Chapter Six:
"Sir?" An agent made her way over to Coulson.
"Find Agent Martin. We need a back channel to the U.N., someone we trust."
The agent nodded and walked away, nearly bumping into Selena as she made her way over to Coulson.
"You called me?"
"Yeah, I wanted to ask you something."
He wanted to ask her something? "Me? Why?"
"I value the answer." Coulson beckoned her over to stand next to him. "You knew about Garrett?"
Oh. That's what he wanted to know.
"I had a feeling and then I started to eavesdrop on some conversations. He always seemed suspicious to me."
"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" He asked out of genuine curiosity so that she wouldn't feel attacked.
"I'm ten and I just got here." Selena deadpanned. "And Garrett was your friend. If some little kid told me that my friend was a bad guy, I would've thought they were lying to me."
Coulson smiled before bending down to her height, taking her hands in his own. "From now on, if you don't feel right about something, or someone, you can always come to me, or Trip, or Skye, Fitz-Simmons, or even May. As long as you're completely honest with us, we'll listen and try to figure things out. Deal?"
"Deal." Selena nodded before throwing herself into his arms. But when she realized what she did, she pushed herself away and quickly apologized. "Oh!…I'm sorry."
"No." Coulson shook his head. "That's okay….…I enjoy hugs." He pulled her back in his arms, much to her surprise.
Between growing up on the streets and in the system, she was a little touch starved, so on the rare occasion that she was given a hug, she treasured.
"I made a list of S.H.I.E.L.D. bases we believe are secure." Skye walked into the room, looking at her tablet.
The two pulled away from each other, allowing Coulson to stand up straight and give Skye his full attention. "How many so far? Seven?"
"I'm gonna go see if I can help Fitz-Simmons." Selena fist bumped her sister and waved at Coulson before skipping off to more than likely drive the bio-chemist and engineer absolutely mad.
It's what she did best.
"Three." Skye answered Coulson's previous question.
"Plus The Hub."
"Including The Hub. It's a preliminary list. I'm sure more will turn up."
"Members of Congress are calling for an investigative panel but it's all still unclear who should be held accountable. Many of its leaders have vanished, leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. fractured and powerless." A reported spoke from a news report playing on one of the monitors.
"You were right all along." Skye told him. "Having all this there in the world makes it too dangerous, and now…..there's no one left to protect it."
"There's us. We were lucky enough to make it through. The Triskelion, The Hub…..those battles are just the beginning of this war. Hydra's out there now, but at least our team's still intact. We can fight them, and we will."
"Don't touch that!" Fitz snatched a tool from Selena's before slapping her hand, making her huff in annoyance and cross her arms. "You said you wanted to help."
"I do!"
"This isn't helping! Just stay still and wait for me to tell you to do something."
"But you're not telling me to do anything!"
"Exactly!'
Selena pouted and turned on her heel, stomping over to Trip, who was up on a ladder, fixing some other part of the damage.
"Trip? Fitz is being very mean to me." She jut her bottom lip out further to prove her point. "He's not letting me help with anything and he keeps yelling at me." She stuck her tongue out at Fitz before turning her attention back to Trip.
"Well then, you stay with me, okay?" Trip fought to keep himself from laughing. "Hold the ladder so it doesn't fall under me."
"Okay." Selena grinned and grabbed onto the ladder.
She wasn't really helping, the ladder wasn't going to tip over and fall. But even if it did, Selena wouldn't be able to keep Trip from crashing down onto the floor.
But she looked so happy with herself for doing something, that Trip wasn't going to take that away from her.
"You need to replace the grounding wires." Jemma told Fitz.
"There's no time." Fitz replied. "The ramp needs to be repaired by the end of the day, Coulson's orders.
"What?" Jemma questioned. "Are they even proper orders? S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been destroyed, Fury's dead, aren't they just requests?"
"Well, either way. I'm in the middle of it. Stator, please." Fitz held out his hand for the item. "See Selena, this is where you would come in, if you hadn't thrown a hissy fit and stormed away!"
"Well if you weren't so mean to me, then maybe I wouldn't have left! And it wasn't a hissy fit!"
"Yeah yeah yeah."
"We have no jurisdiction now that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been labeled a terrorist organization." Jemma handed Fitz the tool before sharing an amused look with Trip.
Selena and Fitz fought like siblings sometimes.
Okay, a lot of the time.
If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Any excuse they could use to get on each other's nerves, they used.
"Powers that will be sorted out. All we can do is fix one thing at a time." He clipped something into what he had been working so hard on. "Starting with the servo drive."
"Yeah. You're right." Jemma sighed tiredly. "However, you will need to replace those grounding wires."
"It's fine." Fitz waved her off, before turning to Trip. "Okay, turn it on."
Selena held the ladder steadily at Trip climbed down, only letting go once he touched the ground and watched as he flipped a switch.
As soon as he did, sparks flew out from the hole Fitz had been working to patch up, making Fitz move away quickly.
"Turn it off!" He yelled, his voice a few octaves higher than it usually was.
Once Trip flipped the switch off, silence filled the room.
The only thing that broke it, was Selena's laughter. "That's what you get for being so mean." She teased him and she as Trip made their way over to him.
"Selena." Jemma frowned and put a hand on her hip.
"What? He was mean!" Selena insisted with another pout.
"Be nice."
"Fine."
"You need to replace the grounding wires." Trip reiterated the point Jemma had been trying to make earlier.
"You need to shush." Fitz shook his head. "Shush, all of you." He pointed at Selena, making her eyes widen. "Especially you. Honestly, ganging up on me." He continued his little rant as he walked away. "Think you're so smart? Well, why don't you try to fix it?"
The three just shook their heads in amusement before Jemma moved towards the lab to fix whatever it is Fitz broke and Trip flipped Selena upside down, making her squeal in delight.
"Stop torturing Fitz." He told her. "He can't be on the team, if his head explodes."
"You think if I torture him enough, I can make him explode?" Selena giggled and let her arms drop. "Cause that would be cool."
"That's not the goal, you little monkey." He dug his fingers into her side and listened to her laugh without restraint.
"Do you think he'd get all red first? Like in the cartoons? Because — ahhhhh!" Selena was cut off by her giggles. "Okay! Okay! I won't torture him anymore! Put me down!"
"See?" Trip set her down, hands first and watched as she flopped over before standing back up. "That wasn't so hard."
Selena was too busy giggling to answer.
But laughter wasn't something anyone on the team would try to stop. It didn't come easy, or often, but when it did, they enjoyed it while it lasted.
"You made me say that!" Selena rushed at him, in an effort to knock him down, but he only lifted her up again, throwing her in the air and then pretending to drop her.
As soon as he caught sight of May and Coulson, he set the ten year old down on the ground and put his hands on her shoulders before addressing Coulson.
"So, you guys are we all set to go?" He asked.
"I appreciate your help." Coulson answered him.
"Enough to give me a bunk? Seeing as you guys are down a specialist, I was hoping I could hitch a ride."
Selena perked up at the offer, hoping that Coulson would say yes.
She loved Trip. He was like, her favorite person in the entire world, second only to her sister.
"Not gonna happen." Coulson shot him down. "But feel free to commandeer one of Hand's vehicles."
Selena looked up at Trip sadly, before looking down at her shoes. So much for that.
"I'm sorry, is there a problem?"
"No problem." Coulson shook his head. "Just not letting you on my plane."
"Garrett had me fooled, same as everyone else."
"Everyone else wasn't by his side day in and day out."
"Friends of mine are dead because of him, good friends."
"I think he should come with us sir." Jemma, who had been listening from the start of the conversation, vouched for the man.
"Duly noted Agent Simmons. But this isn't a democracy."
"Isn't it?" Jemma challenged. "Under the circumstances, I think we should all have a say in this, and I witnessed Agent Triplett willing to die in defense of S.H.I.E.L.D. Respectfully sir, I think he should come along with us."
Selena's eyebrows shot all the way up to her hairline.
She honestly didn't know that Jemma had that in her. She was always so calm and quiet, willing to follow order without question.
This was a change. A good change.
"Okay." Coulson conceded. "But Agent Triplett is your responsibility." He informed her before making his way up the stairs.
"Yay!" Selena hugged the larger man with excitement written all over her face, not noticing that he looked a little hurt by Coulson's rejection.
But Jemma did. She offered him a little comfort by resting her hand on his shoulder and gently squeezing it.
"Does this mean we can make that chocolate cake now?"
The innocence of the question made both adults smile and shake their heads.
"Skye, please tell me something good." Coulson asked the hacker as he made his way over to her.
"We have internet."
"Yay." Coulson celebrated sarcastically. "And boy, have I lowered my expectations."
"But all H.Q. support systems are gone."
"Well then, the internet it is. Find everything you can our team, all personal records, photos, anything that proves we exist. Then erase it."
"Uh.…that's kind of the nuclear option." Skye had stopped typing on her laptop at the last thing he had just said.
"It's our only option. Every government agency in the world will be on our tail. We need to vanish."
"Okay but, once that's done, it can't be undone. We'll be ghosts. Not agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., just agents of….nothing." Skye continued quickly once Coulson turned on his heel. "What about Ward? Have you heard from him? He and Agent Hand should have dropped Garrett off at The Fridge by now."
At the mention of Ward, Selena, who had been lying down quietly on the couch, rolled her eyes.
Skye seemed to express her love for this guy at every chance she got.
It made Selena sick.
And yes. She was absolutely jealous.
Skye was her sister. She didn't see why she had to spend all of her free time thinking about Ward.
"Not yet." Coulson handed her a phone. "Here, give him a call. Hearing how Garrett settled into his tiny, windowless permanent home might actually cheer me up." He looked at Selena, who honestly looked bored out of her mind. "Why don't you collect everyone's badges and bring them back to me?"
"Okay." Selena rolled off of the couch and went to find Fitz-Simmons. She ended up bumping into Trip on her way, which was a good thing, because that was one less person to search for.
"Hey Curly Sue, back so soon?" He questioned.
"Just passing through. I have a job to do." Selena shook her head and held out her hand. "I need you badge."
"You need my badge?' Trip raised an eyebrow.
"Uh huh. Coulson asked me to bring them all back to him."
"That makes sense." Trip dropped his badge onto the palm of her hand before attempting to ruffle her hair.
But Selena saw it coming and raced away before he could even touch her., running straight to the lab where she knew Fitz-Simmons were.
"Get. Out." Fitz pointed a finger at her before she even crossed the doorway.
"Fitz." Jemma scolded before smiling at the child, motioning for her to come in. "Fitz is a bit testy at the moment. You'll have to forgive him."
"I'm testy because of her! She's a little troublemaker!"
"Fitz."
Fitz just rolled his eyes and threw his hands up, muttering about how much of a menace Selena was and how no one else saw it but him.
Selena wasn't offended in the slightest. She knew that Fitz didn't really mean it. It was just his way of interacting with her.
"What do you need darling?" Jemma asked, ignoring her partner.
"Your badges." Selena told her, holding up Trip's badge. "Coulson asked me to collect all of them and bring them back to him. We're becoming ghosts."
"Oh. Well in that case." Jemma handed her her badge. "There you go."
"Thank you." Selena smiled sweetly before turning to her favorite target. "Oh Fitz." She sang.
"What?"
"Your badge."
Fitz rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket, but before Selena could take the badge, he pulled it away. "If I give you this badge, I don't want to hear a word from you, for the next two hours, let's see how you collect the rest of the badges without a voice."
"Fitz!" Jemma couldn't believe how childish he could be sometimes.
"Fine." Selena snatched the badge away from him. "I thought we were friends."
"Was that a word?' Fitz cupped a hand to his ear to see if he had heard her correctly. "Because that would be breaking the agreement."
"Hmmph." Selena zipped her lips and nodded at Jemma before looking to find May.
After some running around, she found the woman in the cockpit and tapped her on the shoulder, grabbing her attention.
"Yes Selena?" May looked at her expectantly.
Selena opened her mouth to say something, but slammed it shut when she remembered the deal she had made with Fitz.
"Well?"
Selena huffed and showed her all the badges she had collected from everyone and then wiggled her fingers to act like a ghost.
May just furrowed her eyebrows, trying to figure out what type of game this kid was playing. "What are you talking about?'
Selena stamped her foot a couple times in frustration, gaining a raised eyebrow in return, before pointing to her throat and shaking her head.
"You can't speak." May gathered that much, getting an excited nod from the child. "Okay, why not? You were fine this morning."
Selena may not have had enough knowledge to sign that she need to collect her badge, but she did know how to spell Fitz's name in the language.
"Fitz?" May questioned. "What about Fitz?"
Selena rolled her eyes and pointed to her throat and shook her finger.
"Oh I see." May understood. "You can't talk because of Fitz?"
Selena hopped up and down, nodding her head.
"Well then I'm releasing you from whatever foolish game you two are playing. Spit it out."
"Yay." Selena wasn't at all phased by the woman's callousness, she knew that was just her way. "Coulson wanted me to collect everyone's badges."
All of that, just to collect a badge. "Here." May rolled her eyes and handed her the item.
"Thanks for believing me." Selena sobered up slightly, referring to when she had told her about Garrett.
"Get out of here."
Selena just giggled and skipped out of the room and into Coulson's little office, well aware that she had just managed to make the tough and unfeeling Agent May crack a teeny weeny smile. "I got everyone's except Skye's." She placed all the badges on his desk.
"I gave him mine already." Skye told her.
"Thank you Selena." Coulson smiled before opening up his safe, placing the badges inside.
Selena saluted him before climbing to sit on top of his desk, watching him do his thing.
"Is that your badge?" Skye asked, when she saw something glowing in the safe.
Coulson looked back at the safe and saw exactly what Skye was pointing out. His badge had a bunch of numbers written across the bottom.
49 27 41 -80 3 40.
"They look like coordinates."
"Coordinates to what?"
"I don't know yet." Coulson shrugged. "But there's only one person who could have sent these. And this is totally his style."
"So, Director Fury is alive?" Jemma questioned, not quite believing it.
"What did he say? Does he have a plan?" Fitz asked.
Coulson just shook his head. "He only sent coordinates."
"The coordinates should put us somewhere in the Canadian wilderness." Skye tapped away at the holo-table, bringing up a picture of the location.
There was nothing but snow and trees.
"What exactly are we looking for here sir?" Fitz questioned.
"It's unclear. Maybe a rally point of some kind?"
"Sir?" Jemma was hesitant. "Have you or Agent Fury used this form of communication before?"
"Never."
"Then how can you be sure—"
"—Cause this is how he operates."
"Could be a trap." Trip shrugged. "So far, everything has been a trap. Am I wrong? Hydra could've sent you those coordinates."
"Nick Fury gave me this badge." Coulson stepped up close to Trip. "When he did, I swore an oath. We all did. To serve when everything else fails, to be humanity's last line of defense, to be the shield." He tucked his badge back into his pocket. "These coordinates mean something. I'm certain of it. Fury also gave me this plane. Anyone wants off, chutes are in the bay. Help yourself."
Everyone shared a look as he left the room in silence, wondering what they were going to do.
Of course they were loyal to Coulson, but they just weren't sure if he was inadvertently leading them into a trap.
A/N: I felt really motivated these past several days and I typed out a whole bunch of chapters, so the wait won't be long at all. Hope you enjoyed! XOXOXOXO