Chapter 16: The Sokovian Shuffle
"Sokovia," Adam said, the name tasting like ash in his mouth. He was sitting in their newly established 'base'—a repurposed warehouse in Queens that was a far cry from the fancy Avengers Tower, but it had good Wi-Fi and enough space for Frank to practice not breaking things. A holographic map of the world, courtesy of Skye's ridiculously powerful Techno Gu, shimmered in the air above a large table. A specific, mountainous region in Eastern Europe was highlighted in a menacing red.
"Sounds like a place where they'd film a really depressing movie," Scott commented, fidgeting with a small ant on the table. The ant was, of course, Scott. He'd shrunk down for a moment to inspect a loose floorboard before popping back to his normal size.
Frank, ever the optimist, grunted. "More like a place for a really depressing mission." He was meticulously cleaning a rather large hunting knife, the kind of knife that looked like it had a personal vendetta against everything.
"It's a HYDRA weapons shipment," Adam explained, his fingers tracing the outline of the mountains. "My… source says it's a big one. The kind of big that makes you wonder if they're planning to throw a really violent birthday party for a supervillain."
Skye leaned forward, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Weapons of what kind? There's no major activity flagged on any global satellite feeds."
"That's because it's black ops," Adam clarified. "This is off the books. Officially, we don't exist, and neither does this mission. I've got a bad feeling about this. My gut, and my encyclopedic knowledge of questionable cinematic narratives, tells me this is a prelude to something big." He shot a meaningful look at the team, one that held a weight they didn't fully understand. He knew this was the beginning of the Ultron debacle, and he was already dreading it. Stopping it was impossible; the timeline was like a particularly stubborn cockroach. You could step on it, but it would just come back more mutated. But disrupting it? That was doable.
"It's a plan so dumb, it's brilliant. Like a sandwich with no meat."
Luis, who had been quietly eating a bag of chips, suddenly stood up and pointed a chip at the hologram. "Okay, so here's the thing. Sokovia? It's a landlocked country, right? Which means they can't ship things in by boat, unless they're going for a really long river ride, which is super inefficient. So it's either by air, which is a big target, or by land. And if it's by land, it's gotta be through one of these mountain passes, right?" He gestured wildly with the chip, crumbs flying everywhere. Frank gave him a look of pure disgust.
"That's… actually a good point," Skye admitted, her Techno Gu already re-routing her focus to the ground. She started pulling up topographical maps, looking for hidden roads or tunnels.
Adam nodded, impressed. "See? I told you his Clarity Gu wasn't just for telling long, rambling stories about that one time at band camp."
"It was a very important story," Luis insisted. "A cautionary tale about the dangers of mismatched socks and questionable life choices."
"So, here's the deal," Adam said, pulling the focus back. "We go in, we find the shipment, we disrupt it, and if we can, we grab a sample for intel. No heroics, no making a big scene. We're ghosts. Got it?"
Frank simply nodded, a dangerous glint in his eye. He was a ghost, all right. A ghost with a shotgun and a serious attitude problem.
[Main Mission: Disrupt HYDRA's weapons shipment in Sokovia. Reward: 50 Coins, 1 Gu Egg (Uncommon Gu).Side Mission: Capture a live enhanced HYDRA soldier for intel. Reward: 10 Coins.]
The journey to Sokovia was a blur of tactical briefings, silent plane rides, and Frank polishing his knives. Scott, on the other hand, spent the entire flight trying to figure out how to use his Growing Gu to make the tiny airline pretzels edible. He failed.
They landed in a remote, snowy region, the air so cold it felt like a slap in the face. The HYDRA base was a nondescript bunker carved into the side of a mountain. "Classic evil villain lair design," Adam muttered, pulling on a balaclava. "Subtle. I guess they ran out of skull-and-tentacle logos for the front door."
Skye used her Techno Gu to bypass the initial security grid, a complex web of lasers and pressure sensors. The lasers flickered and died with a satisfying sizzle. "Okay, we're in," she whispered into her comms. "Just don't trip over the dead circuits."
Inside, the bunker was a labyrinth of steel and concrete, humming with a low, menacing energy. They found the main hangar where the weapons were being stored. And they also found the welcoming committee. A squad of what looked like regular HYDRA soldiers, but with a disturbing cybernetic gleam in their eyes.
"Uh, these guys have upgraded," Luis whispered, his Clarity Gu immediately giving him a readout of their augmentations. "They got enhanced reflexes, tactical combat AI, and a serious lack of personality. Like a bunch of really buff, angry Roomba vacuums."
Frank charged forward, his Furious Strength Gu flaring to life. He was a force of nature, a one-man wrecking crew. He took down the first few soldiers with brutal, efficient strikes. But there were too many of them. The enhanced soldiers, moving with unnatural speed, started to overwhelm him.
Adam, seeing Frank getting bogged down, knew they needed a new tactic. "Scott! Distraction! Now!" he yelled into the comms.
Scott, who was hiding behind a large crate, looked around nervously. "Uh, what kind of distraction?"
"Something big!"
"Okay, something big," Scott muttered. He grabbed a small, unassuming pencil from his utility belt. He focused his energy, and with a grunt, his Growing Gu activated. The pencil, with a low hum, began to grow. And grow. And grow. It became a monstrous, ten-foot-long wooden spear, a sharpened point at one end. It clattered to the floor with a deafening crash, right in the middle of the fight.
The HYDRA soldiers, whose combat AI didn't have a protocol for "giant stationery," paused for a split second. It was all the time Frank needed. He tore through the rest of the squad, his anger and efficiency a beautiful, brutal ballet.
"Okay, new rule," Frank said, catching his breath. "No more giant pencils. I almost got impaled by a number two."
Luis, ever the storyteller, stepped forward and started talking to the remaining, slightly dazed soldiers. His voice was a rapid-fire assault of nonsense and half-baked plans. "Okay, so here's the plan, fellas. You go home. You tell your bosses you saw a giant flying pencil and it was a sign from above. A sign that you should quit your job and maybe get into macrame. It's very therapeutic, I hear." His Clarity Gu was confusing their basic AI protocols, making them hesitate and question their orders.
While the soldiers were distracted, Adam and Skye made their move. Skye used her Techno Gu to access the weapons manifest. "Adam, you're not gonna believe this. It's not just guns and missiles. It's a prototype… an energy core. The power signature is off the charts."
Adam's heart sank. He knew exactly what that meant. It was the core for the scepter, for Ultron. This was more than a side mission. This was a desperate attempt to delay the apocalypse.
"Grab the core," he said, his voice grim. "And let's go. We're not getting a souvenir from this place. We're getting an insurance policy."
Just as they were about to leave, they heard a faint groan from a downed soldier. It was one of the enhanced ones. He was still conscious, his cybernetics sparking.
[Side Mission complete! You have captured a live enhanced HYDRA soldier for intel. Reward: 10 Coins.]
They had their intel. And Adam knew, with a certainty that chilled him to the bone, that the game had just changed. The pieces were moving, and he was a pawn no longer. He was a player, and he just made his first move.
"This is where it gets interesting," he thought. "This is where the fanfic stops being a fanfic and starts being a sequel. And sequels are always messier, aren't they?"
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