Line of Fire

2x08; the things we bury

One of the things Mara missed the most about working with Bobbi was watching how she worked. Mara never really had the knack for interrogations, though she was there from time to time as a translator. But Bobbi? She was one of the best. If Mara wanted to learn, she had to watch her.

For a while, it had just been her and Hunter watching the interrogation. He was oddly quiet (for once), but it was strangely comfortable silence. Sometime later on, Mack wandered in, taking the seat behind Mara. Asked them how they were doing, to which Hunter gave some snarky answer about just being glad that it wasn't him Bobbi was interrogating. Ah, yes, and here Mara had been waiting for the ex-wife remarks.

"I stopped by to see what I could figure out, but now I'm just enjoying the chance to watch Bobbi at work," Mara answered when Mack turned the question on her.

"See what you could figure out?" Mack asked, a tone to his voice that could almost be considered teasing. "I thought Bobbi was the one leading the interrogation."

"It's the accents. They're kind of my specialty," Mara shrugged. Mack only stared at her, eyes asking for her to continue and she sighed. "He's worked hard to refine his accent, but I'm guessing he grew up in South Hall."

There was about three seconds of silence before Hunter opened his mouth once more. "How did you even do that?"

"It's the T's," Mara replied. "He overcorrects them occasionally."

"No, I don't mean that," Hunter waved her off. "He's barely said five words. How did you do that?"

Mara just looked him dead in the eye and said, "I have no hobbies and a lot of free time."

"And yours?" Mack spoke up and Mara turned to him, eyebrows raised.

"Hungarian," Mara said once she realized what Mack had asked. "With several years private tutoring with a man from Cambridge."

As Mack nodded, going over her answer, Simmons entered the room. She glared daggers at the man on the screens in front of them, though her voice was just as cheerful as ever.

It was an odd mix, Mara couldn't help but think. And once again, Mara wished she had Bobbi's skill for reading people. That way she could actually understand how Simmons felt right then.

~x~

After administering a small dose of her medication, and on her own this time, Mara decided to hang around the lab for a while. Some of the best computers were in the lab after all, and Mara had several things she needed to research.

Moving to the most secluded corner of the lab, Mara logged in to one of the computers. Her fingers hesitated over the keys while she tried to think of what would even give her results. Eventually, she settled on the most obvious; 'Aiden Park', refined by 'Agent Files'.

What she found wasn't particularly surprising. A lot of the older files had been redacted and those that weren't, she knew most of the details of anyway. She had been on those missions with him after all. What was most disappointing was the file holding all his most recent information. The words 'CONFIRMED: Hydra Agent' stood out in particular and it wasn't just the red print they were written in. Mara didn't know why she was even thinking there would be something else there instead.

Strangely enough, there was no mention Mara could find of Aiden ever being listed as Agent Salomon or Crossfire. Mara tried arranging the files by date, but at no point did the name in his files change. The most recent file, however, was only a few weeks after the fall of SHIELD. A mission with a status labeled as 'ongoing'. If he were a Hydra agent, it certainly would have been revealed by that point. Then again, Aiden had always been just that good.

Curious, Mara clicked on the file. Instead of accessing it, a warning box flashed on the screen. 'You do not have the necessary clearance to view this file' it said, immediately exiting her out of the file.

Now that was odd. Hadn't Coulson gotten rid of the level system?

Mara tried a new search - a bullion search for both Crossfire and Agent Salomon. Nothing was listed about the agent any time from about three months before SHIELD's fall. Nothing was listed as ongoing. What's more, there was even more red tape around this than Aiden's files.

"What the hell?" Mara muttered. The only way she was going to be able to read these was looking into the hard copies and there was no way she was getting to any of those.

There was one last search Mara wanted to try, but this had her hesitating for longer than any of her other queries. Slowly, Mara began typing, but she only got to the second letter of her last name before the sound of footsteps behind her made her freeze. She instantly erased the words and spun around to face whoever had snuck up behind her.

"Oh, I'm sorry Agent Arany - erm, Mara," Simmons apologized quickly. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine," Mara waved her off casually, reclining a little further in her chair with a sigh. "I'm just...I don't even know what I'm doing."

"What were you searching?" Simmons asked, peering at the computer screen behind Mara's head.

"Just an old partner of mine," Mara replied. She turned slightly to cast a glower at Aiden's face on the screen. Rolling her eyes at herself, Mara clicked out of the search and logged out. She stood and nearly said a goodbye to Simmons when another idea crossed her mind. "Er, Simmons? You were at Hydra, yes?"

"Only undercover," Simmons said with a small, nervous smile.

"Did you by any chance...?" Mara trailed off. She shook her head and took a deep breath, trying to center herself. Why was it so much easier to talk to people about herself when she had an undercover persona? "Did you ever hear anything about Agent Salomon while you were there?"

"You mean Crossfire?" Simmons asked and Mara could feel herself brightening. The older agent nodded, but Simmons only shook her head. "No, nothing while I was at Hydra. Why?"

"I recently found out that an old partner of mine is- has been using the name recently and..." Mara trailed off.

"And you didn't know he was Crossfire?" Simmons guessed.

Mara nodded, opening her mouth like she wanted to say something before changing her mind. "Then I found out he joined Hydra after SHIELD fell - or that he was working with them beforehand and I didn't even know," She finally managed to get out. The brunette took a deep breath and exhaled as a sigh. "I was just trying to find out what SHIELD knew about him, but it looks like I can't even do that."

"If it helps..." Simmons began. "I managed to rescue my hard drive from my time in Hydra. I could see if there are any files on there about Crossfire if you would like."

"Yes, yes absolutely," Mara said enthusiastically. She hadn't meant to be so excited at the prospect, but she couldn't help it. "Thank you so much, Simmons."

"Of course," Simmons was practically glowing. "Anything for a fellow SHIELD agent."

As Simmons left the room, Mara smiled after her. It was only when Jemma could no longer see her that Mara's expression dropped. Her lips pressed together, eyebrows furrowing. She shot one last glance at the computer behind her before shaking her head.

Just what in the hell was going on around here?