The next week, again Grace waited on the bench, reading another few chapter of another book until the mysterious man arrived. After her outburst with the Director he had kept his distance, not talking to her directly if he came by the labs when they were running tests on her, and quickly leaving if he could. That only made him look more guilty and secretive in her eyes. She looked up at a familiar face.
"You have questions." Zach stated, taking his hands out of his jeans pockets and sitting next to her.
Grace's breathing quickened and she quickly spoke up, "Why would agents be following me? And who are you? How do you know all about this stuff?" She asked, curiously.
"You're not very trusting are you 'just Grace'." He smiled, looking up at the blue sky.
She frowned, "Well if you gave me a reason to then maybe I would," she retorted.
"Have they?" He nodded towards the S.H.I.E.L.D building and Grace followed his gaze, watching as a group of agents filed out of the vast structure.
She didn't know what to say to that. She could only say what she knew, "They are all that I know. They are all I have." She whispered, looking over at the building, her home.
"But they haven't really given you a choice in that have they." Zach stated, leaning back and placing his arms around the back of the bench, "They clearly don't trust you."
"But why? I haven't done anything," She asked. She had already pledged herself to them, what more could they want.
"Well, first off, if you came out of that building of course they are keeping tabs on you. It is like a prison in there, they gotta have eyes on you at all times," he shook his head, "Especially if you are powered." He said nonchalantly.
Grace stopped dead. How the hell did he know she had powers, "What are you talking about-"
"Don't try to run," He looked into her eyes, "Don't scream or try to get anyone's attention." He ordered and her breathing quickened in fear, "We are only here to help you. To save you." He said calmly.
"What do you mean save me? Who are you?" She breathed, her eyes flickering about in a sudden wave of fear.
"Save you from them. S.H.I.E.L.D. You aren't safe, Grace." He told her, pulling her to her feet and towards the road. He kept a firm hold onto her hand as he moved her along, weaving them both through the crowds of people.
"Stop, where are we going?" She yelled above the hubbub of the city, a pit of fear and anxiety rising in her stomach. They stopped in an wide, empty alley and Grace leaned her head against the wall, out of breath.
She quickly tore her hand away from Zach's, "What's going on?"
He had a worried look in his eye, "We are getting you away from S.H.I.E.L.D." He looked to their left as a large black van pulled up into the alley. He pulled her into the back before she could protest and the van sped away.
/
Sirens sounded throughout the S.H.I.E.L.D building and Coulson looked up at the red flickering lights, he creased his eyebrows and ran towards Agent Hill.
"What the hell is going on?" He yelled at her above the loud sirens.
She looked at him for a moment, still maintaining a fast pace towards the control room, "We have a code seven. I repeat, code seven. All S.H.I.E.L.D personnel level five up report to the control room immediately for briefing." She spoke into her walky-talky and her voice sounded on the tannoy system in the building, "She's gone."
"Who?"
She sighed, raising her eyes, "You know who."
/
As they, and many more agents, stood in the control room you could cut the nerves in the room with a knife. Fury stood before them all, pointing at a screen, "As you all know, we had a...special guest come stay with us after Manhattan." A picture of Grace appeared on the screen, "A powered individual was one thing, but a person of that strength and versatility is unparalleled on earth."
"If she was a liability from the beginning..." Sitwell spoke up, "...why did we keep her. Not to speak out of turn, Sir, but we shouldn't risk Agents' lives for a liability."
Agent Hill shook her head, "The Circle of Cavanaugh is an ancient organisation that will use her to take us down. Now, we've been fighting them for years but with her...they could actually do it." She sighed.
"Grace is one of us now," Fury looked individually at every agent in the room, "And we save our own."
Coulson gestured towards the screen and three surveillance images of a young man came up. The grainy quality of the pictures was hard to make out, but Fury knew he had seen the boy before, "Zach Cavanaugh. He took her. He was once part of the family business, they trained him to be lethal until one day he decided to pick up shop. Become a mercenary." He said, flicking through the images they had. He was angry. This man had abused the trust that Grace had given him for a profit, "Whatever your op, bury it. I want all of our efforts to go into getting her back and, if we can, taking down the Circle once and for all."