A/N: An AU story, for once. I had a vague idea where this was going however it went on to be way, way longer than expected. And I so do not do multi-chapters, but this was just too long so I had to split it up. I've been working on this all summer, but I'm not quite finished, and now I'm on vacation, but I figured I had to upload something before the new season starts. So this will be the first time I upload before being finished with the work. I don't know when I'll be able to update. Just know I started this before season 3. Also I haven't had the time to proof read, so sorry for any mistakes.
Any science stuff in here is made up and likely wrong, my knowledge in that field is very limited. As is any description of actual cities, places or landscapes. It's all imagination and fiction, no facts around here. And I'm sorry if I'm mean to anyone's fav. The main focus here is Simmons and there's also some FitzSimmons. The plot is mediocre if anything, and there's not a lot of action.
I hope you still will enjoy it. And I would really like to know what you think since this is not my usual forte. The hiatus made me loose my marbles or at least my introspective stories in favour of an actual plotline. We'll see how that goes. But enough of my long ramblings..., I hope they didn't scare you away already.
Spoilers: Everything up to and including 2x21 & 2x22 S.O.S.
Disclaimer: My muse finally decided to bestow me with a little imagination, so I own that, but not the rights to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
He often wandered these halls, looking in at the different labs along his way. Wondering why he hadn't applied himself more, if he had then he might have ended up behind one of these doors instead of on the other side. Walking down the long, grey hallway, delivering mail. That had never been his dream job, he was meant for more, he was smart, he knew that, he just hadn't had the right motivation to stay in school and make something of himself.
Most doors were made of glass and if not then they had windows. He could see all the experiments going on, follow the progress or failures. However the interesting labs were the ones you couldn't see into, or go into without a certain clearance. The secrecy intrigued him, and he liked to imagine different scenarios as he walked by, crazy experiments and dangerous test that were taking place behind those closed doors.
One day he was walking his usual route past lab 1 with the brown rats and lab 33 where everything in there were fluorescent, he liked that one. Then he came to lab 42, a lab which were usually closed off, a heavy grey iron door always tightly shot, but not today. Today the door was open, and not only was it open it was wide open. He had experienced doors being ajar at times, when people were coming or going, but wide open, that was new. And there didn't seem to be anyone around either, which was twice as strange.
There was no scientist in sight, he looked around once, twice, three times, before letting his curiosity win. He entered the room. "Hello?" He tried softly, no one answered. He gathered himself and tried again a little louder this time. "Hello, is anyone there?" Still nothing. He was now standing in the middle of the room. It was empty except for a large glass cage that contained what looked like a black rock. He moved closer, studying the specimen, wondering what was so special about this particular rock exactly.
He found out sooner than he would have thought, and liked. Because suddenly the door to the box sprang open, he jumped to the side just in time to avoid getting hit in the face. Which was his luck because then the rock seemed to liquefy and come pouring straight out on the floor. Had he had time to react he would have screamed, but before he knew of it, it was back in the confinement of the glass again, even the door had swung shot due to the impact, that thing packed quite the punch. He stared at it horrified, and was about to run the hell out of the room - having learned his lesson; that being nosy didn't pay - when he stopped nearly tripping over his own feet. There on the previously empty floor a black pile of goo had been left behind. Under different circumstances he would have continued his flight out of there, but something told him to go and examine it closer.
When he did so, it moved slightly giving him a fright, but now he could see the contours of the pile better. It was a girl lying there covered in goo, he couldn't quite make out any distinguishing features, but she couldn't be much older than himself. What was he going to do? "Help!" He yelled, but no one heard him, or if they did they ignored him, because no one came running to his rescue. He eyed the black rocklike thing, but it seemed as uncaring as any rock, as long as it was stable and didn't come out like that again it would be fine. He told himself. Now the girl, for some reason she didn't scare him, even though she had just come out of a rock, and could have vampire fangs and claws for hands wanting to kill him on sight, for all he knew, it wasn't like he had encountered this kind of thing before, and there was just something that told him she needed his help.
He went all up and close to her, squatting down to get a better look. She was moving so he knew she was alive, it looked like she was trying to get the goo off, but failing at it, it did look very sticky. He wondered if she could breathe underneath it, if she couldn't she might not have much time. He made a decision, reached out and touched the goo on her cheek. It was colder than he expected from something that had acted like lava from a volcano eruption, no kinetic energy had fuelled its breakdown and build up. What was that thing? It was as cold as spring water, but stuck to his fingers like honey, not that he had any desire to lick his fingers after touching it.
He swept his hand over her face, effectively freeing her mouth and nose. She breathed in heavily a few times before her breathing evened out. From what he could see so far she looked normal. When she still hadn't said a word he continued his goo removal, carefully stroking his hand over her eyes and the rest of her face. It struck him how beautiful she was, and it was a plus that she hadn't tried to attack or eat him yet. She was lying very still, eyes still closed, but alert like a scared animal. He dried his hand on his pants of the excess goo.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked. The sound of his voice made her open her eyes immediately, they were clear, brown and frightened. When she had focused in on him a smile appeared and lit up her whole face.
"Fitz." She said, relief in her voice and then she practically flung herself at him. Embracing him with sticky arms, getting his shirt all dirty.
He was so confused, strange women didn't throw themselves at him like that, it just didn't happen. After a minute or so he regained his ability to speak. "Ehm, do I know you?"
She loosened her grip and looked at him, studying his sincerity. "Fitz, it's me Simmons."
"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are." She looked ready to cry, devastated by his words, like she was a deer and his words was the truck that had just run her over.
Her eyes scanned the room. "What happened, where am I?"
"I don't know what happened, you just sort of tumbled out of that rock," He pointed "frankly I'm as surprised as you are." there was a slight hesitation "And I'm not sure I'm supposed to tell you where we are."
"Why not?" Her tone was defiant, like she had as much right to be there as he did.
"I don't know you, or your clearance level, or if you even have clearance, maybe you're not supposed to be in the building, maybe you're a spy, a ninja, or an alien, a science project, an AI, or a rock monster, and you..."
She had to stop him, he was spinning out of control with all his theories. "Stop it Fitz, please. I'm none of those things, I'm a shield agent just like you."
He looked her up and down. "But how can I know that? And now we're at it, where do you know my name from?"
"Fitz I've known you for years, why can't you remember me? The rock started to rumble, flowing around in it's cage. She looked at it and a memory hit her. We need to get away from that thing right now."After seeing it in action Fitz couldn't agree with her more, but he didn't know if it was wise helping her out of the lab, she must be in there for a reason. She didn't look like one of the scientist - was too young and pretty - but she might be part of an experiment, a lifelike robot maybe, or a clone. There were endless possibilities in here.
She was trying desperately to stand up, but she was still gooey and was slipping and sliding around all over the floor. He pitied her and gave her a hand. "Thanks" she whispered breathlessly from her efforts, "Now let's get out of here."
"Okay but promise me you'll tell me what's going on when we're on the other side of that door and not beat me up and run away, I can't be a part of any kind of prison break or escape attempt."
"I promise, I'll tell you as much as I know."
She didn't look like a hardboiled criminal, so he took her word for it, and together they managed to reach the door - with a bit of slipping and falling on their way there. They closed the heavy door and sank down to the floor, their backs resting against it.
He gave her a minute to catch her breath. "Okay, then tell me. Who are you and what's going on?"
"I will," For a split second he looked betrayed, so she hurried her sentence along to reassure him. "I will, but first tell me this is a Shield facility and not Hydra. I don't think I could take that in addition to everything else."
"We're in Shield." He said taking mercy on her. "Now it's your turn." He urged.
"My name is Jemma Simmons. And we're shield scientist you and I, we met at the academy, and we've been friends since we were paired in chem lab." She went on to tell him a fantastic tale about all the adventures they had been on, the people they had met, and dangers they had faced, together and apart. Ending with her being sucked into the rock.
He listened without interrupting and when she was finished he almost wished he lived in that alternate reality she spoke of. It did sound very exciting, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with him. And he told her as much not wanting to lie or give her false hope, she seemed like a nice person, if she wasn't a science experiment with an overactive imagination, he hadn't totally ruled that out yet. "It's an interesting story, but you must have me confused with someone else. I was admitted to shield academy, yes, but I never finished my training, and I sure as hell didn't participate in the fight against Hydra, I'll let the professionals deal with those bastards.
She sighed looking resigned. "I don't understand what happened, and why you don't remember, or what it did to me, and why?" She hid her head in her hands. Without thinking he reached out and touched her shoulder to offer her some comfort. She looked up at him, her eyes glassy. He removed his hand and realised it was all black and sticky, having forgotten for a moment about her current condition. He made a face and shook it ferociously. It made her smile.
"How do I get this damn stuff off," He tried to remove it with the other hand but soon that one was as greasy as the first. He gave up, shook his head and wiped both of his hands on his black rock stained pants, looking at himself in the process, he was a mess. "I'm almost as sticky as you now." She began to giggle and the sound made him smile in return. He realised he was enjoying the company, it had been a long time since he had had a friend he could be this relaxed around, especially here at work. Mail room employees were hardly ever in the mailroom, being as they went around with the mail, and the ones that got mail delivered couldn't be bothered to give him the time of day.
He wanted to share something with her after she had practically told him her whole life story. He started with his mom and old dog, but she already knew those stories, which were kind of frightening actually, she knew him without him really knowing her, like he had been under surveillance his whole life, but that was just silly. He could understand if Shield or even Hydra had shield agents under observation, but a shield mailman, that made no sense. If he was carrying any secrets in those letters or packages he bore around it wasn't anything he knew about, they were sealed for a reason and he didn't go around opening other people's mail. So surveilling him was a waste of time, he knew nothing of the secrets that were going on in house, or out for that matter.
He moved his tale up to his entry at Shield Academy, and it seemed that this was where her knowledge of him ended. Like the timeline had shifted somehow and pushed them in different directions instead of the same. Resulting in them never meeting. He had dropped out, but stayed at shield as a mail delivery guy - she found that incredulous, apparently he was an engineer in her reality a brilliant one. And she had been eaten by a rock. Tough luck. And now here they were, together and it all felt so natural, as if they were meant to be together.
Very sudden and out of the blue came four men all dressed up in what looked like spacesuits but most likely were contamination suits. Without warning or word they grabbed both him and Jemma and hauled them to their feet. "Hey?!" Fitz exclaimed trying to loosen the grip the two men had on his forearms.
"Sir, you need to come with us." One of them said very matter of factly, there was no place for discussion in his tone.
The two others were already hauling Simmons in the opposite direction. Concern for the, until an hour or so ago, unknown woman took hold of him. "Where are you taking her? What are you going to do to her?"
"You don't need to worry about that, sir. You just need come with us." The flat repetition of the masked polite order made him furious, but there was nothing he could do. Going against the man wasn't wise. And it wasn't like he'd done anything wrong, unless helping someone in need was wrong.
He looked back at Jemma, she didn't make a sound but was looking at him pleadingly as she was being taken away. If what she had told him were true, she didn't know anyone here, she was alone and afraid, much like he had been at the Academy, so he could empathise. As they rounded a corner and lost sight of each other he wondered if he was ever going to see her again.