A/N: Everything except Ida and Jax belong to Marvel.
Co-written with riboflavinb2. Also available on Fanfiction.net
I'd love to hear what you think! Thanks for reading.
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Ch 7- I Refuse / Stubborn As Hell
Once the pain meds were on board, Ida got a whole lot more agreeable to the SHIELD idea. Why was she ever angry in the first place? Bearable amounts of pain and a slightly loopy brain made her more forgiving.
"SHIELD are the good guys then?" she asked. Dr. Mitchell had spent the last couple of minutes trying to explain what they did without giving too much away. He wasn't sure what he was privy to discuss.
"We certainly try to be," he responded. A fully rational Ida probably would have questioned that response. She liked her world in black and white, and "certainly try to be" was a shade of gray.
But, for now, she accepted it.
"Thanks, Dr. Mitchell. For patching up the arm. Should I just go to my regular doctor for bandage changes now?"
"I don't know. That's up to people much higher in SHIELD than I. Just can't make that call."
Ida nodded, just as she saw Jax slink out from the shadows of the lab.
"Jax," she said. "You're back."
++++
When Jax silently re-entered the main lab, she was spotted immediately. It seemed like Ida always had some kind of sixth sense for her presence.
"You all patched up?" she asked Ida, despite knowing that Dr. Mitchell could fix far worse than chemical burns. "How do you feel?"
"Better," she said. "I'm not sure if you know this, but chemical burns fucking hurt."
She gave a wry grin. "I can imagine."
Jax chose not to mention that she'd suffered intense chemical burns last year on an op in Sudan, recovering a dangerous bioweapon powered by alien tech. Dr. Mitchell raised an eyebrow at her from across the room. As if she needed the reminder that he and his team of SHIELD-Med geniuses were the only reason she wasn't disfigured ten times over.
Jax rubbed her knuckles, still raw from her fight with Novak. "Are you okay?" she asked Ida, suddenly feeling small, like a little girl in a fight with her best friend. The adrenaline and focus was fading from her system, and she knew exhaustion would kick in soon. "How are you doing with...all this?"
++++
"How am I doing?" Ida paused, thinking. How was she doing? "Better, I think." She adjusted her position on the stainless steel table. "You help people, right?"
"Oh, undoubtedly." Dr. Mitchell cut in before Jax could even open her mouth. "Jackie has prevented a number of potential disasters all over the world and many consider her to be a hero. In fact, she's actually a-"
++++
"Doc, please, you're embarrassing me. Look at me, I'm blushing." Jax snarked with a growl, giving Dr. Mitchell a please shut the hell up look. After everything that already happened, probably not the best time to add in oh yeah, she's also an Avenger. One bomb a day, thank you.
Dr. Mitchell, always quick on the uptake, checked his watch. "Goodness, is that the time? Afraid I must depart, I've got a meeting. Good to see you as always, Jackie, and lovely meeting you, Miss Emerson. I hope to see you again, I would love to learn about your work. " He made a hasty exit, the lab doors smoothly sliding shut behind him.
For the first time since the aquarium, she and Ida were alone.
Ida's presence normally brought Jax comfort. The long away missions always left Jax with a very specific kind of exhaustion, wearied limbs but a tense heart, like a hand was squeezing it. As if her soul itself was tired. Seeing her best friend is what let her breathe properly again; the blonde scientist soothed the tightness in her chest. It rejuvenated her, returned her energy and fighting spirit. Ida reminded Jax why she loved being an agent and an Avenger, why SHIELD existed in the first place. To protect people.
But for the first time, Jax didn't feel that way. Ida's presence was making her anxious. Well, it wasn't Ida so much as Ida inside a SHIELD facility. It was disorienting. Ida shouldn't be here, she didn't belong in this place, attacked by a madman and covered in someone else's blood. Ida belonged at the aquarium, surrounded by all those weird fish she adores and chasing after Mr. Inky.
But instead, here she was. The two halves of Jax's life that she had tried so hard to keep separate were now colliding like an ugly car crash.
'Adapt. Survive. Move forward.' Right now, those words were the only thing keeping her from a Grade-A freakout. Now or never, Jax; nowhere to run. (False, the lab has four escape routes.)
Jax finally looked her friend in the eye. Her gaze flickered to Ida's bright green eyeshadow that, along with the shark fin necklace that Jax gave her, Ida never left home without. Jax blinked, and for a moment Ida was eighteen, a freshman at NYU. Her heart lurched. What if Ida thinks she's a monster? What if Jax tells her the truth and Ida is horrified and disgusted and never wants to see her again? What if Ida is scared of her?
'Adapt. Survive. Move forward.' Her eyes stung but she blinked it away before it became something. 'Adapt. Survive. Move forward.' Deep breath in, deep breath out. 'Get it together, agent, you can do this.'
"Ida."
Ida brown eyes met Jax's blue ones.
"I'm not gonna lie to you. What I do...it's ugly. Stuff that makes most people uncomfortable. SHIELD operates in the grayest of grays." Jax paused to see if Ida had any reaction, but there was none. Ida was either waiting for her to continue or the painkillers were working really well. She pressed on. "But what we do is for the good of the world. Everything I've done, every order, every mission, every moment I'm out there doing my job, I know that I'm helping people. All of my actions are for the purpose of saving lives." Jax stopped herself there, despite the temptation to babble on like Tony always does.
Her friend just stared at her with dilated pupils. Ida better not be doped-to-hell because this was hardest conversation of Jax's entire life and she was not eager to have it twice.
++++
"You're lucky I'm a scientist," Ida started. "If I was anyone else, I probably would have panicked."
Ida let out a stammer of a laugh. It was her way of accepting all that she'd learned that day. She wasn't one for I'm sorry's and I forgive you's. She felt it was wasted time.
"So," Ida continued. "What now?"
++++
The moment Jax heard that laugh, that same laugh Ida always used to bookend any of their little spats, Jax's entire body sagged with relief. She couldn't even speak for a moment she was so overwhelmed.
Jax pulled herself together. "Now-"
The lab doors slid open.
"Now, you disappear." Director Fury strode into the room like Ares himself.
And things were going so well too.
++++
"Sorry... I what?"
Ida had decided it - Director Fury was a jackhole. He walked into rooms like he was confident in his dominance over everyone in it. Ida didn't appreciate it. She'd dealt with jackholes of that ilk before, had even lived under the roof of one for eighteen years.
"Novak is a dangerous criminal with a penchant for revenge. We are placing you, Miss Emerson, into a witness protection program where you'll be secure."
Ida laughed. Not a real laugh but one of the clearly sarcastic variety.
"Away from my life? From Jax? Yeah, right, Eyepatch." After she said it, she wondered if she perhaps shouldn't have antagonized him. Oh well. "I refuse your protection."
++++
Where was a good Chitauri invasion when she needed one?
It would be obvious to anyone that Ida's and Fury's personalities didn't mesh. For Jax, who knew them both far too well, it was like watching a dog and a cat square off. Or, a dog and a fish. A very stubborn fish.
She had to step in before things got even worse. "Director Fury, while I would normally agree, I am requesting that you put me in charge of Ida Emerson and her safety."
Fury fixed his eye on her with a vengeance. "You want a helicarrier too while I'm at it? Oh wait, we lost those, along with all the resources and personnel we used to have." Jax flinched at his tone. "Thanks to Hydra, I can't afford the extra manpower to babysit every little civilian that puts themself in danger, let alone lose one of my best agents to it."
But Jax stood her ground, because this wasn't just any civilian. It was Ida. "Sir, I will focus all of my efforts on tracking down Novak ASAP if you will put Ida in my care instead of WitPro."
Fury made a noise between a scoff and a snort. "Please. We both know you'll be doing that anyway." He looked back and forth between Jax and Ida for a tense, calculating moment before sighing. "Fine. I'd rather give you permission now than have you go behind my back later. Don't make me regret this, Agent Foster."
With that, Director Fury swept out of the lab, grumbling something about Coulson making him soft.
Jax immediately whipped out her phone and dialed Agent Keller. "Jim, you still here? - And Allen? - Good. Think you could do a protection detail for me? - Yeah yeah, I know, fancy steak dinner, you got it. - See you in five." She tucked her phone away and motioned for Ida to follow her out of the lab.
"I'm assigning you a protection detail. Novak was there for me so it's doubtful that you're in any danger but I'm not taking any chances. Agents Keller and Thompson are some of SHIELD's best, and I've known them since I left the academy. I trust them to take care of you."
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"I don't need a protection detail, Jax," Ida said. Jax gave her a look. "Fine, fine. A small one. But I swear to our mollusk overlords if they get in my way at work, I'll shoot them myself. No Novak needed."
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"You and your mollusk overlords are lucky I'm not siccing an entire army on your ass." Jax growled. If she had her way, Ida would be locked up inside an ultra-secure safe house in the Canadian wilderness until Jax confirmed with her own two hands that Novak was dead and gone.
Jax sighed to herself. A year ago, having the manpower to ensure Ida's safety wouldn't have been an issue. But Hydra had really done a number on them, infiltrating SHIELD from the inside out for decades. And after the fiasco with Project Insight at the Triskelion last summer, she was honestly shocked the World Security Council and the Defense Committee had given SHIELD the green light to start over. But starting over had to be from the ground up, and getting back on their feet was a slow and frustrating process. She was lucky/surprised she'd even been able to convince Fury not to just ship Ida off to WitPro.
Jax led Ida back to the elevator then took them up to one of the "public" floors. The building had two levels that were made to look like the insurance agency they claimed to be, for when civilians came in for whatever reason. Public Floor One was full of cubicles and tech agents who put on a fake insurance agent act, but were actually always organizing and managing all of SHIELD's data and digital functions on their computers. They didn't even look up as Jax dragged her loopy friend to a meeting room in the back. Keller and Thompson were already inside, and Jax shut the door behind them.
"Keller, Thompson, this is my best friend, Ida Emerson. She's stubborn as hell but don't let her bully you into not doing your job." Jax leaned in close to the two agents, whispering, "Novak attacked her earlier, there's a small chance he might target her again. I want this kept dark, don't bring anyone else in and tell no one where you are. Understood?" Both agents nodded. "Good. Keep her safe, and I'll treat you both to steak dinner and I'll get you tickets to next month's' Mets game."
"Well, you sure do know how to motivate a guy." Thompson grinned. Jax knew it didn't need saying how important Ida was to her, Keller and Thompson could tell.
Jax hugged her friend goodbye and watched the agents escort her out.
Leaning against the wall, she sighed, rubbing her temples.
After a moment to breathe, Jax returned to the elevator and jabbed the button that would take her to the Ops floor.
There, she stalked towards Fury's office, agents scrambling to get out of her way. Her temper was famous among SHIELD personnel, and they'd learned to read oncoming rage in her face and body.
Jax threw open Fury's door then immediately slammed it shut behind her. Director Fury simply regarded her with a look, obviously expecting this.
"How the hell did my information get leaked?!" She shouted. "Why do we even have all these tech monkeys if they can't do their fucking job?!"
"Are you finished with your little temper tantrum, Agent Foster?" Fury said sharply. "Or do you need to go blow off some steam down with the cadets?"
If it was anyone else, Jax would've knifed them, but Director Fury never put up with her crap and wasn't starting now, no matter how dire the situation. Jax closed her eyes and took three steadying breaths, reigning herself in. "You're right. I apologize, sir."
Novak POV scene???