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ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ ᴏɴᴇ: ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ɴɪɢʜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ'ʟʟ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ғᴏʀɢᴇᴛ

❝ sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ's ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ ᴜs. ❞

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                                                      OVER THE COURSE OF THE NIGHT'S EVENTS, A SMALL SMILE SEEMED TO HAVE PERMANENTLY ETCHED ITSELF ONTO YOUR FACE, and you beamed at the passing scenery as you gazed out the tinted passenger window of the SUV.

It might've been the alcohol, or the severe amount of dancing you had partaken in, but you were utterly knackered. You stifled a yawn and slipped down into your seat a little, but amazingly, once your eyes caught sight of the gorgeous display in front of you, you perked up with a gasp.

"Brendon, can we pull over?" you asked excitedly, pressing both palms flat against the window and peering out.

"I don't think-"

"PLEASE."

A heavy sigh and clench of jaw later, Brendon had swerved off of the road and onto the small clearing in front of the cliff that had captured your attention. As soon as the car stopped, you jumped out and rushed forward, pulling out your phone and snapping a few pics. The cliff – which had beautiful, multi-coloured shrubs and trees on the sides – overlooked the crashing waves of the ocean down below, illuminated impeccably by the huge overhung moon.

"It's breath-taking, isn't it?" you gushed, walking forward until you were virtually on the edge.

"Yeah, it is," Brendon agreed, frowning infinitesimally as he took your arm and tugged you back a little bit; he was worried that due to your alcohol level and tiredness, you would lose your footing and stumble off of the edge.

You smiled at your bodyguard's gesture of concern and turned your back to the edge of the cliff, so that you were facing him, and gripped both of his biceps.

Taking one step closer to him, you looked up at the taller human – who was wearing a look of mild perplexity – and spoke softly. "Thank you for tonight, Brendon. I know this is, like, the fifth time I'm saying it, but I honestly can't tell you how much it meant to me."

"I told you," he furrowed his brows and shook his head a little, "it was nothing."

You shook your head in disagreement. "It wasn't nothing; it was one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me, and I truly appreciate it," you looked down at the ground and chuckled, "And I-"

"(Y/N)," Brendon interrupted with a whisper as his grip on you tightened and his body tensed up, "Don't move."

Slightly afraid, you looked up at your bodyguard with wide-eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Someone's watching us," he answered, voice calm, "and it's highly likely that there's more than just one of them."

"Them?" you whispered, a chill coursing through you, "Hydra?" It wasn't really a question you needed to ask; both of you knew the answer already. "How do you know?" Brendon was miles bigger and taller than you, and he blocked your view of the surrounding areas, so you couldn't see beyond his chest.

He gave you a look as if to say 'did you really just ask me that', and you muttered a 'right', looking down embarrassingly.

"My gun is tucked in the holster clipped to my hip, I need you to reach under my jacket and grab it. I can't move too much without giving away that I'm aware that they're here," he spoke lowly, just loud enough for you to hear, "But before you do that," he added, "I need you to slowly trail your hand down to my wrist and push the small button on the side of my watch. It'll send out an SOS to S.H.I.E.L.D."

Slowly and carefully, you did as you were told. You trailed your fingers down Brendon's arm at a snail's pace, fighting the urge to react as your fingers travelled over his muscles. As you reached his wrist, you hastily pressed the button before moving your hand to his hip and gathering his gun in your hand. When you had it in your hold, you looked up at your bodyguard expectantly; now it was his turn to trail his hands down your arms.

He placed both of his big hands on your seemingly tiny shoulders before deliberately moving them down your arms; you involuntarily shuddered, but he ignored it. When he reached your wrists, his right hand continued downwards to grip your left hand and intertwine his fingers with yours – as a distraction, you assumed – while his left hand swiftly took the gun from your right one.

As soon as he had the cool metal weapon in his hold, Brendon whipped around, aiming it at the swarm of Hydra agents that had cornered the two of you. His right hand was still intertwined with yours, and he used that physical connection to make sure that you were safely hidden behind his bigger frame.

The middle-most Hydra agent slowly made his way towards you while clicking his tongue and shaking his head in disapproval.

"For someone who's supposedly S.H.I.E.L.D's best agent, you'd think you would know better than to pull over and create such a wonderful opportunity for us."

"Even if I hadn't pulled over," Brendon responded, voice unwavering and confident – the way he always managed to keep it, regardless of the situation, "You still would've ambushed us. At least here we get a pretty view to help mask the ugliness of the heap of dead bodies that'll soon be laying on the ground."

A dark chuckle sounded throughout the night air. "Funny. But I assure you, Agent... the only dead body laying around will be yours. Unless," he held up a finger and stepped forward, "you cooperate and give us your lovely lady over there," the Hydra agent said, leaning forward to peer around Brendon's back, making a vile kissy-face at you.

"Get fucked."

Another dark chuckle. "If that's how it's gonna be," the agent said, holding his hands up and signalling for his colleagues to attack, which they did.

Now, your faith in Brendon was immeasurable, but as amazing of a fighter as he was, there was no way that he could take on fifteen Hydra agents by himself. At first, he did well. He took down five of them like it was nothing (you even knocked one two on your own), but when they started attacking in groups of three and four, everything went to shit.

Brendon was on the ground, grunting as he tried to get loose from the grip of the two agents who were holding him down while simultaneously trying to dodge the punches from the agent bent over him. Using a tactic Brendon had taught you during training, you managed to get the one throwing the punches off of him, which in turn allowed him to free himself from the other two.

Unfortunately, the agent who was speaking earlier came up behind you, and was now holding you in a tight grip; he twisted your arms so that they were bent behind your back and secured it with a cable tie as you thrashed around. Brendon immediately scrambled to his feet and started towards you, but your assailant took a step back, and the both of you were now teetering on the edge of the cliff, on very unsteady rock.

"Uh uh uh," the agent warned, a sick smirk on his face as he looked at your bodyguard, "Not so fast."

"You're not gonna kill her," Brendon said, walking forward, "You need her."

"You're right; I can't kill her. But I can hurt her. Really, really bad," he grinned, taking out a knife from his pocket and tracing it along your collarbone. Brendon stopped walking. "So unless you want me to rearrange this pretty, pretty face," he cooed, grabbing you by the chin and yanking your head to the side so you were looking at him, "You're gonna let us go."

Brendon turned his head slightly to the side and smirked, before turning back to you and the agent. "When are you dipshits gonna learn," he started, "that you'll never win?"

With that, S.H.I.E.L.D's agents emerged from the shadows, tackling the Hydra agents – most of who were on the ground – as agents Hill and Corvey raised their weapons and aimed it at the guy holding you.

"Let her go," Hill demanded.

Realising that he was hilariously outgunned, the agent slowly let go of you and took a few steps backward. Then, taking a chance, he lifted his hand that held the knife, intending to leave a gash in your chest, but Corvey shot him just in time. Unluckily, he stumbled back a bit, knocking into you and making you lose your steadiness over the loose rock.

Before you even knew what was happening, you were falling off of the cliff.

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Thank you for reading x