Agent [Rose Book Two]

The Plane

Ward comes back in three days with some news. "Pack your bags." He orders. "We've got a special assignment." I'm very used to those words by now, and pack quickly.

I follow Ward onto another big plane. The cargo hatch is down, and the first people I see are none other than Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. "Jemma!" I exclaim and run-walk over to her. "Rose!" She says, surprised. "You've lost your accent!"

"So this must be FitzSimmons." Ward says, walking up behind us. "I'm Fitz, she's Simmons. I'm engineering, she's biochem." Fitz replies.

"How do you know them?" Ward asks as I head back to grab my dropped stuff. "We went to Sci-Tech together." I reply. "We were good friends."

Five minutes later, Fitz, Jemma, Ward, a woman I don't recognize, and a man I do are crowded around a holotable. "Another Rising Tide attack." The man says.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Ward asks. The man, whose name I've learned is Coulson, looks at him. "Track the signal. The next time they send something out,Mel find them."

"What's the Rising Tide?" I ask. "It's a group of hackers who believe in freedom of information. All information." Ward explains. I'm confused. "What's wrong with that?" I ask. "Trust the system." is the response.

"Can I come this time?" I ask. Coulson shakes his head. "Why not?"

"Because you're not strong enough." Ward cuts in.

"Strong enough?" I exclaim. "It's been freaking two years! I should be strong enough by now! I'm doing nothing sitting here at base!"

"Three days ago you were complaining about your knee!" Ward replies.

"I was sprinting then! We're just tracking someone! Not like there's any physical work involved there!" I say, frustrated.

"The answer is still no. You haven't passed the physical yet. That's final!" Ward orders, exasperated.

Angry and frustrated, I storm off to my bunk. It's so frustrating, being in rehab. It feels useless, as though I'm just a deadweight. I hate it. I hate being useless. I hate not being in the field.

The rest of everyone heads out to find our Rising Tide hacker. I'm stuck and bored. Jemma suggests exercising my knee to help it get better, but Five minutes in, the injury burns. I give up and resign myself to constantly practicing.

A few hours later, everyone returns with another girl. They take her straight to the interrogation room. Ward and Coulson go in, and both come out a few minutes later to discuss something.

Curious, I head towards the room. My hand brushes against the door handle, almost opening it before something flashes at the edge of my vision. A memory. You're different than other humans. I jump back. It's the memory of the man in the cage. Girl Who Survived.

Suddenly, I no longer want to go in the room. I lean against the plane wall, trying to clear my mind of the memory. Girl Who Survived. Less than 24 hours later, I was shot. Something hidden from you. What? Is it the person who saved my life?

Or something more?