Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Pitch
Osborn's reign as director of H.A.M.M.E.R. could only last so long. From the first day of his appointment, the international community had been up in arms. And it didn't take long before the rational minds got their vindication. It doesn't even take a full year for the whole thing to blow sky high. The news media is flooded with evidence of his misconduct, and it's big. He's been colluding with super villains, dictators, and known terrorists. Camp Hammond has become a training camp for super-powered criminals. He's waged a secret war on the free world, using his Thunderbolts to destabilize small, democratic governments. Some of this land has been offered as treaty colonies to his dictator friends, others placed under the control of his Hammond-groomed flunkies. Some of America's worst villains have been allowed to run roughshod. The global community has long been up-in-arms about the rampant presence of metahumans in the United States, and it's a legitimate concern. The presence of nuclear proliferation is nothing in the face of the population of sentient WMD's that freely live in the country. They've seen America again and again exploit the responsibility of their powers. But Osborn is just the final straw. The President's administration is in jeopardy, his polls at an all-time low. The right wing news outlets are having a field day, frothing at the liberal President's gross negligence (which they claim might be WORSE than negligence). The negotiated solution is a S.H.I.E.L.D. built from the ground up. It will be a joint UN/US venture, charged with defusing meta-level threats. Naturally, most of these threats found their origins on American shores or through covert American ventures. No more of this zero oversight. The staff will be split between both American and foreign (mostly European) operatives. Intel will be accounted both to the President and the UN Security Council. And no American agency will be free of their jurisdiction. They will regulate.
Norman's safely locked away in international waters while he awaits a war crimes trial. There's no question he'll hang. The only question is what he'll give up in the process. But he saw all this coming. Osborn's smart enough to know he couldn't run his organization that hard and not get caught at some point. But he carefully spent his tenure empire building. He's fostered the violent coups of third world countries and installed criminals indebted to him at the head. These ports have provided the growth of the Hood's organization into an international criminal operation, the likes of which have never been seen. Nobody has the raw superhuman manpower of the United States, and none are so organized as the Hood's group. Parker has aggressively turned his crew into an international crime syndicate, the like of which have never been seen before. With H.A.M.M.E.R, he's been given the means to train and fund a private security force, a mass of ruthless and efficient soldiers who quickly faded into the background following the man's arrest. With Camp Hammond, he's groomed his lieutenants. Osborn relied on his Cabal to provide him with that early muscle, but he knew all along it was an arrogant and self-interested bunch. They were just a means to build his own private army. And now he's in jail, ready to squeal, ready to reveal
everything. Well, that's what he says at least.
The Team
With Osborne arrested and awaiting trial, there are cursory worries of how deeply he managed to infiltrate the various levels of US Government. In the immediate wake of his arrest, Valentina is tasked with a dual mission: to properly contain Osborne through his trial, and to investigate the extent of Osborne's malfeasance. Her initial unit consists of two teams: a defensive squad tasked with properly containing Osborne, and an investigatory unit tasked with finding enough evidence to warrant an international intelligence agency to combat the fallout. Cable's abandoned nation of Providence is chosen to imprison Osborne, and later to serve as the headquarters of the agency. At the beginning of the second arc, SHIELD is up and running. It's a massive organization employing thousands, but the book would primarily focus on the Countess' personal team, sort of the Howlin' Commandos of the new agency. They operate as a cell, utilizing the initial dual component of a combat and investigative team. Given their relationship as the alpha team of SHIELD, many of them have roles in the overall infrastructure of the agency. She utilizes a healthy combination of characters with an attachment to the United States, but who also feel a duty to globalism.
The Cast
The Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine -
The Handler
The Countess is the only spy who's been able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Nick Fury when it comes to the administration and utilization of the agency; but her methods are distinctly more Old World. Anyway, everyone knows Fury is dirty, and even if they didn't, no intelligence agency would go near him. He's a casualty of the intelligence war. He's just the last one to know it. Valentina relies less on bleeding edge technology and more on the reliability of her agents. Her voice is never heard on radio and phone, but only face-to-face, and the only ones who see her face-to-face are her personal staff and her pet agents. In addition to administration, she also operates as a handler of her own crack cell. The whole agency acts on this model, with each handler contained and isolated to their personal team (modeled more or less on Allegra's crew). Their intel is filtered through administrators to Valentina, who then filter the responses back down to the handlers. Her home is not in the SHIELD headquarters of Providence, but instead on an isolated coastal villa in Italy. All sensitive intel outside of the unit is handled face-to-face. Decisions are not handled as a team, but neither are they as compartmentalized and dictatorial as prior agencies. She rotates her agents into her inner circle to consult on various specialties, weighing their input into her decisions. Her agents were picked not just for their technical specialties, but also for the values they bring to the agency: intelligence, street knowledge, conscience, practicality. Her agents determine her decisions, and as a result, they shape the agendas and practices of the whole agency. She also plays violin.
Henry Peter Gyrich -
The Liaison
The new SHIELD has unprecedented jurisdiction in UN states, including the USA. Since the team will largely be operating in US boundaries, and since the US has such high stakes in the new agency, Gyrich would play a major role as the US liaison. He's a conflicted character. While on one hand, he balks at the idea of a foreign agency operating in US soil, he also sees, with Osborne's actions, every fear he's ever had fulfilled. When the Avengers first appeared, this is what he warned everyone of. This was his Doomsday scenario, and now it's finally come true. There's tension between him and the Countess, but in the end, he does what's right. The world's finally listening to what he's been telling them all along, and now maybe he has the means to properly contain it.
Amadeus Cho -
The Smartest Boy on Earth (+ cybernetic dog)
Amadeus is the intel guy. He's tasked with setting up the tech behind the new headquarters at Providence, and retroengineering the tech from Nick Fury and H.A.M.M.E.R. for this next generation spy agency. He's the team's dispatch guy, working all the black ops magic that makes life easier for the guys on the ground. Himself, the Countess, and Wyatt form an inner council, tasked with cataloging Interpol, Stark, and HAMMER databases of superhumans, and properly analyzing protocols to disable them. Always at his side is his energetic coyote pup Kirby. In reality, Kirby is a Life Model Decoy, engineered from DNA of the real pup. The secret is, Kirby's much more than that. He's a remote, secure drive, holding the backup files of SHIELD database, and operating as a failsafe self-destruct for any other copy of the database. If SHIELD is compromised, Kirby can be used to detonate any classified information in a matter of moments.
Jessica Drew -
Wetworks
The Most Hated Woman in The World. Despite being an incredibly competent field agent, no organization will touch her with a ten foot pole. Hell, HYDRA doesn't even want her anymore. That's why the Contessa draws her in. Confidence is repaid with loyalty. Drew's role as a pariah can benefit Valentina, and she sees no reason to let an exceptional agent go to waste. Hell, she was crucial (along with the other New Avengers) to blowing the lid off of Norman Osborne's corruption. For what it's worth, she seems to have something of a death wish, constantly throwing herself into more and more dangerous situations. For now, at least, she's been coming back unscathed. She's our all-purpose super spy.
Cain Marko -
The Mole
They find Cain living quietly as a mechanic in the Netherlands. He disappeared early into Osborne's tenure, using his presumed death as an opportunity to get as far out of the limelight as possible. When they find him, he's living a subsistent life far away from where anyone might look. His past is a heavy burden upon him. He doesn't like to talk about his criminal background, and since that's 95% of his life, he doesn't talk much at all. He's the team's mole in the Hood's organization, the safest undercover dick they could manage, considering his invulnerability. His high rank in Osborne's organization makes him a perfect eye into the underworld. It's a role he's not happy with, but one he recognizes as necessary for his personal rehabilitation.
Wyatt Wingfoot -
The Courier
On the surface, Wingfoot is merely the Countess' chauffer. This is exactly why he was picked. Despite personally knowing the majority of the American superhero community, Wyatt is a virtual unknown outside of this little clique. This provides Contessa a valuable asset: a consigliere who is utterly inconspicuous, a bodyguard who no one would expect. A large part of the new SHIELD's mission statement is the containment of superhumans, and Wyatt's personal experience provides Contessa a window into a society she has a hard time wrapping her mind around. He is a valuable asset who provides invaluable insight into an insular and heavily guarded community. He's a sense of reason perpetually hovering over her shoulder, a sensible right hand man who can throw a punch and steer anything to safety in a chase. He's mostly kept to her side, but occasionally sent into the field, to courier sensitive documents and cargo, or to shuttle agents into dangerous territory. I think there'd be a developing sexual tension between him and the Contessa. Wyatt Wingfoot Vs. Nick Fury!
James Rhodes -
Heavy Weapons
He's the conscience of the team, given a chance to do what he's been doing with UN mandate and access to far greater intelligence. He's the leader of the field team, coordinating strategy and serving as the intuition in battle. We would see Rhodes as a real challenger to Stark's intellect, albeit in a different arena. He has access to the bleeding edge of Stark technology, and in this environment he'd thrive, growing into the twenty-first century's answer to Hannibal. He's wholly in it for the good he can do, and that's what makes him a valuable asset to the Countess. In addition to providing tactical input for the missions, she trusts that he'll speak up if there is any objection of conscience.
Hannibal King -
The Flatfoot
Has spent the last couple of years keeping a low public profile as an investigator in London. But he's still got a reputation. For the people in the know, he's the man you need to see when you want something investigated discreetly and quietly. He's worked at the request of the royal family and the Prime Minister, a treasured resource coveted by the elite of British society. The Countess needs a flatfoot, someone to get the street work done, to beat out leads, to snap pictures, to network socially, and root out the hierarchy of the organizations SHIELD will be facing. King is that guy. He's the consummate gumshoe, a guy who's procedure has been oiled to a well-timed machine. He claims he's in for it for the money, but it's really always about the job. He loves the unraveling nest of secrets, the thrill of the hunt. It really is a hunt for King, a way to suppress the vampiric hunger pangs. Plus, he provides much needed intel into the wool and weave of supernatural influences. He is in charge of utilizing SHIELD's intel farms, agents who are tasked with small but persistent surveillance tasks, largely without knowing why they're doing what they're doing, sometimes not knowing exactly who they're looking for, part-time spies who provide an extensive catalog of erratic but critical intelligence, little bits of data spread among thousands of regular people.
Ororo Munroe -
Containment
Ororo is Wakanda's symbol of commitment to the new, global intelligence agency. But she's not all smiles. She's wary, as are the people of her nation, of the amount of domain held by SHIELD. She is cautious, using her status as a high-standing diplomat to scrutinize the going-ons at Providence. She is constantly examining the actions and agendas of SHIELD, to hold them up to the standards and will of the member nations. She additionally goes into the field on major operations. If Jim is their heavy weapon, she's their special weapon. One of the most important aspects of a battle is the battlefield, and she can make the field whatever they need it to be. She is there to contain the warfare, to insure the safety of the people and her team, to make sure they leave the place as pristine as they left it. This extends beyond the battle field. She manages the safe movement and housing of hostages or captured soldiers, manages the containment of any operation that may threaten the social or political stability of the are, plans the long-term strategy for the region. Whereas the rest of the team is concerned with the immediate actions, she deals in the long game repercussions. She serves as liaison between SHIELD and the UN, and is given otherwise unprecedented access to Valentina's daily operations and procedure.
Story Arcs
So, the following would cover the first phase of the series, and would comprise about 18-24 months worth of story. It would focus on establishing the tumultuous climate of the spy game in the wake of year after year of disaster, and the rapid-fire changes in US superhuman policy. While the world has been preoccupied with aliens and storm troopers, a lot of **** has slipped under the radar. We'd also establish the primary players as a team, and get a look at the larger infrastructure of the agency, and their relationship with other intelligence outfits.
The first plot would open with a crack team being commissioned by the UN to raid HAMMER's heli-carrier for Osborn. What would follow would be Contessa's commission investigating his whole operation, trying to gather together the evidence to approve the sanctioning of a new international SHIELD. As Jessica Drew stages tactical assaults on highly confidential HAMMER installations, Amadeus Cho and James Rhodes work on security in the prison island of Providence, and Gyrich and the Contessa put the screws to Osborn. Meanwhile, Valentina has hired detective Hannibal King to track down Cain Marko, who's now living a quiet life in the Netherlands. While Valentina turns her attentions to the indestructible (but remarkably mild) man, the facility goes on red alert, attempting to contain a high intensity attack, an attempt on Norman's life by his former people. In the wake of the disaster, the UN approves the formation of a new SHIELD, Juggernaut agrees to go undercover in the Hood's organization, and a smirking Osborn agrees he'll tell his story, his whole story, to one man: Ben Urich.
SHIELD's first official mission would have them dropping in to the nation of Symarkia, bordering Latveria. Doom has recently made an incursion into Symarkian territory, needing arable farmland to feed his people, and hoping to turn the patch of land into an Israel for the gypsies of Latveria. The strike team rendezvous with the V-Battalion, led by Silver Sable, Symarkia's equivalent to the Army Rangers. What they really want is inside Doom's Castle. The guerilla strikes are just a cover to get Jessica Drew into the Castle to recover sensitive mystical artifacts. Cho guides her incursion remotely, with King advising him on matters of magic. Meanwhile, Cain Marko sidles into the Robbins organization, which has become much bigger than anyone every considered.
Bullseye wants the Hand. Norman Osborne promised him the Hand. It was the only thing keeping him in check. See, old boy isn't satisfied with the damage he can do by himself. Sure, he's a right Biblical disaster, but not on the scale of the Great Flood. And somehow he heard about Daredevil being offered the top spot. There is more than a little jealousy involved. But Normie's gone, and the assassin will have to take what is his. Over the course of a week, Tokyo has turned into a bloodbath. The city has spiraled into a vicious cycle of gang deaths, a war consisting of the Hand-run Syndicates against one man. Well, practically. At first it seems that way, but when the non-Hand gangs see the exposed flank of their enemies, they bare teeth. And it seems that Bullseye has a personal squad of HAMMER deserters, psychotic, and hand-picked by the lunatic assassin. The presence of HAMMER draws our team to the city. In the process, they're forced to work in tandem with Team Van Helsing, a special SHIELD squad charged with capturing or otherwise neutralizing Osborne's rogue Avengers. This SHIELD kill squad would be comprised of Bucky Barnes (Captain America, using the alias Nomad for his international jobs), Abner Jenkins (The Beetle), and Clint Barton (Ronin). We also see Osborn's execution.
We'd go from there to Haiti, a rock, a former slave colony that's been hobbled by a lack of natural resource and spent the last few decades crippled by trade treaties that force them to trade their essentials for luxury goods. See, Haiti's recently dropped off the map. The coup was silent. No one's quite sure what happened, but they've sealed themselves off from the rest of the world, sent away their ambassadors, and most startlingly, vegetation has closed over the island like a shield. It has gone from a barren rock to a tropical paradise seemingly overnight. The reason is Black Tom Cassidy. This cat's history is weird. He's an Irish mutant who's powers went from being able to send shock waves through wood to being some weird plant entity. Since M-Day, he's gone back to his normal powers, but the idea is that in the past year or so, his powers have been increasingly astronomically. With Brother Voodoo as an administrator, they've turned Haiti into a private Eden. The international community is worried. American intelligence in particular paints Voodoo as a new Papa Doc. Storm is sent as a SHIELD ambassador with Jessica Drew, Amadeus Cho, and Marco (pulled from his deep cover due to his connection with Black Tom) on retinue. In the process, they get mixed up in a CIA-led revolution. While the diplomatic team deals with a foreign coup, the Contessa and Gyrich seek to discredit CIA reports tying the new regime to a cocaine empire.
Then we'd go to the Middle East. The new Mandarin is running guns from North Africa into the Middle East, channeling them through Afghanistan to Pakistan, from there to Eastern Europe, and out to the greater world at large. He's running his whole operation from a high rise in Dubai. Intelligence has been following him closely for a while, but new evidence points to a massive buy, the kind of stock that could be used to outfit an army, with most of the weapons being derived from Stark technology. The buyer, they discover, is Miss Hand (Osborn's former Girl Friday), who has apparently found herself a new employer following Osborn's disgrace.
The final arc for the first movement would be in New York City. The Juggernaut puts his life at risk to tip off SHIELD regarding rumors through the Hood's network. Seems Osborn left something sensitive behind in the heart of Manhattan, some sort of weapon. Drew enlists the help of her friends in the New Avengers to investigate, but they soon learn someone else is looking for the treasure: a small unit of HAMMER deserters seeking to turn their situation around. See, what they're looking for is an old Stark storehouse, a vast armory beneath Manhattan sitting atop a next generation WMD. The former HAMMER agents
We'd close with an interlude. Cain Marko falls off of the radar just following a transmission of sensitive information: a terse communication between Parker Robbins and seemingly Norman Osborn. The Contessa thinks Osborn's an LMD. Cho thinks the man executed was an LMD, swapped out by a mole while Osborn was in custody. An exhumation of his grave confirms it. Remnants of Marko wash up, and we get to see a SHIELD funeral first hand: dour, classified, with only the members of his cell allowed to intend. Marko was compromised, and met a messy end at the mercy of an atomic super-collider.
Creative Team
Greg Rucka and Fabio Moon, maybe?
