Hello to you all, this is the next Agents-of-S.H.I.E.L.D.-themed chapter.
Let's see what Coulson decides and welcome some new characters to the scene!
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. Neither the songtext. Unfortunately.
Trigger Warning: Mentioning of drugs.
Chapter 7: Team
We live in cities
You'll never see onscreen
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things
S.H.I.E.L.D. base, location classified
Melinda was right, Phil thought, as she was so often: He would let them choose whether they wanted to stick to him or go their separate ways again. He knew most of his team could make it on their own, they had done it for the last two years, but truth was, he wasn't sure if he himself was ready for it: Seing his second family break apart as well. But what else could he do, it was only right to give them a choice, considering how bad the odds were with Ultron around.
Meanwhile, Bobbi briskly walked to a lab that was connected to their underground facilities, but instead of entering, she knocked politely. A woman's head shot up from the work she had been doing and she smiled, signalling her to enter. "Bobbi, what a nice surprise. How can I help you?" "Simmons, the director scheduled a staff meeting tonight. I don't know any details, but I strongly suspect it has something to do with Ultron. It must be something major in any case as he is getting everybody in, even YoYo, Izzy and Hunter." The other woman smiled sympathetically. "I am sorry, I am pretty sure that will be really awkward for you." The blonde just scoffed. "Obviously. But we have to remain professional. Hopefully he gets that as well." That made Jemma smile weakly, she absolutely did not envy Morse for what was going on between her and her ex-husband. "May is not coming, is she?" "I don't know, but I am not getting my hopes up. I mean, she dropped out to get away from all this shit, so why should she come back now after all this time?", Bobbi argued. "You are probably right", Jemma sighed, "now, I have to oversee the chemical reactions here, I don't want to blow anything up. But if you are not busy at the Moment, I could use your great knowledge in biology." Bobbi looked at her surprised. It was true, she knew a few Things About herbnbs and mushrooms, but not a lot that wasn't known to Jemma anyway. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"
The younger team member grinned. "Please water the cannabis, I did not have time to do that today. I know it is not what you expected but you would do me a huge favour." Mockingbird just laughed and wandered off to do that job, marveling once more how they were managing all this: Growing, manufacturimng and selling drugs without having a single addict on the team. Quite magnificent. Probably it had all to do with Coulson and May, he had given them a family, there was no need to take stuff to escape reality. The two years without the team had been pretty hard, economically and emotionally, so she was happy to be back in this group. Bobbi had been the director's inofficial personal assistant for years and she really loved that job.
Grant Ward entered the group's secret garage and weapon arsenal at the same time that Bobbi was gardening a few hundred meters down the corridors. "Fitz, Mack, staff meeting at eight!" He shouted over the noise of welding torches. Both stopped their work on a grey SUV and looked at him curiously. "Okay, anything else we should know?", the younger man asked. "Not really, no. But we have to get message to the rest of the crew. Mack, I thought maybe you would like to contact Elena?", he asked with a smug grin. While Fitz snickered quietly, the huge man just rolled his eyes. "Okay I will give her a call. I can also give notice to Hunter if you want to." The dark-haired man gave him a grateful nodd before he excited the room again. He was happy if he did not have to run after Hunter. They did not really get along, never had, so they both tried to keep contact as minimal as possible.
As soon as Ward had left, Mack dialed a number."Sí?", a woman's voice responded instantly. "The director wants us all at headquaters tonight at eight", Mack delievered the message truthfully, "a meeting. I am not exactly sure what about, nobody is. But I would recommend to be on time." The woman scoffed slightly. "YOU are the turtle, not me!" Then, without saying another word, she hung up on him. Calling Hunter turned out to be a longer affair. It took them five times to get him on the phone and then he overran the mechanic with questions he had no answers for. In the end, he agreed to be there and pick up Izzy on the way, even though Mack had the strong suspicion they were hanging out together anyway. Both had gone on assignments the day before and none of them had returned, but made HQ know that they were okay. It didn't take a genius such as Fitz or Simmons to put one and one together.
Please let me know what you think! The next chapter will be S.H.I.E.L.D. again before we switch abck to the others at the NYPD.