Third in the Timeline series |
After being told she was the infamous Agent 4, that every S.H.I.E.L.D agent thought was a rumour, Clara decides to get back in the field. Her old boss, and presumed dead, Phil Coulson guides her as she reunites with ol...
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The scene that lay before her was of total devastation. The high rise building that the accords signing was being held in was in complete disrepair. The windows had been blown in and shards of glass were strewn all over the sidewalk. The road had been completely blocked with police vehicles and ambulances. The severely injured were being packed into ambulances, the rest were slumped on benches. In amongst all the wounded, were CIA agents, a few of them Clara recognised as ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agents, Sharon Carter was among them.
Initially, Clara's plan was to use her charm and charisma to get her hands on as much CIA information as possible, but it quickly changed when Clara spied a familiar Captain at the sidelines. Clara made her way over to him as inconspicuously as she good. Steve had his hat and glasses on, he was clearly trying to go undercover.
"Hey, Cap." Clara said awkwardly, not really knowing how to introduce herself without insulting his disguise.
"Clara?" He stated, taken aback. The last time they'd spoken, Clara had made herself quite clear that she didn't want to go back.
"What'cha doing?" She mused in a sing-songy voice.
"It's that bad, huh?" He said, taking off his glasses and looking around awkwardly. Clara nodded, pressing her lips together to stop herself from laughing.
"You see what happened?"
"How could I not." Clara replied dismally.
"You see who did it?" Steve asked, stressing 'who'. Clara nodded and pulled on Steve's arm, leading him to somewhere a bit quieter away from the crowds.
"What do we do?" She asked, staring up at Steve, her eyes wide with worry.
"We?" Steve tantalized affectionately. Clara smiled softly
"I have to Steve. It's him."
"Well come along then, we're not going to get much done standing here." Steve said, turning around and motioning to Clara to follow him, "Besides, if my disguise is really as bad as you made it out to be, I'll need to get inside."
The two of them walked in silence for a while. Clara didn't know what to say to him after having not seen him for two years. But Steve had something on his mind.
"How did you find me? How'd you know it was me?" Steve asked as they walked.
"Because it is you, you're just wearing different clothes."
*
Steve lead Clara to a restaurant, relatively crowded but still with a few empty seats at the bar. Steve approached another man in a hat at the bar, he turned around taking off his sunglasses but Clara could already tell who it was.
"Hey! Where'd ya pick this one up?"
"Sam!" Clara chorused, throwing her arms around Sam's shoulders. "It's been too long. I just hope our next meet up is under more cheerful circumstances."
"Me too, kid." Sam said, ruffling her hair, tousling it so much it obscured her eyes. "So, what did you find out?"
"Not a lot." Steve said, not bothering to hide his face after Clara and Sam's outburst made his disguise futile.
Truth be told, they had very few leads. HYDRA left very few leads. But what made their job easier were the countless HYDRA, and S.H.I.E.L.D, files that were released to the public after the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Many ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agents had gone rogue now and were selling off classified, clearance level 10, S.H.I.E.L.D files. Clara had done her best to buy them back when she had been working for Phil.
She had kept that Winter Soldier file he had presented her with. She'd kept everything: the files, the photographs, the letters. Now she was glad she had because it gave them a starting point.
Just in case her cover had been blown, she'd left them aboard the quinjet she had landed and hiden out of sight. Fitz and Simmons, two of Phil's new team members had been working on developing what they called an invisibility cloak.
S.H.I.E.L.D had already had body suits that could detect your surroundings and adapt itself to fully blend in with the surroundings but it was only big enough for one person. They were aiming make a one big enough to cover an entire building. And the most unbelievable thing was they'd almost done it.
Although she'd mainly been bringing them cups of tea, Clara had enjoyed helping them in the lab. It reminded her of Howard.
Clara was just about to inform the others of her collection of files when none other than ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agent, now CIA agent, Sharon Carter turned up at the bar. Without looking at them she placed a thick stack of files on the bar and slid them across to Steve.
"This is all I could sneak out." She said, still facing forwards. "It's not a lot but it's something. And whatever it is you're going to do, better make it quick." She turned around to leave and made eye contact with Steve, "We have orders to shoot on sight." She said finally, and left.
"So what's the plan Cap?" Sam asked once Sharon had gone. Steve sighed and tightened his chest.
"We get out of here as quickly as we can and go find him."
"I think I can help with that." Clara beamed, smirking at them. Little did they know S.H.I.E.L.D owed her favours.
