Valor ↠ Prequel [0] ✓

08 | Earth's Mightiest Idiots

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VALOR
viii. EARTH'S MIGHTIEST IDIOTS

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  THE YEAR IS 2015, and finally, after all of these years, Riley O'Dair was at her limit.

  "Seriously, guys! Are we idiots!? Scratch that, are all of you idiots?"

  It's been a full year since the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D., thus bringing forth the reemergence of the terrorist organization HYDRA. With S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer overseeing all operations regarding the national guard, all the globe had left to depend on was the Avengers.

  Yes, the Earth's mightiest heroes had finally reassembled for the first time in three years to track down and eliminate what remained of HYDRA, using Tony Stark's resources to aid them. Their true mission, on top of this, was locating and seizing Loki's scepter—the very tool utilized during the Chitauri invasion of 2012. Their task was simple, but it was time-consuming. They had been searching for the scepter for months until their journey led them to Sokovia, a small country in Eastern Europe.

  From what they could gather, Loki's scepter was in the grasp of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, one of the notorious heads of HYDRA who had been using its energy to power advanced weaponry and even humans. Riley honestly couldn't believe they managed to leave Loki's scepter in HYDRA's grasp after S.H.I.E.L.D. was abolished. She understood that they had no way to protect that HYDRA would have taken it, but come on!

  "I know I talk about this all the time, but seriously! HYDRA's had Loki's magic wand for three freaking years! How did no one think, Hey, maybe we should keep a close eye on the scepter, especially now that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s over?" scolded the furious 14-year-old. "Are we Earth's mightiest heroes or are we Earth's mightiest idiots? 'Cause I can't tell the difference!"

  Don't get her wrong. Riley was ecstatic to be working with the whole team again. These past few months of bonding with the Avengers was a dream come true; however, the mission itself was taking way longer than she'd been anticipating.

  From beside Riley, Clint Barton shot his arrows and defended, "We're not that bad."

  Riley just scoffed. "I think someone needs to start babysitting you guys."

  Riley had a point, after all. Riley had been the one to ask endlessly about the scepter when S.H.I.E.L.D. went down, pointing out that they should really make sure that Fury or some other uncompromised agent was guarding it. Everyone had brushed her concerns off until they realized HYDRA had the scepter. Now, here they were in the middle of Europe looking for the damn thing.