The Perfect One

by choejhulkp9

SHIELD. The Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division protects the world from a much weirder one. But they soon meet someone with a unique ability set that makes him a force of nature. One of Earth's mightiest heroes will turn into its last hope from total annihilation. You don't mess with Inhuman perfection.

15. The Quantum Conspiracy

Here is chapter 15 of the Perfect One. Picking up where we left off, the team looks into the organization behind Le Chiffre and stumble onto a group working behind the scenes for their own reasons. And having allies that will stop the heroes from doing their job. Yeah, right. They clearly haven't been paying attention and are in for a rude awakening. Enjoy!

The Perfect One: A Quantum Conspiracy

July 2013: Italy

The normally picturesque and narrow two lane highway road of SP72 in Northern Italy was a little more busy then usual. Cars and trucks were driving down the two lane highway going in their direction like any normal day but soon enough they were followed by some oddities. The distant sound of car honking could be heard and it was getting louder followed by the roar of a powerful car engine and the distinct clack and rumble of assault rifles shooting bullets.

A 2012 Aston Martin DBS was speeding down the two lane highway, swerving to avoid cars in its way as it was racing away from three black sedans. Men with assault rifles leaned out of the sedans and shot at the fleeing Aston Martin and while their bullets did hit they didn't penetrate or were deflected off. Driving said Aston Martin was Will and Coulson was in the passenger seat next to him. Despite the fact that they were in a car chase being shot neither one of them looked worried. Coulson relaxed in his seat while Will was diligent and kept his eyes on the road. Despite the speed the Aston Martin was going, Will was in complete control as he swerved in and out of the two lane highway effortlessly avoiding cars and trucks. Will swerved to the oncoming traffic lane on the left to speed past the cars on his right while the gunmen behind him kept shooting at his car.

"You think we can make a trip to Venice after this is over?" Will questioned as he shifted gears and sped up. He and the other cars had entered a tunnel by the water. "I'm in the mood for seafood."

"Seafood is nice but I'd actually prefer to head to Florence. I've heard great things about Bistecca alla Fiorentina." Coulson suggested.

"Oh, that does sound nice. Some nice steak, some wine, music. That'd be a nice way to spend the day." He admitted when one of the gunmen shot the tires on a truck causing it to swerve to the left and crash into the side of the tunnel in front of him. Will quickly pressed clutch pedal and shifted down a gear before swerving right and then shifted gears to speed up. He passed the truck before it had a chance to hit him and came out of the tunnel but the three sedans were still on him. "Wow, those guys must be really loyal."

"Clearly we kicked some kind of hornets nest." Coulson remarked as Will saw a truck driving at him so he waited until the last second before moving back into the right lane. This caused the chase car right behind him to crash into the truck.

"Hopefully it's one we can put in the ground because I just got this car and I already hate that I've had to use it like this." Will saw that the two lane highway up ahead was hitting traffic so he took a left down another road and the cars followed. He and the cars were now heading up a two lane road into the mountains and unfortunately some nearby Italian police saw them and called it in. The car's dashboard beeped so Coulson pressed a button and part of the dash opened up to reveal a smart monitor which played the report the Italian police made about the car chase.

"Looks like things are gonna pick up. Lose these guys fast and try to keep the damage to a minimum." Coulson told him.

"No gadgets?" Will questioned and Coulson shook his head no. "All right, I'll lose them."

Will shifted gears and sped up. He saw a semi-truck parked on the side of a road near a construction site and two Italian Police cars swerve onto the street to block him off so he took a left off the main road with the chase cars and the police following him. His left turn took him into a mountainside construction yard. The workers and site officials all took cover as the Aston Martin sped past them with the chase car shooting at him and then a police car following. Will turned a corner and one of the chase cars got alongside him so he bumped it and sent the car crashing into cement truck. He sped up through the construction yard and then drifted around a corner before taking a turn into a narrow hairpin zig-zag road down the side of the mountain.

The Italian police car was gaining ground and one of the officers leaned out to shoot at the case car so they shot back. It ended with the police car crashing through a house being torn down and then skidding off the edge of the narrow road. Will shifted gears and drifted around the hairpin turn, managing to avoid the crashing police car before speeding up.

"That had to hurt." Will remarked as their followers were still coming. He looked at his left rearview mirror and saw one of the men reload an LMG he had before shooting at him, riddling his mirror in the process. The chase car managed to get up alongside him and began pitting him from the back. "Dammit."

"Don't worry. Those scratches will buff out." Coulson assured him as the gunmen in the chase car unloaded at the car's windows, making dozens of bullet holes that would definitely need to get fixed. Will saw a bulldozer up ahead so he veered to the side and the chase car veered to the opposite side. Once they passed the bulldozer, Will hit the brakes to slow down and turned to PIT the chase car. He slammed into it from rear, causing the driver to lose control and the car ended up speeding through the side railing on the road and drove off. The car then crashed down the mountainside with the driver and shooter either dead or dying.

"Finally." Will shifted gears and sped up with no other chase cars or police following him. After another hour drive, he drove the car down a side street into a warehouse in the outskirts of Milan. Coulson pressed a button on his phone and shutter gates of a warehouse opened so Will could drive down a long, narrow tunnel and stopped when he reached the end. They got out of the car with Will inspecting the damage and bullet holes he would need to get fixed while Coulson went to the trunk and opened it. Inside was Mr. White who blinked his eyes a few times to adjust them to the sudden influx of light. His hands were zip tied together and he had his tie in his mouth which was acting as a gag. Will walked over and Mr. White looked up at him in anger. "Enjoy the drive?"

Will then punched him in the face and knocked him out before two other SHIELD agents came over and pulled him out of the car. They took him further into the warehouse and placed him in a chair before securing him with restraints. The two agents cleaned the gunshot on his leg and placed an IV line in him.

"Let us know when he wakes up." Coulson told them and they nodded. He and Will left the area and entered a room where the rest of the team was waiting for them along with the other SHIELD agents who were running back end.

"How was the car ride?" May wondered.

"Traffic was crap." Will remarked as he walked over and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge to get a drink. "But the trip itself was illuminating. We stumbled onto something a lot bigger than just a network of terrorists."

"Will's right. Those chase cars got onto us pretty fast after we left Mr. White's estate and were doing their best to stop us. Something else is going on that has more to do then just the winnings of Casino Royale." Coulson added. "And Mr. White may very well be our way to find out. Did you find out anything about him?"

"Yeah. Was a bit difficult but even then it's not much." Skye said as she handed Coulson the file. "His name is Friedrich König. There's not much on him other then the fact that he's listed as an investor and financier to a lot of company. And based on his passport and security cameras he's been a pretty busy traveler."

"Pretty thin cover, sir." Ward pointed out.

"It is. Something else is going on here and we're only gonna get so far this way. Let's wake up Mr. White and see if he's ready to start talking." Coulson stated.

"The CIA isn't going to be happy that we found him. They're still mad about Le Chiffre." May reminded Coulson.

"Well, they shouldn't have let him escape and they might have him." Will pointed out. "Let's go see if Mr. White knows anything."

He and Coulson walked into the room where Mr. White was with two other agents while May and Ward stayed back with Fitz, Simmons, and Skye in the observation room with the other agents running back end.

"Cigarette?" Will asked and one of the agents pulled out a pack from his jacket pocket and handed him one. "Thanks."

He snapped it in half and walked over, wafting it by Mr. White's nose and the smell woke him up. Impromptu smelling salts. Mr. White felt dazed and his nose hurt as he adjusted to his surroundings. His hands were zip tied to a chair as were his legs and the gunshot wound to his knee was patched up so he didn't bleed out.

"Hello, Mr. White." Coulson walked into view so he could see him and Will. "I don't suppose you're willing to tell us who you work for and make this easy on yourself?"

Mr. White didn't answered and instead looked at Will. "It would seem that there is more to Mr. Queen then just a spoiled billionaire playboy. Of course, now it all makes sense. Consider my interest peaked."

"Glad I amuse you." Will remarked.

"Oh, it was more then that. You have money and skill so we were thinking of recruiting you." Mr. White told him.

"Who's we? Who are you working for?" Coulson asked him but Mr. White didn't answer. "Mr. White, allow me to explain the situation to you. You are currently in a hidden base that doesn't officially exist being watched over by highly trained and skilled agents. Skilled enough that we were able to find where you live and take you into captivity, despite the best efforts of the men trying to stop us."

"They're dead. And you are too because they won't know if you talked or not which means that they can't risk the idea that you grew a conscience and decided to help us whether you actually do or not. They'll just kill you to cover their own assess." Will pointed out.

"So, it's in your best interest to help us help you. Talk and we can protect you." Coulson offered and Mr. White just laughed.

"You really don't know what you're up against, do you?" Mr. White chuckled in delight while Will and Coulson kept up a stoic visage. "It's so amusing because we are on the other side, thinking, oh, the MI6, the CIA, SHIELD, they're looking over our shoulders. They're listening to our conversations and the truth is you don't even know we exist."

"Well, we do now, Mr. White and we're quick learners." Coulson informed him which only made him wheeze in laughter. Will read Mr. White's mind and then used his telepathic sense before sending a telepathic message to Coulson.

"We've got incoming. Duck in five seconds."

"Oh, really? Well, then, the first thing you should know about us is that we have people everywhere. Am I right?" Mr. White asked aloud.

That's when the two agents in the room with them pulled out their pistols and shot at Coulson and Will but his warning let them duck just in time so they missed. In the split second they missed Will ducked into a crouch and shot both double agents in the heart with his pistol. While those two double agents tried to kill Will and Coulson, a double agent in the ops room took out his pistol and landed a shot to the upper torso at one of the agents on the computer. Before he could shoot Skye, Ward rushed forward and tackled him into the wall.

"GO!" May ushered Skye, Simmons, and Fitz and the other agents out of the room and into the hallway as Ward knocked the double agent's gun away and punched him in the face before getting kneed in the stomach.

Will and Coulson held their pistols ready and surrounded Mr. White when they heard a small explosive charge go off. The door was kicked in after its hinges were blown off and in rushed four men in suits armed with submachine guns who immediately opened fire. Coulson and Will split up and took cover behind opposing pillars that were riddled with bullets. Will fired a few bullets from behind cover when he saw Mr. White get hit in the shoulder and fall backward. He looked over and saw Coulson peak out from behind his pillar and shoot a few bullets from his pistol before getting back behind cover. Coulson looked over at Will who sent him some non-verbal hand signals. The message was, stay behind cover and watch White while I handle the intruders. It wasn't exact but that was the gist of the message.

Will reached into his back pants pocket and pulled out a small pellet. He clicked in one of the sides and a red light began blinking from it. He tossed it from behind the pillar before moving around the other side towards the gunmen. The pellet hit the ground near them and it exploded in a bright flash of light and loud, high-pitched ear-deafening sound. The momentary distraction was enough for Will to close the distance quickly. He slid forward and tripped the first gunmen onto his front and kicked away his gun before he grabbed the second by the arms and jostled him around so he could spin kick the third across the face. The gunmen hit the ground hard as Will disarmed the second gunmen and tossed him over hip and pulled out his pistol, doing a double tap to the chest. That's when he saw the bulletproof vest he was wearing so he aimed up and shot the gunmen in the head. He turned into a low spin and shot the first gunmen in the head before he could grab his gun and then blocked a knife stab from the third gunmen. He parried his attack and grabbed his arm, allowing him to take him to the ground with an over the shoulder judo throw before shooting him in the head. Will turned around and fired a bullet which knocked the submachine gun out of the fourth gunmen's hand who quickly saw this was a losing battle and ran for the exit.

"We've got a rabbit!" He shouted.

"Go, I've got White." Coulson assured him and Will ran after their fleeing attacker. Coulson kept his gun at the ready as he walked over to Mr. White to check on him. He was still tied to the chair but now with a bullet wound in his shoulder to go with the one in his leg. He heard the sounds of a scuffle and raised his pistol only to see Ward push in a knocked out agent. "Ward, you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm all right. The others are too." Ward gingerly touched his head which had some cuts and was bleeding a bit from the fight he just had but he was alive while his attacker was unconscious. That's when he noticed the five dead men in the room. "Sir, what did we just get involved in?"

"I don't know and I don't like it." Coulson told him when Ward noticed they were one short.

"Where's Will?" Ward questioned.

With Will…

The fleeing attacker had run through the warehouse and took the stairs down to the basement where he broke through an old gate that led to the old sewers and tunnels underneath the city. He ran as fast as he could to make his escape but Will was right on his tail. The gunman closed a gate behind him when he turned a corner but Will just took another hallway and continued chasing after him. Eventually, their chase through the tunnels led them up some stairs that led to an escape latch that opened up in the middle of an open city square that was currently packed with people for a local event. Despite the sea of people in his way, Will never lost sight on his attacker and pushed past them as the gunman ran across the street and ran into a building. He saw him running up several flights of stairs as fast as he could so he holstered his pistol and ran forward. He jumped off a bench and grabbed onto the railing of the second floor to pull himself up and then jumped off the railing to grab onto the third floor railing, scaling up three floors faster then he could if he ran. The gunman saw him getting close so he jumped out a window and landed on the roof of an adjoining building and proceeded to make his escape via the rooftops.

He jumped from building to building, occasionally slipping or having a misstep on a loose building roof shingle but kept heading west with no one on the street any the wiser. He eventually made his way near the bell tower of a church when he heard encroaching footsteps coming from his left. He turned and fired a shot that grazed Will's left shoulder but didn't go through him and do any damage. Will tackled the gunman off his feet and the two fell through the glass ceiling of a church undergoing renovations. Both men landed on a scaffold but Will's portion broke and he fell down until he grabbed a beam and caught himself. The sudden jerk caused his pistol to fall out of his holster and fall to the ground. The gunman saw him in his precarious position so he reached for his gun only for Will to pull a loose scaffold plank, causing it to collapse. The man fell down but grabbed onto a rope to catch himself and was swung around. The pulley the rope was attached to moved and ended up shattering a pane of glass so Will jumped forward and grabbed onto another rope to avoid the falling shards. Will and the gunman held on for dear life as the two ropes they were holding onto happen to be connected to the same beam which began spinning out of control. It ended up hitting other things causing more of the scaffold to come part and in general it was not fun to be up there.

The two ended up crashing into each other which let Will punch him in the face before both smashed through part of the scaffold which tipped over like a domino and caught onto their ropes. That in turn yanked them up into the air and they crashed into two panes of glass in the ceiling. The gunman landed on the last scaffold that was still up while Will fell to the ground but the rope caught his leg so he was saved from going splat only to end up dangling off the ground. The beam holding their ropes spun so the two were tossed around once again.

"This is getting ridiculous." Will pointed out as he saw the gunman get tossed into another scaffold. He climbed up as fast as he could to reach his gun but Will saw his pistol on the ground and he was moving towards it. At the right moment, he grabbed onto a cable to stop himself from moving, picked his pistol off the floor and pulled himself up to shoot the gunman straight through the head. His pistol fell to the ground followed by his body which unfortunately landed head first so it went splat. "So much for asking questions."

Line Break xxxxx

The BUS: SHIELD Secured Airfield, Milan, Italy

Backup and a cleanup crew was called after the double agent reveal and attack to free Mr. White. Thankfully, only one agent was seriously hurt but Simmons managed to stabilize him for treatment later. The agent that Ward stopped was knocked out and secured while other agents secured the area. The team was a little shaken up at the near death experience but were toughing it out. Coulson and May were watching over Mr. White who now had a bullet hole in the shoulder to go with the bullet hole in his leg. Good news is that whatever group Mr. White worked for weren't able to kill or recover him. Bad news is that whoever they were had people inside SHIELD.

The team returned to the BUS with Mr. White and placed him in the Cage to keep him secure. Everyone minus Coulson was in the med bay so Simmons could clean up the minor scuffs Ward had. "Hang on. Almost done." Simmons finished applying the ointment onto the cut on his forehead and placed a bandage on it. "There, finished."

"Thanks." Ward told her before getting up from the chair. "How're things at the black site?"

"SHIELD backup has secured the area but the only surviving attacker is dead. Cyanide capsule in his mouth. No ID yet on the attackers but they were pros. Serial numbers on the guns were filed off, no identifying markers and no hits in our database. Skye, keep digging and see if you can find anything on them." May told her.

"I'm on it." Skye replied, already doing a search on her tablet when they noticed they were still one short. "Should we send out someone to go see if Will's ok? I mean, I know he's probably one of the most skilled agents here but he's been gone a while."

"The agents at the black site were told to find him." May assured her when they heard the roar of an engine and saw the Aston Martin DBS pull up to the Bus. Will got out the car, looking very dirty and a little big banged up but was fine. "Your rabbit?"

"Dead. Not gonna be helpful but I did find this." Will reached into his pocket and pulled out the man's phone. "It broke when the man fell and his head went splat but the data on it should still be recoverable. Fitz, see what you can find."

He tossed him the phone and Fitz immediately plugged it in to analyze it. Simmons walked over with a cotton swab to help clean his wounds but Will stopped her. "You should let me examine you." Simmons told him.

"I'm fine, Simmons. Just some minor stuff. Mostly from the shards of glass when we fell in through a church undergoing renovations." He assured her.

"Well, it'll need some new renovations but that doesn't mean those cuts still can't get infected now sit down." She ordered, putting on her angry face.

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?" He wondered and everyone shook their heads so he relented and took a seat. He removed his tie and suit jacket which would definitely need to get fixed and dry cleaned as Simmons began cleaning the cuts on his face. "Where's Coulson?"

"He's in his office letting command know what happened." May told him and Will grimaced. Not at the pain but at how bad that conversation would go.

"That's got to be an unfortunate conversation."

"It was." Coulson walked down the stairs and joined his team in the med bay. "I just finished a very long conversation with Director Fury and he was not happy."

"Let me guess. He wants answers." Will theorized.

"More then that. He wants to know how two agents with a combined total of twenty years of service to SHIELD were double agents for the organization that Mr. White works for. Fury is keeping things on a need to know basis for the moment but he wants us to get to the bottom of this and give him answers on who he can and can't trust. The entire organization is vulnerable so right now it's just us. We can't risk bringing in the rest of SHIELD or else we tip off whoever's behind this." Coulson told the team.

"Agreed. Right now, our only lead are the mercenaries and Mr. White. He acted all superior before but something tells me that he'll start talking once we start dangling him out of the plane at 30,000 ft." Will suggested.

"If we think he's as important and dangerous as we think he is, he's not going to be easy to crack." May pointed out.

"He will be after I'm done with him." Will promised.

Half an hour later…

The doors to the Cage opened and in walked Coulson and Will. Mr. White was handcuffed and zip tied to the table he was sitting at. Everything he had on him was taken and being looked at by the Team. Coulson walked over and sat across from Mr. White but Will remained standing. He walked over to the wall and began to fold up the sleeves of his button-up.

"Is there where you say that I should speak or you'll torture me?" Mr. White questioned.

"I am and it's in your best interest." Coulson told him. "I'll admit, you threw us for a loop with your attempted escape but as you can see…it didn't work out for you. You got a bullet to the shoulder and everyone who came to try and rescue you ended up dead."

"Rather painfully, I might add." Will told him as he retrieved a syringe from his pocket filled with a blue liquid. "My colleague is being polite. He's the good cop."

"And let me guess, you're the bad cop?" Mr. White said, chuckling a bit only for Will to grab the back of his head and slam it into the table so hard that he broke his nose. Will then stabbed Mr. White in the base of his neck with the syringe and injected the liquid into his system.

"I'm the worst nightmare to assholes like you." He whispered. Mr. White picked up his head and groaned in pain as blood dripped down the side of his face while Coulson was as calm as can be. That's when he began to feel a tingling sensation in his head that began to course throughout the rest of his body. He tensed up and his hands began shaking uncontrollably followed by a slight buzzing and high-pitched ringing in his ears. "Oh, it's starting to hit you now. I was thinking it would take longer."

"Wha—what did you do me?" White struggled to utter out as he felt like he wasn't in control of his body.

Will tossed Coulson the syringe so he could show it to White. "If you truly had people everywhere then you would know what this is. This is KBX-19, SHIELD's new interrogation cocktail of choice. The serum you were injected with immediately traveled into your brain where it is currently reducing cognitive function and inhibiting the synapses from working properly. You'll have noticed by now that your mind is beginning to slip and you don't seem to be in the control you usually are."

"Of course, that's in good circumstances. You see when Coulson said it was new he meant experimental. It in an ideal circumstance, it essentially cuts off all synaptic function to the rest of your body making you a prisoner in your own mind. You can't move no matter how much you try to think it. In the circumstances where that doesn't happen, it begins effecting the neurotransmitters in the body in an bad way. And by bad I mean painful." Will told him and Mr. White began to feel it.

It felt like his brain was being ripped out of his skull by an Olympic strongman while acid was being pumped into his veins. Anyone, even the most experienced and hardcore intelligence agents or special forces, would be screaming in pain but not Mr. White. But the reason for that wasn't because of his inner fortitude but rather because he couldn't. He literally couldn't move the muscles in his voice box to scream or even open his mouth. All he could do was sit in the chair, trapped in his own body and unable to move but felt the most pain he had ever felt in his entire life. Will and Coulson could tell from his eye movement and shaking that he was indeed feeling all of it but his facial expression was a neutral stare because he couldn't move his facial muscles. Coulson sat across from Mr. White with a completely neutral expression on his face while Will leaned against the wall behind him. Ward and May were watching everything via the camera in the cage but Fitz, Simmons, and Skye either had work to do or didn't have the stomach to watch the interrogation.

Coulson gave Will a nod so he took out another syringe from his pocket with a clear colored liquid and injected it in the side of Mr. White's neck. Nothing seemed to happen until about thirty second later and he collapsed against the table. He let out the loudest exhale and gasp for air as he felt the feeling come back to his body. "In case you think of stringing us around, please be aware that next time we won't give you the counter agent." Will warned him, leaning back against the wall.

"Mr. White, let's be real here. Whatever organization you work for knows that you are now a liability. You were captured and the men who came to kill or rescue you didn't succeed and it won't be long before word gets back to the people you report to. Even if you escape they can't take the chance that you said anything to save your life so they'll want you dead." Coulson said, laying out Mr. White's situation out for him.

"And SHIELD is offering protection if I talk?" he asked them.

"They probably would. Personally, I felt that all the horrible things you've done in the world means you deserve nothing more than a bullet through the head and I'm happy to volunteer to be the one to shoot you but that's just me. But it's not just you we'll protect but the people you care about as well. Your daughter, for instance." Will said and noticed the subtle movement he did. Mentioning his daughter definitely got a reaction out of him. "I'm guessing the organization you work for has a nice amount of paranoia and doesn't leave anything to chance. Even if you've been working for them under an alias, which I assume with a name like Mr. White, your organization likely has the resources to find out about your daughter. I mean, I did."

"My colleague is right. We can protect her if you are willing to be open with us and tell us everything." Coulson told him and both could see that Mr. White was still hesitant.

"I'll offer this one time deal right now. Tell us everything and I promise that an Avenger will look after your daughter and keep her safe until things are settled. You have my word." Will offered and that seemed to be the final nail in the coffin.

"What do you want to know?" Mr. White said.

"Everything and start from the beginning." Coulson told him and he did. Mr. White gave them everything including names of some pretty well known people. When he began talking about places and people, Ward, May, and Fitz used their system to begin looking into them. Coulson had been with SHIELD long enough to read people very well and could see that Mr. White seemed to be genuine but there was always the risk that the person across from you wasn't being 100% truthful. Thankfully, he had a contingency plan in the form of Will.

Will never left his position of leaning against the wall of the Cage while Mr. White spoke to Coulson. That was good as Mr. White didn't see that Will's eyes were glowing blue the entire time. There was no experimental interrogation serum or counter-agent Mr. White was injected with. All he got injected with were colored IV fluid. Everything that happened was because of Will's powers. He used his telepathy and psychic powers do everything that Mr. White experienced. A combination of mental inducement and telepathic surgery as he called them. The mental inducement to put Mr. White's body in full lockdown mode and the telepathic surgery to mess with his mind and boy and make him feel all that pain. The mental pain and full body lockup was because of him and it was also the reason he leaned against the wall, slightly out of complete view from the camera. His eyes glowed blue when he used his telepathy and judging by the intensity the glow was either bright like a flashlight or so subtle you might miss it at first glance. Using his powers in this instance gave his eyes a noticeable glow so leaning against the wall with his head down kept the cameras from seeing it.

The interrogation continued for well over an hour and afterward Simmons came in to clean up Mr. White's broken nose. Right when she was done, Will gave him a sedative to knock him out and they left him in the cage. Coulson went to the briefing room while Will stepped aside to make a call. He used his personal phone and encrypted the line as it rang. He heard the phone ring twice before the line was picked up. "Go secure."

"Secured."

"Hey, Barton. How're the wife and kids?" Will wondered.

"Great. Cooper and Lila are hoping you'll stop by again sometime soon but not too soon. They love hanging out with Goose."

"Me too. I'll try and stop by when I have some free time to pick him up but tell Laura thank you for watching over him. With what was going on I had a lot on my plate so thanks again. I know you're already doing me a favor with cat-sitting but I need another one." Will told him.

"Whatever it is, you know I'm in."

"Thanks, Barton. I need you to head to protect someone for me. Dr. Madeleine Swan. She's a psychiatrist working at the Austrian Hoffler Klinik in the Alps. High-end and expensive but she's the daughter of a person of interest in a case I'm working on and she needs to be protected. Get her into protective custody but don't use the usual SHIELD channels." Will informed him and he could heard Barton scribble some stuff down.

"Something going on?"

"Yeah. We may have a leak and the group I'm going after could get wind of her location if you use the usual SHIELD networks. It's why I'm gonna have Tony come and help you. He's got the resources to help keep her safe." Will said.

"Got it. Be careful, Will."

"Always." Will hung up and called Tony. "Hey, Tony. Sorry to bother you but I'm calling in a favor."

With Coulson…

The team was gathered to go over all the information that Mr. White just gave them and to say it was a lot and hard to get their minds around was an understatement.

"Suffice to say we kicked the hornets nest and stumbled onto something big. With the information we got from Mr. White we now have a better picture of what we're dealing with and it's no less daunting, complicated, or challenging." Coulson told them. "We're dealing with a shadow organization known to its members as Quantum. Mr. White is Quantum's leader and liaison between the organization and its prospective clients and allies such as Le Chiffre."

"What kind of group is this? Terrorist? Criminal?" Simmons wondered.

"Both. Quantum is unlike other special groups as they're mainly focused on acquiring power and wealth by any means necessary. They've worked with and have agents in legitimate governments and organizations as well as third-party criminal organizations, terrorist groups, or rogue governments and have used those connections to further increase their power and influence." Coulson explained.

"Geez, these people sound like boogeymen." Skye remarked.

"You're not far off, Skye." Ward pressed the touch table and brought up the files on a few of the people Mr. White mentioned. "Yusef Kabira is a former Egyptian intelligence agent who went freelance after he left the agency. If Mr. White's intel is right then he's been responsible for coercing sensitive government information from a lot of female agents by seducing them and then faking his own kidnapping in order for them to get the information he needs for his safe release."

"A horrible person." Fitz stated as May brought up a file on another man.

"Guy Haines is a businessman, philanthropist, power broker, mediator, and special envoy to the British Prime Minister. The two are old friends and Mr. Haines is one of his most trusted advisors. According to Mr. White, Guy Haines assists in Quantum's work in the United Kingdom." May explained.

"I hate this man." Simmons said and Fitz nodded in agreement.

"Next we have Gregor Karakov." Ward brought up the file on him. "Former Oligarch politician for the Russian Government before he retired from the political world to manage the several dozen metal mines he owns in Siberia. Someone with a lot of money, power, and influence in the eastern block of Europe."

"And we also have Moishe Soref, former Mossad agent and now is the biggest telecom giant in the Middle East with plans for expansion into Africa, Asia, and the Mediterrean." Coulson explained. "Quantum has a lot of people working for them who are able to provide money, power, and influence to their organization to get them what they want but it doesn't matter who they are so long as they are useful. For example, a banker to the world's terrorists, criminals, and dictators who can provide additional funding by financing terrorists attacks across the globe."

"And when Le Chiffre couldn't deliver they killed him and everyone who worked for him." Skye filled in the blanks. "Wow, this group sounds terrifying."

"They are." They heard as Will walked over and joined them. "But now we know who they are which gives us the edge. Quantum doesn't care about who they work with or support or what they do so long as it gains them power. They use that power to infiltrate governments which provides protection and additional sources of power and income and according to Mr. White they've even used their agents to topple regimes in the past. In fact, he told us that Quantum is in the works of organizing one such deal that we need to stop."

Coulson brought up information on Dominic Greene and his organization Greene Planet. "Dominic Greene. French millionaire, financier, and CEO of Greene Planet. Officially, Greene Planet is a foundation devoted to buying up large sums of land for ecological preservation but according to Mr. White, the only thing Greene Planet is devoted to is securing the world's resources so he can sell them back and make a profit." Coulson told him. "Going after this group one at a time would take forever. Mr. Greene's operation is the one Mr. White mentioned was of importance so that's our way in to topple the entire thing down. Skye, I want you online and hack into his system. Find out everything you can about him including where he is, where he's going and who's he meeting with. We follow Mr. Greene and from there we see where this goes. May, get the BUS fueled up and ready to fly as soon as possible. Ward, Simmons, Fitz, make sure our supplies are handled." Coulson told them.

Everyone nodded and got to their assignments. Skye stuck around since she was using her laptop and the touch table to hack into Greene Planet and Dominic Greene's life while the others left. "You all right, Coulson?" Will asked him.

"I'm fine. Just a little pissed that a group like this has been under our nose this entire time and we knew nothing about it." He answered.

"They couldn't have done that without help from the inside and now that we know what we're dealing with we know how that's possible. But this is exactly what SHIELD is for. We protect the world from people like this. We should inform the Director." Will told him and Coulson nodded.

"Skye, could you give us the room." He asked and she nodded. She took her computer and left to go work in her bunk. Will pressed a button on the touch table and the glass doors of the briefing room closed shut and all the windows tinted black. He then took out his phone and it connected to the system.

"Room secure. EDI, establish encrypted line and connect to SHIELD line 199." Will told her.

"Connecting." EDI established a secure encrypted line straight to the SHIELD Triskelion and Director Fury's office.

"Fury."

"Go secure." Will said and there was a moment of pause before a secure, encrypted line was established and Fury's face appeared on the wall monitor via video conference.

"Director Fury." Coulson greeted him.

"Coulson, you and Agent Detmer better have answers for me." Fury told him.

"We do, sir but it's a lot and we're not sure you're gonna like it." Coulson said and they began telling Fury what they had learned. Fury had a hard time listening to all of it and they could tell he was pissed. Granted, his usual expression was pissed but this one was angrier then normal. Fury was no stranger to the bureaucracy from political bodies or interagency issues but this was something else.

"Mr. White?"

"Still locked up in the cage." Will answered.

"Have you told anyone else about this?" Fury asked them.

"Just the team, sir." Coulson answered.

"Good, keep it that way. Continue to pursue your lead and find out everything you can but keep me informed of your progress. And keep Mr. White on your plane until you finish things. We can't risk him out in the open." Fury told them.

"Yes, sir." Coulson replied.

"Director, rules of engagement?" Will asked him and Fury gave it some thought.

"As far as I'm concerned…nothing has changed. You have full discretion." Fury told them before he signed off.

"He was pissed." Will remarked.

"Yeah, he was. Mr. White's daughter?" Coulson wondered.

"Barton's on his way over with Tony. The two of them will be able to look after her and Tony's well known enough that they would hesitate to try something against him." Will said and the logic of that made sense. "Hawkeye and Iron Man can handle her. We've got bigger fish to fry."

Line Break xxxxx

Bregenz, Austria

May had piloted them to Austria to follow Dominic Greene. Greene Planet's servers had pretty serious encryption protection which made sense given he was a member of Quantum. Hacking into his entire system to get everything would take a while but Skye was able to find out that Dominic Greene reserved seats for a performance of Tosca at the Kunstlereingang opera house. So, they headed there to keep eyes on Greene which would allow them to follow him after.

Ward drove the SHIELD SUV to the opera house with Will and May accompanying him. The opera was sold out and all tickets were physical so Skye wasn't able to get them inside the normal way. Ward parked the car behind the opera house where the stage crew were getting things into position. Ward, May, and Will entered through the freight entrance of the opera house and joined the traffic of stagehands and crew getting ready for the performance. The trio took their bags and ducked into a bathroom to change. When they emerged, Will was wearing a tuxedo while May was dressed as a server and Ward dressed like a stagehand with a small pack on his back. Will put on a pair of glasses before he put an earpiece in.

"Ward, May, you there?" He muttered as he began making his way from the back of the opera house to the front where all the guests were.

"I copy." May replied as she made her way to the kitchen and quickly picked up a tray of food. She blended in with the other servers and served the patrons at the Opera.

"Copy." Ward muttered, helping a stage hand move a crate of electrical equipment to a closet. He blended in easily and no one paid him a second thought.

"We've got your positions and your signals." Coulson told them. He was back on the BUS with Skye, Fitz, and Simmons as they monitored the trio's position in the opera house using blueprints and had a video feed come in via the glasses Will was wearing.

May put on her best fake smile as she walked through the crowd of patrons who would take one of the hors d'oeuvres she was carrying. She passed by a group of tables and saw Dominic Greene enter the lobby where he shook hands and spoke with some people in attendance. "I've got eyes on Greene." May whispered as she looked up and saw Will on the second floor. He walked over to the guard rail and looked out at the sea of attendees.

"I see him." He whispered, watching Greene check in with one of the ticket holders handing out the Opera's complimentary gift bags for the event. He saw other patrons get handed bags from the table but when Mr. Greene handed in his ticket she checked her clipboard and did something different. She knelt down and retrieved a bag from underneath the table before handing it to him. "Did you guys see that?"

"We saw it. Something else is going on here." Coulson said as Will watched and saw another man check in and he got a bag from underneath the table as well. "Will, we need to find out what's in that bag."

"I'm on it." He replied, walking down the stairs to the ground level, and following the man with the bag. He ducked into a bathroom so Will waited a few seconds before walking in after him and locking the door. Before the man could turn around Will put him in a rear-naked choke. The man struggled tried to get free but Will's hold was too tight and within seconds the man was rendered unconscious. He placed the man's body on a chair and emptied his bag into the sink. He looked through it and saw a pamphlet for the opera as well as the usual things you would get at a performance or play. Not knowing if there was some kind of hidden message in them, he tucked them in his jacket pocket to be on the safe side. The only other two things in the bag were a small box and bag. He emptied the bag and out came a Q-symbol pin. "Quantum."

"Greene isn't here for the opera. It must have something to do with Quantum." Coulson said as Will opened the box and inside was an earpiece. He took out his phone and opened up a connection to the BUS.

"Skye, connect to the bug." Will told her.

"On it." She replied as he put it in his other ear. "A few more seconds and…done. We're connected."

"All right. The opera should be starting soon. I'm going to find a vantage point." Will told them as he exited the bathroom and broke the handle off the door so no one went in.

"Roger that. Ward, May stand by but get ready to exfil." Coulson told them.

"Roger that." They replied. May had gone back to the kitchen to get another plate of food while Ward pushed an empty equipment crate out of the way. The opera was starting so the actors made sure they had everything ready with the stage hands and crew taking their positions.

With the patrons actually attending the opera being shown their seats Will made his way to a side door that led to the stage. He managed to slip behind the stage and began climbing up the stairs behind the giant backdrop on stage. The thing was massive so he made his way up about 40 feet when the orchestra began playing. As he neared the top he began to hear a garbled voice coming in over the earpiece he took from the Quantum agent.

"H—much—General-drano know?"

"Skye can you clear that up?" Coulson asked and she did her best to clear up the signal.

Will made it to the top of the giant backdrop rigging which gave him the perfect view of the entire crowd. "All right, Will's in position. Fitz, start scanning the crowd and weeding out the Quantum agents. Find the same communications signals in the crowd. That'll be able to tell us who in the crowd is a Quantum agent." Coulson ordered.

"I'm on it." Fitz recorded the footage from Will's glasses as he turned his head slightly to each side, giving him the best coverage of the entire opera and its occupants. Fitz even increased the magnification to get clean facial IDs on everyone and then the computer began running facial recognition. This opera attracted a lot of wealthy people but not all of them were Quantum agents so they had to narrow down the ones that were and luckily they were able to connect to the bug Will had in his ear. Fitz would be able to run a signal location from Will's glasses to further isolate the people in the crowd wearing the same earpieces.

"Anything further from Canadian Intelligence?"

"We'll discuss that later."

"How much more pipeline do we need?"

"Ideally, 2,000 kilometers. Are there any objections?"

"No."

"Not here."

"No objections."

"Transfer the funds from our Siberian holdings."

"Done."

"Where do the Americans stand?"

"Well, the CIA doesn't care about another dictator as long as they get their end."

"But when they find out that they've been duped?"

"I'm working on that."

"What are they talking about?" May wondered.

"I'm not sure but whatever it is must be important. Fitz, how's the identification coming?" Coulson asked him.

"Really, well. The more they talk the more I'm able to identify. I've got the IDs on 24 of them in the audience, sir." Fitz showed him the IDs and all of them were wealthy financiers, corporate giants, formers intelligence officers and political aids from all over the world.

"Oh my god. They're everywhere." Simmons muttered in disbelief.

"And now we know who they are." Ward said when he noticed someone heading up the stairs of the backdrop rigging. "Will, you have company."

Will removed his glasses and placed them on the railing so Fitz could continue working while he walked over and saw a security guard walking up the stairs. Someone must have seen him up there.

"I'm still not sure that the Tierra Project is the best use of Quantum's time."

"Perhaps we should shift our focus to the Canadian."

"This is the world's most precious resource. We need to control as much of it as we can. Bolivia must be top priority." Dominic Greene told the others.

"Can I offer an opinion?" Will asked and the others saw that many in the audience stiffened or reacted to someone unknown talking on the earpiece. "You morons should really find a more private place to meet. Anyone could be watching."

After he said that they began to get up and walk out of the opera one by one. "Where are you going? It's just getting to the good part." Will remarked, taking out his phone and taking pictures of the people Fitz didn't catch.

"Nice job, Will. Get out of there." Coulson told him.

"Roger that." Will removed the Quantum earpiece and dropped it on the ground before crushing it with his shoe. "Ward, May, head to the exfil."

"On our way." May returned to the kitchen and dropped off her serving tray before walking out the back while Ward slipped away from the backstage. Will jumped over the stairwell railing and kicked the security guard in the chest, knocking him down hard before he elbowed him in the back of the neck. He took the guards Beretta pistol and slipped it behind his back before walking down the stairs and heading to the exit. He slipped backstage, past everyone working there and joined May and Ward at the car before they left.

The BUS

The team gathered at the touch table to look over the evidence they gathered at the opera. They now had a better understanding of the Quantum organization and IDs on their members. When they left the opera, Skye kept track of their movements and many boarded private flights to various destinations whether it was home or safehouses. Skye was able to hack into their airlines to find out their destinations and she would be able to digitally track them afterward. They managed to track Dominic Greene after he left the opera where he immediately boarded a private flight all the way to La Paz, Bolivia.

"He finds out someone is eavesdropping on his super-secret meeting and instead of going into hiding he goes straight to Bolivia?" Skye wondered.

"He doesn't have a choice. Greene is just one member of Quantum and clearly behind whatever plot they have going on in Bolivia. He's likely poured a lot of time and money into whatever they're doing and can't afford to go into hiding." Ward theorized. "Bolivia's been facing some political and social upheaval lately. With what we know about this group, maybe it's for a reason."

"Whatever Greene and Quantum are planning in Bolivia has to involve oil. They were talking about building a pipeline." May said.

"Quantum must have connections with the Bolivian government or are planning on a regime change. And whatever they're doing has a backing by the CIA in exchange for whatever they find." Coulson added.

"But the CIA don't know that Greene's planning to double-cross them. Whatever Greene is doing has to be about more than just oil and we need to find out why." Will said and everyone nodded. "Guess we're going to Bolivia."

"Lucky for us, I think I found out what he's working on." Skye brought up the information she managed to get from the Greene Planet's servers. "Greene Planet has military grade encryption on its servers which is already a red flag. It took me a while to get through them but once I did I found this Tierra Project Greene was speaking about. It has to do with his acquisition and survey of an area in the Bolivian desert here."

Skye brought up a map and highlighted the area. "That must be the area Greene is going to pump the oil from." Simmons suggested.

"But here's the odd part. Survey groups from Bolivia have been through this area dozens of times and there's no oil fields whatsoever. I triple checked their sources and the legitimacy of their finds. I'm not a geologist but their work seems legit. There's no oil in that area yet Greene poured a lot of resources and manpower there." Skye told them which brought up some interesting questions.

"That could be why Quantum said the CIA was gonna get duped out of their deal with Greene. It's not oil there but something that Greene wants which means we need to find out what's going on. May, get us to Bolivia." Will said and she nodded.

Line Break xxxxx

Bolivia

The team had landed in Bolivia and decided to stay in the airplane instead of heading to a hotel or residence in the city. Greene clearly had a lot of influence and power so the risk was bigger if they went into the city and word got back to him. Staying on the BUS let them secure the area and the security system would give them a heads up if anyone showed up. The area in the desert was miles away and using the cars would take hours so instead they would use Will's quinjet. After removing his cars and motorcycle from the quinjet, Will piloted the jet craft to the desert coordinates while the rest of the team stayed on the BUS. He was outfitted in his tactical gear and knew how to fly so he would handle it by himself in case something happened.

"I'm entering the area now. Scans so far are coming up empty. Nothing in the area." Will spoke into his headset as he checked the scanners and peaked out the window of the quinjet. Nothing but desert for miles. "I'm not seeing anything."

"Something's there or else Greene wouldn't be going through all this trouble. Keep looking." Coulson told him.

Will looked out the window and noticed several large holes in the mountains and hills in the area. "I'm seeing a lot of giant holes here. Look like sinkholes but it might be something."

"Seems like a bit of a stretch." Simmons remarked.

"With Quantum we can't take any chances. Head down and see what you can find after you survey the area." Coulson suggested.

"Copy that." He replied when his scanners picked up an incoming bogey. "I've got incoming, closing in fast."

Skye checked and it was a Bolivian fighter jet. "Will, evade!" Ward shouted so he banked left at the last moment. Some bullets clipped his wing as a Bolivian fighter jet flew past him.

"Son of a bitch!" Will pushed up the accelerator level and flew down low as the Bolivian Fighter Jet turned around to reengage. "Talk to me. What's going on?"

"Bolivian air force are responding to an enemy aircraft in the area! You've got a fighter jet and a helicopter closing in." Ward informed him.

"Greene must have someone in the military keeping watch over the area incase someone tries to see what's going on." Will figured, flying low in between the mountains to make him a harder pursuit target. "Skye, tap into their comms."

"On it." She did a quick hack and managed to isolate the feed the fighter jet and helicopter was using. They spoke Spanish but luckily Ward and Coulson were fluent.

"Will, he's got eyes on you. It sounds like he's on your 9 o'clock." Ward reported so Will looked out his window and saw the fighter jet tailing him.

"I see him. Let's see how good this guy is." Will maxed out the speed and began weaving through the mountains with ease. He was no Maverick from Top Gun but he knew enough to fly confidently. The fighter jet had to stay back because the area was too narrow for him to follow and he didn't have the maneuverability. "Coulson, remember Fury's answer to my question."

"I do."

"Good because if someone asks questions then I have you to back me up." He moved the quinjet into a more open area and pressed a button which deployed the minigun on the front of the quinjet. As he predicted the fighter jet moved in for an attack run when it saw the quinjet move into a more open area. It flew in fast from behind and fired its machine guns with Will managing to maneuver the quinjet so he didn't get shot. "That's it, buddy. Keep following."

Will led the fighter jet through the area and purposely slowed down a bit before maneuvering the quinjet right in front of the fighter jet. The reason he did that was so it was getting the jet wash from the quinjet's engines. The jet wash would screw with the fighter jet's engine but the second he felt the moment was right Will flew down and hit the airbrakes. This slowed him down enough so that the fighter jet flew right over him. Will then maneuvered behind the fighter jet and squeezed the trigger, shooting a barrage from the minigun on the front of the quinjet and riddling the back with bullets. That caused the pilot to veer off and crash into a mountain.

"That's one." Skye told him as Will peaked at the scanner and saw the helicopter was waiting for him over the next mountain so he sped up. When he crested over said mountain and saw the helicopter, he fired another barrage from the minigun and blasted the tail rotor, causing it to spin out of control and crash.

"That's two." Will said, retracting the minigun and putting the quinjet in hover mode over a giant sinkhole. "All right, it won't be long before they try and send out another fighter jet so I'm heading down a sinkhole to see what I can find."

"Roger that. You've got five minutes." Coulson told him as Will put the quinjet into position over the sinkhole and activated the autopilot. He grabbed his pack and attached a rope around his waist before activating the cargo bay door. He attached the rope to a secure point and rappelled down the sinkhole. It was massive and went down at least two hundred feet but he had enough rope and managed touch the bottom. He took out a flashlight and looked around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary until he looked at the ground. That's when he saw two faint line impressions in the dirt that looked a lot like wheels so he followed them. They led him to another area where he saw a large cluster of rocks and boulders which is when he noticed something off. The rocks didn't look like they had fallen down and landed there but more like they were placed. He picked up a small fragment and even though it was faint his nose was able to pick up the faint smell of explosives.

"Greene definitely had men down here. They used explosives for something." He put the rock down and began climbing up the wall of rocks, hoping it would lead to something.

"Ok, so there were teams down there with explosives but for what?" May questioned when Will reached the top and got his answer. That answer? A giant manmade underground dam.

"A dam. Greene's Tierra project is a giant underground dam." Will reported and began to connect the dots. "Ward, didn't you say that Bolivia was facing a lot of social issues from the increased tax regarding access to fresh water?"

"Yeah. My contacts say it's been the cause of a lot of pressure put against the government. They haven't been handling it very well." Ward answered and Will realized what Greene was doing.

"Buying land for ecological preserve, my ass. Greene's hording resources. He doesn't care about oil but water. Quantum's creating a drought and hording what fresh water there is in Bolivia so they can sell it back."

"All of this, trying to kill you and Coulson just to horde water?" Simmons thought that sounded ridiculous.

"Greene is creating a monopoly on water. If Bolivia doesn't want to die of dehydration then Greene Planet is there only solution, making them this countries biggest utility supplier and giving them unprecedented control." Will figured. "All of this for water. Now I want to kill this guy even more."

"Which brings us to a problem. Greene has gone off the grid. He left his private villa in La Paz and he's gone. I've been trying to find him for the past hour and I've got nothing." Skye told him.

"After what happened at the opera, Greene has to know someone is closing in so he's gonna want to get this deal done quickly. We need to find him." Will said when he remembered Quantum had someone at the CIA working for them. "Coulson, Greene has the CIA protecting him and his ploy here in Bolivia which means there has to be agents here to make sure he stays alive."

"I'm on it." Coulson made a quick call to Langley, under the pretense that SHIELD was doing an investigation into Greene and wanted to make sure the CIA didn't have him under surveillance. That call had him transferred to Gregory Beam, section chief for South America and even though he said the CIA had no interest in Greene, that was bull. Coulson did some digging and figured out that Beam had one of his agents working with him in Bolivia and it was someone they knew. "I got it. They're operating out of an old import office in the city."

"I'm on my way." He replied.

Several hours later…

CIA Agent Felix Leiter was doing some paperwork at the CIA front in the city while his section chief hovered over him. Felix wasn't exactly pleased with the work they were doing here and it showed on his face, even as he took a sip of water.

"You're gonna get botulism if you keep drinking that." Gregory Beam pointed out.

"It's bottled water." Felix informed him.

"Probably came from some stream just around the corner from here. Bunch of little kids peeing in it." Beam told him.

"That's why I eat the peppers."

"Well, all I'm saying is you can't trust a damn thing around here." Beam killed a fly with a fly swatter when the phone rang.

"Incan Exports, good evening." Felix answered in Spanish.

"You know, you should just answer, CIA, Felix. It would save you some trouble. Found out where your office is from a taxi driver. Not exactly covert." Will told him.

"Well, if we're so easy to find, kid, you really should come visit." Felix told him.

"Or maybe you should come out and see more of the city." Will said before hanging up.

Felix went into the city to a local bar where older men sat at tables playing cards while younger crowd just sat around and drank. Will was at the bar, drinking beer when Felix walked over and joined him. "I heard a rumor you guys were in town." Felix said.

"Felix." They shook hands as the bartender came over and Will ordered him a beer. "You know, I actually believed that the CIA would have learned from its mistakes after all these years but it seems like people just keep repeating them. Consequences be damn."

"Says the agent whose organization opened a portal so aliens could attack New York." Felix remarked.

"Touche." Will had to concede that as they drank their beers. "Still, the point stands. Who is Greene working with?"

"Exiled General Medrano. Greene's helping him seize power and in return the CIA looks the other way and we get access to all the oil down here. Regimes change once a week down here. Medrano will be no dirtier then the next guy." Felix told him.

"So, the CIA is ok with lying into bed with anyone so long as they get what they want. But how do they feel about being played?" He wondered.

"What does SHIELD care? Don't you guys have bigger problems to worry about? Aliens and the Avengers so why is Dominic Greene such a big concern for you guys?" Felix wondered.

"Believe it or not, our mission is actually gonna help you save face, Felix. Greene's playing you. There is no oil here. The organization Greene works for is gonna suck this place dry of everything and move on, leaving you guys with nothing. The CIA are gonna look like bigger fools then the Iran-Contra affair."

"So, why do you care?" Felix wondered.

"Because I don't think you're as half as cynical as you make yourself out to be, Felix. That plus Greene and everyone who works with him need to be taken down before they hurt more people and you know that. You work for the CIA but you're not the same kind of agent your section chief is." Will said as Felix did a subtle look back. "How long do I have?"

"Thirty seconds."

"Huh, figured they'd be here a lot sooner." Will remarked so Felix leaned in.

"Medrano can't move until he pays off the army and the police chief. Greene's bringing him his money now. A hotel called La Perla de las Dunas in the desert." Felix told him. "You plan on letting any of them leave alive?"

"No." Will answered and Felix nodded. "Thank you, Felix."

"Good luck, kid. Better get moving." Felix warned him.

The CIA strike team entered the area and opened fire but Will jumped over the bar and began making his exit. He ran into the building and up the stairs, disarming a CIA agent and slamming his head into a wall before taking a flashbang from his vest and throwing it down the stairs. It concussed the CIA agents following him allowing him to jump to an adjacent balcony and slip away.

Felix finished his beer and tossed away his cigar as he exit the bar where his section chief was waiting by the car. "What the hell happened? What did you tell him?"

"Just what we agreed." Felix said, covering for Will as the two left.

Line Break xxxxx

Atacama Desert, Bolivia

La Perla de las Dunas was an isolated hotel in the desert which actually made it easier for Will and the Team as they were able to move the BUS close enough for their operation without anyone noticing. The BUS landed in the desert and was in camouflage mode so no one saw anything. Coulson, Skye, Simmons, and Fitz would be handling things from the BUS while Ward, Will, and May would be making the frontal assault. Granted three agents against who knows how many Bolivian military and police were steep odds but they had something to even them.

Ward and Will finished setting up a remote controlled heavy machine gun in an elevated position which Coulson could control to provide a nice distraction. Along with the remote control gun they also had a mini-drone which would provide aerial reconnaissance. Once the trio was ready they headed to the hotel to begin their infiltration. Will would go in through the garage, stopping anyone from leaving while Ward and May would infiltrate from the roof.

"Guys, you've got incoming." Coulson reported, monitoring everything from SHIELD satellites. Will looked down at the lone single road going to the hotel and used some binoculars to see two black sedans drive up.

"Greene's here. Let's move." Will told them and they nodded. May slipped a gun behind her belt while Ward and Will loaded their submachine guns before they made their way to the hotel. They timed the guards and soldiers patrol pattern and managed to slip through. Ward and May took out two guards and began heading up to the roof while Will moved around the exterior to the garage to make sure no one left.

Once Ward and May were on the roof, they placed the drone on the ground and powered it up. "All right, Fitz. Drone is on." Ward radioed.

"Roger that. I'm connecting now." Fitz powered up the drone from his tablet and it hovered into the air. This drone was a new model that Fitz made some modifications to for stealth purposes. It was more nimble, much smaller and the rotors gave off little sound so it could move into areas with less chance of being noticed. Fitz moved the drone into position and activated the back-scatter function to give them a layout of the hotel and positions of everyone.

"How's the view, Fitz?" Will radioed, slowly moving to the garage after having taken out a guard with a quick rear-naked chokehold.

"Not exactly peaceful. There are 24 armed hostiles in the hotel and two hotel staff working in the building. Greene and his group are heading up the stairs to what looks like the seating by a restaurant on the third floor." Fitz reported and Will checked his touchpad computer on his left forearm guard to see the layout for himself.

"Ok, I see it. I'm heading to the garage to make sure no one leaves. My entry will definitely get their attention. May, Ward, head to the eastern section of the hotel. There's an balcony there you can use to enter which puts you in the perfect position to catch them off guard after Coulson ring's the front door." He told them.

"Move into position. Will, make sure that they don't leave." Coulson told them.

"Roger that." He moved into position as did Ward and May.

The team on the BUS watched the drone feed and Fitz managed to move the drone in close enough so that they were able to pick up the conversation going on. Greene met with General Medrano and the head of the Bolivian National Police. Like Felix said, he had arrived to deliver payoffs for the General's Coup. Once the Head of the National Police got his payoff he left, leaving Medrano with Greene. The general signed over the piece of land that Greene wanted and right after he did, Greene wanted him to sign another piece of paper naming Greene Planet as a utility provider for clean water. Greene now owned more than 60% of the fresh water in Bolivia so now General Medrano had to pay more than double what the current government was paying if he didn't want his country to dry out. Greene had played him all along and then made a veiled threat. Quantum did business with whoever so long as it profited them in the end and the only reason he was assisting General Medrano was because the current president wasn't being amicable to their organization. If General Medrano doesn't want to work with him then he'd be dead and they'd work with his replacement. A part of Will would have liked to see the General's smug visage disappear but he wouldn't be much of an issue soon enough.

The head of the Bolivian National Police got into his car with his entourage and his briefcase of money. The garage gate opened and the driver drove the car out when Will dropped down onto the hood of the car, making it stop. "Evening Captain! Hope the money was worth it!"

Will raised his Kriss Vector submachine gun and riddled the front window with bullets, killing the driver and the head of the Bolivian National Police. The two Bolivian police officers in the back seats got out of the car but Will shot them both dead and then shot one of the Quantum guards before vaulting over the top of the car and moving into the garage. The sudden sound of gunshots got everyone's attention and put them on alert. Will ran through the garage, shooting two more guards before sliding behind a car for cover to reload.

"May, Ward, make your entry now. Coulson, give us some cover." Will reloaded his submachine gun as several Quantum guards and Bolivian soldiers shot at him. He stayed behind the back wheel of the car before peaking out and shooting two guards in the legs. They fell to the floor in pain as Will then peaked up and landed a headshot on a soldier. He rushed out from behind his cover and killed the last two guards dead with headshots before shooting a soldier on the stairwell.

The other Quantum guards and Bolivian soldiers hanging around the hotel in rooms, on balconies or at the bar were confused as to who was attacking but they quickly readied up. They had pistols or assorted weapons on their person and began to secure certain areas like the General's hotel room while Greene's personal security team moved him away from the gunshots. That's when a heavy barrage of machine gun fire began to tear through the hotel from the northwest. The soldiers coming in from their relaxing break on the balconies were the first to get taken out but the heavy caliber of the bullets being used meant they were able to do serious damage. Windows shattered and the bullets tore through walls and furniture along with any soldier or guard who was in the same area. Coulson was manning the gun from the safety of the BUS and thanks to the drone feed he knew exactly where to shoot and where not to shoot.

May and Ward entered the hotel through one of the rooms on the third floor by making entry through the balcony. Ward used his MP-5 and shot down three Bolivian soldiers while May covered his back and used her pistol to kill two Quantum guards. Ward and May moved together in synch from the west while Will made it up the stairs and killed another Bolivian soldier with a shot to the head when a Quantum guard came at him from the side and grabbed his gun. He tried to wrestle for control but Will slammed him into a wall, kneed him in the groin and then tossed him to the floor before shooting him twice in the chest and once more in the head. He heard three soldiers coming from his left so he grabbed an explosive pellet from his vest and threw it around the corner. It went off and killed them as Will continued into the hotel, shooting any injured soldiers or guards who managed to survive getting shot by their remote gun turret.

"Fitz, where's Greene and the General?" Will hugged a corner and reloaded his gun while Fitz had his drone fly by and saw Greene heading to the roof with his assistant and the last Quantum guard. General Medrano was with two of his subordinates and they were heading to the emergency exit located on the southern sector of the building.

"Greene's heading to the roof and General Medrano is heading to the southern exit." Fitz told him.

"May, Ward, you got the General. Greene's mine." Will turned the corner and shot the last two soldiers before heading up to the roof.

General Medrano and his men rushed to the emergency exit but Ward and May cut them off. Ward managed to shoot one of the men dead before the other tackled him through the guard railing to the floor below. May fired a few shots at the General but he ducked and ran for cover in one of the rooms. Ward headbutted the soldier and knocked him off before the two engaged in a knife fight while May followed the General. She entered the room and had her gun at the ready when Medrano came from around the corner and knocked it out of her hand. He threw a right jab at her face which she blocked and parried into a punch to his left cheek, then kneed him in the side and kicked out his left leg. The general stumbled a bit and then tackled May into the wall before throwing her over the bed. He walked over to her only for May to kick out his left knee which sent him down on one leg and then kicked him in the chest before taking out her knife and slashing him in the thigh. Medrano got back up and tried to grab her but May just slashed his hands, kneed him in the groin and then stabbed him in the neck with her knife. The general gasp for air as May kicked his body to the ground just as the door was kicked in and in rushed Ward.

"Where's Will?" She asked him and he shrugged.

Greene and his men were on the roof just as a helicopter arrived for their exfil only for a barrage of bullets to kill the pilot and cause it to spin out of control. Greene and his men turned around to see Will walking rushing towards them. They shot at him while Greene took cover but Will shot them both dead with shots to the head just as the helicopter came crashing down so he dove to the side to avoid getting squished. He got up and quickly ducked to avoid a pipe to the back of the head and then stepped back to avoid a pipe swing to the stomach. Greene swung the pipe at his head but Will ducked and slipped forward where he grabbed Greene and then Suplexed him. Greene scrambled to try and get away but Will had the control on the ground and quickly put him in a rear-naked choke. Greene struggled to get free but Will had him in a death grip.

"Don't worry. The rest of Quantum will be joining you shortly." Will snapped his neck and pushed his body to the side. "Greene's dead."

"All right. Good work all three of you. Head to the exfil point." Coulson told them.

"On my way." Will headed back into the hotel and managed to find the two non-combatants at the hotel who were caught in the crossfire. A maid and chef who were hunkering down in the kitchen when the shooting started.

"Please don't hurt us." The maid begged.

"Don't worry. I'm not here for you. Follow me." He replied in Spanish and led them through the hotel. He got them into one of the cars in the garage and gave them the two briefcases of money that Greene gave to the Head of the National Police and General Medrano. They didn't need them anymore. "Go home."

"Thank you." The maid replied as the chef started the car and drove them out of the hotel and back to the city. Will removed the backpack he had and dropped it before taking out an explosive charge and setting the timer for two minutes. He dropped the explosive charge and left the hotel where he met up with Ward and May. The trio retrieved the remote controlled heavy machine gun and put it back in its bag just as Coulson arrived in the SUV. Will walked over and put it in the trunk before getting in the car with Ward and May. Coulson drove them back to the BUS just as the explosive charge went off which then set off the explosives Will put in the backpack creating an even bigger explosion. That set off a chain reaction of explosions with the hydrogen fuel cells in the hotel and soon enough the entire hotel was up in flames.

While the team celebrated the win. Will joined Coulson in his office so the two could speak to Director Fury in private. Once they had a secured line, Fury's face appeared via video conference. "Status report?"

"Greene and his machinations in Bolivia are done, Director. He and General Medrano are dealt with." Coulson informed him.

"Good. That's something but we need to keep up the momentum and take the rest of Quantum down now before they scatter or go underground. And the effort to do that is better suited to one agent." Fury said before locking his gaze on Will. "Agent Detmer, are you up to the task?"

"Yes, sir." He replied.

"Good. You know who the Quantum agents are. If you feel that taking them into custody is a better alternative then fine but you have full kill authority." Fury told him. "Make sure these people know they made the wrong choice to cross SHIELD."

"Yes, sir. Coulson, can I get a minute with the Director?" Will asked and Coulson nodded, leaving the office to give him a moment. "Director, what about Coulson? You put me on the BUS to watch over him."

"And you have. I've been getting your reports and Coulson is doing fine. More than fine from what you've seen. He'll be all right on his own for a few weeks while you handle the rest of Quantum. Good luck, Agent Detmer." Fury said before signing off.

Will turned off the computer and walked out before heading down to see the others celebrating the win and Coulson had joined them. He was doing fine so he'd be ok without him there for a while. It was time to clean up the rest of Quantum. The remaining members had no idea the shitstorm that was about to rain down on them and Will knew the perfect person to start with.

Line Break xxxxx

Rome, Italy

It was late at night in Rome as SHIELD Section chief Agent Antonio Bellagrazzo entered the office building which was actually the front for the SHIELD station for the Mediterrean region. He entered his office on the 6th floor, turned on his desk lamp and removed his jacket before going to the far wall only to see his wall safe was open and empty.

"Fury doesn't really care about you earning a little money on the side, Bellagrazzo." The SHIELD section chief turned around to see Will sitting in a chair. "He just hates it that it was made by being a double agent."

Bellagrazzo walked over and sat down at his desk where he subtle opened his top desk drawer and saw his Beretta pistol was still there so he played along. "Are your theatrics supposed to scare me?"

"A little bit." Will admitted and Bellagrazzo just smirked.

"Agent Detmer, isn't it? I've heard a lot about you. 100% success rate on all your missions. There have been rumors going around that your Fury's little attack dog. I'm guessing that's true. Is this where I'm supposed to beg for my life?"

"No, I don't think you will. Your partner didn't." Will told him.

Flashback…

Will attacked Bellagrazzo's partner, SHIELD Agent Ricardo Montero in the bathroom of a bar just outside of Florence. He was also a Quantum Agent in SHIELD and Will's first target. He kicked him into a stall and punched him in the face as Montero blocked the next punch and grabbed him from behind. Will just held onto Montero's arm and pushed him through three stalls until they slammed into the wall before elbowing him in the face, slamming his head into the stall door and throwing him to the ground. He kicked Montero in the face and then kicked the trashcan he tried to use for defense into his face. Will then kicked him in the face again but Montero bounced back and tackled him in the gut. He pushed him to the wall only for Will to knee him in the chest, break his left arm and then force his head into a sink where he drowned him in the water.

Will took a deep breath before he walked to the door to leave the bathroom only for Montero to grab his gun off the floor and aim. Will just turned around a shot Montero in the head, ending the battle right there. He had a silencer on his pistol so the sound wasn't as noticeable and holstered it before walking out.

End of Flashback…

"How did he die?"

"Not well." Will answered as Bellagrazzo grabbed his Beretta and aimed it at Will.

"A shame. You could have been a real asset."

He pulled the trigger but just got a clink sound instead of a gunshot. Will raised his hand to show he had the magazine. "You really have been out of the field for too long. Makes you forget things like the weight of an empty gun and one that's loaded." He said before taking out his pistol with an attached silencer and shot him in the head. Bellagrazzo's body fell back off his chair and landed on the floor. "Say hello to Greene for me, will you?"

He placed his gun into the holster in his jacket before he got up and left.

Kazan, Russia

Quantum Agent Yusef Kabira was with his girlfriend/target, Canadian Intelligence operative Corrine Veneau, who was imbedded in Russia. The two came back to their apartment after some grocery shopping to make dinner. Yusef unlocked the door and walked in. "Fine. Anything for an easy life." He said and Corrine chuckled as they took off their jacket and put them up. Yusef turned on the light to see a strange man sitting in his apartment with a silenced pistol waiting for them. It was Will.

"Sit down." Will ordered, raising his gun at them.

"It's ok, baby." Yusef assured her as the two slowly walked over and sat down on the couch.

Will got up and walked over, holding them at gunpoint. His gun was set on Yusef because he was his target. "You're Canadian? You work in Canadian Intelligence?" He asked the woman. "It's all right. I know you do. And knowing this man, I'd guess you have access to some very sensitive material which you're gonna be forced to give up. His life will be threatened and because you love him, you won't hesitate. It's a beautiful necklace you have. Did he give it to you? I've got one just like it."

Will held up the exact same necklace she was wearing. "Found it in the room of one of his former marks. Female CIA agent embedded in China. Also found this as well." He showed her a picture that was of Yusef and the female agent together. "It's all right, I'm on your side. I'm with SHIELD. I just want him. Your name is?"

"Corrine." She answered, removing her hand from Yusef's grasp.

"Corrine, nice to meet you." Will said to her. "I suggest you leave now. Contact your people and tell them to check the sources because they have a leak. I'll take care of him."

Corrine nodded and got up, taking her jacket and purse before opening the door. "Thank you." She whispered before leaving.

"Please. Make it quick." Yusef begged.

"As much as I would love to kill you, I'm not the one who's gonna do that." Will lowered his pistol before taking out a tranquilizer gun and shooting Yusef in the neck. The man passed out in seconds but Will gave him two more shots just to be sure. He then walked out of the building where two CIA agents were waiting. Once they got a nod, they walked in to retrieve Yusef. Will walked over and joined Felix who was waiting there for him. "He's all yours."

"Much appreciated, brother. I was surprised to get your call again." Felix admitted. "Figured you'd just kill Yusef yourself."

"A part of me would like to but seeing as how his last mark was CIA, felt it was only right to let you guys have your pound of flesh." He admitted. "And call it my best efforts to keep interagency diplomacy smooth as silk."

"After the serious blackmark you saved the CIA from getting in Bolivia it's baby smooth now. Thanks again for the promotion." Felix told him and Will smiled. SHIELD's efforts in stopping Greene and General Medrano had ruffled some feathers but once Coulson and SHIELD spoke with the Bolivian government about what nearly happened things had settled. Will even had Coulson give praise to Felix for giving them the location of Greene and with some hacking help from Skye, the Bolivian government had the locations of the dams he had built to horde the water. They were tearing them down as we speak and all the private money and funds of Greene and Greene Planet were given back to where they came from with most being given to good charities and the people of Bolivia. Considering what nearly happened, Felix was promoted and ended up taking over his supervisor's position as section chief.

"Don't mention it." He replied before checking his watch. "Loved to stay and chat but I got to go."

"Sure, you can't stay? I know a pretty good place nearby. Good vodka and surprisingly good food." Felix offered.

"Rain check. I've got to head to Siberia. Quantum's not done yet." Will said and Felix nodded so he handed him a business card with a number on it.

"I owe you one, kid. Let me know when I can make good on that." Felix told him. Will nodded and shook his hand before walking away just as the CIA agents walked out with Yusef.

Siberia

Quantum agent Gregor Karakov sat at his desk in his private study finished a cup of expensive vodka as he finished up some emails. It was getting late and he would be going to bed soon enough. His wife was traveling to Milan but his mistress was waiting for him in bed. He was in his 10 million dollar private mansion residing on his 1,000 private acre estate in the forests bordering the Vasyugan river in the West Siberian Plain. His residence was part home and part military compound. The entire 1,000 acre land surrounding his mansion had surveillance cameras, pressure sensors, infrared scanners, laser trip wires and was mined. Karakov had a literal small army of former special forces from all over the world to protect him. They had their own barracks with an armory, heavy assault vehicles and even helicopters. Any kind of attack on this compound would literally be like heading into a warzone. No one would be able to get through but that only applied to regular people.

Two of Karakov's men were stationed at the checkpoint entrance into his land. One of the soldiers was in the checkpoint booth, monitoring the cameras and sensors while the other was outside sipping some coffee. He walked around a bit when he noticed someone walking over so he raised his assault rifle only for some invisible force to snap it in half. Before he could alert his friend his neck was snapped just as easily and he dropped to the ground. The soldier in the booth saw his friend drop down but before he could activate the alarm an invisible force yanked him out of the booth and he was thrown into a tree. The stranger walked into view and the line from the booth revealed it was Aegis. Will had donned his gear for this mission considering what he would be up against. He could handle it even if he didn't wear his uniform but wearing it gave him a reason to use his powers without worrying about his identity.

Will walked into the booth and connected a USB device so EDI could begin interfacing with the security system. "EDI, status?"

"I'm fully integrated into the security system and shutting them down as we speak. All sensors, security cameras and the like are offline.." EDI told him.

"EDI, you're the best." Will flew into the air and headed towards the mansion.

Karakov just about finished his work when he heard some rumbles and loud noises in the distance but the security system wasn't going off. He called his security team to figure out what was going on but when he answered all he heard was the sound of gunfire and panicked shouting. That's when he heard the rumble of a huge explosion and the wall to his study was torn clean off. He looked up and saw a man hover in the air before touching down and walking over to him.

"Wait, wait!" Karakov pleaded only for Aegis to hold up his hand and his neck was snapped. Quick, simple, and no need to drag things out.

Aegis turned around and hovered out of the mansion just as Karakov's security team swarmed his location and opened fire. Assault rifles, light machine guns and grenade launchers rained hell at him but were useless as Aegis just created a telekinetic shield around himself. The bullets and explosions didn't even touch him and all that effort to keep himself safe was like walking. He snapped his fingers and sent out a telekinetic wave that sent all the soldiers flying away.

Several armored vehicles drove through the woods towards him with men manning the .50 caliber machine guns on top but again they were outmatched. Aegis just waved his hand and all the vehicles were crushed and thrown upside down. One attack helicopter managed to get into the air and fired a barrage of rockets but Aegis just used his telekinesis to stop them mid-air, turn them around and send them back. The helicopter exploded and its wreckage crashed down. Aegis began glowing blue as he was using his telepathy to scan the area for anyone still alive and there were some. Those that were alive he quickly wiped their memories of these events so they didn't know that he was there or what happened. Once that was done, Aegis flew away and was gone as quickly as he had arrived.

"That was too easy." Will said to himself. It was the first real time he's had to use his powers in a while since helping the X-men with Juggernaut and dealing with all of that was too easy. Using his powers to handle human threats was like using a submarine to go fishing.

Overkill.

Location: Unknown

Unbeknownst to Will, a secret meeting was taking place in an unknown location. Several monitors lit up a dark room and on said monitors were silhouettes of people. All that could be seen were silhouettes so you had no idea who was speaking from where. The light from the monitors lit the dark room and soon enough there were over a dozen monitors online all gathered to discuss something and even when they spoke their voices were scrambled and disguised.

"SHIELD has discovered Quantum."

"How?"

"A team stumbled onto Mr. White and with Mr. Greene's death, more and more of Quantum agents are falling."

"Is this team a concern?"

"Possibly. It's a small team that exists outside the normal chain of command. They could be a problem."

"I know this team and I don't think it could be a problem. We have one of our own in their midst. They reported that this group didn't learn anything about who Quantum really works for."

"Good. At the moment they only know of Quantum so we give them Quantum. It's served its purpose. Divide the assets equally among everyone for later use."

"And the operatives?"

"SHIELD is already taking care of that for us. Let them think they're winning that way we can stay in the shadows."

"Agreed."

"Hail Hydra."

Line Break xxxxx

Several weeks later…

August 2013, The HUB: Location Classified

Coulson and the Team had just finished a recovery mission for Agent Shaw who was embedded in Siberia and managed to collect intelligence on a weapon being built in South Ossetia by a Separatist group. The team got him out safely, got the intel and went to the HUB where that intel was used for a mission headed by Agent Victoria Hand. The mission was to head into South Ossetia to recover a dangerous weapon with a two-man team and once they did that, SHIELD would bomb the compound. The two-man team consisted of Agents Ward and Fitz which was cause for concern. They'd be on their own in enemy territory and Skye didn't really help things. She wasn't comfortable with being out of the loop with the Ward and Fitz at risk and she was worried. Everyone was considering it was Fitz going out into the field. He was smart but going into the field like this without the others was dangerous. Skye addressed her concerns to Coulson who assured her things would be ok.

Suffice to say she didn't let it go.

Coulson was walking over to the mission operations room when Skye walked over and joined him. "Hey, fancy seeing you here."

"Skye. I told you I'd look into the file about your parents." Coulson assured her.

"No, I know. That's not why I'm here. I wanted to know more about Ward and Fitz's mission. Simmons is seriously starting to unravel without Fitz." Skye told him.

"I know it's hard to hear, but you don't have the clearance." Coulson reminded her.

"But I have eyes." Skye stopped him so the two could seriously talk about this. "I saw six squads in full tactical gear, three crates of RPGs, and a full crew of analysts heading into operations. Are you really telling me that has nothing to do with Ward and Fitz's mission? If I'm right, give me a signal by not saying anything."

"Trust the system." Coulson told her before he turned to walk away but Skye stopped him.

"Ok, you won't say anything but what about sending in backup to help them? I know Will's been gone for the past few weeks hunting down the rest of Quantum and judging by the articles I've seen of some high profile deaths I'm guessing he's been successful but maybe he could help. He's Level 8 like you and probably could ride in there on a white horse and save the day." Skye suggested. "Coulson, please."

"I've got to go." Coulson walked away, leaving Skye to stew in her frustration when Simmons walked over and joined her.

"How did it go?" She questioned.

"I got nothing. He's acting like a robot version of himself right now. If we want the truth, we've got get it ourselves." Skye told her.

"Ok, how would you suggest…" Simmons said the look on Skye's face and knew what she wanted to do. "Oh, wait. No. No."

"Yes."

"No! I can't be a part of your bad girl shenanigans. I like following the rules and doing what's expected of me. It makes me feel nice."

"Simmons, wake up! Ward and Fitz went on a top secret two-man operation. And look, there are more men. And either it's a bigger deal and they're not telling us, or something went wrong out there. And maybe there's nothing we can do to help, but we gotta know if there is. What if they're injured, or being tortured somewhere right now?" Skye questioned and that got Simmons' attention.

"Fitz? Tortured?" Simmons realized that Skye was right and if Fitz was in danger then they needed help. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Skye and Simmons got to work on their plan to get the information and find out what's going on with Fitz and Ward. Coulson went to the mission ops room and after checking the status he ended up on the BUS where he found May doing Tai Chi in the living area. He walked over and sat down next to her as she did her exercises and let out a sigh of frustration.

"Sorry. Am I disturbing you?" Coulson asked but May didn't answer and just focused on her movements. "You know, I like this plane. I like the way we do things here. Everyone's on the same page, no red tape. So far, it's working for us. Most of us. And maybe I'm getting soft, but I don't like keeping things from our team. If you knew…"

May sent him a look which stopped Coulson's train of thought. "No, you're right. Level 8. But…" May gave him another look that stopped him yet again. "[Sighs] I know. Trust the system. May, thanks."

He got up and left while May just rolled her eyes and continued her exercise but something made Coulson stop. "Then again…using every single asset we have at our disposal to ensure the mission's completion is something SHIELD would do."

May gave him another look but he didn't stop. "I'm not talking about Skye. Will is also a Level 8 agent. He is busy but I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping us. Besides, how many Quantum agents could still be out there? I'm gonna give him a call."

May didn't give him another look so Coulson took that as her approval so he took out his phone and called Will.

London, United Kingdom

The London Police had established a secure perimeter around the residence of a very fancy estate in the suburbs of the city. They were keeping all pedestrians and news crews back from what was going on inside. Several London police officers and undercover MI6 agents had secured and arrested Guy Haines. He was the Quantum Agent who was the confidante to the Prime Minister. Will knew that just killing him would be difficult so he played it another way and had EDI hack into his accounts. He then approached MI6 and the Prime Minister's office about his operation and showed them the evidence of Guy Haines's various bank accounts tied to illegal weapons deals and trading of sensitive and confidential information with the rest of Quantum. MI6 and the Prime Minister were aware of what happened in Bolivia so when Will showed them the footage of Mr. Haines at the same meeting Greene and other Quantum members were at, it was the final nail in the coffin. He came to them because he knew if he made the wrong move it would be a political nightmare and normally he wouldn't care but a part of him understood that messing with the US/UK diplomatic relationships might not be the smartest idea. And if things went about the wrong way then it'd be a huge blackmark for the UK so he gave them the information that way they could work out something that worked for everyone.

The Prime Minister wanted Haines arrested but it would only be made public that he was under arrest for embezzlement and financial crimes while keeping the tales of his traitorous selling of information out of public record. The UK didn't need the media frenzy and huge bureaucratic nightmare that would bring. Will was in the room with the British Prime Minister as they watched the MI6 agents take Haines into custody and escort him to a secured transport.

"You know someone for thirty years and end up not knowing them at all." The Prime Minister said in disbelief. "We've been friends since our University days. He's been to my house for holidays. I just can't believe it."

"I'm sorry, sir but don't let that get to you. A lot of Quantum's agents were all over. Many of the people I've spoken to had the same reaction. It's how Quantum was able to stay around for so long." Will told him.

"How many of them are left?" The Prime Minister wondered.

"Just a handful. They're running scared with their tails between their legs but I've got leads that will let me track them down." Will assured him and the Prime Minister nodded.

"Thank you, Agent Detmer." The Prime Minister shook his hand. "You're a credit to SHIELD. I'll be sure to let your Director know."

"I'm just doing my job, sir." Will said when the Prime Minister handed him a card.

"Should something come up that I can help with please don't hesitate to call." He said and Will put it in his pocket.

"Thank you, sir but I hope that's one call I may never have to make." Will told him. He bid him farewell and exited the building. The police and MI6 agents knew what he was doing there and let him pass. He walked past the perimeter and some news reporters tried to ask him questions but he just ignored them and walked over to his Aston Martin and got in. He managed to fix up the damage done to it so it was fine now. That's when his phone rang and he saw it was from Coulson so he connected it to the dashboard.

"Hey, Will. Sorry to bother you."

"No bother. I just finished with something. What's up?" He wondered.

"I hate to ask this of you and I know you're likely still busy since you haven't come back but I need your help."

"Hey, Coulson anything you need then I'm there. What's up?" He asked.

"How quickly can you get to South Ossetia?"

"I can be there in a few hours. Catch me up to speed." Will turned the car on, put it in drive and drove to the airport where his quinjet was waiting for him at a hangar. It would only take a few hours of flight time and he'd be there.

The HUB

Skye and Simmon's plan to hack into SHIELD's servers to get information on the operation Ward and Fitz were on worked but Coulson ended up catching them and he was not happy. "I told you I'd get answers about your family."

"That's not what I was looking for! I was trying to find out what was happening with Ward and Fitz." Skye told him.

"That's a classified operation." Coulson reminded her.

"It's a suicide mission. I saw it all. The troop placements, the aerial assault? Once Ward and Fitz disable that device there's going to be a huge attack on that compound with no extraction plan, and you hid that from us." Skye accused him and Coulson moved them to a corner so the two could speak in private.

"I didn't hide anything from you. You don't have the clearance to know that." Coulson told her.

"Is that really what SHIELD's all about? Level 5s are more expendable then Level 8? Is that all we are? Just a number to you?" Skye asked him.

"Are you done?"

"I don't know, am I?"

"If SHIELD keeps a secret from you, it's for a good reason." Coulson told her.

"So, they can hold all the secrets?"

"Don't interrupt." Coulson cut her off. "You just hacked a Level 8 secure server, saw operational plans that you have no context for. If details get out, the whole operation could be compromised. Lives could be lost, Ward and Fitz among them."

"I know. Those are two people we care about. On the plane you're always telling me to think outside the box. Will told me that sometimes he has had to go against SHIELD Protocol to accomplish his missions. He's even said that you've done that to when something didn't sit right and it's what I did. So, I went off book because I was trying to watch their backs." Skye enlightened him.

"Our team can go off book because there is a book. Will can do things not to SHIELD's standards because there are others following those standards. A Hub. An organization watching our backs. You claim that you wanna be part of that. A SHIELD agent. Do you?" Coulson questioned.

"Yes."

"I know this is hard to wrap your head around, Skye but it's necessary. Despite how cavalier Will may seem, he is someone who has the utmost respect and loyalty to what SHIELD does and what it stands for. He is skilled, gifted, and unorthodox but he has earned it by trudging through these protocols that we all have to deal with." Coulson explained. "If you truly want to be like me and Will then this is something you're gonna have to make peace with. Because someday, I may have to trust you with a secret, and I need to know that you can keep it."

Coulson walked away when Skye had one more thing to say. "Can I ask you one question?"

"What?"

"Did you know there was no extraction plan for Ward and Fitz?" She asked him.

"That's classified." He answered before leaving. The place he was going was the Operations room where Agent Hand was overseeing the mission.

"Agent Sitwell is in the infirmary. Apparently, a member of your team rendered him unconscious." Hand told him.

"A misunderstanding. I'll handle the matter internally." Coulson assured her.

"Tranquilizing an agent does not qualify as a misunderstanding." Hand reminded him.

"You're right. But being told there's an extraction team in place when in fact there isn't? That does. I'm Level 8. I'm entitled to information regarding the welfare of my team. You should've told me." Coulson said to her.

"Seems I didn't have to. And what would that have changed, Agent Coulson? You yourself have designed dozens of operations like this. You know how this works." Hand pointed out.

"Usually with an extraction plan."

"Barton, Romanoff, they never have an extraction plan."

"They know that going in." Coulson accused her.

"Agent Fitz is unproven in the field. And knowing would've caused him to lose focus or courage." Hand stated, defending her judgement call.

"That should've been my call." Coulson stated.

"I wasn't sure you'd comply. Your team includes an electronically tagged non-agent who is notorious for leaking secrets. And your partnered with another one of Fury's favorites who has a history of playing loose and fast with SHIELD protocols to the detriment of many of my operations." Hand accused Coulson.

"I know what the safety of a thousand men is worth as does Will and we both know the importance of completing the objective but we also know the worth of the men fighting alongside us. And from what Will told me, his playing fast and loose with SHIELD protocols on your missions was because of your complete disrespect for the agents you've needlessly risked. That's right, I've read his mission reports and from what I can see his actions were justified. He completed the suicide missions you've put him on." Coulson said.

"While completely disregarding protocol, rules, and mission parameters because of the gut feeling his stomach has. Agent Detmer may be a fine agent but he is too narrow minded and can't see the bigger picture which is why he's stuck in the field and will never understand the weight of a command role." Hand insinuated.

"He's not stuck in the field. He choses to be out there because he knows he is a greater asset to SHIELD working in the field then confined at the HUB. And he understands the weight of what SHIELD does here. But as he put it, whenever he sees something go wrong he's not afraid to call it out. Guess that's something I've picked up from him." Coulson admitted.

"Perhaps but I think you know better then that, Agent Coulson. You need to trust the system in place." Hand told him.

"I put my trust in my friends, him especially. Sorry to disappoint." Coulson left, feeling like he won that little back and forth.

Skye and Simmons found May and told them about the information they got and that there was no extraction plan for Fitz and Ward so they headed back to the BUS. "You got the information. Now we act." May told them.

"We're gonna get our guys." Skye said.

"Somebody has to." May added.

"What about the SHIELD assault?" Simmons asked.

"We won't interfere. You don't need a battalion for an extraction. Three can pull it off." May assured her.

"Five is better." They heard and saw Coulson waiting for them.

"You're in? I thought we all had to be Level 8 to discuss this?" Skye pointed out.

"We're not discussing anything." Coulson said.

"Wait, did you say 5?" Simmons asked him.

"Our fifth man is already there. We've got pick him up too." Coulson said and they smiled, knowing who he was referring to.

South Ossetia

Fitz and Ward had managed to sneak into the compound of the Separatists and found the Overkill device. They had about ten minutes before someone could find them but luckily Fitz only needed five. He was about halfway done with it and it wouldn't take much longer.

"All right, show me the final steps to disable this thing. I'll get it done." Ward told Fitz.

"No, we stick to the extraction plan. I'll be done in a minute." Fitz said as he used his plyers to remove another wire from the weapon.

"Extraction plan's a bust." He said and Fitz looked at him.

"What?"

"Exfil team didn't make contact. Once you take that thing apart and I set off the remote beacon, we're on our own. You should go."

"I'm not leaving." Fitz said, getting back to work.

"Fitz, there's no time—"

"You don't think I can handle this?"

"No, I am trying to protect you."

"Ah, you think I'm a coward. Is that it?"

"What? No!"

"I am every bit the SHIELD agent that you are." Fitz declared, taking his arm from Ward's grip, and getting back to work.

"Whoa. You don't have anything to prove. What you said about me always needing to swoop in? I know you would've jumped out of the plane to save Simmons. And she knows that, too." Ward assured him.

"I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. Ok? Before we left, you're not the only one that Coulson talked to, ok? He told me to take care of you, too. And that's exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm not going anywhere. You understand?" Ward nodded and Fitz got back to work. "And I'm bloody starving."

Fitz removed a few more plugs when Ward stopped him at the last one. "Ah. Last chance, Fitz. Are you sure you don't want a head start? Because the second you pull that final wire…"

Fitz pulled it out, removing the core of the Overkill weapon from its base. "Your turn."

Ward pressed the beacon, alerting SHIELD that they disabled the weapon. "Ok, Fitz. Let's go. We need to get out of here before they figure out the device is powered down."

"Got it." Fitz removed it when they heard an alarm go off.

"We need a new plan." They both said. That's when Fitz got an idea and used what tools he had to retrofit the Overkill device into a small handheld version.

"Are you sure this will work?" Ward asked him.

"Yes. Theoretically." Fitz made a few more adjustments to a component and began installing it when an explosion went off and the entire compound shook. "What was that?"

"SHIELD. They've started their attack which means we don't have much time before they crush the compound. Get up there and take out as many of their weapons as you can with that thing." Ward told him so Fitz took the device and climbed up the stairs to an elevated platform.

A dozen South Ossetian Separatists rushed into the room with their weapons when one of the roof skylights shattered from an explosion. Ward and Fitz covered their heads from the falling shards of glass and saw someone rappel down. Arrows rained down from the ceiling as the figure rappelled to the ground with those arrows hitting the Separatist with pinpoint precision. 6 Separatists were taken down by arrows to the heart or chest when the figure landed and fired an explosive arrow that killed three more. A flashbang went off, concussing and blinding everyone and when Fitz and Ward opened their eyes all the Separatists were dealt with. Their savior ended up being Will, dressed in his SHIELD tactical gear with his pistol holstered to his thigh, his quiver on his back and holding his bow.

"You guys all right?" Will asked them.

"Yeah." Fitz muttered.

"Will, what are you doing here?" Ward asked him as Will walked over and handed him an AK-47.

"Coulson contacted me. Came to help. Extraction team will be here soon. We should go." He told them when Fitz saw they had incoming.

"Lookout!"

Three Separatist ran into the room, one of them holding an RPG so Fitz activated the Overkill device. It shot out a sonic wave at the Separatists and their guns fell apart while the RPG head sizzled before falling out of the launcher. Will shot two arrows while Ward fired a barrage from his rifle and the three Separatists were dead.

"Nice shot, Fitz." Will praised.

"Thank you." Fitz climbed down and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nicely done." Ward pat him on the back.

"Come on. Let's get out of here." Will said and they made their way through the compound to the exit. They ran out of the compound as more explosions went off from the SHIELD ordinary and artillery strikes but were cut off by several trucks, jeeps, and two dozen men. "Take cover!"

Ward grabbed Fitz and dove behind some concrete dividers with Will jumping over and joining them just as the Separatists opened fire at them. "What now?!" Fitz shouted only for Will to take out a detonator and press the button. A series of explosive charges went off on the walls to the compound where they were cut off. Said explosion took out the jeeps and trucks along with the Separatists that cut off the trio's escape. "Did you do that?"

"SHIELD rule. Always have an explosive backup plan." Will joked when they saw the BUS fly overhead.

"It's the extraction team." Fitz smiled.

"No, even better. It's the Calvary." Ward told him. "Never get tired of seeing that."

May piloted the BUS down so Will, Fitz, and Ward could jump onto the cargo ramp. Once they were secure May got them out of there and back to secure airspace. Coulson walked down the stairs and was glad to see Fitz and Ward were alive.

"Thanks for coming to get us, sir." Ward said.

"We take care of our own." Coulson promised and shook both their hands.

"Glad you two are all right." Will pat both Ward and Fitz on the back and tossed them two pieces of Salt Water Taffy before he followed Coulson.

"Thanks again for the assist." Coulson said to him.

"Please, you know me. You ever need my help just give me a call and I'll be there." Will assured him and Coulson nodded. "Besides, Quantum's just about done."

"Yet you don't sound convinced." Coulson pointed out and Will looked at him in confusion. "I know you well enough to know what your concern voice sounds like."

"You ever get that feeling like there's something more? Like…you think you solved a problem only you didn't and just put a pin in it?" He wondered and Coulson nodded. "I can't help but feel like that with Quantum. My gut tells me something else might be going on."

"I'd say you were paranoid but your gut is rarely wrong. Guess we'll have to keep that file open." Coulson said and got a nod in response. "If you'll excuse me I have to speak to Skye."

"About her redacted file?" Will wondered and the grim expression on Coulson's face gave him his answer. Will had the clearance to find the original SHIELD file Skye was looking into and it wasn't an easy read. "You gonna tell her the whole truth?"

"I can't. Some secrets are meant to stay secret." Coulson said and Will could understand that. "Would you want to know?"

"All any orphan wants to know is the truth. Even as horrible it may seem…we just want to know where we come from. Whether it's from a drunken one night stand and given up at birth…or dropped off at an orphanage. I think she deserves to know the truth." He admitted. Will never went through the same things Skye has gone through but as someone who had questions growing up about where he came from there was a part of you that wanted answers to no matter how bad they could be.

"Will you help me find out what really happened?" Coulson asked and Will nodded. "Thank you."

Will stuck around on the BUS for a little bit just to relax but would be heading out soon enough to finish up the last of the Quantum agents still out there. Thankfully they'd pick up his quinjet before the Team continued on. While Will relaxed he used his telepathy to pick up Coulson's conversation with Skye about the redacted file and then his conversation with May. He asked her for help as well regarding more details into Skye's past. After she left and Coulson had a moment to himself, he made a call to request the files on his recovery after Loki stabbed him before the battle of New York but was told that Director Fury kept those files secure. Even as a Level 8 agent he didn't have access to them. Coulson must have felt something was off and wanted to know more but now hearing all of that made him suspicious.

Coulson clearly wanted answers to some questions but how he would react to the truth was hard to say. One thing was certain. Will would be there as both an agent and his friend.

End of Chapter 15

I hoped everyone liked the chapter. It was the end to Quantum and for those that have seen the movie I have omitted some things that were unnecessary. Quantum is taken care of but the organization they really work for is still out there. Will's gut is right. And the team's mission at the HUB is done. Things work differently at the HUB but the team is better on their own.

Next Chapter, Will's finished dealing with Quantum only to look into some odd readings going on that have him meet up with Thor again. Turns out there is a unique emergence occurring that involves an ancient Asgardian enemy, a primordial cosmic force of energy and Thor's girlfriend. Off to Asgard we go.

Updates for June: The Perfect One and Omniverse Earth-38. If Omniverse isn't updated on June 30th then it'll be updated on July 1st.

William Alexander Detmer/Birthname: William Alexander Danvers

Born: September 8th, 1988-Currently 24

Moniker= Aegis (means something under protection from a benevolent source/Shield of Zeus and Athena)

Primagen Enhanced Inhuman

SHIELD Status: Level 8 Agent / Special Operations, Tactics and Defense Specialist (SOTD) Serial number: NE616IN

Member of the Avengers

Appearance: Stephen Amell from Arrow, Season 1 build.

Aegis Combat gear: Earth X's Dark Arrow Vibranium jacket and pants with retractable full-face mask colored Black and Blue. Eye covers in mask are colored blue as well. Improved design resists more damage and certain atmospheric pressures.

Shoulder strap pellet holders. Combat gloves and forearm guards with weapons and equipment.

SHIELD gear: Combat boots, black combat pants, with form fitting dark blue long sleeve athletic shirt. SHIELD Tactical combat vest.

Shoulder strap pellet holders. Combat gloves and forearm guards with weapons and equipment.

Casual Outfit: dark blue or black sneakers, jeans, blue or black t-shirt and either a zip-up hoodie, jacket, or button up over.

Weapons:

Signature Guns:

Modified Heckler & Koch P30L handgun with custom grip and micro-dermal sensor to his palm print. Improved barrel for accuracy and damage output. Added compensator or suppressor attachment. Spare firearm Glock 17.

Modified Knight's Armament SR-25 Sniper rifle with modified scope, bipod, and suppressor.

Modified M249 Mk46 Light Machine gun with a modified barrel, magazine insertion well. Equipped with adjustable buttstock, 100-round magazine drum, deployable bipod, red dot sight, flashlight, and laser sight attachment.

Modified TDI/KRISS Vector-.45 ACP with modified barrel, stock, grip, extended magazine, red-dot sight, flashlight, laser sight, and silencer attachment.

Modified Remington 879 MSC Masterkey 12-gauge compact shotgun.

Custom collapsible Oneida Kestrel Compound Bow and quiver of special arrows.

Others:

Right forearm guard wrist mounted retractable Vibranium/alloy blades.

Left forearm guard wrist mounted small retractable Vibranium Shield & touchpad computer.

10 dark blue flechettes/throwing arrows wrapped around his ankles.

2 Vibranium orbs that Will is able to manipulate.

Natural Language Modified Artificial Intelligence program EDI.

Predator Combi stick/spear

2 Predator Shuriken

4 Laser net devices

Predator knife

Microtech Combat Troodon OTF knife

Personal Vehicles: Red and Black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, Red and Black 1970 Harley Davidson Titan V-Rod motorcycle, Specially modified 2012 Aston Martin DBS V-12 spy car, SHIELD Quinjet for transport

Notable talents: Genius level intellect potential, self-defense military training from Harold Detmer, knowledge, and training in 15 types of martial arts, gun knowledge and expert marksman trained by Clint Barton, espionage and spy skills trained by Natasha Romanoff, SHIELD tactics and medical training from Coulson and SHIELD trainers, well-crafted knowledge and understanding of psychology, knowledge, and experience with engineering both mechanical and electrical, fluent in dozens of languages, trained pilot.

Personality: Kind, caring, composed, attentive, intelligent, and driven. Can be a bit of a smartass.

When insulted, angered, or in a serious situation, focused and relentless. Considered dangerous and unforgiving in these types of situations.

Uses powers sparingly in the field unless absolutely needs to.

Pairing: Will x Skye/Daisy Johnson x Crystal

Powers:

Rakyat Tatau: Mystical tattoo that enhances speed, strength, stamina, intelligence, instincts, healing speed ad metabolic function to absolute human peak potential. (Captain America Level Super Soldier)

Telekinesis, the ability to impact objects through the direct influence of mental power or other non-physical means

Power Level=Advanced: level 4 out of 5

Binding-to keep an object/being from moving

Levitation-to lift an object

Orbital Field-to makes objects and energy orbit around user

Telekinetic Shield-to create a shield of telekinetic energy around user or others/strength of shield depends on mental strength and focus of user

Psionic Speed-to augment user's physical speed

Psionic Strength-to augment user's physical strength

Telekinetic Bullet Projection-projecting telekinetic energy as bullets

Telekinetic Choking-to strangle someone with telekinesis

Telekinetic Grip-To grasp an object firmly in place

Telekinetic Maneuver-to alter an object's directional course

Telekinetic Pull & Push-to pull or push objects away from user

Molecular Manipulation-to manipulate matter at molecular level. Can accelerate, slow down and adjust spacing of molecules.

Limited in use. i.e., manipulating Vibranium orbs and reshaping them

Telekinetic Aura/Sense-To sense one's surroundings with telekinesis

Telekinetic Compression-to crush or compact an object

Telekinetic Blast-to emit telekinetic energy as a blast of blue energy

Telekinetic Destruction-to make an object explode into dust

Telekinetic Flight-using telekinesis to fly

Psionic Explosion-to create/discharge psychic energy across a wide range

Telepathy, mentally receive or transmit information

Power Level=Advanced: level 4 out of 5

Mind Reading-ability to read the thoughts of others

Memory Reading-the ability to read the target's memories

Psychic Communication-the ability to secretly converse with others

Telepathic Speaking-to speak aloud using the mind

Telepathic Projection-to project images or memories into the physical plane

Download-the ability to process/download information of another person (If used in a violent or angry mood, can harm the victim)

Knowledge Replication-the ability to replicate learned knowledge and skills

Knowledge Projection-the ability to project knowledge to another

Rapid brain activity-the ability to process and understand information at incredible rates

Mental Inducement-The ability to put the targets mind into the wanted state

Mental Hallucination-the ability to cause mental hallucinations

Mind Link-the ability to develop a permanent mental bond with any person

Mind Walking/Melding-to enter another's consciousness

Precognition awareness-six sense awareness of imminent danger

Telepathic Prediction-the ability to know a person's moves by reading their brain waves

Astral Projection-to separate one's mind from their body and explore physical plane

Cannot use telekinesis in this state. If separated from body too long, very dangerous.

Telepathic Surgery-the ability to perform neuropsychic surgery, healing and/or damaging the mind

Memory/Mental Manipulation-the ability to manipulate a target's memories and mind

Clairvoyance-the ability to gain direct visual information through non-physical means

Triggered only by serious events

Foresight-the ability to foresee possible future events and observe what may happen

Needs certain triggers to activate

Disclaimer: I don't own Agents of SHIELD or any Marvel Properties, they belong to their respective owners, I'm just a fan.