A/N: As promised, finally some answers…

Chapter 38: Valid Concerns

Agent Haze had her arms crossed in front of her chest as she watched Tyler's unconscious form through the glass wall in front of her, her tense fingers digging into her skin.

Everything about this place, from its hidden nature, the hospital atmosphere of this floor in particular and of course to the mercenary himself was making her skin crawl and reminded her of how much she despised the role she had been playing in all of this.

Her job had been to fake Tyler's death so he could have been brought here, but while she never would have accepted an order to kill a defenceless prisoner for real, a small part of her had actually been hoping that the drug she had administered to him would have been too much for his weakened state, killing him after all. Because she knew enough of the atrocities the mercenary had committed in the past that the thought of him eventually being unleashed on the world again was more than a bit unsettling to her, and considering all the steps that had been taken to keep him out of the Fridge, she was afraid that that was exactly where all of this was headed.

Agent Haze closed her eyes for a moment and let out a small sigh, the soft beeping of the machines monitoring Tyler's vitals the only sound filling the air.

The noise was bringing back the memory of last night's events; of Olivia sitting by her brother's side, her eyes filled with the tentative hope she had had for his recovery, but most of all, Haze remembered the young woman's desperation when she had watched her brother die right in front of her, unable to help.

This sharp pain of witnessing the death of a loved one was something the agent was glad never to have experienced herself, but she could still sympathise with the young woman all too well, as she knew the loss she had suffered.

It had been twelve years since the car accident that had cost her younger sister's life, but she could still vividly remember the incomprehensively sad look in her mother's eyes as the usually so strong and resolute woman had told her of her sister's fate, her voice choked up and trembling. And she also remembered the burning, all consuming ache in her chest as the news had started to sink in, the same feeling Haze knew she had now inflicted on Olivia, despite her growing sympathies for the red headed woman.

The agent sighed once again, louder this time, as she leaned with one hand against the glass in front of her, trying not to dwell on her guilty conscience any longer. She had only been following orders, after all, and despite the facts that she would have rather seen Tyler shipped off to the Fridge than brought here and that she was admittedly having considerable doubts about this mission, she was also determined to cling to the faint hope that her employer knew what he was doing and that his plan would pan out in the end.

A few minutes passed by like this until the sound of the door behind her opening, followed by the heavy footsteps of a man walking towards her, finally pulled the agent out of her thoughts. She didn't need to turn around to know who was approaching her and as she was too upset with the entire situation right now to care about protocol, she didn't and just kept focusing on Tyler instead.

"This is a mistake," Haze ultimately pointed out firmly, not taking her eyes off of the unconscious mercenary as the newcomer slowly stepped next to her on her left. She knew that it probably wasn't her place to question her employer like this, but she couldn't pass up this chance to speak her mind, either.

"What is?" the man beside her asked in return, his voice cold and professional, not betraying any of his thoughts.

Haze scoffed slightly at the reply, annoyed that her superior was feigning ignorance even now.

"Recruiting him, obviously. That's what all this is about, isn't it? Sir?" she answered – more statement than question – finally turning around to face the tall man standing next to her in the process.

As the agent looked up into the grim face of her boss, she felt a twinge of intimidation at his commanding presence, but ultimately she was too adamant to get to the bottom of all this to worry about whether or not this was an appropriate way of addressing the director of SHIELD.

Director Fury regarded the agent in front of him with a stern look, but somehow she had the impression that there was just the slightest hint of amusement hidden in his features.

"So that's what you think the plan is? That I want to recruit Tyler?" he asked back, the question somehow sounding so sincere, that for a brief moment Haze was left wondering if she had been mistaken, after all, if this was really the truth behind her most recent mission. But then she remembered what she knew, and how she had been taught to trust her own instincts, and nodded resolutely, firm in her conviction.

"Please, sir, don't take me for an idiot. I know that that's what the plan is."

Fury's one visible eyebrow rose slightly at the response, as he had obviously not expected this level of certainty from the analyst. Apparently he wasn't ready to tip his hand yet, however, and so he simply replied in a noncommittal way, wanting to hear his subordinate's point of view.

"What makes you think so, Agent?" He wondered, prompting Haze to explain herself.

She took a deep breath and glanced over at the unconscious man in the med bed briefly before she replied, assuring herself once more that she wasn't wrong. When she spoke again, she tried to keep her personal dislike for Fury's tactics to herself, but quickly realised that she wasn't completely able to.

"Honestly, sir, there are only two things I can think of that you could possibly want from Curtis Tyler. The first one is intel, but if that's what you were interested in, you could have simply let him go to the Fridge and have him interrogated there. But you didn't. So that only leaves the second option, which is that you want him to work for you, for SHIELD, but obviously you couldn't just go and openly recruit him. Not after what he's done to one of our own; not without bringing Coulson and a whole bunch of other agents up against you."

Fury's eyebrow rose once more at this point, but if he had wanted to reply something, he didn't get the chance, as Haze quickly continued, wanting to finish her explanation before she could change her mind.

"Obviously, though, you didn't become director of SHIELD for no reason, so you thought of a simple and elegant solution for your problem. You had me fake Tyler's death, transported him here, somewhere off the books where he can recover and I'm sure that someone is already working on his new identity as we speak. So a few weeks from now, you'll have your new asset and no one within SHIELD will ever know the truth," she concluded, the look of disappointment on her face in light of her superior's actions unmistakable.

Fury nodded approvingly, scrutinising her thoroughly in the process.

"Not bad, Agent Haze, really not bad. Looks like you've got everything worked out already," he remarked while taking a few steps along the glass wall separating them from Tyler, effectively turning his back on the blond agent.

That way he didn't see the frustrated expression passing over her features for a brief moment, but her next reply made it more than obvious that she did not fully agree with his assessment.

"No, not everything. I mean, while I stand by my opinion that wanting to recruit Tyler is a mistake, because he is a monster and there is no way that he will be reliable, I can actually understand why you might think that he could be a valuable asset. But what I don't understand is, why you brought me into all of this. You already had Agent Wilson on site, and I'm sure that at least one of the doctors at the hospital was in on the whole act, too, so why did you want me of all people to give Tyler the drug?" she asked exasperatedly, shrugging helplessly.

"I had my reasons," Director Fury replied cryptically as he turned to look at the agent once more, causing her frustration to finally get the better of her.

Haze let out a disbelieving laugh as she shook her head briefly, then she looked up at her superior with renewed determination.

"Yes, there's always a reason for your orders; that's what Agent Wilson said when I asked him back at the hospital, but I'm sorry, sir, that reply is not going to cut it any longer," she burst out, but quickly regretted her forcefulness as Fury finally replied, his expression less than amused and his voice as authoritative as ever.

"You administered Tyler the Tetrodotoxine B for precisely one reason, Agent Haze, and that is because you were ordered to do so. Because last time I checked, SHIELD was not a democracy and I was still the one in charge. Or did something change since then and everybody just forgot to tell me?" he demanded to know, regarding the agent in front of him with an intimidating look.

Haze needed a moment to realise that this was not a rhetorical question and that the director actually expected her to reply, upon which she instantly shook her head and hurried to answer him.

"No, sir, it didn't."

"Didn't think so."

They both fell silent after this for a long moment, but despite the fact that she had just been reminded of her position quite impressively, Agent Haze still wasn't willing to give up on this opportunity to get some answers, and so she swallowed heavily before she spoke again, looking up at her superior imploringly.

"Do you have any siblings, sir?" she asked tentatively, knowing that she had barely any right to ask the director of SHIELD for personal information.

Fury didn't say anything at first, but when the agent was already certain that he wasn't going to answer the question, given the disapproving look on his face, he finally did reply, after all, no matter how briefly.

"No."

"Well, if you've read my file, you know that I do," Haze pointed out, "and I also know what it feels like to lose one of them. Olivia Campbell's only condition in exchange for her help with finding Coulson's missing team member was that we were going to take her brother alive, and I promised her that. And then you had me fake his death and force her to watch him die, and with all due respect, sir, I would like to know why I had to be the one to do that."

The blonde agent kept facing the director with a resolute expression on her face, and it seemed that this time he was more inclined to tell her the truth, judging by the thoughtful look he was giving her.

When Fury finally answered her, however, it was not exactly what Agent Haze had expected.

"You said earlier that you don't think Tyler can be reliable. Why is that?"

The agent was caught somewhat off guard by the question, but after a brief moment of confusion, she replied nevertheless.

"He's not loyal to anything or anyone other than himself. He gets hired for a job and he gets it done, but I don't think you would have gone to all this trouble just to send him on one single mission. I'm sure you've already thought of a way to keep him in line, but if you have to use force to make him work for you, that's not going to go over well. He could sabotage his missions, withhold intel or do who knows what, just to spite you. It's not going to work. And that's not even considering the question of whether you actually want someone like him working for you."

Fury nodded slowly as he seemed to ponder her answer, remaining quiet for a moment.

"Those are all valid concerns," he finally admitted, but quickly went on to disperse them, "and that is exactly why Tyler is not going to be an independently operating agent. He'll be an asset – a very useful one, I hope – but he'll need a good handler or you're right and this entire operation is nothing but a waste of time and effort."

"A handler," Agent Haze repeated, a sinking feeling suddenly in the pit of her stomach.

"Yes," Fury replied, looking at her intensely, "someone who knows him, how he ticks, and who will make sure that his methods won't cross a certain line, while always keeping an eye on the mission."

Haze didn't know what to think. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest and she threw a brief, almost panicked glance at Tyler's unconscious form, before she faced Fury again, shaking her head adamantly.

"Sir, if you're having me in mind for this position, then-"

But the director didn't even let her finish the sentence before he interrupted her, the tone of his voice instantly quenching Haze's objections.

"You like field work, don't you?" he asked, but didn't wait for her to reply. "You've finished the Academy of Communications in the top three of your class, spent your first years at SHIELD safely behind a desk until you had your first outing in the field, which ended in a complete disaster that almost got you and your entire team killed. You know, most people would have gone straight back to their white-collar career after that, but not you. In fact, you've kept applying for field work ever since, and according to your superiors, you're even looking to lead your own team one day. Well, here's your chance."

This couldn't be happening. Agent Haze was doing her best to keep her expression as stoic and professional as she could, but everything inside of her was protesting against Fury's proposition. Yes, she loved going out into the field, and yes, she was aiming to lead her own team at some point, but not like this.

Her eyes went over to the unconscious mercenary once again, and she remembered just how much she had been hoping to be over and done with his case once all of this was over. If she accepted the job Fury was offering her, however, she realised that that might never happen.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think I'm the right person for this job. Tyler needs a handler, that's true, but not me," she finished, shaking her head resolutely.

"Alright," Fury conceded, "if that's your decision. Obviously, I can't force you to take a job like this, but I just hope that you enjoyed your latest stint back behind a desk, monitoring a tracking device, because that's the only kind of work you'll be doing for… let's say the next decade, if you can't bring yourself to change your mind on this."

His words hung in the air heavily and Haze quickly realised that he was not joking.

"Extortion, sir, really?" she asked in defeat, knowing that the director wasn't giving her much of a choice in the matter. She was fine with still doing the occasional desk job, like when she had been tasked with monitoring Skye's tracker, but she couldn't even imagine the next ten years with nothing else to look forward to.

"Think of it more as 'management by motivation'," Fury replied almost lightheartedly, obviously realising that his threat was having the desired effect. "And thanks to Agent Ward's… efforts, it's not as if you will have to start your new assignment tomorrow," he added, glancing over to the man lying in the medical bed. "Considering the state Tyler is in, it will be weeks or maybe even a few months until he is fully recovered, meaning that you can return to your normal duties until then. There's just one thing you'll have to take care of sooner, something you got wrong in your earlier conclusions."

"And what's that?" Haze asked wearily, not really caring anymore. After all, it wasn't as if this job could get any worse at this point.

"Nobody's working on Tyler's new identity yet; I figured you would want to do that yourself, considering that you two are basically going to be partners soon."

Agent Haze was starting to get the feeling that the director was enjoying this situation far too much, but as she didn't want to risk overstepping her boundaries again, she swallowed any objections she was about to make and simply nodded with a dejected sigh.

"Of course, sir, I'll get on it." It wasn't as if she had any other choice, anyway. "Is there anything else? Because it's been a long couple of days, and if this was it–"

"Actually that's what I wanted to ask you, Agent," Fury replied, a cold expression on his face once again. "I've received a first briefing about what happened during the rescue mission and I'm sure Agent Coulson is going to file a full report soon as well; I just want to know if there is anything you'd like to add, anything that didn't make it into the case files."

Haze hesitated for a moment, thinking back to the discussion she had had with Agent Coulson about the possibility that the Clairvoyant might be a member of SHIELD. Obviously she knew that this was something Director Fury should be aware of, but at the same time she didn't want to break the promise she had given Coulson about keeping this information quiet.

"No, sir, I don't have anything to add," she ultimately replied, "but once you've read Agent Coulson's report, I think you might want to ask him the same question." It was the most diplomatic solution the agent could think of right now, because as much as she didn't want to betray Coulson's trust, she couldn't utterly lie to the director of SHIELD, either.

It probably wasn't the answer Fury had expected, but in the end he nodded after all, obviously realising that Haze was feeling an obligation to the other agent she didn't want to infringe on.

"Alright, looks like I will do that then," he agreed, scrutinising the blond woman in front of him thoroughly.

Haze wasn't quite sure how to interpret her superior's reaction, but all things considered, she figured that she hadn't fallen completely out of his good graces just yet. But then again, in light of what he was going to have her do, she wasn't so sure whether that was really a good thing, either.

"You're dismissed for now, Agent Haze. Agent Wilson is waiting upstairs to take you back to the Hub, where you will resume your normal duties for the moment and wait for your transfer orders. He will also be acting as your liaison from now on. Any more questions?"

"No, sir," Haze replied without hesitation, fully aware that another plea to get someone else for this job wouldn't be all too well received.

Before she left the room to head back upstairs, she took another long look at Curtis Tyler's unconscious form, already dreading the moment when he would wake up and start his recovery. She remembered the conversation she had had with Skye just a few hours earlier, about how SHIELD seemed to like recruiting criminals with a specialised skill set, but while she had never had a problem with this tactic so far, she felt almost sick at the thought of having to work with someone like the mercenary in front of her.

Even after she had left the scene and was making her way back towards the elevator to leave this place, there was only one thought in her mind at the prospect of her next mission, no matter how long it would be until then.

This was a mistake.

"So what exactly are you guys going to do with that woman, Hannah?" Skye asked as she was walking next to Coulson, both of them making their way towards the cargo hold of the Bus.

"It's called the index asset evaluation and intake process," the agent began to explain, a look of disbelief growing on Skye's features at the ridiculously complicated name.

"So… what? You talk to her and see if she has powers?"

"Basically, yes," Coulson admitted, clearly fully aware that this was a perfect example of SHIELD's tendency for absurd amounts of bureaucracy. "This time you obviously have to take a back seat, Skye, but the next time we'll have the opportunity to make contact with a gifted individual, I want you to pay close attention. I think this is something you'll become really good at one day."

"Well, it's not like I haven't done this before," Skye pointed out, thinking back to the first time she had run into the team. "I found Mike Peterson before you did."

"Yes, and remember how that went?" Coulson objected.

Skye cringed visibly. She knew of course that the agent was right; even though they had been able to save Mike in the end and he was on his way to becoming a member of SHIELD himself, it had only been thanks to Coulson's intervention that the situation hadn't gotten completely out of control and that Ace hadn't lost his father.

"Okay, point taken," she agreed just as they were making their way down the spiral staircase inside the cargo hold. "I just… I really wish that I could come with you guys and be there when you talk to Hannah. I mean, after what she's been through, that particle accelerator explosion killing four of her friends with her maybe being responsible, plus her suddenly having powers, she's going to be terrified. Imagine her reaction when she sees a bunch of SHIELD agents swooping in to… index asset… whatever her."

"Index asset evaluation and intake," Coulson supplied, a faint smile on his lips at Skye's problems with the designation.

"Yeah, well, exactly my point. That needs a better name, less I.R.S., more… better. I mean, if I were in her position, I would freak out if someone told me that that's what they had come for," she emphasised, but then her expression lightened up again as she suddenly thought of something. "How about 'the welcome wagon'? That's got a good ring to it, right?"

Coulson looked at her silently for a moment, but when he finally replied, he chose to ignore her suggestion and instead focused on the mission at hand.

"I'm sure agents May and Ward and myself will be able to handle the situation. Miss Hutchins has been through a lot and we aren't looking to make it worse, but we also have to make sure that nobody else gets hurt. And yes, that includes Miss Hutchins herself," he stated firmly, obviously being done with the topic.

At this point Fitz and Simmons interrupted the conversation with news of their investigation into the particle accelerator explosion, which Skye only listened to half-heartedly. Apparently they suspected a link between Hannah's newfound abilities and the accident, and Coulson encouraged them to look further into it, but the young hacker was more interested in the emotional fallout this was having on the safety inspector than the science behind it.

After the two lab rats had returned to their natural habitat, Skye turned to Coulson once more, involuntarily crossing her arms in front of her chest, as the topic was making her slightly uncomfortable.

"So… you're going to take Ward with you after all?" She had heard about the specialist having been suspended after Tyler's death, but apparently May's argument from last night, that they would need everyone available on this mission, had ultimately convinced their team's leader to reconsider his decision.

"Yes, he's still on probation, but in a delicate situation like this I won't risk innocent lives to prove a point. Batesville is a tight-knit community, the people there are rattled, and considering the most recent incident, the explosion at the gas station, we really need to bring Miss Hutchins in quickly and – if possible – quietly. That's not a two-man job."

"Well, if you want Hannah to trust you, I guess you can just let him do the talking. Just make him look like the hero coming to her rescue, and she's going to fall for it immediately," Skye suggested, her anger over Ward's behaviour still running deep.

"Skye–", Coulson began in a tone of voice that clearly suggested he was going to start a lecture about her having to forgive the specialist, but the young woman just wasn't in the mood to hear it right now.

"Don't, just… don't, okay? I know I'll have to figure things out with Ward eventually, and I will. You just go and concentrate on saving that woman before she or anyone else gets hurt, alright?"

Coulson hesitated a moment, obviously considering whether or not he should comply with Skye's request and stay out of the dispute between her and her S.O., but in the end he clearly decided to do her the favour.

"Alright."

It was a few hours later when Skye stood in the same spot in the cargo hold once again, looking down at her team as they were returning from their mission to bring in Hannah Hutchins.

But even though they had obviously succeeded in their main objective, as the blond safety inspector was among them, the second part, that nobody was supposed to get hurt, had obviously gone out the window at some point.

Hannah Hutchins was unconscious in Ward's arms as he carried her out of the back of the car and Skye's breath caught in her throat as she realised the blood covering the specialist's hands and parts of his clothes. She just couldn't tell whether it was his or hers.

To be continued…

A/N: And the shout-out this time goes to SamXFraser, for correctly guessing that Fury was the one on the phone with Haze back in the chapter "Hero Or Black Sheep".

I was always a bit surprised that nobody ever figured out the whole truth after what happened in The Winter Soldier, but I guess Garrett just seemed too much like the obvious culprit. And, well, at least the truth out now. :)

Any thoughts, critique, flames? Let me know!