In the Event…
Chapter 11
Coulson was sitting in his office going over the weekly reports with his second, Agent May. Other then the Ghost Wind incident, nothing of any other consequence had taken place and what little paper work that did need to get done was more for the usual requisitions for the R&D, Maintenance and Personnel departments. As much as Coulson would have normally hated the monotony of this sort of work, it was a nice change occasionally from the constant life threatening or life altering events that seamed to be the norm around hear now. Coulson never recalled Furry being as active in saving the world every other week as he found himself.
"Lastly the first level rooms are done for the 'Cocoon'. Are we sure we want to call the new base that?" May asked Coulson as she brought up the schematics of the new Inhuman facility onto the main screen.
"It is a bit of a joke between Daisy and I. She calls all the new Inhuman's caterpillars and that if they just had a safe place to 'Cocoon' then they could all become butterfly's. After that the name just kind of stuck. Besides it is not as if some of the other bases that we have had in the past, have been any better at being named. After all we are in the 'Playground' are we not." When May shrugged in her acceptance of his explanation all she could think was that it was just another thing to add to the ever-growing list of things that he and Daisy had as an inside joke.
Looking over the floor plan of the new base, Coulson was glad to see that they now had housing for single, double and multiple unit rooms. They also had a communal kitchen and storage rooms much like the 'Playground' had. There was a medical and surgical lab so that if any of the Inhuman's needed help then Lincoln and his carefully selected group of colleges would have somewhere that they could work that was equipped to handle persons with powers. The rest of the facility was designed to help with the transitioning and training of those that had gifts, that they could not handle on their own.
Coulson was also in the process of working out an agreement so that if any of the new Inhuman's wanted to be trained to become S.H.E.I.L.D. operatives, much like Daisy, Yo-yo, Joey and Lincoln had then they could work towards that as well as working within the new community that he was helping to set up for them. The location of this new base was classified top levels only as any government might see this as a way to breach of the Sokovia Accords. Though the accords were designed to register and keep track of gifted peoples so that they could be monitored to make sure that they were not doing anything illegal, many also saw them as the means with which to keep gifteds apart, so that they would have less chance of rallying together and in so, potentially over throwing normal human governments and law enforcement.
One of the final things that Coulson was proud about was the community rooms that he had set up in advance. One might not think that school rooms, a playground or even a garden green house would be needed on a S.H.E.I.L.D. base but Coulson had a feeling that this base would more then likely become a replacement for 'Afterlife' then anything and some of the displaced families would want somewhere safe that they could raise their children in peace. If in the future, it was felt that they base/community needed to expand then Coulson had prepared for that when he had asked for Maria Hills help in getting some Stark Tec that could excavate lower levels into the bedrock around the existing base. This would allow them to expand as large as they needed to with out changing the size above ground of the base structure.
"Director Coulson we have an emergence incident in progress. Local office is requesting Alpha assistance for a level one event. Initial scans indicate an ice based gift." One of the Tec's from the observation room said as they rushed into his office. 'So much for easy week.' Coulson thought as the Tec sent the information to one of the screens in his office wall.
"Where is the incident?"
"New York, Sir."
"They just can't seam to catch a brake can they. And the exact location?" Coulson asked as he took a closer look at the map that was brought up. He had a sinking feeling that he knew the name of the place from one of his past missions but he wanted to make sure that he was not just imposing his past upon his present.
"Saint Agnes Orphanage, Sir."
"Well how about that. May you may as well get her back hear. You know for a fact that she will want to handle this one herself." Coulson didn't even have to mention Daisy's name for May to know whom it was that he was talking about. "You said it's and ice gift?" Coulson asked the Tec and out of the corner of his eye he could see as May stiffened. He knew that she suspected where this was going and Coulson also knew that she didn't like the idea at all.
"Yes Sir. The only time we have ever encountered readings like this were when Donald Gill was using his gifts. I could have Agent Simmons confirm if you would like."
"Thank you but that is not necessary, that will be all. Tell the New York office that we are sending out a team and they should be there with in the hour." Turning to look at May when the Tec had left, Coulson could not help but cringe. "I know you don't like it but you herd what he said. Ice and we all know that Daisy is good but if she were to go in just blasting everything apart then some of the kids at the orphanage are likely to get hurt. But with fire… Ward could just melt it all away."
"And what makes you think that he would even be willing to help with this? For all that we know he could have left already. Simmons report of Daisy's progress states that she is done with the Ghost Wind and that Simmons was going to clear Daisy to come back to the base as of this afternoon, when she and Lincoln had finished their last check in with her." May had been trying to convince Coulson to put a biomechanical tracker in Ward so that when he did leave, S.H.E.I.L.D. would at least be able to keep an eye on his where abouts.
"I know that Ward come back to work with S.H.E.I.L.D. is a less then a plesent idea. And if he were to leave, I doubt that no matter how nicely we were to ask him, that he is likely to keep us informed about his where abouts. But if instead we were to give Daisy the 'Cocoon' now, then there is a chance that he may just fallow her there." When May gave Coulson a raised eye brow in response he sighed. "Can you really tell me that after a week of them being intimate with each other that things have not progressed between them like they did on the 'Bus'. Ward has always cared about her."
"More like fixated on her. The last thing we need is two emotionally attached and compromised people out in the field together. It is libel to get Daisy killed or others if Ward were to lose his cool if something were to happen to her while out there. The fact that they are both level one alphas, means that the possible damage and death tole goes from hundreds to thousands if something was to go wrong." Coulson had to agree with everything that May was saying. The idea of Daisy and Ward together on a mission again could potentially mean disaster for anyone in the surrounding area if things went south, as they sometimes did on missions.
"How about we deal with this crisis first and then see what comes of it. Who knows, perhaps Ward may surprise us. He has been gone for quite some time. And Simmons did mention that his behavior around others had undergone a drastic change. For the better." Coulson then got up and left his office so that he could start to organize his people as they needed to get to New York quickly and help out in any way that they could.
At the cabin Daisy had just gotten out of the shower while Grant was making them some lunch when the com's unit that Lincoln had given them started to go off. "Grant could you get that please." Daisy yelled from the bedroom and ducked back into the room to finish dressing.
Grant looked at the com's unit for a moment and hoped that the person on the other end of the line would at least be someone that he could stand before he picked up the receiver and connected the call. "Grant Ward hear, what can we do for you?"
"Ward it's Coulson, I need to speak with Daisy."
"Just a moment. She just got out of the shower and is a bit indisposed at the moment." Grant went to the door of the room to see how much longer his lover was going to be. "Can I pass along a message for you?"
"Just put me on speaker as what I have to say will affect both of you." Grant's eyes widened in concern but he did as Coulson asked. "Daisy we have had an emergence incident. Initial scans indicate an ice based gift. Local office is requesting Alpha assistance for a level one event."
"Oh shit! How long ago did the event happen and where?" Daisy asked as she change out of the shorts she had just put on and into longer jeans. She also stated rummaging threw her things for something more appropriate to wear into a frozen disaster zone then just a tank top.
"Saint Agnes Orphanage, New York. Event took place 25 minutes ago."
"Double shit! Get my team in the air and I will meet them there. We will be taking Grants quin jet so tell the others so that we can co ordinate our plans." Grant knew the moment that Coulson had said ice gift why he had mentioned that this would also concern him. With out actually saying so they were dragging him back into the S.H.E.I.L.D. fold.
"I'll let the team know. I am also sending along Agents Fitz, Simmons and Mackenzie to help with containment and extraction in 'Backend'. I know that this even is not the fault of the emergent caterpillar but our primary focus this time has to be the kids and getting them and anyone else in the area to safety. Ward if you could counter act this persons' ability then Daisy and the others should be able to contain this person so that we can get them the help that they need." Coulson could not see the look on ether of the faces of the Inhuman's in the cabin, but if he had he would have seen that both were smiling at how easily things were sliding into the old habits that they had made while a team.
"Can we assume that the public is a ware of what is taking place inside the orphanage." Grant asked falling back into the role of Agent like no time had passed since he had been on a mission with S.H.E.I.L.D.
"Yes and the area has already been closed off. Just get down there as soon as you can and let me worry about public relations when this has all been dealt with." With that Coulson signed off. Slowly the two lovers turned to look at each other realizing in that moment they were about to go on a mission with a partner that, though they trusted on a personal level, they had also not worked with on a professional level in over a year.
"For the sake of everything we are trying to foster between us I am going to let you know right now that you are the one in charge of this and that I will fallow your lead." Grant told Daisy so that she would know that this was, and as far as he was concerned would always be, her show. After all they were about to go into a hostile situation and the last thing that ether of them needed was to wonder whom would be calling the shots on what course of action they should be fallowing. Grant may have had more field experience then Daisy in the past, but when it came to dealing with the Inhuman situations, Daisy had far more experience then he did.
"And hear I thought you always liked being the man in charge of a mission."
"Right now you know more about what could, can and likely will happen with this emergent Inhuman, as you have seen far more situations then I have with people with first time powers. I can give you general advice but I am no longer your S.O. and insisting that we fallow my plan would likely get many people hurt." A large part of Grant would always miss the naive part of Daisy that had been his Rookie all those years ago but he also could not help but love the strong and confident leader that she had become while working with other Inhuman's over these last two years. As if reading his mind Daisy leaned into him and rapped her arms around his waist. Looking Grant in the eyes she smiled softly before telling him,
"You may not be my S.O. anymore, but I will always be your Rookie."
Grant laughed at this and captured Daisy's lips in a crushing kiss before he finally pulled away from her. "How did you know that was what I was thinking about?"
"You have this look. You get it every time you are thinking about the past that we used to have." Daisy told Grant before she pulled away from him and started to gather all of the things she could think she might need before she left the cabin and started to make her way down to Grant's quin jet.
Grant fallowed Daisy onto the jet and after making sure that the plain was more then capable of making it to New York he got them up and flying in the direction of unknown peril and hopefully a much better future of him working with S.H.E.I.L.D. again.
In story word count: 2482
Sorry for the long delay in this chapter people but this one had me re writing it two to three times in some places as being my transition chapter between one story problem and the next, I was running into some writers' block.
I also wanted to send out my thanks, love and appreciation to all of you who have favorited, fallowed or commented on this story. It warms my heart to see just how much all of you like my work.
So, Thank You.
