Do You Know Your Enemy?
Coulson watched in horror as the maniac that they were chasing easily lifted Skye into the air with his powers, leaving her there, suspended, as he laughed hysterically. Skye looked terrified, her eyes were wide, blood dripping from her fingers tips, her mouth moving to form one silent word.
May.
Tear streamed from the girls face, pain clear as daylight on her face. The rest of the team lay strewn across the ground as they stared helplessly at the man that held their hacker. The laughter rang out across the field of destruction that they occupied, dead bodies of fellow agents lay around them, their faces forever frozen in a state of fear and pain as they lay in their own pool of blood, all killed in a similar way, all starting with them being held suspended in the air by the maniac.
Coulson looked around at his team and surviving agents, Bobbi was hovering protectively over an unconscious Hunter and Simmons, her face snarled as one hand lay on Simmons chest and the other holding a gun at the mad man. Her posture screamed to him, she was in pain, everyone around him was in pain, and she was barely holding herself together, he could see that her hair was half stained with blood. She must have a head injury. This was not good.
Fitz was being pushed back by Mack, standing protectively in front of the young scientist, his own face grim as he watched Skye being suspended in the air. He held a grenade in his hand, his gun lying forgotten a few feet away, empty and useless. Fitz was gripping the back of Mack's shirt, his face gripped in fear, unshed tears hanging in his eyes, too afraid of what might happen to Mack if he dared attempt to take down their target.
Then there was May. She lay half crouched on the ground, her face set in a grim determination as she calculated the chances of getting both Skye and herself out of here alive. Her muscles were tense as she regarded the situation, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. He wanted to call out. No, don't do it May. He couldn't find the strength in him to do it. They had never encountered someone like this before and he was terrified. He had never felt this type of fear before, not even when he stood up to Loki. He was terrified and he had no idea what to do.
The air which previously had been humming with...with something suddenly stop and he found himself screaming out along with the rest of the team.
"Skye!"
Bobbi's voice held the most pain as she tore herself away from her wounded comrades and stumbled out as she ran towards Skye. She was unsuccessful. He watched as Bobbi barely made any distance between the target and herself before she collapsed in pain, her face showing defeat and fear.
Before anyone could ever realise what was going on, May darted from her resting sport, weaving around the attack being thrown her way by the target. The snarl that tore itself from May's throat seemed unreal. Too animalistic. She tore through the field in her attempt to get Skye.
Skye. The poor girl was looking on in fear. She felt it too, even though she was suspended in the air, she felt everything around her freeze. She knew what was coming. Skye closed her eyes slowly, letting her body go limp as she gave up on the situation.
No. No she can't. She had to hold on. May was coming. May was coming...
Screams filled the empty air around them. Skye's screams.
Everyone froze them moment they heard Skye scream bloody murder. Looking at Skye, he watched as her body bent in awkward positions, blood pouring from random spots on her body. He watched in horror as Skye's body was being rotated, the extent of the damage being displayed. Skye eyes were empty and hallow, her mouth open in a silent scream of pain and a cry for help.
"Hang in there Skye!" He found himself screaming as he attempted to find some strength, he had to help. He had to help May get Skye. Before he even knelt on the ground, Bobbi seemed to fight through any pain she was feeling as she tore after May, he face set in determination as she whipped her battle staves out and then in a impressive show of power, brought it down upon the mad man.
He never felt so helpless before.
May and Bobbi looked at each other, nodding as they seemed to communicate a plan between each other. He watched in amazement as they two of them moved around each other in a harmony that was memorising to watch. They moved like water as the landed blow after blow on the man.
The laughter stopped. He stared at them with a sneer. He seemed to be contemplating his next move, but that was a mistake he was going to regret. It gave May and Bobbi the opening they needed as Bobbi linked her hands together and pushed May high into the air, towards Skye. He watched in a dazed awe as May flew towards Skye, one arm grabbing the girls arm and pulled her close as she fell down to the earth again.
Mack ran forward, swatting Fitz's hand off of him as he raced to go help Bobbi, who was know at the mercy of the targets anger. Mack, without any hesitance, brought his fist down on the targets stomach, causing the man to fly off his feet at the unsuspecting blow.
He needed to help them. He needed to help his team. He needed to help his organisation. Coulson attempted to stand up, only to fall onto one knee as pain shot up through his leg. He gritted his teeth, he could not let this simple leg pain hold him back. He watched Bobbi as she miraculously found strength from within to not only pull herself from the ground, but to run and fight the mad man. He watched as she pushed any pain she felt away from her mind, he could see the pain on her face with every muscle movement, but, he could also see the determination that only came with one of his agents. Pride surged through him, he felt proud of all his agents as they stood their ground against the monster, to protect humanity.
Grimacing, he pushed himself up and staggered his way to May, who was desperately clinging to Skye's limp,bloody body as she ran through the fight. Catching up to her, he grabbed Skye's body of off May and gently cradled the girl in his arms. Staring at May, he understood her. No words were needed to be said as he watch May run back into the line of fire to help her fellow agents.
Gripping Skye tightly, he ran to where Fitz was hovering protectively over Hunter and Simmons. He looked petrified, tears stained his face but his eyes told Coulson all he needed to know. Fitz was prepared to do whatever it took to get his team out of here alive.
Gently placing Skye down, she mumbled softly, her dazed eyes meeting his, she wanted to fight but she knew that she couldn't. He could see the helplessness that she felt. He crouched down and gently placed a hand on her cheek
"Skye, rest, we've got this" He whispered softly, kissing her forehead. He wasn't supposed to do that, he was the director. There were unwritten rules about the relationships between fellow agents, not that he would consider a romantic one between Skye and himself, it was more of a relationship that Fury insisted that would bring down many agents in the field, a family relationship. If Coulson could go back in time with the knowledge he had, he would have adopted Skye in a heartbeat, even if it meant leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. Despite Fury's reservation of family like relationships between his agents, he never discouraged it, saying that it allowed agents to trust other people and relax in a way they couldn't with friends or even with lovers.
Thinking of the family that he had before he was killed, he knew what he had to do. Fury's order be dammed, he was director know and right now. They needed the Avengers to help them. He needed their enhanced powers. Skye recently has been having reservations about using her powers in a lethal way, deciding to use them only if the situation warrants it. Only this time, she decided a little too late and the target had already over-powered most of the team and had severely injured Skye, making it all that harder to use her powers. He didn't blame Skye at all, it was his fault, May had told him that they needed to speak to Skye to sort this all out. He kept putting it off and now it was a contributing factor in the many reasons that half of his organisation lay dead around him.
Looking at Fitz, he pulled out his phone.
"Fitz, I need you to phone this number and tell them to use the tracking on the phone to find us and to bring back up. Tell them that there is an enhanced and we are dying. As soon as you answer the phone, say 'Barton, is purple a cool colour?', trust me Fitz, if you do not say that we are not going to get back up and we could die today" He tells Fitz seriously.
Fitz just stared at him, slowly grabbing the phone, not entirely comprehending why he needed to do it.
"Sir, why can't you just make the call?" He asked, confused.
Coulson sighed irritably and threw Fitz a look, honestly there was no time for question, no matter how strange his request was.
"Right, I'll be right on it Sir" he mumbled, jogging to a safe distance to make the phone call.
Coulson could only hope that Romanoff was in a good mood today for surprises. He watched Fitz talked animately from the side of his eye as he attempted to keep an eye on the fight in front of him. Things seemed to be going okay for the moment, they were all fighting par for par. He just hoped that the team did not slip, because if they slipped for even a moment, it could result in their deaths.
"Coulson! Back-up's on their way, they said their pissed at you but they will help and that when this is all over they are going to kill you for real this time" Fitz panted, his hands on his knees as he relayed the information to his superior officer.
Coulson just grinned, a little humour in this dark moment. "Good work Fitz, did they give a eta?"
"Yeah, ten minutes" Fitz nodded as replied. He ran a hand through his hair as he crouched down, pulling the first aid kit, which had been careless flung at them by a passing agent, and attempted to help patch up the wounded.
Coulson watched out for any threats that was coming their way, as of right now, it was only Fitz and himself protecting the wounded and they could not afford to lose any more agents.
It was an agonising ten minutes. He watched as Mack, May and Bobbi attempt to hold off their target. He watched as Bobbi took one too many hits and went down. He watched as Mack and May cover her as she attempted to get back on her feet. It was difficult to watch, he watch Bobbi tilt her head forward in pain as she held herself up on her hands and knees and it was clear that it was over for Agent Morse. He grimaced as he realised he had no way of getting over there and pulling her out of the line of fire without endangering the fight and tipping it in favour of their attacker.
"Coulson!" A voice from beside him scream, Natasha Romanoff, he slowly turn to look at her, the helplessness and fear easily displayed on his face as he tried to convey how much of a cluster fuck this mission had turned out to be. They had lost nearly their entire New York (and surrounding areas) agents (not that there were many to begin with) and now they were back to the core team.
"Bobbi" was all he managed to say and he was grateful that Natasha understood as she darted into the line of fire and easily picked up Bobbi as if she weighed nothing.
"Fuck." Came a soft voice from behind him, he turned to see his idol, Capitan America, he stood in a momentary daze as he surveyed the area before jumping into battle. Coulson watched as the Avengers came out in full force (almost full force, Bruce was currently residing next to Fitz, attending to the wounded).
Their target looked surprised, but quickly recovered with a snarl. However, he was no match for Earth mightiest hero's. He watched, stunned as the Avengers took him down with surprising easiness. The attacker went down easily, laughing hysterically as it happened and screaming nonsense about how he destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D and with a sickening realisation, Coulson doubled over, this man...no, this monster was simply playing with them. He attacked them for no reason other than to annihilate them. He went down easy for the Avengers, because apparently this man held nothing against them but everything against S.H.I.E.L.D, so much so that he was prepared to die in his quest to kill every single one of them.
"Coulson" it was May. She placed a hand on his back, silently comforting him as she made the same conclusion as him. Gently tugging on his arm, he followed the silent request to stand as he look at his surviving team of seven; Bobbi, Lance, Mack, May, Fitz, Simmons and Skye. It was horrible. They had a team of thirty based in New York and now they were down to seven.
May slid her hand from his back, down his arm and gently entwined their hands. A silent show of support and comfort.
"Coulson we have to get going. The police are on their way, we, we have to leave them" She said softly, gently pulling him towards the quinjet. Nodding, he silently followed, watching as the injured were carefully carried on board.
Today had been a horrible day.