The call had come in early, an unknown substance that had been found in a village well and had had…a very interesting effect on the locals.
"An alien aphrodisiac!" Skye said, as she dodged out of the way of a couple who were pressed into the wall, seeing how far their tongues could reach down each other's throats, "That's new. I thought it was only bad stuff that came through. But now we've got an actual alien love potion."
"It is…rather fascinating that it came through, but also just how quickly it worked," Simmons said, blushing as she watched another couple divest each other of their clothes. Fitz, on the other hand, was enjoying the show, even if his cheeks were also a little pink.
"Yeah, it's definitely…fascinating." he said, as he watched the woman pull her bra off and fling it away. Ward simply kept as far away from all the couples as possible, as if they all had a contagious disease. Skye smirked at his behaviour, which grew into a full blown grin when he pulled a disgusted face at yet another couple's antics.
"A bit out of your depth, Ward?" she smirked. He didn't dignify that with a response, merely rolled his eyes at her and said,
"Any time you wanna finish up, Simmons," From her position kneeling over the well, using a complicated machine that Fitz had designed to filter out any liquid that wasn't from Earth, Simmons glanced up, averted her eyes from the amorous activities and said,
"Just a few more minutes, Agent Ward. It's nearly done." Skye just wouldn't let it go,
"Getting a little hot under the collar?" she asked as she walked towards Ward, smirking, "Maybe a little frisky? Got a problem you need to take care of?" she finished with a wink. Fitz had just enough brain power left to laugh at her words, while Ward just glared at her,
"Shame Miles isn't here," he shot back, "he could take care of anything…you needed taking care of." Not the most articulated comeback, and it was a low-blow, bringing up her ex-boyfriend, but it got the result he wanted; it shut her up and wiped the smirk off her face. And if he felt a twinge of guilt for that, it was easily ignored, if not easily forgotten. Thankfully, Simmons chose this moment to stand up and announce that all of the aphrodisiac was out of the water, and they could all head back to the BUS.
"What will happen to the villagers, do you think?" Agent Coulson asked as they stood around the desk in the main section of the ship.
"If we don't have to jet off anywhere soon, sir, I was just wondering if I could observe the people in the village. Not because I want to watch or anything," she was quick to add, but it was too late. Skye and Fitz were giggling under their breaths like teenagers, "I just want to see if it naturally flushes out of their system, or if we have to concoct something to stop it."
"Of course. Maybe you can all use this day for productive means," Coulson addressed the rest of the table sharply. Skye and Fitz's grins dropped. Skye even looked a bit apprehensive and glancing at Ward, it seemed she had every reason to be. The way he was smirking told her she would be paying for her earlier comments in blood, sweat and tears. Probably a lot of the sweat and tears.
Luckily they didn't have to wait long. The aphrodisiac effects left the population within about six hours of consumption, leaving many people confused and many more mortified. Simmons talked to five of the people who had managed to retain almost all of their clothing. They said it was all very vague, as if in a dream. The BUS left shortly after this.
Simmons was fascinated by the aphrodisiac, not least of all its fast acting components. She kept it in a canister that was air tight, as she was unsure if the smell also affected people, or if it had to be absorbed into the body's system in some other way, other than the conventional drinking. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one fascinated by it.
"No, Leo, you cannot have 'a dram' just to try it out! I still don't know how it works and I don't want you to be the test subject."
"But Jemma…"
"No, Fitz!" Another reason Simmons didn't want Fitz taking it was because she was sure who he would target in his love induced stupor. She may not have any great love of Skye beyond friendship, but she could at least keep the hacker from being molested by her partner. Besides, Simmons was a great believer in saying things honestly, without any inducements. Anything said under the influence of alcohol or some other narcotic couldn't be trusted.
Simmons eventually left for dinner, having done as much work as she could on the aphrodisiac. She locked the lab tight, not wanting anything to happen to it while she was gone. Fitz had been nagging her all day long, just for a tiny sip of it. She didn't understand his fascination with it. As far as the villagers had told her, you got a bit woozy, grabbed onto the nearest thing you could find and snogged the hell out of it, then promptly forgot it all a few hours later. She was at a loss as to why aliens would want such a thing. Although perhaps it reacted differently to other body types, or species. It was almost a shame that she had no aliens to test it on. Purely in the name of science, of course. She would never dream of cutting anything open just to see what went where.
Sitting in the dining hall, surrounded by the others, she found out the details of their day. By the sounds of it, Skye had been tortured to her very limit by Ward, who leaned back in his chair, for once loose and relaxed. Clearly he thought the punishment fit the crime. Agent May merely said that they would be flying out across the ocean, so she could leave the plane on autopilot for most of the night. Agent Coulson had gotten a call about their next job, but it was nothing urgent, so they had nothing to hurry for. And Leo…?
"Where's Fitz?" she asked suddenly. Everybody looked startled, Ward actually looked around, stunned that Jemma had been sitting there for so long and no one had noticed that her other half wasn't in the room. Dread settled in her stomach,
"Oh, you wouldn't…" She quickly pushed away from the table and ran down to the lab.