Book of Shadows

The team filed into the SWAT vehicle, and sat somberly in the back as Coulson drove them to the location. Mick fumbled around the baton Coulson issued to him, it was heavier than the one Jerren had made, probably full metal where Jerren's was more hollow for the taser line. He wasn't sure why he was nervous, this was a SHIELD operation. Surely it would go smoother than the last one. 

Agent Ramirez and Agent Reese had their eyes closed, Mick wondered what they were thinking. Was this normal for SHIELD agents? Did they do this kind of thing on the regular? He looked over at Sharon who was cleaning out from under her nails with a knife. How was she so calm about this? Wasn't she concerned about facing off against Shadowfury? Was she concerned about the safety of the other girls in the Coven? He slid the baton into his belt holster, then buried his head in his hands. 

"It's going to be okay Bellouve," Ramirez said with a nice soothing tone. "If you let your nerves get to you, you're bound to make a mistake." 

"First mission?" Asked Reese, his gruff tone didn't really match his slender figure. 

"Practically," Sharon answered for Mick. 

"I helped in New York!" Mick belted. 

"You were the decoy," Sharon teased. "This time you're actually part of a team." 

"The fire guy?" Ramirez asked as Mick nodded. "Paperwork on that mission was really rough." 

"Do you guys really have that much paperwork?" Mick started to reconsider his joining of SHIELD. 

"It's not always that bad," Reese laughed. "Most of the time it's just Team Leader, unless things go really bad, like buildings getting blown up or people getting hurt." 

"What about situations like this?" Mick looked at them curiously. "Do you deal with people like me often?" 

"Like you?" Ramirez, Reese, and Sharon looked at Mick curiously. "You mean people with powers? That's not all that common. People like you are pretty rare kid." The woman's words made Mick feel both comforted and saddened.

The vehicle came to a stop, Mick's senses started to go haywire. Instinctively he reached for the baton on his side, even if only to calm his nerves. The doors opened, and Coulson motioned for them. Mick looked at the large church. Mick lived here his whole life and never noticed it, it had seen much better days, the exterior pretty run down. It was two story, with a rather large steeple where a bell used to hang. It probably was pretty spectacular to look at a few years ago.

"Agent Ramirez, I want you and Agent Carter to make sure there's no back exit to this place. If there is, I want it sealed," Coulson ordered. "Agent Reese, Bellouve, you're coming in the front with me."

Coulson reached for the heavy wooden door, it creaked at it swung open. "I bet they're expecting you," Coulson looked at Mick who nodded. "That means Shadowfury is probably here to protect them. Remember, they're kids, disarm or disable. No fatalities unless it's unavoidable." Agent Reese nodded as he held a hand on his holstered side arm. 

"Is your earpiece ringing?" Mick asked as he tapped his right ear. The buzzing was very intrusive and obnoxious. 

"No?" Agent Reese. 

"That's weird," Mick muttered as he followed Coulson through the vestibule into the large sanctuary. 

Coulson's flashlight showed several strange looking marks drawn on the walls, Mick only recognizing the pentagram and the upside down cross. The strange markings began to glow as howling dogs jumped through dark portals. 

"Hellhounds!" Mick called out, smashing one into the ground with the baton as Coulson and Reese opened fire. The doors slammed shut, sealing them inside as several candles ignited near the walls. 

"So the spider falls into our trap, and he brought friends with him?" An unfamiliar female voice called out, her voice vailed by a very demonic undertone. 

"You shouldn't have come here Mick Bellouve," Mick vaguely recognized Alice's voice. 

"Long live Recluse," another girl cackled as the fires began blazing higher. 

"We're going to need to get back out of here!" Reese called out as he fought with the door while Mick and Coulson fought against the seemingly endless hoards of hellhounds. 

"See if you can find a second exit up high, we can hold our own down a pinch point," Coulson said as Mick shook his head. "I need you to do this Bellouve, you're the only one who can get up there right now."

Mick reluctantly used his webs to climb up to the balcony where he assumed a choir once sung. "Gah!" He screamed as he saw the mangled dead body of a girl in a black garb. Her neck had been slit and arms and legs broken so she couldn't escape. "Shadowfury." Mick's fists clenched as he scrambled around looking for an opening. Why was he turning on the Coven? What exactly was his play now? 

Mick heard a scream as he was climbing down stairs. He quickened his pace, reaching a small room with a flickering candle. There was a small girl in a black garb, struggling to move while lying in a pool of blood. "What happened?" Mick ran to her side, seeing it was far too late. Both her wrists had been cut as well as her neck. "What is going on?" Mick looked around for any signs of Shadowfury or any of the other girls of the Coven. 

"Coulson, two girls are dead. Shadowfury is picking them off one at a time," Mick said, yet it felt as if his comms were dead. He felt isolated. Fear began to creep into his mind. Was this what Shadowfury wanted? To get him alone? His heart was racing, his mind frantic. His breathing was quickened, as he followed the hallway back around the the vestibule. The he saw Shadowfury with Amber holding a strange looking leathery book in her arms. 

"I was wondering if you were still in there," the ninja motioned toward the sanctuary. The gunshots oddly gave Mick a hint of comfort. 

"Let her go, nobody else has to die," Mick said as Shadowfury began laughing hysterically. 

"You don't get to make that decision. They owe a debt, and it must be paid," he raised his blade, Mick shot his webs. The knife was knocked away, and his mask was coated. Amber seized the opportunity to tear free from her captor, while Mick used it to hit him as hard as he could. Shadowfury's body broke through the door that was blocking the sanctuary, Mick knowing that it wouldn't be enough to finish the fight drew out his baton. 

The hellhounds vanished as sunlight poured in from the vestibule. Shadowfury jumped up, ripping off his mask and drawing his longsword. His face still covered in the vale of shadows. 

"I'm not dying in her place! She started all of this! The price of that spell is blood, and to end it requires her blood!" Mick finally started to recognize the voice of Shadowfury now that his mask was off. Shadowfury slammed his shoulder into Mick, sending him crashing into the wall, piles of dusty debris falling on him clouding his vision. 

"Take the shot!" Mick heard Coulson call out, then heard a gunshot followed by a horrible gurgling sound. 

Mick fought his way free of the debris to see Agent Reese impaled on Shadowfury's longsword. It was then Mick saw the true face of the monster, his long ragged hair, the pale face, his now sunken in eyes. It was Jake Carson. Jake ripped the blade from Reese, dropping him down like a ragdoll, turning his focus to Coulson, who was trying to back way, yet stay in a defensive stance. 

Jake went to lunge at Coulson, only to find himself held back in a netting of webs, with a now unmasked Mick Bellouve valiantly marching toward him. "You are not hurting anyone else," Mick roared as he swung down. 

Jake mustered up as much strength as he could to tear through the webbing, barely blocking the baton from colliding with his face. "Mick, she's not as innocent as you think!" Jake argued as Mick continued his relentless assault, Jake barely blocking each blow. 

"That's it, let the hatred take over," a dark voice whispered in the back of Mick's mind as he knocked the sword from Jake's hand. "Let me make you more powerful, unlock your full potential." The voice taunted him. 

Flashes of electricity coursed through Mick's mind. He could feel his body tingling, as if this were some deep rooted power, but it felt wrong. He staggered backwards clutching his head and dropping his weapon. "What is happening to me?" Mick groaned as he dropped to his knees. 

"Now Mick, use that power and strike him down!" Amber yelled as she stepped out from behind a closed door. 

"You little-" Jake grabbed his sword, dashing at Amber. He swung, only for his blade to be met by Coulson holding Mick's baton. 

"Not sure if your parents ever taught you not to hit a girl or not," Coulson said as Jake began swinging wildly as Amber started to run toward the door. "Now would be a good time to get back on your feet Bellouve!" 

Mick felt the violent pounding in his head, the haunting dark whispering of some strange powers that were just out of his reach. He fought against the urge to use them, instead he shot a web, catching Amber as she reached the door. Something inside him said to stop her. It was saying to get the book. The only way to end his pain was to take that book from her dead hands. 

"Mick, what are you doing?" Coulson asked as he tried to keep an eye on him while also trying to keep up with Jake's sword skills. 

"He feels it too. She put him under the spell," Jake smirked grimly. "The only way it ends is with her blood on that book." 

"Mick please don't," Amber begged as Mick continued webbing her, her legs becoming cocooned. "Please! Don't do this!" She pleaded as Mick popped his neck, leaning down and eyeing his prey. 

A swift kick sent Mick falling backwards, he shook off the pain, turning his focus to see Sharon Carter, two batons in hand with Agent Ramirez cutting Amber free of the webs. The girl then took the book and started to run as Mick shot more webs only for them to be deflected by Sharon. 

"I'm not in control," Mick said audibly as his body crouched, prepared to lunge at Sharon. 

"What happened to him?" Sharon asked as Coulson sidestepped Jake's attack. 

"Something about that book!" Coulson yelled as Ramirez took off after Amber. "I think if we destroy it, it'll end this!" 

Sharon then slammed Mick to the ground as he jumped at her. She turned to block an attack from Jake, giving Coulson the opportunity to go after Amber. "Two on one hardly seems fair," Sharon said as Mick and Jake glared at her with glazed over eyes. She could see the struggle on Mick's face. He was fighting internally to regain control over himself, which made her pity him. 

"Just let out your full potential Mick, why fight it?" Jake taunted him as a black shadowy aura rippled around his hands. "It's a lot more liberating this way!" 

Sharon blocked his fast swings, but the impact stung her hands. She might be able to keep up, but her muscles couldn't endure like this long. "Come on Mick! I know you're stronger than whatever is messing with your head!" 

Jake swung, knocking one blade from Sharon's grip. Then he swung again, the other blade was jarred free. She was backed against the wall. Mick screamed out in pain, drawing both her and Jake's attention. A blue flash of light, then Jake and Mick crashed through the wall, landing on the grass outside with only and electric trail sparking behind where Mick had been. 

Sharon ran out to see Mick laying on his side, a gash in his abdomen from the sword, Jake unconscious several burns across his body. Across the way she saw Coulson and Ramirez with a girl in cuffs, and something burning on the ground. She walked over, cuffing Jake before realizing that Mick's wounds were somehow healing much faster than any wound should. She wondered if that had anything to do with the book that was burning or if it was another one of Mick's powers.