A/N: Hey guys, I'm not positive that I'm going to keep up with this, but here's a tester chapter. Let me know and I hope you like Milo as much as I do!
Chapter 1: Surprise
I straightened my pencil skirt, hating every minute in the infernal thing. I knew it was only for an hour or so while Agent May briefed me on my mission, but I hated it nonetheless. The woman in front of me stared directly at my face. Directly at my eyes is more like it.
"I apologize, Agent Ghost. You look just like him." I smiled at Agent May, not really meaning it. If I had a nickel for every time I had heard that I'd be on a yacht, not Director Fury's office.
"Well, Agent May, You'll never tell when I put the contacts in." I assured the woman as she hardened her stare. Director Fury coughed, he was always so subtle in his pursuits for attention. This time I meant it as I grinned at the man who took me in as a kid.
"Re-state the mission, Ghost." Fury was no nonsense, and like the teen I was, I rolled my eyes, sighing for effect. There was a good chance that he was the one who instilled my sarcasm anyway.
"Yes, Mom." Nick glared at me, the smallest hint of a smile on his lips. I noticed Maria Hill waiting on the other side of the door. "My mission, Sir, is to infiltrate Phil Coulson's team under the alias Milo Ghost, aged twenty three, which is almost six years older than the reality, if I may add. I am to earn Coulson's trust and keep tabs on all of his habits using my skills of observation over time. Report back to you- keep talk of Hydra limited and try not to die. Most crucial aspect, Sir, maintain Coulson's ignorance to the fact that I am his daughter. Mission accepted." Nick looked down at me, pride in his eye.
"Good work, Milo. I decided to keep your first name. It will make it easier to fabricate a persona if there is a familiarity." He grinned, which seemed to make Agent May rather uncomfortable. "Any questions?" I nodded with a dimpled smile.
"Can I tell him about Hydra, so that he feels he can trust me? It would also be a good idea to share my triggers with the team, Sir." I picked at my nails, hoping that I could do the mission justice. I really wasn't an agent fit for combat, but this was necessary, I owed Fury my life. I couldn't stand to let him down.
"I trust you, Milo. You're a smart girl, Hell I raised you." He nearly knocked over my water bottle with his hand gestures drawing out a giggle. "Be careful, Milo. Trust those instincts of yours. Head on a swivel." I gave another curt nod, waiting until Hill lead Agent may out the door to pull Nick into a hug. "If you feel you need to disobey orders, warn me."
"Thank you, really. Without you, I would be dead and fatherless. Frankly that sounds shitty." His large, dark hand mussed up my curls before sending me out of the room. I sucked in a desperate breath. I was sixteen and going into the field. Can you say, Holy shit? I wasn't surprised, to be honest. I could hardly call myself a kid after what Hydra did to me. That entire year changed every single aspect about me.I could remember the blinding clinical lights in the procedure room I felt a sickening shudder as I tried to ground myself. I lead my slim fingers to trace a brick from the wall behind me forcing the pads of my finger to feel the rough edges and divots, noting every jagged pore until my breathing slowed.
"Agent Ghost, follow me for the decoy briefing." Agent Hill gently addressed me, holding out a package of brown contacts. I palmed the package and obediently followed her down the darkening hallway. Agents nodded at me in acknowledgement as we passed I returned them courteously. I was well known to these few agents that Nick Fury trusted. I was the girl he picked up along the way, and I was metamorphosed into a fairy tale, spread around S.H.I.E.L.D. like an old wive's tale. Only those in this department knew my true identity as Milo, Nick Fury's pet. The ride was much shorter than expected, which left minimal time for me to mentally prepare myself. As we rushed through the base that Agent Hill was charged with, I fell behind May and Hill. My heart was in my throat and my head was swimming. It hadn't hit me that I was so close to meeting my father. I thought to myself clinically and analytically. It was better that he was unaware of my parental situation, as being informed of my time with Hydra and the situation generally would be a distraction on the field, adding unnecessary danger. Besides, no father should know the ungodly things that Hydra put me through.
I gave my daily silent thanks to the Winter Soldier, one day I would thank him in person. Maybe I could use my father for that. My eyes itched from the contacts, but as Hill lead me to a room, I realized it was too late to do anything. I had to go through with the brief while May pretended to push papers. Inside this room seemed to be another male agent, probably Ward the specialist who was hand picked. He wore a pristine suit and his expression was severe. I sat beside him, keeping my game face on, even if I felt like my skin was crawling. Something about this man made me want to cringe and get the hell out of dodge, but I ignored my gut and beamed across at his glaring face.
"Ward, this is another member of your team, Agent Milo Ghost she's level seven." Hill gestured toward me. I swear if his glare were any more violent, I thought I would burst into flames. "Milo this is Agent Grant Ward, he's a level six op." Hill explained, as if I didn't already know. I held out my hand for him to shake, but he only turned his sculpted cheek and left me hanging. Someone needed to get this man a Snicker's and fast. I let Maria finish briefing and pretended to listen and ignored the pit in my stomach that grew every time I saw Agent Ward's scathing eyes.
"Now, what does S.H.I.E.L.D stand for Agent Ward?" Hill inquired, testing his knowledge.
"Strategic homeland intervention enforcement logistics division." The man answered almost disinterested and gave me another hard stare. Five minutes in and I wanted to hurt him.
"And what what does that mean to you?" Hill questioned, more-so to me, but as I opened my mouth, Ward spoke up a decibel louder efficiently drowning me out.
"It means someone really wanted our initials to spell out shield." I rolled my irritated eyes and Hill was silent,looking expectantly at me. I opened my mouth again, but of course, Ward beat me there. "It means we're the line…" Ward started seriously. I got distracted by how hard I already wanted to punch him. I wasn't sure if it was his personality or his face. I groaned inwardly as he continued Hill's eyes begged me to 'hang in there'. "Between the world and the much weirder world." He paused dramatically. "We protect people from things they aren't ready to hear. And when we can't do that, we keep them safe." He finally shut his perfect mouth and allowed me to speak.
"Well," I flicked my eyes to Ward, then back to Maria's diamond blue eyes "to me S.H.I.E.L.D is here to be the stable foundation for an unstable world. We're here to keep the everyday lives of people free of otherworldly harm and unnecessary dangers." Just like Coulson not knowing he was my father. My moment of glory was over when Ward started his speech back up again, I wasn't focused enough to care what he was talking about. I thought back to my father, who I knew was hiding in the shadows in this very room. It was a tremendous effort not to look back at the area I knew he was lurking in. Instead while Ward tossed some chitauri thing that he definitely should NOT have been throwing around I focused on one of the two lamps on the long table beside us, then at the armed man stationed by the conversed about a certain "Vanchat. I only retained mild interest when Agent know-it-all mentioned the Rising Tide hacktivist group. Of course, in everyone else's eyes I was enthralled.
"What's changed?" A sliver of a smirk flickered over my features at his confusion.
"Everything is changing." Maria's eyes studied me for a split second. "A little while ago, people went to bed thinking that the craziest thing in the world was a billionaire in a flying metal suit." I lost focus again, leveling my anxieties and thinking of when the best time would be to bring up my triggers to my new team. Would they take to them well, or would they pull what many agents already have. At least four have sneered in my face, telling me that a S.H.I.E.L.D agent would need to be tougher than to let one scuffle wreck me. Of course they don't have microchips in multiple body parts attached to their nervous system. Not even the best of our organization's doctors could remove them without permanent damage. Ward leaned forward.
"Why was I pulled out of Paris?" Maria held her poker face and crossed her arms in a business as usual posture.
"That, you'll have to ask Agent Coulson" Ward's face changed into a short,condescending smile.
"Uh, yeah. I'm clearance level six." His tone became the slightest bit gentler. "I know that Agent Coulson was killed in action." He paused empathetically. "Before the Battle of New York. Got the full report."
"Welcome to level seven." Phil emerged from the shadows and even though I knew he was there, that didn't stop my heart from racing. That was my dad. This man created me. Of course he moved from a dark corner, dramatically, that was totally my style."Sorry, that corner was really dark and I couldn't help myself" He had a light tone to his voice. "I...think a bulb is out."
Once again, I held out my palm in a friendly gesture, and this time Phil shook it with a smile. This was my dad, for sure, I had his lips. I stayed standing with enthusiasm.
"Nice to see you up and well, Sir." My smile mirrored his. "I look forward to working with you." My father retreated his hand.
"You as well, Agent Ghost, I've heard great things from your file."I felt pride swell deep in my chest, but of course Ward had to stick his pretty little head in and fuck it up.
"You look like you're thirteen, how old even are you?"I watched him smirk and straighten his suit's sleeve like a men in black cosplay gone wrong,
"Old enough to know how to be polite." I spun to face my father and lifted my hand over my mouth, as if I was keeping a secret. "That makes one of us." Coulson smothered a laugh. We were ushered to another area and crowded into an elevator. Needless to say, I felt really uncomfortable with only a fraction of my arm pressed against Ward's. I was more than grateful to feel the upheaval and watch the doors slide open.
"Director Fury faked your death." Ward pieced together. "To motivate the Avengers." Maria stuck with the lie. I was trying not stare at my father, as it would cause suspicion which was the last thing I needed. Nick was depending on me to do my job well. My attention snagged when the three spoke of Phil's death. He'd been through just as much as I had. If anyone understood my trauma, it would be him. The mention of Tahiti sobered me further and reminded me of the original mission. Maria pulled up feed of our first mission. On the screen was an 'unregistered gifted' as Hill put it, and he was saving a life.
"How are they getting to this before us?" Coulson answered Ward's inquiry.
"The same way they cracked our RSA implementation." Coulson crossed his arms. "They're good. So I need better." Maria broke Ward the news of our assignment. He did not take it the way we had hoped.
"You want me to cross them out." Ward wanted to kill them? Where is that Snicker's, Jesus. My father apparently agreed.
"Wow, no." He pressed on "I want to use them to get to him." A minute passed as the group tried unsuccessfully to follow their lead. Coulson went over my reports first, like I knew he would.
"It looks like your observation skills have been the closer for quite a few cases, helping fellow agents dodge bullets. Figuratively AND literally." I grinned bashfully. "But it says here your combat skills are lacking." I tried not to deflate too much. He switched to Ward's mission report and halfway through I caught a small gleam in his eye and preconceived the humor that followed."Under people skills, she drew a-" his brow furrowed a bit in confusion "I think it's a little poop." I snorted indelicately, but disguised it as a cough before Maria gave me another icy stare. "With knives sticking out of it." I slapped a hand to my face, completely unable to hide my amusement at watching Ward leaned in with crossed arms to inspect the doodle. Hill, however was much less amused than I. I doubled over and thankfully missed the ending statement trying to get my doctor who gave me my mandatory physical stepped in, stroking his snow white beard, which was a stark contrast from his tan skin, unconsciously as he tried not to look at me. The man hid internal guilt for even seeing the scars Hydra left, as though they were a heavily guarded secret that in itself required a level of clearance. In a blink of an eye, the doctor covered his nervous tick.
"Team's approved. Physicals are all fine" He crossed the room, casually, and handed a file to Maria, still not meeting my eyes. "Fitz-Simmons is not cleared for combat, nor Agent Ghost." He spoke a tad too quickly to be in a comfortable situation. "I'm told that won't be an issue. And Agent Ward here-he's almost too fit." He meant it as a joke with his white brow raised , but the flash of bitterness didn't escape my eye. I wasn't known for reading people for no reason what-so-ever. Ward, however saw this as an opportunity.
"That's an should be an issue" He really wanted out, and I had to give him props for creativity, but I still felt something off. I ignored my instinct again. He kept on "maybe I can't join the team because my-" a slow, quiet chuckle passed through the lips that reflected the man next to me as Maria spoke over him.
"God,are you dismissed." No ifs ands or buts about it. I covertly mouthed my thanks to Maria. He left immediately, but I lingered just long enough to hear what had to have made my day.
"It was a porcupine. It was not a poop." She said hurriedly, addressing me as well. "It just means that he-" My dad cut her off.
"No, I'm pretty sure." I waved to Maria and limited myself to giving Coulson and the doctor both courteous nods. I left to report back to Nick Fury himself.