Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter1
The heist was going off like clockwork. Morgan had spent months planning, scheming and plotting. it had taken him a month to get hired as a pilot even after he got his pilot's licence. He had infiltrated the airport with ease at 3am and was making his way to the only area where he couldn’t get legitimate access, the private clients departure lounge.
The door was key card activated and easy enough to bypass but first he had to change from his pilot's outfit to the most expensive clothing he had ever worn, a three-piece suit so expensive it made Armani look like a tracksuit. He felt sick as he shifted his mannerisms to mirror that of an entitled billionaire, selfish to the core. He slipped out of the bathroom and made his way through the door to the gold inlayed vampires' nest beyond internally retching at the obscene decadence that was representative of everything wrong with the world.
“Can I help you sir?” asked a slim British butler looking man “perhaps a meal while your flight is prepared? Our chef has just received the ingredients for a saffron infused caviar dish you might like to try?”
“No thank you” he replied “I would simply like to board my flight as soon as possible”
“Sir, would you please do me the courtesy of telling me your flight booking? We don’t seem to have you on our schedule.”
“WHAT!” Morgan declared outraged. “I WAS ASURED BY THE OWNER HIMSELF I WOULD BE ESCORTED TO HIS PRIVATE AIRPORT IN LUXURY ABORED THE ENTREPRENEUR!”
“I'm so sorry sir! There appears to have been some miss communication, if you could just wait here for on...”
“NO! You will escort me to the aircraft immediately and the pilot better be waiting there when I arrive!”
“Sir if I could just call the owner to find where the mistake was made...”
“I don’t see the need! Clearly YOU have fucked up! Unless you are suggesting the mistake was on his end which I'm sure he would love to hear?!”
“Uh, um, uh... right this way sir” the host concluded defeatedly. He began to walk towards the gate to the tarmac. Of course, there was no customs to go through, his briefcase went unmentioned. silly things like laws never apply to the rich, but today at least he could use that to his advantage.
Things were going just as planned, he hated to do that to the poor man and was disheartened because he would probably lose his job for this, but it was consoling to know that when he gets home, he will find a mysterious unmarked envelope containing a winning lottery ticket. Morgan let his mind wander thinking about how he was going to pay Premin back for that little favour, maybe he could give him a ride on his new jet he was about to acquire.
They arrived at the entrepreneur and a middle-aged balding man introduced himself as the pilot. The host headed back to his post for what was probably the last time, as the captain opened the plane. As soon as the host was out of sight and the pilot turned his back, with one fluid motion he gagged and then bound the pilot with ductape, took his keys and dragged him to a secluded spot
“don't worry, I've cut air holes and I won't hurt you; someone will find you in a few hours and no one will blame you.”
“MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm!”
“you’re welcome!”
He wished he could have done the same to the host, it would have been easier for both of them, but he would have been missed and someone, maybe the chef, would have raised the alarm.
He boarded the plane and closed the door behind him, first job was to disable the satellite tracker, after 5 minutes of laboriously cutting wires behind a Panel he was done, time to take off. As he walked down the aisle to the cockpit he couldn't help but feel a sense of smug satisfaction, this heist wasn’t simply about money, no, it was payback. He turned the lock, opened the door and his jaw dropped.

Chapter 2
“What the fuck alex! how did you get here!?”
Alex smiled “Dude, I'm basically a god, there are several ways I could have gotten here. I can teleport, walk through alternate dimensions and turn in visible. I could have walked through all the walls or could be a projection of the real me who is in your apartment right now. Need I go on?”
“Ok, let me rephrase the question, WHY the FUCK are you here! And how did you even know I was here?!
“Premin told me.”
“That son of a bitch!”
“As to why I'm here there are 2 reasons, the first is to say I'm impressed you have the balls to try something like this, the second is to stop you from doing something incredibly stupid! I got sick of saving your ass when you beat rex roofer at poker, imagine how he will react when he finds out you have stolen his favourite jet!!!”
“How could he possibly know it was me? you know how thorough I am! Anyway, that poker game is half the reason I’m doing this! He never gave me my winnings!”
“But you cheated.”
“But HE DIDNT KNOW THAT!”
“who's there!” yelled a security guard from outside the hanger.
“Shit!” whispered Morgan turning to Alex “there goes my quiet exit plan Alex, thanks!”
Morgan started hastily pressing buttons, the engines slowly began to wur as they spun up. “I hardly see how this is my fault” smirked Alex “it was you who alerted the guard with your shouting.”
“AT YOU!” screamed Morgan before turning back to the controls. “If you hadn't shown up, I'd be long gone by now!”
Several more guards had shown up and were pointing their guns at the plane. “Come out with your hands up!” one yelled. Morgan paid no heed. As they begun to taxi the guards opened fire. Morgan ducked suddenly and Alex laughed it him. “What are you doing? This is rex roofers’ plane! I would be very surprised if it was not bullet proof.” of course he knew that, the plane was coated in a film of graphene rendering it invulnerable to all less than missiles, he had just acted on instinct. He always felt embarrassed to show fear around Alex because Alex always seemed so confident.

They had now taxied onto the runway and were accelerating to take off, some of the guards had found a jeep and a rocket launcher and were racing after them. Just as the wheels left the ground the rocket was launched, it tore towards the aircraft and struck the base of the wing with a force that shook the entire plane and almost caused them to crash, one foolish man tried to leap onto the wing but was quickly ripped off by the airflow. before they knew it, they were off.
“well, that was easy” remarked Alex
“don’t think we’re done just yet! Rex will soon find out about this and then we’ll have fighters up our ass. Dammit! I knew they would come eventually but it wasn’t supposed to be for another couple of hours! This fucks everything up!”
“at least we are safe for a while, and the view is quite nice” said Alex looking out of the cockpit window at a sea of clouds rolling by beneath them illuminated by an expanse of stars the likes of which Morgan had never seen, to the left was a razor thin crescent moon seemingly suspended on a dark navy-blue dome.
“I suppose.” Said Morgan dryly
“Please don’t sulk, why don’t you tell me the rest of your amazing plan which I messed up?”
“Why should I? it's too late for it anyway, Mabe I should just crash and fake my death. Drop off the grid and never heist again.”
“Come on, I'm really sorry.” this was not how Alex wanted this to go. His plan was so simple, show up with some bullshit excuse for Morgan to cancel the mission, have a small fight then concede to continue but only if they do it together! then they would have a nice night making fun of rex and sailing under the stars. Where had it gone so wrong? When he had ducked from the bullets the laughter was supposed to be a light bit of banter to lighten the mood, but he seemed to have taken offence! If only he would stop being so stoic all the time and open up.
“Ok, the plan was to wait until the fighter came approximately 3 hours after departure” he reached down and pulled a device out of his briefcase. “Then I would activate this to cloak the jet, then it’s only 2 hours to the chosen airfield where I was going to hide it! But you see, the whole plan was very precisely timed because the device only has 2 and a half hours charge! On our current schedule the fighters will be on us in 20 minutes, if I activate the cloak then it will deactivate 2 hours from the landing sight. we will be picked up on radar and shot out of the sky.”
“I’m sorry I messed it up, but if it helps, my lair happens to be within range of the cloaking device?”
Morgan hated that Alex always had an answer, “fine! We’ll go to your lair, but if anyone asks it was my idea!” he said as he rolled the plane around towards the south.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

They had landed 1 hour ago and were relaxing in Alex's ready room, a fire burned in the hearth casting a warm flickering glow over the room, Alex had really lent into a medieval theme with this lair, the walls were draped in tapestries depicting her various battles, because if this the room was very red. Morgan and Alex were sitting on the maroon sofa, alex sipping what looked like a bloody Mary and Morgan with a tankard of beer.
"Have I ever told you what a great decorator you are? How did you fit so many spikes into the throne room? And how seamlessly the booby traps blend into the carpet! I wouldn't want to try Robb this place that's for sure."
"That's mostly the point, I like my privacy"Alex replied, "have you seen the new tapestry I had made? Your in it! Its of the time we fought the alien dragon"
"You fought the dragon, I was mostly there for moral support and treasure"
"Hmn, mabe, but that's not what I told the weaver" Alex smiled
They made there way out through the cavernous throne room, to a nearby corridor where Alex had found room for the tapestry, it depicted a ferocious battle with Alex blasting fireballs and Morgan wielding a great sword that glinted in the starlight.
"They used real silver thread for the sword"
"Well, I, I don't know what to say, thank you!"
"I would have put it somewhere more conspicuous but the green blood tends to clash" they were making their way back through the throne room when a defending thud knocked dust from the ceiling, in a split second Alex's eyes turned red, she grew several inches and her aura of hate alone was enough to make Morgan flinch away. Her voiced deepened to an echoing demonic howl as she yelled,
"WHO DARES FIRE MISSILES AT MY LAIR!!!"
She flew up with impressive speed and phased through the ceiling, Morgan heard tearing metal and an explosion as he raced to the surface the long way around. As the lift doors opened Morgan beheld a catastrophic scene, chunks of ocean grey, military jet plane were everywhere and Alex was floating a foot off the ground and had the pilot by the back of the neck, there faces were an inch apart.
"*WHO SENT YOU? THE TERRIFIC TRIO? THE FAIRNESS ASSOCIATION? TELL ME NOW!*"
"I'msorryimsorryimsorryimsorrygodpleasedontkillmeitwasrexrooferhewantedpaybackforstealinghisjetbuthedidntknowitwasyouohmygodpleasedont-" the pilots whimpering was cut off Alex who closed his fist, crushing the unlucky man's spine then dropping him a child might drop a dull toy. She began to calm down, sinking to the floor and her eyes were fading back to there usual catlike yellow.
"Come on man" Morgan complained "you promised you wouldn't do stuff like that in front of me!"
"Sorry, I got carried away, first time anyone has dared to attack my lair" "I suppose the only reason they did I'd because they assumed it was yours"
"What do you mean?" asked Morgan
"Did you disable the satellite tracking on the plane?"
"Of course I did, I'm not an idiot"
"And the radio homing beacon?"
"I'm sorry the what?!"
"Great heist man! You've lead rex right too us! when the fighter dosen't return he will send ground troops and when he realises what this place is, he'll have the damn fairness association on the phone before you can say eternity area!"
"I'm sorry Alex, I didn't mean to ruin your secret lair, but if you had just let me do my heist this would never have happened!"
"Well Yes, but then you would have been blown up 5 minutes ago! Come on, help me pack."

Chapter Text

Morgan is sat in the jet surrounded by blinking lights and dials, a mess of wires join the console and a laptop on Morgans knee as he taps away staring intently.
"its been more than thirty seconds since the last, so i brought you another coffee" Alex said. Morgan wordlessly took the it and took a deep drink.
"thanks i needed that, I'm really sorry we have to do this to your base"
"its fine, i was already in the process of moving, the new location fits my aesthetic better than a random hill. besides the penguins that is." minions could be seen on the other side of the hanger carrying weapons, furniture and display cases containing gruesome trophies in the direction of the teleport room.

a boom shook the room "they're here already? i thought you said they'd be an hour yet. go check whats left and take it there yourself" Alex vanished with a pop as all the employees rushed for the exit. Morgan began to type frantically, putting the final touches on the circular flight path they needed. he slammed his laptop and left it on the passenger seat. "Alex" he shouted to the air.
"yea?" Alex said, appearing, "oh yea, the body" he said before vanishing again, rattling could be heard from the cockpit before he appeared once more "the body is in the chair, you sure they wont be able to identify it?"
"nah, the amount of explosives you say you've rigged this place with, I'm not sure if they will even be able to identify the plane."
"awesome. ill check if everyone is out, you go up to the control room and blow the place when your ready" Alex said as he disappeared for the final time. Morgan headed for the staircase, taking them 3 at a time before running out of breath and deciding to pace himself. he reached the control room and was greeted with a control panel with dozens of buttons, most notably a big red one right in the middle labeled DO NOT PRESS in red letters. "well that's clearly how you detonate, now where do i set the timer?" he wondered. scanning the surrounding area with his eyes he seemed to be having trouble finding it, each button was clearly labeled but non he could see said anything like countdown.
the banging from the huge base door was getting louder, they must be close to breaking in "its a good job Alex agreed not to simply kill them all, that would have been messy." he looked over the console again more carefully, then a third time. "surely Alex wouldn't forget to install a dramatic countdown would he?" he thought on this for a few seconds before realizing, that forgetting people need time to leave before they get blown up is exactly the kind of thing Alex would forget. the banging and now grinding coming from the door stopped "come out and surrender or we are coming in!" the grinding resumed. Morgan looked around hurriedly. on a chair he found 2 water bottles, in the corner of the room an old nail and by the door a length of string. he tied each bottle to one end of the string and then threw one over a convenient bar on the ceiling so that they were suspended directly over the button, he shoved the nail through the bottom of one and pulled it out just as he presses a button, the plane's engines began to whirr.
Morgan sprinted to the teleport room as the jet speed down the runway automatically taking off just as he had programmed it to do. it weaved through the air dodging missile after missile turning in the process. after narrowly avoiding one hit, an engine suddenly exploded of its own accord (although you couldn't tell that from the ground) and it began tearing towards the base at high speed just as Morgan stepped through the portal. at that moment the water bottle drained fully and the other fell right onto the button just as the plane made impact detonating the base instantly in a ball of fire.

Morgan stepped out of the portal. "how'd it go?" asked Alex "you took your time, i was worried"
"it went fine considering you DIDNT HAVE A DAMN TIMER! i was lucky i had the materials to fashion a makeshift one! I'm so mad right n-- AWWWWWWW penguins!!!" Morgan suddenly exclaimed, quickly forgetting his anger. Alex was thankful for the distraction. "yea, i don't know how those 4 keep getting in here, i even found them in the vault once."
"maybe they're cute little penguin burglars, they are like a little team! the tall one, the fat one, the dumb one and the crazy looking one!"
"yea, ha ha, if i catch them in here again i might have them shipped of to the new York zoo, see how they like trying to break out of there. would you like a tour of the base Morgan?"
"i would" he replied "maybe you can show me where your gonna hang that cool tapestry" he said as the doors closed behind them

"that was a close one skipper" one penguin said to the other
"too close Kowalski" another replied, "Kowalski, do i look fat to you?"