A/N: Hello all!

So, I know that Skitz and BioSpecialist may not be the most popular pairings in the fandom, but I fell in love with them and have been wanted to write a multific for a while now. This is a superpower-based AU that I'm co-writing with the lovely Caitlin51. It'll take a little while for Skye to show up, but eventually it will be SkyexFitz and WardxSimmons.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is co-authored by Caitlin51, and she and I are also co-authoring the other side of this fic on her account. It is called "Crash and Burn" and shows this same story from the BioSpecialist viewpoint. I strongly suggest reading them both! While this fic will be a complete story in and of itself, as will the other one, they will complement each other, give you scenes that you normally wouldn't see, and give you large parts of the story that happen when the characters are split up.

Enjoy this first chapter and please, please leave a review!

Leo Fitz poked around the small kitchen, rummaging through drawers until he found a bottle of Aspirin. His hands shook as he twisted the lid off and poured the pills into his palm. It had been a long day, and his head wouldn't stop pounding.

He had stopped in to see Jemma in her lab after his department had closed for the day, knowing that she would still be stressing over her big experiment. He could tell as soon as he had walked in that it hadn't gone well. She had refused to make eye contact, rushing back and forth and ordering him to wait on the bench and not touch anything. And he had tried, he really had, but then he had found four different ways to improve the efficiency of the titration system set up on her table, and one thing had led to another which had led to an explosion, and…

Fitz shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He looked around and noted that Jemma still wasn't out of the shower. What was taking her so long? Suddenly anxious, he walked over to stand outside of the bathroom door and tried not to feel awkward as he listened for any signs of movement. He heard her music playing loudly, some twangy country nonsense, but the shower drowned out any noise she might have been making. He leaned in to the door and raised his voice, "You already showered at the lab. I don't see what shampoo is going to do that the soap there didn't."

He heard her gasp, and couldn't help the twinge of relief that shot through him. "Go away, Fitz," she commanded.

He rolled his eyes and went back to the living area. He perched on the couch but almost immediately stood up again and started pacing across the worn carpet. After another minute he decided to turn on the TV, quickly flipping through channels before settling on Agents of SHIELD. He managed to sit still and watch the episode for a minute or two but his hands were still shaking and he decided to try eating something.

The only problem was that Jemma reorganized her kitchen at least once a week and so he had to hunt for anything edible every time he came over. "Jemma! Did you move the popcorn again?"

He heard her shout from the bathroom, "One second, Fitz!"

A few moments later she emerged from the hallway, wearing loose sweats and a t-shirt. Her long hair was loose and still dripping down her back, and her arm was—

Gone.

He gaped, eyes shooting between her inexplicably calm face and the space where her right arm should have been. "I'm just going to go over the experiment one more time," she said, reaching for the bag she had left on the couch, "and then we can watch your silly show." She sat on the couch beside him, completely oblivious.

He managed to be only slightly offended by the insult to his third favorite television show, most of his attention being caught up by his friend's missing limb. "Er, Jemma?"

She crossed her arms (well, arm) in front of her defensively. "Oh come on, Fitz, I said this was the last time. And then I promise that I'll put it down. Okay?"

"No, uh, Jemma, I think that-"

"-I'll be really fast, Fitz, I promise," she cut him off, looking through the folder she held open on her lap.

"Your arm, Jemma!" he finally exclaimed. He pointed towards the gaping space but couldn't bring himself to touch it.

Obviously confused, Jemma looked down. "Oh no," she muttered, sounding disconcerted but not nearly as upset as he thought she should be. "That's not right."

"Not right? Jemma, your arm is gone! I don't - what happened?"

She kept looking down without acknowledging him "I can still feel it." The folder slid off her lap but neither of them made any effort to pick it up. "It's never done that before."

Completely exasperated, Fitz threw his arms in the air. "Oh, well that's okay then. As long it's never happened before then it's totally - -Jemma! Your arm is missing! Could you please quit being so calm?"

"I wonder…" she mumbled, and he was more than a little bit unnerved by the gleam of excitement in her eyes.

"Yes, well, I wonder, too. But I am experiencing a healthy amount of panic, and not just gazing at my nonexistent arm like it's the best thing since CERN invented the Large Hadron Collider." He took a deep breath and continued, "I get that you're a biochemist and that crazy...crazy shenanigans like this might happen to you on a more regular basis, but in the engineering department we don't just have...Wait, do things like this happen to you on a regular basis? Jemma, has your - Jemma?"

"This is amazing," she breathed, completely ignoring him. He jumped back slightly as her other arm suddenly disappeared as well. "Could I be doing something to the light particles in my immediate vicinity? That seems unlikely, but no other hypotheses are coming to mind..." she trailed off, completely distracted. Fitz tried waving his hand in front of her face but for several moments she didn't respond. Finally she looked up at him, a worrisome grin on her face. "I have to get back to the lab."

Fitz rolled his eyes, knowing that there would be no changing her mind, and continued grumbling as he followed her out the door.

…

Two Weeks Later

...

"So, we can cross Sally Markson off our list." Leo Fitz looked up from his over-salted fries to the woman across the table. She was scribbling in a notebook, her brow furrowed and her salad completely ignored.

"Jemma, I hate to be discouraging," he pointedly ignored her raised eyebrow, "but that's the thirty-seventh 'lead' we've had that's turned out to be nothing. We've been all over the state looking for something that might not even be there."

She smiled at him, eyes bright. "It will be. Just think, Fitz, about the chance we have. This is groundbreaking research, of course it's gonna take a bit of searching. And besides, we still have three names to go."

He slid the notebook out from under her hands, absentmindedly shoving more fries into his mouth. "G. Thomas. Suspected pyrokinesis. Last known...Jemma, this report is eighteen years old."

"But our next best lead," she insisted firmly. "The others have even less information than this one."

He rolled his eyes. "You do realize that just because other files have 'even less information' that doesn't make this one a solid lead, right? Jemma, I just," he sighed, "I think you're going to be disappointed when none of this pans out."

She leaned in, refusing to listen to reason. "No, Fitz, I have a feeling about this one." He resisted the urge to point out that she had had 'feelings' about the last twelve names on the list. "Please? If he doesn't pan out, we can take a break."

He recognized the determined look in her eyes and knew that his logic wasn't going to win this particular argument. "Okay, fine." He poked emphatically at the list in front of them, "But this is the last one."

...Please review!...