Hi! This is my first Fanfic ever and I'm also a beginner at writing. Just a little prelude sorta thing I'm trying out. The speed of the next update will depend on if there's any interest. Thanks so much, enjoy this intro.
Chapter 1:
October 15, 2010
It was a normal Monday, the day everything changed.
It was just beginning to get cold, bursts of winds that came from nowhere, hinting at the brutal New York winter to come. I pulled my coat tighter around me, as if that could stop it. The massive stack of library books in my backpack made each step that much harder, I couldn't wait to get home to the warm apartment. Unfortunately, I had one more problem: My younger brother.
"Grant," I hissed at him impatiently. He was now in first grade, which meant I had to walk home with him. He was currently studying the trees, his curly, dirty blonde haired head tilted so far up to the cloudy sky he was oblivious to the fast approaching curb and the cars racing over the crosswalk. I snagged the faux fur trimmed hood of his oversized jacket before he could get run over.
His huge hazel eyes looked up at me, confused and possibly afraid from his near death experience. I'm proved wrong, however, as he opened his mouth and asked: "Will the birds be cold?"
"What?" Was it bad to wish I hadn't stopped him? "You need to pay more attention."
"It's almost winter though, and the birds don't have coats and they don't have houses either. Right?" His reasoning was impressive, as was his ability to notice everything besides what was directly in front of him.
"Can you please keep up? It's about to start raining." I yanked on his arm as the lights changed and we began walking again. One more block to go.
"I like Micheal better than you." Grant muttered.
I sighed, exasperated. Michael was my perfect older brother. Of course, he was away at college now, and Mom had somehow thought it was okay for her nine year old daughter to escort her son home from school alone. And of course it didn't bother me that Grant liked him better. Not at all.
"Dude, we are almost there, okay? Look," I pointed to our building, just now visible. He didn't answer, attention captured by something across the street.
"Who is that?" He whispered, his hand tightening around mine.
"Who?" Grant pointed at a black and tinted SUV, parked a little up ahead. Sure enough, seated in the front seat, there was a middle aged man, staring at us.
"It's rude to point, Grant," I said, glancing away quickly. New York was full of weird people. Now that he'd pointed it out, I noticed three more identical black vehicles parked directly in front of our building. I stopped looking for more as the sky opened above us and a low roll of thunder echoed through the city.
As we reached the steps, Grant ran around past me with a fresh surge of energy, pushing open the door and bounding inside. When I caught back up with him three floors up, he was right outside our apartment door, talking to someone. Something in my gut told me to stop around the corner, that Grant I should turn around now and run. I ignored the feeling and focused on their conversation instead.
"And what's your name?"
"Grant Smith." My brother stupidly answered.
"How old are you, Grant?"
"Six. My birthday was last month."
I risked a look around the corner in time to see him nodding. He was speaking to a tall man in a long overcoat. A thin wire snaked from under his collar to his ear. As if he knew I was there, he choose that exactly act moment to turned around.
"Who are you?" I asked, walking around the corner and fully into view. "Grant, come here."
He groaned, but nonetheless, trudged over to me. "What happened to 'stranger danger'?" I asked him.
"Oh, I'm a police officer." The man responded in a weird accent, shifting his coat to the side and revealing a shining metal badge. "Officer Jackson."
"Is everything okay? Can we go inside?" I asked hoping my voice didn't sound as suspicious out loud as it did in my head.
"Oh yes," He responded somewhat awkwardly, stepping to the side. "Of course." We stood still as he slowly walked down the hall, never talking his eyes off us. Weirdo.
I dragged Grant behind me as I slipped my key into the door and opened it. "Mom?" I called out. "Are you home?" I closed and locked the door behind us, and dropped my backpack on the couch. "There was this police officer outside. Mom?" Something didn't feel right.
"In here," She finally called in reply. I ran the last few steps to the kitchen and turned the corner. She was busy at her desk on the computer, dark red hair slightly frizzy from the rain. She flipped the laptop closed and smiled, looking up and slipping her glasses from her blue-green eyes. "How was school?"
"Good. Grant almost got hit by a car." I answered, trying to calm my nerves and taking a seat with Grant at the table.
"Hmm. That's nice, honey." She said sarcastically, frowning a little at me.
"Mom-," Grant's cut off by the phone ringing.
"Ashlee will you get that?" Mom sighed. I didn't answer, already running to hallway to pick it up.
"Mom?" Michael's frantic voice came through the landline.
"It's Michael!" I squealed. Though I didn't like to admit it, Michael was like an older brother and a father at the same time, and I adored him. "Hi Michael! How's college?-"
"Ashlee, I need you to put Mom on the phone right now. You guys need to get out of there." He told me.
Bang.
Before I could get her, before I could even take the breath for my next words, the door to our apartment was kicked in.
Men in black masks barged in, followed by the police officer. Half a dozen red dots of light spun crazy circles on the walls from the large guns each man carried. I barely had time to scream before I was shoved against the wall, phone knocked away with Michael's shouts, and one of the men's forearms braced on my neck, crushing the cartilage. My hands beat uselessly against the weight while more people shoved past us into the kitchen after a screeching Grant, and Mom, who had sprinted into her bedroom. Three of the six men followed her inside. As Grant let out an especially loud scream as one of the men grabbed him, three muffled "pops" came from Mom's bedroom. One of the men that had followed her fell back from the doorway, head thrown back. He landed two feet from Grant, and red liquid puddled around his head, spilling from a neat hole in the dead center of his forehead.
"Eleanor Richter." The police officer, Jackson, called. Dumbly, I wondered who he was talking to before realizing it had to be my mother. I just knew her as Susan Smith. "We have Ashlee and Grant. Come out now, hands up."
I had never told him my name.
"Mommy?" Grant screamed, face red as a tomato. Oh god, he looked so scared in the masked man's arms. I struggled more, but my neck was just compressed harder. Grant's crying mouth was soon covered with a rough, gloved hand.
A few seconds later she came out. The officer directed her to sit at the table Grant and I had been sitting at less than five minutes ago, hands flat on the wood top.
"What's it been? Ten years? I hoped it would be longer before you found us." My mother sighed, eyes strong and staring back at the Officer.
"Did you really think you could get away from us in the first place? That we wouldn't find you? It doesn't matter how deep your cover or how many times you change your name." He moved and seated himself across from her, setting a handgun on the table before interlocking his fingers, like this was a casual conversation.
"Mom," I was just able to push out before the man's elbow came down sharply, cutting me off.
"Is this her?" He nodded at me. "You were pregnant when you abandoned us. Almost ten years ago. Has there been any...effects of the serum?"
"Of course not." She said, brushing the strange question away. "Just...don't hurt them."
"Like you hurt us? The three men you just killed? You didn't just abandon us back then. You betrayed us; you betrayed Hydra. Do you know how much we lost from you running off and joining Shield?"
"I didn't sign up for that. I was young," Despite the seriousness of the situation, her eyes got this dreamy look to them. "We were supposed to be saving the world. Not the experiments, torture, the murders...I didn't mean to join a terrorist organization."
"Well, you won't need to worry anymore. Just give us the formula."
"What makes you think I would still have it?" She laughed. "I turned myself in. Had to beg Shield. But I happily gave them everything."
"But I know you." He whispered and raised his right hand slightly. In response, the man holding Grant pulled out a gun, small in his hands but huge against my brother's confused, tear-streaked face. "And you know what we're capable of."
Thanks for reading! I can't believe other people are reading this, please feel free to take a sec and leave a review. It helps me write so much better and I love criticism and suggestions so I can make stuff better. Have a great day:)