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Argus base
Night
Lyla was walking down the hall to her office when she stopped, staring at several operatives on the floor. Their throats were cut and blood was on the floor. Judging by the radios and guns on the floor near them, they had tried to fight back or call for help, possibly both, but had been unable to. And the trail of death led straight to her office.
"This is Director Michaels," Lyla said after she pulled out her radio. "Someone has infiltrated the base. Move to my office, requesting back up."
Lyla then pocketed her radio and pulled out a gun. She cautiously moved towards her office, her heart pounding in her ear. Opening the door, she found a blonde haired man, late twenties or early thirties, sitting at her desk, typing at her computer.
"Hands where I can see them," Lyla said as she aimed her gun at the man, who only smirked.
"You should change your password. The date of your divorce will only take a slight research into your background to guess," Alexei said as he got to his feet.
"Who are you?" Lyla demanded, hoping backup was on their way.
"I am but a loyal follower. You have something that belongs to my lord. He would like it back," Alexei explained and Lyla narrowed her eyes.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm not giving you anything," Lyla said and a smirk crossed Alexei's face.
"That's where you're wrong Lyla. One way or another, you're going to tell me where you put the stone," Alexei said and Lyla's eyes widened as she realized what he was after. "The time of Lord Savitar is at hand."
"You're not getting your hands on that stone," Lyla said firmly, Barry's warnings flashing through her mind.
"You don't have a choice in the matter. It has already been written," Alexei said before he reached for his belt.
Lyla fired but Alexei easily moved to the side, dodging her line of fire as he grabbed the disk. He threw it and, before Lyla could fire off another shot, it knocked the gun out of her hand. Lyla ducked as the disk hit the wall and rebounded back towards her head. Lyla managed to duck in time and Alexei jumped into the air, caught the disk and replaced it on his belt before sending a flying kick to Lyla's waist. She went flying into the wall and Alexei took advantage to grab her and throw her to the ground, putting her in a neck lock.
"Tell me where the stone is or I will make sure that your family doesn't live another day," Alexei whispered in her ear.
"You won't touch them," Lyla snarled against his grip.
"Your husband is a vigilante; it would be too easy for me to get to him. And your son is an easy target as well. And even if you get them to safety, your sister, your mother, your father, they are all targets. And I'm not alone in this. Lord Savitar has many servants who would be happy to carry out his will. Now, tell me where you put the stone or, with one call, I can make sure you will never see your family again."
Lyla wanted to tell him to go to hell, that she would never tell him the location of the stone. But, unlike Amanda Waller, she had regard for the value of human life. And, if anything this man was saying was true, she couldn't allow him and whoever he was working with to come after her family. So, reluctantly, she told him what he wanted to know.
Moments later, Various Argus guards burst in, making a line to block the exit as they aimed their guns at Alexei.
"Step away from the director and no one gets hurt douche bag," one of the operatives barked and Alexei smirked.
"But of course," Alexei said as he removed his arms from around Lyla and got to his feet, holding his hands up, although his hands were clenched into fists. "I've gotten what I wanted anyway."
Alexei opened his fists and a small ball, around the size of a marble, fell to the floor, rolling passed Lyla's leg. When it started beeping, flashing red and thebeeps getting faster and faster, Lyla's eyes widened in horror.
"Everyone get down!" Lyla shouted but it was too late as the building was rocked by an explosion.
Barry and Wanda's apartment, next day
Morning
Wanda's alarm went off and she sleepily waved her hand, using her powers to turn it off. Wanda managed to get herself out of bed, which was no easy task, given she was five and a half months pregnant. She threw on a bathrobe and walked out of her bedroom. She was halfway to the bathroom when she stopped. She turned her head and saw Barry sitting on the couch. He was deep in thought, his hands linked in front of him. He hadn't noticed her yet.
"Barry?" Wanda called out and Barry looked up, seeing she was awake.
"Hey," Barry said, getting up as she waddled over to him, throwing her arms around him. "I'm sorry I didn't wake you, I wanted you to get some rest. And I needed time to think."
"Think about what? My brother, is he…" Wanda trailed off fearfully as she released Barry and he sighed.
"He's alive. But…it's complicated Wanda. You might want to sit down, because you won't like what I'm about to tell you," Barry said and Wanda's heart froze in panic.
Argus medical building
Same time
"Where the hell is my wife?!" John Diggle demanded as he burst in, Oliver on his heels.
"John, calm down," Oliver told him.
"You calm down!" Diggle barked as a medic approached them.
"Mr. Diggle, I understand that you are worried, but please, you are disrupting the doctors from treating their patients," the medic said and Diggle sighed as Oliver put a hand on his shoulder.
"You're right, I'm sorry," Diggle said and the medic nodded in understanding. "What happened to my wife?"
"I don't know all the details, but someone infiltrated the Argus base in Star City and set off an explosive. Several agents were killed in the following explosion, but thankfully, Director Michaels survived. She's in recovery at the moment. She won't wake up for a while," the medic explained and Diggle nodded.
"Mr. Diggle," Diggle and Oliver looked over at a man in an Argus suit walking over to them. "My name is Rick Flag; I work closely with your wife."
"Yeah, she's mentioned you," Diggle said as they shook hands. "This is Oliver Queen."
"What happened?" Oliver asked.
"Honestly, I'm not completely sure. Lyla was on her way to her office when she put out a call that someone had infiltrated the base and called for backup. Less than ten minutes later, whoever it was blew up her office and part of the building. According to the logs, this person had accessed Lyla's personal account of the Argus database, which has information only she has access to," Rick explained and Oliver and Diggle exchanged a glance. "Before she went under, Lyla mentioned something about a stone. Does that mean anything to either of you?"
"No," Diggle said and Oliver shook his head.
"Do you know what this person was looking for?" Oliver inquired.
"With Lyla currently unable to lead, I am acting Director of Argus, which gives me the ability to view her account. The last thing this psychopath looked at before he set off the explosive was the current location and address of someone named Clint Barton," Rick explained.
Baton Apartment
Same time
Clint had decided to spend some time with his family while they waited for word on Alexei and Pietro. Clint was in the living room, watching with a content smile as Lila and Cooper played while he himself was holding Nate. Laura then walked in, holding a package with a confused look on her face.
"Clint, do you know someone in Russia? Because we just got a package from someone there," Laura said as she looked down at the box.
Clint whipped his head towards the box, zeroing in on it. He paled as he realized who had sent it. Quickly, Clint set Nate safely on the couch, jumped to his feet, raced over and snatched the package out of Laura's hands. He raced away from his confused family into kitchen and open window before chucking the package out the window.
"Get back!" Clint shouted before the explosive goes off.
Luckily, the box is far enough away that the apartment that the brunt of the blast missed it. However, the apartment still got hit and Clint is pushed back by the force of it. He landed on his back, hard, a ringing in his ear as Laura rushed to his side.
"Clint, are you alright? Clint?" Laura asked worriedly.
"I'm fine," Clint said gruffly, sitting up, wincing at some of the burns on his arm and looking around at what was once the kitchen wall, now missing a wall. "But Alexei? He's a dead man walking."
Barry and Wanda's apartment
Not long after
"So…my brother is working for Savitar," Wanda said, trying to digest the information.
"He's working for Alexei, who's working for Savitar," Barry corrected her. "I don't think Pietro knows what's going on. I think Alexei is using lies mixed in with a little truth to convince Pietro that you're in danger and we're the enemy so he'll help him. We just gotta show him he's being manipulated."
Wanda nodded slowly, although it was clear this was a hard pill for her to swallow. Before Barry could say anything else, his phone rang. Digging it out, Barry saw Natasha's name flash across the screen.
"It's Nat, maybe's got something," Barry said before answering. "Hey Nat, anything?...What?!"
Star Labs
Afternoon
"It was Alexei, it had to be," Clint said as Caitlin put some gel on his burns. "The package said it came from Russia."
"It doesn't fit his pattern, how would bombing your family help?" Barry asked confused.
"Revenge," Bucky said knowingly and Clint nodded.
"He's still angry about what happened all those years ago. Now he's settling the score," Natasha noted.
"So we have an extremist with an axe to grind, great," Wally said sarcastically as Barry's phone rang.
"Oliver, now is not a good time," Barry said as he answered but stopped as Oliver stop. "What?"
Argus medical building
Later in the afternoon
"She woke up, the first words out of her mouth were 'Call Barry'," Diggle said as he led Barry through the hall.
"How is she Dig?" Barry asked concerned.
"She'll be on bed rest for a while, but she'll be alright in a few months," Diggle said and Barry was relieved. "Who is this guy Barry?"
"I'd rather only tell this story once," Barry said and Diggle nodded as they entered the room, where Oliver and Lyla were waiting.
"Barry, I'm sorry," Lyla said as they saw him.
"What happened Lyla?" Barry asked concerned.
"He broke into my office and got the location of the stone out of me. I'm sorry Barry, but he threatened my family and I don't doubt that he can carry through on his threats," Lyla said apologetically.
"It's okay Lyla, I would have done the same thing," Barry assured her.
"What is this stone and who is this guy?" Oliver asked as Barry sighed.
"The recent threat we've been dealing with is Savitar, he's apparently the first Speedster. He's faster than anything I have ever seen," Barry said, shuttering as he remembered his fight with Savitar. "We discovered that he's trapped in the Speed Force and uses the stone to possess an ordinary human. That stone is also the key to him getting out."
"So, a Speed God can get out with this magic stone? I swear Barry-" Diggle began.
"I know, I know, your life was somewhat normal before me. Lyla, where'd you put the stone?" Barry asked.
"The moon," Lyla said and the three men stared at her in stunned disbelief.
"I'm sorry, what?" Diggle asked after a moment.
"Right around the time Barry came to me with the stone; Argus had finished construction for a prison on the moon. It was designed in the event that a prisoner was too dangerous to put on Lian Yu or that the Lian Yu prison was ever compromised. You didn't want it found, so I put it somewhere where no one would ever find it," Lyla explained.
"And if it had stayed lost, I'd thank you for that. But since Alexei knows where it is, it's gonna be a lot harder to protect," Barry sighed.
"Who is this guy Barry?" Diggle asked.
"Alexei Shostakov, he's from Earth-66 like The Avengers. He's an ex-KGB agent gone rogue. Back in the day, he went up against Natasha and Clint, it went south. Now he's out for revenge and he's working for Savitar. He's manipulating Wanda's brother into working for him, kidnapped Cisco, and nearly killed Clint's family this morning. If Clint hadn't been there…" Barry trailed off but they got it.
"We need to get this son of a bitch," Diggle said but Barry shook his head.
"From the sounds of it, you have your own problems back in Star City. Let us handle Alexei and Savitar. After what he pulled today, I'll be surprised if Alexei makes it through the week," Barry said, shuttering as he imagined what Clint was going to do to Alexei.
Star Labs
Same time
Clint was getting his arrows ready when Steve walked in.
"You sure you're okay to go out there?" Steve inquired.
"A psychopath is after my family Cap," Clint said bluntly and Steve nodded.
"I'm not going to tell you what to do…but I need to know, what are you going to do what we find Alexei?" Steve inquired and Clint smiled darkly as he snapped his bow together.
"Cap, words haven't been invented yet," Clint promised.
The moon
Same time
An Argus agent was shot and went down, bleeding out. Alexei lowered the gun and walked passed him, the last in a long trail of bodies he had left since arriving in this moon base prison. Alexei opened the door and walked in to the room. There was nothing there, save a table with a box on it. Smirking, Alexei opened the box and smiled as he saw the stone inside.
"Soon, soon Lord Savitar you will walk among us once more," Alexei smirked, laughing manically as a white/blue mist began to fill the room.
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If you enjoy please support me on my patreon Future 80+ chapters at patreon.com/Darkphoenix11
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