𓆩✪𓆪
CLASSIFIED
Patrick stands in her uniform, a black catsuit similar to the one Natasha usually wears that is wrapped around her waist, a white tank top and a brown leather jacket over the top.
There's a cut above her eye brow from her tussle with Loki and she sits annoyed beside Hill as she watches the others filter into the helicarrier.
"Doctor. Thank you for coming." Fury says reaching for Doctor Banner's hand and shaking it with a firm grip.
Banner nods but continues to look around the Helicarrier as Steve shoves his hands into his pockets and looks around.
"Anything yet?"
"No," Patrick sighs as she gets to her feet, "He has some of our best agents, they know how we work. We need a new work ethic. We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops, if it's connected to a satellite its eyes and ears for us."
Seeing Steve and Banner's looks of confusion of the new voice she introduces herself, "Agent Volkova."
"Little young?"
"Old enough." She says not sparing him a glance as she makes her way towards a computer screen she sees Nat looking at, jumping down the ledge separating the computers she peers over the agent's shoulder to look at the image of Clint.
She sighs seeing that there's nothing yet. "That's still not going to find them in time. We need to run a faster server, have you connected to-"
"We've connected to every server available, Agent Volkova," The agent at the computer tells her, he's experienced her lack of patience first hand, he knows how annoying she can be when things aren't going fast enough, "We're even using servers belonging to the pentagon."
"That's not enough, and the other guy, the slightly good looking one with the deep eyes, are you looking for him?"
"Uh..." The man looks over her head towards Coulson who simply shrugs, "No?"
"Then why don't you wise up, start up another programme and search for him too." He stares blankly at her for a few moments, "Now!"
"We're doing everything we can, Agent Volkova." The man sits beside her and sighs.
"You're not doing enough. Clint is out there somewhere. Search harder." She orders.
"Volkova." Fury says firmly, making her sigh and step back, she leans against the desk behind her squeezing her eyes shut tightly and shaking her head.
"Stop." He demands sternly.
"You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Bruce asks.
Patrick raises a brow, answering for Fury, "How many do you need?"
"Call every lab you know," Bruce says as he pulls off his blazer and folds it over his arms, "Tell them to put spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
Patrick grins up at the eager scientists and nods at Fury, "Agent Romanoff, Volkova. Could you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?"
Patrick grins as she places an arm around him and leads him away from the others, "You're gonna like this, Doc."
-
"It's not your fault."
Patrick sighs and holds back the roll of her eyes as she leans back in her chair. "I'm serious."
Phil pulls the chair out beside her and leans forward to get her attention. She stares forward away from him, her fingers picking at the skin around her nails. "You did good, Pat. Really good, I'm proud of you."
"Loki got away, not only did he get away he got Clint, that's on me."
"No," Phil shakes his head, he moves to gently hit her hand away but she moves her hands before he can. She switches to fidgeting with her silver locket. "This was your first high stakes job, you took on a guy twice your size who just so happens to be an Asgardian God, by the way-"
"What if Clint doesn't come back?"
Phil pauses and shakes his head, "Don't think like that-"
"This guy is powerful, Phil," She turns in her chair leaning closer to him, "He knew my name, he knew Fury and Selvig- He's one step ahead of us- screw that, he's thirty steps ahead already with one of our best agents and my name."
"Why's your name so important?"
"He called me Andromeda."
Phil's frown deepens and she nods as an 'I told you so' expression takes over her face.
Seven years ago, when she was first brought to S.H.I.E.L.D Patrick made the decision to go by her middle name. She dropped Andromeda all together, it's never been recorded. The only people who know that's her name is Nat, Phil, Fury, Clint and Maria.
"He's in my head."
"He's not in your head."
She nods, "He is. I could hear him, and there's something-" She rubs at her temples harshly and shakes her head, red hair flying everywhere, "There's something in my mind, I can feel it, it's weird- like this little headache that won't go away."
"You've always had them, have you taken your meds today?"
"It's not like that, it feels like, like it's pushing into my very soul."
Phil sighs and places a hand on her uncovered shoulder but jumps back at the warmth of her, "You're burning up." He presses the back of his hand to her forehead then brings it back to himself just as fast, "You feeling okay?"
"Fine." She slaps his hand away as she stands, "I just need- I'm gonna grab a water."
He nods, "How about you go lie down for a bit."
"No, no," She shakes her head again, "I just need a drink, some water in my system, then I'll be fine. Yeah. I'll be fine."
"Pat." Phil tries again but she walks out of the room, her hand fidgeting with the chain of her necklace. She passes Steve, who nods but she pays no attention as her gaze remains steady and forward.
"Agent Volkova." An agent calls running after her as she walks down the corridor with a file in her hand. The same file she's been looking at since receiving it earlier that day. "They've got a hit, Germany."
She nods, "Put this in my room."
The agent barely has time to even give a nod before she's running towards the jets, zipping up the half of her suit that was tied around her waist.
She laces up her combat boots and pushes her braid over her shoulder before running to the Quinjet with the group ready to follow Nat's lead.
An agent follows them in sliding into the co-pilot seat, Nat in the pilot's seat and Cap and Patrick holding onto their seats right behind.
"Pat, sit down, I can't pilot with you breathing down my neck."
She clicks her tongue and steps back with a nod quietly apologising, she takes a seat opposite Steve who is holding his shield in his hands and staring into it.
"I was there when they found you," She says, making him look up, "Well, I wasn't there-there, I was at the place they brought you back to, in a ball of ice, with the blue glowing thing."
"Blue glowing thing?"
Releasing she shouldn't have said that she leans back slightly and changes the subject, "You should have seen Coulson, he would not shut up about you. I was kinda on edge, it was like, my first mission kinda thing. I don't know. Fury said it was a mission, but when I say mission I mean being out in the field. Fighting people."
Steve watches the way she twirls a small dagger between her fingers, as if it's nothing, as if one wrong move couldn't slice off her finger. She tosses it into the air, catching it in her other hand without even paying much attention to the blade as if it couldn't kill her easily.
"Mind if I ask you something?" He questions, leaning forward and putting down the shield.
She looks up, knowing he was going to ask something eventually, she could feel his stare, she gestures for him to go ahead and ask, which he does, a little more bluntly than she had expected him to, "How'd you end up here?" He questions.
"On this jet? I walked from my room-"
"S.H.I.E.L.D." He quickly adds.
She chuckles and glances down at her boots, kicking one foot up to rest on her knee, "I know, Ice Box, I'm just messing with you. I'll give you the short version, I wouldn't want to bore you to death."
"We have time. Still a few hours until we get to Germany."
"You'll be surprised how fast these things can go."
Sighing she moves to sit on the same side of the jet as him, tucking the dagger away in one of the pockets on her suit, "They took me in, I was eleven, just lost my father who was a former agent, I don't remember much, I lost some of my memory after getting rescued, the therapist Nick sent me to said it was my brain trying to prevent the trauma or something," She waves a hand around and shakes her head, "I don't know. All I know is if I wasn't here fighting the bad guys I'd probably end up being a bad guy in some run down town on the outskirts of Russia."
"So you became an Agent?"
"Trust me, it took me longer to convince Nick to let me go out into the field than it did to train. My first 'mission' was a year ago. I've been a level 7 agent for almost two years."
"Get ready, we're here."
Patrick watches the shock on Steve's face, "I told you, Ice Box. Fast."
Patrick gets up and leans against the back on Nat's chair to get a better view at what is going on. A man stands before the crowd in golden armour and a green cape. "Jesus, who does this guy think he is?" Patrick scoffs.
"Maybe you should stay here." Nat says, catching her hand before she walks away.
"This guy's got Clint, Nat, I'm not staying."
"You can't keep doing this, blaming yourself. It's not your-"
"I let him get Clint."
"It's not your fault." Nat says firmly, brows furrowed together.
"Then let me go."
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