The Stake-out
“It’s just a movie.” Natasha explained, as Skye pulled on her shoes and coat, eyeing her friend curiously. Natasha was a master of deception, so there was no way of knowing if she was telling the truth. Her parents looked equally suspicious, especially when Clint waved from the driver’s seat. With those two together, something was bound to go wrong.
“What film?” Dad asked, phone in hand, presumably to check that the film was age appropriate. Skye sighed. She was fourteen, which meant she didn’t look old enough to sneak into most 16+ films but was too old to want to see kids’ things. Natasha and Clint were bound to have picked a good movie though. They had similar tastes to her.
Natasha rattled off the name of a film that Skye had never heard of, ushering her towards the car as she did so. Skye strapped in cautiously, fiddling with the pen knife in her pocket. Mom had given it to her for her birthday, and since then, Skye had taken it everywhere with her. She liked having something that connected her to her mom, which also happened to keep her safe, just like mom always did. Natasha got in a moment later, and Clint immediately slammed down on the accelerator, spinning out of the drive before Skye could even consider waving goodbye to her parents.
“Yeah, so we aren’t going to see a movie.” Natasha announced. Skye narrowed her eyes.
“I figured. What’s up?”
“Clint and I are on mission. Supposed to be intercepting a package delivery at Merchant Park not far from here.”
Skye rolled her eyes, instantly recognising the name. Merchant Park had been built with the intent of being a safe place for kids. Mom and dad had brought her there a couple of times after they’d moved, but the whole place had felt wrong to Skye. Too many stuffy, self-entitled parents, and their equally spoilt kids.
“You have to bring a kid to get in,” Skye recalled, “But, the guys you’re looking for… They’ve got a kid with them?”
“Supposedly,” Clint answered, passing her a photograph “Anja Lewis, twelve-years-old.”
The kid was obviously younger than twelve in the photo, though Skye doubted it was recent. She had curly blonde hair, brown eyes and pink glasses. Skye wondered if she was a threat, or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“She’s the daughter of one of our targets,” Natasha explained, twisting in her seat to face Skye, “Jacob Lewis. Science teacher at the local elementary school. We haven’t been able to confirm his involvement yet/ It’s possible that our main target was threatening Mr Lewis through his daughter, hence the location, and the need for Anja’s presence.”
“Okay,” Skye murmured, “So what’s the plan?”
Skye really did dislike Merchant Park. The concept was a good one, but the only people who came here were the rich kids who no one liked- the ones with helicopter parents- and, apparently, criminals looking to threaten a man via his daughter. Skye had spotted Anja almost at once. She was sat on the bench between a man and a woman, both obviously trying to look inconspicuous.
“I need you to keep out of the way when everything goes down, Skye.” Natasha reminded her. They picked a bench within sight of Anja, and Skye licked her ice cream.
“What are you going to do about Anja?” She asked thoughtfully. Clint reached over and dug his finger into her ice cream.
“Hey! Stop it!” Skye laughed, attempting to grab it back. Clint grinned at her, lowering his voice as he spoke.
“If all goes to plan, we’ll let Jacob grab his daughter before we intervene. He should hopefully get her away to safety.”
Skye bit her lip.
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Hey, Skye? Don’t worry about it, okay?” Natasha spoke up, pulling her into a one-armed hug and giving her a smile that was probably fake. “Anja will be absolutely fine.”
Skye jumped as someone nearby yelled. Five men converged on their location. Skye leapt up, backing away.
“Skye,” Clint called, retrieving his bow, “Grab Anja and get to-“
One of the guys threw a punch at Clint’s head. Skye dropped her ice cream, wincing as half of it melted onto her hand. She sprinted towards Anja, dodging one of their attackers. Five on two. She didn’t like those odds. She mentally took in the situation. Six targets in total. Thankfully, they were far enough away from the playground that Skye didn’t think any kids were at risk. Except Anja, of course. Oh, and Skye herself. She tried not to think about that.
Anja’s two guards spotted her before she reached them, rushing towards her in sync. Skye recalled her training. Slash to the leg with her penknife. Two punches to the chest. Shove to the ground. She whirled to face the woman. Legs. Face. Flip kick. Knife.
“Skye! Behind you!”
Skye felt the air shift behind her as the second guy swung his fist in her direction. She ducked and barrelled forwards, throwing the man off balance. The man let out a stunned groan and toppled backwards. Skye punched him again in the face and he went limp.
“Anja, this way!” She called, grabbing the girl’s hand and taking off. Anja whimpered, glancing back.
“They’re trying to kill us.”
Skye wrinkled her nose.
“I hope not. My mom will definitely ground me if I die out here.”
She winced as the woman recovered and began chasing after them. A bullet shot past them and Anja screamed.
“I don’t want to die!”
There was a cry, and then a soft thud. Skye glanced back over her shoulder and faltered. The woman was on the ground, an arrow through her throat.
“Skye, c’mon let’s go. Nat’s rounding up the targets.” Clint barked, coming up beside them. Anja began to cry, desperately wiping at the tears and her running nose.
“You’re safe now, Anja.” Skye assured her, “I promise.”
“Five out of seven guys.” Skye read, frowning at the report.” You could have got all of them if I hadn’t been there. I only knocked out one guy.”
“Two,” Natasha corrected from the doorway. Skye glanced over in confusion. “I don’t think you even realised, but you quaked that other guy to the ground. He went down hard.”
Skye grimaced.
“I shouldn’t have used my powers. It’s dangerous.”
Natasha shook her head, placing a hand on Skye’s shoulder.
“Skye, what you did today was incredible. You took out two grown assailants and walked away without a scratch. That’s impressive even for an actual agent, nethermind a fourteen-year-old girl. This coming from someone who was trained to kill from birth? You will make an exceptional agent one day.”
Skye shuffled her feet and tried to contain her smile.
“We’re definitely not telling mom and dad about this though, right?”
Natasha laughed, glancing over at Clint, who was tending to a gash on his cheek.
“Absolutely not. They would murder us where we stood.” She joked, and pulled Skye into a hug.