All the excitement for Orchid and Brody has me hyped!

As I'm publishing this chapter, I'm working on the final chapter of Year Three in SA. The ending there really resonates with Rando Week for reasons seen in this chapter.

Chapter 155: Doppel-Rogers Part Four

Vermillion Farms - 7:23 AM

"So you may not have heard," Brody continues. When Orchid opens her arm to the bench on the front porch, they both sit down, maintaining enough space between them to seat another person. "Agent Angela Rogers and Captain Xavier Rogers are now SHIELD fugitives for classified reasons. When SHIELD tried to apprehend them at the Kentucky base for further questioning, they fled. We have reason to believe they're hiding on your property."

"Alright," Orchid responds casually. "Hand me your warrant."

Brody pulls out a search warrant from his jacket pocket. Orchid opens it and reads through the file she's been taught to write and memorize during her days at the Academy.

"Come on in, boys!" Orchid yells to Brody's strike team.

As they pile inside, Orchid and Brody remain on the bench, this time sliding closer to each other since no eyes are on them.

"Why would SHIELD think they're here?" Orchid whispers. "I haven't spoken to them since Montenegro, which was nearly two years ago. Same for you, at least based on what you've told me. But then we occasionally text and all that. Apparently, Angela and James are now living together, ain't that sweet?"

Brody scoffs. "About time. At his rate, he'll propose in a decade."

"So, why would those Brooklyn-bred rascals be in my neck of the woods?"

"They were called to the SHIELD base in Kentucky and were believed to have been heading in this direction. Besides, you were close to them in the Academy and after."

Orchid nudges him. "So were you."

"Which is why I'm in charge and chose to search here. Why are you home?"

"As I said, I'm on vacation, and you're lucky I answered the door and not my father. Search every acre, Agent Ocean. You'll only be wasting your time."

Brody looks at her as she scoots back to where she was sitting before. He's about to ask but stops when he sees his strike team exiting the house with no sightings. Brody orders the barn houses next and Orchid walks ahead to lead them there and unlock the doors. The animals are wary so Orchid has to calm them down too. Unlike the empty farmhouse, the strike team is more conscious of searching the animals' beds and areas, especially since the main barn house in the back is the horse stable

"Orchid, you know the consequences of harbouring fugitive agents," Brody whispers when he pulls Orchid closer to him by the arm.

Orchid looks up at him with a little smile at the corner of her lips. "Brody, you know I know. We sat through Agent Munson's ethics class together. I know the consequences. I'll get my clearance revoked and be forced to resign, possible legal action depending. Brody, we know the Rogers twins. They know I'd get in trouble if I was harbouring them here. Out of all the time we've known them, would they really risk my job and life for their sparkling reputations?"

She offers him a seat on some hay bales in the corner of the barn. He refuses at first, even when she takes a seat on one, crossing her legs. Instead, he stands beside her to keep an eye on his team searching every corner of her land.

"Where's the family?" Brody asks her.

"In town," Orchid responds. "Farmer's Market is having a special on new in-season marmalades. I hope the peach one is still there and that my ma doesn't eat it all on the way home. Isn't it a conflict of interest that you're in charge?"

"The only conflict SHIELD is having is this entire conundrum. They didn't care who was in charge as long as Angela and Xavier were brought in."

Orchid nods. "Since you're in my neck of the woods, I suspect SHIELD will ignore my vacation and call me soon to join the investigation if they get a lead. I don't see them caring about conflicts of interests with you around. Fill me in on what happened."

"I'll send you the files on my way out since, between us Doll, they're not here." He winks at her.

Orchid purses her lips and breaks eye contact to hide her grin. He knows. "So your search says."

"To save y'all time you might not have, two days ago, Katherine Harding and Carlton Brewster were released from SHIELD's custody after serving time for illegal handling and dispersing of military weaponry. On the same day, after their release, Angela and Xavier happened to sign off on the shipment of SHIELD weapons. Coincidence?"

Orchid shrugs. "How bizarre."

Brody laughs a little. "I'll send it to you since you'll know what to do with it."

An agent on the search points a bio-scanner in their direction and it beeps. Orchid straightens as Brody steps forwards.

"You're just picking us up," Orchid states as if reprimanding him, "move along."

"You heard the lady," Brody states as he dismisses the agent. He glances back at Orchid. "He's a good kid. I was his RA once."

Brody's strike team gathers at the front of the barn, nothing in sight. With that, Brody orders his team to pack up and head on out. He glances at Orchid and winks again before meeting his team. Orchid stays in the barn for a moment, hearing the cars start and drive off. Once the engines aren't heard, she walks up to the barn door and peeks out, seeing no agent in sight. When she closes the door, she exhales to calm her shaking body. It isn't until one of her horse's neighs loudly that she nearly screams.

She forgot she trained her horse to do that.

On cue, Angela and Xavier break out of the hay bales Orchid and Brody were near during the search, bursting their arms and legs through as they claw their way out of the near-perfect bales, their denim jackets surviving the compacted straw. Orchid runs over, picking straw out of their hair as they brush themselves off. They stretch their arms and walk around since they were in there for at least an hour and couldn't move. They could barely breathe.

"I knew Brody knew when he kicked my arm," Xavier grumbles with a smile.

"Oh, thank Jesus nobody found you two," Orchid praises, looking up, "it felt like the devil was dancing on my heart! You two got what Brody said?"

Angela nods. "Oh god, we're being framed."

"Y'all have some explaining to do if I'm being incriminated. You know I'll pretend you were keeping me hostage in my own barn." Orchid smiles when she sees their stunned straw-filled expressions. "Kidding, besties, I know y'all would hide me if I did something naughty. Go through the back door and I'll go pull up that file Brody sent us as I heat the kettle."

-o-

Orchid shut off the screaming kettle and took it to pour Xavier and Angela some tea. They sit at the breakfast nook, looking at the files Brody forwarded to Orchid on her laptop. Once they have steaming cups of tea, Orchid puts the kettle down and glances at what Xavier and Angela are trying to find.

"We have a location on Harding and Brewster," Angela says, scribbling it down on a napkin, "they're in town, for some odd reason."

"Can't we send Brody there?" Xavier asks.

"He's following SHIELD's directions so no," Orchid says, "and who knows if those two are wearing your faces or just being themselves. Y'all still look guiltier than them if they're even behind all this which I believe. I should've asked him where he got the connection of the former convicts. It's not a definite but it's a probable lead."

"Maybe someone gave it to him. SHIELD wants us to go to that location. It's a trap. Maybe Brody will be there."

Orchid shrugs. "Possibly. Only one way to find out."

Angela groans, closing the laptop. "Could be worse. Could be your father there."

Orchid snorts a laugh. Angela and Xavier knocked on her door at the crack of dawn, in dirty specialist uniforms, dishevelled hair, funky jean jackets, and gas station caps and shades. She wasn't expecting them. Nobody was so her father answered the door. He recognized them from the news calling them fugitives so, like a typical father in the South, he pointed the door side rifle at them. It didn't help that they were asking for Orchid so Orchid was glad to have jumped out of bed in time. The twins would've been dead, even with their SHIELD training if Orchid wasn't on vacation. It took so much effort for Orchid to convince her family to go to town for the day.

"Y'all better get going," Orchid says, "actually, drink that tea and then leave. You two need to face Harding and Brewster yourselves. I'll report the connection to SHIELD and they'll put me on the case since I'm nearby, god forbid that I'm on vacation. They'll call Brody so we'll meet you there - if he's not already there to shoot you two."

"Orchid Vermillion, we can't thank you enough," Xavier says, hugging her tightly.

Angela stands on the chairs of the breakfast nook and pops open one of the ceiling slabs. She sticks her hand inside and pulls out Xavier's shield that they hid there when they arrived.

"I'll write directions on your napkin and keep the jackets on. Kick their doppel-asses in style." She hugs Angela once she's back on the ground. "So, where were y'all last Friday?"

"Emily and Daniel got married," Angela responds.

Orchid squeals, squeezing Angela tighter. "Congrats to them! Now get moving."

I'm still writing Orchid and Brody in SA and I already miss her (mostly because I've confirmed here when she last saw the Rogers idiots - oops I mean twins - in SA).