I have been thinking hard about where to go next with this. Then I looked into Gunslinger Girl. This anime is like an unholy blending of Noir with The Winter Soldier. Like Bucky Barnes and Chloe, the girls of the Social Welfare Agency are victims (although they do not consider themselves as such) yet they are extremely dangerous. I cannot conceive of Coulson learning of the existence of the SWA's Section 2 and him not wanting to bring this organization down. On the other hand, Coulson currently has his hands full dealing with Nu-SHIELD and the mess that they have made ( See bissek's Reaching An Accord) His assets are either stuck in the Playground or searching for the Athame of Morgan le Fae so what he can spare for this operation is very limited.

That said, here goes!

Chapter Six: The Next Mission.

The flight from Tokyo to Malta Station was not uncomfortable. True, The Bus was and would be out of play until Director Coulson could get Gonzales and his cabal wrangled in but the"Mini Bus" as Tripp liked to call it ( a modified Gulfstream G650ER ) was equipped with a rather nice galley, sleeping quarters and other amenities. While well stocked with entertainment options, today's in-flight movie was being replaced by an emergency briefing by Director Coulson himself.

Considering the Boss's current problems this must be real big. Triplett considered as Gideon and the two young women known together as Noir took their seats for the three way video call with Agent Mills in Malta and Director Coulson transmitting from an undisclosed location.

"I see everyone is here so I'll try to be brief. Gonzales' people just pissed off some very important people in Chicago. I need to go and try and calm things down or at least keep the consequences from spilling over onto the rest of us." Coulson began.

"Good luck on that, Director." Gideon replied.

"I'm going to need it." Coulson confirmed. "In the meantime, we can't let our in house problems keep us from doing our job." He emphasized.

The photograph of a man in his early forties telescoped into one quadrant of the monitor.

"This is Claudio Raballo. Formerly of the Carabinieri. Invalided out after an injury resulted in the amputation of one of his legs. Now very recently late of the Social Welfare Agency."

Gideon saw Tripp tense at the name.

"Social Welfare Agency?" Gideon asked. "Somehow I think this guy wasn't passing out welfare checks."

Coulson shook his head. "The SWA is a covert operations section of the Italian Government. Mainly dealing with counter-terrorism. This morning we arranged for Mister Raballo to have a fatal accident before flying him to Malta for his protection and debriefing. Agent Mills?"

Brian Mills faced the screen, arms folded. His the face of a man forcing himself to restrain a burning anger.

"Agent Beckett carried out the initial debriefing of Mr. Raballo. According to him, the Social Welfare Agency has established a section specializing in assassination using young girls who have been conditioned and cybernetically enhanced."

Gideon noticed how both Mireille and Kirika tensed at this. For Kirika, the outward signs were very slight but still there all the same. Mireille was more expressive.

"That sounds like something the Soldats might have come up with." She suggested.

Director Coulson nodded. "That could be. And of course we know that Hydra has a deep interest in cybernetically enhanced soldiers. So their hand could be in this also."

"One question," Gideon spoke. "Where do these girls come from?"

Mills scowled. "They are already wards of the state. Come from ruined lives."

"Damaged and disposable." Gideon noted sourly. "Perfect."

"And that's why I want you to investigate the situation and take whatever steps are necessary and possible to shut this down." Coulson told them.

"This isn't like going after Hydra." Triplett replied. "We're dealing with a branch of the legal government of a sovereign nation." He knew he was deliberately casting bait.

"It doesn't matter Tripp. SHIELD used to be a legally recognized agency too. There's a line and it's been crossed." Coulson answered. "We're going to do something about it..."

In adding a new chapter to this story I felt a little nervous that I might be putting on one piece too many. But you folks tell me: Should I go forward with this or did I try to go a bridge too far? Please leave a review and let me know.