Huge thanks to Agent Walker 05, who is beta'ing this story for me. :-)
Chapter 2:
0910 Hours, April 14, 2014
The Triskelion; Washington D.C., United States of America
Marelina was by far the easiest to find.
The smell of chlorine wafted up Alfred's nose as he pushed open the door to the Triskelion communal pool. Tucking his phone (he'd called Dennis, Martha, and Emiel first; they had just left the building to go out and so would have to get back through security in order for them to meet up) into his pocket, he walked over to the section of the pool that held the deep end. He looked down at the water, but found no one.
Alfred huffed. If she wasn't here then where—?
"What's up, Alfie?"
The agent's head snapped up to the ten-meter-tall diving board, catching sight of an Italian-American woman who was built like an ox, with extremely curly black hair (though it was pulled into a bun) and brown eyes. She saluted him cheerfully. Of course.
"Marelina," he nodded. "Day's called off. Captain Necchi wants us ready for a debriefing by 1030."
The Italian huffed, springing off the diving board in a perfect arc, twisting and twirling about several times before hitting the water with hardly a splash. She surfaced a moment later, and Alfred applauded her briefly.
"Solid ten." Marelina had won the Utah state championships for the 400-meter freestyle and had attended BYU on a full scholarship for it before joining S.H.I.E.L.D. Diving was more of her hobby, but she was still stunningly good at it.
"You don't know what you're talking about, Koeman. Too much of a splash. My foot stuck out a bit too far to the left."
"You need to be ready in ten. Think you can do that?"
"You underestimate me. I'll be back in five." Alfred waved her off as Marelina grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her one-piece swimsuit, ducking into the girl's locker rooms. His phone buzzed, and he scanned Ford's text.
Going in. Where's everyone?
He typed his reply.
Just got Mare. Martha, Emi, n Den are en route, stuck in sec.
Knowing he likely wouldn't get a response, Alfred tucked his phone back away and waited slightly impatiently for Marelina to get back as a worried tendril wound its way in his stomach. Precisely four minutes and forty-six seconds later, Marelina emerged from the locker rooms, towel wound around her head.
"So what's up?" She questioned. "This is the third time in a row S.H.I.E.L.D.'s taken our days off back. I was looking forwards to finally catching some movies tonight."
Alfred quickly explained the situation to her. Agent Marelina Bartolomei was both the team medic and second-in-command, so letting her know everything, little as it was, was vital.
"Well it's honestly not surprising," Marelina muttered, pursing her lips. Tossing her towel into a nearby bin, she began to hurriedly braid her hair as they strode out of the gym. "Now that I think about it, this whole situation is just glaringly screaming danger. Martha, Emiel, and Dennis are coming, yes?"
"They're stuck in security," Alfried responded. To his surprise, as they came up to an intersection, Marelina turned abruptly to the left, instead of the right, which would bring them to their team's meeting room. "Where're you going?"
"Suiting up. You think this is a coincidence that this is all happening on the day the Helicarriers are setting off on their trail run? Ford's right. Nikula has something to do with this." Completely serious now, she lowered her voice, grabbing Alfred's wrist and pulling him close. "He's been under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar since he was six, Alfred. I don't know why and it's not my place to know. But right after Cap and Widow go into hiding, everyone who does know is getting called to Pierce's. Fury's dead, Coulson's been called to the Hub and as far as I know they were the only two besides your sister who knew." She released him again and raised her voice. "I bet Cap has something to do with it. Either way, can't hurt to be safe."
With that they made it to the barracks. Since they were in the same team, he and Marelina slept in the same wing, but it was organized into two different rooms; one for the males and one for the females. Marelina didn't wait for his reply once they arrived, swiftly keying open her own door.
"Grab Dennis' and Emiel's stuff," she commanded. "We'll have to get them ready. I doubt we'll have time to come back here anytime soon."
Alfred nodded almost numbly, and opened his own door. Hurriedly, he changed into his own outfit, a standard-issue S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket and combat pants and boots. He pulled on his leather gloves, then tucked his Glock 19 and several rounds into his belt, and sheathed his trademark seax knife in the small of his back, where it would be hidden by his jacket. He grabbed his backpack next, and in two long strides was at Dennis' side of the room and shuffling through his stuff, stuffing whatever he could fit, primarily clothes and weapons, into the bag. Doing the same with Emiel's belongings, his fingers traced along a leather box tucked in the back of his shirts drawer. Alfred, blinked, wondering just what the box was there for.
He picked it up. The box fit neatly into the palm of his hand, and he, curiosity overtaking him, opened it.
A glittering diamond ring faced him, sparkling in the light. Alfred's face flamed, and he practically slammed the box shut and shoved back from where it came.
Oh. So Emiel was planning to propose to Mariam.
Oops.
Still, it was no time to get distracted. Alfred forced the thoughts of what his best friend planning to get married would entail, and on impulse snatched his wallet and keys on the way out, finding Marelina waiting for him in the hallway. As if on cue, his phone rang. Alfred answered it.
"We're through security," came Emiel's heavy voice, just barely tinged with that Southern accent of his that had been so prominent when they were recruits. "Where do you want us?"
"Tell him to meet us in the men's gym locker rooms," Marelina replied for him, overhearing the man's voice. Ah, there's no bugs there. Good idea. Alfred quickly relayed the message to his teammate.
"What? Why?" Emiel questioned, sounding extremely confused.
"Just come over. We'll explain there."
1610 Hours, April 14, 2014
The Hub; Santiago de Compostela, Spain
There was no time to react.
Davin swung around from his seat without warning. Mariam just had time to see a black blur before, completely on instinct, her arms flew up to protect her face. Her right forearm exploded into pain in response as something slammed into it, forcing the limb to smash into her face with such force that she was knocked backwards. There was a loud "bang!" and screaming, and by the time Mariam could clear the spots from her vision the battle was already almost over.
Mariam grunted, rolling over with her good arm to see Garret on the ground, clutching at his upper right arm. Ava—that's who's screaming—let out another shriek, and then there was a crash from above her and to the right. She looked up to she that Jordon had leapt up from her station and body-slammed their team leader, sending them both crashing to the floor in a tangle of limbs, the chair Davin had been sitting in sent flying. A Glock 17 had clattered to the floor just several inches away from Mariam's face.
She wasn't sure how she was able to work past the shock. She most certainly didn't think. As it was, Mariam lunged for the gun just as Davin got a hold on Jordon, an arm wrapped threateningly around her neck and holding her tightly against his body.
For a moment, no one moved. Mariam breathed heavily, gun shaking as she pointed it straight at Davin's face. The man who had recruited her, trained her, and had pushed her to become the woman she had today held her gaze evenly, his tight hold onto Jordon's neck as she struggled to breathe implying that he would not hesitate to kill her.
"You know, it's really a pity," Davin muttered, his eyes flickering across the room, voice echoing as if he was shouting. "I really did like you guys. I was hoping you would come to understand, in time, but..." His eyes flickered down to Jordon. "I can't take that risk right now."
Before Mariam could respond, Jordon threw her head backwards, thrusting the back of her skull into Davin's face. The elder man let out a cry, and Jordon utilized his distraction to wriggle out of his grip, kick him in between the legs, and scramble away.
"Don't move!" Mariam cried, aiming the Glock 17 straight at Davin's head. However, her hands were shaking almost violently, and she forced herself to blink away tear as she did so. If Davin moved, she'd have to shoot him. Could she do that? What the actual hell was going on?! She could hardly think, and in the end it was only her training what was keeping her moving.
"A pity," Davin murmured, looking up to something they couldn't see. "Hail HYDRA."
Then, he started to spasm. The remnants of S.E.D. Team 4 watched him for a breathless half minute before he finally went still.
"D-Davin?" Mariam questioned, eying her mentor with fear. He now lay motionless, staring up at the ceiling with glassy eyes. When working for S.H.I.E.L.D., everyone knew that pose. Domenic, who she hadn't seen until then, stepped into view with shaking hands and a face white as snow. Placing two fingers on their team leader's neck. he looked back over to them.
"He's dead," he announced numbly. "It's gotta be a cyanide pill."
Mariam dropped the gun as if it had given her an electric shock, immediately glad to not have to hold the weapon any longer. She stepped back, eyes glued to Davin's body as she tried to process everything that had just happened. Suddenly, she felt sick, and she yanked her gaze away from the corpse to combat the wave of nausea that had overtaken her.
Ava had huddled into a fetal position in her seat, staring at Davin with wide, terrified eyes. Garret had managed to scoot himself over to the wall and into a sitting position, an expression of pain on his face. Blood was starting to drip from where he was clutching at his arm, and Mariam realized that the bang she'd heard earlier had been a gunshot. Domenic was stepping backwards toward his station, looking towards her with a blank, shocked gaze. Jordon was the only one to have any semblance of control, standing up and grabbing a first aid kit from under Davin's desk.
"Wh-what just happened?" Ava stammered. She had started to cry silently, two tears falling down her cheeks.
"He mentioned HYDRA," Garret murmured, eyes closed. The mere name sent tendrils of ice-cold pain through Mariam's stomach as she began to understand his line of thinking. "The Nazi organization that Captain America defeated in 1944. But they were disbanded over 70 years ago."
"Maybe they weren't." Domenic ran a shaking hand through his hair. "Think about it. We never exactly found the Red Skull's body. And the SSR recruited a lot of former Nazis in the early 1950s."
"You think HYDRA lives?" Jordon questioned, disbelieving. "S.H.I.E.L.D. would have noticed!"
"Well, you explain why Davin just sent a message calling for HYDRA agents to arise to the entirety of the Hub!" Mariam exclaimed sharply. Once the words were out of her mouth, however, she knew that she had crossed a line. "Sorry about that. But Davin just tried to—" She had to choke out the word. "Kill us. When he realized he couldn't, he took a cyanide pill. Where did he even get that? How did he get it through security?"
"If HYDRA infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. after World War Two, they no doubt have at least one or two double agents in high positions," Garret noted as Jordon knelt down next to him, opening up the first aid kit. "Do you remember how to treat a gunshot wound, Jordon?"
"Mostly." The Indian-Spanish woman chuckled airly. "How hard can it be?"
Garret drew his hand away from his arm, revealing a dark red hole in his sleeve. Jordon only hesitated for a moment, pulling out a tourniquet from the first aid kit and fastening it several inches above the entrance hole and pulling it tight. The now-eldest on the team winced, sucking in a long breath, but reacted little other than that.
"Okay." Mariam's hands were shaking, so she crossed her arms and tucked her hands under her armpits to still them. "We need a plan of action here. Davin just sent out a message for HYDRA—most likely sleeper agents, like he was—to arise. When he'd realised that the team was ready to fight him and that he couldn't get out, he opted to commit suicide rather than be captured. That's what we know."
"If HYDRA really has been infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. since after World War II," Domenic mused. "Why reveal themselves now?"
That silenced them for a moment, the only sound being Ava's sniffling and a couple grunts from Garret as Jordon cleaned out his wound with some disinfectant. Why now? Why not when Loki attacked, or when during the Convergence fiasco just a couple months ago?
Then it clicked.
"The helicarriers," Mariam breathed. "Remember how we've been putting up firewalls on all the information and blueprints about them? S.H.I.E.L.D. has every potentially dangerous person and their grade school teachers on a database that can be accessed at any time, and the helicarrier's weapons to take them out."
"No…" Jordon breathed, momentarily pausing in her treatment of Garret. "They could kill thousands!"
Mariam had to close her eyes and take in several deep breaths.
"So HYDRA wants to kill those they deem too dangerous, then take over the world," Garret repeated with halting words as Jordon pressed a clean bandage to his wound. "We have no idea who's a traitor or not outside of this room, so who can we trust?"
"Coulson?" Jordon offered weakly. "What HYDRA agent would idolize Captain America like he does?"
"What HYDRA agent would pose as my mentor and our friend for the better part of a decade?" Mariam murmured. The group fell silent, all avoiding glancing over at Davin's body. "My boyfriend, Emiel. You all have met him; I know him like the back of my hand. He's loyal."
"Isn't he stationed in the Triskelion?" Domenic questioned, pale. "That's where the transmission came from."
Oh, God. Is he even still alive? "Then he can help us out," Mariam forced the words out of her mouth, ignoring how the blood rushed out of her face. What can we do? What can a team of computer scientists four thousand miles away do right now? Her eyes landed on her own work station, then Jordon's, where the security feed had been playing only ten minutes earlier.
"Okay. I have a plan," Mariam declared, forcing herself to sound strong. She strode over to her desk and sat down on her chair, rustling through her drawers and pulling out flash drives. "What we deal with is information. What HYDRA wants is information. We can't take down the helicarriers—" she grinned in a kind of excited terror. "So we'll have to take down the targets."
"I can't type," Garret reminded her. Jordon had just finished bandaging him, and using his good arm, he stood shakily.
"Watch the cameras," Mariam replied. It was all coming together now. "Hack the security system again. Make sure no one gets within twenty feet of this room. Domenic, pull up everything we got on the Avengers and other enhanced individuals. Jordon, I want you on guard duty. You're the best fighter out of all of us, so I'll need you to get weapons and communications ready for us to run. Once we're done here we'll need to get out as fast as we can and I doubt it'll be without a fight. Ava, from you I'll need passwords, encryption codes, anything that'll let us get back into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s databases once we leave. Everyone, copy what you get onto flash drives—" she tossed a couple at Domenic, then Ava, as she spoke. "Then burn the rest."
"Burn it?" Ava murmured, fumbling with the flash drives. She wiped away her tears. "But this is the most extensive data network in the world! Burning it all would take weeks, if not months!"
Mariam muttered under her breath. Of course. How had she forgotten that? "Then burn what you copy," she decided. "The less, HYDRA has, the better. Information absolutely essential to the survival of S.H.I.E.L.D. only."
"Yes, ma'am!" Jordon saluted her. Mariam shook her head and turned back to her computer.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s future lay on their shoulders now. They had to get this done, and as quickly as possible.
