Chapter 1
Chap 1:
Karina Romanoff certainly didn’t think this was how her day was going to go, as a shockwave rocketed her back into the warehouse's solid cement wall. Supersoilder spine plus steel beams was not a pleasant competition. The metal of the support beam she hit bent from the force of her body, and Karina stumbled out of the hole in the concrete wall groaning into her earpiece.
“Widow, what's your status?” Grant Barnes was talking quietly into their comms, seeing if his partner had been made while he was prepping their extraction on the other side of the warehouse. With the stealth of a trained soldier Grant moved from his hiding place to get a better look at their escape route. Crouching behind a few unmarked crates, he saw men in black hoods strapped with large guns loading the stolen tech into armored cars. Grant pushed a black curl out of his face, and flexed his shoulders under dark green tactical gear. A whirring came from the wakandan blade in his hand as he pressed the button that gave it an extra scene, and assessed the seven armed men in front of him. As he was about to strike a blast from above shook the entire warehouse. The dark green soldier regained his balance quickly, as the men in black started moving frantically to get the trucks out while concrete cracked and fell above their heads. Shouts of, “What the hell was that!?” “Let’s get out of here!” “What about the stuff!” “Leave it!” “He won’t be happy, boss-” “Then you can stay with it!” Tires screeched and men dashed on foot. Grant began to head back for the stairs where he last parted with Karina.
“Red?...that was a pretty big explosion.” Karina could barely hear her fellow super-soldier over the ringing in her ears. She shook her head, dust falling off of strawberry-blonde tresses that hung around her face. Her vision was clearer now, as she took in the carnage in the wake of the explosion. Scientists that she had been sneakily escaping lay bloodied, electricity crackled from exposed wiring and rubble was everywhere. Barnes was attempting to make it up the debris filled stairwell, sweat streaming down bronze skin and wetting black hair.
“Red! Come in!”
“I’m good.” Karina finally responded, raising the comm on her black wrist stingers to her lips. Grant breathed out a small sigh of relief and chuckled.
“Took you long enough to answer.”
“I was building suspense.” They both assessed their surroundings through the throes of friendly banter. Barnes was stuck in his ascent up the stairs when he ran out of stairs and reached an electrified waterfall.
“What was that?”
“The platform must’ve been rigged with explosives, it doesn’t look like there’s any survivors… tech or otherwise.” The Red-Widow swallowed bitterly, while picking through the rubble of what she thought was the detonation point. Despite her dangerous reputation and heritage, she never enjoyed seeing people die.
“Shit.” Grant breathed on the other side of the comms checking the hallway at the bottom of the stairwell, before making his way back towards the warehouse exit.
“The exit plans a no go, the trucks took off.”
“Great, we lost the tech and we’re walking home”
“Not a shot. I’m calling Sam to say we need extraction.” As the green soilder was swiping on his fancy AEGIS issued spy watch to page his uncle, a sound made him look up down the hall. Three of the men that had been left by the trucks saw him, and were drawing their guns. Without hesitation, Grant was booking it away from them, turning down a hallway towards the basement door. Bullets rained across the wall too close to his head.
“We’ve got another problem…” He said, slipping between the pipes in the red lighting of the basement, and drawing two knives. Red heard the commotion vaguely, just as she made it to the center of where the blast seemed to have originated. She needed to be quick as walls and ceilings cracked around her. She located the briefcase quickly based on its wakandan markings, but when she opened it, it was empty.
“Shit. More than one actually.”
“I feel as though mine is a tad more pressing!” Barnes quipped, while debilitating one of his assailants quickly with a knee to the face, and a pulse from the knife ricocheting off a boiler pipe near the man's head. He caught the blade, standing over the unconscious body. Unfortunately, the commotion of the man misfiring had alerted the attention of his two friends. Sergeant Barnes escaped automatic bullets that left holes in the pipes, spewing either gas or water onto the grated ground. He made it deeper into the basement, entering the electrical section, as Karina talked in his ear, having heard every inch of this struggle.
“Where are you?” It sounded like less of a question and more of a command, but Grant didn’t notice as a woman in black chased him into a corner and lined up a shot. He answered after banging her head into a concrete wall and taking her gun.
“The basement.”
“On my way, sit tight and- ...fuck.” Widow’s communication was cut short when she turned to find a large very angry looking man sporting the gauntlets that had been missing from the briefcase she was supposed to recover at all costs. He looked to be a test subject of something based on his attire, and the gauntlets were charging up pointing directly at her. Planting a foot on the wall behind her, Karina managed to flip out of the blast just in time, her dark red jumpsuit providing maximum mobility. She landed, as the man was reloading his weapon, and looked behind her at the smoking hole that burned straight through the wall. The view into the daylight reminded her that every side of this warehouse floor held a 14 story drop.
“Karina? What’s happening?” Grant had stopped at the circuit board at the other end of the basement, looking for an escape window. Karina stared down the crazed man, as his nostrils flared and the gauntlets pointed forward again. She narrowed teal eyes and cracked her neck.
“Give me a minute.” She spoke, before turning off her comm and leaping into action. The man turned, moving the blast after her, but the widow was faster. Bracing her foot on a mangled metal railing and then the mans leg, Karina swung her legs up around his head. The gauntlets blast died, and she twisted her hips throwing him down the platform. The human tank rose quickly banging his weapons together to get them to charge.
“Come here little girl…” He spoke in a slimy voice. Karina gave a small smirk, but did not oblige. Instead she fixed her gaze on something above his head. The man turned in confusion, and found the ceiling collapsing on top of him. His beam had torn through most of the support columns, and Karina didn’t stick around the watch him reap the benefits. She was running, hair whipping as she turned her head every few strides to catch a glimpse of the man, and toppling ceiling, that chased her.
Barnes swayed as the upper level catastrophe shuddered down into the basement. The only small window near the electrical panel, which was precariously surrounded by a small lake thanks to a bullet filled water main, was inescapable. The Soilder had no other options as the two assailants he had left alive, a man and woman, rounded the spewing pipes. Grant went for the man's gun first, sending it skidding through the lake before he thought about firing. The concoction of vibranium and super soldier serum in his blood moved faster as he traded blows with the woman, only to be pulled back by the man who locked his arms around Grant’s shoulders. The woman drew a knife and cocked it back ready to surge forward. As she did, her stomach was exposed, and Grant raised both feet off the ground and drove them into her stomach the backward motion worked against the assailant who held his arms. In one swift motion, the woman crumpled forward and the man fell, landing on his back with Barnes on top of him and knocking him out. Water was sent spraying through the red lights. As he rose, the woman did too, and she pulled a grenade flipping it’s switch and dropping it into the water. Grant’s eyes widened that would not end well for anyone, considering the leaking gas main filling the room. He leaped into action.
Above, the Red-Widow had led her assailant across the top floor of the warehouse. He was bloody and huffing, and they were cornered in a smaller area thanks to her trick with the ceiling. Karina huffed and made a mocking motion with her hand, beckoning him forward. It had the desired effect, as the brute charged forward with a crazed yell and charged gauntlets pointed at her head. Red slipped under his fists, grabbing one of the gauntlets and squeezing. The metal resisted her grasp, but with a huge grunt Karina was able to bend it under the super serum strength of her fingers. The mans other hand landed a punch to her head, throwing her to the side close to an open wall that revealed the 14 story drop, as he reeled back from the sparking gauntlet. It seemed to burn his hand as he struggled to get it off.
Grant fought the woman desperately trying to protect the warehouse from burning down. He only had a few seconds, and was fielding blows from the furious well trained assassin. She flipped the green soldier, who landed face down in the water, but within arms reach of the grenade. He quickly threw it towards the window as she flipped him to his back. He kicked her back for a split second to draw a wakandan blade from his pocket and send it precisely through the air, surrounded by a light blue forcefield increasing its power, to carry the Grenade out the small window and have it explode across the empty street outside. Barnes turned his attention back to the woman, only to find her standing at the electrical panel holding a red lever. Her eyes narrowed at him, as he traced the open wires around the small puddle of water and realized. Grant surged forward, but wasn’t quick enough, as she pulled the lever down. Wires crackled, and the water came alive with electricity. Grant dropped to one knee groaning with the pain. The woman watched him smiling sadisticly as she carefully picked up the gun from where it had skidded onto the concrete platform. The electricity wound its way through the metal in Barnes’ blood, and he found his body settled into the wiring feeling. He rose to stand on two feet, blue electricity surrounding his body as the woman stared at him dumbfounded. Taking two steps forward, Grant held her wrist and the gun against the wall with one hand, pushing his other into her chest. The electricity flowed from his brown skin onto her body, one pulse and a spasm and she dropped. Grant turned the red lever off, but saw the sparks the wires were still creating above the water on the walls. That plus the leaking gas was not going to end well. He took off at a run up the stairs and out onto the street, while tapping into his comm.
“Widow! You gotta get out of there!” Karina heard her friends shout through the comm link, but was focused on the angry brute charging her with one cocked gauntlet. The beam came towards her, and Karina bent backwards feeling it singe the ends of her hair and her eyebrows. Using his momentum and a well placed kick and punch, the widow sent her attacker flying out the 14 story drop. He tried to point his gauntlet back up to direct the beam, cracking the floor and lower supports, but running out before it could hit her. With a yell, he landed dead right at Steve’s feet, who looked up to the precarious building while holding his comm in confusion.
“Alright I’m on it. Can you grab that gauntlet for me?” Again a command instead of a question, but Grant was bewildered as he looked at the man at his feet. Karina began walking towards the only intact stairwell, when the floor cracked under her. A quick reaction, shooting out her grappling hook to land in the ceiling kept her from falling as the concrete crumbled under her fear.
“On second thought… I’m gonna need you to come get me.” Karina said, while climbing her cable towards the ceiling, where it was barely hanging on.
“What?” Grant asked, pushing back stray black curls, and blocking the sun from his greyish eyes as he squinted to try and see her at the top of the building. Karina reached the ceiling and unclipped from her cable, just as her grappler came down with a large chuck of the ceiling. She was left holding onto a pipe with one hand, and swung herself legs first up through the hole landing on the roof.
“I’ll be on the roof.” She said quickly.
“Karina! how the hell-“ Barnes cut himself off from gesturing exasperated towards the girl on the roof because he heard a crackling in the comms and a wind over his head, as someone new joined.
“Heard you could use a ride!” Grant knew that voice anywhere. He turned to see an AEGIS jet lowering itself to the ground, sending his curly black bun twirling in the air.
“Man, I have never been happier to see you!” Grant shouted outside of the comms, as his half-brother AJ Wilson stood in the bay of the running jet, dressed in all his star spangled glory, complete with the shield that once belonged to Grant’s namesake and their mutual uncle. Captain America embraced his brother, and helped him store the gauntlet in an AEGIS tech case.
“Me too right?” A voice sounded from the front of this jet. Barnes smiled as he approached the girl sitting in the cockpit.
“Of course Layla...” He drawled, as he leaned over the pilots chair speaking almost into the brunette's ear. “Leave Uncle Sam behind and maybe I could show you just how much…” He finished, winking at the Lang’s daughter, and at the gloved hand pulling him away from the cockpit.
“May I remind you…” AJ, the ever responsible one, started. “…We already have an Uncle Sam and he’s waiting for us to get back.” He said, patting his brother on the back. Karina crackled in over the comms, while she brushed dust off the shoulders of her red leather catsuit and readjusted the inverted triangle symbol on her belt buckle.
“As cute as this reunion is, I could use an extraction.”
“On it” Layla sounded off, bringing the jet off the ground and beginning to hover up towards the top of the warehouse. Karina looked around the roof and started heading towards the sound of an engine. As she did, a flame was lit in a small patch of oil by a spark in the basement, next to the leaking glass mains. A massive explosion came from the basement eating the bottom half of the warehouse.
“Shit!” Layla yelled, as the jet was tossed around.
“Alright I’m gonna need that extraction slightly faster!” Karina yelled into her comms, picking up pace towards the edge of the roof as the building blew up below her. Fire chased at her soles and heels, and her legs pumped.
“On it, just tell me when to go!” Layla responded, opening the ramp bay and hovering just below the rooftop. As she spoke, Karina was leaping off the edge, narrowly avoiding the flames and leaving a toppling building behind.
“Now!” She shouted, whilst already falling. Layla pitched the plane forward towards the ground, so Karina came flying into the opening in the back, hitting AJs shield and bouncing against a wall with a groan. Layla pulled up and closed the door just before hitting the ground, and the hover jet went stealth mode and took off into the sky with what they had come for. When Karina recovered she coughed, AJ patting her on the back.
“For the record- *cough* -you do look like Uncle Sam.. with the- *cough* -the whole stars and stripes thing.” She said with a shit eating grin. AJ pulled his hand back from her sharply, and swung his shield onto his back with a huff.
“Man! Next time I should let you both blow up.” AJ started walking away, before turning back in annoyance to present another point to a smiling Karina. “AND! Captain America is no longer affiliated with the US for your information.” His sassy tone only made Karina laugh harder, and Grant nod in false sympathy. Hornet was the one to keep prodding.
“Sorry- Sorry… Captain America? Ameri- Captain America, America… is not affiliated with America? Seems like an onomatopoeia to me!” Layla mocked, while she scrunched a freckled nose in false confusion and intrigue. Karina and Grant laughed with her, while AJ rolled his eyes playfully.
“It’s oxymoron.” AJ stated.
“Pretty sure it’s not.” Layla responded.
“No it definitely is.” Karina said over the jet’s gentle chuckles.
~~~
Little did they know on the other side of the world someone had arrived in a very similar situation to their own.
“Friday, show me what I’m looking at.” Morgan Stark's voice radiated around the inside of Iron-woman’s blue and silver suit, the picture of her fathers besides the colors and inverted blue triangle in the place of a central energy core.
“Hostiles appear to be located on the left and central sides of the compound Ms. Stark.” Friday responded in the computerized monotone Morgan was accustomed to, as the pair soared over the remote desert hills of Mexico. She had kept the same voice and settings her father once used.
“How many?”
“I count 15 ma’am.”
“Perfect.”
Morgan pushed her ankle thrusters, hurtling towards the beige side of the compound, turning off stealth mode right as she pulled up and blew the wall apart with her hand blasters. Landing inside the compound, she was immediately cascaded in a waterfall of bullets and more hired thugs came rushing in. The small metal projectiles pinged off her silver suit uselessly.
“Ladies, Ladies… there’s enough of me to go around!” In typical Stark fashion, Morgan followed her comment with a brilliant show of tech. Small circles flew off the flanks of her suit, and embedded themselves into the walls, unbeknownst to her black market attackers. Morgan then aimed her hand blasters to shoot at the ground beneath her feet, causing a dust cloud in which the bullets stopped and she turned on stealth mode, flying out of the hole she came in.
“Friday, it’s boom time.” As she soared over the compound, her cylinders started beeping faster in the dust cloud, before exploding on the left side of the building. Now that the rest of the soldiers were preoccupied with that, Iron-woman turned off stealth mode entering a completely empty side of the compound, where they were keeping all the stolen tech. Morgan began whistling as she flipped through the computer's data. She seemed to recognize a name, as the brunette groaned.
“Ughhh!” Morgan rolled her eyes. “Not him again.”
“Tritagon Miss?” Friday inquired politely, flashing a file on the inside of Iron-Womans helmet.
“Yeah… add all this shit to the list of products he’s stolen from me.” Morgan snarked, going back to mindlessly scrolling, until she saw something.
“Wait wait wait!” She squinted at the screen for a bit, tapping her helmet open to read it more clearly. “Andromeda… this isn’t mine?”
“It appears to be an original Ms. Stark.” Friday illuminated, but it only made Morgan shake her head.
“No, Tritagon doesn’t do originals, and this has Stark tech markings all over it.” Morgan quickly began multitasking, downloading the hard drive while she finished orders to friday. “Flag this on the download. I’m gonna need to take a closer look if someones been freelancing.” Just as she did this, a man ran in pointing a gun at Iron-Woman.
“Hey-” Without looking, Morgan raised a hand and blasted him out the doorway he came in. He never got to finish his sentence, and Stark continued without missing a beat. Morgan gave friday one last command, as the gaze zoomed in on the word Andromeda pictured on the computer screen.
“And call Sam Wilson. Tell him we need to talk about Tritagon.”
“Right away miss.”