Author's Note: Hi again! So this chapter is where the narrative timeline plot actual story begins. It takes place about three years before the prologue. Jesse and Steve haven't met at this point, I just kinda wanted to try my hand at an 'action' chapter. It was fun to write and I hope it's fun to read as well. Again, PLEASE leave a review, even if you hate it. I will leave a review on this chapter when I'm done writing chapter two and then it will be just a day or two for me to edit and put it up here. I think that's how I'll let you know when to expect an update. Thanks so much for reading and enjoy! ^-^
"BP is dropping fast, we have to get her moving," A nurse yelled over the uproar of beeps and the whirring of the gurney wheels on the laminate floor. I had just failed my mission. And an innocent child was going to die because I didn't do my job. And everything seemed to be going so smoothly…
It was a classic kidnapping. A security escort was paid off more than enough money for his brother to get chemotherapy, except we found the guard washed up a day later with a bullet hole in his head. She was the daughter of the Russian envoy to the United States, Anastasia Bulgian. The girl, Elizabeth, was a mere seven years old. And she was currently in the clutches of Hydra. The only way, Hydra claimed, to get her back alive was for Ambassador Bulgian to cece Russian involvement in their workings in Syria. What Hydra didn't seem to understand is that S. H. E. I. L. D. doesn't negotiate with terrorists.
Tony was able to trace his old arms 'buddies' whereabouts and the property they owned. After raiding all but one of 67 possible locations, we stood across from the place, an old half falling down warehouse, the Chicago River flowing in between us and the ambassador's daughter. I stood with Agent Romanov and Barton on either side of me. Clint had his arrow nocked and his arms were tense, ready to aim and fire. Nat had replaced her normal handguns with stun guns. Fury had warned of Hydra's goons using little Elizabeth as armor to stop impending bullets.
I lifted my arm silently to point out the cherry red glow of a cigarette. A figure had rounded the corner and was mocked up to be a punk sneaking out for a smoke. He had spiked up green hair and looked nothing a Hydra agent could look, except that he had a walkie talkie antenna poking out of his falling down jeans and that he was the only person we had seen at this location for the past hour, on top of S. H. E. I. L. D. locking down the area. The man had to have come from inside the warehouse. He had to be Hydra.
Clint lifted his bow and aimed. I barely heard the soft whoosh of the arrow before I saw the agent crumble and drop. We stayed still for a moment. Nothing. I pointed to the tiny canoe in front of us, bouncing up and down in the filthy water. Nat, like a wet cat, slinked down silently into the front and took up her paddle. I followed her lead. I gave Hawkeye a thumbs up and he nocked and aimed his grappling arrow.
The rest was a blur, it was the same as always, sneaking up around corners and taking out guards and goons. But then it all went wrong.
Clint had gotten Elizabeth and was on her way out with her slung over his shoulder. Nat was escorting them, her stun guns always drawn. I was following. But I felt a nagging feeling. This was too easy, Hydra always had something up their sleeve. Suddenly I heard Natasha yell "Grenade!" And jumped and pulled Clint down, covering him with her body. At the same instant, I had thrown my shield to cover up the detonator, in a hope to differ some of the explosion.
Nothing happened.
Looking back, I know now that Nat saved us. She was the first to figure out that the 'grenade' was a dummy, a hook for us to bite to.
"Go! Go! Go!" She ordered us. We moved quickly, just not quickly enough. The sniper's bullet was silent, but Clint's scream was the first to tell us Elizabeth had been shot. We all dived behind the concrete wall.
I had failed my mission.
