Issue 1 Downtime

Samantha had moved to one of the private offices to make her call on a secured line. She waited while she was connected.

Eventually, a soft-spoken voice came on the phone, definitely not Carter's. "Line noted secure and clearance checked. Welcome to SHIELD. How may I direct your call?"

"Samantha McManus, concerning the patient remanded into our care by Agent 13."

"I'll see if Agent 13 is accepting calls. One moment." At least SHIELD had the good grace not to put hold music on their secure lines. Finally the voice returned carrying the tone of someone whose puppy had been kicked, "Ms. McManus... I'll transfer you to Agent 13 now."

Another long and definitely not encouraging pause. Finally, Carter's voice came on the phone, "McManus."

"Sharon, we need to talk. I have information regarding the incident that led to Agent Romanov's injury."

"I have no knowledge of any alleged incident," Sharon said, rather coldly.

"This is a secured line, and you know I've got clearance. Do you want me to just come out and say it?"

"Will it stop you if I say 'no'?"

"I caught a psychic impression of it, Sharon. What purpose is there to stonewalling me?"

"Maybe because I don't care what happened? Maybe because the little criminal witch was running an op that should never have been sanctioned in the first place? As far as I'm concerned, she was off the reservation on this one and it cost a lot of good agents their lives in the process." There was too much venom in her voice for the dislike to be entirely professional.

"It was a HYDRA lab. What was she supposed to do?"

"Wait for better intelligence. Or better yet, wait for someone to realize should never have had the damn job in the first place."

"I know you don't much care for Agent Romanov, but I need more information here so she doesn't die on us."

"I'll remember to try to shed tears if that happens. What do you want?"

"We're trying to understand how she entered this state. The psychic impression I got seemed like her power got turned around on her, and that it wasn't her idea. Was there another cryokinetically powered asset in play?"

"Not that we were aware of, but as I said, intelligence was spotty at best."

"We can't get much out of her directly, her cognitive functions are in hibernation."

"That's nothing new."

"I can say that the HYDRA seems clear of any personnel now. Don't suppose they left anything behind that might indicate what she was exposed to?"

"Nothing that we're aware of. All indications at the time were that she did this to herself."

"It felt like she'd been punctured by her own ice unexpectedly, but admittedly psychic impressions are more about feel than physicality."

"Might be an individual still at large, another cryokinetic."

"Maybe there was. There was nothing in the intelligence about it. Maybe she was afraid of not being a unique flower anymore." Sam could almost feel the shrug over the phone.

"I'm trying to inform you of a danger that might be still at large and targeting your agents."

"Consider me informed then. I'll pass the information along to the appropriate parties."

"...pleasant talking to you as always, Sharon."

"Let's not do it again soon." There was a brief pause, "Oh, and I was serious with those papers. If I have my way, if she does survive, she's never going to be back on the job. She's your problem now." The line disconnected.