On the Run
“You intentionally drained the batteries to nothing?” Thawne asked
“Well it worked.” Scott said as the plane’s gate rose and locked
“Yeah, just barely.” Seven added
“Don’t start.” Scott said, walking forward. “We need to get back in the air.”
“Talk to me,” He said, pasing through the main cabin “How we looking Fitz?”
“We need another six and a half hours.”
“We could fly north, find some friendly airspace.” Daisy mentioned
“I wouldn’t count on it being friendly.” Jemma said.
“Why?” Daisy asked with a look that said she knew what the answer would be.
“While you two were out playing detective, we did some more research.” Fitz said “While they don’t advertise it, the remaining non-gifted section of the US is controlled by a military cabal… which in turn is controlled by Hydra.”
“OK… Not what I was expecting…”
“We stay here, they kill you. We go there, they kill us…” Scott said. “Great… Canada?”
“Hydra also.” Jemma said
“Australia?” Daisy asked
“Unfortunately,” Scott chimed in “in our current state that’s out of range without refueling again and by the time we got there, the machine would be jump ready.”
“How about North Korea?”Thawne asked
The others just looked at him.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“Let’s just get flying again” Daisy said to Scott “We’re sitting ducks here.”
“Don’t need to tell me twice.” Scott said, walking towards the cockpit.
“Did you guys check what happened to SHIELD here?” Scott asked from the cockpit once they were airborne and under way “If it ever even existed?”
“No, it didn’t exist.” Jemma said
“A world like mine, SSR?” Seven asked.
“No, it’s weird.” Jemma continued “There was no single agency that did everything. There was an SSR, but they ended up under the Department of Energy.”
“The what now?” Seven asked
“We’ll explain later” Barry said
“Running theme with her.” Daisy mutter
Thawne was rubbing his chin “No solid command structure, made them all easy for this Hyperion character to pick off” he noted.
“And Hydra to take over” Fitz added.
“I’ve put us in a pseudo random holding pattern over the gulf.” Scott said, rejoining the others “Fuel is probably our most precious commodity right now, not everyone will be as willing to part with a few hundred gallons of JetA like the CCPD was. We need a place to put down and wait.”
“Hey guys…” Barry said, looking out a window “I think I have an idea.”
Daisy came up behind him “Whatcha got?”
“How much you want to bet that’s empty?”Barry asked, pointing to an old looking ship that had run aground on some rocks below them and broken in half.
“Beats anything else.”
Scott had an angry look on his face. “You have got to be kidding me…” he groaned as he made a low pass in the fading sunlight.
“Fraid not…” Fitz said standing behind them as they looked at the writing on the ship’s side.
“The Lemurian Star… This is someone’s idea of a sick joke.” Scott moaned. “Well, it could just be a smiliarly named ship.”
Scott set the plane down and the team slowly climbed out onto the launch deck, greeted by a familiar symbol, just not the one they were hoping for.
“No SHIELD, no reason for Hydra to hide.” Scott said, pointing at the cephalopod logo on the wall with his flashlight.
“Now what?” Barry said.
“Well, we have to assume there are still some goons watching this place.” Daisy said “We’ll split into teams, grab what we can and get out.”
“God this reminds me of the Principia” Daisy said as she and Scott searched the ship, heading towards the supply stores.
“Least we don’t have to worry about falling from the sky…” He said, with a bit of unease.
“Something the matter?” She asked him.
“I…”
“Cards on the table” she reminded him.
“The Principia.” He said
“What about it?”
“While you guys were on that mission… I saw one of those fear things in the Lighthouse.”
“Oh…” She said, ”What did you see?”
“You really want to know?” He asked
She nodded.
“You might not like it…
“Babe” She said, shining the light in his face “Out with it.”
“It was… well… your ghost, standing over your dead body.”
“Holy shit…”
“You… it… berated me for not doing anything. For not telling you how I felt. The only reason I knew it wasn’t real was I had the com signal from upstairs in my ear in case I was needed and I heard you talking.”
“How did you get rid of… it?”
“Did you know fear monsters can be affected by telekinesis?” He said “I pushed in into the wall and it disappeared.”
“I thought your powers didn’t work when you were afraid?”
“I need focus, when I’m scared I tend to lose it. But..” he said as he took her hand “I heard your voice and I found that focus. I had resolved myself to say something when you got back, but then I got busy and then… well… Fitz”
“Oh… right…” She said. “Well that’s all in the past now” she said, giving him a peck on the cheek as they continued searching for supplies.
Meanwhile…
“How did I get stuck with you?” Seven asked
“Because they trust neither of us…” Thawne said “who better to watch each other…”
Seven looked at him with a small sneer.
“Are you really here just to tail Barry or is there something else?”
“You want to know something? You’re nosey…” He groaned “Barry’s as of your time unborn daughter Nora did something. She’s a speedster two. I’m not exactly sure what, but it’s causing temporal quakes. And I think you folks showing up isn’t a coincidence.”
“Well, it is, like it or not.” She said “Did you just hear something?”
A clang of metal echo nearby
“It’s probably nothing.” He said.
“What’s matter?” She teased “Scared?”
“Shut up” the older man retorted.
“Here” Thawne said, pointing his flashlight at the door to the infirmary.
“They send us for medical supplies, the send my pregnant wife after weapons and ammo” Seven said…
“Careful” Jemma yelled
“I’m not a complete invalid yet.” Jas retorted. “I can move a small box or two. Better than being stuck on the plane by myself.”
“You really should be resting.” Jemma told her “And no one says ‘invalid” anymore.
“I’ve gone maybe fifty yards at most.”
“This place is full of dangers. One small scratch can lead to tetanus. Will you at the very least sit down?”
“Fine” Jas said with a small huff before plopping herself on a crate. “You know, one area Rodgers allowed us to progress in was medicine. I’ve gotten tetanus shots regularly.”
Jemma rummaged through a few more crates.
“I’ve been wondering” Jemma asked her twin “What happened? If we’re the same person, why are we so different?”
“You mean like ‘why am I into girls?” Jas said.
“Well, among other things.” Jemma replied a bit sheepishly.
“You guess is about as good as any other. I’m sure you and your parents had a comfortable life in Yorkshire. I was born and spent the first few years of my life in a refugee camp in Croydon. My parents were selected to work for Rodgers. You do ten years of service and they let you go. We were relocated to Southern California. The one thing about Skye’s back-story that fits with my Daisy is they grew up in Los Angeles.”
“Hum…” Jemma said “So you’re a couple of California girls…”
“My parents did a lot of hard work covering their tracks and movements. No one in the government was wise to them.” Jas said, letting her accent slip even further. “But eventually, Leopold, our Fitz, got suspicious of me and them and we had to move them. So they faked their deaths. But the fire got out of hand and Skye kept trying to go back in to ‘save’ them that May actually stepped in to help.”
“That’s why Skye remembered her…”
“I had to tamper with her memories the next time she was plugged into the machine.” Jas admitted “make her think CHIMERA set the fire to get at her.”
“You screwed with your wife’s memories to protect your cover?” Jemma asked incredulously. “That’s what Seven meant…”
“Oh, so you trust her word over mine now?” Jas said, equally POed.
“Well, she seems to have been honest to everyone so far. You’ve been lying left and right, even to your supposed soul mate.”
“I’m a spy” Jas said “It’s what I do. You of all people should know that.”
“The difference is you’ve been lying to us for no reason.”
“I have my reasons and you don’t need to know them.”
“This is about Alyssa? Isn’t it?” Jemma asked.
Jas’ mouth fell open.
“How did you..?”
“May told me.”
“Yes. It’s about her.” Jas said, sitting back down “It’s all about her.”
“What was she like?” Jemma asked.
“You don’t know?”
“I didn’t have an older sister.” Jemma said as Jas began to tell her about Alyssa Simmons.
The sun had set in the distance, and the teams began making their way back to the plane.
“So three laptops and a desktop?” Scott asked as Barry and Fitz climbed back onto the plane with the salvaged computer parts.
“Yeah, this wreck looks like it’s been here for years.” Fitz said “We’re lucky if this stuff even has windows ME on it. How did you guys do?”
“Shit ton of C rations.” Scott said
“I thought they were MREs?” Daisy asked
Scott made a small huff “Grandpa Kent’s habits rubbed off, sue me…”
“How about Jemma and Jas?” Fitz asked
“They found themselves in a metaphysical discussion and came back with just a flare gun…” Daisy said. Looking at the two.
“Alright then… Has anyone seen the gruesome twosome?” Scott asked as he stuck his head out the door.
Suddenly, Thawne and Seven came running out of the door onto the ship’s deck in an absolute panic.
“Start the plane!” They yelled
“What?”
“Just do it!” Seven screamed as they climbed the steps into the cabin. Suddenly, a massive tentacle monstrosity burst through the door they just come through.
“Because of course it would…” he muttered as the creature roared, causing a second to burst through a deck hatch.
“OK, we’re leaving!” Scott yelled, leaping into the cockpit and firing up the thrusters.