You were confident that the shadow on the next roof over wasn't a spotter. If they were, they would've camped in a spot with a better vantage point. But what you weren't confident in doing was exposing your back to someone with unknown motivations – even if they weren't carrying any weapons you could sense.
You should probably talk to whoever it is before you go in. Hell, they got here before you, maybe they know something you don't.
Still, no reason to be stupid about it.
**
Now while it would've been fun to jump straight across and do the superhero landing that wouldn't have exactly been stealthy. Plus, you might've gone straight through the roof. Some of these buildings looked really old and it wasn't as funny when it was happening to you.
So instead you decided to do the boring thing. Thank Thor these buildings had elevators. A quick use of your power was all it took to get them working again. Because seriously, walking up at least seven flights of stairs while wearing armour that weighted over a hundred kilos wasn't your idea of fun.
A couple of minutes later you found yourself in the final staircase that led up to the roof. Though instead of a door there was just an empty doorframe. Taking one last look over your shoulder to make sure you were alone, you disappeared from sight and stepped over the threshold.
The roof was pitch black, the closest light source being a streetlamp but you were now close enough that you could make out the beginnings of details for the shadow. As you moved closer, sneaking along cracked bricks and gravel those details become more pronounced.
Cocooned in a great, thick woollen blanket, the shadow was propped up against the water tower. Long brown hair cascaded down – her? You were pretty sure it was a her now – back. An empty water bottle and a half-eaten bag of peanuts rested at her feet. The piece of tech you sensed – a phone you could now see – was pointed at the building the robbers were currently occupying and recording.
A reporter? Maybe. Still, the last thing you wanted was to be seen on camera while taking down a bunch of Chitauri knockoffs.
The jammer activated with a thought.
"Hey, what gives?" She asked as her phone display tuned to static. She tapped the phone screen and shook it a couple of times. "What the hell?"
You should probably say something before she smashed it or something. "Don't worry it's not broken."
She whirled around, brown eyes wide. "Who's there?"
You reappeared in a shimmer. "I disabled it."
She froze. "Traveller?"
"In the metal." You tapped your chest and it clinked. You closed your eyes and resisted the urge to groan, why do you say things?
She narrowed her eyes. "Prove it."
Really? The invisibility and turning her phone into an expensive paperweight weren't enough? Guess you needed to do something a little more dramatic. You deliberately held your arm out in a guard. Fine then, lets do something a bit more iconic.
Blue covered your front. The most memorable image of you from the Invasion that you'd found was you projecting a full shield to protect a group of bystanders. Well there was also the one of you drop kicking a Chitauri off a chariot, but that one required a volunteer. Anyway, if this wasn't enough then nothing was.
She leaned forward, the glow of the shield reflecting in her eyes. "Oh my god. It is you." She gushed.
The shield disappeared. You see, that was the reaction you were expecting. Unlike the last time this happened. Goddamn Drumm. No, you weren't bitter that he did the wizard equivalent of telling you to get off his lawn. Not at all.
She reached her hand out and hesitated. "Can I touch your armour? Is that weird? I mean, it's not the one that you were wearing during the battle of New York but this one looks cooler and what's it made of is that silver–"
She took a deep breath and tucked a blond highlight behind her ear. The colour was probably was a specific shade but fuck if you knew what it was. "Okay chill. Sorry I mean you really are the Traveller, right? Because you keep changing your costume and if you're Tony Stark under there don't get me wrong that's awesome too but I really wanted to meet the Traveller and I didn't see him when I was at Stark Tower." She half giggled half squealed. "Right I should stop talking but oh my god this is so cool."
You blinked. "No, I'm not Tony."
"Oh wow, you call him Tony and you know the Avengers and you're an Avenger and you've met Thor is his biceps really that dreamy?"
You rubbed the back of your head. "Uh, no comment." You raised your finger before she could go off on another tangent. "Listen as fun as this is, I do have some questions to ask you."
She tried to school her face into a serious expression but failed. "Shoot."
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm recording."
"Recording what?"
She gave your obviously armed form a once over before raising an eyebrow. "I think you know what."
"The robbers armed with Chitauri tech." There was no point in denying it, if she had found this place then she knew at least as much as you did. "How did you find them?"
She grinned. "I'm great with computers." She brought up her phone and frowned at the static screen. "I hacked CCTV footage from some of their crime scenes and fed it into a script I wrote to recognise common car models and license plates found within a block across all crime scenes. I got two hits." She turned around and pointed at some cars you couldn't make out in this lighting a few metres down. "From there I was able to calculate their projected routes and triangulate their common return location within a seven-block radius. A couple of hours searching led me here and I've been watching it every night ever since." Her expression shifted into one much more serious then what you'd seen so far. "They went inside about an hour ago."
"Impressive." It also sounded very illegal but that was neither here or there. "How many?"
"Four."
So, two more then last time. They must have expanded their crew and called their supplier again to get their hands on some more Chitauri tech. Which equalled more people for you to question and more stuff for you to grab. You could work with that.
"Not bad." Your gaze landed on her phone. "And how long were you planning on staying up here?"
"As long as I had to." She grabbed a peanut out of the bag. "I came prepared."
"I can see that." She was determined you'd give her that. "So, you went through all this," you gestured at the surroundings. "Just for some video of guys going in and out of a building?"
She bit her lip. "Yep."
Right. "So, what were you planning on doing with that recording? Send it to the cops for the reward money?"
She shrugged. "Do you really care?"
Your lips pressed together in a thin line. "Enough to ask a second time, though probably not a third," you said.
She waved her phone in front of your face. "How about a trade? You fix my phone and I'll tell you what I'm going to do with the footage."
"Deal. As long as you put the phone down." After her nod you shut the jammer off. The hand wave wasn't strictly necessary but you were a dramatic person.
She checked her phone. "Oh, thank god it's all still here."
"So, what are you going to do with it?"
She put the phone away. "Reveal the truth."
"And what truth is that?"
"I'm sure you can figure it out." She teased.
You resisted the urge to slap your face. "You know, you're rather cocky for someone who was gushing just a minute ago."
She beamed. "I'm adapting."
"Yes, I suppose you are." You looked down at the hideout. This conversation was getting nowhere. You had gotten some useful information, that would have to be enough. "Look, as fun as this is has been, I came here to do something. So, mysterious stranger, it was nice to meet you–"
"Skye."
"What?"
"My name is Skye."
"Well Skye," you sounded out the name. It was a good name, not her real one of course, but it takes one to know one. "Like I said, it's been fun, but I've got a job to do."
"Wait!" She grabbed a hold of your arm, you almost jerked out of her grip but stopped yourself. You would probably break her hand. "I can help you." She whispered. "I can be your girl in the chair, help you track down bad guys–"
"Look, it's always flattering when a beautiful woman asks you for help but–" You looked past her to the hideout down below. "Shit! Get down." You quickly followed your own advice. Ducking and kicking your legs back, you pressed your back against the brick edge.
Of course, Skye was still holding your arm and ended up coming down with you. Though not as controlled.
"Hey," she hissed, rubbing the side of her head, her blanket now spilled out across the roof. "what was that for?"
"Stay down," was all you said as you peeked over the edge.
Four people stepped out of the building's threshold. You could make out a couple of boxes that weren't there last time before the door shut behind them. Your eyes narrowed on the weapons held in their arms, three held Chitauri rifles, the last guy had… something bigger.
Fuck! You waited too long.
You crouched back down.
"They're about to leave," you whispered to Skye. "Which one was their car again?"
"The van and the old pickup," she whispered back. What are you going to do?"
"Dunno yet, I'm thinking."
Your plan of taking them down stealthily was out. You had a minute at most before they got into their cars and drove away. Too long for you to go back downstairs and cross the distance in stealth mode.
There was no time to plan, but there never was, was there?
So then, what do you do?
[] Jump down and rush them. Those guns are heavy – you know that from experience. It'll take them a minute to line up the shots and within that time you can get right on top of them. It's risky, but their focus will be on you.
[] Snipe from above. You got some range, use it. Take out the car and then out any that you can. Of course, Skye probably won't appreciate being in the firing line.
[] Let them go. It galls you, but you missed your chance to take them quietly. Avoid any collateral damage and save the fight for another day.
[]Write in
Took an extra day to write but I'm pretty happy with this one.
You all know the drill, 2 hour moratorium.
I'll be checking the thread.
