Jaden: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Power of a Mirage

Update is here.  Apologies for it taking this long.  I like to watch the episode as I write the story to make sure I get the action, words, and tone correct.

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Recap:

"Keep that list, Jaden. He does anything suspiscious, add it. We don't want to let him know we might be on to him," Coulson said as he exited the briefing room. He was the only one who believed in my abilities. He was actually the only one who knew almost everything I could do. Normally, he was one to follow procedure, but it was different with me.

He put me on the gifted list, yes, but he kept a lot of my powers on the down low.

"I'll meet you on the bus. We'll make introductions there, understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

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Jade met Ward at the bottom of the ramp. Meeting him officially, she introduced herself as Agent Jay, like Will Smith would in MIB. Saying that her last name was Coulson would have made room for confusion, and the team didn't have time for that.

"Fitz-Simmons?" Ward asked after dropping his bag, ending the bickering that was going on between the two scientists Coulson had selected to be a part of the team.

"He's Fitz," Simmons corrected. Fitz joined in and said the other scientist was Simmons.

With the introductions having been completed, Ward's communicator was destroyed against his insistence that the device was brand new. Then his mouth was assaulted by a Q-tip Simmons was using to collect the man's DNA for his new comm. Jade covered her gigantic grin with one of her hands as she tried not to laugh at the deadly look Ward was giving her friend for invading his personal space like that.

Jade moved to lean against the lab's opened door. Watching as Fitz-Simmons loaded their equipment. Fitz telling Ward that he specialized in engineering, and Simmons saying she specialized in biochem. Ward listened to every word they said, but his interest wasn't on them. No. Ward was interested in Jade.

"So tell me, Agent Jay. What is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interest in you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Why does Fury keep you around?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," she lied effortlessly.

"Oh, come on. I've read the report. Daughter of Loki. Kidnapped by her own dad, not once, but twice in two days."

Ward calling Loki her Dad was uncalled for in her mind. "Dad? In order to be my Dad, he would have had to be a part of my life for more than three days. Don't ever assume something just because you read it in a report. Thought you would have learned that after Coulson came out of the shadows today," she said, walking up the spiral stairs to enter the jet's lounge and get away from everyone.

Coulson arrived in time to see Jade disappearing through the door. The moment he exited his car, the words, "Don't touch Lola," left his mouth as he spoke to another agent. Coulson certainly did love his car after having rebuilt the thing from scratch to make it his official S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle.

"What's the matter with Jaden?" he asked Ward who shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't know the answer.

"Jaden?"

"That's her name, Ward. But only one person is allowed to call her that."

"I don't know, Sir. All I did was ask her about New York."

Coulson knew where his daughter's mind had gone. "You asked her about Loki being her father." Ward's expression begged to ask Coulson how he knew what the conversaion was about just from saying those two little words. New York.

The team didn't have time to concern themselves with Jade and her being mad that someone brought up Loki. She had gone to her bunk and refused to come out. And when it was time to take off, she buckled herself in using one of the buckles that were attatched to the chair and beds that were in the rooms.

It was childish of her, Jade admitted. Hiding away in her room. But she would rather have done that than be in the same room as someone who was insensitive about the subject of her father. Especially if that someone had a past that was similar to hers, though not worse.

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Once the team was up in the air, Jade released herself from the seatbelt, and left her bunk.  

"Jaden, I need you to look at this footage.  See if anything jumps out at you," Coulson said.  He sounded proud to Jade's ear.

What's he up to? she thought.  If she really wanted to know, she would have exposed a power S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't know about, but Coulson did.

She watched the same footage that everyone else had seen before she entered the room.

"Watch this," Coulson said to Ward.  "She's never seen the file before in her life."

Nothing was visibly clear to Jade minus the person they were wanting to identify.  As she watched the footage, letters formed from nothing.

Ward watched Jade.  His eyes moved from Jade to the screen.  The letters she was seeing were becoming visible to the team.  They formed the name of the man in the now frozen image.

"His name is Mike Peterson," Jade began. "He has a son.  Was married, but his wife left them.  He's got some sort of centipede type configuration fused to his arm.  It appears to feed on his anger.  You have to teach him to maintain and control his new found powers.  If the centipede is removed from his body, it'll kill him."

Ward looked amazed, hiding his fear of being exposed so well that Jade almost thought she had misread him during his interiew.