82 Rio ( II )

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch

In the middle of a secret BRIDGE facility, Wanda was woken up by her ID card, which rested on her dresser. Hesitantly, she tapped the card, trying to remember what she had been told about it.

Agent Koenig appeared, the overweight man in crystal clear imagery. His usual friendly smile was replaced by worry. "Wanda, we have a priority alert! All hands on deck!"

Wanda's eyes widened, and she quickly got out of her bed, quickly looking around the small room that had been provided to her. The walls and floor were painted a warm red color, and she had been provided some simple furniture. Not a cell, but not quite a home yet.

"What is it? I thought we weren't supposed to be on call for another three months?"

"Something is happening in Rio," Koenig said. From the way he was moving, she could tell he was running. "Avengers, BRIDGE, we're all headed in."

"I'll be ready," Wanda's fist clenched as she walked towards her closet. "Thank you, Eric."

"It's Billy, actually. See you soon!"

Wanda pulled open the doors of her closet and gazed at her clothes.

It took only a moment to change. Soon she was wearing the suit that had been provided to her, an all red and lightly armored uniform. The uniform covered her chest with a hardened and flexible piece of armor, with a pair of red gauntlets and some boots, all in the dark red color she favored. It came with a hooded cloak made to protect her from knife blows while also keeping her warm.

As soon as she stepped out her room, Pietro was there, leaning against a wall nearby. Like his sister, he was wearing armor, though he had gone for a white color scheme. His green shoes were specially designed to stand up to the speeds her brother could get up to, made of some sort of tough material.

"I thought they wanted to have us wait?" Pietro asked as he moved from the wall to walk along with his sister.

"Koenig said it was a priority," she answered back.

"Well, I'm happy," he smirked. "We finally get to do something," his smirk became a grin. "We've done nothing but train for weeks! I already know how to use my powers."

Wanda kept from sighing. Pietro was intelligent. He was also very impatient and reckless. To be cliché, he often ran in before he could think. Most of his training had been focused on using his speed smartly. Not just to run around but to also make use of the fact that the world would seem like it was in slow-motion to him, to make decisions in between heartbeats. Wanda had noticed he was using that skill without thinking about it at times. Rather than rushing around, he would instead be tasked to make use of his sped up thoughts, think carefully, then strike.

"Do you think Dial will be there? As Fasttrack?" Pietro tried to ask casually.

Wanda sighed in annoyance. "Pietro, he's busy. He's not going to race you."

The young speedster didn't say anything, but Wanda could feel his annoyance as clear as day. Pietro and Wanda entered the main conference room of the facility at the same time, the door to it sliding open with a hissing noise. Victoria Hand, Bill Foster, and Agent (Eric, Billy, Sam?) Koenig stood in the center of the room, watching a hologram floating in the center. Wanda and Pietro moved to lean against the wall. The BRIDGE personnel looked over at them. Nothing was said, though Bill and Koenig gave the pair a nod.

"Where is Ava?" Wanda asked. She could feel her. The strange energy that permeated through the young woman, as though she was constantly getting and losing immense power. Wanda never knew how to feel about that. But she knew Ava was in the room.

Something shifted in the universe. In a step, Ava moved into reality. Her helmet was in her arms, her white costume gleaming in the lights. The brown eyed woman gave Wanda a nod, which she returned.

Ava Starr. The only member of the team that was a true trained killer. Paradoxically also the only one that wasn't technically a criminal. Wanda could only think that she was on the team for one reason. If one of them went rogue, Wanda couldn't help but feel that a fist fazed through their heart would be the last thing they would ever see. Ava was unsettling like that.

The door on the other side of the room opened, four people walking in. The Grapplers with, Davida in the lead. She wore simple clothing on top of a dark red carapace of armor over her chest. Marian walked in after her, wearing workout clothing, then Helen in a dark blue leotard with a headband holding back her blonde hair, and tiny Mimi in her white and blue armor bringing up the rear.

"Sup," The wrestler said cocking her hip. Without even thinking, Wanda found herself stepping up behind Davida, Pietro and Ava following. From the looks on their faces, they were just as surprised as her at the action. She gave them a smile, then looked back at Victoria. "Alright, boss. What'cha got?"

"Trouble," Victoria frowned at the group, the pink-striped woman sighing. "Dr. Foster?"

"Right," the good doctor stepped forward, shifting the hologram around. "A 9.4 magnitude earthquake struck Rio De Janeiro today, less than an hour ago. Usually, this would be a search and rescue mission. But something more is going on," the hologram became a screen showing a chart of energy. Bill stared at it, his eyes narrowed in worry. "Energy readings across the city went haywire moments before the quake, enough that we got scans of it all the way to here. It wasn't just that we've been doing research in the quantum realm and picked up waves of that energy, we also picked up readings similar to the kind that would theoretically be produced in a matter antimatter explosion, dark energy, some stuff we've only seen from the Tesseract, and the Bifrost... In fact, I'm wondering if there is some way to find what produced the energy. A machine, maybe a person with strange abilities," Bill's worry became curiosity. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If we could somehow find out what happened, who was responsible, maybe-"

"The point is," Victoria interrupted Bill mid-ramble just as the scientist was on a roll. "All hands have been called in. The energy readings are bad enough. Combined with these," she waved a hand to dismiss the energy charts and bring up three images. One of a pack of massive wolves roaming a city street, a swamp out of a primeval landscape in the middle of a building, a man with strange casual clothing right out of science fiction shouting angrily as he was dragged away by Brazilian soldiers.

"Reports are coming in of strange occurrences throughout the city. BRIDGE is going to save people not only from the effects of the earthquake itself, but also from whatever is happening down there," Virginia Hand stepped over to look at the group. "The Initiative wasn't supposed to be active for another three weeks. We're sending you now. Get to the chopper."

Immediately, all solemnity in the room faded away. Davida coughed, hiding a smile, Agent Koenig grinned, and Wanda felt a tug at her own lips.

Hand blinked, confused, then scowled. "Oh, right. That inane action movie."

"'Inane action movie'?" Helen asked, shocked. "Do you just have no joy in your life?"

"Just... go," Victoria sighed, looking pained.

Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk

Jennifer was working at the office when her ID card began to beep from within her purse. She looked up from where she had been working at her desk, staring uncomprehending at the ID card for just a moment. Then her eyes widened.

"Shit!" Jennifer shouted, the room shaking with the force of the sound. She grabbed her purse and rushed for the door of her office.

"Whoa, what was that?!" Foggy came out of his own office and blinked at the panicked look on Jennifer's face. "You okay?"

"I have to go, now," Jen said quickly, bringing up her ID card and quickly reading the summary on it.

"Everything alright?" Matt asked, coming out of his own office. He looked as though he was fighting through pain for some reason, like he'd been more heavily affected by the shout than Foggy was. The blind man leaned against his door for support.

"Avengers need me now, priority alert," Jen said, rushing toward the door. "Earthquake in Rio. It'll probably just be search and rescue, but I'm headed out. Foggy, I have my opening statements half done on my desk, can you give them a read and finish it up?"

Foggy seemed surprised. "I mean, sure, but do you uh..."

"Thanks, Foggy!" with that, she rushed off.

She never noticed the complicated look on Matt's face as she ran out. Nor did she see when he left the office right afterward.

Natasha Romanov/Black Widow

Natasha stood waiting in the main conference room of the Enterprise with Nick Fury when Captain America came in. The patriotic superhuman gave her a nod. Like her, he was wearing his full costume, helmet removed.

"We get any more information?" he asked immediately.

Fury shook his head. "Some weird energy readings from our research guys, but Maria said there weren't any real ideas of what or why. Some old friends of mine in Brazil sent us videos though. Reports of monsters and strange things happening on the ground."

Natasha paced slowly, her hair bouncing with each step. "So we have no idea what we're in for?"

"Some idea," Fury said. "Giant wolves, for one. And apparently, people with strange clothes coming out of nowhere, clothes from different periods in history, only to disappear."

"...Doesn't matter," Steve said, shaking his head of questions. "We would have gone in to save people either way. Knowing that there is some unknown threat going on just makes us going in full force justified."

"Maria is bringing in the Initiative," Natasha noted. She gave Steve a sardonic smile. "Yeah, that's how I felt."

"They're unstable," he said, shaking his head. "Powerful, sure. But even Ava only joined in return for a cure."

"Which, we are providing," Fury reminded Steve.

"The point is, none of them are really altruistic," Steve reminded him.

Director Hill spoke up behind him. "No, they aren't," the three turned to see her walk into the room, now dressed in her official Bridge uniform. "But I don't care about that. We need people on the ground, and they all bring skills to the table we can use. Not just to clear rubble but to also deal with whatever is there. Steve, I want you to coordinate with Davida."

"...Yes Ma'am," the blonde hero said with a nod. Rather than being disappointed, he seemed hopeful.

Natasha knew why. While Steve was often the disapproving type towards the team, he wasn't sometimes jokingly called the 'Team Dad' for no reason. He was logical enough to realize that using the Initiative was a bad idea, but he still had hope that they could become heroes.

Natasha admired that.

She would still kill any one of them if they betrayed them however. Hope was nice, as long as it was tempered with caution.

Frank Castle/Punisher

Frank swung on his backpack, turning around to look at the woman behind him. She was giving him a sad look.

"Priority alert," he said simply, moving to grab the Model 2 rifle assembled on his desk. "All hands on deck."

The woman with long dark hair nodded, her dress flowing as she stepped forward. Frank didn't move when she hugged him.

"I'm sorry, Maria," he said softly.

"Don't be," she said back just as softly. "This... it's better. I have you back. Every day. It's not perfect, but I'd rather have you run off a lot than see you disappear for weeks on end again."

He didn't respond. He just gently wrapped his arms around her, careful to keep his gun from touching her. "I'll be back."

Isabelle Hartley/Warrior

Isabelle, one of most skilled soldiers on the Earth, rose from her bed when the sound of her ID card beeping woke her up. Soon, she realized that in fact, two different ID cards were making that beeping noise. She blinked, pushing the massive back she was spooning.

"Hey, get up, get up now!"

"Hmm?" The large back shifted, Creel blinking in confusion to look at her. "What is it?"

"Priority alert," Creel's eyes widened. "Yeah, we need to go!"

"Shit!" Creel hopped out of the bed, completely nude. Hartley didn't take her usual moment to appreciate the view, nor was she offended when Creel ignored her own nudity.

The two had been sleeping together for a little while, so they'd seen it a lot of times anyways.

Rushing around for a bit, Creel hurriedly put on the clothes he'd tossed about the night before, Hartley grabbing her own out of the dresser. "Priority alert? What the hell is going on?"

"Umm," Hartley tossed Creel's ID card to him, then tapped her own open. "Earthquake, and weird stuff. All we know so far."

"Enlightening," Creel grumbled, putting his ID card away. "Next time we do this, it's in my apartment."

"Guess that was the last time then," Hartley teased, giving him a grin.

"So I was right, I was just a booty call," he replied.

"Never said otherwise," Hartley smirked at him. Creel returned it, then the pair rushed out of the door.

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

As soon as I left my apartment, I was met with Creel and Hartley. I gave the pair a nod. Creel was wearing his usual 'suit' of a pair of sweatpants and a tight muscle t-shirt, while Hartley was already wearing her full armor sans helmet. The two nodded back, and we quickly ran through the halls.

"Any details?" I asked quickly, moving around the corner. "Dial!"

"Nothing besides 'earthquake' and 'weird'," Hartley replied, ignoring the sound of shifting metal as my armor snapped into place around me.

"Which isn't much," Creel said. "Weird is sort of a wasted word now."

"I agree with the weird guy," I joked, Hartley chuckling at that.

"Me? You turn into a dog every five seconds."

"Wildmutt is more of a cat, actually," I said, thinking of a Ben 10 episode where Wildmutt had been freaked out by dogs.

We ran down the hall and entered the newest room of the Avengers Tower. Well, I say room, but it was really more of a hanger. Inside, the Defiant was resting. Her wings and belly had been opened up, a strange greenish blue engine glowing within. I was still working on her upgrades, turning her from a modified Quinjet to something far more advanced. We'd have to go for something else to get to the Enterprise.

"Maneuver Seven?!" I suggested as we ran towards the open space leading out to New York City.

"Let's do it!" Creel shouted, tapping his bracer and changing into the clear color of aerogel.

I manipulated the Omnitrix and brought up Astrodactyl. "Ready!"

"WOOOOOOO!" Hartley cheered as she leaped off of the building at the same time as Creel. In a flash of green light, my brown skin became orange scales. I gripped both Creel's shoulders while he grabbed onto Hartley, and the three of us took off. As we did, I blinked.

"SQUAWK! Creel, did you forget to change last night? You smell like crap, man."

For some reason, Hartley started to guffaw, shoulders shaking as Creel held onto her. His clear face twisted in embarrassment. "I uh, didn't have time to get new clothes. Had to wear these."

"Gross," Hartley said. When Creel gave her a betrayed look she only laughed a bit more.

"Hey!" Iron Man came out of nowhere, diving in to join us. "Morning guys."

"Tony! Squawk, you hear anything about this?!" I asked.

"At the Enterprise!" he replied. "Come on!"

With that, the four of us rocketed forward.

It took a bit of flying to get to it, but when we did I found myself smiling.

The Enterprise had changed massively. It's repulsor engines now glowed green, and it's tarmac had been replaced with a giant 'shield' of solid steel, made to let the ship survive everything from enemy attack to a vacuum. It looked less like a flying aircraft carrier and more like a spaceship these days. Still had those giant guns though, and they turned to aim at us as we came close.

"Unknown fliers, please identify yourselves," a guy from the ship said.

"Tony Stark, Iron Man, coming in for rendezvous."

"Mahmoud Schahed, Dial, coming in for rendezvous with two passengers, Carl Creel, Alloy, and Isabelle Hartley, Warrior. Squawk!"

"Identities confirmed. Welcome aboard gentlemen."

A hatch on top of the ship opened up, letting us drop in to join the ship.

A bit later, we were all gathered on the Enterprise. The ship was on it's way at high-speed toward Rio, and our group of agents, former villains, heroes, monsters, and a single Asgardian had finally been pulled together.

Creel and I were talking aimlessly like the others, everyone having gathered in small groups. Jennifer came up to us with a question, which Creel answered, leaving me to look around. There sure were a lot of us. Combined, there must have been more than thirty people gathered together.

Director Hill stepped into the room, and we all focused on her. She moved up to stand in front of Fury, the older soldier graciously letting her take his spot.

"Earlier today, a powerful earthquake suddenly hit Rio... and only Rio. The shock waves were felt only within the city. Combined with strange energy readings and reports of monsters, people, and objects appearing out of nowhere, this has become a full priority alert... This is the last chance to pull out, for all of you," Maria looked around at us, her eyes becoming very serious. "This isn't just a fight. This is search and rescue... sometimes we're too late for the second one. First responders are currently pulling bodies from the rubble. If you do come along, then know that even if we save everyone still alive, half our job will be finding bodies."

I swallowed. God. I hadn't even thought of that. I stared at the Omnitrix, tapping at it. For all my messing with it on my off time, the watch still hadn't given me Alien X or Clockwork. With either of them, I could have reversed time, brought the city to its original state. From there, evacuate the city, let the earthquake happen, and clean up the mess afterward. As it was, all I could do was save as much as I could with the others. My fist tightened and my other hand wrapped around the Omnitrix. Someone nudged me. I turned to see Jen and Creel giving me worried looks.

"You okay?" Jen asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"You sure?" Creel asked. "You know if you can't do this-"

I scowled. "I can do this. Even if I can't, I've got too much power not to go out there and help people. It doesn't matter how I feel. I've got a duty."

Creel stared at me, Jen cocking her head. I felt irritated at them. I was young, sure. I hadn't seen as much as death and destruction as the others. But I wasn't going to back out of helping those people. In the end, I just didn't matter. The Omnitrix did. For all my training, my armor, everything, the most important thing about me was that Paradox had slapped the Omnitrix on me. I knew it best, and I could use it to its full potential. That meant I was going.

Maria had continued speaking. "All right, we're splitting people into teams. Fury?"

"Got it," the older soldier stepped forward, apparently not caring that he had been delegated to by his former subordinate. "We're splitting the teams based on what they can do most efficiently. We don't give a shit about the 'monsters' in the city. Civilians are what matter. Go in there, save who you can, and retrieve the dead if able. Anything else, leave it for our heavy units," our ID cards beeped. "Those would be your assignments. Tony, can we depend on the AIs to help us coordinate?"

"You want me to add in the newbies?" Tony asked, his Iron Man helmet flipped up.

Fury looked at Maria, who nodded, then turned back to Tony. "Bring them in."

Tony grinned. "Good. The girls have been pretty bored lately."

"Dismissed," Maria said, not waiting for another Tony moment.

As we all dispersed, I looked down at my ID card. Then I scowled. "Ah, goddamnit."

On my ID card was the list of my team. Dial, Alloy, and Scarlet Witch. I was fine with that. Hell, we even had a Ben, Kevin, and Gwen thing I liked going on. It was the last person that pissed me off though. Ghost.

Who had hated me from the second we'd met.

"Fuck!" Ava shouted. I turned to look at her, already half growling.

We glared at each other from across the room.

Welp, if we had to team with each other, at least we had a disaster to distract us from fighting... god, what a horrible thought.