Russians

After we got back to the tower, I showered, got dressed, and headed to the briefing room. Creel gave me a nod as I entered. I nodded back, looking around as I entered. Skye and I winced as we met eyes.

In the room were Maria, Creel, Coulson, Fitz-Simmons, May, and Skye. Maria looked around as we sat down, nodding. "We were recently requested by the Russian government to send in a BRIDGE team and Avengers to aid them with an issue."

"Just 'an issue'?" Coulson asked.

"They won't say completely what is going on," Maria said.

"Oh, wow, the Russian government is being cagey? What're the odds?" Skye said sarcastically.

"Skye," Coulson said with a frown.

"What? Russia was basically the Empire from Star Wars in the eighties," she scoffed.

"Things are, and were, a lot more complicated than that," May admonished seriously. "Don't let your perceptions cloud your judgment during a mission."

"...fine," Skye mumbled.

I don't think anyone was convinced our former rebel hacker was really willing to let that go, but Maria continued.

"Your mission is to head to Russia and figure out what is going on. Liaison with the appointed contact and work with the Russian government on behalf of B.R.I.D.G.E," Maria scowled. "It's one of the nations that we have listed as possibly building weaponry and making superhuman powers. Be prepared for that. We don't know if they are one of the nations, how far along they are, or what they could be doing. That is part of your job. No actual spying of course. No need to ignite issues between BRIDGE and Russia. But if you see something, say something," she looked around at us. "Understood?"

"Understood."

"Got it."

"Sure thing."

That seemed to be enough for her. "Good. Dismissed."

We all got up and walked out. Coulson waited until we were all in the hallway before speaking. "Bring your armor and gauntlet, Dial, Creel. I don't think we'll need it, but I'd rather safe than sorry. Skye, bring your armor as well. I'd like to have the options available."

"On it boss," Skye said with a nod.

"May, I want the Bus ready to go in five."

"You got it," May turned and headed to the hanger.

"As far as we know, we don't have a clue what sort of threat we're facing. Be prepared for anything," Coulson narrowed his eyes. "So. We're off to Russia."

Creel shook his head. "Damn. I am really bad with cold weather."

"It's April," I reminded him. "Can't be that cold."

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

"Mahmoud," Maria called from inside the briefing room. For some reason, she sounded as though she was moments from stabbing someone. So it scared the shit out of me when the next words out of her mouth were, "Can you come in here?"

Fitz frowned. "She sounds angry."

"...Maybe I can escape?"

"Go face the firing squad," Skye teased. Then we met eyes and both winced.

"Yeah, I'll go," I said hurriedly.

"Good luck," Simmons whispered.

I stepped back inside. "Uh, hey Director. Something going on with the mission?"

"In a way," Maria looked at me with harsh eyes.

"Hello," X raised a hand behind her in a little wave. "I was recommending to Director Hill that I come along on your mission."

"Explain. Now."

I winced. "Okay, X, I appreciate it buddy, but maybe introduce yourself after we tell people."

"Dial!"

"It wasn't my fault!"

"Did I come at a bad time?"

Goddamnit, X.

On the Bus later, Skye, Simmons, and Fitz listened as I explained about X. We were in the science lab of the Bus, watching a model of X and Jarvis' new bodies.

"Wait, so your personal AI butler has a body now?" Skye asked, looking mystified. "How long has he been planning on that?"

"I don't know."

"I thought you had more control over him," Simmons had a worried look on her face.

"I have no control X doesn't let me have," I frowned. "X is my friend. Not my slave or something."

"Simmons didn't mean that," Fitz put a hand on Simmons' shoulder, the British girl still worried. "But it doesn't worry you that X just… made a body for himself? With no input from anyone else?"

"I mean, a little," I admitted. "But it's kind of like when a friend works out, or has plastic surgery done, right? You can't be mad at someone for wanting something for themselves."

"Mahmoud, this isn't exactly the same," Simmons protested. "This isn't self-improvement or a change to someone's appearance. X made a body for himself! A body with beyond superhuman durability and strength. And he can already control the Iron Legion drones. You should at least talk to him."

"It's X," I said for emphasis. "I know him, down to his soul."

"And if he gets reprogrammed and turned against us?" Fitz pointed out. "How much damage can he do?"

"Or if I get brainwashed?" I pointed out in turn, actually getting angry now. "Or any of us? We're all different kinds of dangerous. Hell Fitz, you can make a nuke out of baking soda and Twizzlers!"

"That would make a small bomb, at worst!" Fitz argued.

"Wait, really?" Skye asked, started.

"We're just playing Devil's Advocate," Simmons said before Fitz could explain. "I know X. Fitz and Skye do as well. But others will ask these questions. They'll even be worried about having cybernetics adding to them, like Deathlok was, and getting controlled that way. Artificial Intelligence, robotics, cybernetics, people have been tackling this for years! You need to be ready to have answers for them beyond 'he is my friend.' Because it won't be us asking these questions one day."

"I'm a little worried, myself," Simmons gave Fitz a look when he spoke. He raised his hands up defensively. "Hey, I like Jarvis and X! But this does mean we're much closer to the singularity than we were a week ago! If Jarvis and X have been able to do this, who knows what's happening in the rest of the world?"

"The singularity?" I said. "That… thing about robots making robots?"

"Kind of," Skye said. "It's more that they'll start designing smarter versions of themselves. One makes a smarter computer, makes a smarter one, on and on until we end up with one that can control reality with its mind."

"Not quite, but close," Fitz shrugged. "This isn't the same. X and Jarvis haven't made smarter AI or anything."

"I'd have to throw a baby shower if they did," I mumbled.

"What do you get an AI that had a kid?" Skye wondered.

"The point is," Simmons said. "Fitz is right. While this is nowhere near the singularity, this is still AI making themselves bodies superior to organic ones. People will start screaming about the robot overlords. It doesn't matter how logical we try to be, it will happen."

"Well everyone and Elon Musk can suck it," I grumbled.

"That's an image," Skye said wryly.

We stood in awkward silence for a bit. The sound of the Bus settling a bit while we flew was side by side with the various equipment shining blue lights on us.

"In uh," Fitz coughed. "In the meantime, did you want to make any more changes to your armor, Skye?"

"Changes?" I asked, blinking. Skye winced.

"Yes," Fitz flipped the hologram of X and Jarvis away to replace them with Skye's armor. Except, it looked… different. For one, she'd changed the colors to be blue, a blue so dark it was almost black. For another, the design overall was changed as well. "First, since we had to change out the arc reactor for your Jury Rigg power source," Stark couldn't have too many arc reactors out in the world. "I've been monitoring it ever since you explained that Jury Rigg had somehow created a self-contained fusion reactor."

"I play a lot of Fallout. And it uh… kind of effects how Jury Rigg designed that thing," I admitted.

"Dude, you shoved a nuclear reactor into my armor," Skye noted. Oh boy. Yeah, that was kind of an iffy thing to-

"Well, it's fusion," Fitz noted. "Not fission. Much cleaner for one, and much safer. Really, the public perception of nuclear energy is far overblown, it's become so much safer nowadays!"

"Still though," Skye mumbled.

Simmons chuckled. "Well, since Skye was worried about 'becoming a Hulk'-"

"Kind of looking forward to it, to be honest," Skye admitted. I decided not to mention that if anything actually did hit with enough force to cause the power source's tough casing to crack and leak radiation, the blow would have killed her anyway.

"Fitz started studying the armor, finding ways to modify it," Simmons flipped through the suit. "Most importantly-"

"No more Iron Man style helmet?" I asked Skye. I tried not to sound offended.

"Well… it just felt so claustrophobic in there!" she protested as the hologram zoomed in to show the new helmet. It had been replaced with a clear section that made a sort of diamond-shape over the face. "I like this a lot more. Makes me feel less like I'm trapped in a coffin."

"We also changed the propulsion for what I call 'pressure repulsion'! While the 'air jets' you created as Jury Rigg were fast, they were also very loud-"

"Insanely loud!" Skye complained. "Even Hulk complained about it!"

"So I redesigned it!" Fitz sounded particularly proud. Then he started speaking science while I pretended to understand, before ending in, "So now it's far quieter, and the nature of the pressure fields are made specifically for stealth. It's not nearly as fast, but much quieter."

"I'll just trust you on that one," I said weakly.

"And I also made this!" he flipped a switch. And the holograms shoulders popped up to reveal a pair of shoulder guns. "They're loaded with both Night-Night and regular bullets! So that, you know, she can-"

"Take people in alive or at least not burn the corpse to ash," Skye said, with a chuckle. "I mean, thanks for the plasma gun palms, but we can't always set the world on fire."

"You aren't practicing the right problem resolution skills," I grumbled.

Skye looked at me. "Hey uh… you okay with this?"

That was hard to say. I'd made the armor for her. I'd made it as best as I could, to help her with her hacking while protecting her. I'd put every bit of Jury Rigg's tiny red body into it. Now, looking at the suit… she'd taken my gift and made it her own thing. I had no idea how to feel. On the one hand, she was using it. On the other, she'd let Fitz change it so much that it barely resembled my original design.

I sucked in my displeasure. "It's fine. It's armor. And if it doesn't do its job to your satisfaction, then you should be allowed to change. It's cool. I don't mind. It's fine."

"Thanks," Skye said, relieved. "I'm really glad you're okay with it."

She went over to Fitz and I quickly walked out while they talked.

We were about three hours into our nine-hour flight when I got bored, went into the cockpit, and asked May to train me. She said yes and left the plane on autopilot, which surprised the hell out me, considering how standoffish she usually was.

"Okay," May stood in the cargo bay in her workout clothes, holding a staff in her hands while looking me up and down. "How far has Natasha trained you with weapons?"

"Not a lot?" I said hesitantly, twisting the wooden sword in my hands. "Her main goal was making sure my hand-to-hand combat was solid first. She taught me some basics."

"Good," May said.

Then I was on the floor coughing in pain while May hummed to herself. "Okay. So you managed to block one hit."

"P-Progress," I mumbled, raising a thumb up.

She smirked, raising me back up when I lifted a hand to be helped. "Okay, let's go over this then. What have you learned?"

I raised my wooden sword. "Well, Nat mostly teaches me, has me practice, then we spar."

"Okay, what have you learned?"

I took a guard stance. May looked me over, then adjust me a bit. "You're using a single sword when in combat, right? How comfortable are you with holding it in one hand?"

"It's pretty lightweight," I said as an answer.

"Well, we'll leave that for later," May took a moment to adjust my stance again. "Okay. You're not tall, but you've got a large build. You can use that to your advantage. Use your strength and weight advantage. Remember, leverage is how you get your damage. Puff your chest out, Captain America style. You aren't using your arms for the swings."

She led me through the moves, advising me over and over, then sparring briefly. After that, she showed me some more techniques, keeping me moving.

"How does an agent of SHIELD learn sword techniques, anyway?" I asked curiously at one point, the two of us side by side.

"Same way we all do," May said with a shrug, taking a swing that I followed. "SHIELD Operations agents are trained for every possible encounter we can be trained for, and any weapon we might need to use. Swords, bows, crossbows, even alien weaponry."

"Seriously?" I asked when she said the last one.

"We weren't given actual alien weaponry, but we were taught to be ready to understand them as quickly as possible if need be," she said with a shrug.

"Wish I could have gone to Operations school," I said with a chuckle.

"You're getting one on one attention from BRIDGE's top martial artists and spies. That's a lot more personal training than the best students of Operations got," May pointed out.

"Oh… Yeah, guess I don't need it," I looked over at her. "So uh… what do you think about this whole Russia thing?"

"I don't," she said.

"Oh, good."

She kept swinging while talking. "High Guard," she said, announcing the next stance we'd take. Once we moved to start swinging from a much higher stance, she spoke again. "I said it before. Only go into a mission with information. Not perception, prejudice, or emotion. Right now, we only know that Russia requested assistance. Assistance that requires Avengers, apparently. What does that mean?"

"We doing a Yoda lesson now?" I asked. "I have to look for the deeper meanings in everything?"

"We could just spar again, Anakin," she teased.

"First, hurtful," May huffed out an amused chuckle. "Second… they might be worried. But… I don't know. They just asked for 'Avengers'. Without really specifying."

"Go on."

"...They just wanted any Avenger. Didn't matter who. And any BRIDGE team. So they don't need a specific person or team?" I asked, confused. "Why? Why not request the exact people they need, or explain what the problem is?"

"There's a reason we have Creel and you along," May shook her head "Plow guard," we moved into position and she continued. "Two very versatile Avengers. For most any situation we can face. With Coulson and the rest of us, the team that has dealt with maybe the most dangerous situations in the shortest amount of time of any BRIDGE team."

"...Should be interesting," I mumbled.

"Yeah," May's next swing practically split the air.

I took a nap after the workout with May. When I woke up and checked, we were about an hour or so from Moscow. I decided to grab a bite to eat. When I left one of the little rooms set up in the Bus for sleeping, I noticed Fitz-Simmons sitting nearby. They were looking through a sheaf of papers.

"Hey guys," I said politely as I passed by to grab a sandwich from the bar. "What're you up to?"

For some reason, they shared a nervous look. I wandered over to sit with them. Taking a big bite of the sandwich, I looked between the two. "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing!" both blurted out very quickly. I frowned.

"Well, color me convinced."

Simmons sighed. "I don't mean to be rude, Mahmoud, but this really is our business."

"Oh. Yeah, that's fair," I took another bite of my sandwich. "I'll head out then. Best of luck guys."

"Thank you," Fitz sighed. "We'll need it."

I got up and left to find someone else to bother.

Leopold Fitz/Scientist of BRIDGE

Simmons and Fitz waited until Mahmoud had left before opening the files in front of them.

"You don't think I was too mean, do you?" Simmons said worriedly.

"What?" He stared at her in confusion, then shook his head. "No, no! You were right. This isn't his business. We need to deal with it ourselves."

Simmons nodded, then looked down at the files. "Okay. So they're going through background checks right now. That means we need to approach Coulson and let him know about our decision. That we're leaving, but we have people ready to help him."

"You don't think he'll say no to them, do you?" Fitz asked.

"Why would he?" Simmons asked.

"Because he might be mad at us?" Fitz sighed. He leaned back in his chair, thinking carefully. "This whole thing is just messing with my head," he rubbed his hands on his face with a groan. "How do we tell Coulson?"

"We have to be upfront, Fitz," Simmons raised her folder like she was carrying a certain star-spangled shield. "Coulson has us for this mission. After that…"

The two looked at each other. After a long moment, they seemed to sag.

"...Are we really doing this?" Fitz asked. "Leaving Coulson? And Skye, and May? After everything? Should we?"

Simmons didn't seem to have anything to say to that.

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

Later, in Russia

"H-H-How is it like t-t-this in April!?" I stuttered, rubbing my arms as we stepped off the plane into a world of ice and snow. All around us, soldiers and press had shown up. Usually, I'd have been really nervous to see all this stuff

"Y-Y-You should have brought a jacket," Creel mumbled behind me.

Coulson led the group down the steps, Skye behind him, them May, Fitz, Simmons, me, and Creel.

"So Fitz hasn't found a way to replicate the fusion cell you made," Simmons whispered to me. "But it seems to be capable of creating vast amounts of clean energy. Not as much as an arc reactor, but enough that we can use it with the quantum batteries and-"

"Simmons, hold in your scientist until after we meet the scary people!" I hissed, trying to warm up while we walked past Lola, Coulson's sweet convertible. "And when we get warm! Seriously, this isn't jacket-wearing weather, this is lava-swimming weather! I want hot cocoa. Right the hell now."

"Good afternoon!" A smiling Russian man was waiting at the bottom of the cargo bay doors of the Bus as we left the plane. He was short, overweight, and balding, with a very wide smile on his face. When he spoke, it was lightly accented, the way all ambassadors seemed to master with time. "Agent Coulson! We were quite eager to meet you!"

"I can tell," Coulson said wryly, holding a hand out to shake, which the Russian man took. "Good to see you again, Boris."

"Boris?" Skye asked as we joined the pair. "Really?"

"It was that or Yuri," Boris chuckled. Still, his eyes did flash with a hint of annoyance, and Coulson gave Skye a look that she returned with an apologetic one. "My name is Boris Prokofiev, from the foreign consulate. And you, young lady?"

"Uh, Skye," she shook his hand. "I-Is my name, I mean. Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you or anything. Sometimes my mouth runs ahead of my brain."

Boris looked startled, then smiled. "Quite all right."

We all started introducing ourselves until Boris got to Creel and I. Then he let out a little gasp. "Ah, the Avengers! It is so nice to meet you, quite nice indeed!"

He shook my hand so hard I found myself wincing. "Uh, thanks. Nice to meet you as well."

"Same here?" Creel asked, giving me a look like 'the hell is he so happy about?'

"Oh, I really am so glad you are here!" Boris turned to the crowd and hit what I now realized was a mic on his lapel. When he spoke again, it was in Russian, my Omnitrix translating. It was helped by the fact that now "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome BRIDGE and the Avengers!" speakers rang out at the same time as his voice.

"Uh, what the hell?" Skye whispered to Coulson as the crowd clapped half-heartedly.

"...Propaganda," Coulson said with dawning realization.

"And look who is here to welcome them!" Boris held up a hand. Instinct led me to step forward, twisting at the Omnitrix, May to my left and Creel to my right as the sound of an electricity crackling and the smell of ozone filled the air.

"Is Thor coming?" Simmons asked.

"No," I said as we all stared at the sight of an absolutely massive white Armored Personnel Carrier with a giant red star on the side showing up, the back opening as it stopped. "It's not Thor."

We all watched as they stepped out.

A man in a red armored suit with a white star on it, carrying a grey triangular-shaped shield with a rounded top, the face of it displaying a two-headed griffon. I couldn't see his hair or eye color because he had a red mask covering his face much like Steve's, but what I could see of his jaw spoke of a certain strength. He was also built. Muscles on top of muscles. Just like Steve. Of course. He waved a hand proudly at the crowd as he exited, getting a cry of happiness from them.

Next came a young woman wearing what had to be one of the skimpiest outfits I'd ever seen, basically a very brief purple swimsuit, apparently unbothered by the cold. Her hair was a deep black, almost blue, and she was incredibly beautiful. Because of course, she was. She had a very haughty look on her face, flipping her hair as she followed the red-suited man.

The next person seemed as disgruntled with the cold as I was. Didn't stop me from whispering 'oh shit,' when he hopped out. He had slicked back black hair, piercing black eyes, and was also built. Not like the guy in red though. This guy was lithe, built for speed, not strength. And of course, he wore a vest of lion skin that had been sewn and dyed to look like a lion's face, including the glowing yellow eyes, with the lion's mane left as a collar and the center split open so that his hairy chest was kept bare. He eyed us smugly as he hopped down from the APC. When he noticed me, his eyes flickered in a way that made me feel very uncomfortable. Like I was a deer in front of a rifle.

Then a loud boom filled the air as the next person stepped out. Almost as tall and wide as the Hulkbuster, it was deep crimson with touches of steel, made of dozens of metal plates interlocking together. Its helmet was simple, just a single line of clear material in a T shape to see through over the eyes. It's shoulder plates were massive, same with its palms, and I could see small bursts of electricity arcing over its limbs, the cause of that ozone we'd smelled, as it clanked over to join its allies.

Darkness followed. I could talk about the golden armor he wore, with giant horns on the helmet and a skull over the chest that glowed red from the eyes and mouth with unholy light. But the darkness that wore the armor was my real focus. It looked like a darkly muscled giant as large as Hulk. But it felt like he was slowly sucking in the world around him. As though all light didn't exist in his presence. It felt hard to breathe near him. Like my very life was pulled into the direction of that beast. I touched the Omnitrix and breathed deeply, closing my eyes. For some reason, after a moment of that, I felt better.

When I opened my eyes again, darkness guy was smiling in my direction. So was lion skin guy. I glared at them. Red suit guy glared at Creel, while Creel crossed his massive arms beside me.

Behind the group of obvious superhumans, a big guy in a green Russian military uniform with blonde hair rushed out of the APC's driver's seat and ran over to join the group.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Boris said as the group walked over to stand across from us. "Please greet Vanguard!"

The red-suited guy waved his arm and got an eruption of noise.

"Crimson Dynamo!"

The massive armored man let out a burst of electric noise.

"Fantasma!"

The young woman flipped her hair and released a burst of purple sparks with the motion.

"The Hunter!"

Lion skin, who I was now pretty sure had the last name of Kravinoff, let out a cry that sounded half happy and half vicious roar.

"And Chernobog!"

The darkness raised his arms high. Against all odds, the affront to nature that pulled on my soul got a standing ovation.

"Your Winter Guard!"

"What the hell is this?" Creel mumbled behind me.

"Propaganda," Coulson said again. "Straighten your chests guys. We're fighting a very different battle."