A.N.: Thanks for all the reviews! I will try to make this story better!
Chapter 2
-The Cockpit-
Coulson entered the cockpit when May was sitting at the pilot seat. He stood beside the co-pilot seat. "May I?" May simply nodded, still concentrating on the gorgeous sun set outside. "You know, if you don't want to meet him again, you don't have to be part of the mission." A hint of gleam crashed through the cloud, reflecting sight light on May's hair. "Are you suggesting that I should stay here instead of fighting because you think I'm not professional enough?" Coulson slid his hands along the chair arms. He didn't replied at once, and eventually gave in. "Just be careful."
"How is it going?" Ward gave Skye a bottle of water. "Thanks." Skye smiled at Ward gratefully. "I've already restored it. Now what I am working on is step two - hacking. Though there's something weird about the file. Something doesn't make sense. I've seldom seen it before -the way he encrypted. Only a handful people in the world are capable of this." "And you're one of them?" Skye groaned frantically. "It seems that there're some fun stories between me and Mr.I-can-hack-invisibly." Ward put his hands on the table, stepping beside her. "So, you know Colin?" "Nope, but the computer virus I created was used for his file encryption. And the loveliest part of this is that I never upload my virus on the internet." Skye took a deep breathe nervously before shot her eyes on Ward. "Which means, he either have approached my computer, or he's hacked in my personal computer. The one I've set up serial fire walls and written some programs in order to keep the information safe." Ward hadn't digested all the statements she had told him. Skye swallowed hard. "Maybe I'm good at computer, but this guy, whoever he is, is better than me." Ward stared at her incredibly. "You are the best hacker I've ever met." Unable to say something, she avoided having eye contact with Ward. "I'll try my best to crack this, to- fix this. I'm sorry." Hearing her broken voice, Ward lean toward her. "Skye, it's not your fault. You're not the one who did this. All you've ever did is created that virus, which only prove that you're a smart, brilliant, creative hacktivist. Don't blame yourself for the whole situation, OK?" Skye wrapped her arms around his neck, then buried her face on his collarbone. "Thanks." She whispered. He embraced her tight. "Anytime."
"He what?"
"Sir, he hacked into Skye's laptop and stole the computer virus she created to protect his secret from being busted. Skye's trying to find out how he did it."
"Did Skye know Colin?"
"No. But somehow Colin knows Skye as well as her excellent computer skills."
"If this is true, the Colin guy must be very good at computer too - maybe better than Skye, though I hate to admit it. And he could have make a virus himself. Why didn't he take such a risk hacking into a hacker's computer? To blow himself?" Ward unfolded his arms. "Maybe he wanted more than her virus. Maybe he knew something about Skye's history and wanted to take an advantage of that. We know nothing about their histories, both of them, except the part that they're 0-8-4. How could we expect that we could find out why Colin and Skye have an unknown connection?"
When Coulson was about to say something, he heard May's voice. "We'll land in three hour." "For now, there's not much time discussing this. Ward, get everyone, debriefing in thirty. We are gonna think of a measurable plan together." "Noted."
As soon as Ward closed the door, Coulson activated the tactical commanding system. This is a level 8 mission, which is dangerous, so there's no way he could sent his teammates to engage that 0-8-4 without knowing how many backups he would get. He needed to communicate with HQ. He grabbed the remote and pushed the green button. Seconds later, the big screen opposite his desk lightened, with the pattern of S.H.I.E.L.D..
"Agent Coulson, confirmed."
"Good morning, Agent Coulson. What can I help you?"
"I want to speak to Director Fury."
"I'm sorry. I'm afraid he's not available now. Would you like to hand in a request?"
"No thanks. Did agent Hand's there?"
"Yes. Just wait a sec."
"Good morning, agent Coulson. What's up?" The first thing he saw was her typical bright red hair. "Good morning. Do you still remember that 0-8-4 mission? In 1996? The one we've been worked on?"
Agent hand paused, gazing at him. "I heard that you and your team now are having a mission. You're not here to remind me of the old day, are you?" Her expression was stoic, but her voice suggested that she was exasperated by him. "Much as I don't want to talk about that either, my mission coincidently involves him again." "Can't be. He is dead. This case ended a long time ago. We killed him."
"Well, at least not all of us. Just you and me. May didn't do that." Hand shook her head. "That's the same thing now. We were partners. About the mission, Fury only told me it had something to do with an 0-8-4. But he also told me you may wanna get in touch with me. And here you are. So what do you need?" "The sword and some tactical backups as well as a strategic exit plan." "I assume he didn't do anything illegal this time. You don't have any excuse to kill him. Besides, the sword we used to killed him isn't in the Hub. It's in the -"
"The sandbox. I know. That's why I make this call." "I don't have the clearance, only Fury did. It's level 10." "Can you reach him?" "Fury gave you this mission directly. He didn't give you the sword, however. He wanted him alive." "And he makes me keep the mission's details from my teammates because of the damn high clearance. How could we co-operate well when I keep something important from them? I understand all he did this time didn't break the laws, but what about what he used to do? Killing people in order to keep himself young? Seducing women so that he can get exactly what he want? With Colin wandering around, free to do what he attended to do is unacceptable. I need to reach Fury."
"You can't find him unless he wants to find you. I can try, but don't hold an optimistic attitude." "No great expectations. Thanks."
Coulson watched the screen go dark, pulling his drawer to search for the level 8 classified file. It had been a while. 18 years can change lots of things. He and May were no longer the new recruits of S.H.I.E.L.D.. They were the level 8 senior agents who had a high clearance others could never dream to have. They were skilled, experienced, being able to handle most of the situations. Together they'd been through a lot: protecting the earth, fighting with aliens in the dark, keeping dangerous secrets from people… However, there was an old saying. If you wanna get something done, you have to do it yourself. People just saw one side of them- the appearance. Little did they know these skills, experiences came from the pain. The pain you suffered after failed the missions, caused by immature thoughts and reckless movement of yours. But time would help you get over all the difficulties, and teach you how to build an unbreakable shield with your blood and tears and heartbreak, hiding the damaged vulnerable soul behind, defending the ones you love. When you could kill a guy without winking eyes in cold blood; when you could follow the orders doing the right thing; when you could finish the mission at any cost, you had finished building the shield. But the feeling of killing someone, taking away his right of living, would never go. You would carry this for the rest of your life.
Bartholomew Colin was the first man he killed. Aged 27, being an level 4 field agent, he never believed that he just simply stabbed a man, ending his life.