A/N: Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

"Do we have an idea of where she's headed?" Coulson asked.

"Possibly." Fitz said. "She's moving steadily towards Los Angeles. I don't know if she'll stop there, but she's pretty close to it now."

"And we're sure we don't know what she's after?"

"No." Skye said. "It wants to get rid of Inhumans. But there weren't many in L.A. last time I checked. They were still together, in the area."

"Destroying Inhumans is its biggest goal." Fitz said. "So why is it passing over them?"

"It must have something bigger planned." Coulson said. "And whatever that is, it can't be good."

"We need to go after her." Fitz said. "Skye and I still haven't come up with the definite way to take it out of Jemma, but we should be able to control it enough."

"Are you sure?"

Fitz hesitated, looking at Skye, who met his eyes and nodded. "Yes." He said. "We can contain her."


Los Angeles. The City of Angels.

Few people actually realized the power contained near this city. Whether or not angels existed was irrelevant. This was the place immortality could be obtained.

And it was so close. Just a few more hours of traveling, and it would be there. But first it needed rest. As much as it wanted to keep going, it couldn't burn through this body. That would be a horrible waste.

It had felt more peace in this host than it ever had before. The host truly was meant for it.

So as it pulled over the stolen vehicle and closed its eyes, it smiled to think this would be its host for all eternity. Soon.


They were just about to leave when they heard it. A loud beeping sound.

"Someone's trying to video-chat." Coulson said. "Directly to my computer."

They ran to his office and answered the call.

"Sif!"

Lady Sif regarded them with the smallest of smiles. She appeared to be tired. "Son of Coul." She said. "Fitz. Skye. I believe I have information you can use."

Coulson waited.

"The entity in the stone cannot survive without a host. It cannot die, either. It will exist in an altered state until it is grounded to a host again. It is safest to lock it in something it can do nothing in, like the stone it had been in until recently. There is a way to send it back into the rock, but I do not know what it is."

"How does that help us?" Fitz asked.

Coulson gave him a look, but Sif didn't appear to be angry. "I only know this much because I tracked down a Kree. He told me one other thing before he realized he had said too much."

"What was it?"

She met Fitz's eyes. "The makers of the stone knew exactly how it worked, and the entity inside. They built a failsafe, to force the entity back into it if they needed to."

They were silent, waiting for more.

"That is all I know." She said.

"Any information is better than none." Coulson said. "Thank you for finding out more."

"For you, Son of Coul, it is worth the trouble."

Coulson noticed that she wasn't signing off. "Skye, go tell Hunter we're not leaving yet. Fitz, maybe you could -?"

"Take another look at the rock?" he asked. He nodded. "I need to."

They walked out, and Coulson looked back at Sif. "Why else did you call?"

"I do not want you or your team to get your hopes up." She said. "The entity has only been imprisoned once before, and it was done by a Kree. I do not know if it is possible for any other life-form to imprison it."

"There's still something you're not saying."

She hesitated. "The last time the entity was active, it took an Asgardian as a host."

"I'm guessing from your expression it didn't end well."

"It was forced into the rock, but only after killing the host. Coulson, it is not something to be treated lightly."

"If there's even a small chance we can save Simmons we have to try." He said.

"Just do not be devastated if your hopes fail."

"They won't." he said simply.

Sif cracked a smile, something Coulson was very proud to see.

"I wish you luck, Son of Coul."


Fitz was looking at the rock again. He figured Coulson had just wanted him to get out of the room, but he also knew he needed to inspect it again. If the makers had put in a failsafe, did that mean it was part of the rock?

He combed over every inch of it, running his hands over its surface.

And then he found it.

A symbol scratched onto the back edge of the stone, incredibly small and barely discernable, but there nonetheless. If Fitz hadn't been looking so carefully he would have missed it. He had missed it, he realized, many times.

He didn't know what it meant, or how it worked, but it was something. "We need to bring it with us." He said aloud.

"If you say so."

He jumped and whirled around to find Skye leaning against the doorway. "What did you find?"

"Writing." An idea popped into his head. "Can you read it?"

She walked up to him and studied the symbol after he pointed it out.

Her eyes narrowed and she tried to sound it out when she swooned.

"Whoa." Fitz said, supporting her.

She shook her head and tried to read it out loud again, and this time her knees buckled. Fitz was now holding her up.

"Skye?" he asked.

She took a minute to respond. Her eyes opened and she stood, one hand on his arm to steady herself. "I can't read it."

"But you started to pronounce it."

"I think it's blocking me, Fitz. Maybe… got it! I can't say it because I'm an Inhuman! This thing was made to stop Inhumans, so obviously they wouldn't want Inhumans to be able to stop it!"

"So you can read it, but you can't do anything about it."

"Hey, don't worry. This is the closest we've come to an answer yet. And besides," she said, looking at him. "I could barely read it. I'm not the key to this one, Fitz."

"Then who is?" he asked.

A second later their eyes met.

"Coulson."


Skye was able to understand the Kree word, somewhat. It made sense, because the Kree had first made the Inhumans. But she and Fitz thought there was another reason Skye could almost understand it. The GH.325 serum.

It came from a blue alien. If they weren't actually Kree, maybe they were closely related. And Coulson had also had the serum.

It was worth a try, at least. Skye went to fetch him while Fitz gave it another look. The symbol meant absolutely nothing to him.

Coulson came in, Skye right behind him. "You want me to do what?" he asked.

"Try to read this." Skye said, pushing him toward the rock.

Fitz pointed to the odd symbols, and Coulson looked at them intently. Without seeming to realize it his mouth started forming shapes.

Ten seconds passed, and he looked up after he made a sound. "How was that?"

Fitz blinked. "That was the word?"

"I think so. How can I read it?"

"We think it's GH.325." Skye said.

Coulson nodded. "I can see that possibility."

"So what does the word mean?" Fitz asked.

Coulson thought for a minute.

"Release."