Partners

The next morning Bobbi was awake before 4am. She had barely gotten any sleep the night before, thinking about what happened with Agent 88. There was so much she didn’t understand about that woman, but Bobbi was determined to figure it out. After getting back to her temporary apartment, she had urgently sent a message to SHIELD, informing them of the situation. The response was quick:

CONTINUE MISSION. FIND OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT AGENT MENTIONED. REPORT ANY NEW FINDINGS.

So that was it. Bobbi would be the partner of the mysterious Agent 88 for as long as she needed to. Groaning, she headed for headquarters, ready for training. 

***

The training facility at the Hydra base took up an entire floor. One large room held multiple sparring mats with different lethal and non lethal weapons lining the west wall. Surrounding those were multiple rooms where people could privately train, work on marksmanship, and other technical skills. Everything was painted with muted shades of dark gray and black, the moody shits. Bobbi hated to say it, but it was a pretty nice facility. 

She finds Agent 88 in one of the private sparring rooms. She was facing the opposite wall, taping up her wrists. She was dressed more casually than the last time Bobbi saw her. She was wearing black leggings, and a dark gray long-sleeved compact shirt. Her hair was tied back behind her. Bobbi couldn’t help but admire her athletic figure. 

Sensing her presence, Agent 88 turned around. She looked significantly more relaxed this time. Her shoulders less tense. She had a small smirk on her face as she addressed Bobbi. 

“What up, Agent Morse. Ready to show me what ya got? Can’t have just anyone be my partner now can I?” She remarked lightly, obviously aware of how peculiar their situation is.

“As long as you’re sure you can keep up. I think I’ll just add you to my perfect sparring record here.” Bobbi replied. She quickly shed her outer shirt, leaving her in just a sports bra. She didn’t miss how 88’s eyebrows rose at the action. Rolling her shoulder, she stepped onto the mat. 

Agent 88 smirked, also stepping onto the map. “You can certainly try.” 

Bobbi had to admit, 88 was good, really good. The agent was a flurry of movement. Very quickly Bobbi could feel herself being backed into a corner. Bobbi had never seen anything like it. On just a skill level, 88 matched Bobbi at most, but the agent seemed to know every move Bobbi was going to make. It should be impossible, Bobbi had spent years training to make sure no part of her fighting was predictable, or repetitive. Somehow, this woman was reading her like an open book. Before she knew it, she was on her back, looking up at the ceiling, and Agent 88 was sitting on her hips, pinning her to the mat. 

“Perfect record huh?” 88 asked, grinning cheekily.

Bobbi huffed. “You got lucky.”

“So you wanna go again?”

The next three times, Bobbi did better, and lasted longer. Sure enough though, she ended up face up on the mat everytime. And Agent 88 would be on top of her, smirking. 

Bobbi groaned, “Alright I get it. You’re a rockstar.” 

Agent 88 was grinning from ear to ear. “Damn right. Make sure…” She trailed off, distracted by something below Bobbi’s eyeline.

“What?” Bobbi asked, painfully aware that 88 was still on top of her. 

“That looks like it hurt.” 88 replied quietly, deep in thought. 

Bobbi didn’t have to look down to see what the agent was talking about. On her right shoulder, just below her collarbone was a large jagged scar. It was raised and ugly. Bobbi used to look at it every morning, tracing the angry red ridges of the healing wound. Now, she tries her best to ignore it. To forget how it got there. 

“It did.” She replied, softly. 

88 still didn’t move. “How long ago?”

“Four years.” Something flashed in the other agent's eyes.“When I did freelance.” Bobbi replied.

88’s lips quirked up. “A mercenary? Didn’t see that coming. I would have pegged you for a military brat.”

Bobbi huffed, “Well, we all have a past don’t we?”

88 hummed in response, deep in thought. Before looking up at Bobbi’s face, scanning her features. She seemed to have finally found what she was looking for, because she closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. Opening them, she rolled onto her ankles, and hopped up onto her feet. Her face was now the stoic mask from the day before. 

“Alright partner, time to hit the showers.” She reached her hand out to help Bobbi up, who gratefully took it, surprised by the strength behind the pull. “We’ve got some meetings today in the labs. Gotta scare the shit out of some white coats.” She said with a tight smile. “Meet back out here in 30 minutes?”

Bobbi, totally confused by what just happened, replied, “Yeah. Sure.” 

With that 88 turned on her heel and walked out of the room.  

Huh, what could have caused the agent to shift in demeanor so quickly? Everything new that Bobbi learned about the woman just added to her intrigue. 88 was obviously a threat, dangerous to Bobbi’s position and even to SHIELD, and it was clear she was an interest of the highest heads in Hydra. Bobbi needed to shake off any confusion about her mission. Agent 88 was a dangerous Hydra agent who just the day before scared a man into a confession without even touching him. The woman was a threat and a killer and Bobbi needed to figure out how to neutralize that threat. 

***

Agent 88 was in her commanding officer jacket again. Her posture was perfectly relaxed as she leaned back in the seat of the lead scientist's office. Bobbi, seated next to her, watched as the agent lifted up a skeptical eyebrow as the man, Dr. Jordan, floundered to come up with an excuse for the late reports. He didn’t have a leg to stand on, but that didn’t stop him from pompously throwing his weight around in an attempt to intimidate the two women before him. Clearly he wasn’t in the know like the dead agent from yesterday. 

Bobbi took the chance to peek out into the lab. She had a clear view of agent Simmons. The woman was off to the side alone, anxiously glancing around the lab at the other scientists. Her eyes would travel to the office where Bobbi sat before darting back to her work. Well shit, Bobbi might have to do something about that. She turned back to watch 88, only to find the woman already looking at her, a knowing smirk on her face. Bobbi inwardly froze, gaging the agent's face. 

The other woman seemed to take pity on her,  “I'm done listening to this little tirade… don’t ya think?” She asked with clear amusement in her eyes. 

“Yes I think so.”

“Great.” Quickly, the agent’s eyes flashed to the right. Nodding minutely, the woman got up and moved to walk behind the desk, next to Dr. Jordan.

“Hey! What are you –“

Agent 88 grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed it into the desk in front of him, resulting in a sickening crunch. Jerking his head up by his hair, revealing the satisfying stream of blood flowing from his nose, 88 leaned down to sneer into his ear. “Those reports will be turned in before you go home tonight or you wont make it to work tomorrow… Do you understand?”

Dr. Jordan, shaking with fear, responded “yes – yes please. As soon as possible I promise.”

After a beat, 88 let him go, leaving him a whimpering mess. “Good.” She turned to Bobbi. “Ready?” 

Bobbi nodded. “Yup.” She quickly glanced to the corner of the room, where she had caught 88’s gaze flickering to, her eyes locked with a security camera. 

“Perfect.” 

88 turned on her heel and led them out of the room. She walked down the aisle between the scientists' desks. Her hands reach out to graze some of the tables. The men and women around her stood bolt upright, newly intimidated by the display they just witnessed. Slowly they reached the end of the row where Dr. Simmons stood, pale. Bobbi felt her heart speed up by a fraction. The agent stopped, hand still on Simmon's desk. Bobbi held her breath. 

88 turned around, lips pursed, looking at Bobbi. She arched an eyebrow and said, “God, these desks are ugly. They should really invest more in the image down here.” She paused smirking at Bobbi. “Come on. We need your amazonian skills elsewhere.” She left the room without anything further. 

Bobbi exhaled in relief, before following her, completely ignoring the dead silent Agent Simmons next to her.