Asia's eyes slowly blinked open, the bright light above her blinding. She was sitting down in a hard, cool, metal chair, in a dimly lit, tiny room. Where was she? What had happened? Was she still on base? She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember the last thing which had happened. Mack. The Server room. Leo. The explosion. Asia shooting Mack full of ice, albeit not entirely on purpose.
She opened her eyes once more, looking at the man who sat across from her, arms crossed. He was bald, with a stern gaze, and wore a black suit with a skinny tie. If she didn't know better, she would say he was SHIELD. But he wasn't someone she recognized, or knew, so she knew that he had to be on the outside. She furrowed her gaze, and looked down at her hands. Handcuffed at the wrists, no surprise there, and those gloves....the dark blue gloves of Jemma's design, they were attached tightly around her wrists.
"Weaver," the man called out over his shoulder, not taking his gaze off of Agent Monroe. "This one is awake." From the doorway covered in shadow, stepped another figure, one in heals and a sharp navy suit, her black hair slicked back into a tight bun. Someone Asia recognized. Someone Asia hadn't even known was still alive. It had been so long since she had last seen Agent Weaver at the academy. It felt like an entirely different lifetime.
But here, in this situation, with her hands bound and a man clearly ready for an interrogation in front of her, the trust and respect she had once felt for the woman faltered. Asia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating, trying to put the pieces together. And as she did, she noticed something. She could still feel a vein of cold running through her body. It curved and ebbed away from her hands now, but she could still feel it. Her hands may have been inhibited, but the river running through her simply found a different path. Jemma hadn't invented a way to shut down her powers, after all. She hid a grin, but inside she was singing. She had the upper hand now, and they didn't even know it.
"Agent Monroe," Agent Weaver greeted coldly. The warm welcome once received at SciTech was long gone, replaced with this harsh, stony woman. Asia flinched as if she had been hit. "I'm glad you're awake. Now for Agent Mackenzie, he hasn't been so lucky yet. You hit him with quite the blast. That's why we forced Agent Simmons to hand over the gloves of her design." She nodded down at Asia's hands. "Don't want anyone else getting hurt now, do we?" She asked, narrowing her eyes, trying to get a read on the young agent.
"I didn't..." Asia began, trailing off. She was going to say she didn't intend to hurt him, but she had. He had charged her. She was just protecting Leo. Leo...where was he? Was he okay? Weaver hadn't mentioned him yet...was he hurt from the blast? Where was the rest of her team? She said Jemma was forced, was Jemma okay? The questions raced through Asia's mind at a mile a minute. She could hardly focus she was overwhelmed with the cacophony of thoughts and she had to blink several times to clear them away, file them back into her mind's cabinet.
"Mm, we're sure," Weaver replied, turning on her heel and heading back out of the room. "Agent Calderon, Director Gonzales wants to see her in the office, five minutes." Weaver called out over her shoulder one last moment before she disappeared entirely. She hadn't noticed, but Asia took note of the name. Little things. Gathering data, making the puzzle pieces all fit together. She still wasn't entirely sure what was going on here, but she knew she did not like it. She knew Bobbi and Mack were somehow behind it. And she was worried for her team.
"Alright, lets get moving," the other agent nodded at her, standing up and pulling a gun from his belt. His gaze was more of a sneer than a look, like she was a rabid animal chained in front of him. Reluctantly, she did so, letting him force her out of the room and out into one of the bricked walls of the Playground. So they were still here. Good. She would have a better homefield advantage.
She didn't like the feeling of the gun barrel pressed ever so close to her back, but she didn't protest. She would have to wait for the right moment, and then she would strike. Her mind was already moving, formulating plans, thinking ten steps in the future.
As Calderon lead her through the halls, they slowly passed by the Lab, and when Asia looked in, it was as if time had slowed down and she was moving through syrup. Jemma and Leo were standing inside the glass, Weaver speaking to them. Calderon noticed her steps slowing down as they walked past and he moved to her side, grabbing the crook of her elbow and tugging her forward, moving his gun to hold it under her chin.
Before she could even stop herself, she cried out his name. "Leo!" She called out, so relieved to see he was okay. He had a small scrape on his forehead, from the blast, but apart from that he looked fine, standing there, hand up to his mouth, wearing that soft grey cardigan of his, thinking.
But when he heard her voice speak he name, he spun around, moving towards the door before he had even officially laid eyes on her. As if he hardly even noticed Calderon or the gun, he stepped between the two of them, brushing Asia's hair back from her face, studying her, assessing the torn parts of her skin, ripped by the rubble, looking down at her hands and eyes widdening.
"What did they do to you?" He asked, hands running up her arms, over her face, touching every bare piece of her, making sure she was really there, really okay. "The gloves...they took the gloves. Jemma didn't...she didn't have a choice."
"I know, I'm okay," Asia nodded, not letting the tears spill down her cheeks. He was alive. He was okay. And as long as he was okay, she would be too. She looked down at her hands, then over at Weaver, then back to him. "They think I'm an animal," she whispered, eyes narrowing and flicking towards Calderon. "Trying to cage me up, thinking they know just what I can do."
"I'll get you out, I promise, Asia," Leo vowed, squeezing her gloved hands, pressing a kiss to her lips before Weaver was pulling him backwards, away from her, as if she were a monster, as if she would ever hurt him. And then the gun was back and they were moving back down the hall, towards the stairs which would inevitably lead to Coulson's office.
Asia reluctantly took the stairs upwards, allowing, momentarily, for Agent Calderon, whoever the hell he was, it escort her up them. When they walked down the hall, Asia's eyes fell on two guards dressed in full combat and defensive body gear already standing outside the office. What the hell was going on? Calderon nodded at the guards, who stepped aside, giving them entrance.
"Sir," Calderon greeted, standing at attention towards one of the men who stood inside. The man he was looking towards was old, leaning on a nicely made cane with a metal handle. He had a white mustache and white hair, and wore thin rimmed glasses. He was tan and looked weathered, like he had been through hell this past year. Well, they all had. So Asia wasn't going to allow that to earn him any points.
"Thank you, Agent Calderon," The man nodded, "You may leave now." With that, the man with the gun was gone, leaving Asia standing with this mystery man, and, to her relief, with Coulson. She gave her director a quick nod. His eyes flicked down to her hands, looking at the gloves, his lips pressing to a thin line.
"Agent Monroe," the older man spoke her name, tearing her thoughts away. She turned to look at him, eyes narrowed and expression blank. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I have to say. I wish it were under better circumstances. My name is Robert Gonzales." He gave her a thin lipped smile, and it seemed forced.
Asia tilted her head to the side, licking her lower lip, wondering how to proceed for a moment. She studied him, head to toe, before speaking. "I wish I could say the same. Unfortunately for you, I'd prefer we never had met at all," she replied, yanking suddenly at her handcuffs. The man jolted backwards slightly and Asia grinned a small grin, to herself. He was afraid of her. He thought her to be a monster as well.
And if he thought she was a monster because of her powers, he had no idea.
"You know, if I felt it necessary, I could have Agents Barton and Romanoff in here in a matter of minutes," she said casually, leaning against Coulson's desk. "We could see how fun that would be." she tilted her head, watching him. The man's eyes narrowed as he studied her silently. She wondered what he saw, when he looked at her.
But he chose to ignore her taunts, and picked up a small black box from Coulson's desk, strolling slowly over to the door and leaning out, handing it to a guard, whispering something to him. The man nodded, and disappeared down the hall. "It will take some time, but I have faith that Agents Fitz and Simmons will get into Fury's little toybox that he left behind."
"Do you really think they'll help you?" Coulson asked, almost letting out a laugh. He knew his agents better than anyone. They would never turn over the team. They had all been through too much together for that to even be an option.
Gonzales scoffed, shaking his head in what seemed to be pity. Of course a man like Coulson would think his subordinates were more legal to him than they were to the cause. "Well, I think Agent Fitz will do just about anything as long as we're holding his little girlfriend captive," he nodded at Asia, smirking. Coulson gave Asia an odd look. She shrugged, as Gonzales continued. "They're Agents of Shield, Phil. Let's let them make their own decisions."
Suddenly, from outside there was the muffled sound of a gunshot. The door burst open and May raised her Icer, firing two shots directly at Gonzales, the man falling swiftly to the ground as patches of blue shot over his skin from the bullets. "If we're talking about decisions, I've already made mine," she said coolly, sticking her gun back in its holster. Asia grinned over at her, never having been so thankful in her life to see her. She could have cried, if she was the type of person who felt comfortable showing emotions to other people.
May held out a small metal case towards Coulson, before turning to Asia and pulling a pick from her pocket, making quick work of the handcuffs. "That should last the two of you a few days," she nodded at the case in Coulson's hand. "You two need to get out of here." She tugged the gloves one by one off of her small hands. "And we'll burn these," she said with a grimace. "Did they hurt? Are you feeling alright?" she asked Asia quietly.
Asia shook her head, though not upset the gloves were gone. "I think they believed my powers only stem from my hands. They were wrong." She flexed her fingers, cracking them at the knuckles. She flicked her gaze at the door and a small sheet of ice appeared over it. "Super wrong," she looked back at May and shrugged. But May was already moving.
She was alongside the wall, shoving down on what appeared to be an electric socket. Turns out, it was a secret lever. An elevator slid open and the older agent practically shoved Coulson and Asia inside.
"What about..the others?" Asia asked quietly, her mind going back to Leo. The worry must have been clear and apparent on her face.
May pressed her lips into a thin line. "I'll take care of him Asia. They know about Skye. You two need to get to her." Coulson and Asia exchanged looks, as the elevator door slid shut and they disappeared into the darkness.
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Asia strolled across the beach, wearing a lavender bikini and a white sarong with yellow flowers dotted over it. The warm breeze wafted through her hair, wavy from the saltwater. The sand was warm beneath her toes, as she moved slowly between people, acting as if there were no rush. Acting casual was the best answer right now, seeing she had just lifted five grand in cash from a guy's penthouse suite. He was nonethewiser, passed the fuck out from the shots he had been doing all morning. I mean, seriously dude. It was only 11 am.
She was making her way back to the tiki bar, smiling pleasantly at the bartender as she slid into place beside Coulson. On his other side, sat Lance Hunter. She refused to act surprised.
"There's my favourite customer," the bartender grinned, sliding a mixed drink her way. She took a sip of the margarita and gave him a thumbs up. Perfect, as always, blended and sweet with a little kick at the end.
"Well, Asia, we've got good news," Coulson said, as she set her drink back on the bar. "Hunter has officially signed his contract. Here, take a look," he slid a napkin her way, and scrawled on it in black pen was Hunter's signature. Asia ran her finger over the indents before sliding it back to Coulson.
"Good," she mused. "Cause we've got some work to do."