To find three Vigilantes!
April 27th, 2005, Iraq’s Hydra base, hallway
The three knew the order by now. When there was a knock at the door, Peter exited first. The man who was waiting for him was clearly nervous.
“Red.”
Peter didn’t react, knowing what was coming.
“Twenty-nine.”
The man looked down at his paper again.
“Asparagus?” He said curiously.
Peter just shrugged.
“Eyes.”
Peter opened two spider eyes above his own, both a yellow color contrasting to his regular brown. The man blinked, he hadn’t even seen any trace of eyes being closed.
“Webs.”
Peter opened two eyes above the yellow ones, both red.
“Death.” The man finished. He looked at Peter. “Soldier?” He asked in his native tongue.
“Ready to comply.” Peter responded in Arabic. “Proceed to the mission debrief room.” The man said, satisfied with the results.
As Peter left, he knocked on the door again. This time Michelle came. Unlike Peter, she was still unnerved by trigger words. “Onion.”
She sighed.
“Thirty.”
She braced herself.
“Claws.”
She winced.
“Cloud.”
She flinched.
“Frost.”
She didn’t move.
“Death.” He finished. “Soldier?” He asked her. “Ready to comply.” She responded. She didn’t know much Arabic yet, but those were the first words they learned in any language.
“Go to the mission debrief room.” He commanded, knowing she didn’t know that much Arabic yet.
As soon as Michelle left, he knocked on the door one last time. Ned exited, still scared of the process.
“Gold.”
He flinched.
“Thirty-one.”
“Please stop.” Ned whispered. Usually that would be punished, but now it would interrupt the process.
“Bird.”
Ned began to cry.
“Radish.”
“Don’t make me, please!” He shouted at the man, trying to appeal to any kind of humanity the Hydra agent had.
“Radiation.” He said, giving the boy an apologetic look. He must’ve never seen an asset display emotion.
“Death.” He said hurriedly. Ned stopped crying and stood emotionlessly.
“Soldier?” The man asked. “Ready to comply.” Ned replied. “Proceed to the mission debrief room.”
————————
Mission debrief room
The Griffin joined the Spider and Frost Giant in the mission debrief room. The three toddlers were no longer in control of their bodies.
“Spider and Griffin, your task is to kill Lamiya Abed Khadawi. Frost Giant, you are being sent to a base in Japan in order to train.” A different man informed them.
“You will have two years to figure out how to kill Iccho Itoh while we figure out who the mole is. Once done, you will frame the mole.”
—————
October 1st, Present time, avengers tower
“Fury, why are you here?” Tony asked. “I am here to give you a mission. There are three new vigilantes and we know almost nothing about them.” “Almost?” Natasha said with a brow raised.
“We suspect they might be the missing Hydra subjects. If we’re correct, then they total about 7 million kills.” The avengers shivered.
“That’s over 125,000 times more than me in 60 years.” Bucky said with a wince. The avengers nodded, knowing Bucky had only killed around 50 people as the Winter Soldier.
“Do they still have trigger words?” Pietro asked. “If they are them, then yes. Why do you ask?” “Because we can offer to get rid of them like we did for Bucky.” His twin finished.
“We’re going to have to wait until they’re seen together.” Bruce said. “Just get me the info by the end of next week.” Fury said.
——————
Friday, home room
“We’re going on a field trip to the Avengers tower on Monday, take these permission slips home.” Mr. Harrington told the class.
“How could Stark do this to us?” Pietro asked his sister in Slovenian. “They’re going to embarrass us.” Wanda agreed in the same language.
“Hey Peter, what did they say?” Betty asked in Spanish, remembering that he could also speak Slovenian. “They think that Stark will embarrass them for some odd reason.” Peter answered in Spanish. “Can you ask why?” Abe asked him. “I’ll see if they say the reason.” Peter answered.
“Think we can go unnoticed?” Wanda asked. “Friday will acknowledge that we’re residents.” Pietro pointed out and Wanda cursed.
“They live there.” Peter said skeptically in Spanish. “Talk to them!” Abe said excitedly. “You do realize that I speak Slovenian, right?” Peter asked them in that language.
“Do you think he was translating for them in Spanish?” Wanda asked in Russian. “Yes, he was.” Betty replied in the same language.
“Why were you listening to our conversation?” Pietro demanded in Slovenian. “And why’d you translate it?” Wanda added. Peter scoffed. “You were literally speaking in the middle of the classroom and Betty asked me to translate.”
“That doesn’t mean you can invade our privacy like that!” Wanda snapped. The people who couldn't speak any of those languages stared at them. “I said that in English, didn’t I?” She commented. They all nodded.
“So what were they saying?” Seymour asked curiously. Wanda gave the five Spanish speakers a death glare. “They think that Stark is going to embarrass them.” MJ said, showing them sketches of their horrified faces when they heard the news.
“Why would Tony Stark set something up to embarrass you?” Flash sneered at them. “None of your business.” Wanda said at the same time as Abe told them that they said they live there.
Flash, Seymour, Liz, and Harry burst out laughing while Cindy, Jason, and Sally stayed silent. “Only Pepper Potts and the Avengers live there.” Liz said gently after a moment. “What my brother meant by saying we live there is that we spend half the time we’re not at school there. We babysit Antman’s daughter and Morgan Stark.”
Harry nodded in acknowledgment. “That makes sense.” He said. The bell rang as everyone was grabbing their permission slips.
—————
Avengers floor, later that day
Wanda stomped into the room with Pietro behind her. “What is wrong with you guys! We have a mission and you do this to us?” She demanded, gesturing to Pietro who was holding two slips for a field trip.
“We could use some less stress.” Tony replied, ignorant to the fact that Wanda’s eyes were glowing red. “Calm down Wanda.” Pietro said in Slovenian. Nat heard and came rushing down. “Think of it this way, we can show Flash that we’re better than him.” Wanda’s eyes stopped glowing. “That was the fastest she’s ever calmed down, Friday what did he say?” Sam asked.
As soon as Friday said the message, all five adult avengers in the room whipped their heads to stare at the two. “Who’s Flash?” Bucky asked with Steve and Sam next to him.
“Nobody.” Wanda snapped. Nat and Bucky glared at her and she sighed. “A boy in our class who mocks us and a few other kids for knowing more than two languages.” She admitted. “Why haven’t you told us?” Steve said, giving them the eyebrows of disappointment.
“Because he’s a dumb high schooler. We can take care of ourselves. Besides, it’s only verbal.” Pietro made a choking sound but Wanda elbowed him. “A girl named Betty is the only one who knows multiple languages that isn’t teased, and that’s because her best friend is dating Harry Osborn.” Pietro said instead.
—————
Saturday, noon
“Icebringer, Eagleclaw, and Spiderman have been spotted.” Friday announced and the team grinned.
—————
Twenty minutes later
The three teens finished arresting bank robbers when they saw Captain America and Iron man in front of them. “Can we help you?” Peter asked.
“Yes actually. We need you to talk to a pirate for us.” Tony said. “Let me check our schedule.” MJ said and a notebook appeared in her hands.
“Hmm, there’s a few drug dealers loose in the city. Daredevil asked us to help with a sting operation tomorrow. A lot of vehicles get stolen on Monday, Tuesday is a popular day for bank robberies, we train on Wednesdays, Thursday is when a lot of people get mugged, and we like to watch Netflix together on Fridays. So our schedule is booked.” She said and the notebook disappeared.
“Surely being able to spar with only two other people gets boring, we can train together on Wednesday.” Steve offered them.
“We have plenty of machines. We’re fine.” Ned interjected. “Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Tony told them. “We’re done here. I caught eight arrows from Hawkeye in the last two minutes.” Peter said, showing them the arrows.
“Clint, are those your arrows?” Steve asked his comm. “He’s having a mental breakdown.” Nat confirmed.
Tony fired up his blaster but Peter spat on it, his acidic spit completely melting the blasters. Two stingers emerged from his wrists and he slashed Steve. The three vigilantes left.
—————
Tower meeting room, an hour later
“How are Tony and Steve?” Pietro asked. “Steve can’t move, whatever he was stabbed with is paralytic. As for Tony, whatever acid he encountered melted part of his hands through his armor and he’s in a coma.”
“How long do you think it will be till they recover?” “Tony’s arc reactor is slowing the venom down but he won’t make it much longer without the cure. As for Steve, he’s getting better. His eyes are responsive now.”
“Is there any chance that Friday knows the acid?” Scott asked. Bruce shook his head. “All I got from Friday is that the acid is from Spiderman, meaning he has to know the cure.”
“You’re a scientist, can’t you make a cure?” Clint asked. Bruce shook his head. “The only acid we have access to is inside Tony. Without any acid to test on, there’s a chance it will just accelerate the process.”
“So basically our only hope is to find Spiderman and convince him to cure Tony.” Wanda concluded.
——————
The next day, sunset
Nick Fury called the Avengers. “How is everything going?” “We have good news and bad news. The good news is that we found out Spiderman has venom, which means he’s probably from Hydra. The bad news is the venom was used on Stark.” Nat reported.
“Is he ok?” Fury asked. “Most of it was blocked by his armor, but he’s still in a coma and getting worse. We’re lucky the Arc Reactor is slowing it down. If not for the Arc Reactor, he’d be dead. Scott and Bruce are tending to Steve now.” Wanda told him. “What happened to Steve?” “He was paralyzed.” Sam replied.
“What subjects did you say they were? I might know something.” Bucky asked the director. Fury sighed. “EXPM-29, 30, and 31.” Bucky froze while Natasha sprinted out.
“Nat told me about them. EXPM-29 was a failed breeding project between Hydra and the Red room. EXPM-30 was a failed assignment to raise an alien found before the battle of New York and EXPM-31 died during retrieval.” Clint explained. “That doesn’t explain why mom ran off.” Pietro pointed out.
Bucky took a deep breath. “EXPM-30 was a little girl raised similar to her. She looked like a girl anyway. She was half Frost Giant. She didn’t recover after a mission to Japan.” He explained. “And EXPM-29 was a failed breeding project between me and Nat.” His face showing signs of mourning. “Then why are they labeled as missing?” Fury asked.