"Sir, we've received communication from Agent Hill." Coulson looked up at Ward who was standing in the doorway.
"She wants us to return to the Hub-says she has intel for us." Coulson nodded silently.
"Go tell May to set the course," he told Ward, "and Ward?"
"Yes, sir?"
"You better tell Fitz as well."
Skye was sitting with Fitz in the lab. He had managed to repair the broken hard drive and now she was in the process of decoding it. Fitz looked like he was hard at work tinkering with some scraps of metal, but Skye knew how to tell when someone was just occupying their hands. God knows it was something the entire team had been doing often enough lately. Skye watched Fitz for a moment, then went back to her laptop. Today is not the day to bring it up, she told herself. All of a sudden the plane tipped sharply to the left.
"Are we turning?" asked Skye, grabbing the hard drive so it wouldn't slide across the lab.
"Must be," Fitz replied, seemingly uninterested.
"We are." They both looked up at the sound of Ward's voice. Skye fell silent and spun her chair so that she was facing away from her former SO. Ward turned from her with a pained expression on his face to look at Fitz.
"Fitz, Coulson said I should tell you, we've been called to the Hub." Skye spun around as the sound of clinking metal stopped, shock showing on both agent's faces.
"The Hub?" asked Fitz and Skye in unison. Ward nodded, watching Fitz uneasily. Skye was the one to break the resulting silence.
"Why?"
"Hill has intel for us," answered Ward.
"So we're just going for intel?" Fitz asked quietly.
"As far as I know." Fitz nodded and Ward quickly headed back upstairs.
"Why do we need to go all the way back to the Hub for intel?" Skye muttered to herself, pulling her laptop back toward her. Fitz shrugged, resuming his tinkering with a renewed force.
Agent Maria Hill leaned back in her chair. She absentmindedly scanned the report in her hand, then tossed it onto the stack on the desk in front of her, comprised completely of reports that could have been identical if it weren't for the changes in date. She pushed the button on her phone that connected her to her secretary.
"Tina, get me Agent Simmons up here ASAP."
"Yes ma'am." Hill ran her hand over her forehead and back through her hair.
Tap tap tap.
"Enter," called Hill. The door swung open and Jemma Simmons stepped into the office.
"You wanted to see me ma'am?"
"Yes...take a seat Agent Simmons." Jemma did as instructed and looked curiously at the assistant director.
"Do you know what these are?" asked Agent Hill, gesturing to the stacks of folders on her desk. Puzzled, Jemma shook her head.
"No ma'am."
"They're reports, Agent Simmons, all of them concerning you." Hill carefully watched Simmons' reaction. Jemma looked confused, then understanding flashed in her eyes and her face fell into a closed mask.
"I'm not quite sure I'm following you Agent Hill."
"Staying alone in the lab until the earliest hours of the morning, completely withdrawing from your coworkers, spending every waking moment working even when you don't have a case? I let the first few incidences slide, but now, this has gone too far," Hill paused, hesitating like she wasn't quite sure of how to phrase her next sentence, then she took a breath and said, "None of us questioned your decision to leave Coulson's team, despite the fact that you had been ordered to stay there. However, I am beginning to question whether that was a wise decision or not." Hill looked directly at Simmons, who had gone very still at the mention of her old team leader.
"I don't see how my social habits are any concern of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s as I'm in compliance with all protocol," she said cooly.
"They wouldn't be," Hill countered, "if your friends-if you can call them that, seeing as you don't hardly spend time with them-didn't think that you had withdrawn to the point of unhealthiness." She could see Simmons contemplating this, turning it over in her mind. It looked like some of her 'friends' would be getting a piece of her mind later. Hill spoke again, not giving the young agent in front of her a chance to respond.
"This stack," she said, resting her hand on the other pile, "is applications. Rejected applications, to be specific."
"For what?" inquired Simmons.
"Coulson's team needs a new biochemist," Hill stated matter-of-factly. She watched as a slice of pain slashed through Jemma's well-crafted mask before her stoic look set back into place.
"I don't see how that concerns me any longer," Simmons said in a monotone.
"Well you see Agent Simmons, all of them have been rejected by the same person, for the same reason," Hill told her.
"And who is that ma'am?" questioned Simmons tersely.
"Leopold Fitz," Hill met Jemma's eyes as she spoke, completely aware of the painful memories that the name would dredge up and choosing to use it anyway, "and would you care to hear his reasoning?" Simmons had gone completely motionless and didn't acknowledge her superior officer at all, no longer completely trusting her voice. Agent Hill took that as an invitation to continue.
"He told Agent Coulson, and I quote, 'They're not Simmons.'" Hill paused to let that sink in, then cocked a brow at Simmons who was visibly struggling to remain calm, tears hovering just behind her eyes.
"Is something the matter Agent Simmons?" Jemma quickly shook her head.
"No ma'am," she choked out. Hill held Simmons' eyes for a long moment. Maria might not know exactly what was going on in Jemma's head or what happened to make her quit the team, but she understood that sometimes an agent felt that the only way to solve a problem was to walk away-she had done that more times than she could count. And regretted it almost every time, she reminded herself soberly. She sighed and relaxed her strict expression.
"I didn't tell you this to upset you, Agent Simmons," she finally said, "but I strongly suggest you reflect on your decisions." Hill leveled her gaze at the young agent in front of her, "Either you pull yourself together and adjust to life here in the Hub in a way that is satisfactory to both your associates and myself or I will solve your issues for you," Simmons flinched at Hill's words, "and you may or may not like the outcome of that," finished Hill. "Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," muttered Simmons in reply. Maria nodded.
"Then you are dismissed, Agent Simmons." Jemma rose as quickly as possible and fled the office. Hill watched her go with another sigh. Why do all my problems seem to revolve around Coulson's team?