Calm before the storm
Fitz walked out of the plane leaving the commotion of the passed out Skye and joined Scott inspecting the engine. It had started to drizzle slightly.
“how’s the wee beastie.” He asked
“On a scale one to absolutely fucked? Take a wild guess” Scott answered.
“That bad?”
“The Stark Aerospace saleswoman I was working with to get these overhauled promised me, in writing I might add, these would be EM hardened for anything short of a point blank nuclear strike. There is no reason the damn thing shouldn’t start.”
He gave the engine housing a smack.
“Didn’t you tell me hitting things doesn’t help?”Fitz reminded him
“Yeah, well, this can’t randomly summon copies of my girlfriend from other dimensions, now can it..? By the way, what was all that yelling inside?”
“Dr. Simmons confessed to Skye that her parents were among the founders of CHIMERA. Skye fainted”
Scott gave a snort like chuckle, bending over.
“Well if that isn’t irony I don’t know what is.”
“So, you two made it official then? You and Daisy? ” Fitz asked
“I guess you can call it the opposite of a ‘trial separation’. We’re gonna see how things work out.”
“Congratulations”
“Thanks.” Scott said, before sticking his head in the engine intake.
“You know” Fitz started “if we had…”
“The next word out of your mouth better not be ‘monkey’ or so help me God” Scott said, his voice echoing out of the engine.
“Well he could climb in there and…”
“Unless he’s wearing Dr. Pym’s ‘Ant Man’ suit I don’t think he’s gonna be much help.”
“It smells like something is trying to burn.” Fitz noticed
Scott took a sniff “You’re right. But it doesn’t smell like jet fuel”
“Guys” Jemma yelled from inside “You need to come inside right now.”
“We’re fine” Scott called out
“No, you don’t understand. That’s acid rain! And it’s only going to get worse!”
“Acid…” The two realized what was burning was their clothes.
“Crap crap crap…” Scott said, standing in front of the other’s in his draws. The two doctors were looking them over for burns. The acidity was much higher than anything on their Earth and if they’d stayed out any longer their clothes would have been ruined.
“You two will live…” Simmons said, handing them bathrobes.
The rain picked up as the afternoon turned into evening and was steady well into the night, becoming a full blown thunderstorm around sunset. Fortunately it wasn’t strong enough to eat through the multi alloy body of the plane but it would have made going outside uncomfortable. May had ordered the Chimera troopers to leave, figuring worst case scenario was they’d been followed but the rain scarred the SSR off for now.
When it was time to turn in, Daisy moved her stuff into Scott’s bunk, giving her sleeping space to May. Fitz and Jemma, meanwhile gave the suite over to Sky and Simmons because it had its own bathroom, better for the soon to be mother.
“So does this count as our first night together?” Scott asked Daisy lying beside him.
“Oh just shut up and kiss me…”
The three young couples had all long drifted off to sleep in each other’s embrace, while May was still lying there awake. She found it a bit funny how she was stuck spending the night with six young people, all around 30 years old, all in relationships and all at different stages. Skye and Simmons were long married and soon to be parents. Jemma and Fitz had been together a while and recently got married. Then, there was Daisy and Scott. She’d overheard them only just tell each other “I Love You” for the first time before, now they’d just fell asleep in each other’s arms after what sounded like a loud round of sex. She reached for her pants on the table and pulled a photograph out of the back pocket.
“You told me to take a chance on Jemma as a field agent, how she could be a great asset.” She told the photo “I said ‘No, her parents would kill us’, but, you were right. We’d never have gotten this far without her help. I’m just sad to see her go. She’s been like the daughter we always wanted. Always worrying about me, always putting her own safety at risk for the cause. I said ‘she’s only good for patching up the wounded’ but you changed my mind.”
She put the photo next to her in the bed, a ritual unknown to the world she’d done every night for the last few years, replicating the place its subject should have been had they not been killed by the SSR.
“I miss you more each day but I will always love you. Good night, my dear sweet Bobbi.” She said, to the blond woman’s picture next to her.
The group got a rude awakening the next morning.
“What’s with all the lights outside? Jemma asked her twin, before a booming voice came calling.
“Skye, Jemma. It doesn’t have to be this way. Come on out, let’s talk about this. Think of the baby” Director Garret had found them. The man had arrived with every soldier, police officer and government agent he could get his hands on.
“You sure they’re still here” he asked the man standing next to him.
“Oh they’re here.” Leopold Fitz answered. “I’d bet my good eye. Their magic car might be quiet and invisible, but it still leaves wheel tracks. Those traitorous dykes will get what’s coming to them.”
“Now, now, now, Mr. Fitz, that’s not a nice thing to say at all.” Garret said, scolding him like he was a small child “They love each other. I think it’s sweet.”
The ever angry Scotsman looked at his boss.
“You’ll get your fill, don’t worry.” Garret promised.
“I told you that woman was up to something. And you didn’t listen.”
“I am not a giving pregnant woman red bars. I have standards, you know.”
“And now look where we are. A muddy field in the middle of nowhere and guess what, they have help from aliens.”
“They’re not aliens, you moron. I don’t know what they are but they don’t seem like aliens.”
“Whatever. Just hurry up, I want to kill somebody and sometime today would be awesome.”
“Has everyone ever told you that you have some fantastic anger management issues?”
Leopold growled at him in pent up frustration.
“Listen,” Garret told him “Calm down or I am going to start you on ration bars…”
Back in the plane, May was panicking “How did they find us?” she asked. “Which one of you ratted us out?”
“Hey,” Daisy snapped “They tried to kill us. Why would we help them? We’ve only got one option right now, and that’s leaving.” She yelled the last part so that’s intended recipient could hear it better.
“Working on it sweetheart.” Scott called from the cockpit. But it was for naught. With only one working engine and having used up a large chunk of battery power over the night, the repulsors weren’t getting enough juice to start up.
“Guys…” He said, standing in the doorway to the main cabin “We’ve got once chance of getting out of here. And you’re not going to like it.”
Skye, Fitz, Daisy and Jemma knew what Scott was suggesting, but he went and said it anyway.
“We trigger that stupid hunk of junk.”