"No, I want to be with Becca!" Cassidy, a short, fairly squat girl shouted.
"No, she wants to be with me!" Samantha, a six foot curly burnett shouted back.
"I already asked her!"
"I asked her first!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
This heated argument was all going on during 2nd period P.E. and frankly, Rebecca herself didn't really care who she was partnered with for the long jump. But, being the subtle 15 year old she was, she just stood off to the side, not bothering to interject into the argument with what appeared to be a fear of hurting someone's feelings. With dark black hair that was pulled into a French braid and green eyes, she was just an average 10th grader that you would see walking at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles. An A, occasionally B student, she was usually quiet and fairly shy, keeping to herself and as sweet as sugar. This was one of the main reasons these two girls Cassidy and Samantha were fighting over her being their partners.
Just as the fight was starting to reach its climax, Marisa, a straight-haired blond, walked over to Becca. "Hey, Becca, will you be my partner for the long jump?" Becca gave her a grateful look before nodding. "Sure. You want to go first?" she offered, gesturing to the area where kids were already jumping. As they began to walk away, Alyssa and Sabrina finally noticed them and stopped fighting long enough to give Marisa a death glare. "It's alright, you guys." Becca said, looking over at them. "We'll all run together for the mile on Thursday." This seemed to satisfy the two girls, though they still glared at each other as they left to find other partners.
Becca and Marisa did their long jump, and played basket ball for the rest of the period, Becca congratulating people for their hoops they made and encouraging them when they missed. When the bell rung for the end of the period, all the girls in Becca's class filed into the locker room, eager to change out of the baggy green shorts and orange tee-shirts. Becca then went and met some friends over a the cafeteria before going to History and Geometry, then lunch. After that it was to Science and Language Arts before walking home. Pretty normal day for Becca. Nothing unusual. Little did she know just how crazy her life was about to get.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
"I don't know why we have to take Health. I don't plan on being a doctor or anything. I'm never going to use this stuff." Cassidy complained.
"Well, at least we get to skip P.E. for today. Plus, I think it's interesting." Becca said as they past the locker room and straight to the gym due to the teacher's request. Cassidy looked at her skeptically.
"Ah, Rebecca Smith, always the optimist." she said, shaking her head and smiling. Becca smiled politely at the complement. They entered the gym with the rest of the crowd where a large projector screen was set up on the stage. Mrs. Hank, the Health teacher, was talking to one of the supervisors who was operating the projector. Becca sat down with the rest of her class in the row of chairs, Cassidy taking the one next to her. Samantha walking into the gym and caught sight of Becca. Smiling at her, Samantha quickly made her way over to where Becca was sitting. She stopped in front of her, her smile vanishing as she saw the seat next to her was taken by Cassidy.
"Hey, I wanted to sit next to Becca." she complained to her. Cassidy smiled smugly. "Why don't you sit on the other side of her?" she asked with mock sweetness. Samantha glared at her. "Because Becca's sitting on the end of the row; there is no seat on the other side of her." Cassidy made a pouting face at her, tracing a fake tear down the side of her cheek. "Oh, poor Samantha." Cassidy smiled at her again, her fake sweetness back. "Well, losers weepers." Samantha scowled at her, before walking away reluctantly, defeated. As Becca watched her sit next to another one of her friends, Mrs. Hank began to talk into the mic.
"Welcome, 10th graders. I'm Mrs. Hank, as most of you know, and I teach Health, as many of you also know. I'm here to talk to you today about what drugs can do to you and your body..." Becca tuned out to Mrs. Hanks speech. She had learned all of this last year When she had been based in Colorado. Plus, she other things to worry about besides alcohol effecting your immune system. Like, why was she still here? Nothing had ever happened at this school and nothing will. Why did the Director still have her here?
BOOM! Suddenly a loud noise shook the gym, interrupting Mrs. Hank's address of alcohol abuse. Girls screamed, teachers and supervisors attempted to calm everyone down, but they weren't doing every good, considering they were scared out of their wits, too. Becca quickly got up and looked out the nearest window. There, above the now blown-up football field, was a helicopter, black, and two guns with loaded missile launchers sat on either side. One missile was missing on the left gun was missing.
Ah, crap! Becca thought, looking at the red skull with eight tentacles painted on the side of the helicopter. Hydra found me.
Becca twirled around, her black ponytail stinging her cheek as she ran towards the stage, a determined look on her face. She hurled the stage and grabbed the microphone. "Teachers, supervisors, please gather at the stage." When no one listened to her, she sighed, put the mic away from her mouth, stuck two fingers in her mouth, and blew a loud, high-pitched whistle. Everyone shut up and looked at her. "Teachers and supervisors please come to the front of the stage!" she repeated before returning the microphone to its stand and hopping down from the stage. All the adults had gathered in front of her reluctantly.
"Get all the kids single-file along the thick blue line." she said with authority, nodding to the blue line painted on the floor. The people looked at her skeptically. Mrs. Hank finally asked what they all were thinking, "Why should we take orders from you?" Becca sighed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pen. Clicking the top twice, the grip opened up and projected a holographic badge. A picture of Becca was off to the side next to the name "Megan 'Phoenix' Thomas". At the top, a symbol of a hawk in a circle was outlined in red, standing out against the black background. Underneath the name was all of "Megan's" information.
"A, because I am a Level 3 personnel, my mentor is a Level 2, and my Director is a Level 1. And even though I am a 3, I am one of the highest ranked recruits, which also happens to be more than all of your ranks combined. And B, do you have a better idea?" Becca/Megan said this like she had said it a hundred times and was getting sick of it. The adults gaped at the floating badge for a minute before nodding and going to gather up the wild teenagers. Soon, the majority of them where lined up, to scared to talk. Meanwhile, Megan jogged over to her backpack and pulled out a two-way radio and began to talk into it, "Director Fury, this is Phoenix, I have a Code Yellow, I am requesting backup, do you have any helicarriers in the area? Director Fury, come in!"
As Megan shook the radio angrily, she heard a tentative, "Becca?" Megan turned around to see Cassidy looking at her, fear clear in her eyes. "Can I help you?" Megan said, still frustrated with the whole scenario. Outside, another bomb exploded in the football field, and this one sounded closer. "Becca, I'm scared." Cassidy said. Megan closed her eyes and let out a slow breath. "I know your scared, Cassidy, but right now I need you to go stand in line, I'm a little busy." she said, returning back to her radio. "But I want to stand in line with you." Cassidy continued to talk even though Megan had clearly dismissed the conversation. "You seem to know what's going on, and I'm-"
"Scared, I know!" Megan suddenly shouted at Cassidy, the old, calm Becca attitude gone. "You've already said that! I think every teacher, teenager, and staff member is scared right now! I am almost sure Vice Principal Johnson is about to pee his pants! And since I am the only one who knows what's going on, I need to call in backup, but I can't do that right now, because I keep on getting distracted!" Cassidy looked at her, surprised. Megan took a deep breath. "Now, would you please go stand in line with everyone else and make my day a little easier?" Turning her back to Cassidy, Megan began walking to the back of the gym where it was a little bit quieter.
"Director Fury, do you copy?" she repeated into the radio. Finally, a voice made its way through the small speaker. "This is Fury, proceed. " Megan gave a sigh of relief, making sure the Director couldn't hear it, before answering, "Directory Fury, this is Phoenix, I am at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, I am suffering from an intense Code Yellow, I am requesting back-up, do you have any helicarriers in the area?" "Copy that, we have one smaller helicarrier in Fresno, I can get it to you in about eight minutes if you can hold up till then." "Much appreciated, Director. Who would happen to be commanding this helicarrier?" Megan said, relieved to know there was one so close. "That would be Agent Colson, Phoenix. Why?" Fury asked. "Just needed to make sure that someone will be there to keep everything in order, that's all." she replied. "Why don't you do 'keep things in order', Phoenix? I thought that was what your trained to do." Megan scowled at Fury's sarcasm. "Because I'm 15, no one is listening to me unless I flash the badge, and you know I hate doing that." she said, try to keep her voice level with patience. "Alright, I'll contact Colson. Fury out."
Megan was just putting the radio back into her bag when another explosion was heard outside. Everyone screamed in terror. Megan scowl grew deeper. Hydra was trying to flush her out with a threat; Come out or we blow up the place. She threw all of her books out of her bag until all that was left was a black pair of clothes, some boots, a thin touch screen, and her radio, leaving her burden much lighter. Slinging it over a shoulder, she called out to everyone in the gym, "Everyone, I have help on the way, but they won't be here for a few minutes. And if we don't get out of this gym, that helicopter outside is going to collapse it with us all in here. So, if you could all file into the girls locker room, as it is the closes and safest building available, we might be able to keep them at bay while help arrives."
One kid had the nerve to complain. "What, even the boys?!" Marcus asked, obviously grossed out by the suggestion. Megan glared at him. "Yes, even the boys, if you want to survive this." Marcus elbowed one of his buddies and snickered. "What, is there going to be lotion and underwear all over the place?" Marcus's friend gave a nervous laugh. Megan sighed. "Marcus," she said, clasping her hands behind her back and giving him a fake smile. "If you crack one more joke, I will personally escort you outside and you can be that helicopter's practice for a moving target." Marcus paled and shut up.
Megan's smile disappeared. She pointed to the locker room connected to the end of the large room. "Then let's get moving, stay in line." she ordered. At first no one moved. Then another explosion brought dust raining down from the ceiling, as if to enforcing her command. Everyone turned and started shuffling towards the girls locker room. Megan stayed behind until the last person disappeared behind the doorway before following.
When she was inside, everyone was sitting on benches next to friends, chattering nervously among themselves like little birds. Megan put down her backpack and pulled out her radio again. She pressed a button, changing the channel before speaking into it. "Colson, this is Phoenix, did the Director contact you?" The answer came after a short pause. "Affirmative, this is Colson, we are three minutes due north of your location. Haven't heard from you in a while, Phoenix." Aw, he had missed her. "Save it for the trip to New York, Colson. We'll catch up then. Right now I need you high-tail it over here. And on your way, could you prepare about 140 ten-person bunkers, maybe a few more?" "Goodness, why on earth do you need that many?" Colson said, surprised "Um, because Hydra isn't attacking just the gym, it's attacking the whole school and I need to evacuate them all." Megan could hear Colson's sigh whistle through the speaker. "All right, I might have to throw some futons on the floor of some bunkers, be we'll make do." "Thanks, Colson. Phoenix out."
Suddenly a huge BOOM was heard from outside of the locker room followed by an even bigger crash. Everyone screamed. "Lay flat in the middle of the walkways!" Megan's cry could be barely be heard above all the racket. Luckily, everyone complied almost immediately. And not a moment to soon. Just as everyone got down, some three-locker by 18-locker stacks fell down. The screams grew louder. Just before the lockers hit the sophomore-covered ground, they met in the middle, stopping each other. What was left was two locker-walls in an upside-down V position. Had the teenagers stayed where they had, they all would have been squashed. Megan quickly weaved around fallen people and backpacks to the door of the gym. When she tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. Something was jamming it.
Backing up, she karate-kicked the door, slamming her the heel of her foot into the edge where it was weakest. The door moved open a few inches, giving Megan a little room to peek through. There in front of her was broken planks of wood, fallen metal roof supports, and in the back, the tip of a red curtain from the stage. The entire gym had collapsed. And along the edges of the wood planks, black scorch marks added smoke to the chaos. "What happened?" a nervous voice called out from behind Megan. She turned around to see the entire front row of 10th graders staring at her, scared but curious. "They finally blew up the gym." she said grimly. "The whole things been reduced to rubble." Cries of dismay aroused all around the locker room. And after that, a bang of a door being kicked open followed by yet another scream. Megan's first thought, Will these people ever stop screaming? Her second, Who's coming in through the back door?
Megan ran to the back of the room. There, four men in gray army suits, full head helmets and covered in weapons where rounding up the teenagers in front of them. Megan relaxed at the familiar Shield attire of a Level 6 lieutenant. The first man stood straight and saluted her. "Agent Thomson, we are here under the information that you contacted Agent Colson under the case of a Code Yellow. We are here to gather the civilians at this school. Conformation and permission to proceed is need to continue." Megan nodded to the man. "Affirmative, I did contact Colson, permission to proceed granted." The soldier pressed at small button on the side of his helmet. "Conformation and permission has been granted. Proceed as planned." He then made a series of hand signals to the other three men, who began to move to the front of the room and gather up the rest of the teenagers.
Megan looked around her. "I take it you have other officers to retrieve the rest of the school?" The soldier nodded. "We have all areas of the school under lock-down and one of our jets is holding off the enemy." Megan nodded in satisfaction. "Then let's not make them fight longer than needed." And with that, they began herding teenagers out the door. As they exited the locker room, Megan quickly surveyed the scene around her. In the middle of the blown-up football field, sat a smaller version of the main helicarrier, 12 stories high, literally a football field wide, barely fitting on the grass. All around Megan, classes from all over campus where walking towards the hatch that opened into the first level of the helicarrier. And over the empty street, a jet with the Shield emblem on the side was distracting the Hydra helicopter. Megan would have liked to watch the battle, but she had to make sure her class got inside the helicarrier safely.
As the entire group walked on, Megan brought up the rear, making sure there was no stranglers. It was harder than it sounded. Everyone wanted to stay and take in everything around them. Megan continuously had to remind people to keep moving, making the short distance to the helicarrier seem like eternity. Finally, Megan followed the last class inside. There rows and rows of seats sat facing each other, more soldiers directing students and staff to chairs. Suddenly, a huge explosion sent dirt flying inside the helicarrier. People everywhere screamed (well, no surprise there). Megan ran to the opened hatch and looked outside. Both Shield and Hydra vehicles had shot at each other; the helicopter had taken a hit to the tail rudder and the jet to the underside, right next to the engine. Luckily, the jet pilot was pretty well trained and was able to glide not-so-gracefully to the top of the helicarrier, where it landed.
The helicopter was no so lucky. Without its tail rudder to keep it steady, the Hydra helicopter began to spin out of control as it fell. Megan felt something wet hit her cheek. Touching it, she realized the helicopter was leaking fuel, flinging it through the air. Knowing what would happen when the helicopter hit the ground, Megan turned and ran to the nearest seat. "Close the hatch and take off!" she yelled as she pulled the straps over her shoulders and buckled them in. The engines, which had been running the entire time they had loaded in, began to whir, and soon she felt them come off the ground.
Then the helicopter crashed below.
The explosion was so large it racked the entire helicarrier. Megan lurched forward in the seat, the seat belt digging into her shoulders. Some kids who hadn't put their's on fell to the ground with a yelp. They scrambled back to their seats and buckled up, seaming to notice everyone else had already done that for the first time. The helicarrier steadied its self, rising and heading east. When they hit about 41,000 feet, Megan unbuckled and headed to the nearest elevator. Entering, she hit the button for the top level.