Chapter 4: Missing Teammates

August 9

Triskellion

Coulson had his team gathered to go over the latest intelligence. Tracking Grant Ward and his group of Hydra backers was not the easiest thing to do, since they knew all of SHIELD's security and surveillance protocols, but with Stark giving them new gear and Pym setting them up with new bugging devices, it was finally coming to fruition.

"Are you all sure that you want to participate in this run? Because we do have teams to specialize in this," Coulson said to the group at large.

"You're not running us out," Skye insisted, and both Fitz and Simmons nodded behind her.

"Our team, our problem," Fitz said.

Coulson looked around the room at his hand-picked team and nodded his head. "Then let's get down to it," he said. "All the intel we have right now says that he's been hiding out in Four, but Odin's followers do not want to harbor the kind of trouble he's dragging with him with Hydra. I don't know for sure how much time we have, but they are clearly gearing up to move, if our satellite intel is up to snuff."

"And it is," Skye insisted. "I checked that myself."

"And just … how many Hydra… people are there in Four?" Simmons asked with one eyebrow raised.

"That part actually seems to be in our favor," Coulson said. "It looks like there are only twenty or so Hydra soldiers with him — and we're running off the assumption that most of them are entry-level foot soldiers. Certainly not with Ward's kind of training under their belt."

"Oh, well that's good," Simmons said, looking a bit relieved to hear it.

"The numbers won't be a problem with some of the toys we've got," Fitz promised confidently. "That repulsor Forge was working on earlier — we've incorporated the designs into these, so even if they are more than foot soldiers, this should knock them all off their feet," he added, holding up a few of the devices he was packing to take with them.

"Still, for the most part, I'm having everyone carry Fitz's non-lethal options," Coulson said. "In addition to real ammunition, of course. But if the option is there to capture and not kill, our orders fall toward finding out who's running Hydra and how it's structured, so — try to capture if at all possible."

"If we can," Skye repeated, and she didn't miss the ill-hidden smirk on May's face when she said it.

Coulson smirked her way for a moment. "Of course, there are scenarios where that might not be possible … May?"

"If Hydra goes for the grab, don't let them turn the tables," May listed off. "And do not let Ward get past you. He knows too much about our operations." Her eyes glinted for a moment. "Better he stay dead and gone than he tell anyone anything else."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure none of us are going to miss the chance to take him down," Skye agreed.

With everyone in agreement, all that was left was to get packed up and moving. Fitz and Simmons made it a point to double-check the tech and gadgets, though Fitz didn't notice the wrapped sandwich Simmons slipped into his pack.

August 12

Tahiti Training Room

Clara had listened to everything that Kurt had told her about the program and the purpose behind it in almost total silence. She didn't have many questions outside of what he'd already answered for her … though the desire to ask why he was putting up with this crap was nearly overwhelming.

She didn't like the idea of being picked to die ... then being brought back to 'choose' to help or not. No matter how you sliced it, it didn't feel like much of a choice. But, when he pushed the door open, gently explaining how they were encouraged to learn to fight better, she stopped in the open door and held her breath at the sheer amount of everything going on. Archers working on what looked to be impossible shots, sword fighters twirling and dancing through a makeshift obstacle course while getting actual guidance rather than basics….

But on the other side of the room in a relatively quiet area, she was quick to spot Kamala working with a few others from their year. She turned to Kurt with a little frown. "You didn't tell me she was here."

"It's more fun to let the reunions happen this way," he said with an open shrug.

"Yeah, it's been a real treat so far," she said dryly before she headed their way. She was nearly to the mat they were working on when Matt Murdock tipped the girls off to their new visitor.

"Ladies, I think we have a new competitor," he said, tipping his chin toward where Clara was coming up behind them.

At that, Kamala broke into a delighted squeal and rushed toward Clara to nearly knock her over in a hug, completely abandoning the training she'd been doing with the others. "Oh! I kept asking them if they'd bring you back, but nobody would tell me, and I'm so glad they did!" she gushed.

Clara had to laugh as she squeezed Kamala in a tight bear hug. "Well I'm sure I'm here because you asked for it," she teased. "It can't possibly be my connections."

"Oh no, that couldn't be it," Kamala said, though she was actually serious. "Nobody around here likes Creed very much — I mean, your brother, not you — so it was probably me," she decided with a little troublemaking grin.

"So, no offense to my current tour guide," Clara said, looking back toward Kurt. "But I think … I'd like to poke around with someone I already trust. What's that going to take — or do you need me to fight your teacher first?"

"No, no," Kurt said, though he was smirking at the idea. "Kamala's been here for long enough that she knows where everything is."

"It's really nothing personal," Clara assured him. "I'm sure you're really nice, but I'm just … I think I'd do better with someone I already know."

"I completely understand," Kurt said, then paused and had to smirk wider. "Besides, this gives me an excuse to find a certain archer friend of mine."

"She's here too?" Clara asked, looking toward the archery range.

Kurt's smile brightened. "Yes, they brought her back. Peter as well."

She frowned and spoke slowly, carefully choosing her words. "But no one knows." She looked around the room and fixed a very Creed-like glare his way. "And these are the same people that are working on the Games?"

Kurt's smile slipped, and he let out a long sigh. "Yes," he said. "And I know — I want to tell him too."

"I don't think you know half of what you think you do," Clara said, shaking her head very slowly. "If these people could let ... " She let out a sigh. "You know what, I think I want to finish that tour."

Kurt frowned, but he nodded all the same. "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to come find me," he said.

"I'm sure you can't answer the kind of questions I have, but thank you all the same," Clara said.

Kurt was still frowning as Kamala rushed past him to link arms with Clara. "Come on. I'll show you where everything is."

The little blonde shot Kurt an apologetic look, and the two girls headed out, leaving him in a little less of a good mood than he had been. "Maybe we can talk later," Clara offered.

"I think we may need to," Kurt said.

But while Kurt looked upset by Clara's concerns and questions, Kamala was still too happy to have her friend back to be bothered. "Come on; let me show you some of the cool stuff around here."

"I suppose it's too much to ask that we get to bunk up then?" Clara asked, smirking a bit at the younger girl. "I mean, I need to keep my daughter nearby."

Kamala beamed delightedly. "Well, there's not many rooms left, so I'm sure we can bunk up and say it was totally necessary," she said, leaning forward to add that last part in a conspiratory whisper.

"Oh, it's necessary if they want me to stick around," she said, though it was clear to anyone outside of Kamala that Clara was perfectly serious.

Kamala grinned at her. "Come on, I'll show you back to the rooms. Mine doesn't have very much right now, but I'm sure I can spruce it up. Well, my side of it anyway. If you don't mind, I mean."

"You do whatever you want to the whole thing," Clara said. "I'm more of an outside kind of girl anyhow. I've never been much for decorating."

Kamala nodded and led the older girl down to show her the room, then once more threw her arms around Clara in a hug. "I'm just really, really glad you're alive," she told her. "Hopefully, it won't take too long before they bring Scott back too."

"Oh, they better," she agreed. "After everything we went through to keep that boy alive ... "

"He saved my life, you know," Kamala told her.

"Of course he did," Clara said, not fazed in the least. "I didn't expect anything less from him."

"There was a huge black widow," Kamala explained with wide eyes. "We dropped half a mountain on it."

"One of your traps?" she asked, one eyebrow arched high.

Kamala looked proud as she nodded enthusiastically. "We had it set so that anybody who walked into the valley would set it off, but ... well, spiders."

"Then that spider never really had a chance," she said. "Not if you rigged it up."

Kamala flushed with pleasure at the compliment. "I set it off manually, had to kick out the wedge. It was terrifying," she admitted in a whisper. She hadn't told anyone else about anything that had happened at the end of the Games, but this was Clara, so she was only half holding back the flood of words that wanted to break free. "Scott distracted it."

"It's stupid that they let that dumb spider loose so late," she said softly. "I have no doubt one of you two would have won otherwise."

"I like to think so," Kamala agreed with a little smile. "I mean, there were only two other people left when it happened — the girl from Ten and America. And America really didn't want to win."

"Well, I'm glad that the Ten girl got what was coming to her," Clara said. "I hope that she was hurting from what I did."

"She really was," Kamala nodded, though her smile had dropped entirely. "She looked awful."

"Outside matched the inside then," she said, unconcerned.

Kamala smirked the slightest bit at that. "Yeah, I guess," she agreed. "She totally snuck up on me, though. I was going to see if Scott was okay, and then…"

"I'm not surprised. No fairness in that one at all," Clara said. "But Scott … if he was bitten already, like Kurt said, I don't know what you could have done for him."

"I don't know either, but I was so going to try," Kamala said with a determined sort of nod. "And I'll tell him so when they bring him back."

Clara slowed to a stop and turned to wrap the younger girl up in a tight hug. "And we'll be here waiting to say hello."

"He's going to be so happy to see you," Kamala giggled.

"Please," Clara said with a wave, blowing it off. "You were his favorite. All the Seven boys like you best."

"With one very big and ugly exception," she teased.

She waved her hand at that, too. "He doesn't like anyone."

"He helped get you those gloves. And he was being all… I mean, he's a creep, but he was totally trying," Kamala pointed out.

"He is my biggest big brother," she said. "It's like a twitch. Ma would have had his hide if he didn't do something."

"Don't have to tell me. My big brother gets an awful twitch if I'm within thirty feet of a boy," Kamala said with an affectionate smile that turned into a long sigh the more she thought about it.

"Oh, yours let you get within thirty feet?" Clara said, wide-eyed and obviously going for the tease to get Kamala back into a better mood. "Must be nice."

Kamala giggled. "Well, as long as I don't talk to them…" she said, pretending to think it over.

"Oh yeah, that … is just unforgivable. Count yourself lucky that you didn't have two. They worked in tandem."

"Oh yeah. That would have been way too much," Kamala agreed. "It was bad enough when Aamir was on the same side as my parents…" She shook her head. "They were probably having fits watching the Games. Sleeping in the same space within ten feet of a boy…"

"Well.… that's terrible," Clara said. "We'll never live it down."

"Then I guess — I guess — it's a good thing they don't know about this place," Kamala said. "So they can't find us and read us the riot act for all the Games stuff."

"Lucky us," she said with a smile.

"It won't be forever, though. Did Kurt tell you we're planning a whole revolution in just a few months?"

"He said something about that," Clara said with a nod. "But just because there is a revolution doesn't mean that we'll have any chance so see anyone outside of this group again."

Kamala frowned at that. "The guy who runs things, Agent Coulson — you missed him, by the way — he said the plan is to let everyone live a normal life once Thanos is gone."

"Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it," Clara said dryly.

"Well, if he's lying, I'm not sticking around," Kamala said matter-of-factly. "As soon as this whole revolution thing is over, I'll ditch if I have to, but my parents are going to be …" She shook her head. "I'm not going to stick around after everything's said and done. I liked where I was."

"I just want to go home," Clara said softly.

Kamala glanced at Clara for a moment, surprised, before she simply wrapped her arms around Clara in a hug. "Me too."

"I think you'd really like Seven if you saw it," Clara told her. "It's lush and green and smells like pine trees and mountain streams."

Kamala smiled at that. "I don't know if you'd like Six. There aren't that many trees, and it sort of smells like medicine all the time. But I like it."

"It's not just the trees … the forest floor is covered with soft moss that makes the best camping spots." She smiled at her. "But I'd be willing to stop in and say hello in Six if you're there."

"Oh good. I think once Thanos is gone, people should be allowed to visit different districts, don't you?" Kamala said.

"I'll do it anyhow," she replied.

"You'd have to bring Scott, and you know how he is about rules," Kamala teased.

"I doubt he'd want to be my travel partner," Clara said with a soft sort of smile.

"He didn't seem to mind traveling with you in the Games. At all," Kamala pointed out.

"Well, you were there," she said. "And it's not like he had many choices outside of us." She started to laugh. "And God forbid we come across some trashy redhead. I'd be ditched in a heartbeat."

Kamala snorted out loud and then covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh, that's so mean, but it's so true that it's funny."

While they were still giggling at their friend's expense, the two girls slipped into what would very soon be their shared room to finish catching up in relative privacy.

August 15

District Four

"Are stakeouts always this boring?" Skye asked May from the surveillance room they'd set up in the top floor of one of the older buildings in the outskirts of Four. They hadn't seen too much in the way of Hydra, except for one lone agent that was doing a horrible job of being sneaky as he went in and out of a building several blocks down. "When do we get to just …I don't know. Shoot this guy? It's pretty obvious that he's up to no good. I mean … hello."

"Almost always this exciting," May replied evenly, though she wasn't showing any signs of the restlessness that had been plaguing Skye since they set up shop there. She had hardly moved at all, whereas Skye couldn't shake the desire to keep moving, to shake out her muscles, to talk, to do something.

"I was kind of hoping we'd have totally crashed Ward's party by now," Skye sighed, her frustration obvious in her tone. "I mean, I know he's not the biggest fish, but he's a pretty big fish, don't you think?"

"We really don't know yet," May said, still stoically keeping her post and her focus on the task at hand.

Skye let out a sigh of annoyance that traveled down her whole body, then set herself back down and rearranged the way she was sitting. "I don't get it. How can you of all people be so… blase?"

"You have to learn to hold onto it, and use it when it'll do you the most good," she replied. "And right now? Waiting for him to poke his arrogant little head out is not. The time."

"I know. It's just… we thought they were leaving, and instead of a gung-ho stop-the-bad-guys, it's been a whole lot of waiting. And rain. Lots of rain," she grumbled.

May let out a breath and rolled her shoulders before she turned to look at Skye. "If we could make a rush on them and get in and out without any trouble, I'd be leading the charge, but that's not what our orders are."

Skye couldn't help but smirk at her SO. "But you'll totally be leading the charge when it happens later."

"Oh, you can bet on it," she promised. "And I'm not using the night-night pistol either."

"Coulson said capture, not kill," Skye said.

"I can capture him with his knees blown out," she replied.

"Remind me never to make you mad ever."

"If I need to remind you of that, you're not paying attention."

Skye grinned at that and then leaned back against the wall to get more comfortable. It looked like it was going to be another long day of … watching and waiting. And she didn't even have her tablet so she could bug her favorite message buddy to pass the time. Not that it would do her any good since he didn't have his either. She was going to have to set him up with something so they could do that again, because that — that was actually really fun.

The two women were settled in, quietly waiting, but before either of them could get too comfortable, the perimeter alarm went off. Both women jumped to their feet as Fitz called in which checkpoint had been tripped so that they were sure to know where the intruder was coming from.

May went to her comms as she pulled the slide back on her pistol. "Be careful," she told Skye. "I don't want to have to pull you out and let him go if this goes further south than it has already."

Skye nodded, her own icer already in her hands. "Don't worry. I've got a good SO who trained me for exactly this sort of thing," she said with a grin May's way.

May gave her a little smirk, and the two of them dove into it, with Fitz in their ear shouting directions as to where the threat was coming from. And it was substantial. The Hydra unit had nearly surrounded the building and infiltrated at the same time, so a speedy exit simply wasn't a possibility. They got all of two floors down before they were fired on — or more appropriately, May was fired on. She rushed across the span of open hallway when she heard them pause to reload, hoping that the two of them could hold the Hydra creeps back from their dual positions, but that proved to be problematic almost immediately when two shots exploded next to May's head from a window behind her.

A sniper on a building a few blocks away was trying to target her while she searched for cover. Where she was, there were few options, outside of getting shot.

But with Coulson shouting in their ears to get somewhere safe, Skye drew up the courage to poke out and take a couple of fast shots, freeing May up to move to better cover, even as she shouted at Skye to do the same.

And while May was taking the bulk of the fire her way, Skye was trying to find the person in charge of the men — and he was close. She knew it. When the Hydra soldiers got close enough on occasion, some of them so close that only a solid punch in the gut had kept them back, she could hear Ward speaking to them through their earpieces.

She had to find him.

She knew she was getting closer as she kicked out at a Hydra goon and knocked the gun out of his hands in a move that May had taught her. It seemed like these guys were getting harder to deal with, even if they had been right in the initial assessment that they weren't nearly as trained as Ward was. She snatched up the gun that the Hydra soldier had dropped before he could use it against her and hit him in the back of the head with it for good measure, sending him sprawling and unconscious as she peered around the next corner.

As soon as she did, though, she was met with none other than the guy they'd been looking for this whole time — and the second she raised her pistol to take him out, he moved forward in a quick move to disarm. She tried to counter it, but he seemed to have anticipated her move, and all it did was end up pulling her in tighter as he disarmed her and grinned.

"May showed you that move," he said, sounding impressed — but somehow the kind of impressed that made Skye's skin crawl. "That one's her favorite to use when we used to spar."

Skye narrowed her eyes at him and tried to pull away, but for the moment, she was stuck tight. He had hold of both of her arms, and the problem was: she could break holds fine the way May had taught her, but he was too close and had both wrists pretty well trapped, so she couldn't use that knowledge.

"Come on," Ward said, turning to his soldiers slightly. "We've got what we need. Let's get out of here and blow this place."

Skye's eyes narrowed at the order as she glared at him and stamped on his foot, but when he winced at the blow, he only tightened his grip on her.

"That wasn't very nice, Skye."

"You betrayed the team and beat Coulson and threatened Fitzsimmons. You really think I'm going to be nice to you?" Skye shot back in as close to a snarl as she could approximate.

"Did it ever occur to you that I didn't hurt anyone on the team until you threw me in prison?" he countered even as he jerked hard on her wrists not just to pull her closer but to start moving down the hall.

"Oh no. You don't get to play sad sob story—"

"Worked fine when you thought I was poor little Grant Ward, unloved little brother hiding in SHIELD," he said, poking his lip out in a false little pout for a moment before he sneered at her. "You're just mad you fell for it."

She glared at him hard for that one, but when he moved to start pulling her along again, this time, she countered by going limp, making herself a dead weight that he would have to drag or carry if he wanted to take her anywhere.

"Acting like a child? Really, Skye—"

But as soon as he tried to reassert his grip, she broke one arm free. And just like Logan had said, he moved to protect himself low, so she went high — hitting him hard in the throat.

He released her immediately, eyes wide and gasping hard for a breath while he went to his knees, and she seized the opportunity not only to kick him hard but to snatch the gun he was holding and level it at him, all in one smooth movement.

"You don't have what it takes to pull the trigger," Ward rasped out.

"Oh yeah?" Skye countered, though she was having her own doubts, right up until she saw that his sneer was starting to come back. So, she squeezed off four shots in rapid succession before she could talk herself out of it.

He stared in open shock, already sputtering as she backed away and ran for it, barely holding back from crying into the comms as she told her team where they could find Ward and how it had gone down.

As it stood, though, the group of SHIELD agents met a lot more resistance than they thought they would. By the time the team was able to regroup and recover, Ward simply wasn't with them. He wasn't at the coordinates Skye had radioed in when May got there, but there were signs that the Hydra goons had to carry him out — he hadn't gotten out on his own steam.

When Skye had gotten out of the building, she very nearly ran directly into Coulson, who ushered her to a safe point and pulled her into a hug, seeing as the girl was almost hyperventilating and trembling. "It's okay, May's on it," he told her.

She nodded and tucked into the hug, perfectly content to stay right where she was. "I shot him," she muttered. "It wasn't an icer, either. I think… I think I might have killed him."

"It's okay," he promised. "If you did, he deserved it."

She had to agree with that, thought she wasn't entirely sure it made her feel any better, so she hooked her arms around him and hugged him that much tighter before she went ahead and started crying.

August 19

Tahiti Wing

Charles was still busy doing something in the Capitol, so the next Tahiti operative to wake up would have two tour guides this time. It worked out well to have someone around that the person knew wasn't dead, so Bobbi had volunteered to go with Kate to be that grounding force. Besides, she had been Betsy's mentor — well, Viper had, but she'd helped, and she wanted to see the girl happy and healthy if she could.

Which meant Bobbi had grinned outright at the girl when the first question she'd had beyond the basic 'how' was: "I don't have to deal with Viper anymore, do I?"

"No way. She's not allowed down here," Bobbi assured her with a crooked smile.

Betsy let one hand rest over her heart as she let out a breath. "Thank God," she said. "I've never met anyone who could be so disturbing just by breathing."

"Trust me, I totally understand," Bobbi said, still with that same smile. "There aren't that many victors down here, though, so don't worry about it. If you ever see her again, I wouldn't be surprised if it's when you're helping me take her out."

"Well, now that I could go along with," Betsy said with a little nod. "Alright then. Take me to your leader ... or … whatever."

Kate and Bobbi both grinned, and Kate even chuckled at that one. "Why don't we start with a tour of the place?" she offered. "We're all training, getting ready." She leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. "You know ... for the revolution we're planning."

"Do we get real training this time, or is this a larger-scale fight to the death for horrible, tasteless television?"

"No, no, this is real training," Kate assured her quickly, grinning over at Bobbi. "In fact, I borrowed your mentor here. She's been teaching me hand-to-hand and staff work for about a year now — and we've got trainers for other stuff. Sniper courses, swords, infiltration, you name it."

"I'm not sure how good I'd be at all of that, but … I'll give it a shot," Betsy said, her head tipped to the side and a thoughtful sort of expression on her face. "I did like the katana."

"You'd be in good company," Kate said with a little smirk. "My boyfriend's one of the best swordsmen ever."

"Then I may have to borrow him to spar," Betsy said. "I promise not to hurt him."

Kate grinned at that and offered her hand to Betsy to help her stand up. "I'd appreciate that," she said. "I like my Elf in one piece."

She smiled her way and simply followed where the two girls led, and when they got down to the training room, Betsy grinned as she watched the action going on around them. "Oh, I think I'm going to like this."

"Most of us do," Bobbi told her with a grin to match before she simply gestured out into the training room. "Tomorrow, you can take your pick on where to start. I know Duquesne will be glad to see you back. He thought you had promise while you were in the Capitol."

"He was nice to work with," Betsy agreed. "But I think until I feel stronger, perhaps just some swimming, if that's alright."

"Anything you feel like," Bobbi said. "Take it at your own pace, and let your muscles get used to being used again." She smiled softly. "You'll probably see Cassie Lang while you're there. She lives on the diving platform during her free time."

"It sounds like I may be making a new friend then," Betsy replied. "But I'll see you in archery soon," she promised.

"I look forward to kicking your butt," Kate said with a wide grin.

Meanwhile, in her quarters, Sinthea Schmidt stood staring at her mirror in the bathroom. Her eyes seemed like smouldering charcoals: not quite as hot as flaming sparks, but hot enough, and filled with enough energy to do some damage. And she seemed to be trying to do just that with her stare.

Jessica Jones. Kitty Pryde. Gwen Stacy. Kamala Khan. Clara Creed. Betsy Braddock.

Sin gripped the edges of the white marble sink with such ferocity that her fingers turned the same white as the stone. Water dripping from her newly washed scarlet hair rolled down her arms like creeping fingers. She shivered.

Where was he? So far, only girls had been brought back. What weren't they being told? Surely Fury wanted a fighter like Brock Rumlow in his revolution. If he didn't, he certainly was the fool Sinthea always thought him to be.

The thought crossed her mind to ask Bruce if he'd seen or heard anything about Crossbones. Of the other tributes, he was the one that would be willing to help her. "Team Awesome" had never seen her as equal, and she found their constant affection unbelievably unbearable. But Bruce, Tony Stark — the science team might actually know something. Though for some reason Sin got the feeling that Tony still held his attempted murder against her...

Bruce was probably her best bet, she decided as she finally straightened up. She was going to get some real answers. One way or another.