Two days after getting Stephanie Strange to join the team, The Avengers have been fighting Hydra on a beach in a hidden island. On this island was a Hydra supply base, a base filled with weapons, inventions and factories to add more of them. Their mission was to eliminate a source of their supplies. This was a mission they were close to finishing, due to their teamwork and ability to combine their powers even more. Though it also helped that they knew about the forces they'd be fighting against. Hawkeye was one taking out several soldiers at once with multiple arrows, electrocuting enemies, freezing them in ice, or melting some of them with acid.
Any enemy that got too close to the arrow wielding boy, Hulk and Torunn would beat them down. Hulk throwing tanks and trees at turrets or soldiers, while Torunn slashed robot soldiers and Mindless Ones with her sword. The two of them were working together, using their strengths and skills together. Hulk then takes his axe from his hip, using it to slash at a Hydra bot. Because of his strength, the metal was even easier to cut through. He then put his axe away, going back to punching and smashing things.
Meanwhile, James and Deirdre were working together in sync with one another. James on his hovercycle to fly by enemies to hit them at high speeds, or cover his ally. "We're getting closer! Just a little further!" He shouted, throwing his shield onto the ground. It bounced off the ground and landed in trees, hitting enemies hidden within. He then catches the shield and hits a Bruntian and a smaller mindless one with it.
Meanwhile, Deirdre sliced through another Mindless One with her axe to protect James. However, she was going deeper into the forest, getting lost as she was in battle with a multitude of soldiers. Unfortunately for her, she was so focused on protecting James, she didn't seem to notice.
Francis, however, noticed his ally wandering off. "Hey, fearless leader! Your losing your partner!" He shouted to him. Unfortunately, it was a cry on deaf ears, since James didn't hear. Nor did anyone else due to the fighting. So with a heavy groan, Francis shit an arrow with a line to slide across, and went after his teammate while everyone else pressed on with the attack.
Meanwhile, the red headed Asgardian was continuing to fight against enemies, turning herself into a T-Rex to stomp out enemies or to whack them with her tail. She also bit them when she could, not realizing just how far away she was from the rest of the team. By the time she realized what was going on, and how lost she was, Deirdre was already in the middle of nowhere. "Shit....." She mumbled, trying to look around for any trace of the Avengers. Hulk, Torunn, James, Yvonne, Ekaterina, hell, even Pym would be good enough. Just anyone that could help her get back. Partially as a guide, and partially so she can have a little extra backup against Hydra. After all, their teamwork would be a big help with winning the fight. However, when she saw who was coming after her....she felt extremely disappointed....she said she would be fine with anyone... anyone..... except Hawkeye...... "Oh.....you Bow Boy....." She muttered as she saw him come closer to her.
Francis smirked, stopping in front of her. "Always a pleasure to see you too gorgeous." He winked at her with a smirk, putting his bow carefully on his back. "Let's head back. Hydra forces will continue to attack as long as we're separated from the others." He said calmly.
Deirdre scoffed when she heard Francis more commanding tone. "You dare take that tone? You're no James or Steve." She commented, not at all impressed with his attitude. "Even then, you don't have anything special about you. Just that you're decent with your archery." She added on.
"That, and I know how to navigate our way to the others. So unless you want to get lost again, I suggest that you follow me." He brings up, staring at his Asgardian teammate. After saying this, he stepped ahead of Deirdre, who followed, but begrudgingly.
Deirdre had her axe over her shoulder, showing she was ready to fight, and of course defend the archer. "Fine, but don't expect me to carry your dead weight everywhere." She warned him, already imagining how this would go for him. She imagined him getting surrounded, and killed by Hydra soldiers or something from Loki, or Attuma, maybe Baron Mordo. Of course she'd still do what she could, but she felt it wouldn't matter.
Hawkeye smirks, glancing at Deirdre. "I wouldn't underestimate me if I were you. You already did so with James, and look where that got you." He taunted, climbing up a tree with a surprising amount of grace and agility. He wasn't quite as agile or graceful as James, or any of the Rogers family, but he was a close second.
It didn't take long for the two of them to run into a platoon of soldiers, charging at them. Deirdre immediately charged them, slicing them with her battle axe, and bashing them with the bodies that were sprawled across the battlefield. Though it didn't take long before she was inevitably surrounded, as if she was the primary target. "You will not touch me!" She shouted before using her strength of the ape to burst to freedom. Unfortunately, during the soldiers surrounding her, she lost her axe, which was secured in a bubble. She couldn't believe this, and she knew she couldn't just stay as an animal forever....was this.....her time?
Not long after, Francis fired a single arrow at the a group behind her, shocking them all before firing another arrow which fired bullets at the surrounding soldiers. Some of them noticed the archer shooting some of them, and tried to blast him, but he was just to nimble, moving out of the way just in time and shooting more arrows at them. Some were instantly freezing them in ice, others being trapped in cement, and others still getting hit by arrows with heads that felt like a cinder block upon impact. "Funny, thought she was protecting me." He taunted while seeing one sneak up on him, but kicks him in the face. He then turns his bow into a hardened staff, whacking soldiers with it.
Deirdre couldn't believe what she was seeing....Bow Boy- no....Francis......Hawkeye......was showing that he was able to fight. In fact, he took out so many soldiers on his own that it was ridiculous. Some of them had arrows sticking out of them, or were bloody from the cinder block arrows. Others were spasming from the electric arrows. No matter what she saw, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "You.....you're actually kicking ass....." She muttered to herself, unable to believe her eyes.
Before she could even react, an explosive arrow was shot perfectly into a large Hydra bot's center, causing multiple explosions and chunks of the mech to land on top of the other soldiers. "Still think I can't handle myself?" He teased her before looking out to the horizon, hoping to spot future enemies ahead. "There's still a lot of guys up ahead. Think you'll be able to stop gawking at me long enough to keep up?" He joked as he jumped from tree to tree.
Deirdre soon enough got her axe free and followed Francis, processing the earlier fight. Along the way, she'd see Francis perfectly take out soldiers with a wide variety of arrows to destroy small bunkers with explosive tanks. 'This doesn't seem possible.... and yet.....have I truly underestimated every mortal here? First James proved himself a powerful hero without super strength or anything, now this.....' she thinks to herself while walking forward. "How did you learn to do all this?.... survive without any powers or....even something like what James or his sisters....or father have?" She finally asked.
Francis was more focused on shooting arrows at the armies headed their way, but was still well aware of what he was asked. "What? Survive? My dad's an Avenger and my mom was a S.H.I.E.L.D agent and member of the Avengers. I learned a thing or two from them." He slightly bragged before taking out another soldier headed his way. "there's going to be a lot coming this way, and while I've got the arrows, I'm still not gonna do it all."
"Meaning you don't have enough arrows...." Deirdre assumed, showing a little concern for her teammate. Though in all honesty she couldn't believe she was concerned for Hawkeye of all people! He wasn't much.....but he had proved himself fairly capable.
"I have a couple extra supplies of arrows hidden in my pocket thanks to Stark. But I still need to let you do something." He corrected her while teasing her.
Deirdre soon got her axe out, holding it securely in her hands as she saw the soldiers aiming their weapons at her. "Cover me?" She asked, showing her trust in him.
The young archer has his arrow ready to fire while nodding. "As long as you do the same." He retorted while firing an energy arrow at a tank, immediately blowing it up which impressed Deirdre.
The young red headed Asgardian charged toward the oncoming army, deflecting blasts with her axe, and cutting down enemies. On some occasions, she sliced off branches to slam them into a small group of enemies, using some lessons she learned from James on adapting to her advantage. Upon closer inspection, she noticed something different about these weapons. Some of these blasts seemed familiar somehow..... that's when she realized something. "Francis, these weapons use Asgardian ammunition! Not only that, they're powered by some Asgardian artifacts!" She shouted while slicing some of the weapons up make sure no one can use them.
Francis heard her, sighing softly. "Of course they are....why not make the bad guys more powerful?...what kind of artifacts are you talking about?" He asked her as he whacks a soldier with a quarterstaff he had hidden in his pocket before extending it.
"The tesseract is one of them, it's powering up their weapons in so serious damage, or worse, completely vaporizing anything the blasts hit!" She explained. "But they're using it in such strange combinations. Long range and short range weapons have it's power..." She added on with a tinge of disbelief.
With this information in mind, Francis couldn't help but feel a little more annoyed. "Why am I not surprised? Based on what dad's told me, if anyone would be able to create stuff like that, it'd be the scientists at Hydra, and thanks to A.I.M, they've got more than enough scientists....." He says as he continued fighting, landing just behind Deirdre. "Don't sweat it though. We'll kick their ass. Our parents did after all." He said, hoping to ease her tension as he shot out an explosive arrow.
Deirdre couldn't help but feel a sense of relief and respect while she sliced through their armies, slowly pushing back with Hawkeye by her side, protecting her from behind as well. "Do you think we'll be able to catch up to the others in time?" She asked him while throwing a tank toward another tank to destroy them both.
Francis shot a sonic arrow in front of them to take out a larger group in front of them. "At the very worst they'll be trying to find us after we've done most of the work here!" He joked while flipping a soldier over his shoulder.
It didn't take long before more soldiers headed their way. But the two working together slowly were whittling them down. They had a lot to deal with, and were each starting to run out of options. "Francis.,..I'm sorry for underestimating you. You're actually far better than I gave you credit for....." She admitted finally, letting her pride go to the side.
The archer grins while jabbing a soldier with his staff and then sending him flying. "I know......but....thanks. You're pretty powerful yourself." He complimented before seeing a large Hydra Bot looming over them.
Before it could step on them, repulsar blasts hit the giant robot, sending it hurtling down. It was Riri, flying toward them with Yvonne and Azuri standing ready to fight. "Are you guys alright?" Yvonne asked with her shield raised up.
Azuri glanced over at them, taking a fighting stance with lightning surrounding his body. "We noticed you two went missing and James sent us to find you!" He explained as he slashed at a few Hydra bot soldiers with his lightning claws, using his agility to its fullest extent.
"Yeah we're fine." Hawkeye said, firing an arrow with a bladed tip at the end, stabbing into several soldiers and robots at once. "Though we did discover they're using the Tesseract thingy to power up some of their weapons."
"Yeah we noticed too. Dad told us they tried it back in World War 2 and had many of those weapons in storage. Looks like they upped their stocks and seriously upgraded their tesseract themed weapons." Yvonne said while hitting multiple soldiers at once, using a Chitauri's arm blaster to take out soldiers all at once. She then rips it off and beats it with her shield.
Deirdre rolled her eyes as she cuts a Chitauri in half and then slammed her axe into one of Attuma's men. "Why would they try something that already failed?" She asked.
"They don't see it as failure. They see it as them keeping stock just in case they ever had a plan." Azuri guessed, throwing some small throwing projectiles to blow up some soldiers.
Iron Heart flew in the air, defending the rest of her team with her repulsar blasts and missiles, each one hitting their mark perfectly. "Doesn't matter either way. They're not going to be able to protect this base for long." She pointed out before punching a tank, sending it hurtling into the air and hitting a Bruntian ship dead on.
At long last, the team had beaten the many Hydra forces throughout the island, and started to plan their way to regroup. "James said that they got their part completed. Let's head back to the quinjet." Yvonne ordered calmly, putting her shield on her back.
Deirdre looked around, seeing the many fallen Hydra soldiers and machines that were on the ground. "This doesn't feel right......they have the technology to bring in soldiers from anywhere so why didn't they continue?" She asked, feeling something was off.
"Most likely didn't want to waste resources on what could've been a lost cause as far as they're concerned. They fought to defend, but in the end it failed. So they decided to just stop and focus on something more important." Yvonne said, thinking like a soldier.
Azuri nodded in agreement. "Besides, its not like we won't see more later anyway. Though I have a feeling there's a lot more than meets the eye....." He said while walking with his team.
Fifteen minutes later, and the entire team regroups, checking in on everyone. "Deirdre. I'm so sorry we lost sight of you. Are you alright? Did Francis do anything bad?" James asked with concern.
Deirdre shook her head to confirm her answer. "No he didn't. In fact, he's shown me the true value of every mortal doesn't mean having powers, it's how you use your talents. Just like with you." She said with a soft smile. She then glanced at Francis, who was with his parents and telling them what he experienced. Today, she had a newfound respect for Hawkeye, and the parents that raised him.
"So they have even more weapons than we thought. Not just artifacts from Baron Mordo, but Asgard still." Steve said, showing some frustration.
Everyone slowly walked in the quinjet, with Steve flying it and Natasha being his copilot. James then looked at Deirdre. "Guys, I'm sorry that we couldn't find any trace of a leader in charge....and more importantly..that I failed to watch your back Deirdre. If I'm going to be a good effective leader, I'm going to have to keep a better eye or communicate better with my teammates." James said, taking responsibility for the bad that happened during that mission.
Pym jumped on James's shoulders, laughing softly. "Why be sorry? Because of what happened, several more of Hydra's leftover forces are down, which means our chances of success are greatly increased!" He shouted with excitement.
"This is true, but keep in mind, this is only the beginning." Ekaterina reminded Pym, trying to be gentle about her wording. "That means that there's a lot more work to do."
The team watches out the window to see the ocean, accepting their victory for today, but they knew one thing was for sure. Hydra was only just getting started. They may have cut off one head, but two more will take it's place. The question now was.... where will they take place, and how?
(Editor's note: trying to get one book done at a time, but I think its coming together. Hope you're enjoying so far! :3)