Raelynn Dunnbar was only seven when her parents died from a terrible incident, after their final experiment on her. David and Vivian Dunnbar wanted to give Raelynn strength and the ability to kill their enemies so they wouldn't get caught; the plan...
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Indian Ocean
"Target is a mobile satellite launch platform, the Lemurian Star." Rumlow swiped the information onto the screen. "They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, ninety-three minutes ago."
Kol shook his head in disbelief, why were pirates still a thing? Unless it was Jack Sparrow, what was the point?
"Any demands?" Steve asked the agent.
"Billion and a half."
"Why so steep?"
"Why a half?" Raelynn asked, genuinely confused. Why not just demand more?
Rumlow ignored the girl, instead he kept his eyes on the older man. "Because it's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s."
His face filled with confusion, but his tone filled with slight annoyance, looking over at Natasha, who stood next to him. "So it's not off-course. It's trespassing."
Without looking at him the woman responded. "I'm sure they have a good reason."
"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor."
"It's better than aliens." Raelynn told him shrugging her shoulders. Natasha quickly looked over to Steve. "Relax. It's not that complicated."
"How many pirates?" Steve asked, turning his attention back to Rumlow. "Twenty-five. Top mercs led by this guy." He answered, showing a picture. "George Batroc. Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice." Rumlow took a deep breath before adding. "Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty six kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."
"That's cute." Raelynn sarcastically muttered, only Kol being able to hear her.
"Hostages?" Kol asked the fellow agent.
"Mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell. They're in the gallery." Rumlow answered, pulling up Jasper's photo.
Jasper Sitwell was the agent that got Loki's location back in 2012, what was he doing on a ship? Steve was the one to ask. "What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" It was a rhetorical question.
"All right, Kol and I are gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat and Rae, you kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get them out." Steve ordered the agents around him.
Raelynn put on her black fingerless gloves as she walked over to her mother and Steve.
"Secure channel seven."
"Seven secure." Natasha told the older man. "Did you do anything fun Saturday night?"
"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so, no, not really."
"Coming up on the drop zone, Cap." Kol advised, walking over to the trio.
"You know, if you ask Kristen out, from statistics, she'd probably say yes." The red haired woman told Steve. Kol nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah, dude. She's totally into you."
Steve shook his head, those two were always trying to hook him up with somebody. "That's why I don't ask." He answered, making sure his mask was on correctly as the hatch door started to open.
"Too shy?" Kol asked, raising his voice over the air gushing into the aircraft.
"Or too scared?" Natasha added playfully.
"Too busy." Steve shouted before jumping off the hatch.
Natasha looked over to her daughter, who still hasn't said much since the car ride. "So, you gonna tell me what's bothering you?"
"It's nothing really. Just, kids pick on me all the time." Raelynn told her, putting on her parachute.
Both Natasha and Kol stopped what they were doing. "Wait, so you've been getting bullied all year and didn't say anything?"
Raelynn shrugged her shoulders. "Like I said, it's nothing. I'm just glad to even be in a classroom with other kids."
"I hate to break this family meeting up, but we got things to do." Rumlow interrupted the conversation. It was true, they all knew it. But Natasha and Kol wanted to solve this now. There was nothing Nat wanted to do more than to go to the school and request a meeting with the principal.
Natasha watched as Rumlow, Kol and a few other guys jumped out of the ship. She lightly tugged on her daughter's wrist, stopping her from moving. Raelynn met her eyes, knowing what she was going to say. "I appreciate you telling me kiddo. But just know that you have people you can talk to about this, okay?"
"Thanks, mom."
On the way down, Raelynn saw a pirate point a gun to Steve's head, and within a second Rumlow shot him. "Thanks." Steve told him. "Yeah, you seemed pretty helpless without me."
"These guys don't look like pirates." Raelynn told the adults as she took off her parachute. "Not all of them have a hook for a hand." Steve playfully told her, proud of himself for knowing a movie reference.
"That would be so much cooler, though." Kol chuckled, smiling at the girl. He couldn't think about it right now since he had a job to do, but in the back of his mind, he was beating himself up for not knowing what Raelynn was going through. Why didn't she come to him about it?
Natasha broke the boy away from his self deflecting. "What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you?" She asked Steve as they began to walk. "She seems kind of nice."
"Secure the engine room, then find me a date."
Raelynn and Natasha walked over to the side of the bars, leading down to a lower deck of the ship. "I'm multitasking." Nat called over before jumping over, Raelynn right behind her.
