Dinner was quick, barely ten minutes per course
and a modest five course meal with dessert now being served. Felicia was silent the whole time, whispering to her father and
mother and glancing at the HYDRA agent in the room, ignoring me complete.
Not that I minded, no, in this instance I didn't mind at all because I too was focused on Strucker, the man who currently has
Loki's staff in his possession. An Infinity Stone in HYDRA's hands, very very dangerous indeed.
"The people of Sovokia are weak," Strucker spoke aloud as he continued his rant, over dinner one would think it would be hard
to hear him, but he was very loud and everyone was eager to listen to him.
"They are not strong like Symkaria," he continued, stroking the people's ego, "with the help of my...organization, we can secure
your borders and bring stability back to your great country."
The people smiled, all looking eager to join. But Silver's father didn't, he spoke out loud, "and what do you want in exchange
for their generosity?" he spat the last word out.
"Ah, Duke Ernst," Strucker groaned, "it is simple, I want what everyone does. Peace."
"Peace through murder and slavery is no peace at all," Silver cut through. Ernst looked proud while the Prince and the royal
family simply glared.
"Control you spawn Ernst," the king shot, "she shows disrespect to our guest."
"Please, don't fight for my sake," Strucker said with a disarming smile as he turned to Silver and spoke like a parent scolding a
child, "tell me Duchess Sablinova, what kind of peace do you value?"
"The kind where the people aren't enslaved," Silver shot back.
"So...instead you would have them die?" the baron asked.
"I would rather them die free then enslaved for the rest of their lives," Silver shot back.
"Such a Western sentiment," Strucker snorted, "I think you have been spending far too much time with Americans. Because that
is their ideals," a few eyes shifted over to Felicia and her family, and the Cats glared back just as hard.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean disqualify their arguments for freedom over servitude," Silver tried to argue.
"You don't judge people by what they say, but rather what they do. Did you know Loki and his army came only because of
SHIELD's experiments with power they can't understand? That is the nation you defend girl," Strucker snorted as he sipped his
wine, the people chatting animatedly, agreeing with his point.
Silver glared, hatred and disgust rolling off her body. She turned to Felicia, the girl gave the lights of nodes and Silver replied
in kind. She then noticed me looking at her, the duchess smiled and shrugged, almost as if she was trying to tell me she was
going to be fine.
Dinner quickly came to a close, the King stood up, waving to the people, "the entertainment for tonight shall commence, come,
let us dance the night away!"
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The people cheered goodnaturedly as they all got up, following the royal family out back into the ballroom which was now
changed to allow for dancing.
I followed right behind Felicia and her family as they stayed near the back, allowing everyone else to take ot the floor, dancing
the night away.
"So, Tony, what do you think about Strucker's proposal?" Walter Hardy asked me, smiling good naturedly at me.
I looked at the man with narrowed eyes, "I think he's fucking crazy."
Walter groaned, "I would advise you to hold your tongue Tony, the walls have ears."
I growled, "and apparently no balls," the man raised an eyebrow, unsure what I meant, but I still didn't like that man. He may not
be the real reason Felicia left me, I'm guessing, but he is one of them.
"Oh Mr. Hardy stop," Silver said as she came up to us, smiling with mirth, "Tony has been known to be quite sly when he wants
too, it's part of his charm."
"Something you enjoy I'm sure," Felicia chukled.
"Indeed," Silver shrugged as she turned to me, "well? Are you going to ask me to dance?"
I looked over her shoulder, sure enough Strucker on the dance floor as well with the Prime Minister's wife as his partner, the
two exchanging a laugh and chuckle. I need to listen in, I turned to Silver and smiled, "I would love to."
I extended an arm and the girl took it with a surprised look, did she actually expect me to say no? She winked to Felicia, "you
snooze you lose," Kitten just rolled her eyes as I escorted Silver to the dance floor, the people moving away out of respect for
her and many eyes landing on me curiously.
"So tell me Tony," Silver said as we took out positions on ballroom floor, "do you even know how to dance?"
I chuckled, "don't' worry, I had a good teacher," I placed one hand on her hip and the other to hold her as I guided her to the
tune of the song.
Silver was a little surprised as slowly we began to sway, our footwork matching the classical melody of the song. She was a
little taken back as I took the lead, something I was instructed to do as soon as possible, making the target flat footed and
more susceptible to getting distracted as the more time they spend catching up, the less they spend on you.
Nat really would have been proud. As Silver did her best to keep up, her focus on her foot work as I increased the pace, I
slowly directed our dance closer and closer to Strucker.
"The project is coming along nicely. Roxxon stupidity cost them and now we reap the rewards," was all I got from him before I
was forced to move away as another couple came in our way.
"You're really good at this," Silver said as I began decreasing our pace.
I looked down and smiled, "thank you. My aunt was a perfectionist."
"Oh," she blinked, "I see. Did your parents force you to learn? Because my father did for me, though I don't even years of
training could let me catch up with you," she chuckled, "you have the grace of a gymnast Tony."
I chuckled back, "yeah, kind of," thank you Spider powers.
But just then, I glanced over her shoulders and saw Strucker pick up a call. His eyebrows shot up in shock before he excused
himself and walked out.
Just then I felt something vibrate nearby, I looked down to see Silver touch her ear where a small white ear piece was located.
We stopped dancing as she listened in, and using my advanced hearing I listened in.
"Target's on the room, ditch Tony and come on," I heard Felicia's voice on the other end. I looked over to where she was
standing before and was surprised to find her and her family gone.
"I'm sorry Tony, but I'm going to have to cut this dance short," Silver said as she smiled up at me.
I looked down and masked my curiosity, "oh...why? Did something happen?"
"Nothing much, just family business," she leaned up and cupped my face, planting a small kiss on my check, "whoever this girl is
that you love must be someone special. I'll see you around Anthony Witherman."
She then turned and walked away. Acting quickly I sent a mental comand to my suit causing the cloth under my hand to shot
outward as a small black dot flew into Silver's hair and buried itself in there.
I smiled, the tracking beacon was in place. I quickly moved, slipping out of the ballroom and into the toilet, which was easy
enough to find.
My tuxedo shimmered as my Black Spider costume covered my body whole. The tracker I put on Silver showed up on my HUD,
giving me a way to track her.
"Sexy, engage stealth mode," the costume shimmered before slowly it began to vanish from the visible spectrum.
Installing retro reflective panels into the suit was a genius move and tech and magic I used to keep my suit's external heat
regulated made me invisible to infrared already.
Once again Tony Stark, Batman and the Black Panther can kiss my ass.
I walked out of the bathroom and jumped onto a wall, crawling along the surface as I followed Silver's beacon to what seemed
like the basement.
I came upon a door which was guarded by two men, two scary looking men. I couldn't move forward without tipping them off
so I waited and waited, and ten minutes later Silver began to move once more, now going out of the castle very very quickly.
I jumped out an open window and activated my jetpack, using the near silent thrusters to fly into the night sky and up high.
I soared through the air and looked down. My mask's telescopic vision peered down to the road below and sure enough I saw a
car driving down the highway, taling another large limo surrounded by three back SUV's in the front and back.
I sighed, 'of course he's using SUVs, bad guys always us SUVs, meaning,' I turned to the smaller far away vehicle as slowly
lowered down, reducing me speed to match it.
I gently placed my hands and knees on the top of the car, the wind howling at my face as I cut off my thrusters, slipping into
the car's momentum. I crawled out the side and looked down, the windows were tinted, shit.
But the front windshield wasn't. So I crawled over to the front and looke dinside, finding Valeriy and Walter up front, the latter
driving while his wife worked on a computer, while Silver and Felicia sat in the back.
I gave a mental command to Sexy to begin my eavesdropping pin, an idea I gained from the Batman beyond tv show where the
tip of my fingers acted like audio recorders. I pressed a hand on the windshield and immediately my suit worked the vibrations
it picked up into words and tones.
"We think he's heading back to Sokovia, which will be an hour long journey," Valier said, "keep your distance hun, he might get
paranoid."
"Right," Walter nodded before looking in the rear view mirror, "you girls ready?"
"Yes Mr. Hardy," Silver nodded, I looked over and realised the reason Silver was taking so long was because she was changing
clothes, now wearing a full body silver suit that was similar to the suit I seem to remember her wearing in the comics.
Dman, what is it with my generation of teenage girls and looking amazing in leather? But then again I think Silver is suppose to
be a few years older, but semantics.
Felicia on the other hand was wearing the same body suit I had gifted her when we were still going out. Though it had seen
some mileage, cuts and stitches along with many many rough patches and sown over bullet holes.
I growled without realising I was doing it, someone did that to my Kitten. Damn it! Again with that my Kitten shit! Was she mine? I
mean she said she planned to come back to me when this was over but Sue...damn it, this is too complicated.
"Right, it looks like it might be a long trip back to Strucker's secret liar, but hopefully we can finally find the damn thing," Walter
grumbled he too was dressed in a skintight black cat burglar suit, only his was far less appealing to the eye than Felicia's,
"Kitten, did you put the tracker on Strucker?"
Felicia nodded, "I put it in his hair, he won't notice for some time." I chuckled, great minds… Felicia then turned to Silver who
was checking the barrel of her gun before putting it into her holster and moving to a sharp knife, "so," the girl purred out with
a sly smile, "Tony seemed like he was enjoying himself."
Silver snorted as she sharpened her knife, "please, half the time he couldn't keep his eyes of you. Honestly, every time..."
"Well, not every time," Felicia shrugged, "but either way, you know I'm not interested right?"
"Yeah, yeah, Peter's waiting for you, I know," Silver waved her off, Valerie groaned and Walter sighed, I narrowed my eyes, what's
their problem?!
"Yup...so you know, after we're done getting the Master List, you can probably go find whatever ski resort he's staying at and
spend the rest of his vacation in his bed," Felicia suggested with a wink, "maybe you can even convince him to stay longer."
Silver and I groaned, ironically. The woman rolled her eyes, "not everything is about sex Felicia."
"Oh I know, there's also love and stuff, but sex is a big part," Felicia shrugged with a grin, "did I ever tell you the first time
Peter and I did-"
"-Young lady I will turn this car around!" Walter cried out, "no sex talk! No!"
Felicia sighed, "fine...it was Christmas and we did it for basically the whole night. 12 days of Christmas took a whole new
meaning."
"Felicia Hardy!"
"Fine! Fine! I'll stop!" she said, smirking at her father's embarrassed face.
I chuckled, same old Kitten. And suddenly, I felt some of the pain lift. Some, not all. I still needed answers, still needed to talk
to her, in person. But for now...I...I was happy to just listen to her talk.
They talked mainly about the mission and how they were going to get the objective. From what I could gather they were after a
digital log of some kind created by Strucker. Apparently the HYDRA man didn't trust the other factions of the organization and
had some kind of list regarding them.
Whatever it was, it was apparently worth trying to sneak into the Sokovia base to steal it, something I knew even the Avengers
will have trouble doing in the future.
It took well over an hour, but eventually, we arrived on the sight. It wasn't snowing so they wouldn't leave any tracks, thank God
for the little things. Walter stopped the car a mile away from the base, I looked ahead with my lenses and saw the fortress
which Strucker used for his lab.
I watched as Felicia and Silver took the lead, Walter serving as back up while Valeri stayed behind in the car.
I followed them from the treetops as I jumped from trunk to trunk, using my adhesive ability to stick on the bark and allow me
to tiptoe around them.
They made their way past several guard towers and patrols. But along the way, Silver was almost caught as she slipped out
from behind her cover just as a tower's spotlight landed on her.
She cursed and moved away, hiding, the guards on top began to speak in loud voices. I knew I had to do something or they
were all screwed.
I leaped and cleared the distance in one bound as I landed in the middle of the three man squad on the tower top and
sweeped my foot around in a circle, causing the unaware team to lose their footing and fall down.
I charged my bio-electric powers and brought them down, shocking them one by one into unconsciousness. I then got up and
slowly moved the spotlight away from Silver and Felicia's hiding spot, pretending like everything was alright.
They waited a moment before looking out, they assumed the guards didn't see anything and quickly moved out. I sighed, guess
it was a good thing I had stealth mode.
I followed them, making sure to keep an eye on the guards as well. But luckily there was no other time when I had to step in.
It took them awhile to climb the mountain top the base was built on, but luckily there seemed to be another passageway in, a
strong iron door built into at the foot of the mountain hidden behind a large bush that anyone, even I, would have missed.
I'm guessing they had some inside intel helping them out as Walter seemingly knew exactly what to do as he unlocked it in ten
seconds flat, granting them access to the base.
They locked the door behind them but no matter, there were other ways into the base. I flew up, the sound of my thrusters
almost roaring in my ear, but I knew no one else heard a thing. I landed on the top of what looked like a radio station, inside
was a couple of gaurd, few asleep and one watching the monitors with boredom.
It took me five seconds to knock them all out. I had my costume shoot out into the terminal and gain access, granting me full
control over the system. I had Sexy hack into the bases internal security feed and give me access to it all.
I detected outside interference trying to break into the system, Sexy let them, but mointered everything they changed. I had it
traced back to Valeri who was back in the van. Huh, she was also decent with a computer, who knew?
I watched as Valeri looped the feed, making Felicia and the rest invisible to HYDRA, but not to me as Sexy got me the real video
feed.
I sat down and watched as Felicia and Silver made their way down into the heart of the base while Walter moved towards the
garage, probably to secure a way out. Smart. Must be Kitten's plan.
But then, something happened, they encountered troops on patrol inside. But before they could fire Felicia shot out a web line
and pulled away their guns as Silver threw daggers into their unprotected necks, making them choke on their own blood.
I blinked, woah...that was very, very violent. Felicia however didn't seem to flinch as the two silver haired beauties walked over
the corpses and into the base.
They encountered another patrol, but dealt with them. One did manage to pull the alarm, but thanks to Valarie it never went
through.
I watched as Felicia and Silver broke into a large server field and began to download something. They looked they were
handelign everything, so maybe it was time to explore this place.
"Sexy, stay logged into the system and tell me if anything changes," I told my AI as I opened the trap door and dropped down
into the fort's inner tunnels, "it's time to get that stone."
"Yes Spider, will do," it replied.
I walked down the corridor, making sure to avoid hitting the many, many soldiers that passed through. Silver and Kitten must
have taken the less crowded route, because in this part of the Fort there were hundreds if not thousands of men carrying
advanced weapons and the like.
I would almost be impressed if I didn't already know about them. Damn, who knew they could achieve all of this with a single
Infinity Gem and some spare parts for a couple of dead aliens.
I had Sexy guide me to a lab with over twenty scientist working in a workshop, pouring over some kind of data with various
types of gadgets on the table. They were arguing about something, though I personally didn't care what.
What I did care for was the secret door which suddenly opened up to the side, out of which a man in a plaid shirt and woolen
coat walked out of. He was listed as Dr. List on his ID badge, the head researcher for HYDRA.
I walked through the secret door before it closed and made my way down. I walked deeper and deeper into the mountain fork
until I came across a giant room filled with workers, all pouring over what looked like wreckage from the attack on New York.
It was an underground hangar and on the roof was a strung up Leviathan from the battle, I think it was the one Tony blew up as
it was blasted apart from both ends. Ouch.
They scientist also had various tools and corpses under observation and on the other side of the room was several operating
beds filled with mechanical droids. The very beginning of what Ultron would one day use as the basis for his robot army.
But none of them attracted my attention. No, what got my attention was the table in the middle of all this where Loki's Scepter
stood, suspended in an electromagnetic field as wires and proeds were attached down it's every inch.
I walked down and past the many workers, invisible to them all and any sound I did make was drowned out by their own yelling
and chanting. I looked them over, some looking happy, eager even, none looking like they were forced to be here. Which
was...odd.
"Sexy," I whispered, "can you access the computers here and find out if any of these people are being held against their will?"
"How do you propose I do that?" Sexy asked in sarcastic voice.
I sighed, "see if they are getting paid...if not, then they're against their will," I told her I stopped before the scepter, my eyes
going to the blue orb in the middle which glowed with a powerful aura, for I knew what it really was. An ingot of creation itself.
"As far as I can tell no one here is being kept against their will Spider," Sexy informed me, "they are all listed as employees of
SHIELD. They all are."
I looked around, I suppose technically speaking...they are SHIELD. I looked at the scepter and spoke again, "check the listing for
prisoners of any kind. Like beings being tortured or such...with the last name Maximoff."
"Searching," Sexy replied. I looked around, no one was watching the instruments attached to the Scepter for I bent down at the
monitor and typed away, finding out everything HYDRA learnt about the weapon.
They had only begun to even scratch the surface of what this thing can do, and they didn't even know the half of it. The
scepter served to chanel the stone's energy. Apparently the energy the stone gave off Gamma energy, something HYDRA
claimed they Tesseract also did, which made sense seeing as they were both similar.
The stones gave off massive amounts of energy, even though that wasn't their primary function. Not even close. I can only
imagine how much energy the Power stone gave off if the Mind stone did so much.
They believe the scepter could be used to unlock the secrets of the mind, giving off a wide range of abilities I can't even begin
to imagine, some people believed this was the key to create armies of human weapons, claiming that the staff could forcibly
unlock a subject's latent mutant gene.
Fascinating, to know about an Infinity stone is one thing, to actually study one...wow. The inner Marvel nerd is jumping for joy
while my inner science nerd is scared stiff by the possibilities.
"Spider, I have good news and bad new," Sexy suddenly said.
"Good news?"
"There is a test subject known as Wanda Maximoff here in the facility. She is the only one out of twenty other mutants brought
to this place to have their abilities enhanced by the scepter."
"The only survivor?" I blinked, which made sense since I saw her brother Pietro back in US, "and the bad?"
Sexy displayed a video feed, it was off the server room. Silver was down uncious while Felicia was held upside down with an
aura of red magic covering her body. It came pouring out of a girl with dyed black hair and lipstick wearing a long red coat
and goth makeup.
"I'm guessing the red chick is Wanda Maximoff?" I guessed.
"Correct," Sexy replied.
I watched as HYDRA men came inside and arrested Felicia and Silver, taking them away as Wanda followed behind looking bored
and irritated. I glared, I expected her to be here...but I didn't expect them to get caught.
On the way here as I listened to the girls discuss their objective I formed my own plan paralleling them. It would seem that now
I had to make some changes to it. Whatever, I'm nothing if not flexible.
I looked around and immediately found a radiation particle disintegrator, a tool they would need to have to break apart tough
metals. But, I knew it could also be used for something else.
"Sexy, hack into all the radiation emitters in the room and have them on stand by," I reached out and grabbed the scepter,
alarms started to blare out but I ignored it as I put the scepter into my backpack, the object dropping into the bag of infinite
storage and vanishing.
The scientists began to panic as they ran around like headless chicken. The hidden door burst open as several armed men ran
inside and began tearing the place apart to find the stone, but I just slipped right through them all.
"Sexy, give me a feed on where they took Felicia and Silver," I told her as immediately a security feed of an interrogation room
showed up on my HUD.
Felicia and Silver were tied up in chairs with Wanda leaning in one corner with arms crossed and glaring at the girls.
The door opened as Strucker walked in. He looked down and smiled, amused, "so...the ones who have been targeting our many
global bases was you Duchess Silver, no wonder. I had a wager with the King that it was actually your father, but it seems we
both underestimated you and your...friend."
"For the last time! She and I aren't together!" Felicia cried out, "apparently she only likes dicks, while I'm far more flexible," she
said winking at Wanda who only raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Please, don't, your petty attempts at seductions will not work," Strucker snorted, "Ms. Maximoff here has only one desire on
her mind, revenge. That's why she came to us after all...either way, tell me," he took out a pendrive and placed it on the table
between him and the girls, "did you really think you could just come in here and walk out with a list of all the top officials in
HYDRA without anyone noticing."
My eyes winded, so that's what they were after. A dossier on every HYDRA agent, inside SHIELD or on the field! Fuck! Was
Strucker that stupid?! Oh what am I saying, of course he is!
Felicia snorted, "we would have gotten away if it wasn't for your attack dog," she glared at Wanda who rolled her eyes.
"Well, either way, it was a foolish plan," he smirked, "I was looking forward to having you on my side in the coming war."
"War? With who?" Silver asked.
"With everyone else who isn't born on this planet," Strucker narrowed his eyes dangerous as he stood up. He began to pace
around the room, "do you know why mutants are the next stage of evolution? It's because of what they represent...power!"
He threw his hands forward at Wanda, "her father gave her away, ashamed of her lack of power. But he didn't know the truth!
That she would one day grow to be not just a warrior for peace, but the saviour of the human race!"
Felicia and Silver turned to Wanda who shrugged, not saying anything.
"Forgive her, her people skills aren't really up to par," Strucker snorted with a wave, "she's after all built to be a weapon. A
weapon for us. Imagine if we had her, a whole army of men and women with her powers! We would never again have to rely on
Gods and mad egotistical men in suits of armour to save us! We could do it ourselves!"
"Are you talking about Stark?" Felicia asked, "because while I agree he's kind of crazy he isn't that bad."
"Tony Stark killed my mother," Wanda spat, the only words she ever said that stunned both Felicia and Silver.
Just then the door to the interrogation room was thrown open as a soldier walked in and whispered in Strucker's ear. He
cursed and snarled at Silver, "so, you didn't come alone. You're companion won't get far, I promise. We'll have the scepter back
in our hands soon enough."
He left the room and I cut the feed as I had reached the outside of the room and was currently on the ceiling, watching as
Strucker walked out with his subordinate, looking very pissed.
I dropped down and before the door could close slipped into the room as it shut. I found myself on the other side of the two
way mirror of the interrogation room, the door to the room further ahead.
I was about to enter the room when I stopped and listened, Silver was talking, "how did your mother die?"
Wanda was silent, glaring at the girl in contempt and remained silent.
"My mother died when I was five," Silver admitted, "she...she died in a terrorist bombing. The man was Sokovian but...I didn't
really blame him," she hanged her head, "his family had died in a missle strike form my country...he lost his family too."
Wanda seemed to grow less tense, she spoke, "a bomb….she died in a bomb strike. My brother and I were trapped under the
rubble, a missile landed right next to us. But some grace...it didn't explode. We stayed there for days, afraid that every breath
would our last...and on the missile was the name Stark."
"I-I'm sorry to hear that," Felicia admitted, "but you know Stark didn't pull the trigger don't you?"
"No, he just sold the weapons to the lunatics that did," Wanda glared.
"And he's been making up for that mistake his entire life!" Felicia cried out, "that's why he's helping people now as Iron Man! To
make up for the pain and suffering he-ACK!"
Wands snapped her fingers, Felicia's coughed, "shut up."
I growled, I was ready to charge in there and beat the Witch up when Silver cried out, "brother! You said you have a brother!
What happened to him?!"