NO GOOD DEED || S. REID

1.1

IF THERE WAS ONE THING Katharine Morgan hated, it was being called in at the crack of dawn. In her opinion, there was no God in the time where the sun met the moon and that meant that there was absolutely no reason for anyone to be awake.

Regardless, with a coffee in hand and a gun at her hip, she made her way into the offices without a smile on her face.

Her Unit Chief, Henry Davis, looked disappointed, which wasn't any different to how he normally looked. If anything, Katharine would say he looked worse than normal. She guessed he wasn't a morning person either.

"Mary and Connor McHale," Davis handed her a folder, "were murdered two nights ago. They were found yesterday morning by US Marshal Anderson Callahan after missing a mandatory check-in."

Katharine grimaced as she fingered through the pages of the case file she was handed. Various photos from the crime scene littered her vision as she tried to concentrate on the words her superior was spitting at her. It was something along the lines of, the things she'd have access to while she was working the case and a reminder of the things she'd been sworn to secrecy about.

The murder weapon had been an ax that was found thirty yards from the crime scene and the killer was still out there. There were no defensive wounds found on either of the bodies and as far as anyone knew, it looked like a night of debauchery gone horribly wrong.

Now, an outsider might have been wondering as to why SHIELD, a division of the government fixated on counterterrorism, was fixated on the double homicide of a seemingly normal couple. Granted, it was SHIELD who had given this couple their identities and whatnot.

All Katharine knew was that Mary and Connor McHale had been placed under the protection of SHIELD due to their involvement in mutant uprisings overseas. They'd been given a US Marshal instead of an Agent of SHIELD, though Katharine had argued that they would have needed more protection than what a US Marshal could offer.

And she had been right.

"Okay," Katharine said, not getting the point. "But why are you approaching me with this? Shouldn't you be briefing the whole team on this case if we're going to be working on it? Better yet, this looks like a case better suited for Coulson's team."

"Under direct orders from Director Fury, you have been chosen to work this case along with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit," Unit Chief Davis informed her. "Because of your previous involvement with the McHales and due to the unusual aspect of the murders and the victims chosen, we needed someone to cover all our bases."

"Of course," she said, voice tight. "In case the assailant is a mutant or someone powered, you'd want the same ammunition on the other side."

Davis looked at Katharine, pity, or guilt flashing across his features. It didn't take a genius to know that the only reason she had her own office was because of her teammates' hesitance to trust her due to the fact that she had abilities. Nothing bad, of course. Besides being a human lie detector, she was also able to... persuade people into doing what she wanted.

Under any other circumstances, Katharine knew how bad that could sound. In reality, all she could do was tell when people were lying and make them tell the truth. She couldn't force a person to admit something that wasn't true but she could also control their actions by exerting her will upon them. It really was nothing terrible, but just the fact that she even had abilities was enough to get her on the watchlist of possible low-level offenders at the end of the day.

"They're expecting you by nine, we'll have a copter ready to fly you over at eight," Agent Davis explained.

Katharine nodded, standing from her seat. It was currently nearing eight in the morning. The flight between DC and Quantico was a little longer than the drive, which was already nearing an hour in duration. She'd have to be ready to leave within the next ten minutes.