Birds of a Feather | | Leo Fitz Book One

Chapter 26

"And you can't think of anyone who would want to hurt you?" Skye asked the boy, wrapped in a fleece blanket, in front of them. Donnie. His name was Donnie.

"I-Idon't know anyone," he stammered, perhaps from nerves of being interrogated by two pretty women his age, perhaps from still being cold. Yet, perhaps,he was just simply of shy nature.

Agent Weaver walked up and stood beside Asia and Skye. "Donnie, I'm going to have you escorted back to your room. You get some rest and stay warm," She said in her cool voice, which remained perfect regardless of the concern which tinted it. The boy stood up and walked up the stairs past Jemma and Leo.

Asia and Skye stood to follow, coming to rest next to their two teammates. "Freshman pranks are tradition but these are something else," Jemma was saying.

"Attempted murder." Weaver finished flatly.

" So, Donnie was the intended target all along?" Ward asked, "He have anything in common with the cadets at the pool?" If one looked into his eyes, they would practically be able to see the gears churning away, thinking through the entire situation.

"These kids were popular," Weaver said, "Donnie was...." She trailed off, unsure of how to properly and politely finish the sentence.

"Not." Skye finished for her.

Weaver nodded quickly, her own sign of thanks, before saying, "Donnie hadn't made any enemies but he hadn't made any friends either."

Asia knew the type. "He had a hard time adjusting. How old is he?" She asked, looking up the stairs towards where the boy was disappearing out the door.

"18," Weaver said, "The youngest since these two. 190 IQ and failing out of high school when we met him."

"Probably bored out of his mind," Leo said, giving Jemma a knowing look. Asia bite back a sharp retort and look of annoyance. Not everyone had the luck of even attending a public high school. She sure didn't. Any education she had received had been through a SHIELD tutor. But she stopped herself, looking at her feet. When she looked up, Leo was looking at her, a confused, possibly concerned look in his eyes.

She looked away.

Weaver was saying something about Donnie's future placements, and Jemma was responding. Asia tuned it all out. She tuned the whole place out. Places like this, regardless of all the training, always made her feel inadequate. Perhaps she knew 10 different ways to kill a man with a simple pencil. Perhaps she could parachute through bullet fire and not die. But fuck it all if she couldn't do more math than what was required to calculate the exact angle of trajectory of a bullet fired or how much the wind would affect a shot. She couldn't do science the way Jemma and Leo did. Or code the way Skye did. Sure, she could hack. Sure she could make a bomb out of minimally required items. But she wasn't SMART. There was a very high chance, despite what Coulson had said to her about college, that she never would be.

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It was nice to be outside, strolling once more. The fresh air was relieving, saving me from the constrictions that school placed upon her.

"And what do we do when we get there?" Jemma asked.

"We mingle, low key. You, Asia, and Skye get comfortable with the students see if you can get them gossiping. Skye and Asia look young enough to blend in, but Jemma they see you as a celebrity," Ward drew out the plan for us.

"Hey now," Skye objected, "You're not exactly Old Man River, and Fitz looks younger than all of us."

"Time will come when you won't make fun of me for that. You'll be jealous. You'll be jealous, wrinkly old hags," Leo joked, looking over at Asia. He could tell something was up with her. Maybe it was still seeing her family name on the Wall of Valor. He wasn't sure. But when her lips didn't even twitch upward at his joke, he just knew.

"I want Fitz to talk to Donnie," Ward replied simply.

Leo turned and gave him an odd look. "Sorry?"

"Donnie's withdrawn, might know more than he's letting on." Ward said, as if this were the most obvious thing on the planet, "You're a hero here, Fitz. He looks up to you. Go hang out with him." We all proceeded down a flight of stairs and back into the building, into a rather dimly lit hall. "Even if he has no clue who might be after him, he could use a friend."

"Wow that's cute," Asia said sarcastically, "Ward's catching a case of the warm and fuzzies." He elbowed her lightly in the side.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Jemma agreed with her overly cheery smile.

"Ward does have them from time to time," Leo joked. Ward gave him a sharp look, not appreciating his joke nearly as much as Asia's. "Well in that case, I'll catch up with you lot later." Without another word, he turned and walked off towards the dorms. Asia looked up enough just to watch him walk away.

"So, where are we going?" Ward asked after Leo had disappeared.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps careful watch of everything within their walls. So, in the late 60s to escape the cameras and the prying eyes of the faculty a few cadets started sneaking down to the boiler room to play cards, you know, exchange ideas," Jemma explained as they walked along the halls, descending deeper into the building.

"My kind of people," Skye said with a grin. "Did you guys have anything like that in Ops?"

Asia shook her head, "Nonconformity is highly frowned upon. Plus we're too busy training."

"Some amazing breakthroughs happened down here. So the traditions live on," Jemma explained.

"By cramming into a boiler room?" Skye said, her skepticism rather apparent.

Jemma had a mysterious grin on her face as she opened the door. Loud bass and flashing lights emanated from within. "Well, we've made a few improvements over the years."