Simple Unicycle
Fetzen
Rachna Koul was one of the finest minds on SHIELD’s books. She was a graduate of the world-famous Baxter Building – her talent spotted by its founder Franklin Storm when she was no more than nine years of age. Rachna had shone under Franklin’s tuteleage. Imperiumology, the study of metahuman biology, was her field and not even Reed Richards himself could hold a candle to her when it came to that.
She had been there at Franklin Storm’s side when the shuttle that Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, and Sue and Johnny Storm had been torn apart. She’d seen the grief on his face in that moment – and watched as he slipped deeper and deeper into depression in the months that followed. After Franklin had taken his own life, Rachna had been lost of all meaning.
That was where SHIELD came in.
Nick Fury had offered her a position heading up SHIELD’s growing imperiumology department. She was, in effect, the most senior scientist employed by the organisation – though her advice was more often than not ignored and she spent half of her time bailing out pea-brained field agents. With one particular instance in Atlantis coming to mind.
After several days of back-and-forth, Koul had finally secured some of Maria Hill’s time. She was halfway through debriefing the deputy director when the sudden appearance of a blonde-haired woman almost shocked Koul out of her shoes. She recognised her instantly.
It was Sue Storm.
But not the Sue Storm she had grown up alongside, she reminded herself as memories of Franklin came flooding back. Before Koul had a chance to open her mouth to acknowledge Sue’s presence, Storm pointed a commanding finger in the direction of the entrance to Hill’s office.
“Get out.”
The hostility in Sue’s voice shocked Koul but she tried her best to respond as assertively as possible. “I’m sorry, Susan, but we’re actually in the middle of so-”
Deputy director Hill shook her head. “We’ll pick this up another time, Agent Koul.”
Rachna shot Maria a look of betrayal, then let out a sigh and gathered together her things. Sue did not so much as look in Koul’s direction as she scuttled out of the room feeling smaller than ever before. Once Hill was certain that Koul had left, she placed her hands behind her head and placed her feet on top of her desk with a smile.
“To what do I owe the pleasu-”
“Don’t give me that,” Sue said curtly. “You know why I’m here.”
Hill’s nonchalance seemed to have stoked Sue’s temper somewhat. With a wave of her hand, Sue knocked the deputy director’s feet clean from the desk with a light construct. For a half-second Hill looked near to losing her temper also but Sue was shouting, an accusatory finger pointing in her direction, before she could do anything about it.
“The Silver Surfer attacked. Galactus was … is on his way and you lock me and my family away like children? How dare you. We’re the only ones on this planet that have ever seen Galactus. No, we did better than that, we beat him. And you chose to keep us sealed away in the Baxter Building to spare SHIELD’s blushes. You ought be ashamed.”
“Is this really necessary?” Hill sighed as she climbed to her feet. “Can’t we talk about this like ad-”
Sue disregarded Maria’s efforts to calm her with a firm shake of the head.
“When Galactus comes, you’re going to need us. You don’t understand how badly you’re going to need us yet, but you will soon enough. And I’m not going to stay hidden away just because you’re scared what the world might think about what you did – what SHIELD did.”
Hill let out a tired sigh. “What is it exactly that you want from me, Sue?”
“I want you to start doing your job properly – and that means putting the safety of the people out there above all else. Just like my family have done for the best part of ten years and just like we’re going to continue to do long after some other empty suit is filling your shoes.”
Something in Hill’s face changed at that last remark. The uncharacteristic patience she had shown despite Sue’s abuse had finally broken. Perhaps in part because of what Sue and her family had been through – or perhaps because she liked Sue more than her wet blanket of a husband or her idiot brother – she had remained cool.
Having weathered the torrent abuse that Sue Storm had thrown her way, it was time that Hill gave her a lesson of her own.
“You want to sit in my seat?” Hill said as she stepped out from behind her desk. “Go right ahead.”
She reached over and grabbed several files from her desk, opening them and brandishing their contents in Sue’s direction. From the first file, Hill plucked a picture of a handsome-looking teenager with a full head of blonde hair – he looked like Johnny had at his age, but with twice the muscle.
“Why don't you tell me what you'd do about the high school senior up in Maine breaking every swim record in the book by day – and committing acts of eco-terrorism by night?”
Hill tossed the file aside and flicked through the next one. From this one she pulled forth a blurry picture of a man in a dark cowl. The moonlight was bouncing off the lower half of his face but the photo was of such low quality that even that was difficult to make out.
“No? Well, what about the sociopath dressed like a bat that’s beating half of Gotham’s criminal population into a coma? Maybe that’s more your speed. What's our play there?”
Maria threw that file back onto her desk even more contemptuously as she had thrown aside the first. She laughed as she opened the last file and produced a final picture. It was of a man in his mid-to-late twenties. His body was coated in an armour that was glowing with what looked to be electricity.
“Oh, here’s the icing on the cake: what about the literal God of Thunder we’ve got working out of Marville, Oklahoma? Why don’t you tell me how to handle that one since you’re so sure that you could do my job better than I can, Ms. Richards?”
Hill let the picture dangle between the two of them as she waited for a response. It was clear that Sue didn’t have one. She glowered, her temper having calmed somewhat as she watched the deputy director vent, until the last embers of anger had all but been extinguished.
“Storm.”
A confused look appeared on Maria Hill’s face. “What?”
“It’s Ms. Storm,” Sue said softly. “We kind of put the whole wedding thing on the backburner after … you know, the whole Darkseid thing.”
For the first time since entering Maria Hill’s office, Sue flashed something resembling a smile. On seeing it, Hill felt her own temper being to calm and she set the last file down on her desk with the others.
The two women stood in silence for a few moments until Hill let out a sympathetic sigh.
“I appreciate that you and your family have been through a lot. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like to live through your world ending, but mine is still intact – and it’s my job to keep it that way no matter the cost. That sometimes means making decisions that civilians like you, Ms. Storm, don’t understand. And that’s okay – I don’t expect you to understand them. One thing I won’t accept, however, is you questioning my commitment to keeping my world safe.”
Sue nodded in acceptance. She was on the cusp of offering her own words of reconciliation when a knocked sounded from the doorway of Maria Hill’s office. In it stood a fairly junior SHIELD officer who looked incredibly sheepish at having interrupted the deputy director’s conversation.
Hill shot him a glare that would make even the most hardened veteran’s blood run cold. “What?”
He scampered inside, whispered in the deputy director’s ear and then produced a tablet on demand. The junior officer scuttled out of the office as Maria Hill sat perfectly still examining the footage on screen. After a few seconds she gestured to Sue to join her behind her desk.
Sue wasn’t quite sure how she knew what was coming – but she did. There on the screen was her younger brother in full flight above New York. With every second that rolled past, things became worse – the fiery Spider-Man sign, chatting away with Spider-Woman in full view of television cameras, and worst of all, strolling through Central Park.
As it came to an end, words that were all too familiar to Sue Storm slipped out. “Oh, Johnny.”
The deputy director set the tablet down and lifted her feet up onto her desk with a smile. It was was equal parts pained and self-satisfied – as if Johnny Storm’s misdeeds had proved her point better than her words ever could.
“Since you managed to find your way all the way to my office without an escort, I trust you can see yourself out without one too, Ms. Storm.”
