Forged In Hellfire

Part 3(Ch2)

   The transport team retrieves General Talbot and Director Mason and brings them aboard Zephyr One. Simmons has them placed in a containment cube and adjusts the temperature to slowly increase in hopes of thawing them out with little cellular damage.
   “So, what was the point of all of that?” Questions Quake as she goes over the security footage with Fitz.
  “She could have easily got into the registry from any computer in the building.” He says confused. “What was on the computer in Talbot’s office that was so important?”

  Simmons asks Emilie to check on General Talbot and Director Mason. She unlocks the door and walks into the cold cube. The men were thawing but the temperature was still only at 38 degrees. The two men were standing stiff. The outer layer of ice had thawed but their muscles were still firmly frozen.
  “Looks like everything is stabilizing.” Says Emilie checking their vitals. “Are you okay?” She asks the Director. “Blink once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’.”
  He blinks once and Emilie smiles. She walks over to the General and asks the same question. He blinks twice as hard as he could manage. She smiles at him sensing his sarcasm.
  “Of course, you’re not.” She says sarcastically.

  “Where is she going?” Questions Robbie while watching Lorelei’s movements on screen with Coulson and Sif.
  “Is there anything important that Shield has in that direction?” Asks Sif.
  “No, not that I’m aware.” Says Coulson.
  “We’ll catch up to her soon, wherever she’s headed.” Points out Sif.

  About an hour later Robbie catches Emilie in the kitchen area and kisses her cheek.
  “How’s it going?” She asks.
  “Coulson’s waiting for the Director and General to finish thawing out.”
  “Shouldn’t be long now. I was just getting ready to bring them some soup and tea.” She says. They head towards the containment cube where Coulson and Mae are already speaking to the two men.
  “Are you saying I would jeopardize national security?” Asks the General.
  “I’m not saying you did it willingly. But she left out of that building, without ever touching a computer, with the information she needed.”
  Emilie places the tray she brought of tea and soup on the table inside the cube. She hands a cup of tea to Director Mason. He thanks her before taking a sip and readjusting the blanket on his shoulders.
  “From what we could see from the security cam footage, the Director was frozen just before the light flashed inside the room.”
  “This is ridiculous.” Says the General.
  Mae pulls out a tablet with the heading of Lorelei. The General scoffs.
  “What?” Asks Mae.
  “She’s heading to Jersey…”
  “What’s in Jersey?” Asks Mae.
  “We set up a lab after the Battle of New York. It’s where we examine the alien artifacts that were left behind.”
  “What kind of artifacts?” Questions Coulson.
  “Weapons, armor, bodies…”
  “Bodies?”
  “We were able to recover a few of the Chitauri bodies that were minimally damaged for research.”
  “When you say minimally damaged...?” Inquired Mae.
  “He means they were barely alive.” Said Colson with intense disappointment.
  “What? How much did you think we were going to learn from dead alien bodies?” Talbot was arrogant in his questioning. His only concern was having the upper hand in the event of another attack. “They’re in a stasis if it makes you feel any better.”
  “Yea, that makes me feel a lot better.” Said Coulson sarcastically.
  “Have a little more faith in the organization, Coulson.”
   “It’s not the organization that I don’t trust.”
  “Alright, alright.” Interrupted Mae. “We don’t have time for this.”
  “I need the location of that facility NOW.” Said Coulson, before storming out.
  Everyone leaves the cube except for Emilie and the Director who is still feeling cold from thawing out. The General gives them the coordinates and they head in that direction, hoping to beat Lorelei there.

  “What do you think she’s after?” Asks Mae.
  “It could be any number of things.” Mentions Sif.
  “Is there anything in particular that you guy we researching? Something you were devoting most of your manpower to?” Asks Coulson.
  “No. There is minimal manning, no more than maybe 50-60 people.” Informs Talbot.
  “The Chitauri were complex beings. When they are young their bodies are enhanced with cybernetics and are started on a chemical stimulant to boost their physical capabilities…” Tells Sif.
  “We have been researching their chemical stimulant in the labs.” Confirms Talbot.
  “The Consumir is taking a lot of energy from her. She may be interested in that formula.”
  “Then we’ll set up our strongest defense there with you and Robbie. The rest of the team will hang close enough to assist, but I don’t want anyone engaging unless they have a definite chance of taking her out.”
  “Emilie, Quake. I want the two of you to stay on Zephyr-One. Lorelei may be getting weak from using the stone but she’s still going to be a handful.”
  “Then we should be there too.” Quake steps up insistently.
  “No.” Coulson was firm. “We have Robbie and Sif. They can handle more of a beating than the two of you right now.”
  “I’m going too.” Said Director Mason.
  “You sure your up for it?” Asks Coulson.
  “I’m a little stiff in the joints, but I’ll manage.”
  Coulson nods. “Emilie, Quake, you’re with Simmons. The rest of you get ready.”
  “Careful.” Says Emilie, grabbing Robbie by the arm as he prepares to leave with the ground team.
  “You know I’ll be fine.”
  “I’ve lost you once before…”
  “I’ll be fine. I have my guardian angel watching over me.” He gives her a reassuring grin and kisses her before joining the team.

  There was no sign of Lorelei when the team arrived. The facility was evacuated with only SHIELD tactical reinforcements on site. Simmons took a look at the tracker they were using to trace Lorelei’s movements.
  “It looks like she’ll be arriving in the next 5 minutes. That doesn’t give you guys a lot of time.” She states.
  The teams split up. Robbie and Sif head towards the lab where the Chitauri stimulant was being researched. Mae and Director Mason head towards the weapons lab, and Coulson goes with general Talbot and Fitz to the security office to start the lockdown procedures once she arrives in hopes of containing her within the building.
  “We’re online. We have access to all the facility cameras.” Confirms Quake.
  “Just in time. It looks like she’s arrived.” Informs Simmons watching Lorelei appear on the roof cam of the building.
  “She doesn’t look too good.” Points out Emilie.
  “That’s reassuring.” Radios Sif.
Lorelei was met with the small tactical unit when she entered the building. The team wasn’t sure if she was feeling generous or if in her weakened state she didn’t want to over stress her body but instead of killing or teleporting the men to another location she froze them, much like she did Talbot and the Director. She stopped at the security desk and continued into the elevator.
  “Guys it looks like she’s heading to the second floor.” Quake radios.
  Fitz shuts down the elevator mid ascension. Lorelei looks around and finds the camera. She smiles before smashing it. Fitz notices blank feed coming from one of the cameras and tries to access the footage.
  “What area does this camera surveil?” He asks.
  Talbot looks at the location. “That area doesn’t have surveillance yet, it’s under construction.”
  “So why set up a security cam if there’s nothing there?”
  “It was installed when the rest of the camera’s were installed.” Talbot assured him. Fitz wasn’t convinced with the General’s answer. He gave Coulson a discrete look of concern and continued trying to lockdown parts if the facility to direct Lorelei in the direction they wanted her to go in.
  “She’s heading towards you and the Director, Mae.” Radios Coulson.
  “Like a rat in a maze…” Says Talbot.
  “Simmons, you guys keep watch on the security feed once Fitz locks down the facility we’re going after her to take her down.”
  “Sure thing.” Simmons looks at her monitor as the screen flickers. She taps the computer a couple of times to get it to stop.
  “What?” Asks Quake.
  “I don’t know, my monitor keeps glitching…” She watches for a moment and it finally hits her. “Wait a minute…it’s a message.” Simmons clicks over to a different radio frequency. “Hello?”
  “Thank God, Jemma.” Whispers Fitz.
  “Clever sending an S.O.S through Morse code. What’s wrong, why did you need me to change frequencies?”
  “There’s a camera registered CL-240. I need you to find out where the feed is coming from. I think Talbot is hiding something else here.”
  “I’ll get right on it.”
  While Quake and Emilie monitor the camera feed Simmons tries to trace the location of the camera footage of CL-240.
  “That man is definitely hiding something.” Simmons pulls up the blueprints of the facility and construction permits. “The location of this camera isn’t on any of the blueprints and there isn’t any new construction taking place in that building either.”

  Lorelei climbed out of the elevator into the shaft and up to the 2nd floor door which she pried open. Mae and Director Mason were there waiting for her.
  “Looks like that stone is taking a lot out of you.” Points out Mae.
  “It will be worth it in the end.” Smirks Lorelei.