Old Threats and New
Posted on Sun May 23rd, 2021 @ 8:16am by Level 1 Dominic Pierce
Mission:
The Factions
Location: Washington, DC
Timeline: Present
Dominic Pierce, Director of SHIELD, pushed his way through the crowd of reporters, congressmen, and senators as he exited the SCIF in the Capitol, loosening his tie a bit. He glanced over as a pretty young woman in a government issue black suit that flattered her figure hurried up to him. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and her blue eyes looked at him through small spectacles.
“How did it go, sir?”
“As well as can be expected, Jessica,” Pierce said, pulling off the tie. He handed it to the blonde, who deposited it into his pocket where it wouldn’t get lost. “Funding for another year.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?” Jessica asked.
“Do you think the world will be fixed in a year?” Pierce asked her. “I need to convince them for at least a five year budget, preferably ten.”
“The rest of the World Security Council nations will come through.”
“Yes. For another year. They follow the lead of the United States.”
They exited the Capitol building and headed down the steps. “Shall I call the car up?” Jessica asked.
“Yes, please.”
Jessica tapped on the tablet in her hands.
“There is one more thing, sir, that came up while you were in the SCIF.”
Pierce looked over at the young agent. Jessica handed him the tablet. “Another attack, sir.”
Pierce frowned and turned the tablet to watch the footage. “Who?”
“Orlando Gonzalez,” Jessica said. “He runs with Tres Reyes in Chicago.”
“Weren’t they absorbed by the Romans?”
“Likely, sir,” Jessica said. “With the Zajics removed, there was a power vacuum. La Dama Blanca has been seen there.”
“This isn’t her work,” Pierce said, looking at the hole in the chest of the man in the footage.
“No, sir. She’s been quiet since the Romans took over Chicago. And Orlando wouldn’t have known, anyway.”
Pierce arched an eyebrow at Jessica.
“Orlando Gonzalez only just got out of The Block this month. He was there for a home invasion gone wrong. Turned out it was a federal agent. He got ten years, but only did a nickel for good behavior.”
“A nickel, Jess?”
Jessica blushed. “Sorry, sir. Just trying to be...cool. Five years.”
“I know what it means. And we’re spies. We’re automatically cool,” he told Jessica with a smirk. “So what got him dead?” he asked, pulling up Gonzalez’s file. “And why do we care?”
“He’s a mutant, sir. That makes it our jurisdiction. And...well, there is the big hole in his chest, sir.”
“Yes, I saw that. Cauterized, too,” Pierce mused, reading the file.
“Orlando didn’t know he was a mutant until his mandatory medical tests before he went to prison. That’s why they sent him to The Block. He was classified as a Level 1.”
“Barely our jurisdiction,” Pierce noted. “Level Ones have no offensive dangerous superhuman abilities.”
“Right, sir. Orlando had enhanced reflexes and superhuman stamina. He was quick and he healed fast.”
“So basically a better class of thug.”
“Yes. But he behaved in The Block, and was out on parole. He was cited by his probation officer a few times for having contact with his old gang.”
“That’s enough to send him back,” Pierce said.
“But that’s not what got him killed. That was the attempted robbery.”
Pierce skimmed through the police report. “Possession of a firearm by a felon. Robbing a liquor store.”
“But the robbery was interrupted by what killed him.”
“Do we know what it was?’
“Witnesses said some man in armor crashed through the window and put that hole in his chest with some kind of staff that blasted energy.”
“Obviously it overwhelmed his healing ability,” Pierce noted.
“Took out his heart and lungs, sir. EVen with a healing ability, that’s hard to come back from.”
“Do me a favor anyway. Send a retrieval team for the body.”
“Sir?” Jessica looked at Pierce, who just raised an eyebrow. “Yes, sir.” She made a note on her phone.
“We got anything on the perp?”
“Witness statements were confused. It happened quickly. But we do have some grainy surveillance footage from the store.”
Jessica leaned in close to tap on the tablet. Dominic scented the lavender of her shampoo and shook his head in amazement before turning back to the video. He frowned and squinted. “That armor looks familiar,” he commented. “It’s hard to make out, though.”
“I’m having the techs clean it up,” Jessica said. “They said maybe an hour.”
Something on the tablet pinged an alert, and Dominic tapped the pop up to open a forensic file. “Report on the energy signature of the weapon,” he told Jessica, skimming over it.
Jessica felt Pierce stiffen. “What, sir?” she asked.
“This can’t be right,” he said. “That weapon is supposed to be in a SHIELD vault.”
Jessica leaned in again. This time Pierce didn’t take note of the soft curves pressed against him, too focused on the revelations on the tablet.
“That vault was one of the ones hit in the Hydra war,” Jessica said.
“What was the name of the federal agent Gonzalez killed?”
“Carl Denti, sir,” Jessica said from memory. “Formerly FBI, then with the Committee on Superhuman Affairs.”
“And we’re sure he’s dead?” Pierce asked.
Jessica blinked and looked at Pierce. “Um...that’s what his file says. Why?”
“Because that’s his armor and weapon. The X-Cutioner is killing mutants again.”
FIN
Dominic Pierce
Director of SHIELD
Agent Jessican Mayhew
Pierce’s personal assistant
