Chapter Twenty-Six: Time To Suit Up
"No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected." -Julius Caesar.
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"Since not everyone is aware, we are facing the Black Order," Director Coulson begins the official debriefing meeting, "They are the organization that has sent Loki, Thanos, Black Dwarf, and a few other criminals that we have successfully eradicated. To see the amount of damage this group can do, just look up the Battle of Berlin and I'm sure you will find more than your eyes can handle. They captured and nearly killed Monica, Clint, Alex, and Tony in Australia only months later.
"Now we are faced with the threat of a new enemy of the Black Order. We do not know the face or faces of the foes, but we will know soon enough. They are holding us in fear as they loom over us with their bombs. We know what their final plan is now: bomb and destroy the planet. We believe that they have sent Loki, Thanos, and Black Dwarf as parts of their bigger plan. Maybe they have given up on their original plan and now this is a 'go big or go home' final plan.
"We have faced grave losses. Family members have been lost, valuable agents have been murded, and innocent civilians have been killed. It is time for the slaughter to end. We are not going to stand around and wait for them to come to us. This ends with no more deaths on our side and as many as possible on their side.
"In order to prevent any more bombs falling on cities, we will attack their heart. We have all the means to wage a battle in space to make sure we-"
"Whoa, wait, hold on, we're going into space?" Sam exclaims. Director Coulson nods in response. "Damn, you're lucky I already took the position as an Avenger because there is no way in hell I would ever go into space on any other conditions."
"That's why we gave you the promotion. Glad you're on board," Director Coulson shows a small smile.
"Wait, before you continue, who all is going into space?" Daisy inquires.
"The Avengers," Phil answers, "You, Daisy, will be running point on our spacecraft with Simmons. Alex and Fitz will remain here in New York at the Avengers Tower and run point from there. Agent Tripp and May, you will be with us in space on backup. The second we need extra help, you two are running in. I'll go into further instructions of roles later. Does anyone else have any questions?"
Everyone shakes their heads. Director Coulson continues with the meeting, "We have one of the finest spacecrafts at our disposal. It is there that we have plans to intercept and hijack a small carrier ship that is heading to the base. We will use this ship to fly undetectably to and board the Black Order's headquarters. We don't have the weapons yet to forcibly enter; nothing we have now can withstand the physics and atmosphere of space. So, our only option is to sneak in.
"Once you are in, Tony or Monica, you will need to get a complete layout of the ship and who is where. Then it will be up to Daisy to guide you through the ship to the leader or whoever is. Matthews, you will have the responsibility of watching for any attackers of obstacles that will keep us from advancing to our destination."
"How will I interfere if I'm in New York?" Alex furrows his eyebrows.
"I'm sure they will have a few defense mechanisms that you could take control of and activate to our benefit," Director Coulson answers.
Alex looks intrigued by his job and leans back in his chair. "So what are Simmons and I doing? And why don't I get to go into space? I'm sure you guys could use an engineer on board," Fitz speaks up.
"Good point; Fitz, Simmons, trade places," Director Coulson agrees. Both Fitz and Simmons sigh in relief. Judging by their reactions, Fitz wanted to go into space and Simmons didn't want to go into space.
"What are our jobs exactly?" Simmons inquires.
"You will be available in case the team runs into any issues. Fitz will be there to help direct them through any mechanical problems, such as opening doors and other foreign systems. You will need to see what obstacles are coming up, such as doors, and have them open before the team gets there or as quickly as you can. If you run into any problems Alex can assist you. We will need all of the eyes that we can get," Director Coulson informs the sub-team.
"Back to the mission, the Avengers will follow the instructions of Daisy to the cockpit where we will assume the mastermind is located. Once there, kill the leader and find a way to destroy all of their ships. Wipe out the Black Order with no questions asked. We do not care at this point why they are attacking; we only care about eradicating them.
"Once you have the ship set to be destroyed, give us a heads up and then get off of the ship as quickly as possible. We will retrieve you and call it mission accomplished.
"Any questions?" Director Coulson looks around the table as he has finished the mission instructions. Clint raises his hand. "Really? Hand raising?"
"How do we get off of the ship? Like where do we go if we're off of the ship to where you can evacuate us?" Agent Barton asks.
"The Starwing suits are equipped with a compressed-air jet pack. They will allow you to make the trip over from their ship to ours easily. Potts and Stark will explain how to use the suits when we gear up," He explains.
"If we are needed, how will enter the Black Order's spaceship?" Antoine speaks up.
"Same way you'll get off. Hopefully between Matthews and Fitz we will find a way to open a door. Worst case scenario, Potts or Stark will blast open a hole."
"What about weapons?"
"We do have guns and basic firearms that are able to withstand space. Barton, I think you'll find your new bow and arrows more that suitable. But Thor..." He trails off as he looks at his hammer.
"Mjolnir will be unaffected by space," Thor informs him.
"Good, Agent Hill will run point in New York with Alex and Simmons. I will run point up with Daisy and Fitz."
"Sir, what about visuals for our tech teams?" Agent Hill questions.
"Stark, Colonel, and Potts's visual screens will appear on both of their monitors. Whatever they see, we'll see. As the same for the other way around; anything the point teams do, those three will see. So don't be doing anything gross," Phil responds.
He pauses a moment as he waits to see if anyone else has any more questions. The room is silent as we understand our roles. He adjourns the meeting only a minute later. We are instructed to prepare ourselves for this journey. The large group of us disperses to ready ourselves for the operation. I head to the women's locker room to change into my S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform.
I am wiggling to get the skintight suit to fit right when I hear the door open. "They make those suits way too tight," Natasha comments as she pulls her own out from her locker.
"Yeah," I scoff as I finally am able to tug zip to close the material over me, "They are kind of comfortable once you get them on, though."
"Agreed, but they could add a bit more spandex to give it a little more flexibility," Natasha agrees.
I stand by the mirror to fix my hair as Natasha changes on the other side of the lockers. I braid my hair into one long strand down my back. A few shorter pieces of hair fall loose and frame my face. I blow them out of my face before I meet back up with Natasha. We both exit the locker room at the same time. We head over to the weapons vault to choose our desired firearms for the mission. I know I will have my Glock pistol in my suit as a backup, but I still need one that will not explode from the pressures of space.
The next ten minutes is spent testing out a few different styles of handguns. A few other agents join us as they too need their weapons. I am quick to choose one and strap it to the holster in my thigh.
I decide to take a moment to check through Magnetar. I do not want to be caught in space with any surprises. I find no faults in the suit. I make sure I will still be able to be connected to Lucis while not on earth. I will be the closest ever to the satellite, so I feel like I should have an insanely good signal. However, I do not know much about wireless communication other than what I use every day.
I am saving any changes I made on Lucis's programming when I hear someone enter the technology room behind me. "Will she be good in space?"
"Of course, that's what she was designed for," I answer him.
"Good, I couldn't imagine you up there without something that had been tested for so," Alex sighs.
"Don't be worried about me," I roll my eyes, "If you want to talk about being worried for your girlfriend, I'm sure you and Fitz can start a discussion."
"If I could take your place, I would in a heartbeat."
"Between the two of us, who, a: actually knows how to use the suit, and b: has been on missions?"
"I know the idea of how to work your suit, you just won't let me use it," Alex huffs, "I'll probably just have to hop in when you can't say no."
"So when I'm dead?" I joke.
"Ha-ha, you're hilarious," Alex gripes.
I ask Alex how he feels about being included on this mission. Technically this is his first mission where he has an actual role and is not just an extra lookout. He tells me that his is anxious but excited. He wants to contribute more to the team and he feels that this might be his opportunity. Alex has expressed to me that he hopes that one day he can be officially recruited for the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. as a tech guy. He did say that he is terrified for my safety just because there are so many added dangerous factors now that increase the risks. If someone else had fought in space and could tell us exactly what it was like, I doubt any of us would be worried about the new region.
Am I scared for this mission? Extremely. I do not like facing the unknown, and in this case we don't know the ship, the enemy or enemies, or how to battle in space. No one on the team has ever been in space minus Thor. However, he has not had to literally battle in the black void. Not to mention that when he is in space he is protected by the Bifrost. If I knew who we were facing and what they are like, I would feel considerably better. Is this villain going to be reckless and unstable or like a calm, thoughtful mastermind? Do we have to worry about a new and deadly weapon or some superpower that we have nothing to counteract it?
We have learned that someone of the Black Order has the power to control others just by his voice. With that in mind, we designed earpieces that will scramble his voice so that he will not have any influence over us. It will also alter everyone who doesn't also have an earpiece voices. The two headphones are joined by a tight strap that goes around the back of our heads. Hopefully it will work to prevent us from being controlled by the voice; Doctor Banner and Tony were very confident, so we shouldn't have any worries.
Before Alex or I can say anything else, a familiar bubbly woman enters the room. "So, this is the Alex that you were so worried about," Daisy saunters in the room.
"The one and only," I respond with a sly smile.
"I better be!" Alex exclaims, "And I don't believe we have met?"
"Oh, I'm Daisy and I'm on Coulson's team. We were with Monica and Clint after the detonation of Ayers Rock in Australia and when they defeated Black Dwarf," Daisy introduces herself, "We were there when, eh, she got the call that you were probably going to die within the night."
Alex makes a comment about how I was worried about him. I ignore him as I have not actually ever told him about the time on the Bus before we defeated Black Dwarf. I still shudder when I think back to the time when I knew Alex was dying and we thought Tony was dead. At least that worked out in the end...
The three of us is casually chatting when another man enters. Agent Triplett joins us. He was just looking for Daisy but decides to stay. Tripp fits right in with us as we talk. Our conversations jump from topic to topic. We talk about anything to keep our minds off of the burdening stress of the upcoming journey.
Tripp is in the middle of a story about his grandfather in the Howling Commandos when we hear commotion outside of the tech room. The sound of feet running to the operation room is audible outside our door. A faint alarm is ringing from an incoming alert on the central monitor in the conference room. Voices are shouting and calling out unorderly. We all exchange quizzical glances as we do not know what is occurring. The four of us is quick to scramble out of our seats and out of the room.
The conference room is in a complete frenzy. The few agents are frantically talking on the phone and communicating to one another. Agent May is directing them with strict authority. We look around for someone to not interrupt to ask what is going on. Director Coulson emerges from another room and is unoccupied for the briefest moment.
"Sir, what's going on?" Daisy asks.
"Paris and Boston have been bombed and they have been confirmed as Black Order bombs," Director Coulson has stress etched into his expression.
"What do we do now?"
"Suit up. We take off for space in an hour."
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Early update because I'm going to a Maroon 5 concert tonight and I don't know when I'll be home tomorrow. But, really, I'm going to see Maroon 5 tonight and I'm so excited!
Wow, it's hard to write with so many characters. I forget who all is in this story now.
Dedication to @ally_hayniac <3
Love you guys!
x JLG