"It makes sense," the brunette murmured, clearing her throat to bring back her voice. "Riley wasn't trying to tell me to come here, he was trying to tell me to stay away." Looking over at the red head, Beca saw the fear in Chloe's blue eyes. "We're going to be fine. Just keep you're guard up, and everything will be fine." Jesse didn't sound too confident in the statement, but Beca knew disputing it would only cause more problems.
Something turned the corner, with very sharp teeth and claws. On impulse, Beca fired her repulsor, knocking it deeper into the tunnels. "What was that?" Chloe yelled, and as Beca shone her lights on the creature it was very visible.
"It appears to be some form of reptillien species, Beca," Jarvis spoke, and her computer screen assessing the physical form of the creature. "It has sharp teeth and claws, and it's scales appear to be particularly protective. It's eyes are yellow, Beca, it appears to be the same creature you saw in your vision."
"Jesse, do you see any of these things?" More seemed to pile into the tunnel, and Beca kept shooting as fast as she could. The sound of a pistol firing came from her right, and seeing Chloe shoot at the creatures only increased her confidence. Maybe they had a chance of winning, but the math seemed to pour through Beca's mind. If anymore of these things came they would have to get out of there fast. "No, there's no creature where we are. That's probably because they're after you Beca."
"We don't stand a chance in these caves," the brunette looked over to Chloe, who was reloading her weapons. The lizards were piling into the tunnel faster than Beca could keep shooting alone. One managed to fight it's way through the repulsors and tackle Beca to the ground. "Move, Red!" Beca yelled, tossing the lizard off of her and slamming into the wall. "Run! I'm right behind you!"
The assassin took off, and Beca ran on her heels, occasionally stopping to shoot the lizards with repulsors. "Beca, perhaps if you block the path," Jarvis suggested, but before Beca could actually respond a lizard scratched at her suit. She thrusted her elbow into its stomach, where there wasn't many scales protecting it. The creature doubled over, and Beca took the chance to throw it into one of the stone walls. "Not going to happen, we don't know how strong this cave is and it could collapse on all of us if we try it."
She tried to run again, but a lizard jumped on top of her, pinning her to the ground. It roared, spit flying onto the mask of her suit. "Gross." Beca shot a beam from her chest, effectively getting the lizard off of her, but more were coming behind it. "Everyone get outside! Benji be ready to jump into action!" Jesse's voice kept coming through the radio, and in the distance Beca could see Chloe running, but the red head stopped to look at her. "Beca, come on!"
"Keep going! I'll be fine!" More of these things were coming, and if they got anywhere near Chloe they would eat her alive. Considering how sharp the teeth on these things were, Beca had no doubt they would leave a mark if they bit her suit. "Go!" Chloe began running again, and soon enough she was out of Beca's sight.
Following the orders of the billionaire, Chloe ran until she reached the entrance of the cave, seeing Benji outside. The boy ran to her side, escorting her out of the darkness. Once outside, the red head rubbed her eyes to help her get used to the light. "Where's Jesse and Aubrey? Have they come out yet?" Benji shook his head, but lifted it towards the cave. "Chloe turned around and saw the two running out. Jesse looked around, his eyes searching the area in front of him.
"Where's Beca?" Immediately following his question they hear a grunt through their ear pieces, and the firing of Beca's repulsors in the distance. "Beca! What are you doing? Get out of there!" The brunette's breathing was heavy through the radio, and Chloe can't help but start to worry.
Why did she let Beca stay in there on her own? She should've stayed, should've helped. Instead, she'd followed Beca's orders down to the letter, and she was safe, but her love wasn't. "Lizards are blocking my way out. I can't get through all of th- AAAH!"
"Beca!" Chloe yelled, looking at the entrance of the cave. The brunette's sigh came through the speaker, but it still sounded like the girl was fighting for her life. "Relax, I'm still fine. Go back to Barden! These things want my mind, they're not going to kill me."
Jesse shook his head, standing beside the red head and staring at the entrance of the cave. "No way, Beca, we're not leaving you behind!" Another cry of pain came from the earpiece, and it took all of Chloe's power not to run inside the cave and help her. "These things don't care if you live or die! They need my mind to help build their machine! Go!"
The team was about to protest, but Beca's voice came again. "Jarvis, cut the feed and the tracking device SHIELD implanted in my suit. Turn them off." "Beca, are you crazy?" Chloe yelled, pacing and kicking a tree. "I told you not to do anything stupid!"
"Are you certain?" Jarvis' voice came through the speaker. "Beca-" "Do it!" All too quickly, the sounds of growling and battle fell into silence. Chloe stopped dead in her tracks, holding the ear piece closer to her ear. "Beca? Beca, answer me!" Jesse looked at her, shaking his head.
Without another thought, Chloe started running to the entrance of the cave, not caring that the other Avengers were chasing her. Arms wrapped around her waist, wrenching her away from the cave's entrance and back to the forest. Roars continued to come from the cave, and they only seemed to be coming closer. "Chloe! Calm down! We need to get back to the helicopter! We'll be safer there than out here!"
"She won't be!" Chloe yelled, looking up at him through angry eyes. She could feel tears burning, and she still struggled against his hold on her. "She's still in there and she could be dead by tomorrow!" Benji walked over to them, looking into Chloe's eyes. "Beca was right, Chloe, they're not going to kill her. They need her too much for that. We'll all go in together in the morning and look for her, okay?"
His words seemed to calm her down. After all, Benji was the closest person to Beca besides Chloe herself. She could see the worry in his eyes, and it was obvious he wanted to go into the cave and search for her. The team couldn't risk losing another member, she understood that.
Chloe trudged back to the helicopter with Jesse walking behind her. She knew he was making sure she didn't run back into the cave. How could she have left Beca behind? It was only their second mission and it ended in utter failure. From the beginning her mother instructed to protect her team. She'd tried, but it wasn't enough.
Once the team arrived back at the helicopter Stacie opened the rear door for them. As soon as the team was inside the door closed. They were trapped, and Chloe's last chance of saving Beca slipped away. Looking over at Stacie, the red head saw the defeat in her eyes. Silence was thick in the air. No one spoke and no one moved from their seat. The defeat was sinking in.
They'd lost a friend in battle, but no one besides the billionaire had actually done any fighting. The Avengers were hardly a team, and without Beca's sarcastic humor the job seemed that much more painful with every passing second. Chloe pulled the ear piece from her ear, tossing it onto the floor. The morning had been so great, so fantastic, and the two had been so happy. Why did it have to go wrong?
Aubrey was sitting next to her, but something seemed off about the blonde. She wasn't as distraught as the other team members. In fact, it was almost like Aubrey was glad. Was that even possible? Beca could the dead and Aubrey had the nerve, the audacity to sit there and be happy?
"Why are you so worried about her?" Aubrey asked, and an astounded look made its way to Chloe's face. "All she's done is make our lives harder. Think about it, we wanted her gone and now she is." The way her girlfriend was being treated even when she wasn't around was awful. Girlfriend. It was a word Chloe hadn't thought about until that moment. It only brought more tears to the assassin's eyes. She didn't speak, her voice couldn't be trusted. Luckily, she wasn't the only one coming to Beca's defense.
"That's not true!" Benji yelled, receiving stares from the others as he stood from his seat. "You haven't given her a chance! You've given me more of a chance than Beca, and I'm more likely to kill you! I turn into a huge green monster and you have a problem with her attitude? Maybe you should take a look at yourself before you put all the blame on her!"
Jesse stood and put his arms around Benji's shoulders, shaking his head. The boy sat back down in his seat, not meeting Aubrey's eyes. He had a point, and Chloe knew it too. The blonde was being completely unfair to Beca and had been since day one. Yet, the entire time the team had been assembled Chloe hadn't come to her brunette's defense. What had she done? Why hadn't she been the girlfriend Beca deserved? She didn't even have the chance to tell the billionaire how much she loved her, and that chance may never come.
Their leader looked at them, and for the first time they looked to Jesse for guidance. He seemed to be the only one remotely calm about the situation. With Chloe and Benji being completely distraught, and Aubrey only seeing the loss as a casualty of war, it was up to him to find a way to bring the team back together. Chloe understood the job, but knew it must've been hard on Jesse. The billionaire and the soldier had made a good friendship over the past several days, and yet so soon after their truce were they torn apart.
"Tomorrow we'll go back into the cave and look for Beca," Jesse said, and the rest of the team nodded. "I don't know what we'll find or what we won't find. What I do know is that we're going to find her. We're not going to leave her with those things. No way are we abandoning her here. She's not a hassle in our lives. She's a friend, one of the greatest friends we may or may not have asked for.
"I know I wasn't a great person to Beca at first, but I see how much she adds to this team, to the Avengers. My dad always says that everyone deserves a second chance, but I didn't give her much of a first, and I'd really like to thank her for giving me a second one. We're going to find her, and no matter what other missions come our way and no matter what Fury says we're gonna bring her home safe and sound. What do you say, team?"
Chloe stood from her seat, a renewed vigor in her eyes. She nodded at their leader. "I'm in." It was all that needed to be said, and it brought a new shine to Jesse's eyes. He was finally assuming the role and all its responsibilities, and the team was letting him. "Me too." Benji stood from his seat and all eyes were on Aubrey. "I suppose we need her," still being stubborn, and just as Chloe thought they were done the soldier turned to the brunette in the pilot's chair.
"What about you, Stacie?" the brunette looked shocked as she pointed to herself with an arched brow. "Me? You want me to be..." she didn't finish her statement, but Jesse still nodded. "You're a big part of the team too. Where would we be without you piloting the helicopter and helping us get all of our gear together?"
"I guess you wouldn't be very far," the agent blushed, standing up and nodded. "I'm in, too." Finally, they were a real team, almost. Beca was still missing from the mix, but everyone knew the team wasn't completely formed yet. They still had one more member to find, to bring home. "So, Captain," Chloe said, pulling the soldier's eyes to her as he smiled. "What do we do?"
He nodded to her, a silent thank you. All she did was wink, just the way Beca would have. "First we get some sleep for tonight. Stacie, if you could turn off the lights around the helicopter, we don't need any tourists coming to look and see what's going on. Then in the morning we'll go into the cave, but we'll need a way to make sure we don't get lost in the caverns. Tomorrow we're not splitting up, we're staying together. No one else is leaving this team."
Everyone nodded in agreement, finding a place somewhat comfortable to rest. Stacie decided to stay in the pilot's chair, which apparently reclined, giving her an excellent place to sleep. Jesse took the other reclining co-pilot's seat next to her. Benji took up a row of seats on one side of the helicopter while Aubrey took up the other.
Which, unfortunately, excluded any place for the red head herself to sleep. "Oh, Chloe, if you want this chair I'll take the ground," she looked over to him, smiling slightly and shaking her head. "No thanks, I don't mind." Jesse stood, opening a compartment and pulling out a small mat and folded up blanket. "The heat should be on, and luckily SHIELD had the sense to put something for comfort in these things. So, I hope this'll be enough."
"Thanks, Jesse," the assassin smiled, helping him set up the mat on the floor. "for everything." He nodded, shrugging his shoulders as he stood, grabbing the last blanket from the compartment. "No man left behind, my dad may not have been a marine but that's always been his motto, and mine. Night, Chloe."
Morning broke, and the team hit the ground running. Stacie gave them all new ear pieces and helped Chloe reload her pistols, giving her several extra clips. Aubrey grabbed her hammer, obviously a gift from her father. Jesse had his shield, and Benji was just Benji, he didn't exactly need anything. "Stacie," the leader said, turning to the tall brunette. "Do you have anything that could help us not get lost?"
The brunette nodded, obviously glad to be of some help. "Yup," she pulled out a can that had a spray nozzle and a pair of goggles. "This spray is invisible to anything but these goggles, so just spray it in a way you'll know how to get back outside and put the goggles on. Presto, you're back out." It wasn't the best contraption, and Chloe was certain Beca could come up with something a million times better, but it was better than nothing.
"Let's move," they followed Jesse to the entrance of the cave, but he stopped. With a deep breath, Chloe prepared herself for the first. She had no idea what they would find in the cave, and it wasn't necessarily going to be good.
As they walked in, everyone turned on a flashlight. Jesse sprayed a sign on the ground, telling them which way they'd come in and they began walking through the cave. The leader held onto his shield and Chloe pointed her gun in front of them, just in case something nasty decided to pop out. The path they were taking was clear. It was the exact tunnel she and Beca had gone down the day before. Unlike yesterday, no growls came from deep within the cave.
Chloe remembered the cry of pain she'd heard Beca yell through her ear piece, and immediately awful thoughts flooded her mind. What if the brunette was dead? What if she was too late? It couldn't happen, could it? Beca wouldn't just leave her, especially not without a goodbye. Other people might think she would, but the assassin knew better than that.
She also knew better than to assume anything. Pushing all of the awful thoughts from her mind, Chloe focused on the mission at hand, and that was finding Beca. For hours they looked through the cave, hardly anyone saying a word. Jesse occasionally sprayed signs in order to lead them out, but other than that they didn't stop looking. "Avengers," Stacie's voice came through their ear pieces. "It's getting dark out here, you should call it quits for today. If you want to go back in tomorrow you can, but you shouldn't be in there in the dark."
"I don't think we'll need to come back tomorrow, Stacie," Jesse said, kneeling down to the ground. For a moment, Chloe couldn't see what he was looking at, but when the soldier turned at looked back at the rest of the team she couldn't help the gasp escaping her lips at what he held.
The helmet of Beca's suit was rested under his arm. The top part of the metal was dented inward, and other pieces of metal from the suit were scattered across the floor of the tunnel. "She's not here, and there's no blood." Jesse noted, nodding to his team. "This is good. It means she's alive."
"But if she's not here, where is she?"
