Equipped with determination, strategy, and a slight lack of professionalism, Sophia Marshall is by no means the exemplary S.H.I.E.L.D Agent. Whilst past experiences continue to threaten the Agent's job, her loyalty to Coulson's newfound specialised...
A/N: This chapter is pretty long, apologies if it feels tediously so?! I WONT spoil anything, but Captain Marvel was so so good!! Idk how we'll cope with Endgame and season 6 of AoS so soon though 👀)
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THE BITTER COLD encased the weakening agents with its surprising harshness. They'd wrapped up in what had felt like a hundred layers, and each had felt content with this but oh, how foolish they'd been. A seven mile hike through the Canadian wilderness felt as appealing as actually just turning themselves into Talbot, and the fact that their reasonings were so whimsical didn't inspire the team any further.
Inexplicably, it all came back to Coulson's badge, which was newly illuminated by orange numbers. This had fostered an unwavering hope in him. To the S.H.I.E.L.D superior it was both a sure sign that Fury was alive whilst being an offering of coordinates- hence trudging through the deepening snow.
The team now lay fractured, however. Fitz and Skye were prepared to follow Coulson into the jaws of death if needs be. There was no outspoken doubt on their part, but for Jemma and Trip the revelation felt like nothing more than the manifested desperation of their boss. Sophia stayed quiet altogether, she wasn't prepared to go against Coulson in the slightest, but each step they took increased her dread. To the specialist agent, it was undeniable that they were going to come to the very unfortunate conclusion that they were in fact completely alone, and she wasn't sure that the prospect of freezing to death aided their morale either.
They walked in a pitiful line through the stunning yet brutal scenery, the open vastness of it being an uneasy reminder of their true vulnerability. They remained mostly in silence until Fitzsimmons hung back to intently peer over Fitz's tablet, and this breakaway served as almost wordless permission for the rest of the group to start talking too. Trip, now left without Jemma, sped up towards to the ever-advancing Coulson. He was aiming to prove himself in a way. Coulson had been hesitant to let Trip join them, and the younger agent was determined to prove his initial doubts wrong. May stayed a few steps behind Coulson, leaving Skye and Sophia to fend for themselves in the middle.
Sophia wanted to tell Skye about the Fitz situation, but the time wasn't right. Maybe none of it's right, Sophia's befallen mind repeated unhelpfully. Ironically, the kiss had left her the most disheartened she'd ever felt about Fitz. It revealed how much she actually cared for him, how much she wanted him. The desire was foreign and strange and given the team's hardship, he felt completely unattainable in that way.
The two fed up women soon found themselves joined by a third, and Jemma's large sigh of discontent vocalised exactly how the duo felt.
"Have you lost Fitz?" Asked Skye. "I don't think he'd do very well out here."
Sophia craned her neck and saw that the engineer was in fact still with them, just walking at an extremely slow pace. He trudged through the snow, pausing every couple of seconds to squint at his tablet.
