Jemma fought to keep her voice calm as she explained to Coulson for the third time why it wouldn't work.
"We can't just give her a random mixture of chemicals without accounting for proper dosage and ratios. The smallest discrepancy could kill her!"
"In case you hadn't noticed, that's what's going to happen anyway if we don't do something in the next eleven hours!" Jemma stood her ground, almost used to being on the receiving end of Coulson's anger and ridiculously high expectations.
"Sir," she replied calmly. "We don't even know how to create this serum. All the manual tells us is to 'See Extremis' and 'See Centipede' and 'For more detailed information, visit Base of Operations: London.' I can't develop something to help Skye with that! Not in the time frame we currently have." She was proud of herself; her voice hadn't wavered once, and she saw a hint of doubt in Coulson's expression, indicating that he was starting to hear what she was saying.
"What about Mike Peterson? Ward hit him with your Night-Night gun and that was able to stabilize the Extremis."
"Yes, but that was only because Mike already had the Extremis in his system and his body had accepted it. We have no idea what would happen if we gave Skye Extremis, let alone an Extremis-dendrotoxin cocktail!"
Coulson lifted his arms up in exasperation and let them fall at his sides. "Then what do you suggest, Simmons? Because I'm all out of ideas." He sighed, visible signs of exhaustion etched on his face. "I need a great one."
She took a deep breath and summoned up her courage. "Sir, I think that I might be able to recreate the serum if I had a prototype."
Coulson looked at her uncomprehendingly. "Where would we find one of those?"
Jemma glanced down at her shoes. "Well…I suppose…I mean…" Coulson cleared his throat. She powered forward. "If the base of the T.A.H.I.T.I. project is in London, then I'm almost certain they've already developed test serums and have begun clinical trials there. And they probably have more detailed reports on proper dosages and chemical ratios. If I had a copy of the results of the trials, the chemical information, as well as a sample of the serum, I might be able to calculate the dosages based on Skye's physiology and develop a serum specifically for her." Her voice began to falter. "Hypothetically, of course, but I suppose it's better than nothing." She quickly looked down again to force back the tears threatening to surface. She felt a hand on her arm, and looked up into Coulson's face. He had a small smile and a soft look in his eyes that she didn't quite understand at first. Without breaking his gaze away from her, he said, "May."
Agent May had been standing off to the side, quietly observing the scene before her and decidedly staying out of the conversation. "Yes?"
"Set a course for London. We leave as soon as possible."
May nodded, a smile playing on her lips as she headed towards the cockpit.
Coulson gave her arm a small squeeze and followed after May, leaving Jemma alone with her thoughts. As he walked away, she realized what look she had seen on his face just moments ago. She had seen that look once before, in the eyes of her father on the day she received an A* in all of her A-levels when she was 14.
It was pride.
Fitz quickly checked through his rucksack again to make sure he had everything. Watch. Night-Night pistol. Torch. Pick-lock device. Water. The D.W.A.R.F.s. Duct tape (you never knew). He noticed a small bulge in one of the side pockets and curiously withdrew the antivenin pack Jemma had given him before his mission in Ossetia. He smiled a little to himself before placing the pack back where he found it. He wasn't going to take any chances.
After he was satisfied that he had everything he needed, he swung the rucksack onto his shoulder and headed towards the cargo hold. Adrenaline coursed through his veins despite his lack of sleep. He was ready for this. He was ready to finally do something. This was his chance to put right what he did wrong. Skye was dying because of his inability to protect her, and he would be damned if he didn't do everything in his power to make sure she came out of this alive. At the very least, the action would help distract him from the more toxic thoughts he'd been avoiding for the past few hours.
When he entered the hold, he was surprised to find the rest of them already assembled. Ward and Coulson both had put bulletproof vests on, and May was busy finalizing their flight path on her tablet. He glanced over at Jemma, who was looking at him with a pained expression. He felt his stomach drop as he realized what was happening.
"Agent Fitz, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna need you to stay here."
Fitz could feel everyone looking at him, so he forced himself to keep his eyes locked on Coulson as he replied, in as calm of a voice as he could muster, "With all due respect, Agent Coulson, no. You need me out there."
Coulson looked as if he was trying very hard to remain patient. "No, what I need is for someone to stay here and make sure nothing happens to Skye. I need May to drive the Bus, I need Ward to go in with me, and I need Simmons to both tell me what I'm looking for and to adjust the serum for Skye. That leaves you."
Fitz felt panic welling up in his chest. He knew he was going to lose, actually even agreed with Coulson a little bit, but he wasn't going down without a fight. "If you go without me, there's no way you're going to get in and out of there without getting caught. You need me to monitor all the building's access points and make sure you avoid the security cameras."
"I'm not asking, Agent Fitz." Fitz fought to keep his expression impassive. "I'm sure we'll be able to handle security. We've got the blueprints you gave us and we'll have May and Simmons on the comms." Coulson softened his voice before continuing. "I'm sorry, Fitz, but I can't leave her here alone." Fitz could see a pain in Coulson's eyes that reflected a lot of what he was fighting to control at the moment. He hated it. He hated that Coulson was right. He hated that this was to be his contribution to saving Skye - endlessly waiting while someone else did the work.
He dreaded the hours that lay ahead, the hours where his only company would be his own consciousness. But he understood what he needed to do. Skye shouldn't be left alone, not when at any second she could –
No. It wasn't over yet. This wasn't what he had wanted, but he would accept his duty. For her.
"Yes, sir," he murmured, staring at the ground. He didn't want to look at anyone, knowing that he would see pity in all of their eyes. He was tired of being looked at like that. He could almost feel Jemma willing him to face her, but he actively avoided her gaze. He summoned up his courage and decided that he wasn't going to give a single one of them any more reason to feel sorry for him.
"Well, if you're going to leave the underappreciated genius here, I might as well walk you through the blueprints of the compound so you don't set off any alarms and, you know, ruin the whole operation."
"What am I looking at here?"
Fitz pointed at the diagram projected from the Holotable. "The London base is broken up into four sections." Each set of buildings glowed under his fingertips as he singled them out. "You've got the medical facility, operations, tech and communications, and the combat training facilities. Based on SciOps's records that I single-handedly obtained with a stroke of genius from Fury's computer, top-secret experiments are conducted in a series of warehouses by the river behind the operations building. Now, there's no mention of a T.A.H.I.T.I. project in the system's database, but there are two warehouses that are currently listed as unused. One of these is under quarantine due to a nasty Gamma radiation experiment gone wrong. That's probably not your best bet. Which leaves…" Fitz paused dramatically, and swiped away the surrounding buildings with his hands, leaving one lone warehouse projected in front of their faces.
Ward was impressed. He might poke fun at Fitz sometimes, but truthfully it would have taken him much longer to come to the same conclusion. Not to mention figure out the zoom function on the Holotable.
Coulson glanced over at Ward and they shared an embarrassed look as Fitz continued to explain the best way to gain access to the building and the locations of all the security cameras, swiveling the projection around so they could clearly see all the entrances and superimposing an aerial shot over the blueprints for the warehouse. How did he make it look so easy?
Clearing his throat, Coulson gave a tight smile. "Thank you, Agent Fitz. That'll be all." Fitz looked slightly crestfallen, probably hoping that Coulson would change his mind about leaving him at the hospital after seeing him in action. Ward felt badly about the situation, but he agreed with Coulson. One of them had to stay. Fitz nodded and quietly slipped out of the room.
Once he was out of earshot, Coulson turned on Ward. "We don't breathe a word to Fitz or Simmons about – " he paused, gesturing towards the Holotable.
"Agreed." Ward knew that if either of them ever found out, he and Coulson would be the butt of FitzSimmons's jokes for months. That could not happen.
May entered the room, looking for all the world like she was prepared to kick ass. "We ready to go?" she asked, looking directly at Coulson. It was like Ward wasn't even there.
Coulson nodded, and May headed back towards the cockpit. "Wheels up in five," she called over her shoulder.
Ward pushed away the disappointment he felt at May's coldness and turned towards Coulson. "Uh…sir?"
"Yeah?"
"You do realize what we're about to do, right?" Ward had been so preoccupied with actually doing something that he had just started to process the fact that they were about to break into a facility operated by the very organization he worked for. Protocol was out the window.
Coulson's face was the poster of determination. "We have to get that cure. It's Skye's only chance."
There was something that continued to nag at him, though. "But you said the serum has the same stuff we saw with Mike Peterson and Chan Ho Yin." He voiced the thought that he knew was going through all of their heads. "You think S.H.I.E.L.D. has been working with Centipede?"
For the first time, he saw a hint of doubt in Coulson's eyes. "I don't know, Ward. We don't have the whole picture. But it's S.H.I.E.L.D. There are always secrets."
She ran to the cargo hold just as Fitz was about to leave the Bus.
"You aren't even going to say goodbye?" She meant to say it flippantly, but she couldn't keep her voice from cracking at the end. Fitz turned around and closed the distance between them, his face a mask of uncertainty. She hated seeing him like this. He looked so defeated.
She could see him attempt a smile as he replied, "I'll see you in a bit, okay?"
She nodded, and they simply looked at each other for a few moments. There were times between them when some things didn't need to be said, and this was one of those times. She knew that staying was the last thing Fitz wanted to do and that it was killing him, but she couldn't come up with an alternative solution. She tried to find something light-hearted to say before they parted.
"Oh! I almost forgot. I grabbed this for you – I thought you might want something to pass the time." She held out his old Rubik's Cube, the one she had gotten him for his birthday years ago at the Academy. She had been shocked that he'd never tried to solve one before, and then annoyed when he had cracked it in 30 seconds. He still kept it around, though, and every so often he would bring it out and see if he could beat his time. She was secretly pleased that he hadn't thrown it out.
There was a flash of something in Fitz's eyes that reminded her of those days at the Academy, but it quickly disappeared. He managed to give her a small smile, though. "Thanks, Jemma."
She nodded, giving him an encouraging smile but not trusting her voice to say anything else. She turned around to head back upstairs.
"Jemma?"
"Yeah?"
He was still staring at the Rubik's Cube in his palm. "Can you promise me something?"
"What is it, Fitz?"
He looked up at her, and she was caught off-guard by the intensity of his gaze. "Whatever you do, don't go in that warehouse."
She was confused. "But it wasn't even part of the plan for me to actually go inside-"
He interrupted her. "Just don't go in. Promise me, Jemma."
Something in his voice made her silence the argument she had on her lips.
"I promise."
Coulson caught her just as she was about to get settled into the cockpit.
"You all set?"
She was about to make a curt reply, but decided that she needed to try to convince him one more time.
"Phil, are you sure you don't want me to go in?"
Coulson shook his head. "I need you to stay with Simmons and guide us through the warehouse. After what happened earlier today, I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone during a mission, especially with Quinn on the Bus."
She placed a hand on his arm. "No. I mean are you sure you don't want me to go in instead?"
Coulson looked down at her with an expression so full of pain that she had to force herself not to break away from his gaze. "I need to do this, Melinda."
She nodded, understanding. "Okay," she said simply. "But you and Ward really shouldn't be going in there alone."
Coulson gave a smirk. "We won't be going in alone."
May shook her head, not understanding. "What do you mean?"
"We're gonna need to make a pit stop."