Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. I am so sorry that it's been 3 months since I last updated this story. It's been so long that May/Coulson might kind of sort of be almost canon right now in a 'be careful what you wish for' sort of way. My regular beta for this story, GraysonSteele and I have been working on my entry for KS Advent 2016 and it sort of ended up ballooning to 34,000 words. Sorry. However, it's done and hopefully I can return to monthly and even semimonthly updates for this story.
A good portion of the next chapter is already written and I'm hoping to finalize it today. Your reviews can give me the energy to do that.
For those of you who enjoy Star Trek adventures from the Kelvin timeline, check out my story How to Survive (Until) Your Wedding.
Chapter 20: Follow the Data
Leo Fitz-Stark (he was still getting used to that last name) would have to admit that he doesn't sleep well. Since waking up from his coma, the only night he'd fallen asleep easily was two nights ago when he'd crashed on his newly discovered father. Even that was short lived because while his father's super strong boyfriend carried him back to his room stealthily Jemma's almost nightly visit woke him.
No that isn't right. His sleep issues started in Vegas after the mind control incident. If he hadn't had that sleepless night post Vegas, then maybe he wouldn't dream of a lover who tries to kill him post-coitus on black and red sheets with the Hydra symbol everywhere.
It didn't surprise him that Grant Ward haunted his dreams or Hydra in general now since they killed his mother and grandparents (He learned about Hydra's role in his grandparents' murder, thanks to that bloody Everhart woman who enjoyed airing his father's dirty laundry far too much). Grant Ward was his own personal personification of Hydra. He'd trusted Grant, even looked up to him. Fitz wanted to be him. All it got him in the end was quality time in the Gulf of Mexico and at least another month of Occupational Therapy before he would be allowed back into the lab unsupervised.
He wondered what Dr. Suarez would think of these dreams. Probably nothing good.
Fitz was almost glad that Jemma didn't sneak in to his room last night due to him having a movie night with Trista. She told him she was taking another job (infiltrating Hydra, but he's not supposed to know that), and someone else would be taking over his rehabilitation. It was nice for a change not having to pretend to be asleep as Jemma rambled on next to him. He would eventually have to let her know that he'd been awake during these encounters, especially considering that was how he found out about his mother's death in the first place.
He was reluctant to do so because this was the only time Simmons talked to him like she did pre-accident. He needed something to be normal in his life now that everything was different. So he let her continue, despite the fact that Fitz discovered that he'd made out with his cousin because apparently Peggy Carter Jones is his fraternal grandmother. That particular truth was discovered recently and completely by accident while analyzing Leo's DNA profile. (Fitz would like to know why they're running additional DNA tests on him, but he's too afraid to ask.)
His go to activity for sleepless nights is writing in the therapy diary given to him by Dr. Suarez. Not that he's planning on ever letting her see what he writes. There are too many entries about being uncertain about everything that's happening right now. It is actually a digital diary. His motor skills are still absolute shite and the word prediction software on the tablet he's using helps.
Dear diary:
I can't sleep, again. I dreamt about him yet again. About that night. Except, unlike what actually happened, he tried to choke me afterwards. I should've known he was using me. Guys like that don't go for guys like me, at least not before I became the heir to the Stark Empire. Women like that don't go for guys like me either, not unless they want something.
I should've known he was just using me by the time he went down on me. The whole reason why I went along with it was because I didn't think someone like Simmons would ever want something beyond a platonic relationship with me. Now, I know I was wrong. It's too late of course. Everything's ruined because I thought I could trust him.
I wish they had never told me he was here. I think the nightmares would be less if I thought he was far away and I would never have to see him again. I don't like being in the same building with him. I hate Hydra. I want to go home. I just wish I knew where that was.
He'd like to think the answer to that question is wherever his friends are or wherever Tony is, but he's still very uncertain. Either way, he's not putting it in writing.
It would be easier if Skye was here. If she snuck into his room, he wouldn't accidentally discovered bad things. He missed her, but he knew she had to work. Thankfully, Skye did give him an email to contact her, just in case. The only problem is that she was undercover. He had to utilize that cover in his email to her.
To: Skyler 22
From: monkeylover 22
Subject: How's house hunting going?
Time sent: 7/25/2014 4:23 AM
How's New York? Do you think it will make a good place for a yoga studio? How is Roger doing? Losing someone you love is hard even if that love was one-sided. You're a much better fit. I hope you're safe up there. Are you going to be staying there for a while or are you coming back to Virginia? I miss you guys.
Trista just got a new job as a nurse at some fertility clinic in Arlington, so she won't be here as much and I won't have anyone to talk to. Things are still really complicated with Simmons, so that's not a possibility. I don't know what to say to her, even if I could get the words out without stuttering.
Write to me when you get a chance.
"Would you like for me to put on a movie or TV show for you?" JARVIS asked once he sent off the email.
"Something hopeful and not a love story." He tells the AI, wanting to avoid all those things right now.
"Of course, Sir." JARVIS started playing a marathon of TOS Star Trek episodes, obviously aware of his preference for sci-fi. He's not going to say anything about JARVIS starting with Amok Time. He actually watches three episodes before deciding that it was late enough for him to get breakfast on his own.
Dear Skye:
I know you're mad at me for leaving in the middle of the night.
I'm sorry I left. Okay, I'm not sorry that I actually left the Playground, but I'm sorry that I left you. You're one of my closest friends. I was just so lost after everything and Dr. Stark… Tony actually understands what it's like to survive the near death experience caused by somebody you cared about stabbing you in the back. I'm still furious with Grant Ward. Why didn't I see past that stupid smile? Yes, because he saved me from the sea once, but then he put me back there.
He almost cost me Leo and I am never going to…
Dear Skye:
I'm sorry. I didn't have that many friends growing up. Leo was actually my first friend and I don't know how to deal with things, anything really. The guilt and the fear of losing him was something I couldn't handle. I still can't handle it. I'm actually terrified to talk to him.
I don't know how to move forward. Running away did nothing but push you further away from me and now I have to deal with this all on my own. I don't know how to do that. Maybe I have been drinking too much. Trip's mom seems to think so.
Did I mention that my parents are getting divorced?
Dear Skye:
Dr. Triplett suggested that I write to you to work things out because if I let things stay as they are I might regret it. Although I don't know why I'm taking advice from her since she's been avoiding her brother for the last two days in an effort to not tell him that she is his brother. Which is ridiculous because he already knows due to his tendency to eavesdrop on private conversations via JARVIS.
xxxxxx
"Bloody hell I can't actually send that." Jemma said out loud as she shut her laptop giving up on Dr. Triplett's exercise once and for all. That was attempt number eight and only one of the three that she did not delete entirely. She'd been up since 4 AM trying to figure out what to write to Skye and her various rough drafts had proven that she was no better at putting her thoughts into writing then she was at articulating them verbally.
Her attempts to write to Leo were even worse. She could barely get past the salutation. Actually, she couldn't even decide on which to use.
Did she even have a right to refer to him as Leo anymore? Is he still going by Fitz even though he changed his name to Leo Fitz-Stark. (And she's not surprised he ditched Leopold altogether.) She's too afraid to ask.
She couldn't even speak to him during daytime. She was afraid to. She had no trouble crawling into his bed in the middle of the night and confessing everything when she was sure he was asleep. But she couldn't even get past the salutation on an email that she's actually trying to send him.
If she had actually slept in Leo's room last night, she probably would've managed more than two hours, but she didn't want to make it a habit. Okay, actually she did not slip into his room last night because Trista and Mack were in there having a movie night and she didn't want to intrude. Especially because Trista didn't like her and she's half convinced that Leo wanted to move on to Mack. After everything that had happened, Jemma was not going to begrudge Leo finding happiness with someone else. (Yes, she would actually be upset about it, but she would keep those thoughts to herself. She just wanted him to not be sad.)
At 5:32 AM she gave up trying to sleep and decided to get ready for her 7:30 AM with Director Coulson. Jemma actually had enough time for a bagel and to visit the lab to review yesterday's findings one more time before handing them over to the Director. During the few days that she's been at the Playground, she found the lab very peaceful, despite the influx of people at the facility.
Or it had been peaceful until Agent Romanoff arrived. Jemma is still intimidated by the woman due to being knocked unconscious by her just a few weeks ago.
"What can I help you with Agent Romanoff?" Jemma asked, looking up from the screen in front of her. She was looking over her recent analysis of what Dr. Stark refers to as 'Super Soldier Antibodies'.
Actually, Tony calls it 'Super Soldier STD', but that seems unseemly. Somehow the antibody is in Ward's bloodstream despite Agent May's assertions that she only engaged in sexual activities with a barrier prophylactic. Obviously, either something broke or Agent May misremembered. Jemma would have to ask, unfortunately. She wonders if the antibody being present in his bloodstream is why his multiple suicide attempts have been ineffective. Oh well, she'd go back to looking at that after she handled Agent Romanoff.
"I wanted to see if you completed your DNA analysis of Natalie von Strucker." At least somebody was convinced that Natalie List- von Strucker was just an alias and it's possible that she's really someone else. Apparently, Jemma was the only one trusted with doing such an analysis. She's starting to really dislike that trust. She's finding out too much about her friends.
"I believe the system is still analyzing the sample and comparing it to others on the network, but JARVIS would know more." Jemma said much to the annoyance of the agent in front of her. Obviously she wanted that information immediately.
"I'm still comparing her against the main SHIELD DNA database along with several other law enforcement databases. I ran into a complication, but I should have the results soon." JARVIS responded. "I will alert you as soon as the analysis is completed, Agent Romanoff."
"See all settled. Now, if you will excuse me, I have an early meeting with the Director that I need to get ready for." Jemma said as in an effort push the agent out of her lab. She had a line graph to complete.
"How's New York?" Phil asked as soon as his girlfriend popped up on screen in his office. It was early morning at the Playground, the perfect time to have a private conversation.
May had been gone for less than three days and yet he missed her terribly. Somehow it was worse with her being the one gone and him staying behind. Due to Hydra, this was the first time May had checked in since leaving. They were trying to keep communications to a minimum despite the fact they were now using Stark's new equipment.
"We found a Tahiti patient." He wasn't expecting for her to tell him that. Actually, he wasn't sure what he was expecting for the three to find when he sent them to check out the artwork that had the same pattern as his carvings. He wished he could say that he'd just felt like sending Agent Triplett on a nice mini vacation on SI's dime so the man could deal with his former fiancé's death somewhat constructively.
Coulson still felt guilty about Agent 33 not being able to save Robin without sacrificing her cover. Despite the high cost, now they had another agent in Hydra, one who would be able to see things that Agent 19 would not due to her going in as just a biologist and girlfriend of the departed head of Hydra security.
When Phil received May's picture of Janice Robbins and her artwork, he knew that whatever was happening in New York was more than the easy mission that he wanted for Agent Triplett. He knew that he had seen her somewhere before, he just didn't remember when or where.
"Do you recognize her?" May asked breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Sort of. She seems familiar, like I've met her before around the office, but I don't remember where." The memory was there hazy in the back of his mind, but he couldn't access it. It was as if the information was deleted from his mind and only the echoes remain. Considering what he went through, that's entirely possible.
"Do you remember an agent named Rebecca Stevenson?" May asked. "She worked at the Hub. She was a friend of Isabel Cline-Hand, her roommate at the Academy."
Before the fall, SHIELD was a large agency. It was bigger than the State Department and the CIA with thousands of agents all over the world, none of which knew anybody besides those in their immediate department. Maybe that's why they couldn't see the fox in the hen house. You really didn't know anyone outside your department or Academy class unless something horrible befell that agent as in this case. That's why the name was more familiar than the image that accompanied it.
"She died on a mission in December 2010. Her name was on the wall at the Academy." He remembered seeing it there when Skye went to pay her respects to the agent that found her.
"And yet somehow she is alive and mostly well living under a different name and a different state."
"Are you sure both of these women are the same person?" Coulson asked just as another image of Agent Stevens popped up on his screen. They looked very similar, but looks can be deceiving.
"Yes. Trip recognized her from before and the fingerprint program that Stark came up with identified her as Rebecca Stevens." May explained.
"Which means one thing, she was an early Tahiti patient." Phil closed his eyes and tried to concentrate for a moment. He sees flashes of white, a metal table and hospital gowns, but not faces.
"I don't remember her." But he really wanted to.
"I didn't think you would. I know Fury took any memory you had related to Tahiti or the Guesthouse." Too many memories, really. Apparently he admitted that he was in love with Melinda to Pepper during the lost time. How many more important memories were gone? How much was taken from him? He felt like his previous verbal chastising of Nick Fury was insufficient.
"Is Janice Robbins displaying any of the other symptoms?" The image shown earlier already told him that she was displaying the symptoms of hypergraphia. It's just that she chose a better medium than drywall and exacting knife.
"Not that we are aware of at the moment, although her artwork at the center is alarming enough." That's when several images pop up on his screen. It is the same pattern, but it felt like a different pieces of the same puzzle. What is he missing?
"The entire studio is filled with those images. It's all she paints."
May's words worried him. Could he get to that point? That was his biggest fear.
"I want Trip and Skye to get closer to her, to keep an eye on her." Phil ordered.
"They're having drinks with her tonight while I put cameras in her apartment." He's not even surprised. This is why he loves Melinda. She's always on the same page as him.
"Good. I think this mission is going to last more than the two or three days originally intended."
"Do you want me to stay here as well?" May asked and he definitely wanted to say no, but there were other things that need to be considered first.
"Has Skye displayed any symptoms?" If anything was going to trigger Skye, it would have to be the vast amount of artwork. He started the night he saw Garrett's carvings for the first time.
"No, but even if she did Agent Triplett knows what to watch for." May explained.
"He knows? You told him, even though I told you not to tell anyone else?" May was giving him her best death glare. Apparently he had used the 'I'm your director' tone of voice. May doesn't care for that tone.
"I didn't tell him. He's a specialist; he picks up on things. And the fact that his neurologist mother is working with us made it quite obvious what was going on." Phil sighed. He shouldn't be surprised. Agent Triplett was smart. Maybe another reason why he sent the agent up to New York was so he wouldn't figure out that his ex-boyfriend was killed during a mission to plant someone in Hydra.
"Does Skye know?" Phil asked.
"No, but she's suspicious. She knows that Janice Robbins was most likely part of Project Tahiti. I'm surprised she hasn't asked if you have taken up any new hobbies." Skye was smart. Also, Stark's AI loved her. It would be only a matter of time before she knew everything.
"Read Triplett into the situation completely. Let him know he's allowed to tell Skye if she starts to piece things together on her own, but I need you back." Because he can only take so many days of Natasha on carving watch. She slept in his room last night, on the floor, just so he couldn't sneak out to the carving room without her.
"You sound very weary which worries me since I've only been gone a few days. Have there been any problems?" He know she's really asking if he's had an episode.
"It hasn't been awful, just busy and chaotic. Hartley is still on assignment. Stark and Dr. Triplett are avoiding each other and thereby keeping Dr. Triplett away from the base which wouldn't be horrible if Dr. Cline-Hand would stay on bed rest. Hunter is babysitting Grant Ward's niece who also happens to be the niece of Christine Everhart. Stark is scheduled to be on her show tonight." Against Phil's better judgment.
"And you're afraid that he's going to announce that he started a private spy agency under his house in Arlington." May knew him so well.
"Technically, we are still at the Playground. The facilities in Arlington won't be done until December at the earliest." He joked.
"Phil." Apparently his girlfriend was not in the mood for such jokes.
"It's not like he can stick to the cards any better now than he could six years ago. Something's going to slip. I'm just hoping it's that he's sleeping with Captain America." His childhood self can't believe that is the least damaging thing Stark could say. "I need someone else here when everything hits the fan."
"You need more people." He was well aware of that. Natasha was helping him find more agents because things were too chaotic right now for him to resume his face-to-face recruitment mission. She was only doing that because he wanted to get SHIELD reformed as much as he could before… Natasha had to take him out for good. Rebecca or Janice or whatever her name is constant painting has him afraid that day may come sooner rather than later.
"I did get more people and now Agent West is going undercover at the clinic owned by Wolfgang von Strucker's wife."
"Ex-wife." May corrected.
"I'm not so sure. I suppose it's possible for a head of Hydra to love something other than himself and power. Maybe he wants to keep his wife and son safe, so he cut all ties. Trista will figure it out. Regardless, she's someone we need to watch." Phil explained.
"You always try to see the best in people. I guess this means lunch yesterday was successful."
"Very successful." He would fill May and on Trista's specific mission parameters in person. He didn't want to say much more, even on an encrypted frequency.
"I'll be back tomorrow. Anything else I need to know?" May asked.
"No." Nothing, that I can tell you now anyway.
"Have there been any carving?" Of course she asked directly this time after evading the previous question.
"No." That was the truth. He had felt a slight compulsion, but he could hold himself back which is better than before. He may make it until tomorrow before needing to visit the wall. That was a great improvement. At that moment, he heard steps coming down the hallway. That's when he remembered Simmons wanted to meet with him to discuss her findings related to the super soldier antibody (they need another name). She was five minutes early which didn't surprise him.
"I have a meeting with Simmons at 7:30 this morning and she's already here."
"She's early." May remarked. "What is she there to discuss?"
Nothing I can tell you about over this video call. Phil thought to himself.
"I'll tell you when you get home." Love you.
"Don't do anything stupid before I get there." Love you too.
"I'll try not to." Phil said just as he allowed Simmons into his office.
"Was that Agent May on the screen when I arrived?" Jemma asked. She thought she glimpsed the woman when she walked into her boss' office early, but she wanted to present her findings immediately. "I received some interesting results this morning and I need to clarify the exact nature of her…" Jemma paused, trying to figure out a delicate way to discuss her boss' current girlfriend's sexual encounters with the Hydra traitor before they knew of his true allegiances. She quickly realized there was no delicate way.
"Ward has trace amounts of the super soldier antibody in his system. I need to confirm that what she said was accurate regarding the nature of their sexual contact before I look into alternative ways that those antibodies could have made their way into Ward's bloodstream." Jemma explained.
What she was studying definitely needed a better name. Maybe she should go with SSA. She knew Fitz could come up with a much better acronym, but she couldn't talk to him about what she was working on because he wasn't in the lab with her anymore. Also, since her research involved learning about his father's sex life in explicit and uncomfortable detail, it was probably best he wasn't involved. Learning about her father's affairs was traumatic enough for Jemma. The situation would have to be significantly worse for Fitz due to the fact that sex tapes actually exist of his father's antics.
"Stark would be very upset if May strangled you when she got back, so you are not asking her more questions about the specific sexual activities that she engaged in with Grant Ward." That answer suited her because she didn't want to ask.
"Understood, Sir. Unfortunately, if the history she gave me initially is accurate, then I have to look at alternate theories regarding how the antibodies got in his system. And frankly, all of them leave me extremely concerned."
"Why are you concerned?" The director asked.
"If Agent May was not the source and we know for a fact he did not engage in protected or unprotected sex with anyone else exposed or patient zero himself, then it means that another source was involved. SHIELD took blood, tissue and semen samples from Captain Rogers when he was rescued from the Arctic." She told him pointedly.
"Which means Hydra could have blood, tissue and semen samples from Captain America." Coulson closed his eyes and frustration. "You're worried that Ward could be some sort of guinea pig?" It was the one possibility that she'd been considering which made the most sense.
"Yes. Someone else at SHIELD and therefore Hydra must have been aware of Peggy Carter's own exposure to the super soldier serum. They did kidnap Stephanie Carter Jones for a reason. Also, the US government and other entities have been trying to re-create super soldier serum for decades. The government exhausted samples of Captain Rogers's blood trying to replicate the properties of the serum during the mid-1940s. They simply did not have the technology to understand how the serum worked. Who's to say they won't try again." Jemma said pointedly.
"It would be very easy to try again with fresh samples. I could talk to Colonel Rhodes, but I doubt the US government confiscated genetic samples." Coulson shut his eyes for a moment, most likely adding another thing to the mental list of things they had to track down.
"I doubt there were any samples to confiscate." Hydra would have taken great care with those. "Thankfully, in the past no one considered the possibility that the properties of the serum could be transferable via semen or passed on to offspring."
Nor were they thinking of anyone actually consuming semen containing super soldier serum. Jemma kept that thought to herself. She had no desire to discuss the oral sexual habits of her current boss, especially because said boss happened to be her best friend's father.
"And now we have evidence in the form of May, Stark, and Dr. Triplett about the transferable nature of the super soldier serum. All three would now qualify for the index with their enhanced healing and strength capabilities, if we still had such a thing." Coulson stated. "And Ward had these same antibodies in his system. I am positive May is not the source because she never trusted him enough to engage in any unprotected activity that could lead to transference."
"It's in your system as well." He didn't look surprised at her revelation. "At higher levels actually." Much higher than she expected, actually.
"Because we trust each other enough not to use condoms and we are both going to pretend I didn't tell you that." She is almost certain that that she saw the director blushing. She did overhear one or two jokes about Tony arranging a birthday orgy for his boyfriend with Director Coulson and May as the guests of honor. She didn't have confirmation of that actually occurring, but Coulson's levels would be consistent with direct exposure from patient zero.
"We are trying to keep our personal relationship, private." You're doing a bloody awful job of that, Simmons thought to herself.
"I have no desire for more details. I already know more about Captain Rogers post transformation sexual history than I ever wanted to know." She pulled up a holographic Venn diagram, tracing everyone's exposure. It was one of the things she worked on after kicking Agent Romanoff out of her lab.
"Wait how did Fitz get exposed?" Coulson asked, making Simmons realize that she forgot to take him off the graph.
Tony didn't want anyone else to know that Peggy Carter is his mother. She wasn't even supposed to tell Stephanie that he knew because he overheard her discussing the situation with Colonel Rhodes. (She was allowed to tell Colonel Rhodes, but hadn't done so because Tony doesn't pay her enough.) Now it's going to be obvious that Fitz had the antibody in his system from his father, who happen to have the antibody in his system long before he started sleeping with patient zero. Jemma fought to keep her panic from showing.
"Did Fitz have sex with Ward?" Okay, she wasn't expecting Coulson to suggest that.
"No. No. No. Not at all not possible. No." She stated emphatically. Because Leo had a higher percentage of antibodies in his system than Ward, but she's not going to point that out until she had to.
"A good scientist doesn't dismiss anything automatically out a hand. It would make sense. It would explain why Fitz refused to see what Ward really was until it was almost too late." She felt the same way before she read the diaries. Fitz realized he was in love with her before the ocean, even before they knew the Ward truth.
"That's not what I'm doing. I'm fully willing to acknowledge that Leo had a slight hero worship type of crush on Ward before we knew who he really was, but Ward was supposedly in love with Skye. Except, we know he wasn't in love with Skye." He was manipulating all of us, a dark voice said in her head. He never cared about any of us at all.
"I think his cold, dark heart is incapable of such emotions." Jemma said out loud instead.
"And Ward slept with May to keep her distracted. If Ward could manipulate May, a seasoned specialist, then it is entirely possible he could have targeted Fitz, especially because of who he is." Coulson countered.
She didn't even consider that possibility. She was sure Hydra would love to get their hands on their creation again. A sexual relationship would be a good way to manipulate him.
"He has yet to indicate that he knows anything about Fitz's true paternity, but he was always a very good liar." Quite excellent really.
"Leo was exposed because one of his grandparents also had this in his or her system." She confessed because she couldn't take anymore speculation on Fitz's sexual habits, although she did include a little bit of misdirection.
Leo did not have sex with Ward, she told herself again. Meanwhile, a niggling voice in her head argued otherwise. Leo was fascinated with him from their first encounter. Leo wouldn't shut up about him after their mission together in Russia. Then there was the constant flirting and the fact that she was convinced that Leo was actually in love with Ward before she knew about his feelings for her. You can love more than one person at the same time. Could something have happened between the two men and Leo just didn't feel comfortable telling her? And what did it say about her that she was more upset about him not telling her about sleeping with Ward than it actually happening?
It's not entirely impossible. There was hardly anything in Leo's diary after Skye almost died. Nothing about Vegas or anything that followed. There were only a few words about killing someone for the first time after the fall of SHIELD, his fear of losing her during the chaos, and about how much he loved her. But at the same time, there was so much missing from those pages.
If Ward knew who Leo really was, then it's highly probable that Ward targeted him specifically. She is certain that Hydra would love to get a specimen sample to start working on a new Stark heir to indoctrinate because there's no way they're going to get Leo to the dark side. What better way to get a sample then by arranging for a sexual encounter and stealing the condom afterwards? That's essentially how Leo came into being in the first place. Except, Stark was knocked out specifically for his sperm.
"I'm not surprised." Coulson's words brought her back to the present. "Maria Stark did not exist on paper until six months before the wedding and there are rumors that she was supposed to be on the index." Thankfully, he doesn't expect the truth.
"Also, Howard Stark worked on Project Rebirth, he could've had the same accidental exposure as Peggy Carter. Although, if it were Stark Senior, we're going to have to test half of California and most of Manhattan for the antibody. It wasn't like they used condoms like we do now back then."
"Maternal side." She acknowledged reluctantly. "Regardless, it's just a trace amount in Ward system, which would be the same amount in the system of anyone Stark- Tony had a single encounter with minus a physical barrier. Not enough to do anything except for a slight immune boost, theoretically. I'm only concerned because it's Ward. Although, we should probably screen Ms. Potts while she's in town because of the type of relationship they had."
"That may be best. Although I would not elaborate on the details."
"I do not plan to. I'm only saying this much so you will stop pushing this ridiculous theory about Leo sleeping with Ward." Liar. "Now if you excuse me I'm going to go through any files related to what SHIELD and hopefully not Hydra scientists did to Captain Rogers after he was rescued." Maybe there would be some obvious Hydra agents among those involved.
"I also suggest talking to Captain Rogers about that time. He may remember something not in the files. A lot of my memories from that time are hazy." Probably because you were working on the Tahiti project. But she does not say that out loud.
"Of course sir," she said as she gathered her things to leave.
"You know, an encounter between Fitz and Ward, it's not ridiculous. Even if it makes us uncomfortable, sometimes the easiest solution is the right one. I much prefer this explanation then Hydra experimenting with Captain America's genetic materials and using Grant Ward as their guinea pig." And she did too deep down, because in her mind she was imagining Hydra making an army of baby Fitzs with sperm stolen by Ward. The only one who would be making baby Fitzs was her.
Okay, that came out wrong.
"Maybe you're right, but I am not going to ask Leo if he slept with Ward." She said with a sigh, coming out of denial slightly. "We can barely talk to each other right now and asking a question like that would just make it worse. I don't want to mention Ward in his presence ever again, not after what he did to us. If what you're proposing did happened, that just makes everything worse." Especially if her worst-case scenario for why came true.
"It doesn't have to be you." Coulson offered. "In a perfect world, it wouldn't be because you are too close to everyone involved. Unfortunately, due to the sensitive nature of the situation, you're the only one that Captain Rogers trusts outside of Dr. Triplett to figure this out and Stephanie is busy." She was interviewing others for the position of base doctor so she can avoid telling her brother that he's her brother. Although they really did need another physician.
"I understand. Reading in one of the lab techs in on the situation is too risky. I'll find another way to get the answer." One that doesn't involve asking entirely too personal questions of someone who she cares about deeply. Hopefully she can find the answers in her samples.
"I'm sure you will think of something. Come talk to me once you go over Captain Rogers' files." Simmons knows that she's being dismissed and honestly she's glad to be out of there.
"It would be so much easier if Ward would actually tell us what we wanted to know." She mumbled under breath and yet Coulson still heard her. She wonders if he's already developing improved senses.
"That's something I'll talk with Natasha about. She's the only one I want going anywhere near Vault D. We are too close to the situation. At least that's what Dr. Suarez believes and she may be right. At this point, I'm considering returning him to military custody. He doesn't want to tell us anything and Dr. Suarez believes it would be healthier emotionally for us all if he wasn't here. We can't move on with him here." She didn't bother to respond, just left his office before another uncomfortable conversation could occur.
As she started going through the Captain Rogers' files, she decided that Dr. Suarez may be right. If she found out Ward did sleep with Leo for nefarious purposes, she would strangle him with her bare hands.
Sometimes JARVIS was dismayed by the fact that many people saw him as merely a more advanced Siri, but he did not let this bother him. Mr. Stark along with his son and partner considered him a person, maybe that was what was important. (Skye and Dr. Simmons were also included on this list.) His most crucial purpose was to protect his family and people underestimating him allowed him to do this. He is slightly disappointed that Agent Romanoff was one of those who underestimated him. He was not surprised when the agent snuck into the lab after Dr. Simmons left, just disappointed that she broke into his system to obtain the Natalie List Von Strucker file and upload the information to a USB device shaped like a watch.
"If you try to delete the information, I will alert Mister Stark and send him the information immediately." JARVIS threatened. This resulted in the agent cursing under her breath in Russian. Apparently, he was a piece of shit box of circuits that she would like to burn.
"I have already made copies of the pertinent information and have uploaded them to multiple off-site servers." The agent responded to JARVIS'' words with more Russian cursing. JARVIS wonders how seriously he should take her threat to dismantle him with a hacksaw.
"Considering how he reacted to discovering that Maria Stark was not his biological mom, I don't think it best that he find out he has a half-sister out there who happens to be the soon-to-be ex-wife of the head of Hydra." The agent argued.
What's left unsaid is Natalie List is most likely the allegedly deceased Natasha Stark. The fact that JARVIS found a code in the SHIELD DNA database that would block Natalie's sample from matching to her biological brother, father, or nephew should such a search take place made that highly probable. He was sure that whoever created that the coding assumed no one would ever discover that it existed. But they underestimated JARVIS and in turn, Tony Stark. His creator did not get his five doctorates on money and good looks alone. Now that he has compared her sample to that of Maria Stark, he knows for certain Natalie List is Natasha Stark.
"I assume that you are aware of Mr. Stark's true maternity?" JARVIS asked deciding not to address the Natasha Stark situation.
"I was with Steve when he overheard Stark's soliloquy and he decided it was best for me to not be there." JARVIS was unaware of that because he did not have access to the cameras in that section the building, at least not until yesterday afternoon. Now he did because his primary function is to protect the Stark family. Peggy Carter Jones is now part of that family. "Steve felt it was too private for me to be there."
"It was." JARVIS replied.
"I will tell Stark eventually about Natalie, once we know who she really is. But do you really want him to find out by accident again? It's better to just let me take the information off the server for now."
"Natalie List is the biological daughter of Howard and Maria Stark." JARVIS answered simply.
"Is she really Natasha Stark or was she a creation of the Lullaby Program? We know the lead scientist on the program was Hydra. Could he have stolen their DNA for purposes unknown?"
"Given her age and the results of the DNA analysis, there is a 99.8 % probability that Natalie List and Natasha Stark are the same person." JARVIS replied nonplussed.
"But that still leaves the question of who Natalie List is now. Is she just the unaware second wife of Wolfgang von Strucker or is she an active Hydra agent? If she is an active Hydra agent, was it her choice or has she been brainwashed since the beginning? Does it even matter considering she was kidnapped from her parents moments after birth?"
"You identify with her because you believe that you share a similar circumstance?"
"I feel that it's better to have all the answers before your boss storms off and blows something up. If she's not active Hydra, it changes how we approach the situation. We need to go in with as much background as possible?" Part of JARVIS believes that she's stalling while another part believes that getting more information is most prudent before notifying his boss.
"How do you expect to get these answers?" JARVIS asked.
"Agent West."
"What about the captive?" He asked not wanting to say the individual's name.
"Not all Hydra agents know each other. So far, it seems that he was not aware of Fitz-Stark's true paternity. He's also being extremely uncooperative. I'm almost tempted to let Stark go down there and help with the interrogation. If anyone could get him to speak, it would be an angry father holding a gauntlet."
Considering what JARVIS read in Leo's therapy journal this morning, he was also tempted to allow such a thing to happen. However, his boss does not need any more blood on his hands. It is situations like these when JARVIS regrets that he is programmed not to kill.
"In exchange for keeping the Natalie situation from my boss for the next month, I want you to increase your efforts to interrogate the prisoner. Extract as much information as you can so he can be removed from the premises."
"I'm planning to do that anyway."
"Good. You have one month to find out who Natalie List really is before I inform Mister Stark."
This would not be the first time JARVIS kept a secret to protect his boss because protecting his family was always his main priority.
To be continued.