Seeds (Part 2)
Skye’s POV
I chatted with the bartended while I waited for him to hand me a couple of beers. Once I had the information I needed I grabbed the beers and walked over to where Ward was leaning.
“Bartender seemed chatty,” commented Ward as he rolled his eyes.
“He’s in computer sciences. Didn’t take long to convince him I was a Level 7 CS operative. And guess where I’m stationed, The Sandbox.”
“Good thinking.” Wow, was that a compliment?!
”I asked if any of the cadets had hopes on getting assigned there,” I told Ward, who nodded his understanding. “Behind me, the curls.”
Ward scanned the room and focused on Callie playing pool.
“Callie Hannigan, ambitious, gunned hard for getting assigned to The Sandbox. And apparently word’s gotten around she lost the top spot,” I filled him in.
“She was at the pool.”
“But didn’t want to go in,” I added with a raise of my brows.
Ward nodded at me with a grin before getting up to talk to Callie. I raised my hand up, realized with a grimace that I was holding a beer and with a grin, used my newly discovered powers to levitate a cranberry vodka from one of the tables into my hand without anyone noticing.
I sipped happily, still unable to enjoy the benefits of being drunk, but still appreciating the berry flavor over the taste of beer.
A few minutes later I listened worriedly as Simmons called Fitz to fill him in - apparently the attacks had been staged to draw the two scientists to campus. I had a really bad feeling.
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“How could I have been so stupid?” Fitz mumbled as Simmons and I walked next to him up the cargo ramp to meet Coulson and May.
“Fitz, will you stop?” Simmons said as Coulson and May approached us.
“I’m sorry, sir. It’s my fault.”
“Any word on the missing cadets?” Coulson responded, ignoring the apology.
”Ward’s coordinating the search with Agent Weaver. They’ve set up a perimeter and are going building to building,” Simmons filled in.
”Where did you guys go? We’ve been trying to reach you,” I asked suspiciously. My brows raising further when I noticed Coulson glancing sideways at May before looking at me again.
“Not now,” he responded, turning to look back to Fitz-Simmons. “How dangerous are they?”
“Extremely dangerous. This device turns any moisture around it to ice very rapidly at a great range.”
“But Donnie’s a good kid, just felt isolated. Seth must have befriended him to manipulate him, using him to finish the – the product.”
“Product?” May asked.
It’s like the thought occurred to Fitz as soon as he said the word product, he squeezed his eyes closed in anger.
“Okay, I think they have a backer. The device, the components are incredibly rare and expensive. Nothing either of them could find on the open market themselves.”
“If the parts are that rare, we can trace the purchases!” I said.
“Sometimes it’s not a bad seed, just a bad influence. Let’s go,” commented Coulson.
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“We were worried about bad influences? He’s the worst there is,” I said, glaring at the picture before me as I had flashbacks.
“Ian Quinn? You’ve got to be kidding,” Coulson said.
“Thermopile radiation sensors,” Fitz started to say.
”Shipped to Seth’s father who’s a lawyer for Quinn Worldwide. Quinn’s buying their technology,” I finished for him.
“What a sleaze,” said Simmons. I nodded in agreement, unable to stop the memory of the look on Quinn’s face as we had sat on the couch together.
I glanced over to see that Coulson seemed very lost in thought as Simmons continued to talk.
“The cadets have no idea he’s a criminal. To them he’s just a venture capitalist.”
“This is Quinn’s M.O. He finds young talent and he takes advantage, right?” I pointed out, looking at Coulson who said nothing.
“Hello?”
“Contact Ward and Agent Weaver. Have them widen their search to include Ian Quinn.” I squinted my eyes at Coulson, wondering why he was avoiding my gaze.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” I asked as Fitz-Simmons left the room and I walked around the table to get closer to Coulson.
“I have to brief May.”
“Just, two seconds, that’s all!”
“Yeah.” He walked away and I followed.
“Ever since you got back from who knows where you won’t even look at me. And I know things have been heavy right now, but…did I do something wrong?” I asked in confusion as Coulson lead me down one of the deserted hallways.
Coulson still couldn’t seem to bring himself to look at me, he seemed to prefer staring at his feet for the moment. Which reminded me more of something I would do, not him.
“No.” He finally looked up from the ground and turned to look at me.
“I did. Ian Quinn’s not the only one who manipulates people, Skye. We do it all the time, actually teach it at the Academy. It’s our trade.”
I looked at him worriedly. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been keeping something from you. But recently, I realized I had no right to do that.”
“You lied to me?!”
Coulson nodded. “Agent May and I went down to Mexico City to talk to somebody. Somebody who knows where you came from.”
I shifted a bit then readied myself. “Tell me.”
“When we started this, I warned you…that you might not like what you learn.”
“And I told you…” I paused, trying to keep my emotions in check. “That it can’t be worse than what I have imagined.”
Coulson waited a beat before responding.
“It is.”
This took me by surprise, that it could be that bad.
“The agent who dropped you at St. Agnes was not your mother. But she was killed trying to protect you. 24 years ago, an entire Shield team in a small village on an Island in Greece were massacred.”
I could feel my cheeks dampen as tears began to stream down them as Coulson continued with his story.
I glanced up at Coulson from time to time with sadness nodding my head as I struggled to take it all in.
When he was finished, he placed a comforting hand on my cheek while I cried. I lowered my head into my hand and began to sob as Coulson moved his hand from my cheek to my shoulder.
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“How do we stop it? Coulson asked, circling around the holocom as he talked to the team.
“We can’t stop it. They’re in real trouble,” commented Fitz.
“Where is the device?” May asked.
“Most likely right there,” Simmons answered, touching the center of the storm on the map. “Dead center of the storm.”
“We’ve got to get Donnie out of there,” Fitz said.
“Ward, how are things on the ground?”
“We’ve got most everyone safe in the Boiler Room,” I heard Ward answer. I kept my mouth shut, my mind still reeling from Coulson’s news. “How bad is this gonna get?”
“Bad. Can you reach the North Campus Parking Garage? We think Donnie Gill and his device may be trapped in the center of the storm.”
“That’s not far from where I am,” Ward replied, but I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as he preemptively told us that he could get there.
“Yeah, I can’t get there,” he amended a few seconds later.
“Is there any other way to get to Donnie?” Coulson asked as he looked over at us. “Think fast, people.” I didn’t even bother to glance up or to try and think of anything. My mind to bogged down with sadness and a strange numbness to be able to concentrate on anything. Hydra had subjected me to all sorts of torture, but this...this was...I didn’t have any words.
“I know a way,” said Fitz.
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“Hold on tight,” May warned as we flew over the storm.
I sat strapped like the rest of the team in the cargo hold but my mind was still upside down and I barely registered my surroundings. I did however, notice when Coulson looked over at me then took a hold of my hand.
I got up slowly as we landed in front of Donnie and his friend. The others dashed off while I lingered behind.
“He’s been hurt! Please, you need to help him now,” I heard Donnie crying out to my team. I closed my eyes. This wasn’t going to end well.
Fitz, Coulson and Donnie picked up Seth and carried him onto The Bus.
“He’s in cardiac arrest! Skye, get a blanket for his head! Lay him down here! Sir, I need an A.E.D.! Fitz oxygen!”
I reached over to the wall before handing Simmons the device while the others set the kid down on the floor of the cargo hold.
“I got it,” Coulson said.
“Prep 0.4 millimeters of Epinephrine.”
“Got it!” Fitz exclaimed as well as Simmons began chest compressions as The Bus took off.
“Get ready to clear,” Simmons said as we were all thrown off our balance when turbulence hit. Simmons recovered quickly and got back to Seth.
I closed my eyes as I watched her fail several times to get Seth’s heart beating again. So much death...
“No!” Donnie cried over and over. I put a comforting hand on his back, but my mind was less focused on comfort and rather on the finality of life.
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Coulson’s POV
“Did, uh, you hear what I said in Mexico? May asked me as we watched Donnie being driven away. I gave her a confused look.
“What, specifically?”
“A-about Ward and me, um…”
“Yeah, I heard.” I frowned, not liking the idea of my soulmate sleeping around, but our relationship had always been a weird one, she’d even been married at one point and as for myself, I had been in love with a cellist a while back. Our lives were so chaotic and ever changing that we seemed to rely on each other more for moral support and friendship more than anything else. I personally thought it was because both of us were too scared to delve any deeper for fear of ruining things with our behavioral traits.
“I trust you know what you’re doing and if it’s a problem…” I started to say.
“I’ll end it.”
I nodded and gave her a little smile. She set down her coffee cup and looked back up at me.
“Skye requested a moment alone on campus.” I slowly nodded, knowing where she was going with this.
“You told her, didn’t you?”
“I had to.”
May sighed and shook her head. “It must have destroyed her to hear all that.”
“That’s the thing about Skye. What I told her shattered her world. Her lifelong search led to stories of murder and now it’s too difficult to continue. Her search is over. Her story ends here. But you know what she said?”
“Tell me.”
“She said no, her story started here. Her whole life she thought she wasn’t wanted, that she didn’t belong, that the only family she had ever known was the one that tortured and experimented on her every day. But all that time, she had a family out there, protecting her, looking for her. That’s what she took away from the story. Not the family she’ll never have but the one she’s always had. Here I am, telling her something that could destroy her faith in humanity and somehow she manages to repair a little piece of mine.”
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3rd Person POV
Skye flopped on her bed later that night with a heavy sigh. She glanced sideways as her phone buzzed. She picked it up and gave another sigh as she read through the new messages.
Widowmaker: Is everything ok?
AmericanPie: Everything ok, dollface?
Arrowman: You alright, sweetheart?
Skye sighed, not knowing how to respond, but remembering her promise from earlier to start reaching out more and socializing.
Skye: Yeah, everything is fine. I just...got some news that surprised me is all, but I’m actually glad you messaged, I was planning to do so myself.
Arrowman: Really? No offense, beautiful, but you don’t seem the type to talk easily.
Skye: Yeah, sorry bout that, but I met this kid today who had spent most of his time alone and without social skills and it made me realize I didn’t want to turn out like that...
AmericanPie: Hey, now! We would never let that happen! We’d never let you feel alone!
Skye couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
Skye: Of course you’d say that!
AmericanPie: What’s that supposed to mean?
Skye: Nothing, just, that there’s a reason you’re America’s sweetheart! You think that their is good in everybody but that’s not always the case. Seriously, I love that you have this innocent friendly neighbor thing going for ya, but I gotta say, it makes me wanna corrupt the heck out of you...
Skye: Oh shit...I just realized how that sounded, scratch that!
Skye groaned inwardly as she read over her last messages and realized the implication she had made; thus sending her mind down a deep hole.
She glanced down as her phone suddenly started to ring.
“H-hello?” she said suspiciously as she tried to clear her throat and her mind.
“Hey there, sweetcheeks!”
“Clint? Why’d you call? We were just texting?!” Skye heard giggles in the background and guessed correctly that they belonged to Steve and Natasha.
“No reason, I just figured it’d be easier to continue this conversation over the phone. Lesson one in social skills, if you can’t talk in person, over the phone is the next best!” he said cheerfully. “I also really wanted to hear your voice when I asked what you were thinking about just now.”
“W-what d-do you mean?” Skye squeaked out as her face flushed as she thought about the scene that had been playing in her mind involving the corruption of a certain someone.
“Oh I think you know exactly what I’m talking about,” Clint teased. He grinned as he heard his soulmate stuttering in embarrassment. He looked over at Steve, who was blushing like mad and Natasha, who was grinning like a fox.
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Author’s Note
- Wasn’t sure bout the nicknames for the text convos so let me know what you think/if y’all have any suggestions!