Marvel's FBI?

Dante glanced at Skye—who was still laughing—and then shot Coulson a look.

She wasn't wrong. The FBI's communications department really was trash-tier.

Even with a crushing advantage in equipment, they still got led around like puppies on a leash by Rising Tide.

This definitely needed to be handed off to the FBI Academy later. It was about time they started recruiting and training hackers with actual talent—like Skye.

"But think about that person," Dante said, tone dropping. "Yes, we admit we want to recruit him… but just to bring him in, not to harm him."

He leaned forward across the table, hands braced. Their faces were now just inches apart.

Close enough to feel each other's breath.

"But what about the others? You know the kind of groups out there—the ones that thrive on chaos. They won't stop at recruiting him. They'll use him. And after that?"

Dante stared into her eyes.

"They'll cut him up. Best-case scenario, they slice him open for research. Worst case? They slice him up just to taste him."

"...The Centipede Project," Skye finally said, her tone more cautious now. "It showed up briefly on the job boards online, then vanished once they had enough recruits. I tracked it through its MAC access point. The signal was coming from the building where the explosion happened."

A flicker of hesitation flashed in her eyes, but ultimately, she gave up the info.

Because Skye wasn't stupid.

She wasn't some diehard zealot either. She was smart, which is exactly why she'd become a legend in the hacking world.

And Dante's words had hit their mark.

She might see the government as a truth-suppressing monster, but even monsters had rules.

The ones in the dark? They only existed to destroy.

Dante watched her with interest.

"Let's see… hacked the FBI, infiltrated the FBI, stalks Superhumans online… you weren't just camping outside Tony Stark's bearded skyscraper, hoping to bump into Iron Man for a 'chance encounter,' were you?"

He gave her a wicked grin. "Wait… are you a Superhero stalker?"

"Excuse me?! That's slander!" Skye's eyes widened. "I only… did it once! I was just curious! What, a hacker girl can't do a little surveillance and suddenly it's stalking?!"

Then came a flood of barely decipherable words like "I swear I'm not into Iron Man" and "Wait, did you really say you don't have a girlfriend?"

The interrogation room, somehow, turned into a sitcom set.

Coulson watched the scene unfold and knew it was time to move on. There were more important things at stake.

Like not letting the team's first mission crash and burn.

Thinking quickly, the middle-aged fox shifted gears.

Coulson pulled a syringe-shaped device from his coat pocket.

A gun-shaped syringe.

He laid it on the table in front of Skye and spoke in an unnervingly calm voice.

"This is a QNB-T16. You probably don't recognize the model, but it's the FBI's latest and most powerful truth serum. Even the strongest-willed person will end up spilling how many times they wet the bed as a kid. The effect lasts about an hour. Long enough. But not too long."

Dante immediately caught on—Coulson wanted him to play along.

Originally, this kind of job would've gone to Grant Ward. But since that ship had sailed, guess it was his now.

If the serum had been real, Dante would've shot Coulson right there on the spot.

But…

It was fake. A bluff.

A con pulled on a fangirl.

"You don't need to worry," Dante said, keeping his voice gentle. "We'll release you as soon as we get the full intel."

He raised his hand slightly.

Signal received.

Coulson gave a small nod, then casually jabbed the syringe into Dante's arm.

He gave Dante's tricep a friendly pat and muttered under his breath:

"It's just saline."

Dante gave him a slight nod back, then said aloud, "Agent Dante, does it hurt?"

"Of course not. But getting stabbed out of nowhere is scary as hell…"

He paused, then smoothly shifted tone.

"Okay, maybe it hurts a little, but I swear it's nothing—Wait a sec! Coulson, why is this stuff kicking in so fast?!"

The last line was the cue. Coulson nodded subtly and left the room.

Man didn't even look back.

"You didn't trust the Bureau, right? Thought we were the monsters who devour truth?" he said on his way out. "Well now, you can ask him anything. I mean anything."

And just like that, he was gone.

But before disappearing, Coulson gave Skye a look that practically screamed: "You know what to do."

And Skye?

She absolutely knew what to do.

The moment the door closed, she sauntered over to Dante with a grin that was half-mischief, half-manic.

Gone was the righteous freedom fighter. Now she was a girl who had just found a shiny new toy.

She didn't say a word. Just took off her thin jacket, revealing a light gray tank top underneath, and sat down right next to him.

Like, very next to him.

Leaning in slightly. Definitely intentional.

"Agent Dante… are you nervous?"

"Nervous? Please," Dante scoffed. "You are gorgeous, no doubt. But I'm the kind of man who can juggle three women. There's no reason for me to get nervous around a kid like you."

"I'm not mature enough? You sure? You like older women, huh?" Skye ran her fingers through her hair. "Then why do I feel you trembling just a little?"

"Oh, that," Dante said, not missing a beat. "I was just imagining what'll happen if the three women I mentioned saw this moment right now."

"To be specific—two women and a goddess. They'd kill me."

…

Outside the room, Melinda May and Coulson watched through the monitor.

"Hard to believe a young agent like Dante could sync up so fast with a middle-aged fox like you," May muttered. "Now I see why Fury gave you two almost full autonomy. You three are exactly the same breed."

"I neither confirm nor deny that compliment," Coulson replied smoothly, still playing the harmless middle-aged man card. "But I am recording this footage. I have a feeling Agents Ada Wong and Harley Quinn would be very interested."

Yeah. Coulson was still holding a grudge about that "dating my ex in the Arctic" thing.

"Phil, everyone in the FBI knows Agent Dante's relationships with Ada and Harley are in a… delicate balance. You really want to be the one who tips it?"

"Balance is meant to be broken," Coulson said cheerfully. Then his expression hardened. "What did Fitz and Simmons find in the blast zone?"

May raised an eyebrow just as the two scientists walked out of the lab.

"We've got some bad news," Simmons said.

"The explosion was caused by a Centipede-type IV enhancer," Fitz added. "We analyzed the contents. It's a cocktail of all currently known enhanced-serum components—Extremis, Gamma radiation, Super Soldier Serum, and even alien material."

Coulson's face darkened. He had assumed this was a basic Rising Tide stunt tied to some rogue enhanced person.

But this?

This was a cover-up.

A cleanup job.

A wipe.

"And the main structure?" Coulson asked.

"It's a fusion—but mostly based on Extremis," Simmons said grimly. "We're talking about a patchwork version."

Everyone turned toward the voice that spoke next.

It was Dante.

He'd just finished playing his "truth serum" role.

And beside him, Skye was grinning like a fool, cheeks flushed, convinced she'd just wrung a goldmine of FBI secrets out of him.

(To be continued.)