Retrograde

Chapter seventeen: Mark yourself at home

The man blinked.

And blinked.

As Coulson was about to speak again the man finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, what?" Mark Sim, whose name was next on the index, looked at them with incredulity.

Coulson repeated what he had said, trying to communicate the seriousness of the situation "You're in danger, there are people who are-"

"No, I heard what you said," Mark laughed though there wasn't much humour in it "I just can't believe it. You people were the ones who put my name and address on that thing in the first place, you told me it was for my own safety," he said, voice raising.

"And now you're telling me it's the reason I'm in danger? What exactly do you think is gonna happen here? You tell me that you put my personal details in an unsafe system but, hey, it's all good, come in for a drink!" He said, heavy on the sarcasm and exaggerated arm movements.

"It's scary how good I am sometimes," Hunter leaned in to whisper to Bobbi.

She rolled her eyes and took over from Coulson.

"Listen, Mr Sim, we understand, we really do. But whether you trust us or not it's not only your safety that's at stake here. There are others. You've seen the news?"

He reluctantly nodded, crossing his arms "I have,"

"Then you already know what this is about. They're coming after people with abilities and unfortunately because of a mistake we made, you're in danger,"

"Exactly. You. You made this happen," he argued, pointing a finger at them both literally and figuratively "What makes you think I want or need your help?" He shook his head and scoffed "Thanks for the warning. I can handle this on my own,"

He moved to close the door but before he could slam it in their faces Bobbi placed her foot between the door and the jamb "You may be able to handle this on your own. But there are others that can't. We have reason to believe that the same people in that video are planning to make a visit here and when they do we want to stop them before they can reach the other people on that list. If you don't let us help you then we can't help the others,"

He hesitated, the door opening a bit further.

"They will die," She emphasised, driving home what was at stake.

"Gruesomely," Hunter added much to Bobbi's chagrin.

"Not necessary Hunter," She mumbled, keeping her eyes on the man in front of her.

He was silent, a slight dent between his eyebrows as he thought over her words. Then he nodded.

"Ok," he sighed "Alright, but only to help the others. If anyone comes onto my property and tries to hurt me I'm hurting them first. And I'm not taking any of your bullshit about not using my powers like I got when I was first put on that damn list,"

Coulson was about to protest, to ask him to let them handle it but Bobbi beat him to it.

"Done," she gave a curt nod "Your house your rules,"

The man nodded back, giving her a wary look. She could tell he was wondering what the catch was.

"We just want to stop these people," she explained.

"How did they even get our information in the first place?"

Coulson fielded that question "Apparently one round of spring cleaning isn't enough," he said, referring to the moles they found in shield after Hydra's emergence "We can't trust an awful lot of people at the minute but I give you my word that the people I bring here are trustworthy and here for your protection," he left out the part about Ward being as untrustworthy as they come but he had been on his best behaviour recently. Something that disturbed him deeply.