Theta Protocol

When they touched down at the Playground everyone was already gathered in the cargo hold. May came down from the cockpit to join the group while Coulson descended from his office. Everyone stared at him.

“Fitzsimmons, head to the labs. Keep testing the obelisk crystals and Raina’s blood. Try to learn as much as you can about what might have happened to Skye so that we know how to help her when we find her. Bobbi, Hunter, Tripp, Mack get Bakshi out of the cage and put him in an interrogation room then get Agent 33 and secure her in Vault D. We don’t know what her mental status is but we need to begin searching for a way to undo Whitehall’s brainwashing. Bobbi I want you to resume your interrogation of Bakshi once he is conscious. He knew about the location of Whitehall’s lab, see if he knows where Whitehall would go if the lab were compromised. Everyone else, let’s head to my office.” Coulson ordered.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents all nodded as they went to their tasks. May fell in step behind Coulson as the two led the way to his office. The Avengers were right behind them. Coulson was just hoping that the rest of the team would be as understanding as Nat and Clint had been.

Line Break

When they got to his office Coulson took up his usual spot standing behind his desk and May stood beside him with her hands clasped in front of her, ready to challenge anyone who got aggressive with Phil. She understood that they were all angry with him and why, but angry people were unpredictable and she wasn’t taking any chances with his safety. Not when she just got him back.

Clint and Nat stood by the windows, they both leaned on the cupboards lining the wall. Their body language was much more relaxed and less confrontational than the others. Steve stood in front of the desk with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Bruce stood awkwardly behind Steve and Tony not looking at anything in particular. Tony immediately walked up and slammed both hands on Coulson’s desk.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Tony shouted. May immediately unclasped her hands and balled them into fists at her sides. Coulson held up a hand to tell her to stand down. Not that she did.

“I’m sorry Tony. I’m sorry to all of you, but I couldn’t tell you before S.H.I.E.L.D. fell without breaking Fury’s orders and ever since Hydra came out we have been too busy rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. for me to come talk to you guys.” Coulson said calmly.

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I get why you didn’t tell us you were alive. I’m not happy about it, but I get it. No, I’m talking about going to face a fucking god, alone, and getting yourself killed.” Tony snapped. Coulson looked like he had been slapped in the face. He took a few seconds to formulate a response to Tony’s statement.

“Tony, I didn’t think I had a choice. I knew Loki was going down to Thor and I was the only person available to try and stop him. I had to do something.” Coulson said.

“But you didn’t! All that you accomplished was getting yourself killed and leaving us to mourn for you for months!” Tony was trying to keep his voice from shaking but he knew he wasn’t doing a great job.

“I- Tony, I’m so sorry I hurt you. I can’t imagine how it must have felt to hear that I had died but it wasn’t your fault.” By the look on Tony’s face Coulson knew he had hit the nail on the head. Tony wasn’t mad at him for confronting Loki, he was mad at himself for Coulson’s death. Coulson took a moment to look around the room and he realized all of the Avengers wore the same guilty expression.

“It was none of your faults. I made a choice to go down there. I knew that I was confronting an alien from another planet who had killed hundreds of people, but I wasn’t about to let him walk away without doing something. I wasn’t about to let him kill Thor without trying to stop him. None of you share any of the blame for my decision. It rests solely with me, and I would do it again if anyone on my team was in danger.” Coulson made sure each and every one of the assembled Avengers looked him in the eyes while he spoke so they would have no doubt of his conviction. He couldn’t believe how stupid he had been. He hadn’t considered the toll that his death would have taken on all of them. It wasn’t just about them mourning his loss, they all felt responsible for not stopping Loki themselves. Coulson had never regretted his decision to not reach out more.

“I am so sorry you all have had to live with this for so long. I hope that you can let it go now. If you have to be angry with someone, stop being angry with yourselves and be angry with me.” Coulson said. Steve looked around the room at each of his teammates before taking a deep breath.

“We aren’t angry with you. You acted heroically. We are just relieved to have you back with us now sir.” Steve said, then he held out his hand. After a moment Coulson took it and they shook. Steve looked to Stark.

“Tony?” Steve asked.

“Just- don’t ever do anything that stupid again Agent. Got it?” Tony said.

“I got it. Thanks Stark.” Coulson said, and the two shook hands. The tension seemed to bleed out of the room as quickly as it had come.

“Thank you all for coming to get me. I am in your debt. If you want to go back to your base and resume your usual activities I completely understand, but if you are willing, we could really use your help to find Skye.” Coulson spoke, he knew that now that they had cleared the air they may want to just leave but he was really hoping they would be willing to stick around. Steve looked at each of his teammates who all made some sort of gesture to him before he turned to Coulson and spoke.

“We are in this fight now sir. We will help you get her back and take down Hydra.” Steve said in his Captain America voice. If Coulson wasn’t so worried about Skye he might have fainted.

“Thank you Captain, I really appreciate it. In that case, Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark, perhaps you would like to join Fitzsimmons in the lab. You are free to use any and all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s resources, whatever you think will help in the search. Captain Rogers, you and I will go through old S.H.I.E.L.D. files for any research we can find on Dr. Whitehall. May, Romanoff, Barton, if you would like to join Bobbi in interrogating Mr. Bakshi, I don’t think anyone would be able to keep anything from the four of you.” Coulson said, as always if felt weird to him to be ordering around Captain America but there was something familiar and comforting about working with Nat and Clint again.

With several nods the group began to disperse from the room. Finally, it was just May and Coulson left.

“Are you ok?” May asked him as she moved around to sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

“Yeah, I guess. I just never considered how much damage I could be doing to them by staying away. I knew they would be mourning but I never imagined they would be blaming themselves… I never wanted to hurt any of them.” Phil said as he sat down in his seat with a sigh.

“They know that Phil. You would never hurt any of them on purpose.” May spoke with a soft smile. She needed to make sure Phil wasn’t being too hard on himself. She knew hearing how hurt they all were would be hard on him.

“Yeah, I never realized how much it was weighing on me either. Now that they know, it feels like a giant weight has been lifted off of me. It feels like I have a missing piece of my family back. Now we just have to make it whole again.” Coulson finished with a steely determination in his voice that May knew meant he was back in action mode.

“Bakshi will tell us everything he knows Phil. He doesn’t have a choice.” May said with an equal amount of steel in her voice. She gave him one final nod as she left the room.

He knew that with May, Nat, Clint, and Bobbi working together Bakshi wouldn’t be able to hide anything. The problem was that he might not know where Whitehall would have taken Skye, and without that, they were out of leads. Coulson had no idea where to begin the search.

In the solitude of his office, Coulson allowed himself a brief moment to fall apart. He put his head in his hands and cried, the images of Skye strapped to that table flashed before his eyes, he saw Cal’s lifeless body on the roof, he heard Skye’s screams as the blade cut into her skin, heard her pleading for him as she was wheeled out of the room, out of his sight.

About five minutes later, after Coulson had regained his breathing and composure, he rose from his chair and straightened his shoulders. He wouldn’t let himself wallow in his worry and fear for her. That wouldn’t bring her home. He was going to get back to work and save his girl.

Line Break

Skye is running through the base. It is completely empty. The whole place is dark except for the lights that come on above her wherever she goes. She feels nothing but panic.

She is screaming for Coulson, for May. She can’t find them. Why can’t she find them? They should be here.

She runs up to the windows outside the lab and sees something on the table inside. She hears a strange sound coming from within.

All of a sudden Skye is inside the lab standing beside the table. She sees the object on the table clearly. It is the obelisk. The sound has gotten louder. It sounds like a mumbling human voice but she can’t make out what it is saying.

Suddenly Coulson is at the table too. He is dressed in one of his suits like he would wear for a mission. Then May is there too. She is wearing her mission suit.

“What are you guys doing, we shouldn’t be here we have a mission to prep for.” Skye says. Neither of them look at her.

“This is the mission.” Coulson says.

“You are the mission” May says.

“What do you mean I’m the mission?” Skye asks. She looks down at the obelisk on the table. Glowing symbols have popped out of the sides of the obelisk. The sound is getting clearer.

Skye looks back up at May and Coulson. They are dressed like her favorite foster parents. The Brody’s. Skye really liked them. She called Mrs. Brody mom. Mrs. Brody must not have liked her. They sent her back.

Coulson is holding a baby. May is caressing the baby’s cheek.

“It’s not safe. Wherever she goes, death follows.” May says.

“I know.” Coulson says, and he puts the baby down on the table. They both lean down and kiss the baby on the head. First Coulson then May. They grab each other’s hands and turn and walk away.

“Wait, wait! Don’t leave her! It’s not safe! She needs you! Please!” Skye screams at them but they don’t stop. They are gone.

Skye turns to watch the baby. The baby crawls up to the obelisk and grabs ahold of it. Skye wants to stop it but she can’t. All she can do is watch. The sound gets clearer. Skye can almost make out what it is saying

When the baby touches the obelisk it opens and blue crystals begin to jut out of the center. The baby smiles and claps its hands as the crystals grow. Suddenly mist shoots out of the crystals. The mist strikes Skye in the chest and she feels like she can’t breathe.

The baby lets out a laugh as rock envelops Skye’s body as she screams. Pain shoots through her body.

The rock falls away and Skye collapses to the ground. She is not in the lab anymore. She is in her cell. The sound gets louder.

Skye throws her hands over her ears to try to block out the voice. Someone laughs at her. Skye looks up. Dr. Whitehall is standing over her. The sound is coming from him. She knows what he is saying.

“Discovery requires experimentation.”

Skye bolts upright in her bed in her cell. Her stomach feels like its on fire as her breaths come short and fast. She manages to push herself into the corner with her back up against the wall. With a lot of difficulty she wraps her casted arms around her legs and tries to calm her racing heart.

The nightmare is nothing new, she has been having it or ones like it for weeks now. Or at least it feels like weeks. Skye has no idea how long it has actually been. She has no way to keep track of time in here.

For the first several days they kept her on a sedative and she slept most of the day. Now she isn’t being sedated anymore but that also means she doesn’t have anything to deal with the pain. Every waking moment feels like agony. Sleep is the only refuge from the physical pain but that brings a whole different type of pain. There is no respite from the fear, even in sleep.

They bring her meals every once in a while, but it is only enough to keep her alive and support her body enough to heal. She has lost a lot of weight. Occasionally, Skye catches a reflection of herself in the window and she doesn’t recognize the person staring back at her. She has dark, ugly circles under her eyes. Her cheeks have begun to hollow out. Her hair hangs limply by her face in a greasy mess. Her bangs are growing out so they are constantly hanging in her eyes.

She still tries to hang onto the hope that her team will find her, but as each day goes by she is finding it harder and harder. If they were going to find her they would have done it by now right? I mean it’s not like she would be the top priority anyway. When Coulson was with her they had to come, they had to get him back. Now that they have saved him, they probably just wrote her off as a lost cause. A casualty of war.

She knows that those thoughts aren’t realistic but the isolation and pain have broken her down to a point where she doesn’t have the strength left to battle the negative thoughts. A part of her knows that May and Coulson would never give up on her, but the rest of her is saying that they are just like every foster family she ever stayed with, and they all gave up on her eventually.

She is too tired to dwell on those thoughts too much though. As her breathing and heart rate even out Skye lets go of her legs. She scooches to the edge of her bed and gingerly stands. The shaking in her legs has improved as she has healed from the surgery. The first time she tried to stand after it happened she collapsed into a painful heap on the floor. They left her there until the next time they came in to bring her food which felt like hours later. It probably was.

She slowly and carefully makes her way to the toilet in the corner. The first several times she had to use it she couldn’t get over the shame and embarrassment of relieving herself right next to a window with a few dozen scientists and soldiers on the other side. Now she can’t find the energy to care. Skye idly thinks that she should be concerned about her level of apathy but instead she just makes her way back over to the bed and collapses onto it.

She rolls over onto her side and finds a semi comfortable position. Slowly sleep creeps up and overtakes her once more.

Line Break

It has been three weeks since the team returned to the base from rescuing Coulson. Three weeks in which they have made no progress. Three weeks in which patience has been stretched thin and frustration has crept in.

The Avengers have come to feel like a part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. They have their own bunks, their own lockers, they have even been added to the chore rotation (except for Tony, no one had any hope that he would actually do dishes or sweep floors). They have each left a few times to visit the tower and collect some personal belongings or attend to other responsibilities, but they keep coming back. No one is leaving until Skye is found.

Even though none of the Avengers have ever met her, they have each become personally invested in Skye’s rescue. They have all heard the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents talk about her, telling stories of Skye’s antics and her heart. They have each witnessed one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team break down over her loss. Fitz crying when he pulled out the grumpy cat mug from the kitchen cupboards. Hunter drinking himself to unconsciousness after telling stories about her all night. Tripp and Bobbi nearly killing each other sparring until they had to be separated by May and Nat, which ended with the two of them locking themselves in their bunks for the rest of the night. Simmons sobbing in the lab when she ran out of tests to run on the obelisk crystals. Mack breaking the tool he was using to fix an engine and then leaving the base on his motorcycle for three hours.

The only ones who no one has seen lose it are May and Coulson. Everyone knows how hard they are taking the lack of leads. They are both quieter than usual (which for May is difficult). They are both short fused and clearly sleep deprived. But no one has seen them fall apart. What none of the others, except Clint and Natasha, know is that May goes to Coulson’s office every night after everyone else has gone to bed and the two of them comfort each other. They drink, or cry, sometimes they just yell at each other for no real reason, but most of the time they just sit on the couch and hold each other’s hands quietly. Nothing is said, they both know there is nothing they can say, they just sit together and let themselves be.

In front of everyone else they have to be strong. They can’t go around showing their fear on their faces, but in his office, alone, they can be as vulnerable as they want without worrying about judgement. They are the only person who knows exactly how the other person is feeling. They don’t have to pretend with each other.

Clint and Natasha realized what they were doing after about a week of being at the base. They were both concerned that Coulson and May weren’t letting themselves fall apart and eventually they would blow up. One night the two of them waited up and planned to confront Coulson and May to try to force them to let out what they were feeling. They followed May to Coulson’s office after everyone else had gone to bed, but as they ascended the stairs they heard crying. They concealed themselves in the shadows outside his doorway and watched as May and Coulson held each other and fell apart. They left after that, knowing that they didn’t have to worry so much.

Line Break

Everyone is spread out throughout the base. Fitzsimmons are in the lab with Stark and Banner. Mack, Bobbi, and Hunter are in the garage on the Bus. Steve and Tripp are sparring in the gym, the two of them have been spending a lot of time together ever since Tripp told Steve about his grandad being a Howling Commando. Coulson, May, Clint, and Natasha are in Coulson’s office.

“Have we heard anything from Talbot?” Coulson asked.

“Nothing new to report. He has been giving regular updates but his people have had no more success tracking Hydra than we have.” Clint said.

“At least he is being more cooperative now. I think turning over Bakshi was the right play considering it cemented our relationship with him.” May said.

“Yeah, especially considering there was nothing else to get out of Bakshi anyway, not after you four scared the shit out of him.” Coulson responded with a smile, or at least as close as he could get to a smile nowadays.

Their conversation was interrupted by an alarm blaring throughout the base. All of them leapt out of their seats as an alert popped up on the screen at the back of the room. It was the perimeter alert system. Without a word all four of them sprinted from the room.

Coulson, May, Nat, and Clint made it to the hanger at the same time as Steve, Tripp, Fitzsimmons, Bruce, and Tony. Mack, Bobbi, and Hunter were already there having come out of the Bus when they heard the alarm.

“Alright, May, Clint, Nat, and Steve go first everyone else behind them until we know who we’re dealing with.” As Coulson spoke everyone grabbed weapons out of the lockers on the wall of the hangar. They approached the door and took up formation. Bobbi, Hunter, Coulson, Mack, and Tripp lined up behind May, Clint, Steve, and Natasha. Fitzsimmons, Stark, and Banner lined up behind them.

On the count of three Steve threw the door open and went out shield raised with the rest right behind him. They all stopped in their tracks at what awaited them.

“Raina?” Coulson asked stunned.

The thorny face of Raina spoke from beneath her hood, “I know where Skye is.”