January 16th, 2014
Sharon Carter/Agent 13
In a small house in Washington D.C. that had been recently bought for one of the most important women in the world, a meeting was in progress.
"Sweetie, when you became an agent, what did I tell you?" an elderly, but still healthy woman asked.
Sharon smiled at the elderly woman in the bed in front of her, holding her hand at her bedside. "You wanted me to take care of SHIELD."
"Did I?" The elderly woman looked over at the tall black man standing at the foot of her bed. "Trip, is that what I said?"
"Yes ma'am," Agent Triplett said with a wide grin.
"Hmph," the elderly woman said. She shook her head. "All that work and you young fools tear it apart in one fell swoop."
"In our defense, most of that was..." Trip stopped talking, but it was too late. He winced at the pain that flashed in the older woman's eyes.
"...I'm sorry Aunt Peggy," Sharon apologized, feeling guilty about being unable to protect her aunt's life's work.
"What for?" Peggy gave Sharon a very sharp smile. "You weren't the one who allowed parasites into your legacy."
"Not your fault," Trip said. "And in the end, the only reason SHIELD could survive was because of the good work you did."
"SHIELD survived because of you, not in spite of you, Aunt Peggy," Sharon said, squeezing the older woman's hand.
Peggy sighed. "Small comfort... You know, when I was young, I thought I'd faced all the horror the world could produce. Everything from the Darkforce to Howard Stark. And now, poor Steve will have to face all of that," she looked between Sharon and Trip. "You'll both help him."
It wasn't a plea. It was an order.
Trip and Sharon nodded. Peggy relaxed, smiling at the two. "Good. Now, tell me. I've heard of the formation of BRIDGE, but I wish to know about the reactions of certain individuals during the discussion. The Russian President's aide, a woman with brown hair, how did she act?"
As the legacies of the Howling Commando's and Peggy Carter informed the elderly woman, a small box full of pills sat innocently on the nightstand next to Peggy's bed.
When Sharon and Trip left Peggy's home, they entered Trip's car together. Trip started the car and stared out of the windshield without moving. After a moment, he turned it off.
"...That woman was so strong, all of my life. The best damn spy in the world. I was always comparing every spy I knew to her." Trip said. Sharon smiled at that. "I think, today... I think I got a glimpse of that again."
"Just a bit," Sharon sighed happily. "But she seemed happy, even with all the bad news."
"The new Director will be happy to hear about that," Trip said. "I mean, Peggy's approval, you know?"
Sharon nodded. "Yeah."
"And Simmons and Dial will be happy to know the pills work."
Sharon gave Trip a grin. He put a hand on her shoulder, with Sharon grabbed. After a silent moment of happiness, they pulled away from each other.
Trip started the car, and they started driving. They stopped at a light a few miles away. Suddenly, both of their comm units switched on, brief static filling their ears before a voice came on.
"This is X, you both need to run!" the AI yelled urgently.
"X?" Trip asked, uncomprehending.
"HYDRA has sent Quinjets to your area, I'm sending a team to intercept but-"
X's frantic voice was cut off when something landed in the intersection ahead of them with a 'Boom!' of shattered concrete. Trip and Sharon stared as a tall being rose from the concrete.
She was over seven feet tall, with green scaled skin, glowing yellow eyes, and taloned feet. She was wearing a workout top and military pants, and her eyes were firmly set on Trip and Sharon.
"Shit!" Trip slammed on the accelerator, turning right and booking it down the street. The strange woman started chasing them with incredible speed. "Who the hell is this!?"
"She isn't on any records," X said. "She must be a new creation. Help is six minutes out!"
"Then we last that long!" Sharon said, opening the glove box and grabbing the submachine gun inside. She opened the window and leaned out, the wind rushing past her with the smell of french fries from a nearby fast food place drifting in the air. She sighted on the woman currently catching up with them on foot and started shooting in controlled bursts, pulling the trigger before giving up and cursing harshly in annoyance, pulling back into the car.
"She's bulletproof!" Sharon yelled.
"I miss killable bad guys!" Trip yelled back, swerving around an SUV that the woman chasing them pushed aside, sending it spinning like a top into a tree.
"HYDRA Quinjet is sighting on you, but they haven't fired," X informed them. "I'm attempting to hack them, but they've modified the Quinjet to be as low-tech as possible somehow."
"They want us alive," Trip realized, a chill going down his spine.
"Wait, where did she go-" Sharon began to say.
The woman landed on the hood of the car, crumbling the steel beneath her and sending the vehicle spinning out of control. She quickly planted her feet into the pavement so her boots left long groves as she slowed the car to a halt.
"Come on!" Trip slammed down on the accelerator, trying to run her over.
The woman, in response, tore off the hood, then reached in and pulled the car's engine out with one hand, tossing it carelessly aside.
Trip and Sharon instantly leaped out of the car, running in different directions. The woman leaped towards Trip, slamming him into the pavement. He tried to fight, but the woman simply took out a syringe and stabbed it into his neck. As he passed out, she lifted him up and threw him at the Quinjet as it floated above with the back hatch open, where he landed in the arms of a waiting soldier.
Sharon, in the meantime, was sprinting with all her speed towards a back alley nearby. Once there, she could get into a building, maybe slip past them in a maze of halls.
The scaled green woman landed in front of Sharon with a crunch of breaking asphalt. Sharon spun to avoid her, but the woman grabbed Sharon and lifted her into the air. As Sharon choked on a scaled fist strong enough to bend steel, the woman pulled her close.
"Don't worry," the woman said gently, stabbing her in the neck with another syringe. "Soon you'll no longer feel powerless ever again."
Sharon was out moments later.
The HYDRA Quinjet flew into the air and headed into the countryside. X tried to track it, Jarvis helping, and soon found it's destroyed remains in the side of a barn.
Sharon Carter and Antoine Triplett were MIA.