New Beginning

Chapter 7: Say What?!

Sean's PoV: An hour had gone by and there was no sign from any of the three on the ground to be picked up. The arms of the suit were growing heavier as I fought to remain upright in the air. The airspace was clear and all three had made it down safely so I had to wait here, bored out of my mind.

The Quinjet hovered in front of me a little and if I leaned forward slightly, I could glimpse JJ and Angel in the front seat deeply discussing their personal feelings for each other. I couldn't stay in a forward position for long because the gyrobalance in the program wouldn't let me.

Suddenly, my arm was jerked sideways. The flight sustaining boosters cut off before being given an enormous spot of power. I was launched unwillingly over the jet, boosters sputtering out.

"Stark! Quit fooling around. We've got a job to do," JJ spoke into my earpiece.

"It's not me! Someone's messing with the suit!" I replied, plummeting downward before being violently thrown to the left like a ragdoll away from the jet.

"Then fix it quick and get your butt back in action." Fury's voice.

"Uh, Houston, we have a problem!" I answered, fighting to regain control of the suit.

"Then fix it, Stark!" Fury spat back.

I growled and fought harder for control. It wasn't easy battling an invisible force intent on making me look stupid. The force didn't seem to be trying to kill me but it was still impossible to regain control until I heard Rhodes' voice in the earpiece, "I got him. Some video game nerd from China hacked your frequency but I shut him down."

"Thanks, man."

"No problem," he replied.

I returned to being bored. After five or so minutes, I learned that shooting pigeons out of the sky was incredibly fun. So I busied myself until Carter and August needed to be picked up.

August's PoV: When Jeremy gave the order, I grabbed a parachute and strapped into it, tightening what I could with shaking hands. I wasn't nervous at all, just regretting the last ten cups of coffee. Note to self- no more than seven cups a day.

I finally got the parachute on and waited for Carter to finally step off the ramp. Once he was clear, I backed up and sprinted off, leaping out of the Quinjet and tumbling through the open air.

"WOOHOOHOOO!!!" I screamed. Below me, a ghost-white Evan was spreading his arms and legs to maintain his speed. Booorrring! I forced my arms into a similar position but began to do cartwheels instead.

As we began to plummet closer to the ground, I made sure to pull my chute at the right time. Evan and I floated to the ground and when we hit, I remembered to roll. The last time I'd made a drop like this, I'd forgotten to roll and had been sore for weeks.

When I stood and fought my way out of the chute, I saw Evan stiffly unclipping himself from the pack. I smirked; he'd forgotten to roll.

It didn't take long for us to follow the instructions fed to us from JJ and Talia and find the road. If you could call it a road. It was a narrow, grungy, red dirt path that snaked its way through thick trees before opening onto a flat expanse filled with ramshackle huts and shelters.

As we gradually came closer, I could hear voices and music coming from inside the shacks. Light spilled from the openings in some that I assumed were windows. The wail of an infant pierced the twilight.

The light faded and we found ourselves walking in thick, velvety darkness. To my right, a dog growled menacingly. To my left, Evan tensed.

I couldn't have taken three more steps before the dog hit me, knocking my knees out from under me and forcing me to face plant in the path. Sharp pain shot from just below my knee all the way up my leg.