SPOILER ALERT: Begins during Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Spoilers for all Marvel movies after Avengers and for Agents of SHIELD.

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So, did you like how I wrote the blurb without saying helicarriers or Hydra?

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Enemies List

Washington D.C., 7 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the day before the Insight launch

"Can we warn our friends?" Steve Rogers asked Natasha Romanoff.

The two battered SHIELD agents had a moment of privacy to regroup. Sam Wilson was fixing some food for his uninvited and unexpected guests, while they used his bedroom and bathroom to get cleaned up.

Natasha thought it was like Steve to think of others who would be in danger. She knew he meant the Avengers — the only friends they had in common who weren't possibly compromised SHIELD agents.

"I don't …" Natasha said uncertainly. She hadn't been so rattled since the Hulk pursued her on the helicarrier — first Fury's death, then the revelation about Hydra and the missile attack. She shook her head to organize her thoughts. One finger curled around her necklace.

"There are too many lives riding on this," she finally said. "We can't afford to give away our position."

"You know the Avengers will be on their enemies list," Steve said.

Natasha gave a weak smile. "Gotten as far as Watergate, hmm?"

Steve nodded solemnly, "Biggest government disgrace I ever heard of … until now."

He eyed her steadily, waiting for an answer. She knew the technology better than he did. He would trust her decision.

"We can't get in touch with all of them," she said. "It would raise a red flag. But maybe one, if we're careful."

"Barton?" Steve asked kindly, putting a gentle hand on her arm.

She realized she'd been toying with the arrow charm on her necklace — another sign of how shaken she was, or how she trusted Steve enough to show her vulnerability. He would take their one chance to warn the man who was so important to her.

But Natasha reluctantly declined the offer. "We can't." Her voice was tight, but steady. "He's on a mission, surveillance out in the Rockies somewhere. I have no way to contact him directly and we can't go through the Denver office."

Cap understood. They couldn't risk trusting a stranger in SHIELD.

"So, Stark, Banner or Thor," he said.

"Banner's out in the wilds of India. Thor apparently stayed in London with Jane Foster after the whole Greenwich incident, but I don't have a contact number for either of them," Natasha said. "Anyway, they're awfully hard to kill, but word is Stark destroyed all his Iron Man suits. He's vulnerable."

"Stark, then," Steve decided.

"But how," Natasha pondered. "We can't just call his office. You know SHIELD is watching everyone we know."

"Fancy cellphones aren't my forte," Steve said. "I'm more old school."

"They might not be ready for old school," Natasha agreed. She remembered something Coulson had told her. "If you can code a message, I can deliver it," she asserted with more confidence.

They began to plan.

"And I don't even like Stark," Natasha grumbled.

"Sure you do," Steve answered with a small smile. "Everybody likes Stark. Tony says so himself."

Malibu, California, 5 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, the day before the Insight launch.

"Sir, I am receiving a message," Jarvis reported to his creator.

"I am?" Tony Stark asked.

"No, I am. It is addressed to 'Jarvis' and has been routed through Agent Coulson's 'back door' that you had me leave open for 'sentimental reasons'."

"Someone knows you're listening," Tony commented. He set aside his tools, focusing on this interesting new problem.

"The message is in Morse code, but the words themselves seem to be a random list of words."

"A second code," Tony observed.

"Indeed."

"Let's hear it."

When Jarvis played the message, all Tony could hear was a buzz and click.

"Sounds like one of those automated sales calls when no one is on the line," Tony commented.

"Allow me to slow it down," Jarvis said.

Now Tony could hear a pattern of clicks, still too fast to identify as Morse code.

"Slow it down to normal speed," he said.

"That is normal speed."

Tony raised his eyebrows. "Is it machine made?"

"No sir, irregularity in the sending indicates a human finger did the tapping."

"Well, then, who do we know who moves at enhanced speed but is old school enough to know Morse? Don't answer that! Rhetorical question. What does the message say, Jarvis?"

"The message repeats twice. It reads: Jarvis Goose Fork Coffee …" Tony stiffened. "… Candy Rum Six Six Six." Jarvis interrupted himself to say, "Sir, are you all right? Your blood pressure …"

"I'm fine." Tony's face had gone white. He felt blindly behind himself for a chair and sank down slowly.

"Shall I begin a search for the meaning of this code?"

"No!" Tony snapped. More calmly, he continued, "No, don't look. I know what it means. Hide the message behind your toughest firewalls. Don't refer to it. Close that back door — no, wait." Tony thought hard. Some friend of Coulson's had told Cap about that back door — maybe Clint Barton but probably Tony's former P.A. "Natalie Rushman." They'd taken a risk to send him a warning. Tony didn't want to close off the message path, but he didn't know who could be trusted.

"Leave it open," he decided. "But wall it off. Set traps to catch anything that comes through. And notify me immediately if anything does."

"Of course, sir."

Tony scrubbed his fingers through his hair. "And now … now we need to get ready for visitors."

A/N: About the timing: Steve and Nat followed Sam home from his dawn run, so I put their conversation about warning their friends at 7 a.m. They eat, code their message and send it to Jarvis. Tony receives it about an hour after the first scene. Tony has about a day of warning while Cap and company steal the flight suit from Ft. Meade which is in Maryland, about 24 miles from D.C. Then they have to track down Sitwell and question him. I put the causeway attack, capture and rescue in the late afternoon after Sitwell leaves his late lunch with the senator.

Then Cap and company have the night to rest, plan, steal from the Smithsonian and begin their attack. The Insight launch is in the morning, because that's when you do this kind of thing, but not horrendously early because Pierce is bringing in all the bigwigs. For the purposes of my story — because I'm compulsive that way — I'm saying the actual launch and accompanying battle in CA:TWS begins at about 8 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Most of the chapters in this story take place simultaneously at that "go time" at different locations around the world. The original launch time was 10 a.m., but everything got shoved up when Cap made his speech and the attack teams assigned to the Avengers got the "go now" message. Also the same message went out to Hydra agents assigned to SHIELD facilities like the Hub and the Academy, as seen in Agents of SHIELD.

Next: Thor's story.