Repercussion
The mission should have gone better.
It wasn't quite botched. They did catch Casseas and one of his heavy hitter associates. In doing so, they had put the field agent they were supposed to guide, in danger. Luckily, Agent Donovan had an ace up his sleeve in the form of his hidden mutant abilities which somehow saved his life.
Alexa studied the handsome agent across the room, trying to piece together what he was capable of. With her energy signature sensing, she could not only find an individual with their specific signature, but if they had extra abilities, she could usually get a feel of what and the strength of special powers that they possessed. It wasn't always full proof on figuring out exactly what the abilities were, yet their energies radiated a stronger signature that made them easier to find.
Now that she was in the near vicinity of Donovan, she could sense that his ability had something to do with the pulsing of energy.
Then there was his insider who saved him too. Agent Carmilla Black. Bryce Donovan's regular partner.
Alexa couldn't help the vague negativity she felt around the female agent in general. Agent Black had this aloofness about her, as if she was naturally better than most. Alexa couldn't pinpoint if Black was necessarily a mutant. There was something there about her that hinted the field agent could be a dangerous asset. As if she internally possessed something that could be lethal. It made Alexa's skin crawl being close to her.
The dark-haired woman stood next to Donovan, slowly tapping her fingers on her crossed arms. She narrowly stared at the Director as they all stood in his office to give reports about their latest mission. Agent Phil Coulsen, a close confidant of Director Fury stood in the back of the room to observe. Manish Shaheen stood next to him while fiddling with a metal contraption out of boredom.
"What was last night?" Donovan spoke calmly, yet you could see his eyes fuming.
Director Nick Fury clasped his hands in front of him from behind his desk. He patiently scanned the occupants of the room with his good eye.
"I call that a success. We apprehended Diego Casseas and Eric Conroy where no one else could."
"Then why was I pulled out?" Black demanded. She didn't bother hiding her irritation. "I had things under control."
"We hadn't received a single transmission from you in over two weeks."
"I was deep undercover—"
Fury stopped her with a raise of his hand. She huffed in annoyance.
"As I do appreciate your work, Agent Black, we got what we needed to finally apprehend him. Especially since his comatose daughter passed. Now to find the rest of Left Hand's Circle gang or whatever they call themselves."
Agent Black spoke again, "And you only sent two desk agents for Bryce's back up when you knew how dangerous the Folding Circle was. I had to blow my cover!" She gestured to Alexa in particular. "What did she ever do?!"
"I was the one who finally found you!" Alexa blurted out.
Donovan turned and gave his team a look over. "That actually brings me to my next question." He said. "I was given an obviously weak excuse on Hartfield's special way of finding targets through, what was it, behavioral analysis while using chemical components? She's technically considered a SHIELD consultant or whatever! And Shaheen from the tech department was the other one to have my back."
"Not as if you wanted our help." Manish casually mentioned.
Donovan continued, "Why weren't they working the case remotely in a lab—unless there was a hidden purpose for both of them being on site?"
Donovan paused to give Director Fury an incriminating look. "Correct me if I'm wrong."
Bryce Donovan turned to Manish then Alexa, waiting for a response. Black gave a side look of interest.
Manish Shaheen glanced up to look around before turning his attention back to his mini project, bored. He wouldn't have been in the Director's office if it weren't for Fury's insistence that all of them attend to report last night's mission.
Manish leaned against the wall to wait and see how things turned out. He had his own predictability of a myriad of possibilities in many situations. It was how his super mind worked as he liked to say. He saw this current one as being an inevitable outcome.
Alexa, on the other hand, hesitantly looked around the room before stopping at Fury in question. What should they say to that? She nervously wondered.
When Director Fury first brought her into SHIELD, it was indicated that he would find a way to utilize her talents without publicly acknowledging her mutant status as per her request. She soon met Manish, a super genius working mainly in the technology department of SHIELD. He began there nearly three years prior and had made quite a rising contribution to the agency's resources.
The pair quickly got along and that was saying something since the genius was very particular on who he could work with.
Manish first broke the silence and gave a nod towards Fury. "Secured,"
The man with the eyepatch stood up tall with authority.
"That is because Hartfield was directly needed to keep tabs on Casseas' gang to avoid another potential escape and to quickly find him again if he slipped out of sight. The chemical analysis was a cover that you, Donovan, have obviously exploited."
Alexa whipped her head back to the Director with wide eyes. "What?" She had no idea what to say. What was he doing?He promised not to reveal the real reason of her skills.
Coulsen gave Fury a knowing look as he stayed by the wall. "Told you it would be a waste to excuse while out of the lab." He said matter-of-factly.
Manish tightened one end of his gimmick as he added, "I was the one who bet it would take him longer to notice without a subtle nudge in the right direction."
"Cheat," Coulsen muttered, reaching into his wallet to pull out a crisp twenty-dollar bill.
Manish shrugged as he took it. "I cannot help to see the probable outcomes. You will someday learn not to bet the odds against a genius."
Donovan ignored the betting pair by the wall. He walked closer to the desk and put his hand down on it.
"What do you mean?" He demanded. Black huffed behind him.
"Simple, Agent Donovan." Fury replied smoothly. "Hartfield possesses the natural ability to track down her targets. Much as you have a natural tendency of taking dangerously brute forces directly that would easily kill any normal being, as recently exhibited by last night's ruffle."
It was Donovan's turn to become pale and speechless.
"Not to worry." Coulsen assured, "Any detailed video evidence towards that was blotted out from the report."
"You are most welcome," Manish said without looking up.
"And written off as a durable body armor."
Shaheen added, "To which I am also working on the prototype for."
Alexa stared at her partner and friend. How come he never told her any of this before the meeting? No warnings whatsoever? It had obviously been discussed prior. Her friend ignored her gaze as he pulled out his enhanced mobile device and went at the keys.
"How?" Donovan asked, still in shock. Black remained silent and appeared to be deep in thought.
Fury stood in front of his desk, looking between the people of the room with seriousness.
"I am aware of much that goes on within SHIELD's organization. Including that I have individuals who hide that they possess extraordinary abilities, such as the four of you. I will assume that the extra details about each of your abilities will remain in confidentiality?"
They nodded in reponse, Donovan hesitant and Black as a second thought.
Phil Coulsen stepped forward. "Tracking people, high intelligence, energy durability, poison secretion…" He paused to turn to Fury. "Correct?"
The Director nodded. Coulsen continued, "We have kept your abilities hidden from public knowledge for quite some time, as we've done for a few others in the past."
Nick Fury leaned against his desk to survey the room. "It is my understanding that powerful beings such as mutants, have been shunned upon and feared for quite some time."
"Yes, sir." Alexa confirmed, her head down.
She frowned at personal events even 5 years ago of ridicule and suppression when spending time with fellow mutants while outside of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. It was still a sore spot.
She could only imagine what Bryce Donovan and others went through. The current expression on his face spoke that something happened in his past as well. It was hard to tell what Carmilla Black was thinking as she remained emotionless. Manish remained indifferent for the most part, but then Alexa already knew a little of his story.
Fury pulled her out of her downgrading thoughts, "I want to assure each of you, that while you work for SHIELD, you will not be exploited—unless that is what you choose to do."
Bryce finally found his voice again. "Then why have us all in the dark about each other during the mission?"
"It was hard to move around Agent Donovan's strong energy signature to find Agent Black." Alexa admitted, "More warning would have been preferred."
"Last night was a field test." Fury declared, "As I admit dismissal on my part for withholding detailed information, I wanted to see how all of you would work together naturally. We gained success in taking down a powerful threat."
"Albeit dangerously played," Carmilla said a bit harshly.
"Agreed," Bryce added, rubbing the top of his chest. He was fairly durable, but last night left him still sore. It had been a long time since he took on an energy attack like that.
"Warn us about another team up like that."
The pair of experienced field agents left the room. Coulsen was the first to turn his attention away from their departure.
"That went decent,"
"Hmm," Fury walked towards the window, deep in thought.
Alexa anxiously turned away from the door. She looked at Manish as if ready to say something, but thought the better of it. They could talk later in private. She needed to talk to Fury first.
"Director Fury?" Both seasoned agents turned towards her in inquiry.
"As glad as I am that you entrusted me to directly be a part of a field assignment, you could have better warned me about the other mutant agents."
"You informed me that you knew about Donovan," Fury supplied.
"Of that I sensed that he had a strong energy. Not what he could be capable of, much less how to work with him—and Agent Black."
"You didn't go in completely blind. It was two pairs of agents working collectively as a whole."
Manish put away his device to join in. He raised an eyebrow. "No doubt his field test that he had been waiting the perfect opportunity to experiment with." Fury didn't comment.
Alexa suppressed a sigh. "I suppose that sounds about right,"
Manish chuckled. "So long that he does not plan on adding us to his superhero dream team. What was it called…The Avengers Initiative?" The super genius gave a knowing smirk.
"The Avengers Initiative?" Alexa asked, confused.
Fury gave Manish a look. "Getting into encrypted files again, Shaheen?"
He shrugged, "Child's play."
Fury stepped away from his gazing out the window to turn to the remaining agents. "It was an idea, if you will, that I developed years ago after a near catastrophic event, that we would need special individuals to defend the Earth."
"And reopened a few months ago," Manish added, pulling out his phone in interest. "What prompted that I wonder?"
"Stark," Coulsen said. Fury gave his long-time agent friend a glare.
"Tony Stark? And his whole Iron Man fiasco?" Alexa pondered the implications. "Why would you consider us for your special team?"
"There are threats out there that no ordinary agent, much less person, can handle. As you've seen with Casseas and his group. Who knows what other threats lie out there?"
Fury put his hands behind his back and held his head high.
"I will need you all to be ready for anything."
Now things are starting to go into motion.
Side note, Manish ("Mah-neesh") kind of took over as I was writing this chapter. WAY more than I originally intended. I've been watching Big Bang Theory lately and see him as a combination of a few characters. Especially Sheldon and Raj, the latter that I fan cast him as actually. There are few that Manish can really get along with. Alexa and Coulsen being a couple shown so far. Otherwise, he tolerates people the best he can, preferring to work solo.
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