Set Fire To The Rain: Stinger
May. 19th, 2018 06:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThaddeus Ross has time to reflect on the failings of his plan, and then something happens in the ambulance that sends everything in a very unexpected direction.
The unmarked vehicle that was part ambulance and part armored car pulled away slowly from the gaggle of SHIELD agents tidying up the scene of the fight. No flashing lights or sirens announced it - sometimes it was better to not draw attention.
General Thaddeus Ross lay strapped to a gurney. He usually wasn't prone to second-guessing, but this was different. He'd been humiliated - why hadn't Banner showed? He'd done everything but put out a (heh) banner saying "WE WANT HULK".
Five minutes later, the specialized ambulance pulled up to quiet stop at a red light. The driver reached up and removed the armored helmet and face mask, sighing in relief to finally have it off. They were standard issue for anyone who was likely to be entering a live fire zone, but damn if they weren't stuffy as hell and twice as hot.
"Just got the all-clear from base," he said, turning towards his partner Dave in the passenger seat. "We're free until we drop this piece of trash off at Metro Central."
"Wunderbar," 'Dave' said, not looking up from thumbing through a manila envelope full of medical papers even as he reached over with his right hand to hit the automatic door unlock.
"Wha-- Dave, why did--" He didn't get the chance to finish his thought as 'Dave's' arm snapped up, holding a small-caliber pistol with a silencer. Two small pops and the driver had a bullet put through each eye.
The drivers-side door opened and two men in hoods pulled the body of the old driver out, and a third (unhooded) man climbed into the driver's chair.
"You're late," Zemo commented idily as he removed his own helmet, before snapping the file shut and looking at Thaddeus, where he was still tied down. "Ah! Mr. Ross, fancy meeting you here."
"~General~," Ross grated out, knowing the insult was calculated, knowing he was reacting exactly as the other man wanted, and did it anyway because fuck you, that's why. "Who the..." He coughed wetly. "...the blue hell are you."
"Oh, no, please, you seem to have mistaken me for somebody else. I've never been in the military," Zemo waved him off with a sense of false modesty. Honestly, the good General was so easy to wind up. Still, he had a job to do. The light turned green, and the ambulance rolled on with nobody the wiser. "As for me, please, call me Heinrich. Or Baron, if you prefer. It's actually fortuitous I've run into you. You see, I have a business proposition for you."
"Baron, sure." Great, some asshole who fancied himself nobility. "And why do I doubt that I'm going to like hearing what you have to say?" Ross asked, but with less heat than before. That blast from the android had taken a lot out of him, and he was already starting to sink back into the gurney's cushions.
"Because, Mr. Ross, you are a moderately smart man. You are strapped to a gurney, and I imagine you feel like you got ran over by a panzer." Zemo opened up the file again, flipped up a file or two, and let out a low whistle. "And your file, it would seem, agrees with you. It... let us just say that it is not good news. I will spare you the details, of course. No need to worry you unnecessarily."
The good Baron went back to reading the file, silently flipping through pages from time to time.
"I already know," Ross rasped out. The German wanted him to beg for the information, but Thaddeus Ross could play 'need-to-know' games with the best of them. "I don't need the words on the page to know that I'm going to die. Gamma radiation is a death sentence." Except for Banner, damn him.
"Oh, good heavens, no. Well, yes, but no." Zemo fished a small glass vial out of his pocket, holding it up to the light. "Miracles in bottles exist these days, my friend. This particular one was a gift. From an associate." He turned to where Ross was strapped down, showing him the vial. "I had intended to use it on another. A man named Emil Blonsky, if that means anything to you? No? Well, hardly important. He... no longer needs it. You, however, look like a main who's all out of faith. Out of luck. And out of hope."
Zemo leaned forward, looming over where Ross's head was still strapped down. "So tell me, Mister Ross. Do you still believe in miracles?"
Ross could sense that this Zemo knew full well Ross' relationship to Blonsky and the transformation he'd undergone. Just another needle to poke him with, and keep talking over any chance for the general to reply. And then there was an actual needle, plunged into the crook of his elbow.
Ross' eyes fluttered closed, and then opened, filling with red as blood vessels burst within. Ross' hoarse yell of agony was drowned out by the siren as the ambulance sped on into the night.
The unmarked vehicle that was part ambulance and part armored car pulled away slowly from the gaggle of SHIELD agents tidying up the scene of the fight. No flashing lights or sirens announced it - sometimes it was better to not draw attention.
General Thaddeus Ross lay strapped to a gurney. He usually wasn't prone to second-guessing, but this was different. He'd been humiliated - why hadn't Banner showed? He'd done everything but put out a (heh) banner saying "WE WANT HULK".
Five minutes later, the specialized ambulance pulled up to quiet stop at a red light. The driver reached up and removed the armored helmet and face mask, sighing in relief to finally have it off. They were standard issue for anyone who was likely to be entering a live fire zone, but damn if they weren't stuffy as hell and twice as hot.
"Just got the all-clear from base," he said, turning towards his partner Dave in the passenger seat. "We're free until we drop this piece of trash off at Metro Central."
"Wunderbar," 'Dave' said, not looking up from thumbing through a manila envelope full of medical papers even as he reached over with his right hand to hit the automatic door unlock.
"Wha-- Dave, why did--" He didn't get the chance to finish his thought as 'Dave's' arm snapped up, holding a small-caliber pistol with a silencer. Two small pops and the driver had a bullet put through each eye.
The drivers-side door opened and two men in hoods pulled the body of the old driver out, and a third (unhooded) man climbed into the driver's chair.
"You're late," Zemo commented idily as he removed his own helmet, before snapping the file shut and looking at Thaddeus, where he was still tied down. "Ah! Mr. Ross, fancy meeting you here."
"~General~," Ross grated out, knowing the insult was calculated, knowing he was reacting exactly as the other man wanted, and did it anyway because fuck you, that's why. "Who the..." He coughed wetly. "...the blue hell are you."
"Oh, no, please, you seem to have mistaken me for somebody else. I've never been in the military," Zemo waved him off with a sense of false modesty. Honestly, the good General was so easy to wind up. Still, he had a job to do. The light turned green, and the ambulance rolled on with nobody the wiser. "As for me, please, call me Heinrich. Or Baron, if you prefer. It's actually fortuitous I've run into you. You see, I have a business proposition for you."
"Baron, sure." Great, some asshole who fancied himself nobility. "And why do I doubt that I'm going to like hearing what you have to say?" Ross asked, but with less heat than before. That blast from the android had taken a lot out of him, and he was already starting to sink back into the gurney's cushions.
"Because, Mr. Ross, you are a moderately smart man. You are strapped to a gurney, and I imagine you feel like you got ran over by a panzer." Zemo opened up the file again, flipped up a file or two, and let out a low whistle. "And your file, it would seem, agrees with you. It... let us just say that it is not good news. I will spare you the details, of course. No need to worry you unnecessarily."
The good Baron went back to reading the file, silently flipping through pages from time to time.
"I already know," Ross rasped out. The German wanted him to beg for the information, but Thaddeus Ross could play 'need-to-know' games with the best of them. "I don't need the words on the page to know that I'm going to die. Gamma radiation is a death sentence." Except for Banner, damn him.
"Oh, good heavens, no. Well, yes, but no." Zemo fished a small glass vial out of his pocket, holding it up to the light. "Miracles in bottles exist these days, my friend. This particular one was a gift. From an associate." He turned to where Ross was strapped down, showing him the vial. "I had intended to use it on another. A man named Emil Blonsky, if that means anything to you? No? Well, hardly important. He... no longer needs it. You, however, look like a main who's all out of faith. Out of luck. And out of hope."
Zemo leaned forward, looming over where Ross's head was still strapped down. "So tell me, Mister Ross. Do you still believe in miracles?"
Ross could sense that this Zemo knew full well Ross' relationship to Blonsky and the transformation he'd undergone. Just another needle to poke him with, and keep talking over any chance for the general to reply. And then there was an actual needle, plunged into the crook of his elbow.
Ross' eyes fluttered closed, and then opened, filling with red as blood vessels burst within. Ross' hoarse yell of agony was drowned out by the siren as the ambulance sped on into the night.
