Chapter 2
LOCATION : CLASSIFIED
DATE : 20 DAYS SINCE CHITAURI ATTACK
TIME : 2330 Hrs
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters was dark as Agent Maria Hill walked along its deserted corridors. She had a definite purpose in mind. She descended the stairs that led her into the interrogation rooms in the base. She walked directly towards the doors where Agent Sitwell was waiting.
"Director Fury is already inside", he said as she approached.
"Has she revealed anything yet?", Agent Hill asked.
"Not as far as I know. Agent Ramanoff is with her as we speak", he replied as they walked inside.
The room was circular and dimly lit. In the center sat a girl. She had a dirty blond hair and pale green eyes. The girl must have had a rough time. Her clothes were torn, her hair a mess and she was covered with bruises and riddled with mud. Her eyes were cast down, tears and she was staring intently at her torn shoes.
Fury was leaning against the wall while Ramanoff sat opposite to her and was speaking to her in a soft voice.
As Hill moved closer to them, she could hear the Black Widow use her best consoling voice to calm the girl down. She looked up as Hill sat next to her. Up close Hill could see tear tracks down her chin.
"You need to tell us everything that happened or we won't be able to help you", Agent Ramanoff said.
The girl only sniffed in response and her lips started trembling again. It seemed difficult for her even to speak.
Maria Hill sighed in exasperation. They didn't have time for this.
"Okay, let us start from the beginning. Can you tell us your name?", Hill asked.
"J-June Summers", the girl stuttered. She is talking again. Progress.
"Ms. Summers, what do you do?".
"I-I'm an a-artist. I-I go to art s-school".
"Good Ms. Summers, now can you tell us what happened tonight?", she asked.
The girl started crying again. Great.
"Ms. Summers, look at me", Hill said forcefully.
She looked up hesitantly. Maria softened her voice. "June, something terrible happened to you today. We know that. But unless you say anything we can't help you. Now be strong tell us what happened. I promise we will let you rest after this. You will be safe here", she said.
It took another good ten minutes of convincing on both the Agents' part before the girl talked.
"My friend J-Jake and I-I work in a restaurant. The s-shift ended late. I-It was d-dark outside but we are u-used to it. W-we were taking a s-short cut in the a-alley and then t-there was this noise b-behind us. I turned b-back and there was this...this thing standing and staring at me. I was t-terrified and ran. D-Didn't look back. W-when I turned back I saw that thing pull a p-pointy s-stuff and then zap and J-Jake was... J-Jake was ... just gone. I s-screamed and then s-suddenly it v-vanished. Oh god it was h-horrible", the girl broke down into uncontrollable sobs. When they realized she won't be talking again for some time, they left her there and went outside.
"Sounds like a bad sci-fi movie", Sitwell commented.
"I would have agreed with you Agent Sitwell had we not faced an alien invasion less than a month ago", Director Fury replied.
"You believe her?", Agent Hill asked.
"Our analysts were able to pull a CCTV footage. It was grainy but I correlates what the girl says. She had initially gone to the cops. But we got wind of what is happening and brought her here for questioning", Agent Ramanoff replied.
"So that 'thing' the girl said. Was it one of the Chitauri army?", Sitwell asked.
"We don't know. But what we do know is without the Tesseract the aliens should not be able to come here. If the portal is opening randomly in the earth, we are in big trouble", the director replied.
Just then the panic alarm started blaring.
LOCATION : SOMEWHERE IN NEVADA
DATE : 21 DAYS SINCE CHITAURI ATTACK
TIME : 0100 Hrs
It was supposed to be a direct mission. When had it all gone to hell? Clint couldn't help but wonder as he jumped over yet another building. He ducked just in time to avoid another hit from the laser light. That was too close for comfort. He had sent the panic alarm minutes ago, so S.H.I.E.L.D should be sending backup soon. But until then he was on his own.
He had run out of arrows a long time ago. In his defense, if he knew that Chitauri would pay a visit again so soon, he would have bought his entire load. And Natasha, and Captain America, and Iron Man, and Hulk, in that order. Too bad Thor is in Asgard.
He was running out of roofs to jump over. He needed a back up plan soon. Just as he was about to take a chance and jump from the building to ground twelve feet below, he spotted the quinjet. Well Natasha is here.
Back in the jet, Natasha started firing as soon as she saw the Chitauri army. She could also see Clint in the edge of a tall building and out of arrows. Idiot.
She moved as close as she could without breaking fire and opened the entrance to the jet.
Clint took a massive jump and just managed to enter when she closed and sped out of the place.
"Aren't we going to do something about them", Clint asked pointing at the Chitauri as he joined her at the pilot cockpit.
"We aren't doing anything. S.H.I.E.L.D has agents going after them with enough man power. I came as soon as I heard your distress call", she replied.
"So you were worried about me".
"Would you rather I left you at their mercy".
Clint didn't reply. He was thinking about the young agent who was assigned to him on that mission. He didn't make it. Neither did their target. Though he couldn't take credit for that. They had entered the room but the target had been prepared for them. He had raised the alien tech he had against them. That is when things went south.
One minute Clint was counting the seconds it will take to kill the idiot and next minute he was fighting at least a dozen Chitauri while his partner lay dead.
"It wasn't your fault", Natasha said quietly. Somehow, Clint couldn't believe it.