[2] An Executioner's Requiem | Leo Fitz

59

WARNING: homophobia, mention of self harm

*

Nina was sat, cross-legged, on the floor of Coulson's office. She was leaning against his desk, body turned towards the director himself and the therapist that he was currently speaking to.

"Ready to talk about it?" Garner asked as Nina focused on the little shadow flowers she was sprouting from the carpeted floor while tuning out the sound of the printer running in the background.

"About what?" Coulson asked and Nina smiled softly, knowing Garner was talking about the arm in a sling that no longer had a hand attached to it.

"Your arm," the man scoffed playfully.

"Not yet, I'm looking into some options."

"Want me to tell Tony?" Nina asked, drawing the attention of the two men. They watched as she pulled shadows out from the ground, forming them into little calla lilies and having them twist around each other in a dark bouquet, "I'm sure he'd love to make you a new hand."

"Knowing Tony, he'd fit an arsenal into it."

"Is that a bad thing?" Nina asked, cocking her head in confusion. Coulson smiled softly at her confusion, resisting the urge to pat her head as he spoke.

"Let me think on it," he said and Nina nodded, focusing back on the flowers she was creating, adding some roses to the design while Coulson turned to Garner, "What's your evaluation of my team? Did you manage to get an accurate read on Bobbi?"

"I get pretty straight answers with Morphine in the mix, she's 100% committed to your version of SHIELD," Garner nodded with a smile as the printer dinged, signalling it was over. Coulson pulled the papers out of it, looking down at the blueprints he'd made, "I saw that you convinced Mack not to quit."

"Yeah, well, he kinda owed me after cutting off my hand without asking."

"He respects you," Garner said with a small smile, "but he still holds a deep mistrust of all the alien artefacts you've encountered."

"That's why I put him in charge of them," Coulson grinned back, moving around Nina to place the stack of blueprints on his desk.

"Why not me?" Nina asked, waving away her hand and watching as her bouquet of shadow flowers absorbed back into the ground, "I'm the one that's part alien."

"Last time I tried to make you the leader of something, you hated it," Coulson said, referring to how she'd vaguely wished Hydra had killed her during their takeover when the director had put her in charge of restoring areas of the Hub.

"Very true," Nina nodded, leaning back against the desk, "continue."

"How's your rib?"

"Still broken," Nina said, grabbing the hem of her shirt and lifting it up. The men in the room panicked and went to look away but stopped when they noticed the cold compress strapped to her skin, "Fitz literally pinned me down as Simmons fitted this on me."

Nina tried her best not to laugh at their reaction, knowing very well that both men had already seen a lot of her skin due to her inability to not get hurt. Garner had seen the nurses treat her scars after Cambodia as he checked for signs of self harm and Coulson had been in the room almost every time Simmons had to fix her up.

"You could have easily stopped him," Coulson smiled, laughing slightly at the mental image of the two scientists overpowering the second-best fighter and pulling Nina back into the present.

"I could but my scientists are terrifying when they're worried about me," Nina grimaced as she pulled her shirt back down, "I was one complaint away from Jemma putting me in a medically induced coma and Leo was right there with her. "