"What the hell was that?" Skye yelled, running into room.
Bella reached towards the switch again. "NO!" shouted Fitz, who was a few paces behind Skye. Bella stopped, her hand hovering dangerously close to the switch. "Don't do it again!" he stressed. She lowered her hand and gaze to her lap like a naughty child.
Everyone was inside the lab at this point, Skye and Simmons tending to the extremely unconscious Triplett; May and Coulson watching the events with a keen eye and Fitz closing in on Bella.
"What was that all about?" Fitz asked in a raised voice, "What did you do that for?"
"He, he scared me. I- I don't know, I was just defending myself!" Bella replied equally as flustered.
"Defending yourself?" Fitz asked, his tone lowering slightly as he finally focusing on what Bella had been fiddling with. There on the desk lay the prototype night-night gun he had shown her the day before, along with a few other bits and bobs from around the lab in various states of disassembly.
"Wait, what have you done?" He questioned, transitioning from a flustered state to a more inquisitive one.
"Well I'm broken! I can't help myself so I was just making a few things just in case!" replied Bella, who was still quite worked up, hands flailing about her.
"Yeah, but this. This is brilliant. How'd you know how to do this?" Asked Fitz who had began to examine the elements more closely.
"Wait Fitz, we'll get to that in a minute." Interrupted Coulson before addressing a rather uncomposed Isabella "What do you mean you're broken?"
Suddenly Bella became a lot more sheepish, she felt questioning and even accusing gazes towards her making her very uncomfortable.
"I, I can do these things. I don't know. Like back at that- that place. That's why they were keeping me." She answered quietly. "But I think they, I don't know, drained me out or something. It's just- I'm just not working any more.
"FitzSimmons, were you able to analyse the device she was hooked up to yet?" Coulson asked, processing this new information.
"Ah, no. Not quite yet sir, we were focusing more on the other equipment in the lab first." replied Simmons, stepping forward slightly.
"Could it be possible that the white lights weren't coming from the device?" Coulson asked.
"Well I haven't looked at it closely yet but, yes. Yes it might make more sense if it were being fed energy. I'd need to get a proper look at it." Fitz responded.
"Perhaps it would be best if we got this all on record." Said Coulson. "Would you mind joining us upstairs Miss Blunt?"
Isabella frowned at the name; it did seem familiar but not quite...right. But she stood up and followed Coulson anyway, careful to steer as clear as she could from Triplett, May and Skye on the floor.
"So this will probably be much like the last time." Coulson began, taking a seat across from the petite girl. "only hopefully slightly more informative."
Bella only took a deep breath and offered a small smile. Although she felt a lot more confident this time, her memory improving and her understanding clearer, she couldn't help but feel slightly on edge. The rest of the team were sure to be watching the feed in the lab.
"So your memory seems to be doing a lot better." Coulson started.
"Yes actually." Bella replied mildly. "Sometimes I do things and I get this weird sense of déjà-vu or I just know what I have to do next. It's the strangest feeling."
"Is that what happened downstairs? With Agent Triplett? You 'just knew' how to build that device?"
"Ah, yeah." Bella began to fidget uncomfortably "I'm really sorry about that. He just surprised me and after last time, I just. I don't know, I thought-"
Phil gently cut off her rambling. "He'll sleep it off. Don't worry too much. Although in future it's probably best if you don't go around knocking people out." He paused to offer a reassuring smile. "Could you tell me, do you think your skills in engineering were what landed you an internship at Stark Industries?"
Bella stoped fidgeting immediately, sitting stock-still. Something Coulson had said had obviously affected her. She recovered her senses after a brief moment. "I'm...I'm sorry. I don't remember being an intern." She replied, gently shaking her head.
"Hm. Well, we'll have the rest of the team put you few a few different exercises to see what else you might have been trained in. Maybe we can figure it out."
Bella nodded distractedly, she seemed to be in thought about something.
"Could you tell me as much as you can remember about the facility you were being kept in." Coulson said, hoping to get the questioning back on track.
"Okay, um, well, I remember the first time I woke up?" She offered tentatively.
"That's a good place to start." Coulson prompted.
"Well, I was really confused, it was like I knew nothing; my mind just seemed really empty. I was lying on; well it looked like an operating table I guess. There were four or five other people in the room. I tried speaking to them, but I couldn't form any words. So I tried to catch their attention just by making noise. But when I did they just put this oxygen mask on me and I fell asleep again."
"I'm guessing it wasn't oxygen then."
"No, I guess not." Bella paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts before continuing again. "The next time I woke up it could have been minutes, hours, even days later. I had no way of telling the time. But I was strapped up to that machine. The light that you guys were talking about? They were leaching it from me. I can, or at least I used to be able to, create that energy and propel it from my hands. Also I can levitate objects, people, even myself." She stopped and shook her head. "You probably think I'm crazy."
"You'd be surprised what I'd believe." Coulson said with a small smile. "But you can't do those things anymore?"
"No. Like I said, I think they drained it all out of me with that machine. Apart from that there's really not much else I know." Bella said, nervously fiddling with a lock of her thick, coffee-coloured hair.
Coulson gave her a closed smile before leaving the room. It wasn't quite the revelation he was hoping for in terms of where she came from. If anything it created more questions than answers.
"Get everyone together; we'll have a quick meeting while Isabella is still in there." He instructed May as he passed her on the way to the debriefing room.
He returned back to his thoughts. It was a bit difficult to say where to go from here. She believed she had powers, but couldn't prove it. They didn't have anything on the people who were holding her. What they needed was more time; their next lead was likely to come from her recovering memory. Well either that or the elusive Mr Stark, who had been unreachable for a while due to a 'personal project' he'd been working on. Couldn't even get a hold of Pepper lately.
Coulson entered the briefing room and ran a hand down his face. It was true they needed more time with the girl, if all they were reaching were dead ends it seemed to be the only solution. But this case was getting cold fast, and Fury preferred them on cases that were a little more threatening to, you know, the human race. S.H.I.E.L.D were sure to call her in soon, have her recover in some secret facility; but Coulson wasn't sure that Bella should go into S.H.I.E.L.D. It was obvious they had gotten lucky in how fast she'd settled in here. She was skittish and naive. Something S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't likely to handle well.
"Are you alright Sir?" came the steady voice of Agent May bringing Coulson back to the present.
"Yeah. Sure. Is everyone ready?"
"Here!" Came the chirpy voice of Simmons; Fitz trailing behind her, engrossed in the tablet he was holding.
Skye entered next, peering at the tablet Fitz was holding before finding her own phone more interesting. Lastly was Triplett, looking a little worse for wear.
"Triplett, I wasn't expecting you. Thought you'd still be having nap time." Coulson joked upon seeing the elite agent.
"Simmons gave me some magic shot that helped me come to. Hurt like a bitch though." He replied with an easy smile.
"I'm glad, won't have to repeat myself. This will only be brief. Miss Blunt will be wondering what's keeping us and I don't want her bored again anytime soon. Any updates?" Coulson began.
"Oh, yes!" Fitz exclaimed, finally looking up from his device. "I analysed the specs of the machine more closely and I can tell you it was definitely taking energy. Not only that but it was storing it in the canisters that were littered about the place. Unfortunately there were only had empty ones left, so we can't actually get a read on what type of energy it was."
"Wait, so she was producing it?" Simmons asked.
"Appears so." Coulson confirmed.
"Cool, so she's some sort of alien then?" Skye asked, pocketing her phone.
"Not necessarily, she could just be a genetically modified human." Said Triplett.
"You said we can't get any of that energy Fitz, but the machine was still on when you found her?" Coulson asked.
"Yeah but someone had ripped out the canisters it was feeding into, like pulling a hose from a tap. That's why I couldn't immediately tell that the device was receiving energy, because she was still producing it, it was bouncing around in the machine and destroying it before dissipating into the air."
"Anyone else have anything new?"
The team stayed silent, emphasizing the brick wall they'd evidently hit.
"Alright then, you're dismissed. FitzSimmions go and get Isabella and show her around the lab, see if anything jogs her memory."
Various "yes sir"'s sounded as all but two of the room's occupants vacated.
"So what are you going to do now?" May asked
Coulson sighed. "I'm going to make a call."
Two days later Coulson found himself in his office, standing in front of the monitor, an open channel to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters facing him. Agent Sitwell approached the camera and addressed the other man.
"You request has been sent through the proper channels, all the way up to Director Fury." Sitwell began.
"And?" Asked Agent Coulson
"It seems our esteemed Director has a soft spot for you Coulson." Sitwell said in a friendly manner. "He's allowed Miss Isabella Blunt to remain aboard the BUS for an indefinite amount of time as a consultant for your team. Her talents and skills are to be utilized at your discretion and throughout her stay you are to investigate the events leading up to her current predicament. But, should any issue arise which might endanger the safety of your team, she is to be delivered to the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D facility immediately."
"That seems reasonable."
"In addition, you are to return to headquarters immediately so the BUS can be retrofitted with accommodation for Miss Blunt. Miss Blunt will be debriefed and provided with the necessary personal effects"
"Thank you Agent Sitwell." Coulson concluded before ending the video call.
"Looks like things are about to get interesting again." Coulson thought to himself as he made his way to deliver the news.
