Shadows {Book one in the Coriana Johnson series}

Blackness, again

A week had passed.

Training was going along nicely, and I was starting to like May more. She still didn't speak much, but at least she was a tiny bit more friendly.

Fitz was a great teacher. He had been teaching me some really helpful things, but between that and training, I was pretty busy.

Simmons and I were getting to know each other a bit more. She would bring Fitz and I some snacks while we worked, and when I took a break, I would talk to her a bit. Sometimes, if everyone was gone on a mission or something, she would text and make sure I was doing fine.

Another person I liked to talk to was Lincoln. I usually went to bug him after my morning training session. If he was still asleep, I would find creative ways to wake him up.

Once, I sat on a whoopie which was right next to his ear, and another time, I rigged a bucket of water so when he rolled over, it dumped gallons of water on top of him. He wasn't very happy at first, but eventually he found it funny.

Mack is another person I liked to prank, but I'd learned I had to be careful, because he would prank me back. There was one day, I snuck into his room while he was away on a mission, covered everything in confetti, and also made it so when he opened the door, more confetti came spilling down on his head. It took him awhile to clean all of that up.

But somehow, he figured out it was me, so the next day, I walked into my room to find it was empty. All of my belongings, even the furniture, were gone. It took me an hour to find everything, which had been scattered around the base.

I told him that he had better lock his room and sleep with one eye open, because when I get him back, it's going to be epic.

Daisy and I were growing extremely close. Sometimes she would held me with pranking, but that didn't mean I wouldn't make plans to prank her someday. But anyways, we were definitely developing a strong sister bond.

I didn't talk to Coulson much, but we were definitely getting along better. Apparently, he had been evaluating me to see if and when I would be ready to go into the field.

That was actually what we were talking about when it happened.

"So....is this about the.....'evaluation'?" I asked him.

"Yes, actually. I wanted to tell you that I'm pleased with your progress, and I though you aren't ready to participate in any missions yet, I want you to start observing them. Get an idea of how everything works," Coulson said.

"Ok.....and about that....when will I be able to go on missions?"

"Like I said, when I feel you're ready."

"I know, I was just wondering, does being ready have an age requirement?"

"Are you worried that I'm not going to let you go on missions until you're eighteen? Is that why you're asking me all of this?"

"Yeah....I guess so."

"When I let you go on a mission isn't your concern. I told you, I'll let you when I think you're ready."

"Yes sir."

"And also, Fitz was talking to me about your talent with electronics. He thinks that your talent could be useful in the field."

"Really? Wow. Is that all?"

"Yes. You can-"

"Coulson!" We heard Daisy shout from across the hall. Both of us whirled around.

"What is it?"

She ran over to us, out of breath.

"You need to see this."

********

"I'm sorry, sir. Please calm down. I'm having a hard time understanding you."

"There's someone coming here to kill me...Hydra."

"Sir, we're sending two cars to your location."

"No, there's no time for that. I need Daisy Johnson."

"Who?"

Daisy ended the recording.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors emergency dispatch?" Lincoln asked.

"All the time, all over the world ... it's how we're first on the scene," Daisy responded.

"So....this guy just randomly knew your name?" I asked.

"I don't know why..." she responded.

"Who was the caller?" Coulson asked.

"Man identified himself as Edwin Abbott. Owns a local grocery store in Dyker Heights. No affiliation with SHIELD or any intelligence agency, for that matter. Just a guy," Daisy informed him.

"You don't know him?" May asked.

"Never seen him, never heard of him," Daisy responded.

"May, prepare the Quinjet for disconnect," Coulson said.

"Yes sir," May responded, and her, Coulson, Daisy, Lincoln, and I started to walk towards the Quinjet.

"This isn't weird at all," I said.

"Yeah. He knew your name," Lincoln said, turning to Daisy.

"And he mentioned Hydra. Can't be good," she responded.

I nodded in agreement.

"It could be a trap," I said.

"We'll need ground tactical at the ready," Coulson said.

"You're coming?" Daisy asked. "Good. With Mack on bed rest, we could use the extra muscle."

"Well, he's the only one with extra muscles, but I'll come anyway. We don't know what we're walking into. Cori's coming too."

"Cori?" Daisy asked.

"I want her to start watching our missions. It's good experience. She'll be fine."

"Yeah, Daisy, I'll be fine," I interjected.

She sighed and walked into the Quinjet.

I smiled and walked after her.

********

I looked out the window of the vehicle I was in as we drove up to the spot where the man, Edwin Abbot was.

I saw some police cars parked in front of one of the buildings, and there was a distressed-looking man, who I assumed to be Abbot, talking to one of the policemen.

"You stay in the car," Daisy said to me as she got out. "We should be right back." She closed the door.

I sighed and watched her walk over to the man.

At least they let you go on a mission, I thought. Even if you have to stay cooped up in this stupid car the whole time.

I watched as Daisy spoke to Abbot, and I wondered what they were talking about.

I looked over and saw May standing close to the car I was in. Suddenly, she whipped her gun and pointed it at the sky.

"Hydra!" I was able to hear her shout. I looked out the back window and saw a plane flying over us.

"Dang," I whispered. I had never seen anything like that plane, but that wasn't the time to think about how cool it looked.

I debated whether or not I should get out of the car, but when I saw the Hydra plane getting ready to fire, I made a scramble for the door, hoping I would be able to get away in time.

But apparently I wasn't fast enough, since all I remember is a blinding flash of light, pain, and blackness.