AU- Daisy May: Chapter 1
Austin, Texas was supposed to be an easy mission. An easy assignment to help get out of a funk.
Nothing seemed to go right for Melinda May these Days. It started routine enough.
Mission: Observe "Thomas Nash" aka Clairvoyant. Potential psychic. First eval for Index.
All she had to do was observe learn his routine. Whether he had powers or not was irrelevant. His activities were underground lawbreakers was starting to arouse suspicion. Had he been dealing drugs and selling weapons like a normal up and coming mob boss. Shield would have passed the information onto FBI and continued on.
But no, he was searching for people. Powered people, Gifted humans, experiments that have gone wrong, nuclear reactor casualties he wasn't picky. That was where shield came in. People were turning up missing. At first, it was runaways that no one cared to report but then a pattern was emerging. May's job was to find out how he was operating things. How he was finding people that even shield couldn't find. The people that were believed to be grabbed had shown no sign of powers but he was taking them regardless. How is he choosing his victims? Is he actually clairvoyant and will know who will eventually develop powers.
That was the real issue. If he could know who would be gifted before they did, he could condition them to be loyal to him and him alone. An unstoppable army in the future.
May tracked him easy enough and was shadowing him for a few weeks when shit hit the fan. Nash was meeting someone in a busy shopping center. May stayed at a distance, observing and not engaging. Then a searing pain hit her arm just below her shoulder. Glancing to her right, she saw a thick straight cut on her arm bleeding rivulets down her arm. She tried to look around to the buildings surrounding her, trying to find the shooter. No success.
Clearly, she was made and a retreat was necessary. As stealthy as she could she back to a wall and walked to the nearest blind spot she could find. A back alley of a church. The tall column with statues on the ends provided a great cover from the taller buildings around her. Giving her a moment to assess her situation. Looking at her arm she could tell she would need stitches at some point but it didn't hit any major arteries so the likely hood of her bleeding out quickly was ruled out.
May pulled out her cell phone and quickly called her handler. "This is Sitwell." A male voice answered after a few rings.
"Agent May 519-642-8990 AT." A pause on the line. " We are secure go ahead, Agent May."
"I've been made. It was without warning. I don't know if I have been compromised from the start or recently. Requesting extraction. Sir."
"Denied Agent. I'm sorry but we can't send in a team. SHIELD can't have a presence investigating Nash. Your orders May. Protocol of Tabula Rasa. Good luck."
The line went dead.
With a deep breath Agent, Melinda May shut her phone off and placed it back into her pocket. She was on her own for now. Tabula Rasa was a protocol that was used more often then she would like to admit. Any agent under orders was to go dark. No help from Shield and survive on their own merits. Report back in when clear. Shield operated in the shadows and it was where it needed to stay. Agents that couldn't be extracted had to cut all ties, hide all evidence of being apart of the organization. It was a part of the job that field agents had to live with. In particular specialist like Melinda May.
" This is definitely not what I had in mind when I thought about how this day was going to go," Melinda muttered under her breath. She took a few calming breaths the lower her heart rate back down and to focus her mind. Looking around the alley she noticed 2 side doors, one clearly leading into the Church's main room and another to a large building. The Church would be too easy to find her in only so many places to hide and too many entrances, let alone the windows. With one more glance around Agent May briskly walked to the second door keeping her eyes and ears out for her would be the shooter.
Thankfully the door was open and she slipped inside undetected. She entered what looked like a cover patio or mudroom. Up ahead another door. This one was locked and with a few passes of her boot knife to the side of the door, she was in. This next room was clearly some sort of common area. A few couches were placed around as well a well-worn TV and tables with what looked like arts and craft attempts on it. It was the corner of the room though that caught her eye though. To Melinda's right out of sight of both doors sitting in the corner surrounded by what looked like a computer part was a young girl of perhaps 15 or so staring at her with curious eyes. The knife was still in her hand from opening the door, so she quickly placed it in her boot not wanting to scare her.
A few seconds passed where both females looked on at each other taking their measure. " Are you robbing us? You don't look the type." The scrawny brunette spoke. " No." was the curt response. " Well, that's good, not that you'll find much here. Orphanages don't really have much to steal." Another pause
" Are you going to tell anyone you saw me?" Melinda was nothing if not frank. " Nope." Popping her P with her one-word response. As if to prove that she was telling the truth. She turned back to the parts around her placing a few pieces together paying no mind to what the older Asian woman was doing. A small smirk graced Melinda's face. " Thanks, kid." She turned to head into the next room before stopping and looking back at the girl. " What's your name?"
" Mary Sue." She replied with a scrunched up nose. With her almond-shaped eyes and slightly tanned skin with dark hair, a Mary Sue wasn't the name she would have imagined for this girl clearly of Asian descent. Melinda arched her eyebrow in question but stayed silent. " Yeah I didn't pick the name," she replied needing no prompting. " How long have you been here?" A bit of sadness crept into her voice. A life for someone in the system was rarely pleasant, especially if they were older. " I got dropped here when I was a baby so, a long time." she shrugged her shoulders to give off an air of not caring but she tucked into to herself a little more clearly uncomfortable admitting the amount of time she's been here.
May didn't comment, she knew enough people who have gone through the system to know it is not something they like to talk about. "Where does the door go?" Nodding her head towards the next obstacle. " Some of the bunks for the Girls." Mary paused thinking out her next statement. " There's another door that leads to the office facing the street. A hallway connects to the next set of rooms. This building is mainly living space."
"Are there any other…." Mary interrupted May. "If you want to get out without anyone seeing you, You can go through the crawl space in the roof, it leads out near the staple and you can get to another building pretty easily. Though the Basement is more my speed. There is a hatch in the corner over there It has a sewer access so you can get to a lot more places." Melinda just looked at her curious who the young girl was, helping her for no apparent reason. She wasn't lying. Years as a specialist gave her a good sense of when people were not being truthful. "Why are you helping me?" Mary Sue just shrugged her shoulders. " Sometimes people just need help. I've never been a big believer in God and Faith but the Nuns are big on helping people. I've always liked it I guess. "
" I usually don't need any help. Thank Mary Sue. "
"God I hate that name, I mean seriously of all the names."
"Pick a New one."
"That Simple."
"Yeah. Might not be legal until your 18, but who you are is something you decide for yourself. It's just a name though.
Mary smiled a huge grin lighting up her whole face.
" What kind of name do you think I should have?"
" Something bright and happy." Melinda started going towards the hatch. "Good luck kid. You're going to need it, but I think you'll be fine."
"Thank You."
After lifting the hatch and jumping in. Mary closed it back over her and wet back to her spot. A smile on face, her day a little brighter.
Melinda May got her bearing underground and started walking towards a Shield Safehouse. Her thoughts half on getting out of the city and the other half on a girl.