#hawkofshield

"Though much is taken, much abides; and though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Ulysses 

FEBRUARY 20 0730 HRS

Tony checked his phone one final time before he put it in his pocket, he glanced over at the others around him who jumped onto the hardpack snow, creating a loud whump! sound. 

Tony heard the buzz of his phone, for once, waking him from a normally deep sleep. He felt movement behind him, Bruce's arms pulling him closer, making a noise of protest before nuzzling into the back of his neck. The billionaire couldn't help but smile, taking his phone from the bedside table before turning slightly, giving the man a small kiss on the forehead before looking back at his phone and noticing a number of emails. 

He frowned slightly, looking over at the small number on his phone February 19, 2013. Gulping, and feeling a slight pain in his chest, and dread, Tony slowly slipped out of the bed, trying to be careful in his movement to stop the younger man from completely waking. He slid a pillow in the man's arms before sitting at the edge of the bed, the light of his phone dull, nothing in comparison to the light of the arc reactor. 

Tony scrolled through the emails, all of which regarding his request for help for a mission in Antarctica, a mission he'd lead, he'd finish and one he knew he definitely needed help for, if there was any chance of survival. 

Barton, Banner, Romanoff and a new agent, Weimaer. He had covered all the bases really, which meant really only one thing. He was ready. The team had been assembled, and they were going to leave. 

On Bruce's birthday.

Later that day...

Tony was back at Stark Tower, the team assembled - if he were in the mood to joke he'd call them all knights of the round table. All seated, the man clicked his fingers and instantly, screens lit up around them. 

"Like I said, we'll be heading to Antarctica, I've had a word with the Wilkes Ice Station and SHIELD liaison, we'll be using their base and equipment to get to the cavern where my weapons are." He said, gesturing to a screen. He took a deep breath. "It's going to be a fair bit of a dive, I've got the equipment sorted though, thermal-electric suits, Stark Tech's finest to enable us to deal with the near-freezing water." He gestured over to the boxes near them before he looked back at the screen. "We've received word of ice caverns, routes that we may be able to take, or ones we'll be able to create to head to the location in question." 

A blank area lit up on the map. "I couldn't get a complete read, whoever has my weapons, they're good - damn good. What with ionospheric conditions deteriorating, they've been using the solar flare activity to their advantage. We were lucky to even get this well of a read. Especially given the likelihood of it being underground." 

He noted questioning looks around the table. 

"The best way to endure polar weather, is to live under it." He said, clicking his fingers again as the holograms changed, displaying the array of weapons that they were to find. They were the deadliest of his weapons, some classified - not even displayed to the public, to the government. Stane seemed to have done a bit more dirty dealing than Tony had liked, not to mention all the nuclear weaponry, despite being submerged, if anything were to ever happen, the destructive power would be...well, Tony didn't want to think about it.

"And as you can see, with what they're hiding, we need to find these quick."  He gave them all a manilla folder, documents they needed, information they may want.

He paused, feeling a sting of guilt as his phone beeped once more, showing a reminder for Bruce's birthday party that evening. Keeping a stoic face, he looked around. He had to be completely focused for this mission, despite that feeling of loss he couldn't shake away.

"We're leaving tonight."

For those who replied to the email thread, this is the initial post:

Call To Arms (Part 1)

I'll be posting the opening for the mission tomorrow. Basically it's somewhat following things that are happening in Matthew Reilly's book 'Ice Station'. 

The tl;dr is the following 

The team will go to an ice station that's close to the location 

The location of his weapons is in a cavern, to get to it, they have to dive (there's a diving bell) 3000ft into the water and swim up to the cavern

Shit will happen, there is going to be chaos - this won't be an easy mission and chaos. Chaos that I'd like myself to write and you

Tony will not return with the others from this mission - he will return after, but he will have stayed to get rid of his weapons. I completely intend for Tony to be the only one left behind.