New York. Stark Tower. Stark Industries headquarters. Avengers headquarters.
The expansive penthouse suite of Stark Tower, where its owner so often hosted "small" private parties, was currently occupied by only a few people. Almost all of the Avengers were present (only Thor was absent, but she had business in Asgard, being the crown princess, after all), and each member of the group had taken their place, waiting for the start of their special little meeting.
Stephanie Rogers stood near the holoscreen, and everyone else had taken their seats throughout the lounge area where the Avengers often relaxed and drank.
Kira Barton, known as Hawkeye, and Roberta Banner, better known as the Hulk, sat on one of the comfortable sofas across from another, where the skyscraper's owner and leader of the Avengers, Anita Stark, sat with her legs crossed. Nathan Romanov, the only man in the squad, was currently occupying the bar, pouring a glass of alcohol.
"Nathan," Rogers frowned at the man, "how long will it take you?"
"Right now, Captain, I'm almost done. I'm not going to drink whiskey without ice, am I?"
"Seriously? Alcohol at ten in the morning?" Stefania asked incredulously, raising one eyebrow.
"It's best in the morning," Nathan smiled, taking a sip of his favorite nectar and leaning against the bar, gesturing to Captain America.
"Hmm," Rogers frowned, but still looked away from him and gestured for the holoscreen to turn on.
"As you know, today, at two seventeen minutes past midnight, S.H.I.E.L.D. A call came in about a fight between two supers on the southern edge of Midtown. A SHIELD pilot was dispatched to the scene with me and six field agents on board. Spider-Girl joined us as we approached the battlefield.
"Oh, Steph, you always talk so boringly," Anita rolled her eyes, stood up, and walked to the bar, apparently deciding to pour herself a drink. "You're not at a SHIELD briefing in front of young agents, half of whom are in love with you and would listen to your boring speeches for the rest of the day. Let's get to the point."
"Hmm," Rogers said irritably, but she still waved her hand, changing the image on the holoscreen. "One of the fighters was Scorpia." There were two photographs on the screen—one depicted the previously mentioned figure in her costume during one of her battles, the second showed her in her civilian guise, against a measuring scale, holding up a prisoner's number, during her first incarceration at New Alcatraz. "The second—previously unknown." She waved her hand again, and a blurry photograph of a human figure appeared on the screen. "Most likely the same person photographed by civilians last week." Another photograph, even worse quality, in which a similar silhouette could be vaguely discerned.
"Brrrr," Barton grimaced. "Those big eyes, just like Venom and Carnage. Is she a symbiote too?"
"Most likely, yes," Rogers nodded. "Based on footage from nearby security cameras and amateur video, it's clear she's using abilities similar to those demonstrated by those two. But there are some external differences. First, her teeth—they're completely hidden until she speaks. Her voice, by the way, is completely emotionless, unlike Venom's growling and Carnage's squeaky voice. Second, her height. I've been close to her and I can say she's about five feet tall, give or take, while Venom and Carnage are quite tall. Venom is over two meters tall and almost five feet across the shoulders, while Carnage is a little taller than two meters, but much shorter across the shoulders."
"So what does that tell us?" Nathan asked.
"Well, if we take the growth trend as a common trait among symbiotes," Banner interjected, "then this newcomer is either very short, or still a child, even younger than Spider-Girl. Or perhaps she's a different kind of symbiote, designed not for direct combat, as Venom and Carnage favor, but perhaps for covert and sabotage operations, which is why she's not so impressive."
"The last thing we need are some terrifying, toothy monsters with the ability to create tentacles from their bodies, masters of quiet warfare," Hawkeye grimaced.
"And the following footage can confirm that theory. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flyers are equipped with video cameras with a 360-degree field of view and almost every possible imaging spectrum. Including thermal," the woman waves her hand again, flipping through several photos and stopping at the one taken today—a small street where today's skirmish took place. The frame freezes on the moment where Scorpia makes a clearly obscene hand gesture toward the transporter. The woman could be identified by the outline of her suit and long tail, which clearly generated a lot of heat, and she was clearly visible in the video. "That's Scorpia," Rogers pointed at the villain, "and this is our new symbiote," the Captain gestured toward the almost indistinguishable figure. "Her body temperature clearly matches the ambient temperature. And this is what Venom looks like in the thermal spectrum, for example." The new image showed the villain's figure, glowing in the thermal spectrum like a beacon in the night.
"Hm," Nathan drawled. The other Avengers had nothing to add.
"When I came down, I offered Scorpia her surrender, but she resisted."
"Ha. Who would have thought," Stark smiled, sipping her red wine.
"At first, I wanted to leave Scorpia to Spider-Girl and deal with the new girl, but she was inactive, so I helped Parker. Together, we quickly subdued her, but before we could take her into custody, she turned to the new super, asking for help."
"Help?" Roberta asked, surprised. "Didn't they fight?"
"They fought," Captain America sighed, "but we found out that later." The new girl was clearly trying to say something in response, most likely to explain herself and justify herself. But the moment wasn't conducive to conversation, so I decided to subdue her first and ask questions later. Spider-Girl and I were distracted by Scorpia, and she managed to recover and hurl a SHIELD agent at me. Parker took a blow from her tail, giving the villain a few seconds to escape. The new girl took advantage of this, sprinting in the opposite direction. Sending Spider-Girl after Scorpia, I decided to go after the symbiote with the SHIELD agents, unsure what it was capable of and whether Parker could stand up to it. But Scorpia quickly escaped, while Spider-Girl managed to catch up with Scorpia and engage her in combat. Unfortunately, Scorpia escaped, severely wounding the heroine. The blade missed her femoral artery by a millimeter, miraculously missing it.
"Poor girl," Hawkeye drawled. "Is she okay?" "They had to give her a blood transfusion, and an experienced surgeon took care of her. The regenerative gels, coupled with her own regeneration, quickly got her back on her feet. By lunchtime at school, she won't even be limping. But she was very upset about missing the villain."
"Stark!" Banner drawled, and everyone's eyes turned to the billionaire. She looked back, puzzled. "Did you at least call the girl? Ask her how she was doing, encourage her by telling her it wasn't her fault Scorpia escaped, and that she did a good job, doing what she could?"
"I'm not her nanny, I'm her handler," the woman snorted.
"The girl is trying so hard to please you and become one of us," Rogers remarked.
"She's not old enough to be an Avengers yet. Just once she saves the planet, then we'll talk." Okay, the city, but I won't settle for anything less.
"Eh," Nathan sighed, finishing his whiskey, then pouring himself another. "Another woman on the team. We could use a man, at least one more."
"What's wrong with women?" Barton asked.
"I like them all, it's just that there are too many of you for me alone. And sometimes I just want to talk to another guy about all sorts of manly things."
"Manly things? What are they?" Banner asked with a grin.
"Well, weapons, women, good whiskey," the man raised his glass as an example.
"You can talk about all those things with me," Stark remarked.
"Well, yeah, but it's still not the same, and besides, it adds a bit of variety to my work. Whenever we need to build a relationship or have a conversation with someone, you always send me." You know what I have to do to negotiate better terms with them?
"Fuck," Stark nodded, and the other women's gazes turned to her. Rogers even blushed slightly. "What? We all thought that, I just said it out loud."
"Exactly," Romanov confirmed. "I'm not exactly complaining, but I need a break from that kind of thing, too."
"Ha," Hawkeye chuckled. "Where else would we find that? All the recent supers have been female—Spider-Girl and the new one with the symbiote are a case in point."
"So we can only moan and hope," Nathan nodded sagely, taking another sip of his drink.
Rogers frowned slightly—that's always how her friends were! You try to convey something serious to them, and they move on to other topics, joke, and drink. No, of course, Stefania herself wasn't averse to relaxing and having fun sometimes, but surely not when they were discussing something so important?
"Ahem," Rogers cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself. "Let's get back to our new girl. We need to decide what to do with her. I don't see any need to immediately label her a villain. Maybe she fought Scorpia for that bag, which is visible in the edited video, first on Scorpia and then on the new girl. Besides, she tried to explain herself and then ran away instead of engaging us in battle. While Venom and Carnage are very strong and could easily have dealt with our entire squad, that could have been attributed to the new host's inexperience. And, as we know, Venom and Carnage devour people, especially the brain, and wherever they appear, half-eaten corpses, bloody clothes, or simply headless bodies are soon discovered. But in New York, there has not been a single similar case in the last three months.
"Or maybe she just hasn't eaten anyone yet, or maybe she's just good at cleaning up after herself," Stark suggested, to which Rogers nodded.
"Maybe, or maybe she won't eat them, if they really are supposedly a new species of symbiote."
"So what do you suggest?" Banner voiced the general thought.
"Don't assign her a supervillain threat rating yet. Warn the police, S.H.I.E.L.D., and every possible heroine in New York that when they encountered this newcomer, they tried to negotiate with her, not fight her, and contacted any of us." Nathan grimaced slightly at the generalization, but said nothing. "Perhaps we really did misunderstand each other the first time we met, and she fought Scorpia to stop her, not for loot, and she wants to be a hero. Or maybe she doesn't want to be a villain. And if not, well, it's always worth a try." "I believe that even established villains can be rehabilitated, let alone a very young girl who only recently stepped out in costume," Rogers finished, giving her friends and colleagues a chance to speak, but they remained silent, clearly agreeing with the Captain's proposal. "Then I'll go pass this information on to everyone who needs it, and then, finally, I'll get some sleep."