Falling Further In
Pepper watched with a smug smirk as the internet exploded over Peter’s message. The TV across from her showed mass protests in DC, while the White House released a statement saying they were dealing with the situation. Ross’s building was surrounded, but the man had refused to come out.
“Hey, Tony,” she said as a holographic image of the man popped up in front of her.
“So, did our plan work?”
“You mean did MY plan work,” she corrected. “Yes, I believe it has. The only problem is that I highly doubt that Hydra is going to stop just because the president of the US says it has to.”
“Yeah, I figured that,” Tony replied with a sigh. “Will America be sending us any help?” he asked hopefully.
“Yes, that’s what we’re pushing for. I have a feeling they will, considering this whole thing is their fault. I’ll tell you more once they contact me,” she said before closing the hologram.
Peter had no clue what to do. It had been thirty minutes since the rest of the Avengers had been sent into the battlefield. Well, everyone except him and Bucky. Even Loki had been allowed out! Steve had decided that Bucky was not going anywhere near anything Hydra related, and had listed off a number of reasons why he would have to stay.
Tony had told Peter that he had to stay, but gave absolutely no valid argument. It was for that reason that Peter was currently in the iron spider suit, and sneaking towards the buildings exit.
“Where ya going, kid?” the voice of Bucky asked, making Peter freeze.
“Um...the training arena?” he offered.
“In full gear, with no sparring partner,” Bucky said, raising an eyebrow.
“I was going to use the bots,” Peter said.
“The bots were shut down this morning to give more energy to the shields,” Bucky said. “You were there for that, Tony showed you how to do it,” he recalled, making Peter lower his head as he realised his lie was unraveling. “Now, where are you going?” Peter sighed and met the other man’s eyes.
“I can’t just let them fight for me!” Peter yelled. Bucky sighed and lead Peter away from the door.
“Tony told you to stay here, and so you are going to,” Bucky ordered.
“Fine,” Peter grumbled. “I’m sorry.” With that he kicked back, channeling all his strength and threw Bucky off of him before running towards the exit. Bucky scrambled back to his feet just in time to see the large doors slam behind Peter.
“Dammit!” he yelled. With a long suffering sigh he raced to the armory, and grabbed his gun. “If I go out there, Steves gonna kill me. If that kid dies, Tony’s gonna kill me,” he grumbled, heading back towards the door. “I am so dead.”
Tony had gone out about thirty minutes after Peter’s message had been sent out, along with all the rest of the Avengers, T’Challa, Okoye, M’Baku, and Dr. Strange. Peter had practically begged to join them on the field, but Tony had refused to the point of dragging him back to the main room and threatening to take his suit. The battlefield looked even worse in the light of day, and he didn’t plan on exposing the kid to it. Besides, he’d have company. Bucky was staying behind on Steve’s orders as well. That was why when a web suddenly dragged a jet-packed Hydra agent that was chasing Tony out of the sky, he was surprised to say the least. That surprise turned to a mix of terror and fury as he spotted a certain spider-boy on the other side of said web.
“PETER!” he yelled furiously.
“H-hey Mr. Stark!” he greeted nervously.
“Peter, go back inside now,” he ordered.
“I really can’t, Mr. Stark. I mean, there’s nothing useful to do, and you guys are all out here-”
“Inside. Now.” Suddenly an array of shots sounded out, and Tony watched as at least ten Hydra soldiers were blasted back. Bucky.
“Kid! Not cool!” said soldier yelled, glaring at Peter.
“I’m sorry, but I’m doing this,” Peter replied, disappearing into the crowd.
“Shit,” Tony cursed. “Barnes, stay with him!” he ordered.
“On it Tony,” Bucky responded. “I’ll alert the others that we’re out here.” Tony tried to find Peter again to force him inside, but was soon distracted by another jet packed hydra agent.
Carol Danvers was perched on the roof of Ross’s building, an extra jetpack next to her. She’d already gotten all the security cameras on the building onto a loop so that she wouldn’t be seen.
“Are you sure about this Carol?” a voice asked in her earpiece.
“Yes, just act natural. I’m waiting on the roof.”
“Are you sure I can’t just stay here? I could get more information from Ross,” the voice offered.
“No, you’re not safe here. Just say you need water,” Carol ordered. She waited a few minutes before the com came back to life.
“Alright, I’m out of the main room, now what?”
“Walk up the main stairs, it will look less suspicious if you do. Keep your eyes forward, and greet people you know. If anyone asks, your grabbing something from Ross’s office, and it’s classified. Even you don’t know what’s in it.”
“Okay, I’m going up the stairs.” Carol had to wait a much longer time than she planned, but finally Reyna appeared in the doorway.
“Did you get out okay?” she asked, fastening the jetpack onto Reyna’s soldiers.
“Yeah, I just had to answer some questions for Jason. It would have looked to weird if I refused,” she replied. “Now let’s go, Ross is probably already looking for me,” she said. It took them barely any time to reach the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier waiting above the cloud bank, and they were soon in the main room giving Maria a report.
“Reyna, what can you tell us about Ross’s involvement with Hydra?” she asked.
“I had no idea he was working with them, I thought the soldiers he sent in were just some sort of secret government team or something. You know, a real life Treadstone, or Black Briar,” Reyna admit. “He kept Hydra a secret from all of us.” Maria nodded, looking slightly disappointed.
“I had a feeling, just wanted to be sure.”
“Agent Hill, will the US be sending Wakanda any support?” Reyna asked.
“WE think so, COngress just has to vote,” Maria said. “And if for some reason that doesn’t pass, than S.H.I.E.L.D will be getting involved for them.”
Bodies littered the battlefield of Wakanda warriors, and Hydra soldiers alike. Steve and T’Challa were in the middle of one of the large sections of Hydra. They tried to hold them back, but they were being quickly overwhelmed. Suddenly though, a flash of purple blasted a bunch back. Steve looked up to see Palmarius a few yards away being swarmed with Hydra agents. WHile the blast had helped, they were quickly recovering and returning to the attack.
“Hey Cap! Catch!” Tony’s voice said from over the com system. Steve looked up to see a large circular disk being dropped by Ironman. It landed with a thump beside him, stunning the Hydra agents long enough for Steve to get a good look at what Stark had just thrown at his head. It shown red, white, and blue and had a large star in the middle, along with six dents in the surface. His shield. Tony had kept his shield. Steve swiftly grabbed the shield and threw it as hard as he could at the oncoming assault, watching in satisfaction as soldiers were thrown back.
“Nice throw, Captain!” T’Challa called.
“Thank you, Tony!” Steve called into the coms.
“Yeah, well, what else was I going to do with it?” was the response he got. A blast of lighting coming from a cluster of dark clouds which hadn’t been there previously lighted up the field, while an accompanying blast of green gave them eyes on Thor and Loki.
“I’ve got to admit, it’s nice fighting with him instead of against hi,” Natasha said.
“You’ve got that right,” Clint agreed. “Do you know how many arrows I wasted trying to shoot him?”
“As much as I love hearing people compliment me, don’t you have soldiers to kill?” Loki’s voice cut in.
“Forgot he had a com,” Tony said. He was about to say more, but was interrupted by a load roar and the sound of smashing. “Is that-”
“Hulk!” Steve finished in shock. “I thought he was off pouting in the far recesses of Bruce’s mind!” he exclaimed in shock.
“Apparently they figured out a way to get him back,” Natasha said.
“Does it really matter? He’s back, he’s fighting for us, and Hydra currently looks like Loki after his attempted invasion of New York,” Clint cut in.
“Hey!” Came an indignant yell from the com system.
“Yup, forgot he was on here again,” Clint said.
“Guys! Open the shields! We’ve got help incoming!” Sam yelled. Sure enough American jets were flying towards the shields, which were quickly being lowered.
“How do we know they’re not Hydra?” Peter’s voice asked.
“Cause, Ross wouldn’t have access to those ships, not now,” Rhodey replied. Sure enough, when the ships landed american soldiers jumped out.
“Oh thank the gods,” Palmarius said over the com.
“Again with the Percy Jackson references?” Peter asked.
“What? I’m still Mindy,” she said, briefly shifting into her other form before turning herself back into Palmarius.
The American troops rushed onto the field, guns blazing. Snipers stayed in trees and in bushes, while fighter jets joined Sam, Tony, and Rhodey in the air. They all avoided Thor’s lighting and a few tried to shoot at Loki, not realising that he was now on there side, but they were a much needed help.
Doctor Strange trapped a few soldiers in time using the time stone, and Bucky quickly shot them down before they could move again. The Nemea agents seemed to be beginning to realise that they were losing the upper hand. Some began to try and flee into the forest, only to be shot down by tree top snipers as others choked on poisonous pills when captured.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to get the pills away from them,” Rhodey said, watching as another possible hostage foamed at the mouth and died.
“But how? The pills are implanted in their teeth,” Bucky reminded them.
“I’ve got an idea!” Peter called over the com systems.
“Kid, I don’t know what it is, but if it involves you getting within two feet of one of those guys, the answers no!” Tony called.
“You are aware he’s already doing whatever it is you told him not to do, right?” Rhodey asked.
“Yeah, I know.”
Peter looked around until he found a Nemean agent running towards the trees. He quickly swung over and webbed his feet to the ground and arms to his side. Then, before the soldier could react, webbed his tongue. The man’s eyes widened and he struggled to reach the implanted pill, but found he couldn’t.
“Hey, uh, guys? I think I got one!” he called.
“On my way,” Tony said. “By the way, you’re having your suit privileges revoked for a week,” he said as he landed and knocked the Nemea agent out.
“But-but Mr. Stark-”
“Nope, don’t wanna hear it. Complain, and I’ll make it two weeks.” With that, he flew the new hostage back to the main building where Shuri got to work removing the implant. Soon they had three more hostages, all webbed up and in Shuri’s lab.
“Are they going to surrender anytime soon?” Sam asked.
“I doubt it,” Wanda replied, throwing a group of them back and flying through the air towards another. “They’re a branch of Hydra, they don’t surrender.”
“She’s right, they won’t stop until they’re dead, or captured,” Bucky agreed.
“Well I don’t think that will be a problem, look up,” T’Challa said, pointing to where the shields were opening once more to reveal a large helicarrier.
“S.H.I.E.L.D!” Clint yelled. “They’re here!”
“Not just S.H.I.E.L.D,” Carol Danvers said, patching into their coms. “Ross is still locked in his little fort, but they’ll be getting him pretty soon. He’ll either kill himself, or surrender. He knows his little army’s losing.”
“Good to see you again, Carol,” Clint said.
“You too, agent.”
“I’m technically retired,” he corrected.
“Ha! You keep telling yourself that,” was the only response before she dived into the fray.
With the arrival of S.H.I.E.L.D, the fight was basically won. The Nemea agents were soon all dead, or captured, only a few having escaped. Word of the victory spread worldwide, and there were celebrations in the streets of New York as Pepper released her statement about the events of the past few days.
There had been many dead, and the injuries of the survivors were extensive. Steve’s arm was now in a cast which may or may not have been painted to match Bucky’s arm, and Bucky himself was still quite shaken from his experience seeing Nemea so close again. He had briefly lost control and slipped back into Winter Soldier mode again during the fight which resulted in him ripping the agent he was fighting’s arm off, but he snapped out of it and swiftly ended the man’s life with a bullet to the head to end his suffering.
Quill had a bad concussion and Gamora, a third degree burn stretching up her arm from a suicide bomber. Drax was going to need stitches on his shin where a blade had sliced him quite deeply, along with Strange, and Peter. Sam and Rhodey hadn’t been hit to hard, but Sam had been grazed by one of the jet packed agents, and so he needed to be careful with his left arm.
Carol had quickly left with S.H.I.E.L.D, not wanting to get involved with the American soldiers just in case the accords weren’t amended and they would report her to their higher ups. T’Challa quickly called everyone to the meeting room once all major injuries had been attended to. THey stood beside him as he opened up a live feed onto the website Pepper had set up.
“Today we have lost many,” he began. “Things will soon be changing very rapidly from this day forward, and no one can really tell where it will all lead. According to Sergeant Barnes, this was probably not the last of Nemea, but we have dealt a blow that will not soon be recovered from. Before all of this began, we were beginning to create ties with America. I would like to continue to do so, and offer my sincere apologies for any damages that may have been caused during these past weeks.”
“As for the Avengers,” he said, gesturing to where said group stood, “They have decided to return to New York where they hope to amend the accords created by ex-secretary Ross, and to expand their ranks. Palmarius, guardian of the Infinity Stones, as offered Wakanda two. As a show of good faith, and a hope for a brighter future, we shall be giving one to America. Tony Stark shall head a research team to study it, and hopefully create mass advancements for the benefit of all.”
T’Challa continued for awhile, though Peter zoned out after about twenty minutes. The burn on his right shoulder was beginning to hurt again, but he knew that he had to stay still in front of the camera and look professional. He glanced over at Bruce, who had been de-Hulkified, who gave him a knowing look.
Shuri had been the one to figure out how to get the Hulk back out to fight for them. Using the mind stone and a bit of Loki’s mind-controlling power, she had managed to get into contact with the Hulk. She had been managing a large scenario of reasons that the Hulk wouldn’t come out. What she hadn’t been expecting, was it to be fear. The Hulk had never in his life lost a battle. Thanos had managed to almost kill him in under a minute. Fear of losing and death had driven the Hulk to hiding out and using Bruce as a human shield.
It had taken surprisingly little convincing to get him to come back out. Only the promise of very easy victims that he could smash. Once the smashing was done, he agreed to let Bruce come back with the promise that he’d be able to come out again soon. It was for that reason that Tony had bought twenty four acres of wilderness under the Avengers name that was located nowhere near any civilization.
As T’Challa finished up and the camera shut down, the group slowly dispersed. Peter got some pain medication from Bruce and headed back to his room, staring mournfully at where is suit usually stayed. Tony had been quite serious when he promised a week of no suit privileges. The first thing he’d done was hide it where Peter wouldn’t be able to get his hands on it. Peter would still try, oh he’d try, but in the end he would still be waiting a week before getting his suit back.