What Did I Get Myself Into (Avengers story)

Attacked

May 15, 2008

She was attacked as she left work the next day.

Emma  had been distracted all day, her thoughts consumed by Barton's offer.  Her other option, the option she had planned months ago, years ago, was  to move up to New York in July to begin her graduate studies at NYU. She  had been so distracted today that she had forgotten her baseball bat at  home.

It happened without warning. Someone grabbed her when she  tried to unlock her car. In a series of quick, harsh moves, Emma was  turned around, moved a few feet to the side and backward, and slammed  against the hood of her car. Her attacker punched her in the face  before she could even try and fight back.

She screamed, more out of  alarm than pain, though her back throbbed with the latter in a steady  beat and her eye was throbbing. Something cold was pushed against her  head, and with a choked sob, she realized it was the barrel of a gun.

"Who's  the agent who was talking to you?" her attacker demanded. She couldn't  see any of his features in the dim lighting from the street lamp above,  but she knew instantly she was in the deepest trouble she had ever been  in.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Emma yelled back,  struggling as much as she dared with a weapon at her head. "I don't know  any agent!"

"You lying bitch!" Emma yelped as he punched her in  the face again, and she sobbed again, the gun pressing harder against  her head. "Who is the agent that was talking to you? Tell me!" He yelled  quietly into her ear trying to not draw attention.

"Carter!" she lied. Her body shook with sobs and panic. She was not ready to die  yet. She did not want to die yet, and she knew that this man would not  hesitate in putting a bullet through her brain. "His name was Carter, I swear I don't know anything else!" she lied again. For some odd reason she wanted to protect Barton from whoever this guy was. She really didn't know why but she just felt like she had to.

He growled and punched her again, and  she screamed, "I don't know! He wanted me to join SHIELD! I didn't say  yes, please let me go!"

He didn't hit her again. Instead, he  stood there, staring at her, his hand around her neck, he was squeezing  down on her neck and it was getting harder and harder to breath. She  tried clawing at his hands to get him to let go but that only made him  angrier and he squeezed harder. Keeping her against the car, and she  choked back a sob. "Please, let me go," she begged. She had her pride,  but she wanted her life more.

She was twenty years old. She was not ready to die, not yet.

"SHIELD  will not get their hands on you," the man murmured with a crazed look.  Emma gave a strangled sob, giving one last desperate effort to escape  before exhaustion kept her against the car. She knew fighting was her  only option, and unfortunately the one time where her fathers teachings could come in handy her senses and instincts were clouded with fear and  pain.

She froze as the gun clicked against her head. "Please, no-" she begged.

"Goodbye, Miss Morgan."

Just  before he pulled the trigger, something slammed into him. She screamed  as the gun went off narrowly missing her head but grazes the side of her  head instead and breaks the windshield of her car. The pressure around  her neck disappeared as her attacker tumbled heavily to the ground. She  collapsed against her car, and frantically tried to see what had  happened.

Dimly, she realized that someone had saved her life.  The world around her became clearer as she realized that someone had  tackled the man who had nearly shot her, saving her life in the process.  The street lamp was still on, and it was in that moment that Emma  caught a glimpse of her savior's face.