Victoria Hand

"HYDRA won't show mercy. Neither can we."

- Victoria Hand Victoria Hand was a high-ranking Level 8 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Hand was well-known in the organization and had a reputation for brusqueness and strictness. During the S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War, she was killed by HYDRA infiltrator Grant Ward.

Early Life and First Actions
Victoria Hand joined S.H.I.E.L.D., rising through its ranks, to eventually become one of the highest-ranked agents in the organization, and was assigned to The Hub. Sometime before that, Hand and Agent John Garrett were stationed together in Lisbon, Portugal.

Operation Overkill
"You need to trust the system, Agent Coulson."

- Victoria Hand Hand oversaw an operation from The Hub to destroy an enemy weapon called the Overkill Device and neutralize the South Ossetian rebels that built it.

To this end, she assigned Agents Grant Ward and Leo Fitz with the task of neutralizing the weapon before launching the attack. Ward and Fitz were successful, and the attack commenced. Despite not having an extraction plan for Ward and Fitz, Hand was confident that their team-leader, Agent Phil Coulson would secure his team's safe return.

Centipede
"Mr. Vanchat. We were hoping you could help us find a friend."

- Victoria Hand

Hand coordinated an effort to find abducted Agent Phil Coulson and to take down the Centipede Project. She led a S.H.I.E.L.D. team to take custody of the notorious criminal Vanchat, who had had dealings with Centipede in the past, during a transaction to sell Chitauri metal to a buyer named Emily Deville. Leading many teams across the globe from The Bus, Agent Hand got rid of the consultant Skye, apparently with the approval of Agent Melinda May, while one of her best men was trying to interrogate Vanchat.

When Agent Grant Ward successfully obtained information about Vanchat's transactions, Agent Hand led many strike teams running raids on every known buyer of Chitauri metals around the globe, some of them being Centipede safe houses, but not before questioning Agent Ward's attitude after Skye's disappearance from the plane and Ward's very own interrogation methods. She also noted that both Director Nick Fury and Commander Maria Hill wanted constant updates on the situation of the rescue mission. When the helicopter used in Coulson's kidnapping appeared in a laboratory near the Mojave Desert, Agent Hand personally led a strike team to investigate the activities at the lab.

Agent Coulson was rescued by his own team; Hand informed Coulson that Director Fury was very relieved after hearing of Coulson's successful rescue mission and updated him on the success of the take down of multiple Centipede operations. She then returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, commenting that The Bus wasn't really her style.

Hunt for the Clairvoyant
"When that plane touches down, take out everyone on board. Except Agent Coulson...he's mine."

- Victoria Hand

Agent Hand was called to the Bus by Phil Coulson from a S.H.I.E.L.D. Aircraft Carrier along with Agents Jasper Sitwell and Felix Blake. After the Bus' takeoff she was briefed on the mission, by Coulson, John Garrett, and Antoine Triplett. She expressed her doubts about the true abilities of the Clairvoyant to no avail. She left the plane after the briefing to return to the Hub to run back-end support for the mission. After Agent Blake was critically injured by Deathlok, and the team returned to the Hub, she again expressed her disapproval to Coulson. She ordered Agents Jemma Simmons and Triplett to work within the Hub as consultants on Deathlok's capabilities. Hand watched the team's battle with Deathlok and the confrontation with Thomas Nash.

HYDRA Infiltration
"The worst thing you can do right now is to underestimate HYDRA. They hide in plain sight. They earn our trust, our sympathy. They make us like them. And when you hesitate, they strike. If we're to survive, we must learn to strike first."

- Victoria Hand to Jemma Simmons

Later, she rerouted the Bus to the Hub and informed her agents that once the Bus landed she wanted everyone except Phil Coulson killed. Hand also ordered two UAVs to take out John Garrett's plane. This order ultimately failed however after Coulson aided Garrett on the Bus by taking out the UAVs. Hand was under the impression that Garrett, Coulson and his team were members of HYDRA.

Battle at the Hub
"He is a good man." "He's a liar!"

- Jemma Simmons and Victoria Hand

Hand made a personal stand-off with Jemma Simmons and Antoine Triplett in the Hub and posed as a HYDRA agent herself, she ordered them to pledge full loyalty to HYDRA or face a fate similar to Director Nick Fury. The pair passed Hand's "test" however, when Triplett swore to take Agent Chaimson with them if Hand's men opened fire. Hand argued that Coulson was indeed a member of HYDRA, justifying her suspicions with the belief that Coulson hid vital information from S.H.I.E.L.D. and disobeyed multiple direct orders. When the “fugitives” had successfully infiltrated the Hub, Coulson, Garrett, Melinda May and Leo Fitz were soon surrounded by Hand’s men. Unbeknownst to Hand, two of the guards were HYDRA agents who then took out their former colleagues with the order of Garrett: a HYDRA agent and the Clairvoyant. This revelation was soon known by Hand, thanks to a bug, who then personally led a second team to arrest Garrett. Hand now believed that Coulson and his team were not agents of HYDRA.

Hand called Isabelle Hartley and informed her that the threat in the Hub was neutralized.

With the Clairvoyant and HYDRA threat on the Hub neutralized, Hand confirmed to Coulson that Captain America had successfully ended the Helicarrier threat at the Triskelion. Hand also noted that the pair may be the only Level 8 agents who are not loyal to HYDRA or dead. Upon giving Coulson a secure communication device to ensure the pair could keep in contact, Hand left the Hub to transport Garrett to the Fridge.

Death
"What do you think, Agent Ward? You shot the wrong Clairvoyant before. Care to shoot the right one?"

- Victoria Hand to Grant Ward

Shortly after the attack on The Hub, Hand led the Jump Jet taking Garrett to the Fridge with the help of Agents Grant Ward, Jacobson and Chaimson. Although the Fridge would ensure Garrett could not be let loose again to the outside world, Hand believed that he deserved to die after all he had done, offering Ward the chance to kill the “real” Clairvoyant. This ultimately became Hand’s demise as Ward shot both the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents guarding Garrett and Victoria Hand; he shot her twice again to ensure she had died.

Standing Orders
"I guess you boys have never seen Hand angry, huh?"

- Grant Ward

Eventually, Grant Ward and John Garrett arrived at the Fridge in order to raid it for its hidden weaponry. Hand gave specific orders to its guardians that no one was to enter the facility without her being there; Ward did not know this in advance and tried to talk the guards into allowing him and Garrett entry. Ultimately, the guards defied her orders when Kaminsky fired upon them from his S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicopter.

Personality
"No single agent is that important."

- Victoria Hand

Victoria Hand led with a no-nonsense attitude and a rigid, uncompromising respect for rules and protocol. She disliked nicknames because she felt that it was condescending. She was a minimalist in terms of personnel; she desired as few as possible to do as much as possible on a mission. Hand felt that fellow agents were disposable as long as the mission was completed.

Hand's high regard for rule following served her well; unfortunately for her, the one time she chose to break protocol and follow her personal desire, the death of the Clairvoyant, Grant Ward was able to use that as an opening to kill her.

Abilities

 * Master Tactician: Victoria Hand led multiple teams of agents in simultaneous assaults against Centipede Project's bases around the world. Phil Coulson also asked her advice and opinion during his hunt for the identity of the Clairvoyant. During the S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War, she tested the loyalties of her agents by pretending to be a HYDRA operative and evaluating the response.

Allies

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Nick Fury - Director
 * Maria Hill - Deputy Director
 * Felix Blake - Colleague
 * Anne Weaver - Colleague
 * Isabelle Hartley † - Colleague
 * Antoine Triplett † - Colleague
 * Coulson's Team
 * Phil Coulson - Colleague
 * Melinda May - Colleague
 * Leo Fitz - Colleague
 * Jemma Simmons - Colleague
 * Skye - Colleague

Enemies

 * HYDRA
 * Jasper Sitwell † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague
 * John Garrett † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague
 * Grant Ward - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague and Killer
 * Vanchat
 * Emily Deville
 * Raina

Trivia

 * In the comics, Victoria Hand was originally a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent vocal in her opposition to Nick Fury's policies; she acted as a liason to Norman Osborn during his time as director of H.A.M.M.E.R., an organization that temporarily replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. after the Secret Invasion. She was later a liason to Captain America and one of the teams of Avengers. After considerable doubt as to her true loyalties, she was eventually revealed to have been working for Captain America all along. She was killed in the line of duty and there is a statue honoring her on the lawn of Avengers Mansion.
 * Victoria hated it when people shorten her name to "Vic", as she found it condescending; though her friend Isabelle Hartley referred to her with that alias.