"Hello Ms. Nina," a voice suddenly reached Nina's ears. She looked to find no one nearby.
"I am a virtual intelligence created by Astrid to assist you in your mission."
"Playing message…"
"Nina, I made this VI to help with any technical problems you might encounter. It will also monitor your health and report any medical changes to me. I need you to create daily video diaries to document any chance since the injections." Astrid's voice came and stopped as her message ended.
"Understood…" Nina whispered. "Do you have a name?" Nina asked.
"Negative" She crossed her arms thinking of a name for the VI.
"How about…V?" Nina thought of something short and easy.
"Registering name,"
Nina went back to the pilot seat and looked at the mission datapad. It didn't contain any real instructions. Just the objective to join one of the organizations to gather intel. It pretty much leaves everything else to her.
She looked at the window to see Earth. It was the first time she had seen Earth from outer space. She took a moment to marvel at the scene.
"V, give me a summary of current affairs."
"Acknowledged"
Nina started to read the information that V displayed.
"After the battle of New York, there have been a number of events happening. Most notably, during the invasion, a research lab incident occurred in the city. It resulted in five individuals gaining powers. This also caused diplomatic problems due to the fifth member of the research group being a royal subject from another country. There was a battle that occurred with the four individuals and the fifth member,"
"Cause?"
"Unknown. There are reports the suggest the fifth member, Victor von Doom, has psychological issues after the incident. They remine unproven. Continuing, the other members of the lab fought and beat Victor. They have been dubbed the Fantastic Four and operate in New York City, "
Nina looked at the monitors to see the location and look at the images of each member.
"And what happened to Victor?"
"He has been handed to the Kingdom of Latveria to prevent a diplomatic crisis,"
V continued to show more information about different groups.
"How is New York now?"
"The city has gone through a quick change. Most of the damage has been repaired. The new mayor is a man named Norman Osborn,"
"Osborn? As in the CEO of Osborn industries?"
"Correct, he's campaign focused on security and well being of the citizens. Currently, Spider-man seems to be under suspicion of murder."
The monitor changed to show information about a child who was killed. The child was last seen with Spider-man. Nina leaned back to process that information. She thought about the possibility of Spider-man killing a child. The likelihood of it being on purpose was extremely low. Perhaps an accident happened, and he left the scene? She decided to leave it alone and continued to look at the information.
"Any news on the Avengers?"
"Yes, but it is only on Ironman. It seems like he has challenged a terrorist who is responsible for a number of bombings around the U.S." A monitor to the right of Nina changed to show footage of the bombings and the attack on Tony Stark's home. "There is currently a battle occurring in Florida and Mr. Stark is currently there."
"That is a good opportunity to make an appearance," Nina got up from her seat and moved to the back of the ship. "V, go to his location and prepare for a low altitude stealth drop," Nina said as she walked to a tube-like structure. She entered and closed the door.
"Entering atmosphere," The ship began to slightly shake, and the heat built up around it. "Stealth systems engaged…drop in 3…2…1" Nina crossed her arms in an x and prepared herself.
The tube that Nina was in was used for tactical drops. Since the ship was pressurized, the tube could be used to drop an individual or object quickly because they would be propelled by the force of the ejection. Nina has had to practice this maneuver several times when she was training.
The floor below Nina suddenly opened quickly. Nina was sucked out of the ship and straight into the water. Her new suit absorbed all the damage as she entered the water. Nina's new suit gave her the ability of flight. All she had to do was think of it and the suit would fly to her will.
Nina launched from the water and continued with same speed. She reached the bay where a large fire could be seen. She also saw several of Ironman suits fighting. Nina scanned the area to location Tony Stark. A crane platform falling grabbed her attention and she saw a woman falling and Tony Stark desperately trying to grab her hand.
Nina flew towards the woman falling and caught her just before entering the fire just below them.
"Are you okay?" Nina asked as she ascended. The woman could not process what was happening. Nina concluded she was in shock. Nina landed in front of Tony Stark and knelt to gently give her the woman.
Tony desperately searched the woman to make sure she was okay. He kept on saying how he almost lost her and kissed her.
"Aw. Isn't that something." A voice caused Nina to turn around and stand guard.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Nina wanted to reply but stopped as she hasn't thought of a name yet. While she had alternate identities set up, she had not thought of a name to go by for her vigilante activities.
"Can you take her to safety?" Nina asked Stark. Never breaking eye contact with the man in front of her.
"Yes," He responded, "C'mon we're gonna miss the bus," He said and jumped off the platform with woman. Tony was grabbed by another suit that assisted in slowing them down as they fell.
"Whoever you are…it won't matter anyhow," He charged forward to attack.
He swung with a right hook. Nina easily dodged and countered with a punch to the ribs. The man's expression was of pain when he felt a number of his ribs cracked from the punch. He sneered and controlled his temperature to heal his injury. His chest began to glow brighter and traveled to the broken ribs.
Nina took several steps back to monitor his behavior.
'V?' she asked.
'It appears that he has some sort of healing factor. His heat signature has increased as well. Facial recognition, results label him as Aldrich Killian'
Killian moved forward with a fierce glare and attempted to attack again. This time, he was more careful. He swung but Nina dodged. As Nina countered, Killian dodged and lunged forward to grab Nina's arms. He smirked thinking he won. His hands started to glow and increased in temperature. Nina's armor glowed faintly.
"Any last words?" His question was answered by a headbutt. The force was enough to make him loosen his grip. Nina got free and kicked Killian on his stomach launching him to the end of the platform denting the guard rails.
The platform they were both on suddenly became unstable. A large explosion on the ground was the cause.
Nina grabbed the guard rail to stabilize herself before leaping over. Nina landed on the ground and looked at the crane platform as it fell creating another small explosion.
"Nice superhero landing, so…what do I call you?" Nina looked to see Tony back in a green looking suit.
"Ivy" Nina said quickly.
"Ivy?" Tony questioned. They were interrupted when a bunch of Killian's henchmen circled them.
Nina figured this would be a good time to show her powers. She lifted her hands slowly upwards and closed her eyes to concentrate. She focused on the weeds growing at the dock. Freakishly large seaweed grew furiously. The ground shook slightly as they burst upwards. They grabbed nearby henchman and enveloped them. They returned back to the ocean with their captured prey.
"Ivy. I like it. Short and easy to remember. It fits," Tony said as he shook his head in approval.
"Thanks" Clapping interrupted them as they turned to look at the source of the noise.
"Well, look at this. I know when I'm beat. Guess you have to turn me in huh," Killian said as he raised his hands up and continued to walk towards them.
"Tony, are you not allowed to kill him?" Nina asked.
"Eh…It's a bit of a grey area. I mean, if we both get our stories straight…I'm sure it'll be alright"
"Good,"
Nina readied herself and touched her ring twice. Two large daggers appeared in Nina's hands. She gripped them firmly and launched forward. Tony flew upwards and got ready to support. Nina closed the gap quickly and swung with her left dagger. Killian half stepped backwards to dodge but was met with a dagger to the stomach. Nina's attack was a textbook move when she was training. Faint left, attack right.
She stepped backwards and made space between them. She saw as the wound started to heal and close up the wound. Killian roared as he suddenly started to glow brighter and with his mouth opened launched fire from his mouth. Nina got hit but it did nothing to her suit. She lowered her body and launched herself forward and made two swings. She stopped behind him to look.
Killian groaned in pain as his right arm and right leg were cut cleanly off.
"Holy crap, he can breathe fire." Tony said as he hovered above.
Nina continued to study her enemy. Killian hissed from the pain has his limbs slowly started to grow back.
"That's interesting," Nina said. She wondered what limits he had.
"Yeah…Alright time's up. Let's turn it up" Tony said and launched multiple different weapons from his suits aimed at Killian. All the projectiles converged and created a large explosion.
Nina stood still while Tony hovered above. Tony was slightly moved backwards from the shockwave while Nina remained in place.
"Alright, so let's talk story. I'm thinking I saved the day and you helped a little bit" Tony said and landed at the ground. He began to walk to Nina but stopped when he noticed that Nina was still looking at the fiery smoke.
Nina lowered her body and got into a sprinter's position. She dug in and prepared to launch. Killian suddenly came out blacken and still recovering from the wounds. Nina launched quickly. Her sudden launch created a shockwave near Tony which caused him to be knocked backwards. Tony's thrusters activated behind his back to stop him from hitting the ground. When Tony got up, he saw a round object rolling near him. Tony stepped backwards when he noticed it was the severed head of Killian. The last expression of Killian was of shock.
"I was thinking more like, I saved the day and you helped a little bit" Nina smiled as she returned his banter.
"uh…Yeah…let's go with that"
"Tony!" a woman called out to him. I took it as cue to let them have some space.
Nina scanned the area to see if there were more henchmen, but it seemed like they were either dead or unconscious. Sirens could be heard of in the distance as police and firefighters were making their way here. Several explosions above Nina started occurring. It startled her but when she saw Tony's expression it looked like it was done on purpose.
Nina noticed that there were some camera crews recording the scenes and some of them were pointed at them. This would be the more opportune time to get some exposure without making it seem like it.
"Tony" Nina walked up to the couple. "I have to go. Don't really want to expose myself too much. You got it from here right?"
"Yeah, thanks for the save," Tony responded and extended his hand to her. Nina shook his hand and took off. Tony truly was grateful that Nina had saved Pepper Potts. Nina was sure some pictures or videos were taken when they shook hands. This would make it a bit easier to transition into the Avengers team. At a minimum, it would increase her likelihood of being invited.
Nina traveled in stealth and reached New York city after several minutes. She stopped near a ridge overlooking the city. She deactivated her stealth and sat down letting her legs hang over.
'V, do we have any access to money or resources?' Nina asked. She relaxed her helmet and allowed the breeze to hit her skin.
'We have several resources allocated for this mission,' V displayed information on Nina's forearm. Several small screens displayed allowing Nina to look at the information.
There were several shadow companies still managed by Astrid. Lydia's hospital and her estate are now abandoned but several other companies were still opened. The amount of money allocated to Nina was immense. She had not seen that many zero's before.
Nina stopped looking at the screens and leaned back to look up at the sky. It was dark and the stars could be seen faintly. She closed her eyes to think of what steps she needs to take.
First thing first was to fix her personality, she thought. She knew she was different because of her training. She needed to be more open with her emotions. While they prevented her powers from going out of control, all the internalization of her emotions had a big impact to her personality. She needed to let go. Not all at once, but little by little. She took Tony Stark as an example. Extremely extroverted, talkative, and uses banter to ease stressful situation. The last part was probably a defense mechanism.
Second was to plan her life. Would she just be a full-time hero or try to juggle having a personal life with a superhero life? Astrid had suggested she try to have some personal time to help with coping being alone. Nina remembered Astrid's words were that while she was a mutant, she was also still a human. And being a human meant dealing with raw emotions that sometimes aren't logical. It confused Nina more. Maybe Astrid meant it more as an order than a suggestion.
Third was to plan her infiltration. She had gotten some good points by helping Tony but still needed more. She needed to get more of SHIELD's attention or the Avenger's. Nina pondered for a few minutes before asking V a question.
'V, how much data do we have on Hydra?'
'Searching…We have financial records, possible base locations, and some research data.'
"Would it be suspicious if we shared it" she thought out loud.
'Certainly, the information is sensitive in nature. Considering that everyone believes that HYDRA is nonexistent'
'So, it needs to be something we find on our own' She pondered. HYDRA was known for experimenting on people and deep undercover assets. Kidnappings or missing persons would be a good start. Homeless or individuals with no family members would be the best to target.
"Let's take it one step at a time. Can you get two safehouses and one residence in the city?" she asked out loud. Nina removed her helmet to feel the air.
'Certainly, do you have a preference in location?'
"Try to get one north and one south for the safehouses. For the residence, it can be anywhere central."
'Understood,'
"Follow the necessary protocols for the safehouses. I'll handle the residence actually." Nina stood up and stared at the city. This will be her new home now. She should get accustom to living here. She grasped the helmet with her hands and paused to look at it before placing it back on her head.
With a determined look, she takes off and flies to the city. She landed in stealth in a dark alley. Her suit retracted to her tattoo on her left shoulder. She walked around the city wearing a black shirt and pants she had on before she was sent here. It was technically PT gear, but it would pass for normal clothing.
Nina continued to look around the city until V notified her that she was now able to go to her apartment. V had ordered all the necessary items as well. She scanned the items and added a few extra things.
As Nina walked through the streets, she noticed movement above her. She recognized the costume. Spider-Man, she remembered when he introduced himself. Something bothered her as she continued to look at her. Some of the people looked at Nina as they passed her. She was essentially blocking a section of the walking path.
Nina decided to walk into an alley and interact with him. She thought that maybe if she interacted with him, Spider-Man could be used as another steppingstone to increase her reputation. Once she was out of view from everyone else, she activated her suit and flew upwards. She watched as Spider-Man just kept swinging in no real direction. Almost going in circles. She kept watching because she noticed his body language seemed stressed. She followed until he finally landed on top of a building's roof. She lowered herself to land.
Now that she was closer, she could see that his suit had been damaged. Multiple rips and wounds that look like bullets grazed him. Spider-Man stood still. Nina approached cautiously. She didn't know much about him so proceeding with caution was the best course of action. She got closer but he still did not notice her. She pondered what to say.
"You okay?" was all she could come up with. Spider-Man jump to the side due to the shock. She couldn't see his expression but knew he was shocked.
"Who are you?" he asked. Peter was shocked that someone snuck up on him. His spider sense didn't even warn him.
"Ivy…and you're Spider-Man, right?"
"What gave it away?" Nina raised her eyebrow. Peter couldn't see it, but it surprised her. The attitude in which he said that was a surprise.
"Sorry…I'll leave," Nina took the hint. Maybe it was a mistake to rush into this.
"No-wait…I'm sorry" Peter sighed as he leaned against a vent. "It's been a long day,"
Nina stayed quiet as she looked at him. He seemed depressed. She remembers that he was being framed for something according to what V had reported.
"Is it about the other Spider-Man?" she asked. Nina walked closer but kept her distance. Peter continued to lean on the vent but dropped to sit on the floor. Nina was surprised he would leave so many openings for attacks. If she were an enemy, he would have died right now.
"You're not from here are you?" Peter questioned her.
"New to the town. Thought you could give me a tour" Nina responded quickly.
"Yeah…well…I'm a little worn out. Maybe next time?"
"Sure…" Nina turned to leave but she took another glance at him. She sighed as she saw the state he was in. "You're hurt."
"Uh?" Peter looked at himself and saw several scratches on himself.
"What happened?" Nina asked as she walked close to him. Crouching down to look at the wounds.
"I got setup…again" Peter said. He moved his eyes to look at the person in front of him. Nina's suit hugged her body tightly.
"Who shot at you?"
"Police officers and some pretending to be police officers," Peter got up and tried to distance himself from her. "I'll be okay"
"I can help you" Peter looked at her and shook his head. He didn't know her, and he didn't want to have another death in his hands.
"Thanks, but I'm not looking for a side-kick right now. I'm more of a solo guy," Peter said in a joking manner.
"Isn't going solo what got you into this mess?" Nina returned the banter.
"Listen, there's nothing I can do anyways. I can't touch Fisk. Going after him now will only make it worse," Peter vented.
Fisk? Nina thought. V immediately gave Nina a short sentence about him. He was apparently a crime lord, but it was never proven.
"Want to fill me in? Maybe I can help?" Nina suggested again. Peter looked hesitant. Just one more push, Nina thought.
"Fine," Nina turned to leave before Peter asked her to stop. Internally, Nina smiled. Textbook manipulation. Works every time.
Peter sat down again, and Nina sat next to him. She couldn't help but notice when he scooted over to make space between them. Peter then began to pour everything that has happened. He got a person who was helping him with the fake Spider-Man case killed. He mentioned a girl that goes by the name of Echo. He had concluded that she was the adopted daughter of Fisk. She apparently blamed him for the death of her father. Peter also mentioned the bombing incident. How he was played yet again.
"What else happened?" Nina asked as she tugged her knees in and wrapped them with her hands. She turned to look at Spider-Man but found him staring at her. She laughed internally.
"…" Peter caught himself staring and looked at the ground.
'C'mon Parker! Get it together' He thought.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"That couldn't have been all that made you be in this sorry state" Nina's words hurt like a dagger to Peter, but she was right. He was silent before speaking again.
"My girlfriend broke up with me just a few minutes ago and I got fired from my job"
"Yup, that'll do it" Nina turned her head to look at the sky. She tried to rationalize helping Spider-Man. Will it be worth it for her to get involved now?
"I have a couple of ideas" Nina spoke.
"Oh yeah? Let's hear it," Peter responded.
"Well, that officer told you not to get involved so…how about I just kill him and get it over with?" Peter's silence was Nina's answer. "Kidding" she added laughing.
"Do you think you could get information on who actually killed that girl's father?" she asked seriously.
"I…I think so. Why?"
"Well that would solve the issue of this girl coming after you. We could also get her to help us. If she's the adopted daughter of Fisk, then she might have some dirt on him to ruin his political image, it will help in the long run. She should know other secrets he might be hiding." Nina paused to think. Fisk more than likely was the killer or at some capacity gave the order.
"But I can't get involved with him."
"Why? Just because a police officer told you? If a police officer told you to not save people from a burning building, would you listen?"
"No but that's different"
"Is it?"
Peter thought about her words. She was right. But he was torn on betraying Yuri, the police officer who has been assisting him.
"If you're that torn up about it, we could do it differently. If we manage to ruin his image, we will still need evidence to turn everyone against him and give the police enough ammo to arrest him" Nina hummed as she thought on how to accomplish that. Information, Nina thought. She would need dirt on him. And if Nina's training taught her anything, it was that everyone had dirt. It was just a matter of finding it.
"You're making this sound easy"
"Isn't it?"
"No, I've been going after him for years. I've never come close to putting him behind bars. He always finds an escape or paid someone off"
"He won't get away if we get that evidence. Do you have access to police records?"
"No and even if I did, we just met. I can't give you access to the NYPD's database" Nina stopped listening after he said no. She had asked V if it was able to get access. V responded a few seconds later with access to the database.
"I'm in. What's her name?"
"Wha-Wait you can't just hack into their servers. That's illegal," Nina turned to look at him and slightly tilted her head. If she didn't have her helmet, she would be giving him an 'are you serious' look. Somehow that message was received by him.
"Maya Lopez" Upon hearing that, V began to search through the records.
"Got it," Nina looked at the information V displayed. Just like she thought, it was Fisk who was responsible.
"Seriously!?" Peter stood up and look at her.
"Let's go," Nina stood up and walked to the edge of the building.
"Wait wait wait" He said rapidly. "We can't just show up out of the blue."
"Why not?"
"She's going to attack us. Mainly me. She still thinks I killed her father!"
"So? Let's just knock her out and give her the evidence once she comes to"
"…No…plus that'll ruin any possibility of her trusting us." Peter couldn't tell if she was serious or not.
"Us huh?" Nina laughed as he stumbled on his words.
"Just…Can you just let me handle that part?"
"…fine"
"uh…Do you need a lift?" he asked. Nina just active her flight capabilities and hovered slightly.
"Whoa cool suit"
"Thanks, I'll follow" Nina responded.
Nina followed closely as Spider-Man traveled through the city. Using the webs as means for travel was interesting. Nina watched as she studied his movements. He was definitely agile. Some of the maneuvers he pulled off would have destroyed a normal person's muscles.
When they arrived, they found the apartment empty. Spider-Man wrote a note and webbed it to a wall. The note essentially asked her to meet her on the roof with some banter thrown in. Nina wondered if banter was a typical trait to have or a coping mechanism for vigilantes. They waited on the roof for her to show up.
"So…" Peter tried to break the silence. They must have been here for a couple of minutes before he had to say something. Nina just leaned against a wall with her arms crossed.
"Where are you from?"
"Can't really say. I've been hopping from place to place." Nina responded quickly.
"Who are you? Are you an Avenger? What's with the suit? Did you design it? What else can it do?" Spider-Man got closer to Nina as he was looking at the suit.
"Do you always ask so many questions?" asked Nina. She had become a bit inpatient with him.
"Well isn't that a normal thing to do? I just met you. So, are you like the second Iron-Man…I mean Iron-Woman?" The door leading to the roof suddenly opened.
"Thank god…" Nina whispered. She stood in the same spot since Spider-Man had told her he would handle this. It was fine with her as long as it got done. This would also be a great opportunity to see how he fights.
Nina had to shut her eyes after watching Spider-Man 'handle' the situation. The girl just kept attacking and he would either take it or dodge. Nina noticed how he had lifted his mask to uncover his mouth. It seems like the girl was able to lip read. He had finally disarmed her and webbed her spear to the wall.
They seemed like they could continue fighting for a while. Nina sighed and decided to sit down. The girl eyed her cautiously making sure that she would be ready in case Nina attacked.
"You're doing great Spider-Man. You almost have her," Nina spoke in a sarcastic tone.
"You're not…helping" he responded as he twisted and jumped to dodge the girl's attack.
"I remember you saying to let you handle it." Nina smirked internally.
"Oh, I bet that hurt" Nina said as she saw Spider-Man get propelled backwards from a kick.
"Okay…" Spider-Man grunted from the pain. "A little assistance would be great" He struggled to get up from his injuries. He would have been fine normally, but after sustaining so many injuries, he had reached his limit.
Nina unfolded her hands and walked towards the girl. Nina's walk was menacing. As Nina got closer, she increased her pace.
Echo looked for the spear but saw it still webbed and too far away from her. She prepared her stance to get ready.
Nina got close and threw a right hook. Echo's mistake was to try and block it. Nina's hook almost shattered Echo's bones. Echo yelled in pain. She was still standing, and Nina took advantage of this. Nina threw a devastating kick to her stomach launching her towards the wall. Just before she hit the wall, Spider-Man webbed her to slow her down.
"What are you doing?" he asked angrily.
"Handling it,"
Nina walked menacingly again towards her. Echo desperately tried to breathe. That kick had made her spit some saliva out. She had trouble breathing. Echo's left arm was completely numb. She crawled to the wall trying to get up but couldn't. For the first time in a long time, Echo was genuinely scared for her life.
"Stop!" Spider-Man got in between Echo and Nina. "That's not how we handle things. Look at her" He raised his voice.
"She looks ready to talk to me," Nina said with no remorse. Spider-Man looked at Echo and saw she moved behind Spider-Man. Echo looked extremely frighten of Nina.