The Black Widow, Grifter, Mockingbird and Hawkeye encounter their doppelgangers. But who is really who?
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Barton saw the sniper dash to the far side of his container. He’d keep an eye out for him but thought it better to check on Cash. Cash was locked in combat with the Mockingbird-lookalike, while the Widow-lookalike watched.
Unfortunately, the Cash-Morse fight wasn’t enough of a distraction for the Widow. She spotted Barton on the roof and opened fire on him.
Black Widow hit, but Barton’s SHIELD armor took the damage. Before Barton could re-aim at the Widow, she ran along the side of the container and out of sight.
On the other side of the docks, Morse and Romanova were almost at the warehouse office entrance when a pulse bullet punched into Romanova’s SHIELD uniform. She fell back from the impact.
Morse turned to check on her; Romanova waved her away to cover while she looked for the source of the attack.
She saw a man who looked like Grifter standing atop the warehouse. He aimed to fire again. Romanova saw a spark from one of his VAP handguns, but then it just… died.
The fake Grifter threw the gun away and aimed with his other weapon. Romanova drew her weapon and fired first, striking the man in the chest. He stumbled back but wasn’t out.
Romanova took another shot from her prone position. Another hit but damn that Grifter body armor. She glanced at Morse.
The woman had cracked the lock on the office door and was prepared to go inside. Morse hesitated, though, looking back at Romanova.
The former Russian spy waved Morse ahead just as a pulse bullet charred the ground next to her head. She rolled to cover as Morse slipped inside the warehouse.
“Not so talkative now, huh, Clone Cash?” Mockingbird said as she smashed her escrima into Cash’s midsection, causing him to buckle over.
“I may be willing to cede the fairer sex thing,” he replied.
Mockingbird smashed her other escrima upside Cash’s head. He spat blood from under his bandana as he fell to the ground unconscious.
Up on the container, Barton stepped away from the ladder that led up to his position. The Widow-lookalike had gotten there first and taken a shot. He was lucky she hadn’t taken his head off with it. Trusty SHIELD Kevlar uniforms.
He moved back to a position from which he could snipe anyone who came up the ladder, though he knew no one would. If these lookalikes were clever at all, they’d know this tactic as well as he would.
Barton looked behind him. There was a second container stack next to this one, presumably with another ladder somewhere. He moved, hoping he could find it before the Widow or one of the other lookalike SHIELD agents did.
Back inside the warehouse, Morse didn’t see one thing alluding to a secret HYDRA facility. Either this warehouse was the best HYDRA cover ever, or it was just that — a warehouse.
Hearing commotion behind her, she turned around and pointed a SHIELD needler pistol at the door. To her relief, the sound she’d heard was Romanova leaping into the building.
The woman had taken a shot to the chest but was still up and mobile. Yeah SHIELD body armor!
“This isn’t a HYDRA hideout,” Morse said.
Romanova approached her, brushing an errant hair aside as if she hadn’t just spent a few minutes firing away at a sniper who looked just like their fellow agent.
“All that from a cursory look?” she asked. “We need to dig deeper. Fury wouldn’t send us here for no reason.”
“Those imitations of us are the reason he sent us here.”
Romanova considered this. “His own little Battle Royale.”
Turning from her fellow agent, Morse said into her comm, “Cash, Barton. Report in.”
“This is Barton. Trying to circle around the fake Widow. She’s as good a shot as you, Tash.”
“When you shoot her, try to keep her face intact,” Romanova said. “Maybe I can use it when this Infinity Formula starts wearing off.”
“Where’s Cash?” Morse cut in.
“Don’t know,” Barton replied. “He was going toe-to-toe with your doppelganger when Widow-ganger started shooting at me. Had to hang back. I hit the sniper, but lost him.”
“And we have the Clone Grifter on the roof of the warehouse,” Romanova said.
Morse touched Romanova’s shoulder and then motioned to a “staff only” sign further back in the warehouse. “He has to come down sometime,” she said into the com. “We’ll hold the fort. Get here when you can, Barton.”
To be continued…
Copyright Info
DC Adventures, Copyright 2011, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson. It’s now 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.
