discontinued? 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 ↬ 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆

𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘰𝘯𝘦

chapter twenty-one
' the ends don't justify the means. '

        "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE ISN'T HERE?" Phil and I asked in unison, equally alarmed looks on our faces.

   "If you're trying to be funny, Agent Williams, it's not working." I added sharply. If Grant Ward was loose again, we had a whole new set of problems. A couple of years ago, after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., he had escaped from isolation the first time long enough for him to send Fitz-Simmons plummeting to the bottom of the ocean. I still hadn't forgiven myself for not recommending higher security surrounding the skilled field agent.

The other agent's lips formed a grave line. "I could never joke about something as grave as this."

  "What do we do?" Coulson turned his attention to me. "Obviously we've got to do something."

       I groaned loudly. "He has endless contacts, safe-houses, resources, etcetera. There isn't much we can do. Agent Williams, have Lewis and his team run surveillance. Report anything even remotely beneficial. And send Agents Triplett and MacKenzie over here."

May had recently found Robert Gonzalez, Bobbie Morse, and Alfonso MacKenzie and we had convinced them to join our band of ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. Currently Bobbie was undercover at HYDRA headquarters with Agent Jemma Simmons, but Mack and Gonzalez were working full time.

        Williams looked at Coulson for confirmation and I resisted the urge to pull rank. "What are you looking at me for?" He asked lightly. "She's in charge." Technically, Phil was Director, but Fury had given me special veto-powers, which in turn granted me more authority than the current director himself.

        The door shut behind her and the sound of her retreating footsteps echoed throughout the halls. "They still don't listen to me, do they? It's been one year since I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. full time, and I'm twenty-not twelve! Am I that hard to listen to?"

          "It's okay, Madi, Williams has always been a little insubordinate."

"Yeah, I can tell. Now about our recurring pain in the neck, Ward," Phil watched in concern as I began to pace rapidly. "We need a team to-"

         "No." Coulson interrupted. "I'm not sending out a team."

     "I'm sorry, what? Phil, we need-"

   "Ward is not my first priority. He can slither back to his superiors for all I care. I need you to tell me where those ruins are. It's getting worse, Madi."

I ran a hand over my face tiredly and stopped walking long enough to reply curtly, "No." For the last two-to-three years, he and been badgering me to disclose where a group of Kree ruins were located. I had only told him that they played a big role in the show and that we should never visit them, but he refused to listen.