Author's Note - I own nothing from Marvel or ABC. Julia is all mine.
This story is a sequel to Vlad the Impaler and a prequel to Ivan the Terrible.
Ch. 1
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are notoriously tight-lipped between levels, in an effort to keep information compartmentalized, because it is drilled in our heads, from day one, that information is power. For example, a level 7 agent won't tell a level 3 agent anything, keeping them in the dark, letting them twist in the wind.
However, get agents together who are all at the same level and, all of a sudden, they become gossipy little divas. It really makes high school look like the U.N. So, when I got a top-secret encrypted email that detailed my next mission, I knew exactly what I was in for. Well, more or less.
I looked down at my screen, rereading it for the third time, knowing that no new information was going to suddenly pop up, but hoping to glean at least one clue as to what exactly I would be doing.
Agent: Julia Demarco
Mission Parameters: Classified
Mission Teammates: Classified
Mission Location: Classified
Mission Duration: Classified
Report to Airfield J at 0800 on December 1.
On my last mission, I had been warned by another level 7 agent that if you ever got a mission assignment devoid of any real information, you would most likely be going on a mission with Agents Rogers and Romanoff. Also, you might not be coming back.
Agent Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America) and Agent Natasha Romanoff (AKA Black Widow) had been criss-crossing the globe, shutting down one Neo-Hydra facility after another. Although Hydra had been nominally disbanded after WWII, there were still remnants trying to perfect the super-soldier serum. Of course, they weren't the only organization trying to recreate the success of the Captain America experiment, but they were the most persistent and the most well-funded.
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Knowing that I was going on a mission with Coulson's idol, I remembered the story of his death floating around S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson's blood-stained Captain America cards were used as motivation for the Avengers to rally together. I thought about it and decided to see what I could do to get him another set, signed this time. So, after an expensive trip to Ebay, I was the proud owner of a mint set of Captain America trading cards.
I was excited to be going on this mission. Although I never "officially" lost my level 7 status, I had been sidelined into minor league assignments for years after not shooting my ex-partner while he was escaping S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. If not for Coulson's recommendation after my mission with him, I'd never have seen an assignment like this again.
So, to pay Coulson back, I was going to ask my mission teammate for his autograph. I'd done a lot more humiliating things on a mission. How bad could it really be, I thought.
Really, really bad, as it turned out.