Temper in Red *Editing*

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

>5 Months Later<

"That's what I'm selling." The man I was meeting laid down some pictures for me to look at before pulling out his old SHIELD credentials. "I'm sure you'd like to see some credentials."

"Agent Browning, for ex-SHIELD, you seem awfully indifferent to who we are." One of my new parters, Izzy, spoke up.

"What you are is the highest bidder." Browning glanced between Izzy, Lance, and I. "Whether you're in it for profit or for HYDRA, it doesn't concern me, not anymore."

"That's what we want to hear." Izzy smirked as I placed the suitcase of money on the table in front of us and opened it, showing Browning all the cash we had.

"The mystery I'd like to solve is, why should we be paying you so much?" Lance shut the case. "This looks like a box. Sorry a picture of a box, a picture of a box you don't have."

"The government has it, along with thousands of other assets they've seized from SHIELD, and they don't know what to make of half of them." Browning told us. "I worked in a SHIELD containment facility that had hundreds of boxes that look just like this. But this is the only one that has a level ten classified file dedicated to it."

"You're selling us a needle in a haystack." Izzy shook her head.

"Finding the haystack is up to you." Browning told us, narrowing his eyes slightly as us. "I know your reputation. I'm sure you'll be fine. What I don't appreciate is you changing the terms on me now."

"We're asking for clarification, Browning." Izzy told him.

"You're the one who changed the terms, bringing more than the two guards we agreed upon." I added, causing his eyes to widen slightly.

"I only brought two guards." He insisted. Then, without warning, a man ran out from the shadows of the room, attacking Browning and his men. I pulled out my gun and shot at the man as he snapped Browning's neck, sending him falling to the floor. The man grabbed a gun from the floor and fired at my team, but I quickly raised a rock wall in front of us, blocking his shots. Using that as a distraction the man grabbed the case and papers from the table and went jumping out the window. One of Browning's men got up, but before he could shoot us May, Skye, and Antoine came around he corner and took him out with an icer.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Izzy snapped at them.

"Who was that?" Lance asked.

"A third party." May told them as I handed her back the gun I'd borrowed while Antoine went to check out the window.

"A party's what you'd call that?" Lance looked at her as if she were crazy before he looked at me. "Did you know they were here?"

"They're my team, of course I knew." I rolled my eyes.

"He's gone." Antoine called back from the window. "That's a twenty-five foot drop."

"This was supposed to be an undercover operation." Izzy reminded them. "You want to explain why you're shadowing us?"

"We were your backup, which you needed." Skye gave a small smirk as she said the last part.

"Yeah, 'cause a mutant's not enough backup." Lance scoffed.

"Watch it." I warned him, flames licking my fingertips now.

"Nic." Antoine called my name when he spotted the flames. "Cool it."

"Sir, Mark's down." Sirens filled the air as Izzy spoke into her phone to Coulson. "Third party, possibly HYDRA, and we're out in the open. What are our orders?"