AN: Here's the next chapter! Hope everyone enjoys it! Thanks for reading! Writing in italics are flashbacks.
AN: 'Someone': Thanks for the awesome reviews! I am glad you love my stories and appreciate the support!
Vern is cleaning up the living room, putting things back where they belong and sweeping the floor. Alex had wanted to have a picnic, which meant she had insisted on building a fort first. Of course, she took off into the woods before she had to clean it up which meant he was stuck with the cleaning. There is a knock on the door and Vern freezes, his head whipping to the front door. They were out in the middle of nowhere; he home-schooled Alex, so no one knew they were here. Vern stands still but there is another knock on the door and he quietly puts the broom down. He moves to the cabinet in the room and opens the door, pulling out a hidden drawer. He grabs the gun inside it and walks to the front door, peering outside and seeing two women in their early twenties. Not trusting anyone, Vern keeps the gun in his hand, but hides it behind his back as he opens the door.
"Can I help you?" he asks, eying the two young women. They give him a smile and the brunette speaks up.
"Hi, we're sorry to bother you but we were hiking in the woods and we've seemed to have gotten lost. Is there any way you could point us in the right direction?" she says, giving Vern a sheepish smile. Vern casually glances around the clearing before shifting his eyes back to the two girls in front of him.
"Head in that direction," Vern says, nodding his head to the right, "Keep walking until you get to a big rock formation and make a left. You'll run right into the path and then, go right."
"Thank you so much," the brunette says, sending him a relieved smile. The two girls turn around and walk away, heading in the direction he told them to go. Vern narrows his eyes at them before closing the door; in all of the ten years they lived here, he never once had hikers get lost. In fact, no one hiked around here. Vern places his gun on the table next to him and pulls out his cell phone, dialing a number and putting it to his ear.
"Hey, I think we might have a problem. No, I just got a couple of visitors. Supposedly they were lost but…" Vern begins but a knock on the door silences him. Vern stares at the door for a moment. He can hear the man on the other end of the line calling his name but he ignores him. He sets the phone on the table and grabs his gun. As he's about to open the door, it bursts inward and smashes him in the forehead. Vern stumbles back and the two women from earlier are there. They charge at him, attacking him. Vern fights back, getting a few shots in and blocking some of theirs, hearing things falling around him due to the fight. He hears glass break from the back door and he knows they're in trouble; he just hopes Alex doesn't come back before they leave. One of the girls lands a kick, sending him flying and landing in the middle of the living room. A man appears and aims a gun at him and pulls the trigger five quick times. They watch as Vern dies before the man turns to the brunette.
"Get the girl," he says to her sternly. The brunette and her companion disappear up the stairs to look for Alexandra. Banging and crashing sounds float down the stairs as the two women search the upstairs. Ten minutes later, they come back down the stairs and the brunette approaches the man.
"Where is she?" the man asks, annoyance slipping in his tone. The brunette eyes the man warily.
"She's not here," the brunette finally answers, waiting for the inevitable outburst.
"Dammit!" the man shouts, turning and throwing everything on the table next to him onto the floor. He turns back to face the brunette and her comrade. "Find her! Now!"
AVENGERS
"Are you sure about this?" Johnny asks Alex as he follows her into her room. Alex whips around and sends him a glare.
"Of course I'm sure. I spent the first ten years of my life with the guy," Alex argues heatedly before she crosses her arms.
"Maybe he just looks like him," Johnny offers warily and his eyebrow raises slightly. Alex was on edge and he was waiting for her to blow up any minute.
"No," Alex says adamantly, shaking her head. "I saw him dead in the middle of our living room floor in a pool of his own blood. His face is engraved into my memory. That was him."
Alex has started to pace her room, thinking about what she has seen and her mind wandering to the past. Johnny puts his hands up in surrender, knowing it is no use in arguing with her when she's like this. The real problem is why would a man working for SHIELD kidnap two SHIELD agent's daughter, who isn't even supposed to be known about by anyone but her parents, the director, and Coulson.
"Okay, so the next question is why would a SHIELD agent take you away from your mom and dad, who might I add, are two of the best agents SHIELD has," Johnny asks as he turns his complete attention to Alex, watching her walk back and forth in the room. His mind has begun to drum up theories and possibilities, not liking any of them.
"I don't know," Alex replies with a shake of her head, stopping her pacing and looking around the room. Suddenly, her eyes light up and she looks over at Johnny. "But I know how we can find out."
AVENGERS
"We are going to get into so much trouble for this," Nina says as she types into her computer, eyes never straying from it.
"If you're so worried why did you say you'd help?" Alex asks, rolling her eyes and looking over at Johnny. Johnny just shakes his head, smirking as Nina continues to type into her computer.
"Pride. Because then I can officially say I've hacking into SHIELD," Nina replies, still not taking her eyes off her screen. She hits a few more buttons and a wide grin appears on her face as her screen changes and folders appear. "Gotcha."
Alex and Johnny peer over her shoulder, watching as Nina begins to sift through the top secret files they most definitely do not have clearance to be looking at. She finds the one they need and clicks on it, pulling it up. Nina quickly skims through it before telling the two agents behind her what it says.
"It says here Hessling was in a deep-cover mission. He was only supposed to check-in if there was a problem, otherwise they never heard from him," Nina explains while reading through the information. Alex shares a look with Johnny before turning her attention back to Nina and the file.
"Does it say anything about October 1, 2007?" Alex asks her, feeling the pit in her stomach begin to grow. She didn't understand what SHIELD had to do with her kidnapping and truthfully, she was a little nervous to find out.
"Hold on," Nina says, searching through more of the file. A few moments later, Nina speaks up, sharing what she has found. "Well, it's the day he died. And he made contact with SHIELD that day as well."
"He did?" Alex asks, leaning closer and looking at the file. Johnny glances at Alex before moving closer himself.
"If he wasn't supposed to make contact unless something was wrong then something must've spooked him," Johnny comments, reading through the information himself.
"Yeah, well, he was right. They shot him five times in the chest," Alexandra says, looking over at Johnny. Johnny looks at her and sighs. She was angry and scared and the two did not mix well. She was going to do something without thinking and then there was going to be even more problems to deal with.
"There's a recording," Nina's voice chimes in as she pushes a few buttons. Alex and Johnny look over at her, meeting her gaze. The three of them look back at the computer screen where Nina has pulled up the recording; all she had to do was press play. "Should we?"
"Do it," Alex says with a nod, wanting to know the truth behind everything. Johnny looks over at her.
"Are you ready for that?" he asks with a raised brow, resting a hand on Nina's arm to stall her for a moment, but keeping his eyes on Alex. Alex hesitates before making a decision.
"I have to know the truth Johnny. I'm sick of being lied to and not knowing what really happened to me; why I didn't grow up knowing my parents," Alex says, her eyes pleading with him to understand her point. Johnny hesitates a moment but then nods his head, taking his hand from Nina's arm. Nina presses play and static is heard for a moment before a man's voice, Vern's, is heard.
"Hey, I think we might have a problem."
"Is Alex in danger?" another man's voice, a familiar one. Alex shares a look with Johnny and Nina, knowing the second voice sounded familiar but couldn't quite place it. Alex turns her attention back to the computer screen
"No, I just got a couple of visitors. Supposedly they were lost but…" Vern suddenly stops having heard a knock in the background. There is moving and the sound of the phone being put down. They listen, jumping slightly when a loud crash is heard. Alex's breath catches in her throat as she listens to what seems to be a fight happening: bangs and grunts and crashes. They listen for a moment longer before five distinct shots ring out. Johnny looks over at Alex whose eyes are glued to the screen.
"Get the girl," a man's voice demands. They listen for a while, hearing someone, most likely the man, shuffling around and moving things around. They hear walking approach and the man speaks up again, annoyance in his voice. "Where is she?"
"She's not here," a woman says hesitantly.
"Dammit!" the man shouts. There is a loud crash and then the call abruptly cuts off. Johnny looks over at Alex but before he can say anything, the door to the room bursts open and in walks Coulson and a handful of SHIELD agents. The three teenagers turn around, eyes wide. Coulson looks between them and his eyes glance to the computer screen behind them, picking up the name on the file.
"We're fine here. Go back to what you were doing," Coulson says to the agents, dismissing them. The agents nod and abruptly leave the room, closing the door behind them. Coulson turns his attention back to the three teenagers in front of him. "Those are top secret files."
"Then maybe you should explain this whole situation," Alex says, glaring at Coulson. She liked him and they always had a good relationship but if he had kept this stuff from her, they were going to have some problems. Phil furrows his eyebrows in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Phil asks, looking from one teenager to the next.
"The fact that SHIELD is the one who kidnapped me," Alex explains angrily, her eyes narrowing at the agent before her.
"SHIELD didn't…I don't understand," Phil says with a shake of his head, clearly as much in the dark as Alex is on the situation. The door suddenly opens and Director Fury walks in.
"Coulson, did you find the…" he begins but then notices the group of young agents in front of them. Alex's attention snaps to Fury, her eyes growing wide in recognition.
"It was you," she says and she forces a swallow. Fury furrows his eyebrows, not knowing what is going on. He looks over to Coulson, a question on his face. Coulson nods to the computer and Fury looks at the screen, realization dawning on him.
"You shouldn't be in those files. How did you get in?" Fury asks, looking between the three teenagers before him. Nina shoots him a smug look.
"Genius, remember," she says, a smirk playing on her lips.
"It was you Vern called," Alex continues as if she wasn't interrupted, her mind still trying to wrap around everything. Fury looks over to Alex. Alex's eyes narrow. "Why did SHIELD kidnap me? Who knew about this?"
"You don't have clearance for…" Fury begins but Alexandra cuts him off, anger lacing her words.
"Screw clearance! I grew up not ever knowing my parents because you took me from them." Fury sighs and looks to Coulson who furrows his brows at the information coming to light. Fury purses his lips at Coulson's lack of backing him up. Fury looks back at Alex knowing they weren't going to leave here until he gave her something.
"Yes, we took you. You were in danger. People were after you and the only way to keep you safe was to put you where the least amount of people knew you were. I found out about the attack and I sent Hessling to get you before you were put in danger. They attacked in the front and while they were busy, Hessling went in the back and took you back to the cabin," Fury explains, watching Alex and ignoring the looks he was getting from Coulson and Johnny. Alex tenses her jaw, shaking her head at the absurdity of it all.
"Who knew about this?" she asks, emotion evident in her voice. She doesn't take her eyes off Fury but she knows Johnny is watching her carefully.
"Just me and Hessling," Fury answers even as he is sending Alex a scolding look. Alex nods her head and looks around the room, pushing the emotion back down not wanting to look weak in front of everyone.
"You found me though. In the woods," she points out, looking back at Fury. Fury nods his head.
"As soon as I heard what was happening on the other end of the line, I sent our best men out to find you. Still took us a couple days though," Fury explains while watching Alex carefully. Alex sniffs and looks at the adjacent wall. She shakes her head and looks back at Fury, switching her attention between him and Coulson.
"So, everything I knew about my past is a lie?" she asks through a clenched jaw. She shakes her head and glares at Fury. Before anyone can say anything, Alex shoves through them and out the room, slamming the door behind her.
AN: Please review and let me know what ya'll think! Love hearing from you guys! J