The Dividing Lines

Jemma stood rigidly in the middle of a small entrance hall, May had let them in but only reluctantly had now left them near the door while she disappeared into the rest of the house. Apparently, May had assumed that Jemma was not, in fact, a threat. Although in her initial shock she had dmitted to mistrusting the stranger.

Jemma looked around, resembling a nervous child as she held her hands in front of her, wringing her fingers and scanning the environment in awe. The house looked like it could have been transported directly from earth, or one of the surrounding colonies, with real wood and dark green walls. The air was fresh and natural.

On the left side a few feet away from the door their was a coat rack, made out of solid wood with simple designs that couldhave easily have been hand made, Jemma felt like she had been transported back in time.The place looked like a museum piece. The top of the coat rack was a shelf, probably meant for hats,but instead it held three small holographic pictures, playing a single moment over and over again, with a small base made out of fake dark wood.

The librarian walked up to the holo-pictures, the one in the middle, the most prominent one, was of a man, presumably Skye’s father, laughing and holding onto a little girl that was about three years old. The child laughed and shrieked silently while the man held on to her sweetly. Skye was an adorable child with chubby cheeks and a wide smiling face.

Jemma had to stop herself from making an out loud declaration of aww at the photo. The Holo-picture to the right was of a couple, the man from the first photo and a much younger captain May. They stood next to each other and the man glanced at May fondly but they didn’t display any overtly affectionate movements. It could have been a wedding photo although, neither of them were dressed up, May looked like she was in a space uniform and the man was in a casual suit that looked out of place next to the captain in a practical uniform.

On the other side there was simply a moving holographic picture of a squat, little happy toddler. Skye, as a baby had rosy little cheeks and bright eyes that lit up her whole face. She was holding a sparkling blue orb that seemed to be trying to get away from her, pulling away from her chubby little fingers only to be drug back and hugged by the trap like arms of the two year old.

“A Zandoran cat.”

Jemma jumped and backed away startled, her eyes went over to where the stern looking woman was standing about a foot behind her, “Excuse me?” More on instincts than anything.

“That--.” She said, pointing to the picture of little Skye with the orb, “It’s called a Zandoran cat, she had one as a pet, named it Oogle.” The captain explained dryly to a question that Jemma hadn’t asked.

“Now, tell me what’s going on?” She gestured for Jemma and Nueh’nah to follow her through the house. The home was dark, matching the decor from the entrance way, but it was cozy and unlike what Jemma had imagined when she thought about Captain Melinda May. She wondering if this was the same house that Skye would have lived in from time to time or if they had bought it after she was grown.

The whole house was filled with pictures, holographic pictures on every surface and framed photos on the walls. In the short walk from the entry hall to the living room, Jemma was able to see Skye at every age in her life from chubby little baby to a young woman standing next to her first ship.

Their living area had several chairs that were comfortable looking and resembled furniture from Earth, again someone in this house had an obsession with earth. A man was leaning up against a post, his arms crossed, with an expression of concern over his gentle features. When they entered the room he left his position and walked up to their visitor, holding out a hand.

“Phil Coulson.” He stated, with the eased confidence of someone who had done that a lot during their life, He was a kind yet professional loking man with a slightly balding forhead that he apparently never tried using enhancments for.

Jemma shook his hand, “I’m Dr. Jemma Simmons. And this is Nueh’nah.” She gestured to the girl behind her and Coulson shook the younger girls hand as well.

“Is Skye alright?” He asked, examining Jemma’s expression closely, May was standing behind him, her arms crossed and her expression murderous.

Jemma sighed, the entirety of everything that had happed over the past week dawning on her like pile of bricks, Coulson put a hand on her arm, apparently she looked like she was about to faint. He gestured to one of the chairs, “Sit down and tell us what’s happened...”

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"Ugh!" Morse hit the side of the ship and kicked it for good measure, she rubbed her face, angry with indecision.

behind her the Black Widow was laughing at her reaction on the viewing screen, "Having a bit of a moral delemma, Morse?"

She had just informed the newly free pirate that Simmons had stolen a shuttle and left the safety of the Mockingbird, claiming that she had "Unfinished business." Morse had just been feeling good about the effort that she had put into helping the Dr. and now she knew something had gone wrong.

Morse glared at the Widow, "If I had been on that ship this wouldn't have happened. Ugh, this is that Ward's fault, he must have done something to really piss off that girl."

"Yeah sorry about that." The Widow said innocently with a little smile, she was having too much fun watching this ordeal play out.

Morse looked at her, unsure of what she meant, then Romanov lifted her hand and wiggled the paper volumes in the air with a little giggle. Bobbie's eyes widened, "Are you fucking kidding me, Romanov?"

"What?" She asked calmly, "My wife's at work and I needed something to do, this was good practice, these babies are worth an infinite amount, especially with the scandal that's surrounding them now."

Morse looked livid, "You framed me."

The Widow shrugged her shoulders, "You belong in our world, Bobbie, don't even try to tell me that breaking out didn't fill you with a sense of freedom that you missed. I did you a favor."

She was right. But Bobbie wasn't going to give her the satisfaction, "That wasn't your decision to make, Romanov."

The Black Widow put her hands up, "Here, let me make it up to you, take these." She showed two of the books to the screen.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with those?"

"Sell them and start over, of course, you've really forgotten a lot haven't you?" She was smiling at Bobbie in a friendly way.

Bobbie sighed and a moment later She had transported the volumes onto the floor next to her, she looked up, "There were more than this."

"I need to keep something for a souvenir. Now, why don't you take those, get yourself some credit, buy a bigger ship and start again, You could even break your old buddy Lance out of prison, if he'll forgive you for ratting him out, that is."

Morse raised an eyebrow, "He better forgive me, I saved his damn life."

The Widow chuckled, "I don't know if he'll see it like that."

Morse sighed, "No. I'm going to see what the hell Simmons is doing, I never leave anything undone. Oh, and Widow, tell me the next time you decide to make major life decisions for me, yeah?"

The Black Widow winked and shut off the screen.

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“...And then he shot her.” Jemma put her face in her hands, stressing over the memory of what Ward had done.

Coulson and May exchanged a look, talking in some kind of silent language that was only theirs and was perfected over many years of marriage.

“But she’s alive.” May took a step closer to the group so that they created a small circle in the middle of the living area.

Jemma nodded, “I believe so. But She’s out there alone and I need help to get her back, Alecta brought me here I can only assume that she knew that you could help.”

There was a pause where everything went quiet, then May put her arms down, “I’ll go
get the ship.”

Jemma looked up at her confused, “Wait, that’s all?”

May had just made to walk away but she stopped and turned to face them again, “This man shot my daughter in the back. He’s going to pay.”

May's face was like concrete but her husband didn't look quite as convinced from what Jemma had told them. He looked around with wide eyes that stopped on Jemma. “Wait, she kidnapped you? Why are you even trying to help her?” Coulson piped in suspciously.

“Oh-- Well-I-- I mean..” A blush moved it’s way up Jemma’s face and down her neck before she could properly respond, and she looked away in embaresment.

May and Coulson exchanged another look, the captain rolled her eyes as she had caught onto what the librarian was saying much faster than her husband “Think about it, Phil.”
It dawned on him and he suddenly said “Oh..” as it dawned on him and he nodded quickly at the woman with a smile, dropping the subject.

In the next moment Phil stood up, “Lets go get this bastard.” Then everyone was moving fast and Jemma and Nueh’nah were rushing and struggling just to keep up.

“Are you getting a crew together?” Jemma inquired, following closley behind May.

She was answered simply by a small chuckle from May as she shook her head and walked away, a handheld in her grasp. She hit a few buttons and suddenly the one of the natural looking walls turned over revealing an armory that could equip an entire army. Jemma’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the mix of classic weapons and guns and also some weapons that didn’t look like they were even out of testing stage yet.

May smirked at Jemma’s shocked face, “Impressive?”

Jemma nodded adamantly, her eyes still wide, May moved and pulled a moderately large gun off of the hidden rack, she handed it to the shorter woman. “You know how to use this?”

Jemma’s face wasn’t convincing, “Probably, yes.”

May raised a skeptical eyebrow, “It’s a next gen, small with the power of a shotgun with none of the mess. Take it and keep it close, you’ll probably need it.”

"Why are you trusting me here? I mean, what if I was lying to you, how would you know?"

May smiled at her and before Jemma could even blink there was a knife at her throat that had come out of nowhere, "Because, If you're lying to me. I'll kill you."

Jemma gulped and nodded, "Good insurance." She always dd have a problem with asking questions that could get her into trouble.

May turned away from her while Jemma moved the gun around in her hands, feeling the light weight and the position, she gave it a few test aims, then clicked it into stun mode and glanced at Skye’s mother.

“You know, Skye robbed an entire ship with an empty gun.”

May looked back and sighed, “She’s gets that from her father, you know.” Her face still didn’t have that much expression but Jemma chuckled.

“She’s going to be fine, right? I mean, we’ll get her before anything happens?” Jemma’s voice was solemn and young. She felt like she could be frank around this woman, like truth was the only thing that she would accept.

The older woman halted and looked directly into Jemma’s eyes, “Nothing is certain here, Dr. Simmons. Now board the ship, I’ll be right behind you.”

“Don’t you need help supplying the ship?” She asked gesturing to the armory.

May gave that dry chuckle, “It’s already supplied, this is just my backup storage.”

A few moments later Jemma stepped out of the back door to the house and came face to face with an incredibly large ship that must have been cloaked previously. She felt like she was witnessing a legend in action, and in all reality, she probably was, The Calvary was everything she would have dreamed it would be.

It was an older style ship, however, it’s hull and body looked like it had been refurnished recently and you could find remnants of nearly every single galaxy and culture in the design of the exterior. Jemma could see several languages sealed into the seams of the ship, all flowing forward to the very edge of the hull where there was written, “The Calvary.” in bold, simple lettering that resembled Captain May perfectly.

Jemma boarded The Calvary, looking around in awe at the interior of the ship which was even more diverse than the exterior. It was large and spacious on the inside and although everything was practical and not very ostentatious, there was art work and furniture designs that had come from every corner of the universe. She felt like she had walked into an intergalactic cultural convention.

“Jemma!” Nueh’nah ran up from the bridge where she had been with Coulson, her eyes were wide and bright, the librarian had never seen her so excited.

“What is it?” Jemma asked, getting excited simply because the girl was so energetic.

Nueh’nah moved to the side and grabbed a small, stuffed toy from one of the chairs. It was patched and it was of an animal that Jemma had never seen before, it resembled something close to a hippo mixed with a cat with antlers? “This is from Tah’Reh!” She cried, holding the toy up so that the older woman could see it.

“We had so many of these in my village! They’ve been everywhere!” She opened her arms and gestured to the entire ship.

Jemma laughed, “Yes, they have! It’s incredible.”

She was then led into the bridge which was a large domed room with a full size viewing screen in the front. The equipment inside was state of the art.

Phil was messing with a console on the far right and he looked up when they entered, he looked stressed but he smiled nonetheless when he saw the toy that Nueh’nah was still holding. “We got that about fifteen years ago, Skye picked it up in a shop in Peyt, it was from one of the traditional toy makers there.” He explained, “You can keep it if you want.”

Nueh’nah smiled and thanked him, although Jemma guessed that the girl was keeping it whether or not Coulson offered it to her, at least judging by the way she was holding it to her body possesively.

Before Jemma could say anything else she was again shocked to find that May had somehow moved right next to her without her knowledge.

“We’re ready to go. Set the coordinates to The O’Nahn galactic docking center at the capitol.” Phil immediately punched in the coordinates and turned around as the ship lifted off the ground.

Jemma looked up as a familiar voice came through the intercom, “Let’s go get this bastard. I knew you’d know what to do, Melinda.”

May smirked, “I’ve missed you too, Alecta.”