AN: Really long chapter today, being 6000 words. Next chapter will be shorter, but Skye and Grant will meet next chapter! so yay!

And the finale! AoS just finished in England and it was awesome. Definetly can't wait for season three!


SEVEN :INHUMANS


I sit with my back slumped against the cold, hard seat back. I tap my pen against the wooden table and my foot against the marbled ground to an idle tune in my head. My other hand, that isn't holding my pen, is lying out in the table, my fingers spread out. My expression is sullen, and is showing just how bored I am right now. There's five other people in here- four males, one female- and we're all spread out, not agknowledging anyone else.

My eyes stare blankly at the board in front of me, my mind empty. More people leak in, each taking a seat. No one's talking much, but no one's coming anywhere near me either. Here, it's each man for himself, and I'm not liked among these ranks. They don't like me because of my closeness to Garrett; one of the main operatives. I couldn't really care that no one likes me any less, but sometimes I wouldn't mind someone to talk to.

But as Garrett always says, these people should be grateful that they go to the HYDRA academy in on of our main bases, instead of our minor ones. When you're part of HYDRA, where you attend the school is nothing to do where your- or rather your parent's zipcodes- are, but how much HYDRA deems you worthy and how much potential they see in you.

Maybe another reason why they don't like me is because I'm excelling in everything and showing them up. Combat? Maths? Even Literature; I've got it. They can say it's due to me being in HYDRA longer than any of them, but it's because I work hard. After all, good results equals pleased Garrett. I can shoot at the target with the lowest heart rate and without hesitation. HYDRA loves that. I may be only 14, but HYDRA has raised me to do this.

This school doesn't nuture their students in praise and smiles. We thrive under pressure and we get taught through harsh treatment. The teachers doesn't show us an ounce of niceness, but that's okay. No one else ever has. We all have it out for each other; there is no true friendships. If it's between you and someone else, we sell them out. Bonds between classmates do form, groups and cliques happen, but they don't have each other's backs. They create a united force together against others; against other cliques, but once they've crushed and defeated all opposition, they will turn on one another.

The right side of the room, there's a clump of them. A whole group of the clenched jaws, tightened fists, always on the defensive. The group of the top clique, so to speak. Their group is hard to get into- they make you do challenges and tasks to prove yourselves- and they're at the top of the mini-HYDRA foodchain. Everyone agknowledges them as the leaders and they're better than anyone. Except me.

That's another reason why they don't like me; I don't bend to their rules. It's not like I outwardsly challege them, I just don't even notice their exisutance. I choose to ignore them instead of interact with them. So, that makes me the person they like to focus on- but everything they say about me; Garrett's already said.

Another reason why no one likes to talk to me is because I have my future cleared for me already. Garrett's got me on the list to becoming a field agent as soon as I'm old enough. I also receive extra training sessions and practice field work training outside of our lesson slots, from Garrett. They don't like that. I often wonder if they'd like it if they knew how tough Garrett was. It's not easy being his progeny.

But from their point of view, it's just something to tear into me about. As well as the fact I'm a year younger than them all, as I moved to quickly for the others in my 'year'. So, they like to remind them that I'm younger- to what I like to remind them I'm still cleverer. In any normal school, the teachers would prevent this kind of behaviour but this isn't any normal school. In fact, they encourage us. HYDRA's aim is to make us as ruthless as can be so there isn't any weakness in their flanks.

"Shut up." Our teacher's harsh voice comes as he walks into the classroom, a scowl upon his face. I turn my eyes on him, away from the board. He looks around at us, running a hand over his goatee (what, by the way, does look ridiculous).

"Today, we have a new inciate." He announces. There's slight stirring; we don't get newbies here, at the main one. After all, this is for the ones with the most potential. There's also stirring because that means that means someone will be added to the ranks to one of the groups. In total, there's five groups- including the 'top dog' ones and me. Because, yes, I count as a single force.

The door squeaks open (because HYDRA hates wasting oil on doors when they could be using it to destroy life as we know) and a girl walks in. She's brown haired, and she's holding herself shyly. Something that will be soon knocked straight out of here in HYDRA.

I look her up and down, wondering what skill she has that HYDRA would find worthy enough to put her as someone with high potential. By the looks of her, I wouldn't say it was combat, but I'm not going to make that assume as she could turn out to be a deadly gymnast... or something.

"Take a seat, Palamas." Goatee-gone-wrong commands and her eyes searches the room. She's biting her lip and her eyes are filled with nerves. Everyone in this room sits in their groups and I think she can tell it. Her eyes land on me, or rather the empty seat next to me. She walks over, and pulls it out, before sitting down with a little 'umpth'.

The room tenses, waiting to see if I'll react. I think they all think I'm antisocial- what I am, if you look at my life- and doesn't like anybody associating with me. That's where they're wrong. I don't really have an opinion on it. The girl gives me a small, quick smile and I surprise myself by returning it.

"Kara," she whispers to me, hoping to find someone in this vast new place to get to know.

"Grant," I whisper back, hoping the exact same thing.

::

"I'm sooo tired!" Kara complains as she shoves a spoonful of coco-pops into her mouth. Her hair is still thrown into a messy ponytail, not yet made up from when she got up. She's sitting opposite me, so I have to look down every time she opens her mouth over wise I'll get a glimpse if her food inside her mouth. And no one wants that. I may be able to handle dead bodies, but there are certain things that will always put me off my food. (And they're almost always something Kara does; she has a habit if ruining my food).

"So you've said," I reply. We're in the base cafeteria, what's buzzing with early morning chatter as everyone eats their breakfast. This is one of the only places I get reminded how much people actually work and live here- and even the people who don't live here, still tends to eat here- it's really something that reminds me how much people goes into making up SHIELD.

"Grant, I'm being serious! I've had hardly any rest all night!" She carries on her moaning. I must admit, she does look tired; there's dark circles under her eyes and normally by now, she'd sorted out her hair. I wonder if thoughts of past memories of HYDRA was haunting her last night as much as they were me.

"I know you're being serious- but maybe instead of complaining you can save your energy and remain quiet," I say to her, my voice dry and humourless. Kara scowls at me, dropping her spoon, what causes a loud clang and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Stop being mean, Grant, and start showing me sympathy. What's up with you?" She demands, her voice snappy. I guess I deserve it, though. My lips perk up into a smile, shaking off my bad mood for her- just because I woke up on the wrong side of the bed doesn't mean she should suffer because of it.

"Are you demanding now, Kar?" I ask her and she pouts, what she things is cute. (Well, it is, but only really to me- I'm basically her brother, of course I would).

"Hello!" Two cheery, bubbly voices come and I look up, to see Fitz and Simmons standing there, trays in hands, grinning at us. Kara smiles up at them in greeting, brightening up instantly. So she can be miserable around me, but not them?

"Hi!" She greets, and they sit down, putting their food in front of them. Simmons has what looks to be greek yoghurt and assorted fruits in it and Fitz has toast and scrambled eggs.

"How are you?" Kara asks, making idle chit-chat with them. I look at them, wondering if I should too. I don't have anything against them, per se, but I'm not very trusting of new faces, either. They seem like good hearted people, and I'm not going to let my opinion- that still isn't fully made up- influence Kara's.

"We're good," Fitz answers, as he shovels a piece of crispy, golden toast into his mouth.

"But, my question is, are you okay?" Simmons asks. "You look a little under the weather," she asks, resting a gentle hand on Kara's shoulder. Kara nods.

"I'm fine," she assures. "I just didn't get much sleep. Cramps and all," Kara says. I pull a face, and puts down my cutlery. It wasn't thoughts of HYDRA keeping her up. I would've preferred to live in that blissful world- especially when I was consuming my food.

"Kar, I've told you about that talk when I'm eating," I groan. Kara flashes me a sheepish smile.

"Sorry," she apologises, her eyes full of guilt. After all, she did promise to cut down on the girl talk around me. (Even if the first time she promised that was 9 years ago, when she was 15). I shake my head, pushing away my plate, no longer wanting it.

"Well, I should go- especially after being put off the remainder of my food." I tell her, rising out of the seat. I nod at FitzSimmons, and bids them a goodbye before going on my own way. I turn back, briefly. I look at Kara.

"And, Kar?" She looks up from the remainders of my food she's currently scoving down. "Get some rest," I tell her, finally, before actually walking away. It may not seem like it sometimes, but I care for her- after all, she's my best friend. She's basically my younger-but-actually-older sister. And nothing will change that.

::

I walk down the empty hallway, in casual clothing as I head to the training hall. I turn on to the hallway that has Coulson's office on, as it's in the route to the training room. Thoughts of what happened last time I was here, and what I saw comes back to me.

It's been a week, and my curiousity about the whole thing has not fizzled out. I was trained in HYDRA, so normally I'm good at turning a blind eye, at forgetting about things I should've seen. Maybe it's because I've been away from HYDRA for long or maybe it's because the woman intrigued me too much, but I haven't been able to drop it out of my thoughts.

Her presence intrigued me far more than it should have, and it's troubling me. Why do I want to know so much? Maybe it's because she had a strange feel about her or maybe it's because she was linked to the words After Life and I'm wondering why HYDRA is wanting whatever she has. Whatever it is, I don't have the answers, and I'll never have them. My clearance isn't high enough.

I walk past Coulson's office, and I can't help myself when I turn my head towards the windows as I pass it. Something in my gut just tells me too.

To my suprise, the woman is there again, talking animatedly at Coulson. Her arms are moving in exaggerate motions, and the man who is also with her is tensed. She looks up, just at the right second, and for a short moment in time our eyes connect, before I carry on my way.

Now I really want to know who she is.

"You ready?" I ask Kara, making sure the binding on my hands is tight and secure. Kara looks at me, her eyes connecting with mine, after she does the same. She tightens her hair, that is pulled into a high ponytail at the back of her head and she nods.

"Yeah. The question is, are you?" Kara darts the question back at me, an eyebrow arched. I mimic the action back at her, the friendly tension between us electric.

"Always." I answer her. We step on to the training mat, our arms tensed at our sides. It's later on in the day, and Kara's had a nap, so she's refreshed and active now. We decided we'd have a little training match- it's one thing training on a bag, but it's a nothing training between ourselves, fighting an actual opponate.

Kara rises her fist, her stance ready. I do the same, and we look at each other with watchful eyes. I steady my breathing, and empty my mind. Kara looks to be doing the same, before locking her jaw, and jumping into action.

"Okay, the first thing we're going to do today is have a little combat fighting!" Goatee-gone-wrong (who really has time to learn names- or rather, use them?) tells our class as we all stand in our practice hall. We're all clad in casual clothes, ready for the activity.

"Pair yourselves up, and go to a side. I'll call each of you up, and you'll perform to the whole class." He tells us. Because this is what HYDRA believes in. Class watching- makes kids thrive better. It's like Garrett always says; if you don't have any obsticles to overcome, how are you meant to know you are succeeding in life?

I stamd still, waiting for there to be an odd one out of the others, and then be forced to go with them. No one wants to go with me, and not just because of my status- because of what I did to Ryan Borre.

"Grant," I look down, to my left, seeing Kara there. She's biting her lip, and her hands are figeting.

"Can... can I go with you?" She asks me. I raise an eyebrow at her, wondering why she'd want to do that. She looks at me with hopeful eyes, and I remember it's still her first day and she's still unsure of herself.

"Sure." I'll go with her while she still thinks I'm worth her time.

As Kara kicks me in my chest, knocking the air right out of me and grinning widely, I think back to our first fight and wonder why I ever agreed to go with her. It started a life time of this.

"Face it, Ward, I'm going to beat your sorry ass," those are the elegant words of Kara Palamas. I grit my teeth together, fighting through the pain.

"Keep dreaming, Palamas." I reply, swinging my fist.

The mat squeaks as Kara's foot slips against it as my fist connects with her jaw, causing her to lose her footing and balance. Kara narrows her eyebrows, swinging herself back up to her feet. She leans down, staring at me, trying to work out my next move. What she won't do; Garrett always tells me to never have it set in stone what you do, and always be open to improvisation. It makes you harder to read.

Before I can react, Kara swings into action, kicking around one leg in my chest. I double over as the air leaves me, but before I can recover from the hit, she swings around her other leg, this time it hitting the back of my knees, putting me in a croached position. Finally, she clenches her fist and returns the punch to the jaw, making me fall on my back. The class goes silent, a joint gasp. As she back up, recovering, I push myself up, tightening my jaw together, as it aches.

"You just made this personal."

Kara flies across the room, landing on the other side. I grin at her, as she glares at me. She winces, slightly, as she pushes herself up to her knees. A twinge of guilt goes through me, but it goes as I step towards you, and the aching in my chest reminds me she did it first. With us; this is war. There will be casualties, but it's the price to pay to win- something having a tough life taught us both.

"You bastard," Kara swears, but it's in a friendly tone, so I know she's not really mad. The slight upturned lips is also a big indicator.

"Only the best for you," I grin at her. The key to a good friendship is; if you beat the shit out of each other and you can still get up and laugh- it's an unbreakable friendship. You have to be able to hit each other to last in this world.

"You just made this personal." I say. "And here was I going easy on you because you're new. No more," I tell her. Kara just poises an eyebrow up.

"Oh, really? Bring. It. On." She challenges. I grin at her, so caught up in this, I forget about that we have an audience watching.

"Oh, I will." I promise, knowing one thing and one thing only; I must win this fight.

I lie on my back, near the wall, my breathing heavy and my heart rate going out of the roof. My jaw, my body aches softly. Kara stands over me, grinning widely.

"Ha. I won." She boasts. I wave a hand at her, and she helps me sit up. I rub the back of my neck, it hurting from when she hit me hard there, with her fist- her finishing blow.

"Yeah, yeah. It still doesn't beat the fact I beat you on the first day." I reply. If HYDRA was good for one thing, it was staring this whole fighting contest we have constantly running- and for being the flame that forged our friendship. Kara shrugs, pretending it doesn't bother her. That it isn't the thing that drills her to fight me again and again.

"But I won now." She states, simply. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to go shower then take a long, long nap." She tells me, grabbing her water bottle. I stand up, grabbing my own.

"I'm going to take a little rest in here, before training by myself." Kara nods, swinging a towel over her shoulder, to dry herself down with, as she walks out.

"Suit yourself," she says.

::

I end up having a quick shower, after catching back my breath, but after I did that I came straight back and set up the punching bag. As much as actual one on one combat is good, single hand practicing is just as good, so I tend to like to do both. It's a habit that Garrett most likely drilled into me. Most of them do tend to originate from Garrett's training.

I jab at the punch bag, making sure my punches are smooth and swift. A reason why I love this base so much is that there isn't just one training room, so I can train in peace. Plus, this one is usually used for training others, or training for upcoming heavy core missions. Fortunately, that isn't happening right now.

My mind is zoned in on the punchbag, just like when me and Kara was fighting, I was just focused on her. Adrenaline is running around my body, erging me to keep going, even if my muscles are crying in protest. Every time I train, I hear Garrett's voice in my ear.

Don't stop, even if you want to. Fight until you faint. Never give in. Stoping is weakness, and you don't want to be weak do you, Kid?

What my life could've been without Garrett or HYDRA. In actual fact, I could say it was all cheery and good, but that would be a lie. My life wouldn't be good- it would be horrible, awful. I would've lived with my parents, and I would've carried on living under my older brother's shadow, never having my own identity. If HYDRA hadn't got me, I would've been sent down a path of gloom. HYDRA saved me.

But did I really escape losing my own identity? I was still a shadow- but Garrett's, instead of being one of Christian's.

I asked Garrett why was it that he choose me, that he decided to train me and didn't take any of my siblings. He said it was because they didn't have the same spark and he didn't see the same potential in them as he saw in me.

At first, I always thought Garrett choose the wrong brother. I thought Christian would've been more suited; the only time I spoke out when I shouldn't was that day. But as I grew older, I realised exactly why Garrett took a liking to me.

It's not because I was special. He could see the hunger for power in Christian's eyes- what normally would be a good characteristic for a HYDRA leader. But Garrett didn't want a leader, didn't want someone who could potentially take over him, if given enough power. Garrett wanted me; someone who showed loyalty.

I hear a small noise, a little squeak. It's quiet, but it pulls me out my darkened thoughts- and it's probably for the best. I shouldn't think about Garrett, but when I'm alone I just can't help it.

I catch the swinging bag, and turns around, towards the source of the noise. I think it came from the door, making me wonder if Kara came to check up on me, like she normally does.

I see a woman standing at the doorway, but it isn't Kara. It's Coulson's guest. I furrow my eyebrows, confused to as why she's standing there. This has just made me even more curious about her.

"Can I help you?" I call, walking over to her. She's looking at me- her eyes never leaving me, and then a smile forms on her face. No, it was always there, but it just became bigger.

"I'm sorry, it's just... I'm in a meeting with Coulson, and I had to just go to the... you know, Ladies room. And, I got lost on my way back, so I just thought I'd ask you. But I didn't want to disturb you," she explains and I wonder how long she's been there.

"Coulson's office?" I ask her, walking closer so I'm standing less than a metre away. She nods. "Just carry on down that way and then turn left." I tell her. She smiles brightly at me.

"Thank you," she says, turning to leave. There's a hesitation in her step, and she turns back around, to look at me.

"I'm rubbish at directions, would you care to walk me?" She inquires. If there's one thing I remember from my parents before HYDRA took them away was to be a gentleman- or rather, in the public's eye.

"Of course." I reply. "Anything for a guest," I motion for her to start walking and she does. I follow, before walking by her side. The first steps are silent, but then she starts talking.

"So, you're quite good at combat, I can see." She says. That makes me think even more that she didn't just come when I heard her. I nod.

"Yes, ma'am," I say, respectively. She shakes her head.

"None of that. It's Jiaying," she introduces herself. "My daughter would love to see that- she's been begging us for years to let her learn to fight. Actually, she's been asking her father if he can get her lessons- she thinks he doesn't tell me." Jiaying's voice is filled with affection.

"So, why don't you?" I ask, hoping I'm not being to nosy.

"Ah, she doesn't need it. If it came down to it, she can already protect herself." Jiaying smiles up at me. "She has a unique skill, you see." She doesn't elaborate, making me even more curious.

"So, have you used them skills in actual... missions, is it? Sorry, I'm not actually SHIELD, as you can tell." She asks. The corner of my lips quirk up at that.

"Yes, robes doesn't tend to be the trend in SHIELD," I say. "Unless you catch Coulson coming out the bathroom, then bathrobes are all the style. And that one time I caught May in one," I joke. Jiaying's smile grows and she laughs slightly.

"You're funny." Well, that's new. "So, I'm guessing you know Coulson and May quite well?" She asks. I nod.

"Yeah, Coulson... introduced me to the world of SHIELD. And May comes as an added bonus to the Coulson package." I pause. "I guess you could say Coulson is my new SO." I tell her.

"And, yes, I've used combat in missions... just not of late," I answer her previous question. "And, here we are," I tell her as we arrive outside Coulson's office. She stops walking and looks up at me.

"I like you," she says. She rests a hand on the door handle, and smiles lightly at me. "Thank you...?" She waits for me to fill in her sentence.

"Grant. Grant Ward," I tell her.

"Thank you, Grant." She thanks, before actually going into the office. I turn around, and walk away.

::

"Checkmate." I say, smiling triumphantly. Kara stares at the board, before looking up at me, her eyes wide.

"No." She says. "No. No. No. I refuse to believe that I lost," she shakes her head, as if to emphasise her point. My triumphant smile turns into a smirk at her denial.

"Face it, Kar. Your reign of terror is over," I gloat. Kara continues to shake her head.

"No." She responds. I must admit, recently I haven't been focused as much as I usually am when me and Kara battle- proven by the amount of time she's been beating me, but it's time for that to stop.

"Kara, you lost and I won. Sometimes you win, but remember I'm better at it then you." I gloat futher. Kara frowns at me.

"You're not better, Grant. And I want a rematch." She demands, folding her arms across her chest.

"No one's going to get a rematch." Me and Kara turn our heads around to look at May, who just announced her presence. She's got her serious face on- yes, she has a less serious face- and FitzSimmons stands by her shoulder. FitzSimmons' expressions tells me they don't know what is going on, but it's also filled with curiousity.

"You two, come with me." May commands. Me and Kara exchange the same confused look, but we get up. No one wants to disobey May, especially when she's got her serious face on.

"Hey," Kara greets FitzSimmons, smiling at them. Kara's voice is just slightly louder than a whisper because when you're following May, you can't do anything else. May is one heck of a scary woman, especially in business mode.

"Do you know what this is about?" Kara asks them, her voice still a whisper. FitzSimmons shakes their heads.

"No, but we don't care-" Fitz starts their weird joint answer, also whispering. They have sense.

"-Because we just met the Calvary!" Simmons whisper-exclaims. May whips her head around, stopping suddenly.

"What did I say about calling me that?" She snaps. Fright appears on Simmons' face and she looks down.

"Sorry," she manages to squeak out. May nods and carries on walking.

"She's so scary-" Simmons says.

"-Yet so amazing!" Fitz finishes for her, wonder in his eyes. We seem to be heading in the direction of Coulson's office what makes me think about what us four all have in common. If it was just me, I'd think I was going to be repremainded for talking to Jiaying earlier- it only happened just over half an hour ago. I wonder if she's gone. Most probably, if we're going to Coulson's office. I don't know why I found her so intriguing over than the fact she has this... different feel about her.

May stops outside Coulson's office, and turns to face us. She looks at us, her eyes landing each one of us, individually.

"Okay, kids, get ready for some advise. One, you better bring your A game and two, you better expect the worst, the most peculiar thing because if you don't... let's just say, I don't like fainters," May gives us a warning, that just confuses me even more- and by the looks of it, the other three too.

May opens up the door and leads us in. I don't know why us four have been called to Coulson's office, but I did expect Coulson to be leaning against his desk, like always. However, what I didn't expect was that Jiaying and her companion would be there, still.

Jiaying looks at me for a brief second, before moving her eyes onto the other three. The man is the same as last time. He stands by Jiaying's shoulder, with sunglasses on. What kind of guy where's sunglasses indoors?

"Afternoon," Coulson speaks as May shuts the door and comes to stand by him. "Now, obviously, you're curious as to why you're in here. And, well, there's no way really to say it." He tells us.

"So, I'm just going to give it a shot. This is Jiaying and Gordon." He introduces to us. "They are not part of SHIELD, but they are associates of ours, but only high personnel knows it- knows that they even exist- so think yourselves privileged. "I've chosen you because you are very skilled." Coulson pauses his explaination that still isn't shining light upon this.

Coulson stand up straighter. "Now, as agents Palamas and Ward know, HYRDA has recently done something that opened our eyes to a project of theirs- Post Vita. I found the translation, that turned out to be Afterlife," Coulson fills up that gap more for FitzSimmons than me and Kara. FitzSimmons looks at us with questioning eyes.

"Afterlife is a place, or more specifically, the place Jiaying and Gordon live with their people." Coulson says. "And, well, if HYDRA has a project that translates into Afterlife, it can only mean that they want Afterlife. Especially as the bakery in Vienna?" Coulson looks towards me and Kara, briefly. "It was owned by one of theirs- now missing, possibly dead." Coulson paces slightly.

"Now, you're wondering what this all has got to do with you. Now, we want to protect Jiaying's people. If HYDRA found Afterlife, it would have terrible concenquences. But-" Jiaying holds up a hand, interupting Coulson.

"Let me." It's more of a command than a request. "However, me and my people, we live a simple life. We have a seperate society from that of what you know. We have elderly and children alike, some has never even been outside Afterlife." Jiaying tells us, her voice soft. I wonder if she's thinking of her daughter. Coulson takes a step towards us.

"Jiaying doesn't want SHIELD to get involved with Afterlife. She fears that as adults who have seen it all, we will not understand their way of life. Even if we would." Coulson shoots a look towards Jiaying and I guess it's a point of disagreement for them.

"But you are still young. Your eyes still hold innocent curiousity and your mind is still learning." Jiaying carries on, dismissing Coulson's pointed look. "Gordon and I have talked it over and we've decided to accept their offer of protection. On one condition." Jiaying looks at Coulson, as if passing on the metaphorical baton to him.

"She told us that SHIELD may get a glimpse at how life is in Afterlife, so SHIELD can see what it's like and then make judgements on how we should protect it from HYDRA. But, we can not send in our high agents, not May or even me- but our young ones." Coulson finally gets down to the root of why we were called.

"Younger people will see Afterlife as what it is, you won't make your judgement based on what SHIELD wants. You'll be curious and you'll see it true." Jiaying inputs. "As you're young, you'll have a open mind. The older agents are more prejudice in their ways." Coulson glares at her, not liking the way she's explaining this. I'm guessing that's another point of disagreement.

"SHIELD needs to find a way to protect us without disrupting our lifestyle. As younger people, you'll think outside the box, think of a more creative solution. And my people will find you less threatening than older SHIELD agents," Jiaying finishes. I can tell by Coulson's and May's expressions that they don't like how she put it- no one likes to be painted in a bad light.

"So, we decided to choose you four, as you all are very skilled and have curious minds. Also you know how to follow protocol," Coulson looks pointedly at Jiaying. "Plus, Jiaying requested specially for you, Ward and I know you and Kara comes as one." He adds on. Kara and FitzSimmons turns to look at me, wondering how Jiaying knew me. I give Kara a look, telling her I'll explain later. She nods slightly and turns her attention back to Coulson.

"Of course, when you visit, Coulson and May will come too, but they'll stay in the outskirts of Afterlife and we'll take you in. You four will look around Afterlife, with Gordon following behind, but from a distance." Jiaying tells us, and then looks at the said people. "And now speaking of Gordon, are you going to tell them now?" She inquires- the one thing she's actually asking them, leaving up to them. Coulson and May exchange a joint look before Coulson looks back at us.

"There is one more thing, kids." Coulson says. "Jiaying's people... well, their not like us. They are-"

"Let me make this simple," Gordon speaks up for the first time. All eyes turn on him as he takes off his sunglasses. It's only then May's earlier warning makes sense. Because Gordon has no eyes. Where there's meant to be eyes, there's skin.

"Oh lord," Simmons says and not soon after that there's a small umpth sound as Fitz faints. May rolls her eyes.

"I thought you gave them a heads up?" Coulson asks her. She looks at him.

"I did. The kid obviously forgot my warning." May responds.

"Sorry, Fitz is a little light-headed." Simmons speaks up. She kneels next to him. "Leo," she says in a soft voice. "Leo, wake up." Fitz's eyes blink back open and he sits up hurriedly. He looks at Gordon.

"I hope you don't get offended by that," he appologises, flashing him a sheepish look that I wonder if he can even see. Fitz stands back up.

"We're called Inhumans," Jiaying takes over the explaining. "We're desended from aliens and when we go through a transformation progress, we get these gifts. Gordon's is that he can transport anywhere in a flash, but it cost him his eyes. Of course, don't be fooled, he can still see- just not how you and I can." She lets her words sink in, before continuing.

"Now obviously some of our transformations aren't as visable as Gordon's, for example mine. Most of our people's transformations are not obvious to the eyes, so when you visit Afterlife, you will pass people and not know if they have undergone it or not." Jiaying pauses. "I do hope this hasn't startled you too much." She says. All this certainly explains the weird feel about her.

"What happens if we don't want to visit your home?" Simmons suddenly questions and we all turn to look at her.

"You don't have to, if you don't want to." Coulson says. "Do you?" He inquires.

"Oh, I do. I was just seeing if we have a choice," Simmons tells us and Coulson nods. "And when are we visiting there?" She asks.

"Tomorrow. We need to do this as quick as possible." Coulson answers. Gordon nudges Jiaying, and she nods as if reading his expression, what I don't know how she does.

"We should wrap this up; me and Gordon have other commitments to attend to." Jiaying announces. "We will see you tomorrow." Jiaying says, nodding her head in respect. Coulson returns the action. Gordon holds on to Jiaying's shoulders and then a huge, blue electrical-like force comes and in a blink of an eye, they're gone.

Coulson looks around at us. "Any questions?" He grins at our shocked faces. May shoots him a look.

"Go rest up, kids. Don't think over it too much. If you have any further questions, we'll answer it in the morning when you've had a little rest and a think." May tells us. We nod and obey, because what else can you do when The Calvary gives you an order? And, we're just too in shock to do anything else.