Chapter 1
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"Students, please pack your essential belongings only and quickly evacuate the school building. I repeat; Students, please pack your essential belongings only and quickly evacuate the school building." The voice sounded through the speakers in each hallway, easily being heard by the no longer sleeping students. "Modes of transport have been prepared for your journey away from the school grounds. Report to your form teachers, and you will receive your group. Please make your way off the school grounds. Students, please pack your essential belongings…"
All the lights in every single room of the boarding school grounds turned on, going to their brightest setting as the voice blared again.
Salem woke at the first word said by the speakers, sitting up instantly as she was a light sleeper. Looking over to her roommate who was still fast asleep, she grabbed her pillow and threw it over to hit her roommate in the head.
"What?" Anna hissed.
"Evacuation." Salem got out of her bed. "Get up and get your shit. We have about ten minutes before we are forced out of here."
"What?" Anna listened to the repeating voice from the speakers again, scrambling out of bed. "Shit, shit, shit."
Anna fell out of her bed as she tried to get her trousers on. Both Salem and Anna had grown up with each other in this school, sharing this room since they started attending the boarding school at age eleven. They both got used to each other and no longer found being in any state of undress embarrassing. Though, they did keep away from being completely naked out of decency.
They both now just slept however they wanted, resulting in the 'No Surprise Guests' rule being in place.
Salem had on a black thong and nothing else, opening her set of drawers and sliding into a pair of dark grey jeans.
"Just grab your essentials and shove them into your duffel," Salem said, shrugging on a quick bralette before putting on an old Queen t-shirt. She sat to put on her socks and a pair of comfortable worn-in boots.
"Where are the duffels?"
She nodded to the closet as she tied her shoes. "Left corner. Get my go bag too, please."
"Sure," Anna said, getting them and chucking the dark red one onto Salem's bed. "What is essential?
"Electronics and chargers, passport and documents, wallet and ID," Salem stated, crouching to get a backpack from under her bed. She shoved in the things she listened off, knowing this bag would be the one that wouldn't leave her side. "I'll get the docs."
She went to the safe near the bathroom they shared, opening it up and getting the important documents out of there. She gave Anna her passport and visa documents, placing her own in her bright red with the STARK logo on the front.
Salem's smartwatch started vibrating on her wrist, she looked and saw on the touch screen that she was getting a call. She accepted it on her watch, the voice coming out of the watch.
"Salem, there's an emergency at your school," Pepper Potts stated. "You have to get out of there."
"We're being evacuated at the moment," Salem said. "The alarm went off a minute ago."
"Do you have your go bag?"
"All packed now. I'm gonna take Duke and then gonna leave,"
Duke was her pet snake.
Yeah, Salem had a snake at her boarding school as her pet. Anna had her cat, Mira, and Mira and Duke got along quite well.
Salem took Duke from his terrarium, his black body slithering up her arm until he sat around her neck. He anchored himself around her shoulder, making sure to be on her left one as she put the backpack on her right and held the duffle by the straps.
"Salem, your jacket," Anna said, throwing the leather jacket over to her.
"Thanks, I almost forgot that. You finished?"
Anna opened her backpack to let Mira sit in it, closing it enough so the cat would comfortably stay in it. She made sure to put the backpack on backwards so it sat on her front to keep an eye on Mira.
"Yeah, where are we going?" Anna asked.
"Salem, take your car and get out of there," Pepper said. "I would send a helicopter but there won't be enough time to get it to the school. I'd think a lot of parents would send them to get their children. I'm going to check on you later, I need to call Tony."
"What's happening?" Anna asked, getting out of the dormroom and into the hallway as other people walked and ran around to try and get ready to leave.
So many people were fussing about what to take, what they should wear, what they would need.
"Guys! Grab your passports, documents, wallets, IDs, keys, and a bag of clothes. Take your electronics if you need to but get your asses out!" Salem called out loudly to the whole floor of a dozen rooms.
Salem and Anna were one of a very few dorms actually ready to leave, so they made their way downstairs to the bottom floor. They ran onto the courtyard outside, seeing several dozen of the other dorms already down there trying to get in some sort of order of how they would get off school grounds when the boarding school was on a mountain.
More and more people came down as they all stood in the huge courtyard, around six hundred people from the three dorm buildings already, and another hundred or so were left to come out.
The three heads of the dorms stood at the front of the huge crowd, standing on benches as to be seen.
"Everyone! Everyone, silence please!" One of them stated clearly through a megaphone, getting everyone to quieten down quickly. "If you have a valid drivers' license and a car in the school's parking lot, please make your way to Allion Kelly on the far left."
Salem nodded in that direction, silently saying goodbye before walking away as Anna waved over some of her friends that just came out of the building.
"Right, those of you who have a car that can seat four, please find three that do not have a car. Come tell me who it is you're taking, and then I will let you go,"
Salem went to find Anna quickly. "Anna, you alright to come with me?"
"Yeah, can you take Daphne and Clare along with me?"
"Yeah, my jeep can hold upto five people,"
"My sister," Anna gasped, suddenly turning white before taking out her phone to call her. After about a frantic minute of talking, she ended it and sighed. "She was put on a bus about five minutes ago, they've left. The younger years have already been sent off, they were closer to the bottom of the mountain anyway. They're getting on the boats first."
The school was on a mountain on an island near Sweden, part of the country with the government ensuring that the school's education and research is up to scratch with the laws. As the students and staff evacuated the school buildings near the top of the mountains on one side of the island, on the other side of the island boats were docking so they could be emptied of help and filled with students.
The sound of a couple helicopters were becoming stronger as they approached, there were about five in total, all landing several yards away from the crowd. People dressed in mostly unknown SHIELD uniforms, they quickly took control of the school.
"Blair!" Clare yelled, seeing her fraternal sister coming towards her with a suitcase behind her. They hugged quickly before Clare turned to Salem with pleading eyes. "Can you take her with us?"
"Yeah, but we're leaving now," Salem said, looking at her watch to see that it had taken almost twenty minutes since they woke up to get to now. "Hey, Miss Kelly, I'm taking Anna with me, along with Daphne Grater, and the Rain twins. Is that alright?"
Allion Kelly looked up from her tablet, clicking in a couple letters and sent it off. She nodded and waved a hand. "I've got you down. Go!"
)()()(
Salem popped the trunk of her deep purple Jeep Wrangler, letting everyone put their stuff in there before getting everyone into the car. She sat in the driver's seat, clipping the seatbelt on as Duke slithered to wrap around her neck some more.
As soon as she put her hands on the wheel, the car started.
The parking lot was actually built into the mountain, letting most of the cars be safe during the school year and still letting students access to them. The lot was hidden in the mountain, a couple gates that were usually locked and needed key card access were now fully open and even the main door that kept the breeze out was opened.
The long winding road down the mountain was even longer when seen in the dark, the sides had tiny lights to make sure the drivers could see the roads as they went down them.
Salem kept at a steady speed as the mountain was steep but the roads not as much but they were thus a lot longer. It was quite a few turns, and even more as they got to the steeper bits of the middle of the mountain side.
"Why isn't this working?" Daphne said, leaning through the bit between the two front seats as she fiddled with the radio and aux cord. "And isn't that dangerous?"
Salem had one hand on the steering wheel, the other petting Duke on the head gently as she was relaxed as she drove. "Not really. I was taught to drive well and drive fast when needed. Stop messing with the sound system."
"It's not like it works anyway," Daphne pouted, sitting back in her seat.
She smiled. "LILITH, play my driving playlist."
"Which one?" LILITH's English voice said from the speakers.
"Rock,"
Bohemian Rhapsody came on first of course. Daphne didn't look happy about the song but it was better than silence.
"You have a call coming in from Pepper," LILITH stated.
"Accept and send to my headphones," Salem said, handing Anna a small roundish square that held her headphones. Anna handed her each one, letting Salem put one in before handing her the other. "Hi, Peps. What's up?"
"Are you on speaker?"
"No, headphones,"
"Okay, don't react but we've just got word that a missile is coming for the school, a few actually," Pepper said, a rustling sound coming from her end. "The public think it's a terrorist attack but SHIELD thinks it's from HYDRA. They contacted me because they can't get to Tony at the moment."
"Does that mean he's coming?"
"Yes, FRIDAY passed the message to Tony before I called you,"Pepper sounded hopeful. "I gave Fury your number, he should inform you of what's going to happen next. I hope you're safe."
"I will be, thanks Pepper," Salem ended that call before having LILITH patch through the next one.
"Don't react." The male voice said, making her roll her eyes. "This is Nick Fury from SHIELD. Pepper Potts gave your number because Tony Stark refuses to give SHIELD any data concerning you."
"What do you expect from him? We like our privacy as much as the next person, so we like to keep whatever little of it we can away from grubby little hands like yours,"
Fury laughed. "Definitely his daughter. Well, Miss Andris, or should I call you Stark? Anyway, don't react to what I am about to say. You have a Daphne Grater in your car, don't you? Cough once if you do."
She coughed a little, more a clearing of the throat than anything but it sent the message.
"We have knowledge that she is a HYDRA spy,"
Salem stopped a laugh from erupting in disbelief, "Are you fucking kidding me? You can't just tell me the cat got into the cage again, I thought that couldn't happen?"
Fury quickly caught onto what she meant by cat and cage. "Daphne Grater didn't have any parents, and was on a scholarship so her background wasn't too looked into. Apparently they should have, because there was a huge gap before she attended the school last year."
"Well? What are you gonna do to get the cat out of the cage without it eating one of the birds?"
"At the bottom of the mountain, there are guards to make sure that all of the students got out of the school. Those that have been driven by another student need to sign in before they can go to the nearest airport where they will fly home, wherever that is." He said. "Anyone with parents nearby will be allowed to go with them. Your father will be at the bottom, no suit but it will be nearby. You will go to sign in and then go to him. Miss Anna Rue's parents have consented for her to be taken with you to a safe house, along with the Rain twins."
"And the sneaky little shit?"
"She will be allowed to sign out but there will be a technical difficulty, causing her to be separated from everyone." Fury said. "Keep calm, and keep happy like you know nothing is out of the ordinary. You are her target but she will not blow her cover unless she has to."
Salem rolled her eyes in laughter, smiling. "Next time, you can send a text about the cat, perhaps even a video of how the hell it got into the cage. See ya."
"We have your location and will continue to track you," Fury said, ending the call.
"Everything alright?" Anna asked.
Salem looked at her, nodding before turning her gaze back to the winding dark road before them. "Yeah. One of the cats at home somehow got into the bird cages. I thought we had it sorted before but it seems that the little bastards got in anyway. We've got another half hour on the road before we get to the bottom."
"What's gonna happen when we get to the bottom?" Blair asked.
"No clue," Salem lied. "The school will probably send us all a text when they know most of us are off campus or are on our way off it."
The centre of the steering wheel glowed a very faint purple as LILITH spoke, "Ma'am, you have a text from your father. Would you like me to read it out?"
"No. Put it on the wheel," Salem said, reading the message that appeared on the centre of the wheel.
I'm at the entrance. Your necklace isn't working. Do you have it on?
She tapped her fingers against the wheel, using her left for 1s and her right for 0s.
01011001 01100101 01110011 00101110 00100000 01010100 01110010 01100001 01100011 01101011 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101111 01101110 00101110
Yes. Tracker on.
It might have taken a bit more effort to type that out than the actual words and letters but she didn't want to take her eyes off the road nor did she want to speak aloud what she wrote.
Good. He replied. FRIDAY sent me your car's location but something is jamming the necklace. Damn HYDRA found a way to jam my work.
She hid a smile.
01101110 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01101101 01110000 01110010 01101111 01110110 01100101 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 01110011 00101110.
Needs improvements.
He sent another message. If they found a way to jam them, I'll be damned if I can't be better than them. You're coming home. I don't want you in this school.
She sent him another.
My education? Homeschool or what?
It took him a second to reply. I don't know. It's not like you need the education, you're just not motivated to learn boring stuff. I know I wasn't. Maybe internships at the company?
She thought of her future, did she want to continue going to school for another year? Not really. She tapped another message out.
Maybe. Better than school.
Anything is better than school, He sent. How is the spy?
Salem looked at Daphne through the rearview mirror, smiling comfortingly. "You okay, Daphne?"
"Yeah," She bounced her knee. "I'm not a fan of these roads. I hope we get there sooner rather than later."
Jittery and nervous to get there.
That's not good, the message said from her father. Better get to the bottom soon. The Avengers are here in case something happens. There's reason to believe that there is more than just her.
Salem bit the inside of her cheek, chewing on it gently as she tapped out another message. More? Any clue?
Not yet, FRIDAY is still going through the list of students and staff.
Okay. Another twenty before we get to the floor. Fury is tracking the car.
Good. There was a pause between these two sentences. I want your necklace when you come down. I need to improve it. Tony out.
Salem out.
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Tony sighed, rubbing a hand down his face as he was on a call with Pepper.
"The last time I spoke with her was before the thing with the Steve and the Accords, Pepper," Tony said to Pepper through his glasses as he stood near the base of the mountain because he and other parents that could get there weren't allowed up it. He wasn't very happy about it, having his suit on standby just in case as he watched SHIELD and government soldiers try and evacuate the huge school campus on the flattened top of the mountain.
"After it hit the media, she called to make sure you were alright. Called you an idiot in terms I'm not going to repeat but she was more concerned than anything," Pepper said. "Last time I spoke with her, she was fine so don't worry."
"I'm tracking her car at the moment," Tony opened up the holographic map of the mountain on his phone, watching a tiny purple dot move down it slowly in winding routes. "Her necklace isn't working."
"There might be a reason besides that it's been hacked," Pepper sighed. "I can hear how tense you are about that. Just bring her back safely, Tony. I don't want to hear that either of you got injured or anyone else got injured because of either of your tempers."
Tony scoffed. "We don't have tempers."
"Tony, she has your temper which can be volatile at times."
"I don't like the fact that they found her so easily," Tony gritted his teeth as he watched the dot, wanting it to go faster. "They know her name now so it isn't safe for her to attend school."
"She has to attend school, maybe not a boarding school,"
"She asked about homeschooling, but I suggested an internship or something at the company,"
"Internship? Hmm, we'll see," Pepper tried to sound hopeful. "She's only fifteen. I think it would be best if she attended some sort of school until she's at least seventeen."
"I know, Peps. I just wished she would apply herself to her studies."
"She has your intelligence but she's not you. Unless it's practical and actually interesting for her, she won't remember it." Pepper's smile could be heard. "She used to tinker with your suits, remember?"
Tony laughed. "Yeah, when she wasn't supposed to. I have to go, Pepper. SHIELD got some of the students down and they want help bringing them to the ships. I'll call you when we're safe."
"Okay, bye."
The call went silent and Tony clicked his neck, sore from the journey from England where he had a conference to Sweden.
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