Agent Raven of S.H.I.E.L.D. (COMPLETE)

Monster

In five minutes, I was redressed, fully geared, and bolting for the launch pad. There was a ship heading for D.C. that was leaving in ten minutes, and I needed to be on it. Other than my weapons, I had nothing except my phone and my watch, and adrenaline pulsing through my veins. 

As I ran through the halls, I couldn't help but grin. Fury's words were still pulsing through my head, for some reason. It only took you nine days? Is this what Romanoff's been teaching you? For some reason, that felt like some kind of confirmation, like it was proof that I had done something right. In the field, doing missions, just at SHIELD in general, this was what I was supposed to be doing, where I was meant to be. If that was true, did anything else matter? If I was right where I was supposed to be, then what more was there to it?

I checked onto the plane and took a seat, right as the crew was closing the door. I pulled out my phone, hoping Hill had already sent me the coordinates. I didn't want to have to depend on my phone to get me to the base, which meant I needed to memorize my route before the ship landed. 

Copying the coordinates from Hill, I transferred them to the GPS and hit search. The location popped up quickly, and I saw a satellite's view of the building. It was in the thick of the D.C. suburbs, and it looked like it would have a legitimate address. I pulled up Google Maps. Street view was about to come in handy.

It took a lot longer to load, but I managed to find an address that correlated with the building. I noticed that the building was supposedly owned by the same company as the building in Maine. The business must have been a cover for CROS all across the board. I bet if someone searched for the 'Eagle Roofing Company', they wouldn't find anything legal. It probably wasn't registered with the US government, despite having multiple locations across the East Coast. At least, for now. Wait a month or so, and we'll see if they're still in business.

I mapped my route from the D.C. airstrip to the CROS base. If they were still planning to sabotage the President's dinner, the base would be pretty empty by the time I got there. They'd all be in position by now, if they were as smart as they had shown to be. If the spy passed the word along that SHIELD was onto them, then they might have already fallen back. 

Either way, what was I supposed to do? Fury never actually gave me orders, he just said to get to the capital. I pulled up our conversation on my watch. 'What do you want me to do when I get to the base?'

I didn't know when to expect a reply, but I hoped one would come before I got off the plane. With nothing else to do before the ship landed, I connected my hearing aids to my phone and started playing music. Yeah, they doubled as customized Bluetooth earbuds. Don't you wish you were 80% deaf? The 2019 Charlie's Angels movie had a great soundtrack, and I had been listening to it recently. I stared out the window, and let the music wash over me.

I still couldn't shake this feeling that I was onto something. Not with CROS, but with being at SHIELD. It was like running: my mission with the Avengers was my start, and ever since transferring to Field, I had been picking up speed. I still had a long way to go, assuming I didn't die in D.C., and supposedly, it would eventually lead to the Avengers. I wasn't anywhere close yet, but now that I had my own missions, everything Natasha and Clint had taught me was settling into place. For the past five years, Natasha had been building me up and showing me what was possible, but there hadn't been any real way to test how much I had learned and what I was made of, not until I was on a mission.

And now I was. I was leaping into the fire, practically swan-diving into it, but I hadn't burned yet. It was only clear recently, but I had learned so much of what Natasha had given me, and even a little bit on my own. I was made of iron, unrefined and needing work, but already becoming stronger, becoming steel. I was going to bend, and chip, and maybe even break, but I could do some good in this world. For all I had lost, I could give so much more.

I felt strong, like nothing CROS could throw at me could break me. They hadn't been able to put one over me yet, and if Natasha's training held, they weren't going to either. I had already proven I could beat them, more than once. I had anticipated their bomb in Maine, connected the dots to find out about their mission in D.C., found out about the hostages AND the mole, who had been completely hidden until today, and managed to stay one step ahead of them, even when the mole was expecting me. They had shown their hand, and exactly how smart they were.

I had shown part of mine, but not nearly as much as they had. They knew me, because I had beaten their mole at headquarters, and they knew I was onto them, but they didn't know what I could do. I still had tricks to pull, but CROS had exhausted every move they had just to try and attack the President. Their ace in the hole had been the hostages and the mole at SHIELD, and they were all but gone. I was no ace, but if I had already managed to hurt them so badly, then I still had more to give.

Fury responded, and I opened the message. He didn't say much as far as what my official mission was. In fact, he didn't say much at all: 'Bring them down'

I guess he really did see what Natasha has done with me. He wasn't telling me to accomplish anything, or giving me a mission. He was sending me out, releasing me on CROS. This was the kind of missions he gave Natasha sometimes. Those had always been the best stories that she told me, the few times that she did. She always came back saying something along the lines of: "I'm not an agent anymore, when that happens. I feel like a bomb, or a storm of some kind. My job is to destroy."

I knew she didn't like feeling like that anymore. It reminded her too much of the Red Room, and the missions the KBG had given her years ago. She didn't want to feel like a monster anymore, like she was dangerous.

But I never went to the Red Room. I wasn't afraid to be dangerous. If I was a monster, then so be it, but if I could destroy something and still do some good, then I wasn't going to pass up the chance. I had already trained with two of the deadliest assassins of the twenty-first century, and earned my spot at SHIELD. I was too far in to second-guess myself now, and past thinking about morals. I wasn't turning back now. If Fury wanted me to bring down CROS, I would do it, one soldier at a time.