James stood at the rear cargo ramp and waited as they touched down.
John Garrett and Victoria Hand approached first.
"Agent James Gibson," Garrett said, smiling as he extended a hand. "We meet again."
James shook it—and held it just a fraction longer than necessary, eyes on Garrett, then he released.
Hand stepped in next, offering her own.
James shook it too, in the same manner.
"Welcome," James said evenly. "We didn't request backup—but I'm aware Director Fury couldn't exactly refuse you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skye left the base and went downtown with her belongings and equipment. She booked a hotel room before opening her laptop and going online to contact James and the others.
On the BUS, James was in the middle of a meeting. He was now in command, even though he was only Level Seven.
"Since you're here, I'll brief you on what we have," James said.
"Oh?" John Garrett asked with a smile. "Looks like you've been busy."
James looked at him, then returned a smile of his own. "We have, and now that you're here with more people, we can do this faster. The Centipede Organization has Agent Phil Coulson. We'll skip their motive for now. So here are the leads we have."
Victoria cut in. "Why not state the purpose? What if you're wrong?"
"And how did they even track Phil?" Garrett added. "How did they know where he'd be?"
James's voice dropped low and threatening. "You two seem unclear on one thing. I'm the commander here. Your job is to execute orders. I don't need you to question my decisions, and I won't answer questions that touch classified material."
"Classified?" Victoria bristled. "We're Level Eight. What could you know that we can't?"
"A secret is a secret," James said flatly. "Don't think of me as a simple S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, I'm also an Avenger. S.H.I.E.L.D. hierarchy doesn't bind me. The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. are in cooperation—but Director Fury trusts the Avengers more than he trusts the organization, you know that."
Garrett kept smiling. "Well, we obey the Director, go ahead and assign us our task, with the priority of saving Phil."
James didn't bother hiding his dislike. Garrett had spent his life in S.H.I.E.L.D., and still let power and hunger steer him into rot.
"Good that you understand," James said. "Centipede's resource chain is the odd part. You've read the reports: the alien metal they use is Chitauri. After the Battle of New York, a lot of Chitauri materials were left on Earth. S.H.I.E.L.D. recovered most of it—but not all. The rest went to the black market. Step one is identifying the brokers moving Chitauri materials."
Victoria nodded immediately. "Headquarters has files on that. I'll handle it."
"You will," James said. "Sort it, consolidate it, and feed it to our strike teams. We start grabbing merchants and scooping every intel they know until we find who supplied Centipede."
Garrett asked, "And me?"
"You will lead one of the teams," James said. "Prepare your people. We split up and hit as many nodes as possible."
James already had his own target in mind: a black-market dealer named T. Vanchat—the one who sold Chitauri materials to Centipede.
He was still following the investigative scenes he remembered. The details had changed, but the plot was the same.
Agents flooded the BUS, leaving every corridor busy. Fitz and Simmons were preparing their weapons on the lab deck. May guarded the cockpit, making sure nobody touched her controls.
James stepped into the cockpit. "May, I'm taking a team out. You'll be in charge here. Don't let them start modifying the ship."
May squinted her eyes at him. "You have a target."
"I do," James said. "I'll go straight to him. I don't know how much he knows yet, but I'll find out quickly, I won't even need to interrogate him."
May understood what he meant. His mind-reading can skip all the interrogations and lies.
"I'll keep an eye on Garrett," she said.
"No," James corrected. "I sent him out chasing other merchants. Watch Victoria Hand."
May's brow lifted. "Why her?"
"Because people who don't know the truth can be the most dangerous," James said. "Just don't let her improvise."
James led his team out. With S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intel coverage, they already had the trade location, where T. Vanchat was preparing to sell a piece of Chitauri metal. James went to the meetup.
There were three people on each side of the transaction. They were trading in a hotel room. James broke in and knocked them out with a cryo pistol, ending it in seconds.
"Bring the others back," he ordered. "I'll handle this one."
His people started hauling the unconscious bodies. While James gripped T. Vanchat by the collar as Cortana went to work.
Accounts, names, and buyers. The names weren't the point, it was the money.
Inside T. Vanchat's financial web, a clean line stood out: his investment agent—Lloyd Rathman—connected to multiple black-market dealers.
James had his next target.
On the ride back, he sent a message to Skye.
The moment she received it, she made her move. She rented an SUV over the phone, pulled up everything she could on Lloyd Rathman, then loaded her kit and went out.
With the ring restrictions gone, the internet stopped feeling like a small room. Skye found Rathman's address easily. She scouted the neighborhood, checked sightlines, then looked down at her combat uniform as she got herself ready.
She waited until evening.
When Lloyd Rathman returned home and his garage door lifted up, she appeared beside his car.
"W—who are you?" Rathman stammered, startled by a fully geared woman coming out of the dark.
"I'm Agent Skye," she said, flashing her ID. "Of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" He swallowed. "Never heard of it. What do you want from me?"
Using Lloyd Rathman's computer, Skye pulled T. Vanchat's invoice trail, then spotted Raina's name and extracted recent cash flow records tied to her movements.
Excited, Skye texted James immediately.
On the BUS, Victoria Hand was ordering the plane to takeoff, but Melinda May refused her request.
"Agent May," Victoria said, "I'm sure you understand the consequences of insubordination."
Garrett had moved first. He'd already returned with a black-market merchant—someone who admitted to selling Chitauri materials and gave up a location. Victoria wanted to hit it immediately.
James hadn't returned to the base yet.
Launching now would leave the operation commander behind.
May didn't even blink. "I understand the consequences," she said. "And I think you understand the consequences of abandoning the mission commander."
The BUS ran on six engines. A huge plane with a reinforced frame, but built for speed. If it lifted, it would be gone fast.
They were locked in a standoff when James hit the ramp and boarded.
He heard the last of their conversation.
"Oh," James turned to Victoria, "Who gave you the authority for a take off?"
Everyone couldn't help but shut up.
He kept a cold stare. "Are you reckless… or are you doing this on purpose? Last time I led an action, you didn't announce it to the whole ship, and now you want to leave me behind? Explain that to me."
"I'm buying time," Victoria snapped back.
Garrett stayed to the side as if nothing had happened. He had not spoken since he brought his men back. He had completely kept himself out of it and was stalling for time.
James knew very well that what he wanted was time. Getting the secret of Phil Coulson's resurrection would be enough for him to complete the third stage of the serum. It doesn't matter what happened to anyone else as long as he succeeded.
James didn't question it since it's not yet time.
"May," he said. "Detain Victoria Hand."
Victoria went wide eyed. "What?"
She took a step forward, furious. "You're locking me up? On what authority?"
James didn't flinch at her outburst. "Based on your repeated conduct, I have reasonable suspicion you're acting against the mission's interests. I'm the operation commander. I'm placing you in temporary detention."
May hesitated but still acted, immediately detaining Victoria.
Victoria was escorted toward the interrogation room, still protesting.
The captured merchants were transferred to the base detention cells.
Skye's message confirmed what James needed. She was already driving toward the area.
James didn't waste another minute.
"Agent John Garrett," he said, "I'm taking a strike team out. There's a suspicious site we need to verify. You're in charge here until I return."
His stare hardened. "I don't want the same thing to happen again."
Garrett's smile didn't change. "Why don't I lead the team?"
"No," James said. "They have enhanced assets. I'm the safer choice."
Then James led the assault team out himself.
Inside the vehicle, he sent a quick message to May.
—
It had been nearly forty-eight hours since Coulson vanished.
The truth was uglier than it should've been.
The person Coulson had tried to meet that day—was Garrett.
That part had changed from the old plot line.
Coulson felt something wrong inside him. His memory from "Tahiti" was fogged and fragmented. Every time he tried to recall it, he was hit with confusion and gaps in memory. He wanted answers, of how he'd come back, whether he'd really been gone for only forty seconds.
Fury had those answers.
But Fury was Fury, tight lip and always keeping secrets, and lately, Fury had been avoiding Coulson on purpose.
So Coulson reached for the next best thing.
So he contacted John Garrett. However, it was not John Garrett who came to see him, but Grant Ward. This was a supervillain among the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
On the day of meeting up with Agent Garrett, the parking lot went dark. Ward ambushed Coulson and took him away.
California's Los Angeles and San Francisco cities are both densely populated cities, but they're surrounded by desolation, filled with desert sands for miles.
There is a small town there that looks eerie as the town is almost deserted. Filled with mannequins of men, women, and children giving the town its creepy vibes, but this place has just been bought and turned into private land.
That was where they brought Coulson.
Edison Po—an ex-Marine, who was hard-edged, and known to be cruel was on him. He believed pain broke the truth loose. The first day was filled with torture.
But it didn't crack Coulson.
He was Level Eight for a reason. Even when he faced a mad god like Loki alone, he never blinked.
Raina arrived after handling her own business. She disliked Po's methods. She trusted leverage, control, and seduction more, a method that didn't leave bruises or evidence.
But she wasn't running this thing.
Grant Ward secretly reported the situation to John Garrett, who expressed disappointment in Edison Po.
Ward called Raina over. "It's up to you now," he said. "The Clairvoyant is displeased with his progress."
He raised a pistol at Po and shot him without hesitation.
Raina's pulse spiked.
She'd always feared the Clairvoyant, and now she was playing three sides at once, never sure who knew what. For a long time, she believed the Clairvoyant could read minds—he always seemed one step ahead.
But after she agreed to act as a S.H.I.E.L.D. informant, nothing came down on her.
So maybe that ability was a myth.
She had an opportunity to call in—but didn't.
Coulson wasn't in immediate danger yet, and the secret he carried could ignite the third stage of the serum to work. Before she made her move, she wanted Coulson alone.
She poured a glass of ice water and entered the room. No one else was inside.
"Agent Phil Coulson," she said softly. "We meet again. You should take a rest."
Coulson's eyes flicked around, the question was clear: 'Are we alone? Is this safe?'
Raina smiled. "Relax, I bought this place. They haven't had time to bug the place. Everything about this feels rushed."
Coulson took a sip of water she brought to his lips. The cold eased some of the pain in his body.
"That's because they're in a hurry," he said quietly. "James will find this place soon."
He looked at her with unsettling calm.
"So," he added, "did they replace you?"