CHAPTER TWO
( THE UPDATE )
THE SOFT CHATTER of people fills the large room as Quinn enters. The room is sunlit from the glass ceiling and matching glass walls, the only solid wall was towards the back. It was solid concrete with a large, black insignia of an eagle with a circle around it. The words "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division" wrap around within the circle in large cutout letters.
Most of the people scattered throughout the front area are in business wear but there are a handful of people clad in dark tactical clothes, each donning a utility that they - no doubt - would've picked up from her department at one point in time. Quinn silently awes at the few individuals wearing agents clothes. She longs to become a field agent one day but for now, she'll take the job that they hired her for. I.T. It's as bland of a job as it sounds but it got her foot in the door.
She smiles warmly at the woman sitting behind a desk, who returns the smile. "Cruise," She greets as Quinn swipes her badge to get through to the room behind the large concrete wall. "Morning, Beth. Miss Edith hasn't arrived yet, has she?" Quinn quietly asks as she stops before entering the door. The older woman chuckles a bit. "Are you late again, Miss Cruise?"
"Only if you're counting." She replies with a smirk which makes the woman laugh again. "Edith hasn't arrived yet, but I can't say she won't be here for much longer. You better hurry." Quinn is through the door before she even finishes, shouting a thank you over her shoulder.
The room expands greatly as she passes through the door. There's less of a flow of people wearing business clothes, and a majority is now wearing tactical gear or lab coats. She peers ahead at the six elevators on the far wall. Each door has a large group waiting for people to get on. She groans to herself before picking up the pace, weaving her way through the thick crowd of people.
She runs into the back of the line for the elevator sooner than what she expected. She feels her heartbeat begin to pick up immensely with each passing second. For a place as busy and as overly-funded as S.H.I.E.L.D., they should invest in more elevators or at least faster ones.
She begins nervously tapping her fingers to the side of the leg, if she didn't get down to her department she was going to get in serious trouble. No doubt, that Edith, her sections boss, would publicly humiliate her in front of her colleagues. She liked doing that. Quinn had seen it a handful of times and she herself had been at the blunt end of it once. She was never going to make the same mistake again. But today felt like the day where that was going to happen.
She was nearing the front of the elevator only a handful of people were going to get on before her. She let out a sigh of relief as she began to relax. Once she hit the elevator she was in the clear. She twisted her head from side to side to look around like the busy people. She admires the agents gathering together to discuss new missions or new leads. She imagined being one of them. She could come in when she was needed, she wouldn't have to stress about Edith getting on her for being late.
The only thing she didn't fancy about being an agent was the potential threat of death at any time - besides she had made a promise she wouldn't get into any life-threatening events to her mother. She was determined to keep it for the time being.
She looks back towards the front of the building, her heart rate picking back up as she caught sight of her. Edith was heading towards the elevators. Her blood ran cold just by looking at her, she could only imagine what she'd do if she found her there. Thankfully, she hadn't noticed her yet but she couldn't say that for very long.
She pleads - begs - for something to happen with Edith so she can get into the elevator unscathed. She can hear the clicking of her heels against the marble floor, each step seemed to taunt her. She starts to give up on herself, she looks back towards Edith with wondering eyes.
Someone has bumped into her with a drink, Edith let out a seething growl as the poor girl apologized and tried to clean her off. Everyone in the area couldn't help but standby and watch as the older woman laid into the small scientist who had been too engulfed in her work to pay attention to where she was going.
Quinn was just thankful that she created a diversion for her. The scientist had just begun sopping up what was left of her drink from the floor just as the elevator rings open for the next batch of people to get in. Quinn turns her attention back to the doors in front of her as the line begins to move. She can't help but peer off to the side to see how many people would be in front of her. None. She would be first to get on the next elevator.
She looks back at Edith who is starting to calm down after her explosion. She can't take the chance. She sucks in a deep breath and merges in with a group of agents that are piling into the elevator, each protesting her presence. It's a tight squeeze with all of them in there, shoulder to shoulder. Her back meets agents crossed arms and she realizes she's met her limit of squeezing in.
It takes her a moment to press the button off to the side to her floor. Sub-level ten. There's a sigh of complaint at the crowdedness and someone even asks someone to get off in general. No one budges. Quinn looks up at the agent beside her who is giving her a judging glare. "I know I'm sorry," she apologizes to them just as the doors slide shut.
She can feel multiple eyes bore into the back of her head as she's pressed up against the doors. She's too stressed to even care. She could feel her own breath on the elevator door as she stared at it from the close vicinity. The elevator was silent. As they usually became as soon as she entered. Most of the time its agents and scientists in the elevator with her; all of which had top secret information they were dying to talk about amongst their peers yet, couldn't so long as she was in there. She wasn't classified for that. One day she would be, but until then she had to answer to her dreadful boss who was hot on her trail she could only assume.
The pit in her stomach didn't leave until the doors slid open to sub level ten. She's the first and only to get out at the floor. She can hear someone let out a sigh of relief once she gets off from within the elevator. She has no time to look back to see which smart-ass it was before the doors shut and the agents and scientists begin their descent further into the depths of the compound.
Quinn darts off towards her department at the end of the hall. She's greeted with accomplishment as she enters the office where everyone primarily is typing away to not even care to look at who just came in. She does a once over to see that Edith hasn't beat her. She scurries over to her desk, slinging her purse on the ground and quickly typing away her passcode just as Edith enters the room.
Edith's glances over each of the faces of her department. No one dares to meet her gaze, to let one's eyes wander means you're not working which makes an easy target for her. Once she's into the system, Quinn quickly makes herself look busy by taking a look at a long email sent in by one of the agents. She skims over it, briefly reading what it states.
A technical error in a watch that doubles as a comm link, their phone also was hacked and they've submitted it for her to take a look at. She takes a pink slip of hers and scans the signature for a name. As she finds it she scribbles it down on the paper. Agent Perez.
She needs to get up to grab the basket where the items the agent dropped off for her to work on is at but she's unsure if Edith is still prowling about. She's already in a bad mood, if someone as so much as raises up she may have an aneurysm. Quinn clears her throat and clicks the top of her pen down and then waits.
Thankfully she's been working with most of the people in her department for about five years now, each person unique in their own way when it comes to their work but they all have the same common enemy. Edith. They know when she's in a good mood and when she's in a bad mood, especially the people who have been there since she's started; granted there's only two.
A couple of moments go by until Dustin, the I.T. next to her coughs twice. Quinn raises up and heads towards the front to grab the white bin the agent has dropped his tech off in. As she walks back she peers over the cubby to see his curly head looking up at her with a small smile. She gives him the slightest nod and returns to her desk.
They've created a code about Edith. Or at least they've somewhat attempted to. It's not one hundred percent flawless, especially if someone has an actual cold. But it works most of the time. There's only been a handful of times where it hasn't, or a newbie doesn't quite get the gist of it and waits for a reply but doesn't get one and ends up biting off more than what they can chew with Edith.
She sighs as she begins to pick apart what she can with the watch and phone. It tedious but she manages to get it done. The comm link always interested her. Something that looks so innocent as a watch doubled as a communicator. It reminded her of James Bond and his arsenal of convenient gear and gadgets. Of course, there's more to their arsenal of weaponry but her department doesn't deal with fixing extremely dangerous weapons. Although sometimes she wishes she could.
The clicking of Edith's shoes appears from out of her office from where she was hiding. Quinn didn't dare look up at her to see what she was doing. She continued to fiddle with the comm link in her hands up until Edith cleared her throat and asked for everyone's attention. This was the only time where it'd be safe to look at Edith, and she did so. She dropped the comm link with a soft thud on her desk and peered over the edge to look at the older woman. The only word that Quinn could use to describe her would be snake-like. Her features were slender yet pointed, she held most of her stress on her shoulders which caused them to raise up ninety percent of the time, making her look like a frightened cat.
She glanced sideways over at Dustin who was also paying attention to their supervisor, she felt relieved she wasn't the only one. "As you should know the new update software should be available today for the agents. What's the status on getting it uploaded?" Edith questions, staring out into the sea of blank eyes. Edith clasps her hands behind her back and begins pacing down the first line of desks, eyeballing each technician.
She stops at an older, pudgy, gentleman's desk - Henry was his name if Quinn could recall. He had been with S.H.I.E.L.D. for years now. "The file is currently uploading, it should be available in a couple of hours." He responds to her, sweat starting to build upon his brow. Quinn watches as Edith lets out a long puff of air, whether it's out of frustration or relief is hard to tell. Edith continues to pace down the line of desks.
"For those of you who didn't remember, the upgrade will be for the agent's communicators - mainly their phones - we've been getting more and more each day with agents saying they've been hacked. Once the upgrade is complete it will be sent out to each agents communicator - for there on they'll have to install it with just a simple press of a button. Did anyone receive a phone from an agent recently?"
Quinn freezes as she looks at the slender black phone sitting in the white basket on her desk. Usually, she would wait for someone else to say they received a phone but Edith seemed almost pleasant today - almost. Her gaze was still judgmental but at least she wasn't throwing unnecessary vile comments towards them. She glances over at Dustin who gives her a tiny shake of his head. Her lips press into a thin line as Edith asks again if anyone received a phone from an agent.
She finally musters enough courage to raise her hand and inform Edith that an agent dropped off a hacked phone to her last night. Edith turns her attention to her, it's the first time they've locked eyes with each other all week. She doesn't feel threatened at all by her supervisor at the moment, perhaps it was the pure adrenaline kicking in or perhaps she was tired of being scared of Edith. "Bring it here," Edith beckons as she places her thick glasses on the bridge of her nose. She wastes no time in crossing the room to her with the phone clutched in her hand, a trail of cautious eyes following her figure. Edith's gaze is just as judgmental as usual as she plucks the phone out of her hand. "Who's-"
"Agent Perez," Quinn answers before Edith can even finish.
Edith's lips press in a firm line as she eyeballs the tech in her hand. Quinn feels the sudden of uncomfortable awkwardness as she stands in front of Edith, rocking back and forth on her heels anxiously. She can't help but feel as though Edith is examining her work - even though she hadn't even begun to tinker with it. Edith lets out a small, "Ah." as she begins to go through the corrupted files on the device before handing it back to Quinn. "This is something the update will be able to fix. You can try to get it up and working before then or you can wait a couple of hours to install the upgrade. The upgrade will strength the firewall by ten-fold, forcing whoever is in the phone to be blocked out for good. Dismissed." She nods her head once in thanks before scurrying towards her desk, surprised that Edith didn't make any remarks towards her whatsoever.
She can see Dustin glance her way out of the corner of her eye and she returns his confused gaze with a shrug. "This upgrade should last at least a couple weeks before anyone figures out how to bypass the firewall and security codes. We should start coming out with a second version." Edith informs the group, earning a few nods in acknowledgment before she exits the room to disappear in her office. Quinn lets out a long sigh, as she begins to tinker with the comm link.
The canteen isn't as crowded as it usually was. Perhaps most of the agents were off on missions. Which would inevitably end up with them coming back with issues with their tech; especially with the new update. She has a headache just thinking about it. She grabs a triangular sandwich wrapped in a clear plastic wrap and places it on the mustard colored tray. The letters on the wrap read "TRK" which, presumably means turkey - she hopes.
"I really thought she was going to bite your head off," Dustin says, trailing behind her to an open table by the large glass window that overlooked the hangar where dozens of agents and pilots milled around trying to get ready for their next mission. Quinn shrugs her shoulders as she sits across from him, unwrapping her sandwich. "I couldn't care less at the moment. She would've bitten my head off if I didn't speak up and say that I had a phone and came to her later asking what should I do with it."
"True. I wonder if someone else had a phone and was too scared to talk to her,"
"You're being very hypothetical today," Quinn states, biting into her sandwich as she peers down into the hangar watching people load weapons and ammunition on to a cargo plane. "It's in my nature, you know that," Dustin comments but she pays no mind to it as she continues to stare off into the distance. She imagined herself being down there with them, she wanted that life. To live on the thrill of a mission. She went to school for it, if it wasn't for that damn promise she made she'd be down there right now guaranteed.
"You still looking to become one of them?" Dustin interrupts her daydream, causing her face to become flush with embarrassment. She shrugs. "I can only hope but, I can't I don't have enough training," she hums out. "Besides my skills are needed in the tech department, no one can match me."
Dustin lets out a wry laugh at her statement. "Except everyone could match you."
"Are you saying I'm replaceable?" she teases with a smirk, watching him become uncomfortable.
"Not in particular. No one can really replace you - but skill-wise, yeah there are literally millions out there who could replace you."
"Wow, you are such a nice friend," Quinn sarcastically remarks, taking another bite of her sandwich before looking out into the hangar again. "I'm just saying your skills would be of better use out in the field."
She perks her brow up at this and gives him a questioning eye while finishing the bite. "When you say "my skills" are you implying that I have superpowers?"
"You know what I mean,"
"Mm."
"You're schooling or whatever. No one goes into law enforcement in college to just wind up as I.T. in a top secret government agency."
Quinn rolls her eyes with a smirk. She was going to have fun with this. "And you're not just saying that because I have powers?"
Dustin narrows his eyes at her while taking a drink of his soda. He's trying to decipher if this is a test or not. Her smirks says it is but her tone doesn't. "You don't have powers." He answers, only to watch her raise her brows in suspicion and shrug her shoulders. "You would have told me,"
"Okay," She simply states, her tone is a little higher than usual. He narrows his eyes at her once again. "No, you don't,"
"Okay."
"You don't-"
"You're starting to sound unsure of yourself. Are you sure I don't have powers? I could be like a secret girl version of Thor."
"The look on your face says you don't have powers, but the tone of your voice suggest you do."
"So which is it?"
He closes his mouth and presses his hand over his mouth as he tries to decipher what she's doing. She can see the tension start to build up within him, his gaze is analytical as he rakes through his brain to remember if there was an actual conversation where she mentioned she had any superhuman powers. He stifles out a breath as he continues to gaze into her eyes, which have increasingly gotten smugger with every passing second.
"Do you have powers?" he asks quietly and unsure of it. The scrunched up face of unease he makes while asking makes Quinn chuckle with satisfaction. "Yes, I do. But it's a secret, come closer," her voice is just above a whisper as she leans forward and motions for him to come forward as well. He does as he's instructed and inches forward excitedly. "I have the power to make people feel uncomfortable. Do you know what that's called?"
He leans back agitated, he has been conned into one of her psych sessions. "It's called being socially awkward. So you don't have powers. I knew it," Dustin huffs out in an irritated tone as Quinn continues to giggle. She points her finger at him with a smug smile crossing her lips. "But you didn't know. We've actually never had that conversation before," she adduces, earning a groan from her friend. They've known each other for a couple of years, of course, he wasn't going to remember minute conversations with her that they've had from time to time.
"Well, I have a superpower. It's called - I'm going to crop dust you every time I walk by your desk now." Dustin threatens earning a gagged response from Quinn that places a smile on his face. "Don't be gross," she scolds, lightly kicking his shin as he chuckles.
Her eyes wander back out towards the hangar where a large group of agents has gathered themselves around a jet. She perks a brow up in question as she stares at the agents wondering what mission they've been assigned to have that many of them on. Then she sees a familiar muscular figure in a navy blue suit come into sight. If it wasn't for his build that gave him away it was definitely the large red, white, and blue circular shield hanging comfortably on his back. So that's why there were so many agents.
"Hm," she hums out as she stares at the large group, drawing Dustin's attention to look out with her. "I wonder where Cap's going." He rounds the front of the circle of agents and begins soundlessly speaking to them, his hands finding their place on his utility belt. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Dustin shrug his shoulders. "I haven't seen him around the compound lately. It's been a good three weeks,"
"Must have been on vacation," Quinn suggests.
"Or on a covert mission. Who knows, it's not like he really talks to anyone we know," Dustin replies, returning his attention back to his lunch. He takes one look at the time on his watch and takes a bigger bite, chewing fast as he mumbles out it's almost time to go. Quinn didn't pay mind to what Dustin was doing, her eyes were trained on the agents and Captain as he continued to talk about whatever mission they were going on.
A hand clasps her shoulder and she jumps from the sudden contact. Her eyes widen at first to look at who was touching her and then they relax as they see Dustin familiar figure. "You scared me," she whispers out as she clutches on to her chest. "We have to go," he informs her, bringing her back to reality. She rolls her eyes as she realizes she has to go back to work, letting out a whine of protest. She takes one more look out to the hangar to see the agents filing on to the jet in a single file line, Cap waiting in the back to make sure everyone boards.
Reluctantly she grabs her tray and tosses her plastic wrapper in the garbage and tray on top of it. "Let's get back to work," Quinn's voice is half-hearted as she speaks to Dustin who is waiting for her by the canteen doors. If she had stayed to look out of the window a little longer; she would have noticed a pair of eyes that lingered on her from the hangar.