Chapter 14 : THE ASSET BRIEFING
The briefing room felt smaller with everyone crowded around the table.
I'd made it to breakfast—barely—and had managed to consume enough protein and carbohydrates to satisfy Simmons's medical concerns before Coulson called the team together. The muscle relaxants had kicked in, dulling the worst of the aches to a manageable throb.
Skye took one look at me when I limped through the door and winced. "May happened?"
"Worth it." I hoped.
She slid over to make room on the couch, and I sank down beside her with a gratitude I didn't try to hide. The cushions were soft. My body approved.
"Alright, everyone." Coulson activated the holographic display, and a face appeared in the center of the table—middle-aged man, kind eyes, the slightly distracted expression of someone whose thoughts were always half-somewhere else. "Dr. Franklin Hall. One of SHIELD's most valuable assets in theoretical physics. Two days ago, his convoy was attacked during a routine transport."
"Attacked how?" Ward asked.
"That's where it gets interesting." Coulson gestured, and footage replaced Hall's photograph. A line of vehicles on a winding road. Then chaos—trucks flipping, tumbling, defying gravity in ways that made my stomach clench.
Because I knew what did that. I knew exactly what did that.
"Gravitonium," Fitz breathed. His face had gone pale. "Someone's actually weaponized gravitonium."
"What's gravitonium?" Skye asked.
"A theoretical element." Simmons picked up where Fitz trailed off. "It can generate and manipulate gravitational fields. Incredibly rare, incredibly dangerous. Fitz and I studied under Dr. Hall at the Academy. He was one of the only people in the world who truly understood its properties."
"Was one of the only people," Coulson corrected. "Someone else clearly figured it out. And they wanted Hall badly enough to orchestrate this attack."
The footage continued—figures in black tactical gear extracting Hall from the wreckage, moving with military precision. Professional. Efficient. Well-funded.
I kept my face neutral, but my nails dug into my palms under the table.
I knew what happened next. I'd watched this episode. Hall wasn't just a victim—he was a willing participant, or he would be once he understood what Quinn had. The gravitonium would corrupt him, or maybe it would just reveal what was already there. Either way, this mission ended with Hall dead and the gravitonium buried and everyone pretending they'd made the right choice.
Could I change that? Should I try?
My leg started bouncing under the table—nervous energy I couldn't suppress.
Skye's hand landed on my knee, warm and steady. She didn't say anything, didn't even look at me, just pressed down gently until the bouncing stopped.
I made myself breathe.
"We have an ID on the kidnapper," Coulson continued. "Ian Quinn. Tech billionaire, founder of Quinn Worldwide. He operates out of a compound in Malta—outside SHIELD jurisdiction, outside everyone's jurisdiction, really."
Quinn's face replaced the convoy footage. Smooth, handsome, the kind of smile that looked like it had been focus-grouped for maximum trustworthiness. The smile of a snake in a tailored suit.
"Quinn's been on our radar for years," Coulson added. "Arms dealing, technology theft, connections to various organizations we'd rather not think about. But he's careful. Smart. Stays just legal enough to avoid prosecution."
"So how do we get Hall back?" Ward asked.
"That's the problem. We can't just storm the compound—it's in a country where we have no authority, owned by a man with enough lawyers to bury anyone who tries. We need to get inside without triggering an international incident."
"Infiltration," I said.
Everyone looked at me.
"Quinn hosts parties. Events. He likes being seen with the right people." I'd watched this episode enough times to remember the details, but I framed it as deduction. "Someone without official SHIELD status could potentially get in as a guest. Work the social angle while the rest of the team handles extraction."
Coulson's eyes sharpened. That look again—the one that said he was cataloguing something, filing it away for later consideration.
"Jake's right. Quinn has a party scheduled for tomorrow night. Guest list is heavily vetted, but we have an angle." His gaze shifted to Skye. "Quinn's been trying to recruit Rising Tide members for months. He sees them as ideological allies—tech-savvy, anti-establishment, skeptical of authority."
Skye straightened. "You want me to go in."
"You're the only one with the background to sell it. You approach Quinn as a potential recruit, gain access to the compound, disable the security systems from inside. Ward and I handle extraction once the defenses are down."
"And me?" I asked.
"You stay with the Bus. Monitor communications, coordinate logistics."
The words hit harder than May's fists.
"Sir—"
"You're still recovering from injuries sustained during a training session this morning. You're not field-ready, and this mission requires precision." Coulson's tone was final. "You'll support from here."
I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell him that Skye needed backup, that things would go wrong, that I had a feeling about this mission.
But I'd already pushed too hard with my instincts. Any more and people would start asking questions I couldn't answer.
"Understood," I said.
The briefing continued—tactical details, contingencies, communication protocols. I listened and filed everything away, but my mind kept circling back to what I knew was coming.
Hall would die. Maybe not the way he died in the show, but the gravitonium was too dangerous to leave in Quinn's hands and too dangerous to let Hall control. Coulson would make a choice, and it would haunt him.
Unless I changed something. Unless I found a way.
---
The briefing ended. The team scattered to prepare.
I caught Skye's arm before she could leave. "Be careful in there. Quinn's dangerous."
She raised an eyebrow. "Speaking from experience?"
"Call it intuition. He's smart and charming and completely ruthless. Don't let the smile fool you."
Her expression softened slightly. "I know how to handle rich guys with god complexes, Jake. Trust me."
"I do trust you. That's not the issue." I struggled to find words that didn't reveal too much. "Just... don't be alone with him longer than you have to. And if things feel wrong, get out. We can find another way to rescue Hall."
She studied my face with that sharp attention I'd learned to recognize. The same look she gave conspiracy theories—searching for the thread that connected everything.
"You're really worried about this."
"I'm worried about you."
Something flickered in her eyes—surprise, maybe, or something warmer.
"I'll be careful," she said. "Promise."
She headed for her bunk to prepare. I watched her go, hands clenched at my sides.
Monitoring from the Bus wasn't going to be enough. I could feel it in my bones, the same instinct that had warned me about Reyes, the same certainty that had saved Fitz in the temple.
If things went wrong, I wasn't going to sit here and listen.
I just needed to figure out how.
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