Arlington

Arlington, officially known as Arlington County, is a city and county located in Virginia, United States. The city lies directly across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. and is also home to the Pentagon.

History[]

Cryptography[]

Roger Dooley requested a cryptographer from Arlington Hall in order to decrypt an encoded message that was received through Sasha Demidov's Remote Typewriter. The cryptographer was unable to decipher the message, and wanted to return to Arlington Hall with the message, but Peggy Carter managed to easily decipher it upon realizing that the original message had been written in Russian.^[1]

William Rawlins' Residence[]

CIA Director of Covert Operations William Rawlins chose Arlington as his place of residence.^[2]

Downing of the Aerodynamic Marvel[]

General Turner, one of the officers in charge of assigning missions to Tony Stark during his earliest days as Iron Man, called Stark to ask him to retrieve a piece of surveillance technology in Congo. In reality, Turner lied about the incident, as the attack shot down a prototype vehicle designed by Justin Hammer, leaving its pilot alone in unfriendly territory. Turner's real objective was to make Stark kill the Congolese Army members in the area without blaming the United States Armed Forces, masquerading as an act of self-defense during the mission. However, Stark was able to see past his lies and rescued the pilot without bloodshed, infuriating Turner and the Joint Chiefs.^[3]

Hunt of Bruce Banner[]

General Thaddeus Ross coordinated the hunt of Bruce Banner from his office at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Banner was able to elude capture for some years, even although the United States Armed Forces located some of the safehouses used by Banner. Ross monitored the efforts from the Pentagon, establishing an investigation report with files about his sightings, different pieces of evidence found, and continues control of Banner's known accomplices, particularly, Betty Ross and Leonard Samson, and trying to figure Banner's intentions.^[4]

When Major Kathleen Sparr received news of a possible Gamma related incident, she informed General Ross of a severe case of Gamma poisoning by a man in Milwaukee, who suffered it after drinking from a bottle that got impregnated with Banner's blood while he suffered a cut in the bottling factory he was working on Brazil. Ross quickly deduced that Banner was hiding at the location of the bottling factory, and he should be the only caucasian working there. Both Ross and Sparr left the Pentagon in order to assemble a military unit to capture Banner.^[4]

Ross and Blonsky reunited in the Pentagon after the unsuccessful capture of Banner, with Blonsky reaffirming his compromise to the mission, advising Ross to choose men ready to fight Hulk without fear.

Captain America portrait — Emil Blonsky inside the Pentagon

General Ross decided to disclose Blonsky the exact nature of Banner's work, an attempt to recreate the results of Project Rebirth in order to create "super-soldiers", and that Banner was unaware of Ross motivations to finance the project, as he thought he was investigating to improve radiation resistance. Ross offered Blonsky a chance to undergo an experimental procedure, administrating a dose of the Super Soldier Serum to improve his physical capabilities in order to battle Hulk next time he was located.^[4]

Ross returned to the Pentagon after another failed mission to capture Banner in Willowdale, and was briefed on Blonsky's condition, who was critically injured by Hulk in the battle, with almost all his bones broken with a violent blow. Ross reviewed the TV news report about the incident, and was briefed by Major Sparr about a change in Blonsky's condition, prompting him to check it himself: Blonsky healed himself miraculously.^[4]

The effects of the Super Soldier Serum administered to Blonsky led Ross to organize a major manhunt of Banner and Betty Ross, enlisting the help of the FBI, local police departments and S.H.I.E.L.D., as now Banner wasn't fleeing, he was looking for help.^[4]

Banner's last communication with an accomplice known as "Mr. Blue" allowed to track his direction and identity to that of Samuel Sterns a professor from the department of cellular biology at Grayburn College in New York City, ordering a blockade of the access to New York.^[4]

Project Insight[]

Arlington and the Pentagon were one of the intended targets of Project Insight, as many of the members of the Pentagon were deemed a threat for HYDRA's plans. The Insight satellites marked numerous individuals as candidates in the Pentagon. The city was not shot as Captain America and his allies were able to change the intended targets and stop HYDRA in time.^[5]

Government Storage Warehouse[]

Establishment of the Storage Warehouse[]

The United States Armed Forces established a special Storage Warehouse custodied by a Joint Task Force under Brigadier General Glenn Talbot's leadership. The Armed Forces seized thousands of assets and equipment from S.H.I.E.L.D. when HYDRA revealed its continued existence within the agency's ranks and stored them in the warehouse.^[6]

Public Announcement[]

Glenn Talbot announced the dismantlement of S.H.I.E.L.D. during an interview with George Stephanopoulos, even assuring that both S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA had been defeated, and all personnel and weaponry belonging to them had been contained in the same storage facility with S.H.I.E.L.D. paraphernalia.^[6]

HYDRA used this information to guess the location of the Obelisk, and sent Carl Creel to attack Talbot in order to learn about its location.^[6]

Capture of Carl Creel[]

Carl Creel was arrested and transferred to the Storage Warehouse following his attack against General Glenn Talbot, intending to force him the reveal the location of the Obelisk. However, as S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to intercept a message for Creel detailing the mission, Creel was captured by the United States Armed Forces and taken into military custody to the storage warehouse, the same facility he wanted to infiltrate.^[6]

Creel quickly absorbed the properties of the reinforced glass that formed the walls of his cell, becoming both durable and transparent. While chatting about General Glenn Talbot's vanishing following Creel's attack, the privates tasked with guarding Creel's cell realized he had escaped, as the cell looked empty. The two of them opened the cell with Creel still inside, who quickly attacked them in order to escape.^[6]

Infiltration into the Government Storage Warehouse[]

Melinda May, Skye, Antoine Triplett, Isabelle Hartley, Lance Hunter and Idaho arrived at the gates of the Government Storage Warehouse tasked with two different missions, retrieve the Obelisk and obtain a Quinjet.^[6]

The group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived disguised as the escort of General Jones, the identity Triplett assumed in order to pass the security at the gates. Private Tilden, the soldier tasked with checking the visitors from the register, denied their entrance as the register did not show Jones' arrival. In order to buy time so Skye could hack the register using Talbot's access code, Phil Coulson called Tilden mimicking Talbot's voice in order to use Talbot's authority to order the private to let the party enter the facility. Tilden apologized and tried to excuse himself saying that they were not in the register. Skye managed to hack the register, introducing Triplett's image as General Jones, granting them access to the compound, so Tilden informed Coulson, still thinking he was Talbot, that the situation had been solved, and he let the agents enter the facility.^[6]

The six agents entered the main warehouse and while Idaho stayed behind in their vehicle in case they had to quickly escape, the other five agents split to locate the Obelisk. Hartley realized that Roger Browning's words of it being a needle in a haystack were not an exaggeration, as there were hundreds of boxes similar to the one that contained the Obelisk.^[6]

Carl Creel was also inside the warehouse, disguising himself as concrete, in order to retrieve the Obelisk. Hartley was able to locate the box labeled with the 0-8-4 code, and informed the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents through of the discovery.

However, just as she opened the box, Hartley was ambushed by Creel, and though she managed to evade his attack, her retaliation did not harm Creel's concrete skin. Hartley grabbed the Obelisk, trying to use it as a weapon against Creel, but the Obelisk affected her and her hand started to petrify. Creel, seeing the reaction it caused on Hartley, hesitated about taking the Obelisk, and was forced to escape as Hunter arrived to help Hartley. May and Skye also arrived to Hartley's location, who informed with fear that she could not let the object go. At the same moment, an alarm started to blare inside the warehouse.^[6]

Skye witnessed the same symbols Coulson ordered her to investigate, therefore connecting the Obelisk to the extraterrestrial corpse that served as the source of the drug used to heal John Garrett, that triggered his need for carving the symbols.^[6]

Hartley warned Hunter not to touch the Obelisk and stay away from them, who quickly asked for help to get Hartley up and escape, as he thought they already had what they came for. However, May informed him they did not have everything they came for. Skye called Coulson for orders, informing him that Hartley obtained the item but it was attacking her and she needed medical attention, but their orders were not to abort the mission and proceed as planned. Hartley wanted to fulfill their orders despite her condition, but Hunter disobeyed and took her to the gate of the warehouse, telling Skye they could stay and die if they wanted, but he was going to make sure that Hartley did not die. Hunter and Hartley entered the vehicle where Idaho had been waiting, and they quickly escaped from the facility to get Hartley medical attention.^[6]

Soldiers quickly arrived and opened heavy gunfire against the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who retaliated using I.C.E.R.s to incapacitate the soldiers without killing them, and covering their escape with a smoke grenade.

May, Skye and Triplett exited the warehouse to the area where S.H.I.E.L.D.'s confiscated vehicles were stored, including S.H.I.E.L.D. SUVs, S.H.I.E.L.D. Jump Jets, S.H.I.E.L.D. Motorcycles and even Quinjets. While May escaped in one of the motorcycles to catch Hartley and make sure the Obelisk did not end in the wrong hands, Skye and Triplett took possession of a Quinjet, as Coulson ordered them to retrieve one in order to obtain a cloaked aircraft and reverse engineer its technology for the Bus.^[6]

While escaping from the Government Storage Warehouse, Hartley asked Hunter to cut her arm, as she knew that she would not survive until they get to a hospital if the Obelisk was still attached to her body, calming Hunter as she would get a robotic arm to replace her lost one. Hartley begged Hunter to cut the arm, as she didn't want to die, though their vehicle was ambushed once again by Creel, who absorbed the properties of the pavement and caused an accident that killed Idaho and Hartley. Creel approached the vehicle, with Hunter, the only survivor, pretending he was dead too to avoid Creel's attack. Creel absorbed the properties of the rubber from the vehicle's wheels and took the Obelisk from Hartley's amputated arm, escaping from the area on foot.^[6]

Chase of Carl Creel[]

Lance Hunter tried to exit the vehicle he was traveling on following an accident caused by Carl Creel that killed Isabelle Hartley and Idaho. Hunter, hearing a motorcycle approaching, took his weapon to defend himself, but its driver turned out to be Melinda May, who approached the vehicle to check the status of the agents inside. Hunter informed her that Creel caused the accident and escaped on foot, and that both Hartley and Idaho died.^[7]

May tried to help Hunter escape, but the door was jammed and his leg was trapped, as they heard soldiers from the Government Storage Warehouse approaching, Hunter prompted May to pursue Creel and retrieve the Obelisk to avenge his friends. May handed Hunter a Mouse Hole to open the door of the vehicle, and went to pursue Creel after wishing Hunter good luck. Hunter started to cut the pieces of the vehicle that trapped his leg, and then cut the door to escape. However, as he exited the vehicle, a full squad of soldiers arrested Hunter.^[7]