Havoc and Retribution

Grey, Fade to Black

"The Asgardians are taking care of flushing out the last of Hel's army," Thor reports to them.

The six Avengers plus Loki are slouched around the table in the Avenger's Tower. Bruce is wrapped in blankets, shivering in shredded clothes. When Hel hit a homer with the Hulk, the big brute was so shocked that he let Bruce back in control for the skydive to the concrete below. Luckily Thor was fast enough to scoop him up after he grabbed Tony. Neither one of them wants to talk to Thor about being carried under the sweaty Thunder god's armpits back to the tower through the melee of Hel's army fighting the Asgardian soldiers.

Loki's leg is bandaged, the white gauze a pink color near his hip. His is the only truly bloody injury of the lot; everyone else is nursing bruises and minor fractures. Steve's cheek has a very telltale nick on it, a testament to how strong Hel is, that she can push Captain America's shield far enough down to draw blood. Steve cannot get her smirking, snarling face out of his head, Hel's eyes in Jay's face. Clint and Natasha are a bit bruised here and there but otherwise unscathed. Neither of them wants to admit it, but it is mostly because of Loki drawing Hel's ire that they are still standing. Neither could see anything left of Jay in there to reign Hel back and remembering Dorany, every one of them understands how fortunate they are to just be alive.

"I'm glad you have the bastard goddess locked up," comes Director Fury's voice from the holoprojection on the wall, "But Bradlich is coming for her and he has some serious firepower on his side."

"How did he even get out in the first place?" Tony asks, sloshing the ice cubes in his drink around and then putting the glass to the side of his head.

"Unknown," Fury says. "Regardless, you need to keep your eyes open at all times. Somehow, he got himself enhanced and he has lost his marbles. All over the floor. That man is not sane."

"Did he re-access Warren Biochemical?" the Widow asks, arms folded, perched on the edge of the couch next to Clint. "We sealed it off months ago but is it possible that there were other secret facilities?"

"Not every villain has secret lairs, you know," Loki slurs. He is healing himself with magic slowly, tired from the battle with Hel and it is making him slightly loopy.

Natasha gives him a look cold enough to freeze any man's cajones off. He shrugs. "Prison is as good a place as any to plot."

"I hate to say it, but Loki has a point," Steve says. Loki flutters his eyelashes and puts a hand to his chest in mock flattery. Steve tries to ignore him. Hel's jibe may have cut deeper than he let on in the heat of battle. "Bradlich had time in jail to come up with a plan, however hair-brained to go after Hel. I think there is more to Warren Biochemical and what Tyr was doing there."

"I thought of that as well," Fury says. "I had Maria Hill take a team and scan the building where they were headquartered when Steve rescued Jaycee. There are several sublevels, reinforced with steel doors underneath the main building."

"Any ideas what is in them?" Natasha asks.

Fury shakes his head. "Not yet. But I would wager that some of the experiments originally performed on Jaycee by Tyr were not on record in the main files. Hill dug up some documents on a top-secret project called the Victory Project. It was started even before Bradlich was part of the company but seems to have become his pet project once he was hired by Tyr."

"What does this Victory Project have to do with Jaycee?" Tony asks. He stands up and stretches, too much unrest boiling in his system to keep him still anymore.

Fury hesitates, which is never a good sign. "Spit it out," Barton says, not meanly, but to the point.

"The Victory Project was started fifty years ago by Tyr and .... Victoria Strong."