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Kelley was tired.She supposed that being kidnapped, tortured, developing a super persona, fighting her old mentor and revealing her super persona to the world might have that effect on people. But as Iron Woman, she still expected a little more from herself. She craned her neck, and opened the door to her Malibu mansion. “Sully?”
“Welcome Home Miss O’Hara.”
She paused in the doorway for a second, surprised at the figure that hid in the shadows, overlooking her billion-dollar ocean view. “Can I help you?”The figure stepped forward, but not enough to come into the light. “I am Iron Woman?”The intruder repeated the same phrase that Kelley had used in the earlier press briefing to just enough derision that Kelley can tell she was unimpressed. “I’m not good at keeping secrets.”"Clearly."Kelley shrugged, slightly unnerved at this woman who had come into her home and talk down to her. Not that she was going to let this criminal know her unease. Was this figure a threat? Only time would tell.One thing was for certain, Kelley was going to take a look at the specs for her security system right away. She might even have to re-wire the whole building. Though Nikki would probably be annoyed at having to come to work in a construction site and would most assuredly get Sam to try to bully her. But at least Gunny would be excited at the new project, she had been itching to update security protocols for the longest time.“You think you’re the only superhero in the world?” The woman scoffed like it was the most preposterous thing in the world.Kelley frowned at that. “I don’t see anyone beating down my door, so yeah. I do.”“Well you’re not. You’ve become part of a bigger world, you just don’t know it yet.”“Cool, cool, cool. I'll keep that in mind. But one quick question, who the hell are you?”The woman finally stepped forward into the light. Clad in black with a dark eye patch covering her left eye, she looked fairly imposing. Still, with the tech Kelley had developed and the arc reactor in her chest she was pretty sure she could take her. “Carli Lloyd. Director of SHIELD.”“Oh.”“I’m here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative.”
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Days without Incident: 21
Christen rode her bike up the winding path to her secluded cabin. She wasn’t going to be able to stay now, but maybe some part of her could finally be at peace. It had taken some searching, especially since she wasn’t about to reveal her location in the Swedish countryside, but she had finally found it.Her lungs itched and she tried to keep her breathing even as she finished the rest of the journey. Discarding her bike delicately (even if she was never going to use it again, she still took pride in her things), she made her way to the desk that overlooked the mountain scenery.Glancing at the box she felt her pulse spike and took a deep breath, trying to quell her anxiety. It wasn’t enough, and though she knew the million things she was going to have to do any minute she needed to stay calm.Otherwise, she would lose control.Taking the time to boil herself some herbal tea, she tried to clear her mind of all things related to gamma radiation, Vero, and the other girl that might be dropping in if Christen wasn’t careful. She poured herself a cup and finally looked at the small rectangular package that had been left at the post office for her pseudonym.She knew exactly what this was. With a small sigh, she opened the box and pulls out the small locket that she had once given to Vero. The locket that Vero had willingly sacrificed for her deserved to be back in the better woman’s hands in one final attempt to say goodbye.Because Vero didn’t belong with her anymore.She moved quickly, not allowing herself to think too much about that before transferring the locket to an envelope and writing Vero’s name on it. She knew Vero would get it.In one pitiful attempt at normalcy, she sat down on the yoga mat in the corner and tries to meditate.
Days without Incident: 0
General Sunil Gulati signaled the bartender to pour him another and took a long drag from his cigar. He wasn’t wallowing. No, he was pausing for a moment before he calculated his next move against the bane of his existence. Christen Press
Suddenly, the door to the dive bar opened and a figure stepped in from the blinding sunlight. “Wow. The smell of stale beer and crippling defeat. You know general I hate to say I told you so, but that super soldier program was put on ice in the forties for a reason. I personally feel that hardware is much more reliable.”
“O’Hara. I don’t remember seeing any press or tabloids here.”
“No. I was summoned by your utter incompetence. How are you, General?”
“Do you always wear such nice suits?”
“No. Sometimes I wear jeans. It’s a personal choice, you know? It depends on the day, my mood, there are a lot of factors.”
General Gulati scoffed and nursed his drink. “Well either get a drink or get to the point Kelley.”
“I hear you have an unusual problem.”
“You should talk.” The general scoffed.
“You should listen.”
“Whatever.”
“What if I told you were were putting a team together? I may be able to solve your little problem by bringing her into the fold.”
Sunil squinted his eyes, leaning forward suddenly interested. “Who is we?”
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Heather O'Reilly didn’t have much time for this. She had already been babysitting Kelley O’Hara this week and the billionaire inventor and self-proclaimed hero had burned through her patience pretty quickly. But when Director Lloyd told her what was going on in the Arizona desert, she didn’t have a lot of choice. Containment was going to be critical and HAO wasn’t one to let other people screw up something this important.Finally, after what felt like years, she arrived at the site and pulled up just at the edge of the newly formed crater. Local residents, curious about this new crater had come out and had already started investigating. But one glance at the center of the crater told HAO everything she needed to know.They’d be taking over this site immediately and she was going to have to work on a cover story.Dialing the number for the Director. “Ma’am. I’ve found it.”Because right in the center of the crater was the iron hammer that fell from the sky.