Assets
"Your target." Calder Michaels slid a picture of a familiar-looking blonde across the table to her. "Sharon Carter, the new girl here. She's a former SHIELD agent."
"You think she's connected to the Chicago bombing?" Annie said, glancing up at the man.
"Unlikely." Calder shook his head. "She's only been in the agency for a month or so. Enough time to learn the protocols necessary for Chicago, yes, but she's too new—too obvious. No spy would risk an attack so soon after joining the agency."
Annie nodded as she scanned the file, her mind already working at top speed. It simply wasn't possible for Coulson to have known she would be assigned to this case. Calder wouldn't have even known she'd be available for this until a week ago. Still..."Are we sure she's not in communication with... her old bosses? Or anyone from her past agency?" Annie asked, carefully.
"We've had her under surveillance since day one." Calder answered. "If she is, the agents following her haven't noticed. But maybe she's just that good."
Annie frowned and closed the file. "So basically, there's no reason to suspect she's connected with the Chicago bombing."
"We're following every possible avenue on this one, Annie." Calder's tone was level and his eyes were hard. "No stone unturned."
"I understand that and I agree." Annie nodded. "But I was under the impression that you wanted—and needed—me on point for this investigation."
"I do and I do." Calder's gaze was calculating, and Annie could tell he knew what was coming.
"So why are you sending me on this longshot?" Annie tapped the picture meaningfully. "Is this still about your 'questions' on my four month vacation?"
Calder's eyes grew even harder. "Make no mistake, you and I are not finished discussing that particular 'vacation,' Walker." He snapped. "I was not and I am not pleased with you apparently assuming I'm stupid enough not to tell when you're lying to me. But if you think that I'm the particular brand of petty that would deny justice to twenty good agents blown apart in their own safehouse..." He didn't finish the sentence.
Annie winced internally, but carefully hid it. "So what IS this about?"
"I want you on the Chicago task force, and you'll be on it." Calder answered. "But there are some protocols to follow here. Among other things, anyone associated with the Chicago incident has to undergo a thorough vetting."
Annie blinked. "I'm sorry?"
"Let me put it this way." Calder cocked his head on one side. "What would be your first thought regarding the only agent to survive a savage, well-planned bombing on one of our offices? The only agent to conveniently be outside the building when the bomb went off? Particularly if that agent was fresh from an unsanctioned 4-month hiatus which she gave a most unsatisfying account of."
"So this IS about you being petty."
"This is about me following protocols so I don't have to explain to the DCS or to Congress that I don't bother investigating my friends." Calder answered. "Do I think you had anything to do with Chicago? No, but that doesn't change a damn thing about what needs to be done. Same thing with Agent Carter." He sat back and gestured to indicate the briefing was over. "Sift through her life, Annie. And get your affairs in order, because there will be plenty of people doing the same thing to you."
Following Sharon Carter started off fairly easily. Each day after work, she went out to eat—the restaurants varied but she seemed to favor chicken alfredo—then walked along the national mall and visited one of the capital's war memorials. Usually, it was the WWII monument, but occasionally she stopped by the Korean and Vietnam memorials too. Then she would go straight home. The bugs Annie and Aggie had planted in her apartment indicated that she spent quiet evenings reading a book.
"It's sorta weird she's not listening to any music or anything." Annie observed, binoculars to her eyes, as they watched from the apartment across the street.
"Yeah." Aggie nodded, headphones about his ears and a puzzled frown on his face. "She could hardly be masking any discussions or transmissions with fake silence, though."
"Unless SHIELD has some sound-dampening gadget we don't know about." Annie frowned through the binoculars at the girl. "By the way," She said, glancing up, "Any hits on that name I asked you to run?"
"Phil Coulson? A few. None that connect to Sharon Carter, though." Auggie answered. "And nothing from SHIELD."
"Nothing?" Annie blinked at him.
"I'm still working my way through all the SHIELD data." Auggie pointed out. "There's a lot of it, you realize. I've been at it for several months and I still haven't gotten further than the past year and a half."
Annie returned to her binoculars, her mind racing. "Then what did you find?"
"Well it's kind of a common name." Auggie deadpanned. "But the most interesting hits were some news articles from a New Mexico town about a federal team in the region, and also a plaque from Stark Tower that was added after the Battle of New York... 'In memory of the sacrifice of Phil Coulson.'"
"Interesting." A famous name... maybe her visitor had chosen it out of nostalgia, or in hopes she would recognize it? "Any elaboration on that? Press releases from Stark or anything?"
"No, actually. That's what made it so interesting, Stark never made any sort of formal announcement about the plaque. No fanfare at all."
"That is weird." Annie agreed.
"Yeah. Especially if the other rumors are true... apparently the next tower Stark's building, over in Oregon, is supposed to be called 'Coulson Tower.'" Auggie gave a shake of his head. "Whoever the guy is, he clearly meant a lot to Stark." He gave an inquisitive tilt of his head toward Annie. "Don't suppose you could tell me where you heard the name?"
"Came up during my little sabbatical." Annie hated how easily she could lie to her friends these days. "Wasn't a credible or immediate problem, so I didn't pursue it, but I made a note to check up on the name."
"Like the phone you had me take apart?"
Annie winced. Auggie didn't see it, but he could read a silence like few people. "Annie, you like your secrets, you always have. Goodness knows I've kept a few stories of my own close to the chest, but if I'm supposed to be helping you as your handler, you need to tell me what I'm handling."
He was right, and Annie knew he was right. But it didn't change the fact that there were some things that she couldn't explain to Auggie. Not yet, anyway.
So she went for a compromise.
"It was... toward the end." She hedged. "I'd been laying low, de-stressing and figuring some stuff out when I overheard these two guys talking in a bar. They mentioned the name Coulson, SHIELD, and something about the CIA." She sighed at the way Auggie's brow furrowed. "I wouldn't have noticed, except they were speaking in a form of Italian. I got the gist, but not details."
"And the phone?"
"Palmed it off one of them as he was leaving." Annie felt another twist at how easily lying came to her. "There was no info of value on it, and they have to know it was compromised by now. But it woke me up and brought me back to the agency double time."
"I see." Auggie said, and Annie got the feeling he didn't entirely believe her. But he simply shrugged and turned back to his computer. "Calder still has me sorting and cataloguing the SHIELD data. If he comes up in there, I'll let you know." He promised.
On the weekend, Annie followed the blonde around town. The woman dropped off laundry, stopped at a coffee shop, dropped by a veterans' rest home—Annie made a mental note to check up on "Peggy Carter" later—ate lunch, went shopping, picked up her laundry, dropped it off at the house, went to another coffee-shop...
It was the third coffee-shop that finally did it for Annie. She was sitting at a cafe across the street, watching her target sip coffee nonchalantly at a window seat.
"This is ridiculous." She said suddenly, standing to her feet. "Auggie, I'm going in."
"What? Annie, are you sure that's..."
But Annie was already walking across the street. She saw Carter glance up at her, but her eyes passed on without seeming to take any particular note of the agent. Annie snorted and pushed open the door.
"I hope you know what you're doing here, Annie." Auggie sounded genuinely nervous.
Carter looked up as Annie sat down across from her. "...Can I help you?"
"This is a waste of time for both of us." Annie said. "No one loves coffee this much, and no one's life is this boring. Now I don't know when you made me or my partner, but I know a snow job when I see one. Doing routine errands all day? Walking slowly, taking public transit everywhere? Always sitting by a window? It's like you want to be followed."
Carter's mouth twisted.
"So." Annie shrugged. "I figure I might as well get some good intel out of it. What gave me away? That waiting line at the store? Last night at the diner? Some high-tech SHIELD gadget you've got?"
Carter set down her coffee mug carefully. "Actually, I didn't know you were tailing me." She answered.
"Seriously?" Annie raised her eyebrows. "Have a bit more respect for my intelligence than that."
"I didn't." Carter insisted. "You're pretty good, for CIA. Certainly better than the guys they had last week. I did notice that the vacant apartment across from my place finally got a renter, though." Leaning back, Carter shrugged. "But I didn't need to see you. I pretty much expected to be under surveillance once I joined the CIA." She considered this a moment. "I would have been insulted if I wasn't, honestly."
"She's got a point." Auggie conceded.
"Even after the guys from last week disappeared?"
Again Carter shrugged. "It's routine in SHIELD to keep surveillance on new agents for two months, and I'm pretty sure that the CIA is at least that careful about ex-Nazis." There was a trace of bitterness to the last words.
"Ouch. Girl's got a sore spot." Auggie noted.
Annie smiled understandingly. "Still attached to the old division, aren't you?"
Carter looked away, whether from anger or embarrassment, Annie couldn't tell. "My aunt was one of SHIELD's founders, so yeah, you could say it's personal. She's been really upset about how the division's name has been dragged through the mud, recently... some commentators have even been suggesting that she was Hydra and contributed to Cap's 'death.'" Her lip curled.
That made Annie genuinely wince. "Commentators aren't known for their intelligence." She said, hoping to sound conciliatory.
"The thing is, most of SHIELD wasn't Hydra." Carter crossed her arms, still staring out the window. "Just a minority of highly placed and highly skilled agents who caught us with our pants down. That whole mess at the Triskelion? A lot of good SHIELD agents died trying to keep those helicarriers from taking off." A sigh. "And now a whole lot more are tied up in court hearings or hamstringed in desk jobs while Hydra has the run of the world."
Annie nodded. "What about Agent Coulson?"
Carter looked back at her in surprise. "What about him?"
"Have I mentioned this is a bad idea?" Auggie asked.
"We came across his name recently in our intel." Annie answered. "Did you know him?"
Carter laughed a little at that. "Agent Coulson? Not really. He was level 8, significantly above my pay grade. I met him once." She paused. "I think. It was when Fury picked me for Cap's security detail. There was a balding middle-aged guy standing in the corner, and after Fury was done talking to me he shook my hand and said, 'Welcome to the team.'"
"So he was close to the director of SHIELD?" Annie asked. The description matched up with the man she'd met, but there had to be plenty of balding middle-aged men out there.
This time, Carter almost snorted. "That's an understatement. Coulson was something of a legend in SHIELD... Fury's 'one good eye,' they called him. He was attached to the Avengers Initiative and half-a-dozen other of Fury's pet projects."
Annie blinked rapidly. "Coulson was an Avenger?"
"This guy was a superhero?" Auggie questioned, nearly at the same time.
Carter seemed puzzled, then her face cleared. "Oh, no, no. He was the liason, responsible for bringing them in. He was in charge of the First Contact scenario in New Mexico and was later attached to Captain America's crew."
"That's what the news articles from New Mexico were about." Auggie sounded contemplative. "I should have made that connection."
"So... Hydra? Or SHIELD?"
Carter shrugged. "Who knows? I mean, he had a reputation for being a softie completely devoted to SHIELD's mission, and people said he was one of the few folks Fury actually trusted, but..."
"...that could also have been said of Alexander Pierce." Annie finished wryly. She was starting to see the difficulty with this op. Then something hit her. "You keep saying 'had', 'was', 'called.' Did... something happen?"
That earned her a very strange look. "You don't know?" Annie just stared back. Carter gave a half-laugh and muttered something under her breath.
"I heard that." Auggie, whose hearing was of course much better, sounded vaguely amused.
"Agent Coulson died." Carter said, louder. "Shortly before the battle of New York. The details were... sketchy. Some folks said he took a bullet in an alley somewhere, others that he was killed testing some protoype for Fury, others that he was stabbed in the chest by a Norse god."
Annie arched an eyebrow.
"Some jobs at SHIELD were more interesting than others." Carter shrugged.
"Sounds like it." Annie nodded, her face carefully blank.
"Actually the Norse god thing makes sense." Auggie spoke up. "At least one is supposed to have been involved in New York. It would explain why Stark felt so strongly about Coulson... the man died trying to hold them off." A little snort came through the earpiece. "Hey Annie. You think the CIA's supposed to handle Norse gods now that SHIELD isn't around?"
"Strange you bring Coulson up." Carter mentioned, before Annie could devote much thought to Auggie's question. "You say his name popped up in intel recently? How recently? In connection with what?"
Annie was very conscious of Auggie on the other side of her earpiece. "A few weeks ago. As for the connection, I'm afraid I can't say."
"So it's a relevant matter. Connected to something current, ongoing." Carter looked pensive. She started to say something, hesitated, then said, "About... three weeks before everything at SHIELD..." She gestured. "...went pear-shaped, I heard a rumor. People were saying Coulson was back."
Annie raised an eyebrow. "As in, back from the dead?"
"Sounds like you have a lot in common with this guy."
"Is that normal in SHIELD?" Annie asked.
"What, you mean people rising up from the grave?" Carter's mouth quirked in a sardonic smile. "No. If you mean agents' deaths being faked so they could lead private ghost op programs independently of SHIELD, then it really depends on who you believe. Some people took Fury at face value, others said every single agent who'd ever 'died' was actually just transferred into a take-your-pick secret organization answering only to Fury. SWORD, ARMOR, you name it."
"Clever titles."
A shrug. "No one ever accused conspiracy theorists of being original." Carter sighed. "Probably the truth was somewhere in the middle. Fury did like to compartamentalize things, and he wasn't big on sharing control with anyone, least of all the World Security Council."
"Funny how that worked out for him." Annie noted.
She got a glare in answer. "Whatever else you hear, Fury had nothing to do with Hydra. Why do you think he was the first casualty in the takeover? His way of... handling things likely made it harder for Hydra to extend control."
"And easier to escape notice." Annie shook her head and reminded herself that this was not the point. "And Coulson?"
Carter was still glaring, but she too seemed willing to drop the subject. "The details surrounding his death were always very sketchy. But at the same time, they were TOO sketchy. If it was a cover-up, it was a very sloppy cover-up."
"Bottom line, you don't know."
"Bottom line." Carter nodded.
Annie considered this a moment. "Come on." She said, standing up.
"Excuse me?" Carter quirked an eyebrow.
"You going to sit here filling your bladder all day, or are you going to do some real spy work?" Annie asked.
"Annie, what are you doing?" Auggie's voice had a mixture of dread and resignation.
Carter's brow wrinkled in confusion, but she got up and followed Annie out of the coffeeshop. The two of them crossed the street, straight to a black pest-control van on the far side. Annie threw the doors open, and there was Auggie, sitting at a listening station.
Slowly, he removed the headphones, and turned to face them, eyes staring sightlessly down the street. "Agent Carter." He nodded. "Annie, you wanna tell me what the hell is going on?"
"Agent Anderson?" Carter's eyes were round. "And you're Annie? As in Annie Walker? What kind of crazy badass does the CIA think I am?"
"This tailing job is a waste of time." Annie snorted, climbing into the van and motioning to Carter to follow. "If we're being asked to vet Agent Carter here, we might as well do it by putting her SHIELD smarts to good use."
"Meaning what?" Auggie asked, brow furrowed. Carter had a similarly confused expression.
Annie was already climbing into the driver's seat. "We're going to dig up a grave."
A/N: That took a little bit longer than I expected. I wanted to wait until the season premiere, though, so that I could line up this chapter's events with Annie being back at work in the CIA. (Incidentally, the plot for this season looks fairly transparent-unless that's what they WANT me to think). There's a good deal of exposition in this chapter, but hopefully it's enjoyable anyway.
I don't intend to try and fit other chapters into the season's structure. So just assume all subsequent events take place between episodes 1 and 2 of this season.