The team and I had worked very hard to get to the point where Skye could control her powers and it took some time that we all were willing to give her; we all wanted her to be able to trust herself around us after she gained her new power and for her to believe in herself again. Jemma had spent so much time with Skye working on her self-esteem, Skye had been full of confidence before she gained her new powers and we were working on getting her back to her old self with the new powers. The first few nights were the hardest, Skye was in the infirmary at the base with Jemma near her almost every second of everyday until Skye felt that she could control the power she now possessed. I was with them most of it trying to help Jemma help Skye, I made it a point to be with them when Jemma said she needed an extra pair of hands. I wanted to help Skye the way that she and Jemma had helped me get used to having a family.
And soon Skye seemed to be her old self with full of confidence the way she was before and we planned on helping her stay that way, but we also knew that she was trying too much too soon. She would go into the field and try out her new powers and almost always ended up back at the infirmary with a bloody nose or she couldn't control herself and Jemma had to sedate her. Jemma of course hated that she needed to sedate Skye so that she would calm down to gain control over her powers again; it was becoming a concern for all of us, but most of all Jemma. Jemma hated Skye being in the infirmary more than Skye did, even though Skye hated being there, Jemma really hated it; at night I could hear when they fought about it and I hated hearing that, especially because I knew that Skye felt bad and Jemma hated being angry with Skye.
One day a new mission came up one where Coulson was sending Skye and I to a facility that contained several of Hydra's experiments; we were informed that several of Hydra's men had captured someone like Skye and we were to go in and extract him or her from their control. Of course before we left Jemma took Skye aside and told her how worried she was about sending us in and that if they found out that Skye had powers they would want her to be their new experiment; Skye told Jemma that she'd be careful and she'd limit her use of her power as much as she could to prevent that from happening.
We were dropped off near the Hydra lab base, where they were holding the experiment, we were hoping that we were in time before the started to the worst of the experimenting. Skye and I quickly gained access through one of the back doors after we took out to of the agents on guard, quickly stripped them of their uniforms and put them on to blend in. When we reached where the holding cells were a man was laying on a metal table, he wasn't moving, so Skye hacked into the system to open the door, but when I entered to check on the man the door closed on me.
"Son of a bitch. It was a set up." Skye said as she tried to get the door to open again to get me out.
"Skye get out of here. Go get some back up. I'll be fine. Go!" I yelled at Skye through the door.
"I'm not leaving you here."
"Skye, please go. I'll be fine, but if they catch you they'll use you to experiment on. Please go. Just get help and come back."
"I will come back for you."
"I know now go."
Skye then took off heading the way we entered, I watched as she left the room, by time someone came into the room again it had been several minutes since Skye had left; I could only hope that she made it out before they could figure out what was going on. The men who entered the room looked around and then noticed me, one grinned smugly at the fact that the trap had worked; I watched as he nudged his buddy and pointed at me in the cell, they both then grinned evilly at me and I knew that this was going to hurt a lot.
"Where is the other one?" The first one who entered the room asked.
"I'm the only one here." I replied.
"She must have gotten away, but that's okay we only need one." The second man said as he pulled out something looking like a gun.
"But they wanted the other one." The first one replied.
"Doesn't matter, she will be quite enough."
The second man then stepped toward the cell and pointed the gun looking thing at me, at first I thought it was a gun, but it turned out to be an injection tool. He looked behind me and nodded, I thought the guy behind me was unconscious so when he pushed me against the bars of the cell door it knocked the wind out of me, the second man then injected whatever was in the vile into me. And I felt myself fall to the floor, my whole body felt like it was on fire and then black clouds blocked my vision; I could feel the men around me, but I couldn't do anything it was like I was paralyzed.
Suddenly I felt them lay me on a metal table, tied me down with straps; I knew whatever they wanted from me I wasn't going to give in to them, I had to much at stake and I wasn't willing to risk my family. My vision suddenly lightened and I could see the room, it was padded with a viewing room against one wall and I knew I was now their experiment. One of the men who had caught me was standing against the wall near a door, the other man was standing next to me and had this evil looking grin on his face which made me worried for fear of what he was thinking.
"Begin." A voice said over the PA system in the room and the man next to me grabbed one of the scalpels on the table next to me.
"We'll begin with an easy question. What is your name?" The man asked and I shook my head no; I wasn't going to give in to them. "You will learn to answer." The man said as he took the scalpel and dragged it along my forearm; I shook my head again and refused to answer.
Back at the bus (Skye's pov)
I hate myself for leaving her, but if I got caught too no one would be able to tell the others that we were set up, they had captured Emily; I knew that we'd be going in after her, but first the rest of the team had to know since Coulson had decided to go in with no coms in fear that they'd hack into the feed.
"Skye, what happened?" Coulson asked as we all gathered around the holotable, "Where's Emily?"
"They were expecting us. We infiltrated the base and found the cell holding the guy they were supposedly experimenting on, but it was a trap. Emily entered the cell after I got it open and the door closed on her. I tried to hack in again, but it was no use. Emily told me to get out of there, she told me to leave and get help; she knew that I didn't want to leave her, but this was the only way we could tell you guys since we went in without coms."
"All right. I'll get some more agents here and will go in after her. You did the right thing Skye. Emily understood what the risks were; we're going to get her out of there." May said as she left the holotable room to go make some phone calls.
"Everyone gear up, once we get reinforcements here were heading in." Coulson said as he left the room and headed to his office.
"I'll tell Jemma." I said as left the room to head to the lab where Mack, Fitz, and Jemma were waiting for news, leaving Bobbi and Hunter to go gather their gear.
I knew that Jemma was going to take this the hardest, Emily had become like her daughter and she loved and cared about her so much that I knew that this was going to ruin her plans; Jemma had told me that after the mission she planned on taking Emily to see a play, since Emily had never had the opportunity to do that before. So as I walked down to the lab she thought of the easiest way to inform her about Emily's predicament.
"Skye, your back." Jemma said as she stepped away from her lab area to greet me at the door.
"Yeah. Jemma…we need to talk." I said as I pulled Jemma over to a stool near her.
"Where's Emily?"
"That's what we need to talk about."
Fitz and Mack stopped working on the gadgets when they heard that and looked over at me and Jemma; I could feel them staring at me with the question that Jemma had asked. I sat on the stool next to Jemma's and took her hands in mine before I began to try and give her strength to hear what I was about to tell her.
"It was a trap. They were waiting for us. I'm sorry Jemma, Emily was captured." I said as I gave Jemma's hands a squeeze.
"How? How did they know?" Jemma asked worried.
"I hacked in to the system to open the doors after Emily entered to grab the guy the door closed and I tried to hack into it again to get her out, but it wouldn't let me in. Emily told me to get out of there and I listened I knew that I had to get back to the bus so that I could tell you guys so we could go get her. I don't know how they knew that we were coming, but I'm going to find out. I promise."
I pulled Jemma into a hug as I saw tear fill her eyes, I hated knowing that I left Emily there that I hadn't been able to get her out of there; I held Jemma as she cried and I told myself that if I caught who ever gave them notice that we were coming I was going to kill them.
Back at the Hydra base (Emily's pov)
I don't know how long they had been trying to get information out of me it seemed like forever though it probably was only a few hours, but my body was starting to give in to all the torture; I told myself I was protecting my family and that I needed to keep going until they got here to get me out. I knew that Jemma and Skye wouldn't stop till they got me out of here; until then I just had to keep going, to keep fighting.
The man who had started the torture left with no information leading to Cal Zabo entering the room, Skye's father was the one who had given them the information that if they were hurting someone we would come and try to save them; Skye was going to be furious with her father when she found out he was behind them knowing that we were coming. I didn't know that he had escaped custody from the military base that they were supposedly holding him at and I knew that Skye and the others didn't know it either. I knew he wasn't trying to get me, he was trying to get Skye, but what I didn't understand is why he wanted to catch Skye if they were going to experiment on her, after all she was his daughter and he knew what they did to their experiments. Maybe he thought that if they caught her and experimented on her a little he could swoop in like a hero and save her, but he hadn't planned on me entering the room first leaving Skye free and me captured; I knew either way that he wasn't going to save me like he would have saved Skye.
"Where is Skye?" Cal asked as he approached me with a device to dose me.
"Safe." I replied, I wanted it to be short and to the point letting him know that I wasn't going to give her up.
"Give it to her." A voice said over the PA system, but I heard it echo from the viewing room, which meant that whoever was in charge was watching from there.
"This will hurt." Cal said then gave me whatever was in the device.
I felt my body start to shake and it felt as if every cell in my body was on fire, I couldn't breathe; I forced myself to focus on one thing at a time, to focus on taking a breath and then another, until I felt it starting to fade.
"She's a strong willed one." The man's voice commented from inside the viewing room.
"She will be the first to survive." Cal said.
"Keep going, we want more data."
"If you told us what we wanted to know you wouldn't be going through this."
"I…don't…believe you." I said choking on the pain.
"As you shouldn't, knowing that you weren't the one that I wanted to capture." Cal said.
"Continue." The man's voice said.
"Here we go again." Cal said and then dosed me again.
Back on the bus (Skye's pov)
"I found out who gave them the information that we'd try to rescue whoever they were experimenting on." I said as we all gathered around the holotable.
"Who was it?" Coulson asked.
"It was him wasn't it?! How?" Jemma said vehemently.
"How could he do that?" Bobbi asked.
"Who? Who are we talking about?" Mack asked confused.
"Cal Zabo, my father. He gave them the information. He's working for them. He escaped custody from Talbot a week ago." I said looking around the room to gauge everyone's reactions.
"Why didn't they inform us on this?" May asked Coulson.
"I don't know, but I will find out." Coulson said.
"Why would he do that? Why would he want to capture you to experiment on you?" Bobbi asked.
"I think he wanted to let them experiment a little and then act like a hero and rescue Skye." Hunter said answering Bobbi.
"That's just…just wrong." Fitz said.
"I have several agents and even a few of Talbot's men are going to help get Emily back." Coulson said, "We're going in in twenty, so grab anything you need we met in the cargo hold in five to go over everything."
Everyone was then dismissed and went in separate directions, except Jemma, Coulson, May, and I, we stayed in the room; I knew that they were going to tell me to stay here, but I wasn't going to let that happen.
"I know what all three of you are going to say, but there is no way that I'm not going back in there to get Emily out." I said angry with the thought that they would suggest that I don't go back for her.
"Skye you're the one they really want." Coulson said concerned.
"I know that, but I'm not leaving her there. I'm going back and I'm going to get her out of there with all of your help. I'm not going to let them turn me into their experiment."
"Are you ready to go against your father though?" Jemma asked concerned for everyone safety, but especially for her and Emily.
"I will take care of him. He's hurt too many people, too many people I care about. He's not going to keep doing it."
"All right. Let's go. We're meeting in a couple minutes." Coulson said as he dismissed us.
Jemma followed me down the cargo hold to grab some gear for herself; I wanted to tell her to stay here and stay safe, but I knew that she was going whether I liked it or not she wanted to help Emily too. Once we gathered our gear we met up with everyone on the cargo ramp, everyone was given their own instructions and we headed out. Bobbi, Jemma, and I were going to enter where I entered the last time, while the several others took on different doors around the base.
Inside the Hydra base (Emily's pov)
"Just give them what they want and they'll stop." Cal said after hours of injecting me with different chemicals to get different reactions.
"No." I said choking down the pain that was pulsating through my body.
"Come on. Tell us where the SHIELD base is and this will all be over."
"No."
"If you told us what we wanted to know, we'd send you back to the cell and you could rest."
"I'm not giving you them."
"Give her the next dose." The man said from the viewing room.
"All right." Cal replied and then injected another dose of something.
I could feel this dose slowly making its way through my body and as it went it made me feel like my body was ice cold; my breathing started to slow and I could feel my heartrate slow. I felt like I was dying slowly and I probably was, that's when the building shook and I knew that they had come to get me; I tried to move, to get off the table, to get out of the predicament I was caught in.
"Untie the straps and get her…" The man in the viewing room started to say, but was cut off by May shooting him in the heart.
Cal knew they had arrived and were trying to rescue me, he knew he didn't have time to get out, but he did have time to give me the antidote to the dose he had given me; he injected the antidote into my arm when Skye, Jemma, and Bobbi entered the room.
"Get away from her." Skye said very threateningly.
"I'm just giving her the antidote." Cal said as he pulled the injector from my arm.
"Emily. Are you okay?" Jemma said as she, Skye, and Bobbi moved closer to me.
'No.' was all I could get out before Jemma was trying to check on my condition and Skye was undoing the restraints.
"What did you give her?" Bobbi asked Cal as Jemma helped me sit up.
"Four of the formulas that the Hydra lab created to torture and interrogate the subjects they come into contact with, also an antidote for them. They cut her arms, when they tried to get information out of her." Cal answered.
"What did the formulas contain?" Jemma asked.
"I don't know. They just asked me to dose her and ask questions. The computer that has that information is the main frame, it's down the hall."
"Put your hands behind your back and turn around." Skye said as she pulled out handcuffs instead of zip ties.
"Skye please." Cal said softly.
"Don't. You don't get to hurt the people I care about and expect me to feel anything toward you. Emily is part of my family and if you hadn't caught her you would have had caught me. Would you have done the same to me that you did Emily?"
"I'd never do anything to hurt you. But she's an agent of the enemy, she is the enemy."
"You're wrong. Hydra was the one who did the testing on my mother, Jiaying. They told you they were SHIELD but they weren't. Hydra is the enemy. It's their fault she's dead."
"No, I saw their badges they were SHIELD."
"Hydra agents were working inside SHIELD. Why do you think SHIELD was exposed? Hydra showed our hand we had no choice, but to come out. We were trying to save people, Hydra was trying to kill them. I have proof. Whitehall was behind Jiaying's torture. There are tapes that I can show you to prove it to you, but I need to put you in handcuffs."
"You have proof?"
"Yes."
Skye held out the handcuffs and Cal turned around and put his hands behind his back so that she could put them on him; Jemma and Bobbi helped me down off the table, but I couldn't feel my legs.
"I can't." I said as I leaned most of my weight onto Bobbi and Jemma.
"She can't feel her legs." Cal said from behind us as they were leading me to the door.
"Bobbi come take him. I'll get Emily." Skye said as she led Cal past us.
"You got it." Bobbi said taking hold of Cal's arm leading him out of the room.
Skye moved over to Jemma and I and took me from Jemma, my body felt so heavy and I didn't want to be a burden, but Skye and Jemma both knew that I was too tired and unable to move on my own.
"I got you." Skye said as she picked me us bridal style.
"We should get her back to the bus as quickly as possible." Jemma said as she led us out of the room.
"The formulas?" I questioned.
"We'll get them after we get you back to the bus." Skye said as she followed Jemma to the exit.
"But…"
"No buts, we'll retrieve them shortly. We need to get you to the bus first." Jemma said taking charge as she stopped at one of the van's that was going to take us back to the bus.
"Get the formulas. I'll be okay." I said to Skye as she set me on the gurney.
"All right, but if you guys need me I'm there." Skye said as she ran off toward the base to get the formula details.
"Let's get her back to the bus." Jemma said to Mack who offered to drive us back to the bus.
"You got it. Get in." Mack said as he helped Jemma into the van and then closed the doors.
"Jem?" I said as tears filled my eyes.
"I'm right here. It's okay." Jemma said taking my hand in hers and wiped away the tears. "We'll get you back to the bus and all sorted out."
"Hurts."
"I know. Once I know what they gave you I'll be able to help you more. Just hold on." Jemma said to me and then told Mack to head back to the bus and we were on our way.
At the Hydra base (Skye's pov)
I had been going through a lot of the Hydra's folders and quickly found the formulas that Cal had told us he used on Emily and some other information that I transferred on to an external hard drive to go over later; I needed to get back to the bus to hand over the formula information for Jemma to go over to help Emily and that was my first concern. Whatever they were formulas they were tampering with had really done a number on Emily and I wanted to make sure that Jemma was able to get whatever they put into her out of her.
"Skye, we're just about done here." May said as she entered the room with Hunter.
"I've got all the files and the formulas of whatever they pumped in to Emily. I'm gonna grab the bike and head back to the bus to get these to Jemma. Hopefully she will be able to help get these formulas out of Emily's system."
"We'll meet you there." May replied before I quickly exited the room, found the bike and headed back to the bus.
On the bus in the med pod (Emily's pov)
I still wasn't able to move my legs, but when Jemma asked for one of my arms I was able to lift it for her, she did that for all my limbs before asking for my arm to take some blood to see if there were any drastic changes. As I was laying on the bed I tried to remember everything that they did, but my brain seem to not be working as well as it normally did.
"Emily how are you doing?" Jemma asked as she was taking some blood.
"Can't think properly." I said my thoughts still jumbled.
"I'm sure once we get the formula we'll be able to undo everything they did, Skye is on her way back with the formulas and more information. It's going to be okay, try and rest. I'm right here."
"Can you give me something…something for the pain?"
"I'm sorry Emily I can't not until I know what exactly they gave you. You could have a bad reaction to whatever I get you if I don't know what they gave you."
"Okay."
"I promise once I know what they gave you I will give you something to help that won't react with the formulas. For now just rest. Close your eyes. You're safe here."
I followed Jemma's instructions and closed my eyes and I took slow deep breathes and felt myself slip into a deep sleep.
The next thing I knew I was waking up in the infirmary back at the base, Jemma and Skye were sitting on either side of my bed each holding one of my hands. Jemma and Skye were talking to each other, but I couldn't focus on what they were talking about. I opened my eyes and I felt Jemma stand and lean over me.
"Hey Emily. How are you doing?" Skye said as I heard her stand next to me.
"I'm tired." I replied. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Two days." Jemma said and I could hear the concern in her voice.
"That long?"
"You gave us a scare, but Jemma was sure you just needed some extra time to get all of the formulas out of your system." Skye said as she brushed hair out of my face.
"Thank you." I said.
"For what?"
"For leaving when I asked you to."
"Emily…"
"I knew I'd be able to handle whatever they threw at me. I didn't want you to have to go through this. I knew that you wanted to fight and get me out of there with you, but I also knew they'd use the worst on you if you showed your powers."
"I should be thanking you. Emily you are amazing and you are part of my family and I'll never leave you behind unless I know that I will be able to get you out of there."
"I love you guys."
"And we love you too." Jemma said as she kissed my forehead.
After that Skye understood that sometimes holding her powers back could help in the long run and promised to use the least amount of her power to be used. Jemma and Skye watched over me more than usually after that to make sure that I made a full recovery and I was back to normal after some time; of course the whole team watched me closely, but Jemma and Skye were the ones who watched me the closest. And I understood why it was the same reason I watched over them and made sure that they were always in good hands, we're family and family does everything to protect those we care about.
