Ultimate Rising

Shit shit shit shit shit shit, She thought as she sprinted down the hallway, avoiding gunfire as she did so. She kicked off against a wall, allowing her to reach the overhead hatch, which in turn lead to a rooftop. Now she had a clear view of the entire facility. Or rather, the sea of watchtowers, searchlights, helicopters and machine guns. All of which where looking for her, and the small USB drive in her hands. Mainly because it contains their plans for a top-secret weapon, she thought as she resumed her running, heading strait for her extraction point, which was across the facility.

That distance was next to nothing, however. Due to the enhanced DNA she had received from her source host. It allowed her to leap on top of walls and crawl along thin pipes. It also allowed her to avoid being spotted by searchlights and patrols, with her precognitive sense. Though that didn't make everything a walk in the park. She did turn around a corner, only to come face-to-face with a helicopter.

"HANDS IN THE AIR!" the pilot shouted as she was flooded in light. As a trained S.H.I.E.L.D agent, she wasn't willing to comply. Instead, she leaped off the ground, aiming to land inside the helicopter's open doors. She did just that, and lashed out with her left leg, striking the man closest to her. He flew out the side of the chopper, but she paid him no attention. Instead she re-focused on a man to her right, who drew a handgun.

Or tried to, at least. She wrapped her legs around him and knocked him against the side of the chopper, before striking the pilot. Acting swiftly, she took over the controls, and raised the entire thing into the air. The radio buzzed to life as she did so.

"Echo Three Charlie Alpha," a voice said from the control tower. "What happened?"

"Nothing," she replied in a cool tone, hoping that the air traffic controller didn't know the pilot. "Nothing, slight electrical malfunction. Nothing worth noting," she said as she turned the helicopter around, and resumed her path towards the extraction point.

"Head back to the hangar," the man in the control tower said. "I''ll have a crew standing by for you."

"Negative," Jessica Drew replied, trying not to sound annoyed. "Negative, I've got eyes on the target. In pursuit now. It's kinda cramped here. Don't send backup," she finished, hoping that the rest of the fleet would stay away. However, Jessica seemed to have inherited her DNA donor's bad luck, and that was not the case.

"Echo Three Charlie Alpha has eyes on the target," The man from the control tower said in a rushed tone. And as soon as he finished, she saw three other helicopters turn and head in her direction. And if that wasn't bad enough, her personal radio buzzed to life.

"Agent Drew, this is Agent Coulson," her fellow agent's voice rang out from the device on her wrist. "We're at the extraction point, where are you?" the man finished, as the helicopter's radio hissed with static. They had cut her off, and she knew why. They knew that she wasn't one of them, and where trying to lure her into a false sense of security.

"Really bad timing Coulson," she snapped into her radio as she began to formulate a plan in her head. A plan that her superiors would reprimand her for, and her DNA source would be proud of. If he didn't blow everything by screaming loudly. "E.T.A five minutes, cue-ball."

"Agent Drew," Coulson replied sternly from the other end of the radio signal. "Scans show that you've got six bogies on your tail...are you in a helicopter?"

"I had to improvise," she quipped as she pushed her ride into a steep dive, before leaping out the side. She landed, tucked her feet and rolled before resuming a sprint pace. She used her momentum to launch herself into the air, over a gap between two buildings and towards a sleek black Helicopter. Otherwise known as her only way home. She was less than five hundred feet away when something tackled her from the side, with a feral roar.

Her S.H.I.E.L.D training allowed Jessica to recover quickly by getting to her feet. She preformed a quick self-assessment, finding that a small nick to her shoulder was the worst of her injuries. Or where, before she was struck again from behind. The force of the blow sent her to the ground, as Coulson called out to her.

"We've gotta pull out!" he shouted, "Disengage! Agent Drew, Disengage the bogie and-" She didn't catch the tail end of what he said, as she rolled out of the way of a descending opponent. Jessica got back up on her feet and got a proper bead on her enemy. Definitely female, she thought, trained, and lethal. The figure charged, and she flipped over it's head and sprinted for the rest of her team. Unfortunately, the figure caught up with her, and tackled her once more. But this time, Jessica was more prepared, and shoved it away with her foot. As the figure tumbled, Jessica caught sight of what looked like a knife protruding from the woman's hand. But she had no time to investigate further, as she saw incoming soldiers, so she leaped into the extraction vehicle, beside Coulson as bullets peppered the ground, and the helicopter lifted into the air.

"Did you get it?" the senior S.H.I.E.L.D agent asked her.

"Yeah," Jessica panted as she reached down her uniform, and pulled out the USB drive. She handed it to the man before reaching for the first aid kit. She addressed her own injuries as they flew off into the night sky. Eventually, she dozed off.

XXX

"Drew!" the sharp voice of the second-in-command of S.H.I.E.L.D snapped, bringing her back to reality. She was currently in a room full of her fellow Agents. Most of whom where her superiors, and giving her a hard stare. Field work is so much easier, she shrugged as her eyes traced towards Carol Danvers, the second-in-command of S.H.I.E.L.D, who was finishing the briefing.

"Sorry," Jessica muttered as she sat back up.

"As I was saying," Danvers continued. "Their encryption is like nothing we've seen before. It'll be weeks before we can get anything out of it. So for now," she continued sharply. "All we have to go on is Agent Drew's report. Agent?"

"Hydra's bumped up their security," Jessica said as she got to her feet, and made her way to the head of the table. "Or this fraction of them anyway. Clearly they've got some powerful friends," she said as she brushed her hair aside. "Very powerful. Cabinet powerful," she continued as a collective series of nods echoed around the table. "I've never seen so many exoskeletons in one place."

"Type?" one of the politicians who where at the table asked.

"Mark-VI," Jessica deadpanned, "and what looked like it could be a Mark-VII prototype. And-"

"What I want to know," the voice of Nick Fury said as he strode into the room. "Is how one of my top field Agents got taken down twice in less than two minutes," he continued as he stole the spotlight from Jessica. "Care to explain, Agent?"

"I was cut off guard," she replied as she tightened into a sharp salute.

"Well I beg to differ," Fury said as he set a file down on the table. "New intel from Bosnia says that Hydra's gotten their hands into genetic tampering. The same kind that gave us you," he continued as he pulled out several papers. His hands moved to fast for her to read all the information, but she caught several glimpses. She saw something about Utopia, a map of the Grand Canyon, and a picture of a man in a black suit.

"Sir?" Coulson asked as he stood up. "Any information that involves my team-"

"Not your team anymore, Agent Coulson," Fury deadpanned as he straitened his back. "Until further notice," he continued with a sharp inhalation, "Agent Drew will assume command, as she's our expert on genetic clones." He said before turning to face Jessica directly. "I want the two of you to assemble a meta-human strike-team. And I want you to find out more about what Hydra's been doing, understood?"

"Yes sir," both Jessica and Coulson replied as they snapped to a salute.

"Good." Fury said as he snapped his fingers, "You'll be stationed out of the Triksillion. And you'll have access to our full resources and living quarters. I want the team up and running in a week, understand?"

"Sir yes sir," the two agents replied in unison.

"Good," Fury finished, "Adjourned." With that, Jessica made her way towards the exit, and down the hall. She had been going strong for the past twenty-two hours, and was in desperate need of some rest. Unfortunately, Phil Coulson didn't seem to be able to read her body language, and caught up with her quickly.

"Mam I-" he began to say.

"Cut with the 'mam' crap," she snapped briskly as they turned down the hall. "It's weird, really weird. You're way older than me. Now spill," she finished as they reached the door to her quarters.

"I um..." he began, "I have a few ideas for the strike-team," he said with a small grin.