Project Ultron

Fifteen.exe

I didn't wait around. If whoever was controlling this enormous plane had been able to take control of my quinjet and make it land, they could surely open its doors remotely. I took a quick look around the quinjet, searching for something to defend myself with. I found one of Agent Romanoff's guns, the little ones with no safety trigger on it. At least the encounter with the Maximoff twins had taught me how to charge a gun like this one.

Always the optimist, I joked to myself.

I took the gun with both hands and pointed it towards the door. If I had actually learned something in the past 24 hours, that was that I had lost all my chill. I was going to shoot first and ask later. And, in the process, get a new plane. Preferably a non-hacked one.

The door opened as I had anticipated. I breathed out, ready to pull the trigger.

He rose his hands, clearly shocked by me aiming a gun at his face. "Wow, there," he said.

I lowered my arms. "Robert," I whispered. Seeing him there confused me and yet, it made all the sense in the world. I instantly knew where I was.

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D.," I said, "Isn't it?"

"Robert, why are you rising your arms?" a woman, whose voice I quickly recognized, asked as she came into view.

"Uh- She has a gun, ma'am," he explained.

Maria Hill looked at me bewildered. "Kira, why do you have a gun?" she demanded.

"I- I thought you were kidnaping me," I half questioned, "What are you doing here? Mister Stark said you'd be in the tower!"

"I'm not," Ms. Hill stated, "Come on. I was waiting for you."

I followed her outside. I was amazed at the size of the helicarrier, it was enormous. It looked like the ones that crashed on the Potomac some years ago, right when S.H.I.E.L.D. got shut down.

"How did you hack the quinjet," I asked Ms. Hill as we walked into the enormous ship.

"I have access to its signature," she explained, "Working for Stark has its perks."

"I'd imagine," I whispered as I looked around. She guided me to the main deck, from where twenty or so people controlled the helicarrier. They were seated on rows and rows of computers, all circling around the center of the room. There, two screens were laid as if to be used by someone standing between them. It was a pretty sick set-up. When we passed close to them, I took a peek. They had general information on the ship, which got updated every second.

None of the agents looked up to us. Everybody knew exactly what they were doing as if they had done it before. And they were focused on doing it.

"Who are all these people?" I asked Ms. Hill.

"Friends of mine," she vaguely explained.

I turned around, taking the whole room in. We were flying somewhere, slowly but surely. It seemed Maria Hill had a destination in mind.

"What is this?" I asked aloud but to no one in particular.

"This," she said, taking a pause, "Is S.H.I.E.L.D."

"But S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't exist anymore," I reminded her.

"We don't," she agreed, "To the rest of the world, at least. For now."

I breathed deep. This was a lot to take in. A secret agency that had collapsed years ago was now operating again, in secret. And I knew about it now. This could only lead to trouble.

"Why do all of this?" I asked. "And why show it to me?"

"The boss thought it was time," she said.