The Soldier and The Spy: Tess Danvers- Episode 1

Bonus Scene

Five Years Ago

"The Medical Examiners report will say it was a car accident."

It would have to.

There weren't many other ways to cover up the damage that had been done to the body.

"Arrangements are being made for the funeral; it'll be in a few days. I know technically you aren't supposed to attend but we'll put you in the back and-"

"No."

Coulson and Michael were watching her intently, they all were but her attention stayed fixed on the box in front of her. It was large, just like the two next to it but then they had to be. They contained everything she would take with her, everything that held any semblance of sentiment or nostalgia. How could it all fit in just three boxes? Tess knew logically how this had happened but there was still a part of her that was detached, that didn't understand how she'd gotten to this point. She supposed it didn't really matter. She was here now and she couldn't go back.

She couldn't ever go back.

"Tess-"

"I'm not going to put more people at risk just because some stupid tradition says goodbyes happen in funeral homes and cemeteries."

She met Coulson's stare at last, holding it until he nodded and then she taped up the cardboard flaps, taking a deep breath as she ran a shaking hand along the top. It hadn't been her fault. Everyone kept saying it and it was true there wasn't much she could have done to prevent it but she still felt the weight of responsibility on her shoulders, to say nothing of the grief and rage. Such terrible, terrible rage, unlike any she'd ever felt.

There had been a breach in the agency's database. Seven personnel files had been stolen and sold.

Including hers.

The few contents of her stomach were quick to rise but she forced them back down, just like she had for the last three days. She hadn't been told until they'd returned from an op in Brazil and the moment she'd seen Coulson's face she'd known. He hadn't even needed to say anything, she'd just... She'd known. People had come for her and they'd found Lydia instead. Found her, tortured her, killed her. All to try and get to her. They hadn't been successful- from what they'd been able to tell her aunt hadn't told them a thing and distantly Tess wondered if she got her innate stubbornness from her mom's side of the family. Her hands started to shake again and she had to take another deep breath to steady them, though it only worked by a fraction.

She had always been prepared to pay the price for her job, for the choices she'd made but she'd never expected the bill would land on someone else.

The agency had told them to stand down, to let another team handle it, and she wondered if they actually believed they would listen. She wasn't going to and she knew her team wasn't either. All it had taken was one look at their faces to know that whatever happened they were in it with her. It made her sick to her stomach, but it also made her stand taller.

And she was going to have to make herself as big as she could for what came next.

It killed her to admit it but Tess had realized she wasn't going to be able to find whoever had orchestrated the hack. They'd known what they were doing, had bounced off thousands of dark servers and though she had eventually found the original IP address there'd still been nothing to go off; the device had been used remotely to find and trade the files and then gone dark. Even the network location had been a bust, some field in the middle of Virginia. She wouldn't stop looking, not ever, but there were other things to focus her attention on right now. Like who was looking for her and where they'd gone.That at least had been easier. The man responsible for killing her aunt was Keyon Akhona, a South African arms dealer who held a grudge against her for literally burning down his criminal enterprise a year ago. He and his lackeys were already back in Johannesburg and since they hadn't gotten the revenge they'd wanted it was a sure bet they'd be gathering their resources and waiting for her to bring the fight to them. Which was exactly what she was going to do.

"We still need to talk about what happens next." Michael said quietly, his smoky voice holding more than a hint of hesitance. He knew her well enough to know that she was on the edge of rage but he needn't have worried.

She wasn't going to tip over.

Not yet anyway.

"I'm not doing it." Tess said firmly, watching her team shift uneasily out of the corner of her eye.

Agency protocol when an operative was compromised was to 'retire' their civilian identity. Why couldn't they ever call things what they were? They wanted to kill her. Erase every trace of Theresa Evelyn Danvers and maybe it was the smart thing to do, the safest but she was tired of following orders.

She was tired of being a ghost.

"I don't like it any more than you do but-"

"No." She finally turned and let them see it, all her agony and wrath. All her resolve. "I am not going to run and hide and let them take my life from me. They want a war? I'll give them one."

Tess took a moment to look at each of them, at Coulson and Michael and David and John and Vivienne and Nysa, what was left of her heart clenching painfully as she met each of their stares. Lydia may have been her blood, the only bit she had left but they were just as much family and if she did this, if she followed this path they would be right behind her on it. They would be putting their lives and their careers in jeopardy and she wouldn't fault them for trying to stop her but when she looked at them she saw their eyes were just as steady as her own. Whatever came, they would face it together.

She let out a soft sigh, letting the weight of what she was about to do settle more solidly on her shoulders. She'd be fighting to keep her life, her identity, at least some semblance of it but she'd be giving up a lot to do so. The people she would have to kill, the rules she'd have to break, the enemies and alliances that would be forged along the way; anonymity would be thrown out the window, not to mention good relations with the agency. But Tess didn't care. She would fight as long and as hard as she had to because she had something to fight for, something besides her name.

She had that small little string that still tugged at her heart.

"No one brings Jay into this." She said quietly, narrowing her eyes at Vivienne since she was the most likely to go against her wishes and sure enough her arms crossed defiantly.

"Tess-"

"My life. My call." She held the redhead's stare until she nodded, the rest doing the same.

He might hate her for it. Probably would. She was going to do the one thing she had promised him she wouldn't. Disappear. All Tess could do was hope that he understood it was for a reason, that he knew she would come back because she'd try to. With everything she had she was going to fight to come back to him. She didn't know how long it would take, didn't even know if he'd be waiting when she was done but it didn't matter.

All she could do was hope.

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Please forgive me.

Please forgive me.

The plea ran through her mind on repeat as she looked down at her phone, at the photo of Jay she had saved as his contact.

One text.

She'd set it up so he could send her one text and then that would be it. No more contact until she was safe. It was the only way to keep him safe, him and Mouse but still... She hoped they'd understand, when they looked at their phones and saw that her number had disappeared. When they realized they couldn't add it back or even call the number. It was for the best. And it was just until she was safe.

However long that took.

She was still whispering that same prayer a few hours later when her phone dinged softly and she took it out slowly, running her eyes over her sleeping teammates where they lay all mushed together in the cargo hold of the plane heading to Cape Town. Tess took a deep but shuddering breath then looked at the screen, her face crumpling as her eyes filled with tears.

Be safe. Come home.