3:07am- June 25, 1989- The Hill- Somewhere in the Midwest
Unlike the majority of her coworkers, Victoria found that she enjoyed doing the paperwork that came along with her job. A holdover from her past training as an accountant, she supposed. It helped provide a sense of order to her day; it allowed her to extend some much-needed control over the much weirder world that she now found herself in.
When she was starting out, Victoria used to resent the fact that her superiors would push their paperwork onto her, but with time, she learned to appreciate it. Most of the specialists often forgot to sort through the things that they gave her to file, so she frequently came across things that she really had no business reading. At first, she had returned the files to the specialists with pointed, little notes about clearance levels, but after a few months of the notes having no effect her Supervising Officer pulled her aside and told her to just keep her mouth shut about what she saw and file the damn paperwork. So she did. And in the end, she was thankful for her S.O's advice.
Thanks to all the extra paperwork she did, she understood the system that governed SHIELD, along with the reasoning behind many of the rules. Within a few years, she had gained a reputation for getting the job done efficiently, with minimal breaking of rules. Something the higher ups appreciated, judging by her regular promotions. She had advanced faster than most of her academy class, even faster than Commander Fury's favorites, Coulson and May.
So no, Victoria did not mind doing paperwork. Even if her dedication to the bureaucratic and procedural side of SHIELD caused many of her colleagues to view her as a "buzz kill" as John Garrett had put it. They were very happy to push most of their paperwork off on her to do, not realizing in the process that they were giving her power over them.
After all, that's what information is. Power. She knew more than she wanted to about the different agents in her department, thanks to all the paperwork. She knew how they fought, what skills they valued, what they enjoyed for lunch-seriously, could Vega have anymore sauce spilled on his reports? - and where they went when they needed an escape from SHIELD. She knew who was sleeping with whom, and which agents couldn't stand working together. Medical reports, disciplinary notices, requisition forms, leave requests, after action reports, informant processing packets, inter-agency memos and more flowed through her hands before being shuffled off to the appropriate departments.
And she used it all. Not to hurt others or be malicious-because honestly, who has the time for petty rivalries and grudges with everything else-but to make her job easier and to ensure that the missions she was on went flawlessly. SHIELD was her life, and she would always do what she could to protect the agency, her fellow agents, and the civilians they served.
Flipping through the last of the reports for the night, she smirked as she noticed that Garrett had, once again, forgot to sign his request for leave. Had it been anyone else, she would have forged the signature and sent it off, or returned it with a reminder to sign it, but since it was Garrett…. She shrugged and packaged the unsigned form in with the rest of the forms for personnel and dropped it in the out-box for morning pick-up. Maybe having to work the holiday shift would teach him not to harass her rookies. Or to do his own damn paperwork. A glance at her watch showed that it was long passed time for her to head home anyway. 3am…Wonder if that's some kind of record. Oh well, it's not like she had someone waiting at home for her anyway. Not with Izzy now posted in Europe.
Taking the elevator down to the parking garage, she quickly made her way to her car, her senses on alert for anything out of place. Just because this was a secure facility, didn't mean that one should let their guard down. Specialists were notorious pranksters, and she had no desire to be their next victim. Especially considering that May had been stuck on desk duty with an injury for the past 3 weeks. The boredom alone would cause that woman to think up the most devious pranks. Let alone the torture of being stuck running back-end for John Garrett. Good God, that man needed instructions for every part of the mission. "Turn here, stop there, there's four hostiles in front of your nose." How he managed to make it past the Academy was beyond her.
Shuddering in remembrance of her time running back-end for Garrett, Victoria reached her car. Quickly checking the trunk and undercarriage for signs of tampering, she gave a nod of satisfaction when she found none. Peering into the windows, she determined that the backseat was also clear, before sliding into the drivers seat. A quick scan of the steering column and dashboard assured her that no one had tampered with her car in any way. Though after what happened to the last rookie who decided it would be a good idea to try to prank her, she didn't really expect to find anything.
Smirking, she idly wondered how Jackson was enjoying his solo posting in the Siberian wilderness, as she reversed out of her parking spot. It was only her quick reflexes that kept her from hitting the bloodied young woman that had appeared behind her car. Throwing the car into park, she was out of the car just in time to catch the woman before she hit the ground.
"Linda!"
Victoria was horrified to recognize her first rookie under all the blood.
"Vic…"
Linda gasped out weakly, her eyes clouded with pain. She weakly shoved a small flash drive into Victoria's hand, clutching her with a tight grip that betrayed her desperation.
"Save her…"
Victoria almost missed Linda's gasped sentence, given that she was frantically dialing the security office for help.
"Stay with me Linda! Do you hear me? Stay with me Rookie!"
Finally connecting with the security desk she barked out orders to the guard on duty,
"This is Agent Victoria Hand! I am on the third level of the secure parking garage and I have an agent down! Get me a med team and lock the base down now!"
Throwing the phone down, Victoria focused all her energy on the bleeding woman in front of her.
"Vic…promise me, you'll protect her…can't tell…protect her…my sky…"
It was with these words that Linda finally slipped into unconsciousness. Seconds later, the two women were surrounded by a SHIELD med team who quickly ushered Victoria out of the way. Only once she could no longer see Linda did Victoria realize that the entire base now rang with sirens and warning lights. The scene almost seemed unreal, belonging more to a war-torn hotspot rather than a secure SHIELD base. Glancing down at the flash drive in her hand, Victoria quickly slipped it into her waistband. Linda had obviously gone through hell to get it to her, and there was no way she was handing it over without finding out why.
6:47am- June 25, 1989- The Hill- Medical Waiting Room
At military rest, Victoria stood in the waiting room of the med bay, staring patiently at the doors to the surgery. The doctors had forbidden her from following them through to the treatment area, threatening to throw her out of the building if she stepped foot in their domain. The other agents in the room watched her nervously, though they could not explain why. It was only later would a junior agent realize that the look in Victoria's eyes as she waited for the doctor was the same look that he had seen in the eyes of a mountain lion he had encountered during his survivalist training. It was a look that was at once calculating and deadly, with the promise of pain and blood to come. The senior agent had not moved in the three hours since she had come to the waiting room, but rather had stood, stock still and poised to strike at the earliest hint of her former Rookie's condition.
The sound of a door closing behind her pulled Victoria's concentration for only a moment before it was once more settled on her target. Her new guest did not make a sound as she came to stand beside her.
"Any news?"
A small shake of the head was all the answer that Agent Melinda May received before Victoria once again became a statue. Undeterred the smaller woman continued,
"We got the base shut down within minutes of your alert. The techs are combing the garage for any indication of how Linda got in the building. The logs don't have her swiping in or out for the past three weeks. No sign yet of her attacker."
Something about these words roused Victoria from her vigil. With a searching glance at the other agent, she seemed to come to some decision.
"Would you stay here? Wait for her? I need to…"
With a vague gesture, Victoria motioned to her bloodstained clothes and skin. Meeting her eyes, May gave a single sharp nod before taking up Victoria's stance in front of the surgery doors. With one last glance toward those doors, Victoria quickly retreated from the med center to her office. Locking the door, she quickly slid the blinds closed and flicked on a small device that blocked all forms of cameras, listening devices, and other surveillance equipment. She wasn't foolish enough to believe that the top spy organization in the world didn't spy on it's own people. It was just common sense. She quickly scrubbed most of the blood off her hands with a bottle of water and a towel from her gym bag. Once that was done, she stripped the bloodied clothes from her body, being careful to keep hold of the flash drive. The ruined clothes were then dumped into the wastebasket, new ones were pulled on, and the flash drive was secured in her desk. Glancing at the clock, Victoria figured that she had roughly ten minutes before her absence would be considered unusual. Setting a mental alarm, Victoria then sunk down on the floor, her back in a corner, and gave herself approximately 7 minutes to cry and be human before going out there and to once more be "Agent Hand", resident hard ass, rather than simply Victoria.
10:43am- June 25, 1989
Hours later, Victoria was still maintaining her vigil in front of the med bay doors, barely blinking. Doctors had come and gone, as had a large number of agents. But there was no news about Linda. The longer she stood there waiting, the more dread pooled in her stomach. It had now been 7 hours since she had found Linda. And who knows how long it had been since she was injured. God, the marks on her body…all that blood… Victoria had seen people in that condition before, hell she had been responsible for people being in that state before. But it had never been someone she cared about. Someone that she considered her responsibility. No matter the fact that Linda hadn't been her rookie for a couple of years, it had been her job to train Linda to survive. And now she was fighting for her life. Victoria mentally reviewed every bit of training she had ever put Linda through, picking apart every lesson, berating herself for not pushing harder, teaching more. For not keeping, a closer eye on the younger woman went she was cleared to work without supervision.
The soft whoosh of the med bay doors broke her from her contemplations, her eyes immediately fixating on the doctor that now approached her. Linda's doctor. It only took one look at his face for her to see what the outcome was. The man's words only confirmed what the slump of his shoulders, the defeat in his eyes, and the resigned set of his face had already told her.
"I'm sorry Agent Hand. We did everything we could, but her injuries were more than her body could deal with. It was a miracle that she lasted as long as she did…"
Seeing the stony look in Victoria's eyes, the doctor fell silent before shifting uncomfortably, waiting.
"Thank you for letting me know. I will inform her family. Please have the body ready for transport by tomorrow morning."
Victoria showed no emotion as she spoke, no one would have ever guessed that she felt any sort of emotion for the dead agent. With a nod, the doctor turned and escaped back to the med bay. Staring at the doors for only a moment longer, Agent Hand turned and strode down the hallways, perfectly composed and in control. It was only once she was shut safely in her office again that she allowed a sob to escape her lips.
Leaning heavily on the closed office door, she braced her hands on her knees, gasping through the tears that streamed freely down her face. A small pop of sound from above alerted her that she was no longer alone. Before she could even reach for her weapon, let alone dry her tears, she found a tissue held in front of her. Grabbing at it, she wiped her face before glancing at her intruder. Clint Barton had never been her favorite agent, hell most days she wanted to kill him. He was simply too wild, too carefree for her to tolerate for any length of time. He openly flouted the rules and the regulations that guided her life, constantly disrupting her world with his off the cuff handling of ops and his general lack of respect for any authority that was not Nick Fury or Phillip Coulson.
But strangely, it did not bother her that he was the one to see her in this situation. She knew that he would not spread it around simply to boost his own standing. He would not care that she let herself be human for a moment. Nor would he tease her for it later. By tomorrow, he would be back to disobeying her and being a general pain in the ass. For now he let her be human, let her grieve. Standing up once more, she locked eyes with him and gave a simple nod. He studied her for a moment before pulling her into a strong hug. Before she could react, he was gone, back into the air vents without a sound.
Taking a deep breath, Victoria grabbed Linda's flash drive from her desk before gathering up her personal belongings for the day. She would make the call to the Avery's and then head home. It had been a long couple of days.
Standing in the shadows, two people watched through binoculars at the activity in the base below. They had tracked the escaped agent to this location, only to find that they could not get in.
"Well my love, it looks as if we have lost our toy."
"It's alright Cal. She'll be dead before she can tell them anything."
"Then I suppose that it is time to find the last of the interlopers."
"I suppose so. Though we will have to be careful with this one. He is our last hope of finding our Daisy."
This was said with a pointed look at Cal's bloodstained hands, which even now, hours later, dripped blood onto the ground below.
"Yes, yes. I will be careful. Have to be careful!"
Muttering slightly to himself, Cal turned away, fantasizing about how he would deal with the last of the agents. His wife paid him no attention and simply turned to watch the base once more.
"Soon Daisy. We will find you. I promise."
Safe house- Outside Austin, Texas
Watching the clock anxiously, Richard Lumley prayed that his partner would show up before the deadline. Of the team that went to China, they were the only two left, the others having disappeared or died over the last three weeks. When the alarm went off, he knew that it was time to move. As much as he wished that he could wait for Linda, he knew that if she wasn't here by now she never would be. With a heavy sigh, he walked out the door, tossing a lit match in behind him. He quickly climbed into the car he had liberated from a police impound lot and taking one last glance at the now burning safe house muttered,
"I'm sorry Linda."
And with that, Richard Lumley disappeared into the night, resigned to the reality that he would spend the rest of his life running away from the monsters that hunted him.