not like you → c . barton

[12]

Hank pulled the car up to the building, and Hank found one of those lucky parking spots. We all climbed out, and I made sure to take my Swiss Army knife, and the pocket knife I found one day while we were driving.

"Now, how do we get in, and how do we find out where they are? I mean, dad never said what floor, or if there was a secret entrance," Diamond said softly, looking up at the building.

"Well, we could go classic distraction style. I'll do it," I offered, and they all looked at me.

"How?" Jeb asked, and I shrugged.

"Just go inside and yell fire or some shit. How hard can it be?"

It can be very hard.

I casually walked into the building, and men in suits and women in fancy black dresses turned to look at me. It was like a stereotypical office building, like on a movie set, and it creeped me out.

"Hello little girl. What are you doing here?" one woman asked me, and I turned to face her. I opened my mouth to answer her, but two hands grabbed my arms and pinned them to my back. The front doors opened, and my friends were shoved through, looking like me: defenseless animals ready for slaughter. We all shared a look, and I was hoping they wouldn't blame me for this, but if they did, I'd understand. I started to struggle against the meaty hands keeping my arms pinned, but it was no use. I'm a tiny fourteen year old, and this dude was a brick wall guy in his forties, most likely. I looked back up to the woman who had first addressed me, and she had pictures in her hand. Our pictures.

"You know what to do with these brats," she hummed, tossing our pictures back into a folder. But, she picked up my picture again, examined it carefully, and then looked at me once more.

"Except her. I want her," she smirked, and my eyes widened. I began to thrash and I tried to kick at the guy's nuts, but it didn't work. Surprise surprise.

"Alex! Alex!" my friends all yelled as they were shoved into one of the two elevators, the one that only went down.

"Jeb! Diamond! Hank!" I screamed for them as the doors slid shut, and they began to go down. The woman walked over, grabbed my face so my lips puffed out, like that stupid 'pudgy baby' thing, and force me to look at her.

"You. You're the little Barton girl. We know so much about you, and your pesky little friends. But, we won't let them bother us while we have our little chat."

She gave me a smile that made my blood run cold. She let go of my face, and I instantly spit at her, because hey, it's now or never. When my saliva made contact with her face, the grip on my arms tightened, like a vice, and this chick looked at me, eyes clouding over with anger. The next thing I know, my cheek is stinging, and I was looking at the floor.

"And I thought children were supposed to have better manners," she huffed.

"And I thought people knew not to hit other people. Guess we learn something new every day, huh?" I spat back, and I felt my arms going numb.

"Hey! Buddy! Loosen up a bit. I kinda need my arms," I tired to look at him, but again, mean lady had me by the face. I looked at her, and I could tell she was holding back in some way, but I was, too. She let go of my face again, and we looked at each other, her eyes cold and hard.

"Who are you anyways? I'm the Barton girl, and right now, you're just a mean mean lady," I huffed, eyes squeezing shut in pain. Meathead behind me was going to break my arms if I didn't shake him off soon. But then, everything seemed to hit me luck a truck. I was the Barton girl, nothing else. I had no special training, no special set of skills. I was nothing like my dad, and I was most likely going to die here. And my friends, well, if they got hurt, it would be all my fault...

"My name is Violet Harmstead, one of HYDRA's top responders. And once we caught wind of a ragtag bunch of kids coming to help save their families, well, I couldn't pass up the chance to meet their leader," she looked at me, then snapped her fingers. Meathead let go of my arms and pushed me to the ground, and my head almost hit the ground. I looked at my arms, and they were slowly changing back from the light purple they were turning. Jerk.

"Well, ta-da, here I am. Can we go now?" I asked, rubbing my arms, and she laughed, another spine chilling sound that you wouldn't want to hear in October while passing Mrs. Tapel's house.

"Very funny, little girl. But, I'm afraid not. In fact, you're going to help me with something," Violet looked down at me, and I lifted himself to a standing position. She held up a remote, pushed the yellow button in the center, and the elevator that only went down came back to our floor, and the doors opened. The doors also opened to the other elevator, one that only went up. I looked at the doors, then at her, then at Meathead, and I made a run for the elevator that only went down.

"Stop her!" Violet screeched, and the sound hurt my ears. I made it inside the metal box, and I slammed my hand on the button that closed the doors. To my surprise, the doors slammed shut, and the whole thing began to rocket down into hell. There was nothing for me to hold onto, so when it made a sudden stop, I jerked forward and hit the ground.

"You've got nowhere to run, little girl. Just face it, you and your friends and family are done for!" Violet yelled, and I grit my teeth. The lights on in the elevator had switched off, and I only had my sense of touch. I felt around the floor, and I found an escape panel. I felt around for the handle and pulled it, lifting the panel from the floor and looking down. It wasn't that far of a drop, but it would still hurt, but, there was this really cool looking swirly thing that went down to the bottom. You know how in Tarzan, he, like, treebranch surfs? Well, I tube swirly thing surfed, with that floor panel, all the way to the bottom. I jumped from the end of the tube and landed on my feet, pulling out that pocket knife, and keeping it close. But, when I looked around at what was underneath that building, I knew why that elevator only went down.