Sometimes things are more magical than you know ~ Agents of SHIELD #wattys2015

Nothing personal (80)

A nice big chapter. Enjoy.

Location: Washington D.C.
Time: Somewhere in the evening

It was a night like all nights, in Washington D.C. People were hanging on the Streets, and some people... Some of them were just done with their work.
"Yeah, it went as expected," a woman said through a Phone. She had just left the building of the department of justice.
" SHIELD implodes, and everyone wants answers. The CIA, NSA, NRO them I can handle. But Congress? Congress is like kindergarten. Where is this Fridge? What was in there? Who or what is a man-thing?  I swear I need a cocktail and a lobotomy. And apparently, my every move continues to fasinate them. Tonight, my standard-issue surveillance package includes fake benchwarmer, not checking her text messages, a imposter homeless man, and the hipster following me looks familliar."
She sighed. God, some people were so stupid.
"I think he's russian... Or gone."
The street became silent. The members of her surveillance package had vanished.
"Pepper, I'll call you back in ten."
She did her Phone away, and took her gun. When she checked the area, someone familiar appeared.
"We need to talk, agent Hill."
Hill sighed in relief.
"May. A Phone call would have done it. But I appreciate the discretion."
"Thought you'd like the night off," May replied. "They must hate that you were going to work for Stark."
"Most of the intelligence commity would like to drop me into a dark hole, but even they can't mess with Tony's army of lawyers. So, for now, I work for privatising global security. Wanna join?"
"Coulson needs help. And he won't take it from me anymore."
Maria became silent.
"Where is he?"
"Providence base. And he's got enough to worry about, without obsessing over TAHITI, and who covered it up."
"You mean besides us?"
"He even tried Sanchez, but of course-"
"He got nothing from her," Hill replied. "How much does he know?"
"Enough. That they used alien technology and biology to rewrite his memories, and that Fury did it under someone else his direction. I want to know who it was."
"You're affraid it was Alexander Pierce?"
"Secretary Pierce was the man in charge. The only person Fury took orders from and he was Hydra! Having a man like that design your brain, you can understand my concern."
"Fury took his ques from pretty high, that much I know," Hill said. "But when I asked him who it was, Fury said he burried that intell when he decided not to burry Coulson."
"Maria, this is not the time to go poetic-"
"Those were his words, not mine," Hill said. "You knew the man, sometimes, he spoke in riddles."
Somewhere in the distance, the siren of a police car sounded.
"We have to solve it then. Unless you want to ask Fury from me-"
"Fury is dead."
"I believe it when I see it," May said.
Some cops came out of there cars.
"And Maria? Sanchez says hi."
May disappeared, and Hill went into the direction of the police cars.
"Drop your weapon!" Some cops shouted.
"Three minutes and twenty seconds, really? If you would be my agents, it wouldn't be for long," Hill sighed. But anyway, the cops took her in.

                                                                                             *

"Play it again."
In the base, Coulson, Fitzsimmons, and Tripp were looking at surveillance footage.
"It's the same every time, Sir," Fitz said.
"Fitz?!"
"As I said, all internal camera feeds were erased. But the hangar's landing assist system, is seperated. The camera tracks movements. So, after we left, everything is normal, until, this."
On screen, May left the bus, with all her stuff.
"An entry log has May leaving the base a few minutes later, through the front door. And a few minutes later, Sanchez leaves."
They flushed the surveillance footage to a few minutes later.
"And then, this."
Ward and Skye walked into the bus, hand in hand.
"Holding hands," Coulson said.
"Soon after, the plane takes off, and that's all we've got," Fitz explained.
"Where are they going?" Coulson asked loudly. "And Koenig?"
"Koenig must have gotten on the plane somehow," Simmons said.
"There is no other way in or out."
"The blast door and the hangar door are the only exits," Tripp said.
"Both were undamaged, so nobody attacked the place, and they weren't running away, so why?"
"Maybe Koenig got orders?" Tripp asked.
"From who? Not Fury," Fitz responded. "Is there anyone left to give orders? Aren't we just improvising at this point?"
"Still, it doesn't explain why the comunnication lines were cut, or why they left their phones, or why May and Sanchez just... Left."
"May walked away because I told her to," Coulson said. "I was mad, and I was mean."
"Don't blame yourself, we don't need her sorry ass," Tripp said.
"Excuse me?"
"With all respects sir," Tripp said ," with all the crap we're facing, this is not the time to pull the cord, to bail out."
"I'll make us some food," Simmons murmled. "We have to eat."
"Let me help," Tripp said.
"No eh, let me do that," Fitz replied. Fitz left the room with Simmons, while Tripp looked at Coulson.
"Sir, you're on a analysis. I can see you're running scenarios in your head. So, what do you got?"
"Best case,  Agent Koenig knows something we don't. Took a team, kept us in the dark for our safety."
"And worst case scenario?"
"We've had a wolf in the herd the whole time."
Then, they could hear Simmons scream.