It was hard enough managing to get her hands on files, but it was even harder trying to find time to sit down and actually go through them. Usually they held no importance to her, just containing information she already knew and had read many times before. Something was out there though in one of the files she just hadn't got her hands on yet, but she'd find it eventually. She'd come too far and gone through too much to not keep searching.
Music was filling her apartment as she continued reading the files, her legs kicked up on the desk in front of her. As she read over the same information for the tenth time, her eyes almost fell closed when someone knocked at her door. Jess threw the files down onto the table, yawning as she walked over to open her door to one of her neighbors.
''Hi,'' she smiled, unaware of the woman's name.
There was quite a negative stigma attached to young people moving into apartment buildings and causing havoc with wild parties and chaos, and since Jess was only just 20 years old and had only lived in the building for a few months, the residents were still quite wary.
''I can hear your music blaring through my apartment next door,'' the woman folded her arms. ''You're not the only one in this building,''
''Oh, I didn't realize it was that loud I would have-''
''Well it is, please keep it down,'' the woman shook her head disapprovingly before walking away.
Jess watched the woman make her way back to her own apartment, making a mental note of those who clearly didn't like her. She couldn't have been the only person in this building who played music at a reasonable level and was younger than 25, but it didn't bother her too much. However she realized the music must have been louder than she thought when she turned it off and realized her phone had been ringing, buzzing against the desk it sat on. I was an unknown number, but she had a good idea of who it would be.
''Did you get the files?'' the man's voice asked.
''I did, and they're pretty useless,'' she sighed. ''I need something better. I've read over the same stuff too much,''
''I can't get anything bigger than that. I don't exactly have a high level security clearance in this place,''
''Zac, I only asked you to do this because you can actually get into that place, you've got access to whatever files you want,''
''No I don't, I don't have any clearance-''
''I showed you how to get into it without clearance and without a trace of you doing it,'' she reminded him.
''I can't do it like that, this place is designed for security. You won't even tell me what it's about or why you need it, how am I supposed to explain that if I get caught?''
Jess groaned and tilted her head back onto the back of the couch. She didn't blame Zac for being cautious, but she'd been searching to answers for too long to have his fear of getting caught stop her now. She had no plans to involve him in her reasons for needing the information, but she knew she wouldn't be able to give him any more encouragement over the phone. He lacked the fast-paced skills that Jess had with computers when it came to hacking into something without anyone noticing.
''I'll do it then,'' she shook her head. ''If you're sure you can't do this, or you're too worried about getting caught, then find a way to get me in there and I'll do it myself, okay?''
Zac was quiet for a moment.
''They run security checks on everyone who comes through the door,'' he warned.
''Then make sure that they don't. Come on Zac, you do have some authority there you know, you just need to start using it. Make up a story or cause a diversion so I can get past security. I don't know, I don't work there, but do you think you can do that?''
''I think I can,'' he assured her. ''Look, I'm sorry I can't get any of the files you want,''
''It's fine, I guess I'd be a bit on edge if I worked in a place like that too, don't worry about it. Just call me when you can get me in, okay?''
''I will, definitely,''
''Oh and Zac,'' she remembered. ''If you find out anything about some operations that seem a little off or something, let me know won't you?''
''I thought you had your own way of finding that out?''
''I do, I just don't think I'm getting all of it. I'll talk to you soon,''
Jess hung up the phone and tossed it back onto the couch as she ran her hands over her face. Getting into SHIELD Headquarters wasn't going to be easy.
Natasha looked over to Steve who sat in the passenger seat of her car, noticing how he kept staring at he list in in his hands. The same one he was always looking at and adding to every time someone mentioned something worth catching up on, which happened the be a lot of things. He crossed out two things on the list and looked over the others one more time before putting the notepad back into his pocket.
''Have you wrote down my suggestion yet?'' she asked with a smirk on her lips.
''Your suggestion?''
''Yeah, to get a date,'' she reminded him.
''Oh yeah, that's at the top of my list. After missing almost the last 70 years, getting a date is definitely the thing that's most important to me right now,''
Natasha rolled her eyes.
''It wouldn't be such a bad thing to go on a harmless date, have some fun for once,''
Steve looked out the window as the car rolled to a stop outside of his apartment building. Natasha watched and waited for him to open the car door, feeling the chill in the air from the cold night.
''Hey Steve,''
They both looked up to see the girl walking by the car, a polite smile on her face.
''Oh hey Jess. A bit late to be hitting the gym don't you think?'' he asked when he noticed her backpack on and her clothing.
''It's the only time I have to train, gotta beat you on that morning run somehow,'' she told him as she turned, walking backwards as if in a hurry. ''Be prepared Rogers!''
Steve chuckled as she began jogging away. Natasha didn't get a good look of her face thanks to the hood Jess was wearing, but she watched as the girl hurried away, knowing they'd mos likely meet like this again.
''So that's Jess,'' Natasha looked over to Steve. ''Bit young for you I think,''
Steve shook his head as he stepped out of the car.
''Yes that's Jess, the kid I try to look out for, the one I said is more like a little sister or something, not a date,'' he lectured as he pulled on his jacket.
''How old did you say she was?''
''She's 20 and she's got no one else here, just like me,''
''Right, understanding the brother-sister relationship thing a bit more now,'' she nodded. ''I'll see you tomorrow,''
Jess made sure she jogged casually away from her building, but when she saw her chance, she turned down a long alley way and changed her pace into a sprint. It had been over a week since she had told Zac to let her know about any operations SHIELD had going on that didn't seem right. Normally, SHIELD involved themselves in bigger issues such as large conspiracies, assassination attempts, things that involved bigger groups or bigger names. However, since Jess had been able to start monitoring their actions due to a complex system that had taken her a while to rely on, she noticed they were involving themselves in smaller things. Things that could be taken care of with a simple call to the police. But when SHIELD sent in a team or an agent to do something so small, it was an indication that they were hiding something, and that's what she was looking for.
Jess knew very well how SHIELD liked to cover up their actions no matter if they were for good or bad. People who got too close were taken care of in many different ways, but she'd learnt how to evade them and hide herself. She wasn't afraid of SHIELD even though she had good reason to be. She just wanted answers and she knew that they were hiding them. SHIELD wasn't protecting the world from danger, they were just hiding it.
The next morning Jess woke up to her phone buzzing loudly on her bedside table. She groaned in anger at the noise, rolling over and sitting up to answer the call from the private number.
''What?'' she yawned.
''Oh, did I wake you up?'' Zac asked. ''It's like two in the afternoon-''
''What's up?'' she asked again in an annoyed tone, cutting him off.
''Did everything go alright last night?''
''Oh yeah, it went great. You sent me into an op that didn't even involve SHIELD. A bunch of guys standing outside some shipping containers looking really confused. Suspicious, yeah, but no SHIELD,''
''No, that was a SHIELD operation, I'm sure of it. Trust me, I went through a lot to get that, it wasn't even in the records, but it was a SHIELD op for sure,''
Jess thought to herself for a moment, running her hand through her messy hair as she threw her legs off the bed and walked over to the couch to pick up the piece of paper she had wrote the details on.
''Wait, it wasn't on the records?'' she asked. ''How'd you get this then?''
''It was written in some journal thing I found in one of the offices, but I only looked at that one operation,''
''Are you serious? You went through someone's journal in a SHIELD office? Man, I know I told you to get me some information but don't go too far Zac, I don't want you to lose your job or something,''
Or worse, she thought.
''It was only in the office across from mine, just sitting there on one of the desks. I wouldn't go looking for it or break into anything, I didn't even think it was something important until I seen that operation scheduled in,''
Jess looked over the words she'd written down. The address, the time, no details, but it was written up like any other SHIELD operation.
''You couldn't possibly get into the operations system could you?'' she wondered.
''Um, that's gonna be a definite no. Do I need to remind you that this place is designed for security?''
It didn't make sense. If that was a SHIELD operation, they wouldn't have left those men standing around with weapons and looking extremely suspicious. If it was a SHIELD mission, she would have seen them. She had dropped by enough of their covert missions to know what to look out for and signs of where the agents would be, and last night there was nothing, no sign of SHIELD agents.
''Since when does SHIELD write their operations in a journal. I thought they were big on the whole privacy and secrecy thing,''
''I don't know, I don't work the operations,'' Zac answered, knowing he was getting into dangerous territory.
''Unless they're hiding something,''
''Okay, I probably shouldn't get involved in this if you're gonna get into some SHIELD conspiracy spiel again,''
Jess threw the paper to the ground then, thinking to herself for another moment. It didn't seem right to have a SHIELD operation going on and having it documented in a journal just laying around one of the offices. It may have been something small or just a misunderstanding, but Jess didn't trust SHIELD or how they worked at all.
''Zac, I need to come in and get some information as soon as possible, okay? Think you can get me in something during this week? Preferably tomorrow?'' she asked in a nice, polite voice which she only used when asking for a favor.
There was a pause on the other line for a moment.
''I'll see what I can do,''
This will get a lot more interesting as the next chapter comes out, and Steve will be included way more once I get things started. You probably have a lot of questions about who Jess is and what her motives are, but I promise it'll all come out eventually and everything she's doing will make much more sense. Anyway, I hope you're still interested in reading on and finding out what's going on. PLEASE REVIEW - I'd love to hear from you guys and if you're liking the story, thanks!
Also, feel free to review with a guess about what you think Jess in involved in or what her motives are ;)