One Last Job

Word Count: 6,000 words

Commissioned by: anonymous

Written by: @Evangeline40003

3/18/2022

TW: action violence, bondage

Alison, an agent of SHIELD, leans over the handlebars of her motorbike as she races through the idyllic countryside of an undisclosed location. Rows of crop fields, shadowy pockets of woodland, and small homes flash by as she drives past.

Having been an agent for longer than she cared to mention, Alison was coming up on her retirement at 45 years of age. She knew she was one of the lucky ones but instead of bowing out to retire quietly, she has one more mission to complete. Why not go out with a bang? And by ‘bang’ she means excitement. She’s too close to the end of a great career to let any of the baddies get the upper hand on her.

After two and a half years tracking HYDRA arms shipments, Alison is more than eager to complete her arching focus on cornering Julia Cartwright, a notorious arms dealer. Alison’s career has led to this moment. She will finally meet this woman face to face and make sure she takes her down.

Alison revs her motorbike as she swerves around the occasional local traffic. A Volkswagen, a tractor, and pair of bicyclists are passed as her excitement for the coming mission grows. As Alison travels farther, the land around her starts to transform into unkept fields. Trees begin to crowd around as the road narrows. It is likely HYDRA owns much of the land around this hideout to keep locals at bay and any wandering travelers from discovering them. Being so remote, they are probably not expecting any visitors.

Nearly a quarter mile away from her destination, according to her GPS, Alison decides to slow down and stop her bike along the road. She cuts the engine and rolls it into the woods. She puts it behind some brush, 15 feet off the road.

“That should be good enough,” Alison says. She takes off her helmet, her pink hair unfurls to cascade around her face, the length just brushing her shoulders. Alison stores her helmet in one of the bike’s compartments and runs her hands through her hair, shaking out any remnants of dreaded helmet-hair. Next, she takes the GPS monitor from the bike’s dashboard and secures the tiny computer around her wrist to continue tracking her location.

For the occasion, Alison is wearing her favorite outfit: a black catsuit complete with black knee-high boots. She wears a double holster with her trusty pistols on each hip. She has a knife in her boot and is ready to go. Zipping down the top of her catsuit to her chest, Alison smiles and peps herself up for the mission. The last time she wore this outfit, she had walked into a warehouse where HYDRA was hiding arm transports. The guards present couldn’t take their off her, so they never knew what hit them once she leapt into action.

With the sky above darkening, Alison breaks into a jog and makes her way through the woods. The sun sets and the world is steeped in twilight. She arrives at the edge of the woods at 20:00 hours. The edge of the woods come to an expansive lawn that stretches up to a large English-style mansion. The home has a brick façade with a multi-peak roof, dimpled by at least a dozen chimneys. A grand entrance sits at the front of the building with a curving stone drive. Large windows grace each open space but are either shuttered closed or have the curtains drawn to hide any activity inside.

Alison checks her watch. In fifteen minutes, the guards on the driveway are supposed to switch posts. On the drive, several guards in dark uniforms stand by the front door and alongside the mansion’s front. Once the clock shows 20:15 hours, the guards relax from their positions and make their way over to the garage on the right side of the building. Alison has less than 30 seconds to slip through the gap in security. Bursting from her hiding spot, she sprints across the lawn to a ground floor window. The window is shuttered and locked. She steps up onto the bottom edge of the shutter and grabs the top of the window’s casement. She pulls herself up and reaches for the bottom of the second-floor window. This window slides open easily and Alison jumps up and slips inside.

The interior of the mansion is well lit with red carpets and gilded molding along the length of each room. Alison lands on the soft carpet of a sitting room. She ducks behind an armchair. To her right, is a long hallway with chandeliers every few feet. In front of her is a larger hall, opening to a wide staircase. If she starts at the top floor, Alison can take her time looking for Julia on each floor, top to bottom.

Hopping upright, Alison makes for the stairs when two guards appear in the doorway. One guard, a younger man, stands erect with his eyes wide. His partner reaches for his radio.

“Hey, boys,” Alison says. She jumps forward and launches a kick, sending the guard’s radio flying. Still in motion, she grasps the younger guard’s collar and throws him to the floor. “Let’s play."

The older guard pulls a gun. Alison disarms him and spins around to his exposed back. She hits two pressure points on his neck, and he falls to his knees. Before he hits the floor, she jumps onto the younger guard and pulls him into a sleeper hold. She let’s go only once he stops struggling.

With no time to admire her handiwork, Alison pulls the two guards behind a sofa in the sitting room. Once they are out of view, she hurries to the staircase. She runs halfway up the carpeted steps when voices and footsteps erupt from the top of the stairs. Alison skids to a halt and goes back downstairs. She turns a corner and finds a broom closet. Quickly opening the door, she squeezes into the tight space and closes the door behind her. Above, feet stomp down the stairs and someone is laughing. The footsteps go down the stairs and continue down the hall, away from the sitting room and the two unconscious guards. Thank goodness. Now, it’s time to get upstairs. Alison peeks out of her hiding spot. The hallway is empty. Alison then creeps upstairs, slower this time, despite her excitement at whatever is coming up next.

The third floor of the mansion is dark. Voices and sounds from the other floors float in and out of hearing as guards patrol and an unknown number of HYDRA officers occupy the decorated rooms. At the top of the stairs, on the left, is an empty study. On the right are two empty bedrooms also with no lights on. As she turns back into the hallway to continue looking, hands reach out to latch onto her wrists. Alison gasps as she accidentally backs into a guard who was waiting nearby in the dark.

“Now, what might you be doing here?” he asks. Alison doesn’t answer. She slams her head back and smashes his nose. The man lets out a howl before Alison can clamp her hands over his mouth. She drags him to the floor and silences him easily. In the darkness, she waits and listens for any nearby reactions. Only the distant voices and the occasional creak break the silence. Alison pushes the man’s head off her lap and drags him to a corner of the room, away from the door.

“You can’t expect to sneak up on me, can you?” Alison asks the unconscious man. “I’m too quick for that.” They can try but she’ll always have the upper hand. What else can they expect from a senior agent? Wiping her hands on her thighs, Alison sneaks back into the hallway to continue her search. She doesn’t have long with the number of guards she has been disabling and hiding. She’ll need to speed this operation up.

The third-floor hallway meanders around a corner and runs towards a bedroom at the end of the hall with the lights on. Who is up here all by themselves? Cracking her knuckles, Alison pulls one of her pistols and hurries towards the room on silent feet. Holding her pistol out, she jumps into the room to catch whoever is there unawares.

The room is empty. A small table lamp is on and sitting on a writing desk. There is a queen-sized bed, and on the wall across from Alison is a large multi-paned window with a view out to the forests around the mansion’s property.

Alison sighs and relaxes her stance. Maybe the guard she stumbled into had been in this room before her.

“Disappointed you can’t find me?” a voice asks. Alison pulls up her pistol just as a pain ignites in the back of her head. She stumbles forward and the room goes dark.

***

A gold glow warms Alison’s eyes. As a kid, she remembered looking at the sun behind closed eyes when in the car on long drives—that yellow glow that filled everything she could see. The gold glow now recedes, not as bright as the sun, and was not a source of warmth. Opening her eyes, a blue bedspread stretches from Alison’s perspective as she lies face down on a bed. Past the bed, thick red carpet covers a wooden floor. A big window is dark as night and the gold glow comes from a lamp sitting on a desk.

Did she fall asleep? How did she get here? A woman sits at the desk, leaning her chin on her hand as she looks out the window. She wears a tailored pantsuit with gold cuff links. She has short platinum blonde hair. The sides of her head are buzz cut with a section of hair swooping alongside the left of her forehead. Above her aquiline nose is a sharp brow as her eyebrows almost blend into her pale complexion to paint a serious and severe attitude. This is her target; this is the Julia Cartwright of HYDRA.

Alison tries to get up, but she cannot. A dull pain makes itself noticed, beginning to radiate from her back, wrists, knees, and ankles. She tries to pull her arms forward, but they have been pulled back behind her shoulders, hogtied to her ankles. Alison lets out a frustrated gasp. This is ridiculous. She rocks and grunts as she tests her new bonds but Julia at the desk notices her.

“You didn’t stay out for long,” the Julia says. Her voice is light, almost high-pitched as if she was saying something that was supposed to be funny. “Not that I wanted you to sleep the whole night away, but I must’ve not knocked you out hard enough.”

Alison’s head aches at the reminder. “I think you did well enough.”

“Good, at least we can chat now. I am interested in who you are and what you are doing in my home.”

“This is your home?” Alison asks. “I didn’t know HYDRA was that generous. Why waste a great base of operations on one person?”

Julia stands up from the desk and turns her chair to face Alison on the bed. She sits back down and crosses her legs, a picture of calm. “Now, what makes you say that?”

“I know you are operating your distribution and sales of arms from this building. This isn’t a residence,” Alison explains. She rolls her eyes at this game of pretending she doesn’t already know everything.

“Smart girl,” Julia says. “You know too much as well. I can assume you are not here to make a purchase? Strike a deal?”

“Of course not.”

“Too bad. I always enjoy meeting new clients. Except, they usually don’t sneak in through the window when it comes to placing a new order.”

“Always time to do something different for once,” Alison says. “Everyone tells me I’m unique. Why use the boring front door?”

“Right,” Julia says. She smiles and Alison feels a shiver of dread. She’ll have to be careful. A regular woman can’t just become an arms dealer for HYRDA. Who knows what this woman is capable of?

“Well, this isn’t the first time I’ve been in this situation,” Alison says. “You know, being as ‘unique’ as I am. I bet you’ll want to know my name and learn a little bit about me? I’ll let you know now, my story isn’t an interesting one as yours I’m sure, but I can really put an edge on the storytelling.”

“That’s fascinating. But I’m not really interested in who you are. I want to know why you are here, Alison.”

Shoot. “Are you sure? We should make sure you’re not missing anything important here, right?” Alison asks. What else does she already know?

“HYDRA always has a step ahead when it comes to your fellow SHIELD agents. How do you think we are as successful as we are? What a nuisance that we must constantly dispatch of you and your bunch. You’ve been infiltrated, your security intelligence is a mess, and you think I have the patience for you to stick your nose into my business? Not at all. But I’m not in the mood for working too much tonight.”

“You are not in the mood…so you’ll let me off with a warning?” Alison asks. She gives a big smile. Julia doesn’t flinch at her remark. “Just a little teensie-weensie warning? I’m sure I’ll listen if you tell me that and let me go.” As she talks, Alison reaches for a small pocket at the ankle of her boot. Inside is her knife. If she can just reach it, she might have a chance in this situation.

Julia gets up from her seat by the desk and comes to stand before Alison. Alison stops reaching for her knife and cranes her neck back to look up at Julia. “Alison, tell me, what brings you here this evening?”

“Just here to peruse the goods, you know.”

“How did you find us?”

“It’s an interesting story. But I don’t think I remember the details.”

Julia sighs. “What do you think we are dealing here? The more details you give me, the easier this might go for you.”

HYDRA never lets anyone get away easy. Alison plans on dragging this conversation out as much as possible so she can think of a plan to escape.

“You’re the seller. You tell me—I am interested in your secret wares.”

“Aren’t you pleasant,” Julia says. “I don’t think you’ll be a big help anymore.” Julia ruffles Alison’s hair. Alison jerks her head away. “You are not in the place or position to be making any demands. No matter how general or probing.” Julia smiles again, her lips disappearing into a thin line. “Thank you for the nice talk, Alison, but I don’t think I’ll be needing you. I have business to get to, so I don’t have time to stick around and play along.”

Julia kneels on the ground in front of Alison and pulls a roll of duct tape and a gag out of her pocket.

“Where are the weapons, Julia?” Alison asks.

“They were in the basement, in the garage, orders sent from other warehouses. But that doesn’t matter now. We knew you were coming. We knew to move all the weapons to a new and more secure location.”

“You knew?”

“We always do, don’t we? I don’t think you’ll have many missions after this Alison. You should have retired before this one started.” Julia grasps Alison’s chin just as she was going to speak. She forces her mouth open and shoves the gag inside to stifle her rising voice. Alison tugs her head back and tries to spit the gag out but she cannot move her tongue or close her mouth because of the object. There is a stretching sound as Julia unwinds a piece of duct tape from the roll. She rips it off and presses it against Alison’s mouth, the sticky side of the tape grasping her lips and cheeks in a painful pinch. Julia runs her fingers over the tape and presses on it hard to make sure it sticks. Alison whimpers and tries to pull away.

“It was a nice chat, Alison. You might not have learned anything aside from what you already expected, but there is nothing I can do about that.” Julia pats Alison’s cheek before standing up. She goes to the desk and opens a drawer. From the drawer, Julia pulls out a black box with a handle. Alison’s eyes go wide, and she starts to struggle.

“Shush, you can’t go anywhere like that,” Julia says. She sets the box on the floor, away from Alison. She pops the lid open to reveal a bomb attached to a digital clock. The wires stick out like messy hair and the clock clicks on red with a countdown of five minutes.

“It’s too bad you chose the wrong side. SHIELD agents never seem to understand who was meant to win from the very beginning.” Julia clicks a button and the bomb beeps. The timer is set. The countdown begins: 04:59. “Like I said, it was nice talking to you. Thanks for visiting.” Julia stands up and gives Alison a little wave. “Nice knowing you!” She is gone. Her footsteps fade down the hallway outside the bedroom and down the stairs to the second floor. With her gone and the house likely evacuating or already empty, Alison’s only chance to get out is now.

Reaching back towards the side of her ankle with the hidden knife, Alison pops the Velcro pocket that holds the knife, but her finger barely grazes the handle. Alison reaches and strains. She shakes her feet to try to dislodge it, but it will not budge. She tries to yell against her bonds but ends up coughing instead. She catches her breath and tries to calm down. Take a breath. She must think of another way out of this.

On the bed, nothing is in reach and the desk across the room is empty save the light sitting on top. She briefly thought of burning the ropes against the lightbulb but that would take ages and was unrealistic. Next to the bed was an oak bedside table. On it was an unlit candle and a bottle of hand cream. That’s it!

Alison flops onto her side towards the bedside table and wiggles her way to the edge of the bed. Once there, with the back of her head on the edge, she squirms and tries to reach the table with her bounded hands. No luck. In a moment of panic, Alison flails in frustration. Her feet and hands hit the table with a thump and the items on top are knocked to the floor. Alison stops moving and looks down at the now reachable lotion. Rolling off the bed, she lands on her stomach, bouncing her chin off the floor. With a grunt, she goes to the lotion and rolls over, grasping it in her hands. She pops the lid and, in the rush, a blob of lotion squirts all over her hands and the rope. Alison squeezes the tube for more and starts moving her wrists back and forth to spread the lotion. She twists and fumbles until the ropes start to loosen a little bit. Alison flexes her fingers and starts to yank, pulling and fighting the rope. Suddenly, one hand pops free.

Soon, her other hand comes free, and Alison can sit up. Her back pulses with pain and her shoulders join in with stinging complaints. Despite this, Alison doesn’t miss a beat as she unties her feet next. Ripping the duct tape off her mouth, she yelps as it stings. Finally pulling out the nasty gag, Alison rushes over to the ticking bomb on the floor. She has only one minute, and thirty-six seconds left. Her eyes are drawn to the numbers counting down: 01:35, 01:34, 01:33…she tears her eyes away and focuses on the wires on the bomb. The bomb is quite old fashioned with the old clock, it’s almost funny if her life wasn’t in danger. Why do the bad guys always need to be so flashy with their pre-victory speeches and digital clocks?

The bomb has several wires. The classic red, blue, and multiple black wires. Alison gently pushes the wires apart to see where they run from the body of the bomb device to the clock. In training, agents are always told what one is the safe wire to pull and what ones are not. But every instructor always pauses and takes back everything they say. HYDRA and other fiends might be getting too smart, they joked. They might start swapping the colors of the wires just to make us pull the wrong one on accident. It was hard to tell if her trainers were telling the truth back then, but in these situations, Alison follows a more dependable source—her gut.

The clock clicks to 01:10. Alison grasps a wire and takes a breath. What if she just ran instead? She could probably run outside and get away to a safe distance before the bomb went off. That would be helpful because Julia would think she died in the explosion before Alison appears to kick her ass.

Then again, if Alison lets the bomb go off, she loses all the potential information and clues to Julia’s massive dealings that SHIELD can confiscate. The bomb goes off, the house burns down, all the evidence is gone. That choice just makes things too easy for HYDRA.

00:52

Alison closes her eyes and pulls the wire. The clock clicks one more time then falls silent. Opening her eyes, the clock has gone dark; the countdown has stopped. Alison sighs with relief. She relaxes all the tension that had built up in her body. That’s one less problem to worry about.

Getting up, Alison stretches and shakes herself.

“Time to go visit a friend,” she says. Picking up the cut ropes, she untangles them and ties the cut pieces back together. She twists these around her waist and ties them to herself. While doing so, she notices her pistols are missing. Alison curses. She didn’t even get to use them on her last mission. Picking up the duct tape and gag, runs out of the room and takes the stairs two at a time. With any luck, Julia is still nearby, making sure her handiwork paid off.

Too bad things weren’t going to work out the way Julia wanted them to.

Finding her way to the ground floor of the house, Alison runs into three armed guards.

“You poor guys, are you here for me?” The three respond with cocked pistols. Alison hits the floor as the first shots are fired. She lunges forward and sweeps the feet out from under one man. He hits the floor hard. Alison jumps up and onto the second guard. She drives her elbow into his face and makes him stumble into the wall. She dismounts and slips around the last guard’s defense. She jabs him in the gut but hits a rigid Kevlar vest instead.

“You’re packing heavy, aren’t you?” she exclaims. The man steps back to aim, but she trips him in the process and swipes his gun. She fires and then turns to fire on the guard she jumped on before he can get up. Tossing the borrowed gun on the floor, Alison runs through the front door and into the yard. Julia better be happy to see her.

***

Julia sits in her car, a safe distance down the driveway. From her rearview mirror, the mansion remains dark. The bomb should have gone off by now but silence reigns instead. A waxing moon sits high in the sky, muffled behind sparse clouds. Julia turns off her car and pockets the keys. She steps outside and slams the car door closed. She walks around to lean against the trunk of her car and look upon the quiet mansion.

It was a pain for Julia and the HYDRA agents whenever they had to move their arms and make sure everything was wiped when there was word of a SHIELD agent or someone discovering their location. SHIELD almost had the upper hand and had surprised Julia tonight. She hadn’t expected this location to be discovered for some time. Despite all her hard work building up this distribution point, it was better to go up in flames rather than into SHIELD’s hands.

The crunch of gravel announces Alison’s approach. She appears from the darkness down the drive when the clouds shift and a ray of blueish moonlight lights her from behind, casting her pink hair and cocky smile into view. She struts over to Julia, keeping a reasonable distance between them.

“You know,” Alison says. She comes to a stop and pops a hip, lightly laying a hand on the rope now tied around her waist. In her other hand, she holds the gag and roll of duct tape. “I thought you might miss our little talks. Do you really want to blow me up in all that flame and glory? My death might be so tragic that both SHIELD and HYDRA would have to remember me.”

Julia wrinkles her nose as her lips curl into a distasteful snarl. “Alison, how presumptuous of you. What makes you think you can simply waltz out of here? You made a mistake coming to me, you should have escaped while you still could.” Julia doesn’t wait for Alison to say anything in response. Instead, she steps forward, quickly closing the gap between them and swipes at Alison’s face.

Alison side-steps and leans back to avoid Julia’s rushed attack. “Julia, I’m sorry to hear that,” she says. Julia swings blindly and lunges at Alison. Alison bobs and weaves, quickly backing up from the advance.

“I’ll make sure you don’t walk away from this!” Julia yells. “You’ll regret this!”

Alison catches Julia’s wrist and bends it backwards. “Just like how I should regret not safely retiring before this mission? I don’t know if you were making fun of my age or if you knew this was my last mission before retirement but… I’m much sprightlier than you and I look as hot as a fiery 30-year-old.” Julia yells and pulls away from Alison. Alison follows her and strikes her on the nose. Blood gushes over her pale chin and onto her expensive suit.

“Being evil doesn’t age well,” Alison adds. She spins and kicks Julia straight in the chest, sending her flying with a hard landing on the ground. Julia spits blood and jumps to her feet, reaching for her. Alison sidesteps again and trips her, so she falls flat on her face. Julia screams.

“You!” Julia spits. “Who do you think you are?!” She tries to wipe the dirt from her clothes but only manages to smear the dribbling blood. Alison comes over and puts her foot on Julia’s back.

“I’m a proud agent of SHIELD,” Alison says. She pushes Julia back to the ground. “And I am going to take you with me so we can learn all about your weapons operation, all right?”

“As if!”

Alison steps harder on Julia who squirms and kicks her feet. “I want to know who your contacts are, your suppliers, who you sell to and where you store your wares. You will tell us everything.” To enunciate her order, Alison picks up the duct tape she had dropped on the ground when Julia first lunged for her. She unrolls a piece with a loud zip! Julia suddenly stops moving and becomes very still. “If you don’t answer us, you’ll have to pay.”

“What are you going to do?” Julia asks.

“I’m going to arrest you and take you to SHIELD’s prison. We already have a cell with your name on it. Do you think I could borrow your car? I think you’ll find floor of the back seat very comfortable.”

Julia shakes her head and tries to get up. “No, I mean—what are you really going to do?”

Alison starts untying the rope from around her waist. “Well, for one, I’m going to make sure you are very uncomfortable for the drive to prison.” She trails a loose length of rope over Julia’s shoulder and in front of her face. Julia jumps, knocking Alison back.

“No! Wait, can’t we come to some agreement?” Julia asks. She rolls over onto her butt and puts her hands up. “I’ll tell you what you want!”

“Aw,” Alison says, “you should have told me that earlier. But I’ve already made up my mind and I’m looking forward to tying you up. Unlike me, you’ll be awake for this.”

Julia’s eyes open wide in the dark, white above the red of her trembling mouth.

“Would you rather I tie your hands or your feet first?” Alison asks. She waves the rope and duct tape in front of her new prisoner. Julia starts to get up, but Alison knocks her over onto her stomach and pins her to the ground. “Bummer, I guess I’ll have to pick for you.” Alison pins Julia’s kicking feet with her legs and presses her knees into her spine as she catches and pulls Julia’s hands behind her back.

“I—no! No, please, don’t do this!” Julia begs. “Forget the information, I know you will already get it all. But instead, I can give you money, power!”

“I will never join HYDRA,” Alison answers. She loops the rope around Julia’s hands as she struggles.

“You don’t have to join HYDRA—I know you are a brave SHIELD agent, but it can be better. I’ll give you my money, no strings attached. You can take my car; I can give you more than you could ever imagine having. You’ll be rich!”

Alison tightens the rope and starts to tie her first knot as Julia’s wiry hands stretch and reach, trying to scratch, trying to stop her. “It’s funny when people like you try to bribe someone, you always include insults. You’ll give me more than I’ve ever wanted or could ever have? You don’t know what I’m capable of.” Alison pulls the knot tight as Julia yells. She tries to kick and buck Alison off but is unable to. Alison ties a second and a third knot, looping the excess rope back around her wrists and into another knot.

“Okay, time for your feet,” Alison says. She turns around and grabs Julia’s legs. “Ooh, nice shoes!” she exclaims. She pulls Julia’s spotless high heels off and throws them away. She wants Julia to feel every bit of this rope on her bare skin. This woman tried to kill her and knocked her out. This was the least she could do to get back at her.

“Not too tight, please not too tight.”

“Is it too tight?” Alison asks.

“It’s tight!”

“But not ‘too tight?’ I’ll make it a little tighter.” Julia screeches as Alison pulls on the ropes as tight as she can. She then takes one more length of rope and ties her feet and hands together behind her back.

“I hope this hurts you just as much as it hurt me,” Alison says.

“You’re so dramatic,” Julia spits. “I hope I did hurt you!” Alison rolls Julia over onto her side and sits back to look at her. She but manages to fix a hateful glare on Alison.

“You still have some fight left, don’t you?” This woman, this dealer, and HYDRA follower had to have some spine to get into the position she was today. But everyone has their fears and the best way to find the weakness of a bad guy is to turn their own medicine right back on them. How many people has she tied up or rendered powerless? Alison laughs as Julia continues to glare.

“You are not in the position to be looking at me like that, I want to hear you beg.” Picking up the gag, Alison grabs Julia by her hair. Under her hand, Julia looks at the duct tape next to Alison’s knee.

“No,” Julia says.

“‘No’ what?”

“Please, no.”

“No to the gag? The duct tape? Good, this is my favorite part,” Alison says. What was left of the icy-cold businesswoman collapses into pure dread. Julia’s mouth opens into a shrill cry. Her whole body shakes as she tries to pull away.

“No, please, no! I’ll do anything! Stop!” Her cries and begs go unanswered. Alison hardens her resolve and stuffs the used gag into Julia’s mouth. Julia’s face turns red and her eyes water. Alison picks up the duct tape and rips off a large piece. She smacks it onto Julia’s face and rubs her hand across the tape to make sure it is secure. Julia’s eyes look like they are about to pop out of her head as she panics. Veins stand out on her temples and tears now stream down her face.

Alison gets up and surveys her handiwork.

“Not bad, not bad,” she says. Julia, muffled, screams, and shouts an unintelligible stream of sound as she flails on the ground. This is one way to take down a formidable foe like the cunning and ruthless Julia Cartwright.

“This is only half as bad as what you’ve done to other people,” Alison says. “There won’t be a next time, but let that sink in. Think about what side you really want to be on and what kind of person you want to be at the end of the day. After your actions? This is what you deserve.”

Now look at her, here she was giving speeches at the end of a fight just like the rambling bad guys do. Alison laughs at this predicament. This is ridiculous, she’s been out here for far too long and the SHIELD headquarters will be wanting a check in and report sometime soon. She will have to let everyone know that her final mission was a success.

“What a way to end the day and a career,” Alison muses. It’s one thing to bag a deal and catch the weapons being transported, or to go out and find information about the next trade location… but to bag the dealer herself? All these years of hard work have paid off ten-fold. Now in the hands of SHIELD, Julia won’t be bothering anyone for a long time.

Julia, in her fits, has tired herself out. She is prone on the ground, with her head on the dirt. Alison walks over and bends over to fish around Julia’s pockets. She rolls her over without much care and pulls out her car keys.

“I can borrow these, yea?”

Julia’s eyes follow her. Alison jumps up and unlocks the car with a satisfying beep. “Let’s see how roomy that back seat is, okay?” She grabs her new prisoner by the ropes and half carries, half drags her over to the car. “It’s going to be a long ride.”

Bracing herself, Alison lifts Julia up and dumps her into the back seat. She pushes her onto the floor and closes the door shut. Walking around to the driver’s side, Alison gets inside the car and collapses gratefully into the driver’s seat. What a long night it’s been.

She puts the keys into the ignition, turns them, and the engine purrs to life.

“Nice ride,” Alison says.

She switches on the headlights and puts the car into drive. She may have a long drive ahead of her but with this mission successfully complete, she knows it’ll be little effort before she can officially celebrate her retirement with pride.