Nyana's First Assignment (for Phil Coulson)

[flora_segunda]

It was important that I not be late.

It still felt odd that I should have joined the Island Task Force. I had a job to do, and I did not intend to stay on this Island any longer than I absolutely had to. Moreover, I had hated my time in basic training at the goddessforsaken barracks that I'd been assigned to (wherein Mother "Buck" Fyrdraaca proved she showed no favoritism to her youngest daughter whatsoever -- I could have done with maybe a little favoratism).

But here I was, having passed basic training for the ITF, and now on my first assignment: guard duty. Why? Was it some reminder of home I could not let go of? Or was it some need to prove myself?

I suspected I was going to have to prove myself. When I saw my partner, who was old enough to be my father, I could sense that he saw our partnership was as mismatched as I saw it. But I had volunteered to the ITF. I had finished basic training. I had done much worse things at home. I could do this.

So, I was on time when I reported for duty at the gates of Rapture. There, I waited for my partner, Phil Coulson.

Comments

[shieldsupernanny]

He wasn't sure if it was some kind of hazing gag, partnering him with the youngest and newest recruit. He chose to think of it as a compliment, an acknowledgement of his skills by Barnes, who seemed to know a lot more about S.H.I.E.L.D. than he would have thought. And to be fair, it wouldn't be the first time he'd had to bring a rookie up through the ranks, but it wasn't really what he was looking for here on the island.

Not that he knew exactly what he was looking for, but he was pretty sure baby-sitting wasn't it.

It did, however, open up some interesting training opportunities. He'd been down to Rapture a few times before his first official shift. Just to take a look around, get a feel for the land and it had given him a few ideas. If he was going to be assigned to a rookie, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

"Morning Ms. Romney. You ready to go?" He's got his issued weaponry in hand and the other gear he'd been issued. Not exactly what he'd been used to back home, but then he hadn't been a field agent in awhile.

[flora_segunda]

I gave Sieur Coulson a quick courtesy ("due respect given from a junior officer to his or her superior"), then straightened up. "Ayah, so, Sieur Coulson. I am ready."

[shieldsupernanny]

A courtesy. That was certainly new, but Phil didn't show it. If that was how she addressed her fellow officers back home, he wasn't going to challenge it. He just added to to the list of little things that were particular to the island's residents.

"Alright, you're on the door first. I'm going to take the sub down, head towards Fort Frolic, see if I can bring up some more ammunition and weapons for the ITF to have on-hand. We'll be in radio contact the whole time. Any questions?"

[flora_segunda]

I had read the briefings on Rapture. It seemed a strange place, stranger still that it hadn't been attached to the Island in the first place. There had been a big battle, with monsters, and the place had been left to rot. Officially, the monsters had all been taken care of. Unofficially, the ITF assumed nothing, which seemed sensible.

I nodded. "I stay up here, keep in touch with you through this... box." I hoisted the strange thing that sent voices through the air the was somehow not magical. "I know the protocol."

[shieldsupernanny]

"Good. I just wanted to make sure. I'll do a quick loop around and then we can trade." With a smile and a sketched salute, Phil disappeared into the sub. Blathysphere he reminded himself. That was what the natives had called it.

He'd done his homework and pulled out a sketched map just to refresh his memory before heading to the Fleet Hall. Theaters were good places to stage what he had in mind, plenty of places to hide and the ruins of a piano to make a lot of noise with. As he started out, he radioed his partner, "So, pop quiz, kid, what are the rules about letting people down and up?"

[flora_segunda]

I started as my box squawked. I fumbled with it, and finally found the button I was supposed to press before I spoke. "Um..." I said. Pigface, what were the rules again? I counted them off my fingers. "No one under sixteen. Only those with permission from the ITF, or who can prove they protect themselves below." I thought about this, then pressed the speaking button again. "Right?"

[shieldsupernanny]

"Got it in one." His footfalls echoed in the halls as Phil trained his eyes all around. Just because no one had seen anyone alive down here for awhile, didn't mean there couldn't still be pockets somewhere. There was a lot of city that people hadn't gotten to yet and from what he understood still plenty of canned goods around to scrounge.

"You up on your color codes?" Something caught his eye and he headed towards a plastered corpse that had something in its hand that Phil was pretty sure he wanted. Crossbow. So long as he maintained it, he could make ammunition up top and wouldn't have to rely on what was currently stored away.

Somewhere, Barton was probably snickering at him, but on an island, the bow actually made sense.

[flora_segunda]

"Colour codes?" I muttered. Why did I suddenly feel like I was being tested? Did Sieur Coulson not trust me? Well, I wasn't going to give him any reason to.

"Colour codes," I spoke into the box, after pressing the silly button. "Um... Code Green. That's dinosaur invasion." That one was a good one to remember, I thought. "Blue is tsunami." Also good for an Island. "Earthquake is-- Oh!" The Califan military had one for earthquake. It was different from the one used by the ITF. Of course. "Red! No! I mean, Orange! Sorry."

I winced at that. All in all, I was feeling like a green recruit. Again.

[shieldsupernanny]

"Not bad." He entered the theater and looked around. The remains of the exploded piano and it's hapless player were still on the stage. Gruesome, but where better than a stage to set his little play. Barnes had approved of his idea to test their youngest recruit, it if worked, it was something they could do on a larger scale. Something different than endless training on a beach.

Lifting himself onto the stage, glad his shoulders didn't do more than twinge at the movement, he started speaking. "Have you seen any reports of movement in Fleet Hall?" He picked up a burned piece of wood. "It looks like some one's been he-" Phil cut himself off and took a large swing at the remains of the piano, dropping his radio in the process. It created a huge amount of noise that he added to with a surprisingly loud shriek of his own. He'd never heard any of the so-called splicers himself, but neither had she. With a few rounds from his gun and another loud crash from the stick, he reached down and picked up the radio, taking care that he muted his end so it wouldn't pick up any of his movements.

Now he just had to wait and see what happened.

[flora_segunda]

I was about to make some pithy reply about not hearing any reports of anything, while trying not to sound bored with guard duty, when the sudden noises on the radio made me throw the box in the air and bobble it wildly before I managed to catch it. "Sieur Coulson!" I shouted. Then, growling with frustration, I pushed the button to speak. "Sieur Coulson!" I shouted again. "Coulson! Are you there? What happened?!"

The silence at the other end of the line was worse than the noise.

"Sieur? Coulson?" I pushed the button again, then shook the radio. Then my hands fell to my side as I looked around wildly for guidance. Of course, all I saw were cave walls.

Something had happened. I'd heard Coulson scream. I'd heard gunshots. And now I heard nothing. I was halfway to the entrance to Rapture before I remembered the protocols, which had been put there for very good reasons. I needed to call for backup. And I needed to wait until backup came before I went down.

"PIgface psychopoop!" I snapped. This went against every fibre in my being. But I shouted into the radio. "Control! Control! Something's happened! Officer Coulson is down! Repeat, Coulson is down! Please advise!"

I waited for a reply. My gaze strayed to the entrance to Rapture again. Coulson could be down there, dying!

[shieldsupernanny]

To Phil's ears, it sounded almost as if she'd tried to start down without calling in, a pretty big violation, but he was able to spare a smile when he heard her call the disturbance in. He made a note to remind her to try and collect herself, she was sounding a little panicked.

Barnes' response wasn't surprising, pretty much the standard: stay there, help's on the way. He also knew that help was probably sitting on a beach enjoying a drink or whatever the rest of the ITF did on their off time, no one would be responding. Now the point was to see how long she waited before breaking protocol and heading down to find him.

Now came the more gruesome part. If there was one thing Rapture had plenty of, it was corpses and there was one close enough to haul onto the stage and dress in his ITF vest. A little artfully strewn debris, and the scene of an ITF man down was complete.

It made him shiver, wondering if that's how he was going to really look, back home, when his backup arrived.

[flora_segunda]

I managed to wait around ten to fifteen minutes. It felt like an eternity. I called back twice, asking when the back-up was coming. I was assured that backup was, indeed coming. The second response was decidedly more testy than the first.

I couldn't believe it. Didn't they care? Sieur Coulson could be helpless and injured, and I was the closest person who could help him. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer.

I descended into Rapture and boarded the waiting Bathysphere.

Stepping out, I was immediately aware that we were underwater. Deeply, uncomfortably aware. The smell reminded me of the Cloakroom of the Abyss, and as I'd drowned there to save the Loliga and keep her from destroying Califa, I shuddered at the thought.

The smell was worse, here. The decay and rust assaulted my senses. If this place had a Denizen, like Paimon of Bilskiner House, or Valefor of Crackpot Hall, I strongly suspected they were insane with loneliness, and starving hungry.

Fortunately, there were no Denizens on the Island. I kept telling myself that as I crept through the dripping halls of Rapture.

"Sieur Coulson?" I whispered into the radio. "Sieur Coulson?"

[shieldsupernanny]

She lasted longer than he would have thought from the get go. Whatever training she'd gotten from that world of hers, it must have stressed respect for protocol because he had yet to meet a kid her age with that kind of self-control. Not that he sees a great range.

He's mostly heard things.

She was green still and now she was in Rapture. Would she remember what she'd heard? Come to the Hall? Would she be careful when she did?

[flora_segunda]

What had the original plan been? Oh, yes: go down to Fort Frolic and Fleet Hall. But looking at the corridors here, I could see that it would be easy to get lost. Fortunately I'd looked at a map of Rapture. I took a moment to get my bearings, and then set off, slowly, carefully.

I pocketed the radio. If Sieur Coulson could use it, he would, and I'd hear it. I'd only attract attention by calling into it. Taking care to remember my route, I approached what I hoped was Fleet Hall.

[shieldsupernanny]

From one of the upper boxes, he had a sniper's view of the Hall and the scene he'd set on the stage. His crossbow had been loaded with only a couple of steel-tipped bolts, he only needed one to make his point. Aiming the weapon with a steady hand, he waited to see where she would come in. From the center, from the entrances to the far side, or from underneath him.

Or would she enter from the upper lobby? The other boxes were accessible from there, except for his. He had the door jammed so it would be easy enough for him to sneak out if he needed to, but she wouldn't be able to make it.

[flora_segunda]

I followed the corridor to where the hall was. I was pleased that I'd remembered the route well enough. I had encountered nothing except shadows, and distant noises, but I was still on edge.

At the door to the hall, I peered inside. From where I was standing, I saw a stage and what looked like a broken piano. Piano! Had that been the sound I'd heard when Sieur Coulson's signal cut out? I made to step forward, when I froze.

I was suddenly feeling a feeling I'd felt before, only now I had a name for it: exposure. The hall was big. And yet Sieur Coulson, who had several years of experience -- decades, even -- more than me, had somehow been taken down. And I was just going to walk in?

I picked up a fist-sized piece of rubble at my feet. Winding up, I aimed for the farthest corner of the hall, and I threw with all my might.

The rubble smashed into the far wall with an echoing crash.

[shieldsupernanny]

The noise was sudden in the silence, but it didn't fool him long and he trained his crossbow back along the path it had come until he knew exactly where she was and where she'd come into his actual sight. Smart girl. But it was an old trick. Granted from what he'd heard, it would have fooled the natives, but she didn't know that, did she?

He continued to wait and see what kind of search she'd do once she was actually inside the hall proper.

[flora_segunda]

Nothing seemed to be moving, so I stepped carefully into the hall.

The place was big. Rapture had clearly been opulent in its heyday. Perhaps some would say decadent. And maybe it was true, but nothing deserved to fall quite like this place had. I couldn't help but wonder how many had suffered, and how many had gotten away. I'd... skipped that part of the briefing notes.

But the place was big. Lots of places to hide. I scanned the corners. Then I remembered that I couldn't stick to the left and the right of me, or behind and in front. This place was big. I had to keep an eye on up.

I looked up and around. There was nothing hanging on the chandelier. There was nothing on the rafters above the stage. I was about to look behind me when I caught sight of something on the stage itself. Was that--? It was an ITF vest!

"Coulson!" I breathed. And I scrambled forward, onto the stage. There I stopped, my hands to my mouth covering a scream. The body was-- Oh, it was--

I knelt by the body and took its hand, though there was nothing I could do. I stared in shock and struggled to get my breathing under control. Coulson was dead! My first assignment and Coulson had died on my watch! What could have--

Wait.

The vest was Coulson's, but the body could not have been his. It had been dead for a long time. A lot longer than the twenty minutes or so it had taken me to get here.

I was suddenly aware of how exposed I was. Someone could have left Coulson's body out here to draw me out. But it wasn't Coulson. Which meant someone had taken Coulson's vest and put it on a dead body to draw me out. Which didn't make sense, unless...

"Oh, pigface!" I shouted in alarm. I whirled around and looked up at the wall behind me.

[shieldsupernanny]

He watched her with more than a little disappointment. Yes, she'd tossed the diversionary rock off to the side, but then she moved blindly into the open area and stopped looking around. Not smart. Especially with potential enemies that, according to the records, could teleport and were prone to just wandering in and out of places.

In short, once she saw what she thought was a dead comrade, she stopped thinking.

Taking aim, Phil waited until she realized her mistake and fired, catching her coat and pinning the tail of it to the ground. Translation: If I were the bad guys, you'd be dead.

[flora_segunda]

I saw Coulson. I saw the arrow. I saw the arrow fire. And then I'm afraid my life flashed before my eyes. It was awfully short and had far too many memories of Udo for my liking. I yelled as the arrow hit with a sickening thunk.

I lay, gasping. A half-second later, I registered I wasn't in pain. But when I tried to move, I couldn't. Straining to look at my right shoulder, I saw the arrow sticking out from the ground, right by my side. I grunted, alarmed, but again I wasn't in pain. But my coat was stuck. I pulled at it, but the arrow was firmly in the ground and my military coat was well made. I couldn't free myself. Not without a lot of time and wriggling, or sacrificing my coat.

And certainly not before Sieur Coulson delivered the killing blow or, more likely, a lecture on exactly what I'd done wrong in this test. "Pigface!" I grumbled. "Pigface fiking psychopoop!"

Personally, at that moment? I'd have taken the killing blow. Grunting and swearing, I struggled fruitlessly to free myself.

[shieldsupernanny]

I listened to the cursing as I moved my barrier and exited the box. She obviously knew she'd screwed up, but that wouldn't stop me from pointing out exactly how. It took me a few minutes to make my way back to the stage, always keeping my eye on the boxes and hallways around us.

"Watch our backs, and I'll pull you loose. Unless you want to stay down there awhile? You look comfortable don there." I didn't want to lose the steel bolt, it was too well made to sacrifice. I leaned over and with a good tug, the bolt came free.

[flora_segunda]

Yeah. Watch his back. Like he'd watched mine while he spent all that time walking down here, while I was stick to the floor like a butterfly. I couldn't help but glare. "If I still had my Grammatica powers, your hair would be on fire," I grumbled.

But I watched his back, and mine. And when the bolt came free, I pulled myself to my feet and brushed myself off.

[shieldsupernanny]

"That doesn't really worry me all that much." Phil gave her a smirk, it wasn't like he had much hair left to burn. Now that she was free, he moved to a better position on the stage as he waited for her to pull herself together.

"C'mon, let's head back to the surface, we can talk as we go and I can tell you what you did wrong."

[flora_segunda]

Yup. Here came the lecture. "Ayah," I moaned, rubbing the side of my face. I followed him out of the hall. "I already know what I did wrong. Most of it, at least."

[shieldsupernanny]

Phil reached down to retrieve his vest, holding it for a moment instead of putting it on. Smelled a little although the corpse had been dry enough, he probably should have thought of that. But it was still a tactical vest, and he needed the protection. Motioning to his partner to take the lead, he slipped it back on and secured the steel bolts he'd scrounged to it. Kinda wished he had Barton's quiver, but he'd rig something later.

"How about you tell me and I'll see what you miss?"

[flora_segunda]

I winced, but I took a deep breath. "First, I went down without backup. Yes, I called it in, and I waited, but the backup wasn't coming, probably because everybody on the surface was in on this test and are even now having a good laugh at my expense. Still, I violated ITF protocol and went in alone, flagrantly disregarding the risks of that action. Further, I failed to scout the hall when I came in because I allowed myself to get distracted. And, to top it off, I exposed myself to a clear shot, because I failed to scout the hall and allowed myself to get distracted."

I took another breath. "In short, I acted like a complete snapperhead. A green recruit who has no business being in the field, and you're going to drum me out of the ITF now, aren't you?"

I winced again, and waited for the hammer to fall.

[shieldsupernanny]

"Yes, you went without back-up, but you did wait a pretty good amount of time before you went. I've known seasoned agents that would do the same and I usually trust them and their instincts. But you're not seasoned. Yet. We'll work on that." They started out and as Phil talked, he kept his usual wary eye out for danger. Old habits died never. "But the failure to check your surroundings, and to leave yourself open like that? Not only would you have lost your own life, but if I really had been in danger, you would have lost mine, too. That's not something that we can risk in the future."

Phil paused by a couple of corpses long enough to pull more bolts from them. He'd be able to make his own wood ones, but the steel ones would last much longer. "But this wasn't about getting rid of you, it's called training for a reason. Usually, once someone's made this mistake once, they don't make it again. Right?" His question was as much warning as confirmation.

[flora_segunda]

And the hammer... didn't fall. Yes, I got the lecture but... it wasn't so bad. At the end of it, I felt... well, chastened, but also... well, it was better than I had feared it would be.

I also kept a wary eye on things as we returned to the bathysphere, but I gave Sieur Coulson a nod and half-bow. And I let myself a small smile of relief. "Ayah, so, sieur. I will not make it again."