#brxkcnengineer

There was a ringing sound in her ears, and her body ached. For some reason, she was on the floor, propped up against the wall behind her. She couldn’t remember what had happened, and she looked around frantically trying to find something that could help her piece it together, but nothing was sinking in.

Distantly, she was aware of Fitz, crouched in front of her, but his voice sounded distorted and she was having difficulty processing what he had just said. A long few moments passed before she was able to sluggishly work out what he wanted from her, and she tried to do what he said- but getting her eyes to focus proved to be a difficult task.

Hunter rounded a corner too sharply in the dim, shadowy hallways of the Playground, catching his toe on a loose brick in the wall and nearly biffing it face-first onto the stone floor. He swore under his breath, hopping to catch his balance. 

When Izzy’d called him up with the welcome offer of work - welcome, even though it involved some clandestine offshoot of SHIELD - he hadn’t realized it entailed living in a bloody cave.

The well-lit windows of the lab up ahead cast some welcome illumination into the corridor, but Hunter’s face reflected disgruntlement rather than relief. He hadn’t realized, either, that said work would entail occasional afternoons cooped up in a sterile room full of blinking and beeping. Or at least, so he imagined the lab to be. He was on his way to his first shift there now. Apparently this new SHIELD was far more short-staffed than any underground agency had a right to be.

Still, it was better than no work at all. And as Hunter drew closer and peered through the windows, he found his curiosity unexpectedly piqued by some of the equipment spread out on the counter tops. One partially-disassembled weapon in particular looked intriguing. 

As he came through the door, his eyes lingered on the gun for a beat before shifting over to the dour-looking bloke in a lab coat who was waiting for him. He’d seen him around before. Fitzwilliam something or another? Izzy had told him the proper name, but hell if Hunter remembered. Odd chap. Something wasn’t quite right about him, but Hunter couldn’t put his finger on it, and somehow everyone was too close-lipped about it for the answers to come floating through the rumor mill.

Simmons hated having to be apart from Fitz. Thankfully, it didn’t happen often anymore - not since they’d more-or-less left SHIELD - but every now and then one of them would get called away to consult on some mission or another, and for the one left behind life would continue as normal.

This time, Simmons had been the one left behind, and though she continued with her daily routine she was downright miserable. Being apart from Fitz was always awful, but it being so close to the holidays only made matters worse. She didn’t want to have to spend them alone.

Then, in the middle of the night, she heard a noise. The click of the door opening and closing. She stayed completely still in bed, listening and hoping that she had misheard, but then she heard quiet footsteps and knew that she was no longer alone.

Of course this happens when Fitz is gone. She thought as she slipped out of bed quietly, reaching around blindly in the darkness for something that could be used as a weapon, having to settle for a coat-hanger. She crept over to the door and waited there, holding her breath, as the invader came closer.

Then, when the door opened, she jumped forwards, hitting them over the back of the head with her weapon. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust, and for her to recognise the supposed-invader.

( random starters | accepting | @brxkcnengineer​ )

Simmons looked at the mess that had been left in their lab and pulled a face, internally agreeing with Fitz’s assessment. To the untrained eye, the lab looked fine- perfectly clean and tidy, awaiting its next use. To the two scientists who treated the room like a second home, however, that was very much not the case.

While, yes, it was true that the apparatus had not been left out to clutter their workspaces, it was also true that the apparatus had been returned to the wrong places. Frankly, Simmons would have preferred if it had all just been left out all over the place. At least that would have been quicker to fix.

( breaking down meme | accepting | @brxkcnengineer )

Those three words had to be amongst the most painful in the English language. Immediately, Simmons was by his side, her hand coming to rest on his back to help support him. She wanted to hug him, but was hesitant to lest she made him feel caged in.