3.2
STATION – Mesa, Arizona
Even SHIELD has technical issues. It was almost gratifying to hear. Our quinjet was grounded for two hours for repairs before we were able to make it in the air. I almost expected to see Phil fidget or at the very least look annoyed, but the delay didn't faze him in the slightest. I think it had something to do with me giving him the idea about where the landing site might be, and the call he made afterward. So it came down to either waiting in one place or the other for something to happen.
What finally made an impact on his superhuman ability to avoid getting annoyed was me insisting on picking up Sarah Garza on the way to New Mexico.
"It's the perfect opportunity to bring her on board," I explained, "literally and figuratively speaking. She's at STATION, so it'll take thirty minutes tops."
Phil glanced up at the cockpit and then back at me. "Who is this person?"
"Garza is a potential team member that was burned on her last mission. She wants to ride a desk now, but she has an ability that could help us in a few areas."
Pulling up her file I handed it off to Phil.
"She's already a SHIELD agent – level three." His lips briefly turned down. "That helps, but if it is the Asgardians or someone related she won't be cleared for this incident."
I shrugged. "If she joins my team in the end, her clearance level will be jumping anyway, right?"
"This isn't the way we do things, Valkyrie."
Sharon stuck her head around her seat. "Agent Hill already approved her to the team if Taylor can talk her on-board. Since she's already an agent, she'll have provisional level five status."
I nodded in agreement. "And that's why this trip, this exposure, to what we'll be doing is necessary. She's needs to know that it's not all going to be industrial espionage or whatever she's used to. Sometimes it's about protecting the people that aren't equipped enough to protect themselves."
Sharon's input seemed enough to ease Phil's mind; mine just made him feel better about it. "Go ahead and make the stop at STATION. Call ahead and tell them I want her ready by the time we make it there. Refer them to Agent Hill if they need higher authority than mine."
~O~
The security guy that met us at the hanger when we landed didn't have good news.
"She says that she'll take the exit plan before she goes on assignment again."
Which was another way for saying she'll quit SHIELD. It wasn't really feasible since she would most likely glow in the dark wherever she went without the suit that the agency would be able to provide her on the job.
"I'll talk to her," Phil offered.
While I wouldn't mind him doing it, because of his way with people, I thought it best to be done by me. "I'll be her team leader. It should be me."
He glanced my way and then gave me a nod. "I'd like to make it to New Mexico before dark."
With a grin I said, "No problem."
I was escorted to a plain building among a bunch of others which gave the impression that the place was a decommissioned Air Force base. We entered and I had my ID scanned and approved before hitting the elevator and dropping three floors.
The place was more clinical than Hill's facility. We passed lab after lab instead of office after office. Why she'd prefer a place like this instead of being out in the sun I wouldn't care to guess. We all have our phobias to bear.
Once we made it to the end of the hall, the security guy motioned to a pair of doors at the next juncture. "She's in the one on the right."
"Thanks. I'll take it from here."
Halfway down, once I was assured of a reasonable amount of privacy, I called on my valkyrie armor along with the spear. An impression needed to be made, one that would tell her she wasn't alone in the whole wacky world of super powered humans.
With an armor tipped finger I tapped on her door. It didn't even take a few seconds before it was swung open and a caustic remark was on Sarah Garza's lips, only to fall short when she saw who was standing there.
"I told you… oh crap."
Seeing her dark red eyes in person was entirely different than seeing them on the computer. There was a lot more expression in them, fear even. Two small lights on either side of her neck lit up and I could hear a quiet high pitched whine building from the chest plate she was wearing.
"I'm only here to talk, Sarah," I said as pleasantly as possible. "My codename is Valkyrie, but you can call me Taylor."
With that said I willed the spear away, which startled her once more. At least this time it was on a positive note.
"How did… where did…? You're powered like me!"
"I am." Gesturing to the room I asked, "May I come in?"
She blinked and opened the door further. "Uh, sure. I didn't think there were others. I mean, Doctor Lawrence said that the upper levels wanted to start a team, but he didn't say anything about more people like me."
"Sorry, it's SHIELD. You have to have the proper clearance to use the toilet around here. Then they'd probably have someone on the other end scanning, weighing, and declassifying what comes out just in case it mingles with the public sewers."
She stared at me for moment before making an awful face. "Eww."
I looked her over and nodded. "So, you're already dressed and ready to leave?"
"What? No. This is what I have to wear all the time. And I'm not going anyway."
It looked like a formfitting black body stocking, only thicker. With the chest plate and the gauntlets Sarah still looked under-dressed. I had a bad feeling the scientists involved were all guys – geeky guys.
With a shake of my head I tried to reason with her. "This is a show and tell only trip. It's to show you what we do. You'll be sitting in a nice safe quinjet most of the time. No action; I promise."
She grimaced. "That's what they said about the lab."
"Well, I won't be asking you to participate in anything. If there's trouble then I'll take care of it."
"You?" Sarah checked out my armor. "Well, you're dressed for it. Are you really a valkyrie or is that just a name? I mean you have the winged helmet and all… and the spear."
I shrugged. "Can't tell you unless you're in the quinjet."
She threw an annoyed look at me. "And then it'll be too late and I'll be trapped again."
Obviously, the direct approach wasn't going to work, so I looked around her room and slid onto my next tactic. Slowly taking in a couple of movie posters I gave her time to relax a little before trying again.
"What is it you think I do, Sarah?"
She grumbled for a moment and then answered. "Ferry souls to Asgard?"
I tossed her an appreciative smile. "For SHIELD I mean."
That broke her concentration. I didn't exactly tell her she was wrong or that her joke could actually be the truth.
"Well, they said they wanted me for a team. I'm guessing it's to take on the harder missions: hostage rescue, military missions, or a coup d'état or two."
I suppose that would be a decent guess given what she knew about the organization she worked for.
"I can't say they wouldn't try to use us in that way, but no. We're not the only ones out there that are super-powered."
Sarah pursed her lips for a moment and then turned around to go sit at the desk; elbow set on her knee as she bent over and set her chin firmly on her upturned hand. She almost looked petulant if I didn't take into account that she was already an adult. Her height didn't help matters. If she broke five-two I'd eat my helmet.
"You were lucky in a way," I added. "You were already a part of SHIELD. Some people out there don't have a clue what to do, so they panic. I mean what would you do if SHIELD wasn't on site to help you out? Really, what would you do? I want to know."
She frowned. "Probably panic. Go to a hospital or wait for someone to help me… police or something."
I nodded sagely. "And when those people showed up scaring you, and you started killing them with your power totally by accident?"
"Run."
"Get chased down, probably shot, been a fugitive… all because there wasn't someone out there that could help – someone like you."
"Making me feel guilty isn't going to do any good."
I shook my head again and looked at the other poster hanging on the wall. "I'm not trying to guilt you into doing the job, Sarah. I'm telling you why SHIELD brought me on-board. I've been there."
She finally sat up. "You were on the run?"
"Eh, sort of," I replied. The truth was a story best left untold. "When I first got my powers I wanted to be a hero. I was fifteen at the time."
"A hero?" Sarah sounded the word out like it was something foreign.
I nodded. "It took me a while, but I made it. It isn't exactly like the stories you probably read as a kid, but I made a difference in people's lives, you know?"
She seemed confused. "You sound American. Why haven't I ever heard of you?"
"That's a different story, and I don't want to get off track." Turning around to face her I remembered some of the Protectorate advertising posters I'd seen of Legend. Assuming the correct pose, fists on my hips and legs spread a little wider than shoulder width apart, I smiled at her.
"What I do out there isn't like what Tony Stark does in his Iron Man armor. He's flashy, not to mention photogenic, and he has a company to run. I do it so lives won't be lost unnecessarily, and I do it for other people like me, that don't have someone to turn to that they can trust."
Sarah ducked her head and I fell out of the silly pose, approached and squatted down a couple of feet in front of her.
"I'm on my way to a possible threat to the people of a very small town in New Mexico. They're just average people going about their day, without a clue as to what's going to happen tonight." When she finally raised her eyes to mine I continued. "It may be nothing, but there's the possibility that it may well be something bad. All I want for you to do is sit in the quinjet and watch – nothing else. Watch me do my job. If you still want to return to a desk afterward then I'll talk to Agent Hill and we'll get things going in that direction."
"I don't want to fight," she whispered. "When I joined SHIELD I did, but not anymore."
With a shrug I smiled softly when I realized she was a bit too damaged for something rough. I'd have to wait and approach her in another year or so, after she'd had some time to acclimate. "Well, I could probably use a computer tech as well. I'm decent with them, but I definitely can't do some of the things I've see the others do."
My communicator beeped on my belt and I stood, reached down to activate it and said, "Valkyrie here."
"Thirty minutes are up." It was Phil.
"On my way, Agent Coulson."
Sarah's eyes lit up and she nearly jolted out of her chair as I clicked off. "Agent Coulson?"
I cocked my head. "You know him?"
Her mouth was working, but nothing was coming out. Finally she found the words she was looking for. "Phil Coulson? Oh my god… I'm coming. Give me a second."
Sarah jolted for her dresser and then changed her mind and backtracked to the closet as I watched on. The lights on her chest plate lit up again, but I don't think it was fear this time around. Huh. Who knew Phil Coulson had a fangirl?
All this time I wasted when I could have just come in and said, "Phil needs you on the job."
She would have squeed and been bouncing on her toes at the hanger bay waiting for our arrival.
A few seconds later and she had donned some knee boots that matched her armor and then ran to a makeup table to check her hair. She cringed, but touched it up with a few passes of a brush.
"Okay, I'm ready!"
I opened the door for her. "So, you know Phil?"
"Are you kidding? He's a legend at the Academy. I've studied all his declassified missions, especially the ones when he's teamed-up with Melinda May." Sarah came to a shuddering stop and looked up at me. "She's not here, is she?"
"Uh, no. Agent Carter is though."
She sucked in another breath. "Sharon Carter? Great-granddaughter of Peggy Carter? One of the founders of SHIELD? Holy crap!"
I really wish I knew what the heck she was talking about. "She's the co-leader of my team."
"Holy – holy crap," she whispered when she turned away from me. "Don't make an idiot out of yourself. Don't make an idiot out of yourself. Shit… I'm making an idiot out of myself."
Before we made the turn to the main hall I dispelled my armor and watched Sarah nearly jump out of her skin. "What…? How…?"
"I'm a valkyrie. I can do these sorts of things."
"A val… but that was just a joke."
"Not really."
The security guy gave me a nod and took the lead while I put a finger to my lips for Sarah to hold her questions until later. The entire trip to the top I watched as her chest plate blinked on and off. She had to be a terror to be around before they figured out how to regulate her powers. No wonder she was jittery. I doubted she has even seen the light of day until recently, overly white skin aside. Maybe I should have stocked up on sunscreen. We were going to the desert after all.
When we rounded the corner of the building and spotted the back of the quinjet I noticed the boarding ramp was down and Phil had one hand braced on one of the supports looking at us with a satisfied express.
"Oh my god. Oh my god," she whispered. "It's really him."
The whining was a constant thing at this point. I really didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Is your suit supposed to do that?"
Sarah's head flicked to me and then down to her chest plate. "Oh, uh yeah; it's safe."
Leaving the topic alone I just waited until I reached the ramp to say anything else. "Agent Coulson, Agent Sarah Garza."
"Pleasure," he said automatically.
Sarah looked like her throat tightened up; either that or she forgot how to speak properly. All that came out was a high pitch chirp before she slapped her armored hand over her mouth and nearly dashed into the quinjet. Phil looked to me for an explanation.
"She's a really big fan of yours. Take it easy on her."
"Wait… me?"
I nodded, keeping my voice low when I answered. "Apparently you and someone named Melinda May are really big at the Academy."
"Huh."
I hit the button to shut the ramp and called up front. "We're good to go, Sharon."
She showed a thumbs-up and I heard her calling for clearance while Phil and I took our seats. Sarah was already strapped in and was watching every single movement Phil made until I bumped her with my knee to break her out of the trance.
"So, have you thought about a codename?"
"What? Oh, uh, not really."
I nodded, trying to keep her attention diverted. "What is it that you do? I mean I know you store energy of some type in that chest plate."
"Um… it's called darkforce." She lifted her right gauntlet. "This one shoots blasts of energy, and the left one shields, sort of."
"Sort of? It only shields against certain things?"
She shrugged in a jittery way. "No, it pretty much works against anything. It absorbs anything fired at it. Physical objects too, like chairs, bricks, water."
Those sounded strangely specific, almost as if it was an experiment done to test the limits of her powers, or maybe those were accidents.
"Where does it go?"
She winced slightly. "That's the question. Nobody knows. I make a shield, someone throws something at it, and then it's gone. There's no residue left, I'm not breaking it down and absorbing it, and it doesn't appear anywhere else that we know of. It's just… gone."
I believe Sarah had Phil's complete and undivided attention by this point.
He looked at her with a measured gaze. "My experience with darkforce is somewhat different."
She nodded. "I know. Daniels, right? I heard how you took him down. All the scientists were talking about how brilliant you were… are… I mean you still are… not that you…." She stopped abruptly and looked straight down. "Shut up, Sarah."
I already knew the story. Daniels could disrupt and absorb energy: stun guns, street lamps he was passing, or the electrical impulses in the human body to name a few. He was a remorseless killer after the accident. Sarah, on the other hand, just generated the stuff and kept her sanity, such that it is.
When she looked back up, it was if her ramblings were a thing of the distant past. "You said you'd tell me about the valkyrie thing if we were in the quinjet."
"Yeah," I nodded. "About that…."
