This is my first crossover: please be patient. Reviews always welcome.
Chapter One
I quickly hot-wire the truck and leap in quickly, slamming the door hard behind me.
"Drive man!" I yell. The owner of this white truck is racing up behind me and he looks completely and totally homicidal, "DRIVE! Get us moving!" I scream as the owner's fist slams into the window by my head. Jordan slams on the gas, throwing me back into the seat.
"You stupid kids! You just wait until I catch up with you!" The man howls and he looks livid. "When I catch you-!" I cut him off as I close my eyes and the car vanishes from sight. Seconds later we're at a highway three states away.
'Catch' us? Dude, you can't even touch us! You want to get me? Well, Bring. It. On!
…
That night, I jump us to South Georgia and we bed down in an old barn. A warm summer breeze rustles the grass outside and a gentle rain tickles the old tin roof above us while I spray paint the truck blue and change the license plates.
My seven year old sister, Chava, yawns and stretches out on the backseat. She curls into a ball and I gently put my jacket over her to help keep her warm. My cousin, Jordan, and friend, Caleb, make a fire, wrap five large yams up in aluminum foil, and push them close to the glowing red embers. My best friend, Serina, watches me contently and smiles widely when our eyes meet.
"Did you see that guy's face?" She asks and I laugh.
"Yeah! It was red as a tomato!" I say and we both break into laughter.
She passes me a screwdriver and I sit back to admire my handiwork. The owner will never recognize this vehicle again let alone the police. As far as anyone else knows: it's ours. Now we just have to worry about the Paladins catching up and killing me and my friends for knowing me…
But we have a truck now.
That's cool, right?
…
The boys finish cooking dinner and quickly pass out the food: one cooked yam for everyone, a few bags of chips, and two oranges. It's not much, but at least we have something to eat. After we eat, I lie on my back in the hay and curl into a ball. I can hear the others yawning around me and soon, they're all fast asleep.
Little did I know, our lives were about to make a change for the better.
Well…sort of.
…
We meet them the next day. Sunlight streams in from the cracks in the boards. I jerk awake and sit up as a rooster begins to crow outside. I swipe my hand over my eyes and yawn widely. Outside, I can hear gravel crunching as a small black car pulls up.
Peace out, dude!
Within minutes, I have everyone else awake. We quickly pile back into the van and I jump us away into an abandoned alley. Jordan throws the truck into drive and we speed away.
A few hours later, we're playing baseball in an old abandoned lot. I teleport high into the air to catch the ball and just as quickly jump back on the ground and tag Caleb out on first. He glares at me and claims that I cheated. I simply smile at him and blow him a kiss mockingly. Caleb rolls his eyes and sighs.
"I'm going to get you." He points his fingers at me and I smirk at him.
"Come at me, bro."
"Would you look at that?" An unfamiliar voice sounds I whirl around quickly. A man in a suit is walking towards us and an Asian woman stays close to his side. "It's been a while since we've seen a teleporter." He says and he smiles kindly.
I narrow my eyes at him. They're definitely from the government. Whatever it is that they're selling, I'm not interested.
"Who are you?" I ask and I can feel the others gathering behind me.
From the corner of my eye, I see Serina grab Caleb and she readies herself to turn them both invisible should this encounter turn dangerous. Chava inches towards me and slips her hand through mine. If this turns ugly, I'll jump Chava somewhere safe and then come back for Jordan. Serina will keep her and Caleb hidden—it'd be a waste of time to try to look for them. We'll all meet up later at a McDonald's in this city.
"I'm Special Agent Coulson and this is my associate, Agent May." The man answers smoothly. "And you are?"
"Hope." I say and I watch him like a wolf would watch a mountain lion. "Hope Snider."
"Well, Hope. We help people like you—people with…unusual abilities." He looks at me calmly with a calm, hopeful grin but I don't trust him. "In fact, if you want, I'd like to ask you if you and your friends here would like to join Shield. We've been keeping a close eye on your activities and you all seem to be quite gifted. We could use people of your talents at Shield."
He looks like a nice guy but I've played this game before. A lot of people are nice until they suddenly put a gun to your head or a knife to your throat. To go with this guy could very well be suicide. For all I know, he's working with the Paladins, and that makes him dangerous.
"Sure you do…" I say and I warily take a few steps back and the others follow suit.
"We mean you no harm." He pulls a gun out and I tense.
Slowly, he puts the weapon on the ground and kicks it away from him. Coulson stares at Agent May for a long moment, and, with a sigh, she does the same but she glares at him irritably for a moment before looking back to us.
"We saw you up there in the air. Nice catch, by the way." He continues and I watch him carefully.
I still don't trust him. For all I know, he has another weapon concealed somewhere or a whole crew of people hiding in the area with their trigger fingers itching as they catch us in their cross-hairs. Something is wrong with this situation—I just know it.
Good things don't happen to us: just tragedy.
"Thanks." I say unconvincingly.
"Where's your family? Your mom? Your dad?"
"None of your business," I snap and he blinks at my sharp response. A flash of guilt slices through my ribcage but it's quickly eclipsed by anger. Who is he to make me feel guilty?
"Here." He puts a card on the ground and backs away from it slowly as if finally sensing that we will not be going anywhere with him in the near future. Man, were we proven wrong. "If you need anything—anything at all—don't hesitate to give me a call." He walks away and Agent May follows after him after gathering up their weapons.
"Well…that was weird." Serina says and I nod.
"You can say that again."
…
It turns out, I'd be making that call less than four hours later. We had jumped into a bad neighborhood to hide in plain sight when, low and behold, things got ugly. Serves me right, I guess. Everyone knows you're supposed to avoid the seedy parts of town not hide in them. Long story short, Chava got hit. A bullet cut through her arm and buried itself firmly into her shoulder. Blood went everywhere and it just kept coming. To take her to a hospital would be dangerous—the Paladins would find us for sure...
So, I made the call.
And Shield came running.