Meet The New Boss
“So Phil. Whaddaya got for me.” Director Jeffery Mace asked. Coulson was sitting in Mace’s office giving him an update as to what had happened on the latest op. FitzSimmons and Lincoln were looking over the prisoners May and her team had captured.
“Well we captured the buyers and the box.” Coulson stated. “They’re saying they saw a ghost. We were a bit skeptical at first but Mack found footage confirming that they actually saw something. We’re not sure what exactly but we’re trying to figure it out. All we know is that it was some kind of incorporeal woman who’s touch made these guys lose their minds. Fitz and Mack are investigating a place called Momentum Energy Labs in Pasadena. Hopefully they’ll find some leads. Ward’s looking into a powered person by the name of Robbie Reyes. We think he might know something about all this.”
“Fantastic.” Mace grinned. “Keep me posted. For now I’m glad you’re here. I need your help with something. We are giving a tour of the base to some US Congress people. Since you’re the expert on this place and SHIELD, I was hoping you’d assist me with it.”
“Really? A tour?” Coulson frowned. “Wouldn’t my efforts be better suited for the field?”
“Probably.” Mace nodded. “But this is where you shine. SSR, history. You love this stuff.”
“You’re just complimenting me so I’ll do it.” Coulson chuckled.
“I’m complimenting you cause it’s true.” Mace insisted. “Look. You and I both know why I have this job. I don’t have the anonymous unlimited funding you seemed to have before. The funding to build billion dollar aircrafts, high tech weaponry like nothing we’ve seen before. We need the UN and to impress the House Appropriations Committee in order secure our budget. I can’t do that myself. I need you. I need a team. ‘A team that trusts-’”
“‘-is a team that triumphs.’” Coulson nodded. He’d heard Mace’s slogan a thousand times at this point. “Who else are you having help you?”
“Agents Simmons, Palamas, and Campbell.” Mace answered. “Our Chief Science Officer, one of our tactical experts, and our resident inhuman expert.”
“Not May?” Coulson asked.
“Kara said the same thing.” Mace chuckled. “Between you and me, I’ve been considering her request to restart the Caterpillars project though with a little rebranding. This gives her the chance to make a good impression on these politicians so they’ll give us our support when we tell the government that SHIELD is starting a task force of powered people to deal with enhanced threats.”
“Rebranding?” Coulson raised an eyebrow.
“Well the Caterpillars were led by Daisy Johnson who is now the terrorist known as Quake.” Mace explained. “The Secret Warriors will be led by Kara Palamas and be completely separate from her. Same faces of course. Grant Ward, Lincoln Campbell, and Donnie Gill will still be our powered superheroes. Just with a different leader.”
“Have you run this by Kara?” Coulson asked.
“I’m hoping to have a surprise.” Mace grinned.
---
“What were you thinking in terms of breakfast?” Ward asked as he and Daisy strode down the street.
“I wasn’t.” Daisy replied.
“Well I was.” Ward said. “There’s a place we could go a few blocks from here. Ruthie’s Skillet.”
“Isn’t that the diner where I had you arrested?” Daisy frowned.
“They make good pumpkin pancakes.” Ward shrugged.
“You like pumpkin pancakes?” Daisy scoffed.
“They are amazing.” Ward smiled. “Come on. I think the last time we actually sat down for a meal was when you had me arrested. Or tried to anyway.”
“Fine.” Daisy sighed. Ward held the door open for her as they arrived at the diner. They sat down at a booth and ordered.
“So were you able to dig up anything on our matchstick buddy?” Ward asked as he took a bite of his pancakes.
“Yep.” Daisy nodded. “Robbie Reyes. Went to Garfield High until he dropped out in his junior year to help support his family. Works at Carnelo's and his only family is his Uncle, Eli Morrow, who’s locked up in South Ridge Penitentiary and his little brother Gabe who’s in a wheelchair from a drive by shooting he and Robbie survived about five years ago.”
“How’d the Uncle end up in prison?” Ward asked.
“Eli assaulted his boss, put him in a coma.” Daisy answered. “But that’s not the interesting part. What’s interesting is that he worked for Momentum Energy Labs.”
“The place where that energy weapon came from.” Ward realized. “Actually it turned out to be some kind of box. Coulson managed to track it down. Not sure what was inside it but apparently it made those gangbangers start shooting each other.”
“What happened to the box?” Daisy asked.
“May’s strike team managed to recover it.” Ward answered. “Kara’s actually May’s second in command now. The Caterpillars program was shut down when we got a new Director but Lincoln’s doing pretty well on the team. And Mack and Fitz started working on this cool shotgun axe thing-”
“Ward.” Daisy interrupted. “I know what you’re doing.”
“I’m just making conversation.” Ward shrugged. “So what if it’s about people who care about you and want you to be okay.”
“I’m not coming back Ward.” Daisy insisted. “The team is better off without me.”
“I’m not.” Ward countered.
“You are.” Daisy said. “I think we should split up. I’ll go try to get what I can out of Robbie while you go visit Eli in prison.”
“Alright.” Ward sighed in agreement. “I’ll call you after I’m done. Make sure you pick up otherwise I’m gonna come down there to find you.”
“Fair enough.” Daisy shrugged.
---
May slammed her fists into the punching bag, attempting to clear her head. For the last day she’d been plagued with strange visions everywhere she looked. Or at least she thought they were visions. Course she didn’t wanna chance that. If she were wrong, whatever was happening would know she was onto them.
“Hey May.” Kara greeted as she placed her gym bag on the floor, Lincoln following behind her. “How’re you this morning?”
“Fine.” May huffed.
“You sure?” Lincoln frowned. “You’re face looks a bit discolored.” As he spoke, May saw his eyes and mouth blacken the same as Coulson’s had.
“I said I’m fine!” May snapped.
“Okay.” Lincoln held up his hands defensively. His face seemed to return to normal which allowed May to relax. “We’re just here to get a quick training session in before the Director has us talking to a bunch of Congressmen.”
“A day spent shmoozing politicians. Definitely not my idea of fun.” Kara grumbled. “But it’s part of the job.”
“Hey if these guys like us maybe they’ll pass laws favorable to inhumans.” Lincoln said hopefully.
“One can only hope.” Kara chuckled. Her face turned ghoulish, causing May to rush out of the room. She looked around the halls of the base, seeing the faces of the other agents turn ghastly as well. Panicked, she raced down to the containment cell where Chen was being held. But before she could get anything out of him, he began slamming his head against the wall so it left a bloodstain. Simmons rushed down to see what was going on but by the time she managed to get him knocked out, May was gone.
---
“Shame Simmons couldn't come with us.” Mack murmured. He and Fitz sat on a Quinjet headed to Pasadena to investigate the Momentum Labs facility.
“Seems the new parameters at HQ come with nothing but more paperwork.” Fitz sighed.
“Yeah, you're telling me.” Mack chuckled. “Inventory before deployment? I mean, this is a-a lot of numbers. I'm a mechanic, not an accountant.”
“You're an engineer Mack.” Fitz quipped. “And a small tank.”
“I can't tell if some of our medication supply is missing or... I'm just too fried to figure it out.” Mack rubbed his fingers over his tired eyelids and stared at the tablet.
“You are looking a bit more feeble than usual.” Fitz smirked.
“Thank you for that.” Mack laughed. “It's these long deployments, Turbo. Weeks at a time. I mean, Coulson and Ward, they like it, but the isolation gets to me.”
“Have you been seeing Yo-Yo?” Fitz asked.
“Yeah.” Mack nodded. “Yeah, we Skype occasionally.”
“Can’t be easy on any of you, being on this wild goose chase for Daisy.” Fitz murmured.
“Yeah ‘specially not on Ward.” Mack nodded. “Things love’ll do to ya. Speaking of, how is everything going with you and Simmons?”
“Pretty good.” Fitz answered. “We’re actually looking for a place to move in together.”
“Good for you Turbo.” Mack grinned.
---
Simmons rushed up to the lab where she found Coulson and Director Mace talking to a group of people in suits.
“Agent Simmons, there you are.” Coulson greeted.
“Here's the Special Advisor of Science and Technology.” Mace introduced. “Glad you could finally make it.”
“Yes, because we were supposed to meet fifteen minutes ago.” Simmons realized.
“Well, luckily, the United States Congress is used to waiting around right, guys?” Mace joked. “'Cause, I mean, how much work really gets done in Washington? Although you don't often wait around for someone who's honestly changing the world.” As Mace spoke, Simmons rotated the monitor with Chen’s freakout taking place out of sight of the Congressmen so only she and Coulson could see.
“Oh, I don't know if I'm doing that.” Simmons protested.
“Why don't you go ahead and tell us what you were working on that kept you?” Mace suggested. “Word of advice: everything she does is hugely fascinating and I understand none of it, so feel free to smile and nod. It's what I do.” All eyes in the rooms turned towards Simmons.
“Well, I was just in the containment rooms.” Simmons stated. There was an incident with one of our prisoners who needed to be sedated.”
“Oh is everything alright?” Mace asked.
“Yes the situation is being handled.” Simmons assured. “Our containment rooms have a number of features that allow us to house powered individuals inside. It uses adaptive materials to contain enhanced individuals and actually neutralizes their powers.”
“And speaking of powered individuals, the next stop on our tour is an introduction to two of the inhuman agents SHIELD has.” Mace grinned. “A decorated SHIELD agent who’s given more than most for what SHIELD stands for even before she got her powers and a trained Doctor who is an expert on all things inhuman from their culture to their powers.” Mace led the group out of the lab while Coulson and Simmons held back.
“Chen?” Coulson frowned. “Do you have any idea what set him off?”
“Have you spoken to May lately?” Simmons asked. “I think there might be something wrong with her.”
---
“Who are you?” Eli Morrow asked into the phone. Ward sat across from him on the other side of the glass with a phone up to his ear.
“I’m a friend of your nephew.” Ward answered. “Robbie. I’m also a private investigator.”
“A PI?” Eli frowned. “Why’s a PI friend of Robbie’s coming to talk to me?”
“He’s having me investigate whatever went down at Momentum Labs when you were sent here.” Ward answered. “Some stuff got stolen from there a couple days back. Some top secret project. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a big deal but then some government guys started poking around. Made Robbie think that whatever happened, maybe there was something that could get you out of here. So I’m here to talk to you about whatever was going on there.”
“Okay.” Eli sighed. “What do you wanna know?”
“For starters why you put the beatdown on Joseph Bauer.” Ward answered.
“He and his wife Lucy, the were project managers for this big privately funded think tank.” Eli explained. “They were trying to build a Quantum Particle Generator. Something to create matter out of nothing.”
“But that would be impossible.” Ward frowned. “Law of Conservation of Mass. Matter can’t be created or destroyed.”
“Yeah exactly.” Eli nodded. “They thought they were pushing the boundaries of science but I said they were playing God.”
“And I’m guessing it didn’t end well.” Ward sighed.
“The police said it was an accident but Joe forced them to keep going.” Eli insisted. “Do you think whatever these government guys found is enough to get me outta here?”
“Could be.” Ward nodded. “I’m gonna followup on this and see where it leads. I’ll do what I can and maybe I can get your sentence reduced. Extenuating circumstances, I might be able to talk to someone.” Ward hung up the phone and left the prison. He dialed Daisy. When on the third right she didn’t pick up, he pinged her phone to find where she was.
---
Coulson walked into the locker room to see May frantically ransacking the place. He quietly ducked out and dialed Mace.
“We’ve got a problem.” Coulson stated. “Whatever happened to Chen, May’s infected too.”
“Alright.” Mace nodded. “How should we handle this?”
“Send Kara and Lincoln down to the gym.” Coulson answered. “If icers don’t work, the two of them should be to take her down without hurting her.”
“And what about the Congressmen?” Mace asked.
“Well we wanna gain their trust.” Coulson sighed. “Give them a rundown of the situation and let them watch from the monitors. They can see first hand how effective the Secret Warriors will be.”
“Show don’t tell.” Mace realized. “Good call.” He hung up and Coulson walked back into the locker room.
“May?” he said cautiously. “What's up?”
“The base has been infiltrated.” May said frantically. “Something got in.”
“So you thought you'd redecorate?” Coulson frowned.
“Maybe somebody brought something in.” May explained. “Something that's getting to everyone.”
“And if you find it, you can destroy it.” Coulson realized. It was comforting to know that even if she compromised, her loyalty was still the same. She was still the same May.
“Yeah. That's right.” May answered.
“Always ready to do the brave thing.” Coulson murmured, more to himself than anything. “Always looking out for us.”
“I won't let them take you.” May insisted, rushing over to another locker and rifling through it’s contents.
“May, uh, what if we stop, take a minute?” Coulson suggested. “Rest, make a plan?”
“I can't. I can't. No time.” May shook her head frantically, slamming the locker. Coulson thought about how he might be able to get May to the gym when an idea came to mind.
“You know what? We have current blood samples on file for every SHIELD agent, even the Director.” Coulson suggested kindly. “That could help us figure out who's been infected.” He placed a hand on May’s shoulder but she shrugged it off. “We just have to go to the lab. How does that sound?” May paused for a moment until finally agreeing.
---
Ward drove his car fast through the streets when he saw Daisy’s phone was on the move. When he was close, he saw that she was riding on top of a Dodge Charger. As they went under an overpass, the engine caught fire. Ward drove along side the charger and rolled down the passenger window.
“Skye get in!” He shouted. Daisy looked over and jumped onto the SUV, climbing in through the window.
“Did you get anything from his Uncle?” Daisy asked.
“Yeah lots.” Ward answered, jerking the steering wheel to swerve through traffic and keep up with Robbie. “Turns out convicts get real chatty when you tell them you might be able to get them out of prison. Later I’ll tell you about the time SHIELD exonerated five escaped convicts cause they helped take down a shady cabal of government officials and corporations. I’m guessing we don’t want Reyes getting away?”
“Yeah that’d be ideal.” Daisy nodded. “Get me close and I’ll throw him off the road.”
“Got it.” Ward rode up next to Robbie’s car and Daisy fired off a seismic blast that threw the car off the road and onto it’s topside. As she did, sharp pain shot through her arm. Ward pulled the SUV and he and Daisy climbed out as Robbie was crawling out of his car. As Daisy prepared to fight, Ward grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back.
“What?” she frowned.
“Your arm is fractured.” Ward stated. “You keep using your powers and you’re gonna break it. And you’ll just be a hindrance if you’re fighting injured. I’ll take care of matchstick.”
“Fine.” Daisy sighed, knowing Ward was right.
“This should be interesting.” Ward murmured to himself as he turned to face Robbie. He’d ripped a parking meter out of the ground and ignited it in flame. He swung it wildly at Ward who managed to dodge and blasted him with a ball of fire. Robbie rolled backwards onto his hand and knees before lunging back at Ward. Ward grabbed his arm and grabbed his head with a flaming hand. Robbie roared in pain and Ward struck him in the head, knocking him to the ground. Ward squatted down next to him and said, “Now, you ready to hear what we have to say?”
“The hell do you want?” Robbie groaned.
“I, we, were hoping we could help each other.” Ward stated. “I visited your Uncle in prison. He told me what they were doing at Momentum Labs. I’m guessing it has to do with whatever got stolen from there. So why don’t the three of us take a little field trip to Pasedina and see what we can find out.”
“Fine.” Robbie grumbled.
“Good man.” Ward grinned. “Since I don’t really trust your car, we’re gonna take mine and I will have a SHIELD team come get yours so you don’t run off.” Robbie, clearly not happy with this reluctantly climbed into the back of Ward’s SUV.
“Your boyfriend’s a peach.” Robbie grumbled to Daisy as he slumped into the backseat while Ward made the call.
“We’re not together.” Daisy muttered.
“Right.” Robbie scoffed. “Cause you don’t think you deserve him, just like you don’t deserve to live. Penance is definitely your thing.”
---
Coulson led May into the gym where Lincoln and Kara were waiting. May looked around frantically, seeing the visions.
“May. I’m really sorry about this.” Coulson said in a distorted voice. Kara pulled out her icer and opened fire but May was too quick. She grabbed Coulson and used him as a human shield, knocking him out.
“May we don’t wanna hurt you.” Lincoln said. May ducked behind a weight rack and Kara approached with her icer out in front of her. May grabbed her and threw her against the wall, taking her weapon in the process. Lincoln fired a lightning bolt at May, hitting her in the shoulder. She rolled to the ground and shot the icer at Lincoln. Lincoln dove to avoid it while Kara reached up and grabbed May’s icer and crushed in her hand. Then she grabbed May and spun her in front of her in time for Lincoln to shoot her with his icer. May slumped limply in Kara’s arms. From the security office, Mace, Simmons, and the Congressmen watched as May was transported to the medbay.
“As you can see, inhuman powers can be a real asset.” Mace beamed. “ And that’s why I think you should consider giving us the green light to launch the Secret Warriors, an inhuman team capable of handling things humans can’t, with Agent Palamas taking the lead.”
“Who would the other members of this team be?” one of the Congressmen asked.
“Well that would be up to SHIELD’s discretion but for the sake of transparency, we currently have three powered individuals working for SHIELD as agents already that are ready to sign on with Agent Palamas.” Mace stated. “There’s Agent Campbell who you just saw in action. Then there’s Donnie Gill, one of our scientists who’s got ice powers from an experiment that went wrong at SHIELD Academy a few years ago. Lastly we have a man who needs no introduction, Grant Ward. Like Campbell and Palamas, Ward is an inhuman and he developed fire powers.”
“Grant Ward, the former Hydra Agent who turned over enough intel to nearly wipe them out in exchange for a federal pardon?” one of the Congressmen clarified.
“Yes he’s been back with SHIELD for about nine months now.” Mace nodded.
“Well we will have to consider your proposal.” one of the Congressmen beamed. “Now if you could give us more detail on what happened to Agent May?”
“Of course.” Simmons spoke up. “On a recent mission we encountered a piece of technology that caused a deterioration in the mental state of one of our prisoners. We believe Agent May came in contact to it as well. We are currently trying to track down what caused this but of course that is part of an ongoing operation and not something we can comment on.”
---
Robbie was having a really bad day. First that vigilante chick with the earthquake powers shows up at the garage and tells him something got stolen from his Uncle’s old lab. Then her boyfriend with the fire powers shows up, wrecks his car, and forces Robbie to work with him. And now Robbie is in a fist fight with a fucking ghost. Ward, Daisy, and Robbie had arrived at Momentum Labs to find Mack and Fitz already there. Mack was stuck in some kind of chamber while Fitz was about to get murdered by a ghost. Robbie grabbed him and his eyes began to glow.
“Don’t kill him!” Fitz shouted at Robbie “We might be able to get something out of him!” Robbie groaned inwardly and punched the ghost in the face.
“Fitz what’s going on?” Ward yelled.
“Reactor’s about to blow, Mack’s stuck.” Fitz answered quickly.
“I’ll get Mack, you stop us from blowing up.” Ward ordered. He and Daisy rushed to the door and started trying to open the door. Ward pushed up on one side while Daisy pulled down on the other. Eventually the seal broke and Mack rushed out. Fitz stopped the reactor from going off and everyone looked at Robbie who was holding the ghost by the throat.
“I’m not going back in there!” The ghost shouted.
“We don’t wanna do anything to you!” Fitz insisted. “We just want answers. There might be some way we can help you.”
“Why would you wanna help us?” The ghost demanded.
“Because that’s what we do at SHIELD.” Mack answered.
“Wait what do you mean ‘us’?” Ward frowned.
“There are four of us that are like this.” The ghost explained. “Me, Lucy, Hugo, and Vincent. Lucy thinks the Darkhold can fix us.”
“You can tell us all about it back at base.” Mack said. “Just don’t touch anyone.”
“If you can’t help me, I’ll tear your minds apart piece by piece.” The ghost snarled.
---
Mace and Coulson sat down at Mace’s desk and poured a bottle of scotch.
“Here’s to this not going as badly as it could’ve.” Mace toasted.
“I guess that’s something.” Coulson sighed. “What are you gonna do about May?”
“I’m having Lincoln, Radcliffe, and Simmons see if they can do anything for her and hopefully figure out a cure.” Mace answered.
“Good.” Coulson said. “We’re gonna need it in case we come across this ghost again.”
“Agreed.” Mace nodded. “At least the Congressmen were impressed by Lincoln and Kara’s performance.”
“I couldn’t help but notice you had Kara use your powers.” Coulson noted.
“Yeah I couldn’t resist.” Mace chuckled. “Besides my powers are a lot less lethal than some of the other powers she’s got stashed. I’ve seen the file on Lash.”
“And he’s not even the worst inhuman we’ve encountered.” Coulson nodded. “Which is why it’s good the Congressmen are agreeing to reinstate the Caterpillars.”
“Secret Warriors.” Mace corrected. “We’re rebranding. Besides Secret Warriors sounds way cooler. Caterpillars just makes you think of bugs and that just doesn’t scream superheroes.”
“Fine fine.” Coulson conceded. “Secret Warriors.”
---
The Quinjet landed in the hangar where Mack, Fitz, and the ghost whose name was Frederick disembarked.
“Where are we?” Robbie demanded.
“SHIELD’s base of operations.” Ward answered
“Why are we here?” Daisy asked.
“Because we need you.” Ward sighed.” And you need us. So here’s what I’m gonna propose. You two will work with SHIELD to deal with these ghosts. And afterwards you can walk away. Sound fair?”
“Fine.” Robbie grumbled. Daisy didn’t say anything.
“Skye?” Ward said expectantly.
“Okay.” Daisy sighed. “I’ll stick around to see this thing through. But after that I’m gone.”