-- SSV Doomstadt --
"Can you believe who we're carrying?"
"Not if I didn't see them myself."
The pair of armed gunmen stood casually in the deck of the large cargo freighter. The ship rocked rhythmically from the slightly choppy water outside, causing the less seaworthy of the pair to stagger.
"Cannot wait to be off this god damn boat."
His partner chuckled, turning to face the wall of the ship, a hand cupping around his mouth as he lit a cigarette. "Few more hours we'll be in Latveria, and we'll be so fucking rich we could probably buy their castle." He turned back to his buddy, the lit cigarette in his mouth. Only to find he wasn't there.
"The fu-" He didn't get to finish his thought as a man vaulted himself up over the edge of the ship. Moving faster than he imagined possible he closed the distance between them before he could get his gun up. Hands like solid steel gripped him by the collar and painfully by the groin causing him to squeal in pain before he was hurled bodily over the edge of the ship to the water below.
"Hm. Shoulda grabbed one of their radios." He mused to himself, before crouching and leaping up into the air, gripping the railing above and hauling himself onto the upper deck. He swung over in one smooth motion and landed in a crouch behind some large shipping containers.
He froze as he heard voices nearby. "Thought I heard something."
"So go check it out."
"We should both go check it out."
"I just got comfortable man, I ain't gettin up. It's nothin'. Probly a dolphin or somethin'."
The intruder remained in his crouched position as he heard one of the men move away. He eased out in time to see him move toward a staircase and start down before he sprang. The other guard's eyes widened as he saw him coming and simultaneously lifted his gun and opened his mouth to shout. Again the intruder was faster, gripping him by the jaw and wrist hard enough to force his mouth shut and his hand to open off the gun's trigger. He struggled, but he might as well have been trying to fight against a brick wall as the intruder hauled him back behind the crates.
"So one of two things is going to happen now. I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth. You're either going to cooperate, and get knocked out. Or you're not going to cooperate, or shout for help. In which case you get knocked out then thrown overboard." The sentry's eyes widened as he finished, and he slowly eased his hand off the man's mouth.
"Y--you don't kill people."
"Not normally no, but you kidnapped myself and my wife. I already know who you work for and where we're going. The big question on my mind is, where is my wife?"
He waited patiently while the man's eyes flicked from his face to the gun at his side. He already knew what the guy would do though. "Shipping container, 39-C."
"Is she hurt?"
"N--no. I mean not really. Inhibitor ring, that's all!"
"Hmm. Right." The guard didn't see it coming as the man snapped his elbow up and around into the side of the head, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.
Cautiously he eased out. The other guard was coming back up the stairs. Things were about to get loud. But the bridge was in sight by now so he couldn't help it. The lady would have to wait, this was obviously a professional outfit and whatever cage they designed for her he was fairly certain he wasn't smart enough to break into.
"I can't find Finnick or Wills, we need to-" The escapee didn't find out what they needed to do, as he was cut off by his partners assault rifle slamming hard into his face. Staggering back, blood flowing down his mouth and chin he blinked dumbly as the prisoner charged across the deck. He lifted his gun getting off a couple shots that the charging man dodged around quickly. Closing the gap he brought his boot around and into the guard's jaw, breaking it and sending him flying over the rail.
Flood lights were snapping to life all around him as he started to run for the bridge. He could hear shouts of alarm from all around him as he sprinted full tilt across the deck of the ship, arms up to shield his face he made a running leap at the large windows around the control bridge.
The Captain was understandably surprised as one of their prisoners smashed his way through the window of his bridge, driving forward and hauling him away from the control station and hurling him into two crewmen nearby. He dropped to the floor of the bridge as a gunman on the other side opened fire, before kicking the heavy chair bolted to the deck free and across the room, crushing the gunman beneath it.
Hastily he moved to the radio, and picked up the communicator. "I am never going to hear the end of this from the Captains."
-- SHIELD Command Center --
It was pandemonium. No other word for it. Agents running in every direction and Deputy Director Fury was screaming at the top of his lungs at anyone not running or working.
"Sir! I've got something!"
Fury rounded on the young communications officer, his good eye narrowing. "It better be something really damn good, agent."
"A communique from the King, sir! A set of coordinates!"
Fury raced to the agent's station reading it over himself. "Did you send these to Stark yet?"
The agent's eyes widened and her mouth worked silently. Seeing Fury's eye narrow further her hooves rapidly danced acrosss the console. "Sent, sir!"
Fury stormed away from the profusely sweating communications officer. "Mobilize everyone! Get the Defenders, get the Corps, get the god damn 'bolts if they're free! Get everyone we have to those coordinates!"
-- Stark Steelworks--
"Alright boys and girls. We're good to launch. Sound off!" The Captain of the Iron Legion stared down at his "troops". All three of them.
"War Machine, check!" James Rhodes, a very decorated officer in the U.E. air force and a long time personal friend of Stark's. It was a no-brainer to bring him on when he decided to make armor for others.
"Rescue, check!" Pepper Potts, formerly his personal assistant, (formerly even though she still does most of that work too) was adamantly against a suit until he designed the Rescue armor. One hundred percent free of killing power, she was there as the unit's medic and had only basic crowd suppression for offense.
His attention turned to the newest member of the elite circle in his legion. While the Iron Legion was made up of people from all walks of life all across the kingdom, there were only four he flew with. And their newest member, for all her typical bluster and big talk was sweating bullets as she fidgeted to fasten her helmet, cursing under her breath. She was one of the most decorated members of the Wonderbolts, but had a tendency to be a bit of a rogue element. She didn't have the best track record of working well with others, which suited Tony just fine. She could follow orders when the situation called for it, and he liked his people to be thinkers, not brain dead soldiers. Let Captain Armor have those.
The corner of Stark's mouth threatened to twitch up into a smirk, while Rhodey looked away, coughing to cover his chuckle. Pepper frowned at the pair of them and knelt down next to the young mare. "Here, I've got you." She gently nudged the mare's armored hooves away and fastened the seals on the helmet. It closed with a mechanical whirr and a chunk. The eyes on the helmet flickered to life.
A raspy feminine voice called out. "Prismatic, check!"
Stark chuckled. "Right. Alright kiddos, the royal couple needs a rescue." Fastening his own helmet over his head. "I cannot wait for the I-told-you-so's. Iron Legion, launch."
Rainbow Dash's breathing was coming in short gasps as her squad launched off the platform and into the open air. She could do this. She was just flying with Iron Man! IRON MAN! No big deal! Haha! Nope! No big deal!
"Miss Dash." The mellow, synthetic voice spoke into her ear. "Your heart rate is abnormally elevated and your breathing is wildly uneven, do you require a sedative?"
"No I don't need a fucking sedative..." She shot back with more bite in her tone than needed. She got a running start and vaulted off after her squad. She'd had plenty of practice runs in her armor, she knew how it worked. Faster, stronger, and oh so sweetly weaponized. It was her dream. She was living her dream. And she was freaking out like a school filly.
"Hey." The voice of the squad's second in command came over her comm. As War Machine dropped back to fly next to her. "It's alright kid, breathe. Just breathe. You got this. You broke the sound barrier outside your armor. You took down a squad of Doombots solo. You banished Shuma-Gorath back to wherever... Shuma-Gortah's come from You're the best damn flyer in the world, and one of the best damn soldiers. Now you're just encased in one of the best damn weapons in the world too. You're Rainbow Dash. You got this."
Every word her breath evened, she calmed down. He was right. She had this. Then Stark's voice cut in. "And if you don't got this the big kids are here to clean up after you."
That was the last straw she needed. Hitting the afterburners her armor lurched ahead of the other three, leaving a streaming prismatic trail in her wake.
"Was that really necessary, Tony?"
He managed not to wince at the tone. That was the 'you're sleeping on the couch' tone. "She's just got stage fright, a little kick in the plot is all she needed."
"Think we should hang back? Let her stretch her wings?" Rhodey chimed in.
"Good call. But not to far back, this is the royal couple."
-- SSV Doomstadt --
The second of the two prisoners aboard the ship lifted her head at the loud whump sounding from the top of her prison. She flinched at the sound of heavy gunfire raining down on the metal container she was housed in, the bullets didn't penetrate of course but her ears were ringing. "You sound like you're having fun out there!"
"You know me!" Her husband called back. "I enjoy these vigorous night time walks of ours!"
She chuckled softly. "You know we're never going to hear the end of this don't you? From the Captains, my sister, Shannon."
"Think you could just banish them all someplace? The moon? Mars? Xandar?"
"Mmmm..." She pondered, giving the question some thought. Flinching again as more gunfire bounced off her cell. "...possibly. We'll see how obnoxious they all get."
"Sounds fair... looks like the armors are here."
"Oh good. I suppose "Prismatic" is first?"
"Of course."
The gunfire shifted, only this time it was aimed elsewhere. She could just barely make out the blare of the heavy metal music blasting from the mare's armor, followed by the loud keening whine of a charging repulsor. Then came the explosions, and the screaming. Then the quiet.
An ear twitched as she heard someone outside fiddling with the electronic lock on her cell. And the heavily reinforced door hissed open, revealing one of the Captains of the four branches of the U.E. guard. "Your highness." The faceplate lifted revealing Captain Stark's smirking face. "I told you so."
She smiled softly as he stepped in, a high powered laser raising out of the forearm of his armor, going to work on the magic inhibiting ring around her horn. "Yes, you did."
"So did Captain Armor."
"Yes..."
"And the Archmage."
A sigh. "Yes."
With a chink the ring came loose and Stark delicately lifted it off the long horn. "And the Director."
Closing her eyes she nodded. "Yes."
He knelt down going to work on the manacles binding her legs. Her smile broadened slightly as her husband stepped into view. "You took your time."
He shrugged, his warm smile belying the concern he felt for her. As well as the growing anger for seeing her in this condition. "Well they say if you keep a lady waiting it makes her more eager."
The pair ignored the retching sounds coming from Stark, as he finished cutting through her bindings, allowing her to rise to her full height and look her husband in the eye. "Well... I don't know who "they" are..." She started, sauntering passed him and letting her pastel hued tail tickle his chin. "...but they're right."
Stark straightened up, standing next to his longtime friend as the Queen of the United States of Equestria calmly stepped onto the deck of the ship. Even as Rescue landed next to her to begin a physical exam to check for injuries.
"Steve."
"Yes, Tony?"
"I told you so."
Steve Rogers, husband to the most powerful mare in the world sighed. "I know, Tony."