The Snapshot {An Agents of Shield Fanficton} [1]

Justification

It was silence between us for a while. I could see the gears in his head shifting and turning, but I guess he didn't know where to start.

He noticed me staring impatiently. He probably would have ran his fingers through his hair or something, but given his hands were tied down, he just blushed.

"S-sorry. It's just," he sighed. "I spent so much time trying to forget, it..." He shook his head, frustrated with himself.

"Just, start at the beginning. What happened when you first came here," I said. I wasn't really good at comforting.

He paused, like he was remembering something. "I remember fire," he said.

"What? Fire?," I asked.

"It felt like I was on fire. My whole body, everything, was burning."  He paused. "I couldn't move...I was tied down. I was temporarily blind and I couldn't see. And all I heard was ringing." He stopped, not knowing how to continue.

"How long did it last?," I asked for him.

"I don't know," he said. "But when I woke up, I mean really woke up, I was hooked up to a blue IV like that one." He nodded toward the blue pouch hanging over my head. "I was told later that my body reacted to it because they gave me full doses at first to keep me powerless. Apparently you're supposed to start small or the blood will reject it like a virus."

I winced slightly, but not noticeably. I got that feeling again, in my head. It was like a headache, but a light and airy kind, like I wasn't myself. I shook my head and focused.

"Oh," I said. Now I was the one at a loss for words.

There was silence for a few moments.

"We should probably keep talking as much as possible," I said. "They won't allow me in here for long without the mike. I may not be allowed back in, actually."

A look of worry spread across his face. "Okay." He said. "When I woke up...there was a nurse or something. But she didn't say anything. Later a guy came in, he said he was the boss."
He swallowed. "He just explained a few things. What my powers did and how I got them, but I never really grasped what he was saying because of the formula. It was making my head foggy at the time. He said something about me controlling my power and eventually making use of it, but I'd have to cooperate first."

He stopped, pressing his lips together and staring intensely at the ground.

"But I didn't," he said a bit quieter. "I didn't cooperate. And I should have." He didn't continue.

"Why?," I asked. "Why should you have cooperated?"

He took a shaky breath. "Because after he left, more people came in. People to run...tests." He uncomfortableness was visible.

"But...they weren't exactly tests, were they?," I said.

He shook his head. He paused again, and I stared intensely, trying to get a read on him. He looked as if he were remembering something unpleasant.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp, burning pain on the back of my neck. But it didn't feel like it was there exactly. Sort of like when you swat a fly but you still feel like it's crawling on your skin but it's not. Like the ghost of the fly from the past. I rubbed it and winced a little.

"Did the tests happen to include spinal fluid extractions?," I questioned.

He looked at me surprised. "Yeah...yeah it did."  He turned his head to the left to reveal a small but noticeable scar on the back of his neck. "My personal favorite of them all....there's a lot." He smiled a little. I had never seen him smile.
It was nice.  Did I just think that?

Still, I frowned. This most definitely wasn't SHIELD protocol. No way. So why was he subjected to it?

"What happened after that?," I asked.

"After a few hours, the same guy came back in. He didn't do much but sit down. But he said one thing," he replied.

"What?"

"That ought to make you cooperate."

Something clicked in my mind. It wasn't tests, it was torture. The same thing that would have happened if he was taken by the other people chasing him. They didn't want his consent, just his cooperation, and in result, the use of his powers. Whoever ran the SHIELD facility he was transferred from only wanted to harvest his power. Maybe he was unsuccessful. That's why he was transferred elsewhere. But to who? And why? I shook my head. So many unanswered questions.

I opened my mouth to say something. Suddenly, the door swung open. I could see Peter visibly tense and flinch at the sound of it. The woman Doctor stepped in, her face angry.

"You're times up," she hissed.

Right. I had almost forgotten I had pissed off the people on the outside.

"I'm not fin-"

"Out. Now," she snarled at me.

I glanced at Peter as I stood up. He wasn't looking at me. He had returned to that tense, fearful expression and was staring at the ground blankly. I approached the Doctor and walked out of the door. She slammed it behind me.

Coulson was standing there, his arms crossed. I noticed the room had been cleared out; the lab assistants were no longer present.

"Are you out of your mind?," he said angrily.

"Probably," I said cooly.

"We put you in there to follow our rules. Our regulations. Just because you were brought in for an assignment doesn't mean you get jurisdiction to do whatever you want!" He continued.

"I got him to talk didn't I?," I responded.

He paused. "You did. But it doesn't mean anything now because there were no witnesses! You still have no justification."

Now I'm mad. "Justification? My justification was that inhuman was tortured at one of your SHIELD facilities. My justification for shutting of the mike was to let him know I wasn't there to interrogate, but to help, which is obviously not something people do here often."

Coulson frowned. "Tortured?," he said quieter.

I wasn't calm quite yet. "Yes, tortured. And I was this close to finding out a correlation but you pulled me out because of your regulations." I looked back at the Doctor behind me. She was trying to pull of the mad face, but it wasn't working. Something was off with her. But I turned back around before she had time to rave about my big brain again.

"I think you need time to cool down," he said.

"I think so too," I hissed back at him.

"I'll have someone escort you back to the Bus."

"I can find it myself," I said, pushing past him and storming out of the room. Coulson and the Doctor stood looking at the empty swinging door.

Coulson stood in silence. "Doctor?"

The lady looked up attentively. "Hm?"

"I need you to get me Subject 13's medical history and reports as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," she replied. "Anything else?"

"Yes. Keep him on lockdown," he said nodding to the screen. "No one goes in except for medical reasons. And keep this feed on record."

She nodded. Coulson turned on his heel and then promptly walked out the door, following Lucy.