Title: The Right Motivation
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Length: 695 words
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: No standard warnings apply
Notes: Spoilers for episodes 5x01 & 5x02. Pre-Canon to season 5.
Written for: fan_flashworks challenge #211: Drive and a bingo card made for December's allbingo Prompt: The Way We Were: Pre-Canon Fic
Summary: Deke isn’t sure about taking this new job Virgil is offering but he does like getting paid.



Virgil had asked Deke to meet him in his room. He said he had a job for him and the promise of credits is what drove him to show up. Deke liked Virgil, but he had only so much patience for dealing with his crazy theories. The man was deluded by old myths the elders once told. Stories that had never done anyone any good. But credits were credits and Deke was a man of business.

Virgil opened the door before Deke even had a chance to knock.

“Come in, come in” Virgil ushered him in, seeming even more paranoid and secretive than usual. Deke shook his head and stepped into Virgil’s cluttered space. It was stuffed with weird Old Earth artifacts. Useless junk no one else was interested in mostly. Virgil treated them as if they were treasures. Deke figured he was crazy, but mostly harmless, so didn’t give him shit about it.

“So, what’s so important that we had to meet here?” Deke asked.

“I’ve got a job for you, a very important job, maybe the most important job that you’ve ever done. The most important that you will ever do.” Virgil said.

Deke sighed and said, “Really?” Virgil could be exhausting to deal with sometimes. Apparently, this was one of those times.

“It pays well, really well. I’m talking serious credits.” Virgil said.

“So you said earlier, what’s the job?” Deke leaned against the wall gently, careful not to knock anything over in the crowded space.

“I just need you to hide some people. Just give them new metrics, easy peasy, no big deal.” Virgil was practically vibrating. Either from nervousness or excitement. Deke wasn’t sure which. Maybe both.

“If it’s so easy, why does it pay so well?” Deke was starting to get a bad feeling about the job in question. It sounded easy enough, too easy for the huge payout Virgil was offering.

“Because it’s so important, like life changing.” Virgil was bouncing up and down now.
Deke shook his head. “Uh, huh.” Something in his gut was telling him to turn down the job. To just turn around and leave the room. But he needed the credits. He wanted the credits. “How many people?” he asked.

“Six, just six -- six very important people. Six people who're...”

Deke held up his hands “Stop. I don’t want to know anything about them. Just tell me where to pick them up and what you want me to do with them. The less I know the better.”

“So you’ll do it? You’ll take the job?” Virgil was grinning.

“I just said I would, didn’t I?” Deke ran his hand through his hair and hoped he wasn’t going to end up regretting his decision.

“Yes!” Virgil said. He was practically dancing now. Deke steered him back to the details of the job and then was on his way. Virgil was muttering something about how “everything was falling into place” when Deke managed to make his escape. He didn’t want to hear any more about how people were coming to save them. Virgil had been telling that story for years. He was the only one who believed in that crap.

Deke didn’t have the patience for fairytales, which was odd since selling stories was kind of what he did. But there was a difference between the toxic fairytales Virgil was telling and the escape Deke offered in the Gallery. Virgil’s crackpot theories offered hope, and hope is what got people killed. Hope was heartless and cruel. Hope was for children who didn’t know any better yet.

The Gallery’s offerings helped people. It gave them something to look forward to in a world where there was nothing real worth looking forward to. It helped drive away the mind-numbing despair that nearly every human on the Lighthouse felt. It was better than hope, it was escape. It also didn’t hurt that he got paid for what the Gallery offered. Getting paid was something that never failed to motivate Deke. This job was no different, and it wouldn’t be any different, no matter what Virgil may have been muttering under his breath. Deke was sure of it.