The Lives of Two 19 Year Old S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents

Chapter 9 - Chloe's First Mission

"You ready?" I asked Chloe and we got ready to be lowered through the roof.

"Yes," she snapped. Though she tried to hide it, I heard the fear in her voice.

"Chloe, it's not too late to call this off and if you don't start cooperating, I will," I warned. "Stop acting like a five year old and start tolerating me. We have to work together on this."

"Fine, I'll be nice."

"Don't forget, we're all connected on comms."

"I know."

"Michaela," I called looking around at the others. "We're ready to drop."

"Got it," she replied, starting to lower the ropes.

We all hit the floor and unhooked ourselves. Roberts and Carlton nodded at us and went to plant the bombs. Jessica, Chloe and I set off to the north side of the complex to find the hard drive which way or may not contain information about my supposedly dead sister.

We crept along in tense, dark, silence and as we neared the area our various weapons were drawn. My guns, Chloe's crossbow and Jessica's knives. We came to the first door. It was no longer silent. There were at least four people inside.

"Chloe," I whispered. "If you don't want to trust me that's fine but trust me on this one thing, you want to put off your first kill for as long as possible. Only kill if you really have to because your first kill will haunt you for a long time."

I looked at Jessica and she nodded in agreement. Chloe's rolled her eyes then nodded too. Jessica kicked the door open and we shot down all the people inside.

Jessica and I took down five of them and Chloe shot one in the leg. As Jessica went to collect her knives I shot the woman Chloe had injured.

We moved through the room checking every nook and cranny, every crevice in the wall but we found nothing. No hard drive.

"Fury said it would be in here," said Jessica. "Could we have missed something?"

"I don't think so," I said. "Let's check the next room just in case. Fury said it might have been moved."

Chloe's and Jessica nodded and automatically took positions behind me as I reloaded my gun and moved on to the next room. We waited outside listening through the door.

"How many?" asked Jessica.

"At least eight," I said. I listened for a few more seconds then turned to face Chloe and Jessica.

"It's definitely in there," I said. "They know we're out here and they're getting their guns ready."

"What do we do?" asked Jessica.

"We go in. We're going to have to take them out."

"All of them?" asked Chloe.

I nodded. I counted down from three on my fingers and we burst in. They were all down in seconds but so was one of ours. I turned round to see Jessica laying on the ground, red spreading across her chest and Chloe crouched next to her.

She looked at me and shook her head. I nodded.

"Fury," I said into my earpiece.

No response.

"Fury," I repeated.

Still no response.

"Carlton, Roberts do you have contact with Fury?" I asked.

"Negative. We haven't been able to reach him for a few minutes. What's your status?" replied Roberts.

"Jessica's down. We've located the room with the hard drive in it and we're about to sweep it."

"We've planted the bombs and we're at the rendezvous point."

"Wait there. We'll be done in a few minutes."

"Copy that."

Chloe and I spent the next 10 minutes searching the room for and secret compartments where the hard drive might be hidden. We ripped up the floor boards and tore down the cupboards. Finally I found something.

One of the bricks on the back wall was slightly raised and looked newer than the rest of the bricks. I pushed it and a small drawer came out of the wall below it. I pulled the drawer all the way out and there was the hard drive.

"Chloe, I found it."

"Good, now we can leave."

I lifted out the hard drive. Big mistake. Alarms started blaring and red lights started flashing. I slipped it into my belt and started towards the door.

"Come on Chloe. We have to go," I said.

And that's when the first bomb went off. Chloe and I fell to the ground and rubble rained down on us.

"Come on Chloe, we have to get out of here."

I was almost at the door when Chloe called out:

"Anaiya wait."

I turned back to see Chloe crouched on the floor, her foot stuck between two floor boards.

"My foot's stuck. Help me."

She tried to pull it out.

"Stay still. I'm coming."

The second bomb went off. A huge chunk of ceiling fell into the room, blocking off my access to Chloe.

"Chloe I can't get to you. Stay still and I'll call for help."

"Ok."

"Carlton, Roberts does anybody copy?" I said into my earpiece.

"Roberts is down," replied Carlton.

"What's going on with the bombs? I thought you had control."

"I don't know. They must have been remotely detonated."

The third bomb went off.

"Carlton do you copy?"

No response.

"Carlton."

No response.

"Ethan!"

"I'm OK."

"We need help. Chloe's foot is stuck and I can't get to her."

"I'm trapped too. We're going to have to ride this out."

Suddenly Ethan's voice turned to crackling. I looked over at Chloe just in time to see a chunk of ceiling land on top of her, flattening her. She didn't even scream.

"No!" I shouted.

A piece of ceiling hit me on the head, knocking me to the floor. As the world faded out above me a chunk of ceiling landed on my arm, crushing it. I heard a scream and it took me a few seconds to realize that it had come from me.

The fourth bomb went off and everything went black.