AN: Welcome to chapter 10
Chapter 10:Missing puzzle
"Matt, come in." Clint shouted in the comm. "Nat, Matt's not answering."
"On my way." Nat says. "Fitz, lead the way."
Fitz calmly says directions in her earpiece.
Nat reaches the location and stops short.
"Clint, get down here now." Nat screams into the earpiece. "May, land the plane, get through the front gate."
A few minutes later, the entire team reaches the the room. The room was covered in blood, bones, and damaged skulls, along with the equipment.
"What happened here?" Skye asked. "No camera. Where's Matt?"
"Oh dear." Clint muttered. "Hill will murder us."
"Not without milking it first." Natasha said. "Come on. Search the compound. In pairs."
The team split up. May and Skye, Phil and Fitz, Clint and Ward, Natasha and Simmons.
"There was an umph sound over the comms.
"Report in." Coulson said over the comms.
"May and Skye here."
"Clint and Ward here."
Silence.
"Nat?" "Simmons?"
"Great we lost two more." Ward muttered.
"Ward, If you don't shut up right now, The entire team will murder you right now."
"Fitz, use our comms, and direct us towards you." Skye said.
Fitz gave an affirmative, speaking out directions, and a half an hour later, they were standing in the middle of the crossroad.
"What was their last location?" May asked, as Skye, looked over Fitz's shoulder.
"Down there." Fitz answered, as he pointed to a random corridor.
"Are you sure?"Ward asked. "Because it looks like we are shooting in the dark."
"Yes." Fitz said.
"Why is the corridor smelly?" Skye asked, Pulling out a gun.
"Skye why are you with a gun?" Coulson,Clint and Fitz asked in unison.
"It's Matt's." Skye answered, eyes looking into the corridor lost in thought.
"Skye?" May asked.
"Nothing." Skye cocked her gun, and surged forward.
"Skye, wait." Everyone shouted.
"Not gonna stop people." Skye said, moving forward. "Fitz?"
"Their comms were disabled at this point."
"Dwarfs?" Skye asked, resigning.
"Good idea." Fitz picked up his device. and pressed a few keys. The dwarfs appeared an hour later. Switching the lights on, dwarfs travelled silently down the corridor. Fitz gave a gasp, and held his deivce, up. Three people, very familiar to them were standing like statues. Matt, with his eyes closed, Simmons and Natasha in shock.
The team surged forward and entered the room. Similarly, like the control room, this room had been covered in blood and bones.
Fitz ran forward. He sighed. "Some form of dendrotoxin, highly modified, turns you into statues. They are alive."
"For now, Leopold Fitz." Came a voice over the speaker. "The place is rigged to blow in 5 minutes. What would you pathetic agents like to do? Save yourself? Or perish together?" Suddenly a ticking sound started from the whole place.
Without thinking, Clint ran to grab Natasha, May, ran to grab Simmons, Coulson ran to grab Matt.
"Skye, cover us from forward, Ward from behind. Fitz tell the directions. Move now." Coulson ordered.
The entire team ran as one unit. Skye and Ward were firing shots at every enemy soldier they could find.
They made outside in record time. Only to find the plane blown to bits.
"Uh oh." Clint and Coulson say in unison.
The team booked themselves into a motel.
The three people were shot two days ago. Still no change.
Skye had been using her laptop to search for Quinn, calling every contact and pulling every favour,she had.
Suddenly, a buzzing sound filled the room, the noise emitting from the laptop.
"Skye, what happening?" Clint asked.
"SHIELD's communication channels. It's on every known frequency." Skye said.
Suddenly, Matt, Natasha and Simmons unfroze and covered their ears.
"Skye, turn it off." Matt shouted. Skye put the laptop in silent.
"Matt, what happened back there?"
"How long were we out?" Nat asked, as the three people huddled together.
"Couple of days." Clint answered. "What happened?"
Even before he finished the question he realized the look on his partner's face. "Whatever you were shot with, It didn't just freeze you, did it?" Clint asked, signalling everyone to remain quiet. Nat look in response told him everything he needed to know. "Matt, Simmons, would you leave me alone with her, for the day?" Matt and Simmons looked at Tasha for her approval, only then did they move from her side.
"Ok, What is happening?" Ward asked. The entire team shot him with murderous looks even Tasha. Silently, Coulsona herded eyeryone out of the door to the poolside.
"AC," Simmmons and I will be needing a room alone." Matt said sharply. "No will disturb us. If we are hungry, we will come out. And no eavesdropping"
Coulson only nodded and threw Matt a key for the other room. The entire team watched as Matt gently led Simmons to the room and lock the door.
"What is happening?" Ward asked. "Look, I may be insensitive but I want to help. I can't sit around all day long, when people are getting hurt."
"I get it, Ward." Coulson said. "But until they speak all we can do is wait. Skye what's going at the SHIELD communication channels?"
"Some sort of interference." Skye said. "without proper filters, that's what we will hear."
"But?" May asked.
"It's a message, repeating in take a while to crack." Skye said, typing as fast as she can.
"You saw the Red Room didn't you?" Clint asked.
Tasha nodded. "But not just me."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean when we were out,we were sort of stuck in limbo." Tasha answered. "All of our worst nightmares were shown and shared with each other."
"Poor Simmons." Clint said. "For someone who didn't now what nightmares were, she definitely does now."
Tasha let out a bark of laughter.
(In limbo)
Natasha Romanoff, got up looked around. She quailed. For one assassin she wasn't afraid of anything but the room she was present in would always bring her nightmares. The Red Room. She knew what was happening. Sudddenly, Simmons and Matt appeared by her side.
"Okay, where are we?" Simmons asked.
"The red room." Tasha answered. "Before I joined SHIELD, I was working for them. Don't look what's happening right now."
"Who are these people?" Matt asked.
"My parents." Tasha answered. "I was forced to watch."
Simmons looked like she was about to vomit. They looked in horror as the parents were beaten, literally ripped apart limb from limb. Simmons fainted for a second but regained composure in no second.
"Why are we shown this?" Simmons asked in a flat voice. Matt gave her an eyeroll, and gently grabbed her to comfort her.
"Some answers are better not to be found, Simmons. Remember that." Matt said.
"Any way what happened at the control room?" Tasha asked.
"My mom happened. She doesn't remember me." Matt said.
Suddenly the room dissolved, forming into a living room. Matt, Simmons and Tasha were sitting on a couch.
"Oh dear." Matt muttered. "Simmons cover your ears." He said, as he sobbed silently.
"What's gonna happen?" Tasha asked. Without answering, Muffled screams erupted from behind a closed door, lashes of a whip against skin. The door opened. two people walked out. Inside, a small boy was chained to the bed, with no expression at all.
(In reality)
"Matt, are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Simmons said.
"What's the point in talking to someone who knows what I am about to talk." Matt said.
"It might help." Simmons said. "Who else knows about this?"
"Skye is the only person who knows the whole truth, and has seen the marks." Matt said. "Plus I had already learned to move on. This is just a small setback."
There was a knock on the door. Simmons untangled herself from Matt and opened the door.
It was Skye. "We have a problem."
Matt rolled himself off the bed, and joined the team outside.
"The interference that woke you up, was in fact a message." Skye said.
OUT OF THE DARKNESS, INTO THE LIGHT.
HYDRA.