Author's Note: I like a considerable amount of things: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, AVP and especially Marvel Movies. Needless to say, when I first saw the TV series "Agents of SHIELD", I instantly became an addict. I am currently caught up with the series and I always wanted to add another mind and power to the squad and see how that affected the situations that they go through and I figured I would create Jonathan to add that effect. If you enjoy, the first chapter, be sure to review and follow and I'll continue! Hope you guys enjoy!
Prologue: Jumpstart
"The last thing I remember? Flashes.
" Painful bright flashes that seemed to blow up in my mind at random. They flashed clips as they appeared. Clips of random moments, like needles and people talking over me, armored walls surrounding me. It never showed the same thing twice. These flashes in my mind seemed to go on for what seemed like hours, just endless flashes that spiked pain in my arms and legs. Then the light came.
"I remember as the flashes kept on their steady pattern, I heard a man begin to scream in pain. Panicked voices followed and I heard the sounds of scuffling feet. The screams grew in volume and agony until the sound of an explosion ripped through my ears. No, I didn't die, but it sure as hell felt like I did. A superheated wave slammed into me like a Mac Truck, immediately ripping me out of my mind. The flashes faded and I felt my eyes snap open and my chest expand as I took in a pained breath.
"Now, I don't think I've ever tried a cigarette before, but I imagine that's what it tasted like, although what I breathed in was at least 10x the amount of what cigarettes offer you. I coughed and gagged as smoke traveled down my throat and slammed into my lungs. My eyes immediately watered as I realized to my absolute horror that I was completely surrounded by flames. My skin burned and blistered as the closest flames licked against my bare arms, as I wore only a tank-top and cameo jeans and combat boots.. I immediately scrambled up and tried not breathe in deeply. The heat was excruciating and pain was rapidly enveloping my body. I had to get out of there. Sweat ran down my face and my chest as I took off at a dead sprint through the building.
"I had no idea where I was going. The only thing I knew is that I would have rather been anywhere then there. My eyes were closed and my chest BURNED as I rapidly inhaled smoke as I sprinted through the flaming building. I kept running and running and, right when I was on the verge of blacking out, I crashed into a wall. There was a massive splintering explosion and I felt the pure rush of air. I opened my eyes in just enough time to see the road rushing up to meet me, it being littered with reporters and the fire department and everything. Right before I became a red stain on the street, there was the sound of an air pop and a force suddenly slammed into me. Somebody had caught me. There was an echoing crunch as whoever had me landed on the street.
"I honestly thought that, whoever it was, they had broken their legs upon landing. But as I turned my head, I saw what looked like the outlines of a crater on the street. I looked up and saw the outline of a hooded face against the Sun, looking down at me. Before I could even register facial features, I felt my consciousness slip away, replaced by darkness.
"For what felt like days, that's all there was: darkness. That sounds like a bad thing, but you don't know how good it was to get a break from those seizure like flashes that plagued my mind for so long.
"When I woke up, the first thing to meet me was the steady pang of my heart moniter and the blinding glare of the hospital room lights. I remember taking painful breaths, my lungs feeling like they were being torn into with every intake. After about ten minutes had passed, a nurse came in and began to ask questions about my name, my parents, my blood. That's when I got scared, not because I didn't want to answer her, but because I couldn't. I couldn't remember anything about my personal life, my past, my entire life was gone. Panic took me over instantly. Have you ever had a moment where you swear you know something, but it just….disappears into your mind? It was like that, but… on a much larger scale, across your deepest memories and personal life.
"The nurse had, of course, nothing to go on for me, so she marked me as an unknown individual and permitted a couple days of recovery before they kicked me. I spent the night trying to salvage my memory and remember who I was. After hours of trying, I had nothing to show for it. Nothing came back to me whatsoever. I was a blank in my own mind. The strangest thing was that I could recall recent events in the world, like the Battle of New York and the formation of the Avengers just fine, but all personal experiences were just...gone.
"Toward dawn, I began to try to focus to what I was doing in a flaming building when I woke up. Why was I there and if it was a coincidence that a powered individual saved me that day. I spent the morning rattling what I remembered around in my mind, trying to link any of it to any sliver of my past. But things began to get hairy around noon, because that's when she came.
"I was deep in thought when the door to my room swung open. A blonde woman with brown eyes and an all black dress strolled in, armed with a clipboard and dark glasses. She was flanked by two roided up, tattooed bald bodyguards. They wore green T-shirts and camo pants. They tried to hide it, but I also noticed the heavy-duty bullet proof vests hidden under their shirts. I immediately tensed. Something was wrong. The woman sat on the chair next to me and smiled a very unfriendly smile at me. 'Hello, Jonathan.' She said in a calm voice. 'How are you this afternoon?'.
" I was in a state of shock. She called me Jonathan. Was that my name? Did she know me? 'Who are you?' I asked. 'Do we know each other?'
"Her smile got wider and not in a nice way, like she relished the fact that I didn't know her. 'Yes, you do know me.' She said. 'In fact, I know your psych doctor.' I was baffled. I had a psych doctor? Is that way I couldn't remember anything? 'Your psych doctor was performing an experiment on you and…. Complications arose. We believe that it wiped your memory and during the ensuing delirious state, you wandered off on us.' Her eyes swiftly moved to her two guards, who moved to block the door. My heart began to beat a little quicker. Something was wrong.
"'Now that we found you,' She began. 'It should be no trouble at all to transport you back to the good doctor and get you your memory back.' She stood and swiftly wrote on her clipboard. 'I already have the paperwork filled out to clear you from the hospital, so if you would just come with us….'
" 'No.' I immediately said. 'No, I appreciate that you're trying to help me and I really do thank you for that, but I want to rest and get back to my full strength before I try any experiments out. Thank you.' I really wanted to get them the hell out of my room, but, of course, they couldn't take a hint.
"'No, I'm afraid that won't be acceptable. The doctor has a certain timetable that cannot be tampered with. We have to leave now.' As she spoke, I noticed the bodyguards edging ever closer to me, their hands dipping to their pockets.
"'Whoa, whoa.' I said, putting my hands up. 'I said I wasn't going. You can't force me to go where I don't want to go. You gotta be breaking some of your secret government laws if you force me to-'"
"Faster than I could process, both men drew their pistols and trained them at my head. Their eyes were ice cold and trained on me like a cat watches a mouse. 'Oh, sweetie.' The blonde mused as she stepped toward me. 'Who said we're with the government?' I felt my blood run cold and questions explode in my mind. Forget who I was. Who were these people? What did they want with me? Did I used to work for them and if I did, why? Unfortunately, these questions were overlooked by the fact I had two gun barrels pointed at my face..
"One of the guards grabbed me by my arm and yanked me up. My arm erupted in pain as the healing wounds opened up once more. As they pulled me to the door, the sound of shattering glass halted everything. Two sleek metal canisters rolled on either side of my hospital bed, venting a green gas as they went. Before any of us could react, both canisters exploded with a bright flash. Green gas billowed across the room, causing the guards, the lady and I to fall to our knees, grunting in pain. The gas made my eyes water and my nasal passages burn. I was completely stunned.
"In the midst of the chaos, I heard the blonde woman screaming, yelling for her guards to call reinforcements to their level. As she said this, I made out the shadowy complexions of two figures as they swung through the shattered windows and into the room. One of them immediately delivered a kick to the jaw of one of the stunned guards, knocking him face first on the ground with a pained grunt. The second guard realized what happened and stood to fight as well, but the figure was already two steps ahead. He delivered a swift blow to the guards left kneecap and as the guard dropped to the ground, screaming in pain, the figure grabbed his head in both of his hands and slammed the guards lower jaw against his kneecap. The guard crumpled to the ground. In the middle of all this, I felt a pair of hands lift me to my feet and begin to drag me to the shattered window.
"As this happened, my eyes began to water so much that I was all but blind, but I heard a lot. I heard the blonde woman scream in anger and yell out 'Shield!'. I heard running footsteps and the clang of metal and grunts of pain from both a man and a woman. I felt the rush of cold air and I felt myself gulp in the fresh air. I heard a muffled voice saying 'We have the package, Ward! Let's move!' And I felt myself begin to lift high in the air. That's when, for the second time in two days, I blacked out again."
"I woke up in this padded cell, paced for a bit, then you came and started your whole bad cop/worse cop routine. And now we are here." Jonathan let out an enormous sigh and leaned back in his chair. "There. That's my story. That was every last thing I did between getting that violent wake up call in that apartment complex and getting picked up by the lot of you. Does that answer your questions, Mr. Ward?"
Ward sighed as well. He was getting sick of this guy's smartass/ smart-aleck routine that he's been going through ever since the intterogation started. "Yes, thank you for giving yourself such a big alibi." Ward said this in a sarcastic tone, then immediatly switched back to menacing. "Now the question is, will this story of yours hold any water against our database? SHIELD has the most extensive database in the world. If your lying about any section of your story and we find out, you will be elegible for the most extensive punishments SHIELD has to offer."
"And what purpose would I get out of lying to you?" Jonathan inquired, leaning back over the desk. "One of the downsides to amnesia is that, because I can't remember anything, I don't even remember what side I'm loyal too! If I can't even remember what side your on, much less the side I'm on, then I would have really no sense of when or why to lie, right?!"
"Don't worry," Ward said calmly. "When SHIELD is done running your name through, we'll know exactly who you are. Your birth, your occupation, you social security number. You won't be an amnesiac for long, Jonathan."
"Good. It's the worst feeling in the world anyway, when you can't remember a damn thing about your life. Won't miss it. The faster you can certify that I'm normal, the faster you can drop me from this orginization dick-measuring contest you guys are having."
Before Ward could respond, the doors to the cell opened and Coulson stepped in, smiling his usual unreadable smile.
Ward stood. "Coulson, what did you find him? Anything bad?"
"Hopefully just normal?" Jonathan called out.
"That's the thing." Coulson said in his calm voice. "We couldn' tactually find anything on him. There was nothing on him in the database."
"What?!" Ward and Jonathan demanded at the same time.
"No drivers license. No phone number. No parents. No high school degree. Whoever Johnathan is, he's not on the grid in any way, shape or form."
"So, what," Jonathan asked. "Are you saying, in the governments eyes, I don't exist?"
"Nope, you don't exist at all."
Johnathan slinked to his chair in utter shock. He had no money, no name for himself, no house, no family? A normal life was completely out of the question for him. "What the hell did I DO to myself?" He asked nobody in paticular.
"If he's no lead for us, then I take it we're going to drop him somewhere with a fair amount of cash and a High School diploma and move on, right?" Ward asked.
Coulson turned to Johnathan, then back to Ward. "No, we keep him on the ship. He's part of the mission now."
Johnathan turned to look at him. "Whoa, whoa. Part of the mission? What mission? And how would I be even able to help?"
"I agree." Ward chimed in. "In what way could he possibly help."
"The people who tried to snatch Jonathan before we did?" Coulson began. "I believe they may be the orginization Skye spoke about."
"Ward looked confused. "You mean Project Centipede?" He turned to look at Johnathan. "What would they want with him?"
"I'm not quite sure yet. But I do know that, since we have what they want, we can use him as a leverage of sorts to help overthrow them." Coulson turned to Johnathan. "Congrats, Johnathan. Your officialy part of the mission.
Next Chapter: Johnathan meets and suits up with the rest of the team as they try and track down Peterson and stop his madness before it's too late.