Partners

Bobbi had no idea what she was doing. Her feet were taking her to a destination with no real plan in mind. Her mind was swimming with questions that she was beginning to believe she would drown in.She was so tired of not understanding what was happening around her. Bobbi had gone undercover in plenty of organizations, all of them more terrifying than the last. In every single one of those, she had never felt more out of her depth, and it all had to do with Agent 88. Agent 88 who had never once been predictable. Agent 88 who, despite being an evil agent, had made Bobbi feel empathy for her. That wasn’t something Bobbi could risk. She was on a mission to learn about and destroy the organization that had destroyed hers, and she’ll be damned if some random, albeit compelling, woman would stand in the way of that. 

So, Bobbi was stalking down the halls, towards Agent 88’s living quarters, to… she hadn’t thought that far, get answers? A night's sleep had done nothing to quell the fears regarding her new situation. Finally she found her destination, and knocked on the door. When it opened she would remain her cover, but she would question, as any person in her position would do. Yes. She would figure out what was going on with this woman. This woman who – 

The door opened, and oh, those were dark circles under 88’s eyes. The woman looked… fragile, small. She was in all-black sleeping clothes, and she had tight compress gloves on her arms. 

“Agent Morse… Hi?” Agent 88 looked weak, a stark comparison to the woman Bobbi had grown to know. 

Bobbi cleared her throat. “Um – Hey, 88. I wanted to, um… I wanted to come here and…” She trailed off, caught off guard for the first time in her life. 

The other women smirked weakly. “Would you like to come in, Agent?” She asked, opening the door. 

“Sure,” Bobbi replied, stepping inside. 

The room was clean, too clean. There were no personal artifacts in sight. Bobbi knew this was Hydra, but come on. She entered into a small living room with a white couch facing a TV. The only touch of life that could be seen was a throw blanket, skewed over the sofa. The open kitchen next to it was also pristine. There were two closed doors on adjoining walls that Bobbi was sure held a bedroom and an office. 

“So what can I do for ya partner?” 

“Oh, I just wanted to… check on you. I know you were pretty banged up from the last mission.” 

The other woman chuckled. “Alright, well I’m ok so…” Bobbi hesitated, not moving. 88 sighed. “Fine. I was about to jump in the shower so go ahead and make yourself at home. I have a feeling it’s gonna be a long night.” 

A breath of relief escaped Bobbi. “Ok. I can do that.”

A chuckle. “Alright, the couch is over there,” and with that she went into another room. 

Bobbi sighed and plopped herself onto the couch, resigned to the rest of the evening being a waste. As her eyes scanned across the room, first traveling over the TT remote on the cushion next to her, she noticed something on the coffee table. Hidden haphazardly under a couple of magazines was another remote. Glancing around cautiously, she went to grab it. This remote only had two buttons on it, the power button and another. Curious, Bobbi turned it on.  

The TV lit up. It showed a split screen of two different locations, an ordinary house and what looked like a veterinary office. The house was empty, but Bobbi could see the image of a man at the office. He was tall, with kind eyes. He was wearing a green flannel shirt under his doctor's coat. He had a wide grin on his face. She watched as he talked to customers about the health of their pets. This was a live feed. This man was being watched, and for some reason 88 had a front-row seat.

There was so much she didn’t understand about this woman. Every time she thinks she may have solved another piece of the puzzle, ten more pieces show up. 

A sound from the other room startled Bobbi. She quickly put the second remote back and changed the screen to a cable channel, a nature documentary on bats. She had turned it on just in time, Agent 88 just came out of the room. Her hair was still damp, and she had a towel wrapped around her shoulders. When she saw the TV was on, she quickly glanced at the pile of magazines, before relaxing and moving to the kitchen. 

“Can I get you some tea?” She asked, rifling through the cabinets. “I’ve got green tea, jasmine, and chamomile.” 

“Uh, sure… Jasmine please.” Bobbi replied. The other woman nodded, putting the kettle over the stove. “I wouldn’t have guessed you were a tea person.” 

88 chuckled, “It’s comforting, I guess.”

The room was silent for a while. When the tea was ready, 88 moved to sit next to Bobbi, placing the cups in front of them. 

“So… why are you really here Agent Morse?” 

Bobbi cleared her throat, deciding to be honest with this woman. “I don’t know. I’m just… here. I didn’t really think about it.”

Agent 88 laughed. “Alright then.” She turned to the TV. “Bats huh? I’ve always found their ability for echolocation fascinating. To be able to hear where everything is.” 

Bobbi hummed in agreement, before turning back to the TV. 

***

Bobbi turned her attention to the woman next to her. “You know, I didn’t expect a high-level agent to have quarters on base. I’m pretty sure with your salary you could afford something a little nicer than this.” She said, motioning to the apartment around her. 

“You don’t like it? And I worked so hard to make it cozy.” 

Bobbi glanced around the practically empty room. “Really?”

“Well, maybe you’d be surprised by my paychecks.” 

Bobbi laughed, leaning back to look at the other woman. Her face was less guarded than Bobbi was used to. She looked younger, happier… beautiful. Bobbi could almost forget where they were, almost. “So have you been here long then? And just refusing to decorate?” She probed gently. 

The other woman smirked in amusement at the question. “Yeah.” She looked off, as an unidentified emotion flashed across her face. “I’ve been here for a while.” 

Bobbi raised an eyebrow. “Really? Because it seems like most of the organization doesn’t know who you are. Those scientists certainly didn’t.” 

A scoff, “This turned into an interrogation very quickly.” She held up her hand as Bobbi moved to defend her questions, “ – No, I get it. This whole…” she gestured between them, “I get it..”  She paused looking at Bobbi with a small smile, before clearing her throat. “Umm… to answer your question, only the people who need to know me, know me. I kind of have a low profile. I prefer it.” 

Bobbi nodded. “That makes sense I guess. But why do I need to know you? Hydra doesn’t really push the importance of teamwork, so why are we partners?” 

The other woman chuckled, “You know why. You’re the one reporting back to Whitehall, not me.” She said, slightly bitter. 

Bobbi hesitated, she didn’t realize 88 knew that. “Right.”

88 nodded but didn’t press the conversation. Seemingly uninterested in anything Bobbi had to say. “Well… I think that’s enough 20 questions for one night. I almost feel naked now.” She laughed, leaning forward to grab her cup of tea.” 

Bobbi cleared her throat, hoping to regain control of the situation, “88 I – I just hope you know I don’t like… I don’t know what Whitehall wants.” 

The other woman hummed, looking at Bobbi intensely. “You know… I thought you hated me when we first met.” She said seriously, before quickly pulling a grin. “You were always glaring at me like this.” She leaned forward and turned her eyebrows down harshly, morphing her face into a caricature of Bobbi’s usual stare. 

Bobbi laughed, “No I didn’t hate you… “ A pause. “I think you just confuse me.” 

“Confuse you?”

“Yeah, I just… I pride myself on understanding people. It’s what made me so good at my job. And you… you are impossible to figure out.”

There was a moment of silence, as the two women stared at each other, waiting. Finally, after a breath, Agent 88 laughed, loud and genuinely, tears streaming down her face. “Well, I guess that makes two of us.” She reached for her cup of tea, holding it out to Bobbi in a toast. “To not understanding each other.” 

Bobbi, smiling, clinked her cup against the other woman’s.