-PROLOGUE-
December, 2024
•••
I should have seen it coming.
The writing on the wall was in blood.
•••
Christmas was coming closer, the spirit of the festive season hung around everywhere. Shazen, like every year, made it clear to Nicholas Fury that Christmas week, she was not picking up a single weapon, she was not stealing a single file.
And she sure as hell was not picking up that damned transparent tablet.
But when did Nick Fury ever listen?
She'd only just come home, a box under one arm, and a grocery bag full of things in another. Beside her stood a girl with exact same auburn hair and striking green eyes.
"Look, all I'm saying, is that Christmas is a way for companies to thrive off of consumerism," said the younger girl as she took the grocery bag from the older one.
Shazen rolled her eyes and put the box on the kitchen island, saying, "Okay, if you don't like consumerism then I'll just chuck your present in the trash, simple,"
"No, that's not what I mean," the girl laughed nervously. "Like, look at it this way, no one buys from big companies all year round because they get lazy with advertising, right?"
"Right," Shazen sighed, fed up of her sister's constant complaints against the marketing and business world.
"So, obviously, when the time of the year comes by when people are desperate to show off and buy shit, they get all excited and advertise stuff in such a way that they think it's Christmassy, but it's really just a blender," said the girl.
Shazen opened the fridge and sighed, "Want me to heat up last night's lasagna?"
"Yes," said the girl as she sat at the kitchen island, continuing to blabber about the same topic.
Shazen, as usual, let it fade into background noise, pretending to listen, when she really didn't want to. She felt her phone vibrate suddenly, and looked at it.
Incoming call
Captain Eyepatch
"Adeena, shut your ass up for two seconds, please," Shazen said, answering the call. She heard her sister roll her eyes and moved away, gesturing for her to finish heating the food.
"Nick, I have told you, I'm taking Christmas week off," she scowled and grumbled into the phone.
"Not my problem, Agent," said the gruff voice of her boss from the other end. "I'm not too happy with you, so keep your snark to yourself."
"Really? You're not happy with me?" She scoffed. "Can't your unhappiness stay cozy in a blanket, hibernating until after the 25th?"
"No," said Fury, sounding very annoyed. "You botched up your last job so damn bad, you got your name on the damn mob's hit list,"
"What did I botch up?" She scoffed, leaning against the wall to look out the window onto the streets below. "Damn body wasn't found. Never made it to the police or the news."
"Clearly you didn't hide it well enough," she could hear him scowling. "Keep your doors locked tonight, tomorrow we're gonna put your file in the off-grid archives,"
"Excuse me, if it's some small, half-ass mafia run by pot-addicted in the basement of their parents' house, I'm not going off into the damn death archives," she seethed, green eyes flashing in irritation.
"No, actually," replied Fury. "You got the biggest mob boss out there damn pissed and out for your blood."
"You realise that if my file goes in the archives, then I will have to answer some very uncomfortable questions from my little sister, all of which are along the lines of 'are you a spy?'. And that is definitely a question I cannot answer."
"Stay low," Nick warned. "We'll have you in protection soon. Non-negotiable."
With that, he cut the call.
•••
Why didn't I listen?
•••
"Deena, I'm gonna go get something from downstairs," Shazen said as she caught sight of someone in black clothes slinking up towards their apartment building after having pinpointed the location.
Adeena shrugged and sat on the counter, shoveling lasagna into her mouth straight from the container and nodded, "Alright, but I'm still talking about the consumerism thing after you're back."
"Fine, fine, whatever," the red headed spy rolled her eyes, grimacing at her sister's antics. She grabbed her twin knives discreetly and pocketed it, saying, "At least use a plate, dumbass..."
"You love me," smirked her sister, leaning back on her palm, the fork hovering in front of her lips.
Shazen rolled her eyes and laughed, "Hm, yes. I do. Now stay here."
•••
She listened to me, for once.
But I didn't listen to my gut.
•••
Adeena waved her away and she immediately became vigilant the moment she was in the corridor of the apartment building. The dim lights flickered, and inside each house there was enough ruckus to make any shouting sound normal.
Her senses heightened and she felt a presence behind her. Instantly, she whipped around, holding her knives in a reverse grip and slashing at whoever tried sneaking up on her.
Her left knife caught at their abdomen, coming away red along with the silver blade. She dodged a punch to the face and narrowly missed getting thrown over the railing of the stairs as the intruder threw punch after punch, kick after kick.
Of course in the tussle they both gained their own injuries.
"Jeez, you put up one hell of a fight, don't you?" She seethed, slamming the person into the wall. Their eyes beneath the mask flashed angrily, brows furrowing as they kicked forward, shoving her back into the closest shoe rack.
Shazen threw a knife a the person, but where it should've gotten embedded in the skin, it bounced off.
"What in the hell..." she mumbled, confused. The person's mask twitched, making it look like they were smirking as they lifted their pant leg to show a prosthetic leg. In seconds, Shazen felt it connect with her abdomen, leaving her gasping for air. Her knives clattered to the side, leaving her left with her fists to defend herself.
Her body was thrown to the ground, and her hips were pinned down with the weight of the person's legs on them, as she felt herself her choked. I'm a split second of thinking she raised her hips, rolling over to punch the person hard enough in the face to make their nose bleed. Badly.
An audible 'crack' echoed between them, and Shazen was about to grab her fallen knives when she heard glass breaking and a scream.
But it wasn't just any scream.
Adeena.
Shazen burst into the house, not bothering to cover up the blood on her knuckles, the bruises on her body and face. Her whole body froze in absolute horror when she saw the glass container in the floor shattered, her apartment ransacked...
...and her little sister lying dead on the floor with a knife in her chest.
•••
There it was, the writing in the wall.
•••
A ringing in her ears, the world blurring. The intruder stood behind her, ready to strike, only to be as shocked as her to see the 14 year old girl, dead.
A man with curly hair, cunning eyes, and a red Tracksuit emerged with the files she'd stolen a few days back, and she didn't even go to hit him, despite knowing that the blood on his hands was the blood of her sister.
She heard another scream, but it wasn't anyone else's. It was hers. She held her sister, pulling out the knife, desperate to check for signs of life. She checked for a pulse, pressed her hand against her bleeding chest, but there was not a single sign of life left.
She shook her, she shook Adeena hard, she sobbed and cried, resting their foreheads together as her tears mingled with the ones drying on her sister's ivory cheeks.
And the intruder got away with what they wanted.
While Shazen lost everything she had left.
•••
My sister, my sister.
My heart, my soul.
Why were you punished,
When the blunder was my own?
•••
February, 2025
The morning was crisp, virtually perfect, and there was no chance of anything out of the blue happening. She sat down at her sister's grave, and placed a lunch bag in front of the headstone.
"You forgot your lunch," she whispered.
She'd started to eat her own sandwich, when her phone got a notification.
Captain Eyepatch
New mission, new posting, Agent.
Seen 1:30 p.m
I'm eating lunch, can't it wait?
Seen 1:30 p.m
I think you'll like this one.
Seen 1:31 p.m
Three words: Kingpin's crime empire.
Seen 1:32 p.m
Now you've got my attention.
Seen 1:32 p.m
View Attachment
Seen 1:33 p.m
I'm in.
Seen 1:34 p.m
—————
Okay, so, rewrite, hehe.
I kinda thought the previous one was a bit...too convenient.
So I spiced it up.
Two little babies wanting vengeance? HEHEHEEEEE
Two little babies who hate each other after being besties for ages?
HEHEHEEEEE
I hope you like the rewrite, guys!
20 comments, don't forget to vote <3
I hope you liked the prologue!
With love and hugs,
Sage.