"Can I request a lesson today?" Skye asked, one morning when she and Ward were getting ready to train.
"Um, maybe. It depends. What is it?" Ward looked surprised.
"I want to know how to use a parachute," Skye said.
"It's not hard."
"Okay, but I still want to properly know how to use it," Skye insisted.
A week ago, Simmons had jumped out of the plane, thinking she had an incurable alien disease and Ward had taken a parachute and saved her. Suddenly the reality and dangers of living on a plane had become clear and Skye wanted to be prepared.
"Does this have anything to do with what happened a week ago?" Ward asked, a hint of compassion in his voice.
"No, it has to do with my true life calling of sky diving," Skye replied sarcastically. "Of course it does. You all know how to use a parachute. I read the plane's little safety exit pamphlet but knowing where the doors are isn't any good unless I'm prepared to exit through them!"
Ward held up his hands. "Okay, fair point. Of course I'll teach you."
"Thank you," Skye smiled as Ward walked across the room and grabbed one of the parachutes.
It was Simmons knocking on her door. Skye could tell because Simmons didn't pound like Ward did; she knocked politely. Without waiting for an answer, the door was slid open and Simmons poked her head in.
"Skye? Get up. We have to go."
"Go where?" Skye asked, blinking a few times before looking at the clock. It was almost nine thirty in the morning.
"Mission," Simmons answered then dashed off.
So Skye dragged herself out of bed, changed quickly, then met the others.
"Where's May and Coulson?" Skye asked. Only Ward, Simmons and Fitz were there, but they looked like they were just waiting for her.
"They had to hurry to the Hub," Ward said. "They took Lola. I just talked to Coulson on the phone, though."
"So what are we doing?" Skye asked. The four of them had done stuff without Coulson and May before, but it wasn't too often.
"We found an 084," Fitz said. He was both excited and wary about this. "It's on the top of a small mountain in South America. It's on an island."
"Alright, so we just go get it then?" Skye asked. She looked at the pictures Ward had put up of a rocky mountain covered poking out from a cover of trees. "Sounds easy enough."
Ward nodded. "I think we're going to fly over the mountain and jump down rather than hike up."
Simmons made a face. "I don't want to jump."
"You'll have a parachute," Fitz said. "You'll be fine, I promise."
"I'll jump with you holding hands, if you want. I'm not to keen on this either. I'd rather hike," Skye said. She looked at Ward, knowing that he'd be the one to make the final call.
"No, it's fine. This should take an hour, max," Ward said. "We'll fly up and I'll get us close to the top of the mountain. You three will jump down and find the 084. Then I'll drop down the ladder and you guys will get back up."
"Hold on, you're not coming with us?" Skye asked. Ward was probably the only one trained to do this properly.
"I have to fly the plane. It's not just going to hover there over the mountain."
"And I'll take it one of you two can't fly it?" Skye asked Fitzsimmons but already knew the answer.
"Nope," Simmons said.
"So get parachutes and your equipment ready. We should be there in half an hour," Ward said, walking back to the cockpit.
"I need food first," Skye said and left in search of some.
She got herself a muffin and changed into a sweater as she knew that it's colder on the top of a mountain. She grabbed a parachute from the stock as well as some tech equipment that would be useful in finding an 084. With all her things assembled and left on a table, she grabbed a bag of crackers and wandered off.
"Want some goldfish?" Skye asked going in and sitting in the passenger cockpit seat next to Ward.
"Alright. Thanks," Ward said, reaching over and taking a handful of the goldfish crackers. But just as he went to stuff them in his mouth, he dropped them suddenly and his hands went to the steering.
Skye chuckled. "You missed horribly," she informed him.
"Buckle up," Ward said, his eyes trained on the vast sky before them.
Skye did as he said, cautiously. "Why?"
Ward didn't reply. He just flicked switches on the dashboard and steered the plane.
"Is everything okay?" Skye asked quietly, not wanting to distract him.
"No," Ward said without looking away. He pointed to a black dot in the sky. "I think we're being attacked."
"W-what?" Skye blinked. She stared at the black dot as it whizzed closer. Sure enough, it was a missile, headed straight for them.
"Hold on," Ward grunted as he yanked the steering to the left and the plane turned a sharply. They heard a clatter from somewhere in the plane.
Ward reached up and pressed a button. It was the intercom button. "Simmons, Fitz, listen to me. We're being shot at. Grab a parachute just in case and stay safe," he said. Then Ward flipped more switches and tried to speak into a headset. "Hello? Who's shooting? Mayday!" But he got no response, only static.
Skye gripped the sides of her seat tightly. Her knuckles were white.
"Ward, there's another one at eight o'clock," Skye said in a shaky voice, seeing another black dot in the sky.
"Yes, I know, I see the radar," Ward growled.
"Sorry," Skye whispered as the plane dipped a bit.
After five minutes and six more missiles that Ward just managed to avoid, it was getting too impossible. Ward had informed her that the missiles weren't too powerful, but they could still kill or cause a lot of damage. Skye felt like throwing up and her heart was beating far too loudly.
"Crap, crap, crap," Ward muttered. "Skye, where's your parachute?"
"On the table in the kitchen," Skye said. Was it really going to come down to this?
"I need you to get it. There's only one in here," Ward said.
Skye nodded and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I can do that." She unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up. Just then Ward made the plane shake and she stumbled over.
"On second though, nope, no, not happening. We can share that one." She sat back down in the seat.
"Skye. You can do it. But you have to hurry," Ward said.
Skye took a deep breath and ran, literally dashed to the little kitchen area where her things were. Holding on to the wall for support as the plane shook, she grabbed everything then ran back to the cockpit as fast as she could.
"Are you okay?" Ward asked her.
"Y-yeah," Skye huffed and sat down, doing up the buckle right away.
But just as her breath slowed down to normal, it happened. Ward was caught between three missiles coming right at him from different angles.
"Skye, I- I can't avoid all three," Ward said, sounding panicked, a tone that Skye doesn't hear often from him.
After putting on the parachute, Skye reached up and pressed the intercom button.
"Fitzsimmons? I love you both," she said as she felt tears in her eyes.
Ward had driven the plane as low as he could so the drop wouldn't be as large, but to avoid the missiles, he then made the plane lurch upwards and he tried to barrel roll to the right. But it didn't work.
The next series of events happened in ten seconds, but for the people involved, it felt like two minutes in extreme slow motion. A missile hit right behind the cockpit but the impact was extremely intense. Ward was ready for it and he threw himself over Skye to protect her from the initial hit, but fell off her a moment after. The bang happened, and the sound was louder than anything Skye had ever heard. She screamed. But she didn't even have time to think about that because all she could think about, aside from a slew of creative curse words, was the intense heat and the sensation of being pushed down. She was falling out of the sky and she had to do something in the two seconds she had. With her eyes closed, she tried to pull the parachute open. She succeeded with a second to spare. It was a blur, but the next thing she knew, amidst the falling pieces of plane and the smell of smoke, she hit water.
A/N
Hey folks! Welcome to my new story! The fun thing about this is that it's pretty much all written already! It's five chapters and I'll post twice a week, Saturdays and Tuesdays.
So tell me what you think or make guesses as to what you think'll happen! See you soon, SHIELD fans!
P.S. If you're in need of someone to express SDCC feels with (I'm not there but the pics and videos we've gotten has made me super happy) or just need a friend, hit me up.