Issue Nine: Debrief
Hidden away from the rest of the world, tucked behind majestic snow-capped peaks, the Leader planned his next move. Already, his manufacturing plants around the world were churning out androids. Their numbers were expected to hit one million strong within a week. But it wasn’t good enough; the Avengers were more stubborn than he had anticipated.
His plan should have worked. But instead of dispatching the two or three Avengers as he planned, they all escaped his grasp. It infuriated the villain, sending hot waves of hatred across him. His downfall and failure was the cause of one aspect he couldn’t account for; Rainbow Dash. But it wasn’t all lost.
Before his escape, the Leader had taken both Rainbow Dash and Tony Stark aside, with the intent to warp their minds to his cause. Unfortunately, fate intervened, but not before he gained access to nearly every memory. Every personal experience. Every secret. The Leader now had more information on SHIELD than he could ever have hoped, as well as the key aspects of flight mechanics, and the entire series of Daring-Do. This increased his plans.
He had to work fast; his window was small, and allowed very little margin for error. Already, they had an idea what he was planning. But it was for naught. Even if they knew what he was doing months ago, they couldn’t stop him now. Not with the android formulas.
The formulas, which the Black Knight had personally delivered, gave the Leader’s army a conscience of their own, allowing for a level of intelligence and strategy that couldn’t be matched by any other automated force. And they will take the world in a siege of carnage and destruction.
The Leader strode over to his lair’s window, overlooking a snowy, craggy valley between two mountain peaks. Down below, a thin frozen river meandered through the landscape, cutting a winding path of grey through the white background. The sky seemed closer than usual, and incredibly blue. Everything about it sickened the Leader. Why he chose such a dreadful place for a lair was beyond him.
“It doesn’t matter...” he said softly to himself as he sunk down into his large chair, “It won’t last long anyhow.”
*****
The quinjet ride was bumpy, jarring, and overall unpleasant. But it was the fastest way to carry five people and a pony across the Atlantic. Despite having the ability to fly (faster than the jet, even) Rainbow was given explicit orders to stay inside the jet, as it was cloaked, and untraceable, whereas Rainbow wasn’t. She grumbled, crossing her hooves in distaste of that fact.
The others in the group didn’t seem to mind, save for Thor who had a slight loathing of Midgard technology. They all sat motionless in their seat, or seats in the case of the unconscious Tony Stark, who was tied down over three seats. On occasion, Tony would grumble, or say something incoherent, but aside from his outbursts, he remained silent throughout the voyage.
For Rainbow, the four hour flight was one of the most uncomfortable in her life. There had been flights that had come close, back in Equestria. Flight school primarily held the record for most awkward flights, but those memories were quickly expelled by Rainbow.
Funny she thought, how easily those memories are coming back...
Still, it didn’t matter to Rainbow. As long as it wasn’t killing her, or wasn’t completely awesome, she ignored it.
Their flight ended on the majestic Helicarrier, still flying over the northeast United States. Any uncomfortability Rainbow had on the flight was manifested at twice the strength on the Helicarrier. As soon as the doors opened and the team descended the ramp, half the crew was staring at them. A massive crowd had gathered on deck to greet the returning heroes, and to mourn the possibility of one of their deaths.
All eyes were on her though; not the bloodied and battered group of men. Her flawless, pristine condition contradicted the wartorn look the others had adopted. They marched across the deck as a medical team brought Tony a stretcher. Rainbow looked on with worried eyes as the limp body of her friend was lifted onto the device, and rolled away in the opposite direction.
“Is he gonna be okay?” Rainbow asked, looking up at Bruce Banner.
Bruce shrugged, “I hope so. We’ve got good doctors aboard.”
“Like you?” Rainbow asked, hoping to gain some confidence in the situation, knowing his position as a doctor.
“No, not like me; real doctors.” Bruce replied, killing the short-lived confidence of the pegasus.
Before anyone could continue their conversations, the bulkhead to the interior of the ship flew open. A single man strode out, practically darkening the sky with his presence, and demanding a hush across the crowd. Nick Fury’s black trenchcoat flapped in the wind as he walked towards the group of heroes moving across the deck.
“Commander-” Captain America began, before being quickly silenced by a one-eyed death glare.
“Now’s not the time, Cap. We need you debriefed.” Fury allowed himself a brief pause as his one good eye rest upon the pony, “All of you. Report to the medical bays for examination and debriefing.”
Without letting another word be said, Commander Fury turned on a heel and withdrew to the dark interior of his Helicarrier, leaving a significant emptiness in terms of complete and absolute authority.
The team stopped for a moment. Thor and Banner exchanged sly grins at each other before abandoning their group and heading down the deck.
“Hey, where are you two going?” Rainbow demanded, shouting over the shrieking wind.
Captain America leaned down to Rainbow’s level, “They don’t do debriefing.” he explained, “Thor claims diplomatic immunity, and the big guy isn’t too helpful.”
“Exactly, Cap.” Bruce replied.
“Aye. If you require us, we’ll be in the mead hall.” Thor announced, slapping Banner on the back with slightly too much force.
Rainbow watched as her friend, and her almost-sorta-viking-friend both ventured forth to whatever a ‘mead hall’ was. It was a confusing term, but there was one more that was more confusing.
“What’s debriefing mean?”
*****
Steve Rogers was well practiced in the art of debriefing. From his beginnings as a soldier, it had become a routine for him; go on a mission, beat the Nazis, come back, debrief, rinse and repeat. SHIELD, unlike the 1940’s American military, viewed debriefing as a form of art. Every single aspect was taken into effect, to the tiniest detail. For others, it was complete and utter Hell, but for Captain Rogers, it was stimulating.
The debriefing room itself was as simple as could be. Gray walls, gray floors, gray tables. The only life in the room emanated from the brightly colored costumes of Captain America and Rainbow Dash. Clint refused to change costumes after hearing Rainbow’s proposal. Honestly, only an idiot would wear a bright purple and blue costume when fighting a war.
The three heroes sat on one end of the long table. None of them held any possessions, save for a small glass of water given to Rainbow only after twenty minutes of complaining. It felt more like they were being arrested than debriefed.
Finally, an agent came into the room, followed by a red haired man in a brown suit. The agent stood by the door, as protocol dictated. The doctor however, sat himself across the table from the three individuals. As usual, he took a long sigh and adjusted his glasses before speaking,
“Good evening. To those of you who don’t know, my name is Doctor Phineas Horton, I’m here to conduct your debriefing and evaluate your psychological conditions.” the man droned into a handheld device, presumably a recorder.
On either side of Rainbow, the two heroes acknowledged the man with nothing more than a nod.
“For the record, I will state that our newcomer, Miss...” the man shuffled through papers on his desk until he grasped the one he needed. It was nearly blank, save for two sentences and a name, “...Rainbow Dash, though appearing to be sentient, is not human in nature. Debriefing will continue as usual.”
Rainbow squirmed in her chair. The room was hot, and smelled slightly of paint. Her chair didn’t lean back how she liked it, and there was a faint hissing from inside the walls. All in all, she preferred crashing through castle walls and punching robots to this. Who knew being a hero could be so... bureaucratic?
“Describe the events leading up to the incident.” the doctor began, setting his recorder on the table, facing the trio.
As expected, Captain Rogers began, “Agent Barton, Agent Poindexter, Stark and I were sent to Ireland to investigate a possibly threatening level of activity.”
“And when you arrived...?” the doctor pried.
Clint was able to snag the first words before Captain Rogers, “We got our asses kicked.”
Rainbow sat silently between the two as they described the battle with the Black Knight. Next to sitting through one of Twilight’s lectures, it was the most tedious thing she’s done. It was almost as if the doctor enjoyed asking questions. Like it was his job. Rainbow scoffed internally.
The award for most boring job in the world goes to... she thought, holding a mock ceremony in her head for the psychologist.
As Steve was explaining how he saved Agent Poindexter, Rainbow’s mind wandered still. From a list of boring jobs she had personally done, most of which involved using her ‘brainpower’, to why Clint looked like he was scowly all the time. Anything to get her mind off the droning man across the table. Until, that is, he mentioned her by name.
Rainbow snapped out of her thoughts, looking at the doctor with a raised eyebrow and a cocked head.
With a sigh filled with contempt and boredom the doctor repeated, “When did you arrive at the castle?”
Rainbow slowly gathered her memories, “I followed the... Hulk missile,” she explained, recalling the term Clint had used on the quinjet, “Raced it, actually. Technically, I won, but-”
“So you’ve arrived at the castle after you followed Doctor Banner?” he asked, jotting down a simple note.
“Raced Doctor Banner.” Rainbow corrected.
To her left, Rainbow could barely make out Clint say under his breath how, even with Tony in a coma, his personality never left the room.
“I wrote down ‘followed’.” explained the doctor.
“Yeah, but it was cooler than that...” Rainbow said dejectedly, remembering the thrill of the race with the missile.
“Well, what happened afterwards?” he asked.
Rainbow grinned wickedly and prepared for the greatest story ever told.
*****
Tony Stark’s operation was complicated, to say the least. Not only did they have to artificially power Tony’s arc reactor, but they also had to avoid disturbing the carefully constructed metabolism Tony had created for himself. The wrong balance of chemicals or medicine could throw off his internal system, causing a destabilization of his entire operating system. Since running the Iron Man suit is a complex process, involving a lot of brain power, it was extremely important to maintain a specific level of maintenance.
Knowing this, the doctors used no anesthesia.
Hoping that the lack of power from the arc reactor would be enough to keep Tony under, they went to work with the surgery. Their first goal was to mend Tony’s innards, which had been severed by the knife. Using the traditional method of approach, the doctors entered through Tony’s midsection.
Everything about the operation went smoothly. They even acquired one of Tony’s backup reactors for when the job was finished. They had sewn and stapled his organs back together in a matter of minutes; a personal record for the surgeons. And just as they were about to sew the entrance to his guts up, they saw it.
A thin metal tube, not even the size of an ordinary staple, rest snugly behind Tony’s squishy interior. Carefully removing it with forceps, the head surgeon set it aside on a tray, where a young intern took it out of the room, leaving the surgeons to finish the operation.
Intern Richards, a blooming mechanics student, took the tiny object to his workspace, just across the hall. Given its miniscule size, Richards was required to use a microscope for his examination; something he wish he could have done sooner.
Practically flying out of the room, Richards rushed to the bridge to give the news of the tracking device.
*****
Rainbow Dash had left her seat, and now stood on the table, hooves flailing. For moments, she would hover in the air, mimicking the act of flying extremely fast. And for others she would punch imaginary robots in the air, simulating the intense fighting. All the while describing her part in the attack using her extensive vocabulary of words like ‘awesome’ and... Well, really, that was about it.
Meanwhile, the entire room was enjoying her story. Even the stalwart agent at the door cracked a smile at how eccentric the mare was, and for a brief shining moment, Rainbow Dash felt like herself more than ever. She had become the center of attention, not for being an alien freak, but for being awesome. It was elating.
Until she noticed the doctor. His plain face never changed throughout the entire tale. He jotted down notes quickly, but a glance revealed he’d left out the most important details, like how she kicked a robot in half. That was cool!
Finally, as her story dwindled down, she settled back into her seat. She was slightly out of breath, but she didn’t mind. Everyone was impressed. Steve was trying hard to hide his chuckling, and even the grumpy looking Clint had a grin on his face.
It took the doctor another two minutes to finish writing down notes from the story, never saying a word until he set his pen down. He picked up the recorder and brought it near his mustached face,
“No further questions. The subjects seem... reasonably sane. This has been the debriefing of Captain Steve Rogers, Agent Clint Barton, and Agent Rainbow Dash in Operation: Scouting Hawk.”
Doctor Phineas Horton, with the fluent grace of a wildebeest, gathered his papers in a rough stack, noisily threw them into his briefcase, and left the room, taking his agent with him.
The trio sat a moment longer at the table. They had all heard it, though they hadn’t believed it. Agent Rainbow Dash...
Steve patted the pony on the back, “Let’s go find Fury.”
“Yeah,” Clint said, “obviously there’s been some kind of mistake.”
Rainbow didn’t hear Clint, her mind was focused on Fury. She didn’t want to see him, not after he yelled at her the way he did. She wasn’t scared of him, but if she had to be in a room with him, or a room filled to the brim with spiders, she would take the spiders.
“I’m gonna go find Bruce!” Rainbow nearly shouted, scrambling over the table and to the door.
The two remaining men watched the pony go, leaving them behind in the gray room. They looked at each other a moment before Clint finally broke the silence,
“You don’t think the doc just assumed she was an agent?” he asked.
Steve shook his head, “No, I’ve known Horton awhile. He doesn’t get his facts wrong.”
“Come on, Cap. You really think Fury would let her join SHIELD just like that? And an agent?” Clint pleaded, making his way to the exit.
“Fury’s been known to make crazy decisions. Crazy, not stupid.” Steve explained, following Clint close behind. They were headed inwards, deeper into the ship, presumably to change out of their field outfits.
“I think we should have a word with him about it.” Clint proposed, legitimately feeling that way. Many people would toss the idea of talking to Fury around, but always back out of it out of fear.
“Hey, you wanna talk to him, be my guest. I trust his decision. Rainbow Dash seems competent.”
“I never said she wasn’t competent. Just... headstrong. Too much like Stark.” Clint explained, sending another shiver down both their spines. They didn’t like comparing the two. The resemblance was too close.
“I put my faith in SHIELD. If they think it’s a good idea, I have to agree.” Steve explained, remaining stalwart.
“Whatever, but I’m gonna need some explaining. Hopefully the word doesn’t get out too fast...”
*****
Rainbow ran across the cafeteria, bumping into workers as she went. All the while, screaming towards Banner on the other end of the room,
“Doc! Bruce, I’m an agent now!”
The cafeteria, which was almost completely full, went dead silent as the pony sprinted across the room to her friend. Her shouting disrupted every conversation in the hall, bringing a mixed feeling of surprise and panic to everyone. Rainbow repeated her phrase four or five times before finally reaching the doctor and, in one last attempt to hammer her point home, repeated proudly,
“I’m an agent!”
Bruce chuckled, “Right, and I’m the President of Australia!” he joked.
“I’m serious,” Rainbow scowled, “That doctor dude told me so!”
After a moment, Bruce’s chuckles died down. He eyed the dumbfounded crowd behind the oblivious mare, then shifted his sight back to Rainbow. His mind worked this new fact over, analyzing every side of it. Shrugging, he forced himself to believe it.
“Alright, agent. Congratulations. Take a seat.” he said, patting the chair next to him. Rainbow eagerly thrust herself into the seat. Thor, who continued feasting upon the mortal’s food, simply looked up at Rainbow through the tops of his eyes.
“So, what does being an agent mean?” Rainbow asked Bruce, not bothering to have thought about that beforehand.
“Are you ready for a long, boring talk?” Bruce asked, grinning to himself. He loved explaining technical things, and there wasn’t a force on earth that was more technical than the bureaucracy of a SHIELD agent.
*****
The Leader sat motionless in front of a wide array of screens. Each monitor showed something unique; from manufacturing plants across Asia, to simple security cameras throughout his lair. Even his missile defense system had its own screen.
As the automated metal door slid open, the Leader slunk into his chair.
“And what news, on this dismal day, do you have for me now, Garrett?” the Leader asked, rubbing his large forehead with a gloved hand.
“Mine Leader, we are to believe that the device inside thine Man of Iron hath been found. SHIELD is aware of our actions.” The Black Knight explained, still dressed in his suit of armor.
The Leader rose from his chair, “Do you know what sets me apart from other masterminds, Garrett?” he asked his mind-bent champion.
“Nay, mine Leader.”
“The difference is, I have a plan for everything. And then everything past that. What you see as a setback or a defeat, I see as an opportunity.” he explained in a low voice, making his way past the Black Knight and out the door.
His lair wasn’t massive. It used to be an old lookout station used by Hydra in the war. With that, there wasn’t much substance to it. It had an observatory, which the Leader had modified to become his own personal room. From there, it was only a few hallways and supply closets, with one or two larger rooms for housing soldiers. The most prominent feature of the base, however, was the landing bay.
And the fabricated quinjet that rest in it.
“Garrett, summon Poindexter to the hangar bay. With due haste!” the Leader commanded, taking long strides to the hangar. Things were going in his favor, for the most part. What he couldn’t accomplish in Ireland, he could make up for on SHIELD’s own turf, and with one fell swoop, take out his only resistance.
He stood motionless for a while, staring at the quinjet and using his gamma irradiated brain to analyze everything. He was interrupted only by the meek Agent Poindexter. Without turning to face him, the Leader spoke,
“We know where the SHIELD’s helicarrier is. This is where you come into play, Poindexter.” the Leader announced, “My factories have built this quinjet to be identical to the rest. Infiltrate their defenses.”
Poindexter nodded, watching the Leader turn around and approach him. From his new perspective on life, the Leader had become far less threatening. Majestic, almost. The way his hair peaked on his massive forehead, to his expertly trimmed mustache. He was a powerful figure.
With a gloved hand, the Leader touched Poindexter’s face, abandoning all personal space boundaries. Poindexter felt a tug, followed by a numbing feeling in his brain. He could feel his master inside, moving around and twisting his conscious. And he liked it. It gave him power. Already, he felt his knowledge growing as the Leader transferred Tony Stark’s stolen memories to him, giving him untold amounts of knowledge on SHIELD.
When he was done, the Leader stepped back. “You know your place, Poindexter. And this,” he said, pulling out a bundle of black cloth, “is for your escape.”
Poindexter took the bundle, and gently unfolded it. It was a plain black balaclava. Totally unmarked save for one feature, positioned just above the eyes on the forehead.
A white bullseye.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Kickass222urmom · 30k words · 385 20 · 7.6k views
- iowaforever · 79k words · 676 20 · 15k views
- Avenging-Hobbits · 103k words · 251 9 · 6.8k views
- JO3 · 29k words · 18 8 · 2.7k views
- iowaforever · 28k words · 271 2 · 4.6k views
- RBDash47 · 52k words · 408 5 · 1.8k views
- Brotato · 29k words · 24 0 · 1.5k views
- VanishingAct · 4.4k words · 16 0 · 760 views
Stats
Page generated in 0.145 seconds
Total duration
1,048 users online
1,980,270 hits today, 2,167,270 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Shit, now Bullseye has entered the playing field.
And Rainbow Dash gets to show off. Nice.
Well... At least he won't be having any boring dreams.
~Skeeter The Lurker
And then The World's End happens...
media.sfx.co.uk/files/2013/05/The-Worlds-End-poster.jpg
Wow! Phineas Horton. Now that's a crazy old name drop haha. Cool chapter though. :o
2934931 Aw! Someone caught it. I'm impressed. But yeah, whenever I need a character, or if I get bored or something, I'll throw in a super obscure reference. Mostly just for giggles, but also to see if any super nerds like myself are paying attention.
2934948
I actually got that one quicker than Bullseye haha. Everytime I see Bullseye I always flash back to that stupid trivia question in Marvel Ultimate Alliance where the answer to "Bullseye's real name" is Unknown. So when I see it I just blank for a minute lol
2935167 Ha, well, that won't be a problem in the next chapter, hint hint.
2934948
I feel like I should have caught it, but it eludes me...
my mind keeps going back to Phileas Fogg, and he doesn't even have the right first name.
Nevermind.
Amazing story! Love it! This is going in the favorites!
2934582
So prepare to get throughly smegged
Wow not a bad crossover,
I really like what you did her.
I'm glad I bumped into it.
The action is played off quite will by the comedy, your doing a good job.
I hope I can see more of these, I think it will be quite interesting.
Good luck, best wishes
and well come to number 105 on my faves
2952484 Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, and I'm honored to be a favorite
I tend to think my action scenes are a bit weak, which is my one self-criticism that I take pretty harshly, so I usually rewrite them four or five times, which really gets to be a pain... The comedy comes sorta naturally though. Half the time it sticks, the other half, not so much. It's a hit or miss deal. But I'm glad you liked it! There's still more to come!
2954894
Well, not sure what you expected, but woohoo! I'll try to keep up my good work, but good luck hiding in the shadows! That's where my laptop plugin is, and I use that quite frequently. Chances are we'll bump into each other.
When next chapter gone be out?
3135111 Whenever I stop wasting time watching Wil Wheaton and get around to writing. Hopefully I'll work on it more tonight! If not, you can hit me.
I liked it.
Do you still intend to work on this story?
MORE I DAMAND MORE
I hope this isn't canceled...
3136689 hey, so is this story cancelled? it piqued my interest, but i really don't want to start a story that has no chance of being finished.
Anymore?