Animal Power

Disclaimer: no one from the characters belong to me. Period.

Trip was having – no. There was something that he was not having, and it was not fun, (though yeah, it was missing from his life too, lately). It was satisfaction…and not of the kind typically associated with him – it was professional satisfaction.

Part of S.H.I.E.L.D. specialist training was, well, survival training that had a large part of do-it-yourself elements – make your own hammer, your own clippers, built your own xylophone, utilize the brackets and so forth. Right now, Tripp sort of felt as if he was in that stage of his training once more, save that he had no idea as to where he was supposed to go and what to build.

Back with John Garrett, and Cybertek, and Centipede, it had been simple – stop them, including Ward and save the day. They did that, and now it was the issue of rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. instead. How delightful, and it reminded Tripp of the time when he had input balls into tubes using brackets. It was supposed to help S.H.I.E.L.D. cadets learn the virtue – or was it value – of patience, and while Tripp had mastered it, eventually, yeah, he did not become the most patient person in S.H.I.E.L.D., regardless of all the brackets and fountains and all. The figurine-oriented goal was more important, but still…

The problem was that right now things were moving very slowly, very reminiscent of the entire balls-and-brackets exercise again. Tripp hated that, though it was probable that the others did not share his opinions. Skye certainly did not, as their adventure with Donnie the gifted turned Hydra agent, (brainwashed or not) showed. She had shot him, but clearly was not happy about it.

There was her S.O., but Ward had showed to be more than slightly morally ambiguous himself, (and also stupid – how hard did you need to understand that it was time to abandon a ship regardless of your moral alignment – but right now it was not the time for this sort of confrontation either).

There was her other S.O. – Melinda May, but Tripp himself had to admit that she probably was not the right person to give Skye a pep talk. He did not know as to what has come down in Bahrain, but ever since then Melinda had been kind of diminished as compared to before; this didn't make her unique, but her attitude made her kind of unpopular in S.H.I.E.L.D., and then there'd been her civil family…

Tripp shook his head – the last thing he wanted or needed was some sort of a confrontation with May, especially since she had calmed down somewhat since the big showdown in New Mexico, and – everything else that came down with it. Sadly, this meant that S.H.I.E.L.D. seemed to have entered a bracket-like zone and now everyone was meddling with brackets, as everyone was waiting for all of the balls to drop, and they were taking their sweet time, and all-

"Hey!" Skye said suddenly, startling Tripp, (something that did not happen very often, actually). "Can I ask you about something?"

"Sure!" Tripp said brightly. (He didn't want to be Skye's S.O., actually, and really wanted her to get her act together, whatever it was – and that was a different question altogether, admittedly, but still). "What is it?"

Skye looked away, blowing some of her new curls from her forehead and cheeks. (She was a lovely girl, but Tripp… he did not want a relationship with her, and casual sex…let us not go there now). "So, uh, um, some advice?" She fidgeted some more. "Where does S.H.I.E.L.D. stand on guinea pig policy?"

"Say what?"

/ / /

There were literal guinea pigs in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new-current lab now. Actually, there were quite a lot of them.

"I-I, we-we, we were just, you know, setting the a-atmosphere," Fitz stammered, since apparently this was his idea in the beginning. "T-they helped me n-not to miss S-Simmons so much, and then t-they multiplied and, a-and everything."

Tripp just stared, as did the other agents who came on by to see as to what Skye meant when she had mentioned guinea pigs to Tripplet back in the mess hall. Apparently, she meant literally – she, Fitz, and Mack, (who actually knew better, Tripp was willing to bet) had gotten some guinea pigs for the lab, and then-

Well, Fitz was probably off the hook – he was an engineering genius, (and a genius in a few other fields too), but when it came to life sciences? Just no. Tripp remembered, when his fellow cadet asked Fitz to look after her cacti and Fitz killed them- but Tripp did not want to go down the memory lane right now, so he looked around instead. Sadly, here and now he looked at Skye, again, who apparently didn't know that if left unchecked, guinea pigs breed as well as rabbits or hamsters do, and now S.H.I.E.L.D. had a decisive excess of guinea pigs that it didn't want from the start – Fitz (with Mack and Skye's help) just bought the original pair of the rodents in question because they reminded him of Simmons. Given the copious amount of offspring brought forth by that single initial couple of guinea pigs, Tripp was not sure that Simmons would have appreciated the gesture either.

"Oh Fitz," Coulson muttered, as even he had apparently come down to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new-current labs from his office. "What were you thinking?" he twitched his nose, (making look rather like one of the guinea pigs in question, but no one mentioned it, not even Melinda). "What now-?"

"Uh, about that?" Lance Hunter spoke from the back of the lab. "I actually have an idea?"

Coulson took one more look at the veritable swarm of guinea pigs in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s lab and turned to face the British mercenary. "I'm listening."

"Well…"

/ / /

Several hours later…

The guinea pigs were a hit, as the children loved them. Mind you, they weren't 100 and 10% crazy about them, there were already distractions and other events happening in the back of the crowd, as the guinea pigs were handed out, dispersed, and admired, (and taken care off, etc.) by the adult agents, but still, this was something of an improvement of the animals in question just taking over S.H.I.E.L.D.'s lab. At least now they were going somewhere and serving some purpose rather than just running amok in the lab.

"So, S.H.I.E.L.D. has a kindergarten – a secret one, but that is actually understandable here," Skye muttered to no one in particular. "Must admit, this is better than being raised in St. Agnes-"

"Yes, it probably is," Ward, who had been avoiding Skye lately (and vice versa,) decided to speak up now. "You could've kept a guinea pig or two for yourself-"

"And we'd be back here in a few weeks or months," Skye glared at him. "Past. I will get a new pet, since I am actually good with them, unlike Fitz-"

"Oy! I heard t-that!" Fitz snapped as Skye shot him a look:

"And?"

"N-nothing. You don't have to rub it in," Fitz looked away first.

"Sorry, but I meant it," Skye looked away from Fitz. "I will get myself a pet of my own – maybe."

"Can I help?" Ward suggested helpfully.

"We'll see," Skye muttered, with some hostility, but not as much as before – apparently, Ward did help her out, somehow, after the entire Donnie Gill incident.

Tripp shifted tracks and looked at Coulson, who apparently was unaware of the interaction between Grant and Skye. Tripp shrugged and decided not to be the one who brought it to Coulson's attention either. Instead, he focused and observed the interactions of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s future – very much so – agents and their new pets (slash mascots).

TBC