The next morning, she woke up and went about her day as usual. When she saw him, she completely ignored him. She would have felt better about if he seemed to care that she was avoiding him but he didn't.
Days passed, they only spoke if he gave her an order or task, there were no pleasantries, no small talk.
She was bored, beyond bored. She worked out and did target practice or other random exercises Fitz or Akio gave her to keep her busy all day but after almost two months, she really couldn't stand it anymore.
She remembered the first few days after she'd arrive, Fitz asked if she needed anything, she only made one request; she asked for a balance beam to stretch and practice gymnastics. It was almost two months since she arrived and still no balance beam. She was sitting in her room and decided it was time to follow up so she got up and walked over to his office.
The door was closed so she knocked.
"Come in Olivia."
She opened the door and entered.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked.
He pointed to the video feed on the screen on his desk.
"Oh, okay, well when I first arrived you asked me if I needed anything and I only made one request, for a beam, it's been two months, where is it?"
He leaned back in his chair and kicked his legs up on the table, he seemed to be reading paperwork.
"And why do you need a beam?"
"I'm bored, you make me do the same thing everyday, you don't take me on missions, I figured I'd at least do something I like while I'm wasting my time here."
"We did get you a beam actually, it's been here for weeks, it's in the annex three in storage, have the maintenance guys bring it up for you and set it up in the workout gym."
"So it's been here and you didn't tell me?"
"You didn't ask," he said as he kept reading from his papers.
She sighed and got up and walked out leaving the door open.
"Close the door," Fitz called.
She flipped him the finger and kept walking. Once Fitz saw her finger go up, he burst out into laughter, he really couldn't control it. He wasn't used to people treating him the way Olivia did, she completely disregarded his title and money and all the clout around him and treated him like any old loser on the street, he secretly loved that.
The truth is, he was pretty fascinated by her, he found her endearing, her smile, her laugh, her pout, he liked watching her even if he didn't speak to her. He actually preferred not speaking to her, it was better than talking and laughing with her and having her pull him in. After taking her to Iceland, he realized that he had to pull back, the last thing he wanted was so to get into something romantic with her and not realize before it was too late. He truly believed she deserved better than him so it didn't make sense to even put himself or her, for that matter in that position . He knew in his heart that he wasn't a good person, he'd done horrible and cruel things that sometimes were completely uncalled for and she seemed to be the opposite of him so he thought it was best to avoid her completely, it might have been grade school and cliche but it worked because she seemed to hate him more after the night of the bar event than ever before.
Olivia went straight to the maintenance quarter to get someone to help her to move her beam. It took almost an hour for the men to move the beam from the annex and to the workout room then set it up. She thanked them profusely and once they left, she stepped back to take a look at the beam.
Sometimes she didn't know what to think, she asked Fitz for a beam, he got her a beam, gym mats for the floor to protect her if she fell, a springboard so she could mount the beam and he got her a chalk station for the beam. He did things that contradicted his apathetic attitude and that confused her.
She decided not to think into it too much and walked over to the chalk stand to chalk up her legs and arms. She stretched for a little while before she climbed on the beam. She was glad the workout room was empty which was a rare occurrence but when the maintenance workers where setting up the beam, a few of the deltas left to give them space to set up and then they never returned.
Once she on the beam, she stood up and did a sheep jump, she jumped in the air with her body stretched out and kicked her legs back to touch her head that was tilted back then she landed on the beam.
"You've still got it Livie," she said to herself.
She then did a split leap and then a did a series of flips. She was thoroughly enjoying herself and didn't realize when most of the deltas had gathered back in the gym for afternoon workout and had been silently watching her from the entrance.
She finally did a back handspring and landed with her arms planted on the beam and her feet in the air in a straight split, she arched her back, she kept one leg straight and bent her other leg and form a beautiful split handstand Korbut pose.
"Ahem," Fitz cleared his throat loudly.
She was so frightened the she broke form and fell off the beam onto the mat and then popped her head back up.
"How long have you guys been there?" she asked.
"Long enough," Scott replied with a smile.
She shook her head and stood up and dusted the chalk off her hands.
'Nice," Abby said as she walked up to her.
"Thank you but it was nothing."
"Are you kidding me, that was so hot, you need to teach me how to do that, how do you stretch your legs so far apart and arch your back like that, doesn't it hurt."
"No, not at all."
"Okay well you definitely have to teach me but after our workout."
"Okay, you've got it."
During practice, Olivia caught Fitz staring at her several times but she ignored it, like he'd been doing to her.
A few days passed. She was walking and reading by herself when they announced over the pa system that they had an emergency mission and everyone needed to report to the briefing deck immediately. She headed there, though not with urgency because she knew she wasn't going to accompany them.
She arrived the same time as Mellie, only Mellie showed up coughing and wheezing, she looked clammy.
"This mission is plain and simple, a CIA agent has been kidnapped by the the Colombian drug lord Pedro Vergara, they sent a seal team in to rescue her and they killed two navy seals and injured four so now it's our job. They believe the agent obtained highly classified and consequential intel before she was taken, we really need to get her back alive."
Mellie kept coughing as Fitz spoke.
"Mellie?"
"Sorry, I'm fine."
Fitz walked closer and took a good look at her. She was obviously very sick, it seemed like the flu, he wasn't sure but there was no way she was going to be able to accompany them on the mission.
"Mellie," he said with a sigh, "you have to go to the med bay."
"No, I'm fine," she said, coughing.
"Go now, you aren't well."
Fitz looked up at the ceiling as if he was mulling something over in his head.
"We need a sniper for this mission."
"I'll snipe for this mission," Akio suggested.
"No, not you, I need you on the ground, there will be a lot of firepower and men on the ground, I'm gonna need my best fighters by my side."
Fitz couldn't risk not having his best fighters on the ground to fight and everyone else wasn't enough of a precise shooter to function as a sniper. He'd been dreading having to involve Olivia but he had no choice. He turned to her.
"Olivia, you'll snipe for us."
"What?" Mellie said angrily.
Fitz turned around, "why are you still here, go and let them take care of you Mellie, you're sick," he said sternly.
He called over two of the mission control workers and told them to take her to the med bay.
Fitz turned back to the group, "everybody suit up, we'll go over the plan en route to our destination, you have 10 minutes. Olivia come with me."
He walked swiftly to the weapons room, she jogged behind him to keep pace. The door had a fingerprint scanner which Fitz placed his palm on and the door opened. She'd never been in that particular room before, when she stepped in and looked around, there was an huge assortment of guns and other weapons and gear, more than she'd ever seen before. Fitz walked down one of the aisle and took two sniper rifles off the display and the them over his shoulder then he walked to the section that had gear and pulled out a black armored suit, much like the one he was wearing.
"Here," he said as he handed her the suit, "put these over your clothes."
She kicked off her sneakers and pulled on the suit on that was a little too big but still fit, Fitz helped her adjust it and then he helped her but in a bulletproof vest for added protection.
"Have you ever worn one of these before?" he asked in reference to the vest.
"No, never."
He took two hands gun and slipped them into a holster and then pulled it up her thigh, Olivia had to bite her lip to stop herself from giggling when she felt his hand around her thigh.
There was usually someone who did that but Fitz wanted to be the one to help her. Once she was fully suited up he grabbed her head gear.
"Is it too heavy?" he asked, in reference to her suit.
"Yes but it's okay, It's not like I'll be fighting."
"Are you nervous?"
"Yes, sooo much."
"You'll do great," he rested both hands on her shoulders and sighed, "I'll tell you everything you need to know once we are airborne."
She nodded and then they both headed out. She was surprised he was being so...nice.
He was already dressed so they headed straight to the plane and met with the other deltas. Once they left the base, Fitz began speaking.
"Team one and two you're with me, team three will fall back and act as reinforcement if need be, our objective is to rescue CIA agent Sienna Saffe alive, the compound will be heavily guarded so it gonna be a pretty tough firefight. Olivia will be our sniper for this mission, we all know what that means."
They started cheering.
"You're officially apart of the team, you got a codename," Abby said to Olivia who looked confused.
"Our newest member is… Vision."
They cheered again, "Vision, Vision, Vision."
"Why Vision though?" Olivia asked Fitz.
"You'll be our eyes in the sky."
"Vision...I like it."
Fitz finished going over the details of the mission, he pulled up the satellite image of the compound so they could go over their entrance strategy, exit strategy and how'd they'd abort if something went wrong, it took just over an hour.
"Olivia," he called.
She got up from her seat and walked over to him.
"Yes."
"We have a few things I need to go over with you."
She nodded.
"First, I know how you feel about killing but-"
"But I understand that we come first so I'll do what I have to do."
He was pleasantly surprised.
"Okay, based on the images we know they're surrounded by the forest, once we land I need you to start scouting a vantage point, make sure it's somewhere secure so you don't have to worry about someone sneaking up on you. Once you see an enemy combatant shoot them, don't wait to see if they're gonna try to shoot one of us first, shoot on sight, if anything happens, anything at all and you feel like you need help tell us, just speak into your earpiece."
Olivia nodded.
"I don't think there's anything I can tell you to prepare you for all the craziness that's about happen but we really need you, if I could have used someone else I would have but all my other accurate shooters need to be on the ground in the fight with me, you're our best shot but…no pressure."
Olivia took a deep breath.
"That 'no pressure' at the end is a nice touch, it doesn't help at all of course but...nice touch."
Fitz chuckled, he had a pair of goggle in his hands that were for Olivia.
"Here, these are instrumental goggles, they detect heat signatures so if you can't physically see someone, so for example if their hiding behind bushes or something you'll still be able to detect them."
She took them and nodded.
Half hour later they arrived in Colombia and landed at the waterfront. They all had hooks attached to their back when the floor of the plane opened and they dropped out to a soft landing in the forest. Fitz unhook Olivia and then himself. Once everyone was detached, they began trotting through the forest, all 20 deltas, towards the compound. It was fenced all around, as they cut through the fence, Fitz turned to Olivia.
"Remember, find a vantage point and make sure it's secure."
She nodded.
Once they fence was cut, one by one they ran through. Before it was Olivia's turned Fitz grabbed her arm.
"Be safe, if anything happens call me," he said firmly.
It was moments like that when he contradicted his apathetic attitude by showing how much he cared.
"I anything happens I'll call you," she repeated.
He nodded and then they both ran through the fence.
Gunfire started immediately. There was a huge tree in the yard, Olivia quickly climbed to the top and hid in between the branches. It was a great spot because she could see everything even through the windows of the complex and there were so many leaves that she had cover from being detected.
She took a deep breath, she was so nervous that her fingertips felt numb but after her father had been preparing her for that moment for the past year so she knew it was coming, she was ready for the challenge but she was not ready to take someone's life. She didn't care what Fitz or her father said, she felt like she could figure out ways to avoid killing, maybe it was naive but she was going to try.
She looked down at the fire fight and tried to find Fitz, he was in fist fight with two guys, she went for them first. She shot one man in the shoulder and the other in the back, she knew he could handle himself but she couldn't risk him getting hurt or even worse, dying, her father wanted him alive. They fell to the ground, Fitz looked up and smiled then ran off, she wasn't sure if he knew where she was because was she was well hidden.
"Breathe," she said to herself as she took a deep breath, "you knew this was coming."
It was her first time ever shooting someone and her heart was pumping so fast from adrenaline that it felt as if it would burst out of her chest. She continued looked around the ground, shooting at everyone who wasn't in a delta uniform, she shot them in the arms, legs, back, stomach, she wanted them seriously injured but not dead so she stayed away from shooting them anywhere that would cause immediate death.
Every time she felt like she had shot all of the men, more stormed the compound with even bigger guns. After a few minutes, they realized that there was a sniper and one man in particular started spraying bullets in the direction of the tree, where he noticed all the sniper fire was coming from. Olivia almost screamed when a barrage of bullet sift through the trees around her, all of them missed. After the man sprayed the bullets he walked closer towards the tree and looked up. Olivia shot him in the leg and stomach and he fell to the floor, he tried reaching for his gun after he fell but she realized and shot him in the hand as he stretched for the gun.
She finally exhaled a breath she felt like she'd been holding forever.
"Vision, Vision, are you there?" She heard Fitz asked through her earpiece
"Yes," she said softly as not to give her hiding place away.
"We have the package, ready for extraction."
Moments later, they all came running out, she noticed that one delta, she couldn't exactly see the face because his head was hanging low but he was injured, she could see blood dripping on the ground from his wound he and was being supported by Jake and Harrison. Anton, another delta was carrying the CIA agent over his shoulders.
As they came running out, a humvee full of men with guns drove into the compound and another firefight began. She stayed from her position in the tree and first shot at the tires to puncture them so the van couldn't move and then. The first man to jump out was shot by Scott. The second was shot by Olivia, the third and fourth by Abby and the fifth and sixth by Fitz.
"Vision come now," Fitz spoke into the earpiece as they headed for the fence.
Olivia threw her rifle over her shoulder and quickly descended the tree branch by branch until she landed on the ground beside the deltas and the kept pace with them as they ran through the forest back to the plane.
There was a marine medic boat waiting for the agent so they handed her over and all the deltas boarded the plane back to the base. The delta from the second team who had been injured got his wound treated on the plane. Once everyone was settled and had their cuts and scratches taken care of, they began celebrating a successful mission. Somewhere in the cheering, they began cheering for her, she didn't know who started it.
"Vision, Vision, Vision, Vision."
"I hear people wanting something… me," she said as she got up and danced as they cheered for her. "Thank you, thank you," she said as she curtsied, "that's enough, that's enough. I feel your love."
They chuckled at her humor, Fitz too, he thought she was refreshingly funny..
On the way back to the base, they laughed and bantered, it was the first time she'd truly felt apart of the team since she arrived.
Once they landed, everyone went back to their quarters for the night.
It took her about a half hour to get out of her armor, when she finally did get out, she took a long soothing shower and then dressed in her towel robe as she wrapped her wet hair up.
She put on underwear and as she was about to put on her pajamas there was a knock on her door.
Fitz stood in his room pacing, "stay away from her, stay away from her," he said to himself over and over again. He wanted to visit her to see if she was alright after the events that transpired earlier. She seemed alright on the way back but he knew that when it would most affect you was in the night when you were alone. After a while he convinced himself that one chat was harmless and grabbed a bottle of scotch from his shelf and walked over to her room. He stood in front of her door for a moment before finally building up the courage to knock.
When Olivia opened the door slightly and poked her head out, she was surprised to see Fitz.
"What are you doing here?"
Though he couldn't see her body, he could tell she just showered because of the wet hair but her face and eyelashes were also wet and he thought she might have been crying.
"Were you crying?"
"No, why would I be crying?"
"I don't know, you killed a bunch of people today, something you were dreading."
"Actually, you don't know what you're talking about because I killed no one, I'm pretty sure I paralyzed a few people though but if they can get to the doctor they'll all survive and yes, I know you're going to say what if they had gotten up and shot someone after I injured them, well one of them tried that and I shot him in the hand."
"Well, I'm really proud of you, you did good, I just wanted to make sure you were okay and I thought we could share a drink."
"Uh no… not until you apologize."
"For what?"
"Well how much time do you have, do you want me to go through everything you've done to offend me or just the things that really bother me?"
Fitz didn't reply, he just shook his head in confusion.
"Okay, well when I first came, you accused me of fucking your father, I found that to be very crude and offensive."
"Sorry."
"The other night, when he went out to the bar, you walked over and said hi and then when the other two parties of your threesome arrived you ditched me- which is fine, what's not fine is the fact that you spilled your drink all over me and didn't apologize, I'll take that apology now."
"Sorry, actually that list sounds like it's gonna be pretty long so I'm just gonna give you a blanket apology, I'm sorry for everything, I'm an asshole sometimes, better?"
"Uh no, not better, the 'I'm an asshoe excuse doesn't make the cut'."
"Okay...so...what do you want me to say, I'm not an asshole?"
"I think just an 'I'm sorry' works fine."
"Okay, I'm sorry."
Olivia smiled and stretched for the bottle of scotch in his hand. He handed it to her.
"How old is it?" she asked.
"25 years old."
"Perfect, thank you for the Scotch, I won't finish it, I promise."
Olivia attempted to close the door but he stopped her.
"Wait- you're not gonna invite me in?"
"Well no because I want peace and quiet and inviting you in would be, I don't know, the opposite of that."
She slammed the door after throwing his own words to her back in his face. All Fitz could do was chuckle and shake his head, "Well played Olivia, well played."
.