The Bus, Location: Classified
I was in the hanger, practicing my ballet when I heard the alarm go off. I sighed, trudging into the briefing room. "Chan Ho Yin--just a struggling street performer until a few years ago, when Mr. Chan began to exhibit moderate pyrokinetic abilities," Coulson said. "So what gave him powers?" Fitz asked. "It's still under investigation, but Chan did live near the decommissioned Wan Tai nuclear plant when it caught fire. To our knowledge, no other nearby residents have exhibited similar traits," Coulson said.
"So how did we find out about him?" Simmons asked. "Informants saw him lighting torches in a street show...with his pinkie," May said. "Brought it to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention. We told him to keep his abilities under wraps. He's been on the index ever since," Coulson said. "The index?" Skye asked. "It's a list S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps of people and objects with powers," Simmons said. "Wait, what? How many are there? Are you saying there are more people--" Skye started.
"Not many," May said. "Enough to keep a list," Skye argued. "A shortlist, meant to protect them," Coulson said. "Though, in rare cases, S.H.I.E.L.D. has to take action," Ward said. "Actions against people or objects? Well, that's drastic with a side of creepy," Skye said when they inhaled sharply.
"How are they monitored--tapped phones, satellite surveillance, body probes in dark, unpleasant places?" Skye asked. "Who's on there?" I asked, veering the topic away. "I'm afraid we can't disclose that information," Coulson said. "Mr. Chan was low-risk. He was assigned a case agent who checked in with him every few days. That's how we discovered him missing," Coulson said. "您好, 关先生. 你好吗?" May asked.
"不如我想象的那么好," He said. "Everyone, this is Agent Kwan, Chan Ho Yin's case agent," May said. "很高兴认识你," I said. "你说广东话吗?" May asked me. "除其他事项外," I answered.
"What can you tell us?" May asked. "Not much, I'm afraid. Chan is a magician, so at first, I thought he'd made himself disappear," Kwan said. "The file says you'd caught him violating his index agreement before," Coulson said. "On two separate occasions--claimed we were 'hampering his artistic expression.' But late last night, he was taken by professionals. The only thing they left behind was this scrap of aluminized material," Kwan said. "Fireproof clothing," Simmons said.
"So whoever took him knew about his powers," I clarified. "Yes, and we think we know why. Over the last few days, tech division discovered a crack into our data stream. It's the same cyberpunks who hacked us before. Somehow, they got in again. It's the Rising Tide," He said, and we all looked at Skye. "Hello? It's got real quiet. You guys still there?" We ended the call with Chan, and Ward, Coulson, and Skye went to Coulson's office. A few minutes later, they reemerged. Skye started to type furiously, trying to trace the hack.
"How close are we?" Coulson asked, coming in. "Almost there," Skye said. "She's identified the remote-access Trojan and the infected endpoint and is searching for a TCP to correlate the hypertext with signature information and then, Bob is your uncle, viola," Fitz-Simmons said. "You get any of that?" Coulson asked Ward. "Only the uncle part," Ward admitted.
"We got our origin--Austin, Texas," Skye said. "You got a name?" I asked. "Just the cafe our hacker worked out of, but I'm in the system. I'm gonna check to see if any credit-card charges from that day match up to any known hackers. We got a hit," She said, as a picture of a man came up. "Miles Lydon, not Skye--that's to all our relief," Fitz said. "You know him?" Coulson asked.
"Every hacker in the world knows him," Skye said. "Not just the hacker world. He infiltrated the Kremlin. Yeah, the picture of, uh, Putin shirtless on horseback--that was his hack," Fitz-Simmons said, smiling. "It was also his hack that got Chan kidnapped," Ward said. "May, set a course for Austin," Coulson said, and there was a beep. "Just did," She said.
"What about Chan?" I asked. "Kwan's got a S.H.I.E.L.D. team on the ground. Our best bet is to chase this thing from the other end. Find Mr. Lydon, bring him in, see what he knows," Coulson said, and we dispersed. "To clarify, not every hacker in the world knows him, cause I don't," I said. "You can hack?" Skye asked, and I pulled up a keyboard. I tried to enter the C.I.A.'s files, and rapid code sprung up, fighting to keep me out.
I worked just as fast, rivaling the commands with my own. A few minutes later of unbroken concentration, and I was in. I quickly exited, making sure to cover my tracks.
"Told you,"
-
Austin, Texas
"Just left the cafe where Miles logged in. Cashier says she hasn't seen him in over a week," Skye said. "I may have eyes on him," Ward said. I was crouched on a rooftop, told that if he ran, to chase him. "I've been made," I saw two people chasing each other, then a silver car tear off into the street. "Heading east on 5th street. Target is now in a silver Jetta," Ward said.
"I got him," Coulson said as I got on my feet. My feet pounded on the concrete as I ran after them, a blockade happening and cutting Coulson off. "I'm in pursuit," I said. He vanished into a tunnel, and I lost sight of him. I sat down on the edge of the building, panting.
"I lost him,"
-
"I found them," May said, sending us the location. I walked into the apartment, and my face darkened. The others were going through files and computer history. "I know how this looks--" Skye started, but Coulson held up a finger to silence her. "How long have you two been in contact?" I asked, getting into interrogation mode and clearing my face of emotion.
"I contacted him once the day I joined to tell him I was okay and once earlier today," Skye admitted. "When you tipped off an active suspect?" I asked. "No, it's not like that. Miles and I--we met when we were both a little screwed up. Scratch that--he was a little screwed up, I was a lot. But we looked after one another. That's why I warned him, not because we're working together on this, but because we're...friends. I'm really sorry," She said. "Noted. If not you, then who is Mr. Lydon working with?" I asked. "No one. He's an idealist, believes in freedom of information," She said.
"That information cost a man his freedom, and you sabotaged our attempts to remedy that," I said coldly. "No, I came here to find out what Miles knows about Chan," She said. "And?" I asked. "Nothing. Miles is a dead end, he's harmless," She said. "We'll see," I said.
"Really, I was gonna find out everything I could to try to help. I just--I felt like I couldn't tell you guys everything," She defended. "We know. Why do you think Coulson asked May to follow you? Seems that wasn't a dead end," I sneered. "We got what we were looking for here. We're going to Hong Kong," Coulson said, and we all filed out of the door.
-
The Bus, Location: Classified
"It appears Centipede is responsible for Mr. Chan's kidnapping," Coulson said. "First L.A., now Hong Kong. What kind of organization are we dealing with?" Ward asked. "International, well-financed, interest in creating a super-soldier. Let's hope finding Mr. Chan will provide some answers. Using the account information Mr. Lydon gave us, S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ believes he's being held here," I said, pointing at a spot. I still hadn't left my professional mode or allowed emotions to make an appearance. "Any ideas what Centipede wants with Chan?" May asked.
"Hard to say, but Simmons thinks that considering he's pyrokinetic, there's a good chance his genetics could stabilize the extremis element of the Centipede serum. Keep their test subjects from going boom," Fitz-Simmons said. "If Mr. Chan is Centipede's lab rat, we need to get there before the experiment's over," Coulson said.
I went down to the hanger, getting gear from a chest. I stuck a gun into my waistband, and another one in a thigh holster.
-
Hong Kong, China
"Building has 5 floors. The first 4 are research. 5th is listed as maintenance but uses half the building's energy," I walked over to the edge of the building, using a grappling gun to pull myself up to the roof as Coulson talked with Kwan. We entered the building, May with a detector, and leading the way. "There. Heat signature confirmed," She said, nodding towards a door. "I love these things," Coulson said, placing an explosive door break on the lock, and stepping back. May kicked the door open, taking down the first guard.
I swept the legs of the second, kicking him in the head and knocking him out. "Agent Kwan. It's you," Chan said. "We're here to get you out," Kwan told him as an alarm went off. "Chan, what have you done?" Kwan fell to the ground, dead with a hole burned through his stomach. "I've set myself free," He said.
We hid behind crates, hearing Chan scream from pain. "Mr. Chan, I know you're in pain," Coulson said. "This is nothing. You were the ones killing me, forcing me to keep this gift locked up inside," Chan said. "陈, 对不起, 您过着不想过的生活, 但是暴力并不能解决任何问题," May said. "这将使我免于被囚禁. 通过你，通过他们，没有区别. 我收到这份礼物是有原因的. 燃烧明亮," Chan said.
"没有回头路了," May said. "我不想回去," Chan snapped. "So, we're good, right?" Coulson asked as Chan flung flames at the crate he was hiding behind. "His file say anything about him being homicidal?" I snapped. "Just said he was kind of a tool. Mr. Chan, believe it or not, things can get worse," Coulson said.
"You bend someone long enough, and they break. Poor little Chan Ho Yin may have believed your lies, but not Scorch," Chan said. "Who?" May asked. "Oh, crap. They gave him a name. Get me a clean look. I'll make sure he wakes up in a S.H.I.E.L.D. containment facility," Coulson said. "Waking is optional at this point," May said. "陈, 比你弱的人已经弯曲了很多, 他们仍然没有破裂!" I called, distracting him.
He put up a wall behind him, making Coulson unable to hit him. "I'm out!" He called. "Nothing can stop me!" He yelled. "Where are we on the doors?" May asked. "Almost there," Ward answered.
"Doors are unlocked, where's Chan?" Coulson asked. "He's gone," I said. "Damn it. That tranquilizer was his last chance. You know that," May said. "I know. It's time to minimize the damage. Simmons...are the building's computers back online? Uncuff Miles, we're gonna need his help," Coulson ordered as screams echoed from the hallway. Knowing it was too late, I grabbed two syringes and plunged them into his shoulders, overdosing him.
"We gotta move," Coulson said, and we booked it out of the building. We made it out just as fire rushed out of the shaft on top. "Skye managed to extract some files from the building's mainframe. It's not much, but it could get us a fix on Centipede," Ward said. "Maybe," Coulson said. "You can't save someone from themselves, sir," Ward said.
"You can if you get to them early enough,"
-
The Bus, Location: Classified
"Bailey!" I turned at the sound of May's voice. "You need something?" I asked, finally having broken out of professional mode. "We need to talk," She said. "We're doing that right now," I pointed out, and she gave me a look. "Well, you obviously have something to say. So go ahead," I said, crossing my arms.
"While we were fighting Chen, you said 'people weaker than you have been bent a lot further, and they still haven't broken.' What do you mean by that?" She asked. I sighed, looking away. "Bailey," She said sternly. I gave in, looking back over. "So?" She asked.
"Let's just say I was raised in a place where you only survived if you bent as far as they want you to,"
a/n I will be willing to provide translations if you need them, just leave a comment.