Preperation
“Are you OK Agent Riley?”
“No.. nothing… Irony… that’s all…”
“Ok then.” Ward said “Director Fury says you’re in need of some help and we’re here to provide it.”
“Great… you wouldn’t happen to have a spare jet engine lying around, would ya?.”
Ward motioned off to his left, at a pair of engines ready to be installed.
“He figured replacing both would be better.”
Once the ground crew started servicing the plane, Scott and Daisy briefed the others.
“So…” Scott began “In 1965, a spaceship lands on this Earth, carrying refugees from Asgard. It would seem their world was destroyed early here. S.H.E.I.L.D. took them in and gave them a home in exchange for the ship they’d used. They took it apart and reverse engineered the tech inside, which is why they’re about twenty to thirty years ahead of us.
“S.H.I.E.L.D did suffer from a Hydra infestation, but they successfully put it down. Apart from one group.”
He pressed a button on a remote in his hands and the hologram projector switched on, showing a mug shot of a younger Bobbi.
“Unlike our Earth, Bobbi Morse fell in with a rather bad crowd growing up. Spent most of high school shuttling in and out of juvenile detention. Got roped into S.H.I.E.L.D. as a prison release program, and quickly got involved with the Hydra elements embedded in S.H.I.E.L.D., got a little cozy with our old ‘Friend’ John Garret.
“When Hydra tried to take over, she and a few troops found their way to the Lighthouse in search of anything useful left there. When Hydra was destroyed, she was all that was left. Presumably, some time between then and now is when she met Mysiri.”
Daisy stepped forward “Now for the one detail that probably lead to all this...”
She nodded to Scott, who advanced the holographic slideshow.
“Her lover and partner in crime… Melinda May…”
“Have you dealt with anyone who isn’t a counterpart to someone you know?” Jay asked “I though that was just our problem.”
“Thankfully,” She continued “given that this S.H.I.E.L.D. built the place and didn’t keep it off the records, we have access to it’s blueprints. Problem is…”
The image changed to a wireframe model of the massive underground structure
“…It makes our Lighthouse look like a storm cellar…” Scott finished
“How deep does it go?” Fitz asked
“Three kilometers…” Scott replied, “Though the bottom third seems to be support for some large power generation system.”
“Excuse me,” Agent Ward interrupted, which was greeted Fitz and Jemma jumping slightly at his presence.
“Do I smell funny? I showered this morning… Anyway, is one of you a ‘Barry Allen?”
“Yeah” Barry said, standing with trepidation
Ward handed him a box and left.
Barry opened the box to find his Flash costume, neatly folded along with more of the strange silver disks Jay and Jessie had found.
“How did this get here?” He asked in shock.
He found a card at the bottom of the box
“Should have put this in the last time, disks only have enough energy for five minutes total use of speed each. Use wisely.”
Scott looked at the message. “That’s not my handwriting.”
Daisy peaked over his shoulder “No. It’s… Mine.”
The two looked at each other.
“Let’s not worry about that right now.” She said.
“If S.H.I.E.L.D. knew where Bobbi was, why haven’t the taken her out.” Fitz asked
“Fury gave us three reasons.” Daisy explained “Number one, she was basically by herself. They only recently came into contact with some of her doppelgangers in black. Second reason was the Lighthouse is extremely fortified. Drop a nuke on it and they would barely feel a thing. Third reason is collateral damage.”
“The lighthouse site on our Earth is under what is basically a park” Scott explained “With River’s End nearby. On this Earth, Rivers End was rebuilt as a master planned city called Lakeside, right on top of the Lighthouse without anyone knowing it. S.H.I.E.L.D. had already abandoned the place. The city is home to about Two hundred thousand people and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s oversight in the government won’t let them move on the place with the city above.”
“So…” Thawne asked “Is there a point to all this or do we credit for this lecture. I could just take this Disk, grab Iris and we can go.”
Barry flipped the card over and read some writing on the back
“P.S. Thawne will try to do this himself, the disks are encoded to zap him if the tries to touch them.”
“God I hate time travel” Fitz said, shaking his head.
“Here’s the plan;” Daisy continued “Once we’re inside, Lincoln, Scott and I will search for May and take down Bobby. Barry will look for Iris, obviously. Jay, you take Thawne and find out what happened to the Legends. Jessie, you and Fitz will head down to the lower levels to standby to destabilize the power core.”
“Why would we do that, we don’t even know what kind of power core that is.”
“I was getting to that part.” Daisy answered, “The point is to make the building a viable threat that the government allows S.H.I.E.L.D. to destroy it if our operation goes south.”
“We’re not going up there alone” Scott said. “there will be a flight of S.H.I.E.L.D. attack aircraft ready to bomb the city. Fury said they have something that will keep the core in check.”
“What am I supposed to do?’ Jemma asked
“We made a promise.” Scott said “If the mission goes south and the Lighthouse needs to be destroyed. You’re going to have to get Jas out of here.”
“You expect me to fly the plane?”
“Like I said before, it’s got automated pilot aids that would allow just about anyone to fly it.”
“Real comforting…”