CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
( AGENT KAT: STICK IN THE MUD )
SHE HAD MISSED the chattering of people's conversations, the sounds of cars honking, and the overall sights of New York. Granted, she had been back in New York for a couple of weeks, just in time to spend the holidays with her mother and Steve.She automatically huffs out a sigh of disdain and cringe as she thinks of the past holiday. She had figured that Steve wouldn't go to the nines with her gift since it was their first holiday together. Of course, she was wrong.
She felt silly as he opened the maroon shimmering wrapped box that was filled with a few shirts and an emerald gift bag dawned with a golden bow that held his new running shoes in it, while she opened a daintily wrapped small box which once the wrapping was off it revealed the signature teal color of the Tiffany and Co. ornate box.
She almost threw the box across the room as she attempted to stop Steve from opening up her gifts to him. He assured her that it was the thought that counted behind the gifts she had gotten him, and expressed that he had needed a new pair of running shoes.
Now she's walking to work with the most expensive piece of jewelry she's ever owned slapped around her wrist still wondering how much Steve made for being a full time Avenger and if they would allow her in just to hang around for moral support. The cold January wind nips at her exposed cheeks, causing her to have a rosy appearance.
Within the past three days, the city had accumulated a foot of snow and the temperature was dropping below twenty degrees each day. Thankfully, she had managed to find her winter jacket stored in a tub that she had slid underneath her bed as a preventative measure to keep Rudolph from hiding under it.
As she swings open the glass door she was greeted with the soothing sounds of elevator music and the warmth of the building covered every inch of her, relieving her of her coldness. The building was still decorated from the holidays. A large tree with ribbons and ornaments stood proudly in the center where the reception desk was. The walls were strung with tinsel and twinkling Christmas lights hung freely from the ceiling.
She takes a cautious step onto the linoleum floor, being careful to wipe her shoes off on the dark rug to wipe the sludge that she had picked up from the snow-covered sidewalk. She didn't want to slip and fall flat on her face on the first day. She slowly made her way over to the reception desk, the woman sitting behind it held up a questionable brow as she attempts to walk up casually. She forces herself to smile at the curly-headed woman, who awkwardly returns the smile.
"Hi," Quinn greets the woman in a sing-song voice, flipping away the few flyaways that had fallen onto her face. "Brand new here. Where do I go? I think my division is investigations." she questions, fiddling with her purse to pull out her black leather badge. The receptionist squints as she reads the text on the badge, pushing her thick-rimmed glasses further on the bridge of her nose.
"Special Agent Quinn Cruise?" she asks, earning an eager nod from the blonde. "Okay, give me a moment, I think I have something on you," she hums out as she looks at her computer screen, diligently and effortlessly typing at a fast pace. With a triumphant click of the enter button, the receptionist opens up the side draw of her desk, pulling out items for the new recruit.
"Welcome to your first day with us," she yips out, still trying to get everything in her arms straightened out. Quinn hadn't noticed but she had a bit of a lisp when she spoke. "Here's a coffee mug, you get free coffee from the espresso bar in the lunchroom." The receptionist explains, shoving the navy mug into her hand. "Along with your jacket, hat, pen, and of course your kevlar vest with your name etched on it."
Quinn tries to engulf as much of the products in her arms as best she could, shoving the pen, mug, and hat into her purse haphazardly while slinging her jacket over her shoulder and her vest on her left arm. "You've been directed to go to the fifth floor. Room five-oh-one. Director Brown's office." The receptionist informs her, throwing her another smile.
Quinn's legs begin to shake under the discomfort of how everything had been thrown onto her. She hadn't realized how heavy a kevlar vest was until now, it was killing her arm. "Thanks..." she says squinting to read the name tag on the front desk. "Rhea. For your help." The receptionist gives her an awkward wave as she moves away towards the elevator.
She couldn't believe all of this was happening so fast. At first, she thought the wallet where she kept her badge in was neat, now she could promptly display where she worked just by putting on a jacket. Although, she would never want to. People would steer clear of her if they saw the bright lettering of FBI strapped to the back of her jacket.
She attempts to hit the call button of the elevator with her elbow, but a hand swoops down to click it for her. She meets the older agent's gaze for a split second, offering a smile of gratitude as the doors chime open. Of course, she's the first one in and stands by the buttons. She kindly asks what floor the man was going to, to which he responds with three.
She pokes and prods at the buttons, however, none of them lit up. Each bat she takes towards the buttons gets more and more desperate. "You have to scan your badge." The agent informs her, as he hovers his badge upon the top of the column of buttons. It lights up green and then the two buttons she had previously pushed light up a brilliant yellow. "Oh. High tech." she gawks as she leans back, the doors sliding close.
"It's the preventative measures we took to keep unwanted visitors out," the agent responds, before gruffly clearing his throat. His bristly mustache moves as he takes a sip of the coffee he had managed to score from the espresso bar that Rhea had been talking about. He scans her features from head to toe, his eyes resting on the kevlar vest and jacket she clutched close to her torso. "You must be new." he assumes, perking up a thick grey brow.
She shuffles the items slung around her arms once again trying to get into a comfortable position. All the while the older agent gazed upon her in question, sipping his coffee. "Ah. Yeah. I'm supposed to be meeting with Director Brown." she replies out of breath. She huffs out a breath of air to once again move the flyaways out of her face.
The feeling of embarrassment was starting to kick in as she could see the judgment coming from his eyes. Her cheeks started to heat up and she quickly ripped her gaze away from him. She can feel the elevator slow to a stop, giving a tranquil chime before the doors open. They had only passed one floor between the lobby and whatever this floor was.
Her eyes darted up towards the floor number three, then cautiously out towards the pale and empty-looking lobby area of the third floor. It looked like there was no color allowed other than the color white. She perks her brow up in question, wondering what exactly was on this floor. The man sauntered out in two easy strides, she hadn't realized how tall he was until he passed her out of the confined elevator. "Good luck," he comments as he walks past her.
Her eyes are still wide as she takes in the nothingness of the floor, trying to wrap her mind around the millions of questions and scenarios that floated in her head about it. "Thank you." she absentmindedly hums out, stepping backward until her back was pressed up against the wall. There was something eerie about this floor. Something that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on edge.
"A word of advice," the agent calls out to her, barely turning his full attention to her. When her eyes meet his she notices that they're dull grey, almost lifeless as if something had drained him from his energy. He takes one sip of coffee before addressing her again. "Don't ask questions."
A bit of sweat was starting to pool around the back of her neck. Something was definitely wrong with this floor, with this agent. However, she couldn't pinpoint what exactly felt off. There were a hundred red flags but none were explainable as to why they were eerie. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line across her face. She doesn't reply, only giving the agent a curt head nod before the doors slide shut and the elevator jolts to life again. "What the actual hell..." she whispers out under her breath as her body begins to relax under the weight of the vest.
Her phone vibrates somewhere in her purse. She maneuvers the vest and jacket to one arm while she digs into her purse for the tiny smartphone. A wide smile appears on her lips as she sees she's received several text messages from Steve, three to be exact. "Have a good first day! -Steve" the text reads out, followed by a picture with Rudolph laying on Steve's couch at the Avengers tower, and Steve's thumb in the picture giving her a thumbs up.
The third text is one that she's never seen before, it makes her chuckle, five kissing face emojis in a row. Steve had never used emojis in his texts before she had left for Quantico, however, spending time with Jo a couple weeks prior she had taught him what they were and what some of them implied. Now that's all he wanted to use, as he found them delightful.
Of course, he'd ask her from time to time what some of them were and he once used the kissing and peach emoji next to each other and she had to explain to him that they didn't mean she was as "sweet as a peach" as he meant it to be. She simply sends back a response: "Thanks, Hon. Can't wait to let you know how it goes tonight! Miss you!"
As the elevator chimes once again, informing her that she had made it to the fifth floor, she swiftly places the phone back into her purse and switches it to do not disturb. The last thing she'd want is for her phone to go off during something crucial. She steps out of the elevator, taking in her surroundings.
It was much more personable than the third floor. It looked like it could be just a regular office, with a small waiting area where she had previously sat nervously a few months prior. She follows the small sign placed on the side of the wall indicating which offices are where. Five-oh-one appeared to be down the right end of the hallway. She hadn't remembered the walk down the hallway being so long the last time she was here, however, the wooden door looked familiar and the engraved Director Y. Brown also was familiar.
Before she can even knock, the door swings open, revealing the lithe catlike eyes of Kat Lazar. Quinn's brow rise in surprise at her sudden appearance. She didn't expect Kat to be waiting for her by the door. "Agent Cruise." Kat purrs out. She's unable to tell if her tone is friendly or dismissive. She gives the agent a quick smile. "Agent Lazar." she greets, giving her an awkward curtsy which she instantly regrets as she can see the clear confusion on the agent's face. Her cheeks start to heat up with embarrassment. "You're ten minutes early." Kat muses as she looks at her watch, leaning against the doorframe.
"Sorry." Quinn quickly apologizes only to get cut off by her coworker. "Don't apologize." Once again she can't tell if Kat's voice is soothing or if she had just snapped at her. Instead, she gives her a questionable look as she shuffles the items in her arms once again to get comfortable.
Kat moves to the side, showing the empty office filled with degrees and certificates, and awards all under Yvette's name. However, Yvette's chair is empty. Quinn's brows furrow with confusion. She thought the Director wanted to speak with her. "Director Brown isn't here." Kat notes as Quinn peeks her head into the office, swiveling from side to side to look at the empty office, just in case Kat was lying.
When she realizes that Kat is indeed being truthful, she leans back out, readjusting her purse strap. "She's back at Quantico discussing business as per usual. She instructed me to settle you in."
Quinn looks at the more experienced agent, as she casually crosses her arms across her chest. Confusion floods her eyes as more questions pop into her mind. Primary there were two big questions: Did Yvette know what she was doing? She did know that Kat wasn't the biggest fan of her, right? However, she played along with it, clearing her throat as if to start all over. "Like an orientation kind of day?" she asks, her voice becoming an octave too high.
Kat lets out a breathless chuckle at Quinn's nervousness but doesn't tend to linger on it like she thought she would. Instead, she begins walking down the hallway with the new agent in tail."Ah-ha yeah, sure." She dismisses, almost scoffing at her.
Quinn bites the inside of her cheek to not say anything that could jeopardize her first day. Getting into a fight with the director's protege wouldn't be ideal on the first day. However, if the attitude kept up she knew it would be inevitable. "Do you remember what division you're in?" Kat questions, as she hits the elevator call button.
Quinn perks a brow up. "Uhm, investigations?" she sounds hesitant, however, her tone was almost judgemental as if Kat should know this. "Well, it's a good thing you remembered." Kat speaks up. She narrows her eyes at the agent. "Did you not?" her voice is dripping with annoyance. She shifted all her weight to her right foot, giving her a stance of someone who was clearly irritated. "I did. Just checking to see if you're memory's fine." Kat condescended, earning a scoff from Quinn.
Of course, she'd throw in a subtle jab at the Hydra incident. It was clear that she still didn't trust her, even after supposedly impressing her by graduating at the top of her class. "Follow me."Kat instructs her as the elevator dings open. The more experienced agent holds the door for her to walk in first. Quinn politely nods her head as she steps through the threshold.
She watches intently as Kat presses her badge up to a scanning pad before pushing the number seven. Quinn's eyes widen with shock. She didn't think her division would be higher than the Director's office, however, she could be mistaken. The office was probably the nicest in the building and that's why she chose to be on the fifth floor.
"So is working here pretty cool?" Quinn asks with a small smile on her face, attempting to make small talk. She can see Kat's eyes flicker with hesitancy and distrust for a moment before she places a fraudulent smile on her face. "Oh yeah, definitely. Especially with the contract, we have with Stark Industries. We get these cool top-of-the-line gadgets like this." Kat raises her right arm up to display what appeared to be a black smart watch, causing Quinn to raise her brows up.
Kat points to the side of the watch, showing two long buttons that she had mistaken as what would be the volume for any audio that came from the gadget. "It looks like a watch but if I press this button here it'll intercept any video and audio feed from cameras." As she presses the button on the side she notices a tiny, almost unnoticeable light go off from the top right-hand corner of the elevator.
Quinn opens her mouth to ask what exactly was in the tech to make it do that, however, her whole body jolts as Kat pushes the stop button on the elevator. This causes the elevator's bright lights to transform into its emergency lights which were an ominous shade of red. She looks at Kat in confusion only to see Kat's face turn stone cold. "Why exactly did you run from the academy?" she questions, her voice hostile as if she were meant to be interrogating her.
"Excuse me?" Quinn questions, her voice high-pitched and full of judgment. As if it weren't enough she had been harassed at the academy, now she was being harassed at the precinct as well. "Cut the shit. Why did you run?" Kat's voice was becoming increasingly more hostile as if she knew she only had a few spare moments to interrogate her in an elevator. "And none of this 'it's top secret I can't say' shit." she notes, waving her flat palm across her neck as if to express 'cut it out'.
Quinn stays silent for the most part, pressing her lips into a firm line across her face. Steve had said that the mission that Blair was on was secret, a "need to know" kind of mission. She was loyal to him, she wasn't about to let Kat bully her out of it. She begins to utter out an excuse, "I was homesick -" However, Kat immediately calls her out. "Was it about Blair Norris?"
Quinn's veins flood with ice at the mere mention of Blair. "What?" her voice is dripping with confusion. Kat smirks triumphantly, knowing she had hit a nerve. "Oh please Agent Dipshit, we're the FBI. Do you think we don't tap into your phone calls or video calls? We hear and see everything in this country." she explains with an eye roll. She narrows her eyes at Kat.
She could be telling the truth, the agency has been known to monitor that kind of stuff, however, Kat was also part of the visit she received from Yvette before returning to the academy. Was this all a ploy to see if she'd say something different? To see if she slipped up?
"Rogers mentioned Norris had gone missing on a mission and that night you went awol and somehow convinced three other cadets - one who has a history of despising you - to aide you in escaping." she recaps. Easy information she could've gotten from her employee file, once again she had been there when she recounted everything to Yvette. "What was the mission?"
Quinn narrows her eyes at the agent. "I don't know what you're talking about." she says honestly. She was confused as to why she was getting interrogated once again. "Bitch, please. As if you didn't hear a single word I just said. The mission, what was it?" Kat shouts, becoming more hostile.
Quinn immediately drops her niceties, her brows furrowing as she narrows her eyes to glare at the irritated woman in front of her. "Okay, back up. As if you weren't sitting across from me at my kitchen table when I told Yvette all I knew." she confronts her, holding her hand up to tell her to stop.
The intensity in Kat's eyes wavered for a moment as she had been caught trying to poke and prod at the new agent. "As I told both of you then I don't know what the mission entails. Only that she was in Italy the last I checked." Kat crosses her arms and rolls her eyes as if this were a nuisance to her to hear her side of the story.
"Steve wouldn't give any information to me about it. If you want details regarding it, you can walk into their headquarters and demand that information yourself, be my guest." Quinn states with finality, her voice edging on the sound of being angered by the sudden accusation but remained calm and definitive. Kat rolls her eyes and presses the stop button on the elevator once again, causing the lights to come back on as the elevator jolted to life. "Ugh, Hydra phony." Kat scoffs underneath her breath.
Quinn rolls her eyes and readjusts the vest and jacket in her arms. She wished she could have a simple day at the precinct, but that wasn't going to happen. She almost wishes that she had never taken up the job opportunity but she wasn't going to say no to getting her mother the help she needed when they offered it to her. She just had to keep reminding herself that this is what she had dreamed of and that it was helping pay her mother's medical bills. And it also paid for the various dates that she had been on with Steve.
Quinn steps out of the elevator behind Kat as it opens up to the seventh floor. It was dimly lit but still held the essence of an office. There were far more agents milling around in the lobby area and she could hear the faint sound of phones ringing somewhere further in the office. "Welcome to your division." Kat announces, guiding her into the lobby area.
Quinn swivels around to take a look at her surroundings, as this is what she was going to see for the rest of her career hopefully. She follows Kat down a hallway, leading into the office where a dozen desks were paid out in the open, only a few had cubicle walls that allowed privacy. A couple of low whistles echoed throughout the room, along with a few snickers to encourage them. Quinn rolls her eyes and tried her best not to scoff at her coworkers.
"You'll either get used to the catcalls or they'll get over you." Kat addresses. She looks over her shoulder, her gaze shifting from her head to her toes. "I'm guessing it's the latter of the two."
Quinn had no idea if that was meant to be an insult or just a forewarning but she tried her best to suppress a scoff towards the woman. She followed her towards the back of the office, into a private office that had the name "D. Muller" engraved on a plaque on the door. The office had a window that viewed out into the common area where the rest of the agents were.
She could see a man sitting behind a mahogany desk speaking to someone on the phone. He looked rather irritated as he spoke, pinching the bridge of his nose and then smacking his desk. Quinn's eyes widen at him. She could only let her imagination run wild with what he could be speaking about.
Kat wastes no time in even knocking, she just twists the handle and allows herself and Quinn in. She paid no mind to what the man was talking about over the phone, only that his tone was annoyed and low. She tries her best not to look at him, instead, she finds herself glancing over what was in his office.
It was more decorated than Yvette's. There was a bookshelf that covered the wall behind him, stacked full of black books with no titles. She could see there was a picture frame on his desk, however, it was turned to face him so she couldn't see what it was. A few degrees and awards were hung up, along with filing cabinets that had a globe and other miscellaneous items stacked on top of it.
She could hear the sound of the black phone being hung up and a desperate sigh being exhaled from the man's lips. Her eyes are instantly glued to him. "Agent Muller." Kat greets in a firm tone.
"Agent Lazar." he replies with a head nod, his tone sounding unamused that she was in his office. She steps aside and gestures towards Quinn, who instinctively straightens her posture. "On behalf of my superior, Director Brown, I've escorted your new investigator to you." she addresses.
Quinn panics as his dark eyes rest upon her. She nervously tries to mock a salute, transferring her items to one arm as she places her now free hand to her forehead. "Hello, Agent Muller, sir." she greets, instantly feeling the heat of embarrassment lighting up her cheeks. Both Kat and Agent Muller give her a quizzical look. Agent Muller is the first to break the tension, as he clears his throat. "At ease, Agent..."
"Cruise. Quinn Cruise." she informs him. "Right. I've read your file." he notes. "Congratulations on graduating so early from the academy. It didn't surprise me for one bit, with your S.H.I.E.L.D. training and all,"
Kat's mouth opens up to say something but Quinn quickly interjects, knowing that Kat was going to say something snarky about the incident. "Actually I can't really remember my training from S.H.I.E.L.D. due to the incident and all," Quinn gives him a nervous grin, feeling a little triumphant that she had beat Kat to the punchline.
"Right the Hydra neuro wash. That's also something I read in your file," he responds, clicking something on his desktop that she could only assume was her file. Her mind instantly runs to the worst possible scenario. If he knew about the incident then the other agents must know. They wouldn't allow them to work with her without that knowledge. She couldn't afford for this to turn into something like Quantico again.
"That's not going to be an issue, is it? Because I've found a lot of people don't really trust me off the bat -"
"No one here has been briefed about your past, aside from myself," he announces, putting Quinn's mind at ease for a moment. "Frankly it's no one's business but your own but if you feel inclined to tell your fellow agents I won't stop you."
"For your sake, it's best you don't." Kat warns her, receiving a judgemental look from her superior as he narrows his gaze at her. "I'll be keeping an eye on her. Especially after that stunt, she pulled at Quantico." she directs Agent Muller who seems to be gobsmacked at the agent's plucky attitude. Her dark eyes then rest upon Quinn. "Report to me at the end of each week with what's going on down here -"
"It sounds like Director Brown is looking to micromanage my division, Agent Lazar," Agent Muller interrupts Kat's instructions. Kat merely bats her lashes at him a couple of times before turning her full attention to him. "Well, when the head of the division only sends reports when he feels like it, it'd be nice to have someone give us information on what happens down here." she coyly remarks, earning a glare from the agent. "Every other division sends weekly reports, your division doesn't get special treatment from that."
Agent Muller huffs out an exaggerated sigh as he looks at Kat. "Well, I'd say this has been fun, Agent Lazar but I wouldn't want to lie," he remarks, earning a frown from Kat. His gaze rests on Quinn. "Agent Cruise, I've assigned you a partner already, Agent Masters. Lazar, can you take her to him?"
"Of course," she replies with a sickeningly sweet tone and a small smile to match it. She spins around on her heel and exits the office towards the coming area, leaving Quinn's mind spinning with everything that was happening. It was going by so fast. "I'm going to introduce you to the whole division real fast actually." Kat states as Quinn comes to her side. She doesn't even have a moment to object before Kat begins speaking.
"Can I have everyone's attention please, that's not currently on a phone call?" Kat calls out into the common area, grabbing all the agent's attention. Quinn wanted to hide, she didn't like all their eyes on her. A couple of them looked like they wanted to eat her. It made a shiver run down her spine. "I'd like to introduce you all to the newest member of the division Special Agent Quinn Cruise," she gestures over towards her, placing her on display. She smiles nervously. "She was one of the top of her class and graduated early because of it -"
"She can get on top of me any time!" A random agent pipes up, causing a ruckus of laughter. Quinn nervously giggles to herself, feeling the need to shrink in size to get away from this attention. Kat narrows her eyes at the sea of howling men."Shut up you lot of pigs." she defends Quinn, something she hadn't expected her to do. She huffs out an irritated sigh once the laughter died down. "Just try your best to make her feel welcome." The plea comes off more as a suggestion than an actual order, as
Kat's interests obviously laid elsewhere. She was going to be relieved once she got rid of her.
She rubs her forehead with the back of her thumb as she suppresses the oncoming headache, before twirling to look at Quinn. "Come on, let's get you to your partner," she instructs her, patting her upper arm. Quinn lets out a soft sigh. Anymore moving around and she was going to ditch the vest and jacket, she didn't care how essential they were, it was weighing her down.
She trails behind Kat, her eyes shifting towards the agents and her surroundings once again. She noticed that the wooden desks that didn't have walls around them were front to back, signifying that whoever sat at the desks as a pair were partners. She noticed that some of them didn't have anyone sitting across from them. They also appeared to be the ones with the most cluttered desks, used coffee cups piling up, loose paper spilling out of the trays that they had assigned them, a desktop that looks like it was from the mid-two-thousands sitting at each desk. It was a wonder how this place didn't reek of leftovers and coffee grinds.
Kat stops short, her gaze resting on a man who appeared to be scrolling through the news page of Yahoo. Quinn could tell from his desk, that he was in desperate need of organization. "Agent Masters." Kat beckons to the man, causing him to visibly jump in his seat and exit to the home screen of his computer.
As he swivels around in his chair, coffee cup pressed to his plump lips, his dark eyes immediately change from surprise to annoyance. "Ah Jesus Christ," he grumbles under his breath as he places his cup on a stack of papers near his keyboard. Quinn becomes uncomfortable with how close the cup was to his computer. One bat of his hand and the cup could go flying all over the keyboard and whatever important documents laid underneath.
"Agent Lazar, what a wonderful surprise, what can I do for you today?" he quips, trying to cover up the fact that he was irritated that she had come over to him. Kat rolls her eyes as she steps aside to bring Quinn into better view of him. "I've just come to introduce you to your new partner, Agent Cruise."
Quinn politely gives him a small wave along with a smile, as he examines her features, biting down on his lower lip slightly. He rubs his thumb over the top of the coffee lid. "New partner. Since when?" he questions.
"Since Dontai instructed you to have a partner after the fiasco at the Macy's Parade," Kat states in a matter-of-fact tone, a smirk playing on her face. Quinn was positive that he would react badly to whatever Kat had mentioned to him, as she wouldn't have said it if she knew it wouldn't have struck a nerve.
However, the man looks towards the ground, still fiddling with the lid of his coffee as he raises his brows. "Yeah, that would make sense," he replies, almost as if he were expecting this to happen. There's a slight pause in the conversation as Agent Masters refuses to speak up, or even acknowledge Quinn's presence after he appeared to analyze her features.
Usually, this would irk her, however, she took this time to take in what her new partner. The dark circles under his brown eyes suggest that he hadn't had a good night's sleep in ages, accompanied by the soft humming coming from him she could tell he was going to be difficult. His dark hair had been gelled back a bit to give him a sauve look, completed with stubble growing off his chiseled jaw. If she didn't know any better, she thought she would be ogling him, however, Steve's appearance made itself more present in her mind.
"Do you want to tell your partner what you've been assigned?" Kat questions, leaning towards the agent who just stares between them with a baffled look on his face. "What, like in front of you?" he scoffs, pointing his index finger up at her and giving her a smartass smirk. "It'd be nice to know what you're working on since Dontai won't send a report to us," Kat states, her tone becoming frustrated.
Agent Masters narrows his eyes at her as if he's trying to decipher what he was going to do and if Kat had said was actually what she meant. His gaze then rests upon Quinn, it softens a smidge but his wariness still lingered. "Uhhh I'm currently looking into a thread of disappearances throughout Harlem," he informs her, tapping the white board beside him that was strung with different colors of ink, along with photos, and names, and surprisingly a lot of question marks everywhere.
"We've got no leads which is exciting, not really." he sarcastically states, as she makes a mental note of the case having no leads. His eyes then flicker up towards Kat briefly before resting on her once again. "I'll tell you more about the case when you're not getting babysat," he states, earning a small snort from his new partner and a glare from Kat.
Quinn quickly straightens up her posture and presses her lips into a thin line as Kat turns to glare at her. "Masters." she barks out, snapping her fingers to grab his attention. "Best behavior."
"Yeah...right." he softly scoffs at the threat, while sipping on his coffee. Kat turns to look at Quinn one last time, her cold exterior melting a bit as she realizes this is the end of their tour. "If you need anything, email me. I know how these goons can get around women." Kat informs her, earning yet another snort from Agent Masters who could still overhear her as he plays with the back of the desktop across from him. Quinn gives Kat a small nod, earning a pat on the arm from the agent before she darts off from the division.
She presses her lips together as she awkwardly stands in front of her partner's desk, who was still tinkering with the desktop and monitor that was across from him, cursing as he fails a couple of times to get the monitor to work. Her mind instantly lingers to what could've happened at the Macy's Parade that made him land a position with a partner. He obviously needed supervision but the question is why.
There was nothing on the news about the FBI being at the parade, however, she didn't doubt that they wouldn't be able to cover it up. S.H.I.E.L.D. used to cover up almost all of their tracks, however, due to the compromisation, all of the agency's dirty little secrets were put on blast by Natasha. Including, her incident.
A small praise coming from her new partner drew her attention back towards him to see that the computer monitor was working. He slid it back to its original position, facing away from him before focusing on her. "Um, I guess take a seat at the desk right there." he gestures to the desk across from him that he had just got the monitor to start working at. Quinn merely nods her head, "Okay."
She moseyed her way over towards the black office chair, placing her vest and jacket on the back of it like most of the other agents in the area seemed to do. She was relieved to get the weight off her arms and even rubbed her forearms as they ached and were sure to be red with how long she had been carrying them around.
She then began to unload the content of her purse, just her hat and coffee mug. She places the mug on her desk, while she opens up the bottom right desk draw to put her hat in. For a moment she contemplates on reaching for her phone and messaging Steve about her day so far, but she quickly dismisses the idea. She didn't want to give anyone the impression that she was bored enough on her first day that she was scrolling on her phone. She places her phone into the drawer next to her hat to not tempt her.
When she looks back at the clean, yet dusty, desk, she notices a yellow sticky note attached to her coffee mug labeled login. She perks a brow up in question as she looks at it then flickers her sights to her partner who looked like he hadn't moved from his original position while browsing the web. The login was a random succession of letters and numbers, some of the letters were capitalized. Of course, it would be a randomly generated number and letter system, it was obvious to keep out anyone but her. She swears she can hear Agent Masters softly laughing at her as
she attempts to memorize her login information. After four failed attempts, she's able to get in, however, her access is limited to the internet and that was it. There had been no email created for her, she had no access to any of the drives that were programmed onto her computer. She was a sitting duck.
She huffs out a breath of air, inflating her cheeks to look like a chipmunk as she leans back in her chair. She hadn't been given any direction by her partner, yet. She was completely lost. She opens up her drawer again, reaching in to grab the yellow legal pad, and begins writing the date up at the top of the page. If she couldn't learn on the computer, she'd have to do it the old-fashioned way.
Her partner was too focused on whatever he was browsing on his monitor, his eyes slightly squinting to adjust to the brightness of the screen. Quinn places her head against the palm of her hand and continues to stare at him. His eyes flicker over to her briefly then back to his monitor. After which he looks back at her, his eyes widening with question.
"Oh right, you're looking at me because you're looking to learn," he says in a soft tone, almost apologetic. He gives her a small smirk."Sorry, sweetheart, it's been a second since I've had a partner." he sheepishly admits, rolling his chair away from his computer to be fully across from her. Her mind lingers on the pet name, 'sweetheart'. It almost felt as if she were being talked down to. No matter how big the urge to snap at him was so forces herself to smile. "You're fine. Take your time, I'm in no hurry." she nonchalantly shrugs off, earning a chuckle from him. "Says the broad with a pen in her hand ready to write down notes?"
She wants to roll her eyes, however, she deemed it best to keep it together. He was going to be her partner and she didn't want any trouble with him. Besides, so far he had been nice to her, unlike Kat. He didn't know about the incident though. Quinn raises her shoulders in a shrug once again. "Force of habit." she sheepishly states, looking down at the empty sheet of paper.
Agent Masters let's out another nervous laugh. The kind of laugh she would give a stranger at the grocery store if they had done something embarrassing in front of her. "You're fine. Here, we're partners right?" he quizzes, tapping his own pen against the top of her legal pad. She arches a brow up in question. "Yeah?" she says, narrowing her eyes at him, trying to decode what game he was playing.
The agent leans back in his chair, slumping down with his arms resting on his stomach, looking relaxed. "Okay, well, usually partners know each other. Well, let's get to know the basics of each other first. Sound like a plan?"
"You got it, Hoss." she quips, causing him to lean up in his original position once again. "Okay. Some boundaries are already being put into place, write this down," he taps her paper with the tip of his pen. She eyes him precariously as he leans back into his chair again. "You can't call me Hoss. Ever. Never ever. Where are we? Louisiana? Such a southern thing to say." he spouts off in a polite tone, however, it was firm. He was being serious to a degree but the answer made Quinn snort a little while jokingly writing down his preference.
She nods her head in agreement, causing the agent to continue on. "My actual name is Anthony Masters. I've worked here for about ten years. And my favorite color is red." he lists off in rapid succession, his tone was almost bored. It was as if he has been through this many times before. In ten years, she could only assume he's had more than one partner previously. She attempts to scribble down everything, however, he taps the top of her notepad once again, drawing her attention towards him. "You go." he insists, offering a small smile to encourage her.
She straightens up posture while tucking a blonde flyaway behind her ear. "My name is Quinn Cruise. I just started today. My favorite color is blue." she reiterates his exact formulaic sharing method, also giving him a kind smile in return as he had done to her.
He gives her a few nods of approval as he reaches out for his coffee cup. "The color blue represents loyalty, I like that," he mentions before sipping on his drink. She leans her head to the left side just a little as she watches him in confusion. She had figured this exercise was a monkey see monkey do situation, which would mean he'd write her information down as well. He gives her a quizzical look after removing the cup from his lips. "You didn't write any of that down," she states, pointing towards his pen.
He leans forward onto his desk, resting his cheek on his elbow. "It's because I don't need to. I can already tell who you are," he states in a matter of fact tone. Her veins run cold once again. Had he recognized her from the tabloids of her and Steve being together? She had wanted to make a name for herself here, and not let Steve change anyone's view about her.
"Really? Who am I?" she questions, trying to not let her nerves get the best of her. His dark eyes scan her features once again as if he were giving her a once over, analyzing her based on just her looks. He jabs his pen in her direction, as he confidently states, "Someone who's been thrown out of their depth, who's trying to find their way through this world so late in life."
Quinn gives him an unamused look, however, she's grateful he hadn't truly recognized her. "You make me sound old," she says, her voice transparently annoyed.
"Well, you definitely don't look like the fresh-faced twenty-one-year-olds we get." Anthony shrugs, another slight jab to her ego. "So what's your story?"
Quinn looks at him as if he were out of his mind. A look she had given to Frank many times before. "My story?" she repeats, earning a nod from her partner. "Yeah. There has to be one," he states. "You graduated at the top of your class and yet you were bound to be the oldest. What made you come here?"
She bites the inside of her cheek. She didn't want to tell someone she considered a stranger her life story, let alone, the reason why she was able to graduate so quickly. She could only assume he'd look down upon her as Tony Stark had basically given the agency no option but to hire her. "My mom," she says on a whim. It wasn't necessarily a lie, however, it wasn't the whole truth. "Yeah, she's not doing too well and we need to get her the right treatment, and wouldn't you know it, healthcare isn't free here." She offers him a nervous smile that she thinks masks the obvious lie.
"So you just up and thought one day you'd decide to join a government agency for some extra cash?" he quizzes. She panics for a moment. He hadn't taken the bait. She needed to seal it in but didn't know how. She gulps the lump in her throat as she makes it obvious that she was pondering what to do.
"Pretty much," she answers definitively. Anthony leans back in his chair, eyes widening as he looks at her. "Wow." He appeared to be absorbing the information, nodding slightly with his lips semi parted, as if this were groundbreaking news.
He suddenly drops his fascinated façade, his lips turning down into a dissatisfied frown. "Okay, well when you decide to tell me the real reason you're here just let me know," he states in a firm tone, his gaze becoming unamused, there's a hint of frustration behind them as well.
She furrows her brows at him, the pit of nerves in her stomach unfurling and making her feel uncomfortable. Of course, it wasn't the whole truth, but there was a bit of it in there. "That is the real reason -"
"Did you forget that we were trained to tell when someone's lying, toots?" Anthony interrupts, causing her brows to furrow at the new pet name. He leans forward on his desk, trying to get closer to her. She can practically smell the aftershave on him from where she was.
"Listen, I'm not going to pry for a tragic backstory or anything. It's up to you with what you want to be open with. Just know a partnership is built on trust." he informs her. His facial expression was stagnant as if he didn't care about any of this, however, his tone was soft. It was almost like he understood where she was coming from.
"But seriously, whenever you want to tell me why you're here, let me know," he says, adding on a wink for extra measures before returning his attention back to his computer screen. She was truly baffled by him. Did he care where she came from? Did he not care?
He was giving off mixed signals but the biggest one she had seen was that he was more easygoing than the other agents that had interrogated her. "So are you going to train me?" she questions after a moment, she wanted to reflect on how he had treated her versus how unwelcoming Kat was for her first day. He gives her a coy smirk, and without his eyes leaving the computer screen he informs her, "We'll go over the basics of the computer system today."
"I don't have access to anything," she mentions, slightly tapping her pen on her desk. It's almost as if he can sense how uneasy she had begun to feel, as he offers her a small smile. "Okay, that's all right. I'll just email Sal to get you set up in the system," his voice is calm and low. It's almost drowned out from the shouts and laughter from the other men in the office.
"In the meantime, why don't you slide over here, we'll go through everything together?" he instructs her, moving his chair towards the opposite edge of his desk, making room for her to swivel her way over to him.
She gives him a hesitant look, to which he scratches his cheek to mask the smirk growing on his face. When she doesn't respond immediately he gives her a questionable look and then pats the area where she would be sitting. "This area is only reserved for my partner," he says, trying to encourage her.She plays into his nice guy act, returning his smile with a smirk as she wheels her way over to him. Her title sounds fancy, intertwined with history although they had just met. She couldn't help but hide a smile behind her hand as she thought of it.
Partner.