Author's Note: Hey, sorry I lost track of time and so the chapter is a day late. I have had heaps of tests this week and I have exams coming up also which means that updates may be a bit slower. Hopefully though, I will get enough chapters pre-written and all will be good :)
She flailed her arms and legs as she tried to fight back, but her movements were weak and she was little more than an annoyance. Thrown roughly into the back of the car, she righted herself and looked at her kidnappers. It was a woman, which shocked her. Her dark hair was pulled back in a severe looking bun, so tight it looked almost painful. It was difficult for her to see their face as they still had dark glasses on and a mask covering their nose and mouth. The metal cuffs around her wrists were cool as she rubbed at them absent mindedly, trying to work her way into the mind of her kidnapper. It was almost like white noise filling her brain and she pulled back from the others woman's mind as if she had burnt her. She'd never felt anything like it before, never experienced a reaction like this. Usually she had no problems with reading or accessing people's mind, some were darker than others and some had more chatter, but this? This painful sensation of a thousand needles piercing her brain? She had never had a reaction like this to another person's mind. There was something different about that woman, something not right. Something wrong.
The car ride was surprisingly calm, quiet and uneventful. At one point a blindfold and a special kind of helmet was placed over her head and she could only assume that it was to keep intact the secrecy of the location they were going to. The helmet seemed to numb her brain and had an almost soothing effect in a way. So much different to the pain that was in her kidnappers mind. She swore to herself that she would never try to look into that woman's mind again, not so much as probe the edges of her consciousness.
She heard the opening of the door and felt herself hauled to her feet and dragged along, helmet and blindfold still in place. Pushed back into a chair, she felt the smooth, cool sensation of metal cuffs securing around her wrists and ankles. The blindfold was suddenly removed from her eyes and she squinted as she tried to adjust to the harsh bright lights that illuminated the room. By the looks of it, it seemed like an interrogation room. Glancing around she tried to take note of her surroundings but her mind felt slightly sluggish and it was difficult being strapped down. The woman with the painful mind stood in the corner, hands clasped behind her back watching her emotionlessly as she stood stock still. The walls were a pristine glossy white that only made the fluorescent lights even brighter as they reflected off the walls. The room was square and had only one other chair in the room, a regular chair. She assumed that there were probably a dozen hidden cameras and microphones throughout the room, but for now she was alone, well alone with the woman with the painful mind.
A door suddenly opened from the wall to her left and she felt her stomach drop. She was an ordinary, kind and peaceful person. How did she end up in this situation?
"Caitlin Troaks," the man said with the barest hint of a Russian accent and sat down with a clipboard in hand, one leg perched across his knee in a casual position.
She looked at him trying to evaluate what her response should be. Damn them for using this helmet on her, she couldn't get a read on him.
"We know about your powers," the man continued, ignoring her lack of response. "We like people who are gifted like yourself. You have so much potential."
"What happened out there?" Coulson asked as he paced up and down in the med lab.
Daisy and Mack were each on their own beds as the doctors checked them over.
"Uh, tear gas," Daisy shook her head, wincing as she gingerly placed an icepack to the side of her head..
"A grenade," Mack added not looking at anyone in particular, staring straight ahead.
"And the inhuman? Caitlin?" Coulson asked frustrated, nothing really seemed to go right anymore. Not since they lost May.
"They took her," Daisy coughed, taking a sip of water. "Right after they knocked me out."
"Did you get any details that could help us track them down?"
She glanced towards her partner who was looking down at the bandage over his right shoulder, his right arm now in a sling.
"Hard to tell really," he said glancing up at them. "But it was a woman, and she was fast. Shot me right through the shoulder even though I already had my ICER up."
"Did you get a good look at her?"
Mack shook his head looking defeated.
"She had a mask and some sort of glasses on. I couldn't see her face."
"I think they had like some sort of weird tech or something," Daisy added with a frown. "They punched me real hard."
Coulson looked over to Fitz who was leaning against the door frame.
"See what you can salvage from the footage we got. I want to find out who kidnapped Caitlin and where they've taken her!"
Fitz nodded in reply as he left the room to start on the task immediately. The influx of complications recently had placed Coulson under a lot of stress.
"You ok?" Daisy asked her partner who was worryingly quiet.
He nodded but remained quiet for a moment.
"It was like I knew them," he muttered with a frown, voice coming out in a rumble. "It felt almost familiar, but they looked straight through me. Like I wasn't even there."
"It's probably Hydra," she tried to reassure him. "Their all mindless followers brainwashed into believing that they're doing the right thing."
He nodded acknowledging her words but still looked troubled.
"Not all of them were willing," Coulson pointed out from where he was leaning against a wall. "Agent 33 was captured and forced into compliance. She didn't sign up for that and it ruined her life."
She looked over at the director who had a dark expression on his face, angry on behalf of the innocents that had been caught in Hydra's clutches. Sometimes she forgot that not all of those who were a part of Hydra were willing. Not all of them were like Ward, some of them never even got a choice. Sometimes she just needed people like Coulson to remind her that. Make her see past her anger and hurt.
Coulson was a good man. He worked hard and he cared about others. Sometimes their missions hit closer to home than he would care to admit, but he was the boss and he had to set an example for the rest of his team. It was getting harder though to maintain his emotions and keep them from spilling over. So much had happened and he felt like they were constantly fighting an uphill battle. Hydra never stopped returning and now the outbreak of inhumans had left them with their resources spread thin and their hands full. Observing his team from the outside he could see the stress was affecting them too. Fitz was a little more nervous and unsure these days, Mack had become withdrawn and closed off, Jemma worked harder than ever sometimes neglecting her own health, Bobbi and Hunter fought more often than usual and Daisy trained more and tried using physical exertion to relieve the stress. He sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. He could hear May's voice in his head making some sort of smart comment that would have relieved his stress and brought a smile to his face. But not today, not ever. He will never actually hear her make some sort of smart remark to make him feel better ever again. The thought almost brings tears to his eyes but he fights his feelings suppressing them to explode at a later stage. He'll deal with that when it happens. For now, he needs to focus on his team. He's not the only one that's hurting, the only one that's struggling. They all are, and he needs to help them get through this, together.
A/N
So tell me what you thought, I promise there will be more May! Chapter 11 is gonna be super exciting ;P
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