We are standing outside the building.
"This was the SSR facility before S.H.I.E.L.D. was even founded. SSR stands for…"
"Strategic Scientific reserve, yeah I know" Skye interrupts Simmons. "Is this where you got all your PhDs?"
"I believe you need one just to get in the door." I say.
"Your right Hope." Simmons tells me.
"Is science and technology what you imagined, Agent Ward?" Fitz asks him.
"Oh lord, here we go again." I tell Simmons she and I both roll our eyes.
"Yep. No uniforms, no rope courses, no defined muscularity on anyone." Grant says.
"He just wants someone to check out." I say to Simmons we both burst out laughing but the boys and Skye ignore us.
"No marching in place, no IQs in the double digits." Fitz says as an older woman walks up to us.
"There they are. So good to see you." The woman says. I walk over to Grant and stand beside him. Simmons gives her a warm smile and shakes her hand.
"You look as lovely as ever." Simmons says.
"I concur." Fitz says while shaking her hand.
"Thank you." The woman says "Agent Ward. Pleasure to have you, sir." She looks at Grant, Skye, and me.
"Agent Weaver. There's a list of suspects?" Grant says greeting then getting right down to business.
"Based on the level of intelligence it would take to put a device together like the one we found we've narrowed it down to the top 10% of our cadets. I'm worried there's a bad seed." Weaver says.
Grant leans over to Skye and I. "Ops and Sciences have differences, but both have to be careful about what we call 'bad seeds.' People who want to use the tools we give them for…"
"Bad seed isn't a S.H.I.E.L.D. term, Ward, just a term." Skye interrupts him.
Grant gives her a blank stare. She gives him a little grin.
"I know you've already questioned the victim, but Agent Ward I believe will have a few questions he would like to ask him himself." I tell Weaver.
Grant gives me a look like I had stolen his thunder. There is only one Thor here Grant and I am him.
"I'll arrange for you to talk to Seth Dormer when he's out of class. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get Agents Fitz and Simmons settled into the lecture hall." Weaver says walking off with Fitz and Simmons. They get surrounded by cadets.
"Look at them, the popular kids. Who knew?" Skye says.
"I did." Grant and I both say that the same time.
"I think it's great that they are back in their element." I say.
"Come on. While we have a minute, I think there's something you both will want to see." Grant says. I start to tear up knowing exactly where we are going. We both follow Grant. Skye has a confused look on her face. We walk into the building and there is a large plaque in the center of this large room.
"The Wall of Valor." Skye says.
"So you've read about it." Grant says glancing at her then looking concerned at me.
"Every S.H.I.E.L.D. facility has a memorial to the agents lost in the line of duty." I say with a broken voice. Trying to hold back my tears. Skye and I walk closer to the plaque. I touch the name of a person I know to still be alive but lost to S.H.I.E.L.D. "Bucky Barnes." I say with tears streaming down my face. Grant pulls me into his arms.
"Puts into perspective, what we do." He tells us.
"Must make you proud, all this history. Just wish I was a part of it." Skye says.
"We all play our parts. I played mine and earned my stripes. I'd be proud to one day be on this wall." I tell them. Upset by Skye's selfishness at a time like this. We are supposed to be honoring the sacrifice all these agents made and she is only thinking of herself.
"It's not self-pity really. I'm just saying everyone here has earned this. They deserve it. I hacked my way in. I feel like I cheated." She says.
"All you need is dedication to the greater good. Coulson saw that in you the moment he met you." Grant tells her.
"What did she need then?" Skye asks pointing to me.
"She already had it. She did everything she could to help S.H.I.E.L.D. from inside the belly of the beast. She fought everyday for almost her whole life. She faced more then you could dream of for S.H.I.E.L.D. even before she knew what it was." Grant lectures her he squeezes tighter on to me subconsciously. He is clearly upset by her questioning. "I would worry about what you are going to do to earn your levels then what Hope has already done."
We head to the lecture hall. Grant still holding my hand and looking at me cautiously. I know I want him to know why I was crying, but he can't. Bucky was so sweet whenever I got the chance to see him. every time he was woken up, he always came to visit me. He used to call me sunflower cause I bloomed in the darkest places and helped him find the sun. I will get him out of there. I just have to play my cards right. He will be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent again.
Grant drops off Skye but takes me with him to go question the Seth kid. I know he is really concerned about me. We get to the Seth kid and Grant starts to question him. I get sucked into a vision. Weaver is standing behind a podium. I look around and see we are in the lecture hall.
"Today, we're proud to welcome back two of S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy's finest, our youngest graduates to date. You know their names. Please join me in welcoming Agent Leopold Fitz and Agent Jemma Simmons." Weaver says. Everyone in the room claps and Fitz-Simmons gives each other a smile and heads to the podium from their seats.
"Thank you, Agent Weaver. It's nice to be back. Unfortunately, it has to be under these circumstances." Simmons says.
"If you don't know the history of S.H.I.E.L.D. by now, there's no excuse… unless you fell asleep in Professor Vaughn's class, that's perfectly acceptable excuse." Fitz says. Everyone laughs except Skye she is just confused.
"Our instincts as scientists is to move forward, advance quickly, push the envelope. But given recent circumstances it makes sense to reflect back on our history." Simmons says.
I get pulled back to reality
"Leopold?" I question. Seth and Grant both look at me funny. Grant turns back around to Seth.
"And you can't think of any reason a top student would want to go after you?" Grant asks.
"No. Um, the top students are my friends. It's competitive here but we usually don't resort to knocking each other off. This isn't operations…. No offense." Seth says. I chuckle to myself picturing Grant knocking off other students to be the top of his class.
"None taken." Grant says. He gives Seth a tablet. "All these names you would consider friendly?"
"Well… not Donnie Gill. I barely know the kid. He doesn't talk to anyone." Seth tells Grant.
"And he was at the pool." I say.
"Studying, but I don't think he's the guy. He just has trouble communicating with anyone below a 170 IQ" Seth says.
I feel kinda warm hearing Seth defend this other kid. I understand having trouble communicating. I feel like I put my foot in my mouth so often. It's easier to just not talk to people because no one will understand.
I get pulled into another vision. I am back in the lecture hall.
"And S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded after the SSR was able to defeat the nearly indomitable force known as Hydra." Fitz says. But Hydra isn't defeated, I question in my head. As no one can hear me in a vision.
"We tend to forget that these organisations, Hydra, Centipede, A.I.M., were also made up of extremely brilliant scientists. Men and women who started with the same unlimited potential as you or I." Simmons says. I look around at the cadets and see who I think is Donnie. He seems to be paying close attention.
"Potential can sometimes be dangerous. Plutonium has the potential to power a city or to be a nuclear bomb." Fitz explains.
"Today, we'd like to share a few stories from the field in which we learned this lesson up close and faced consequences when untested technology or biology lands in the wrong hands. And don't worry, we brought pictures." The hall laughs.
"Oh god! Oh god!" I hear a student call out. I quickly zero in on Donnie he stands up looking down at himself. I quickly run over to see what is happening to him. There is ice forming around his feet and spreading up his legs.
"What is this!?" He cries. "Hey! What is happening to me!? Help me! Help me get it off! Can anybody help me!? Make it stop! Help me get if off! No! make it stop! Fitz-Simmons run over to help. It is quickly moving up his body. I need to get out of this vision and tell Grant. I can tell I am only a couple of minutes before this happens. He is intombed in the ice in no time at all.
"Find exposed skin! He needs glucose to raise his body's natural freezing point." Simmons says. She opens a case and is shuffling through it quickly. Skye is just frozen terrified.
"Simmons, I need something to break the ice." Fitz says jumping into action. Simmons hands him something to chip at the ice. He start to chip away at the ice on his neck.
"Jemma," Fitz says stopping just before he gets to the skin. Simmons runs over after filling the syringe with the drug. "Ready?"
"Yeah" Simmon says. Fitz exposes his skin and Simmons shoots the drug in. I am violently pulled out of my vision. Seth and Grant are looking at me worried.
"Donnie!" I yell at both of them, "Donnie is going to become ice." I say quickly.
"What are you talking about Hope?" Grant says.
"We need to be at the lecture hall now." I say running towards it. He takes off running behind me.
"Fitz, talk to me." Grant says, as the cadets move out of the way to let us both through.
"Something is doing this to him, find it." Fitz says.
Grant and Skye start looking around Donnie's seat. I start looking in my visions for it. I spot it and run over to it, it's glowing blue. Very classic an ice machine the glows blue. Could they have been less creative?
"Grant, I found it. Fitz, what now?" I ask.
"Smash the damn thing!" Fitz yells.
Grant kicks the device breaking it and the ice around Donnie starts to break apart. He groans the collapses. Fitz catches him and lowers him to the ground.
"How is that for muscles for you Grant?" I ask him referring to his argument from before.
"Ha, ha very funny, Hope." He says. "Your visions probably saved that kids life. You know that right."
"I just feel for him. he has trouble fitting in. I do too." I say.
"You have trouble fitting in? You fit in perfecting, Hope. Why would you think that?" Grant asks me.
"I'm the girl who can see the future. I'm a freak. I have to be careful of everything I say. If I'm not people die." I tell him.
"Your not a freak, Hope. People don't die because you know how to control that. In fact, you save lives." He tells me.
"Not always some die." I say.
"Some just can't be saved and that's okay. It's the ones who can be saved that matter." He tells me.
I smile at him.
