Echoes 31 - First Blood

            "Funny, I didn't think you'd run to big brother so quickly for help." Scott growled, catching his breath where he stood and glaring around at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents surrounding him. "Never took you for the type to sell out."

            "Fuck off." Scarlett coughed, collecting herself at last, preparing for his next move. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents were slowly moving in around Scott, preparing to detain him but Scarlett knew it wasn't over, she knew it. There was no way that those other MedCo Agents weren't waiting in the wings. "Pierce I counted eight as his backup earlier and they are unaccounted for."

            "Five were detained." Mickey didn't take her eyes away from Scott. "Three are being pursued. We've had teams in and out of here the whole time, trying to get it under control."

            "Where's Natasha?" Scarlett whispered.

            "Don't know, have to ask Jinx."

            "Since you've proven yourself still… quite talented." Scott began, his voice at first gurgling before he cleared his throat. His breath was ragged, blood dripped down his face. Scarlett didn't see an ounce left of the man who had nervously asked her out on a date, who she had rejected until he'd worn her down. "I'll offer you one last chance to come with me peacefully. No one else will die for you. We get what we want and you… well, you don't watch everyone die around you until you choke on your own blood." Scott held his hand out to her. "I give you my word." His blood dripped to the floor of the stage, his fingers twitched eagerly.

            "I liked you better when you were dead." Scarlett responded quietly. She could end it all there with one word. Scott was right. People were suffering because of her. No one else would have to if she turned herself in. That would be until MedCo did whatever they were planning to do with her. If they could turn Scott into this sort of a monster then what would they do to her? She would be used as a weapon in their hands one way or another. Either her technology, her intelligence, or her brawn would be theirs.

            With a curt nod, Mickey signaled for her team to close in and take Scott and he allowed them closer.

            "He's going to do something." Scarlett whispered to Mickey who ignored her warning. Just as one of the men reached to grab Scott's bloodied arm, Scott turned on him and lifted him clear off the ground then swung him around and knocked down three of his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.

            "Take him down! Now!" Mickey urged Scarlett and Nathan to stay behind her, thinking that Scott would go after them next but he didn't.

            Scott then pounced onto another Agent. The final S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent leapt onto Scott's back but Scott threw him off easily, launching him into the theater seats. Taking one final look back at Scarlett, Scott turned and ran backstage, past the chaos he'd created. There was a crash, then a clatter as he burst through the wall and onto the streets of Manhattan.

            "Go! Go after him! Don't let him get away!" Mickey ordered and the six Agents were at once back on their feet and in pursuit of their target. She turned to face Scarlett and Nathan quickly. "Are you both all right?"

            "We're fine! Go get him!" Nathan shouted, his ears ringing.

            "Take Nathan somewhere safe." Scarlett nodded and looked behind her in search of the other MedCo Agents. She had underestimated S.H.I.E.L.D. strength and had to say that while she wasn't impressed, she wasn't disappointed either.

            "What about you? You should be coming with me!" Nathan grabbed her arm and turned her to look at him.

            "He's right. You're the target now."

            "Tasha's in trouble. She radioed for me after the evac order, I didn't get to respond." Scarlett looked to Mickey seriously. The younger S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent knew that arguing with Scarlett would be pointless so instead she reached into her holster and handed her a pistol and several magazines.

            "I hope you won't need them." Mickey sighed but Scarlett was relieved and took the gun and ammunition gratefully. "Keep your earpiece on. If I order Agents out that means you too."

            "Fine." Scarlett nodded.

            "No! That madman is after you Scarlett, you should not be going after anyone! Come with me to safety."

            "Not going to do that." Scarlett shook her head. "Go with Agent Pierce, she'll take good care of you."

            "But…"

            "We can talk later, right now I've got to go. You got this Pierce?"

            "Go give 'em hell." Mickey nodded and then spoke quietly to Nathan to try and console him and assure him that Scarlett had everything under control. Scarlett walked away without turning back and checked her phone as she walked, wary of those around her. There were very few people left in the theater, mostly S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents securing each floor as they went. According to her phone she could see where Natasha was now.

            The attic.

            She wouldn't radio her friend, that would give her away. Instead she'd sneak through an old entrance that had been abandoned during renovations years prior. It was likely blocked up with furniture and the like but Scarlett figured it would be more subtle than bursting in through the main entryway guns blazing.

            All was quiet on the top floor of the theater, not a soul to be seen. Not until she got to the main hallway at least. There were MedCo Agents standing guard near the stairway that would take her to the attic, just as she had suspected. Scarlett checked her phone again, leaning against the wall. Through her earpiece she could hear Mickey leading the pursuit of Scott and any of the remaining MedCo teams, she could hear Jinx dealing with the aftermath of another explosion. Apparently the bomb squad wasn't doing such a good job containing the chaos.

            As much of a nasty thought as it was, Scarlett was partially grateful for the explosions. They would draw attention away from her, away from the theater. Scarlett had known, just by the sound of Natasha's voice over the radio earlier that something bad had happened. Natasha, however, could handle herself more than anyone knew. Scarlett had faith in her friend and while she wasn't so sure that faith was mutual, she had it nonetheless.

            The less interference the better. She'd been surprised Mickey had allowed her to go after Natasha alone. Did the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent have that much faith in her? Or maybe it was in Natasha where her faith lay. Either way, it only aided Scarlett. No more Nathan to worry about, hopefully no more Scott. With any luck Mickey would catch him and bring him in. For a hot minute she'd thought about being the one to chase him but that was just what he wanted.

            He'd lead her somewhere isolated and then take her wherever he pleased. It was clear she couldn't just shoot him and take him down. Even if she had caught him Scarlett wasn't fool enough to think she was equipped to contain him. She was still susceptible to bullets, as far as she knew. It wasn't the poison that made Scott what he was, it was whatever MedCo had done to counteract it.

            The old entrance to the attic was blocked off, but not well enough that it was unusable. It had been boarded over when they'd done renovations but it appeared as though no one had ever finished the job. Scarlett tugged at one or two of the boards and when they gave just enough she set to work pulling them apart. The nails gave way, time having made them weak and laziness from whoever had done the job making them poorly hammered.

            When enough of the door was free, Scarlett tried the knob. Locked, but not for long. Checking around the corners to make sure that no one was around, Scarlett retrieved the nails from the boards and, deciding they were thin enough to work, set about picking the lock. It took only a few seconds to unlock it. Pocketing the nails for later use she climbed between the remaining boards and through the doors.

            It was dark in the attic, but she could see light past a stack of sheet covered furniture and mountains of boxes. As Scarlett crept further through the dusty mess, making her way cautiously toward the light, she listened and heard voices. They didn't belong to Natasha, no, Scarlett recognized the voice of one Marcia Edmonton, one of the three heads of MedCo. The uptight old bitch. That meant she had to have a team with her for protection. Marcia was not a fighter, at least not when Scarlett had last seen her. She guessed the woman too vain to risk her appearance by allowing her own company to experiment on her.

            Creeping ever closer, Scarlett remained in the shadows and kept as quiet as she could. There was blood splattered on the woodwork, and from the looks of it, most of it was from Natasha. She was on her knees, held by each arm at her side with one Agent behind her holding a gun to her head. Scarlett crept around the room, staying a good distance away, but close enough that she could get a proper headcount. Excluding Marcia she counted eight assailants.

            Returning to the far end of the room behind Marcia, Scarlett pulled her phone up and ignored the messages on the screen. Instead she tapped inside the interface and held it up in front of her. It took a few agonizing seconds, but with a scan of the room she was able to find two more MedCo Agents that had escaped her wary gaze.

            That made ten Agents excluding Marcia who was less of a threat than the others in Scarlett's eyes.

            "She's not coming. Did you really call for her? Or are you pulling my leg? Let's hope you aren't dumb enough to try that." Marcia hissed, holding the radio in front of her again. "Call to your friend, tell her to meet you here and then we will let you go." Natasha stared up at Marcia, her left eye burning from dripping blood but said nothing. "If you do not do as you are told you will lose something important to you!" Marcia gestured to one of the agents next to her who opened a small case and showed a set of menacing looking tools. "We'll start with your fingers. One at a time, very slowly. We are not afraid to sacrifice you for what we need so I suggest you decide whether or not she is worth your life."

            Scarlett crept closer and felt her phone buzz. Chancing a look she saw a message from Jinx. When she opened it, much to her surprise it took over her entire phone. The layout of the attic was rendered in real time, heat signatures and all. Highlighted at the far corner of the room was an old electrical box. It looked like the power had been rerouted from there to another for convenience near the new entrance but Scarlett would still be able to control it from the original box.

            Slowly Scarlett crept around the furniture and slipped into plain view for but a second. The only one who would notice she was there would be Natasha, who was aware of everything around her. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent had always known she was coming, it was why she would never bother calling a second time. She wasn't stupid, neither woman was and that was where MedCo underestimated them both. Neither had a death wish, but neither expected to die in that attic either. Natasha wasn't one to bargain for her life with anyone.

            When Natasha finally caught her eye she turned her gaze at once away from Scarlett's and back to the MedCo Agents. Scarlett gestured toward the lights above her and Natasha understood at once and turned her attention back to Marcia.

            "Alright." She finally spoke and Marcia brightened up.

            "Speak nice and clearly so Scarlett can hear you, darling." Marcia hissed menacingly. "Remember, if you tip her off you're toast."

            "No, I meant the torture. Let's do this. Just leave my middle finger, it's very important to me."

            Scarlett caught sight of something mechanical behind Marcia and cursed under her breath. There was a big ass bomb. The threat wasn't just smoke being blown up their asses after all. She guessed that no one was setting that thing off with Marcia still inside the building though, so if she never got out there was a chance the bomb would never be triggered to go off. Ten men and the head of MedCo. Those weren't great odds. Not terrible, but not great either. With the lights off? Better odds.

            Marcia smacked Natasha hard with the butt end of her gun right across the face. Blood splattered onto the floor and Natasha laughed it off.

            "You hit much harder than I thought you would for your age." Natasha sounded impressed but Marcia then placed the barrel against her forehead.

            "Call your friend or there is no use for you." Marcia threatened. Natasha stared up at the woman and counted seconds down in her mind. Like clockwork, the lights snapped off all at once, all throughout the building. "What was that? What just happened?" Marcia shouted to her men, each who triggered flashlights built into their body armor.

            The man on Natasha's left was pulled suddenly backwards and he screamed in agony as Scarlett dragged him away, snapped his arm out of place once, and then broke the bone before throwing him hard enough on the ground to knock him unconscious. Arm free, Natasha flipped around the man on her right. A shot rang past Natasha as Marcia fired her gun but it was too late. The bullet pierced nothing but air and two more were fired but all missed their target in the darkness.

            "My friend was already here." Natasha smirked as she kicked the gun out of the hand of the man behind her and then jumped on the back of the man who had held her down, pulling free wires from her belt to wrap around his neck until finally he fell unconscious on the ground at her feet.

            "Get them, get them!" Marcia stepped back and hurried over to the bomb, tapping away at the interface. "Don't let them get away!"

            "Are you all right?" Scarlett hurried to Natasha's side, ready for any of the men who came at them. In the darkness they had a distinct advantage of knowing when to and when not to move. MedCo would come for them and when they did, they would be oriented and ready for battle.

            "The old bitch packs a surprising punch." Natasha rubbed her jaw and then stood at Scarlett's back. "Nothing I can't handle. Where's our backup?"

            "I am backup, sweetie. Half of your men on the ground are dealing with explosions, the others are after Scott. It's a mad house."

            "Scott's here?" Natasha grabbed Scarlett's arm and so Scarlett ducked low. Natasha rolled over Scarlett's back and kicked the man hurrying toward Scarlett hard in the face. Scarlett grabbed her arm and pulled Natasha low, snapped one of the electrical devices off of her wrist and then electrocuted him into submission.

            "We can talk about that later." Scarlett nodded before ducking out of the way of her attacker. "On your left!" With a shove she pushed Natasha out of the way of a man who had very cleverly turned off his flashlight to try and avoid detection. Natasha turned and slid between the legs of the man nearest her, then spun around and like the spider of her namesake climbed on his back and wrapped herself so hard around his throat and his chest that after some minor struggling he fell unconscious.

            Scarlett blocked the man who had turned off his flashlight as he swung at her and ducked before delivering a hard blow to his stomach and kicking him in the knee. He stumbled but then withdrew a blade and swung at Scarlett before he'd even gotten up, much to her surprise. The blade slashed her side and she felt the sting and then the blood immediately but there was no time for it. She kicked his hand away as he swung at her again. Much to her surprise he didn't let go of the blade so she kicked him again, then spun and kicked him hard enough to knock him down.

            Scarlett stomped hard on his wrist, pressing her weight on it until he was forced to let go of the blade which she then retrieved, turned and stabbed right into his shoulder. He screamed behind his mask and so she knocked him hard in the neck, where he fell unconscious.

            Standing up she pulled her jacket closed, blocking the wound from view. Out of sight, out of mind. It could be dealt with later. The woman coming at her was screaming obscenities and Scarlett stepped out of her way with ease, grabbed her arm and swung her around into one of the support beams. As she stumbled back, Scarlett used the butt end of her gun, swung at the mask she wore and it shattered, breaking the nose of the woman beneath it.

            She held her face in agony, cursing in Russian. Scarlett holstered her weapon, grabbed the woman and tossed her toward Natasha who kicked her to the ground and knelt on her throat until she fell unconscious.

            "Take Scarlett but kill the spare!" Marcia shouted over the chaos and confusion in the attic. They were shouting to each other in Russian, ordering them to tactically take the women out.

            "Do you hear that Scarlett? I'm the spare!" Natasha chuckled, but then ducked as another man came for her. But another grabbed her leg and pulled her aside. She clattered to the floor but quickly regained her composure.

            "I've heard you called a great many names but the spare might be the lowest." Scarlett knocked another man back only to be grabbed from behind by another. Natasha kicked the face of her attacker, spun low and smashed her foot into the back of his head again before tackling him to the ground.

            Another man came running at Scarlett, speaking in Russian.

            "He's going to try to knock you out, Scarlett!" Natasha hissed over the chaos. "He called you something very nasty on top of that!"

            "That routine is getting old." Scarlett grunted, the pressure around her neck not enough to knock her out as she forced herself backward in the arms of the man who was holding her. She elbowed him hard to knock him forward then grabbed onto the arms around her and as the man rushing her grew ever closer Scarlett kicked him in the face, then placed her feet on his chest and with a shout kicked off of him. The grip around her throat loosened and she jumped over her attacker's head.

            Natasha grabbed one of the men and threw him to the ground, electrocuting him until he was subdued. Then she grabbed the second and threw him with such strength that he smashed into the wall with a sickening thud.

            "Wow, nice throw."

            "Thanks. Was that all of them?" Natasha turned to her friend, wiping the blood from her jaw. "I counted ten but I was seeing double for a bit there."

            "Where's the old bitch?" Scarlett hurried toward the device blinking in the darkness, counting down to explosion. "Damnit, we have to hurry. There's not much time left on this thing. God, it looks familiar… is it possible it's familiar?" She muttered under her breath, following wires with her fingertips daintily. "Shit…"

            "Edmonton must have fled." Natasha was counting off enemies in her head but then stopped in her tracks when she felt the cold metal barrel pressed against the back of her neck. "Never mind. Found her. Very quiet for her age."

            "Game over, ladies." Marcia spoke and smacked Natasha hard in the back of the head with the gun and she felt her knees buckle. "Move closer to your friend!"

            "Fine, fine." Natasha grumbled. The woman was oddly quiet, oddly fast. Everything about these MedCo assassins seemed odd. Not enough so that it had alarmed her, not until now. Natasha had to wonder if they were designed more than trained. It sent a chill down her spine.

            "Miss Damien, if you surrender then I'll only shoot your friend in the shoulder instead of her head." Marcia threatened. Scarlett turned away from the bomb, trying to run the schematics over in her mind. She had to stop thinking about how to disarm it and instead had to give Natasha a way out. For some reason she was struggling switching focus. Even in her mind's eyes she saw the damn bomb, inside and out.

            If Natasha could grab the gun she already would have subdued her attacker. Marcia was standing just far enough away to keep Natasha from knocking her over, she had learned from her previous errors. Scarlett could shoot Marcia but not without risking that Marcia would also shoot Natasha.

            "Don't do anything she says." Natasha spoke nervously when it seemed Scarlett was actually tossing the idea over in her mind. Scarlett cautiously stepped closer, holding up her hands defensively.

            "Don't do anything rash."

            "Give up or I'll kill her!" Marcia spat in anger.

            "Not really my style."

            "The more you fight the more people die in your name. How much blood do you want on your hands?"

            "Yeah, I'm sure you'll stop killing people if I give up too. Not the best argument you have there."

            "We need you! You belong to us!" Marcia's rage was out of control, her face red as she stomped her foot. Natasha seized opportunity as Marcia adjusted herself and tilted her head out of the way before sliding around and grabbing Marcia around the middle, knocking her onto the ground. The wind was knocked out of her and the woman coughed and gagged. Scarlett hurried closer and kicked the gun out of Marcia's hand and then far enough away that it couldn't be retrieved.

            "You see, Natasha's never been very good at sharing her friends." Scarlett stepped away from Natasha who turned Marcia hard onto her stomach and smashed her face into the ground.

            "You are mistaken, Miss Damien, if you think you are anything more than S.H.I.E.L.D. property to any of them." Marcia shouted, trying to struggle against Natasha's hands. Natasha shoved her hard against the ground again to shut her up. Scarlett knew Marcia was trying to manipulate her, but it was nothing she hadn't already thought over.

            "You got this, Tasha?" Scarlett whispered.

            "I do. You got this bomb? Or should we be running instead of talking?"

            "I got it." Scarlett waved her hand to Natasha and then spoke over the earpiece. "Jinx, I could use some light."

            "I knew you'd like the idea. After the parking garage,  it seemed like a good plan." Jinx responded over the radio and just like that the power came flickering back to life.

            "You see, the problem with you assholes stealing all of my ideas?" Scarlett crouched next to the device and ripped open a panel on the side, pulling out a bunch of wires there. She followed each of the wires from their source and destination. Once she found the ones connected to the power supply she ripped them loose. The countdown ceased and power to the bomb faded, rendering it useless. "You don't know which ideas I marked as failures." With a sigh of relief she leaned back. Thank god that had actually worked, for a few minutes there she wasn't sure if it was going to.

            Scarlett hadn't designed many explosive devices in her time, it had never been her style. The ones she had designed were usually meant for distraction. Cursing under her breath it occurred to her that was precisely what they had done all around Manhattan. Those were probably right from the journals Scott had been stealing from her for years.

            If it had occurred to her earlier she could have stopped further damage from being done.

            "Let's get out of here before we find any other secrets in the shadows." Natasha nodded toward the attic door and Scarlett agreed and followed along. On the way out of the building, Scarlett communicated with Jinx, telling her about the bomb she'd disarmed in the attic. A bomb squad rushed past Scarlett and Natasha on their way down as the escorted Marcia to the street where she would be detained by S.H.I.E.L.D. officials.

            As they walked onto the street the scene was surreal. Teams of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents were detaining people working for MedCo. There were sirens in the distance, far enough away that Scarlett couldn't see the officers that surely manned the blockades and kept civilians and press officials from the scene. With any luck no one would know Scarlett had ever been there.

            "All in all, I'd say this was a success." Natasha held Marcia's bound wrists securely. The older woman wasn't trying to get away anymore and merely hung her head in frustration and shame. Mickey led a team toward Natasha and Scarlett, a smile on her face as she saw them both safe, if not a little bloodied up.

            "Yeah, okay." Scarlett scoffed. "We fell for MedCo's trap, Scott destroyed a beautiful theater, and this bitch held a gun to your head like six times." Scarlett rolled her eyes. "Speaking of Scott…" Scarlett looked to Mickey hopefully but when the younger Agent averted her eyes, Scarlett knew what the answer was. He'd gotten away.

            "We chased him through the city but he was crazy fast. Doesn't look anything like we thought these days… what on earth did you do to him?" Mickey hunched over so she could look Marcia in the eye but all the woman did was glare. "Then there was this crazy explosion so we had to deal with that. We weren't going to catch him. Even if we did manage to get him onto the ground he threw around my men like they were nothing. We weren't prepared for him. Now we will be."

            "At least we caught this one." Scarlett nodded. Knowing Scott was out there watching and probably waiting for them scared her more than anything else. If nothing had come of this, she knew one thing. Scarlett could still fight, in spite of what every doctor had told her thus far, of what S.H.I.E.L.D. had tried to convince her. There was still fight in her and even Scott couldn't overcome it. He may have been strengthened by MedCo and whatever experiments they'd performed on him to make him the monster he'd become but Scarlett had years of experience on her side.

            "We'll get her to talk." Natasha nodded. "One way or another." She handed Marcia over to Mickey and then turned back once more to Scarlett. "Are you okay?"

            "Yeah. I'm fine." Scarlett smiled a little. "Are you worried about me?"

            "No." Natasha spoke defensively. "You did good in there. You looked good."

            "I keep telling you how good I am but no one believes me."

            "I'm glad to be wrong." Natasha patted her friend on the arm. "I've got to go make this crazy bitch talk." She turned away from Scarlett and ran to catch up with Marcia. Scarlett started away, pulling the radio from her ear and rubbing it. Those stupid little earpieces were so uncomfortable. From the corner of her eye she saw S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents bringing the bomb out in pieces, escorting fallen MedCo assassins into custody. Everything felt oddly surreal. Then there was a terrible loud crack, so loud it was like thunder.

            "Sniper!" Scarlett ducked low and hid behind the nearest vehicle. "Sniper! Everyone take cover!" She shouted and everyone did. But the damage had already been done.

            "She's been shot!" Natasha screamed and hurried over to the crumpled body of Marcia Edmonton where she now lay face down on the ground.

            "No!" Scarlett cursed, but was wary of anyone who could have fired the shot. There were already S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents on it, searching the area. Scarlett shoved the earpiece back in and could hear Jinx scanning for possible locations of the sniper.

            "God damnit!" Natasha turned Marcia onto her back and placed her hand over the bullet hole in the woman's head. There was no way to stop the bleeding, the damage had already been done. Natasha pulled her hands away as she felt them burn, dropping Marcia's body onto the ground. The skin around the wound began to deteriorate, her blood bubbling and oozing, then foaming. Her entire body began to hiss and curl up horribly.

            "Everyone back off! Back off!" Mickey grabbed Natasha's arm and pulled her a few feet from the body of the woman. "She's toxic! I need a quarantine, now!"

            "What?" Scarlett ran toward her friends but was stopped by a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent who pulled her back. "What the hell? Natasha?" Try as she might, the other S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents wouldn't let her through. Before she could even try to reason with them that those were her friends and she needed to help make sure they were okay, a barrier was being built around them, plastic tarps were being put up to contain the body. A dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents including Natasha and Mickey were inside the affected area.