Saving the World and Possibly Myself

Chapter 4

Yeah, I did something stupid. It wasn't too bad, but still pretty stupid considering how long I've been doing stuff like this. When we got to the facility, everything was going smoothly. We took out the guards on the outside before moving inside. We were in two groups, Ward and Skye going in the back and May and I going in the front. I guess May was some kind of Shield legend and they wanted to how I faired with her keeping an eye on me. And let me tell you, she could definitely hold her own. 

We knew we were getting closer when the number of guards kept growing. May and I were still in the same area but had gotten separated. We both had to fight off quite a few of the guards and I was having problems with the Icer. There were too many guards for me to keep messing with it, so I shoved in the waistband of my pants and went to kicking the shit out of the guards closest to me. I snatched a gun out of one of their hands, unloaded the bullet from the chamber, slid the magazine out, and pistol whipped the guard in his temple. I punched the next one in the gut and kicked another one in the face to get me a few seconds. I took the pistol out of the first guards hands, shooting the second one in the knee. He dropped and I pistol whipped him in the temple, knocking him out as well. I punched the first guard in the face, breaking his nose, before kicking him in the balls and then again in the face to knock him out. I repeated much of the same to the remaining guards in the area, leaving three or so of them with bullets in their knees or other non-life-threatening areas and what must have been ten or more guards knocked out on the floor. The ones I didn't use the Icer on definitely looked worse for wear. 

Turning to look to May, I saw the remaining guards unconscious but May herself nowhere in site. I could tell that she had stripped them of their weapons and left them tied up to be retrieved at a later time and did the same to the guards I had taken care of. Getting my Icer back out, I took a moment to make sure it was in working order before heading further into the hallway. It seemed no one was around, which seemed strange. The guards had been coming in pretty heavy to protect whatever it is that they have and now there was no one. And it didn't seem like May or Ward and Skye had been down here yet as there were no downed guards. I kept going, not wanting to turn around. My earpiece was silent, something I wasn't too concerned about. Coulson had told us to keep quiet unless we really needed something until the mission was over. 

Reaching a doorway to my left, I crept over to it and peered inside, not wanting to alert anyone to my presence. It was a control room with surveillance video on several screens. Making sure no one was inside, I went in, checking the screens for any sign of my team or the alien tech we were looking for. I found May finishing off a group of guards in another room not far from where I had lost her. Ward and Skye were in a hallway also finishing off some guards. They weren't too far from May and would run into her soon. But the tech wasn't where it should have been. Fitz-Simmons had narrowed the location down to the area right around where everyone else was. Looking at another screen, I saw that there was some tech in a room near Ward and Skye. But another screen revealed bigger and badder tech was being loaded into a truck on the other side of the facility. The side I was closer to.

"Guys, the tech Fitz-Simmons found is in a room up and to the left of where Ward and Skye are now," I broke radio silence, running from the surveillance room and towards the truck. "But the real tech is being loaded into a truck on the west side of the facility. I'm heading there now." 

"Hunter, you're not-" Ward began, but I cut him off.

"Do you want the tech or not? Because they're trying to get it out of here quickly." Finally reaching the west side of the facility. I paused where I was hidden to figure out what all was going on. There were five guys loading the tech into the truck, four guarding them, and what had to be the boss yelling at them to hurry up. Great, it was ten against one. The guards kept getting distracted by the boss and the loading guys, so I crept up to the first one, reaching him undetected. I knocked him out and dragged him off to the side where he wouldn't be seen as quickly.One down. I was able to repeat the process with the second guard but was seen as I dragged him over to the side. I used the Icer on the third guard, leaving one guard and the boss and loaders, who were almost done loading the tech. Shit, they could ditch the guard and leave before I was done with him. Taking the guard's gun from him, I shot the back tires, making the truck harder to drive. Not impossible, though. However, this gave the guard plenty of time to get to me. I was knocked back by a blow to the face, breaking my nose and leaving blood gushing out. Lovely. Kicking the guard in the face as I leapt back onto my feet, I sent several icers at the loaders and hit two of them, missing one. The guard grabbed my arm, attempting to twist it behind my back. I winced but used the angle to throw and elbow in his face. He kicked my leg, causing my leg to buckle, but I spun around to face him and was able to knock him out quickly with another punch to the face. Thankfully, Ward and May came through the door with Skye close behind to help take care of the remaining guys. They tried to grab guns and the boss tried to get to the truck, but I grabbed him before he could make it more than two steps.

Yeah, going off by myself was pretty stupid, but the tech didn't get away, so I think I did a good job. We were just stepping back on the Bus and I was ready to get the hell out of here. But of course, we had to debrief and I wanted my nose fixed. And that was not a good idea to do on a moving plane. Walking up the ramp, I was instantly greeted by Simmons. 

"My goodness, Hunter! I would ask what happened, but I think I can figure it out for myself." I chuckled.

"Yeah, getting off a mission and not having some injury seems too easy. Gotta make it interesting." She cleaning the blood off my face as we went over to Coulson. Ward, May, and Skye were already telling him and Fitz about the mission. When it came to my part, I filled him in on what occurred when I was by myself. Coulson was about to ask me something when Simmons put my nose back in place.

"Ow," I muttered, wincing a bit. A broken nose was a pain, but it wasn't all that bad. "What was that, Coulson?" He stared at me for a moment.

"Nothing. I was distracting you for Simmons. I expected you to be in a lot more pain than that," He commented. I shrugged.

"A broken nose is minor compared to some other injuries I've had. I'd rather have this than-well, a lot of things we won't get into. Anything else or are we done for now?" 

"You're all done. We'll be getting into the air in a few hours, so get ready. We'll make sure the men arrested at the facility are transported where they need to go. We have the information we need from them." We all nodded and began to head to the stairs when Coulson spoke one more time. "And, Hunter?"

"Yes?" I paused, turning to look at him once again.

"Get some ice on your nose. It's going to be one hell of a shiner in the morning." Nodding and chuckling a bit, I followed the team up the stairs. Skye and Fitz-Simmons had already made themselves comfy on the sofas and May must've gone to the cockpit or her room because she wasn't there. Ward walked out of the kitchen with an icepack in his hand, handing it to me as he took a seat with the others. I thanked him before sitting with Skye on the sofa.

"Hunter, you should try to keep that on as long as you can. And take some pain pills to keep the swelling down," She instructed.

"Alright, Mom," I joked, causing everyone to laugh. 

"Yeah, Simmons is good at mothering everyone. Guess that's why she's so good at being the team's doctor," Skye added. I laughed again but stopped when breathing in caused my nose to hurt. Damn, this sucked ass big time.

"Well, Hunter," Ward started, "I have to say, I'm impressed. I wasn't too sure what to expect, but coming out with only a broken nose is a good start."

"I would've rathered no injuries at all, but I guess you don't always get what you want," I replied.

"Hey, I was watching the surveillance video and I have to ask: Did you really kick one of the guys in the nuts?" Skye spoke up, looking at me like I was crazy. Laughing once again, I nodded.

"Hell yeah, I did. It was a bunch of them versus me. I'll fight dirty." Ward and Fitz instantly seemed uncomfortable and I could see both of them slyly covering themselves a bit. "Boys, I can see you trying to protect your little men. Stop. You haven't given me a reason to make you sterile...yet." Us girls laughed when the boys seemed even more uncomfortable. 

We stayed up for a while longer, chatting and laughing with each other. It was easy to get along with them, even Ward. He seemed to trust me a bit more now that we had gone on a mission and treated me more like a friend. After a while, I went to bed, wanting to get some sleep and see how my nose looked after a night to start healing. Flopping on my bed, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

So I wrote this in basically a day and I'm very happy about that. I'll try to update soon and I hope you enjoy!