Chapter 2
QUESTLIST
AN: I don't own anything
Please to anyone that is reading this. English is not my primary language and I wish that I could right as good as the other writers in this site. But what I do have is a lot and I mean a lot of Ideas.
English is not my Primary Language. So please if there's someone out there who can proof read this once I've done proof reading it, is gonna be a blessing.
Clint was getting annoyed.
He didn't know why Fury had to humor Blake into getting him and Nat to observe an eighteen-year-old.
He noticed the said teenager approaching.
Clint utilizing his amazing eye sight, analyzed his opponent. He noted that the teen had a particularly athletic build, but was on the thin side. He also saw the kid being more like a speed fighter more than anything. He wondered what the mask was all about and the symbolism of choosing the weasel as a character.
The veteran archer is really having a hard time seeing what was the all the fuss about. A few more seconds the kid was in front of the cage steps, that was when Clint noticed something strange.
Once the weasel masked fighter was inside the arena there was something different about him. His eyes was able to see the teens muscle tense up and become much stronger. More so, he felt as if he entered the kids domain.
Clint grinned. So this was what Blake was talking about. Maybe this assignment wasn't gonna be a waste after all.
"OK, let's see what you got." as he lunged at his target.
Jeff moved his head slightly to the right as Clint followed his lunge with a very quick jab.
Jeff could have sworn he heard a slight swish as the punch narrowly missed his head. He noticed his hp bar drop by 2 points after that.
In addition to all the weirdness that came with his ability. In the lower right corner of his vision he can see a set of numbers indicating his current and max hp as well as his mp. Similarly, he can see an HP indicator on top of his opponents head that jut how a red bar. Unlike the one that he has the red bar does not show any number.
In the fraction of a second that the punched passed him, Jeff's body was already turning to the right. His left leg swinging towards his foe's midsection hoping to catch the Agent with his quick response.
Clint, however was able to raise his right leg quickly catching the errant kick before it reached its mark.
Jeff hopped backward and smirked as he noticed his kick, although blocked shaved off a very tiny portion of the red bar on top of his enemy's head. He then felt something warm on his left ear. He remembered the jab from before, which apparently nicked his ear.
The exchange barely happened in 2 second as the two fighters parted.
The crowd erupted in cheer as the two charged at each other again.
Right elbow to the face, leg kick, jab, jab again.
Jeff going through strike after strike in a sort of mantra while his opponent was doing the same.
Jeff had the advantage of not getting tired whereashis opponent was already showing signs of fatigue. They exchanged blow after blow. But because of Clint's experience overshadowing Jeff's he was getting more hits in than he was taking.
Clint was clearly amazed at the teens stamina, he somewhat knew that he was barely sweating. Clint wondered where the kid was getting his stamina from. The veteran agent also noted Jeff's strikes. Every hit he took was like getting hit by a baseball bat. He knew he had to end it soon, his stamina won't last another 10 minutes.
So Clint thought of a different approach. He faked punched and went underneath the teens defense and slammed him to the ground. His opponent quickly turned to keep from being mounted. Clint then took a move straight out from Nat. He used his uncanny flexibility quickly catching Jeff's exposed back putting the teen on a head lock.
Jeff was now in overdrive he can see his hp bar going steadily down as Barton held him in a naked choke. This was the same problem why he got his arm broken the last time he fought, he had no skill whatsoever in submission.
You would think he would have a gotten a book about it. But no, he completely forgot. He really need to do something about his intelligence. He felt his foe about to lean back. He has seen much of this maneuver before that if Clint was able to get full leverage he was gonna be screwed. Even in this dire situation Gamers mind helped him calm down to try to think of a way out. He then finally thought of a solution. It was crazy but it was the only thing that could think off. He lifted his right hand forward and straightened his fingers and used one his few active skills.
Power strike.
Power strike is an active skill that uses mp in each use. It increases the damage of a strike relative to its level. Power strike was now at level 4. It does a total of 140% damage when used.
He applied to his right hand and in a swift motion he hooked it underneath Barton s Choke, relieving the constant damage to his hp but at a cost.
He wounded his own flesh underneath Barton's arm. But it was a small price to pay since he was gonna be able to heal it later on anyways. His moved shocked the agent long enough for him to stand up and get away from Clint.
To say that Clint was surprised is an understatement. He looked at the teen in front o him a wound just on top his right collarbone. He lifted his right arm to see a wound on it as well. He panned his eyes to the kids right hand, definitely seeing three fingers broken. The guy was crazy. He raised his hands in a stance as he gave the kid a smile. He was ready for round 3.
Jeff winced as his right hand burned with pain. His fingers he noted are definitely broken. He cant even close his right hand to a fist anymore. He glanced at Barton's hp bar it was on 1/4th of his total hp. He then glanced on his own. He was very low. He needed a gamble. One solid hit with his Powerstrike to Barton's head is enough to knock him out. He was going for it. He shifted his stance more to his right exposing much his right side. He then faked a high-kick towards Barton.
Clint seemingly reading his opponents plan sent a left cross to the teens face.
Jeff took the punch in and prayed that the damage to not be hp quickly dropped until it reached 6 points. Ignoring the pain he twisted his turning counter clockwise so his left back hand will connect to Clint's face.
Clint however saw this maneuver and ducked, he then followed with an uppercut. His uppercut did not have the chance to connect though as he was hit in the head hard and was all he remembered has his world went dark.
Jeff was still... His right elbow still positioned forward his opponent who was down for the count. He cant believe it worked. He somehow knew that Clint was gonna be able too dodge his backhanded strike. So instead of stopping his momentum, he continue to spin until his right elbow was on point to hit down an opponent who was facing that momentum head on. His right elbow, which he imbued with Power strike connected on Clint's left temple.
Ding!
You have gained 1 Level
Achievement unlocked
Life starts at 40
Defeat someone 40 levels above you.
Reward: +5 to Luk
Achievement unlocked
My eyes can see straight through your armor.
Defeat Hawkeye
Reward:inpect x2 distance
Jeff then mentally closed the new status boxes. He just hoped that he can be convincing enough to act fatigue as he purposely let himself drop to be carried to the infirmary.
"Well will you look at that." Fury smirked as he just saw one of his elite get beaten by a teenager. " Do you still think the he's not trained by someone Natasha? Because that move is awfully familiar to me."
"Well for one thing, he can't be that good without training, it's impossible not to be trained if he can do that. I don't know why hes faking sleep though." Said Natasha with a hand on her chin.
Fury narrowed his eye and looked closer."Is he now."
"He's definitely awake. I saw a slight grimace when they placed his fingers on splints." Said Natasha.
"Who do you think the kid is working for?" He regarded the redhead.
"You already asked me this. My answer is still the same. I don't think he's a spy from any country that I know." Said Natasha.
"How about Genosha." said Fury offhandedly surprising the former red room operative.
"I said 'Any' didn't I?" Asked Natasha.
"I'm surprised you know all about that little country hidden from everyone else. The kid is not normal, and everyone in Genosha is not on the normal side." Added the director.
Natasha gave Fury a grin. "I see that the Red Room has underestimated SHIELD intelligence. Of course little is know about Genosha and its founding back at the 80's but if they needed information. I don't think they would need a spy for that." said Natasha.
"Trust me we have ways in dealing with 'that'." Added Fury.
"Ohh care to share director?" Asked Natasha curiously.
"Go up to level 8 and I might." Retorted Fury.
"Glad you two are finally bonding."
The two spies turned around to see that Clint finally waking up.
"How was your dream Clint?" Natasha grinned as her archer friend groggily sat up from the infirmary bed.
"Damn Nat, what hit me?" Said Clint with one hand in his forehead.
Natasha pointed a remote to a TV screen inside the room. The screen went to life as it showed Clints last fight. Natasha motioned her head to wards the screen. "That..hit you." She said as the video showed Clint ducking the teens left backhand only to be knocked down by a right elbow seconds later.
"Shit. that was some elbow. Dammit and why can't I hear from my 9?" said Clint as he tried to put a finger on his left ear.
"The kid shattered one of your earpieces." said Natasha as she handed him a small plate that had pieces of Clint's hearing aid.
"Now I'm gonna have to wait a week to get a new one."
"Not exactly Agent Barton." Said Fury. He then threw something at Clint who expertly caught it with one hand. "That's a new model, had that made just in case you broke your old one."
"I didn't exactly break it, sir."
"Well ,we can't exactly bill it to the kid now can we." Smirked Fury as he spinned a chair in place and sat. "How come one of my best get his ass handed to him by some teenager."
Clint went to Agent mode and started to voice his observations. "The first time I saw the subject, he was nothing special. That changed when the subject entered the cage."
Fury leaned forward curiously. "Change. how?"
"His whole body tensed and as if his muscles hardened the moment he entered. I imagine at a distance it would be very hard to spot. But up close and with my eyes it was definitely there." Clint leaned back a bit as he cataloged his fight with the teen. "His agility is high, as to be expected with his frame. His strength surprisingly deceptive. The kid hits like a sledgehammer. It might not be far fetched to say that the kid is a gifted." Finished Clint.
"Very well Agent Barton, I expect your full report in a few hours. Rest up. You and Agent Romanoff are gonna be in an extended op in foreign soil." Announced Fury he stood up hands behind his back and heading towards the door.
"Where?"asked Clint.
"Budapest." Said Fury not turning around as he went out the door.
"You're awfully quite there Nat." Said Clint as he addressed the red-head in the room. "What you think of the kid? Is he Red room?"
"Definitely not. His fighting style does show a bit of some that were shown in the 'room', his style is like a mix of multiple arts sewn together. His acting skills are sub-par." Noted Natasha.
"What do you mean?"
"He tried to act as though he was exhausted. The kid's a pretty good liar. But I'm better." Smirked Natasha.
"You think he's you know... a Mutant?." Asked Clint surprising Nat.
"Fury asked me the same thing as well. I'm surprised you know about them Clint." Said the Red headed spy.
"I've met some. They're still pretty closed off from the rest." Shrugged Clint.
"They've tested him for that I'm sure." Answered Nat.
"Either that. Or someone recreated the super soldier formula." Joked Clint.
"I really hope you're wrong Clint."
"This is as far as I can take you. You sure you're from here?" Asked a worried looking cab driver as he moved his eyes along street warily. The place was even worse than Skid row.
"Figured that much, here keep the change." Said Jeff as he handed the cab driver a couple of bills. He then went out of the cab and slowly walked towards his destination. He's already starting miss his bike.
The cab driver looked at the bills in his hand. It was enough to pay for the teenagers fair three times over. With a finals glance he quickly made a u-turn away from the place. He just wished that the kid would be alright.
Jeff walked along the dark streets of his not so nice neighborhood. Shops are already closed, as it was already past midnight. He passed a variety of prostitutes offering there service. Jeff sighed as he shook his head in refusal. That other one had clearly had more muscles than him. He heard several gun shots sound in the distance. The people in the streets didn't even bat an eye hearing that. It was just another normal night.
"Yo, Drew look at what we have here."
Jeff looked up to see seven men with varying levels ranging from 5 to 9 walk to him. He noticed two of them had a gun tucked in front of their pants.
"If you wanna proceed you better be ready to pay the fine Cuh. Or else we gonna put a cap on yo ass." Said the leader as he pulled out his gun and pointed it sideways at Jeff.
Jeff can only sigh as he quickly went low and swiped the guys feet with his foot. He then turned around and kick another guy hard ,who was about to pull out another gun, straight into a dumpster.
The three remaining thugs charged at him at the same time trying to catch him off guard. He caught one with a spinning back kick and blocked a strike from the other with his left hand which was not in a sling. Jeff then quickly swayed to the right as he noticed one of them swinging a pipe at him. Once dodged he pulled the guy forward and gave him a knee to the stomach knocking him out. Once that was done he noticed the leader trying to get up with a gun in his hand. He saw a stray beer bottle on the ground and kicked it towards the leader hitting him in the head while it shattered. But before being unconscious he was able to fire two shots one hitting Jeff in his right shoulder.
Jeff grit his teeth as he felt the bullet enter his right shoulder. His Gamers Mind enabled him to stay conscious throughout the pain.
Well it wasn't the first time he got shot in this neighborhood. He quickly took out a cloth from his inventory and tied it around the wound with the help of his teeth. He noticed that his hp was still dropping slowly. He quickly glanced at his status and noticed the bleeding effect on it. He has seen this happen before and knew what this meant.
The bullet was keeping an artery or a vein open, the effect rendered his natural hp regen useless and slowly applied a slow DOT (damage over time according to his resident gamer friend) that only went away when the bullet was removed. He knew that once his hp went to zero he was gonna be unconscious. And being unconscious in these streets is a death wish. He did not want to test his friends theory on re-spawning anytime soon. So Jeff made a run for it.
A few moments later he was in front of his house banging at its metal door. A peep hole opened as his hp went to 0 .
"Got shot.." was all he can say until it was all dark.
Jeff opened his eyes and judging by the ceiling, he was in his room. He slowly sat up from his bed and looked at his right hand. He took out the split and gave it a flex. It was as if it wasn't even injured in the first place. He moved his hand to his shoulder and saw nothing but unblemished skin. Beside him was a small table that had a few medical instruments on it for removing foreign things in someones body. He noticed a slightly bent piece lead. It was the bullet that pierced his shoulder. He picked it up with his fingers and wondered how it was bent that way.
"I think its that passive thing you got. You know, the one that reduces physical damage. Maybe if you max that out you can shrug off bullets."said a familiar voice from his door. He turned around and saw his friend bringing him a tray full of food.
"Good Morning Skye. How long was I out?" Jeff said as he put on a shirt, while addressing his friend.
"Still exactly eight hours. That power of yours is really precise. Here, made you some bacon." said Skye as she handed him a tray full of fried bacon and some sort of scrambled eggs.
Jeff looked at the food in front of him and to his friend. "You know I don't really need to eat anymore right?"
Skye sighed and sat in the side of his bed looking at Jeff. "You know we've talked about this. Your still you. You're still that idiot that got caught getting extra bacon at night at the orphanage. You're still that kid who would punch another kid for making fun of my name. You're still you. Just a little different now and there's nothing wrong with that." said Skye with comforting as she gave Jeff a smile as she stood up with. "So shut up and eat your breakfast. I've got something to show you."
Jeff gave her a small smile and digged in to his hearty breakfast. He took a bite out of his sort of scrambled eggs and made some disgusted noises towards his friend.
"What the hell. I may not need to eat but I can still taste this you know. Besides what did you put in these eggs that made it colored blue."
"Well excuse me for not having a passive skill for cooking." Countered Skye.
"But they're eggs..."
"Well, its your fault. If you hadn't been shot then you could have cooked. So stop whining and eat." She finished as she turned around to leave.
"Hey, Skye."
"What?"
"Thanks."
She gave him a smile and finally went out the room.
Jeff smiled to himself as he finished the rest of his supposed meal. He glanced at the door to see if the coast is clear and silently opened his inventory to hide his friends version of scrambled eggs. Once done he took a piece of bacon from his plate and munched on it. Thankful that not even Skye's inept cooking skills was enough to ruin bacon.
"What the hell is a 'Questlist'?" Jeff said incredulously.
"I already told you. Its a site that I created where people can put in request. Anything from missing persons, items and everything else. Don't worry every request is gonna be filtered by a program that I created by the way, which will then scour the internet to validate if the quest is real and of course no assassinations." Explained Skye as she showed him the look of the website in her computer screen.
"But why is it free?" Jeff asked as he looked closer at the site.
"Well, remember the time that you got that quest a few months ago? At the end of it you suddenly got 500 bucks out of thin air. I was hoping that your crazy powers will interpret the request on the site and give you the rewards automatically. Besides the users can put their own rewards if they want too." Explained his brunette friend.
Jeff can definitely see the possibilities of him doing these so called quests. "But what about my fighting gig?"
"You can still do that, but with the way these high level people just suddenly appearing. I think its best if you become strong outside the cage as well. You can't rely on that skill of yours forever. Who knows you might even become a superhero someday."teased Skye.
Jeff told Skye everything that happened when he was gone. He was surprised that Skye knew someone was watching him, and that someone was SHIELD. According to Skye they were a top secret organization that handles all the weird stuff in the world. He also knew that suddenly they are not observing him anymore. At least that's what they think is happening. Skye admittedly said that in the last few hours SHIELD has been getting harder and harder to crack. So tracking their movements are getting nigh impossible.
"Superhero huh. Maybe I can be like captain stars and stripes. Or maybe I can have a cape." Jeff said as he jumped on atop a nearby table. Then it suddenly realized that SHIELD might already know who he was.
"Shit, you said this Shield is a super secret government organization. What if they already know who I am." jeff said worriedly.
"Relax, I kinda erased all of our identity in the system." Skye said offhandedly.
"Excuse me?" Jeff asked disbelievingly.
Skye rolled her eyes and looked at her friend. " Look, we are now unknowns, we don't exist. We can be whoever the hell we want to be. So you need a new name." Grinned Skye as he pointed her finger at Jeff.
"But I like being Jeff.."
"Jeff, Smeff you need a new name." Argued his brunette friend.
Jeff scoffed at his friend. "This coming from a girl who has her new name spelled wrong."
"You're the one that gave it to me in the first place. And besides its actually spelled right. Trust me I checked."Skye argued back.
"We were nine you know. You could have changed it by now" Jeff said lowly.
"Obviously I wont, besides its unique." The girl said confidently.
"Then you have to make me one."Jeff said suddenly.
"What?"
"Well its only fair. I gave you your new name, you give me mine." Said Jeff with a smile.
"I .." Skye was then interrupted by an alarm on the computer.
" You already have that running?"Jeff asked.
"Yeah, I spread this as an e-mail virus through the net. Soon a lot of people would be able to read it." Skye explained as she typed in to the computer.
"So why is there only one?" Jeff asked.
"Because, it was the only one that passed my programs validity check." said Skye as she typed on the keyboard. She frowned once she saw what she was looking for. "One out of 357,789 requests..."
"You can't expect anyone to believe an ad on the internet... Especially one that says its free." Said Jeff
"Alright the request might be hard but I really hope we can do it." Said Skye as she turned the monitor to her friend. "Well, Read it up lets see if that power of yours will kick in." She added.
Jeff looked at the screen and frowned at the request on it.
,I don't know if you guys are for real or not,but I would try anything at this point. 3 weeks ago my little sister has gone missing. We know someone has abducted her because this was not the first time this happened. So please help me find her before its too late.'
Once he finished reading the request and suddenly he heard a familiar ding, as an info window appeared in front of him.
Of equal value.
A girl has gone missing. Solve the mystery and save the latest victim before its too late.
-Find out the mystery of the missing children
Reward: 20,000 exp , ? Item, 10,000$
-save the latest victim: 45,000 exp, 20,000$, ? Item, immensely increase reputation. Failure decrease reputation. Time remaining: 38:12:59:56
-?: 120,000 exp, 900,000$, ? Item, ? Item.
Jeff looked at the window in front of him with his mouth open in shock as he saw information on the screen.
Skye noticed her friend seemingly reading something out of thin air knew that her experiment worked. "Yes! I knew it would work." She also noticed Jeff's shocked expression. "Now judging from that look in your face. We either have to save the girl from aliens. Or your just so shocked that my idea worked." Said Skye.
"Its over 900,000..." Said Jeff in almost a murmur still shocked.
"No, its over 9,000. You gotta work on your references." Answered Skye.
"What? No I mean the reward is over 900,000." Said Jeff.
"What? Like in exp?" Said Skye
" Dollars..."Said Jeff.
"Holy shit! Seriously? What does it want you to do?" Asked Skye. She knew that quests that give out high rewards are gonna be really hard.
"Its like the request that we got but a bit different..." Said Jeff.
Jeff then told Skye the details of the quest, including the hidden part, as well as the time limit that was given.
"So we have 38 days and 12 hours. I'm gonna run trough every info on the internet that can referenced on February 21st that's the time date that the time will expire on, it might be important ." Skye then typed away on the keyboard in great speed as she scoured the internet with information. "In the meantime I'm gonna put timers on all our system so that we would know how much time is left. Now we just need to find two more people to join us." Said Skye.
"What for?" Jeff asked as he was curious why they needed additional people.
"Well, if the reward is close to a million bucks so there's a good chance that it could I don't know, kill us. We need people with experience. How much do we still have in funds?" Said Skye.
Jeff then did a quick check on his inventory. " We still have 470,000$."
Skye gave him a nod and started typing on her keyboard. "So the average mercenary pay is 100,000$ per contract and that's for a job that requires months of action. So if we offer 200k each for a job that will require lets say 30 days. So with that we will definite get the best." Skye said as she finished typing the ad that she is gonna be sending out.
"I hope you know what your doing." Jeff said worriedly.
"Relax, everyone whose worked in private security will receive the message. Its full proof. They work for us for that duration and when we complete the quest we still get 500k." Explained Skye as she uploaded the message.
Skye's program did send out the message to every private security contractor in the world. Now what she didn't know was that request that are expensive as these are of often made by drug lords and syndicate bosses.
"What do you mean you cant make it? Oh come on love, this is the one time that I was able to get time off and all of a sudden your on a long term mission?" Said a tall english man through his phone as he stood in front of the airport in LA while holding his bag with his left hand.
"And how is this my fault? Your the one who bloody said that I should visit you more often. Well here I am." After a few moments the man sighed and his voice softened. "Yeah, I know your just doing your duty... All right I'll probably just visit Disneyland or something... Just be careful out there love... Oh and Bobbi don't die out there Kay? I love you." The man said as he flipped his phone close he was about to out it in his pocket when he heard it receive a message. He then flipped it open and checked the message inside.
After reading the message a small smile graced his face. "Guess I wont be seeing mickey mouse after all."
"Izzy speaking."
"Well yes, sir I received a similar message."
"Understood sir."
Isabelle Hartley looked at the seemingly random ad she has received. She dismissed it as some hoax but apparently it was sent to multiple people around the world. And all of these people have one thing in common. They were mercenaries. She just wondered what kind of 30 day mission will warrant a 200k payday.
"Well this is unexpected..."
Said Skye as she looked at the replies for her 'ad'.
"I didn't even know there was that many mercenaries out there." Said Jeff.
That was certainly an understatement as the ad yielded 234,789 replies in 30 minutes and was still steadily rising.
"I guess the money was too good." Said Skye as she gave Jeff a sheepish laugh.
"We might have attracted some attention because of that ad. We need to prepare for this." Said Jeff.
"We can screen everyone out using your inspect skill. We can weed them out if there level is low. We need to get you a disguise. Probably facial hair so that they wont see your just 18." Said Skye a she listed how they would be able to prepare for all the applicants. "You and I are gonna find tons of books about changing voices. We are gonna go shopping." She finally said earning a groan from her friend.
"Do we really have to?" Asked Jeff.
"Of course we do. Once we are done no one will recognize you. " Said Skye.
It was already dark when the two of them finished their preparation. They bought every book that Jeff deemed as a Skill book. And after 3 days and over 150,000$ dollars worth of books and equipment. They were ready. Jeff was know fluent in multiple languages, skilled in a few more fighting styles and an expert various misc. skills. One skill in particular required him to have at least 40 int and 30 wisdom. It was a skill that enabled someone to read other people to know if they were lying or not.
Skye argued that it would be very useful if they want to find the girl in time.
Now the only thing they needed to worry about was how to comb through the now 578,097 applications they have.
"Okay, so hows the interview fairing there, over?" Said Skye's voice on an earpiece Jeff was wearing as he used his inspect skill on the last number of mercenaries left from their sorting.
Strangely enough sorting the almost 600,000 mercenaries took Skye roughly around two hours to finish.
First she sorted them out by seeing who had felonies in their records which eliminated almost 400,000 from the list.
She then searched for any injuries that might be detrimental to their mission. Another few thousand was eliminated. She repeated this process over and over using various criteria s until there was only 79 of them left.
Now the last part was up to Jeff. They sent a message to the ones that were left to go to a certain park, stay there for an hour, and that they will be contacted if they are chosen.
Jeff grinned at Skye s constant commentary in his ears. He opted to reply using text so that he will not arouse any suspicion. He casually did an inspect on the last 32 that showed up. He sat casually on the bench dressed in a light brown suit with a long sleeved brown trench coat. His eyes darting left and right while hidden in aviator glasses. His face sports a short beard that covers most of his face.
Jeff didn't look anything like eighteen. One of the skills that he has learned was effectively disguising himself to look older.
He noted the levels of all that came. The lowest was level 15, a woman with good military training, but has all the skill-set for just intelligence gathering. He definitely checked that one off. The highest level was also a woman. Though he contemplated not choosing her because of something he saw on his inspect.
'A lot of level 20's, a couple of 30's in the mix.' Texted Jeff.
"Hmm, Just look at their back story with your inspect. That's still broken by the way...Ohh and you forgot to type in Over, Over." added Skye
'I can't see everyone's back story though...Over.' replied Jeff as he remembered using his inspect o find out Skye's origin at her request. Only to come up with nothing.
'"It's alright. Maybe we can make a quest out of it once this is over... Over" said Skye
Jeff then was surprised when a window appeared in front of him.
Who we really are.
-Find out Skye's mysterious past.
Reward: 600,000 exp
?
?
?
?
?
Jeff tapped away the window. He mentally put in a reminder to tell his hacker friend his newly acquired quest. For now he focused on the task at hand.
'We'll get to that later. For now I want you to cross off all the names that I'm gonna be sending you.' Replied Jeff as he placed all of the level 20's that he can see.
Jeff noticed one of the attendees, a woman casually sitting by a bench using what looks like a combat knife to peal an apple. He used his inspect to check further.
Lvl:35
Title: Knife bitch
Class: Mercenary
Job: Merc. For hire/ Shield Agent Clearance Level 6
Isabelle Hartley
Age:39
Race: Human
HP: 505
Mp: 475 locked
Str: 31+9
Vit: 33
Dex: 62+18
Int: 30
Wis: 32
Luk: 12
Status: Knife fighting expert (30% to dex and str when handling knife)
Bio: Eldest of two sisters. Izzy has always put her sister Jane's welfare first. Extremely loyal to those she considers a friend. She is a veteran SHIELD agent for 15 years, and For the past 7 years she has been working as a mercenary under shields orders, She is SHIELD's eyes and ears in the private security world.
Emotions: Bored, Alert
Jeff frowned inwardly as he continued to observe Hartley. SHIELD seemed to be everywhere. Questions ran in his head fully utilizing his new found intelligence.
Was SHIELD aware of who they were?
No matter how good he thinks Skye was with a computer,he wondered was her talents enough for them to go unnoticed by an organization like SHIELD ? He mentally shook his head. Maybe he was over thinking things, maybe Hartley was just acting on her directive. Her mission was to be a mercenary.
He knew he had only one way to find out if SHIELD was already aware of them or not.
'Skye, Send Hartley a message, tell her she's accepted.' Jeff texted Skye.
"I dont think its a good idea to use my name even if your just texting me...Hey why dont you call me control instead. "
"Skye..."
"No? How about Chief instead? Or maybe professor now that will be cool."
"Fine, I'll call you control. So can you please message Hartley already."
"Ok, Ok I already did..ohh and I forgot over."
Jeff then noticed Hartley stopped eating a piece of apple cut of by her knife. She then pulled out a phone and read a new message. He saw Hartley grin as she stood u looking a little smug at the other people waiting.
"Nice day for a sit in the park right mate?" Jeff heard someone say behind him on the bench he was sitting on.
Jeff was barely able to notice the stranger, which surprised him a bit.
Using his peripheral vision he was able to glimpse a look at the stranger but not enough for him to see his level.
"Its ok. A little too warm though." Said Jeff as he glanced at his new companion. He was inwardly surprised to see the guys level.
Lvl: 33
The Maverick
Lance Hunter
Hunter gave Jeff a shrug "Maybe you shouldn't wear long coats on a sunny day. Those bloody things can get down right uncomfortable if you ask me. Perhaps you can just do all of us a favor and tell the person on the other line of that earpiece of yours to just pick me on your little crusade. Because I for one can't wait for two hours doing nothing."
Jeff was more amused at the new arrivals nonchalant discovery of his interview method than scared. He checked inspect to see more details on his new bench mate.
Lvl:33
Title: The Maverick
Class:Soldier
Job: Sergeant of the British Armed Forces, Special air service, counter-terrorism division.
Lance Hunter
Age:25
Race: Human
HP: 440
Mp: 570 locked
Str: 25
Vit: 29
Dex: 50
Int: 42
Wis: 19
Luk: 27
Status: expert marksman (+20% dex),gunner (+10% dex),
Personal Bio: Hunter is a highly skilled soldier of her majesty's SAS. Having joined the military at the young age of 17, this crafty veteran has earned the moniker maverick for his tendency to act on solo missions utilizing nothing but his quick wit and was always know to be a ladies man. But after getting married he has been loyal to his wife ever since...or risk severe bodily harm.
Emotions: highly amused.
Jeff smirked inwardly as he now has his last companion on their quest. He knew that Hunters observation skills will come in handy if they want to find the girl. He smiled as he regarded Hunter one last time as he chose to surprise the British soldier as well. He typed in a quick message to Skye and stood up.
"Well, I for one have no idea what your talking about Mr. Hunter, but it has been a pleasure. Till next time." Said Jeff as he turned around leaving the surprised SAS operative behind.
Hunter stood determined to follow the highly suspicious stranger. Seriously who the hell wears a trench coat in a day like this. He also wondered how the stranger knew his name, he was absolutely sure he didn't give him that. He was stopped however when his phone alerted him of a new message. Normally he would ignore messages like this but he was surprised when his ringtone was changed and he knew his phone was on mute.
He smiled a little as he noted the message. He was surprised that he received a voice message of all things.
Congratulations you have been accepted to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry...Just kidding I couldn't help it you being British and all... Anyway.
Sergeant Lance Hunter you have been chosen out of the hundreds of thousands of hopefuls to embark on a quest that can either bring about honor, prestige and riches... but also might result to death.
Your mission if you chose to accept it will be provided to in full detail at 9:00 pm tonight. Proceed to the Bistro at 19th street under the reservation for Mr. John Anderson. There you will meet two more people who will be with you in this mission. Oh and one last thing.
This message will message will self destruct in 10.9...
Hunter suddenly dropped his phone to the ground and dived to the back of the sturdy bench. He braced himself for the imminent explosion only to for the countdown to finish with nothing.
He heard another alert on his phone with a new ringtone sounding like the mission impossible theme. He picked up his phone and opened the new message.
Seriously? You fell for that. Dude...
Hunter instead of being angry, actually laughed at being pranked. Screw mickey mouse things just got interesting.
"I got to say. This steak is just so good. You paying for all this right?" Said Hunter as he tore down his steak, thoroughly enjoying his meal. He was wearing a casual long sleeved shirt and some dark pants. Sitting across him was Isabelle Hartley also on casual clothes wearing a red shirt , a long sleeved brown unbuttoned shirt ,and jeans. She casually twirled her knife on the table while looking at the last one sitting on the table.
Jeff was still on his disguise. He looked like a man on his mid 30's because of his face full of facial hair. He wore a black suit this time covered by a brown trench coat to cover his teen physique. He also wore black gloves also to mask his real age.
"Of course Mr Hunter eat at our hearts content. Ms. Hartley you really not gonna order anything?" Jeff said using his new found skills in changing his voice to sound more gruffer and older than what it really is.
"I'm fine with the wine. So tell us about this job?" Asked Hartley.
"By the way if its assassination. I'm telling you out front that Ill have no part in it. Espionage is a bit tricky though as long as we're not spying any government out there." Answered Hunter.
"Would it be a problem with your real line of work Mr. Hunter?" Asked Jeff earning a stare from Hunter.
"Looks like you know a lot about me already but I don't know anything about you. I think its only fair that you tell us who we are gonna be working for here." Said Hunter.
Jeff looked at Hartley to see that she looked curious as well.
"Well your right, I know a bit about you two. And yes Ms. Hartley I know what your day job is." Said Jeff earning a raised eyebrow from the SHIELD agent. He then placed his hand inside his coat. To anyone watching it would seem that he was getting Items from his coat pocket. But what he was really doing was masking his inventory ability. So once done he pulled his hands it was two folders and a photograph of a young blonde girl who looks to be 10 years old.
Once he placed the said items on the table Jeff was surprised to hear a sudden 'thud on the table. He glance curiously at Hartley who seem to have embedded 1/4 of her knife on their table.
"Let me make this perfectly clear. If your asking us to kidnap this girl I will gut you right here and now." Hartley said threateningly.
"Yeah, what she said... Well maybe not the gutting part but I might you shoot you in the face...twice." Added Hunter.
Jeff could see that both of them were extremely serious of their threat to his continued living. He gave them both a smile and raised both his hands forward in a sign of surrender.
"Relax, we are not gonna kidnap a girl. In fact we are gonna do the opposite. The girls name is Lucy Crumm. A few weeks ago she has gone missing. Police suspects that she has been kidnap some speculate that she is already dead. We believe that she is alive but not for long." Explained Jeff as he handed the two of them the folders.
"Who's 'we'?" Asked Hartley.
"Well,I work for an organization called Questlist. We basically take in requests that we feel needs a special touch. And we are that special touch." Added Jeff.
"So, mate it says here that her only relative is her brother, a pizza delivery boy from Atlanta. I reckoned she would have been the daughter of some mob boss or something, with the money we're allegedly gonna receive for this." Said Hunter.
"You're right our pay and other resources are gonna be handled by Questlist." Said Jeff.
"Who the hell the owns this gig? I mean how is this Questlist thing getting money out of this?" Asked Hunter.
"That's not important. The only thing that matters here is that we find the missing girl and bring her back to her brother. Don't worry about where the money is gonna be coming from. You will get payed once we've finished the mission." Explained Jeff.
"What happens if we don't find her?" Asked Hunter.
"Well, we'll have a dead girl and 25% of the promised reward." Jeff answered as he looked at Hartley who was silent in the whole discussion.
"I'll do it, we will find this girl no matter what it takes."said Hartley in a very determined matter.
They both looked at Hunter waiting for his answer.
Hunter looked at the two and shrugged. "Well yeah I'm in. Its not like I can walk away from this. So count me in... Uhh what was your name again?"
"I don't have one." Said Jeff
"Excuse me?" Asked Hartley.
"I have none. Well not yet anyway." Answered Jeff.
"Not even the name your mum gave you?" Asked Hunter.
"Nah, that names gone a long time ago." Answered Jeff.
"Well we gotta call you something." Said Hunter.
"Don't worry its already being made. I'll tell you when It's ready. In the meantime you can call me anything you want." Said Jeff.
"Maybe I'll just call you Nowan." Said Hunter. "Get it? Like no and one. I should do stand up."
Jeff just shook his head in amusement. "That can work... For now anyway. We have a strict time frame on finishing this mission." Said Jeff as he handed the two to wristwatches that was counting down to something.
Hartley looked at the time it was counting down to. " So this was the reason the Job was only listed for 30 days."
"Yes, so once that clock hits zero. We failed. The girl is all but dead then." Said Jeff.
"Wait a minute how do you know that for sure? Were you guys given a ransom demand and this is the deadline?" Asked Hunter curiously.
"No demand was given. Its just that we know that this is the deadline. Just trust me on this." Said Jeff.
"So whats the plan...Nowan? Asked Hartley.
"Well first we have to..." Jeff was interrupted when he suddenly heard a message from Skye on his ear piece.
Hunter noticed Nowan's reaction. "Did something happen?"
"Yes, the girls brother was just found dead. Get ready, because we leave for Atlanta first thing in the morning."
"Hi thank you for calling eagles pizza what would be your order today?"
"Activate protocol Sierra Delta Zulu, Operative Sierra Uniform Delta 0724397, Clearance 97 Romeo Whisky November, Direct contact to alpha 0000001."
"Clearance confirmed operative SUD 0724397. Encrypted line established."
"Director Fury here."
"Director this is Bobbi. We have a situation."
"Now what in the world prompted you to call me on a payphone Agent Morse."
"Sorry sir, My phone kinda blew up. Sir, Anthony Crumm is dead apparent murder. I went to his apartment just for it to blow up."
"Any sign of his sister."
"I just learned that she has been missing for a few weeks. Possible abduction."
"Dammit, how did we not know about this."
"We actually did, the Agent in charge of monitoring the Crumms was still calling in. The Agent has been AOL since this morning. We wouldn't have known about this if Anthony did not get suspicious of as to why nobody is coming from SHIELD when he reported his sister missing to Agent Brown."
"Agent Morse I don't need to remind you how critical that we find Ms. Crumm. We need this low key. Whoever took the girl must have some hell of connections if they can do this under SHIELDs watch. Keep me posted Agent Morse."
Bobbi hanged up the phone and got out of the phone booth. After a few minutes the phone went up in flames while a battered Bobbi Morse walked of the scene, as Firemen frantically put out the blazing fire on the apartment across the street.
OMAKE
My name is Skye
Its been 3 weeks.
3 weeks since his best friend Mary left with her new foster parents.
Jeff sighed. Life at Saint Agnes was really dull without his sidekick. So now Jeff was just content staring at grass waiting to see if it will change color.
"Hey, stick face. I have bone to pick with you." Jeff heard from his comfortable spot on the tree branch.
"Not now Ken,I'm busy." Replied Jeff as he saw three kids he often got into fights with.
"Get down from there already I owe you a punch to the face."
Jeff shifted from the branch of the tree he was laying face first on, determined to ignore the thug wannabees. He started staring at the tree leaves instead.
After a few more minutes Ken and his 2 companions finally gave up and turned around.
"Forget it you'll come down there eventually. Come on boys." Said Ken.
" Hey boss I heard hat dork Mary returned. She got dumped by her foster parents again. What a loser." Said one of Kens henchkids.
"What did you say?" Ken and his henchkids suddenly heard from behind them.
Ken turned around and tried to look as menacing as possible which was impossible as he was a chubby 9 year old kid.
"Finally. I was thinking you'd chicken out on me already." Answered ken.
Jeff ignored him and looked at one of his henchkids. "Hey! You the one with the ugly teeth. I never can remember your name. What did you say earlier?"
"Its Nick you idiot. I said what kind of loser gets adopted and gets sent back."
Jeff gritted his teeth. " No before that idiot."
"What? That dork Mary you hang around with is ba..." He was interrupted when he was suddenly punched to the face by Jeff. His action cause the other two to swarm him causing an awkward 3-1 battle.
Jeff quickly walked up the stairs into his room. He winced as his jaw ached from the punch he received from him impromptu battle royale from the backyard. Granted he was better off than the three he fought with. He can just imagine the rant he will get from Sister Claire when she finds out.
But for now none of that matters. His best friend was back. He opened his room and saw that his friends things was on her bed. But no sign of Mary. He glanced at the window as a breeze flew into it waving through the curtains. He smirked he knew where she was.
Mary hugged her knees as she stared at the sun setting on the horizon. Tears were threatening to flow from her eyes once again as she thought of the of her last foster family. She really liked the Brody's and she was sure they liked her too. She couldn't understand why she was sent back. She could have been Mary Sue Brody.
Skye frowned whenever she thought of her name. It was just so stupid. She angrily stood up and tossed her hair clip, that was given to her by her supposed new mother. She watched at it sailed to sky falling 3 floors as it shattered to the ground.
"If you hit someone. I'm telling."
She heard from behind her. She smiled as she recognized the voice. "No you wouldn't."
"Yeah your right. I wouldn't." Said Jeff as he sat beside her on her spot on the roof of the orphanage. "You just came back and your already up hear. Its like you never left."
"I wish I never left." Mary said lowly as she hugged her knees closer.
"You wanna talk about it?" Jeff asked.
Mary smiled as she glanced at her best friend noticing his bruised face. She frowned. "You look terrible, did you fight Ken and his pack of monkeys again. I can never remember the name of those two."
"See, That's what I told them. But anyway they told me your back. Then we fought again as usual. That will show em. Nobody can call you a dork but me." Said Jeff.
Mary gave Jeff a smile as tears started to come down on her face again. She hugged Jeff and started to cry out on his shoulders as she told him everything that happened.
Jeff gently pressed his hands at the back of her head. " There, there. At least your name wouldn't be uglier. Imagine if it was Mary Sue Brody. Yikes." He then received a punch to the shoulder courtesy of his friend.
"Yes, good job in cheering me up." Mary said as she let go of the hug.
"Well if you don't like your name so much why don't you change it. I mean we cant all have awesome name, but that doesn't mean we can't change it." Said Jeff.
"Huh?"
"Think about it. Your name can be anything you want it to be like..." He glanced at the sky seeing the beautiful colors the sunset was giving it. "Skye." Said Jeff.
"What?"
"You know Skye!, like S-K-Y-E. Like the heavens." Exclaimed Jeff.
"But theres no.."
"Nope there is no arguing here. For now on your name is no longer Mary Sue Poots. You're now Skye."
"JEFFRY GRAYSON!"
Jeff and the newly anointed Skye cringed as they heard their matron yell for his name.
"We'll talk about your name later. For now I gotta hide from a very angry nun. See you later Skye." Jeff said as he hurriedly ran down hoping to hide from the dreaded Sister Claire. Leaving a still suprised... Skye.
"Skye huh..." She tested. It certainly has quality to it.
"I just don't get the E though."
An:
Alright that's chapter 2.
Disclaimer to all Marvel comic fans out there. I will be liberally using stuff from the comics, but this will be mainly MCU.
I will be using stuff from the Ghost Rider movies, The blade Movies, X-men movies and the old Fantastic four. And once the new Daredevil is shown by April 10 I will be using stuff for that , So I have my good old Netflix subscription ready for that.
And by the way as a teaser. Our protagonist is not really an OC. He is actually a Marvel Character of my on interpretation. If you stick around for the long haul you might get to know who he is.
Any guess on why Fury wants the girl to be found?
So did any of you guess that it was Skye?