May I present Chapter 9, the continuation of Chapter 8! We have some running themes in here that I'll pick back up on later, but unfortunately not as much plot development as I'd like. Also, sorry this took me nearly a week longer to get out, the holidays had me much busier than I expected! Next chapter will be out by the end of the month. Lots of love!
Agent 14 is still screaming when another Agent bursts into the room and bathroom, gun at the reader to defend us from a fake threat. I'd be honored if I wasn't slightly scared. Fortunately, the second Agent just gathers Agent 14's stuff back in her bag and escorts her out with a glare at me. I don't even make it out of the bathroom before Agent 15 shows up.
He is summarily entertaining for ten minutes, and not a moment more.
The same Agent who came up with Agent 14 screamed comes in and escorts Agent 15 out. He tries to lock me in the room when they leave. After he ignores my questions, I pretend to look out the window of the room for a minute before making my daring escape, because I am not staying in this room any longer. Unfortunately for Agent Grumpy, the door between the rooms is not locked, and the room the Agent watching me was supposed to be staying in is closer to the elevator than mine and Miss Natalia's.
The stairwell is empty, and Agent Grumpy doesn't see me as I sneak out.
Apparently whoever it is that picks who is in charge of me has decided that, since I cannot be kept in the room (Miss Natalia's orders, which they ignored this morning and then determined where, in fact, for good reason) or kept occupied (Fury didn't like what happened when I tried to occupy myself, but then again neither did I. Death by motorcycle is not my idea of a fun time), they'll just fill the hotel with Agents. Lots of them. They're swarming all over, but I'm going to get out. Because I'm not going to be stuck in this horribly boring building.
I giggle to myself as I skip through the lobby. Through the glass doors at the front, I identify a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents swarming the main door and change my course to go down the hallway towards the swimming pool.
"Headed out to the pool?" Asks a staff member with a pretty smile. She's unlocking an office door and not bothering or obstructing me, so I leave her be.
"Yup!" I say with a smile as I skip around her down the hall.
"Have fun!" She calls to me as I push through the door to the small entry way to the pool deck.
There are two doors to get through to the pool area, and the second one requires a swipe of the room key card to get through. Luckily, Miss Natalia gave me hers when she sent me back to the hotel. I hold it up to the scanner on the wall near my head and wait for the beep. The light flicks to green and the door swings open on its own. I grin. Either I should be an escape artist, or this is too easy.
The pool deck is warm from the morning sun, and completely empty. I hum a little to myself as I drop the key card back into my boot, then observe the deck to plan my next step. The whole area is lined by a thick concrete wall, likely meant for privacy, and it's too tall for me to climb over. There's no other exit here, and the tables and chairs and even the umbrellas aren't tall and stable enough for me to make a break over the top.
My eyes alight on the solution to all of my problems, and I feel a wicked smile creep over my face. Someone decided it would be a nice idea to place a tall rack of towels right next to the concrete wall meant for privacy. It's even on the side that's close to the street.
I walk carefully over to it, because the deck is wet even if no one is around, and I don't want to slip and hurt myself. There are plenty of fluffy towels on the shelves, but it's easy enough to push the ones on the bottom few racks to one side, so I have a clear path to the top.
I kick the rack with my boot and discover that it's securely attached to the concrete deck. The rest of it is a little wobbly, but at least I know I won't fall and be crushed to death by hotel pool towel rack. Mr. Tony would never forgive me.
After a quick look to make sure I'm still alone, and there's no agents in the lobby that have spotted me, I start climbing. I make quick work of the tower and crawl very carefully over the towels stacked on the top. The other side is a clear shot down to the sidewalk, and the concrete blocks are jagged enough that I can use a few as handholds to get down a little slowly.
When my feet hit the pavement, I check over the scratches on my palms and pick out a few rocks. Thankfully I'm not bleeding. I stand and brush off my skirt, checking over the rest of me, and determine I have had a successful escape.
Victorious, I turn to dart down the sidewalk only to run smack into an Agent. I pout up at the man, who is very tall and very close and thus standing right between my head and the sun. Decidedly not victorious.
"I'm supposed to take you for a walk in the park," He says as a greeting. "Coulson said you might try to sneak out this way, and whoever caught you sneaking out had to babysit you until he got back." Agent 16 rolls his eyes and trudges off. I follow him, still reeling slightly from the whole thing but dragging my feet to communicate my grumpiness.
"Mr Cou Cou is getting to know me too well," I mutter to myself grumpily as we go down the street. I'm not sure if I'm grumpier about the supervision, or the fact that I was caught on my super secret mission.
"Who?" The New York accent is crisp in that word, more clear than his little speech. I wonder if anyone will say anything to him for the New York drawl, or me for my English one. And if so, who will have a comment first.
"Mr Cou Cou," I say, like it's perfectly common knowledge. It isn't, but sometimes allowing people to question one's sanity can be beneficial.
"Yeah, kid, who is that?" He demands. I jump over a crack in the sidewalk, and wish I'd put pigtails in this morning for some extra 'little kid' vibes.
"Mr Cou Cou is your boss."
"The paranoid one, the one I respond to, or my direct supervisor on this specific assignment?" He questions ironically, rolling his eyes yet again. I guess that the paranoid one is Fury, and Mr Cou Cou is the one Agent 16 responds to, since he isn't anyone that would watch my direct supervisor.
"The one you respond to." I jump over another sidewalk crack.
Agent 16 removes the backpack leash from his pocket. I freeze and back away from him.
"No."
He sighs and rolls his eyes. "Yes." Agent 16 tries to step forward, but I keep backing up.
"How about a deal. You put that away, and I won't run away. I'll behave. Perfect little angel."
He raises an eyebrow, but clearly doesn't want to wrestle me to the ground to force me into the horrific contraption.
"Promise?"
"Pink promise." I hold my hand out, and that's enough for Agent 16 because he puts the leash away as we lock pinkies.
And I get to go for a wonderful walk down the street a ways to the park.
It's very nice outside, and the hotel isn't very near a ton of other things, so the road is quiet. The trees and bushes that line it are unfamiliar to me, but I've seen them out the window of the car enough times to know that they're common in California.
The park is off to the side of the road, between the trees where I can see the beach, and the structure is significantly more entertaining than the one on Privet Drive. It has bright colors and three towers with bridges going between them.
The park is lots of fun, although it's empty, and I run around for a bit playing a pretend game of pirates. I don't dare close my eyes or imagine anything too vividly, though.
Before I've managed to defeat the evil pirate in a sword battle, Agent 16 calls on his walkie talkie to the other Agents. I don't hear everything he says, but the words "park" and "perimeter" do not sound fun. I don't want them watching me and trying to take me back to the hotel where I have nothing to do.
Which is why, when Agent 16 calls and tells me he's using the restroom and not to run away, I hatch a plan.
It's surprisingly easy to lock him in the bathroom. There's a 'wet floor' sign in front of the little building, and I wedge it beneath the handle of the door. Then, I take the hair tie Miss Natalia put in my hair this morning and stretch it a bit so it connects the handle of the door to the faucet of the little water fountain.
Then, I run. Because the hotel is so remote, there isn't much nearby. It was a long walk just to get to the park, and I've got an even longer way to go if I want to make it anywhere worthwhile.
I don't make it very far down the road before I've run out of breath and can't run much further. It's hot outside, and there's nothing around that I can see. I give up my grand escape plan because I'm tired and thirsty, and sit against a palm tree by the side of the road to wait for the Agents to come pick me up. A voice in my head tries to mock me for my lack of commitment, but I remind myself that I am a child and have a long way to go before that's an essential skill.
It's longer than I feel like it should have been when the Agent who helped Agents 14 and 15 shows up in a car, a very disgruntled Agent 16 in the passenger seat. They don't even get out of the car, just roll down the window nearest me and unlock the doors.
I climb in without prompting, and we have a silent ride back where I doze against the window.
Back at the hotel, Agent 16 hands the other Agent, who I will call Agent 17, the backpack leash. He turns to me. "Do we need to put this on, or will you go up to your room without a fuss."
I turn and walk to the elevators without a word.
"Why is she being quiet?" Agent 17 asks Agent 16 in a whisper.
"I don't know, but it's creepy. She's been a chatterbox all day."
"So why shut up now?"
The elevator dings and we all step on. I press the button for my floor and pretend I'm very interested in staring at my boots.
"I don't know, but Coulson said to take her seriously, and so far she's only proved him right. She's got to be plotting something."
"Or maybe she's just tired of being stuck in her room where there's nothing to do," I say, rolling my eyes. They both freeze and stare at me, and it's a comical moment as the door slides open with a ding and I step out.
"We could take you down to the pool for a swim?" Suggests Agent 17 as we walk down the halls. I freeze, breath stuck in my throat. I can't see the hotel carpet anymore, or hear Agents 16 and 17 behind me, or think about anything except the horrible pinch in my lungs of Aunt Petunia holding me under in the bathtub at Number 4.
A hand, large and hot like Uncle Vernon's, it must be Uncle Vernon's hand, touches my shoulder, and I turn and duck.
I try to pull in a breath, ground myself in the hotel in California, far away from both of them, but I can't. I need to call Miss Natalia, or Mr. Clint, or Mr. Steve. They'll know what to do.
Uncle Vernon in front of me, who turns back into Agent 17 when I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment, has a phone, a walkie talkie, a communicator of some kind attached to his belt. I dart under his raised arms, snatching it, and then bolt down the hallway as the devil closes in on my thoughts.
Some time later, when I can hear my breathing again, I'm sitting in a dark closet. There's a boiler next to me, that is warm and has a reassuring rumble. I sit there for a while, shifting when my legs get numb, and the plastic digging into my thigh reminds me of the thing I stole from Agent 17.
I fumble with it, hands shaking, but a quick investigation reveals its one of the walkie talkies the Agents around here have been using. Which means I can't use it to call anybody. The deep breaths that normally help calm me down are loud and snotty and uneven and honestly it sounds like I'm drowning, which I might be because of how much I'm crying.
I fumble with the backing and pull the case apart a bit, and try to fiddle with the gears and things inside, but I don't know anything about how radios work and my hands are shaking and it isn't going to work at all. I bang my head back against the boiler with a thud, a horribly familiar hopelessness curdling my gut. Hands clenched around the walkie talkie, I swallow harshly against the nausea. I wipe the tears off my face with my sleeve, catching a plastic unicorn under my cheek, and then fiddle a bit with the inside of the walkie talkie again. Deep breaths. Problems are best solved in small steps, Jasmine.
As a sob I couldn't swallow breaks from my chest, my fingers twitch on something in the mechanics of the radio. There's a wave that goes out, then, from the little machines inside of it. I can feel the wave in the air, and I'm suddenly aware that the walkie talkie is now very much dead. And so are all the others in the building, which I could somehow... feel, beforehand? But only notice now that they're dead. Finally, I manage to stop crying.
"EMP!" Shouts an Agent down the hall from my hiding place. I drop the walkie talkie and open the door to crawl out, exhausted and ready to go sit somewhere quiet and behave. There's a loud commotion all throughout the hotel, and a lot of yelling, but I'm too tired to process most of it.
Agent 17 appears in front of me as I go to stand up. "Evans!" He shouts. I sigh and stare at him. He kneels down in front of me and looks me over for a moment, before turning his head over his shoulder and shouting at someone I can't see, "I'm taking her to Coulson. We can't investigate an EMP and blackout with a child on the premises."
"Roger!" Shouts someone else. Agent 17 directs me, thankfully without touching me, to a car outside.
I sit very quietly in the front seat, taking deep breaths and looking outside. Agent 17 doesn't say anything either.
We arrive at Dr. Tony's house, just like last night, and it looks a little different in the daylight. I get out of the car and head inside before Agent 17 can say or do anything.
"Evans, wait-"
I walk straight through to the back of the house, where Mr. Cou Cou, Fury, and Dr. Tony are all standing, discussing something. I go straight for Dr. Tony, ignoring all the glass, and climb on him without asking.
"Hey, kiddo, what are you doing here?" He smiles, absolutely unbothered by my invasion of his personal space, and I feel something in me settle. The hole in my stomach shrinks a bit, and I no longer feel like I'm on the verge of crying, although I can't manage a smile in return.
"The Agents at the hotel are very mean. They made me cry twice. Then something happened with all their stuff, so Agent 17 brought me here." Dr. Tony's eyebrows knit together, and he smooths a hand over my hair.
"Agent Dante, what is she doing here?" Mr. Cou Cou demands of Agent 17 as he appears, gesturing widely to me. I chew on my lip. Agent Dante heaves a breath.
"Assuming you haven't yet read the incident reports I did manage to file already, and since you don't have the ones I haven't: the short version is that we weren't able to handle her. The longer version is that some kind of EMP went off in the hotel, and we can't investigate and try to keep track of her."
"An EMP?" Fury stands up and turns to address Agent 17, who swallows harshly but continues.
"Yes, sir. Also, she had a... panic attack of some sort? And we are... largely unequipped to handle that."
Mr. Cou Cou sighs dramatically and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Very well, Agent Dante. You're dismissed to return to the investigation. And don't bother filing the incident or mission reports... I don't really actually need to know."
"Yes, sir," Agent Dante says, and then he leaves. Fury turns to Mr. Cou Cou.
"What are we going to do with her, if not have an Agent watch her?"
I grab Dr. Tony's hand between mine and bend his fingers one at a time.
"I don't know, but clearly we can't leave her in the hotel. And Agent Romanoff has a cover to keep, so she can't stay with her either."
"Leave the kid with me," Dr. Tony interrupts them, tugging on one of my curls. I flash him a smile and go back to fiddling with his fingers.
"No," Fury says quickly. He then covers it up with, "You have work to do, Stark, and you can't do it while babysitting a hellcat."
Dr. Tony and I frown at him, but Mr. Cou Cou speaks up before either of us can say anything.
"I'll take her with me. Clint can watch her."
I turn to look at him better. "Mr. Clint will be there?!" I'm very certain I'm vibrating in Dr. Tony's lap. Hope can do a lot for a person's mood.
Fury and Mr. Cou Cou stare at me, a little apprehensively.
"...yes. You can come with me to see him, but you'll have to ride in a car for fifteen hours and behave the whole time. It'll be very boring."
"I'll behave!" I chirp, jumping up. Then, I stop. "Can we get something to eat first? I haven't had anything all day, except those donuts this morning, and I'm hungry."
All three of them look at me. "Nobody fed you this morning?" Dr. Tony interrupts. "Jasmine, it's been like six hours since then. You should've had lunch by now. Aren't you hungry?"
I chew on my lip. "Yeah, but I'm not important enough to feed all the time. It's a lot of trouble."
Dr. Tony is suddenly very angry. He scoops me up and turns to Fury and Mr. Cou Cou, pointing aggressively with his other arm. "Did you two tell her that? Who told you that?"
He's looking at me, but I'm looking down at my hands and avoiding his gaze. I mumble, when it seems they're just going to stand there and stare at me, "All kids aren't worth the trouble, Dr. Tony. My Aunt Petunia always said that. The only reason Dudley got to eat at every meal is because he was special."
"Jesus christ," Dr. Tony wipes his hand over his head and then walks into the house and over to the kitchen. "Nope. You're eating something before you go, at the very least." He sets me on the counter and then starts opening cupboards and drawers. "Jarvis, how do I make… anything? With what I've got in the fridge. That would be acceptable for a kid to eat."
"I suggest, sir," says a voice from nowhere, like the one who gave me stuff to play with last night, "that you simply order food for now. There is nothing much in the house that could be used to make anything quickly."
"Right." Dr. Tony stares into the fridge, frowning. I chew harder on my lip and cross my ankles so I don't swing them. "Do that then, J."
"What shall I order, sir?"
"Err," Dr. Tony turns and looks at me. "What do you like, kid?" I shrug and lose the battle with my feet, swinging them a few times. He shrugs too, apparently nonplussed with my silence. "Jarvis, order some of whatever kids like, from wherever."
"Certainly, sir." There's a pause, where Dr. Tony goes to close everything he opened in the kitchen and I watch Fury and Mr. Cou Cou make faces at each other. Then, Jarvis the house computer says, "Ordered, sir. Food will be delivered in fifteen minutes."
"Splendid." He turns and claps his hands at Fury and Mr. Cou Cou. "Agent, Fury, Jasmine will be sitting downstairs with me while we wait for her food to arrive. You're welcome to join us."
And he grabs me and drags me downstairs. We pass the room I sat in the other day, and I make a longing face at the screwdriver set and the little things I was playing with, sitting right on the coffee table where I left them.
Down in Dr. Tony's lab, he sets me on a stool right in the middle of the room where I can't touch anything. "Don't touch anything yet, I haven't kid proofed anything in here." And he spends three and a half minutes doing something fancy with a bunch of holographic interfacing, while simultaneously directing multiple robots to remove a bunch of things from the room and put them on a table in the back. Mr. Cou Cou and Fury come down, slightly apprehensive, and watch him. "There." He turns to me, a little proud. "Just don't touch that table over there. I should put a line on the floor too... or maybe just a whole wall..." He trails off, a little distracted, and then starts drawing in the air some blueprint renderings for changing his lab.
"You don't have to change anything for me," I say, hopping off the stool and going to stand next to him.
"Don't be ridiculous," he says absentmindedly, patting me on the head. Another robot comes into the room carrying the box that Fury, Mr. Cou Cou, and Dr. Tony were standing around earlier, and deposits it onto a table. "Thanks, YOU. Jarvis, scan that for me and begin breakdown?"
"Of course, sir."
Mr. Cou Cou hands me a tablet when we get in the car. He insists I sit in the front seat, where he can keep an eye on me. The tablet has some american television show playing on it where a bunch of ponies run around and yell at each other before solving their problems with the magic of friendship. I watch one episode, determine they could do the same thing if they also had the magic of communication, and turn the tablet off.
"What are you doing?" Mr. Cou Cou asks. I shrug and open the glove box in front of me.
"Show's boring. If they just talked to each other then they wouldn't have all of those problems. Patience and communication save the day just as well as friendship, in a more timely manner."
There are, oddly enough, no gloves in the glove box. There is instead a large stack of CD's, and a box of something older that resembles a smaller version of the wind up tapes Dudley has that play movies.
"Okay. Magical ponies that solve their problems with friendship do not hit with the seven year old. What would you like to do instead?" Mr. Cou Cou asks.
There is also a tool box inside the glove box. I grin and reach for it. Mr. Cou Cou reaches over and, slowly so I have time to remove my hand, closes the glove box. I pout.
"I don't know, but this," I shake the tablet at him, "does not cut it as far as kids entertainment."
He glances away from the road for a moment to regard me, and then pulls off to the side of the empty highway. "Here." He holds his hand out for the tablet, so I give it to him with a frown. Mr. Cou Cou taps some buttons for a long moment before handing the tablet back to me. "This is limited access to the secure databases of S.H.I.E.L.D.. See how many government secrets you can uncover by the time we get to New Mexico."
My eyes are, I'm sure, the size of tea saucers, and I hold my breath as he hands it back to me.
"I removed your access to anything gruesome or inappropriate, but there should be plenty else on there to keep you occupied."
"What kind of government secrets are there?" I ask, already searching 'World War Two' into the bar. "Like, what is a government secret?"
Mr. Cou Cou shrugs as he pulls back onto the road. "Coverups, illegal dealings, backhanded contracts, secret alliances, engagement in criminal acts of war, experimentation, that sort of thing."
"Cool," I breathe, digging right in. Mr. Cou Cou has a light smile on his face, the first I've ever seen from him, as he turns the radio up.
It's dark by the time Mr. Cou Cou has to stop for petrol, and I've been dozing in the front seat for hours, the tablet dim on my lap. I ended up reading more of the general access files on the database than the few that Mr. Cou Cou de-classified for me, mostly because trying to read one of those left me with more questions than answers.
"Are you coming in to pick a snack, or staying in the car?" Mr. Cou Cou asks as he steps out. I yawn and unbuckle. "Snack it is, then," he answers his own question.
Mr. Cou Cou takes my hand to bring me into the petrol station, and we head straight to the back, where he crouches down in front of a display of donuts. The ones on the left are white and say 'powdered' on them, and the ones on the right are brown and say 'frosted.'
He picks up one of each and looks between them for a second, before turning to me and holding them up. "Which ones?"
I tilt my head and regard them both. I've never had either, and I don't know what powdered sugar tastes like, so I'm not sure. Before I can answer, however, someone comes in the door and there's a clicking noise, followed by a gasp.
"Hands up!" Someone yells.
"Don't move or I'll blow your head off!" Someone else yells. Two people came in, then.
"Who else is here?" They demand. Mr. Cou Cou glances up into the corner where theres a little reflective mirror, and then tugs me to stand right in front of him, up close to the donut stand. "Who owns that car outside?!"
Mr. Cou Cou looks me very seriously in the eyes and puts a finger over his lips. I nod back just as silently, holding my breath. I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but whoever came in is threatening the cashier lady and I think he's going to do something about it. As a philanthropist, this is in line with my values, and thus I will not interfere.
"I do," Mr. Cou Cou interrupts them, standing. "But it's really more like a lease." He puts one hand gently on my shoulder, and I pat it twice to let him know I'm good. Unfortunately with the angle he's standing at, I can't see in the corner mirror to watch what happens because he's blocking my view.
"Toss the keys over here," one of them says after a moment.
"Come on!"
"Okay, okay," Mr. Cou Cou says, reaching into his pocket and grabbing the keys. He tosses them over easily, leaning forward so I catch a glimpse of the situation in the mirror, and one of the two men standing there with large guns catches the keys. Before he has even stepped all the way back to his original position, the two people who came in start making demands of the cashier.
"Empty the cash register."
Mr. Cou Cou reaches into his pocket and pulls out his S.H.I.E.L.D. issue handgun.
"Start filling this bag with cigarettes–"
"Excuse me?" Mr. Cou Cou interrupts, holding his gun up by the end of the handle where they can see it. "I also have this gun. You'll probably be needing that."
The two men turn around very quickly and very loudly, and although I can't see I'm certain they're pointing their guns at the both of us. "Put it down!"
Mr. Cou Cou holds up his other hand, palm out, as they yell. "Put it down right now!"
"Do it now!"
"Okay, don't want any trouble."
"Toss the piece over here then."
"I prefer not to throw it," Mr. Cou Cou says, adding an intonation to his voice that I can tell is slightly fake, "and risk the gun accidentally going off. Maybe I could slide it over?"
There's a long, stiff moment where the two men are likely communicating with each other, before the one behind me and to the left says, "Yeah, slide it over to my feet. Don't try anything funny."
"Okay. I'm just going to move over to this aisle," Mr. Cou Cou says with exaggerated gestures, before stepping in front of me to the aisle to the left. "I'm going to slide it over to you. Okay?"
He crouches down and slides the handgun across the floor, and the moment that the man bends down to pick it up, Mr. Cou Cou grabs a bag of flour from the shelf next to him and throws it hard. I see in the mirror, angle now clear, as it hits the first man square in the head and busts, launching flour everywhere. Before I can even full process what has happened there, Mr. Cou Cou has run down the aisle. I miss what happens next because there's a loud sound, likely one of the guns going off, and I cover my ears. When they've stopped ringing, Mr. Cou Cou has come back around and picked me up. He hands me both bags of donuts and nods to the cashier lady as we walk out.
Mr. Cou Cou has to step over the two men and their very big guns to pass, and I can't help but stare.
He deposits me in the front seat and I buckle myself in automatically.
We're a few miles down the road, and I'm holding one of each type of donut, before he speaks. "Are you alright, Sophie?"
"Yeah." I nod shortly, and then take a bite of one of the donuts. The white stuff comes off in a little cloud, and it's sweet even in my nose, but doesn't taste like very much beyond that. "Just… are they dead?"
"No. They'll be fine."
"Alright then." I nod again and eat the rest of the powdered donut, and all of the chocolate one. "I like the powdered ones better."
"Me too," he says.
"And I think I'll call you Agent Cou Cou now. You've earned it."
Agent Cou Cou nods twice, then he hands me the rest of the bag of powdered donuts, and we ride the rest of the way in silence. At least, we do until I fall asleep.
When I wake in the morning, Agent. Cou Cou is still driving. We make a stop at a little drive through store that sells breakfast burritos, and he gives me three of them.
"I do not want to hear from Stark how I haven't been feeding you. They'll last all morning, so eat them whenever you want. Or don't eat them."
I munch happily on the first one, and ask through a mouthful, "How do you know he'd find out?"
"He's Tony Stark," Agent Cou Cou rolls his eyes as though that explains everything. As though I should already know that. I point at him with my burrito and swallow half my bite.
"I didn't know who he was until like, last week."
He just sighs heavily and ignores me, so I ignore him and eat my yummy burrito. I spend a while staring out the window while Agent Cou Cou drives us through what appears to be an abandoned desert. He takes a call from Fury a few minutes after I've finished eating my first breakfast, giving me a significant look that I take to mean he wants me to keep quiet.
"Sir. We're an hour out from location."
"Great. Stark vacated the premises an hour ago in his car. Romanoff is on duty at SI."
"I'll deal with it when I get back, sir. Do you want a report on the situation here before or after I've dealt with it."
"After," Fury says, somehow sounding both grumpy and tired. "I'm dealing with the situation on the East Coast, and plan on stopping by to speak with the Captain before the week is up."
"Copy, sir. Page me if you need anything."
Agent Cou Cou hangs up the call before Fury can say anything else, and I refrain from asking any questions. Agent Cou Cou does not volunteer any information either, and I eat another burrito as he decides to pull off the road and drive on the sandy rock. It's a little bumpy as we run over some bushes, but my burrito is yummy and the sun is warm and I haven't a care in the world.
We pull up to the front of a small cliff and Agent Cou Cou stops the car and gets out. I climb out after him, and walk up to the front so I can see what he's looking at. As Agent Cou Cou rests a hand on my shoulder, I get a good view of a big crater in the middle of the desert, surrounded by a bunch of men with big trucks. There's some chains strapped to a few of the trucks, and the thing in the middle of the crater. The men are all yelling at each other, running around and stumbling between everything, and it looks generally chaotic. I wrinkle my nose.
Agent Cou Cou pulls out his phone and makes a call, directing a few Agents to check a couple of things 'in town,' whatever that means, and then we get back in the car and drive into a small town.
There, Agent Sitwell is standing in front of a coffee shop with four other Agents. He nods at Agent Cou Cou, handing him a cup of coffee. "I've put in the order for a temporary base and backup Agents. Everything will be taken care of within the hour. Additionally, you might want to look at this." He gestures behind him to a S.H.I.E.L.D. van in the parking lot, and two of the other Agents pull the back doors open to reveal a complex computer set up.
Agent Cou Cou nods firmly to Agent Sitwell, who I'm beginning to suspect requires a nick name, and then jerks his head at me. "Watch her for a moment."
"Er, yes sir, Agent Coulson, sir." Agent Sitwell gives me a nervous, slightly pasty smile. "Has anyone fed you?"
I hand him my third and final breakfast burrito. "I've had two of these already. Hold on to this one for me until I need it, please?" Then I step past him to see what Agent Cou Cou is looking at.
There's lots of data and pictures flashing all over the screens and it's difficult for me to follow. A picture of a nice looking lady pops up on the screen closest to me, and I reach out and tap on it. A biography explaining she's an astrophysicist, whatever that means, named Jane Foster replaces the picture.
"Sitwell, what's the ETA on us developing our own computers to process the data from this event?"
"Longer than we have, sir."
"And the likelihood that Dr. Foster continues to gather information regarding the phenomenon, even if we request she stops?"
"That's unlikely to happen, sir."
"Great." Agent Cou Cou closes the computers in the back of the van. "Put those in my car, and then get in the van."
"Where are we going, sir?"
"To kill two birds with one stone."
Finally, we got some Agent Coulson action here! And next chapter, we get to meet yet another Avenger. Scene with Coulson at the gas station isn't mine, it's from a Marvel One Shot and is awesome, you should all go watch it. See you all next chapter! ~Auna
