The conclusion to “Doppelgangers,” featuring agents of SHIELD General Fury, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, the Black Widow, and Grifter.
Want to start at the beginning? CLICK HERE!
“What the fuck!” Mockingbird yelled.
She was close enough to the other Morse to get blood splattered on her evening shirt. Mockingbird looked at her other self. It had fallen to the ground and, like the other clones began to decompose into a pile of goo.
Mockingbird thought it’d be interesting to study it if she wasn’t so unnerved at watching what was left of her face decompose.
“Someone has to make the tough decision,” came General Fury’s voice.
The group looked to see him approaching from the north side of the dock area. “This one wasn’t so tough, though.”
Mockingbird stormed over to Fury.
“Maybe we could have salvaged her!” she said.
Fury looked confused. “For what? One of you is aggravating enough, Agent Morse.”
Mockingbird scowled in response.
The general looked at the other agents. He nodded his head. “All in all an effective mission. You’ve identified HYDRA as a resurgent and credible threat.
“Between this cloning tech and their teleportation, I’m giving them top priority over that COBRA organization.”
“What if that wasn’t the fake Bobbi?” Hawkeye asked. He’d come down the ladder from the container and joined the group.
“Why’d you think I had them all wear standard SHIELD uniforms and not your normal costumes?” Fury responded.
“And, if they figured things out and changed uniforms, I had them implanted with trackers so I’d know who’s who.”
“You couldn’t even know for sure if we were telling the truth,” Grifter said.
Fury looked at him, then nodded. “Nope. Sure couldn’t.” He patted his stomach. “Call it a gut thing. See, those HYDRA duplicates murdered a guard at Stane.”
Fury waited for that to sink in. “I know my team isn’t gonna do that to a civilian, despite how many times they’ve done so before for other masters.”
Here Fury cast a glance at the Black Widow. She gave him a nod to acknowledge the show of trust, rare as it was with the man. “But there’s one loose end,” she said before pointing a thumb back at herself.
Motioning to the pile of goo that was once a clone of Bobbi Morse, Fury said, “She… or it, rather, bought time for the Widow clone to escape. Took down some of my agents on the way out too.”
Fury looked back to the Widow. “At least, that’s the story we’re leaking, so HYDRA will be looking for her. Opens up all sorts of opportunities.”
Miles away in a remote location, Arnim Zola uploaded his consciousness to another robot. He hated the process, but it was a necessary evil he’d created back in the sixties that allowed him serial immortality.
It was unfortunate he hadn’t devised the technology sooner; it could have saved the genius that was HYDRA’s original leader, the Red Skull.
Instead, HYDRA had to rely on dumb luck to have found him again.
The upload complete, Zola’s robotic form (identical to the one he used against the SHIELD agents) disconnected from the system server and moved to the research lab. It looked like his cloning lab, but with much more efficient technology.
Zola approached a man in a leather trench coat standing in front of one of the tubes containing a clone.
“Your exercise bordered on failure, Arnim,” the man said in German.
“There is much to salvage, my lord,” Zola said timidly. “We know both the cloning process and the teleportation process work. Now we can duplicate and control anyone we can access with nanites.”
“Yet Fury’s team remains in play,” the man replied.
“A setback, yes. But it will mean nothing after your latest glorious plan.”
The man inhaled, then exhaled slowly. “It is a glorious plan, is it not?”
“Yes, my lord.”
The man stepped toward the clone container, placing his leather gloved hand against it.
Looking past him, Zola saw the contents of the container.
It was a perfect clone of America’s original super-soldier — Captain America.
In the reflection of the glass, Zola saw the face of the man to whom he spoke, the unmistakable face of the Red Skull.
Coming Next Week – Batman, Batgirl and Iron Man!
That’s right, folks! I team everyone’s favorite snarky billionaire industrialist with everyone’s favorite grumpy billionaire industrialist. It’s a match made in gadget heaven! Batman and Iron Man!
Warning: if you’re looking for a fight between the two, you’ll have to look elsewhere (Batman would win anyway). This is strictly a team up branching from the events in “Doppelganger.”
Look for a few cameos and name drops too!
More on the story this Thursday February 1st!
Copyright Info
DC Adventures, Copyright 2011, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson. Now it’s Mutants and Masterminds, 3rd Edition
Advanced Player’s Manual, Copyright 2005, Green Ronin Publishing: Author Skip Williams.
Proteus Plot, Copyright 2006, Green Ronin Publishing, Author Steve Kenson.
The characters Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Mockingbird, the Black Widow, Arnim Zola, the Red Skull, HYDRA, SHIELD and Captain America are Copyright Marvel Comics
The character Grifter is Copyright DC Comics
None of the characters (or the plot, for that matter) belong to me as this is fan fiction, done for fun and as a creative exercise.
