Chapter 32

"Have you ever thought about what you wanted to do with your life?"

"Muh?" Frankie looked at her dining companion with a mouth full of meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

"I mean, surely you aspire to be something other than a stripper?"

Swallowing her food, she corrected him, "exotic dancer."

Clint ignored it, "didn't you want to be something more?"

She snorted, "I never finished school and I grew up on the streets. The only thing I ever aspired to be was warm, safe, and not hungry."

"Really? You never wished for something more?"

"Of course, I did. Everyone from the streets does. We all want to hit it big, so we don't have to hustle anymore. Win a huge pot gambling. Find a sugar daddy with bottomless pockets. My personal favorite is finding a suitcase full of money."

Frankie knew she was irritating him by deliberately missing his point, but she really didn't want to discuss her deepest desires either. She had them buried so deep that she barely realized they were there most of the time. Sometimes, when she was in a funky, melancholy mood, she would stumble across them like an old photo album abandoned in the attic, dust them off, and flip through them, reliving a time when she was less jaded, less damaged, still able to hope and dream.

Turning the question back on him, she asked, "what about you? When you were a kid, did you dream about being part of something like this?"

"You're deflecting."

"Am I?" she took another big bite of food and looked at him with big innocent eyes.

He sat back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, considering.

"My parents were killed in a car accident, leaving me and by little brother alone in the world. We were sent to an orphanage to live. It wasn't too bad as far as orphanages go, I guess."

Yeah, thought Frankie, you get a roof over your head and regular meals, but that's about all.

"While we were there, I was always worried about protecting Barney from the bullies. I was the big brother, that was my job. At least, that's how I saw it. I guess I saw myself growing up and becoming my father. I never knew what he did, except that he always dressed in a suit and tie, left for work every morning, came home every evening, and had the weekends to spend with us. While he was alive, it seemed like the most boring life ever, but in the orphanage…," he stopped and shrugged. "Boring turned into stability. Home. Something to call my own."

"That's what I've always wanted: a family to call my own." He looked off into the distance, his eyes not seeing the cafeteria anymore, "I did a great job screwing that up."

"They're not gone," she told him. "Your family has changed, true. As long as they're alive, you still have them. You just have to fight for them. I know there isn't anything I wouldn't do to save Rory."

She stopped, holding her breath, but he didn't seem to have noticed her slip. Instead he swallowed and nodded before returning his attention to her.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm not fighting hard enough, but I'm needed here right now."

"Are you sure? Or are you using it as an excuse?"

"I'm not using it as an excuse," he frowned at her.

"No? The planet isn't under attack and there's no supervillain threatening the extinction of humanity. What exactly is so important here that's worth losing your family over? You should be with them right now, not sitting here babysitting a lost cause like me."

"You're not a lost cause."

"That's beside the point. Even if I turn to the dark side of the force, I'm never going to be a big enough threat to warrant the attention of the Avengers. Leave it to some street-level suped-up hero to chase me around."

"I think you're underestimating yourself."

"Nope," she told him. "I'm just a fuck up that's never going to be more than a thorn in someone's side. Just pluck me out and let me go torment some other hero."

He grinned.

"What?"

"You just called me a hero."


Friday morning, Frankie was up and dressed early. This was it. Today she was getting out of here and back to Rory. She wasn't completely comfortable with her assignment to help plant a listening device before her extraction, but how much harm could it do? Like she had told Clint by accident, there wasn't anything she wouldn't do to save Rory, and in order to do that, she had to be back at the Hydra facility.

She felt a pang of guilt at the thought of the archer. Despite her best intentions to maintain her hostility towards him, he had kind of grown on her over the past week. Talking to him and listening to his story had softened her attitude. She could see how the loss of his family during the blip could drive him to do the things he did. It didn't excuse his actions, but still, would she had acted any differently? As a matter of fact, she hadn't. It was that more than anything that made her regret her actions. It didn't matter that her actions had set into motion the chain of events that led to her finding Rory alive. She had done some pretty sketchy shit in her life, but never anything that she really regretted, and now, feeling this new emotion unnerved her.

Maybe that's why she was feeling on edge this morning about her forthcoming escape. There was something about it that just didn't feel right. A thousand little needles pricked the edge of her consciousness telling her not to do it. But she had to get out of here and back to the facility if she wanted to have any chance of getting Rory out safely. Telling herself that resolutely, she ignored the feeling and waited for what was to come.

Laura wasn't the agent that took her to breakfast, and she was afraid to ask the reserved young man that escorted her about the other agent. The others at the campus had gotten used to her presence in the cafeteria and no longer stopped to stare whenever she walked in. This morning, though, one did: Laura. She was sitting at a table with two other agents. She met Frankie's eyes from across the cafeteria and gave an almost imperceptible nod. Frankie bobbed her head slightly in acknowledgement.

After breakfast, she had a couple hours to wait, not something she was good at, but luckily, she had the tablet to help her while away the time. The night before she had scoured her room and bathroom for anything she might use during her escape. Apart from a toothbrush and hairbrush, there wasn't anything other than furniture and her clothes in the room. They hadn't even trusted her with a razor to shave her legs and pits.

She figured she could use the toothbrush to jab an attacker. It might not penetrate, but it would hurt like hell. And if she went for the eyes, it would be even more effective. She hoped it didn't come down to a situation where she had to defend herself with nothing more than a toothbrush, but you never could tell. Better safe than sorry.


At 10:15, there was a discrete knock on her door, before Laura stuck her head in.

"Ready?"

"Yep," she replied, standing.

Laura and the young agent that had taken her to breakfast waited for her in the hall. Frankie didn't know if the other agent was in on everything, so she just said nothing as the three of them started down the hall.

"Jordy," Laura said to him, "I've got this. Why don't you go ahead and head for the range? That way, you can warm up a little before Kegan arrives. You know, get the jitters out of your system."

Jordy smiled, "thanks. I need all the help I can get. I barely passed the qualifications last year and I haven't got in nearly enough practice lately."

"None of us have," Laura smiled. "Go on. I'll see you afterwards."

She didn't say anything as Jordy took off, leaving them alone. Once he had pushed through the double doors at the end of the hall and they shut behind him, she turned to Frankie.

"Okay, so you know what you're supposed to do?"

Frankie shrugged, "meet this chick at the server room, help her plant a bug, then get the hell out of there without being detected. Pretty basic."

Laura nodded, "there's going to be a distraction so you can get out of the building and to the extraction point."

"Which is where?"

"You'll be with Izzy, so you don't need the location."

"What if we're separated for some reason," Frankie reasoned. "I need to be able to get there on my own."

"Okay, there'll be a craft on the river. It will only surface for a few minutes, then it will leave with or without you."

"Good to know," she nodded. "Don't screw around or I'll get left behind."

"Yep," Laura pushed open one of the doors and peeked out. "Okay, you're clear. The server room is down the first hall on the right, forth door on the left. Izzy should already be there. Go!"

Without any other warning, Laura pushed her through the doors and shut them behind her. Frankie stood frozen for just a heartbeat, then took off as quick as she could down the hall.

The server room was exactly where Laura had told her, and the door was unlocked. Slipping inside, she breathed a sigh of relief that nobody had seen her. The cold air of the room hitting her like a plunge into an artic lake.

"It's about time you showed up."

The dark-haired woman, Izzy, stepped out from behind the server bank.

"I got here as soon as Laura turned me loose," she replied. "Where's the device?"

Izzy held it up. It looked like just any other computer device. In her other hand was another device, with a button on it that she casually pushed. The lights in the server room immediately went off then red, emergency lights came on. Outside in the hall, Frankie could hear an alarm. She had been betrayed! Panicking, she turned back towards the door to make a mad dash of it.

"No!" Izzy grabbed her arm.

Frankie swung around to strike her, but she released her hold and backed away with her hands held up.

"That's the diversion," Izzy explained.

"You could have warned me," Frankie snapped.

"Come on, help me figure out where to put this thing."

Shaking off her shock, Frankie joined her as they went down the row between the racks of humming electronics that made up the campus server. Frankie looked on one side of the aisle while Izzy took the other.

"It has to go into an output or input cable?"

"Either."

"Here, I found a good one. It's hidden behind this bundle and tucked behind the frame," she motioned Izzy over.

"Where?" the other woman asked, leaning down to look.

"There," Frankie pointed, standing back.

Izzy leaned farther in and her shirt rode up to expose the waistband of her pant and the pistol she had tucked into it. Frankie tensed. Maybe this was what her subconscious had been trying to warn her about. There was literally no reason for her to be here. Izzy no more needed her help than the Hulk needed sunscreen. She pulled her toothbrush out of her waistband and palmed it.

"Oh, I see it," Izzy's voice. "I don't think I can get to it, though." She stood back and held out the device to Frankie, "here, you do it. It just snaps around the cable."

Frankie took it, "okay. Why don't you go check the door and make sure nobody's out there? That way, we can make a run for it once I get this installed."

Izzy nodded, "okay, but hurry. We don't want to miss our ride." She turned on her heal and headed for the door.

"No, we don't," Frankie muttered and bent down to reach into the recesses of the rack. Teasing out the cable she wanted, she snapped the device on it, then shove the cable back into the heart of the bundle, tucking the entire wad of cables back behind a shelf support. Taking a deep breath, she extracted herself from the server, stood up straight, and looked towards the door.

Catching movement from the opposite side in the corner of her eye, she swung that direction as Izzy raised the pistol to point it at her.

"Glenda says hi," the other woman said as she lined up the sights.

Not giving her a chance, Frankie lunged at her, swinging the toothbrush like a knife and her other arm to knock the gun aside. The shot rang out as the bullet flew wildly and struck a wall as Izzy dropped the gun, letting it clatter onto the floor and slide away from them. Her toothbrush slammed into Izzy's ribs and snapped in two. But it had done its job. Izzy doubled over in pain, clutching her side.

"You fucking bitch!" she hissed through her clenched teeth.

Frankie lunged after the gun but collided with a server as Izzy barreled into her. Both women fell with Frankie on bottom and Izzy straddling her. Izzy punched her in the face with a glancing blow. The woman had obviously never hit someone with her fist before. Frankie grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled hard to the side hoping to pull her off.

But Izzy wasn't completely inept, she brought her elbow down hard on Frankie's bad shoulder. Pain exploded through her and she released her grip on Izzy's hair. The other woman used her freedom to reach for the gun laying just a few feet away.

Frankie twisted her body and shoved Izzy off her, then scrambled for the gun. Izzy, taking a cue from her, grabbed her by the ponytail and jerked her back, bringing more tears to her eyes. Her nose was smashed into the floor as she was climbed over, and Izzy's knee dug painfully into her still tender ribs. Two can play that game, she thought, digging the jagged remains of the toothbrush into the same spot she had jabbed it. That earned her a knee to her face.

She grabbed Izzy using the waist of her pants as leverage to try to pull her away from the gun. Izzy started kicking wildly, landing solid blows on Frankie. With her eyes squeezed shut to protect them, she yanked hard on Izzy. The floor was smooth and slick, so Izzy slid readily across it until they were almost face to face again.

Frankie missed the gun in Izzy's hand until it came down across the bridge of her nose. This woman was kicking her ass, but she was damned if she was going to get shot. Izzy started to lean back to bring the weapon to bear and Frankie wrapped one arm around her to hug her close and grabbed for the gun with her free hand. The two women struggled together on the floor, each trying to get leverage against the other. It didn't help Frankie that she was using her right hand to try to keep Izzy's arms stretched out over her head. Izzy was slowly getting the upper hand as her shoulder throbbed painfully from the blow to the barely healed gunshot wound.

Frankie knew she had to do something before her arm gave out. Releasing her grip around Izzy, she grabbed the gun with her left hand and used her momentum to slam it down hard with Izzy's hand between it and the hard floor. Both women froze in shock was the pistol fired at the impact, their eyes wide.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Frankie shoved Izzy away from her and scrambled to her feet. Running to the door, expecting to be shot any second, she threw it open and rushed out into the hall.

Right into Ruby. Both women went down in a pile.

"Oh!" Ruby breathed. "Are you okay?"

Frankie ignored her question, got to her feet, and continued her mad dash away from the server room.

"Hey!" Ruby yelled after her, but she turned a corner and could see the exit ahead.

Out that door she barreled. And collided with another person. This time neither went down.

"God damnit!" Frankie spat as she tried to free herself from the other.

"Frankie!" Dr. Raynor shook her slightly.

She shoved the doctor and backed away, "are you here to finish the job?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Raynor asked. "And where are your escorts?"

"You should know," she spat, still backing away, angling around the edge of the building. "You're the one that orchestrated it."

Raynor looked around, then stepped forward to grab Frankie's arm again, "you need to get back to your room before you blow everything."

Frankie looked at her dumbly, "this isn't you?"

"Would I be here asking you what the hell is going on if it was?"

"Then Glenda has people here working against you. Agent Watson for one."

Raynor, looked over her shoulder and steered Frankie around the edge of the building where they were partially hidden. "How do you know about Watson?"

"She's been on my guard detail. She told me a rescue was set up right after you told me something was in the works. I assumed she was with you."

"What happened?"

Frankie quickly filled her in with the details ending with the submersible waiting at the river.

"I would say our cover is blown with all the alarms going off," the doctor muttered. "Let's see if your ride out of here is still waiting."

Frankie jerked back, "no fucking way! If it was set up by Glenda, then it's a trap too."

"Not necessarily since Izzy was supposed to have killed you first. They probably just know they're picking up an operative."

"I don't know if I'm willing to take that chance," Frankie shook her head.

"Well, I am," Raynor told her. "I can't stay here now. The plans I was working on to get us out of here are blown to shit now. This might be your only chance."

When Frankie still hesitated, she went on, "I'll go first, if that makes you feel any better, but we have to go now."

Leaving Frankie to either follow her or stay, Raynor started picking her way towards the river.

"Shit, shit, shit," Frankie bent over and took as deep of a breath as she could with her throbbing ribs. Blood dripped from her nose onto the bare ground by her feet. Swiping at it with her sleeve, she hurried after the doctor.

The submersible was hard to miss, floating just a few feet away from the muddy bank. Sleek and shining brightly in the sun, it shown like a spotlight.

"Not exactly subtle is it?" Frankie asked Raynor.

"What did you expect?" the doctor shot back at her as she waded into the river.

Frankie followed her, her feet sinking deep into the muddy bottom. She quickly lost a shoe and wondered if the doctor's heels were lost also. The bottom dropped suddenly and both women swam the last several feet. A hatch on the top of the craft popped open at their approach.

"Identify yourselves," a man demanded.

"Christina Raynor and Frankie Cabrini," Raynor called out.

"You're not who I'm supposed to pick up!" he called back.

"Laura Watcon," Raynor got out before she got a mouth full of river water and choked. She was having a hard time treading water.

"Yeah."

"They're not coming," Frankie spoke for Raynor. "But the Commander will be pleased that you got us."

The guy disappeared, probably to ask for orders. Frankie took advantage of his absence and shoved Raynor up on the craft.

"Get in there and get him under control," she told the doctor.

Raynor didn't argue with her, grabbing the edge of the hatch and hauling herself out of the water. Frankie observed with amusement that both her shoes were missing. Once the doctor was wiggling through the hatch, Frankie heaved herself up onto the smooth surface of the craft. When Raynor disappeared, she swung her feet over into the opening.

"Frankie!"

She turned and looked at Clint standing on the bank, arrow drawn and aimed at her.

The two stared at each other for a long moment, neither moving. Then he lowered the bow.

"Don't do this."

She shook her head, "I have to. You don't understand."

"Understand what? That everything you've said was all bullshit?"

"No, it was all the truth, but there's something I never told you." The look of disappointment on his face made her heart hurt.

A hand grabbed her foot, "come on, Frankie. We have to get out of here now!"

She looked back at Clint then blurted the truth, hoping he would understand, "Rory isn't dead. He's with Hydra. I have to get him away from them! I couldn't save him before, but I can now."

Then she slid into the submersible and pulled the hatch closed behind her.