"What was that?" Nadia asked going pale.
"What do you think it was?" Ward asked her, sarcasm biting at his voice.
He reached for the gun he had carefully concealed at his waist and checked it was ready to fire. He opened the door a crack to try and see what was going on. From his vantage point he couldn't see anything.
"Stay here." He instructed Nadia before opening the door enough to creep out unseen. He closed the door behind him.
He used the shelves for cover as he made his way to the front of the store.
He looked back just in time to see the bathroom door open and close. He saw the top of Nadia's head moving towards him. A barrage of bullets flew through the shop towards her. Keeping low, Ward ran to her, took her hand and dragged her to safety.
"I thought I told you to stay there?" Ward asked.
"I got scared."
"Stay close to me and do exactly as I tell you. Do you understand?"
Nadia nodded her head.
"Good." Ward paused. He heard footsteps walking over the shattered glass and knew that they were coming to try and finish them off.
"Stay here." He said and he moved to a better position. Nadia saw him re holster his gun.
"What are you doing?" she mouthed to him.
One by one the assault team came into view. As soon as they were close enough Ward engaged them. Nadia watched as he executed perfect martial arts moves one after another. She especially liked it when Ward pressed a button on his watch and it turned into a tazer. Before Nadia knew what happened Ward had subdued them all and was returning to her.
"You're not an international investment banker are you?" she asked him.
"Do I look like one?" Ward asked, grabbing her arm and leading her outside.
"Stay close to me and when I tell you to duck, do it."
Ward glanced around the yard looking for May. He saw her on the ground, being simultaneously and repeatedly attacked by tazer shocks.
"See that SUV?" he asked Nadia.
"Yeah."
"Run to it keeping on this side. Get in the back and keep low."
Nadia set off for the SUV. Looking back over her shoulder she saw Ward aim his gun and fire five times in quick succession. When she looked back she saw the five men attacking the woman drop to the ground.
"Ward?" Amber called from behind.
"Into the SUV. Make sure you stay low!" he instructed as he ran forwards to help May.
Amber climbed into the SUV while Kain, seeing Ward go to help May followed him. Between them they dragged May back to the SUV. They made it about half way when bullets peppered the ground around them. Amber opened the door and using it as a shield she provided cover fire to allow Ward, May and Kain to get back to the SUV. Kain hauled May into the front seat and dived into the back while Ward ran around to the drivers' side.
Slamming it into gear Ward tore off the forecourt and headed for safety.
"Who the hell are you people?" Nadia screamed as Ward took a hairpin bend at 90MPH.
May punched some buttons on the dash to patch into Coulson's comms so they could all talk to him.
"What the hell happened?" he demanded.
"We were made." Ward explained.
"How?"
The occupants of the SUV looked at each other.
"We have no idea."
"We have a tail." Kain informed Ward from the back seat.
"Coulson. We need an emergency TO." Ward told him, as the pursuing car caught up with them and nudged at their rear bumper.
Ward pulled the emergency hand brake and spun the car 180° so that they were now facing each other.
"What about the artefact?" Coulson asked.
"Can't we do this later when we aren't trying to escape certain death?" Ward yelled, while Amber and Kain leant out of their respective windows and fired on the car, quickly realising that it was bulletproof.
Ward spun the car again and sped up.
"Amber! Take the wheel." Ward shouted, coming up with a plan.
"What? You're crazy!" Nadia screamed as Amber lunged through the gap between the two front seats and took hold of the steering wheel.
Ward stuck his torso out of the window and scrambled to the roof of the moving vehicle. Amber climbed fully into the driver's seat, causing the SUV to swerve.
"Hold the damn thing steady!" Ward shouted at her from the roof.
"Sorry Ward!" She shouted back.
Ward spun his body so that he was facing the car trailing them.
Holding on tight Ward focused all of his attention on the jeep. It didn't move.
"Concentrate." he scolded himself.
Ward shook his head, took a deep breath and knowing it was bulletproof, refocused all of his attention on the car's headlights, Suddenly the passenger airbags deployed and the car veered off to one side, ran up a bank and flipped onto it's roof. Another car appeared on the horizon. It was approaching. Fast.
Ahead of their car they could see Coulson and the van.
"Coulson, we are on your six. Speed up, they're gaining!" Ward said, turning to see where Amber was driving to. May fiddled with the cars dials again.
"Skye! Incoming. We're gonna need an emergency TO! Don't even wait to close the ramp, do it when we are locked." she said when she had found the right frequency
"Copy that."
They were about 100m from the bus and Amber pulled alongside Coulson and the van. They both screeched to a halt in the cargo hold and felt the 'bus judder. Ward jumped off the top of the of the car and grabbed a sniper rifle from the side.
"Stay in the car." He told the others as he dropped to the ground. Ward found the approaching car in his sights and aimed for it's headlights assuming that it too was bulletproof. The 'bus started rising in the air, but Ward didn't miss. He shot straight for the headlights to activate the airbags, bringing the car to a sudden stop. Ward got to his feet as the cargo door started to close.
"Well wasn't that fun?" he asked the group of rather shaken people.
He walked round to the passenger door and helped May out.
"Who the hell are you people?" Nadia asked. She was shaking violently from the incident.
Ward, May and Coulson all exchanged a look as Skye joined from the cockpit.
"Nadia?"