Schism In The Safe Place

Chapter 2

      "Target is a mobile satellite launch platform, the Lemurian Star, " Agent Rumlow informed the group that had been brought along on this mission. "They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, ninety-three minutes ago." I watched as he pulled up the statistics and ship schematics.

"Any demands?"

"Billion and a half." My eyes went wide. That was a huge sum for a group of people.

"Why so steep?"

"Because it's S.H.I.E.L.D's."

"So it's not off course, it's trespassing."

"I'm sure they have a good reason."

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor."

"Relax. It's not that complicated."

"How many pirates?"

"Twenty five. Top mercs led by this guy." He pulled up a picture of a threatening-looking man. "Georges Batroc, Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice."

"Great," I huffed.

"Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty six kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."

"Hostages?"

"Oh, mostly techs." He swept his finger to bring up pictures of all of the hostages. "One officer. Jasper Sitwell." I remembered Officer Sitwell. I had only talked to him once, but he had been a little creepy, so I had kept the encounters to a minimum. "They're in the galley."

"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" My father took a deep breath and looked up and around at everyone else. "All right, I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you kill the engines and wait for instructions. Take Ela with you. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get them out. Let's move."

"S.T.R.I.K.E, you heard the Cap. Gear up." The jet sped as close to the ship as possible as people geared up.

"Secure seven."

"Seven secure."

"Did you do anything fun Saturday night?" Nat teased as she readied a gun.

"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so I took Ela out to go do some things together." I whipped around after he finished his statement.

"Are you trying to say you didn't have fun?" He chuckled.

"No, sweetheart. I had a great time."

"Coming up on the drop zone, Cap."

"You know, if you ask Kristen out from Statistics, she'd probably say yes."

"That's why I don't ask."

"Too shy, or too scared?" I taunted, extending my hand out to make my staff disappear.

"Too busy!" My father jumped out and I turned to face Nat. As much as she and I teased my father about not having a girlfriend, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that idea. It would be a pretty big change, and we really had no way of knowing who she really was.

"Was he wearing a parachute?" one of the S.T.R.I.K.E agents asked.

"No," Rumlow chuckled. "No, he wasn't."

"We should get ready to move," I instructed. "Cap crash landing on that ship with a vibranium shield can only be so quiet." I made my way toward the hangar and jumped out, using my wings to gently float down onto the metal floor of the ship. The air stunk of salt and dead sea life, the wind chilling me to the bone. I looked over to my left to see my father being held at gunpoint by one of the pirates, not moving upon instruction. From far away, I threw him against the ground and knocked him unconscious. My father looked over as I made my way over and Rumlow and Nat parachuted down.

"Thanks."

"Yeah. You seemed pretty helpless without me." He shot me a look, but one that indicated he knew I was teasing him. The rest of the team landed on the deck and we all began to move into position.

"What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you? She seems kind of nice."

"Can we drop it?" I suddenly snapped.

"Secure the engine room, then find me a date."

"I'm multi-tasking." Nat jumped over the railing and I floated down to join her. "You're not mad that I'm trying to set your dad up with a date, right?" she asked genuinely.

"I'm not sure," I shrugged. "I guess I'm just used to being the only person in his life. It'd be an adjustment, but I want him to be happy, so I'd be willing to try."

"You're a good daughter to him, Ela. I think it helps that you're there for him."

"I try my best." I opened the door to the engine room and we snuck in. A guard almost immediately spotted us and Nat swung around to kick him, then wrapped a cord around his neck and used him as an anchor for her grapple. As she lowered herself, she shot at any other guard that was down there, and once she was sure they were all gone, gave me the signal to fly down.

"Follow me." We went deeper in, and she kicked open the door of the engine room, where Nat looked around for hostiles before connecting some sort of USB to a port and began typing something in.

"Natasha, what are you doing?" She didn't answer my question, instead simply focusing on what she was doing. The door suddenly crashed down, causing me to jump.

"Well, this is awkward," Nat mused, treating all of this like a big joke.

"What are you doing?" My father stood and marched his way over.

"I have no idea. I asked and she didn't answer," I spat out quickly, throwing up my hands.

"Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get into."

"Rumlow needed your help."

"What the hell are you doing here?" My father looked around at all the screens. "You're saving S.H.I.E.L.D intel."

"Whatever I can get my hands on."

"Our mission is to rescue hostages."

"No, that's your mission," she removed the drive, "and you've done beautifully. Both of you." She tried to walk away, but my father grabbed her.

"You just jeopardized the whole operation."

"I think that's overstating things." The guy my father had knocked in suddenly shot up and threw a bomb before running out. My father managed to deflect it with his shield, but it would still harm us if we didn't get to safety. He grabbed onto me with one arm and the three of us jumped across the consoles, almost reaching a safe point as the bomb exploded. I landed on my back and screamed in pain as it shot through my wings and the rest of my body. I couldn't hear my father and Nat's words and I laid there, attempting to recover to no avail. My father scooped me up and we made our way back to the jet as I screamed and cried as daggers dug through my spine.