In the latest of Mark Wooden’s comic book fanfiction, Grifter, Mockingbird, Hawkeye and the Black Widow go against SHIELD orders and break into Stane International looking for evidence against HYDRA.
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Late in the evening, when most of the citizens of New York had either gone to sleep or gone out to party, Mockingbird, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Grifter stood atop the Stane International headquarters building. They were in full costume, complete with weaponry.
“Fury’s gonna be pissed we shook his surveillance,” Grifter said.
“Always the boy scout,” Mockingbird teased.
“Not always,” Grifter replied. “Just when the general says to do something, and I directly disobey it for no other reason than to satisfy your curiosity.”
Hawkeye laughed. “She’s a hard one to say no to.”
“Bobbi has a point,” the Widow said. “It all started here.”
Mockingbird motioned to a satchel she had on her hip. “Fury’s never going to let me in the lab to test a sample of that gray cloud. Got a better idea how to get another sample?”
“Stane is gonna love us,” Grifter said.
“Only if we let him know we’re here,” Mockingbird cut in. “And we’re not gonna let that happen, are we, agents of SHIELD?”
Mockingbird reached into the satchel and withdrew an ID card. She approached the door that accessed the rooftop. She slid the card into the card reader next to the door and waited.
“I’m guessing you didn’t file that with equipment management,” Grifter said.
“It was issued to me a few missions back. Kinda forgot to turn it in.”
A few moments later, the red light on the card reader turned to green. Mockingbird took the card back, then opened the door.
“Ladies first,” she said.
Black Widow entered. Mockingbird followed. The guys came last.
Ten minutes later, the team had slipped around security cameras and used a restricted elevator to make their way to the building’s second sub-basement.
After dodging camera lines of sight, the agents were at the door to the main server room.
“The attack took place in a lab upstairs,” Widow said.
Mockingbird worked her card into the door’s card reader. “They were locking that down when we left. Figured we’d come straight here and see what the surveillance tapes and company memos have to say.”
Widow nodded. Grifter gripped his twin handguns in his holsters a bit tighter. Hawkeye already had an arrow nocked and ready to fly.
The card reader granted the team access. They entered the server room, closing the door behind them.
Mockingbird approached a locked server cabinet, one of many in the vast room.
“I don’t remember you being very computer savvy,” Hawkeye said. “Other than Sudoku.”
“Shush,” Mockingbird replied. “That’s why I brought —” She reached into her satchel and withdrew a tablet computer. A USB cable dangled from the device. “This!”
Mockingbird motioned to Black Widow. “You’re the best with this lock stuff.”
Widow moved to the internal lock on the cabinet. She withdrew a set of lockpicks from her yellow cylindrical wristbands and applied them to the lock. Tense moments later, she defeated the lock and opened the cabinet.
Mockingbird looked at the server access panel. She found a USB port and inserted her cable. Turning back to the tablet, she turned it on and fired up a program.
“How many laws are we breaking here?” Grifter asked.
“You know, you’re such a worry wart,” Mockingbird said. “Maybe we should get you a date.”
“I hear Agent Carter is into the strong, silent but needy type,” Widow added.
Grifter shook his head. “I am not needy.”
Hawkeye chimed in with, “Agent Hill is probably more his speed. Total dominatrix.”
“Or, she’s having to compensate for being the number two in a male-dominated field,” Mockingbird rebutted. “She has to be twice as stern, twice as mean and twice as successful as Fury to get half the respect he gets.”
“Well he has been doing this spy thing forever,” Hawkeye said.
“I hear he was the one who found Jesus for Pontius Pilate,” Grifter quipped.
“Heh. Cash makes a funny,” Mockingbird said. “Women do like a sense of humor.”
“I do not need —” Grifter began, but the ding of the door’s card access interrupted.
Mockingbird quickly slid her tablet into the server access panel and closed the cabinet. Grifter and the others had already moved to hiding spots within the maze-like structure of the room’s servers. She did the same.
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.
