Jupiter [Marvel Phase I]

twenty-seven.

Back in the fall, the first time Jenn decided to go out as Jupiter, she acknowledged it was a terrible idea. She had no combat training (or so she thought), nothing to hide her identity, no protective gear, and no plan. This, Jenn resigned herself, was much worse.

Immediately after shearing through the cuffs they'd stuck her in, Jenn found herself under fire from no less than a dozen guns. This was closer to her original guesses of how the evening would go. C.E.N.T.R.E. may have had tentative an interest in her, but she wasn't a valuable asset. She'd always been disposable to them.

At least bullets weren't hard to defend against. Even with so many guns pointed at her, Jenn only needed to raise a single hand to create a forcefield. The real problem was how they were getting out of there, because it clearly wasn't out the door.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Doctor," Jenn shouted over the gunfire.

"You're actually a bit earlier than I'd expected," Dr. Ingram replied. "S.H.I.E.L.D. generally gives themselves forty-eight hours for an operation this size."

"Well, they do," Jenn winced. There was a break in the noise as several agents reloaded. She looked at the ceiling, considering. "I may've jumped the gun."

"You're on your own?" Dr. Ingram cried.

Jenn was too busy demolishing the ceiling to dignify that with a response. Rubble bounced off her forcefield and the agents were forced to retreat out the door. Dr. Craig's bright red face was the last thing Jenn saw before she scooped up Dr. Ingram and flew them through the hole in the ceiling.

The doctor was still shouting at her as she put him down. "Taking on a whole C.E.N.T.R.E. base by yourself? Are you mad?"

"You're my psychiatrist, you tell me," Jenn replied.

They seemed to have found themselves in one of the archive rooms she passed earlier. But which one...

Jenn's train of thought was quickly broken up by the sounds of gunfire. Apparently, the C.E.N.T.R.E. agents made it through the rubble and were now shooting at them through the hole Jenn left behind. Without a moment's hesitation, she threw out a protective arm, pushing Dr. Ingram away from the line of fire.

"Oh, my god," Dr. Ingram repeated over and over. "What were you thinking? We're going to die in here!"

Jenn spared him a withering glance over her shoulder. "You know...I liked you better when you were giving me amnesia."

Solid point, though. Jenn had only gotten a quick glimpse at the base's floorpan when she looked in the security suite, but it was long enough to know there was no quick way out. All by design, of course. And the more time they wasted trying to get out, the more agents they would have to face.

"We have to get a move on before this place is swarmed," Jenn yelled over the growing cacophony, urging a semi-frozen Dr. Ingram towards the door.

The pair burst into a corridor a moment later. They had been lucky enough to find themselves in an unoccupied room. The next hallway wasn't quite so empty. A man carrying an armful of papers screamed when Jenn kicked the door down. The agent he'd been in conversation with wasted no time drawing her gun. Jenn's instincts had her throwing a forcefield up as the agent aimed several shots at their legs.

"You're one of the-" the agent began. But that was as far as she got before Jenn pulled open the metal door behind her and knocked both C.E.N.T.R.E. agents out.

Just as Jenn was about to bask in victory with a well-earned snarky quip, she was cut off by a loud screech. The lights dimmed and red alarm sirens flashed.