Chapter 56: Burglary

Chapter 56: Burglary

2013

San Francisco, California

Pym Manor

(Omniscient POV)

As Ava took care of her business upstairs, Brock searched around the manor for any clues that might lead him to something that would help cure her.

Screams rang out from upstairs followed by the scent of blood but Brock just ignored them as he began by checking the study, which contained a number of scientific journals and files detailing Pym's work on various projects.

He also made sure to check the bathroom and bedroom where Pym had slept. Both rooms were empty, save for an old toothbrush and a couple of articles of clothing.

Brock checked the kitchen next, finding a variety of foodstuffs and an unused coffee machine. He set about brewing himself a cup of coffee as he continued searching through the house. He found a small office off to one side and wandered into the room, pausing momentarily to admire the view outside the window that looked out onto the cityscape of San Francisco.

Turning back, Brock began to read through a few of the papers laying on the desk. One of them was titled 'New Data on Negative Energy Projection'. He skimmed through the paper quickly, scanning the information and looking for anything that might give him insight into how Pym used his research. Nothing stood out to him, though, so he moved on to the next piece of paper.

'The Effects of Quantum Energy on the Human Body: Preliminary Findings'. Unlike the last two papers, there was much less technical jargon in this one. He read it thoroughly, knowing that most of this stuff was over his head, but he figured it was worth a shot.

Ava returned from her search downstairs and found Brock reading through a stack of papers on the desk. "Hey," She called out from the hall, "Are you done in here already?"

Brock glanced up from the pages, noticing the small splatters of blood that covered Ava's suit

"Yeah...I'm almost done," He replied, "How'd it go?"

"Well... I got what I came for," She says, "So, what did you find?"

"Nothing yet," He tells her as he stores the papers in the small duffel bag hanging from his shoulder. "This house is pretty big, though. I'll keep looking around."

"Alright, I'll get cleaned up and come back to help," Ava says and heads for the stairs.

Brock watches her ascend the steps and then returns his attention back to the study. His eyes scan around the room, stopping at the bookshelf that stands off to the side of the desk as he spots a small, imperceptible, seam between the wood.

He peers closer and notices that the crack goes all the way up to the ceiling, where it ends abruptly. He leans forward and looks under the shelf, finding another small gap in the floorboards. He reaches down and traces the outline of it with his fingers, feeling the rough edges of the hidden space beneath the floor.

Brock grips the bookshelf at both sides and pulls it from the wall with his hands, revealing a large metal door behind it. A keypad sits on the wall opposite the door with a series of buttons below it.

Putting his hand on the door, Brock felt that he could easily rip through the metal but, not wanting to trigger any kind of alarm that might be connected to the door, decides against it.

Instead, he decided to go out to the car and get Zeru to see if he could figure out how to bypass the lock.

************

San Francisco, California

Pym ManorThis chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

Zeru follows Brock down the hallway and enters the study. He notices the large metal door and moves over to it to examine the lock. "Damn..." He mutters as he kneels down in front of the panel. "This thing has a high-level encryption on it."

Brock walks over to him and peers over his shoulder, "Can you open it?"

"Does this thing even work?" Ava asks, reaching out a hand to stroke the roof of the vehicle.

"No clue," Brock replies, "But good thing we have our own little genius on hand to solve that problem."

**********

Classified Location

S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier

Nick Fury's Office

One Day Later

In the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Nick Fury sits behind his desk reviewing paperwork. A knock comes at his door and he glances up from his desk and calls out for whoever it is to come in.

Agent Hill walks into his office, holding a file folder in her hand. "Director, here's the roster of all the new recruits that were recently assigned to the new field team."

Fury takes the folder from her and scans through the names on the list. "Thank you, Agent Hill. Any standouts?" He asks as he looks her over.

"Yes sir," She tells him. "A few actually. There's the new pair of scientists, Dr. Fitz and Dr. Simmons, who seem quite promising. Then there's Agent Ward, who's been given the second-in-command position under Agent May. His leadership skills and combat ability are going to be a great asset to the team. Lastly, we've added a highly skilled hacker that we've had our eyes on for a while, Daisy Johnson."

"Interesting choices," Fury says, glancing back up at her. "Run a secondary background check on each of them. I want to know everything about their pasts. Make sure there aren't any red flags in their records."

"Understood Director," Agent Hill replies.

"Good, now, please leave me alone to finish this." He says as he lays the folder down on his desk and closes it.

"There's one more thing, sir," Agent Hill tells him.

"Oh yeah? What is it?" Fury says, leaning back in his chair as his hand taps the top of the desk.

"One of our 'constricted assets' hasn't reported in for a couple of days," She says, "She usually is permitted a bit of freedom, but has never been away for this long."

"Which one?" Fury asks.

"Ghost, sir," Agent Hill replies.

"Has anyone tried tracking her?" Fury asks.

"Yes sir, but her tracking device seems to have been deactivated," Agent Hill replies, "Which means it's either malfunctioning... or she's gone off the grid completely."

"That doesn't sound like Ghost," Fury says, "she's always been too smart for that. She knows we're her only chance at living."

Agent Hill nods her head, "If she's truly off the grid, then she must have done it purposefully. She may have realized that she couldn't trust us anymore and decided to cut ties with us."

Fury sighs and rubs his temples. "Call in one of the Techs and ask them to run an analysis on the tracking device. They might be able to give us some clues about where she went."

Agent Hill nods again and leaves the office.

**********

A/n: Hey everyone! Quick announcement, I will now be posting chapters earlier on my Patreon, so if you can't wait and want to read the next chapter as soon as it's done then go check it out. Hope you are enjoying the story and as always thanks for reading!