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New York City.
Manhattan.
Bleecker Street.
521A.
Behind the mailbox—which had "Phoenix Residence" freshly stamped on it not too long ago—sat a spacious single-family home with an attached garage and storage shed.
Gwen woke up that morning and immediately checked her phone. Still no call from Hawk.
She wasn't worried. After all, Hawk had warned her before leaving that this trip might take some time.
So, Gwen threw off the covers, stretched, and padded barefoot toward the bathroom.
A little while later, Fresh from the shower, Gwen towel-dried her blonde hair and tied it into a high ponytail. The first thing she did was put her Andromeda Cloth necklace back on—she'd set it aside while showering. Then she opened the closet, changed into comfortable loungewear, and left the bedroom.
Summer break had officially started. Gwen walked into the living room, flipped on the TV, then headed into the kitchen. She pulled out a few recipe cards she'd copied from her mom's collection a few days ago. She was planning to try making something new today. If it worked out, she'd have another dish ready for Hawk when he got back.
On the big TV in the living room, the lead anchor from New York's local news station was running through the day's headlines.
"News" was a generous term. Most of it was the same old stuff.
Shootings.
Bank robberies.
Welcome to America. Gun violence every day. And in New York? It wasn't measured in days. It was measured in hours.
Gwen multitasked, half-listening to the news broadcast from the living room while preparing ingredients according to the recipe card.
Just then—
"...And now, an update on yesterday's shooting in Times Square."
"According to an inside source at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the shooting was orchestrated by Sharon Carter, a suspected agent from an international terrorist organization based in London..."
"Wait, who?"
"Sharon?"
Gwen, who had been carefully measuring ingredients, froze at the familiar name. She turned around, still holding a kitchen knife, and quickly walked into the living room. She stared at the TV screen.
The anchor's face was displayed in the center, with a photo inset in the upper right corner.
It was Sharon Carter.
"The FBI has officially placed Sharon Carter on their most-wanted list. Anyone with information..."
"Oh my God."
"Sharon's been declared a fugitive?"
"That doesn't make sense."
"Isn't she part of some secret global law enforcement agency?"
Gwen stared at Sharon's wanted photo on the screen, her breath catching in her throat.
Just then—
KNOCK, KNOCK!
Urgent pounding on the front door made Gwen jump.
She turned instinctively toward the entrance.
Sharon's voice—weak, strained—came from the other side.
"Gwen, it's me. Sharon..."
"..."
Gwen stood frozen for a moment. Then she sprinted to the door and yanked it open.
THUD.
Sharon's car sat on the front lawn, engine still running. And Sharon herself—covered in blood—collapsed forward the instant the door opened, falling toward Gwen's feet.
Gwen gasped.
The next second, Snapping out of her shock, Gwen quickly helped Sharon inside, hurriedly shut and locked the door, then half-carried her to the living room. Sharon collapsed onto the rug in front of the fireplace.
Sharon had been shot twice—once in the right shoulder, once in the abdomen. Both wounds were still bleeding.
Gwen rushed to grab the emergency medical kit from the house, then knelt beside Sharon and prepared to stop the bleeding.
But just as she was about to start...
Sharon, leaning weakly against the couch, stopped her.
"The bullets are still inside. You have to take them out first."
"My dad's a police captain, Sharon."
Gwen, who had already grabbed tweezers and alcohol for sterilization, gave Sharon a reassuring look. "You're going to be fine. Trust me."
Gwen didn't know exactly what had happened.
But—
Sharon was Hawk's friend. Which made her Gwen's friend too.
That was all that mattered.
Gwen's initial panic had been because of all the blood—not fear. And she was the daughter of a police captain. After the brief moment of shock passed, she regained her composure. She might not know how to treat every kind of injury.
But gunshot wounds?
That wasn't even homework. That was basic knowledge.
Of course, knowing what to do and actually doing it were two different things.
Still, even though it took some time, Gwen successfully extracted both bullets from Sharon's wounds. Once they were out, she grabbed the suture thread and glanced at Sharon. "We don't have any anesthesia in the house..."
Sharon's pale face pulled into a faint smile.
"It's fine. Just do it."
"Okay."
Gwen didn't argue. As she began stitching Sharon's wounds, she tried to distract her from the pain by asking what had happened.
Sharon, gritting her teeth as Gwen sutured the abdominal wound, sucked in sharp breaths and quickly explained...
Long story short:
HYDRA was making a comeback.
Specifically, HYDRA agents embedded in SHIELD bases around the world had simultaneously launched their second uprising yesterday afternoon at 2:00 PM Washington time.
Gwen heard the word "HYDRA" and nearly lost her grip on the needle. She steadied herself, her eyes going wide as she stared at Sharon's pale face.
"HYDRA?"
"I thought they were wiped out?"
That's what the history books said, anyway.
So hearing that HYDRA had resurfaced—and had been hiding inside SHIELD this entire time—was almost impossible to believe.
Sharon felt the same way.
"I couldn't believe it either."
"But it's the truth. HYDRA never disappeared. They've been parasites inside SHIELD, using the organization's resources to grow stronger in secret."
"Ten days ago, I went to the black site to retrieve Dr. Merrick—the guy we arrested a few years back for illegal human cloning experiments. That's when I noticed something was off."
"The Dr. Merrick in the black site wasn't the same Dr. Merrick I'd seen in the original files."
"But all the digital records said it was him."
"I didn't raise any alarms at first. After bringing Dr. Merrick back, I went to Commander Hand and told her what I'd found."
"Commander Hand realized something was wrong immediately. She contacted Commander Hill through a secure channel."
"There was a mole inside SHIELD."
"Commander Hill was still in Wakanda and couldn't get back right away, so she authorized Commander Hand to start a secret investigation."
"Over the past few days, with Commander Hill's clearance, we discovered that it wasn't just the black site. Items in the secure storage facilities—dangerous materials—had been swapped out too."
"And the timeline went back years. Even Commander Hill found evidence that some of the Vibranium under her watch had gone missing."
"But she couldn't make a move. She was worried about tipping them off. So she secretly contacted Director Nick Fury."
"Because Commander Hill was stuck in Africa, Director Fury—who'd had his clearance suspended—was temporarily reinstated. He used his authority as director to recall Natasha and Barton from Africa, then contacted Captain America and told the three of them to meet up and track down the Vibranium shipment."
"And then..."
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