The Avenger’s Soul

Skye's POV

"According to Index archives Nash has been on Shield's radar for about six years," I said as Coulson, May and I stood in the lab a few hours later.

Coulson stood at one of the tables and opened a wallet, which I was guessing was Blake's ID.

"Originally a bond trader in Canada doing very well for himself. Then the Canadian government recruited him to a secret department H-type program," I summarized.

"They were looking for people with psychic abilities," May said.

"Specifically people who could control human behavior, and Nash claimed he had a gift," I replied.

"Claimed?" May asked.

"According to records he couldn't affect a person's behavior. But he could, on occasion, predict it," I answered.

"But Shield crossed him off The Index after his accident because of his supposed catatonic state," Coulson chimed in as he nodded to the
monitor in the lab where we saw pictures of the accident as well as an illustration of a human body showing where the damaged occurred to the left side of Nash's head.

"Which he recovered from quite nicely," I pointed out.

"It was all a lie, just to throw Shield off his scent. You said Blake fired how many rounds?" Coulson asked as he looked over at May.

"I heard six. Why?" She told him as she walked over.

"Because there are only five missing from this magazine," Coulson noted. He set the mag he was holding down and picked up another one. "And one from here." Realization dawns on all of us. "These are Fitz's tag rounds."

"We can track him!" I said excitedly.

"Skye, check all the sat feeds find that signal."

"On it!" I rushed to say as I pulled back up my tablet and got to work.

"I'll get us in the air," May said.

*****

"I want this perimeter sealed. Two man teams on every exit," Coulson said as we got out of the vehicles as we arrived at what looked to be a race track in Pensacola, Florida.

"Yes, sir," I heard one of the soldiers reply.

"Fitz, you got a signal?" Coulson asked as Fitz and I walked up to him.

"94%, sir. Deathlok must be inside somewhere," Fitz answered.

"Possible civilians inside?" Asked May.

"Highly doubtful. This racetrack's been shut down for months," Fitz told her.

"Move out!" May instructed the soldiers behind her.

I started to walk away before I heard Ward speak up.

"Skye, run back end from the tactical van," I stared at him in shock as he pointed to the soldier standing next to Fitz. "You, I want you 6 feet from Skye at all times, weapons hot," he demanded.

"Ward, it's okay. I'm ready!" I argued. Coulson hadn't filled anyone on the team in about how I had helped out the Avengers in my absence & since only May, Fitz, & Coulson knew about my healing ability I could understand why he was worried about me but I could handle myself!

"Ward's right. I feel bad enough you're already back in the field. I'm not taking any chances with your safety," Coulson agreed. Looking over at me with a guilty expression on his face. I rolled my eyes as I looked from Coulson to Ward not happy with their call, but knowing nothing I said would change their minds.

*****

"Fitz, you're up," I heard Coulson say through comms a short while after they had busted into the building.

"It's time to hunt, boys," I heard Fitz say. I grinned at his antics as I typed on my laptop and continued to listen in. "Let's find us a Deathlok."

"Skye, you online?"

"Hang on. Northwest corridor is getting something. I'm pulling up a live feed," I told Coulson. I pulled up an infrared feed on my laptop and spotted a dark red figure walking past the camera. "I can't confirm it's him. Initiating spectrum overlay. What the hell did they do to him?" I added as I spotted a ton of cybernetics.

"What are you seeing?" Coulson asked.

"It's not just his leg or his eye. They did stuff to him, it's all under his skin," I told Coulson. I know we were hunting Mike but I couldn't help but feel bad for him. Plus, I got the feeling that he wasn't doing any of this willingly.

"Uh, signal's dead. Retriever's down!" Fitz suddenly called out.

"He knows we're here," I heard May comment.

"Fitz, get back to the van, now," Coulson ordered.

"Contact! Take cover!" I frowned as I heard Ward shout over the comms and heard a loud explosion.

"Ward, are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Uh, I got two men down." I glanced up as Fitz joined me in the van again. "We need a med team!"

"Requesting one now. May, he's coming your way!" I said into my comm unit.

"Got him!" I heard her call out.

"He just ducked into the southwest stairwell," Coulson said a few minutes later. "In pursuit. All teams, he's headed into the sub-basement. I do not have a visual. Fitz, do you have a retriever down here?"

"No, sir. On their way," Fitz said next to me as he hurriedly pressed buttons on his tablet.

"Fitz, you getting this?" Coulson asked a few more minutes later.

"Uh, barely, sir. It leads down into the sewer system. That's under at least...40 feet of concrete. We'll be blind down there," Fitz warned. Suddenly Fitz's instrument started beeping. "Sir, there's someone else down there."

"Copy that."

Fitz and I watched as Garret and Coulson both followed after where the retriever went. At the end of the hallway was a room, they both paused outside it, setting up, then nodded to each other and enter. When they did we saw the walls were covered with monitors and TVs. There was a chair in the center of the room and someone sitting in it, their back to the door.

"What the hell?" I heard Garret comment.

"Agent Coulson, Agent Garrett, I surrender," we heard a robotic voice say as the words were typed out on one of the monitors.

I continued to watch as Ward and May entered the room, guns drawn, as well. There were a few soldiers there as well but they stayed in the hall.

"Forgive me if we don't shake hands. I don't like to be touched," the robotic voice said. I shivered at those words remembering the line about the Clairvoyant not liking to be touched.

"Sir, we got a lot of wires back here," Ward reported as he looked around.

"Don't touch anything. We need this room swept for explosives," Coulson warned.

"There are no traps here, Agent Coulson," Nash said.

I watched as May waved in a few of the soldiers to look around.

"You're here because we are destined to meet," the robotic voice of Nash continued.

"You're the Clairvoyant?" Garret said. Something about the expression on his face seemed off though but I didn't have time to wonder about it.

"I'm Thomas Nash. Mr. Po gave me that other name. A bit dramatic for my taste."

"Eyes open, everybody. We don't know where Deathlok is or who else is down here," said Coulson.

"Mr. Peterson is gone. I cut his feed, so you won't find him," said Nash.

"But you had him lead us here. Why?" Asked Coulson. I was curious about that myself.

"So I could see you with my own eyes instead of his. Now I understand why I couldn't see you after you died – because you, yourself, could not see. You were simply a broken man who did not know he was broken," the robotic voice went on to say.

"You're one to talk," Coulson told him.

"Let's pack this freak off to The Fridge where he belongs," Garret commented.

"Agent Garrett, look at me. Do you believe you can confine me any more than this chair?"

"Can somebody please tell me how we turn that stupid voice thing off?" Garret said.

"I will join Raina in your prison, Agent Coulson, but I will see you wherever you go, just as I saw you holding Skye in your arms, bleeding..."

The mention of my name seemed to hit a chord with Ward, (and myself) and I saw him look angrily at Nash as I remembered that The Clairvoyant had Quinn shoot me. May even looked pissed off. I found my hand creeping towards my stomach as I tried to force away the flashback.

"Dying...knowing it was all your fault." I didn't agree with Nash's words but I could tell that he was starting to get to Coulson.

"You're going away. We're gonna stick you in a little box where no one will ever hear you again," Coulson told him as he took a few steps forward.

"I see you're angry. Head clouded with lies. You've been betrayed and now you fear what's about to happen."

"Nothing's about to happen. Just more empty threats from you."

"No. It is the inevitable. A force beyond your comprehension is coming for you – you and Skye," I really didn't like this guy... "She has something we want." Yup I really don't like him I thought to myself as Fitz glanced at me in confusion. I just shrugged at him having no idea what Nash was talking about. "And she will die giving it to us. I have seen it." I frowned. Well that didn't sound good...

"Go to hell," Coulson replied as he leaned in close to Nash.

"No matter where I go, or what you do to me, I will always –" I jumped in my seat as a gunshot rang out startling everyone as Nash's words were cut off. I watched as everyone on the screen jumped and looked over to Ward pulling their guns up. Ward was standing there looking calm, letting out one deep breath, and pointing the gun at Nash. The monitor went from beeping to a flat line sound as Nash died, Ward had shot him in the heart. I stared at the screen in shock.

"What did you do?" Coulson said turning to gaze at Ward.

Ward slowly lowered his gun as Garrett looked over at him as well.

"Wait, what just happened?" I asked Fitz as we watched May disarm Ward.

"Did Ward just..." Fitz couldn't even finish his sentence.

*****

"Thought you were Coulson," Ward commented in surprise an hour later as I entered the holding cell with a bottle of water. I closed the door behind me and held out the bottle to Ward.

"Thanks," he said as he took it.

We both sat down at the table set up in the holding cell as Ward sighed deeply. I was unsure what to say but decided to speak first.

"Why'd you do it?" I asked.

Ward started shaking his head.

"I lost it. I got angry. He pushed all the right buttons."

"Coulson said the mission was to capture, not kill," I pointed out.

He sat up and leaned in closer to me.

"Think about what The Clairvoyant said, what he's done. Think about the Centipede Program. How he experimented on innocent people like Mike Peterson. How he kidnapped and tortured Coulson. How he ordered Quinn to shoot you. And he wasn't gonna stop, Skye. Not until you...I wasn't gonna let that happen."

"So, what happens now?" I said with a sigh.

"I face a Shield review board. Whatever the punishment, I'll take it. I deserve it. But I don't regret what I've done," Ward said.

"You don't?" I asked in surprise.

"No. Not if it means you're safe. You and the rest of the team."

*****

"Mind if I talk some stuff through with you? Are you busy?" I said as I knocked on Coulson's door. He was just sitting on the edge of his desk looking lost in thought.

"I'm worried," he told me.

"About Ward?"

He looked at me and nodded.

"I know. I can't believe he just killed someone like that," I said with a frown.

"I'm worried he killed the wrong man."

I tilted my head at him in confusion.

"How do we know it was him? He never spoke. The computer spoke for him. How do we know he was the one controlling it?" Coulson explained.

"Are you saying Nash could have been pretending to be The Clairvoyant?" He did seem to have a point.

"I'm saying Nash could have been a prop."

"And now he's dead," I said, nodding my head.

"After the attacks led us right to him. The investigation all wrapped up in a neat little bow. I feel like he could still be out there right now, in our heads."

"Or in our files," I told him.

This time he was the one to cock his head questioning.

"When you told me to check into the psych evals, you said something," I said walking forward with my tablet. "You said, "read his mind". And it got me thinking. And Ward said that The Clairvoyant knew how to push all the right buttons."

"Raina did that to me, too," Coulson said thoughtfully.

"Did she mention your father's death?" I asked him gently. "Your psych evaluation called it "a defining moment," I said as I handed him the tablet.

Coulson quickly looked up from the tablet to look at me, then he took the tablet.

"These aren't just personality tests. There's surveillance on every agent. Pictures, stats, where you've been stationed, who you'd visit, where you like to eat," I said.

"Dinners at The Richmond. He's been monitoring us. Think about it. The Clairvoyant only knew you'd be at Quinn's villa –" Coulson started to say.

"After I dropped a tracker. And the only thing he's had trouble seeing is what happened to you after you died."

"Because Director Fury wouldn't release that file to anyone," Coulson said. My eyes widened in realization.

"No!" I exclaimed. I had not expected day 1 of being a Shield Agent to go down like this.

"The Clairvoyant doesn't have abilities. He has security clearance," Coulson finished my thought. "He's an agent of Shield." I stood in disbelief as Coulson stormed out of his office.

I walked out and suddenly found myself running into Fitz; who was breathing heavily and looking over his shoulder.

"Fitz!" I called out.

"What?" He said holding up his hands almost defensively.

"I was just looking for you," I told him.

"Why? I didn't do anything," he said quickly. I stared at him suspiciously.

"What?"

"What?"

"I didn't say you did. What'd you do?" I asked quirking my brows as I crossed my arms.

"Well, uh..." He looked over his shoulder toward the cockpit and I followed his gaze.

"I'm not quite sure, actually. Cause, um...I was just, um, um, doing maintenance in the avionics bay before. Okay. Why would May - Why would May have an unauthorized encrypted hard line in the cockpit, complete with a thumb scanner? That isn't in any of the plane's specs," he asked me.

"Wait, slow down. An encrypted hard line?" I said in surprise.

"Yeah. Dedicated to on3 receiver. She's not supposed to have that. Who's she talking to?"

"I –" I suddenly stared at Fitz in shock as a horrible idea came to me. What if May was in contact with the Clairvoyant! "Cut the line!" I told him.

"What?"

"You need to cut the line right now, Fitz. Do not let her call out!" I commanded.

He hurried away from me to do as I said and I raced off back to the holding cell and threw open the door. Coulson stared at me and it was clear I had interrupted him but whatever he was talking to Ward about could wait.

"What?" He asked me, clearly frustrated.

"We have a problem," I said. I glanced over at Ward and saw Coulson doing the same thing.

*****

I watched on the camera feed as May, gun drawn, walked through the Bus looking for Fitz. She entered the lab through the back door looking for him. She walked out into the cargo hold scanning around and up looking for Fitz. She made it to the SUV and started to look but then heard the lab doors closing behind her. I gasped as she quickly turned and fired her gun. Fitz cried out in surprise as the bullet hits the glass door right where his forehead would've been without it. May sighed and gave him an angry look as she walked toward him.

"Put it down," I heard Coulson instruct. "Put it down, May!"

"It's not what you think, Coulson. It's just an I.C.E.R," she tried to explain.

"This one is not. It's real, with real bullets. So you better put yours down and tell me what the hell's going on right now!" I could tell Coulson was pissed off and silently thanked the universe that it wasn't me he was angry with.

"I..."

"Now!" Coulson shouted.

"I can't," she said.

"You better listen to the man, Agent May," I said as I entered the room from the side doorway and pointed my own gun at May.

"You have no idea what you're doing," May said.

"Maybe not. But I know you're not fast enough to take us both," I told her.

May looked up to Coulson, who just stared right back.

"Look..." She held up one of her hands and lowered her gun. "I can explain everything, but not here."

"Why not here? You have to check with someone first, using that encrypted phone in the cockpit?" Coulson's hissed out. May stared at Fitz. "Who's on the other end of that line, May?"

"I can't say."

"That's okay, I think I know. It makes sense now why Deathlok put Blake in critical condition, left you alive and well. Why he led us to the track only to disappear instead of defending his boss. Why would he do that? Because that wasn't his boss, was it? Was it?!?" Coulson was getting angrier and angrier but I couldn't blame the guy.

May seemed genuinely confused to me though.

"What are you talking about?"

"Stop lying to me! Who do you answer to?!? Who's the real Clairvoyant?"

May seemed to get more confused but before anyone could say or do anything else the Bus rocked making us all hurry to catch our balance.

“What did you do? Where are we going?” Coulson demanded to know as the plane started to take off.

“I don't know! I didn't do it, Phil! I don't know what's happening here, I swear!” May pleaded.

“If you're not doing this, who is?”

She shook her head. I frowned. My first day as a member of Shield was definitely not going well…