Chapitre 49: The Cavalry No More
-Northern Afghanistan-
-February 13, 2009, 2015h local-
"We need to stop!" Tony shouted. "The suit's already out of commission."
The suit should only have lasted for 10 minutes of rigorous use. So Tony was surprised by how long the armor had held up. He started to unfasten the armor from his body before raising the front panel and walking out of it.
"You're not just going to leave it, are you?" Yinsen asked while handing over the extra backpack to him. Tony took the bag and put it on, making sure he strapped everything securely.
"Yeah, but we can't carry the whole thing. Besides, it'll just be a pile of metal scraps when I'm done with it." Tony replied with a grin.
Frank was scanning the area with his gun sight, using the moonlight to look for any trackers. He was also looking for anything that they might be able to use to set up camp. He knows that the people he's with aren't exactly fit for a night-long trek.
"Hey, Frank! We have ten minutes to get as far away from here as possible." Tony shouted after flipping some buttons inside the armor.
Frank, Yinsen, and Tony started jogging away from the free-standing armor.
"What the hell did you do?" Frank asked.
"I'm getting rid of it!" Tony replied, a little out of breath. The desert terrain is sapping his energy away.
"Did you install bombs in it!?" Frank shouted, realizing it's the only way anyone could get rid get of something like that so quickly.
"Maybe?" Tony answered a little sheepishly.
"Are you crazy! We were getting shot at, and you had a bomb inside of the armor!" Frank retorted, questioning how intelligent the Stark really is.
"Hey! If the suit exploded, it meant I would have died either way since it couldn't handle the punishment..." Tony defended. Frank had to accept Tony's logic. If the explosive really is inside the armor, a bullet could only set it off if the suit had already been pierced. "Hey! You're going to want to see this!" Tony shouted before turning around. He had been counting down ever since they started jogging away, and the suit was 20 seconds away from blowing.
Frank and Yinsen stopped in their tracks and turned around. Just in time too, since a few seconds after they turned back, they saw something launching high up into the sky. When it reached a few hundred feet, the whole thing exploded—temporarily illuminating the night sky with a big ball of fire.
"You attached a rocket to it!" Yinsen retorted, still catching his breath.
"Oh yeah. You've got to attach a rocket to everything you can. It's like being a genius and billionaire 101." Tony retorted with a serious expression. Seeing Yinsen's 'are you serious?' reaction almost broke his resolve and released a laugh. He finally understood why Naruto continuously messes with everyone.
Frank was looking at the dying down flames in the sky when he figured out what Tony's aim was.
"Ha! You made a flare on steroids." Frank commented with slight amusement.
"Got it didn't you. Now the rescue team will know our general direction. We just need to get ahead of every other terrorist near here..." Tony thought about his reply before realizing a fucking colossal flaw. "We need to move around. Fuck. Didn't think of that."
"Don't worry about that for now. It's easier to deal with one or two guys looking for us than being stranded in the desert for seven days..." Frank replied while checking over the remaining ammo inside the duffel bag. "Come on. We still need to set up camp." He suggested.
"Yup, that's probably a good idea..." A voice suddenly answered out of nowhere, which prompted Frank and Yinsen to aim their guns at the voice's direction. "Woah! Woah! Easy! It's me!" The voice continued as Naruto walk out of the darkness.
"Fucking hell. We almost shot you." Frank let out while lowering his gun.
"Eh. I'll live." Naruto said listlessly with a wave of his hand, dismissing Frank's statement.
"Where were you? I thought you'd meet us when we got out of there." Tony asked.
"I just cleaned up what you left behind..." Naruto answered. "I blew up some huge cache inside the cave, practically leveled the whole mountain above it..." He chuckled, remembering the whole thing. Blowing stuff up certainly soothes the soul. "I tried finding the head honcho of the group, trying to find out who orchestrated the entire thing, but I didn't find the guy there. So he might be in some other place being an asshole." He found him, of course, but he didn't take him out yet. Raza would be his bait to find the head asshole. The three-layer encryption made by Stark for mid to high-level employees is just too strong for his mediocre skills, compared to Tony, of course.
"Raza's not there?" Yinsen asked with skepticism.
"As far as I can tell, there were no bald terrorists there. I'll have to piece some parts together just to make sure." Naruto lied. He didn't have to do the last part, but he just wanted to say it. His answer gave him the desired reaction, though.
"Why do I let Morgan near you again?" Tony asked, partially recognizing the fact that Naruto is a dangerous and probably unstable individual.
"You have a kid? I know I'm not updated with the news, but I'm reasonably sure the higher-ups would at least talk about their lead weapon manufacturer having a kid." Frank asked.
Tony realized his slip-up. He didn't want anyone else to know about Morgan. Obi, who he considers a father figure, doesn't even know about Morgan. But it looks like two new people would know about his ball of sunshine.
"Morgan. My daughter."
"You named your daughter Morgan?" Frank asked incredulously.
"It came to me in a dream, so sue me..." Tony defended. "Anyway, Pepper and I don't want anyone to know about her for reasons exactly like this. I even have her papers held so no one could accidentally find out about her." He explained.
Frank had to admire Tony's forward-thinking and protectiveness. The kidnapping incident just reinforces Tony's reason to do it.
"I still think it's too much, though. Especially since she's growing up..." Naruto interjected, but he continued when he saw the skeptical look on Tony and Frank's face. "She'll never develop her social skills if you keep her confined longer. Besides, just ask me to look after her, and nothing serious would happen to her. I love the kid too much to let her have anything more than a booboo..." He said the whole thing seriously. "You still need to hire me, though."
"Fucking hell. Are you a merc or something?" Tony exclaimed.
"Something of that sort..." Naruto answered with a shrug before reaching behind him. "I forgot to give you this stuff..." He said while tossing the items in front of the group. "I thought you might need some camping gear." He finished
Frank knelt in front if of the supplies and opened it and lo and behold, a large tent, three sleeping bags, fire starter kits, and canteens.
"Did you miss anything?" Tony asked sarcastically while looking over Frank's shoulder.
"Yup. The sat phone and GPS." Naruto replied with a grin.
Tony looked at Naruto disbelievingly, which Frank and Yinsen mirrored.
"I fucking hate you right now." Tony exclaimed.
-Malibu, Los Angeles-
-February 13, 2009, 1500h local-
Phil was driving towards the Stark Mansion in a SHIELD standard-issue SUV. This would be the first official contact any SHIELD agent has had with the Stark family ever since the death of Howard Stark. Of course, Virginia Potts is not officially a Stark, yet. But she's the mother of the Stark heiress and the person that makes Stark Industries run smoothly from day to day.
As Phil got closer to the Stark Mansion, he pulled his car over to a small mansion, compared to the other houses in the neighborhood. He drove the car towards the driveway, stopped in front of the external intercom, rolled down the window, and pressed the talk button.
"I'm here to visit Uncle Billy." Phil said the prompt key. The house is under the use of SHIELD to monitor the high-class neighborhood, especially the Stark household.
"I'm sorry, but Uncle Billy is playing golf." A female voice replied through the intercom, using one of the code questions.
"I'll just wait with Cousin Jenny then." Phil answered. The gate swung open not long after, and he drove around the property until he reached the driveway at the backyard. He got out of the car and walked inside the house without missing a step. When he got inside, he was greeted by his long time friend, Agent Melinda May.
Melinda May is one of the few females agents with more black belts hoarded than the Black Widow. She's a 5'3, 42 years old, Asian woman, with dark brown hair and wavy black hair. SHIELD considers her as one of their best pilots and field combatants.
Melinda was a successful figure skater until she decided to quit and pursue martial arts instead. Her reason? Ice is too hard, and martial arts have padded floors. She later pursued a career with SHIELD and quickly rose through the ranks. She married a psychiatrist, Andrew Garner, a few years back. But it looks like her fairy tale would come to an end, all because of a fucked up mission in Bahrain.
May and Coulson were sent by SHIELD to do an Index Asset Evaluation and Intake or a Welcome Wagon mission involving one Eva Belyakov a year ago. The pair arrived in Manama, Bahrain, with a strike team of 10 agents. It was supposed to be a simple mission, but everything went downhill after they arrived.
Eva seemingly controlled a group of Bahrainian gangsters with a young civilian girl as a hostage. The pair decided that the Strike Team should rush in and take out everyone quickly before the situation could escalate. The team remained in communication until the agents started to suddenly fall out of contact.
With the situation quickly spiraling out of control and backup hours away, May decided to go in against Coulson's wishes. She noticed two things immediately; Eva's powers involved conscious control, and her agents are already brainwashed. She had no choice but to take everyone down using only a knife.
When May got to the center of the building, she quickly dispatched Eva to break her control of everyone. She walked over to the civilian girl and cradled her. However, she figured out that it was Eva's daughter, Katya, who was controlling the men. With no other choice, she killed the eight-year-old girl, immediately freeing everyone from the enhanced control.
The story of May's exploit was spread throughout SHIELD's grapevine, and she acquired one of the most well-known nicknames inside the agency; The Cavalry. Everything has a cost, though. The Bahrain mission caused something to break inside of her. Her life went downhill from there.
Melinda's effectiveness in the field dropped sharply, and she was always second-guessing herself. Phil tried to help her regain her flair and passion for the job to no avail. Her marriage with Andrew quickly went downhill as well, and they're now in the final stages of divorce. Currently, she's only doing low stake field jobs like surveillance until her transfer to desk work is approved.
"Hey, Phil. It's great to see you..." May greeted Phil with a hug, surprising the other agents under her command. "You're here for the Stark's files?" She asked after the two separated.
"Yup. I want to know if I missed anything." Phil replied with a smile, genuinely glad to see his friend.
While Phil was answering her question, Melinda noticed the other agents are looking at her weirdly.
"What are you all looking at? You still have a lot of compiling to do..." May said towards the gaping agents, causing them to panic and scurry on to what they were supposed to be doing. "Come on. I prepared a data packet last night." She told Phil before leading him up the stairs towards her office.
"Still scaring people, huh?" Phil said with a joking tone.
Melinda had to smile at Phil's usual banter, but she didn't engage. She just had no energy in her to continue the conversation. Phil noticed May's lack of energy, but he just filed it away for later. He couldn't do anything else to help her without the possibility of making it worse.
When the pair got inside the room, Melinda picked up a phone on top of her desk and handed it over to Phil, who immediately took it.
"Give me the highlights. It'll take too long to read the whole thing now." Phil told Melinda while pocketing the phone. She took some time to scan her mind through the report and compile the important ones.
"The previous Supervising Agent first noticed the kid a year ago. Stark upped his security system and expanded his net well over our observation range. Somebody must have tipped him off because his bodyguard called the FBI about who's watching them. The SA was pulling his hairs out since only second-hand information was coming in for at least a year when he decided to do something drastic..." Melinda said the last part while pulling out a folder and retrieving an aerial photograph from the inside. "He ordered satellite surveillance and medium-altitude fly-bys to get some aerial photographs, and he saw this..." She handed over the picture to Phil. He immediately focused on the circled area. "Stark, Potts, and a kid no one knows about."
"How the hell does no one know about this?" Phil asked the question that's been bugging him since he first heard that Stark has a kid.
"A rich and powerful businessman who has connections with influential people. Probably held up her paperwork somewhere down the line." Melinda answered with a shrug.
"What about the mysterious border? Any idea who it might be?" Phil asked. Every one of them is pretty much convinced that it's Naruto who's living with the Starks, but it's better to have some evidence.
"No. Not Really..." Melinda answered with a shake of her head. "We only know that someone's living with then in there because of a series of infrared satellite images..." She said while looking through the files and showing a compilation of photographs. "There's a heat bloom that shows from this room right here every once in a while. No real pattern for when the room is being used..." She switched the photo with another one behind it. "When we figured out that someone is staying there, the techs started to comb through the pictures and cross-reference it with the logs of visitors, but we couldn't find out who it is. It's like he or she appears and disappears whenever."
Phil is now one hundred percent certain that Naruto is the Stark's boarder. He only knows one guy that could get in and out of anywhere. Naruto probably remained in contact with Tony Stark after the Vegas incident.
"Talk to me, Phil. You know something." Melinda urged after seeing a familiar look on Phil's face. The one where he just confirmed something.
Phil snapped out of his stupor and looked straight at Melinda with that trademark smile of his.
"Can't tell you, May. Omega level clearance only and all that." Phil replied with a smug smile.
"Omega? We don't have an Omega clearance." Melinda retorted, genuinely confused, but Phil flashed an enigmatic smile.
"Exactly." Phil answered before walking out of the room.
"Fucking protocols." Melinda exclaimed while following Phil.
Phil and Melinda reached the backdoor when Phil turned around and took something from his pocket.
"This is a receiver. I'll try to deploy some bugs inside while I'm there." Phil said while handing over a flash drive like item to Melinda.
"Thanks." Melinda replied while talking the receiver.
Phil suddenly turned serious and stared Melinda straight into her eyes.
"How are." Phil started.
"Don't." Melinda interrupted. "I'm going to get transferred one way or another." She continued.
"Ok. Ok..." Phil said while raising his hands. "I just want to be sure that this is what you really want."
"It is..." Melinda answered sincerely. "You should go and interview the secretary/girlfriend." She finished with a smile.
"Yeah. I'll see you soon." Phil replied while walking out of the door.
As Phil was entering his car, Melinda said one last message.
"Stop by before you go back."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone