Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Arms Race

Chapter 3: Agent North

Nathan Turner straightened his suit jacket as the elevator ascended to the fifth floor. Beads of nervous sweat dripped down his face. His mind buzzed with images of the past hour. Someone was following him. He didn't see the guy's face, but he knew.

It wasn't the first time Nathan had been followed. In his line of work it was normal. However, no one had gotten this close to his place. He's lost a tail before, but this one was different. This guy was persistent. And annoying. He ended up having to take an extra long detour to shake him.

The elevator dinged as it stopped at Nathan's floor. The floor clacked with each heavy footfall. He punched in his security code. 9. 6. 1. 6. The keypad beeped and the bolt unlatched.

The lights were off. They normally were. However, tonight it just made him even more paranoid. The light switch felt like it was further than what it should be. The door seemed heavier to push open than usual. Finally, he found the light switch. He breathed a brief sigh of relief. But it was only brief.

"Nathaniel Turner." A voice said in a condescending tone.

Turner tensed as jerked to the man lounging on his couch. Black and white suit, red hair, brown eyes, and the Smith and Wesson M&P holstered at his shoulder. It was him! His narrowed jawline with an arrogant smirk. It would have made Nathan want to murder him if he wasn't so terrified.

"Your guards are dead by the way," he said matter-of-factly.

Nathan took a deep breath. "Who are you? What are you doing in my home?"

The man stood up and straightened his suit jacket. "My name is Aaron North, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Even though you are a fairly small arms dealer, you somehow managed to make it onto S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar." North smiled and reached out his hand. "Oh come one, we can at least be civilized."

Cautiously, Nathan shook North's hand. The apartment's white walls looked untouched. How did he get in so easily? He noticed a small droplet of blood on the kitchen's backsplash. Did he clean up before he got there? How long had he been here? All he knew was that he needed to get more men. Keep this guy talking long enough for him to alert his men to back him up. Maybe if he could press the remote on the back of his shirt collar. He scratched the back of his neck. Hopefully North didn't notice.

"You're making a mistake, Agent North." Nathan said

"Well, probably," North remarked. "But you're not the only one stalling."

Nathan breathing quickened. He knew! He put his hand on his gun at his back. "I don't know what you want, Agent North, but I'm not going to let you do it."

Agent North let go of his hand with a wide grin. "You already did. I don't need you any more."

"What are you talking about?" Nathan demanded. His men should be there any moment.

"I didn't need you. I needed your handprint." North explained. "We know about the banquet you have planned in a few days. You know. A bunch of big arms dealers rubbing elbows pretending to like each other to see more of the competition, trade merchandise, blah blah blah.

"Now, I know you have quite a few guys that are going to come through the secret door behind that fireplace you got over there. And I'm going to have this intense fight with them and ultimately get away with what I need. So, are you going to call them off or are we going to do this the messier way?"

***

Agent North looked into Turner's eyes. They were angry. Maybe he had pushed a little too much. The voice of Victoria Hand in his earpiece told him to keep stalling. Extraction was taking its sweet time to get into place.

An air seal broke to his right and sure enough, the fireplace slid out of its place and released six men. North pulled out his handgun and opened fire. One bullet found itself into the forehead of the first man to come out of the passage. The second entered the second man's shoulder. Turner lunged for him, knocking the gun out of his hand. North grabbed him and threw him over the couch.

The third man was at him already. He managed to land a blow to North's jaw. His head snapped left as he let himself drop to the ground. Now on the floor, he kicked the man's legs from underneath him.

Getting to his feet, North dodged the knife of the fourth man and rammed his elbow into the man's face. He grabbed the knife out of his hand and flung it into the chest of the second man. The fifth and sixth men joined in the fight. North put distance between them and rushed for his gun. He grasped the weapon in his hands and pulled the trigger. Three shots. Three bodies dropped.

Turner was stumbling to his feet. Messy way it is. North fired three shots into his chest. Unfortunately that victory was short lived.

"Agent North," Victoria Hand called through his earpiece, "you have multiple hostiles moving in on your position. Get out of there now!"

Just as she said that, the door busted down. Several men with guns busted down the door. Too many guys with too many guns. North booked it to the kitchen. Bullets went flying as he dove for cover.

"Hand, how the heck am I supposed to get out of here?!"

There was a brief wait. "There should be a balcony attached to the kitchen."

North blindly fired four shots around the corner into the living room. Sure enough, a double door opened leading to a small balcony. "You're not expecting me to jump are you?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"You do realize that this is the fifth floor, don't you?"

"Just jump off the darn balcony."

Screw it. No one wants to live forever. With the blind courage and stupidity that he could manage and vaulted over the balcony. There was a brief fall, but nothing fatal. Instead, North found himself on the hood of a red corvette, four stories above the street.

"Dang," said Agent Coulson who was sitting behind the steering wheel, "missed the mark. Do you mind getting in so the paint doesn't get ruined. And... you might fall off if you don't."

North scrambled into the passenger seat as the corvette flew from the scene. A few stray bullets bounced off the chassis. What kind of car was this?

"Did you get what you needed?" Coulson asked.

"Oh, yeah" Agent North pulled off a thin layered glove over his right hand. A glitch pattern formed around the previously camouflaged glove, revealing a handprint on the gadget. "You're gonna need to send a clean up crew back there before word gets out that Nathan Turner is dead." Coulson didn't say anything. He just looked forward with that disappointed look on his face. Command was going to be unhappy– again. "I'm assuming you drew the short straw and got stuck with me?"

"Sort of," Coulson said. "We have a lead on an arms dealer that you've been trying to track for a while. They specialize in alien-human hybrid weapons."

North flashed a toothy smile. "Where do we start?"