1. Sorry this took so long! Things have been really crazy after that finale. I owe you guys another chapter I think... going to try to get that one up after I finish the next chapter of She Needs Us.
2. Thanks to the usual people.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Alice jumps off the BUS with renewed vigor. The air was cool and crisp, cold radiating off the icy ground. Snow covered the mountainside like a sheet, hiding most of the compound's entrance from view. Even so, she found it hard to believe that no one had ever found this place by accident. A hiker was going to veer off course at some point.
With them were Agent Triplet and Agent Garrett. Ali had no idea why they were here, and she barely cared. The only reason why she took notice was that Ward and Garrett together freaked her out, and she wanted to keep an eye on that.
Fitz hacks into the door quickly, but not as fast as Skye could have. Ali taps her foot impatiently, standing partway away from the group of male agents. The testosterone was getting on her nerves.
Coulson shoots her a worried glance, but Ali just shakes her head and looks away, stalking up and down the strip of pavement outside the doors. How could they be so calm? If it was one of them Skye would be jumping off the walls.
It dawns on her that this was for a reason. It was obvious really. Skye had never been trained like she was. Like all of them were. Emotions were just obstacles to be pushed out of the way, packed up and saved for later. Tears were for your pillow, not the field.
After a while, you forget to take the feelings back out again. They just sit there, in that dusty old box in the corner of your mind.
That is, until they all come tumbling out again.
The professors at the Academy had warned them about this. How many times had they had a lecture on the importance of remembering to empty out the junk drawers in their minds so that they could be filled again? But at the right place, the right time. Save it for the bunk. Know when you need to blow off some steam. Private citizens are okay, but other agents are probably the safest choice. they know how not to get attached. But always remember to use protection (you don't want to be the next Mockingbird, having to run around on jobs with a kid tagging along).
But now the boxes were bursting open.
Was this how Skye felt all the time? So full of... everything? Emotions, all at once. Joy and bitterness and rage and glee and hope. Ali could not remember ever allowing herself to feel so much, and all at once. Not since she was a kid at least. Boxing it up was so much easier. So organized. If she needed happy, she took some happy. If she needed an edge, she dipped into the rage or bitterness. It kept everything clean.
Coulson was looking at her again. Ali realized the other agents were already entering the base while she was pacing around in thought.
Alice shakes her head, filing everything away in one swift motion.
Right now Skye needed the agent, not the girl.
"Where'd you pick this one up, Phil? Looks like she's barely legal." Garrett asks, pointing at her with his eyes. God, she hated that dude.
"Fury assigned me," Alice speaks up. "Fresh out of the Academy, sir."
Garrett looks her up and down. "Have we met?" he asks, looking slightly confused. "You seem familiar."
Ali shrugs. "I've been around." She hears Fitz snicker a bit behind her back and smiles herself, turning back to the entrance. "So, how are we gonna get in without them seeing us on the cameras?"
Fitz points upward, his face for once free of his trademark grin.
"Hope you like climbing, girly," Garrett says patronizingly.
Alice looks at Coulson, silently begging for permission to hurt the other agent. He shakes his head a little, barely keeping a small smirk off of this face. Ali gives Garrett a hard look. "I like it just fine. Sir." She moves forward as Ward removes a panel from the ceiling of the elevator. Grabbing hold of the edge, she pulls herself up with ease and waits for the guys to follow.
One by one, she watches as the agents all climb out of the moving metal box. Just another box, she realizes. The world was made of boxes, ones that they never even realized existed most of the time. Box for box. Drawer for drawer. Cell for cell.
The emotions were coming out again, she had to push them away.
Fitz rigs his own camera so they know when the doors open. "Okay," he says finally a few seconds after the elevator stops moving.
"Then lets get going," Garrett says, throwing Ali a creepy-as-hell smile.
Feelings or not she still did not like that guy.
So sorry once again for another late chapter. Anyway, please tell me what you think. (:
