Authors note: this lovely plot bunny has been running around for a while now and ive decided to publish it. Enjoy!
It was the middle of the night when the alarm rang. The evacuation alarm to be exact. Being on a secretive base in the middle of a desert meant that everybody, from the youngest child to the eldest scientist, were well acquainted with the evacuation procedure but that didn't mean it wasn't still a shock. Beatrice James was out of bed and struggling to put on her uniform. A two-piece cat suite allowed for streamline attacks but bloody hell, it was hard to put on. After the infernal struggle was over and her gun strapped to her leg, knives in boots, she haphazardly threw books and tablets into her emergency go-bag; everybody was recommended to have one. All it consisted of was a spare set of underwear, rounds for her glock and emergency rations. Beatrice was ready in under five minutes and she ran out into the hallway of her apartment.
Doors were opened and worried voices could be heard. Voices of her children. With the pack on she went into the closest room, finding the bed unoccupied, go-bag gone and the always present tablet and phone. Beatrice moved to the next room finding all of her spawn there; Kassandra, her eldest at fourteen, and Elijah and Noah, her twin boys at ten years old. Kassandra was already dressed in a hoodie and trackpants with the S.H.E.I.L.D logo on. Her boys on the other hand were still in their pajama's, bleary eyed and whiny.
"Come on boys, we need to be out now. Transport does not wait for slowpokes," Beatrice's tone was harsh, granted, but she wanted her family out of the people and, being top level of the apartment complex, meant she was tasked with knocking on each level to check that everybody was out.
"But mum, it's so early," whined Noah. He was being unhelpful and just sat in his bed. Kassandra, the blessings that she is, had both go-bags prepped with the necessities, including stuff animals. Elijah was struggling to get his clothing and his mother rushed over to help.
"Ra help me. Noah you better get your butt out of that bed and get dressed or I'm dragging you downstairs in your jimmy-jams. Kapeesh?" Beatrice looked at her youngest son with a glare that'd spoke of her truth. If she needed to, she would drag him downstairs. The threat of embarrassment was a strong initiative for the boy to throw himself out of bed. The twins ran to the bathroom and were ready in a minute, looking disheveled in long shorts and t-shirts.
Kassandra looked down at her watch, it'd been five minutes already. Transport should be ready by now and they needed to get out now. Panic was starting to set in as helicopters and loud commanding voices could be heard, the lights of the helicopters streaking through closed blinds. Her mother was usually calm and collected but her harsh attitude towards Noah indicated something was wrong. Mother could smell trouble a mile away and would immediately get her brothers and herself far away as possible. A little extreme but mum had gotten more protective after dad left.
"Mum, we need to go now. I'll grab one of the boys bags," Kassandra reached for one bag whilst her mother grabbed the other and together the family hastily walked out of the apartment, towards the emergency exit.
"Kassandra, please take your brothers down to transport. I'll wait behind and double check that everybody is out. If they force you onto transport without me, stick close to each other and contact me as soon as you can," ordered Beatrice gently. Her kids would always watch out for each other and if she was split up from them, they'd still be safe. Something wicked was happening and it sent a chill onto her neck, hair standing on end. Kassandra quickly took the other bag, looking slightly put out at the weight but the boys couldn't handle it yet. S.H.E.I.L.D was stupid to assign adult bags to children. The kids ran down the stairs, mingling with the other residents whilst Beatrice knocked on every door, checking off the mental list in her head. Some families weren't out yet and a quick sharp order to hurry up was met with disgruntled noises and huffs. Beatrice couldn't help but roll her eyes. A fucking emergency evacuation was being held and yet some people took their bloody time. It took five, painful minutes to make everyone was out and by the time she was out of the building, majority of the transport was gone, her children were gone. She quickly pulled out her phone from her bag and breathed a sigh of relief at the message on the screen:
All safe. Civie trans. Dest. Unknown. Will contact when we stop.
KEN
The text was short and sharp, just enough info to relay that the trio were safe and in hands of agents. Now that they were protected, Beatrice now had to find out what the actual fuck caused a facility wide evacuation. She had an inkling but hoped that she was wrong. Pulling out her walkie -talkie, she quickly turned it onto the right frequency
"Agent Hill, come in?" Beatrice heard nothing. "Agent Hill, do you copy?" Urgency slipped into her voice and that nagging sensation of something was wrong steadily grew.
"I hear you loud and clear, James," replied the voice of Beatrice's superior, Agent Maria Hill. She sounded calm and collected as always.
"Has it finallygone apeshit? Is it why I can't find fucking transport out of here?" They both knew what "it" meant: a cube of unending power, the Tesseract. NeTrice has been jogging for a while now and was near the helicopter pads and was praying to Ra and any other god that there was a chopper waiting for people.
"Yes, it started putting out a shit ton of energy and now it looks like it could explode," Hill sounded worried and rightly so. Beatrice has seen the reports and that cube was fucking scary. As Beatrice mulled over this, there was, thankfully, a helicopter waiting. She jogged over, flashed her badge to the pilot before jumping in and buckling up she grasped a set of headphones in order to speak to the pilot.
"Who we waiting for?" She asked.
"Director Fury, ma'am," he replied. Looks like she'll be sharing with the big boss. She pulled off the headset and went back to her walkie-talkie.
"Hill, I fucking told you that thing isn't safe," she argued. Everybody in S.H.E.I.L.D recognised she had a sort of sixth sense and whenever she made a warning about something, it always came true but when she warned her superiors about messing with the Tesseract, she was brushed off.
"I know, I know, but I'm not sorry for trying to stop researching the Tesseract based on a hunch. You know what higher up is like. Have you found transport yet?" Maria and Beatrice had become friends, best friends even, since the moment they met but they still had to act formal in scenarios such as this one.
"Yeah but it's actually for Director Furry. Can you clear that for me?" She was technically the same level as Coulson in the hierarchy but she couldn't directly talk to the director.
There was a pregnant pause before she heard shouts and gunfire on the com line.
"Shit, James! Get that chopper ready now!" Yelled Hill and Beatrice lulled on the headset, ordering the pilot to prepare for take off before Director Fury was running/limping out of a nearby building and into the chopper. The helicopter was in the air immediately when the floor started to crack and crumble. Suddenly there was a loud boom of an explosion and Beatrice looked down, gasping when she saw the research facility cave in on itself, crumbling down into its lowest level in a fiery inferno.
"Agent James, wasn't expecting you to be here," spoke the director as he glanced briefly in her direction as he closed the door and sat down
"Sorry sir, designated transport was rolling out by the time I cleared my building," she at at attention, ready for any orders he might throw at her. Suddenly, a chill swept through her body making her violently shiver. "What's going on sir?" Fury took note on the state of her. She appeared calm but on edge. He knew about her "sixth sense".
"Some asshole Asgardian decided he'd rather have the Tesseract. Barton and Selvig have been compromised," the helicopter took a sharp turn and headed towards the entrance of the underground complex. Fury unbuckled himself and so did Beatrice as he reached for his gun, quickly reloading it. "We're gonna have to take them out, Agent." Beatrice nodded and checked her glock over quickly before moving to sit next to the Director. A truck came out of the entrance and swerved off the ground as soon as it's occupants noticed the helicopter. A chase was on and Fury slid open the door, firing rounds at the driver. Beatrice also was shooting aiming for tires. The next thing she knows is a bright blue light hitting the chopper, forcing it to dive down. Both Fury and Beatrice jumped out, the Director rolling into a firing position whilst Beatrice landed heavily onto her ankle before rolling. She hissed and swore under her breathe before also shooting at the truck. The man in the back turned and glanced at her. That chill on her neck she had for the entire ordeal left when she looked at him for that briefest moment. Then, the mysterious man and his fellows disappeared in a cloud of dust and darkness. The two agents stood in the field, breathing heavily as adrenaline rushed through their blood. It stopped Beatrice from focusing on her ankle and she could help out trying to rescue the pilot but she knew that adrenaline only numbed the pain and pulling somebody out of a wreckage would worsen her injury. She moved into a sitting position, her injured leg and ankle crossed over her other leg, allowing her to gently remove her boots. She could hear Director Fury issuing orders and breathed a sigh of relief to hear Maria's voice at some point in the conversation. When she looked back down at her ankle, she gave a quiet grown. Inflammation was already there and, after a few gentle proddings, some bruising was definitely gonna come up. Great, a fucking sprained ankle.
"You good there, James?" inquired Fury and she gently nodded.
"Yes, sir. Just a sprained ankle. Gonna need a bandage and I should be fine," she twisted around to search for her bag, hoping she had tossed it out when they jumped but it wasn't anywhere in sight. It was in the chopper and probably destroyed. "Fuck," she muttered and trued to gently replace her sock and boots. She didn't know how long it'd take for help to come and they needed that pilot out.
"Cavalry will be here soon, Agent. Keep off the ankle. I'll need you in the front lines if all shit hits the fan," ordered Fury and Beatrice nodded her agreement. She stretched out her leg and leaned back, arms supporting her. It wasn't long till she could see distant lights of helicopters and and hear the thrum of a few land vehicles.
This night fucking sucked.
Kassandra was on edge.
As soon as her brothers and herself made it out of the building, they were corralled into the back of a truck along with other kids and a few adults. Only one official agent was in the truck and as soon as he gave the all clear, the vehicle was on the move. They were separated from their mum. Noah and Elijah snuggled into her sides, their bags discarded on the floor. The night had been rough, the base in a state of distress way before the evacuation alarm went off. She'd seen it in her mother's anxious shoulders, the worried lip and the constant checking of her tablet. What ever was going on was bad.
The ride was rough even with smooth tarmac under the wheels. The seats where unbeatable uncomfortable and a few people smelt like they hadn't washed in days. Kassandra wasn't a snob but she did like personal hygiene, the hour she spends each morning in the bathroom a testimony to that statement.
"Kassie, where are we going?" asked Noah. He looked up at her with doe like eyes. "Where's mummy?"
"I don't know, little dude," she replied gently, a hand gently carding through his hair. She was used to this, the sudden changes. All of her life she'd move about lightly. One secure facility to the next. Friends were hard to make and keep in touch with but a majority of the other teenagers on the bases where in the same scenario so that made life easier. Elijah had settled down quickly and was lightly dosing when a boom was heard and orange light was casted into the back of the truck.
The convoy of evacuation vehicles were, thankfully, miles away from the facility when it exploded but that didn't make it more horrifying and threatening. The younger children wailed and it took a lot of effort to get everybody in a state of anxious calm.
"Please be safe, mum. We can't lose you too," whispered the young girl and she pulled her brothers in closer and stared at the destruction in the distance.