A/N: Finally we get back to the origins of this story...S.H.I.E.L.D.!

You never know when they'll show up...

Chapter Ten

Out on the tarmac, a giant transport jet prepared to take off. Carly recognized the markings—S.H.I.E.L.D. They loaded some equipment onto back, then waved for the plane to go.

"Move! Move!"

Carly urged Bull to gallop across the tarmac, faster and faster, like a race car. Just as the ramp began to lift, they slowed and jumped in, evading the Corvette and military SUV inside and landing in a heap, the Bull gasping and slathering. Carly looked up at the clicks of rifles. She raised her hands.

A woman spoke from behind the line of riflemen. "You don't strike me as X-Men. In fact, I believe I've seen you before. Oh, yes. You're the one we've been looking for. Where is Lance Conrad? What have you done with him?"

Carly kept her hands up. The ramp closed behind her. She was surrounded, no escape, staring at the barrels of a dozen guns. She remembered the woman's name. Skye. "I can explain. This is Lance Conrad. I was just bringing him in to the academy to see if they could help him. You can kind of see his condition."

The Bull struggled to his feet, wobbly, panting.

Skye pushed through the soldiers and walked down the stairs, not taking her eyes off Carly. "Why have you boarded this plane?"

"They left us locked in a room. We didn't know what was happening. We didn't feel safe."

Bull dropped to his knees.

"Lance!" The Bull started to melt, dissolving back into a naked man. He collapsed on the floor. "Lance!" Carly slowly moved to him, keeping her hands up. Lance coughed and looked with her with sorry eyes.

"Something's wrong," he said. He gargled, liquid.

Carly's heart seized. Was he hurt?

"Medic, stat," called Skye. She pointed at Carly. "Back off, Hydra."

Carly moved to the wall and let the med team take Lance, and suddenly she was alone, facing the forest of weapons aimed at her. The walls began to hum and vibrate as the plane's engines came to full power. She could fight, but what was the point?

Skye faced her. "You know anything about what's going on?"

"All I got was a threat notice. A rogue super, Level 1-C. My mission with Lance was completely off-book, I swear."

"So you don't deny you're associated with an organization that destroyed a good part of D.C.?"

Carly lowered her head. "I'm not going to admit to anything, but I'm here to offer my services. My personal services, not that of any organization. That's why we jumped aboard. I wanted to help the X-Men, but everyone had already left."

Skye smirked and shook her head. She was about to say something when she poked her ear. "Damn. Looks like your Level whatever-you-called-it is a real nuisance. Fine. You want to help? Then tell me everything you know. Cuff her."

Black-suited men approached, grabbed Carly from behind, and shoved her wrists into shackles. Nothing Carly couldn't escape from, but better they feel a sense of security around her. The plane began taxiing, and jumped into the sky. Skye led her to the control center where videos showed live feeds of the conflict. Guards forced Carly into a chair, pretty uncomfortable with her hands pinned behind her. Skye pointed to one screen. "Look. Here she is. Seems like she has the ability to control plants and animals. At first we thought it was you, until we heard you were safely locked up—well, we thought you were safely locked up. She calls herself Wild Flower."

"What?" Carly couldn't believe what was onscreen. Some girl raised her hands, and an army of giant ants sprung out of the grass and charged soldiers who fired everything they had before they went down under the pincers. "Who the heck is that?"

"You don't know?"

What the flip? Did this girl also have Carly's Hydra powers? She didn't know whether to be happy or upset that someone else shared the same evil power. Carly would have to contact someone at HQ to find out for sure, but not in front of everyone. She studied some close-ups of the girl's face. She looked so familiar. Had she been in Carly's special classes? Hard to tell, everyone wore masks the whole time.

"So how do you stop someone like that?" asked Skye.

Carly shook her head. "I have no idea. Reason with her?"

They tried firing rockets at her, but she just raised walls of woody stalks to deflect them, then launched giant birds and insects to repel the attackers. Nothing like a swarm of 10-foot mosquitoes to send you running.

"Oh, yeah, another thing. You might like this." Skye cued up some video and played it.

"My name is Wild Flower," said the girl. "I will not stop my attack until I am brought the body of Carly Richards."

"Still doesn't ring any bells for you?"

Carly shivered and slumped down into her seat. What the crap? This was a plot—about her. Probably concocted by Hydra. Why? Did they think she had betrayed them by talking to Xavier? Or was it something else? She looked again—there was something familiar about the girl.

"Now how about you tell me what's really going on?"

"I don't know any more about it that you do. If she's one of ours, she's gone rogue. Random rampages through suburbs aren't really our thing. Where is this, anyways?"

"Richmond."

Carly gasped. Mom? Was Mom safe from this lunatic?

Carly watched the footage. The X-Men and other military tried to fend off the hordes of super-sized creatures with little effect.

"If it's Richmond, this is definitely about me. Why are they doing this to me?"

"You tell us. Why would someone send this monster after you? Is there something you need to tell us?"

Carly shook her head. None of this made sense. "I guess I should go down there and talk to her, find out what she wants."

Skye smiled in a weird way. "You just want to go down there and have a chat with someone who's held off the X-Men and ripped up half the countryside?"

Carly shrugged. "I guess. Do you have a better plan?"

Skye sighed. "Generally we don't give in to the demands of terrorists. Not a great precedent. But in this case…"

"I get it. Two problems go in, one problem comes out. It's a win for you. Nice."

This time Skye shrugged and looked innocent. "If you stop her, you'd be doing us a favor. That goes a long way."

"And what about my father? If I help you, then I want him freed."

Skye blinked. "Your father?"

"Yeah. You guys are holding him in some secret facility."

Skye eyed Carly and consulted her pad. She shook her head. "I can't find any record of him."

"Bullcrap. He was there. I saw him."

"Which location?"

"I don't know. I was taken there in secret, no visuals. Seemed like some kind of bunker. No one wore insignia."

Skye flipped a few screens and typed. "Nope. Nothing."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not! It might be above my clearance."

Carly looked around the expensive plane. "You're telling me you command this ship and you don't have clearance?"

Carly eyed the monitors that covered the destruction in Richmond, plus a few others that flipped through various images. On one of them, Dad appeared for a second. "What the crap? I just saw his picture go by."

Skye whipped her head to see which monitor Carly pointed at. She walked over, touched a few spots on the screen. "This one? This one?"

The pictures tumbled. "Stop! Yeah." There he was, just like she'd seen him a few months ago. "Now where is he?"

Skye turned to Carly, face full of emotion. "This man is a wanted fugitive. This is the man who tried to murder me, and almost did. We don't have him, Carly. Hydra does. How could you not know this? Now who's lying? What are you concocting? This whole thing—it's a plot to free you, isn't it?"

It was like the floor fell out from under Carly. She wasn't lying. She had been lied to. By her own father. The whole thing was a setup. For what? She glanced at the monitors where giant dogs and cats chased jeeps and tanks. For this. It was a test. Her final test. Defeat this thing they created, and she would be in. She would be in Hydra's inner circle. The moment she set foot in Xavier's school, this plan must have been triggered, to make sure she didn't leave the fold.

Skye probably figured it out at the same time. "You don't have to do this, Carly. You don't have to fight this thing. You don't have to be part of them. We're not the enemy. We can help you."

"I don't need help." No one seemed to get that. "You're the ones who need help." Giant birds chased helicopters. "And let's face it, I'm the only one who can defeat her. I think I'm meant to defeat her." Although she had no idea how, and frankly, the idea of going up against someone with that much power was less than thrilling. Maybe she should just let S.H.I.E.L.D. take care of it.

Some woman ran into the room and spoke with a British accent. "You'd better come quick. The boy you brought in is dying."