TRASH - UPDATED 10-15-2015 / 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Coulson headed back to Simmons where he found Ward still sitting by May, his injuries untended. Simmons was standing by March and Skye sat on the other side of the room from the group. Coulson walked over to Skye and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, worried.

"It's burning," March was telling Simmons with obvious pain in her voice. "Not right... Review... parameters... before giving... this to... May."

"Her stats are dropping, I may not have a choice," Simmons replied, frowning.

She moved away from March and back to the holotable. Coulson gently squeezed Skye's shoulder and crossed to Simmons.

"What's the problem?" Coulson managed to ask calmly.

"I'm reevaluating the poison based on a real sample, not an image," Simmons told him. "Something didn't transmit." Simmons looked at May's stats again and moved back to put an oxygen tube against her nose and over her ears. Then she started an IV drip. She looked at March who was using meditative technique to settle her breathing. It seemed to be working so she left her be, but still keeping an eye on her.

Coulson patted Skye's shoulder, then walked over to May. He put his hand on hers and found it was cold, clammy. He turned and looked at March on the other stretcher.

"Who's side are you on?" he asked her.

"May's," Her eyes were closed against the pain as she struggled to answer simply. "Get me... off this table. I'm a nurse... I can help."

"Sorry Dossi, not in your current condition," Coulson offered, his voice soft. "I do remember how close you and May were."

"I'd give... my life... before... letting anyone... harm her," March opened her eyes to look at him. All he saw was pain, yet it didn't show in her voice. "You... know that."

He smiled at her, hearing 'you of all people' even though she'd not said it. "I do. Tell me again, did you know you were compromised?"

"No. I had... no idea."

"Why were you still there?" Coulson questioned.

"Always watch... to be sure... the package... gets... in the right hands," she panted, the pain was showing now in her breathing.

"What should be in that box?" he asked her. He had to know.

"Metal... alien metal... living metal..."

"Living metal?"

"Yes... for building... human-metal... interfaces..." May started violently thrashing about. Ward caught her hands before she could pull the IV and the oxygen loose, but she struggled against him in her unconscious state.

"Shh," Ward said softly. "Easy Melinda, you are safe."

Coulson closed his eyes for a moment... Ward had no right to call her Melinda...

"I can..." Dossi pulled his attention back to her. "… calm her... help me... put my hand... on her left... shoulder blade..."

Coulson knew she could, so he moved to the other side of March's stretcher and pushed it closer to May's as Ward, still murmuring gently to May to try to calm her, pulled May toward him so she rested on her side. Coulson helped March turn to her side and together they placed March's hand on May's shoulder blade. There was a specific touch that March sought and once she'd found it, May settled immediately. Coulson watched, wondering what it was in that touch that calmed May and remembering that he'd seen it before, a long time ago.

They'd been so young. He and May were new agents and put under the guidance of March. They were out on what had to be May's first mission; his third at best and a bomb had detonated just after they'd passed over it, throwing them clear of the open jeep which had exploded. They weren't hurt, they'd been shaken. March had put one hand on each of them; her left hand to May, her right to Coulson. May had calmed instantly, he'd taken a bit longer but seeing May calm helped him. They'd been able to move out, commission another jeep and continue on with their mission.

It was something between them, he didn't know what... a bond... a relationship... Coulson looked at them and frowned. No, relationship wasn't quite right, he knew March's tastes... but there was definitely something between them, there always had been. Simmons' motion from the table pulled his attention from his thoughts.

"Got it," Simmons told them, bringing a hypodermic to May.

"Test it on..." he started to say.

"Sir, this will neutralize the poison in May's bloodstream. It was designed on what was there," Simmons offered. "The first was from the poison sample you'd had sent. Obviously a different poison."

She applied it to May's thigh and stood beside her, watching the readings. Once satisfied with what she saw, she then went to get another for March. But Simmons handled March differently than she had May, paying far more attention to her breathing even though it was May who was had the additional oxygen being forced in through her nose.

"Sir... if you would?" Simmons said as she sought to move Coulson away.

He hesitated, not wanting to leave May, but she was insistent and he followed her out and away from the others.

The box was wooden... it was a hard wood, possibly teak but Fitz wasn't certain. He held it in his hands. The box itself wasn't dangerous... he had enough readings on it to know that. But the D.W.A.R.F.s couldn't identify what was inside, the readings were jumbled. They couldn't even tell him if it were solid or liquid! He'd have to look them over once he knew more about this box. For what must have been the one hundredth time, he turned it over in his hands. He couldn't see a way in... or could he. This panel... he pushed at it gently and it slowly slid to one side. Chinese puzzle box, he smiled. Yes, these he enjoyed. He turned the box over slowly, looking for the next piece that might slide. The first one he thought it might have been wasn't... no, it was on the other side of his initial thoughts. Good, it was not an easy box and he smiled as he sought the next move.

Doris March, Skye started reading, Level Seven special assignment operative. There was a height, weight, age... generic features. The picture matched the woman in the room with them but there were very few details. Level seven... special assignment... that could have meant she was working for S.H.I.E.L.D. inside of H.A.M.M.E.R. she supposed. She called herself a nurse. A few clicks, a little review, Skye had her. Graduate from Mankato State University School of Nursing, recruited by Agent Talmar Buchest after she saved his life. Agent Buchest? Skye had actually met Agent Buchest... he'd actually been nice to her when she'd been at the Hub, one of the only people who had actually. Maybe this March was someone they could trust. Coulson seemed to know her, she had an amazing ability to calm May... and she was having too much trouble breathing to get away if she really was here to cause trouble. Skye knew she couldn't look on everyone with distrust, then an idea struck, if March knew May maybe Skye could get more info on the mysterious Asian Agent that way.