Chapter 62 - Side Mission 1

A few days had passed since Lily had received the notice that she would be allowed to do field missions, and throughout those days, her training didn't stop.

The only difference was now she was training alongside Ava so that both of them could get used to working as a team.

At first, it was difficult, as they both had their own styles of doing things, with Ava being more focused on stealth and quickness using her phasing, while Lily had to use her strength and durability to tank things more openly.

But once they got the hang of things, they made up for each others lacking side quite well.

And finally, they had been assigned their first mission together, along with two other Agents that were there purely for support.

Both of them had been on a test mission before to see how they would act on the field. For Lily, it was the mission with Fury; for Ava, it was a scouting mission.

However, this was their first mission as a team together, so hints of excitement were mingled with nervousness as they both prepared themselves for the mission.

They meticulously reviewed the details of their mission and discussed how they should best go about the approach to ensure that they finished it within a timely manner without revealing to the public their operation.

As well as maximize their teamwork.

The objective of the mission was to either capture or eliminate a young man by the name of Isaac Cooper.

Once a promising college student, Isaac's life had taken a fateful turn when a car accident due to the reckless driving of a drunkard triggered the awakening of his mutant abilities.

Making him a mutant.

It was the aftermath of this event that plunged him into a downward spiral. He was unable to attend his classes due to the injuries, which resulted in his grades dropping, his college friends rarely visited him due to their own needs, and his family was already long gone.

His already jaded personality grew even more antagonized as time went on. Simmering in his self-hatred, he found another direction to point that hate towards. The drunk driver that caused his life to end up in a mess.

He harnessed his newfound powers to commit a series of increasingly audacious crimes.

Isaac's name had found its place within S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database due to his recent act of sheer devastation. In an act of senseless destruction, he unleashed his abilities, reducing an entire building to rubble.

It was a tragedy that claimed the lives of over ten people and injured a dozen more. Alongside the civilians in the disaster, the destruction claimed the lives of two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents caught in the inferno.

Recognizing the imminent danger and the level of threat Isaac posed, S.H.I.E.L.D. determined that deploying their regular agents would prove insufficient.

Instead, they turned to their newly formed team of special agents—Lily and Ava. It would not only act as a test for both of them, seeing how well they were able to act on the field but would also allow the people monitoring them to understand their capabilities further.

The report further went on to detail information about the mutant ability that Isaac had. Named 'Elemental Transmutation' due to the nature of how it worked, the ability allowed Isaac to change the atomic structure of an element he was in physical contact to into another element of a similar structure.

Allowing him to carry out his string of devastating chaos.

Lily and Ava studied the reports and details about the mission they were undertaking. The mission demanded not only their physical prowess but also required them to act with the knowledge that Isaac's capabilities made him extremely volatile.

They would need to act swiftly and quietly, eliminating the threat before he could counteract it, causing an incident that would draw further attention to the case from the public.

This was a secret operation.

The date of the operation quickly came. Lily and Ava were swiftly dispatched via a specially chartered aircraft, transporting them to the targeted location of Asheville.

The aircraft cut through the night sky, carrying the two agents toward their destiny, unnoticed by the common people that enjoyed their lives below.

The city lights of Asheville gradually emerged on the horizon, a collection of dimly lit buildings and sprawling streets decorating the night sky.

The aircraft slowly landed, coming to a stop at a special landing zone towards the outer rim of the city, avoiding detection by the main populace.

Exiting the aircraft, Lily and Ava were greeted by the field Agent that was monitoring the matter within the city and reporting back. They were followed by the other two Agents that were assigned to support them for this mission, but they wouldn't directly get involved.

After speaking to the field Agent for a while, they were informed about the current whereabouts of the individual they were meant to capture or eliminate.

Isaac was currently in hiding because of his latest attack drawing attention to himself; however, they could locate him thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. and their technology.

He had taken up residence in an abandoned building near the edge of town, using it as his current base of operation to plan his next attack. But in reality, he was just scared and unaware of what to do next.

He was just a kid, after all.

After getting the information they needed from the Agents, Lily, and Ava departed, leaving behind the support team to stay in contact with them from a temporary operation center.

They decided to first scout the area, so they made their way down the night streets of the city. The empty ambiance and dim street lights added to the weight that laid on them to not mess up.

Eventually, they arrived at the building, a run-down building that was incomplete. It seemed to have been a mall in the making, but construction ended before it could finish.

Leaving it to overgrow with plant life and animals to make a home out of it. The walls were already cracking and breaking, and Lily instantly noted that fighting here wouldn't be possible due to that.

If they got into a fight here, the building would collapse and take them down with it.

Agreeing with her, Ava suggested they first scout the place out and use her phasing to easily move around the inner workings of the building to get a better layout of the building.

Moving around the building, she got a good idea of all the hazards and advantageous positions within the building. She also noted all the possible ways in and out of it, along with positions that could be dangerous.

While searching, she also spotted the man, Isaac, sleeping on the second floor of the abandoned building.

After scouting out for a while, she returned and told Lily what she had found out, and after discussing for a while, they decided that the best way to capture the man would be to lure him outside of the building and catch him off guard.

As for Lily, she had a different plan.

While Ava wanted to capture the man alive so that they could complete the mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. Lily was far more interested in eating the man so that she could gain his X-Gene.

Plus, the mission also counted if he died.

After splitting up with Ava, with Ava going to lure the man outside the building, Lily decided to create a few of her worms in this area so that she could use them for her plan.

And leaving them here after she was finished wouldn't be a bad idea.

A few minutes later, Ava could be seen within the building trying to lure the man outside by threatening him. However, Lily had no plans to allow him to leave the building.

Ordering her worms, she had them eat away at the pillars of the building, causing it to come collapsing on the man that was inside, crushing him in the process.

As for Ava, her body naturally could phase through something like that, so Lily didn't mind doing such a plan even though she knew the girl was inside.

It was a simple solution to a problem, and that was purely because Lily didn't care to capture the man alive. She ordered her worms to dig around the rumble until they found and ate the man.

Ava returned from the rumble shortly after the collapse, surprised and confused about what had happened.

But after discussing it a bit, they concluded that the mission was complete and they should return after informing the other Agents.