#agentoffalcon

[ She's laying her head on the reception desk. The other secretary staff has left her alone. They thought she needed space, and she did. Olive hated lock downs more than the rest of them did, they knew that. And with seeing Anderson the way she did, they thought she needed some time by herself. It was hard to get here, but Olive closed her eyes anyway, watching the presences of the others in the room. Some were nervous, jittery beelines, others were steady. Those were the ones that were ready for the worst-- she liked those. They made her feel more at ease, so she focused on watching them move about the lobby.

Olive was no help unless she could organize her thoughts. She had no idea what would happen to her once this was over with, but knowing something others didn't would make her somewhat useful.

Five FALCON agents in one building. Her, Sandalphon, Michael, Ilo. She could deduce with Michael. There were a dozen different agents with radios down here, including the one that the reception desk had. Someone unidentified in the holding cells? Olive tried to think back to the morning, but she couldn't recall. It had been busy in the morning. She was running files to agents upstairs. Maybe she had seen him, but she couldn't remember it. Mia had told her something once, that Michael was being used as a scapegoat for a time. Either way, the third person inside of SHIELD couldn't have been from another affiliate, so FALCON was the only way. Michael seemed like a decent enough guess. Olive continued through her sifting.

Mia was... keeping her safe. Elsewhere. And Ellis-- knew about her? It irked Olive, but she pushed forward. No need to concern herself with their relation, not now.

Anderson was dead.

Olive grimaced, clenching her fists as she tried not to think on that. The spray of blood below her. The bullet wound visibly marked across Anderson's forehead. A blankness in her stare. Olive pursed her lips, trying long and hard not to retch from these lingering thoughts. It could have been herself that had been shot, or someone else-- she was always going to see it. It was inevitable. Some things just were.

     Breath deep. It was okay. That bit was over. Just breath.

...Past the thoughts that made her sick, Olive sifted down to the one thing that still nagged at her-- the shooter. Thinking on it, she was almost sure she was familiar with the shooter. She had a feeling about it. Just a feeling.

But there was one person she had in mind. Someone who had contacted her previously, asking about Ilo. Shashiel.

Olive wondered how that would even make sense, though. She grabbed a sticky note and a pen, making curly designs across it. FALCON was never so disorganized. Something was off about it. There was definitely some sort of split-- Mia was going to protect her. From Erik? Why would Mia do that? How could another agent protect her from him? Particularly after what she did. There were five FALCON agents, all in one place. That's five less agents on FALCON's roster.

Olive wondered when she had ever become so easily swayed with loyalty. But there were things not being told to her. The only FALCON agent who had even considered contacting her was Mia. She was the only one Olive felt like she could trust.

     Erik hopped out of his black sedan--a quite innocuous car for a man like him--but he was a man with business. He walked up along the grove of trees towards the large house. He could see his agents dotted along the perimeter only because he had put them there. He felt safe here, but that was not what this was about.

In regards to For the First Time in Forever.

She knew something was coming.

She always knew. But tonight, it had crept into her bones without her realizing it. There was someone hungry for attention, but Olivia wasn't regarding the premonition as she should have.

Death had become a constant, looming doom, so close, so close--

But not this close. The gunshot could not be heard inside, but the street was empty and Olivia had brought her gaze up for just a moment to watch the Head of MARC walk out the door. The premonition floored her now, and Olivia sprang to her feet, halfway across the reception desk before she stopped to call to the woman.

"Agent Anderson, wait--"

The agent was already out the door, though, and a split second later, Olivia witnessed her body crumple to the ground. The loss winded her, and she was stuck at a standstill as she tried to process what she had just seen.

Thawing, Olivia started to move toward the door, pushing it open to look at the caved form only steps before her. Her limbs weren't her own anymore, she was falling to her knees, unsure of what to do, even though she was sure there was some sort of protocol that she had read for emergencies, something, something, anything.

Her features began to contort as Olivia felt the first sob rumbling through her. She was shaking, leaning against the open door, feeling utterly helpless. Trying so hard to keep her composure, Olivia broke her gaze from the lifeless body, turning her head back to look into the SHIELD lobby.

The GPS coordinates had lead her to a neighborhood block.

This.. wasn't so bad. Everywhere else would have been worse. Emotions weren't such a problem here, when all of the footprints were old and dull. Waiting here wasn't hard, she just needed to look like she was doing something semi-productive. So she lit a smoke, bumming around at the curb.

Unknown 23. Blonde, brown eyes, almost her height. That's the depiction Ouroboros had given her, and the photos she had taken had helped as well. She knew what the girl would look like, though she only half-knew what she could be up against.

All she had to do was wait.

Caduceus looked at the time. Half an hour had passed, and she was beginning to wonder if the girl was staying over at this flat for the remainder of the night. In cigarette-time, she had burned through three by now. Maybe she should slow down.

Maybe she should be patient.

"You did what?"

"It's not like I walked up to her and said 'Hey, I'm in New York'. I only texted her. My number wasn't a US line."

"Are you trying to get us into trouble? Do you really want to know what'll happen if they find out you've been talking to ex-agents?"

"Aren't we going to be ex-agents?"

"...So it opened, then?"

"You knew about it?"

"Yes."

"Will you tell me what this is about?"

"Not until you're done with this laptop."

"...You broke into her apartment."

"I shapeshifted and went into her apartment."

"With a key?"

"With a paperclip. It doesn't matter, does it? You have her laptop, now get whatever files you can. I'm going to put that back as soon as you're done."

"Fine, I'll get started. But you- you're going to explain what this is about when I'm done. I still don't have access to all of the files on Phase V."

"If you can promise me you'll drop communications with that ex-agent."

"Then I just won't work on the laptop at all."