Captain America: Professional Best Friend

Not This Guy Again...

Emma pulls into the parking garage by a side entrance she usually uses to get to the media offices. She takes a deep breath and says to herself, "Here we go, Emma. Broadway was always your dream, let's put on a show." As she walks from the car and into the building, she holds her notebook in one arm and furiously writes on the page that is covered in notes that were actually from the mission a few days prior.

"Hey, Baker," one of the other journalists, Sandra, calls, catching up with her. "Where have you been the past couple of days?"

"Oh, I just took a couple of personal days. It's just been hard some days since my grandma passed, and it hit me badly so I just needed a breather..." Emma tells her sadly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, my condolences..." the sweet girl replies sadly as she swipes her keycard and they enter the building. "Are you still working on mission notes?"

Emma fakes a nervous laugh, "Maybe... I hope they won't be too mad at my tardiness."

"You're one of our best reporters, they won't be mad," she reassures Emma as they walk down the hall towards the office where Emma's drone is held.

They almost reach the office when one of their superiors stops them, "It's good to see you two. Baker, Neilson."

Emma smiles, "And you as well."

"May I speak with you, Baker?" he asks, looking her in the eye.

Sandra walks away with a small wave as Emma replies, "Of course."

The conversation starts casually as they go into his office, "Are those additional reports for the STRIKE mission, agent?"

Emma nods, "Yes sir. I had some more time to think about the events of the mission and wanted to add some additional details to my article." Emma keeps her voice steady and holds onto the notebook to hide the shaking in her hands.

"Additional details? How so?"

"Well, first there was the odd behavior of Batroc. I just thought-" Emma starts rambling, mentally kicking herself for not keeping her answer short.

"Look," Stevens says while closing the office door, "I know you w-"

Suddenly his phone goes off and his face scrunches in confusion. "What seems to be the problem, sir?"

"As if you don't know," he spits at her. "Stay right here if you know what's good for you. Captain Rogers won't be here to save the day this time..."

As he stalks out of the room, Emma catches the door before it shuts. She quickly walks to where her drone is kept, wanting to get it as fast as possible before he notices she left the room. Once in the room, she types in the code to her locker and grabs the drone along with its controls.

Emma quickly places the drone in a bag and starts furiously tapping at the tablet screen as she walks back to the parking garage. She quickly turns off the tracking devices on the drone and tablet as well as their streaming function that reports back to HQ.

"Baker! Stop where you are!" Emma hears Officer Stevens shout from a distance.

"Shit," Emma whispers as adrenaline kicks in. Her body ignores the pain it's in as she starts sprinting to the car as fast as she can. She hears footsteps running after her, so she tips over a coffee cart on its side and into their path. More officers and guards emerge from the side halls as gates begin to shut over the exits. A burst of energy hits Emma and she slams her body out of the door leading out to the parking garage.

She gets in the car and throws it into gear, peeling out of the garage before anyone can get to her and the gates shut. Emma picks up the burner phone from the passenger seat and dials Sam, "What's your status?"