Chapter 9
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
AN1: Thank you for the support. PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW.
A little while after Maria, Natasha and Clint left Maria's office the three of them arrived at the location where Melinda's phone was and as soon as they get out of Maria's car, all having pulled high powered torches so that they can see better as it's after dark, they realise that things are far from good as there are cars totalled, bullet holes, bodies and blood on the ground.
"That's Mel's bike." Clint says, pointing to a destroyed motorbike, "She's going to be pissed." He comments as he knows how much Melinda's bike means to her as she has had it for a very long time and has fixed it so many times that she practically rebuilt it herself, more than once.
"I think she's got more important things on her mind right now." Natasha says as the three of them spread out, all looking for Melinda.
"Maria, Clint." Natasha calls after a few minutes and Clint and Maria run over to Natasha who picks up Melinda's phone, "Looks like she was pinned here." Natasha explains, pointing to behind a car, "These two clearly tried to take her out up close." Natasha says, pointing to the two bodies, "But she got their weapons."
"And got hit too." Clint realizes, noticing blood, "From the amount and angle I'd say thigh, missing important things." He explains.
"And she moved this way." Maria says, following a trail, "I am I imagining it or does it look like she was struggling?" she asks as that's what the evidence makes it seem like.
"It does, and I don't think it was from the gunshot." Natasha says with a frown, "Maybe she was hurt when her motorbike crashed."
"Maybe." Maria comments, "She probably kept moving and firing." She says, as the three of them continue to follow the evidence.
"She would have run out of ammunition right about here." Natasha says as she has been counting shell casings.
"Dropped guns, makes sense if she ran out." Maria admits as Melinda wouldn't have held onto a weapon that she had no use for.
"More blood too." Clint says, sounding worried, "It's not a lot so hopefully that means that she's not seriously hurt." He says and as he does Natasha walks off.
"Nat?" Maria asks worried.
"Drag marks." Natasha says, pointing them out to the other two, "And tire makes, looks like they left in a hurry."
"They took Mel." Clint says, a look of horror on his face.
"We can't be sure unless we get footage, but it definitely looks like it." Maria says, pulling out her phone, "I'll call back up, clean up, others to help figure out what happened." Maria explains to the others, "And we're going to have to call him." She says, really not looking forward to that.
"Clint and I will spread out, see what we can find, good luck with your call." Natasha tells her friend and she and Clint spread out leaving Maria alone, all three of them knowing that at least one of the call's Maria has to make won't go well.
After Natasha and Clint leaves Maria makes the call for backup and the other calls she needs to make before taking a deep breath. After she takes a deep breath Maria presses call on Fury's number.
"Go." Nick answers after a few rings.
"Sir? Is something wrong?" Maria asks, deciding to find out just what kind of mood Nick is in before she tells him what she has to say.
"Stark rejected the Avengers Initiative. Said he had no interest." Nick explains to Maria.
"Oh." Maria answers, "Sir, I have something I need to tell you."
"I figured that with the phone call." Nick responds.
"I got a phone call from Melinda not that long ago. She was ambushed on her way home." Maria explains to her boss and friend.
"Is she okay?" Nick asks, worry clear in his voice, even though he is attempting to hide it.
"I don't know. Nat, Clint and I are at the location where Mel called me from and it's a mess, but there is no sign of her." Maria explains, "We think that she's been captured, but we don't know for sure yet."
"Is there any sign that she's hurt?" Nick asks, fighting, and pretty much failing, to keep the pain out of his voice as he ignores the look of worry that Phil, who he is sitting across from, is giving him.
"Her motorbike is destroyed and there's blood. We think some of it is hers, but we don't know for sure."
"Track down any footage, have everyone keep an eye out for her, tell locals that S.H.I.E.L.D is handling it and let me know if you find out anything." Fury orders Maria.
"Yes, Sir." Maria responds.
"Coulson and I will be back in a couple of hours. I want you, Barton and Romanoff to run the search, only bring in people you trust." Nick requests, "Find her, Maria." Nick requests there being a vulnerability to Nick's voice that Maria is pretty sure she has never heard before.
"I do my best, Sir." Maria says before ending the call.
"Sir? What's going on?" Phil asks worried.
"It's looked like Melinda has been taken." Nick reveals as he gets up and heads to the cockpit.
"Sir?" The pilot asks.
"Top speeds a priority." Nick tells him, "I want us at the Triskelion as soon as possible." He orders.
"Yes Sir." The pilot responds and Nick walks back to his seat, his mind on his wife the entire time.
It has been a couple of hours since Maria, Natasha and Clint came to the conclusion that Melinda was taken and ever since the three of them have been running down everything and have learnt for a fact that Melinda was taken.
As the resources are better Natasha, Clint and Maria are running the search for Melinda out of Nick's office. All three of them hoping that they'll have some kind of lead by the time Nick gets back.
"Got something." Maria says and Natasha and Clint turn to walk over as Maria is at Fury's desk and Natasha and Clint have been using tablets, "Matches on the bodies… Okay that's odd." She comments with a frown.
"Why?" Natasha asks, trying to look.
"They were all known members of the Chinese Triad." Maria comments, looking up at the others, "Why would the triad take Mel?" she asks confused.
"That doesn't make sense." Natasha says in agreement as the Triad isn't exactly something S.H.I.E.L.D ever deals with.
"No, we would have been warned." Clint says, an odd look appearing on his face.
"Clint?" Maria and Natasha ask together, but without a word Clint hurries over to one of the tablets and starts to search something.
"Damn it." Clint says angrily, hitting the desk, once what he is suspected is confirmed.
"Hey, want to fill us in?" Natasha asks curious.
"There was a mission, about a year after I was recruited, where Mel went undercover in the Chinese Triad." Clint explains.
"Why?" Maria asks confused as that doesn't sound like something S.H.I.E.L.D would do.
"There was tech, really advance tech that a member of the Triad was selling." Clint explains, "It became a joint FBI/S.H.I.E.L.D thing, a nightmare honestly." Clint admits, "and Mel's cover was blown after she had been undercover for months. Phil, Nick and I barely got her out in time." Clint explains to Natasha and Maria, both of whom exchange looks, "Our guy ended up dead, but the head of the Triad was taken by the FBI and according to the record he was released, on good behavior, six months ago." Clint says with a frown.
"You said Mel's cover was blown? How badly?" Natasha asks.
"Almost completely. If these people worked for the Chinese Triad then I'd bet everything it was because of that." Clint reveals.
"Target name?" Maria asks.
"James Huáng." Clint answers and Maria once more starts to search.
A while later, away from the Triskelion, not that she realizes that, Melinda suddenly up as a bucket of water is thrown on her.
As she opens her eyes the first thing Melinda feels is a hell of a lot of pain in her left leg and a pretty bad headache, but because she knows that she can't dwell on that Melinda forces that feeling down and starts to look, realizing that she is chained to a roof, by her wrists.
"It's nice of you to join is Li Na." A voice that Melinda recognizes says.
"James." Melinda says, recognizing the man, even though it has been almost twenty years.
"Oh wait, that's not your name. You're Melinda May." James says, walking into Melinda's line of sight and as he does Melinda starts to work out the best way to escape, "You cost me my freedom! My life! I've been kept in a cage for almost two decades, and now I'm going to make you understand how that feels."
"Good luck with that." Melinda says sarcastically and James approaches her and as she does Melinda kicks up and tries to wrap her legs around his neck, but as she tries she realizes that her left leg isn't moving the away she wanted which confirms what she's been suspecting since she crashed her bike, she's broken her leg, the same leg that was shot, and because of that he manages to get free before she can seriously hurt him.
"You shouldn't have done that, Melinda." James responds, "You'll regret that." He says.
"I doubt that." Melinda comments before James walk out.
"Okay, I need a plan." Melinda thinks to herself as James walks out knowing that even though being changed to the roof is difficult to escape from it's not impossible, her leg on the other hand is going to make things more than a little difficult, but that's definitely isn't going to stop her.
After what feels like one of the longest flights he's been on, even though it was just cross country, Nick finally arrives back at the Triskelion and when he and Phil get there they both head straight to Nick's office.
"Show me what happened." Nick requests the second he and Phil walk into his office and find Maria, Clint and Natasha working.
"This is from security camera's in the area." Maria says, "We managed to piece it together." She says, putting it up on Nick's big screen and everyone watches.
Melinda's driving on her bike, weaving in and out of traffic, then she is fired on by multiple directions. Melinda continues to drive for a little while then the bike spins out of control and Melinda manages to fly off and landing in a way that protects her head, but clearly damages her leg and destroys her bike.
Melinda runs, with difficulty, to cover behind a car, pulls out her phone and makes a call. Seconds later people come up from behind and Melinda fights them, taking both them down but getting shot in the leg, the same leg she hurt, as she does, she collects all the weapons and runs and fires, it being clear that her left leg is making it difficult for her to move.
After a couple of minutes Melinda runs out of ammunition but continues to fight, three people get close to Melinda and she attempts to fight them back. For a while she holds her own against all three of them, only getting minor injuries, but then one of the people she is fighting hits her, hard, on the back of the head with one of the guns, causing her to be knocked out, and the men drag her into a car that speeds off.
As he watches his wife fight and get so hurt Nick is proud of how well she fights, and admittedly he's always liked watching Melinda fight, but it hurts to see her get so hurt. It hurts to see her dragged away, and honestly he has to fight to keep his composure.
"What have you found about who took her?" Nick asks, looking between Natasha, Clint, and Maria.
"We were able to match the bodies to members of the Chinese triad." Natasha explains.
"All of whom have connections to James Huáng." Clint adds.
"From the 93 mission?" Phil asks surprised.
"Yep, and to add to bad news he was released on good behavior six months ago." Clint adds.
"Fucking hell." Nick says angrily, "We need to track him down." He tells the others, his voice breaking slightly, though the others have enough self-preservation not to mention that.
"We know. We're working on it." Clint says.
"I want every S.H.I.E.L.D to tap into every camera scanning for Mel and Huang." Nick orders.
"Already are." Maria assures him.
Hearing that Nick nods and walks over to his desk which he grips tightly and takes several deep breaths, trying to calm down as all he is feeling right now is panic and pain. He knows better than most how much Melinda can take care of herself, that she can handle basically anything and get herself out of situations, but she is so important to him, means so much to him that he can't bear the thought of Melinda somewhere in pain and likely being hurt.
Around the room Natasha, Clint and Maria exchange looks all three of them having never seen their boss like this and honestly they don't know what to do or even if there is anything they should do, so instead they work while watching Nick grip his desk tighter and tighter as he tries to hold himself together out of the corners of their eyes.
It has been well over an hour since Nick and Phil got back and ever since they have joined Natasha, Clint and Maria in looking for Melinda and the person who likely took her and as more time passes Natasha, Clint, Phil and Maria become even more sure that if they don't find a lead on Melinda soon then Nick is going to lose it completely, even more than he already has.
As they have been working in silence for a while everyone is a little surprised by the sound of Natasha's phone ringing.
"This is a contact of mine." Natasha reveals, "He might have a lead." She says before leaving to respond to the call.
"Any matches?" Nick asks Maria, for the hundredth time.
"Not yet." Maria responds and Nick continues to pace as everyone in the room are silent.
A couple of minutes later Natasha walks back in,
"Romanoff?" Nick ask as soon as Natasha walks in.
"There's a possible location." Natasha reveals, "I don't know for sure that it's where Mel is, but there's a pretty good chance, not to mention it's the only lead we've got." She comments and as she does Nick goes over to one of his cupboards and pulls out several guns and other weapons.
"Where?" Nick asks Natasha.
"I'll tell you on the way." Natasha says as Clint, Phil and Maria all stand up.
"If you're all coming grab your gear, I'm not leaving Melinda there for a second longer than I have to." Nick says, there being no room for arguing his voice, and the others nod in agreement.
At the location where she is being held, having no idea that her husband and friends are on their way to her, Melinda is memorizing the guards schedule and as she does Melinda knows that she has a window starting very soon.
After counting to make sure she gets the window exactly right Melinda dislocates her wrist to get it out of the cuff and then pulls herself up to get undo the bolt that is holding her other wrist.
Once she is free Melinda drops to her feet, having to fight not to let out a scream as she lands on hurt leg, that almost collapses under her, but Melinda grabs holds of the chains she was being tied to to force herself to remain standing, popping her wrist back into place as she does.
Knowing that she doesn't have time to dwell on anything Melinda forces herself to walk to the door and once she is there she leans against it and looks out, watching closely.
Just like she knew would happen twenty seconds after Melinda got to the door a guard walks out and so Melinda opens it and pulls him inside hitting his head on the doorway as she does so he is knocked out before he even realizes what was going on.
Once the man is unconscious Melinda hides him in the room she was behind held in, takes his gun and makes her way out. Entering the hall Melinda looks down and heads to the right. After a few steps Melinda realizes just how difficult it is for her to walk and so she leans against the wall as she heads down the corridor, being pretty sure that very, very soon leaning against the wall won't even help her to be able to walk.
After a little while Melinda gets to the end of the corridor and once she does she pushes herself against the wall and looks around the corridor.
Looking into the room Melinda sees that it is a sitting room of some sort and that there are James and six guards. Knowing that she'll have to fire fast so that she can take out as many of them before they realize what she is doing Melinda is just about to fire when she hears,
"HEY, YOU!"
And she turns to see a man coming from the other end of the corridor, knowing what she has to do Melinda fires his gun at him, hitting him square in the forehead. Just as she does James and the others start to move and Melinda fires at them and they fire back.
Having no other choice Melinda has to dive to the ground, being pretty sure that she is causing even more damage to her leg, and continues to fire as soon as she can. Unsurprisingly Melinda quickly runs out of ammunition and as she knows that attempting, as she's not entirely sure she'll be able, to stand up, will just take too long and make her too big of a target, she pushes herself along the ground, getting to one of the first men she took down and takes his gun before pulling a piece of furniture in front of her for cover.
Once she is covered Melinda starts to work out how many people are left and realizes that there are James and three of his guards left. Realizing that she has to draw them out somehow Melinda searches the man who's guns he took and finding a phone she gets an idea. Not entirely sure that her plan will work Melinda throws the phone forward and up in the air, causing two of the guards to give away their positions and the second they do Melinda fires at them, killing them both.
Looking around Melinda realizes that there is no way that she is going to get to the door without dealing with James and his final guard. Watching carefully through gaps Melinda realizes that they are in the same place, below a window, and so Melinda does the one thing she can, she fires at the window, smashing it and causing them both to be showed in glass and they move out of their place behind cover allowing Melinda to shoot them both.
After waiting about twenty seconds Melinda becomes pretty sure that there is no one left and so she attempts to stand up, but unsurprisingly, as she has tried to do a lot on her pretty badly hurt leg, Melinda finds herself unable to and so she just continues to push her way along the floor, with the gun still in her hand.
After about a minute Melinda is half way between the corridor she entered on and exit when the door burst opens Melinda quickly raises her gun to fire but she sees two familiar figures.
"Melinda." Nick says terrified, as he sees her.
"Nick, Nat." Melinda says, dropping the gun, and being relieved to see them, as she does Nick runs towards her, not caring about anything else, and Natasha looks around for danger.
"Guys, we've got her." Natasha says as she continues to scan the area.
"How bad are you hurt?" Nick asks as he falls to his knees next to Melinda.
"My legs been shot, and I'm pretty sure that it's broken from my bike crash." Melinda explains, "I can't stand." She tells him.
"Okay, I've got you." Nick says, carefully picking up his wife, being extra careful to make sure that he doesn't hurt her leg anymore, "Are you hurt anywhere else?" he asks concerned.
"Probably, but I wouldn't be able to tell you right now." Melinda admits as she leans into Nick's arms as the only thing she can feel right now is the pain from her legs.
"Okay, just rest Mel, I'll get you to help." Nick tells his wife as he carriers her out, knowing that Natasha, as well as Phil, Maria and Clint who entered via the other entrances, will have everyone else handled, his priority is Melinda.
A little while after Nick picked his wife up in his arms they've arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D medical facility and Nick carefully puts Melinda, who has lost consciousness, down on the gurney but he doesn't move away from her.
"Director you're going to have to move back if you want us to be able to help Agent May." Doctor Streiten informs Nick.
"Right." Nick says and he reluctantly steps back from the woman he loves, "I want updates as frequently as possible." He instructs.
"Yes Director." The medical team, including Doctor Streiten says as they roll Melinda away, as they do Nick stares at them until they are out of his sight and once they do he opens his hand to look at Melinda's ring that he took to keep safe so that it couldn't get lost or damaged.
Knowing he will come up with a cover later to explain his actions Nick makes his way to the waiting area and sits down, knowing that he won't be moving until he knows that Melinda is okay.
It has been a little while since Nick brought in Melinda and he is still waiting for news while he waits in the waiting area, if people find it odd that the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D is waiting in the medical area then they don't say anything, at least not to him.
"Sir, any news?" Phil asks as he enters the waiting area with Natasha, Clint and Maria.
"Not yet." Nick answers, "What did you find?"
"There were nine people all together." Maria answers, "Huáng and eight others. All of them except for one were dead, the living one was just unconscious and all too willing to talk." Maria explains, being pretty sure that the reason he was so willing to talk was because Natasha was the one who was asking.
"He said that Huang was upset because not only did the investigation put him in jail, but also costed him control of his organization, he blamed Mel and because determine to find her." Natasha explains, "With Mel's cover having been blown before he went away he knew who she was once he was out it was just a matter of tracking her down."
"What was he planning for her?" Nick asks.
"Nothing good." Maria answers with a frown, being pretty sure that Nick wouldn't want the details.
"But of course he didn't realize exactly who he was dealing with." Clint says with a grin, "Even hurt Mels managed to take them all down."
"That's because she's Melinda. Always able to pull of the impossible." Phil says leaving off the, no matter the personal cost, that they are all thinking and the group drift into silence.
A little while after Natasha, Clint, Maria and Natasha arrived at the hospital and Nick has switched from sitting in his pace to pacing, causing the others to exchange looks and realize that they are going to have to figure out a cover as people are bound to get suspicious about why Nick seems so concerned about a level eight agent.
"Nick." Natasha says, being the first one to speak since she, Phil, Clint and Maria finished explaining everything that they know, and Nick stops his pacing to turn to look at her, as he does she points in a direction and Nick sees Doctor Streiten walking towards them.
"Doctor, how's Agent May?" Nick says, having needed to force himself to say Agent May rather than Melinda, though even the doctor can hear the tremble in the director's voice as honestly Nick doesn't know what he will do if it's bad news.
"Agent May has broken her left fibula and tibia. A through and through bullet wound to her left thigh. Has a minor concussion. Was grazed by a bullet on her side, and has some minor cuts and grazes." Doctor Streiten explains, "Director, from what you said Agent May is lucky to have not substance any head injuries from her motorbike crash."
"May knows how to crash a bike while protecting her head." Natasha comments, being pretty sure that that is why Melinda's leg is so hurt, she was trying to protect her head and neck at the cost of her leg.
"Her head would have been more protected if she was wearing a helmet." Doctor Streiten says, causing Phil and Clint to exchange looks as they have both heard Melinda, more than once, have conversations with people about wearing a helmet when she is riding a bike.
"So she's okay?" Nick asks, feeling relief.
"Agent May will need to be in a cast for ten weeks, usually it would be longer but it is a S.H.I.E.L.D cast which should help increase healing, but even with that she'll still need rehabilitation" Doctor Streiten explains, "We'd like to monitor her for twenty-four hours because of the concussion and the two bullet wounds will have to be watched for signs of infections, but yes, she is okay." Doctor Streiten reveals
"I'd like to see her." Nick says, there being no room for questioning in his voice.
"Of course, Director." Doctor Streiten responds, "I'll take you right to her." He says and he and Nick leave the waiting area, once they do Maria turns to Natasha, Clint and Phil.
"Cover mode." Maria tells them.
"Cover mode." Natasha, Clint and Phil confirm, and they all start to do everything that that entails.
A couple of minutes after Nick left the waiting area he is shown into the room where Melinda is unconscious in the bed.
"Agent May should be awake in the next hour or so." Doctor Streiten informs Nick, "If either of you need anything just call."
"Thank you, Doctor." Nick says and after Doctor Streiten walks out of the room Nick walks over and pulls a chair next to Melinda's bed.
Looking around the room Nick makes sure that there is no one looking in before pulling Melinda's ring out of his pocket and putting it on her finger.
Even though Nick would like to take his wife's hand he knows that she is likely to react badly to that when she wakes up and so he just sits close to her, and waits.
It has been over forty minutes since Nick sat down next to Melinda and ever since the only times he's looked away from his wife's face is to scan the area and check for security threats. As he is watching Melinda Nick notices the second she opens her eyes.
"Hi." Nick says, leaning forward, closer to his wife, looking glad to see her.
"Hi." Melinda says, her voice slightly hoarse and hearing that Nick reaches over pours a glass of water which he hands to her, "Thanks." Melinda says once she takes several sips.
"Are you in much pain?" Nick asks concerned.
"Noting I can't handle." Melinda answers, "What's the verdict?"
"Two broken bones in your leg. A through and through wound to your thigh. A bullet graze. Cuts and grazes, and a concussion." Nick explains.
"So pretty standard considering." Melinda comments, causing Nick to get an almost amused look on his face,
"Only you would say that….. Natasha too probably." Nick responds, knowing all too well what Melinda is like with injuries, or when she is sick, and being pretty sure that it's going to be a long ten weeks.
"You would too." Melinda reminds him and Nick knows she's right, "So, when can I get out of here?" she asks.
"The Med staff want to monitor you for twenty-four hours." Nick tells Melinda, already anticipating the response.
"I don't need that." Melinda informs him.
"You do." Nick responds, "And if you don't give the Med staff to much trouble I'll break you out of here as soon as the twenty-four hours is up." Nick says and Melinda looks like she is seriously considering that.
"Deal." Melinda says after a few moments of thinking.
"Good." Nick says, looking glad as he's had more than enough of experiences of getting complaints about Melinda from medical personnel over the year to want to try and do what he can to avoid getting more.
"I'm sorry, I worried you." Melinda says, being able to tell that without Nick saying anything.
"Don't apologies for that." Nick says, quickly, "I know how capable you are, how much you can handle, what you can do, but I love you Melinda. I hate it when you're hurt." Nick tells her, it being more than clear that he means everything he is saying. .
"And I hate when you are." Melinda says as she reaches out and takes Nick's hand, as she does the two of them drift into silence, Nick being glad to be with his wife again and that, considering everything, Melinda's not even more hurt.
