psa: i will try my best to update on fridays once school starts again.
four~
The scene on the bus was complete pandemonium, but for the moment at least, Paige's revelation had been forgotten. May was doing all she could to avoid being hit, and Skye was attempting to find out what exactly the threat was. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, bolstered by adrenaline, and the rest of the plane practically held their breath as they waited for the hacker's findings.
"There's… planes. They look like Quinn's design, and here's five of them. We're surrounded!"
Coulson frowned deeply.
"I don't understand, they've never attacked us outright like this before."
A grim silence, save for the jolts and explosions from the impacts of the other aircrafts' assault, dominated the room. Hesitantly, Simmons spoke up.
"Something must have happened that made them change their minds."
Paige looked down guiltily and played with the rug with the toe of her shoe.
"It has to be me. You said your bad guy was called the Clairvoyant, so that indicates some kind of magic. If he found out through his powers that you now had the Charmed Ones on your side, he would do everything he could to stop you from teaming up with us, no matter how risky."
This statement earned Paige faces ranging from blank to doubtful. Fitz, however, seemed like he wanted to say something. After glancing Paige up and down, he decided to voice his thoughts.
"You said you were a witch, a 'Charmed One'. I don't know about the rest of you, but that sounds like something my mum used to tell me in her fairy stories. What are you really?"
Paige rolled her eyes.
"I swear I'm telling the truth. And you'd be surprised how much truth those so called 'fairy stories' have to them."
"Come on, you expect us to believe you're a witch? I mean, aliens, sure, but witches?"
The whitelighter was about to retort with an especially snarky reply, even for her, when the Bus lurched heavily and the largest explosion so far boomed along the side of the aircraft.
"We can't take much more!" Yelled May from the pilot's seat, her voice uncharacteristically panicked. Putting aside her argument for when they were safe, Paige wracked her brain for a spell that would allow them all to be saved. Paige knew if worst came to worst she could orb out with whoever she could grab, but she wanted to avoid casualties as much as possible, and maybe even save the plane. One spell came to mind, but Paige wasn't entirely sure it would work. Then again, Piper had made the entire manor disappear using it. But this was even bigger, and there was more at stake. Unsure whether she had enough power on her own, Paige grabbed on to Skye's arm, hoping the hacker had some kind of magic within her that the experienced witch could tap in to. Hoping for the best, Paige took a deep breath and began to recite the spell.
"Let the object of objection become but a dream
as I cause the seen to be unseen!"
The effects of the spell were evident immediately. Instead of seeing the somewhat homey living room before her, there was only dark clouds and sky as far as Paige's eyes could reach. Upon the vessels attacking S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mobil unit, the view was much the same.
"Sir!" called one of the pilots anxiously "They're gone!"
After a string of growled swears on the other end of the radio, the pilot received the order to fall back, which he quickly passed on to his comrades. Soon, the attacking quintet was out of sight, and Paige let out a sigh of relief.
The witch was the only one relieved. Not only had the plane disappeared, but so too had the passengers. Simmons felt her lungs become lead when her view became nothing but the sky. She slammed her eyes shut and lay flat on the ground, reminding herself in every way she could that there was something solid beneath her. She was not falling to her death. At least, not this time. Never again.
It was lucky for everyone that May was such a good pilot. She had trained so much that she could basically fly blindfolded if need be. And that was essentially what she did. To say that May was surprised when The plane and everything on it disappeared would be a gross understatement. However, thanks to her experience in… strange… occurrences, the agent had only a moment of panic before instinct took over. She kept the aircraft steady, and was both shocked and relieved when the bombardment of the Bus ceased. Her reaction greatened as she watched the attacking group leave, not daring to even blink until they were nothing but specks on the horizon. May allowed herself to relax slightly, and she began to mentally calculate the nearest place to land. Although, at this point, she had no idea how she was going to do it.
When everything disappeared, Grant gripped the back of the sofa so hard his knuckled turned white. At least they would have been if they were visible. His mind raced like the Kentucky Derby, but he couldn't come up with anything to say. Recent events flashed through hid mind, and his head turned to stare at Paige, or at least the direction in which he had last seen her. Was it really possible that the strange woman had done this? Despite everything he'd seen, Ward still wasn't ready to come to terms with the fact that magic, of all things, was real. Instead, he closed his eyes and prayed to any deity that would listen that they would all make it through this crazy day alive.
For Fitz's part, he could do nothing but stand and stare. Was this actually happening? Were all the stories true? Was he being saved by magic? The tech just couldn't fathom this entirely new realm of reality. He'd heard of Asgardian tech and magic, sure. But that was based on science. This woman had just chanted a few words and an entire plane and its occupants had disappeared. However, all of those thoughts flew out of his mind when he heard the 'thud' beside him. His heart felt like it had dropped into his stomach. He knew immediately what, or rather who, it was. Of course she would be terrified, the memory of her heroic jump still fresh in her mind. Bending down, he reached out his hand and found Simmons' hair. Stroking it softly, he began talking to her in hushed and soothing tones, trying to bring her out of her state of panic.
At this point, Agent Coulson had given up on being surprised. After aliens, giant green experiments gone wrong, a patriotic hero surviving on ice for over half a century, and coming back from the dead, the experienced ager had doubted that anything could surprise him anymore. He had been wrong. It had begun when the mysterious stranger had appeared on the plane, and had only risen from there. Now, invisible and standing on an invisible plane, Coulson could only muster one thought: Who was this woman?
When Skye felt the hand on her arm, she had no time to react before the woman beside her began chanting. A strange, warm tingle flooded her body, the current of it racing to the point where the older woman was grasping her bicep. The sensation ended all to soon, when the woman, Paige, ended her chant. Skye had then found herself blinking, not believing what her eyes were seeing. Or rather, weren't seeing. Had she, an orphaned and rebellious young freelance hacker with a checkered and mysterious past, helped to do this? Was this what she really was? Skye didn't know much of this for sure, but what she did know was that she would find out the truth about herself if she stuck with Paige and the mysterious power that she ad felt when her savior had cast the spell
Author's Note: Sorry about the lack of action, but I wanted to show the mindset of all the characters before we really get into things!
