Golden Eye

Chapter 2: Understanding

Coulson grabbed Vanessa's arm to help her regain her balance.

"I better hope you're not psychic. What does that even mean?"

"I wish I knew." Vanessa replied, as she slowly stood straight.

"Then what would make you say that?"

"I don't know how to begin to understand what I just experienced, but I think I may have just had a vision."

"Really? What did you see?" Coulson asked curiously.

"I saw you, and me in a different moment than now. But, I could feel my current self in that moment. As if it was happening right in front of my eyes."

"Hmmm…. What were we doing exactly? Were we conversing like we're doing now?"

"Well…. Not exactly." Vanessa said in a way that made Coulson suspect that she was withholding something.

"Hey, Good or bad, I need to know what you saw Vanessa. If you are psychic, maybe we can prevent something bad from happening."

Vanessa looked down on the floor as if she was ashamed to say what she was about to say.

"Or maybe we can't stop it. Maybe it's supposed to happen. Besides, if it's up to me to help, we're predestined to fail."

"Wow. We really need to work on your optimism."

"Okay Coulson, you want to know what I saw? I saw you stuck under some rubble. You tried to crawl your way out, but it was too heavy. You called out to me, but I couldn't help you. You were helpless, and I was useless."

"Damn. Now I really do wish you're not psychic." Coulson said jokingly.

"This isn't funny. I have a new power, and not only do I not know what the hell it is, but clearly I have no control over—"

Before she could finish her sentence, the burning sensation started to possess her eyes again. This time not hurting as much as the last, but it was still unbearable.

"Err, my eyes. They're…. burning, again."

"Again? Here let me take a look."

Coulson slowly removed Vanessa sunglasses from her head, revealing her eyes which were flickering back and fourth from gold to brown.

"Shit."

"I know, weird right?" Vanessa said, blinking.

"Never seen anything like it. But trust me, I've seen weirder."

Coulson pressed the back of his ear.

"Simmons, can you hear me?... We're headed to the Helicarrier now, get the lab ready. I've got a job for you." He looked to Vanessa. "Come on, Simmons is going to take a look at your eyes. If we're lucky, a thorough physical could help us figure out your abilities."

Coulson proceeded to leave the building and Vanessa followed.

"The Helicarrier, it doesn't happen to be a ship is it?"

"The Helicarrier is a flying aircraft and SHIELD's mobile command center. It's like the Intrepid, only more advanced, and much more Bad-Ass."

"So, it's a ship" Vanessa said matter-of-factly.

"I mean, I guess you could call it a ship."

Vanessa covered her eyes with her left hand and sighed.

"That's what I was afraid of."

"Is the Helicarrier where your vision took place?"

"Judging by the way you described it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure of it."

Coulson opened the passenger seat of the SHIELD car door for Vanessa to get in.

"Then I guess we need to pray that you're not a psychic." He slammed the door shut and got into the driver's seat. "Because if you are, our future is doomed."

As they approached the Helicarrier, Vanessa was in awe. She could see that Coulson wasn't overexaggerating its description. Too bad it might be destroyed soon.

"Woah! You weren't kidding. It is Bad-Ass."

"One of the things you need to know about SHIELD is that we never disappoint."

"Good to know." Vanessa shook her head in an approving manner.

"Wait till you see the lab, it has lots of toys." Coulson said excitingly.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure they're not the type to play with."

"Not if you're not careful."

Coulson scanned his iris on an eye scanner located by a large, thick, well-protected, metal door. When they get into the lab, a young, thin, brown-haired woman was sitting at a desk examining something through a telescope.

"You're a very intriguing creature aren't you, symbiote?" The woman said in an English accent.

"Ahem." Coulson cleared his throat to get the woman's attention, but she doesn't pay him any mind.

"Simmons?" He tapped her on her shoulder.

"Oh, Coulson. You're here."

"Yup, and I brought a new friend. Vanessa, meet Jemma Simmons, the best damn bio-chemist any team could ask for. Simmons this is Vanessa, the best-, well we're still trying to figure that out."

Simmons reached out her hand for a handshake, but Vanessa was hesitant.

"I don't think that's a good idea. The last time I shook someone's hand, I also left them with a shook mind."

"It was me, I'm the someone." Coulson said as if he had just been picked to demonstrate a magic trick.

"What does that even mean?"

"Like I said, we're still trying to figure it out. Well you are at least, and I'm sure you will." Coulson pulled his phone from his jacket pocket. "I've got to run, Fury needs me. Vanessa, you're in perfect hands. Simmons, I promise you, you're gonna love this." He left the lab with a bright, cheesy expression on his face.

"So, you've been through Terrigenesis." Simmons turned to Vanessa, who seemed to be a bit nervous.

"That's what I've been to—" Vanessa grabbed her eyes in agony. "Err…. it's back."

"My goodness, are you okay? Here, have a seat." Simmons escorted Vanessa into the desk chair. "Have you been experiencing this pain all day?"

Vanessa hissed in pain.

"On and off. It first started when I was in the cocoon. But it stopped after awhile and didn't hurt again until I saw that vision."

"You had a vision?" Simmons asked shockingly.

"Well at least that's what I think it was. But what I do know is that for a short moment, I was in a time and space that I wasn't currently experiencing."

"Hmmm." Simmons thought for a moment while tapping her index finger on her chin.

"Did something trigger this vision? Like, did you touch anything?"

"Yeah, I touched Coulson's hand and the vision was about him, but I was the one experiencing it."

"So…. Your current self took the place of what seemed to be your future self?"

"Yes, exactly. You make it seem like it's something normal."

"It is for my line of work. It sounds to me like you had a premonition. Is there anything else you've been experiencing with your eyes?"

"Oh yeah, they've been turning gold."

"Oh my gosh! Really? Then why aren't they gold now?"

Vanessa stared huffing and puffing in pain.

"You tell me Doc."

"Hmmm, how is your eyesight?"

"My eyesight is perfect. Actually, more than perfect. I was somehow able to look through the peephole from my bedroom."

"The front door peep hole?"

"Yep."

"Coulson was right. I do love this! I know this is too much from you for one day, but I'm going to need to do a preliminary physical in order to figure out what exactly you can do."

"If it is going to figure everything out, I'm totally up for it."

Simmons grabbed a reflex hammer from an examination table nearby and hit Vanessa's right knee. In doing so, Vanessa's eyes glowed solid gold as she quickly grabbed the hammer without any hesitation.

"Hey, watch it."

"Wow, that was awesome." Simmons said overjoyed. "It looks like your eyes glow gold whenever you're in harm, like a warning of some sort."

"Are you saying that my reflexes are heightened?"

"Precisely. Like a spider sense, except your eyes could be a warning to others around you. You would be a huge asset in the field."

Vanessa looked at the extremely interested Jemma and felt something that she hadn't experienced in a long time, a sense of hope. She knew that with these abilities, she was meant to do something good. Vanessa then realized what she was supposed to be, a hero.

"That's pretty cool. I mean, when they're not hurting and all."

"It is very cool." Simmons replied insistently as she went to grab a few instruments from another table.

"Now I'm going to take a closer look into those pretty eyes of yours."

"Yeah, I guess the gold is kind of appealing."

"It certainly does compliment your brown skin. However, I think your natural brown eyes are nice too."

"Thanks. I don't think anyone had said anything nice like that to me before. Well, besides my Mom."

"I'm sure you're exaggerating a bit." Simmons said as she began to examine Vanessa's golden eyes with a slit lamp.

"In high school I was the black girl who could quote Shakespeare and spent lunch periods in the school library. I wasn't necessary the target for good compliments."

"You're intelligent and unique, those are two of the best qualities that one could acquire."

"Sounds like you received quite a lot of compliments yourself."

"When I came to SHIELD, yes. Before that I was in your shoes. But I've learned that surrounding yourself around people who get and understand you, could help you understand yourself."

"Got that from a fortune cookie?"

Simmons chuckled.

"No silly. Coulson."

"Of course."

Simmons placed the eye instrument back on the table.

"The contents of your eyes appear to be normal. This suggests that they'll eventually stop hurting you once you get use to the change. Though they appear to dilate wider than the average eye."

"That probably has to do with my newfound, abnormally sharp eyesight."

"Speaking of which, I won't waste anytime examining your eyesight on the Snellen chart. From what you told me, I'm pretty sure that you could read it clearly. We're going to take a new approach, and measure how far in the distance you can see by standing outside and counting the blocks that are visible to you."

"And from counting every block that my sight passes, we could calculate the distance. You really are a genius." Vanessa said as she caught on to Simmons' plan.

As the girls were excited about being closer to figuring out Vanessa's abilities, Coulson returned with a short, blonde, curly-haired man wearing a sweater vest over a flannel shirt, and khakis."

"I see we're making a breakthrough." Coulson said while removing the sunglasses from over his eyes.

"We're almost there." Simmons replied.

"Vanessa, I would like to introduce you to Leopold Fitz. He's our go to tech genius."

"And let me guess, you're the best in SHIELD."

"You catch on quick." Coulson said to Vanessa.

Fitz walked up to Vanessa lifting his glasses over his green eyes.

"Wow, Coulson you weren't kidding. Her eyes really are gold."

"Still?" Vanessa asked, surprised.

"I may have slipped in a solution to keep them dilated a little longer."

"Really? I didn't feel it."

"Not with those super eyes you didn't." Coulson said.

"They are truly fascinating." Fitz walked to Vanessa still staring into her golden eyes.

"I'm kind of getting a weird vibe from you man. Not exactly ideal for a first impression."

Simmons, who appeared to be uncomfortable with Fitz odd behavior, grabbed him by the arm, aggressively pulling him away from Vanessa.

"You can't stare at a woman like that, especially one whom you've just met. If you had gotten a tad bit closer, she may have kicked you in the trousers."

"I'm sorry Vanessa, that was weird." Fitz apologized confusingly.

"It's cool. Gold, glowy eyes is something that one has to get accustomed to. Especially me."

"Yeah but Fitz was being a bit extra don't you think?"

"So I was a tad bit intrigued, you don't have to bite my head off about it."

"Ugh, A tad bit?"

Fitz and Simmons started bickering, and Vanessa turned to look for Coulson who was walking around the lab playing with different types of instruments. Vanessa then felt a strange feeling and headed back towards Fitz and Simmons who were still arguing.

"Simmons, something's up—"

The sound of glass crashing interrupted Vanessa, she then turned to see that a small bleaker fell from a table that Coulson was standing next to.

The room went silent as Fitz and Simmons stopped arguing.

"Oh no." Simmons said worried.

"Coulson, whatever you do. Don't move." Fitz said in a slow, cautious tone.

"What? It's just glass, you don't have to be so—"

Coulson began to swallow his words as some strange, black goo began to engulf his entire body, except his head.

"H-He-Help m—"

Coulson tried to fight the stuff off, but it was too strong. The others couldn't do anything but watch as he was being possessed by the symbiote.

Vanessa gulped.

"That's the symbiote you were test—"

"Yup." Simmons interrupted, knowing the question Vanessa was asking.

"And it's Venom, isn't it?"

"Yup." Simmons was in too much shock to say anything else.

"What are we going to do? We need to get Coulson back." Vanessa asked worriedly.

The venomized Coulson screeched hungrily, revealing his wavery, long, red tongue.

"We can't approach him. He's not Coulson as of now. He'll kill us if we tried." Simmons explained to Vanessa in terror.

"Not if I could help it." Fitz went into his messenger bag and reached for his taser. Before he could get it out completely, Venom jumped in front of him from across the room and slapped him to the ground with great force, as he knocked the taser across the room. Too far for Simmons and Vanessa to get to before Venom would notice.

"No, Fitz." Simmons called out to him. But he couldn't reply, he was unconscious.