Chapter Two
The voices grew loud, dissonant. Carly had studied her local lingo, no agent should know any fewer than 4 languages.
"We attack while they are weak," said a large man in fatigues, balding, greasy.
"No," said another, a young man, a gorgeous man, clean-shaven with a strong chin and defiant eyes. "This is not our mission."
The large man laughed. "Your missions. We are men, are we not? We will attack."
"We are not terrorists."
The large man walked up to the defiant one. "We must strike them where they are vulnerable. Send a message"
"I will not allow it. It could ruin everything."
The two men circled each other. The large man struck, clubbing the defiant one with his rifle butt. The young man fell. Carly gasped. The large man kicked his opponent, then waved to the rest of the troops. They loaded up their jeeps and drove off.
Another man had stayed behind and was helping the injured man up. Carly released a breath. She could easily stop those jeeps and make them pay, but like the young man, she insisted on staying on her mission. The injured man fit the general description of who she was looking for, might match some of the blurry images she'd seen.
The stricken man got to his feet. He pushed his fellow away, shaking his head. Blood dripped from his scalp, obscuring his handsome features. He struck out on his own wobbly feet, some manly-pride thing. He checked some instruments to get his bearings, stashed them, then headed straight toward Carly.
Carly froze. She'd gotten too close. The man walked up to her, eyes on the forest floor. Carly looked around. If she moved now, he'd spot her, and then what? She stayed as still as a tree.
The handsome man kept approaching. His fellow called, "Where you going?"
He stopped in front of Carly and spit on the ground. "Where the fuck is she?" He fumbled with his pants, and pulled out his—
"Oh, hell no," cried Carly. "You're not peeing on me!"
Too late. She'd never seen a man run and piss before. She sighed. Mission ruined. And wouldn't Hydra have a laugh when they found out why.
He stopped and turned, quickly zipping up his pants, eyeing. "Pardon, pardon, Green Monster. We did not know it was you. I did not see you there."
Carly withdrew her vines and stepped away from his drippings. "Be more careful."
"My god," said the man's companion. "That is not Green Monster."
Great. Guns whipped out, shouting. "Who are you?"
Carly looked around. The energy of the forest filled her veins. She grabbed the spirit of the countless tendrils around her, ready to strike. "I am called Wild Flower." Her tendrils shot out, wrapped around their weapons, and snatched them away.
The men screamed and turned to run, but her vines tripped them up. She walked over, bent down to the man caught in her grasp. His head wound was deep, and swelling had begun. Eyes were dilated, uneven. He needed a hospital.
Instead, Carly knelt next to him. "The man who hit you. What will he do?"
Her prey was speechless. Carly tightened the vines. "What will he do?"
The man swallowed. "He will destroy the government compound. He is mad. He wants nothing more than destruction. We just want change, fairness. He wants death. He wants to lure the government forces in here to face the Green Monster."
"And what will this Green Monster do?"
"She will tear them apart, limb from limb. Nothing can stop her."
Which was worse, the angry dude who'd clubbed this man or this Green Monster? Carly touched his forehead, letting her healing power close his wound and stop the swelling. Not one bit more than was absolutely needed, she'd learned that the hard way. He had a broken rib and wounded lung. She pressed her hand against his side, healing the rib.
If he was telling the truth, then she needed to meet this so-called Green Monster. Could that be Hydra's interest in all this?
"Take me to the Green Monster," she told them.
They tried to escape but she simply grasped them with her vines. They relented and led her through the woods, among the beautiful birds and moss-covered boles.
The previously wounded introduced himself. "José." He stuck out a hand.
"Carly."
He shook her shrubs. "And you're a superhero."
"Something like that." Super Villain.
"So much fighting here. Are you here to help?"
"I'm here," she said, dumbest thing ever. But he smiled back at her.
"My friends will never believe me. Can you do something, leave something behind so they'll know you were here?"
"Like a crop circle? Or a giant mushroom?"
"Sure."
"How about this?" Carly lifted the man with a vine and deposited him on top of a tree. "How's that? Will they believe you now?"
