Chapter Text
This Agent Romanov looked up at Jemma in some surprise and said, "Yes—this is Assistant Director Maria Hill."
As soon as the name registered, Jemma's stomach sank. "Great, just great," she muttered, tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling in dismay and putting her hands on her hips.
The redhaired agent in front of her seemed to be amused by this, and said, without any evidence at all that Jemma could see, "Oh, I don't think she'll mind all that much. She was actually just set off because she smelled the blood of one of her mates, but I'm sure she'll be fine when she wakes up to see that everyone is okay."
"And you're one of her mates?" Dr. Simmons asked, sighing inwardly. She wondered how this woman could be so calm if Jemma had just shot her mate, and the doctor pulled out the tranquilizer antidote or neutralizer that was handily stored next to the gun and a disinfectant wipe. "If you give her this injection, it'll render what's left of the tranquilizer in her system inert, and then she'll wake back up again in roughly one to five minutes," Jemma said, turning around and gesturing to the encased syringe in her hand to draw the agent's attention to it.
"Alright," Agent Romanov said as she gently lifted and turned the unconscious alpha on the floor face up.
The short redhead agent then approached Dr. Simmons to take the syringe Jemma had offered to her, the doctor thinking to herself that something was strange and curious about the way the agent was moving. Then it registered on her that Agent Romanov was moving in a way that would be less threatening to someone who was on edge, which she guessed that the agent might think about Simmons herself.
Just as Jemma was frowning and taking in a breath to assure the agent that she wasn't going to shoot her, the inhalation brought the redhead's scent to her nose. Dr. Simmons froze. Suddenly everything about Agent Romanov jumped into sharp relief, and Jemma could see that the agent was studying her as closely as Simmons was studying the agent. Stepping forward and inhaling again deeply, to get a better read on her scent, Jemma said, "But you're not the one I've been smelling all over the tower this week."
The redhead smiled softly and extended her hand for Jemma to shake, the doctor taking it automatically. The agent said, "No, I suspect not—I've been out all week. But nevertheless, it's very nice to meet you." Agent Romanov took the syringe out of Dr. Simmons' unresisting grip, and motioned towards the still unconscious alpha on the floor.
Jemma nodded absently, her mind whirling with implications. If she had a mate who was an agent, but that wasn't the smell she'd found in the tower, then maybe there were even more mates around—but having more than two mates was exceptionally rare.
As she was lost in her thoughts, Agent Romanov, who was apparently Jemma's mate, walked up to the unconscious alpha still on the floor, and efficiently administered the neutralizer. Blinking at the skill of her mate with the injection, Dr. Simmons suddenly remembered that she had first thought that the agent was mates with the assistant director, and that meant that the assistant director could be mates with-
The doctor's thoughts were cut off as the alpha on the floor twitched and then surged upwards. Uncoordinated, the assistant director grabbed onto the redhead agent's arm to stabilize herself into a sitting position. "Natasha?" she asked somewhat blearily, blinking around the room.
Agent Romanov, or Natasha, held the recovering woman gently, and then said in an extremely amused tone, "You just charged into Dr. Jemma Simmons' lab, growling like an enraged alpha, and she shot you with a tranquilizer gun."
Jemma groaned and rubbed a hand over her eyes. "Couldn't you have left that part out?" she asked in an aggrieved tone.
At the sound of Simmons' voice, the groggy alpha snapped her head up to stare at Jemma. The woman then tried to stand up, with Natasha helping her up. Once mostly upright, she stumbled up to Jemma, who stiffened. "Are you ... Dr. Jemma Simmons?" she asked with a searching look.
"I am, but what does that have to do with-" Jemma started to say, and then for the second time that afternoon, Jemma froze when mate scent hit her nose. Simmons' nostrils flared. "You," she said, instantly recognizing the scent that had been all over the tower, teasing her since she’d arrived. "I've been smelling your scent all over this goddamn tower for a week, a week, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't find you anywhere." Jemma was shaking a finger under the alpha's nose in frustration as she spoke, anger simmering. "And then you just come barreling into my lab growling??"
Jemma was breathing heavily by that point, taking in big gulps of alpha-mate-scented air, and it was making her head spin. "Dear lord, are you always going to smell like this? Because that is not something I signed up for when I agreed to transfer to HQ."
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Natasha noticed that Maria was holding herself still so her mate could smell her, but Dr. Simmons was angry enough that she was holding back on scenting her mate, and Natasha could tell that it was making both of them antsy. Letting go of Maria, who seemed mostly stable on her feet now, Natasha took a careful step forward and said, "Dr. Simmons? May I give you a hug?"
Jemma blinked at her in surprise and confusion for a couple seconds and Natasha wondered if the beta doctor was going to refuse, but then the doctor nodded. The spy moved closer and gently wrapped her arms around Dr. Simmons—the doctor was a bit taller, but Natasha guided Jemma's head downward until her nose was pressed into Natasha neck where her scent was strongest. The doctor shuddered as she took deep breaths, gradually calming as Natasha's scent did its work.
Looking over at Maria, Natasha said softly, "Call us a cab? I think we need to go home now—the doctor is spent, and you probably shouldn't be working with a tranquilizer in your system, even with the neutralizer."
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One awkward cab ride later, and Jemma Simmons walked into what Natasha said was her and Maria's flat. On entering though, Jemma was assaulted by the incredibly strong odors of heat scent—as the doctor grew accustomed to the scent, she realized it was only residual heat scent. Whoever's heat it had been, it must have been strong.
The next thing she noticed was the the apartment wasn't empty—in fact there were three other women all laying tangled together on the couch, and all three turned to look at Jemma in curiosity when she entered. Jemma could tell that this apartment was home to more mates, one of which was the omega who had recently come out of heat, but the strength and age of the smells made them difficult to distinguish.
"Oh my god," Simmons blurted incredulously, "how many are there of you??"
One of the women on the couch giggled, and the sound sent a thrill up Jemma's spine. "Well, I would have told you five about thirty seconds ago."
"Sweet Jesus," Jemma muttered.
"Oh, that's me!" another one said, this one extremely curvy and sexy, but also looking like she was a lot of trouble. This second girl waved her hand straight up in the air like she wanted to get picked first in class. "That's me, I'm the sweet Jesus around here—definitely my job."
Everyone snickered at that, and Simmons guessed that she had been the omega recently in heat—to Jemma's trained eye, she thought could detect a few symptoms of post-heat in her, but the heat-scent that permeated the room could also be causing some of those symptoms. She was certainly too far away to be able to tell definitively.
Maria cleared her throat and said, "The sweet Jesus is Darcy, the giggler is Skye, the one underneath them looking really sated is Wanda, and Natasha you've already met. Everyone, this is Dr. Jemma Simmons."
"And the one you shot with the tranquilizer gun is Maria," Natasha felt compelled to add with a grin.
"You what??" Skye asked incredulously.
"Ohhhhh, nice!" Darcy exclaimed. "Now we can form a club—I tazed Thor, Tasha knocked out Hawkeye with a metal pole, and you shot Assistant Director Maria Hill with a tranquilizer gun. Come on, high five!" Darcy held out her hand for a five.
"I still can't believe you tazed Thor," Skye said, shaking her head.
"I would like to note," Maria added pointedly to the doctor, "that all of them are trouble."
"So I see," Jemma said, although she couldn't help smiling at the adorable way Darcy was still trying to urge Simmons over for a high five, wiggling her fingers. Sighing, the doctor complied, walking over to the couch. Darcy made a little noise of glee as she got her high five.