Blood of the Covenant |1| The Dark Waters Series (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Chapter Three: The Asset

From the moment she woke up and saw the date on her S.H.I.E.L.D. tablet, the one that had haunted her ever since she'd found out what it meant, Genevieve knew her day wasn't going to be a good one.

She'd always enjoyed her birthdays as a child. Coulson had made a point of making them as happy as possible for her, which usually meant a cake that was at least seventy-five per cent fondant icing, followed by a feel-good movie where he would inevitably fall asleep before the end credits. They'd always sleep on the couch on birthdays, with duvets and sweets and everything she could have dreamed of.

In her teenage years, things had calmed down a little, and birthdays meant dinners at fancy restaurants. She was training to be a field agent by then, so neither of them could go too wild, but somehow they always ended up asleep on that same old couch. Once she'd qualified, they weren't always in the same country for birthdays. More often than not, there was some heist, or coup, or strange occurrence keeping them on other sides of the country, or sometimes the world. In fact, today was the first birthday they would spend together since Coulson's death. It should be a happy occasion.

The thing was that ever since she'd discovered the truth about her abilities, about who she was and where she came from, October eighth had had a shadow hanging over it. A whole village of shadows, more accurately.

Harry and Laura James had been a happy couple. Married at twenty, they had, on October eighth 1985, welcomed a baby daughter into the world whom they named Genevieve. And one year later, during a freak storm, they and the rest of their town had drowned in their beds while their daughter wailed in her cot beside them. According to the report, the child, the 0-8-4, the screaming octopus-like creature who had caused not only the flood but the storm too, didn't stop crying until she was safe in the arms of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent tasked with containing her. Agent Phil Coulson.

When she found out that she had been the one to cause it all, Genevieve had freaked out, screamed and cried and sobbed, resisted anyone who tried to touch her, to comfort her. The river in the next town burst its banks and didn't go back down until Coulson reached her and, as he had all those years ago, held her in his arms. In the years since, she'd tried to come to terms with it, learning to accept her actions and forgive herself for them. Well, she'd accepted them, at least. Forgiveness was a little harder.

A knock at the door to her bunk startled her from her reverie. "Vee?"

"Come in," she called, splashing some water on her face to try and shake off the memories.

Coulson entered, smiling when he saw her. "Happy birthday. You okay?"

She nodded, putting on a brave face. "Yeah, yeah, no, I'm fine. I'm fine." She noticed his eyes had strayed to the screen of her tablet, which still showed the IDs of her birth parents. "Well, you know... I will be."

"Come here." She gladly stepped into his embrace, her muscles relaxing under skin the colour of teak as she felt his arms come around her the way they always had. As he held her, cradling the back of her head through her deep brown hair, the bottled water by her bed slowly stopped trembling and eight muscles tentacles joined her arms in wrapping themselves around him. "It was an accident," he reminded her quietly. "It wasn't your fault."

She nodded, pulling away to wipe her cheeks preemptively. "I know. I know." Her voice trembled and she took a deep breath. "Got anything good to distract me with?"

"Nothing yet," he said, smiling fondly. "I'll have a word with the criminal classes, see if we can't put something together."

Genevieve chuckled. "If you wouldn't mind."

***

Later, Ward had set up a punching bag in the cargo hold, practising his hits while FitzSimmons trialled a laser device in the lab next door. He heard footsteps on the metal staircase and turned, raising his eyebrows. "You know, you're late."