Invasion 1.0
The food is in the form of pizza-and a lot of it. Since we make food for each other now I was not even aware of the size of the compound cafeteria (I take mental not to talk to Tony about using it as maybe a homeless shelter in the winter-being empty, roofed, clean and heated) everyone digs in hungrily except me, I’m still dreading what’s to come around the tour. Suddenly I feel a buzz and my pager I keep on me at all times starts wailing.
Great. More attention. I run out quickly turning beetroot red as I answer the page
‘what the hell guys?’ I yell into my comms unit-we keep one on us at all times, mostly for times like these
‘we have a code 1-23-893-23’ I hear tony voice recite in my ear ‘everyone kit up-we are going to need all of you, who’s there?’
‘Widow’ Nat calls through the unit
‘Hawkeye’
‘Thor’
‘Spiderparker, I mean Peterman… im here guys’
‘every flipping time I get a moment of rest-Valkyrie in’ her voice comes annoyed through my ear
‘Red Dawn’ I recite looking round to check no one heard
‘Cap’ Steve’s voice comes but Carol interrupts
‘I’m Cap dude-you’re Capsile’ I laugh to myself as they carry on arguing in my ear
‘I’ll get suited-Nat please may you help me evacuate my stupid classmates from the building’ I say, then turn off my mic
‘already here мой рассвет’ a voice behind me says ‘get changed, usually you kids wouldn’t be used but we have an emergency’ Widow is behind me carrying-somehow- even more guns than when I last saw her
‘do the suity hair cool thing Red, we gotta go’ she isn’t smirking now, but running down the corridor to the café. I run my fingers through my hair and feel my suit hold me tight I smile as I reach int my Dawn Diary and pull out the piece of cloth. Throwing it to my face I feel my vibrainium mask attach onto my face. My vision alters as the scanners focus and hear the reassuring voice of INES in my ear. I call out to Nat.
‘What does code 1-2 whatever mean again’ I ask as we reach the doors. Before walking in she turns to me
‘remember, you know none of these people Al is a stranger’ she reminds me gravely ‘1 is the location, 23 is the type of attack and time until attack 893 is species 23 is alert level’ she explains. I look moodily at her and she exaggerates
‘we are being attacked from above by the roof by aliens who will arrive in 7 minutes. Extremally high alert level as public involved’ and she kicks open the door. Everyone is murmuring, looking around as an alarm wails in the distance. Widow takes over.
‘hey guys, we are currently under attack, this is Dawn as I’m sure you know. We will be getting you out of here’ The class silences instantly. But Mrs Scott speaks up
‘you’re a ex-Russian spy assassin, why should we trust you’
I see a flicker in Nat’s cool exposure, she seems at a loss for words. I allow my dawn to seem out of me and hear INES in my ear
‘Hey Red, how are you?’ I ignore my AI and look at Mrs Scott coldly (or at least I hope she realises i am because my mask covers my eyes and face so…)
‘because we are your best chance at getting you out of here alive’ I state and then talk into my com’s unit
‘we have the kids; were shall we take them for evacuation’ the line is silent for a moment before Cap M’s voice rings through
‘get them to landing zone 2, we have unwelcome guests expected on 1 so assemble as soon as they are cleared onto the Quinjets, we are sending down re-enforcements now’
I try to hide my grin as I hear a whinnying behind me. A huge white horse is nudging me, wings folded gently to her sides and hazel eyes sparkling.
‘We need to get up to Landing Zone two where you will be evacuated to a safe space via Quin jet, keep calm and stay close behind.’ I order the terrified girls, Alex stares open mouthed but agrees along with the rest, even Izzie follows meekly as we make our way out of the café and into the halls
‘INES, I state, give me an ETA to our visitors, is everyone on the roof’ I ask the AI and the robotic voice replies instantaneously
‘6 minutes until expected landing, all avengers except Valkyrie and Natasha are on landing zone 1 preparing’
‘thank you’ I reply then turn to the Pegasus
‘seriously Val showing off now?’ I question and she opens and closes her wings a little, as if shrugging
‘had to give your mates a little how I was worthy of you’ she laughs in my ear
‘girls’ comes Tony’s quick response ‘less flirting and more saving lives please’
I laugh and reply, ‘relax Tony, some of us can multitask’ and I turn to Widow
‘im looking ahead to clear the scanners for I direct route’ and with that I fly off, feeling the joy spread throughout my body as my dawn is realised.
I zap along the corridors and up two flights of stairs, luckily, we were already quite high in the tower when the warning came. Two big quinjets are waiting, outside stands Maria Hill and one other pilot I recognize vaguely
Hill explain the situation easily and I meet the group coming up the stairs on my way to report back to Widow. I repeat what hill’s told me and her expression deepens, as we reach the roof however she turns and commands the large group.
‘as you are aware, we are under attack, most defiantly by threatening aliens coming from above. We are going to evacuate you via the quinjets you can see there’ she points at the two planes ‘Val, dawn and I will cover if anything comes your way as out guests are arriving any minute-just get to the jet as quickly as possible’ she orders and the class nods gravely, a few look like they could fait or cry but as I hover off the ground I send a look to Al, she is in the mid of the pack and I make a vow to myself to protect her at all costs.
Suddenly there is a crackle over comms and Cap (Americas) voice comes into my ear
‘guys we got incoming get the kids to the ship ASAP’ Nat and I look at each other then the group
‘go, go, go’ the spy urges, running out from the shelter of the building and sprinting towards the jets, my class follow but Mrs Scott falls behind-literally-tripping over her heels and falling to the ground.
‘Val’ I call out to the Pegasus ‘a little help’ I run over to my struggling teacher. And offer her my arm, Val trots up and I lean the teacher against the horse, taking the other side as she hobbles towards the planes. All students are on board but as we reach the halfway point you can begin to see the outlines of the intruder’s ship in the sky. I chuck the teacher on my girlfriends back and she takes off across the concrete skidding to a halt outside the ship, dumping her on the ground by the door to the ship.
Suddenly the sound of guns fills the air, INES calls out to my ear.
‘They’re headed this way-to zone 2 not 1’ she states the obvious as the guns drown out the screams of the huddled schoolgirls.
BANG a ship explodes as it is hit with a blast and INES voice comes through again
‘the Avengers are trying to come over but only Tony can-the gap is too big’
Of course, I think to myself the two-landing zoned are separated by a wide gap to try and isolate a problem is it comes-but it is doing the opposite.
‘Val’ I yell over to the Pegasus and she immediately takes off and she and Tony re appear a few seconds later, Thor on Val’s back and tony carrying spiderman, after a few trips all the Avengers stand tall in front of the jet, protecting the students who are now stranded after the engines in the second jet are shot out. The battle rages.
Val circles, flipping between Pegasus when one of us needs a lift and eagle to attack the alien creatures now streaming from the landed ship. They are steeled grey coloured with no noses to speak of and tiny eyes with no irises, they carry standard grade weapons but the large guns on the ships are torn to pieces by Carol’s powers as she flies straight through the metal of the ship.
We split up like always, Black Widow and Hawkeye defending the ship and it’s feebling but flabbergasted inhabitants. Thor and Cap A work their way slowly through the crowd leaving a trail of dead aliens in their wake, Cap M and Iron man work separately eliminating more of the aliens that just keep pouring from the ship.
Val, Peter, and I team up, taking on a wave at a time, me reaching out through dawn ripping apart their guns and flying off the roof to prevent the invasion from spreading. Peter webbing them up for Val (now in human form) to drive her Dragon fan through them.
After 20 minutes of solid fighting (and bantering over comms in some of our cases) the press have started to appear, helicopter circling as we fight and tackle the now diminishing numbers of aliens, the army arrives to evacuate the school children and takes a small group at a time but disaster strikes when there are only 3 people left-Al, Izzie and Mrs Scott- Tony has shot off with Thor to attempt to control security and press who are attempting to land on the roof. Widow, Hawkeye, and Marvel are tying up the remaining aliens and leading them off to questioning.
Then my world falls apart.
An alien Cap Marvel had photon blasted staggers to him feet aiming a power gun straight at the 3 remaining civilians
‘NO’ I yell leaping to block the blow, but someone gets there first.
A volley of place silver feather bursts in front of my eyes, shrill squeal cuts through the air breaking my heart, as the breath-taking winged creature flies back from the blast. Val’s Pegasus hits the floor 10 metres away from me and at once transforms to the girl.
I can vaguely hear the click of cameras and brightness of flashes as the reporters deem it safe to land on the roof- I ignore them running over and skid to the floor beside the unmoving Val, gently lifting her head onto my lap.
She lies peacefully on her back, eyes closed, and silky brown hair spread around her like a pool, the white chains she painstakingly paints cross her eyes for battle are smudged and unclear.
Silver and lilac armour is stained with blood, of the aliens and hers, coming from the burn like mark spanning her stomach. Grey-sliver substance is seeping into the wound. I reach into my Dawn Diary and pull out the blanket I keep there for emergencies, tears run down my check as I attempt to soak up the substance.
‘Please stay back’ Nat is over here in a flash, pushing back the reporters with ease, but they press on ‘We have no comments at the moment, please leave her at peace’ the redhead tries valiantly to keep them at bay but I cut out all noise and only focus on Val.
I whisper into my mask
‘INES read vitals’