Redback Widow III | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [12]

Ascension

"Once the hanger doors are open, his monster patrol will storm the base. An idea how many Hive has infected?" Mack asked as alarms blared, the harsh sound echoing through the base.

"Everyone in Quadrant D, along with Agents O'Brian and Marshall," Coulson reported.

"That's around twenty agents, isn't it?" I asked.

"It's twenty-eight," he admitted, and the base started to shake, dust coming loose from the ceiling.

"Was that Daisy?" Yo-Yo asked.

"Daisy's in trouble," Jemma said.

"Sir, there's been a malfunction in Daisy's Containment Module," Fitz added.

"You check the feed from the plane?" Mack asked.

"Yeah, it's gone dark after the earthquake," Fitz admitted.

"So, either the Primitives found their way down to her, or--" Coulson started.

"She found a way up," I took off down the hall, attempting to phase through the door but ended up running into it, careening back with a crack echoing through the air, scarlet blood coating my upper lip.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed.

"We added polyadaptive material to the hangar door after we found out Hive could infect our Inhuman Agents. The entire base is lined in it, you can't get out," Coulson explained.

"Go help Mack secure the armory. We can't lose any more agents today," he ordered, and I sighed through my nose, taking off.

-

"The armory's up ahead. I'll secure the weapons rack while you--" he stopped talking, and paused. There was the click of a gun, and I phased through him, going solid but remaining invisible. Bullets hit the glass, and my powers fizzled out, stinging pain in my abdomen.

"No, no. No. No. Shadows, what'd you do?"

-

I wasn't much aware of anything, except a burning pain in my abdomen--a bullet wound. I knew it was stupid to jump in front of Mack, but I wasn't thinking straight. There was a warm, even pressure around my neck and knee joints, but suddenly it changed into something cold and hard--a table.

Muddled voices were arguing around me. I couldn't figure out whose voice was whose. My head started to clear, and I saw Lincoln standing over me with a blowtorch. I could see where this was going.

"No. Mack," I croaked, and the blowtorch was passed over. I made my head intangible so they wouldn't hear me scream.

-

The door was thudding, light bouncing around the room from the few flashlights we had.

"There are a lot of agents still out there," Coulson said.

"At least Asya's stabilized," Lincoln said, trying to look on a very bleak bright side.

"Hey. Don't do that to me. Don't take a bullet in the gut for me," Mack scolded.

"Most of the bullets bounced off. Guess I missed one," I said. I could feel sweat coating my face. I was going to take a very long shower after this. Some pelmeni was also probably in order.

"This is very impressive. Is this the young Scotsman's work? Huh. Of course. Huh. Know if it has a working model yet?" I couldn't see Radcliffe, but I could hear and sense his infuriating presence. "Are you serious? Oh, this is stunning," the rattling stopped all of a sudden. "Must be looking for another way in," he said.

"Hey, Безумный глаз? Stuff it," I snapped.

"Guys, she's burning up. Could be a sign of infection, which means we'll need antibiotics," Lincoln said. My vision had blurred to the point that I didn't know where anyone was standing, but I could see general blobs that designated different things, like a pale blob hovering over me to represent Lincoln.