164 Under attack

May 18, 2014

Phil Coulson/Leader of Team SHIELD

Skye held onto Barbara's hands. The redhead was shaking, her knuckles almost painfully tight on Skye's hands.

"I was in the swamp for… I don't know, a few hours?" Barbara shook her head. "John found me… I've been here since then."

"How did you end up in the swamp in the first place?" Skye asked her. "You say you were in pain, then relief. Then you were just… in the water?"

Barbara nodded quietly. Octavius spoke over the comms. "The creature placed her in the water."

"Say that again?" Coulson said, turning away from Barbara and Skye.

"The creature, this strange being, similar in make-up to Swampfire, really I hope we can find some genetic samples to compare the two and-"

"Doctor, please," Coulson said. "Focus. What did the creature do?"

"Ah, apologies. The creature, rather than finishing the job and k-killing Mrs. Bannister," Otto sounded horrified, stopping to take a shuddering breath. Coulson held back a bit of frustration at that. Octavius was probably shaken from the footage he'd seen. Seeing men and women boiled alive by a creature made of plants was probably horrifying, after all.

"He lifted her and pushed her into the water. With a surprising amount of gentleness. And then he left the room and…" Otto swallowed. "Well. The SHIELD and HYDRA agents went from fighting each other to trying to kill the creature. But it was simply unstoppable. The way the creature regenerated from attacks, killed the men… when it finished. It swam into the water-hole as well."

"It went into the water?" May asked over the comms.

"Yes, after it killed-"

May interrupted. "The water that Melati and I are standing in front of?"

"Shit!" Melati said.

"Get out of there, now!" Coulson shouted, spinning to Skye. "If that creature knows the way out, it knows the way in."

"We need to go and back them up," Skye said quickly. She let go of Barbara and grabbed her backpack. "I'm sorry, we have to-"

"I understand," Barbara said quickly. "Go."

Skye and Coulson looked at the redhead for a moment. "No time," Coulson said at last. "Mrs. Bannister, we'll be seeing you as soon as possible."

Coulson rushed out the door, Skye following right after. Coulson walked down the hallways as the doors shut on Barbara behind them, the young woman left sitting in her chair. Alone.

Down the hallway, John Daltry was speaking to a doctor. He turned to look at them, only to freeze at the sight of Coulson's face. "What happened?"

"We know what happened," Coulson said firmly. "But my team is in danger."

To his credit, Daltry didn't hesitate. He nodded and turned to leave, only for Coulson to stop him with his words to the doctor.

"I need you to make sure Mrs. Bannister doesn't escape," Sheriff Daltry spun around to stare at Coulson. "She is a security risk, for many reasons. Keep her under lock and key until we can get BRIDGE agents to speak with her."

"Coulson!" Skye said, shocked. "We don't have to do that, she's-"

"She is a spy," Coulson said firmly. "The fact she cooperated will help, especially if she keeps that up, but she was trading government secrets. Protocol is clear."

Sheriff Daltry scowled, his fists tightening. "If you think-"

"We don't have time!" Coulson said. Skye and the doctor jumped, while Daltry glared. "I want to be nice about this, I do. But right now, three of mine might be in the vicinity of a killer. I want to get to them so they have backup. So I'm sorry for being brief, but we need to get this done-"

"Okay," Daltry cut him off. "Fine. I've already got Nakamura headed here to guard her. But I'm coming with you. No one knows these swamps better than me."

Coulson smirked. "You kinda have to. You're our ride."

As they headed out, Octavius began to speak again. "Agent Coulson. I've recovered the data from after the creature escaped. There are days of nothing happening. Then, weeks later… Agent May noticed that all the soldier's gear and weapons were missing. And now we know why. They were stolen. A group of men dressed in black clothing broke into the facility, stripped the corpses and armory of their equipment, and escaped."

Coulson and Skye shared a dark glance. Someone had stolen SHIELD weapons and armor. Weapons that, back in January, were the most advanced in the world.

"Sheriff, we may need to be more prepared than I thought," Coulson said darkly.

Skye, in the meantime, opened her backpack.

Otto Octavius

Octavius watched the footage in front of him with a careful eye. On the screen, dozens of men were roaming about, stealing things from the facility. He wasn't sure what to think about that. May and Melati were just about to come out of the facility as well, but this old footage was far more interesting than he believed. He looked from screen to screen, humming. Strange. Even as there were men inside the facility stealing, it seemed like there were more outside the place roaming towards a trailer of some sor-

Octavius was among the smartest men on Earth. So it only took a second for his brain to comprehend what was happening, that the footage of the men striding towards the trailer was currently happening and streaming from their truck's cameras.

Then he was ripping a microphone off the desk. "May, there are men with guns outs-!"

A loud booming sound came from outside. Octavius yelped, turning to look at the doors. "MAY!"

More booming noises followed. "They're shooting at the doors!"

Melinda May

May heard Octavius' warning just before the elevator doors slid open. Her eyes widened when three men pointed guns at her. In the heartbeat, before they started shooting, she ran over her options.

The elevator was too small to hide in. The area between them and the gunmen was nothing but open ground. The men were still lifting their guns towards her. Melati hadn't noticed yet, she'd been studying her samples. No way to run.

So May attacked.

In a massive lunge, she leaped forward. Someone fired a shotgun, but she'd moved to keep out of their line of fire. Melati hadn't. When the sound of a bullet hitting flesh came from behind her, May forced herself not to flinch. Later. Worry later. Fight now.

She came to a stop in front of the man on the right, who had been the furthest back, then grabbed his gun and pushed it upwards. The butt of the gun slammed into his face. She pulled it back as he staggered away, spinning the gun around and pulling the guy forward as a human shield. One of his allies shot at her and his friend instead. Assault rifle rounds chewed through SHIELD-issued armor, but May was already ducking behind a tree, her stolen gun in hand as the guy she'd used as a shield fell to the swamp floor.

"Damn it!"

"Kill the bitch!"

Bullets hit the tree she hid behind, chewing through the bark flying around her head. Amateurs. May listened closely. Several different guns were firing. So there were more men than the original three she'd seen. Based on how the bark was flying past her…

She popped out of cover, aiming towards three men. With short controlled bursts, she hit all three in the gut, where the armor was slightly lacking. Blood sprayed into the air, intestines spilling forth. Then May ducked back into cover.

"Fuck me!" One of the wounded men shouted.

May pursed her lips. Damn. There were a lot of them. Most were trying to breach the truck, but she'd seen a few coming to join their friends in trying to flush her out. She needed to mov-

"Krk-krkrkrkrkrk!"

A sound came from the elevator. It sounded like… not a roar. Like a beast was growling and screaming all at once. A noise of rage and pain. It chilled May to the bones, that sound like a saw running along bones.

May poked her head out for a moment. Then she saw it. Behind one of the men. Standing tall, her scales glittering in the light, blood pouring from her stomach wound. Melati Kusama's fangs were grinding. Her eyes glowed. The soldier she was standing behind began to turn. Melati slashed out with superhuman speed. Claws tore through armor and skin, and the man screamed.

The other men spun to point their weapons at her, but she was already moving forward and picking another man up, tossing him at the rest with that loud sound like a saw scraping and breaking bones.

"HURT!" Melati roared. Someone shot her in the shoulder. As May watched, the bullet-hole stopped bleeding mere seconds after being created. That only made Melati angrier. "HURT!"

She leaped forward, claws first. May circled the tree to shoot a few more men to back up the superhuman and heard the trailer's back doors break open.

They were going to attack Octavius. And May couldn't stop them.