"That's not funny."
I stopped in my tracks and stared at the ancient looking C-130 in front of us. It looked like it could have been one of the original ones built. I doubted this thing would get off the runway, let alone fly for the next 10 hours.
"Are we seriously flying in that thing?" I had to raise my voice to be heard. A vicious wind had whipped up on the runway. It was so strong I could see the aileron's moving up and down. The groans coming from the aircraft didn't help any of my nerves about this.
"Not all of us have half a billion jets at our disposal." It was Clay behind me, who gave me a gentle push towards the ramp. "Just take some Ambien and sleep through it like the rest of us."
"I'm usually the one flying," I said through gritted teeth but I forced my feet to keep moving. "Trust me when I say flying sucks when you know everything that can go wrong."
Clay laughed at my response but didn't do any bullshit platitudes. There was no reassuring me about flying anyway. It was only now it had become a problem. It'd been too busy the last few hours for me to get worried about not being the one flying there. Not only did we have to go over our plans, there were checks and re-checks for everyone's gear. We had to request snow camouflage and thermal gear. Luckily for me, I already had thermal gear because the extreme weather gear that we got provided didn't take into account my skinny size 4 ass. The teasing has been merciless as I had to tie a knot in a belt to make it small enough for me to wear.
Clay and I were the last ones to jog up the ramp of the C-130. Everyone else had already chosen a spot and made themselves comfortable. I found the closest spot to the ramp and unslung my AWSM off my back. I'd packed light, only keeping my AWSM and both P30's with a few spare magazines. I'd need speed and agility rather than being weighed down by anything that wasn't needed. The MRE's we'd been provided had already been eaten. The chicken and rice weren't sitting in my stomach very well. But the chocolate and energy gum I'd put in my ammo pouch would come in handy later.
As the ramp started to close, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Ambien. Around me, everyone was doing the same, stretching out over the seats or on the floor. None of them looked concerned at all about the creaks and groans coming from the aircraft as it started up. I raised the pill to my mouth and dry swallowed it. As the plane got nosier, I pulled my shooting earmuffs down and the noise faded into a gentle hum.
Unfortunately, the noise was the only thing gentle as the C-130 started to move. It took about 2 seconds before I was strapping myself into the seat as tightly as I could manage. I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth as the vibrations increased.
"You good over there Lyngley?"
I'm not sure who it was that spoke. But the laughter was clear in their voice. I simply raised my middle finger, while gripping onto my harness for dear life with my free hand. I could feel myself losing circulation with how tight I was holding on. The vibrations underneath me increased and my stomach started to do somersaults as I felt the plane speed up. Unlike the Quinjet, there was nothing thrilling about the power increasing in the C-130. I put my head back, squeezing my eyes shut as hard as I could as we lifted into the sky. As the plane climbed to altitude, the chicken and rice MRE started to climb back up my throat.
I swallowed back the uncomfortable feeling of wanting to vomit. Fuck, I hated this. I really should have taken the Ambien before I got anywhere near the C-130. At least then I wouldn't be sitting here worrying about puking everyone and making an idiot of myself. It took another few minutes before the C-130 levelled out. Only then did the chicken and rice seem to slowly crawl back down into my stomach. Besides the sound of the C-130 flying, the plane was quiet. Most of the guys were already asleep or close to it. The only one awake was Nizzo, he was slumped in a chair reading a book. I put my head back against the seat, blowing out a long slow breath. We were up in the air and hadn't crashed yet. Things could always be worse. I did in a few more deep breaths to calm myself down. I had a big trip ahead of me and I didn't need to be a bundle of stress because of my control freak nature with flying. As I focused on my breathing, I felt lay body get heavier. I smothered back a yawn, mentally sending Coulson a thank you for getting to Ambien approved for me. I was out like a light before I could stress any further.
I woke up with a jerk. It took a second to process that we'd just landed and the C-130 was slowing down. I was still in the position from before and as soon as I went to move, my back and neck started bitching about being in the same position for 10 hours. I groaned, unbuckling my harness. I felt groggy and disorientated. Maybe taking the full Ambien was a really bad idea considering Nyquil usually did the trick for me. I didn't have time to sit and ponder my mistake, everyone else was up and getting ready to move. I forced my heavy limbs into action, fighting back a jaw-cracking yawn. What I wouldn't give for a pot of coffee right now.
At least I wasn't the only one looking half awake. Everyone was either yawning or looking like a zombie. It was a good thing we had a long ass drive to our rendezvous point. At least it would give all of us time to wake up. Once the ramp lowered, we all jogged down onto the runway. Where ever we were, it was dark now. My poor body had no idea what time it was. All I knew was that it was dark and I was not happy about being awake. A bus with blacked out windows pulled up as we disembarked. There was no fucking around, we were straight into it. The blast of hot air from the heater as I stepped into the bus was a nice change from the freezing conditions. I stripped off my weapons along with my top layer as I found a seat. The warm bus quickly got way too hot with all of my thermal gear on. I was going to melt if I kept it on. I started to strip another layer of clothes off.
"Do we really need it to be 110 in here?" Carson muttered as he sat down in front of me. He was pulling his layers of clothes off as well. Once he got down to his t-shirt, I couldn't stop myself staring at his arm muscles. He wasn't my type of guy attraction wise, but damn he had nice arms. All of the guys had nice bodies actually. I'd snuck in some looks of them while we all changed into our gear. We all looked like we were definitely in the peak of condition.
Once we all got settled, the bus drove off. It was a long, boring drive without being able to look out of the windows. Everyone was quiet, except for the odd conversation that would pop up. We all knew our jobs and it was a case of resting as much as possible until we got there. I dozed a few times thanks to the lingering effect of the Ambien. Once the bus driver announced we were 30 minutes out, it became a hive of activity. Everyone was wide awake and getting dressed again. I ate my entire chocolate bar to get some caffeine to get me moving a quicker.
"You ready to hit the ground running?" Nails asked me as I pulled my kevlar on.
Nails and I were going ahead to scout. The rest of the team would follow once I was ready to make my move. It was odd a lot of this mission was counting on me. If I didn't do this right our plan was going to go right out the window.
"Yep." I didn't have much else to say. I mentally ready to go about an hour ago. Right now I could feel a bundle of nervous energy start to spread giving me the energy to get going. I put my jacket on over the kevlar, feeling instantly sweaty in the heat of the bus. The rest of my weapons and ammo webbing went over my jacket. The last of it was my night vision googles along with a GoPro mounted on the side of my helmet which would give a live feedback to the base. It was an extra weight I didn't want to have. The night vision wasn't exactly necessary for me, considering I already had it on my scope. But I didn't have Clint's excellent eyesight to guide me through the darkness this time. I'd have to be like a normal person who couldn't see in the dark.
The bus came to a screeching halt as I was adjusting my throat microphone and headphones. We'd definitely had the good gear for this mission. Nothing was as good as SHIELD's earpieces but this was the next best thing. I'd leave both of them turned off until I was ready so I didn't have to listen to the rest of the team. Without waiting for Nails, I was off the bus and already looking down at the GPS. It was 2 miles east to where I'd picked as my lookout point. The landscape around us was a dense forest. A good few inches of snow lay on the ground but the sky was clear. You could see so many stars out here, it was breathtaking. But it was also well below freezing. My face felt immediately frozen within seconds as I hurried to pull my balaclava up over my mouth. At least I'd remembered Riley's good cold weather shooting gloves in my gear. The thin gloves kept my hands warm without compromising any feel.
"Jesus fucking christ its cold," Nails swore behind me. I could hear his teeth chattering as I turned to see him hurriedly getting his gloves on and pull his own balaclava up over his mouth. It was so cold that every lungful of air felt like needles stabbing your chest. Jogging to our location wasn't going to be fun.
"Ready to go?" I asked, shifting from foot to foot to get myself warm. Nothing could ever prepare you for this type of weather, no matter how well outfitted we were.
"Ladies first." Nails motioned towards the dense forest.
I double checked the GPS before pulling down my night vision. I blinked a few times to adjust to the green lit up world before me. Without waiting for Nails, I hitched up the AWSM up a little higher before taking off at a jog. The first mile and a half was a steady jog weaving through the trees. It was eerie being out here with nothing but my own breathing and Nails' quiet footsteps behind me. The forest was completely silent. No birds or creatures stirred as we made our way east. The terrain was rough going. There were plenty of hills and small gullies, it slowed our progress down as we had to scramble up nearly on hands and knees up some of the steeper icy slopes. My legs and back ached by the time we slowed down towards our approach. The last half a mile would be done very slowly and carefully so we didn't tip off anyone about our approach.
"How are you holding up back there?" I asked Nails quietly as we slowed down for our approach. He'd start to lag behind the last few minutes. I could hear his ragged breathing from my position a few feet in front of him. I slowed down to a walk so he could catch up.
"I thought I was fit until I've had to chase you up and down these fucking hills," Nails grumbled as he came up beside me. He stifled a cough behind his hand. "I'm not sure how you do it carrying your own body weight in gear."
"I'm not that skinny," I said with a snort of laughter. I briefly lifting my night vision goggles to wipe my sweaty face. "I'm also really out of shape. If it makes you feel any better, my legs and back are killing me."
I was out of breath as much as Nails sounded. I was just good at keeping it under control so I didn't sound like my lungs were on fire.
"Oh good, you are human after all." Though his voice was gruff, there was a teasing tone behind it. "I thought you were going to keep sprinting and take on the compound yourself."
"The thought did cross my mind," I said with a small smile. "But my handler will kick my ass for not being a team player. So here I am playing nice."
A muffled laugh was the only response I got. Nails fell behind me as we started our careful approach down the last gully we should come across. The forest was starting to thin out around us making it hard to keep covered all the time. There was no moon tonight so it made our white and grey snow camouflage stand out on the landscape. The hilly terrain was a small blessing in that regard. We'd be well covered until we hit the lip of the next hill. I wasn't taking any chances though. As soon as we hit halfway up the last hill, I went down onto my stomach and crawled the rest of the way. It was cold and highly unpleasant inching forward over the icy ground. The sweat from jogging here felt like it was freezing on my body as I inched along. There was no quick way to do this. If I rushed, I was risking both of us being exposed before we could get any useful intel.
It felt like hours before we got to the top of the hill but in reality, it was probably less than half an hour. The careful approach had been worth it. Besides a few trees and a rocky outcrop, there was no cover at all. We crawled to the outcrop and inch by careful inch, I took the AWSM off my back and very slowly set it up. I held my breath as I slid the muzzle over the top of the rock. I shifted so I could look through the scope. As I got my eye near the scope a distinctive crack came through the air. I grabbed Nails and yanked us both down below the rock. 2 seconds later, there was a sharp sound of a bullet hitting the rock and the resulting bang from the delayed sound of a rifle.
"Bastard." I couldn't help but chuckle. Someone was clever and had anticipated us using this area for a lookout. No doubt the other sniper was already up poised and waiting for one of us to pop up again. I tapped Nails on the shoulder to get his attention. "Stay here. I'll be back in a minute."
Nails gave me a silent thumbs up. I slid back away from the rock outcrop and closed my eyes. My heart was still pounding from the shock of hearing the bullet come for us. I knew it was only a paintball and not going to kill me, but it still got the adrenaline pumping. I took in a few deep breaths to focus on what I was about to do. On my last breath, I concentrated on my power. The invisibility slid over my body easily these days. It wasn't such a big struggle to maintain it like it used to be. Looking down all I could see was the snow where my body should be. I looked at Nails who was still staring at the spot I was in.
"That is the coolest shit I've ever seen," Nails said quietly as he continued to stare at me, though he wouldn't know it. "You still there?"
"Yep." The sound of my voice made Nails jump. "I'm going to go climb a tree and shoot that smart ass."
"Good hunting," Nails acknowledged me with a small wave.
After crawling to our not so hiding spot, it felt good to be able to walk without fear of being seen. I scouted the area until I found a tree I could easily climb. The tree was huge and solid with enough branch coverings that I should be easily covered by the time I was halfway up. I shed off all of my extra gear, including the night vision goggles to make climbing easier. I was tempted to leave my helmet along with the GoPro on the ground too, but I'm sure I'd get in trouble for it. Without the night vision and counterweight on my head, I already felt 100 pounds lighter. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dark of the night. While my eyes were adjusting I took my outer jacket off so the bulk wouldn't get in my way while climbing. I didn't plan on being in the tree long enough to freeze to death. It was almost comical to see my gear becoming visible once it touched the ground. I made sure everything stayed hidden behind the tree in case the sniper was still watching. No doubt he'd be keeping his eye on the rocky outcrop because of no movement from the area.
I pulled myself up onto the first branch easily. As much as I hated pull ups it came in handy right now. I was able to easily climb up the tree until I found the perfect spot. Three-quarters of a way up the tree there was a solid branch that had could easily hold my weight. I slid along the branch as far as I could. There was a hole in the foliage large enough I could poke the AWSM through without an obstruction. I let go of my invisibility so it was one less thing to concentrate on while I set the AWSM up. Despite the awkward position, I had the AWSM set up and I was looking through the scope in 30 seconds. The night vision of my scope was almost blinding after being in the dark for a short time. I blinked a few times before everything came into clear focus.
The compound really did look like an old medieval fortress. Through my scope, I could see the old crumbling brick walls clearly. The walkways around the wall only came to waist height so I could see around it easily. It was shrouded in blackness with no light sources coming from anywhere I could see. The other team had 4 guys on the wall, one on each corner. In the far corner, there was a raised room, almost looking like a bell tower. It didn't take a genius to work out that's where the sniper was going to be positioned. The tower was pitch black and it looked like it was empty, but I knew better. I kept my eye trained on the position and waited. Nothing else mattered as I stared down the scope at the darkness 900 yards away. I couldn't feel the cold or the rough bark of the tree against my skin. It was an absolute stillness to my mind and the rest of the world as I waited. It could have been a minute or an hour, I wouldn't know. But I finally saw what I needed.
A brief flicker of movement.
It as all I needed. The world slowed down as my finger went on the trigger. I adjusted my AWSM ever so slightly and squeezed the trigger without hesitation. The sound of the AWSM going off was near deafening in the quiet night, despite my hearing protection. My eyes stayed glued to the scope until there was a small blob of bright green paint appear. A second later a middle finger got waved in my direction from the other sniper. As he moved in the darkness, I could see the paintball had hit him in the head. It was a perfect kill shot.
"Sucked in," I said with a smirk as I returned the gesture. I doubted he'd be able to see it, but it was satisfying regardless. Now the sniper was out of the game, it was time for phase 2 of the plan.
I climbed back down the tree as quickly as I could. My adrenaline was pumping as I grabbed my P30's from my pile of gear. I didn't bother with anything else except for spare magazines for the P30's and rope as I went invisible again. I reached up and turned my throat mic and headphones on, opening the communications channel.
"Sniper is down. I'm moving onto Phase 2."
I barely heard the corresponding responses from my team. I was already jogging down towards the compound and had turned my throat mic off anyway. There'd been something catch my eye as I checked the layout while I was in the tree. I barely felt the distance as I jogged across the snow-covered ground. I went straight to the furthermost corner from me near the tower where the sniper was. I thought I'd seen a glint of metal as I scanned the area before. My suspicion was right, there was an old ladder leaning up against the wall. It looked old but sturdy enough. It was probably put here on purpose as a temptation to do something the easy way. I didn't hesitate, I went straight up the ladder. On the last rung near the top, I gave myself a second to take in a few deep breaths. My blood was roaring in my head and I was pumped. I needed to calm down otherwise I'd do something stupid. Adrenaline wasn't going to help me in a situation where I needed to be calm. This was only going to work if I kept the element of surprise.
"Has anyone heard from Panther?"
The unknown male voice above me made me still. I double checked I was still invisible before looking over the edge of the walkway. A dark figure was walking down towards my position. He paused with his hand to his ear like he was trying struggling to hear whoever was replying. I quickly used his moment of inattention to my advantage. I cleared the wall and fired the P30 twice. The silencer kept the sound to a minimum. The bullets hit their intended mark a second later, one in the head and one in the chest. Both instant kills. The guy who I'd shot staggered back with a grunt of surprise and a muffled curse. The rules were anything that was considered an instant kill shot meant you had to stop everything you were doing instantly and turn off all your communications. It was effectively the same as if you were actually shot.
Whoever he was turned to kick the wall angrily as I slid past him with him being none the wiser. He probably thought he'd been hit by a sniper since he couldn't see me. The muffled sounds of the P30 silenced could have been mistaken for a far away shot. I didn't waste any more time contemplating his fate though, I still had 3 other guys to kill.
My booted feet barely made a sound as I walked down the walkway with my P30 up and ready to fire again. I didn't have to wait long, someone came jogging straight right at me a few seconds later. He got the same treatment as his teammate. It was a perfect double tap. I was a little closer to this guy so he felt the full force of the paintball being slammed into his head and chest.
"Fucking cunt." He swore as he dropped to the ground clutching his chest. "Where the fuck did that come from?"
I could hear boots coming down towards me so I paused in my tracks. They were making it far too easy for me. I held my P30 up and waited. 2 more guys came around the corner a few seconds later and both got a paintball in the head as a reminder not to rush into a situation. I smirked to myself as the disgruntled looks on their faces as they realised they were both dead. I went to take a step but something wrapped around my ankle, keeping me in place. As the shock of it, my invisibility dropped as I was yanked to the ground. I hit the hard ground with a barely concealed yelp of surprise. It was a good thing I was pretty wired on adrenaline otherwise it would have hurt like a bitch hitting the concrete that hard.
"Cheater." The second guy I'd shot growled. He'd been the one who'd grabbed my ankle. I didn't have to think to react. My free foot came around and connected with his face. I heard the crunch of bone under my boot. He released me with a curse and I shot him in the face with a paintball for good measure. Fucking asshole.
"Who's the fucking cheater now?" I taunted as he rolled on the ground, clutching his face. "Stay dead now, there's a good boy."
Hearing a female voice always seemed to have a good shock factor. The silence that followed my taunt let me slip away into the darkness again. I'm sure all 3 of them were watching me but I didn't look back. I wouldn't put it past the idiot who grabbed me to cheat again. I went invisible again, jogging along the length of the compound. The rest of the wall was clear. I let out a small sigh of relief and give myself a moment to catch my breath. That had gone better than I could ever expect. I lent against the wall and turned my throat mic back on.
"All clear down here," I said as it crackled to life. "Come to the corner where the tower is. There's a ladder."
"Copy that. Good job Lyngley."
I couldn't pick who's voice it was, but the praise made me smile. This wasn't over yet though. My team still had to get here safely. For all I knew I could have walked into a trap. I went invisible again, struggling a little bit to maintain it this time. As I jogged past the 3 soldiers who I'd shot together, I put another paintball round into the chest of the asshole who grabbed me. The three of them were leaning against the wall, talking to each other. It was comical to see them all scramble as he got shot again. I couldn't help myself, I went visible for a second and flipped him off.
"Fuck you too bitch." The guy who I shot gave me the finger as well. I didn't need to be an empath to feel the hate dripping off him as he glared at me. "Just you wait until we're finished."
I didn't have time to turn around and taunt him back. I had no doubt there was going to be a heated exchange when we were finished. I still had a job to do so I couldn't stand there and tell the asshole to bring it on. I kept jogging and came back to the ladder. On my trip around I'd noticed there was only one stairway that lead up from the rooms below. It was directly across the compound from where the ladder was. There was little doubt the rest of the defending team would know things had gone silent up top. They hadn't sent anyone else up here yet, so my guess would be they were going to use the maze of rooms downstairs to their advantage. It was going to be hell to breach. The only advantage we had was the ability to use infrared on my scope. It was useless at long distances as every little thing was visible. But it would be helpful at this distance guiding the team through the maze downstairs once they got down there.
Everything was quiet as my team made their way to me. Nails had been thoughtful enough to grab my jacket that I'd left discarded under the tree. I wasn't feeling the cold at all but I pulled it on knowing full well I was probably half freezing even if I couldn't feel it. Like a well-oiled engine, everyone got into their positions. I took my AWSM off my back and set it up on the wall so I could look down into the vast maze of rooms downstairs. Tapping the button on the side of my scope I peered into the darkness below.
Like any decent team with training, the men below were on the defensive. There were 8 of them down there in teams of 2. They were well spread out but they had every corner of the compound downstairs covered. It was like seeing unmoving outlines as the men down there patiently waited for our team to make the next move. A movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, it was Carson coming to kneel down beside me.
"Is this a bad time to say I'm not fond of heights?" Carson muttered under his breath.
I held back my snort of amusement. Instead of going down the stairs and be sitting ducks in the open the team would use ropes to rappel down below. This side was still well covered and it wasn't going to be an easy breach, but the element of surprise should be on our side. With well-practiced movements, the ropes needed to rappel down were tied off and the first of my team were over the edge. As soon as the first few were down, my attention went to the heat signatures in the closest room.
"2 guys," I murmured. "On your 3 o'clock."
"Copy that."
I couldn't quite make out who it was over the radio. But through the scope, I could see the mass of my team walk carefully to the first room. I could hear the heavy breathing and the whispered commands through my headphones as they came up to the target room. I held my breath as everyone got into position to breach. There was a whispered command and the action was on. It was over as quickly as it began. The sheer number of our team was too overwhelming for only 2 men. It took about 30 seconds for them to clear the room and move onto the next one.
After the excitement of me being first in the building and taken out half the team by myself, it was rather anti-climatic for me to stand up the top and guide them to the next target. The next 2 rooms were cleared in the same fashion and there was a very brief firefight with the remaining guys. Sheer numbers overpowered the last 2 men standing and it was over. An all-clear came over the radio a few seconds later.
We'd kicked the other team's asses. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face as I finally pulled my eye away from my scope. While it felt like hours, it couldn't have been more than 45 minutes since I downed the sniper. It only took another minute before the lights got turned on around the compound. After being in the dark for so long, it felt like my eyeballs were being seared in the sudden brightness. Floodlights lit up the entire outer wall and all the way into the forest. I pulled my helmet off, wiping away the sweat on my face before it frozen there. Now it was all over I could feel the adrenaline start to wear off. My legs and back were burning from the run here. My left hip throbbed where I'd hit the ground after the other guy had grabbed me. But other than the aches and pains, I was relatively unscathed.
"Kari?"
I turned to see the other sniper reach the bottom of the tower. I knew that face and suddenly a name from before clicked in my head. I'd been concentrating on my task at hand before to recognise the nickname.
"Hey Mike," I smiled as he walked over to me. Mike's nickname of Panther should have clicked in my head a bit quicker. He was the sniper on Riley's old SEAL Team. We'd gotten along quite well in our time in Bagram. "It's good to see you."
"You too." Mike pulled me into a hug. My smile grew as I hugged him back tightly. "You look heaps better than when I last saw you. Nice fucking shot too. Where were you?"
"I hope I look heaps better than last time. I was hiding in a tree," I said with a chuckle as we both pulled back from the hug. "I'd almost say the same about your shot, but you missed me by a mile."
"Yeah, yeah." Mike waved off my teasing with a laugh. "How'd you heal up?"
"Still getting there." I wrinkled my nose. By habit, my hand went up to rub my jaw. "I finally get my fucking elastics off next week that are aligning my jaw or so I hope. No permanent damage though."
Movement out of the corner of my eye made me glance over to the stairs. My team and the rest of the other team were walking up. The sound of laughter carried across the night air easily. Despite being losers, there didn't seem to be anyone too upset over getting their asses kicked.
"Good and your friend Natasha?" Mike had noticed the teams coming up too. He motioned towards them as he spoke. I nodded and lifted the AWSM up and started to pack it up. This part of it was always the hardest. Despite being light, after a mission it still felt like it weighed 100 pounds once all the excitement wore off.
"She's back on a mission now too," I explained as I packed up as quickly as possible. "The shot of hers went straight through and missed everything vital. We were both lucky."
"Very lucky," Mike said, raising his eyebrows in mild surprise at my explanation. He patiently waited until I was finished packing up my AWSM before falling into step beside me. "So, how did you land this training exercise?"
"I honestly have no idea," I said with a laugh. "It was well worth my punishment."
"Punishment?"
I took the rest of the walk around to explain the story behind Rumlow and mines prank war and the resulting aftermath of me throwing the flashbang and smoke grenade in the men's shower. Mike was laughing so hard by the time we go to our other teams, he looked close to having tears running down his face. The humour was short lived. As soon as I reached the other ground, I got roughly shoved back a few steps. I looked up to see the guy who'd grabbed me after I shot him.
"Who the fuck do you think you are bringing tech like that into the field?" He spat at me, the venom clear in his voice. His face was a mess from the paintball shot and dried blood from me kicking him in the face. "Fucking SHIELD operatives thinking they can do anything they want."
"Oh stop crying like a little bitch," I growled back, instantly on the defensive. I had enough energy to kick this guy's ass if it came to that. Though it was funny he thought it was some advanced technology that let me do it. Both of the groups had gone silent at our little altercation. "You're just pissed off because you got your ass handed to you by a girl."
I saw the punch coming from a mile away. A blind man could have easily avoided it. My hand went to my belt and unsheathed my knife in a heartbeat. I dodged the punch and had my knife at his throat before he could blink. Time froze as he realised I wasn't fucking around and it was a sharp blade pressed against his throat. It had happened so fast I felt myself go from mildly annoyed to ready to stab the guy in less than a second. My temper went through the roof quicker than it ever had in my life.
My victory was short lived as someone grabbed me around the waist and pulled me away from my attacker. Whoever it was managed to lift me off my feet and drag me back out of reach. Egan from my team had yanked the other guy back out of reach too. It didn't stop me spitting out a few nasty curses. The guy who attacked me called me every derogatory name under the sun as he was pulled back far away from me.
"Okay kids play nice." Someone from the other team stepped between us raising his voice to be heard over our cursing at each other. "Ramirez, fuck off out of sight before she shoots you for real. SHIELD, calm the fuck down."
Ramirez shoved Egan off him and stormed off in the opposite direction.
"Yeah you walk away," I yelled after him, my temper still boiling from our little encounter. "Fucking pussy."
"Okay, let's take you away to cool off." It took a second to realise it was Mike who'd grabbed me and pulled me away. He still had his arms around me and easily lifted me off the ground as he started to walk backwards. It took a few steps before my temper had died down sufficiently to stop struggling in his grip. I hadn't even realised I'd been doing it. Mike wasn't a small guy. Any attempt to get out of his grip was pretty futile.
"I'm good." I let out a long shuddering breath as I stopped struggling. "I promise I won't run off and shove him off the wall."
"You sure about that?" There was a tinge of humour in Mike's voice, though his grip didn't relax.
"Positive." I did another long and slow breath. "He is not worth me being out of the field for the next 3 months and having to teach stupid pilots again."
Mike laughed at my bad attempt at humour as he released me from his iron to my word I didn't pursue the asshole. Luckily for me, Mike seemed to be happy to keep me company. A few guys from my team drifted towards us while we waited for our pick up. It took an hour before the distinctive sound of a Quinjet came from above. I looked up in surprise to see the jet lowering onto the open area around the compound. The tail number was the same one that Clint and I had flown in. Considering it'd been a 10 hour flight and the 3 hours in the bus, Clint had gotten here awfully quickly.
No one wasted any time in getting down to the Quinjet. While it had warmed up slightly, clouds were blowing in thick and fast. It didn't take a meteorologist to know a snowstorm was going to hit us soon. As soon as I got into the Quinjet, I stowed my weapons and went straight to the pilot seat.
"How does it feel to play taxi?" I joked as I gave Clint a nudge. "Move over."
"What?" Clint's mock look of outrage brought a smile to my lips. "No, thank you? No, 'Barton you're the best in the world for teaching me how to kick 200 pound special forces guys asses in one movement'?"
Clint raised his voice so that everyone on the Quinjet could hear him. The only one not laughing at the joke was Ramirez. He shot Clint a dour look before throwing himself down into the chair. In the light of the Quinjet I could see the damage I did to Ramirez's face. In the short time, his nose had swelled up and you could see 2 black eyes spreading across his face. He'd wiped the worst of the paint off his face but there was still a trail of dried blood down from his nose. I'd done a rather good job of making a mess.
"Barton I'm going to kick your 200 pound ass if you don't let me fly." I tried to be stern but there was no stopping the smile growing wider. It was really good to see him be the person to pick us up. "I had to endure 10 hours in a rust bucket which I don't know how to fly. Move."
Clint held up his hands in defeat and climbed out of the pilot seat. He'd barely gotten out of it before I was sliding into his place. My energy levels seemed to have climbed again, giving me a second wind. As soon as everyone was sitting, I lifted off with a lot more speed than was necessary. I felt almost giddy with excitement right now. I had no doubts I'd get a reaming for my little stunt with Ramirez, but tonight had given me a lot of confidence in my abilities. Things were starting to click into place without me over analysing every single little detail. I was moving on muscle memory and instruct rather than waiting for someone to tell me what to do. I felt like I could actually justify my place on STRIKE Team Delta for once.
"I'm a little disappointed you didn't hijack the C-130," Clint teased as he relaxed in the co-pilot seat. He grinned over at me, vaguely looking like a proud parent. "That would have really made things even more interesting than they already were."
"The thought did cross my mind." I returned the grin. "Did my footage keep you amused?"
"If this shit wasn't classified, it'd be going on YouTube," Clint confirmed with a laugh. "Fucking beautiful shot through the trees. The double taps were impressive too."
That was the highest praise coming from Clint. I could feel myself nearly bursting with pride at the compliment.
"You may also be in a bit of trouble," Clint added. Like a pin to a balloon my happy little bubble burst. "I sent the footage to Coulson who unofficially said the jackass deserved it. Officially he asked you to play nicely. But Colonel Smith will probably drag both of you off when we land."
I scrunched my nose up in disgust. At least Coulson wasn't pissed off about my little payback. It wasn't totally unexpected, I'd be naive to believe there wouldn't be some repercussion for shooting someone in the face during a training exercise. Even if he did deserve it.
The flight went by far too quickly for my liking. Clint seemed happy to have someone to talk to. From him describing his own experience, I'm surprised he hadn't been kicked off the base for being a pain in the ass. But he kept me laughing the entire time. The conversations in the back were loud and lively, making it hard to hear over the laughter a few times. Everyone was in high spirits as I landed.
"Hey Lyngley, you coming out drinking?"
It was so loud in the back I didn't catch who it was that asked me.
"Of course I'm coming out drinking," I said with a playful scoff. I opened the ramp, shivering as a blast of cold air came rushing in. "Stupid question. Who's buying me drinks for being so fucking awesome?"
All of a sudden the noise in the back died down immediately and like the Red Sea parting, everyone quickly jumped out of the way. It only took me a second to realise Smith was storming up the ramp looking less than amused. His expression reminded me of Coulson when he was yelling at us in hospital after Pripyat.
"Everyone out. Lyngley, Ramirez, stay."
Smith's firm command left everyone scrambling to get their gear and get off the Quinjet. Clint shot me a sympathetic look as I shut the Quinjet down. In the short time it'd taken to shut down, another middle-aged guy in fatigues had joined Smith in the back of the Quinjet. It didn't take a genius to work out it was Ramirez's commanding officer. Once the last of the engines came to a full stop, I climbed out of my chair and walked to the back. Clint was right on my heels and gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze as I came to stand in front of Smith.
"Sit." Smith jerked his head to the opposite of the Quinjet from where Ramirez was sprawled in his chair.
Ramirez scowled at me as I complied and took a seat. It took a lot of willpower not to go and punch him again. Fuck me this guy had a serious attitude problem. I settled for shooting him a sickly sweet smile instead. Clint stayed standing, crossing his arms over his chest. At least he looked intimidating. Ramirez was actively avoiding looking anywhere near Clint.
"Now," Smith's voice made me look up towards the Colonel. "Ramirez, explain yourself. Lyngley, keep your mouth shut while he does."
I didn't have a problem keeping my mouth shut. Clint was more likely to interject his opinion in this argument than me.
"It's bullshit the other team gets an advantage with something like cloaking tech," Ramirez said darkly, shooting me another foul look. "Where the fuck was our advantage? We had no chance. If this had been real it may as well had been a suicide mission."
I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly went all the way back into my skull. Clint glanced over towards me with a small smirk flitting over his face at my reaction. It was gone as quickly as it came on, but at least Clint was finding this amusing.
"It's not tech," Clint spoke up before I could. "And I don't see a problem with it. We use whats at our disposal. You're SWCC, you should know better than the enemy isn't always going to fight fair."
The Navy Special Warfare Combat Crewmen weren't slouches by any means. These were the guys SEAL's called up when they needed backup. I snuck a glance over to Ramirez's commander. He kept a passive expression except for a mild quirk of an eyebrow at the mention of it not being technology. With SHIELD's reputation of recruiting Enhanced individuals, it wasn't hard to put together what Clint was saying.
"Should have known SHIELD would bring a fucking mutant along," Ramirez spat the word mutant out like it left a bad taste in his mouth. "Did you fuck your way into the ranks there sweetheart?"
"No, I got into STRIKE Team Delta all by myself," I shot back at him, keeping a sweet smile on my face. "Unlike other people, I don't need to suck cock to get ahead in this world."
Ramirez launched himself out of the seat. Before he could get more than a step, his commander shot forward and yanked him back by his kevlar.
"Out." The commander ordered, pointing towards the tarmac. "Now. You and I are about to have a discussion you won't enjoy."
Ramirez gave me one last hate filled look before grabbing his gear and storming off down the ramp. His commander didn't bother to look back at me before falling into step a few paces behind Ramirez. I opened my mouth to make a sarcastic comment about accepting his apology but quickly clicked my teeth back together when Smith levelled me a hard glare.
"I don't give a shit what you use to your advantage," Smith started, his tone leaving no room for me to even think about interrupting. "But you do not put a knife to someone's throat just because he decides to take a swing at you. You may not be military but while you're on my exercise, you play by the rules. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes." I used up the last of my self-control to stop myself rolling my eyes again. His hardened glare at me made me add his title as an afterthought. "Sir."
"Good. Now get the fuck out of my sight until debrief tomorrow."
Smith didn't need to tell me twice. I grabbed my jacket and I was off the Quinjet within seconds. Clint fell into step beside me, looking like he was trying very hard to contain his amusement.
"Drinks?" Clint asked as soon as we were out of earshot.
"Drinks," I confirmed with a nod. I definitely needed a drink or ten to celebrate. Especially if my team was going to be the ones buying me the drinks. It had been a good day.
Authors Note
I know, an update thats not a month from the last one! I love writing kick ass Kari and seeing her grow into her abilities. This chapter really gave me some writing mojo back to the point where I was taking my laptop to work so I can write in my lunchtime. So I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it.
So it's a new year for the team and looking like it's off to a good start. Lets see how long it lasts. I've got some more action coming up soon too, which always makes me happy.
Thank you to anyone who takes the time out of their day to review. It always means a lot to me to see them.
Until next time.