The time was now. All the plans had been laid, equipment given out. The Avengers had split up at 7pm New York time to take various methods of transportation to their disparate destinations across the world, to take command of the highly trained strike teams that A.E.G.I.S. had assembled for them. Some stayed in America, most went to Europe, and one team - the "new" Avengers under the guidance of Natasha Romanoff - found themselves in the Gobi Desert in China, and thoroughly annoyed that despite its reputation as a desert, it was only just pushing positive temperatures. Natasha had gone over the plan with the younger team in the quinjet as they'd traveled, and had introduced them to the China team as Avengers on probation. The quartet were going to soften up the underground facility - one of the five main bases - they had been brought to with their unique abilities, then allow the ground team to go in and sweep the base. Once that was done, they would make absolutely certain that no one would ever be able to use this base again.

All commands had been given silently, using a signal language Fliss and the others were going to have to learn sooner rather than later, even if Zach was providing a translation in the silence of their minds. Natasha crouched with them among the dunes as night fell, everyone waiting for Steve to give the command to attack. It was dawn in America, or close to it; twelve hours on the other side of the world, night was closing in here.

"You're sure you know what to do?" Natasha breathed to the young group crouched with her.

The boys nodded, almost in unison. They'd been over the plan at least half a dozen times on the way there in the quinjet, with Nat going over every possible scenario, so they wouldn't be surprised if things didn't go entirely as planned. Still, each of them was understandably nervous, as well as eager to prove their own worth.

Fliss nodded with them, her face pale in the rising moonlight, one hand wrapped in Lucas' grasp. Natasha eyed each of them, noting the nerves and hoping, for their sake, that this went off without a hitch. Over the comms, linked in to the Hub, they heard the teams start to sound off.

"France, all in ....Seychelles, ready ....Poland, ready ....Wyoming, boring as always ..."

Nat nodded, touching her finger to her comm unit to add her own voice. "Gobi, good to go."

Lucas' stomach was in knots, not because of fear so much as just a sense of nerves. Little did he know that strung out across the world, the other Avengers and their teams were just as nervous. Nerves weren't something that went away, no matter how many missions were under your belt, and this particular offensive was particularly critical as it had the potential for setting Hydra back decades, if not longer. If they succeeded in taking out the labs and bases, Hydra would stop being a threat quite possibly for the rest of their lifetimes. Like his teammates, Lucas knew how important this was, and that was why he found his stomach in knots.

"Scotland, ready ....Utah, good to go ....Highlands, ready ...", sounded more familiar voices across the comms, before Steve cut in, "Copy that. Sicily, ready. On my mark, in three ....two ....one ....GO!"

"Now!"

Nat nodded to the young team, rising to sprint across the sand toward the entrance to the bunker they were attacking. Fliss scrambled to her feet to run with her, the four of them needing to be a little closer than they were right now to work their magic. Other agents converged on them, taking up defensive positions around the four Avengers as they came to a halt.

The junior members of the team took up their positions, just as they'd planned, wasting no time in doing what they'd come here to do. With Zach in the lead, he reached out with his mind to connect each of them to the others, well practiced by now, even after only a few days, in drawing out their abilities and melding them to the others. Each of their abilities was connected to the four elements, but it was Zach who held mastery over Earth, and as such, it was up to him to start them off. At first, it was just a slight tremor, hardly noticeable, but slowly, that tremor built upon itself until the Earth shook with such force, one could not only feel it, but hear it, as though the ground might explode right beneath their feet. He drew on his teammates to help him direct that power toward the base, cracks appearing in the ground, causing the power inside the base to flicker before the secondary generators kicked in.

Now it was Fliss and Lucas' turn. They didn't want flames or wind - the goal was to heat the air inside the base to uncomfortable levels; uncomfortable enough to sap the energy of those inside, make them struggle to stand. Fliss wrapped her hand around Lucas', focusing on following the tendrils of his connection to the Air into the base itself, heating the air as he made it flow.

It wasn't as easy as they'd practiced, but this was real, not just for fun; this was work. It took effort, but together, Fliss and Lucas made it work. While Zach was making the Earth shake, and Fliss and Lucas were heating the air that flowed into the base, Matt with his mastery of Water, focused on increasing the flow of water inside the pipes. He borrowed on Lucas' ability with Air to freeze the water inside the pipes, expanding them until they burst, causing even more chaos inside the base.

Johnny had said he was worried about them losing control; if anything was a test of the control they had over elements that could so easily turn against them and become wildly destructive, it was this. Fliss was sweating, visibly tiring under the strain of keeping the fire from erupting as it wanted to, barely aware of shots being fired at them from the entrance to the bunker as Hydra became aware of the enemy on their doorstep. The agents around them fired back, raising energy shields to keep the worst of the attack off the young team working to disable the majority of the base itself.

If anyone had told them it would be this hard, Matt might not have believed them. It had seemed so easy back in Rhy'Din, but now that they were there, amidst all the chaos, with shots being fired, he understood why Rufus had worked them so hard. It was the shots being fired that was disrupting his focus, one bullet coming a little too close for comfort as it whizzed past his ear, only realizing a second later that his brother had diverted his power for the single second that it had taken to slow those bullets and push them harmlessly aside.

"Thanks, bro," Matt breathed, exhaling a sigh of relief.

"Stay focused," Zach scolded in his head, silencing him.

"Bunch up," Nat ordered them, taking one of the shield generators from another agent to set herself in front of the little group and activate it. She was not used to being a defensive agent, but she would never forgive herself if any of the kids got hurt on her watch.

They did as Nat instructed, all the while struggling to maintain focus for a little while longer. If they kept on like they were, it wouldn't be long before the entire base collapsed in on itself.

The firestarter was obviously wearied by the work they'd done so far, but she was no longer in pain. "Yeah, I ....I'm good," she promised Lucas affectionately. "Honestly, it doesn't hurt anymore. I'm just tired."

"Nat said it's gonna be a while before they need us again. Maybe you should rest," Lucas suggested, pulling her close so that she could rest her head against his shoulder.

Zach watched, touched by the way the couple cared for each other and finding himself missing someone he'd come to hold dear.

"We should be good here for now," Nat agreed. "You should all get a little rest." She didn't particularly want them thinking about what the trained agents were doing in that base.

Fliss nodded wearily, leaning against Lucas without needing to think about it. "It's too soon to find out how it's going everywhere else, isn't it?" she asked quietly.

This was, perhaps, the first time the Avengers had split up to this degree - each of them leading a team against a different base. Johnny had been put in charge of the Utah strike, and Lucas had a feeling Fliss was more concerned about that one than any of the others. It was a little weird not having Johnny there with them, with Fliss, but they had no choice but to trust to the plan. Lucas glanced at Nat, though he was pretty sure of her answer before she replied.

"Give it another hour," Nat suggested. "They'll start checking in once the clean up gets started in each location, and this is a major location we're dealing with here. Your dad's gonna be checking in before we do, I'm pretty sure."

"Will there be any survivors?" Matt asked, starting to get a real sense of what they were doing here. Zach exchanged a knowing glance with Nat, but let her handle the question.

Nat caught Zach's eye, glad at least one of them understood what was actually happening. Shifting a little to comfortably meet Matt's gaze, she gave him the honest answer she'd give anyone, regardless of their age or experience. "Here" No," she said calmly. "This is war, and war is ruthless. Hydra will rebuild if we leave even a single brick still standing, and they'll be back next year, ten years from now. We want them down for at least fifty years, so this is how we do it."

"But ..." Matt hesitated a moment before continuing. He'd been unable or unwilling to imagine all the death and destruction before, but now that they were here, with everything happening around them, it was almost all too real. "What if they have prisoners" What if there are kids in there, like-like Alex and Maria" What then" We can't just let them be killed."

"If there are kids in there, the teams will get them out," Nat told him, certain that there weren't. She wasn't going to touch the prisoners question unless he pressed hard - there was precedent for giving prisoners a quick death rather than risk them being planted in a hurry by the enemy. "Matt ....this is war," she told him a little more gently. "War isn't pretty, and it isn't fair. But these deaths today mean far less people will die in the future. It's a hard call, which is why you are not the ones making it."

"Are you sure?" Matt asked, needing further confirmation that if there were innocents - especially young people - somewhere inside the facility the teams would get them out.

"There's a way to be sure," Zach interjected again, though he had a feeling Nat wouldn't like it.

"Guys, the decision has been made," Nat told them firmly. "The orders were given. You obey the orders, or you don't get involved. Yes, there will be casualties, and yes, some of them will be innocent. That's the way it goes."

Lucas exchanged glances with Fliss. He had an idea he knew what Zach was suggesting, and he also knew it would take a little time. "How much time do we have?" he asked, glancing to Nat.

Fliss was a little less aware of what was going on here, but she'd promised her father she wouldn't take any risks. They'd all promised to obey orders.

Nat's expression was not particularly encouraging. "Tell me what you're planning on doing," she said flatly.

"Search the base with my mind," Zach explained bluntly. The only possible problem was if he did find anyone worthy of rescue, he'd have to let someone know in time to rescue them, and he had to make sure he didn't drain himself to the point where he couldn't complete the mission. They needed his connection in order to completely destroy the base. Without it, they'd have to order an airstrike, and there might not be time for that. "Just a few minutes," he argued. "That's all I ask."

Stern and disappointed that they had failed to disclose this ability before finding themselves in direct action, Nat nodded. "You have five minutes."

Zach hadn't thought it necessary to divulge his every ability to the letter, or perhaps he'd been a little wary of doing so. Whatever his reasons, for now, they were his own. Given the go ahead by Nat, he wasted no time, closing his eyes and shifting his mind to the interior of the base, while the others looked on.

Fliss could feel a certain amount of shame welling up as Natasha watched them. No, she hadn't known Zach could do this, or that Matt would question the whole purpose of the mission too late for that questioning to be anything but an annoyance. But she felt responsible for the fact that Nat was disappointed with them, perhaps even angry with them, for not asking these questions, divulging this information, at the briefing stage.

No one knew Zach's reasons for not divulging everything about his abilities, and Matt had been so caught up in the excitement about being involved, he hadn't really thought much about the consequences until now. Their youth was definitely showing, but in the end, maybe it was better this way, at least for their consciences. "Is that what they mean by collateral damage?" Matt asked, looking far more subdued now than he had a few minutes ago.

"It's part of it, yeah," Nat answered quietly. "Acceptable losses. We were given this base because its destruction presents no risk to a population center. Those bases are a nightmare when it comes to minimising collateral damage."

"The good of the many outweighs the good of the few," Matt murmured his understanding. It was a hard lesson to swallow, but at least, he seemed to be understanding it and hopefully, accepting it.

"Except in very specific circumstances, yes," Nat agreed. "You learn to live with it, and you make sure you can minimize those losses as much as possible. Which is why," she added, glancing at Zach, "you should have told at least me about this before now."

"Never mind that now. We have bigger problems," Zach replied, turning to scan the group of agents who'd emerged from the base, relieved to find the guilty party had already been caught and was being physically detained. "Is everyone out?" he asked, to no one in particular. Everyone who was on their side anyway.

"With him detained, the count's right," Nat said, sliding away from her moment of almost mortality with apparently enviable ease. "Light it up, guys." She turned to the detained attacker, scowling as she gave orders for his detention.

Matt's eyes were wide, as he took this all in, not only amazed at what Zach had just done, but at the fact that Nat wasn't going to have the guy executed right then and there. But there wasn't much time to think about it right now - maybe later. "Let's finish this," he said, moving to join his enhanced teammates. This time, they didn't join hands, though Zach was quick to link their minds so that they could share abilities.

This time, they didn't need quite so much finite control, but holding the firestorm in place fell entirely on Matt's shoulders. He had to keep that water-fueled field dome in place, or they could set off a firestorm that would decimate not only their allies, but also half the Gobi Desert.

All of them were exhausted, and yet, somehow, they found the strength and the courage to set the place ablaze. It was Fliss' Fire that did most of the work, fed by Luc's Air, and held in place by Matt's Water. Meanwhile, Zach made the ground shake again, so that the ground cracked open, the whole fiery mess disappearing into the ground, like a sinking ship.

And while they were busy, Nat did have the prisoner executed. Quietly, without fuss, but she had orders to take no prisoners. He had nothing to tell them without extensive interrogation; he'd performed a direct attack on the kids under her protection. He was lucky it was a clean shot to the head. As the base sank away, the sand pouring back over it until there was no sign of anything having been constructed there at all, Fliss let out an explosive breath, buoyed up by the unexpected cheer from the units of A.E.G.I.S. agents watching with interest.

The four of them seemed to sag with mingled relief and exhaustion once the former Hydra base sank beneath the sand, turning slowly at the unexpected sound of cheering from the A.E.G.I.S. agents around them. "Is it over?" Matt asked, almost as if he could hardly believe it.

"What about the others?" Lucas broke in. What about Fliss' father and her uncles"

Nat's comm crackled with life, a familiar voice coming through loud and clear. "All clear in Sicily. All teams report."

Nat smiled faintly, relieved to hear Steve's voice crackling on the comm. "All clear in Gobi, no casualties," she reported in. "Headed back to the Hub."

Then she waited. It seemed to take an age for everyone to report in, especially for Fliss, but finally, the roll of locations began to check in. Alyona and Nikolai had major cleanup to supervise, it seemed; Reed Richards had inadvertently pinned himself underneath a large rock following the emptying of the location he'd been working on with Sue; Sam was still in the process of drawing Banner out of the Hulk. Finally, one of the voices Fliss was hoping for made itself known.

"Wyoming all clear, Iron Legion cleaning up."

Lucas felt a flood of relief, his legs buckling under him as he sank to the ground. He looked around at the wounded, seeing the medics going to work and feeling a little guilty that he wasn't helping. After all, he was in training to be a medic himself, and Zach had just shown him he had more ability there than he'd realized, but he was too tired to move.

"I should go help," he murmured, mostly to himself, though he wasn't sure he had the strength. Both brothers glanced at Fliss, worriedly waiting to hear from her father. Each and every team checked in, but still no Johnny.

Fliss' hand slipped gently over Lucas' shoulder, half-comforting him, half-comforting herself as she gripped harder with each minute that passed without a check in from her father. "Come on, Dad," she murmured, trying not to panic. The last thing any of them needed was for her to start going to flame because Johnny had mucked up somehow.

Five minutes passed, though it seemed like forever, before the comm crackled again. "Storm here. Utah safe and secure. A few injuries, but no casualties. On our way home. Say hi to my Baby Girl for me!"

Fliss laughed, sheer relief bubbling out at the sound of Johnny's enthusiastic check in. He was so embarrassing, but gods, it was good to know he was safe.

Nat grinned with the girl, gesturing to the little group. "C'mon, guys, let's get you back to New York," she said. "All aboard the jet."

"Matt Foster, you and the Junior Avengers have just defeated Hydra. What are you gonna do next?" Matt said, pretending to hold a microphone in front of his face. "I'm going to Disneyland!" he said, punching a triumphant hand at the sky with a loud whoop. He really wasn't, but it was something he'd seen in dozens of Super Bowl commercials going back years. "Is there a Disneyland on Rhy'Din?" he asked, looking to Nat.

Natasha blinked. "Uh ....I don't actually know," she admitted, leading the way back to where she had left the cloaked quinjet.

Fliss grinned as she helped Lucas back onto his feet, letting him lean on her as they fell into step with the others. "There's the Wonderplex, Matt," she pointed out. "And Hatton Point is kind of a theme park."

"Okay, then we're going there," Matt replied, mirroring her grin.

Lucas stumbled to his feet, with Fliss' help, leaning just a little against Fliss as they started toward the quinjet. "I don't know where you get all that energy," he scolded his brother with a faint chuckle.

As for Zach, he fell into step beside Nat. "I guess I owe you an explanation," he said.

"And I owe you a thank you," Nat answered just as quietly. "You saved my life, and I appreciate it. But save the explanation for the debrief when we get back. Otherwise you'll just have to say it all over again for everyone else, and even I know that is deeply aggravating."

"Fair enough," Zach replied. "Still friends?" he asked with the hint of a smile on his face. They had never really been friends, more like allies or maybe colleagues, but there was no reason they couldn't be friends.

Fliss paused to lean over and kiss Lucas' cheek, feeling Natasha power up the jet to begin their journey home. She was tired and achy, but she knew she wouldn't be able to settle until she'd spoken to her father. Lifting the comm to her lips, she spoke quietly into it. "Dad" Uh ....Johnny' Um ....channel nine, please?"

There was a momentary pause and then a familiar voice was heard on the other side of the connection. "Fliss" Are you okay' Nat didn't say much. Just that there were no casualties," Johnny said, sounding more than a little worried.

Switching over to the other channel, Fliss could feel herself relaxing a little more as she heard Johnny's voice. "No, Dad, I'm good. We had a few casualties, but none of our team came away with anything worse than a headache. What about you, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You know me," he said, with a half-hearted chuckle. "I just ..." There was an audible sigh. "I just wanna go home," he admitted quietly and honestly. She'd likely know home wasn't A.E.G.I.S. HQ or even New York, where he'd grown up. Not anymore. Home wasn't even a place so much as it was wherever his family was, whether that was on Earth or Rhy'Din.

She smiled, lying down on her side as she spoke into the comm. "I get that," she assured her father. "But we did good, right' Nothing went wrong, not really. I just ..." She broke off, biting her lip, knowing that the others could hear her if they decided to listen in but needing her dad to reassure her a little. "I know I didn't kill anyone, but there were a lot of people in that base. And now there are a lot of families who won't ever know what happened to them. I don't ....I don't know how to process that."

There was a moment of silence as Johnny contemplated Fliss' confession. He was her father; he was supposed to have the answers, but some things were just too difficult to understand and impossible to explain away. He thought Steve might be better able to explain, but she wasn't asking Steve; she was asking him. "This is what happens in war, Fliss. Not everyone who works for Hydra is evil, but they are working for an evil organization, whether they know it or not. What do you think would have happened if we hadn't gone to war with Germany in World War II" Not everyone who fought against us was evil. Some of them were just doing what they were told to do. They're as much victims, as anyone else. It's the same thing with Hydra. Some of the people who were killed today were bad people, some of them were just doing their job. They and their families are as much victims of Hydra as anyone else. But sometimes you have to make choices, and those choices aren't always easy ones. I can't give you any easy answers, baby, but I can tell you that the world is a better place - a safer place - without Hydra."

"Nat said something about being grateful we weren't the ones who made the choice," Fliss admitted quietly. "I guess I didn't really understand what I signed up for, not really. It didn't seem real until we were right there and ....and no one was coming out of that base who didn't walk in with us." She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I think I'm gonna need to talk to Demi about this."

They weren't the ones who pulled the proverbial trigger either, but she might not find it very comforting to realize that. "Fliss, those people in that base ....they knew what they were doing, and they chose to be there. Whether they were actively hurting people or not, they enabled others to be hurt. You know what Hydra is capable of. You've seen it with your own eyes. This wasn't about vengeance, Fliss. It was about justice and about keeping the world safe. Do you understand?"

"No, I do get it, Dad," she promised. "It's just gonna take some time to get it sorted in my head, I think. Is - do you still struggle with it' Is this something I would get used to if I did it a lot?"

There was a short pause again as he considered his answer. "You know, your Uncle Steve could probably answer that better than me, but ....I don't think you should ever get used to it, or you become like them, like the people who work for Hydra. There's nothing wrong with having a conscience, Fliss. Just try not to let it eat you up inside."

"I'll try." Her smile was audible as she sighed. "Thanks, Dad. I just needed to talk to you a little. We'll be back in New York in a few hours."

Was that it' Was that all she wanted to ask him' He couldn't believe that was it, not if she wanted to talk to a shrink - er, Demi - about it. When he'd asked if she was okay, it wasn't just her physical well-being he'd been asking about. He also knew if she wasn't ready to talk about it, pushing her would only make it worse. "We'll talk when you get back, okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. Try not to punch Uncle Tony until I'm back - I promised Aunt Lucy I'd record it on my phone if it happened." Fliss' smile relaxed a little more as she shared this.

"He's actually been worried about you," Johnny admitted, though he didn't entirely explain why. He'd been wondering if he'd made the right decision in allowing Fliss and her friends join the team, but now he wasn't so sure, and it was only in part because of Tony.

"I know," she assured him. "But he was being an ass about it." Not that Tony really needed an excuse to be difficult.

"Yeah, well, ass or not, he cares about you," Johnny argued. Was he really defending Tony Stark" "Fliss, I just need to know something ..." he said, pausing a moment before asking, "Do you wish you hadn't gone?"

It took a moment for her to answer that. "No," she said finally. "I needed to be a part of this, and I've learned a lot from it. It's complicated - do I wish so many people didn't have to die" Sure, I do, and I'm gonna feel a little guilty about that for a long time. But not coming" I would regret that more."

"Okay, we'll talk when you get back. Love you, baby girl. Get some sleep," Johnny told her, at least somewhat relieved. Hopefully, Tony was wrong, and the young people's involvement in the mission wouldn't change them for the worse.

"Love you, Dad. Don't forget to call Mom and pass it on." Fliss sighed, rolling onto her back. Now she'd spoken to her father, she could feel the weariness taking hold, her eyes automatically seeking Lucas as she yawned. How long had it been since they'd slept apart"

"I won't. See you soon, okay?" he said, hearing the weariness in her voice and hoping she could get some sleep without feeling guilty.

"See you soon, Daddy. Um ....over and out?" The military jargon was going to take a while to get used to, but she had a feeling she wouldn't need it again for a long time. Maybe even never, though that was unlikely.