Chapter 7:
[Spartan POV]
[Months later, Bolivia, South America]
[Building#1.] In stealth-camo, I sneak up behind an enemy soldier and knock him out with a quick blow to the back of the head. Behind me, Karai taps into the comlink, "Command, we're in position but no sign of the package." Hill's voice echoes through the other end, "Copy. What's the situation?" I note a few dead bodies and broken furniture, "Messy. The place is ransacked. The VIP must've bugged out." "Understood. We're going to track the cell and try to get a fix on the VIP," Hill tells us. "Acknowledge," the both of us say. AR set, Karai and I ready ourselves for the go order. After a short wait, the comlink buzzes to life, "PARAGADES, we got Paez on the line. Patching you through directly." A pause. "Hello?" a new voice answers. "Ms. Paez, we here at the rendezvous point ready to get you out," Karai tells the woman. "It's compromised. They got tipped off. They're after me. You have to come to my location." "Understood. What's your current locale?" I ask. "Market place," she says.
[Market.] [Rooftop.] We station ourselves on the edge roof. EPYON scans the surrounding area, tagging the VIP. Karai turns to face me, "I'll provide overwatch. You make contact with the VIP." With a nod, I leap off of the rooftop. [Ground-level.] Blending with the crowd, I push my way toward the VIP to make contact. As I'm about to reach her, multiple gunfires ring out, causing massive panic. Everyone in the market starts to scramble for cover. I lost sight of Paez in the fray. "Enemy hostiles!" Karai yells.
Myriads of tactical suited soldiers raid the market. They slip into two teams. One group takes off west, while the other team stays to hold us back. Leveling the AR, I open fire while backing up to cover behind a parked car. "We've been engaged!" I yell into the comlink. From the roof, Karai rains down covering-fire, dropping two. I move to a better position, flank around the car, gunning down two troopers. Clearing the area of enemy threats. Push after the other team.
[Residential area.] Running through the streets, I catch up with the other squad. All but one of them abandons their pursuit and holds a defensive position, shooting their weapon at me. I duck on the other side of the wall for cover. Leaning out a bit, I return fire with my AR. One gets tagged in the knee, taking the combatant out of the fight. From my pouch, I toss a smoke-grenade. The area is quickly filled with thick white smoke. Enemy forces move on my last position, weapons at the aim. Circle around the squad, take out the isolated one in the back. Hearing a noise, a soldier goes to investigate. I clutch onto the soldier's weapon from out of the smoke and fire a shot to the leg and chest. The last soldier in front swings around, already firing the rifle. I closed the distance by zig-zagging about. In range, I jump-guard-sweep the goon to the ground.
[Alleyway.] Both the VIP and an assassin are in a heated fight. As I narrow in on the two, the assassin manages to stab a fatal blow to Paez's stomach with a combat knife, slashing a major organ. Paez falls to the ground, dead. Quick-fire two shots into the assassin's chest. AR aimed, I move to check the VIP and find a USB. Suddenly, my danger sense triggers. I peer up to find a masked man in a high-tech combat-suit. The both of us stare each other down. "Who the fuck are you?" I bark. "Code-name's Drake," he says plainly. Without warning, he dashes in for an attack. Acting fast, I back away, but Drake manages to grip my head and drive it into the ground.
I'm shocked by how strong he is. Taking hold of the man's arm, I kick him hard in the face, forcing him back. I jump to a stand and rush to him. The other guy stands his ground. Drake hits me with multiple powerful blows in quick succession with little effort. The last strike's a left-elbow to face. It rocked me hard. It Felt like Cap's shield hammered me with full force. Out of nowhere, I'm close-lined. The blow sends me flipping to the ground. Karai rushes in, firing her pistol. Drake closes in fast, grabs her weapon, disarms her, and hits her combo of strikes. Taking her back, he back-hip-throws Karai to the ground. "Ow," Karai grunts in pain. That moment a spotlight flashes on us. It's SHIELD. Drake looks toward the craft than to us. Even if I couldn't see Drake's face, he was grinning. The masked merc switches on the stealth-camo and disappears. SHIELD vehicles converge on us.
[SHIELD HQ, New York City, USA]
[Office.] When we get back to HQ, we give Hill a full report. Drake encounter and all. "SHIELD got any info on this merc?" Karai asks. Hill shakes her head, "No. All we know is he appeared on the scene two years ago. Skilled, deadly, enhanced, and psychotic." Karai and I glance at each other. 'Great. A psycho.' "Putting that to the side. What's on the USB?" I ask. Hill sighs, "You have to ask Coulson." Karai and I look at the woman in confusion. "What?" we say in unison. At that moment, a figure emerges from within the dark corner of the office. Our eyes go wide. "Welcome to level seven," he says. We both get to our feet, still staring at the man in disbelief. He smiles, "Sorry, that corner was dark, and I couldn't help myself." Karai slowly walks over to the man, holding her hands to her mouth. She pokes the man's arm with a finger to ensure she isn't hallucinating and then throws her arms around the man. After a short moment, she pulls away, "Explanation. Now!"
[Control-room.] "Fury faked your death to motivate the AVENGERS?" I question. "Well, not necessarily faked it. I was dead for about two and a half minutes," Coulson says. "The death of a common ally is a particularly effective team builder," Hill comments. "Once I got out of the ICU, Fury placed me in a grass shack in Tahini. Been there for the last six months." "Are you going to tell the rest of the team?" Karai inquires. "Fury already told them. Understandably they were upset at first but got over it quickly," Coulson says, "Anyway, the USB recovered contain info on a SUPERHUMAN trafficking operation."
A monitor displays a feed of a SUPER jumping out of a burning building, carrying a woman in his arms. Behind a computer, Hill says, "An unregistered POWERED individual. Identity unknown." A female voice begins to speak over the footage, "The secret's out. For decades your organization stayed in the shadows, hiding the truth. But now we know they're among us. Heroes and monsters." "A little present from the Rising-Tide," Coulson explains. "Paez was a Rising-Tide," Karai voices, putting two and two together. Coulson bobs his head in confirmation, "The mission is to shut down this SUPERHUMAN trafficking ring." Hill interjects, "Agent Coulson has requisitioned a mobile command unit, to which you are assigned for duration of the op."
[1 day later, SHIELD Airfield, New York City]
Drive up to a large black plane in the hanger on our motorcycles. We make our way toward the open ramp. Inside, spot a man and woman bickering with one another as they unpacked their gear. By their accent, they're British. Ward is already on-site, which was a little surprising. The agent drops his bag, grabbing the other two attention. The two jerks at the sudden banging thud. "Fitz-Simmons?" Ward calls out. The woman points to the man next to her, "Fitz." The man indicates a thumb to the woman, "Simmons. I'm engineering. She's biochem." Fitz-Simmons notices us behind Ward. Kara gives them a wave, "Karai." She Gestures to me, "This is my partner. Spartan." I nod to them. A red car parks on the ramp. Lola. Coulson's pride and joy.
Coulson leads Ward, Karai, and me to the plane's main cabin. "This mobile command unit was in heavy rotation back in the 90s, but we got a Helicarrier," Coulson drops some SHIELD trivia. He tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but Ward killed the moment. Despite the mood-kill, I find it amusing. Agent May walks out of the cockpit, "If you plan to unpack, make it quick. Wheels up in five." Should've known Coulson would've wanted her on the team.' Coulson turns to Karai, "Think you can track another Rising-Tide member's whereabouts." Karai places her hand over her chest in mocked hurt, "The fact that you question my skill is hurtful. Give me two minutes, and I'll have the target." She walks off to get to work. After a minute, Karai calls out, "Our hacker in Colorado." Coulson peers at Karai, me, and Ward, "Who wants to tag along for a pickup." Curious to meet this hacker, I volunteer. Karai does the same. Ward's more hesitant since he didn't want to be on the op in the first place but reluctantly goes.
[Colorado]
[City.] The four of us follow the GPS to a parked van in an alleyway. HUD tags one person inside. Female. No weapons or traps. Getting closer to the vehicle, we can hear the girl speaking. "How will you come to us? From the air? From the ground? How will you silence us this time? How can you? The truth is in the wind. It's everywhere. You cannot stop the Rising-Tide. You will not find us. You will never see our faces. But rest assured, we will rise against those who shield us from the truth. And nothing, nothing can stop us-" I cut the hacker off as I open the van's side door. The hacker, a woman in her early twenties, spins her head around, shocked, "Hey. What up?" "Sup," I say, tilting my head at her. Karai throws a bag over the girl's head and cuffs her.
[SHIELD BUS]
[Interrogation room.] Karai guides the hacker to the chair, uncuffs her hands, and pulls off the black bag. "You guys are making a big mistake," she says. "You don't look big," Ward says. The girl nervously moves a strand of her hair from her face. "Sorry for the lack of finesse. Our people have a little history with your group- The Rising-Tide," Coulson says. "I don't know-" the hacker starts, but I stop her. "Stop. Lying to us won't do you any favors. And trust that we'll know. We can do this in one of two ways," I say. Now the hacker cuts me off, "Oh. Is one of them the easy way," she sasses. "No," I deadpan with a harsh tone. It's an act. We have no intention of hurting this girl. She looks away, a little scared, "Oh." "What's your name?" Karai asks. "Skye," she tells us in a small shaky voice. "What's your real name?" I ask.
"That can wait. There's another name we need. A certain hero," Coulson says to her. Skye forces a brave face, "What makes you think I know that?" "Well, you made a mistake. The phone you use to record the hooded hero has the same cryptographic signature as a few of the Rising-Tide posts," Karai says. Skye forces a smile, hiding behind the bravado, "Wow. Yeah. Was that a mistake? Or am I now sitting in your secret headquarters? I got inside. And by now, you discovered you couldn't beat my encryption on my equipment." "Oh, no, we did. You just didn't have anything useful. But if I had to guess, you got a backup setup. Like any good hacker would do," I say. She swallows a lump, worried.
"We also have a fairly strong coincidence. You being on the scene right before the building went up in flames. Want to tell me what my team is going to find out? How did you know the hooded man was going to be in the building?" Coulson probes. "Did you blow the building to draw him out?" Ward accuses. Skye's brows frown, "What? No! Did you?" "That isn't our style," Coulson tells her. "Your style just kidnaped me?" she snaps, "SHIELD covered up New Mexico, Project Pegasus. Of course, you'd be covering up Centipede."
Everyone looks at each other. 'Centipede?' Skye quickly catches our reaction, "No way. You don't know what that is. Billions of dollars of equipment at your disposal, and I beat you with a laptop I won in a bet?" 'Well, that's impressive.' "Skye, you need to think about your friend right now. We're not the only one who wants to find him. He's a SUPER. You want us to get to him first. Because the other guys will exploit him at best, dissect him at worst," Coulson says. For a moment, she seems like Skye's going to talk. But a frustrated and impatient Ward screwed it by pushing too hard. He leans in over the table, "What is Centipede?!" The young hacker shuts down and stays quiet. 'Damn it, Ward.' Coulson gets up from his seat, walks to the door, anger written all over his face, "Ward, a word." Karai sighs, arms-crossed, "Guess we're doing this the hard way." "Yup," I say, cracking my knuckles.
Coulson and Ward come back into the room after a short wait, a black box in hand. Coulson holds out a small bottle, "This is QNB-T16. It's the top-shelf martini of sodium pentothal derivatives. It's a brand new and extremely potent truth drug. The effect only lasts about an hour." Skye tries to get up from the chair, but Karai holds a firm hold on her shoulder, keeping her in place. "And you'll have a nice little nap," Ward says. Coulson jams the syringe into my arm, drugging me. "OW! What the hell?" I yell. "I'm sorry. Did that hurt?" Coulson says. "No. Yes. Fuck! I thought you were going to stick Ward," I complain. Karai laughs, "Look, you don't trust us. I get that. But we need you to. For your friend's sake. Ask him whatever you want." The three leave Skye and me alone.
She removes her jacket then leans in over the table beside me, "Have you ever killed anyone?" "Yes, lots of people. Evil people who've hurt and killed innocents," I say, "I'm a crusader. Defend those who can't defend themselves." "Do your parents know about the thing you do?" Skye questions. "No. Don't have any. I'm an orphan," I tell her. She looks at me with a new light in her eyes.
[Karai POV]
Coulson and I watch the exchange between Skye and Spartan through the security camera. I side-glace Coulson, "Did you really drug my partner with truth serum?" He smirks, "Even if I did, would it work?" I don't say anything, knowing the answer. A short while later, Skye exits the interrogation room and makes her way over to the two of us. "Did Spartan give you anything?" Coulson asks, looking at my *unconscious* partner through the security feed. "Told me enough. I think I like your style," Skye says. I pull the image of the latest new report to the main screen, "What about his?" The feed shows a picture of a POWERED person attacking a factory manager. Skye shakes her head, "This is wrong. This is not the guy I met. He was… He just needs a break." "Then give him one. Help us bring him in before he hurts anyone else. Because if he does kill someone, we have to put him down," I tell the young hacker with a harsh tone.
Skye places a stolen ID of Mike Peterson onto the holo-table. "Michael Peterson. A factory worker, married, one kid. Gets injured, gets laid off. Wife jumps ship. Good guy, bad break. Best guess is, somebody tells him they can make him better again, strong, make him super," Coulson says to the whole team. Spartan stands next to me, crossed-arms. "Who has the tech to do that?" May asks, "And why would they want to?" 'Probably the same group Drake is working for.' Spartan shoots me a silent side-look; he's thinking the same thing. "Fitz, what do we have from security footage before the blast?" Coulson asks. Fitz pulls up a video feed of a man arguing with a doctor or scientist. "Unfortunately, this was all we got. The data is completely corrupted," he says. "What if you had the audio? I was surveilling the lab. I had my shotgun mic pointed at the window before the blast. The digital file's in my backup drive in my van. Too much background noise from me, but you can probably clear it up," Skye says. "Agent May will escort you," Coulson says. Both Skye and May make their leave.
[Lab.] Standing behind Jemma Simmons, I watch as she examines a weird tech piece she found in the blast zone wreckage. "The alien metal wasn't the explosive?" I ask. "Well, I assumed from the break pattern and dispersion that it was, but it's just dripping with gamma radiation and- OH! Okay, now it's literally dripping. Fun," Jemma says, cutting the tech. I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. Coulson did the same. Spartan's eyes Fitz stumbling across the lab, trying to hold by his laughter at the man's awkward exchange with the hacker over the comlink. That moment Ward enters the lab. By the man's face, he's upset about being benched. 'Well, that's what you get for being an asshole' "What we get?" he asks. "Skye's sending us her audio file," Fitz tells him. Fitz moves to the other room. A 3D holo image of the man and the doctor/scientist appears within the hangar. "Is the explosive in the case?" Ward questions impatiently. "Let it play out, and we'll find out," Spartan tells him. Fitz punches the play button.
"Please calm down. Just let me check your vitals," the doctor/scientist says to the man. Now that the image is cleaned up, we can see the man looks sick, like a junkie. "I feel fine. I WANT TO FEEL MORE! WHERE'S THE DOCTOR?! WHERE IS SHE?!" the man demands. "If you don't settle down, I'll have you sedated," the doctor/scientist tries to reason with him. The man grabs a nearby chair and slams it over a table.
"Go back to where he raised his arm," Coulson orders. Fitz pauses on the image. "What does that look like to you?" Coulson asks everyone. I look at the device on the man's arm, "A centipede." Jemma steps up, "It's an intravenous filter for his blood. This goo, Sir, has some compound similar to Dr. Erskine's BIO-ENHANCER. The scan is reading alien metal, gamma radiation, and other things. Every known source of superpower thrown into a blender." Coulson turns to Fitz, "We need to see the origin of the blast." We watch the recording play out. Turns out there was no bomb. The man was the bomb. "Extremist," Coulson says with dread, "This version is new. Unstable." Jemma sighs sadly, "Poor man. And Mike has the same stuff in his system." "And judging by his strength level, a lot more," Ward says. Fitz faces them, "Any minute now, Mike can-" I cut Fitz short, "If he goes off, he'll kill everyone in a two-block radius." "We're going to have to put him down," Spartan says, not liking the option.
[Living area.] Ward, Spartan, and I gear up and ready our weapons. Fitz and Simmons come around the corner. "Sir? The man didn't explode because he was angry. The two are connected. It's kind of a chemical surge. But calming Mike down will buy him a minute at most. He will detonate within the next few hours," Simmons tells Coulson. "Solution?" he asks. "Isolate him. Get him away from people," Simmons says. "Or?" Coulson inquires. With regret, Fitz says, "Put a bullet through his brain." Simmons adds, "If he dies, the irradiated metabolic process will stop." Coulson glances over to us, then back to Fitz and Simmons, "Give me a third option. One that doesn't involve Mike's son losing a father." "We have a couple of hours at most. There's no way we can-" Simmons tries. "Don't ever tell me there's no way! It's on you. Get it done," Coulson snaps off. The duo walks out. May's voice comes in through the comlink, "He took Skye." Coulson's lips form a thin line, "You alright?" "We'll deal with that later at length," May tells him, "Right now, we need to figure out where they went." Spartan walks over to Coulson, "Fair warning, Coulson. If Fitz-Simmons don't come through. I will take Mike out. I'm not willing to sacrifice hundreds of lives for one person." "Same," I say. Coulson didn't like it but understood. That moment the computer pings a GPS location. Striding down the stairs, we hear Fitz panicking over a computer. "We're being hacked," he yells. I rush over to him, "No. It's Skye. She's sending us her GPS location." Coulson rushes toward the four-door car, Spartan, Ward, and me right behind him.
[Union Station, Colorado]
Guns at the ready, we make our way to Skye's van. HUD picks up three people inside. One of them is a little kid. Coulson holds up a speakerphone, "Mr. Peterson, good morning. We're not a threat. We're here to help you. You're in danger, and we need to take you in. Please surrender peacefully." There's a long silence. Suddenly the door flies off the van right at us. We all jump out the way. Using the distraction to his advantage, Peterson grabs Skye and the little boy and darts into the building. Spartan and I go after him.
[Inside.] Chaos erupts in the main lobby. People are running in a panic. It sounds like a fight is taking place. To my surprise, the little boy runs right toward Coulson. 'Least he's out of danger.' Moving through the crowd, I saw Ward being thrown to the ground by Mike, knocking the air out of the man. Spotting Skye trying to escape through the back exit, he leaps to her. A cop emerges from the other door; without warning, he starts to fire his shotgun. "Hold your fire!" I yell. Mike kicks the door open and runs out, taking Skye with him. The cop chases them down. I tap my comlink, "Coulson, we got another player in play. Male. Dark hair. Caucasian. In a police uniform." Suddenly there's gunfire. It's coming from the other side of the station. Spartan and I make a break for it. Coming to the other side of the station, Mike comes crashing down to a store stand. Mike gets to his feet, skin glowing red. Coulson slowly walks over to him, putting his gun on the ground. Behind Coulson, Spartan and I keep our gun train on the man.
"Putting down your gun doesn't mean anything. You got guys all around me, waiting to put me down," Mike says. "You're right; we do. But we don't want to hurt you. You have a poison running through your body. The same poison that made another man exploded," Coulson says. "I'm not like that other guy!" Mike yells, "I'm a good person. A hero." "Then be a hero, Peterson. Think of your son. He would want us to help you. Look at yourself. You're burning up," I say. "You took him from me!" he yells, voice breaking, "You think this thing is killing me? All over, people are being pushed down, being robbed. One of them tries to stand up; you have to make an example out of him." 'He's losing it.' "You drop this building on us. Will that help?" Coulson asks. "That's a lie! All you do is lie!" Peterson snaps, "They said if we work hard, did right, we have a place. That said, it was enough to be a man. But there's better than a man. There are gods. And the rest of us. What are we? They're giants. We're what they step on." Coulson steps closer to Mike, "I know. I've seen giants. Up close. And that privilege cost me. Nearly everything. But the good ones. The real deal. They're not heroes because they have what we don't. It's what they do with it. You're right, Mike. It matters who you are."
A gunshot. Everyone looks at the shooter. Spartan. Next to him stands Fitz. "He'll live," Spartan says. Simmons dashes over to Mike and confirms he's alive, just unconscious. Everyone sighs a breath of relief.