Author's Note: More original content on the horizon! Not one, but the next TWO chapters will be based on the mini comics and expanded upon by yours truly. Oh what fun! And if you are enjoying these, let me know! Please. Let me know. The silence in the review department is unnerving…
SHIELD answers the call! A mysertious outbreak in the midwest forces the division to interfere and stop the chaos before it becomes an issue on a national scale. But the scene of the crime leaves Director Nick Fury with more questions than answers. Who is behind this? Why are they doing this? Do his agents have what it takes to overcome? Keep reading, true believers, and find out how SHIELD will handle-
Chapter 17: The Eighth Plague
Edmont, Missouri was a far cry from the big city chaos New York was known for. A small town county full of rolling hills, farmland and peace and quiet. It was tranquil and pleasant, possibly even a good getaway location for any city-slickers who sought a reprieve from the everyday hustle and bustle.
Nick Fury, however, was not here for the scenery or quiet. He was here on buisness.
Arriving via helicopter, and accompanied by Agents Jace and Miguel, the situation facing him was quite tame compared to the threats encountered in New York as of late. Yet the ramifications were potentially on par with world-ending disasters and SHIELD needed to act before it was too late.
The helicopter made landfall in a desolate field where SHIELD agents and scientists buzzed around the remains of what used to be a crop. The damage had been swift and sudden, the promising devastation enough to warrant the presence of SHIELD. Fury stepped out, followed by Jace and Miguel, the two shielding themselves from the thunderous rotations of the chopper's blades as they made for a waiting Mariah Hill, standing several feet away.
"Agent Hill, tell me what we're dealing with." Fury ordered, shouting over the din of the helicopter as it took off once more.
"What's you see is what you get, Director Fury. Something inhuman has wiped out all the crops throughout the entire county." Mariah answered, gesturing with a sweep of her hand to the flattened earth around them. "Without a decent harvest, the people who live here… their families… will be ruined."
"And it's our job to set things right." Fury surmised, studying the area around them. "Agent Miguel, what's the primary crop produced by Missouri?" He asked.
"Corn and soybeans, sir. But corn is more prevalent." The Hispanic member of his entourage answered crisply.
"So what eats corn in vast quantities?" Jace wondered.
"That'll be what we need to learn, Agent." Fury replied, resuming his walk. "I assume you have a plan?" He asked of Hill, who promptly shook her head.
"Not me, sir." She responded, leading them over to a golden egg-shaped device that was teeming with scientists. "Director Fury, allow me to introduce Doctor Amanda Jennings from SHIELD's science division." The woman in question was a short brunette with large-rimmed glasses and clad in a lab coat, very much interested in the device she was tinkering with.
"Director. So nice of you to stop by for a field inspection." She greeted, not even looking up.
"I'm not here to check up on your work, Doctor. I'm here to see what role it plays in this plan of yours." Fury replied, crossing his arms as he studied it. Jace and Miguel tilted their heads as they curiously examined the device. "But while we're on the subject, why don't you tell me about this machine." Fury said. Jennings turned around, adjusting her glasses as she faced the men.
"This is a sonic agitator. It's still in the testing phase, but we think it can be used as a catalyst for crop rehabilitation." She explained. "It's designed to emit sonic vibrations that stimulate the cellular structure of plants, causing rapid growth and even rejuvenation."
"Ah, because plant cells are different from the cells of muscle-based organisms." Miguel surmised. Amanda nodded.
"That's correct. The harmonic resonator has been specifically attuned to affect vegetative cell structures."
"I'm confused, what does sonic vibrations have to do with plants? How does that help?" Jace wondered.
"I'm with Agent Carson. Sounds a little… out there." Mariah concurred.
"Don't tell me you've never heard about singing to your plants, Hill?" Fury questioned.
"I've never owned a plant." Hill replied. "I had a pet fish once… it died." She added in a murmur.
"The concept stems from an experiment performed in nineteen-sixty-two, in which soothing music actually inspired growth in house plants." Miguel described, stepping next to her. "I'm guessing Doctor Jennings here is experimenting with the possibility that acutely refined sonic resonance will promote a sort of 'sped-up' development cycle." Amanda appraised him with a far more appreciative look this time, his knowledge and intuition impressing her.
"You're very astute, Agent Miguel. Music can only do so much as it's range, frequencies and harmonies only cover enough space to inspire a little growth in plants. By getting right to the heart of the matter, focused soundwaves of the correct frequency should be able to stimulate development like never before." She confirmed. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order?"
"I wouldn't mind seeing how this works. Would be something crazy if it does what you say it can." Jace mused in reply. Summoning two of her colleagues, Amanda had them place a small potted plant before the agitator. It was really just sticks, appearing sickly and pretty much dead.
"The agitator still needs to be properly calibrated in order to affect corn, but this test should show you how it works… albeit on a smaller scale." Doctor Jennings informed them, quickly programming a series of commands into the agitator's access panel.
"Whenever you're ready, Doctor." Fury offered, watching intently alongside Jace and Miguel. A series of tuning forks atop the machine began to hum, vibrating as a low thrumming noise filled the air. The agents could feel it deep in their bones, each wave of vibrating sonic energy passing through their bodies with force.
But before long, the purpose and power of the agitator was revealed.
The stick that was a bush began to shudder, green budding along each twig-like branch as the plant began to flourish. Within seconds, it had been transformed from a sickly compilation of sticks into a healthy, luscious green potted bush.
"Holy good gravy!" Jace exclaimed in astonishment.
"Astounding!" Miguel echoed. "I've seen some incredible pieces of tech, but this… this trumps them all."
"Amazing, it happened in a matter of seconds." Fury concurred. "If we can get that thing working on a large scale, we can save this town."
"But even if we can make the agitator work, there are other factors to consider." Doctor Jennings interjected as she shut down the machine.
"Such as?" Fury probed.
"This blight was caused by something other than poor weather conditions." Jennings answered. "Something that isn't human." Fury frowned.
"If you know something, Doctor, I'd very much like to know it too." He told her.
"We've been collecting samples of the ruined crops. Something wiped them out, something we have been unable to identify." Jennings explained.
"So what are we saying, machines did this?" Jace questioned.
"A bioweapon?" Miguel theorized.
"That's just it. We're still trying to highlight any potential leads that can pin down just what killed these crops." Mariah answered.
"No definitive signs at all on the remains?" Miguel asked.
"Nothing that tells us it was a man-made effort." Hill told him. "We're waiting on toxicology reports for a lead on bioweapons, other than that, we have very little evidence for constructed or methodical approaches."
"You're saying this wasn't planned." Fury determined. Hill sighed, clearly at the end of her rope.
"Possibly. It's still a problem, sir." She confessed. But the gears in Fury's mind were turning.
"And you, Doctor, say it isn't human." He reiterated, Jennings nodding in affirmation. "In my mind that draws only one conclusion-" he paused, as another hum filled the air. This one sounded far deeper, more pitched and tonal than what the agitator produced. Everyone could hear the difference and looked around in curiosity.
"Is that…?" Jace trailed off.
"It's not the machine." Miguel realized.
"Then what is it?" Mariah asked. Fury turned towards the horizon, a growing cloud approaching them… one that was not meteorological in nature.
"As I was saying, Hill," Fury resumed, his vision narrowing as he stared at the incoming mass, "bugs!" Everyone stopped and stared, the surging cloud of insects barreling towards them. They were forceful, unrelenting.
"That's… a lot… Like 'an unnatural amount' a lot." Hill gasped. The first few started swarming, zipping around the SHIELD teams as ominous omens of the greater mass to come.
"Everyone take cover! Get any civilians to safety!" Fury quickly ordered, taking command of the situation as the grounds went from orderly to hectic in less than a minute. Agents and scientists scrambled, desperate for cover as the swarm descended upon them. The noise was demeaning, the beat of their wings drowning out every possible noise and forcing the humans to shout above the din.
"What are these things?!"
"They appear to be locusts!" Miguel answered Jace, catching a brief glimpse of an oversized grasshopper. Jace took a chance and fired his sidearm into the air, shredding through the swarming horde but dealing no significant damage.
"There's too many! There's just too many!" He cried. Miguel pulled Mariah down beside him as Fury did his best to shelter Amanda. The insects were relentless, driven by some madness no one could comprehend. Impacts rattled everyone present, the awkward, disgusting feeling of being pelted by countless numbers of locusts sending shivers of revulsion through the humans. They did their best to weather the storm, and then, as quickly as it had begun, the swarm had abated and the last of the locusts flew harmlessly overhead.
Everyone slowly recovered, pausing to exhale in relief. "That was… of biblical proportions." Jace breathed.
"I'm assuming you're referring to the book of Exodus." Miguel mused as he helped Mariah to her feet, and Jace nodded.
"Chapter Ten… So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again." He recited from memory.
"Seems like the Almighty wants an encore." Fury remarked as he helped Amanda up and dusted himself off.
"That was no natural locust swarm." She intoned, watching the cloud continue on its way.
"Explain, Doctor." Fury ordered.
"Locust swarms don't just appear out of nowhere like that. The skies were clear, Director, reports of locusts would've shown up on our radar long before you arrived." Amanda told him. "I don't know how else to explain it."
"Are you saying someone is controlling these things?" Jace questioned.
"Perhaps they were drawn in by the agitator." Miguel countered.
"That really shouldn't be the case…" Jennings shook her head, trying to come up with a logical reason. "If only we knew where they came from… where did they go?" As they debated, Nick Fury tracked the distant cloud, watching it grow smaller in the distance near the silhouette outline of a faraway farm house.
"That's what I aim to find out." He concluded. "Doctor Jennings, can that machine of yours play any other tunes?"
"After some calibration, yes." She confirmed, adjusting her glasses. His team approached, ready to work.
"What's the plan, Director Fury?" Jace inquired.
"Agent Miguel, stay here with Agent Hill and keep an eye on Doctor Jennings' work. Let me know if another locust strike attacks the agitator." Nick tasked, the Hispanic man nodding in affirmation. "Agent Carson, you're with me, we're going bug-hunting."
Elsewhere…
The locust swarm descended upon the farmhouse and barn, entering through a hole in the roof and setting passively on whatever solid surfaces they deemed habitable. "Well done, my pets. Well done. Today was but a warning shot." A voice hissed from the shadowy interior. The insects did not react… but a series of massive ones did.
Mutated a hundred times bigger than their normal brethren, they behaved differently, like loyal dogs heeding the voice of their master. "As our numbers grow so too will we grow more bold… more aggressive!" He boasted. "Once the fields are barren, we will move on to animals! And our swarm will spread across the whole of the country… and then the whole of the world!" Crawling through the messy barn, a man in ragged clothes stood tall yet haggard. On his head sat a helmet of polished green, a twin pair of antenna and matching bug eyes glowing with power. "Then the population will look to me for salvation!" He cried, fully believing every word."They will look to The Locust!"
Approaching cautiously, Nick Fury had his sidearm drawn while Jace primed a two-handed weapon as the farmhouse loomed in front of them. "Same field as the feeding frenzy, same destination as the feeders… yeah, I'd say this is the place." Jace determined.
"Any thoughts, Carson?" Fury inquired.
"Only that I feel like this is a scene from Aliens." Jace mused, pressing the stock of his weapon into his shoulder. They kept moving, taking cautious steps up creaking wooden stairs and crossing a decaying porch before they pressed into the front of the house. The kitchen and adjacent living room were hardly well-kept, a mess of fabrics, devices and utensils strewn about. "Definitely not owned by a clean-freak." Jace remarked, sweeping his weapon from side to side as he scanned the room ahead of Fury. They moved into the kitchen, finding lab equipment and chemistry materials scattered amongst electronics, tools and various half-assembled pieces of technology. "Do you think it's one or many?" Jace queried.
"Could be either." Fury responded. "Stay on guard." Jace took his cautionary advice to heart and moved carefully onwards. Together they approached a series of bedrooms, leading to a back door. Jace carefully checked each one with methodical, tactical examinations. Each one led to more mess… save for the last one.
"Fury," Jace said simply, tilting his head towards his discovery. Nick peered in from behind him, surprised by what was within.
Hanging from a specially designed display rack, a suit of metal, forged and shaped like armor, but also with a backpack component tailored to match the body and wings of a locust, sat still yet prepared for use age. "Reminds me of the suit Beetle wears." Jace noted.
"Possibly insect-inspired." Fury mused, staring for a moment longer.
"Swarm of locusts, science and tech lying around, armored suit, I think we've found the lair." Jace replied.
"But where's it's occupant…" Fury trailed off, pondering the true location of the mastermind behind this all.
"Still got a barn to search." Jace replied in a low tone, leading the way out the back door. Fury followed him out, the two quickly crossing the long, grassy lawn as they approached the side of the dilapidated barn. A distinct inspection chirping, like the kind made by crickets or grasshoppers, proved to be a telltale clue where the real action was. Fitting an optical piece of his left eye, a green scanning suite quickly canvased the barn, revealing a slew of heat signatures and chemtrail readings. "Barn's hot. Real hot."
"Be careful." Fury cautioned, practically stuck to his back as Jace pushed into the side door. They moved closely and cautiously, watching their every footstep as they took measured strides in an effort ot be silent. A voice filled the air, coming from further within the barn.
"Prepare to feed again, my pets! We will strike the next county on our quest to control the world! So says The Locust!" The hissing and ranting caused Jace to glance at Fury.
"A few mugs short of a pint, I'd say." He remarked in a whisper.
"Lunatics are even more dangerous. No sense of limitations." Fury replied, pushing past Jace, he took the lead as the two rounded a corner and faced the tattered back of a ragged man. They took note of the helmet he wore before pressing their presence.
"When we control the world's diet, we will control the world! Together, my wonderful little creatures, we will show them all their very lives hinges upon our desires!" He cackled.
"Sounds like a plan straight out of 'diary of a mad scientist'." Fury stated aloud, alerting him to their presence. "But you obviously skipped the class on locking your doors. Rookie mistake like that, and I don't think you're ready for world domination." He commented. "Besides, if you destroy the world's food supply, what are your 'loyal subjects' going to eat?" The Locust faced them, chuckling in a low, almost gurgling tone.
"You think I haven't thought this out? Insects can be very nutritious." He responded.
"Now we're going to shut you down for being disgusting if nothing else." Jace remarked, shuddering in revulsion.
"Just come along peacefully. We're not afraid of your little bugs and you're all alone." Fury pressed. "Agent Carson, read him his rights." He ordered with a tilt of his head. Jace nodded and stepped closer.
"Locust, consider yourself under arrest by the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, for wanton destruction of local businesses and professed plans of global conquest." He stated, training his rifle on Locust's shiny green helm. Beneath it and his bushy bearded chin, he grinned maniacally.
"You've made a critical mistake, agents of SHIELD," he replied, "I am hardly alone." Suddenly, a rapid drumming sound echoed from above them, Jace and Nick quickly turning to the rafters. Above them, a series of truly monstrous locusts stood patiently by, the drumming sound from the mere flapping of their wings testament to their massive scale.
"Oh that's not good…" Jace realized. The locusts started to move, dropping down from above.
"Jace, pyro rounds, no mercy for these bugs!" Fury ordered.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Jace replied, taking aim and firing a single bolt from his rifle that tore through one of the locusts, coring off its leg and part of his back as the remnants were engulfed in flame. Shrieking an unearthly sound, the locust wallowed in agony as Jace turned his firebolt rounds on the rest. One of them got behind and pounced on Fury, knocking his pistol from his grip as the locust's mandibles snapped and slathered inches from his head. "Fury!" Jace cried, his rifle suddenly gripped in the maw of another locust. Wrestling for control, Jace angled the barrel just so and put a round clean through the super-sized insect, boring a hole clean through its body. More started coming, Locust thrusting his hands into the air in triumph.
"Yes! Yes, my mutates! Let these two be mere casualties in our war!" He cackled. Jace noticed the glow coming from his antenna, taking note as he turned and shot the head clean off the bug attacking Fury, flames sprouting from the remains of its thorax.
"I hope this plan of yours works, Fury!" Jace shouted over the din as he turned and incinerate the locusts nearest him.
"It'll work! We just need to buy them time to attune the agitator." Fury responded, lashing out with a kick that knocked a locust on its side. Jace promptly blasted it with his rifle, incinerating its side and carving out a gaping hole. "What about our resident madman?" Jace looked around at the director's query, suddenly realizing that The Locust had taken flight.
"Dammit, must've used the chaos to his advantage." He grumbled. Fury quickly hopped on comms.
"Hill, status report!"
"Doctor Jennings is still tuning the agitator, sir. Miguel is helping her but its gonna be some time." Mariah responded.
"Make it happen sooner over later!" Fury ordered, grasping his pistol and firing off a few rounds in conjunction with Jace's firebolt salvos. "We found the nest of that locust swarm and trust me, you thought that was big? There's bigger!"
"It'll be done, sir!" Mariah promised. She signed off as Fury continued to fire alongside Jace, the duo targeting the larger locusts as smaller ones began to buzz around their feet.
All of a sudden, a portion of the roof gave way and collapsed as a flash of green landed before them. As it turned out, Locust had retreated only to don the SHIELD agents spotted in the farmhouse. Complete with his helmet, the true appearance of the Locust seemed to better refine his persona in the eyes of the SHIELD agents.
"Now that looks like a supervillain if ever I saw one." Jace remarked.
"Tremble before the might of the Locust!" The emerald-clad foe ranted hysterically, a beam emitter on his arm targeting one of the smaller locusts and unleashing a blue beam of energy that began to grow the little insect, its size slowly doubling as it grew and grew.
"Jace, what the hell is that?" Fury demanded. Licking a sensor on his optical piece, Jace was quick to analyze the beam.
"Reading a large surge of heavily ionized rays." He reported.
"Yesssss… my Magno-Ray will convert the smallest of these into the greatest of warriors!" Locust hissed triumphantly. Fury thought quickly, understanding the possibility of more super-insects would be a problem. All of a sudden, a pair of giant-sized locusts took flight and grabbed hold of Nick's arms, lifting him off the ground. They needed to act, the sheer power of these things could overwhelm them all despite their seemingly innocuous nature.
"Carson, photon shot, now!" He ordered.
"Spectro-round active!" Jace cried, shifting his grip and pulling the trigger on his underslung attachment, firing off a single white phosphorous round that detonated in mid-air with blinding force. Locust screamed in agony as his creatures chittered in confusion. Having shielded his eyes, Connor reached for his belt and withdrew an orb-shaped device. "Sonic oscillator going out!" He called out, lobbing the device into the centre of the room. At once, a charge of soundwaves struck the room, disturbing the subsonic frequencies stemming from Locust's helmet and allowing him to control his army of pests. The insects shuddered, scattering about as the man clutched his head.
"Hill! Fire up the machine!" Fury ordered into his comms. Within seconds, fresh sonic vibrations flooded the barn, forcing the locusts to drop Fury. Every insect in the room began to scatter, dispersing far and wide as Locust covered his ears and screamed in pain. Dropping to his knees, vainly trying to cover his helmeted ears, Locust keeled over on his side, a shivering wreck and no longer a threat.
"My… My ears…" He whimpered as Fury and Carson stood victorious.
"Yeah, I bet that hurts." Fury remarked, approaching him. "We adjusted the sonic agitator to work on a frequency that repels insects. Lucky for you, the sound is nearly imperceptible to human ears…" He explained, lifting Locust's helmet off to reveal a wide-eyed man with ginger hair to match his beard.
"Unfortunately for you, that little helmet of yours allowing you to communicate with locusts works on the same frequency, which earned you a full dose… you're going to have a nasty headache for a long time." Jace picked up, shouldering his rifle with a smug look.
"Director Fury, are you alright?" Mariah suddenly queried over their comms.
"Affirmative, Hill. Send a security detail to our location, we've got a prisoner for pick-up. And tell Jennings to keep that sound playing until we have all these bugs cleared out." Fury replied, examining the clear insect-inspiration in the green helmet. He glanced down and spied a single locust crawling around by his feet. "If there's one thing I hate more than supervillains, its their assistants." He grumbled, promptly stepping on the bug.
"Ain't that the truth." Jace agreed.
With the Locust detained by a SHIELD team, the clean-up could finally begin as Doctor Jennings reconfigured the sonic agitator to help the crops to flourish again under the watchful gaze of Mariah Hill. The barn and farmhouse were quickly picked over by SHIELD as Fury and Carson stood by, watching as the imprisoned Locust was carted aboard a VTOL within a containment tube. As they did, Miguel approached them. "Got the identity of our 'Locust'; Doctor August Hopper, entomologist and geneticist." He reported. Jace suppressed a snort.
"Hopper? Seriously?"
"Seriously." Miguel replied. "His daughter, Carol Hickman, reported him missing several weeks ago." Nick nodded slowly in contemplation.
"Well, that ties up a few loose ends." He mused. "Carson, I want you to oversee Doctor Hopper's transfer to Hydrobase, make sure that legal gets all the information they need to build his profile." He ordered. Jace offered a quick salute.
"Right away, sir." Without another word, he strode towards the jet, destined to leave. Miguel stayed by Fury's side, stowing his datapad as his expression turned serious.
"Director Fury… the tech Doctor Hopper used in his helmet, it appears to be based on Henry Pym's Ant-Man helmet." He revealed. Fury took the information in stride, but his good eye seemed to shimmer in understanding.
"One entomologist copying another…" He mumbled, sorting out information in his head.
"Should we notify him? Doctor Pym?" Miguel asked.
"If this were a recurring problem, I would. But seeing as it's isolated, I wouldn't bother. SHIELD will deal with August Hopper." Fury replied. "Which brings me to our other recurring problem." Miguel cocked his head.
"You mean the alien impersonators?" Fury nodded.
"I have reason to believe one or more have infiltrated SHIELD, if they can get into a network like Hydra then they're bound to be in ours." The director told him. "We need to find out who and why they're doing this." Miguel paused, deadpanning as Fury's words registered with him.
"We?" He repeated, slightly dumbfounded. "I thought you didn't trust me."
"I don't. But you have special qualities that make you specially suited for a job like this." Fury replied. "You're not exactly human either… Miug'El." He added, casting his good eye in Miguel's direction. Silence ensued, Miguel processing what was just said.
"No. I'm not." He agreed at last. Loosing a simple sigh, he glanced towards the busy base camp in the distance where the sonic agitator lay. "Can I at least tell Mariah?" He wondered. Fury shook his head.
"Out of the question. Absolutely no one can know about this until I deem them trustworthy, and that includes Agent Hill." He responded firmly. Miguel didn't seem to pleased by that.
"You humans and your ways…" He muttered. "Know that I choose to abide by your wishes." He added, causing Fury to frown somewhat. "Do lead on, Fury." Miguel added, gesturing to the wide open, empty fields behind them…
Later that evening…
August Hopper was taken to his cell as Jace Carson made for the administration wing of Hydrobase, expertly navigating corners on a path he'd taken many times before. Passing office cubicles he made a beeline for wooden door with a golden tag marked 'LEGAL'. Knocking briefly, he pressed inside, finding Jennifer Walters seated at her desk behind her computer. She was busy typing away and did not even look up.
"Jenny?" He pried, file in hand. "Got one for you to process." He continued, stepping inside and sliding August Hopper's file across her desk. "New super-criminal, calls himself 'the Locust'. Fury wants his data drawn up as soon as possible."
"Uh huh…" Jennifer murmured in reply, still busy typing.
"We… caught him using locust swarms to devour corn crops in Missouri." Jace added slowly, watching her distracted response.
"Hm…" Jennifer hummed, still typing.
"Wow, something's keeping you busy." Jace mused, stepping around her desk and peering over her shoulder. "What're you working on?"
"Trying to get a pardon for Bruce… now that he's got the military off his back, I think I have a chance to clear his name of all those so-called charges General Ross is trying to get him on." Jennifer explained. "It's tricky thought, I'm trying to pull all the strings I can and it's not easy…" she admitted.
"Isn't this the same pardon you were working on last year?" Jace queried.
"Yes, but this one is better." Jennifer clarified. "Bruce is an Avenger now, a globally recognized superhero team that's been celebrated by everyone from state governors to world leaders. There's so many more people who could call the Hulk a hero instead of a monster." She eagerly elaborated. "And that's what I need to get him free. Finally free, Jace. No more running, no more hiding from Ross… and no more phone calls from that bastard trying to see if he's living with me." Leaning back in her chair with a sigh, Jen lowered her glasses and rubbed her temples.
"You sound tired." Jace mused, rubbing her shoulders.
"I'm so close, Jace… I've been working on this for weeks." She told him, relaxing a little under his touch. Jace said nothing for a moment, allowing Jenny to simply breathe.
"Tell you what, why don't you get a quick file up and running for Locust here and then we'll go out for a bit. I've got some time off, now that this Locust case is wrapped up." He suggested. Jennifer started somewhat.
"Jace, I… I-I don't know…" She stammered, trailing off. The prospect of a night out with her boyfriend was tempting, but in her eyes nearly a forbidden fruit in the face of the work she needed to do. "I need to finish this… I need…" She stopped, sighing as she leaned over her desk again.
"Come on, Jenny, you could use a break." Jace encouraged. "We can go for a walk, visit that little Italian place you love, just take a moment to breathe and not be SHIELD." It sounded appealing. Very appealing. "Your cousin's in good hands with the Avengers. He's waited this long for you to pull some strings, he can wait a few more hours." Jace added. Nodding in understanding, Jennifer lifted her head and brushed some hair out of her eyes as she turned to face her boyfriend.
"Alright… let me draft up this file real quick." She decided with a smile. Jace returned it and they shared a brief, chaste kiss before Jennifer closed her tabs and opened a fresh once, picking up the folder he'd dropped off. "Doctor August Hopper… the Locust," she read aloud, pausing to giggle, "seriously? Hopper is the Locust." She realized, drawing a connection.
"That's what I said!" Jace agreed with a chuckle.
Taking their leave after Locust's file was completed and imported to the database, Jace changed into a casual blazer and jeans as he led Jennifer by the arm on a brief evening tour of the city. Their first stop was a family-owned pizzeria, a little hole-in-the-wall eatery that Jennifer adored and had been the destination of their second date. Despite their slightly more dressy attire, neither Jen nor Jace paid much heed as they enjoyed a few slices from what they could easily call 'New York's finest'.
Afterwards, they went for a evening walk under the multicolored sky, savouring the simple opportunity to be boyfriend and girlfriend without the hassle of their working environment. Jennifer honestly couldn't remember the last time she and Jace had shared a night out like this They took a seat on a park bench, sitting close and revelling in the peace and quiet. It had been some time since the din of chaos from would-be conquerors or daring supervillains threatened the city. And now with night quickly approaching, it seemed picturesque, just for them.
"Thank you, for getting me out of that office, baby." Jen whispered, stroking the hand connected to the arm that wrapped around her. "I needed this."
"Me too, Jenny. You're welcome." Jace softly replied, kissing the top of her head. They basked in a moment of tranquil togetherness a moment longer before Jennifer asked,
"Are you off tonight?" He nodded. "I suppose you'll need someplace to stay." She assumed.
"Well, I haven't been back to my apartment in months." He replied. "Think I could book a stay in your little townhouse, Jenny?" He queried. Jennifer giggled at his words and also blushed at their hidden meaning. She knew what he would want and to tell the truth, she couldn't remember the last time he'd touched her…
"I… think that should be doable." Jennifer answered with a small, timid smile. "Wouldn't be the first time, after all."
"Is the bed still big enough for two?" Jace queried, guiding her face towards his as their noses touched. Jennifer blushed even further, her cheeks red-hot.
"I guess we'll have to find out." She answered with a dry throat.