Force: The Seventh Avenger (Agents of SHIELD)

Chapter 12

   Knock, knock. Skye and I sat in the SHIELD car of the cargo-hold, talking. I was in the backseat, and she was in the front. Skye had become one of my best friends because of how close we'd grown. Skye rolled down the window to see Coulson.
   "Hey, Phil," She said to him.
   "I'd prefer you not call me Phil," He told her. "Can I come in?"
   "Always room for AC."
   "What's wrong with Agent Coulson or Coulson."
   "Nothing," I told him. "They're just boring."
   "Yeah," Skye agreed. "AC's way cooler." I nodded.
   "You like it in here?" He asked.
   "Reminds me of my van except quieter, more peaceful-"
   "Plus an awesome friend!" I cut in.
   "Anyway," Coulson Said. "I have some questions for Skye."
   "Fire away!" She told him.
   "Have you ever robbed a bank?"
   "No." She looked at him quizzically.
   "An armored car?"
   "Nope."
   "What about a casino?"
   "Should I be offended?"
   "I'd judge you if you weren't," I said.
   "Someone's stealing millions of dollars in diamonds," Coulson explains.
   "From a casino." I gave him a 'really' look.
   "Okay, that one was the least relative of them," He admits, then continues to debrief us.

   "Three days ago, 55 military men all dressed the same, were hired by one of the worlds largest gem brokers to transport 3 million dollars worth of diamonds to Stockholm. No one knew which briefcase held the diamonds, yet they were all stolen," Coulson explained as he walked with Skye, May, and me to a subway car.
   "Why the kabuki theatre?" May asked.
   "They were concerned because somebody was targeting diamonds," Coulson told her.
   "And the thieves?" I asked him.
   "Just one," Coulson said. I raised my eyebrows. "A woman. Witnesses defined her as black, athletic build. Said she did it all with her eyes closed."
   "Cameras?"
   "Surveillance went dark right before they were stolen."
   "Hey," Skye said, uncertain. "I have a theory, but's outside the box."
   "My life's outside the box," Coulson said.
   "There are people with superpowers, right?" I raised my hand. "Yeah, so, what if this woman had ESP or something?"
   "There are no proven cases of precognition."
   "Okay, so science says no," She argued. "But this woman knew impossible things. Also, what about the way she closed her eyes. That's either random or totally important. Was she listening? Or was she reading minds?" We gave her unimpressed looks. "I'm gonna go play with my phone." She sat down on a bench.
   Meanwhile, Coulson and May continued to talk about the different explanations for this, and I stood there, lost in my own thoughts.
   "What are you getting?" Coulson asked.
   "Full bars," Sky told him. "So you know what I would do if a bunch of scary guys in kabuki masks were down her? Instagram."
   "It's amazing," Coulson stated. "Every year this part of our job gets easier. Between Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, people are surveilling themselves."
   "I can run facial recognition," May suggested. "Look for history of criminal records."
   "No need," Coulson pointed to a woman with headphones in. "That's our thief."

   "Akela Amador. She was a SHIELD agent a few years back. Went on an op, whole team went down. There was some evidence of someone being there, but no evidence that it was Amador. Left the possibility open," Coulson told us. We were back on the bus, getting debriefed.
   "You're sure?" May checked.
   "I should be." He looked up. "I trained her. There are only a few women in the world that I know who could pull this off. Since you were on the bus," he said to May. "I thought it had to be her."
   "Look, I get it. You blame yourself for her turning, but you can't save her if she turned."

   "Yes!" I exclaim. "I win!"
   Skye and I sat at a table playing cards, and I had just won my fourth hand.
   "I don't get how you do it," She said. "You won every time."
   I shrug. "We're landing soon, though. We should pack up."
   "Why? Scared you'll lose your streak?" She smirked.
   I rolled my eyes. "We can play when we get back."

   Fitz-Simmons, Skye, and I sat in the back of the van after a rather long ride, and Skye had just called Ward after tapping into some footage.
   "We have visual," She told him. "Also, is there a bathroom." She paused, probably listening to Ward answer, then said to Simmons, "Bottom of the bin." Simmons pulled out a water bottle with a disgusted and confused look on her face. "Yeah, did you ever learn the thing where boy parts are different than girl parts, and girl parts are not a penis." She pauses again, most likely getting scolded by an annoyed Ward. "One last thing, Fitz was wondering if you had any snacks."
   "Yeah," Fitz yelled to the phone. "I'm feeling a bit peckish!"
   Skye took the phone away from her ear. "He hung up."
   We went back to watching whatever was on the TV.
   "Russian TV is so boring," I said what we were all thinking. The others nodded in agreement. "Hey, that kind of looks like our van." I stand up and wave my hand, and a figure does so, too. "Shit," I mutter. "Let's hope this works."
   I turn around and flung up my hands, hoping a forcefield forms outside the van. It must have, because we don't feel the impact, but I can't hold the forcefield much longer. A few seconds later, I pass out.