We go sleuthing
For the next few days, nothing exciting happened. Odin fell into a catatonic state that Loki categorically denied was the Odinsleep. Too bad; at least when he came out of that his strength was renewed. The ravens still didn't seem too upset, though.
Change came on a different front. Natasha had gone out to shake some information out of a few people, and after Loki's encounter with his father, Bucky left to join her. When they came back, they had the location of Viper.
Amazingly, we wouldn't even have to go far. She was somewhere in Alexandria, Virginia. Her proximity to the nation's capital was a matter of some concern, especially since nobody could find her exact location or what she was there for. Bucky and Natasha were very recognizable and notorious; their ability to scout around was unfortunately limited.
"We need to send in people who aren't known or well-known," Natasha said bluntly. "It's the only way we'll get the information."
I met Bucky's eyes across the table; his expression was grim. "I volunteer," I said crisply. "I'd also like to volunteer Sam, Scott, and Peter, provided we can come up with a pretext that won't set off his aunt." I wanted Sam to go for his knowledge of the DC area, his planning abilities, and his strength. Scott would be awesome to have because he's so friendly and outgoing nobody would ever think he was a superhero, plus there's the advantage of his suit. Peter's got enhanced hearing, his 'spider sense', and his webcrawling abilities, and his youth makes him less threatening. Steve and Tony looked like they wanted to kick up a fuss; Nick hastily accepted. After a pro forma sputter about how if he wanted to be volunteered, he'd have stayed in the military, Sam agreed to go. Nick said he'd contact Scott and Peter, and Tony reluctantly said he'd come up with an invitation for Peter to observe Stark Tech lobbyists, or something. Natasha copied Sam and me on the file on Viper, sadly thin. They had managed to get a photograph of the woman, which was helpful and was the only one known to exist. Tall, very curvy, and with dark hair that fell over her face like Veronica Lake, she had a memorable appearance. Natasha and Bucky had suggestions for places to look and what we should be looking for, while Nick started planning with the others; we would be going in first, followed in a few days by the others so that if we could find Viper, we could immediately act.
As soon as we had a pretty good plan, Nick dismissed Sam and me to go pack. We'd be flying on one of Tony's private jets; the others would come in on the quinjet and bring our suits. I detoured to the clinic first with Sigurd and Torburn. As usual, the ravens arrived at the window when I entered the room, and I let them in, dismissing the guard for a break.
I explained briefly that I would be absent for a time due to another mission. "I'm sure you'd castigate me for diverting my attention during a crucial period," I said to Odin wryly, then looking at the birds too. I'm not quite sure how Odin gets the information from the birds, just that he does, and I wanted to be sure to include everybody. "But the simple fact is that we don't know what's happening in Asgard and we have no way of getting there. But these are smaller problems, suitable for less-important people," I said, smiling faintly. "They're the ones I can do something about, anyway. So I won't be able to visit for a bit, but I'll be sure to let the doctor know I'm to be notified immediately if anything happens." I looked at the dogs. "I'd like you to visit here as well. I'll feel better knowing you're here." Sigurd woofed once. Torburn was quite young still, but I trusted his dad to keep him out of trouble. I stopped at Dr Staley's office to let him know about the change of plans and that the dogs would be coming and going, went downstairs to let Loki know I had to leave, then went to the caf to ask a couple of the employees there to keep an eye out for the dogs so that they'd be fed. I didn't like leaving them on their own, but I needed them here. Then we hustled back to the house so I could pack and down to the workshop so that I could pull my suit and weapons. I couldn't take my new poleaxe on the street, but I could take the knives, fans, and urumi; I had a new winter coat with a sheath in the belt. I left the suit and poleaxe for the others to bring with them and after hugging the dogs, hustled to the airstrip.
The flight was uneventful; Sam and I played Go Fish for most of all. It was quite a heated competition. We had reservations at a hotel near the areas we wanted to focus on first; nice but modest for two tourists who were looking to explore the historic capital and suburbs. Sam went to rent a car, just in case, and I took the hotel's shuttle van. I checked in, scanned the room just to be sure everything was fine--I was a little paranoid on this mission, sue me--and checked in with Nick. We still had a little daylight, so when Sam showed up at his room across the hall, he dumped his stuff and we went out. We looked at the neighborhoods that Natasha and Bucky had identified, and Sam added a couple more to the list based on his knowledge. We got dinner, then walked around one of the least likely sites. We saw nothing related to Viper, but it was kind of a long shot anyway. Back at the hotel, we divided up our targets for faster preliminary results. We wanted to have information for when the rest of the team showed up.
The next morning, we got up early and went for a run around the Tidal Basin; where Sam used to go and where he'd first met Steve. "This is an awesome change from the obstacle course," I puffed as we ran. Sam laughed. When Sam was hailed by an acquaintance of his from his days working at the VA, I said we'd catch up later and went on. It was a lovely run, and completely free from mud pits, tall walls, and hurdles. I couldn't believe my luck.
After my run, I went back to the hotel, showered, and grabbed some breakfast on my way to the first neighborhood. At this hour of the morning, cars with adults on their way to work after dropping off the kids were prevalent, and it seemed unlikely that a supervillain would set up shop here. It was always possible, of course, but there seemed to be enough people who knew each other, waving as they passed each other, looking at me curiously, that I thought someone who kept to themselves would stand out. And so far Viper hadn't been seen on any security footage.
That night, Sam and I ordered a pizza as we discussed what we'd seen and heard. A knock on the door, and Scott and Peter arrived; they were on different floors than Sam and I. We brought them up to date and discussed our next moves. Tony had come up with an image from a traffic camera near GMU, so Peter was going to go on campus with Sam, as Peter looked like a freshman. Sam would be looking around at the area off-campus, but would be around if Peter needed backup. Scott would accompany me to neighborhoods where we wanted a second look. We also decided to keep our distance from Sam in public; he had a lot of acquaintances still in the area and while his face wasn't nearly as well known as some of the other Avengers, he might be a little too high profile.
The next morning, I checked out the Capital Crescent Trail, sticking to the paved portion, a rare treat. I did a fist pump at the lack of horrible surprises on the path, and it wasn't too crowded. A few hard-core runners, red-faced, checking the trackers on their wrists or their pulses, even fewer more casual runners like me. I was actually alone at one point by Dalecarlia Reservoir. Then a disciplined runner bounded by, a tall woman, hair scraped back into a severe ponytail, the right side of her face horribly scarred. Then more traffic, including a couple of kids on skateboarders, a biker going way too fast and clipping my shoulder with a handlebar, and a scary-intense guy with a thin, wiry build like a marathoner, reciting goals and encouraging phrases, and I turned off the path. Back at the hotel, I met up with Scott. He hadn't gone running, but then, he didn't have to deal with Captain freaking America and his passion for cardio.
We walked through neighborhoods in Arlington, first of all; I used my souped-up vision spectrum to determine where the houses with external security cameras were, and Scott shrunk down when we were out of range. Then as we passed our first target house, he hopped out of my pocket and I kept walking. I made our rendezvous point, a MacDonalds, and popped in for a bite. When Scott came in, he just shook his head. After we'd both eaten, we went onto the next target, repeat. Steve would have a whole big cow if he saw all the junk I was eating. I finished my apple pie a little guiltily, but not beset enough to throw it away.
We finished up around three, then went to the National Cemetery and watched the guards change at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Pete joined us about halfway through, sitting in front of us, and Sam showed up toward the end. His eyes were red, so I deduced he'd stopped on his way to pay his respects to fallen comrades and didn't comment. We were in Alexandria in time to catch people coming home, eliminating a few more targets that way. For dinner, we went to a high-volume IHOP. Scott and picked at our dinners as we checked our phones. Peter and Sam ate heartily. Tony had come up with another image that looked like Viper on campus. Peter was going to have to go back. Something about the woman tugged at my memory, but for once I couldn't put my finger on it. Odin was still catatonic, Thor hadn't made contact, same old same old. After Sam and Peter had finished, I went with Peter to GMU and Scott and Sam took over in Alexandria. We'd discuss when we got back to the hotel.
Peter and I wandered around the campus in the fading light, but we didn't see the building in the pictures. Peter looked up the university website and said a bad word under his breath. "We need to go to the Fairfax campus," he said under his breath, showing me a professional photo of the building.
"What is it?" I asked softly.
"The Center for Clean Water and Sustainable Technology," he said. "The primary focus is to find chemical and biochemical ways to obtain clean water.... sustainability issues involve techniques to detect chemical toxins and pathogenic species of bacteria and viruses, find environmentally sound ways of removing them..."
"We need to go to Fairfax," I agreed, and we turned for the car. We took the beltway, then over to Fairfax. The building was secured for the night, but there was no doubt that this was where the woman resembling Viper had been photographed. As we stood outside the doors, looking at the website again and making plans to visit when the building was open, a tired-looking man exited, hesitated and came up to us.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," he said, "But I couldn't help overhear what you were saying. Are you interested in studying here?"
I smiled. "I am, actually. I have a Masters in materials science but I've recently developed an interest in water quality. With climate change, I think it's going to be a real issue in the near future."
"That's very interesting," he said, and asked me a few questions about my education. "I"m the program director here," he mentioned, and offered us a tour. I introduced Peter as my son, and the director kindly spoke to him a bit before escorting us in. Forty-five minutes later, we parted in the parking lot. I knew the floor plan of the building, including the locations of the labs, a list of the professors and their areas of specialization, how many students studied there and what their theses were. We hustled back to the hotel.
There was backslapping and hugs as we related our information, and the excellent news that Scott and Sam believed they'd found the lair of our villain in light of our findings. Scott had seen maps of the DC area, pages of chemical formulae, and a vial of a translucent light green substance. He hadn't had time to get into the safe, as it featured a biometric lock that would take time to defeat. We got on the phone for a quiet conference with the team back in Seattle. Something about the latest photograph we had was bothering me, and I pulled it up again.
This time the memory clicked. "I saw this woman. This morning, on my run!" I broke in, and for a second there was dead silence, then a flare of questions. "By the Dalecarlia Reservoir," I said. "Her hair was back in a ponytail and her face, the right side, is really scarred. That must be the reason she wears her hair down."
Tony's voice broke in. "That reservoir is the primary storage for DC's water supply."
Things just became a lot more clear, in a scary way. The team was coming out immediately.