the improved formula from her blood.” Hansen defended herself. A new female voice interjected.
“Any fool could have done as much with our aid. However, although we now have the Extremis formula, you’ve informed us that the formula needs to be adapted to each individual subject in order for it to work.” Said the arrogant female voice issuing from the television.
“All of which means that all of the effort we’ve put in so far will be wasted without Stark.” The male voice broke in, snarling the last word with hatred.
“Not wasted, we do have the base we need for the improved Extremis, we just need to alter it for each subject ourselves.” Maya said, her tone assured.
“Forgive us for not wishing to rely upon you for that.” The male voice said.
“I don’t see how you have much choice, I possess the formula.” Maya said.
“No, AIM has the formula and we are AIM’s backers.” The male voice continued. Maya straightened her back.
“With Killian no longer here, I am AIM.” Maya said.
“No dear, you are old news and I’m afraid that we no longer need you in your current position.” The female voice stated. Maya raised one eyebrow.
“Current position?” Maya asked in a dangerously soft voice.
“Breathing.” The male voice replied. An AIM employee in a yellow jumpsuit approached silently behind Maya and fired a strange looking gun. Maya turned around just as the gun fired.
“W-what are you-?! Nooooo!” Maya screamed in a shrill voice as green electricity shot from the end of the gun and into her. Her skeleton showed through her clothes before she crumpled into a boneless heap onto the floor, her eyes staring blankly, confused, as smoke rose in gentle whirls from her body.
“Current position, you’re a laugh riot Mary.” The male voice said on the screen with a clear laugh. Two yellow jumpsuited employees stepped forward out of the shadows, moving around the body on the floor and approaching the TV. The male voice suddenly tisked.
“Tsk. It seems that the Avengers are on their way to your hideout as we speak.” The male said sighing at the end. The employee that had shot Maya swept back his blond hair and nodded peremptorily.
“Then we will have to leave and take as much of the equipment as we can, see to it.” The employee said to the other AIM member, who nodded and left the room to begin organizing the retreat from the warehouse. “What do you want us to do with the prisoners, take them with us?” The employee asked.
“Dispose of them.” The woman’s voice said simply. The employee bowed.
“I’ll take care of them myself.” The employee said and then left the room.
“Good. I hope Stark enjoys his surprises as much as we enjoyed his.” The male voice said to the empty room, a grin hidden in his tone. The screen switched off, leaving Maya Hansen’s corpse lying curled in on itself in the darkness.