SHIELD Agent Eleanor Flint

Chapter 5

The rest of our team and the STRIKE unit's Quinjets landed on the strip shortly after us. The landing team took over and we were released to enter HQ, change into more comfortable clothes, then meet Fury in the conference room for the Mission Report. 

I held my ID card up to the scanner outside the conference room doors. 

"Flint, Eleanor. Level 5." 

There was an unlocking sound and I pulled open the door. As I entered, I took note of Brock Rumlow, head of the STRIKE unit, sitting at the table next to Agent Sitwell. Natasha and Clint sat opposite them. Fury sat in his usual spot at the head of the table. I took a seat next to Natasha and Clint. Fury waited for me to get settled before he began. 

"Agent Sitwell, give me the rundown." 

"Yes, sir." Sitwell nodded and brought out a tablet. 

He placed it on the table, then swiped his fingers across the tablet and the mission report was brought up on the screen at the front wall. He must have compiled most of it on his way back from Israel. 

"On arrival, we sent in the STRIKE team and SHIELD safety detail to keep the civilians of the neighboring town away from the target base," Sitwell explained. "There was no resistance from the civilian population. Next, we sent in Barton, Romanoff, and Flint into the base courtyard to make the first infiltration. As soon as they stepped into the courtyard, there was an energy surge that ripped through the ground and caused a small earthquake."

Sitwell swiped his screen again to show the scanned layout of the base and courtyard. Computer-generated figures of soldiers were placed in spots around and inside the base to represent the enemy defense. A red circle spread outwards from the center of the base, representing the energy surge. 

Sitwell went on to explain the events of the mission. I zoned out most of it. The only thing on my mind was the glitched navigation screen on the Quinjet. It wasn't a very unusual occurrence but something about it made me uncomfortable and it bothered me that Clint and Natasha were unfazed by it. But maybe I was overreacting. 

"As soon as the weak spot in the base was blown, I sent in Flint." 

I sat up at the sound of my name. Usually, this is a cue for Fury to ask me a question, so I waited while Sitwell spoke. 

"As soon as she dropped down to the 0-8-4's location, our comms lost connection." 

Fury glanced at me. "Was everyone's connection to Flint lost?" 

"Yes, sir," was everyone's reply. 

"Flint, if you could report what happened." Fury nodded at me. 

I cleared my throat and prepared myself to recall the traumatizing event. "When I reached the bottom of the ladder down to the 0-8-4, the comms began to break up and I could no longer hear Sitwell's instructions. The hatch door above me shut and I had to assume that one of the enemy soldiers had closed it, or it was a loose door." 

Sitwell began adding information to the report, filling in the missing pieces of the mission while I was off communications and trekking it on my own. Fury listened as I described my way of scoping out the room and when I reached the part about me going to touch the 0-8-4 I paused. 

"And you're really going to hate me for this but I did not realize that the 0-8-4 was right in front of me and I touched it," I said. 

Fury's expression changed to a look of disappointment and Clint held back a smirk as if to say: "I told you so". Rumlow's eyebrow raised and Sitwell scratched his bald head. Natasha showed no reaction and waited for the rest of my report.