CHAPTER FOURTEEN
( INTIMIDATION )
THE LONG HOURS of overtime were starting to take a toll on her well being. Quinn let out an exhausted yawn as she placed the soldering tool down, stretching her arms above her head to loosen her muscles.
She tried to keep her mind focused on working on the shock baton that was brought in for her to work on but she couldn't help but let herself wonder about Steve and his mission. She envied him. She wanted to be the one going out into the world and saving the day from threats; instead, she was cooped up in the office fixing tools that could potentially help out with saving the world.
She wonders if she could even attempt to do it, to risk her own life for the greater good like Steve did. If she had lost everything as he had she was sure she'd do it but, she hasn't lost everything yet.
She still had Jo and her mother, and of course Rudolph. Rudolph depended on her more than her own mother. She couldn't dream of a life without him being there for her, even though he is a dog.
Now she wasn't wishing to become an agent, she was doing fine where she was at the moment even if she was working overtime. Working overtime meant she could see Steve and that seemed to brighten her day most of the time.
Although she does fear that she spilled too much personal information about herself the other day. She couldn't help it, it was like verbal vomit. There was no stopping it.
Suddenly, her world goes dark, sending her into a panic. As she tries to get a grip on herself she realizes that the power has gone off, leaving her alone in the dark with her thoughts. Her breathing became rapid as panic began to set in. She had never experienced a power outage at S.H.I.E.L.D. she didn't think it was possible.
Her senses became more alert because of the absence of light, however, if she strains her eyes hard enough she can still see the corridor outside of the office dimly lit like usual. Was it just her office? Did she somehow blow a fuse while soldering?
No matter how much she wants to sigh she refrains, her mind still tricking her into thinking she's in danger. The office is eerily quiet without the music playing, even the hum of her light provided noise. This was dead silence, it irked her.
She couldn't sit down, all she could do was stand and turn slowly in a circle trying to get accustomed to the darkness so she could analyze her surroundings.
"Not a fan of the dark, are you?" a deep voice asks, startling her.
She jumps from the sudden sound and lets out a small shriek of surprise. "Who are you?" she asks, her voice is surprisingly hostile for being terrified. Her eyes try to catch a glimpse of a figure but they find no trace of anything.
She's blinded when the lights come back on, she had to shield her eyes for a moment from the suddenness of the light. As her eyes adjust she sees a figure cloaked in all black sitting in a chair beside her desk.
At first, she doesn't realize who this figure is but as her eyes adjust more her mind becomes more panicked. She's looking right at Nick Fury.
Her mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water as she tries to form the right words on how to address him. "Director Fury," she addresses with a mock salute, her voice trembling in the process. "At ease, soldier," his voice is icy as he scans over her for a moment.
She stands as stiff as a board in front of him, trying her best to avoid any eye contact with at all. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asks, trying to break the awkward silence between her and her boss.
Fury gestures over to her chair for her to take a seat. Quinn swallows the lump in her throat as she does as she's told. She thankful she's sitting down, otherwise, she may have fainted. "I see you're working on Agent Khan's baton," he muses trying to ease the tension from her.
Quinn nervously picks up the baton in an attempt to show him what was wrong but it doesn't turn on. "It's short-circuiting," she explains with a small nervous smile as the director looks at her with a bored expression.
"Tell me how does your law enforcement degree factor in what you do down here in I.T.?"
"It doesn't," she answers quickly, confused as to how or why this is being brought up.
"Then why are you here?" he inclines, placing his hands across his stomach in a somewhat relaxed position even though every inch of him looked defensive - on edge.
Quinn shrugs her shoulders as she remembers back to when they approached her. "It's what was offered to me,"
"You were offered an I.T. position after you clearly state that you have law enforcement training," Fury's voice sounds incredulous as he stares at her deadpan and unamused. "Not to mention your family history, your father was a general in the Marines. They told you to an I.T.-"
"With all due respect, sir," Quinn interrupts narrowing her eyes at him. Her family history was none of his business and why she was placed in I.T. instead of the field wasn't his either. "Why are you here?" she questions, her voice now defensive. She didn't want to come off as a straight forward jackass but he had pushed the right buttons.
Fury leans forward in his chair, challenging the young woman to try to be snarky again. "I've noticed you've been spending time with our superstar," he notes, pointing to the notebook that Quinn had splayed open, filled with a lesson for Steve.
"Steve?" she clarifies. Her lips pursed as she nods her head. "He needed someone to bring him up to date on the twenty-first century. Figured you guys would do that for him. Guess I was wrong,"
Fury scoffs at her statement. "They did mention you'd act like Stark in some ways," he mumbles out, causing Quinn to perk her brow in question. Did he talk to Steve about this? "We tried to bring him up to speed after he came back. He just wouldn't listen. I'm just trying to figure out-"
"Why he'd listen to me and not an agent?"
"Did your parents ever teach you not to interrupt?" he asks sarcastically as he leans forward obviously feeling agitated from her constant interruptions.
Quinn presses her lips together firmly, cheeks lighting up in embarrassment as she hears him mumble something out about being related to Stark in some way. The comment makes her roll her eyes, she didn't like the comparisons.
"I want to know your intentions," he explains.
"My intentions, sir?" Quinn repeats confused, her fingers intertwining themselves together in her lap.
"Yes, what are your intentions for Captain Rogers? Is it money? Fame? Romance?" he leans forward once again, his voice lowers dramatically as he asks, "Or is it something else?" The tone of his voice sounded lethal, sending a chill up her spine.
She knew that if he wanted her dead he could do it in an instant and no one would bat an eye or question him. "I just want to help, Steve, sir. My intentions are good, we're friends. Do you believe that I could be capable of hurting him?" she pries, narrowing her eyes at the director who leans back in his chair.
"You never know who you can and can't trust nowadays," he simply states. "I believe what you and Rogers are doing is good. You're keeping it under wraps, not wanting to cause hysteria, but you must be more careful. If I can find out you two are working together, someone else can. Someone who may not be as nice as me,"
Quinn restrains herself from scoffing at his statement. If he was implying he was nice then he might as well be implying that gravity doesn't exist.
"I just don't understand how you did find out," Quinn states, her brows perking in confusion causing Fury to laugh. "I had my suspicions after his first mission, why he was so eager to leave the debriefing. Found out it was because of you, been watching you guys ever since. It's cute, you guys have some weird puppy love happening-"
"Oh no, I don't like Steve like that," Quinn justifies with a forced smile.
"Keep telling yourself that," he jokes. "I got to him before he left his mission and told me everything up front as an order,"
"Does anyone else know?" she hesitantly asks. Fury purses his lips and nods his head. "A few agents. Barton, obviously. Romanoff, Norris, and Hill-" he points to the front door where Agent Maria Hill stood lounging in the door frame.
Quinn jumps at her sudden appearance, she hadn't known she was there she was more focused on Fury to even notice.
"Other than that it's a secret, and it'll stay that way," he adds on, before standing up. Quinn immediately rises when he does, looking curiously at him.
"I've taken the liberty of arranging you with lessons with Agent Norris," he announces, making Quinn even more confused. "You give Cap history lessons, Norris will teach you some defensive moves. As a precaution, just in case you're in trouble,"
"I can handle myself,"
"Oh, I have no doubt you can. But how long has it been since you got out of college?"
"A few years," her voice sounds on edge. She may not have been up to date on any combat but at least she knew how to if she needed.
"Compared to agents who fight almost every day. You'll be seeing Agent Norris. Captain's orders," he instructs her with a smirk, making her even more confused. "Did Steve want this?" she inquires sounding offended. She could easily take care of herself, she didn't need any training. She's done fine for the past few years.
"He wasn't against it," Fury shrugs, placing his hands behind his back before turning to leave. Her chest heaves with a frustrated sigh as she thinks about Steve dictating what was going to happen to her. She could scream at him.
"Go home, Cruise," Fury calls for her from the doorway. "You're going to need to save your energy,"
~ BOOK ONE: WINTER SOLDIER ~
BY THE TIME Quinn arrives home it's not even twenty-two hundred. It's the earliest she's ever returned home since being on strict overtime schedule. Her nerves were shaken from her encounter with Director Fury. He was intimidating, that's for sure. She's unsure how Steve can talk to him every so often without feeling on edge like she was.
As she opens the door she's greeted by Rudolph who whines and insists on jumping up on her to get her attention. She kneels to the ground, dropping her purse and keys to the floor to pet Rudolph. She needed to relieve the stress that was building up within her from the encounter.
Jo pads her was from the bathroom to see who has entered the loft, her eyes giving a look of relief as she spots Quinn. Quinn waves to her as she notices that she's on the phone with someone. Jo rolls her eyes as she covers the receiver of the phone and whispers out, "Kill me," to Quinn.
This has her in question of what's happening, she gives her a confused look as Jo's mouth opens in frustration listening to the person on the receiver. She slaps her side and pinches her nose, causing Quinn to let out a low chuckle as she approaches the kitchen island where Jo meets her at.
"Who is it?" she whispers to her roommate, taking a few grapes out of the fridge and plopping them in her mouth. Jo holds up her index finger to Quinn before stuttering out a goodbye to the person on the phone.
She lets out a loud, exasperated sigh of frustration as she hangs up the phone, causing Quinn to laugh. Immediately, Jo pulls out a wine glass and fills it with white wine, taking a couple of sips of it before she starts to gulp.
Quinn perches herself on a bar stool at the island, plopping more grapes into her mouth as she scans over who irritated Jo looks at the moment. She waits until the right moment to ask what's happening, knowing Jo could spout off at any given time.
"My sister's pregnant," Jo finally says after a gulp of wine. Quinn hums elatedly as she chews a grape. "Well, that's good. I didn't know her and Tamara were trying to get pregnant," Quinn congratulates her roommate, as Jo begins wryly snickering. "They weren't," she informs Quinn with a tipsy smirk. Quinn furrows her brows in confusion trying to make ends meet with everything. "So Jaclyn wasn't inseminated?"
"Nope," Jo answers, taking another gulp of wine.
"What! So she cheated on Tamara?" Quinn's voice is higher than expected when she asks the question. She can't help but erupt into a giggle as Jo nods her head. "Well, that's problematic,"
"That's not even the best part," Jo adds on with a sly smile, leaving Quinn in suspense while she took a sip of wine. "She's having a shotgun wedding,"
"With the guy?"
"With Tamara,"
"What! They're still together? Wow, that's either love or that's psychotic,"
Jo shrugs her shoulders as she finishes her glass of wine. She pulls out another wine glass and fills it up along with the one in front of her and offers one to Quinn. "The wedding is this weekend so I have to fly out either tomorrow or Thursday. Are you able to take care of Rudolph while I'm away? I would have Josh come in and check up on him but he's coming with me," Jo requests, watching Quinn sip on her wine.
She never was a fan of the bitter taste that the alcohol had. Her face scrunched up as she forced herself to swallow the liquid. "Of course, I don't think I can do overtime anymore anyways," she answers, slightly coughing as the alcohol found its down her throat.
"You're really serious about this Josh guy, huh?" Quinn observes as she tries to take another sip of the wine, taking it in much smaller than the last sip. It still tasted bitter. Enough for her to gag. Jo nods her head dreamily, it's as if Quinn had just said the name of the love of her life. It made her feel uneasy. Jo was falling for this guy hard, and she barely knew him.
Quinn rolls her eyes with a smirk as she raises up from the bar stool. "You guys are gross," she complains as she sticks out her tongue in mock disgust, earning a chuckle from Jo. "You'll understand someday," Jo calls out to her as she heads into her room, shaking her head at the statement. She didn't have time for love.