The Snapshot {An Agents of Shield Fanficton} [1]

Indeterminable Victory

I kept running. I ran as fast as I possibly could. My feet pounded and pounded on the dirt. The sun was almost done setting, and my eyes strained to see. I heard Skye and Coulson's footsteps behind me. I was running out of time.

"Stand down!," I heard the leader of the team yell. I glanced at the feed.

The team was circling Peter. He was looking around nervously. I could almost hear his heavy breathing.

"I'll kill him! Stand back!," Peter retaliated.

"He's not bluffing," I gasped into the earpiece. "He'll do it. Don't attack."

"Listen to her," I heard Coulson say both behind me and in the earpiece.

I was getting close to the barn. I could see the broken wood shards sticking out of the doorway.

I saw the team stand down on the screen. I saw Peter's face again. I saw despair and hopelessness. Not a good state for someone with unstable powers.

I was almost there. I cleared the last few steps to the doorway and made it to the scene, with Coulson and Skye behind me. I hesitated, but didn't stop. I ran right in between the people circling them and stopped right at the end of their perimeter.

I had his attention. Peter was looking straight at me. I struggled to catch my breath but remained upright. He stared at me but then turned back to Ward, shoving him a bit.

"I will blow a hole in him right now if you don't drop you guns at let me go," he demanded.

There was no response immediately. But I knew he was serious. He was willing to do it for his freedom. I watched him carefully. He became frustrated. I could see a small glow coming from him, like he was heating up, literally.

"I said.!," he began again.

"Stop!," I cut him off. He looked at me.

"You don't have to do this!," I said. I couldn't really think of anything better to say.

"Who are you?," he yelled at me.

"I'm just like you," I said. I was. Both powered. Him more than me, but we were both needed by SHIELD. "And you need to stop. We're not here to do you harm. He's innocent."

He shook his head and possibly got a little brighter. I could see the anger in his eyes.

"No, no! I won't go back there. I won't -"

He stopped and closed his eyes, visibly
struggling. The glow emitting from him dimmed and he gasped. But he didn't move. His palm was still pointed at Ward's chest.

"Listen to me," I said. "We're not the only ones looking for you. But I'm betting their plans aren't as nice as ours. Let him go and come with us in peace. No harm will come to you or your aunt. After that you get to walk."

"No, you don't understand. I don't get to walk. I am a mutation, a lab rat, something for them to lock up and experiment on. I don't get to leave. I have a hostage. You agree to my terms," he said, his voice getting louder with every sentence.

"Don't do this!," I yelled. No reaction. "Peter!"

He looked at me again. But I saw something else. Ward. He was ready to spring. No. He was springing. Ward grabbed his arm and attempted to pin it down, but I saw it coming a mile away. Peter was going to blow.

"Duck!," I screamed as loud as I could. I dropped to the ground as did most of the team and Ward.
A blast of light and energy exploded over my head. It wasn't enormous, but it was enough to send the standing people a few feet backwards onto their back. I looked up. Peter was standing, looking around in shock. Ward was on the ground beside him.

He made eye contact with me and I saw his face once more, illustrated with fear and shock. Then he turned and ran, busting through a small door in the back of the barn, sprinting toward the forested area into the night.

"He's running!," I yelled to the team. "Go!"

The uninjured ones hustled up from the ground and sprinted after him. I glanced behind me to see Coulson looking at me and Skye helping one of the wounded up.

"Go," Coulson said.

I nodded, and ran as fast as I could into the night.

As I ran through the narrow doorway, the cold air hit me like a slap to the face. I saw the ghostly glow of the team's headlights and sprinted for them. I caught up to one of the last ones. All the lights were focused on a figure running through the trees. I watched his body language to see his move before he made it. I saw him glance over his shoulder. He swayed to the right a slight bit.

"Right!," I yelled. The team banked.

I was right. He changed directions, weaving in and out of trees to try to shake us.

But the team kept their lights focused and began to gain on him.

I watched as the person closest to him attached something to the barrel of his gun. He passed into the beam of the flashlights and suddenly stopped.

What-?

I heard something like a muffled gunshot. A rounded piece of metal flew towards Peter and hit his wrist, making him cry out. I suddenly knew what it was. A mechanical cuff. The cuff attached to his wrist, but continued its momentum, carrying Peter with it. It kept going until it embedded itself into the nearest solid surface, which in this case was right in the middle of a solid oak tree.

Peter's body crashed into the bottom of the tree; his hand secured at about his eye level. The team stopped out of his range, for fear of him blasting again. A moment later he came to and squinted at the lights pointing at him. He glanced up at his wrist.

"No,no,nonononono.." I heard him mutter.
He pulled and strained against the cuff. He began to beat on it.

"No, no, no, No!" He looked back at the team. His expression cried out despair and fear and helplessness. He looked on the verge of tears. His face was red and his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. "I can't go back. I can't go back. I can't go back," I heard him say.

I came to my senses. "He's exhausted," I said. "He can't use his power."

The team nodded and advanced on him, the one who had shot the cuff running faster towards him. He pulled out his pistol ICER from his vest.

Peter must have seen him, because he curled up and braced as best he could, quietly, very quietly crying into his arm.

The guy pointed his ICER at him. Then I realized - he didn't know it was an ICER. Too late. The bullet of blue electricity shot into his side.

Only a small cry came from him before he slumped against the tree side.