Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The helicopter slowly descends to the Helicarriers landing ground, blowing the light-weights into the air. The doors are being opened from the inside, the pilots taking off their headphones and throwing them back as they climb out of their seats. Hunter jumps out of the back, his coat getting pulled up by the wind as he watches the pilots walk away. He pulls his coat back down when a voice calls his name. A few feet away from him, a female agent makes her way towards him.
"Agent Black," the brown-headed woman greets, "welcome back."
Hunter nods at her. "Hill."
"Follow me," she commands. She turns on her heels, walking over to the guarded door. "A lot has happened since you left," she says when Hunter catches up to her, "has Nick told you anything?"
"He didn't say a word," he answers her, hearing Maria sigh.
"Of course he didn't," she grunts, showing her badge to the guard. "He's with me," she tells them and the two men nod, opening the door to reveal a dark hallway. "I'll lead you to the main area, where you will meet the others in a bit."
Hunter frowns. "Others?"
"Nick assembled a few for the mission," Maria explains as she walks towards the next door, which opens when she gets close.
"Right..." He glances around the main direction room, seeing the resemblance with two years ago, only did everything become much more modern. They walk past the large desks, a few eyes looking up from the screens. All new faces, except for one.
"Hunter Black," a booming voice calls. The man gets up from his seat, walking up to his old colleague and friend.
"Antonio," he replies, caught off guard when the man hugs him.
"It's so good to see you, old friend," the man exclaims, "how's your daughter?"
"Ella's fine," he answers shortly.
"How old is she now? Four?"
"Five," Hunter corrects, "how's your family, Andres?"
"They're doing fine," Andres answers, "Mikaela is going to nine grade -"
"Sorry to intrude on your conversation, ladies," Maria interrupts, "but Black, we need to move on."
"Yeah, of course," Hunter nods, slightly relieved that she saved him from the situation, "it was good to see you, Andres." He gives the man a hand.
"Likewise, Hunter." Hunter turns back around and follows Maria, who leads him to the big conference table.
"No problem," she shrugs and he rolls his eyes at her. "Just take a seat, the others will be here soon." She goes back to work, supervising the control room right before Nick arrives.
"You're early," Nick notices, "did Maria let you in?"
"She did."
"Alright," Nick nods, dropping a file in front of him on the table, "read this through if you are bored." Hunter grabs the file off the table, opening the cover. A bad security camera screenshot appears on the first page, showing a dark-haired man, dressed in a dark suit as he holds a golden spear. He continues, the photo turning into a blank file, only a few parts filled out as the rest is empty. The door in front of Hunter opens, drawing his attention away from the file. Three figures walk in, two males and one female.
The blond male is quite tall and muscled, more than Hunter was in his younger years, while the other one is slightly smaller but not as build as the other. However, the female draws most of his attention. Dressed in a leather jacket, red shirt, and a gun that hangs from the gun holsters around her waist, the natural red-headed woman walks away from the two men.
"Gentlemen," Nick greets, passing the blonde man who hands him 10 bucks. He slides the money in his pocket, walking over towards the other man. "Doctor, thank you for coming."
"Thank you for asking nicely," the doctor responds, avoiding eye contact, "so, uh... How long am I staying?"
"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind," the director tells and the man nods, "then it is up to Captain Rogers and Agents Romanoff and Black to retrieve it." The doctor looks over his shoulder at Hunter, who gives him a small nod.
"Where are with that?" he asks, stepping past Nick who points at Agent Coulson.
"We're sweeping every wireless accessible camera on the planet," the agent tells, crossing his arms as he looks at the doctor. Captain Rogers approaches them, glancing at Agent Romanoff who kneels next to a panel where a man is being displayed. "Cell phones, laptops..." he continues, "if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."
"That's still not gonna find them in time." Agent Romanoff says.
"You have to narrow your field," the doctor speaks up, all heads turned to him, "how many spectrometers do you have access to?"
"How many are there?" Nick asks, crossing his arms.
"Call every lab you know," the man tells, "tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays." He takes off his jacket, dangling it on his arm. "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition," he resumes, "at least we can rule out some places." Nick nods in approval. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
"Agent Romanoff," Nick asks, "could you show Dr Banner to his laboratory, please?"
"You're gonna love it, Doc," she begins as she walks up to him, "we've got all the toys." Hunter watches the two disappear into another hallway when Captain Rogers approaches him.
"Steve Rogers," he introduces himself, holding out his hand.
"Hunter Black." He gives the man a firm handshake, "this must all be new to you."
"Absolutely," Steve replies, sitting down in the seat at the other side of the table, "but I am sure this is also a big difference with the missions you usually have."
"Definitely," Hunter answers shortly, noticing Agent Coulson behind the man and he alerts Steve with an almost invisible nod. The blond captain turns his seat, facing the agent.
"I was wondering if you could sign my Captain America Trading Cards later," he questions, "I mean, if it's not too much trouble." Hunter snorts quietly.
"No, no," Steve tells, "it's fine." Hunter can see the pride on Coulson's face and he feels a little bit bad for Steve to deal with a fan already.
"It's a vintage set," Coulson announces, "it took me a couple of years to collect them all." He awaits a reaction from Steve, who doesn't move or speaks. "Near mint," he adds, receiving a glare from the two of them, "slight foxing around the edges, but..." The agent is being interrupted as one of the employees starts talking.
"We got a hit," the bald man says, turning back to the screen, "a 67% match." Nick walks up to his main screens, opening the camera footage. "Wait," the man adds, "cross match, 79%" Coulson quickly walks down the short stairs.
"Location?"
"Stuttgart, Germany," he answers, "28 Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."
"Captain, Agent Black," director Nick commands, "you're up."
