The Assistant

Part 52

I gently lifted my head off the pillow, the light shining in blinding me.
Rolling over, I was still in yesterday's clothes, looking at the alarm clock showing 09:32am

My head was pounding as I tried to stand, immediately running to the bathroom as the nausea kicked in.
My body was hot as the room started spinning, my eyes slowly closing again as I lay on the bathroom floor.

Ring Ring Ring

"Urgh shut the hell up" of course it wouldn't someone was ringing me and I did not feel in the right state to talk to anyone.
The pain in my head was still there but I didn't feel too bad, standing up, I washed my face in the sink and had a few mouthfuls of water allowing me to take some painkillers.

The ringing had stopped by the time I reached my phone, only the 16 missed calls and 67 text messages. Someone really wanted me.
8 of the calls were from Maria, 4 from Natasha, 2 from Wanda and Fury.
The question is who would be less pissed at me?
My boss, my best friend, my ex or the magical friend?

I pick up my phone and scroll through my contacts, there was only one person I could talk to without getting in trouble
AJ- Y/N, where the hell are you?
Y/N- I'm at home, what's going on?
AJ- there was an attack last night, the crew has the same tattoos as the ones who attacked the compound
Y/N- and this relates to me why?
AJ- It's a red gun with a crown over the top
Y/N- No, that can't be true
AJ- get to shield and I'll explain everything, you're in big trouble by the way
Y/N- cause I had one night out?
AJ- you've been missing three days.

I hung up the phone and slouched down the wall. He'd made his way to America, he was living up to his word and coming after me.
The Red Emperor was searching for me and I was the only one who could stop him.

Now was not the time to breakdown again, I had to sort myself out right this second and figure this out, I couldn't let him hurt anyone I cared about.

I threw on a pair of black jeans, a white vest top and my alpha team bomber jacket. A cap and sunglasses completed the look as I finished tying the laces on my nike sneakers.
My Go Bag was packed and ready as I added a few guns and other weapons into another bag.
I chucked them into the back of my truck, the engine roaring as I drove through the streets.

AJ POV-

"Jesus, where the hell are you" was all I could think, she'd told me 2 hours ago that she was coming and I expected her to be here by now.

Maria and Natasha were both stressing about her location and yet, I still hadn't been able to tell them.

Oscar- if you keep pacing around like that, you'll wear out the tread
AJ- what? Oh yeah sorry
Oscar- what's wrong?
AJ- promise to not be angry at me?
Oscar- fine.
AJ- Y/N rang me and we talked, she told me she was coming here but she's not arrived
Oscar- how long ago?
AJ- 2 hours
Oscar- Jesus Christ

We arrived at the garage after a quiet drive, neither of the women wanted to speak about what was going on.
I stood watch as Maria broke into the car, Natasha searching the front whilst Maria was in the back.
Nat- I've got something. She left us a not.

"Stop follow me, follow the tattoos"

Nat- how does she know about that?
Maria- about what?
Nat- AJ, when was she last logged into shield servers?
AJ- 20 minutes ago, searched through the beachwood file.

Nat grabbed her phone and started dialling, putting it on speaker
Oscar- anything?
Nat- look at the beach wood file and tell me what you see
Oscar- 2 seconds.

The silence was deafening, Oscar flicking pages over until he stopped, a loud noise as something was sent crashing.

Oscar- SHIT!
Maria- what's wrong?
Oscar- the tattoo, it's the mark of the Red Emperor
Maria- who?
Nat- it's the person she went back to the army for
Oscar- get back here and I'll talk to Fury, I need his approval before sharing information.

We got back to headquarters as quick as we could and I'm pretty sure Natasha picked up a few speeding tickets.
Maria- So?
Fury- we've got the file on its way from the army and Oscar will explain everything he can.

A board had been made up, pictures of different people and places covered it
Oscar- The Red Emperor has been terrorising countries for years, Y/N thought she'd stopped him but it was staged, it wasn't actually him.
Nat- skip the shit
Oscar- right, so our last tour was designated to find him and we did but he shot her, she's lucky to be alive
Maria- he what?
Oscar- 22 calibre into the stomach, a lot of blood and one hell of a scar.
Nat- keep going

I felt like I was in over my head as he started pointing to various different photos on the board, explaining everything in detail.
Oscar- as we left, Y/N received a note. All it said was "I'm not finished with you", we figured it was a joke or something but obviously we were wrong. She's gone to find him before he finds her.
Nat- how do we find her?
Oscar- we follow the clues she's leaving us

Y/N POV-

I was laying in my hotel room, booked under a false name of course. This was one of those hotels were they didn't care who you were, just don't cause any trouble.

I was using an old phone I had, a number that hadn't been activate in years until today.
It was full of contacts I'd used over the years for different operations and missions, all criminals of course as well as a couple numbers I may need in the future.

I'd been working for hours and hadn't heard my phone ring, a voicemail waiting for me.

hey, it's me, Natasha. I don't even know if this is your number but it was on file so here I am ringing it like a complete fool.
I don't know where you're going but please be safe, you're going through a lot right now and I know this sounds selfish but you can't die because I need you too much for that to happen.
I am still madly in love with you Y/N. Please just come home, please come back to me.