(Soleil's POV)
The plan? Yeah, what plan? Because the plan that was made had gone to shit as soon as we got here. Sunbeam growled under her breath as she ran in her average size lioness form, alongside the rest of the Avengers.
Black Widow was driving a stolen Hydra jeep with Hawkeye standing in the back, firing at some of the nearby enemies who had flying Exosuits.
Which was just great, just....great. Soleil muttered as she body checked an agent between herself and the driver's side door of the jeep. When she moved away, Natasha pushed her left leg out over the door and hit the agent's head which sent them flying.
Iron man flew on the other side of the jeep, clearing a few Hydra men on his radar before pushing on ahead to deal with a few more in their path.
Another Jeep started to approach behind her, and Clint shot the agent handling the gun equipped on top of the vehicle. Soleil moved out of the way of the vehicle before falling into pace beside it and slashing the front left tire with her claws.
Thor who had been hitching a ride, swung his hammer before throwing himself into the air as the jeep veered to the left and slammed into a tree.
The God of thunder used Mjølnir to disintegrate one of the shots fired at him by Hydra's new and improved guns. As soon as he neared the wooden platform of the watch tower, he hurled the hammer at one of the agents which sent them falling from the platform before he landed on it.
Upon his landing, he body checked another agent off before turning to use a push kick against the agent that approached him first. That one evidently went flying through the wooden railing before Thor turned and punched the second to last, and the last agent off the platform.
He took down three agents in Exosuits right after before dropping down to the ground and picking up a piece a plank wood that he tore from the platform to do some swinging practice with the enemies on the ground.
Amidst all that, Captain America drove a motorcycle through the smoke of the explosion directed at the God. Sending a left hook up to one of the agents' gut before grabbing hold of their ankle to take them for a ride.
Steve did not drag the man behind him for long before he -literally- threw the man aside, and then grabbed his shield to throw at the enemy ahead while he jumped a small lift in the ground.
His shield hit four men as he drove around the trees and caught up to it, placing it on his back before jumping the motorcycle back onto the main path.
The oncoming tank was a good enough indicator for him to veer off the path once more, and luckily Thor decided to take care of it instead.
The God landed with his hammer first, impacting the front of the tank and flipped it into the air. The tank imploded mid-air before Hulk caught it on his shoulders and then tossed it behind him.
He let out a roar as he charged forward and began picking agents off the ground and hurling them around as if they weighed nothing, and to him; they did not.
Sunbeam, Black Widow, and Hawkeye joined the fray once more with Soleil and Clint keeping the ground path clear for Natasha. Tony flew above them keeping the sky clears, while Steve kept the agents off their tail.
When they reached the barricade, Natasha swerved the car to the side before she and Clint jumped from the vehicle whereas Steve ramped the motorcycle over it. Soleil, Thor, and Hulk jumped over the barricade, and Tony flew above it.
Black Widow executed a beautiful flying kick with her foot landing directly against one of the Hydra agents' face. Thor charged Mjølnir with electricity before slamming the hammer atop another agent, while the rest of them moved forward.
Iron man grabbed one man by their leg, spiralling mid-air before chucking the agent aside and they went flying until they collided with a tree. He flew forward and used his repulsors to take out the small bunker guarding a checkpoint of the base before he advanced through and then above the forest.
Tony flew towards the Hydra research base that stood atop a hill, dodging the old fortress's artillery barrage as he drew near. But getting in was not going to be that easy, as Iron man hit a forcefield.
"Shit!" Tony's brows furrow while stabilizing himself, as Jarvis now brings up that there is a forcefield surrounding the base.
"Language." Steve chided and Soleil almost inhaled one of the agents in her mouth by accident as she choked on a laugh. Unaware of her detriment, Steve continued on. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"
Jarvis, fully integrated with the Avengers orbital satellite, did a scan of the grounds. "The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we've taken."
Thor lands in the middle of a group of enemies, taking them out one after the other with relative ease.
"The Tesseract must be here. Strucker couldn't mount this defence without it." Thor said as he threw Mjølnir at an agent in front of him before calling the hammer back and letting it fly past him to hit another agent behind him. He summoned it back to his hand, as he let out a breath. "At long last."
Black Widow threw a grenade into a jeep that was driving by, causing it to explode while she elbowed a man who was firing a gun on top of a bunker. She rolled forward and got to her feet quickly and continued running.
Two other agents approached her, and Natasha used the first one to gain height by climbing onto his shoulders and kicking the other in the head. She then leaned forward and put him into a headlock while keeping the other in headlock using her legs before twisting her body.
They all went to the ground but unlike two agents who were rendered unconscious, Natasha positioned herself to rest on one knee. Hawkeye who stood behind a tree, a couple yards behind Natasha, shot an arrow at the agent who was aiming at the back of Black Widow's head.
"At long last is lasting a little long, boys." Natasha said, pulling a handgun from her holster and aiming at the man who was standing atop the bunker firing a different gun. But Sunbeam pounced on top of him, effectively flattening the man underneath her paws.
"Hey." Soleil looked to the side and smirked. "There is a girl here too~!"
"Sorry~!" Natasha smirked back as she still fired two shots at the agent beneath Soleil, as he let out a groan. Sunbeam just snorted as she shook hear and continued on.
Clint took cover when a shot from the new guns hit the tree's trunk beside him, he took a moment before grabbing an arrow from his quiver and lining it up on his bow. As he turn from behind his cover, he shot the arrow at another bunker in the distance.
He takes cover as soon as it explodes before adding his two cents. "Yeah. I think we lost the element of surprise."
Sunbeam shifts to her human form in order to dodge the barrage of shots being fired at her, making it harder for them by being a smaller target. Soleil runs forwards and drops to a slide as she knocks one of the agents off their feet before standing up again.
"Maria only gave us the basics about the research base. Wolfgang Von Strucker and Doctor List are seemingly the ones in charge here, they will most likely also have Chitauri tech with them." Soleil said as she dodged the attack of an agent trying to use their firearm as a melee weapon before shifting her weight on to her left leg and doing a roundhouse kick.
She blew one of her bangs out of her face before looking down at the man trying to crawl away, she sent axe kick down and knocked him unconscious before speaking again. "And evidently, Hydra does not seem to like surprises. They're a little too...well equipped for that. Besides, we only had two day to plan and prep for this attack."
"Wait a second." Tony joined back into the conversation. "No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?"
"Ha Ha! Don't remind me!" Soleil snickered as she ducked underneath a punch before jabbing her claws into an agent's abdomen and then yanked them out. "I almost choked!"
"I know." Steve sighed with the slight embarrassment evident in his tone. He drove on the snowy path towards a Hydra jeep, then gripped the breaks harshly on the motorcycle which flipped him off it. He landed in front of the bike before hurling it towards the jeep which caused it to tip and sent some of the men on board flying, while the others at the front were knocked out upon impact.
"It just slipped out." Steve muttered as he released a breath before beginning his attack on foot.
(Tony's POV)
Tony flies above the research base avoiding shots as he looks for a way into the fortress, which was proving to be a difficult task with the forcefield.
As one of the shots throws him off balance slightly, Jarvis informs him of something else. "Sir, the city is taking fire."
"Well, we know Strucker's not going to worry about civilian casualties." Tony said to himself before watching as Jarvis brings up "Deploy; Iron Legion" on his HUD, and he gives out the confirming command. "Send in the Iron Legion."
The Iron Legion was set on standby in the nearby distance, just in case they were not needed and so they would not cause panic of any sort. A group flew in from around one of the mountain sides, and soon landed in the small city at the base of the hill the old fortress rested upon.
"This quadrant is unsafe. Please back away. We are here to help. This quadrant is unsafe. Please back away. Please back away. We wish to avoid collateral damage and will inform you when this current conflict is resolved. We are here to help." One of the suits announced as a large group of civilians gather around it in an unfriendly manner.
The civilians chant that the Avengers should go home, as the robot holds up its arms and keeps them at arms distance from it. One civilian throws a glass bottle which breaks against the legionnaire's head and caused the metal to dissolve.
"We are here to help." The robot still continued to do as it was programmed despite the damage it sustained.
(Other's POV)
Back in the forest, using the trees to his vantage, Hawkeye aims at another bunker in the distance before shooting an arrow at it. He turns around but raises his head when he does not hear the explosion go off.
Soleil ears twitch and swivel in different directions, unable to pinpoint the sound and what is making it as it keeps moving around. "Hey, heads up. Something is here."
Clint swiftly pulls another arrow from his quiver and lines it up before coming out from his cover behind the tree, ready to take aim. Only for something to run into him, knocking him off his feet and sending him spiralling to the ground.
Clint groans as he moves to get up, looking ahead of him to see that the "something" turned out to be a someone.
"You didn't see that coming?" A guy, early to mid-twenties with almost icy blond tips and dark roots walks by Clint with a smirk on his face before zooming off.
Hawkeye is knocked out his stupor and is quick to his feet, getting a new arrow and aiming it but loses sight of the guy quickly. Clint lowers his bow, seemingly stuck in his confusion at what just happened which left him open.
The bunker that did not explode before, propped its gun on top of itself and fired a shot that ended up hitting Clint's side. He let out a grunt as he fell back to the ground which Black Widow heard.
Natasha turned her head and saw her friend's body hitting the ground, causing her to stand up and head towards him. "Clint!"
A blur runs into Steve, effectively flipping him into the air as it passed but Steve still lands just fine. When he looks ahead and then around him, the guy is already gone from sight. "We have an enhanced in the field."
"Are you serious?!" Soleil hissed and shifted into her average size lion form once again. Another Hydra experiment rubbed her the wrong way, especially one that she could not pinpoint with how fast it was moving despite her heightened senses.
"Clint's hit!" Natasha informs them as she drops to a slide and ends up beside Clint. His breath is quite laboured as he strains against the pain from the deep wound, while Natasha gets a peeved look on her face from the bunker still aiming at them. "Somebody want to deal with that bunker?"
As she said that, Hulk jumps down and charges the bunker. He immediately decimates it despite being fired at, and continues on his way like it was no big deal.
"Thank you." Natasha said and looks back down at Clint who continues to groan in discomfort as she works on giving him immediate first aid.
"Stark, we really need to get inside." Captain America said as he flung his shield at the approaching agents.
(Tony's POV)
"I'm closing in." Tony responded, as one of the agents fired a shot at him as he neared the ground which made him flip in the air before correcting himself. When he landed, he ended up sliding due to the slippery surface but that did not hinder his aim as he fired two repulsor beams at the agents ahead of him.
As he watched them fly over the metal railing, he spoke to Jarvis, solely. "Jarvis, am I...closing in? Do you see a power source for that shield?"
"There's a particle-wave below the east tower." Jarvis informed him as Iron man took flight once again after blasting another agent on the ground, he flew underneath a bridge section and used his repulsor beam to open gate in front of him.
The Exosuit that approached him first, fired at Tony and sent him into a wall but he returned the attack with better efficiency, as that agent did not recover as he did. He dodged another blast aimed at him before sending his own repulsor beam at the second agent in an Exosuit.
"Great, I wanna poke it with something." Tony said as the armed men on the ground barely stood a chance as they jumped out of his way when he flew directly towards them at high speeds. He even flew through a truck that was directly in front of him without receiving any damage, and continued to fly back up towards the fortress once more.
Iron man fires two missiles to test the exterior of the forcefield and gets the answer to his unasked question soon after. He aims his third missile underground, at the particle-wave Jarvis had previously mentioned and succeed in bringing down the forcefield.
"Drawbridge is down, people." Tony announced and proceed to look for his best point of entrance.
(Other's POV)
Steve finished off the last agent in his current group, and draws the shield back to his left arm using the newly implemented electromagnetic panels that Tony had made for each of his gloves.
Thor landed with a surge of lighting coming from his hammer that hit the ground, knocking out the agents that were trying to make a break for it.
Thor turns to see Steve running towards him before he poses a question. "The enhanced?"
"He's a blur. All the new players we've faced, I've never seen this." Steve said taking a second to catch his breath as he and Thor look around, only seeing Sunbeam approaching them. "In fact, I still haven't. You, Soleil?"
"He's fast. Too fast, in fact." Soleil growled as she took a moment to sit down and look up at them. "He does not stay still long enough for me to see him. And when he is moving, I'm only picking up an after scent. My best bet would be to use my hearing but even then, I don't think I could adjust to sensing him based off that alone."
Natasha joined the conversation to inform them of Clint's condition. "Clint's hit pretty bad, guys. We're gonna need evac."
"I can get Barton to the jet. The sooner we're gone the better. You two and Stark secure the Sceptre."
"Copy that." Steve said and Soleil nodded before they all turned to the new group of Hydra agents coming with more men and tanks.
"It looks like they're lining up." Thor said as he rotated Mjølnir in his hand before gripping it.
"Well, they're excited." Steve shrugged before he propped his shield upwards and braced for impact, while Soleil's eyes widened.
Thor swung his hammer downwards as a small surge of lighting escaped Mjølnir while the impact against the shield caused a shockwave that sent the group of Hydra men flying to the side. The tank broke into two pieces as well.
Soleil whimpered as her ears flattened to the side. "Guys~!"
"Oh, sorry." Steve apologized.
Thor gave her a quick look of sympathy before stepping back and swinging his hammer. "Find the Sceptre."
The two them watched as the God of thunder took to the skies before Tony cut in to add his two cents as well.
"And for gosh sake, watch your language!" Tony said, mockingly.
Steve let out a small sigh. "That's not going away anytime soon."
"Not if we have anything to do about it~!" Soleil gave him a Cheshire grin while Steve looked down at her with a hopeful look.
"You wanna give me a ride?" Steve asked.
Sunbeam smiled as she stood up and turned. "You've got legs, Super soldier. Use 'em!"
Steve watched as Soleil took off running in direction towards the research base and looked down while shaking his head.
"Yeah, I deserve that." He let out a small chuckle and proceeded to start running as well.
(Tony's POV)
Tony finds a window that appears to possibly lead to a main research room of the base thanks to Jarvis's scan and soon flies through the window. As soon as he stops his momentum and hovers in the air of the room, the men inside fire a barrage of bullets at him though they do not appear to be harming him at all.
"Guys, stop. We gotta talk this through." Tony told them as he proceeds to lock onto all targets and fires his precision bolts at the enemy. They all fall to the ground simultaneously, groaning in pain as Tony speaks again. "It was a good talk."
"No it wasn't." One of the men muttered.
Tony shrugs as he lands and steps over the men, glancing around the room and finding it to be mainly surveillance systems here. He enters further into the room and turns down a corner to where he finds a series of stairs. Going down them carefully, Tony soon finds Doctor List trying desperately to clear the hard drive.
Tony fires a repulsor beam at the man and knocks him out before he seamlessly exits his suit, which opened up for him.
"Sentry mode." Tony tells the Mark XLIII, which closes back up and begins guarding the room. Tony heads over the desk, more so to system List was working on clearing and places down his own tech to begin downloading the data. "Okay, Jarvis. You know I want it all. Make sure you copy Hill at HQ."
Because this was Maria Hill's lead and more importantly she had the skill set that could help them, Tony and Soleil decided to have her move from Stark Industries' work to working with the Avengers for the time being.
Pepper who had been informed that they would be bit preoccupied for an unseen amount of time was a bit disappointed that she was losing both her partner; Soleil and a good worker; Maria. Tony was always preoccupied for the most part so he did not make as much as an impact on Pepper's disappointment as he would have liked.
Either way, Pepper is off doing business in South America for about a month. Which they were fine with because it was better that way, now with their involvement of dealing with Hydra at the moment.
Tony was brought out of his thought when Natasha's cut in. "We're locked down out here."
"Then get to Banner, time for a lullaby." Steve ordered before the line went off again.
"I know you're hiding more than files." Tony said aloud after Jarvis finished accessing all the data on that system. "Hey, J, give me an IR scan of the room, real quick."
Jarvis used the Mark XLIII to scan the room before speaking. "The wall to your left. I'm reading steel reinforcement... And an air current."
Tony looks towards the wall the Jarvis pointed out and then moves towards it. Coming to stand in front of it, Tony puts his hands on the wall while chanting. "Please be a secret door, please be a secret door, please be a secret door..."
He pushes on the wall which opens inwards like a door, revealing a secret passage which causes Tony to let out a boyish squeal. "Yay!"
He goes through the door and looks down at a set a of stairs that lead down a dimly lit tunnel, and as he begins to go down he hears Soleil in his head.
"Hey, Sweetheart. Where you at?" Soleil asked.
"Hey, Honey. In a secret passageway." Tony said with a grin on his face as he places his hand on the wall to prevent him from slipping as he goes down the steep steps.
"Really?!" Soleil said, sounding shocked. "Where is that?"
"Look for a broken window. That's where I entered from. You should be able to find me from there."
"Alright. Be careful."
"Aren't I always~!"
"No. No, you are not." Soleil immediately put down which caused Tony to laugh. "I'll be there soon."
(Natasha's POV)
Natasha finds Hulk throwing large pieces of metal torn from the destroyed bunker, grunting as he throws each piece to the side.
"Hey, big guy." Natasha calls for Hulk's attention and he turns to her aggressively, making her pause for a moment before continuing. "Sun's getting real low."
Hulk scowls in return to that but Natasha stays calm as she kneels down to the ground while keeping eye contact with him. She removes the glove from her left hand and holds it up as Hulk approaches her slowly.
Never breaking eye contact, she watches as Hulk brings up his hand towards her own before she brings her hand down with her palm now facing upwards. Hulk follows after her and turns his hand to now rest the back of it against her palm, or at least one knuckle considering the size difference.
Natasha lifts her hand from underneath his and brings it up to touch his wrist and delicately draws a line with the slightest touch of her fingertips, down the length of Hulk's hand. From his wrist, to the palm and then the end of of his middle finger.
Hulk grunts as Natasha removes her hand and watches him before he blinks as he begins to feel a bit woozy, and stumbles back. Natasha smiles as she straightens up and unfolds the sweater she brought for Bruce.
Hulk goes stumbling through the thicket as he lets out a few whimpers and groans while he shrinks in size. Eventually the green colouration soon fades back into the skin to reveal its usual paler colour, and Bruce tries to focus on regaining his breath as he lays on the ground shirtless.
(Steve's POV)
Steve shoves a guard through the archway of the hallway he was in and ends up meeting the guy in charge. "Baron Strucker. Hydra's number one thug."
"Technically, I'm a thug for SHIELD." Strucker corrects Captain America in a manner he would now the Avenger would not like.
"Well, then technically you're unemployed." Steve circles the Hydra leader and now he has his back turned towards the stairs Strucker ascended. Finding no need for small talk, Captain America gets to the point. "Where's Loki's Sceptre?"
"Don't worry, I know when I'm beat. You'll mention how I cooperated, I hope." Strucker relented, glancing slightly behind Steve for a moment before looking back at him.
"I'll put it right under illegal human experimentation." Steve was none the wiser to the girl sneaking up behind him as he continues to look at Strucker. "How many are there?"
Before he could realize what was happening, Steve was hit with a blast that sent him backwards and he fell down the stairs. He gets back up and quickly ascends the stairs but the girl had exited the room just as quick. Steve speaks into his earpiece. "We have a second enhanced. Female. Do not engage."
"You'll have to be faster than— " Steve cuts Strucker off mid-sentence as he stomps on his shield to send it upwards and then slams it into the Hydra leader, forcing him to collide with the wall which knocked him out.
Steve pressed on his earpiece. "Guys, I got Strucker."
(Tony's POV)
"Yeah, I got... something bigger." Tony said as he walks further into the room that he found at the end of the secret passageway. Among the alarming amount of tech that was down here, a vast amount of it was recovered Chitauri tech from the Battle of New York which made Tony's stomach turn. The giant leviathan hanging from the rafters did help to settle Tony queasy feeling either, but he knew how to mask his uneasiness.
Tony did not have to look around too much for him to be able to spot what they had been looking for. "Thor, I got eyes on the prize."
As Tony steps up towards Loki's Sceptre, he is stopped involuntarily as a seemingly fuzzy yet intrusive feeling enters his head. It was an odd feeling to him as the only thing that has ever been in his mind was Soleil but even her ability was not this intrusive, this was a seemingly violating feeling as something enters his mind without permission.
Tony turns around and his heart almost jumps out of his chest as he sees the leviathan begin to move. He watches in shock as it flies over his head and travels further into the distance but what is on the hillside beneath the seemingly endless void above it, is what truly scares him.
His team lays scattered around atop the hill amidst many others, all laying very much still with Hulk being the only one appearing to let a few last grunts. Natasha laid on her back with her eyes open, Clint sits with his head bowed and still holding his bow and arrow. Thor lies on his back with his hammer just out of reach, and Steve just below him with his shield broken in half.
Tony approaches them slowly, in complete disbelief until fear strikes him like he's never felt it before. There a couple of feet away from Steve was Soleil, resting on her left side. Her eyes were closed but Tony almost gagged when he saw her right cat ear was torn off.
"No..." Tony whispered as he stumbled over towards her, falling to his knees beside her. He pressed two fingers against Soleil's neck searching for a pulse because their had to to be a one, he needed for there to be one. "Please...Honey...Sol...Please.."
Tony jumped when Soleil's hand gripped his wrist, her claws digging into his flesh as her gold eyes stared into his soul.
"Why didn't you save us?" Soleil asked before her gripped loosen and her hand fell from his wrist while her head went limp, but Tony could still hear her voice in his head. "I know you could have done more, Sweetheart. If anyone could do it.. it would be you, Tony."
Tony hears a screeching sound and looks up to see a bunch of Chitauri leviathans and their mothership flying through a portal leading to Earth.
"....ny."
"...Tony."
"Tony!"
Tony snaps out of it with a gasp and quickly squares his gaze with Soleil who is looking at him worriedly. Tony tried not to flinch from her touch as she brought her hands up to hold his biceps to keep his steady while he caught his breath. "Did..D-Did you see?"
"See what?" Soleil asked and moved her hand up to cup his cheeks, turning him to face her when he looked away. "See what, Tony? What did you see? You know I can't go that deep into your mind."
"What...did you see?"
(Soleil's POV)
"It was dark, really dark. There was a blueish hue, something with a warping effect in the distance." Soleil said trying to recall what she saw when she tapped into the small bit of his conscious mind. It was not her forte, she had told this to Natasha before when Loki had come to Earth.
She could not control people like telling them what to do or figure out their deep dark secrets that are hidden away usually in someone's subconscious mind. But if they were actively thinking of something, in their conscious mind, Soleil would be able to get a glimpse of it but she does not like to do it.
But Tony was in distress when she found him and stood unmoving right in front of the Sceptre, so she presumed that it was the Sceptre's doing and needed to snap Tony out of it. So, she did not get a good image of what he saw as that was not her main focus.
"I don't know. I can't remember anything else." Soleil said as she shook her head and looked at Tony who brought his own hands up to encompass her own. He moved her right hand and brought it down to his lips before kissing her palm, while she felt the slight stutter of his breath.
Tony eventually pulled her into a hug and kissed her right ear before resting his head against her's. His hug was tight but Soleil let him be and hugged him back because she knew whatever he saw terrified him. Soleil did not want to break this moment despite the two unknown scents she picked up in the room, though she knew very well that they were the two enhanced people the team has been dealing with.
Tony slowly loosen his vice grip on Soleil and gave her a nod before he looked towards the corpse of the leviathan for a second. He turned away soon after and extended his right arm out and Soleil could hear a portion of the suit flying down the long passageway to reach Tony as he walked around to the other side of the Sceptre.
"We're just gonna let them take it?" Soleil's ears swivelled behind her as she heard the guy speak but the other did not respond.
Tony's right gauntlet attached onto his arm, and with a fluid yet aggressive movement he grabbed the Sceptre from the device that was holding it.
Soleil heard the pair leaving and did nothing to stop them, not finding the need to chase something that she knows she would not be able to catch. Her attention stays on Tony as he stares at the Sceptre for a good while, turning it in his hand before he turns to look at her.
"Let's go." Tony said curtly and he walked back around to her and grabbed hold of Soleil's hand with his free one. He intertwines their fingers and squeezes her hand, with her returning the gesture as she rest her head against his shoulder in hopes to calm his shaken nerves.
She knows full well that he will use the time from this secret room and back to his suit to suppress how shaken he is because showing weakness to her is one thing but he would rather die than show any sign of weakness in front of others.