Chapter 3
Lydia burst out of her room, phone in hand. "FRIDAY, send a message to Maria Hill. Tell her we have information on Jessica Mains," she commanded.
"Right away, Ms Martinez," FRIDAY's smooth voice retorted.
"And wake up Tony, I don't care what he says, tell him to get to the lab."
"Yes, Ms Martinez."
Lydia ran to the lab, a few floors below, passing Pietro as he left the kitchen. Pietro looked at her in shock, and went to follow her. He hesitated, however, and frowned, turning in the other direction and making his way to his and Wanda's room.
Lydia arrived in the lab, running her hands frantically through her hair and booting up some systems. Five minutes later, Tony and Maria arrived, Tony blearily rubbing his face and Maria tying her hair up in a tight bun.
"Tony I need your help to track this message," she threw him the phone, and Tony caught it, looking down. Maria read it over his shoulder.
"With HYDRA…" she rad quietly, "she was caught?"
"That's all I have," Lydia shrugged desperately. "But we need to get her back."
Maria nodded sharply as Tony approached a computer, attaching a cord to the phone. "Shouldn't take too long," he said, his voice still thick with sleep.
"If she was caught by HYDRA she'll be in a base, probably guarded," Lydia said, watching Tony intently.
"I'll call together the team," Maria told her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "we'll get her back."
Lydia swallowed, cracking her knuckles as Tony continued to track the message from its sent location.
"We're attacking a HYDRA base just outside of Cannes in France," Lydia stood at the front of the jet an hour later. Around her, Pietro, Wanda, Vision, Steve and Natasha were either standing or sitting. "They're holding a SHIELD agent, Jessica Mains, prisoner there. She has vital data and information; it's essential we get her out alive. If you get a chance to get any HYDRA information, take it and take out whoever you come across, but Jessica's our main priority." She looked at Natasha and Steve, "you know what's at stake."
Steve and Natasha nodded, and Lydia sighed, cracking her knuckles. "FRIDAY, what's the ETA?"
"Two hours, Ms Martinez," FRIDAY replied.
The truck slammed into the ground and Lydia pushed it forward immediately, driving towards the long, low building. Pietro jumped out the truck and zoomed off ahead of them, and Vision flew overhead.
"Five patrolling guards have been taken out," Pietro's voice came through Lydia's earpiece. There was a small grunt and a crash, and then he said, "Make that six. Also, the alarms have just gone off."
Lydia gave him a grunt of understanding, speeding up the truck. They arrived at the front of the building to bullets being shot at them. Vision took down several gunmen, and Lydia could see the blur of Pietro running around, presumably catching bullets before they reached the truck.
"You know what to do," Lydia said. The others nodded and jumped out the truck, making their way forward. Steve threw his shield towards window as Lydia pulled out her gun, shooting through the window as the shield smashed it, taking down three soldiers. She threw Steve a brief thanks, before swinging out of the truck and through the window. She shot another agent coming through the door, right in the middle of the head, and stepped over his body.
Alarms bleared around her, the shrill ringing clawing at her ears, and flashing lights caused shadows to throw themselves across the wall. Lydia breathed heavily as she walked forward, her heavy boots thudding on the ground. She sent bullets flying towards anyone she saw from the corner of her eyes.
"Where are you, Mains," she whispered to herself.
She gasped as something clenched around her throat and violently pulled her back, bending her spine painfully. Letting out a grunt, she twisted and slid her legs across, sweeping her attacker towards the floor. She went to aim her gun, but the HYDRA agent grabbed her arm and twisted, causing her to drop her gun as she cried out. He moved forward to attack her again, and Lydia used him as leverage to swing herself up, slamming the steel capped over her toes into his skull. She heard the crack under the alarms, and he stumbled away. Furiously, she scoured the floor for her gun, found it, and lunged for it. By the time she'd rolled back up, the agent also had a gun pointed at her head. Blood dripped down his neck and her wrist was starting to bruise. The alarms faded into the background as they both fired. Wind shot past Lydia as a blur of blue assaulted her vision. By the time she'd blinked, the HYDRA agent was on the floor with six bullets in his chest, and the bullets he'd shot towards her were dropped out of Pietro's hands.
"You're welcome." He said. Lydia reloaded her gun and shot the agent once more, for good measure.
"Thanks," she said, and continued down the hallway.
"Natasha has found some useful information, she's downloading it now," Pietro informed her. He zoomed off, and Lydia heard the brief sounds of a scuffle before he rejoined her side.
"Good," she said, and then broadcasted to the team, "Anyone got news on Mains?" A chorus of negative responses came through, and she grunted, cracking her knuckles.
Her and Pietro searched through the base, sending bullets into any HYDRA agents they found, briefly searching through anything that looked interesting, with Pietro zipping off every now and then to either scout ahead or clear the path.
"Lydia?"
Lydia spun around as Pietro blurred into another room. In the doorway, stood a tall woman with caramel blonde hair and wide cheekbones. She was dressed in a smart black suit, and was pointing a gun at her.
"Jessica!" Lydia breathed, smiling as she stepped forward. But she stopped when Jessica cocked the gun. Lydia blink, her smile falling off her face. "Jess?"
"I don't want to shoot you," Jessica said, calmly. Behind her, Lydia could hear Pietro clearing out the room he'd entered, but she ignored it. She gripped her gun tightly, refusing to raise it. She shook her head.
"You're with HYDRA," she murmured. Jessica raised her eyebrows.
"That is what I told you," she replied. Lydia let out a shaky breath.
"I thought…"
"You thought I was a prisoner?" Jessica asked, and let out a snort, "No, I've been with HYDRA for six months. They're a lot more efficient than SHIELD."
Lydia shook her head again, "You didn't…"
"Didn't what?" Jessica asked, "Join HYDRA? Obviously. Give them my information? Not yet, it's useless without all of us. That's why I told you. We need you…" she paused, and looked at Lydia softly, "I need you."
"You want me to join HYDRA?" Lydia asked. From the corner of her eye, she saw Pietro slide to a stop about ten feet away. Jessica nodded, not seeing him.
"Yes. Join us. Join me. We're searching for the others, for their information."
Lydia's eyes fell away from Jessica's face, and glazed over. "Jon's dead…" she said, her voice emotionless.
"Dammit," Jessica sighed, "Oh well. Four of us is still better than none."
Lydia looked up, "I'm not joining HYDRA!" she exclaimed, "You're insane! Why would you… everything we fought against…"
"HYDRA and SHIELD aren't all that different," Jessica said softly, "HYDRA will just do anything to get done what needs to be done." Lydia continued to shake her head, and began to raise her gun. Jessica sighed and pursed her lips. "Pity. But I still need your information."
She shot.
Pietro ran forward, catching the bullet in mid-air, and holding it between his thumb and finger, a foot from Jessica's shocked face. He slammed his fist into her face, hurling her back.
"Guys we've got an issue, HYDRA reinforcements are coming in. what's the word on Mains?" Natasha's voice came through the comm.
Pietro zipped back to Lydia's side as Jessica shot Lydia one last look, before running through a room. Pietro went to run after her, but Lydia placed a hand on his arm. He looked at her, confused, and saw her jaw clenched tightly.
"We're not getting her," she said, her voice shaking, "retreat. I'll explain on the jet."
After briefly reporting back on the jet, Lydia sat at the back in the shadows, undoing and doing up her fingerless gloves, staring into space. Natasha, Steve and Wanda were looking over some information they'd managed to download from the base, while Vision took over piloting the jet. Pietro sat in the co-pilot's chair for a while, before looking over his shoulder at Lydia. Hesitantly, he stood up and slowly made his way over to her. Wanda glanced up at him as he passed, and smiled, taking his seat and pulling Vision into a conversation,
He hovered in front of Lydia for a second, before cautiously sitting down next to her. She rolled her head over to look at him, securing her gloves one final time and then dropping her hands into her lap.
"I am… sorry about your friend," Pietro finally said, his words coming out slowly. Lydia let out a humourless snort and looked down, running her hands through her hair.
"Don't be," she said, "honestly, I suppose I should've guessed when I got the message. She wouldn't have been able to send that if she was a prisoner. I just… wanted to save her."
"But now she is your enemy," Pietro said, "part of HYDRA."
Lydia sighed and let her head fall back against the wall. She looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah. I probably shouldn't have let her go."
They were silent for a moment, letting the hum of conversation from the front of the jet waft around them. Pietro watched Lydia looking idly at the ceiling. Her chest fell and rose softly with her breathing, and her eyelashes flickered every now and then as she blinked. The shadows of the back of the jet spanned across her face, making her eyes and skin seem darker than they already were.
"Why… did you let her go?" Pietro finally asked. Lydia gave herself a mocking grin.
"Do you want the sensible reason, or the real reason?" She asked. Pietro shrugged.
"Both?"
Lydia snorted. "Sensible reason: She still has valuable SHIELD information and we can't afford to lose any more than we already have, especially now that Jon is dead and his information is gone. The real reason?" Lydia looked over at him, smiling sadly, "I was too overwhelmed. Seeing her again after more than a year it… I wanted to be happy. I thought I had her back. But I didn't. Even the best agents get emotionally compromised sometimes."
"She was a very good friend of yours then?" Pietro asked, curiously.
"More," Lydia said, "we were together, for a while. I loved her…" she looked away, back towards the ceiling, "this time a year and a half ago I was planning to spend the rest of my life with her. And then SHIELD collapsed and she disappeared. And now she's with HYDRA."
Pietro blinked at her, frowning. "I'm sorry," he said again, not really knowing how to reply. Lydia shook her head.
"Don't be," she replied with, again, "I've had more than a year to move on. Even if she wasn't with HYDRA I doubt I would have wanted to be with her again." She then shot him a salacious grin, attempting to disperse the mournful, heavy air. "Besides, I might just have my sight set on someone else."
Pietro raised his eyebrows, smiling back at her, "oh really?"
Lydia nodded, seriously, "Yes. Don't tell anyone, but Wanda is very attractive."
Pietro snorted, shaking his head, "Do not let Vision hear you say that." Lydia smiled, looking down at her hands in her lap and giggling slightly.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this chapter; fight and action scenes have never really been my forte, so it'd be great to hear what you guys thought of it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and just any comments in general would be awesome :D
