Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.
DoorMan #8
Aboard the Starliner, Pacific Ocean [Midnight, January 15, 2008]
–Clint Barton–
When he was first assigned this mission, he thought it was a joke. But then he sobered up, seeing that the file was handed to him by Director Fury himself, in his office. Burying the joke about the orange onesie deep in his mind, he began shuffling through the entire case file they had on their mystery assailant, who was targeting classified ships collecting classified information, the source of which was a hack they had only just discovered after finding out that three classified locations had been hit successively.
The only thing that SHIELD knew was that it was a male, highly skilled, very much enhanced, and capable of slipping past all the sensory technology that the world had, all at the same time and all in the same person.
The fact that they did all of this while wearing a bright orange onesie meant that their thief was a troll as well, a feeling he knew all too well. Still, something told him back then that any attempt at any humour in front of the irate Director would fall flat anyway so he kept his mouth shut and requested some time to come up with a strategy.
He was given all the clearances he would need and was basically told that he had to bring his person in: Dead or Alive. Now, the Dead or Alive part came from Secretary Pierce, above the Director even because he was pretty sure that the Director would love to have someone like that on his payroll but since he was not sure how to respond at that moment, he confirmed to Secretary Pierce that he would try his best.
The plan was basic but had a high probability of working. The trolling of the thief suggested an age on the younger side but the training meant that they were probably young in mind and heart since just the abilities alone would not have allowed them to do what they did, which was hitting nine classified ships and taking their data disks, all by themselves.
Hell, the only reason SHIELD even knew that they wore an orange onesie and their rough dimensions was because they chose to appear on camera. On every ship, once they had completed their task, be it knocking out every single operative or stealing the data disks from their safe enclosure, they purposely found a camera and posed in front of that camera with that hideous orange onesie that glowed in the dark, further cementing his theory that they were young, at least in mind.
So, they set up a trap. A working one, since the ship actually was recording the data and saving it in the data disk which was safely enclosed in a titanium box right next to the engine, which was notoriously hard to get to.
Hundreds of operatives flood the ship or all chambers to see if they can find the invisible person. The analysts also think they could be intangible but if that were the case, they would not have had to break apart the titanium cases to steal the data disks and also would not have dodged any and all gunfire heading their way, according to the testimonies they recorded from the operatives.
Multiple testimonies confirmed that the orange guy was not bulletproof but capable of breaking apart steel, something of an oddity since it was common consensus within the Analysts' staff, that once someone got strong enough to outright break steel or metal, they gained proportional durability simply due to the density of the muscles required for that feat of strength.
So, there he was, on the ship, alert since it had already struck midnight and all the raids occurred around the same time.
And then it happened. He had radar scanning every single thing around them, ordered to alert him should even a small human sized person enter their range but he heard nothing from them. He smiled as he heard a crash on the deck, likely one of the many crates they had purposely left on the deck so their mystery thief could use them to create a distraction.
After that, everything went as planned. The ship was small, purposefully chosen to divide the entire hallways into smaller sections. The plan was to show a bit of the force and then corral the thief into the less fortified areas and coincidentally, into the areas which could house the data disks. Then, they cleared the locked down chambers, one by one, not by sight, not by motion or heat sensors but by a pure old tactic known as overcrowding.
The purpose was to fill a room with all of the agents, suffocating the space so much so that it would be impossible for a person to hide. For that, the roof was lowered as well, making sure that the area they needed to cover was reduced.
Judging the time to be enough, he gave the orders for all the chamber doors to be sealed shut, trapping anyone who was inside at the moment. Clearing them one by one, they finally came across the third chamber.
"Open it up," He spoke on the radio and tensed with his bow and arrow ready, as did all the other agents as they expected something to happen. Nothing happened when the door opened fully, but he didn't let his guard down, even as two flights of soldiers began flooding the chamber.
He kept an eye out for any minute disturbances since no form of invisibility was perfect, even if it was an enhanced power, everything had weaknesses. He stood at the entrance, making sure that no space was left empty when he saw it, a slight shimmering right in front of him.
Trusting his instincts, he instantly let the arrow loose, smiling slightly as it was stopped mid air as the glowing orange form of their mystery thief was revealed. A skull mask on his face, and an air of finality around the man.
"Got you," He muttered as dozens of guns were aimed at the now revealed man. He crushed the arrow in his grip, which was expected since the man could reportedly bend steel but it put things into perspective since his arrows were custom made, very strong in all aspects.
"Surrender! You are surrounded by SHIELD! By US Law, you are committing treason. Come quietly and we might be able to–" He dove for cover as the sound of bullets being fired filled the chamber, as the man ducked and punched the ground, instantly caving the entire floor.
He didn't know how but there was a huge shockwave in the aftermath that ragdolled everyone in the chambers. He heard bones breaking as he winced at the particularly rough landing.
Getting up immediately, he notched his arrow as he looked down the hole and saw a hole heading straight down two floors, stopping at the engine room. "Flood the entire ship. Be careful, the intruder has super strength. I repeat the intruder has—"
HE stopped mid warning as a mocking voice filled the entire ship, "You'll never catch me alive, copper!"
Against his will, a smile formed on his face as he jumped down the hole after creating a makeshift ropeway for himself using one of his utility arrows. Apparently, their thief was a troll and had taste.
He ran in the one direction the hallway led to and found a staircase that led straight up, with its lid open.
He hoisted his bow behind him and began climbing and yelped as the entire staircase detached from the top, with the manhole cover closing in.
"~Too Late~!" In a singsong voice, the mocking was clearly heard all around him somehow, as he, once again, landed roughly, barely managing to move himself out of the way of the heavy metal staircase crashing on the ground.
Okay, this was getting a little annoying now, "Everyone! Get to the engine bay! Create a human blockade around the engine room. I repeat–"
Was all he could get in before the lights flickered before only the red emergency lights flickered on.
His radio crackled to life, "The engine is down. I repeat, the engine is down. Schakowsky is unresponsive. I repeat, Agent Sho–" He cursed as he ran all the way back and began climbing up using the same rope with which he had come down.
If the engine room was breached, then the probability of the data disks being taken had also increased. Then again, he still had the final trap left. He didn't want to use it, just in case it injured the bastard but after seeing his actions, that bomb might just give him light to medium injuries, that's all.
Pressing a button on his belt, he ran towards the engine bay with all his might, smiling slightly as a dull boom was felt across the entire ship, making the lights go out for a moment before they returned.
"Quarantine the engine bay. I repeat, do NOT go in. I repeat–" He ordered everyone before reaching the Engine bay, bruised from the multiple rough landings.
Damn, he was getting too old for some of this shit.
The Engine Bay door was locked down, with no impact on it.
"On my mark," He said before pushing the emergency open button and storming the place.
"GO! GO! GO!" People screamed as they began looking for the thief. He, meanwhile, headed straight to the place he knew the data disks were held. With practised precision, he fired an arrow straight at the place he knew the data disks would be, his arrow flying through thin air before embedding itself into the wall.
Blinking through the smoke, lights flooded the area from the agents behind him as he began looking for the thief, who should hopefully be bruised or atleast dazed from the explosion.
Instead, "You've got to be shitting me…" He muttered as he saw where his arrow had landed.
Right on top of the word TRY. In Red ink, in big bold letters, it was written NICE TRY on the wall, right next to a human sized hole in the hull.
Well, this was a failure.
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