Project Alpha

Ch. 12 - Mistakes and Monopoly

**Italics are when they are speaking Russian.

Dr. Kaleb Kilimar made his way down the hallway towards the council's office. He observed the dull beige walls and ceiling and floor space. It really wasn't that different of an environment from the base he was normally at.

When he finally made it to a dead end, he stopped and chuckled. "You are one crazy man, Dredger."

To the outside eyes, this was just a wall. But walls can have surprises and secrets, just like the one in front of him. It was a good disguise for when you have to hide something big. Maybe like Hydra's last line of defense.

After a minute, a silver lined door revealed itself by the retracting brickwork. The doctor entered what appeared to be a large meeting room. Large, rectangular table with several plump red armchairs. Four out of the nine seats were taken.

A large round man resided in the the first. His name was unknown because that was how Hydra worked. The only thing Kaleb knew was that he was an ex-agent to SHIELD who wasn't quite as loyal as they'd thought.

A tall woman was beside him with her hair pulled back into a bun. If it were any tighter, it would probably cause permanent damage. But that's how she liked things; tight and damaging.

Then there's Newt. That's all you need to know about them. Nothing at all.

The last spot was for a bearded man with stocky, wide shoulders. He stared down the doctor, who did the same, until he realized Kaleb was stronger than he'd originally perceived. It was a shame he would have to die soon.

Dr. Kaleb Kilimar had messed up. He had been promoted years ago when Project Alpha went well. He now stood up on Hydra's higher up council, in charge of most of their scientific research and experiments. But now, the project had gone haywire, and Hydra wanted someone to blame.

Kaleb took his seat next to the woman and nodded at her. She didn't nod back. This should have been the first red flag, but he pushed it aside in hopes that his plan would work.

"Dr. Kilimar."

"Dredger."

"You are aware that Aльфа has gone rogue?" His plan was the only hope he had if he wanted to survive.

"You are aware that its asset has a tracker chip?" It wasn't a lie, for Peter's arm contained a small tracker. Despite its size, his location would be clear as day when activated. "We can use that to-"

Suddenly, the man on Kaleb's other side lunged out and grabbed him into a choke hold. "We can use it, but you know what this means for you, right?"

The man released the doctor and he immediately gasped for breath. "N- no, sir. Please, enlighten m- me."

"We have no need for you, Kaleb. We have other ideas for you. Remember, compliance will be rewarded..."

That was the last time anyone heard from Dr. Kaleb Kilimar. Unless you count his pleaing screams from the lab as they rewired his brain.

***

Avengers Tower, previously known as Stark Tower, housed all the Avengers. They had all moved in after the New York Incident with the whole alien attack thing.

Some of them say it was a great idea, while others said it was the worst mistake of their life, including Tony. He frequently complained about being watched through the vents, being the target of a prank, or he was threatened by Thor because of his poptarts, and Natasha because she's Natasha.

Currently, all the Avengers were on the common room floor, playing Monopoly. Well, as normal a game as you could get when playing with Earth's mightiest heros.

Thor didn't actually understand the point of the game, or its rules. He just liked to collect the paper; the colored sheets of money reminded him of poptarts, which he was also eating at the same time. (A/N: quick question, who in this fandom suddenly decided that Thor loves poptarts? He never eats one in a movie or comic, does he?)

Playing against Steve was plain old boring. He didn't take risks even if it was highly likely to pay off. Oh, and of course America's golden boy was never sent to jail, because he's freaking Captain America and the people adore him.

Natasha didn't care that much. She just took the biggest risks, accumulating her a large sum of money. Then, she bought out every railroad and property on one side while casually filing her nails. With a knife. Which may or not have had a bit of dried blood.

Bruce was already out of the game because of Tony. Nobody knew what he did, but it was obvious that Iron Man was cheating in some way. Bruce didn't really want to play anyway, so it was fine with him.

Clint had been long thrown out of the game. He accomplished that triumphant feat by using a small bow and fire arrow (yes, that exists) to burn people's money. It wasn't very subtle; a miniature flame was pretty obvious, especially when you make the fire alarm go off. Twice. That's also why the floor and board were wet.

"Capsicle, pay up!" Tony demanded from across the table while smirking. Steve sighed.

"You're way too into this game, you know that right?" He counted off the bills and then reluctantly handed them over to the literal billionaire.

"I prefer the term 'emotionally invested', thank you very much..." Tony trailed off noticing that Steve had accidentally forgotten a 10. "Stevie, you really can't count for shit."

Steve smirked back, "Just wanted to see if you would notice."

Natasha rolled her eyes while Clint giggled like the man child he was, probably forming a plan for a prank. It really wasn't a good sign when he had a notebook and pen in hand. Especially when he whispered frantically in another language to Natasha so that everyone else couldn't understand.

**The end of this chapter was chaotic, but I just wanted to practice writing crack energy for if ever wrote oneshots (which I'm thinking about).

I do actually have a plan for the next, like... Maybe two chapters though, so that's a plus!

Words: 1045