Eminent Silence

by Tristan Carey

  Skye went very still, her eyes widening, before dropping to the floor. Fitz had gone very stiff in his seat. I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there awkwardly, as if I didn't notice the tension change in the quinjet.

  Ward and Simmons exchanged looks. 'Guys?' Simmons asked, gazing around and unable to receive anyone's eyes.

  Skye shifted on her feet, hand rising to her head as she turned her gaze to the ceiling, as if it were suddenly very interesting. 'Uh, yeah, about that…'

  'Oh my god,' Ward said, jaw dropping, before slumping against the wall, head in hands. 'Oh my god. No. No, no, no. Do not tell me this was an unsanctioned mission.'

  'This is an unsanctioned mission,' I said flatly, earning a punch from Skye.

  'Come on, seriously?' she said, as if I'd betrayed her.

  'What, you thought we could lie to them?' I said back at her, holding up a hand. 'I think as soon as we see Coulson again, they'd figure it out.'

  Simmons hands were over her mouth, her eyes wide in utter shock. Her attention turned to Fitz, who had gone strangely pale under the light of the control panel. 'Fitz! You defied orders to save us!'

  'Well!' Fitz started, indignant. 'No one else was going to do it!'

  'I know,' Simmons said, and her hands fell away to reveal a soft smile. 'That was very brave of you, Leo. Stupid, but brave.'

  'I know what you're going to say, Gemma, but —' Fitz came to an abrupt stop. Her words seemed to take have taken him by surprise, who looked ready to dive deep into a prepared rant until that moment. He paused, dipped his head, then said, 'Oh. Um, thank you, I guess. But I can't take all the credit. It was Skye's idea.'

  'Of course it was.' Ward muttered, crossing his arms. 'No one else would do something as mind-boggling stupid as directly defying Fury's orders besides Skye.'

  She threw him a dry smile. 'I aim to please.'

  'And who the hell are you?' Ward demanded, pointing a finger at me. 'I know for a goddamn fact you're not a SHIELD agent, so don't bother lying to me,'

  'Uh,' I said, because I was, in fact, planning to lie, but was now reconsidering. Apparently Skye and Fitz hadn't told him everything when they rescued him. But Simmons beat me to it.

  'She's Rebel Columbia,' Simmons replied with a grin.

  'I am?' I turned to her, caught off-guard. The words sounded oddly familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd heard them last.

  Ward looked utterly baffled by this. Even Skye seemed taken aback. She glanced at me, and I could tell what she was thinking; that I may have lied to her, that maybe I had another identity she didn't know about. 'Rebel Columbia? Where'd you get that?'

  'From those KGB agents chasing us.' Simmons answered simply, and I shifted back on my heels when I realized what she meant, right before she said it. Everyone else looked baffled as Simmons continued, 'That's what they shouted at us. Well, her, Mia, I mean, whenever they saw her.'

  'It was in Russian,' I pointed out, trying not to freak out that these were the first words to the Crucible's trigger phrase, just in a different language. But they had no effect on me in English. Just like Wanda predicted.

  'We took a semester abroad together in St. Petersburg,' Fitz answered, sounding only mildly annoyed. 'Gemma likes to bring it up every chance she gets.'

  'I do not!' Simmons retorted, although there was a guilty look on her face. When she noticed me staring, she insisted, 'I don't! I just thought it was a...very worthwhile experience!'

  'Sure, sure,' Fitz snickered, and Simmons reached over the seat to smack him in the shoulder.

  'Hm, Rebel Columbia,' Skye mused, crossing her arms thoughtfully as she looked me up and down. She tilted her head, gave a small, satisfied nod. 'I kinda like it.'

  'Oh, please,' I shook my head, wincing a little. 'Don't make this a thing.'

  'Too late for that, chica,' Skye grinned wickedly. 'This is most definitely a thing now.'

  I could only barely contain a groan.

  Ward just sat there, scowling, his foot tapping. He seemed incredibly displeased with everyone in the quinjet. He said, 'Wow, jokes and codenames? Really working on the important stuff here, aren't we? Do you have any idea how much trouble we're in? I can't wait to hear what Coulson has to say when we get back.''Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?' Coulson demanded when we got back.

  The five of us were lined up against the wall in Coulson's office — a small but stately room within the Bus. Warm morning light spilled in from the little porthole windows, giving the room a nice golden-pink aura. The chocolatey aroma of coffee hung in the air — someone liked their mocha lattes. A mahogany desk decorated with a bronze eagle statuette, some photo frames and a plaque with Coulson's name on it. Shelves with gadgets, memorabilia, marksmanship trophies. Nothing personal, it seemed, nothing that might have hinted at a private life. I would've appreciated the room more if I wasn't currently being chewed out.

  'Deliberately disobeying direct orders, stealing SHIELD equipment, kidnapping a civilian, and going completely AWOL for five hours, among dozens of other serious infractions!' Coulson continued, pacing back forth, trying to keep composure and failing. He swung his arms around, gesturing for emphasis. 'You're lucky we weren't entertaining any of the top brass this week! Otherwise every single one of you would be court-martialed before you got off that quinjet.'

  There was a length of silence following that, with Coulson pinning each of us with hard looks. Both Skye and Fitz were busy studying their feet. Against the fall was a short Asian woman, middle-aged, black eyes wielding a death glare that could freeze lava. She hadn't said a single word so far, but I had the distinct feeling she must be that Agent May Skye had mentioned earlier, that Fitz had been lowkey afraid of. I could see why he felt that way now.

  Then, next to me, Ward raised his hand, 'Uh, why are we here? Simmons and I didn't do anything —'

  'Because this is a message to the entire team,' Coulson snapped, and Ward dropped his hand immediately. Coming to a stop, Coulson faced us and said, 'Neither I nor SHIELD will tolerate further acts of disobedience. This isn't the wild west, we aren't cowboys running off on private missions whenever we feel like it. There are laws for a reason. This is how we stand above reproach. Any mistake we make gives ammunition to our enemies. Do you want President Ellis to disavow us? The moment we lose international backing, we become completely exposed to anything and everyone who's got something against us. Especially after we just pissed off the likes of the Chairman and Baron Von Strucker. I can't wait to see how that will come back to bite us in the ass!'

  Skye picked her head up, scowling. 'Wait a second, did you just say kidnapping earlier? That's not true! Mia volunteered —'

  'No one volunteers for SHIELD without my say-so, and certainly not minors!'

  'We'd never bring a child with us! Mia said she was eighteen —' Fitz spoke up, only to be immediately cut off.

  'And it didn't occur to you that she would lie?' May demanded, speaking for the first time as she stepped forward next to Coulson.

  'Lie?' Skye snorted, then looked at me with a disbelieving smirk, as if we were sharing a joke. But my face had started to grow warm with everyone talking about me as though I wasn't there. Skye faltered when she saw the flush in my cheeks. 'Mia? You didn't — I mean, you're not — ?'

  What could I say? I just gave her a sheepish shrug, a small, guilty smile pulling on my lips.

  'Oh no,' Fitz groaned, closing his heads, head falling back.

  'You didn't read that Times article, did you?' Coulson asked in that way that said he already knew she hadn't.

  'No, why?' Skye flashed Coulson an uncertain look, before going back to me; her wry expression giving away to rising horror. 'Wait, if you're not eighteen, then how old are you really?'

  I hesitated for a moment. Then answered, 'F-fifteen.'

  Skye gaped at me. A strange choking sound came out of her mouth, all blood draining from her face in under a second. Fitz let out another gr
oan, this one longer and filled with terrible realization — covering his face with his hands, he slumped against the wall behind him. Even Ward and Simmons looked surprised, with Ward letting out a quick guffaw before covering it with his fist and pretending to cough instead.

  'Oh, dear,' Simmons pressed her lips together, hand running down her face as she glanced over at the shaken Fitz. 'That's not good. That's not good at all…'

  'Monsters,' Fitz whispered to himself, pulling at his cheeks with his fingers. 'We're monsters…!'

  Coulson and May watched these reactions with detached amusement. Ward, seeing his teammates struggle with this revelation, half-heartedly intervened, 'In all fairness, sir, she doesn't look fifteen —'

  'If you think that's a valid excuse, try again,' Coulson replied, unimpressed. 'For the foreseeable future, all four of you are grounded, and on double cleaning shifts until I get this all cleared with Director Fury.'

  'And that's after you've debriefed me on everything that happened,' May added. 'Everything.'

  'Dismissed,' Coulson said, and as everyone shifted and started headed towards the door (with various expressions of relief or impending dread), Coulson held up his hand to me before I could pass. 'Except you, Mia.'

  I came to a stop, frowning as everyone else vacated the room, leaving only me and Coulson behind. Skye was the last person to leave, throwing me one last worried look before May shut the door. I rocked back on my heels, trying to quash the growing fear in my stomach. I was still wearing my fatigues, dusted with ash and bits of concrete. My helmet, shield, and weapons had been removed after leaving the quinjet.

  As soon as he was sure there would be no eavesdroppers, Coulson dipped his head to me, before approaching the wall of TV screens directly opposite his desk. With a flick of his hand, all the screens were wiped clear — maps, schematics, personal data files disappearing in one go. 'I'm surprised you didn't try to defend yourself back there.'

  'I d-don't regret what I did,' I said, choosing my words carefully. Unfortunately, it made me sound stilted, and more adult than I really was. Which Coulson was probably completely aware of by now. 'I'm not going to a-apologize for lying.'

  'Well, I'd say you're honest, but we've already established that you have no issue with manipulating the truth for your own purposes,' Coulson said dryly. 'But I suppose I can thank you for not trying to bullshit me.'

  'Um, you're welcome,' I said, muttering a little, making a face to myself. 'I-I guess.'

  'You'd be surprised how many would try to talk their way out of this mess,' Coulson said, facing me again, clasping his hands behind his back. With everyone gone now, he seemed much more together, and the anger I saw earlier had vanished under a calm, implacable facade. 'As far as we're concerned, this never happened. And by this, I mean your involvement with both my agents and all activity surrounding the Crucible. SHIELD's not going to get caught with pie in its face because of a couple of upset agents and one teenager with attitude. Our PR is pretty good right now, we can't have the world thinking we can't manage our own assets.'

  'You're...disavowing me?' I asked after a moment of hesitation, wondering if this was some sort of joke. Coulson seemed light-hearted at times, but this seemed a bit much for him.

  'Correct,' Coulson nodded, passing me again towards his desk. I rotated on the spot to watch him. 'Officially, this mission was sanctioned by both myself and Director Fury. We pulled a black ops rescue mission in hostile territory. Our GPS location history will indicate that the Bus was on standby five miles out from the Crucible, ready to provide back-up if necessary — and not, in fact, a thousand miles away circling London cluelessly. The mission was a resounding success, with no casualties taken and all targets rescued. There will be no record of you, or anyone codenamed Rebel Columbia, having been involved in this mission. As far as we're concerned, you never even left London. You will get absolutely no recognition in helping save my team.'

  'I d-didn't do it for the recognition.'

  A small smile pulled on Coulson's lips. He said nothing as he turned away, studying what looked like a framed trading card on his desk. 'And how did that shield work out for you?'

  'Incredible. I didn't think it'd a-actually deflect bullets,' I said. 'Until it did.'

  'Sad to let it go?'

  'I mean, it doesn't exactly fit in a carry-on. ' I shrugged, glanced out the small porthole window. 'I just want to go home. I don't want to take any of this —' I gestured vaguely around the room, '— with me.'

  'Good to know,' Coulson replied, but I couldn't tell if he sounded pleased or just amused by my answer. 'For the sake of maintaining SHIELD's integrity, we'll be sending you home. Under normal conditions, we'd bring you into the fold, but personally I find it rather difficult to trust someone who repeatedly lied about her age and refuses to give us a legitimate name, not helped by the fact that your face has no match in any database we can find. Those actions alone would get someone jailed for an indefinite period of time. But the SHIELD I signed up for doesn't unlawfully imprison kids, without trial, for actions they refuse to officially announce to the public. Even if those kids have superpowers and take advantage of full-grown adults who are just a little too trusting.'

  For a moment, I was too stunned to speak. '...Wait, what? You're really letting me go home?'

  'Yes, but on one condition,' Coulson held up a finger. 'Don't pull another stunt like that again. The next time we pick you up, it might be for good. The official records will show that you're just a random civilian teenager we picked up after the attack in London, who we've kept anonymous for her safety, promptly returned home to the location of her choosing after a brief quarantine.

  'And unofficially,' Coulson continued, and that small, enigmatic smile returned, 'You were invaluable to this mission. Your knowledge of the Crucible and the Chairman has given us new insight into his operations. And you've done me a great personal service.'

  'I have?'

  'There's rarely a time when someone in my position gets to witness the courage and loyalty his team shares for one another,' he said. 'A loyalty that I never would've expected from a crew this new, this young. On the other hand, I find it awfully convenient that the friends you wanted to rescue had already escaped by the time you reached the Crucible.'

  There was an unasked question there that I already had the answer to. Lifting my chin a little, I replied, 'I-I've got my own team to l-look out for, Mr. Coulson.'

  A tiny muscle twitched under his eye. 'It's Agent Coulson.'

  'Oh. Sorry,' I winced at my own slip-up. What could I say, I was used to calling adults like they were schoolteachers.

  Coulson studied me for a moment, before deciding my apology sincere, nodding to himself. He went around his desk, coming to sit down in the leather chair. Lacing his fingers across his desk, he went on, 'My agents say you claimed to have seen a man called the Winter Soldier while inside the Crucible. According to them, this is the same man you said attacked you and your friends on the bridge. Is this true?'

  'He was there,' I pressed, approaching his desk in earnest. I was only mildly caught off guard. Of course Skye and Fitz would tell him about that. After that big warning I gave them before we landed. 'You have to believe me. The Winter Soldier isn't a myth.'

  'Even though we have no solid proof he exists?' Coulson pointed out, and my stomach plummeted with disappointment. 'That you're the only one who's ever laid eyes on him?'

  'I wasn't the only one,' I retorted. 'The twins saw him, too, back on the bridge. The Winter Soldier is an agent of the KGB, the Chairman and his Soviet Underground or whatever you want to call it. He's been working for them for years. Decades.'

  'Ah, these twins,' Coulson shook his head. 'Who just so happened to get away before they could back up your story, is that right? Forgive me for being unable to put stock on your word alone, Mia.'

  I opened my mouth but found myself unable to protest. The odds were stacked against me here. Not only was a 60+ yea
r-old super assassin a little hard to believe, but I was just a stupid kid who'd already proven herself untrustworthy, without a lick of evidence for support. Offhand, I was starting to wonder if I was going crazy, that maybe I just hallucinated the Winter Soldier into existence, since it was so hard to convince people he was real.

  But deep down, I knew the truth. Up against the Winter Soldier, I was just out of my league.

  'Anyways,' Coulson's voice broke through my thoughts. Apparently realizing he'd caught me at a stalemate, he decided to change the topic. 'You mentioned the Chairman. Now him, we've got plenty of evidence. Interesting fella. Did you know he used to be a CIA operative during the Soviet-Afghan War? Humble beginnings for a tyrannical despot. Of course, the CIA cannot confirm or deny he'd ever been part of their establishment, but that's besides the point.' Coulson cleared his throat, looking a little embarrassed to have digressed so much. 'What exactly led the Chairman to choosing you, of all people, to turn into a Super Soldier? Why go all the way to America when he had plenty of his own subjects to use?'