Chapter One: Agent Callahan
Ten Years Later…
It was the loud, persistent pounding on the front door of her apartment that finally roused Rebecca Callahan from her state of unconsciousness. After pushing nearly twenty-four hours of no sleep, a trans-Atlantic flight and subsequent time change, she'd barely had the wear with all to strip down to her bra and panties before passing out in her bed upon arriving home in Washington D.C. last night.
Groaning, Rebecca reached for her cellphone on the bedside table, ignoring the banner reading seven missed calls to check the time. Eight a.m. at least she'd snagged almost seven hours, a rarity in her line of work.
The knocker at her door persisted and she rolled out of bed, grabbing an old cotton t-shirt and sweatpants to throw on before stumbling to the front door. "What?!" She swung the door open, not even bothering to check the peephole. Chances were there was only one person who'd be on the other side this soon after she'd returned from a mission.
"Good Morning to you too, Sunshine." Nora Matheson shoved Rebecca aside and entered uninvited carrying a box of donuts under her right arm. "Heard you got in last night!"
"More like early this morning. I was sleeping." Rebecca sighed, closing her front door and facing her friend in resignation. "I really needed it."
Nora shrugged, shoving a wayward strand of her dark curly hair behind her ear. "You've been overseas for almost a month. I wasn't waiting, sue me."
"You're lucky I didn't punch you." Rebecca muttered, crossing to her coffee maker to start a pot. She was going to need caffeine to get through this day at the way it was starting. She mentally reminded herself that she truly did love Nora, even when she'd rather be sleeping.
"Well maybe if you worked in cyber crimes and had an office job like me, you would get a decent night's sleep all the time. But no, you wanted to be a Superspy." Nora gave her a cheeky grin as she popped the lid open on the box of donuts and the warm sugary scent filled the apartment. "At least I come bearing donuts."
Despite her irritation at her friend's interruption of sleep, Rebecca couldn't help but chuckle. "The only reason you're still alive." She conceded with a nod, pulling two mugs down from one of her overhead cabinets.
She had met Nora nearly a decade ago when she'd arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy fresh off a jet from Ireland. Clint Barton, or Hawkeye as he was now known worldwide as one of the Avengers, had dropped Rebecca off, staying around long enough to make sure she had accommodations and was registered to begin classes and training before taking off again.
The two women were fairly different from one another. Nora was on the shorter scale, just reaching over five feet, blessed with her mother's Latina dark coloring and generous curves. She was an ace with a computer and had a flirtatious personality. Whereas Rebecca was five inches taller, built more willowy and had the pale skin of her homeland and wore her long golden brown hair usually up in a ponytail or in a braid down her back. Where her friend had curves that caught a man's eye, Rebecca was more hard planes and angles thanks to a rigorous workout routine and a natural slender build. Even her face was contoured with sharp pixie like features, except for the dreamy green eyes she'd inherited from her mother. She was more athletically inclined than her friend, studying mixed martial arts in her free time, considered an expert in Muay Thai kickboxing, held a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and was currently learning Russian Sambo. She needed Nora to set up her TiVo and make sure her laptop remained encrypted.
And yet, Rebecca considered her one of her only true friends.
Her reputation as the daughter of a terrorist had preceded her arrival at the Academy and many of the other students had given her a wide, mistrustful berth. Except for Nora Matheson and David Monroe, a token ladies man, who remained friendly even when he'd been turned down. When Nora had graduated as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. she'd gone right to work in their Cyber Crimes Unit, while Rebecca and David had gone on to field work. Even now, Rebecca still saw Nora and David as her closest friends, perhaps her only friends.
Sipping on her freshly brewed coffee and helping herself to a donut, Rebecca lifted her brows at Nora. "So? You going to dish on all the gossip at Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division?" She prompted, knowing Nora, who was quite the little spy herself when it came to workplace dirt, was dying to share.
"Captain America is working full time now." Nora looked giddy at the very thought. "He comes into the Triskelion almost every day. Mami," She exaggerated a Latin accent and fanned herself. "Muy caliente!"
"That's not exactly news," Rebecca pointed out, chuckling at her friend's behavior. "We heard about him signing on after the Battle of New York. He just had to do one of those rehab programs first. I saw him a couple times myself before I shipped out. Though you have a point, he's a looker."
"Yes but, he's now the STRIKE team leader." Nora supplied as if divulging a huge secret and looking pleased with herself.
Now that was news. No one had known for sure where the world's first superhero would wind up in the hierarchy of S.H.I.E.L.D. though it had been assumed he'd be up top since he was technically the leader of the Avengers. They should have guessed he'd take over the Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies. Being the leader of STRIKE would put him right on the front lines for S.H.I.E.L.D. and as the world's most renowned soldier it would make perfect sense for him to be stationed there.
"Rumlow must have loved that." Rebecca mused, referring to Brock Rumlow the previous leader of STRIKE. The former Navy Seal had lived and breathed his job. She'd worked with him a couple times, he was amiable enough, professional and executed his missions almost seamlessly. Only someone like the infamous Captain America would be more qualified.
"I hear he gets along with the Captain just fine." Nora shrugged, unconcerned. "They've expanded the STRIKE team since the Captain joined and Brock still holds a leader position, as does Natasha Romanoff."
"Huh." Rebecca took another sip of her coffee. "What else?"
"David's in London on an assignment. He's been gone for two weeks." Nora sighed and Rebecca felt a twinge of sympathy for her friend's unrequited feelings toward their friend. "Not a word since he left either, the jerk. Can't even answer a simple email. You were farther away and in a poorer country and still managed to keep in some kind of contact."
"David's a guy, he doesn't think about things like that." Rebecca brushed off David's shortsightedness because it was typical of him and hopefully would make Nora worry less. "And I wasn't in a third world country. Algeria is pretty advanced all things considered. They have WiFi so I could email you at night when I wasn't working. David's probably trolling for women on his hours off."
"Ugh." Nora made an expression of distaste. "He probably is the pig." But the waver in her tone gave away the hurt she felt at the thought. Rebecca really wished there was someone else in picture who could take her friend's mind off David and possibly get her over the one sided infatuation.
"He'll check in sooner or later. He always does. He's fine, we'd know it if he wasn't by now." Rebecca reminded her gently. "Anything else I need to know?"
"Not really. All's been mostly quiet on the Eastern front." Nora joked mildly. "Cameron says there's some new tech project brewing but I haven't been brought in on it, so information's classified."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. has a way of unveiling it's big projects in due time." Rebecca finished her coffee and rinsed her mug out in the sink before loading it into her dishwasher. "You not going in this morning?"
"No I'm off today." Nora shook her head, dark springy curls bouncing and several falling loose from her ponytail. "Aren't you?"
"Nope." Rebecca shook her head, letting out a little snort. "I have a debrief at noon."
"Well maybe we can catch a movie or something later? Be real people instead of a hacker and her super spy best friend." Nora suggested hopefully and Rebecca didn't have the heart or any other plans to turn her down. Besides, a night out would be good for both of them. They couldn't live and breathe their job all the time.
"Sure," Rebecca nodded. "As long as I'm not being shipped out again, let's be real people. Maybe we'll even hit up a bar for drinks after."
"Now we're talking!"
"Director Fury will see you now." The Receptionist informed Rebecca, who'd been seated in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs outside Nicholas Fury's office.
Rebecca had been surprised to say the least when she'd come in to debrief her Supervisory Agent Jesus Cortez and was instead being transferred up to the head honcho himself, the spy of all spies, Nick Fury. She'd met the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. when she'd been eighteen years old, watching her father being dragged out of the house in handcuffs. Fury had offered her an opportunity to help keep other men like her father off the streets and she'd jumped at the chance. But since then, she could count the amount of times she'd spoken to him directly on one hand.
Still, she had her orders and she would debrief the Director personally. So she rose to her feet and crossed the small receptionary area, waiting for the beep of access granted and then walked into his office.
"Miss O'Riley," Time was kind to the Director as he looked almost exactly the same as he had when she'd first met him, right down to the black clothing and using her given name.
"Sir." Had it been anyone else, she would have corrected them immediately. She no longer used the name O'Riley, had legally changed to her mother's maiden name of Callahan once she'd turned eighteen, effectively cutting all ties with her father.
"I read your mission report. You were quite thorough." Fury gestured to the empty seat in front of his desk and she gingerly lowered herself into it. "But I'd like your impressions as well as your intel on Georges Batroc."
"My impression, Sir? My impression is that he's a scumbag." Rebecca said matter of factly, though she was sure her face displayed her disgust. "He was blood thirsty before he left the French Foreign Legion. He completed thirty-six kill missions. And he's linked to sixty-two crimes since becoming a mercenary, including abducting children for Jakar's human trafficking ring. It's no wonder Interpol have a Red Notice out on him and I'm surprised you didn't send in the STRIKE team with me to arrest him."
"Because according to your intel he's planning something, something big." Fury reminded her with endless patience. He understood her distaste for the man. "He's the hired help. I don't want to just take him down, we need to take down the man pulling his strings."
"Well you're going to find out soon enough, I'm assuming. He took some of his crew and left Algiers last night. They have a target in sights, somewhere in the Indian Ocean." Though she'd stated as much in her mission report.
"Yes, he's hijacked the Lemurian Star." Fury informed her, folding his hands in front of his waist as he leaned back against his desk. "I'm already dispatched Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff and the STRIKE Team to retake it."
"The Lemurian Star?" The name sounded familiar to Rebecca and she mulled it over for a moment. "Sir, isn't that one of our ships?"
"Yes." Fury nodded. "It's a satellite launch ship. Once Captain Rogers rescues the hostages and hopefully detains Batroc the big picture will become clear. Your intel from tracking Batroc in Algeria allowed us to make this move. It was good work, Agent."
"Thank you, Sir." Rebecca nodded and though she should have left it at that, her job was done. "Would I be out of turn to ask to remain informed on the Batroc situation. I'd like to know he's rotting in a cell somewhere."
A ghost of a smile flitted across Fury's serious expression. "I think that can be arranged. You're dismissed, O'Riley."
Again, she did not correct him, merely grit her teeth and nodded. "Sir."She gave him a curt nod and rose to leave, her thoughts back on her completed mission. Fury was right Batroc was a pieceto a much bigger puzzle and though she didn't have enough information to figure it out on her own. She couldn't help but wonder how everything connected.
Lemurian Star back under S.H.I.E.L.D. command. Batroc managed to escape. Sorry. Fury told me to pass along the message. - Maria Hill
Rebecca's heart sank as she read the short informal email on her phone that Fury's right hand had sent her. Georges Batroc should be locked up in a cage, rotting away for all the heinous things he'd done and instead he walked free. Free to cause more harm, spill more blood, wreak damage wherever he went. She almost wished she'd put a bullet in him herself while she'd been tracking him in Algeria.
As a field Agent, Rebecca had been forced to take a few lives in the line of duty, all in self defense when missions had gone sideways. But she'd never carried out a hit, never been ordered to. But after discovering Batroc's hand in kidnapping children for a human trafficking ring S.H.I.E.L.D. had bust up six months ago, Rebecca's vision turned red at the very thought. Nothing infuriated her more than men imposing their cruelty and will on defenseless women and children.
A psychiatrist would make a comment about that tracing back to her own daddy issues, but it still didn't make the act any less vile; personal trigger or not.
"You've got danger face, should I be worried for my own personal safety?" A new, cheerful voice commented from behind and Rebecca whirled around to face its owner.
"David!" Her countenance brightened as she saw him approaching the movie theater from the opposite direction. She'd been fooling around on her phone waiting for Nora and hadn't even known he was back.
David topped out at six feet, with a lean wiry build that afforded him the ability to be quite the scrappy fighter in close quarters. His blonde hair was just long enough to show off its natural curl, the ends brushing the collar of his shirt. His blue eyes sparkled with mischief and there was a goatee on his face now, framing the warm smile on his face as he closed the distance between them and hugged her in greeting.
"Welcome home." He told her sincerely. "It's been too quiet without you."
"I thought you were still in London, I should be saying that to you." She retorted with a chuckle, pulling back to punch him in the shoulder playfully. "What? Did you fly over here?"
"Got in a couple hours ago, ran into Nora. She told me you Ladies were having a normal evening and extended the invite." He laughed, rubbing ruefully where she'd socked him. "After I got a dressing down for not staying in touch."
"Could have emailed." She chastised him.
"I learned my lesson." He nodded soberly, pretending to look contrite.
Like Nora, Rebecca had met David at the Academy. They'd often been paired as partners together for training exercises and David had never held her past against her. Nora had been besotted with him from the get go and while it was true, David was a handsome man, Rebecca had never looked at him in that way. And considering his reputation with other women that hadn't seemed bothered him any, since he had plenty of other options.
"Oh good, you're both here!" Nora's cheerful voice had them both angling away from each other to include her. "This one finally got in contact," She jabbed her thumb in David's direction but spoke to Rebecca. "When he was Stateside of course."
"Men." Rebecca gave a dry snort. "Typical."
"Oh ha ha." David rolled his eyes but the grin remained on his handsome face. "Come on you two, let's go laugh at whatever Will Ferrell has gotten himself into this time."
"A night of normal!" Nora cheered, bumping Rebecca with her hip.
Rebecca chuckled and followed her friend's inside. A night of normal sounded pretty good to her after a month in Northern Africa and she'd missed David and Nora more than she'd realized.
Too bad it was about to be her last night of normal for a very long time.