0-8-4
Skye finished packing up what little she needed from her van so she could officially move onto the BUS. She jumped out of her van staring back at it fondly and spoke to one of the agents taking her van to a storage facility.
“Hey, no joy rides, okay? That’s my house.” She turns, starting the walk up the ramp.
Meanwhile Ward and May meet with Coulson in the command center about the girl in question.
“That girl’s not qualified to be a SHIELD agent.” Ward says dismissively.
“Agreed,” Coulson tells them. “That’s why I’ve invited her on to be a consultant. SHIELD does it all the time. Technically Stark’s a consultant.”
“And technically Skye’s a member of the Rising Tide. She hacked our RFA implementation”
“Twice. From a laptop.” Coulson says impressed. “Imagine what she’ll do with our resources.”
“I am. That’s exactly what I’m imagining during this frown.” Ward disagrees. “You brought me on for Risk Assessment. She’s a risk. She doesn’t think like us.”
“Exactly.” Coulson smiles at him.
Fitz and Simmons walk out of the lab to greet Skye warmly, if though with a bit of apprehension.
“Oh, Agent Coulson told us the news.” Simmons smiled at her. “What a wonderful surprise, isn’t it Fitz?”
“Yeah, a surprise.”
“Yep, first day of school.” Skye says sarcastically. FitzSimmons lead her up the stairs.
May begins to speak her piece to Coulson about Skye.
“We already have two kids on this BUS who aren’t cleared for combat. You’re adding a third.”
“I think she can handle herself.” Coulson nods at Ward. “You saw her yesterday.”
Ward shakes his head. “At least FitzSimmons are trained SHIELD scientists. But Skye? You said this was a select team. Assembled to work new cases, to protect people. I don’t see how letting some hacker tag along-”
“I’m looking for an objection I haven’t already anticipated.” Coulson interrupted. “I’m calling this, but your frown will be on record.”
“We’ve been called in to investigate an 0-8-4, we all know what that means.” Ward moves topics quickly.
“Yes, we do. It means, we don’t know what that means.” Coulson hands off his tablet to May who heads to the cockpit as FitzSimmons give Skye the tour.
“Officially, it’s an airborne mobile command station. But we call it the BUS. We find it best to use shorthand within the field. But everything has to be just so, you know, because of the danger.” Fitz tells her.
“Yeah, I’ve been up here before, but I didn’t see much because of the bag that Agent Ward put over my head.”
“Yes, so sorry about that. Water?” Jemma offers awkwardly.
“Wheels up in two, lock it or lose it.” May’s voice comes over the intercom.
“What’s that mean?” Skye asks pretending to be nervous.
“No backing out now, let’s find a bunk for our guest.” Simmons suggests.
“Oh, and there’s only one left and it’s right next to mine.” Fitz says excitedly.
He hurries over, setting Skye’s box down on the twin bed in the middle compartment against the far side of the plane and then rushing off. Skye sets her things down inside the small room and turns as Ward knocks on the wall divider.
“Hey, I know we didn’t-”
“Might want to read that. This isn’t like other planes.” Ward gives her a safety pamphlet to the massive BUS.
“You could say that again.” Skye mutters to herself, remembering how well she knows that.
“Say what again?” Coulson asks at her elbow. Skye just smiles.
“Sweet ride.” He nods at her.
“I earned a little goodwill from Director Fury when I got hit right before the Battle of New York.” Skye schools her face at his words.
“You took a bullet?” She questions in a low tone.
“Ish. An Asgardian stabbed me through the heart with a Chitauri scepter. The effect was similar. Got a few weeks R&R and this plane. Had it completely refurbished. Studs up - spared no expense.”
“Yeah, Agent Ward told me they sent you to Tahiti.”
“It’s a magical place.” Coulson said automatically with a smile on his face.
“You mentioned that.” Skye says hiding a grimace.
“Here. Use a coaster.” They sat down in the lounge area of the plane in front of the compartments. “Buckle up.”
“I don’t even know where we’re going.” Skye said.
“Peru, that’s where the 0-8-4 was reported.”
“And an 0-8-4 is . . .”
“An object of unknown origin.” Coulson answered her question. “Kinda like you.”
She smiled wryly to herself. You have no idea. She couldn’t help thinking to herself.
“The team goes in, determines if it’s useful or if it poses a threat.” Coulson explains. “Last one turned out to be pretty interesting.”
Skye opened her water taking a sip as she thought back and couldn’t help a grin. “Let me guess New Mexico, right? Thor’s hammer?” Coulson didn’t say anything and she shook her head still smiling.
They landed in Peru shortly and drove out to the Incan archaeological site where the 0-8-4 had been found in Llactapata.
“Tire tracks forty meters back.” Ward noticed as he got out of the SHIELD vehicle. “I’ll check them against the site’s trucks - make sure we’re alone.”
“Too much exposure here, I’m gonna find a place to park.” May told the team.
FitzSimmons walked with each other towards the Incan temple trading hopes of what to discover or even things to worry about out in the field.
“I would love to see a capuchin in the wild.” Fitz told Simmons. “Maybe even a yellow-tailed woolly monkey. You know, um, Peru has 32 different species of monkey.”
“Yeah, and close to 200 species of snakes. The shushupe has a fascinating venom. It’s neurotoxic, proteolytic, and hemolytic.”
“That’s fascinating.” Fitz says nervously. Simmons seems to pick up on his anxiety.
“Oh, no. I’d be much more concerned with earthquakes, mala-” Fitz slaps a mosquito on the back of his neck and Simmons sees that. “Ah. There’s no vaccine for dengue fever.”
They finally arrive at the temple.
“We should warn the people that live around here if the 0-8-4 is dangerous. They’re already dealing with anti-mining rebels and the shining path guerillas. I could post something.” Skye tells Coulson.
“Remember the panic when that anti-matter meteor splashed down just off the coast of Miami, nearly devoured the city?”
Skye sighed and rolled her eyes. “No.” She said knowing what was coming next.
“Precisely, because we kept it quiet and contained.”
“So what am I doing?” Skye asked exasperatedly.
“Well, if it gets out, I might need you to create some kind of diversion, put the public on the wrong scent.” He tells her.
“So, everything that I’m against.” Skye says disgustedly.
“Yep.” Coulson pops the word teasingly. Skye looks away into the forest as Coulson starts to walk toward the temple.
“You know the rebels aren’t the only ones we need to worry about.” He turns to look back at her. “If the national police have heard about the 0-8-4, they’ll want to come and take it for themselves to use against the rebels.”
“Use it? We don’t even know what it is yet.” Coulson tells her and turns away to meet with the man in charge of the archaeological dig. “Good morning, Professor. I’m Agent Coulson with SHIELD. I understand you’ve made an interesting discovery.”
“I’m not sure how to explain it. This temple dates back at least 500 years. It’s filled with pre-Incan artifacts. One of them looks - impossible and looks like it might be dangerous.”
“Well, that’s why we’re here.” Coulson reassures the man.
The professor led them all into the temple, showing them the strange device stuck into the wall. “Exactly how it is.”
“Who else knows about this?” Coulson asks.
“Just the ministry. I believe they are the ones who contacted you.”
“Sir, I need you and your team to evacuate the site until we determine the risk associated with this object.” Coulson tells the native as FitzSimmons begin setting up their equipment to analyze the metal and glowing blue device.
One of Fitz’s flying DWARFS moves closer to examine the object and the professor has to move out of the way.
“Leave the man alone.” Simmons scolds playfully.
“Now - for your own safety.” Coulson urges the native.
“There’s nothing about this anywhere.” Skye says as she searches through any and all databases she can think of for the device right in front of her. “It’s amazing. I searched every data stream. What do you got here, guys?” Fitz stops Skye from touching as Simmons begins to answer her.
“The object’s placement in fossiliferous rock formations suggests it’s been here for at least 1500 years. That pre-dates this temple by a millennium. Ha, maybe it’s alien!” Simmons says excitedly.
“Yeah, but the shape and the craftsmanship - it’s almost German.” Fitz observes.
Outside, Ward meets back up with May in front of the temple.
“Tires match the prof’s truck. Where’s your sidearm?”
“If I need a gun, I’ll take one.” May answers simply.
“Right. Forgot I was working with The Cavalry.” May gives him a dirty look.
“Don’t ever call me that.” She says in a low tone.
“Apologies. I’ve heard the stories - what went down in Bahrain, about you in action. You know, it was smart of Coulson to pull you out of retirement." Ward wanders closer to the bushes as he makes conversation. "It’s nice to have a trusted friend who has your back.” With that last word, Ward reaches into the bushes, grabbing a limb and flipping a man in camouflage army wear out into the open.
Two more men in camouflage wear appear and May knocks them to the ground easily within minutes, training their own guns on them as Ward holds the other in a headlock with his own gun pointed at the man's head. Vehicles drive up with more men in camouflage, holding assault rifles and they file out shouting Spanish at each other and the SHIELD agents surrounding the two.
“Should’ve taken more guns.” Ward quips to May.
A beautiful woman with her dark hair in a ponytail emerges from a jeep her very presence commanding attention and respect as she looks over the situation.
“Sir.” Ward speaks to Coulson through their coms.
“Go.”
“We have a situation.”
“Lots of rebels in this area.” Skye muses before remembering just who is outside.
“Not enough gunfire.” Coulson surmises. “Keep working. I’m on my way.” He speaks the last bit through the radio he’s holding and heading out of the temple. “Buenos Dias.” He begins, stepping up and out through the tunnel. “Soy Agente Coulson. Estamos aqui port un assent de la Seguridad Internacional.”
The woman in camouflage steps forward with some guards and seems to recognize Coulson. “Phillip?”
“Camilla?” He frowns down at her though then registers all the guns. “Do you mind?”
“After you.” She shakes her head.
Coulson nods to Ward and May and they both lower the weapons, allowing the men they’d taken down to get up and walk freely. The woman utters an order and the rest of the weapons are raised and swept back onto their shoulders. She jumps up the steps, standing in front of Coulson and greets him warmly, kissing him on the cheeks as he recognizes the bars and patches sewn into her shirt.
“Comandante - a promotion. Congratulations.”
“Three years ago, but thank you.”
“Agent Melinda May, Agent Grant Ward, this is Comandante Camila Reyes. She’s with the Policia Military del Peru. We used to work together back in the day.” Coulson introduces his team to his old friend and May can’t help the soft scoff as Coulson continues giving orders. “Let the team know everything’s okay.” Ward walks back up the steps to alert FitzSimmons and Skye of what’s happening outside.
“I know you found a strange object on Peruvian soil. We should have a conversation about how to proceed.” Reyes suggests.
“Of course. But an 0-8-4 supersedes all national claims.”
Reyes pauses at his words before trying another tactic. “You look good.” She smiles.
Coulson can’t help smiling back at her words and the change of topic, recognizing it for what it is. “Yeah, I work out.”
“Come, let me show you something.” Reyes puts her arms around his shoulder and tugs him down the steps with her.
Meanwhile, FitzSimmons are still in the temple studying the 0-8-4 and getting readings off their charts that make them nervous.
“Are you seeing this?” Fitz asks his partner. “It’s alive.”
Skye almost agrees with him out loud, she can feel the vibrations of the energy pulsing from the device. Instead she steps back, turning to face them. “Wha-alive, alive?”
“It has a functioning power source.”
“Sleepy’s reading radionuclides, but they don’t match any known isotope.” Simmons explains to the hacker.
“I get temporal matches, but even then, they seem to shift. Is that even possible?”
Skye turns back around to look closer, examining the blue glow of the device and frowns at it.
“I’ve seen this before.” Skye mutters.
“You have?” Simmons asked surprised.
“Don’t you guys remember? From the news footage of the Battle of New York? That blue shining cube that opened the portal for those aliens?” Skye’s trying to lead them to answer their own questions.
“The tesseract?” Fitz offers the name and Skye nods.
“The blue glow, the energy powering it.”
“She might be right.” Fitz murmurs to Simmons and they both glance back down at their tablet that shows the data the DWARF is collecting.
Skye briefly puts her hand up, not touching it but emitting a low frequency of vibrations to keep the energy pulsing from the device calm and almost muting it. “I’m gonna go check on Coulson.” She tells the scientists but Ward comes in through the tunnel.
“We got company.” He tells them. “National police.”
“What?”
“Why are they doing here?” The Brit and Scot question.
“They heard about this device.” Ward tells them, walking over to it. “They’re probably here to protect it. This area has lots of rebel uprisings.”
“Yeah, people are fighting back against the government’s mining policies.” Skye says admiringly. “It’s pretty kick-ass.”
“Yeah, it’s kick-ass, all the violence.” Ward says with an edge to his tone.
“That’s not what I’m saying.” Skye counters.
“No, it’s what you’re typing, in your van, alone - where it’s safe. How much longer?” He asks the last question to the scientists who both protest at being hurried.
“Are we in danger?” Fitz asks.
“Not if everyone does their job.” He answers then turns back to Skye. “What is yours, exactly?”
She glares up at him and he can’t help being taken aback at the amount of heat and emotion behind her eyes. “Trust me, you don’t want to test me.” She threatens him quietly. He turns away with a blank expression on his face, backing down from the challenge in her eyes.
Meanwhile, Coulson walks through the small site with Reyes snacking on chocolate they grow in Peru as she tries to get in his good graces.
“You know me, Camila, I’m a pretty simple guy.”
She scoffs at him. “There was nothing simple about your last mission here.”
“I had some great help.”
“There isn’t any chance we get to keep the device is there?”
“It’s not mine to give, but I’m sure we can find a way to resolve this respectfully in a way that gives your coun-”
There’s an explosion behind them at one of the vehicles and two team leaders have their guns out within seconds.
“Rebels.” Camila tells Coulson.
“Stay close, on my six.” They run out their guns raised.
Back at the temple everyone ducks as the structure shakes from the nearby explosions, rock falling from the ceiling and Ward takes control.
“Sounds like they’re engaging with rebels. Time to go.” Fitz recalls his DWARF as Ward tries to rush him. “They’re coming for it, let’s move!”
Skye knows better than to offer to help FitzSimmons put away their gear, instead she steps back behind Ward’s figure. She closes her eyes for a moment, focusing on the vibrations around her and tuning out the larger explosions, trying to focus on the people creeping up to surround the temple. She looks farther and can see May racing for the SHIELD truck she parked in the forest. Coulson and Reyes are shooting at rebels together through the site, making their way towards the rest of the team.
“We need a containment case for the 0-8-4.” Simmons breaks her concentration.
Skye shakes her head at the scientist. “We don’t have time.” Ward tells them.
“But it has a fluctuating power core with frequencies way above 10 Exahertz.” Fitz argues.
Skye grabs the backpack duffel on the ground and drags it over as the boys continue to argue.
“Sorry, science class is over.” Ward says and moves towards the 0-8-4 but stops up short as Skye grabs it and with two firm tugs, pulls it free from it’s hole in the wall.
“Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! You did not just pull that out of the wall.” Fitz rushes over and Skye glances up at him.
“Fitz, look at this thing!” She starts putting it into the backpack. “It’s a weapon, unless it’s activated it won’t hurt anyone!”
“You don’t know that! Do you realize we do not know the amount of photon emissions coming out of this? Okay!” Skye spins him around and lugs the backpack around Fitz’s shoulders. “We don’t know what will happen if it gets excited!”
“You’re right, we don’t. But we can’t wait for it to get excited Fitz!” Ward tells him. “Walk steady and carefully and let’s try not to find out okay?”
“No! Not okay!” Fitz cries.
“Fitz! Come on!” Simmons calls him from the entrance of the temple.
Outside Coulson and Reyes are still shooting their way through the site. They take cover to take a breather and for Reyes to shout orders to her men.
“Your men need to fall back now or we’ll never make the runway! Now - your truck, let’s go!” Phil tells her.
With their backs to each other, Coulson and Camila rush through the rest of the site, spinning in tandem as they cover each other and fire back at the rebels.
Ward comes out hot shooting at the rebels, but Skye grabs hold of Simmons and Fitz from following out, pulling them down low against the walls of the temple entrance. He glances back to make sure the others are in the clear and whips out a folding metal prod with a fat device at the top. Coulson recognizes the SHIELD weapon from his cover in the forest.
“Tell your men to get down.” He urges Camila and she shouts to her squad.
They all dive for cover as Ward jumps into a roll off the temple steps, slamming the metal stick into the ground and activating the electric device on the top. It ejects itself into the air and hovers a good five feet off the ground. Ward ducks his head as it emits a powerful shockwave, knocking at least four rebels back into the trees.
“My truck!” Camila tells Coulson and he follows her.
Ward glances back and waves the rest of his team out and they rush forward as he cocks his gun again. Skye hangs off to the side of FitzSimmons, noticing one rebel back on his feet already cocking his rifle and pointing it at the three of them. She draws on her power and stomps on the ground, her power radiating through the ground and knocking the rebel off his feet, just as May comes flying out of nowhere with the SHIELD truck.
“Get in! Get in!” Ward shouts at the three of them and May opens the passenger door for Ward.
“Move! Now!” She shouts at them all.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
“Yes.” FitzSimmons ramble anxiously.
Both trucks take off with a jeep full of rebels with guns racing after them, shooting.
“Coulson’s secure in PMP’s truck.” Ward reports to May. “Take the south route to the airfield.”
“Gotcha.” She nods.
“Slow down!” Fitz complains.
“You’re joking, right?” Skye asks.
“Ward, listen! We have to be careful. There’s a binding energy structure that could overheat.”
“I could roll down a window!” Simmons suggests and Skye looks at her incredulously.
“No!” Skye shouts at her. “Do not roll down your window!”
“Stay quiet and keep your heads down!” Ward tells them. “Head left, the ravine empties.” He says to May.
“But Ward!” Fitz raises his voice.
“Quiet!” The older agents scold Fitz. May presses on the control screen inside the SHIELD truck and opens the ramp on the BUS.
“How fast can you get the wheels up?” Ward asks.
May looks over at him, snapping, “Fast!” They pull up onto the ramp and park quickly. Ward and May exiting hurriedly. “Ramp!” She orders him and he nods.
“On it.”
The scientists and Skye get out of the car hurrying towards their lab.
“What are you doing?” Skye asks Ward as she carries Fitz’s equipment. “Coulson is still out there!”
“Get off the ramp, you’re in the line of fire.”
Ward pushes her towards the lab as he rushes down the ramp with his gun out, meeting Coulson and Reyes’ squad of soldiers as they rush onto the already rising ramp, still under fire from the rebels. By the time the ramp has finished closing, all necessary persons are present on the plane.
“Cutting it pretty close, sir.” Ward tells Coulson.
“Didn’t want to leave anyone behind.”
Skye sits down on the case panting. “I gotta say it. I miss my van.”
Ward turns to Fitz. “Now, what was the problem?”
“As I said before, this device has a high-frequency, fluctuating, sub-material compression-”
“Fitz, in English.” Ward tries to get him to simplify his words.
“Skye was right. The 0-8-4 is fueled by tesseract technology. Hydra. WWII. Captain America.” Skye stands up slowly as his words begin to register with her. “It’s full of lethal amounts of gamma radiation.”
“Gamma - you’re saying it’s nuclear.” Ward finally understands but Coulson shakes his head.
“No, he’s saying it’s much, much worse.”
Everyone visibly takes a step back away from the backpack with the 0-8-4.
Coulson heads up to the cockpit to radio in and report to SHIELD headquarters.
“And the 0-8-4 is in your possession?” A woman from HQ asks.
“It’s on board and contains a tesseract fuel cell, so . . . there’s that.”
“Copy. You are a go for check-in guidance through restricted airspace. Safe travels.”
Coulson hangs the radio back up and looks out at the clouds around them while May silently flies.
“Top speed’s a priority, May. Obviously.” He almost sounds awkward. “I know you didn’t want to see combat. I apologize for that.” He pauses to see if she’ll say anything but then continues when she doesn’t. “Do you need anything else before I go check on to see the device fueled by evil that’s sitting in our cargo hold?” May says nothing then flips a switch on the ceiling, as if in response and Coulson nods at her. “This was fun.”
Down in the lab, Skye watches as Simmons removes the 0-8-4 from the backpack.
“Not to worry, the device is stable. Not that it couldn’t explode any minute, especially if hit with machine-gun fire. But things like this happen from time to time when in the field, and at first it’s very unpleasant and you regret your decision to leave the lab at all.” She nervously rambles.
The door slides open. “Are you two mental?” Fitz asks Ward and Skye from the back entrance of the lab. “I did explain in great detail exactly what I meant using the Queen’s bloody English!” He looks back and forth between Skye and Ward.
Ward’s jaw clenches before retorting back. “I use normal English - like ‘duck’ and ‘run’ and ‘might blow us to pieces!’”
Skye sighs as Fitz rolls his eyes. “Oh, wow. Well congratulations, Agent Ward. You managed to string three words together in a sentence.” He turns away, working on some of his equipment. Fitz and Ward continue to argue with each other as Coulson comes down the stairs outside the lab to see Camila and her men lounging around.
“Is everyone alright?” He asks them.
“Banged up but alive. Thank you for the extraction.” The last armed man puts his rifle in a container that Coulson closes and locks.
“But we lost a lot of men.” Camila says.
“We’ll make sure the rest of you get home safe.” Coulson tells her.
She watches Coulson’s teaming arguing over the device in the lab and shakes her head skeptically. “Are we safe? On a plane with that? There’s a PMP airfield in Iquitos. It’s a short distance-”
“We’ll burn as fast as we can for a SHIELD containment facility. There’s no safer place for us to go.”
“Sir, if I may?” One of the soldiers ask Coulson. “You got anything to drink around here?”
“Upstairs.” Coulson answers. “I think you’ll find it quite comfortable up there.”
Reyes’ squad heads up the stairs even as she lingers near Coulson. “I expect the grand tour.”
“I know you do.” He tells her.
The lab doors open for Coulson and he walks into the tail end of Ward and Fitz shouting at each other.
“I’m trying to tell you-”
“. . . Don’t understand anything you are saying!”
“Do we have a problem in here?” Coulson asks eyeing them both and they immediately stop.
“No, sir. Just working on our communication.” Ward says with an edge to his tone. “Not everyone was prepared for a firefight.” He glances at FitzSimmons pointedly and she scoffs.
“We got out, didn’t lose anyone, saved a few of theirs - I’d say we did alright." Coulson states, glancing around at them all. "Anything else?”
Skye takes a moment, remembering this case and what she needs to say to make sure they get the same outcome. She raises her hand like a kid in a classroom and they all look at her.
“Uh, yeah, I have a small question, because I’ve been feeling like the tagalong hayseed rookie, but now I get the sense that Ward doesn’t know which one’s Simmons and which one’s Fitz and they’ve seen even less gunfire than me, and I’m not rocket scientist but is this your first mission together?”
“No, of course not!” Simmons protests. “It’s our second.” She tries to sound confident and failing.
“I was your first? That’s sweet.” Skye snarks and Ward looks at her with disdain.
“You’re amused?”
“I’m terrified. I am in way over my head, but I have been on this team just as long as any of you. I might as well be team captain.” Simmons scoffs. “I was joking, but maybe that’s not a bad idea, because these guys do not like each other much.” She says this specifically to Coulson, already moving around the holotable towards him.
“This isn’t about that.” Ward says through gritted teeth. “I’m a specialist. Today I could’ve eliminated the enemy threat myself if I was working alone, but I had non-combat ready agents-”
“Whoa, whoa. Wait. You work alone?” Fitz interrupted.
“So typical!” Simmons paced around to stand next to her partner. “Who do you think designs your equipment?”
“Or the polymers for your weaponry. People like us do it.”
“Yeah, try going into the field with just your bare bum.”
“See them proving the point I just made?” Skye asked Coulson.
“You’re not wrong.” He tells her. “We still need to iron out the kinks. But Ward, you can speak six languages. Simmons you have two PhDs in fields I can’t pronounce, and Fitz you are a rocket scientist. So work it out.” He walks out of the lab and Skye blinks watching him go, kind of offended he said nothing about her.
“I - I’m good at stuff, too.” She calls after him. She thinks for a minute before rushing after him. “Wait, Coulson.”
“Yes?” He asks her. Skye takes a breath before plunging off the deep end.
“You’re a super spy and you probably already know, so even though it’s kinda rude I'm gonna state the obvious here and tell you, your friend, Camila, is playing you.”
“You think she has an ulterior motive.” Coulson assumes and Skye nods to him.
“Well, yeah." She eyes him, her history with the man allowing her to see his thoughts despite his blank demeanor. "But so do you.” She says slowly.
Coulson considers it before acknowledging her words with a nod. “You’re right. I do know something’s up, but I also know Camila and I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.”
“With all due respect, AC, it’s been three years since you’ve seen her and people change. You are living proof of that.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Skye.” And with that dismissal he headed down the hallway where Reyes, herself was waiting.
Skye turned back, frustrated and headed back to the lab. Ward was just walking out but Skye stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Uh, Simmons?" She asked. The scientist looked up at her. "You should probably look over Ward. His side is bleeding." She points and Ward looks at her in surprise.
"It's skin deep, nothing to worry about."
"What?" Simmons rushes over, pulling on some elastic gloves and tugging off his jacket for him.
He rolls his eyes, realizing he's not getting out of there any time soon.
"I'm so sorry, Agent Ward. If I'd known-"
"It's fine." He cuts her off as she lifts his shirt and begins wiping the blood away.
"Skye can you hand me that kit? And no, Agent Ward it isn't." Skye fetches what Simmons needs and watches her begin to clean his side. "You got shot protecting us today. That's on us. Especially for not completely cooperating." Simmons tells him. She glances up at her partner who is loading up his DWARF to the holotable. "Right, Fitz?"
The Scot looks over at them, sheepish. "Yes, I'm apologize for not recognizing your expertise in the field, Agent Ward."
The words come out as a truly sympathetic but still pointed at Ward. He sighs, recognizing them for what they really mean.
"And I'm sorry for not acting like a team player. We all have a bit of adjusting to do, I hope we can do better in the future." He says and the scientists both nod their heads agreeing with him.
"Most definitely."
"Yes, thank you."
Skye smiles at them all and turns to leave but stops herself remembering what she needed to tell the resident team geniuses.
"Hey Fitz, Simmons?” She asked them and they both turned to her. “If you’re gonna work in here for long, just . . . lock yourselves in would you?” Their expressions turned to surprise.
“Why?”
“Would you just, do it for me, please?” Skye asked with her best puppy dog eyes and they both sighed. “Thanks guys.”
She smiled and headed down the hall as Ward stared after her curiously.
The hacker unpacked a bit in her bunk, setting her decorative hula girl along the small windowsill, looking out for a moment before making a choice.
Skye headed through the plane, smiling politely at the military men, finally knocking on the cockpit door. She opened it and slipped inside, sitting down next to May who was silently piloting the BUS. It was a bit bizarre for Skye. Sitting next to this woman who’d become almost a surrogate mother for her in nearly three years, now knew nothing about her, had no history, no trust, nothing.
Finally Skye got the courage to speak.
“I know you don’t trust me. You think I’m a liability out in the field, that I’m not trained, I’m unpredictable. I probably have an ulterior motive for staying on the BUS. And you’re right - I do. And I will tell you, I just can't right now, 'cause you’re gonna think I’m crazy. Crazier than aliens attacking New York. Even crazier than a demigod who can control thunder and lightning. I just need you to get me a meeting with Director Fury. You and he need to hear what I have to say. I'm sure you can contact him through the encrypted line you have in here when I'm gone.”
May barely twitched, but Skye was observant enough and knew the woman's ticks to see that the statement had thrown her old S.O. off.
Skye stood up and made her way to the door. “And I’d watch out for Reyes' men. They’ll come for you first.”
Once she was gone, May blinked. Then did it twice more. She relaxed into her seat with a contemplative look on her face.
As Reyes' men began to settle in, Fitz and Simmons begin sifting through the data the DWARF connected to the holotable had collected so they could read and examine the specs of the 0-8-4.
“So should we work, or just continue to-”
“I’m saying, I said there would come a moment when we would regret the decision to go in the field. I didn’t think that would happen in week one.” Fitz talked over his partner. Simmons scoffed before looking more closely at the model of the 0-8-4 still in the wall.
“This seam in the sedimentary layers suggests a molten cave-in a few decades back.”
“Yeah, well this here-” Fitz holds a holograph of the control box inside of the 0-8-4 and drags it over in front of Simmons, “it’s optical amplification. Now, I think - well, I’m most likely dead-on-” Simmons can’t help rolling her eyes at his confidence, “that the tesseratic energy excites plasma with an inverse population of energy levels.”
“A laser.” Simmons concludes.
“A ray of . . . pure energy two terajoules. See the amplifier?” Fitz flipped the small holographic device control around for her to look at. “We’re lucky the drones didn’t trigger it while we were taking electromagnetic readings.” He waves his hand to remove the display covering of the holographic control box to see the pulsing energy.
“Skye was right. This is a weapon, powerful enough to-”
“Enough to melt through 50 feet of solid rock to bury itself. Imagine what it could do to a person.” Simmons voiced anxiously.
“Yeah, or an airplane, for example.” Fitz added nervously. They exchanged meaningful looks with one another.
Ward relaxed in the lounge area with a book, keeping an eye on two of Reyes' men playing cards with each other across the walkway. Skye brought out a bottle of alcohol and planted herself in front of the agent.
“Hunger Games?” She couldn’t help asking, teasing him.
“‘Matterhorn.’ One of the hundred books my S.O. gave me that I’m just getting around to.” Skye tilted her head with a curious look, as if trying to think through the initials. "S.O. - supervising officer." Ward explained.
“Got it. Hackers have lingo, too, but I’ll pick yours up.” Skye paused, thoughts racing.
If she did this right, she’d have to go through the next six months pretending to like and trust Ward - working with him, learning from him, being close to him. In all her training with May, she’d learned not how to box up her emotions and pain but to store them in the back of her mind and let out when she wanted, to fuel her energy and endurance. It was how Skye could physically be near him without wanting to throw up at the moment. But she didn’t want to.
God, she wanted to break the bottle over his head right now and stab him with the jagged end, but she couldn’t. It’d barely been 48 hours since she’d joined this team for a second time and she needed to keep a cool head so she could watch Reyes' men and try not to blow a hole in the side of the plane this time around. She took a breath.
“I feel like you and me - wrong foot.” Skye spoke to Ward. She dangled the bottle of alcohol in her hands. “Can I . . . buy you a drink?”
Ward chuckled softly before gesturing for her to sit down. She moved around the furniture to sit across from him as she tried to remember this conversation three years ago for her.
“What I said before - when I said the uprising was - whatever I said, a good thing. I don’t want you to think I’m oblivious. What I was talking about was the tweets.” She tried to hide a smile at his predictable quip that came next.
“Tweets. You trying to make things better or worse?” He asked with a smile. Skye shook her head at him pouring them each a glass then looked up to meet his eyes.
“Peruvians have organized for the first time in decades. Thousands of suffering people who have never met uniting over a common idea? It’s mind-blowing.” Skye smiled to herself, at her own passion. “And I don’t want to bring it up because I don’t want to see your hate-face,” she eyed him then kept going. “But . . . that’s what the Rising Tide is all about.”'
“Okay,” Ward said warily.
“Usually, one person doesn’t have the solution. But a hundred people with 1% of the solution - that’ll get it done. I think that’s beautiful - pieces solving a puzzle.” She told him offering him the glass of alcohol.
Ward considered her for a brief moment before letting out a breath and sitting up to lean forward, reaching for the glass.
“You and I see the world differently is all.” He says simply. Skye thought about that before taking a deep breath.
“I’ve never been in a war zone during a war, until today. That was crazy. I take it you’ve seen that a lot?”
Ward sighs, reaching over to set the glass down and Skye spots the red on his white shirt, noting that he hadn't changed out of it.
“Let me guess, that's classified." Skye says with a smile on her face and he huffs out a short chuckle before nodding. "I'm sorry that happened today." She tells him, pointing at the red mark on his shirt. "No wonder you were so pissed."
“I wasn’t pissed.” Ward said slowly, trying to think of how to say what was on his mind. “I was trained to be the whole solution - to eliminate variables. And today,” he glances over at Camila’s men still playing their cards but not touching their drinks. “They keep adding up.”
Skye watches him, her own eyes darting to her peripheral vision, watching them as well before she feels the motion the plane is making under her feet.
“We’re turning.”
“We’ve entered restricted airspace so we have to follow certain flight paths, for regulation.” Skye nods. “This plane is capable of fully automated flight, but May has to be on the stick herself tonight.”
Skye snorts. “You’ve got an S.O. May’s gotta be on the stick. Lot’s of good lingo on this plane.”
Ward gives her a small smile. “Yeah. We just can’t seem to understand each other.”
While Ward and Skye tried to work things out between them Coulson had concluded Camila’s little tour of the plane upstairs in his office, showing her his collectibles.
“First walkie-talkie wristwatch, 1936, Poland.” Coulson handed it over to her. “They only made twenty, I think. Still works.”
“I forgot, you’re such a sentimentalist, Phillip. Romanticizing history.” She walked over to a bookshelf with more memorabilia. He smiled to himself, putting the wristwatch back into it’s hooks on his desk.
“Yeah, most of it is glued down.” She glanced back at him. “There was an elegance to things back then.”
“There we agree.” She circled around him.
“With everything around us changing so quickly, it doesn’t hurt to have a few touchstones to the past. Reminds me what’s important.” Coulson says watching her as he leans on his desk.
“The last thing I want to do is to relive days gone by.” She turns to face him, grabbing the door and sliding it shut. “A few nights, maybe.” She eyes him flirtatiously.
“I see what you’re doing.” He says studying her, already calculating how long it’ll take to get to the rest of the team when he’s done.
“I’m reminiscing.” She says innocently. “This plane is such a step up from the R.V. we used to work out of when you were stationed in Cusco.”
“I don’t remember much working.” She chuckles. “I also don’t remember you being this direct.”
The smile stays on Camila’s face as she lingers near the door, trying to judge if she can keep him talking or not. Her men downstairs, on the other hand, definitely have Ward’s attention.
He watches them nod just slightly to each other. He turns his attention back to the woman in front of him. She watches his face understanding what’s coming next and automatically reaches for the bottle behind her.
“Skye, hand me the bottle.” He says conversationally. She can’t help the snarky comment that slips from her lips.
“Okay, turbo. But you’re still nursing the one you got.”
“I’m not the only one.” He tells her, his eyes still on the soldiers. Her face goes serious as she hopes FitzSimmons listened to her when she told them to lock the doors of the lab.
Back upstairs Camila is still trying to seduce Coulson.
“We’re stuck above the clouds for the next few hours. We might as well enjoy ourselves.” She says quietly with a coy look on her face. “We could make a few more memories to add to your collection. What do you think?”
“I think . . .” He stands up slowly, then steps over to her “Ward already knows you’ll have to eliminate May from the equation to have a chance. Which gives him about twenty seconds to get to her first.” He predicts.
Downstairs Reyes' men finally make their move.
They rush over and Ward stands up to confront them, pushing Skye past him and she runs, darting towards the cockpit as Ward takes on the two camouflage-clothed men. One of them throws a punch and Ward grabs the hand, slamming it onto the coffee table and breaking the bottle on top of it, getting a scream for his troubles.
Skye appears in the small hallway to the cockpit as another of the soldiers attaches a small device connected to a drill onto the cockpit door. It beeps and the drill whirs but Skye jumps forward, throwing the alcohol onto the electronic device and shorting it out with a tiny explosion and smoking. Skye kicks hard at the drill, it clattering to the ground as Reyes' man spins to face her and she slams the glass in her hand into his head as he lunges for her. He shouts in pain, alerting May to her company outside and immediately she flips a switch, pressing a few buttons and takes off the headset opening the door inward and taking in the scene.
Skye, in the fighting stance May teaches her exactly a year from now, the man with blood dripping down his face from a gash on his temple, blinking rapidly as he rushes her.
May sticks out her leg, tripping him and he goes flying as Skye steps aside. It only takes a hard kick to the back of his head for the man to stay down. May glances back at the drill with a strange vial attached to it and the device and looks up without a word to Skye, thanking her silently. The younger girl nods her head and the two of them rush out to see Ward still fighting off his attackers.
He sends one flying over the couch, landing at their feet as they step out from the hallway and May leans down. With two quick hits, the second man is knocked out. Ward is taking care of the third. Skye counts them quickly.
“FitzSimmons.” She remembers too late.
Upstairs Camila whips out a knife but Coulson grabs her arm, twisting the knife out of her hands and throws her onto the couch as he runs out the door. Coulson comes rushing down the stairs to find Ward pinning one man down on the ground, but he, May and Skye staring at the monitor that shows the last soldier has Fitz in his grip with a scalpel pressed against his throat in the lab downstairs.
Reyes comes down the stairs, finding her men scattered and moaning, but moving and getting back up. May ushers Skye forward out of their way as she turns to face one, her fists raised, but she knows that Coulson will cooperate with Camila for Fitz.
Coulson turns to his old friend. “We were allies, we had history, when did you decide to throw that away?” He asks her.
“As soon as I saw your team.” She replies evenly.
She turns and nods her head at one of her men now standing again and he steps forward, with a broken piece of wood and swings it at May’s head from behind, knocking her unconscious. Skye grits her teeth, glaring at Camila as the man she hit with her glass grabs her viciously.
May and the others are gathered in a line and bound together behind the cars on the ramp. Camila keeps Coulson with her in the command center having him sitting down on the ground and tied to a post of the counter above him, while another one of her men takes over piloting the plane. Reyes' man punches Coulson hard enough to draw blood and he spits it out as she walks around the holotable to face him.
“The reason I’m still alive is because you need me to verify the change of routes for your pilot when H.Q. calls in any minute now.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“But if I don’t, SHIELD will shoot this aircraft out of the sky. That’ll take the 0-8-4 out of your hands. Maybe I should let them.”
“Oh, no, I think you’ll make the calls. You already handed me your plane for the life of one of your little lab rats. If I open the cargo hold, you’ll lose them all. And you’re such a sentimentalist.” She looks down at him condescendingly.
In the cargo hold, May is still unconscious while the others play at blaming themselves instead of trying to find a solution to the problem they face.
“This is my fault.” Fitz says looking at Simmons. “Should have learned Kung Fu.”
“Oh, yeah, but I shouldn’t have pushed you into the field in the first place. You weren’t ready.” Simmons says easily but Fitz scowls at that.
“Uh, we - we weren’t ready-”
“It was my job to make a proper threat assessment."
“I thought that I told you guys to lock yourselves into the lab!” Skye scolded the scientists. They turned to her as one.
“Yeah, how did you know they would come for us?” Fitz asks.
“Did you know this was gonna happen?” Simmons questions her.
Skye sighs, thinking quickly to give them a short and honest explanation.
“Since they stepped on this plane, they’ve been watching everything and everyone.” She says quietly. “With Reyes’ motivation and her history with Coulson, it wasn’t a stretch to see she was trying to play him for the 0-8-4. And he was letting her do it, I just don’t know why. I knew they were gonna make a play, I just hoped it wouldn’t get very far. I was hoping Coulson was in more control of it than I thought he was.” Skye pauses before diverting their attention to someone else. “But this wouldn’t have happened if Agent May wasn’t on the stick. She would’ve busted out some of her ninja know-how sooner.”
Fitz stops his line of questions at her last statement. “Agent May? No, no. No. She transferred from administration.”
“Well, I’ve seen her destroy a guy, so . . .” Skye tells them. They all look to Ward for confirmation. He sucks in a breath.
“You’ve heard of the Cavalry.”
“Yeah.” FitzSimmons say.
“Wh—everyone at the Academy talks about st—” Fitz stops short.
“She’s the Cavalry!” FitzSimmons say excitedly.
“I told you never to call me that!” May’s voice drawls towards them and they all look down at her.
“I can’t believe it! Oh, we’re sure to get out of here now.” Simmons says relieved then glances back down at May. “Um, how do we get out of here?”
The agent in question begins to sit up as she struggles with her bonds. “Can’t go through the doors. They’re bolted, tied to the pressurization lines.” She glances over at the scientists. “You two geniuses have nothing?” FitzSimmons look at each other before Fitz frowns.
“Yeah, well it’s hard to concentrate in these intense situations.”
“Hey,” Ward says in a soft voice. “Don’t freeze up. Take a breath. You don’t need to come up with the whole solution. Just part of it, right?” He asks this last part to Skye.
“Yeah, pieces solving a puzzle.” She murmurs, resigned to what they’re gonna have to do.
Meanwhile, Coulson is trying to keep Camila talking so as to give his team time to escape and take back the plane.
“You knew this was a weapon all along.”
“But you got to it first. I had to play nice. Yes, Coulson,” She looks smugly at him as she leans against the holotable. “For once, I’m actually ahead of you. My country commissioned that weapon decades ago. After the fall of Hydra, many scientists followed their Nazi friends to hide on this side of the world.” She paces as she talks, happy to finally speak the truth.
“German engineering,” Coulson recalls Fitz’s comments and manages to loosen his bonds enough that he can slip his hands through when he wants.
“The weapon was lost in a clash in the jungle, until today. With it, we’ll end the rebel uprising and finally stabilize my country.”
“You mean rule your country.”
“You stay in your borders, I’ll stay in mine.”
“Those borders are disappearing. Aliens descended on New York, remember? They don’t care whose colors you wear, they just care who’s in the way. We should be working together, not fighting.”
Down in the cargo hold, Skye finishes explaining her idea and Simmons is appalled.
“Well, that’s clearly the worst idea we’ve heard yet.”
“But it could work.” Skye persists.
“Reyes is gonna kills us when we land, regardless, and blame it on rebels. This way we have a fighting chance.” Ward supports Skye. “I’ll take it. What’s first?”
“We can’t get upstairs without going in the lab.” Fitz says.
“And the only way to release the lab doors is from upstairs.”
“The first thing is we’re tied to the cargo door.” Skye says then turns to May who in turn swings her shoulders and a cracking pop is heard.
“What the hell was that?” Fitz winces.
“Her wrist.” Ward says.
It only takes minutes before their guard comes back and he squints, frowning and counting his hostages. It takes him too long to realize there’s one missing.
May, who is hanging from the railing above the lab, swings her legs up and over, clamping around his neck and then dropping them back towards the ground, bringing him with her. He falls to the cargo ramp with a grunt, but is out cold. May lands on her feet behind him and pops her wrist back into place.
“What’s next?” She asks.
Upstairs, Reyes is still reminiscing with Coulson.
“Was it 11 years ago, now? You swooped in with SHIELD with so much confidence, so much mystery. You had a hundred men at your disposal. And now-”
“A hand-picked team. And yes, they’re that good.” Coulson brags to her.
“Oh Phil,” Camila says sympathetically. “You’re not even aware. Your renewed idealism, your collectibles, your airborne mancave, surrounding yourself with young, attractive agents - you’re having a mid-life crisis.” She’s squatting down at his level and pats him almost comfortingly on the leg.
“More an afterlife thing, really.” Coulson quips.
“And I’m not even going to mention the red corvette!” Camila says standing and walking away, before facing him again.
“Her name’s Lola.” Coulson defends his car proudly.
Camila laughs, sitting down in the corner, “Of course it is. It’s textbook. You built this team so you could feel relevant - to feel needed.”
“They don’t need me.” Coulson keeps talking. “They need time.”
“Well, time is not on their side.” She replies.
“No, but you gave them something better - a common enemy.” Coulson smirks at her.
Downstairs the entire team is free from their bonds, standing in front of the lab.
“Okay, we’re sure, right? Everyone’s sure?” Skye confirms.
“We’re all on board.” Simmons assures her.
“Yeah, let’s do this fast.” Fitz says.
“No turning back. No freezing up.” Ward tells them.
“Because if we do . . .”
“All of us die.” Ward finishes for Fitz.
“We know.” Simmons says nervously.
“All right.” Ward says and the engine to the SHIELD truck revs. They all turn to see May standing in the open drivers doorway.
“You guys talk a lot.” She says.
The team moves out of the way as she drives the truck and crashes through the locked lab doors.
Everyone on the plane can feel the crash and Reyes orders her men in Spanish not to go down there, she knows it’s what the team wants.
Meanwhile, Simmons is unscrewing bolts to open ventilation shaft. Fitz fetches his DWARF and it’s tablet controller and Skye opens a metal cabinet looking for harnesses and ropes they can latch themselves into. May immediately goes for the far door and pushes it open with her strength so she can head straight for the cockpit. Ward helps create harnesses and ties Skye and FitzSimmons together in preparation for what’s about to happen. At the same time, Fitz controls his DWARF and flies it into the plane’s ventilation system.
Camila stays in the command center waiting and then a voice comes through the radio.
“SHIELD 6-1-6 we have radar contact. Requesting confirmation on a change in course. Over.”
Camila draws her gun and points it at Coulson.
“Answer it or they all learn what a 30,000-foot drop feels like.”
“Agent Coulson are you there? You have course confirmation. You are cleared direct to the Slingshot.” The SHIELD agent at H.Q. tells him.
Coulson loosens his bonds, ready to break out of his bonds as Camila looks towards the holotable. Then he recognizes the familiar sound of Fitz’s DWARF flying around and glances to the left, seeing it flying low through the lounge area towards the 0-8-4 sitting on the coffee table. Correctly guessing his team’s plan, Coulson quickly wraps his bonds around his arm and clings to the post behind him.
“Agent Coulson! Everything alright up there? We heard you had a little dustup on the ground.”
Camila turns back to him, the gun only a few inches from his forehead.
“Yeah, we’re all good. It’s gonna be blue skies from here on out.” Coulson tells H.Q.
The rest of the team, line up outside of the door upstairs, waiting for Fitz who is tapping at his control tablet to the DWARF.
“Simmons,” He addresses her. “Forget what I said before. This is the moment that we’ll regret.”
He taps a final command and the DWARF that is hovering above the 0-8-4 weapon emits a pulse of energy at the right point of contact and the blue lines of the device glow stronger as it seems to power up, flashing before it emits a bright ray of energy and then pulverizes a chair and the wall of the plane behind it. A hole appears in the side of the plane and the winds outside sucks a soldier out into the sky.
Coulson is luckily hanging on by his ropes, even though the wind is trying to suck him out of the plane, while Camila has been knocked out of her seat.
There’s a ding and then a light on the panel next to the door the team's outside of turns green.
"It worked!” Skye says happily.
“The drop in cabin pressure released the doors.” Simmons explains to Ward.
He nods. “I’ll take care of the soldiers. You guys get to the 0-8-4.”
“And Coulson?” Fitz asks.
“Let’s hope he can handle himself.” Ward says then yanks the door open.
One of Reyes' men is desperately hanging on to the outside of the command center and starts shooting at them.
“Get back!” Ward shouts to the others.
The man rushes for Ward and jumps up onto the couch. Ward blocks his punches and knocks him off his feet. He jumps over the back onto the cushions and the gun the other man is pointing at him, jumping to his side and kicking the man away from him. The first soldier gets back to his feet but Ward swings off the couch and throws him onto it, yanking the seatbelt around his arms to pin him down.
“Go now! Find the 0-8-4!” He yells above the winds to his team and they struggle to get through the hallway. The other soldier comes back, knocking Ward down as the team makes their way around the couch.
Meanwhile, the last soldier who is piloting the plane, struggles to keep the plane flying upright. May comes through the cockpit door and the soldier stands up to confront her. She blocks his swing and with one solid blow he’s thrown back against the controls and the plane begins to nosedive.
FitzSimmons and Skye are knocked to the ground while Ward continues to grapple with the two soldiers. Coulson is still in the air, hanging onto the ripe tied to the post in the command center.
“Coulson!” Camila shouts as she’s dragged across the ground toward the hole. They reach for each other and manage to grab on tightly.
“Hold on! It’s gonna be okay!” Coulson uses his strength to drag her back towards him and the command center.
Ward is using a seatbelt from the couch to stop from being sucked out the plane but continues fighting one of the soldiers.
Simmons reaches for the alien weapon which had been sucked up and stuck in the wall. She heaves it out, stumbling with the weight but manages to stay on her feet, squinting through her hair whipping around.
“I’ve got it!”
“Fitz, reel us back in!” Skye yells.
“I’ve got you!" He reassures them.
A flyer lands on Skye’s face and she rips it away, glancing down at it and remembering what she can do to help. She reads it quickly and then unbuckles herself from Fitz and Simmons.
“What are you doing?” Simmons asks. “We need your help!”
“Trust me!” Skye shouts back at them and crawls away.
Coulson helps Camilla back into the command center and ties her to the post he was previously bound to.
“Don’t want you to know what a 30,000-foot drop feels like!” He yells at her.
Meanwhile, May leans forward and with two more blows knocks the soldier to the ground so she can lean over and attempt to level out the plane. But the soldier gets back to his feet and grabs her by the head, tearing her away from the controls. She twists out of his grip easily, punching him in the gut so he’s out of breath, grabbing his head and slamming him into the controls to daze him, kicks him behind the leg so he drops to his knees and then slams his head against the cabin wall, knocking him unconscious. She drops into the pilot’s seat and takes control of the plane once more.
Ward and one of the soldiers are fighting for control but the soldier is repeatedly hitting his wound and he can’t help wincing.
At the same time, Skye is crawling behind the seats, opening a red cabinet and dragging something thick and yellow from it. The other soldier manages to grab hold of the rope tying FitzSimmons together, knocking her off her feet. Fitz rushes to get to her first.
“Cut him loose!” Simmons tells Fitz and they both unbuckle their harnesses from the rope, sending the soldier flying back with no weight to anchor him down. He knocks back into Ward and the other soldier behind the command center too close to the hole in the plane.
“Sorry!”
“Sorry, Ward!” Fitz and Simmons apologize over the noise. He can’t pay attention to them as he and the soldier are clinging to each other while Ward hangs onto the doorway of the command center. The soldier lunges forward for a better grip on Ward's arm as Ward himself hangs onto the camouflage shirt.
"Hold on!" Ward shouts, but the soldier's shirt rips and he goes flying from Ward's grip out the side of the plane.
Skye finally hits a button and the yellow material inflates into a big yellow raft that is sucked towards the hole and instead is just big enough to block Ward from flying out the plane next. He drops to the ground and the remaining soldier crawls for a gun but Coulson steps on his hand.
He punches him out and grabs the gun. Skye watches as Ward leans against the yellow raft tiredly and FitzSimmons lift themselves up from behind the couch again to check on the damage to the rest of the plane.
Skye offers her hand to Ward and she helps him to his feet. “I read the safety pamphlet.” She tells him.
“I think you might be the first.” He tells her wryly. They all meet Coulson at the bar outside of the command center.
“No other way in, huh?” He asks his team, setting a broken glass down on the bar. "I was just starting to warm up to this place." Skye reaches for a coaster and places it underneath the broken glass. Coulson can't help smiling at her as she drops into a stool.
"The 0-8-4 is cooling and stable." Fitz tells them through his panting. "But we should call H.Q. and get it to the Slingshot as soon as possible."
Coulson turns to Camila who is listening to them angrily. "Told you they were good." He grins down at her.
When they finally land in the "classified location" Coulson examines his car, making sure nothing terrible happened to it.
"Not a scratch," Skye observes walking over to him, "but your plane's totaled. I hope SHIELD insurance covers hijackings."
"Sure under 'incidentals.'" Coulson jokes. Skye laughs tiredly then remembers her script.
"What exactly am I signing up for?" She asks.
"Like I said, front row seat to the craziest show on Earth."
You got that right. Skye can't help thinking. "Yeah, but I didn't expect the show to get this crazy, this fast. All for an object you're just gonna destroy." She gestures out towards the rocket launcher.
"Slingshot is protocol." Coulson tells her. "A weapon like the 0-8-4 is too dangerous for any person or country to have. People like Reyes would always be after it." Coulson wets a handkerchief with his tongue and cleans Lola's hood with it.
"What happened with Reyes anyway?" Skye asks him.
"She's being held at a SHIELD detainment facility. I expect the Peruvian government will negotiate for her release. She probably won't spend much time in jail."
"No, I mean what happened with you and Reyes?" She says it this time laced with double meaning. "You guys totally did it back in the day, right?" Skye grins at him.
"That's classified." He cocks an eyebrow at her and she scoffs at him.
"Looks like Skye might end up as more than just a consultant, despite our reservations." Ward says to May as he watches Coulson walk away from her. "She could turn into a solid asset, with some serious work." Ward thinks out loud.
May turns to him, assessing him, trying to figure out his real reasons for wanting Skye close to him.
"Well, if she wants to be a SHIELD agent, she'll need a supervising officer." May says, glancing at Skye leaning against the supplies. "Someone disciplined. Someone good." Ward catches May's look and understands instantly.
"All right. I'll do it." He pauses thinking for a moment. "Just to clarify, you were, uh, talking about me, right?" May hides her smile as she and Ward continue putting away gear.
"We blew up a plane." Fitz says to Simmons proudly as they come down the stairs with a cooler.
"I had a new experience." Simmons says happily.
"Eat that Professor Vaughn." Fitz continues, ignoring Simmons.
"You had a new experience. But it was new for all of us." She sounds excited about it.
"They're happy." May observes. Fitz glances back at the rest of them.
"Hey, guys, come on. You don't want to miss this."
He and Simmons sit down on the open ramp and the others file down after them, sitting down with them to watch the facility miles out get ready to launch the 0-8-4 into outer space.
"So it'll take about 180 days to reach the sun. Now yes, of course it would've been faster if they'd used hydrogen-fueled APUs, but they're having fun."
"How many of those have you guys had?" Sky asks as the others all grab beers from the cooler and sit down.
"Skye," Simmons laughs, trying to seem more experienced than she is. "It's important when in the field to unwind from time to time."
"Yeah, yeah. Especially after a hard day of everyone almost dying." Fitz says enthusiastically.
"Which doesn't happen every day, right? It's an anomaly - an irregularity. Not . . . the norm." Simmons looks up at Coulson warily as he paces over to the side.
"Speaking of 'not the norm.' Whose idea was it to blow a hole in the plane?" Coulson asks seriously.
Everyone looks up nervously at him while Skye who is still standing takes the lead. "Well, May said that the doors were tied to the pressurization so I thought-"
"So we thought, it was the only way to release them." Simmons concludes for Skye, trying to take the heat off of her.
"It was everyone's idea sir." Ward speaks up.
"Yes, it's quite genius, really." Fitz says.
"Nice work." Coulson says and Skye narrows her eyes at him, finally understanding the entire case had been about building relations with each other and acting like a team.
"All clear for liftoff." A voice comes over the intercom."
"Oh, time for blastoff." Fitz says excitedly. "Launching in three . . . two . . ." He mimics and right on cue a rocket launches from the base miles out from them so they don't get any kickback. "The trajectory will take it beyond the Lagrange point so that it doesn't hit Herschel."
"Yeah, and there haven't been any coronal mass ejections, so it shouldn't lose telemetry." Simmons agrees with him.
"Guys, English." Ward says tiredly.
They all watch the rocket together as a team.
Skye's cell phone buzzes in her pocket and she takes it out reading the familiar text.
>Rising Tide in a holding pattern
>Planning to go dark
>What is your status?
>>Reply:
She thinks about it for a minute, taking a step back from the rest of the team and Coulson notices. She frowns down at her phone then types four words.
>>Reply: No Go. I'm Out.
She tucks the 2013 phone back into her pocket and sighs, releasing the stress of one problem out of her system before training her eyes back on the rocket in the sky.
THE NEXT DAY:
"Really? Really, Coulson?" Fury asks the man as they stand in the wreckage of the lounge area on the BUS. "Six days? It only took you six days to take a completely renovated piece of state-of-the-art machinery and turn it into scrap?"
"My team acted with my authority." Coulson takes the scolding easily.
"Don't talk to me about authority. Do you know how much this plane cost? It's got a bar?" Fury walks over, admiring it. "A really nice one. Talking to me about authority." He mutters, turning back to Coulson and striding back over to him. "You know I have the authority to downgrade your ass to a Winnebago."
"I'm aware of that sir."
"Well, I want it fixed, just like you found it!" Fury says pointing his finger in Coulson's face. "So, don't have FitzSimmons, going making modifications, like a-a-a-a . . . damn fish tank."
"Yes, sir."
"And the new girl - she's a risk."
"I know, sir."
"You know, sir." He huffs and walks past Coulson. "How's Lola?" Coulson smiles to himself.
"She's fine, sir. Thanks for asking."
"Talking to me about authority." Fury shakes his head at himself heading for the cockpit.
Coulson puts his finger to his ear to speak through the coms. "Yeah, we're gonna have to kill the fish tank."
Fury opens the cockpit door to find Agent May already there overseeing a couple of construction men working on loose paneling and controls. Fury glares at them and they scatter.
"Are we-"
"We're clear, sir. No bugs or anything." May stands in front of the chairs, in an at-ease position while Fury leans against the cockpit wall.
"Alright, what was so important-"
"Skye, the hacker? She wanted to meet with you. Said she had things we both needed to hear."
"So?"
"Sir, she's hasn't been in my cockpit since she step foot on this plane, and the first time she does she tells me to contact you through my encrypted hard line."
Fury is silent at that but nods his head. "What's your take on her?"
May thinks for a long moment before speaking shortly and succinctly. "I think she understands the value of a secret even though she joined the Rising Tide. I think she's been trained by a SHIELD agent. I also think she has a lot of secrets that she's willing to share with us. She seems to know things that will happen before they do. Everything she does, everything she says is well calculated and thought out."
"You think she's Gifted." Fury assumes quietly and May nods.
"She has better senses than anyone I've ever met, but deliberately makes my team underestimate her."
"Alright, let's set something up before the plane is completely repaired. I'll stick around for another forty-eight hours. Get her alone and bring her to me." Fury orders.
May nods to him and he turns towards the door.
"Sir?" Fury looks back. "I think she knows about Coulson."
Fury's lips tighten and he sighs. "Thanks for the warning."