Skye sped down the hallway, having to nearly jog to keep up with Coulson. "Hey," she called out, trying not to sound too ticked off.
Coulson slowed down, but only a little. His eyes were still focused on wherever he was going rather than on her. "What is it, Skye?" he asked, although by his tone he seemed to know what she was upset about.
"You didn't say my name back there."
His expression didn't change. "I know."
She shook her head, wishing he would stop so she could get some answers. "Did I do something wrong?"
Coulson sighed, his jaw relaxing somewhat. "No, Skye."
"Then why-"
He stopped in his tracks, turning so he could face her. "You know why."
Skye had to go to her deep-meditation happy place in order to keep her voice calm. "I've been working just as hard as everybody else-"
"I know you have," he replied. "This isn't about that."
If anything, his reassurance made Skye even angrier, probably because behind all of his forced professionalism she could see his concern. "What? You think it's too personal for me?"
Coulson didn't even hesitate. "Yeah," he nodded.
"Well…" Skye said, folding her arms as she tried to think of a good argument. "You're…wrong."
"Am I, though?" he smirked, undoubtedly amused by her lack of better reasoning. But he must have realized how hurt she was because he grew serious again. "Look, Skye, it's not that I don't think you can handle it-"
"Because I totally can-"
"Just sit this one out," he said firmly, looking like he was losing his patience with her. "All right?"
"But-"
"Drop it, Skye."
She stood rooted to the spot as he walked away from her. Deep down, she knew he was only trying to protect her. But that didn't mean she was going to give up so easily.
"It's a military base, A.C.," she called after him. "May and Trip are good, but they're not that good. They can't do it alone."
He didn't bother turning around, but she still heard his reply. "They won't be alone."
May crouched in between the bushes, her eyes scouring the busy square. She was uneasy enough doing the op in broad daylight, and the throngs of innocent people around weren't helping. Thankfully she didn't have to wait long before Trip's voice came crackling through her comm.
"I've got visual," he said, and she saw him set aside the newspaper he'd been pretending to read. "Your ten o'clock."
May turned her head to see, but the colonel wasn't difficult to spot, his bright blue uniform gleaming in the sunlight. "All right, move into place," she ordered. "But don't get too close yet. He might recognize you."
"Got it," Triplett replied. Across the square she saw him lean forward to rest his elbows on his knees, and even in the distance she could see the muscles in his right shoulder tense up slightly. May was glad to see that he was ready for action, but she knew he still hadn't fully recovered from the bullet graze he'd taken the week before. She would have to keep an eye on him.
May was losing count of how many people she had to keep an eye on.
Over to her left, the colonel had paused to glance behind him, but the tree line kept May from identifying what he'd stopped for. "Trip?" she asked. "What's going on?"
Just then, a woman stepped out from behind the trees, smiling as she caught up with Talbot. A young boy followed on their heels, but he was staring down at the game player in his hands and didn't seem to be paying much attention to what was going on around him. May's uneasiness continued to grow as the group made their way towards the center of the square.
"That HYDRA bastard brought the wife and kid along," Triplett muttered, standing up to casually walk over near one of the surrounding coffee vendors. "Your call, Agent May."
May's mind raced through the scenarios, trying to think of how to draw Talbot out without any bystander casualties or gaining too much attention. She carefully stood up, walking along the outer edge of the square towards the center fountain. "Can you provide a distraction?"
She saw Triplett reach for his bag, grinning at the prospect of using some of his granddad's gadgets. But his smile faded as he glanced back at the Talbot family, and he went for his ICER instead. "Looks like I won't have to."
May's vision was blocked again, but she soon saw what he meant. Behind the colonel, standing a few feet away, was a tall muscular man staring unabashedly at Talbot. He was unarmed, but the size of his biceps suggested that he rarely needed a weapon. His stance alone was enough for Talbot to back away from him a little, holding his hands up in a gesture of conciliation. May couldn't hear what either of them was saying, but the newcomer didn't seem in the mood for conversation. Without warning he began stepping closer to the colonel.
Talbot quickly reached into his pocket, probably making a last-ditch attempt to call for backup. He turned to his family and motioned for them to move towards the edge of the square before facing the other man. Already, people throughout the square had noticed the commotion and were moving closer to the exits. But that was about all the relief May was given. The colonel's adversary glanced over towards Talbot's wife and son, and might have begun to walk that way if Talbot hadn't made a swing for his head.
The man caught Talbot's arm in an expertly maneuvered block, and in a flash of movement, managed to punch him in the stomach. Almost at once, two SUVs pulled up onto the square, a squad of armed soldiers jumping out of the doors and racing towards the confrontation. Though doubled over, Talbot was able to back away from his assailant, who didn't seem fazed by the new company.
May saw Triplett step towards the colonel. "What the hell is this guy doing? There are civilians."
"Trip, do not engage," she said firmly. "I repeat, do not engage."
He paused, but May could see his hand tighten on his ICER. "Talbot's gonna get away."
May smirked as two soldiers stepped forward and flanked Talbot on either side. "No, he won't," she replied, edging closer to the scene. The other guards were hurriedly ushering people out of the square, but they didn't notice her in the corner or Triplett taking cover behind a few trees. She saw Talbot slowly stand up, shouting something unintelligible at the man. But it was as if he was deaf to Talbot's words, because he disregarded them, lunging forward to attack the colonel again.
That's when the first shot rang through the square.
The tranquilizers hit the man in his chest, coming from a couple of the soldiers near the west side of the square. The rest of the squad moved closer as a group, their weapons held up at the ready.
The man didn't even flinch.
May felt her blood run cold as he continued to step forward.
"Hold your fire!" she heard Talbot roar. "Do not open fire!"
But it was too late. The man reached the colonel in just a few strides and wrapped his hand around Talbot's throat, lifting him off the ground as if he weighed no more than a few pounds. Almost immediately Talbot lost consciousness, and the man tossed him off to the side, where his lifeless body lay crumpled on the ground. Off in the distance May could hear the agony of a woman's scream.
The two soldiers flanking the colonel backed away, moving closer to where May was standing. But a few of the other guards began firing real bullets. The man simply spun around, undeterred by the lead piercing his torso. He backhanded one of the nearest soldiers, sending him flying towards the fountain, and within seconds the square became a madhouse. Soldiers came at the man from all directions, only to get knocked unconscious by his unstoppable force.
The two soldiers finally reached May, and she handed both of them ICERs. "What've we got?"
"Carl Creel," the woman replied as they briskly circled around the back of the square. "Caused a bit of a ruckus a few weeks back when he burned down a chemical lab in Fort Wayne. Locals say he can adopt the properties of anything he touches, call him the Absorbing Man."
"Ah, gotta love America and your unmatched capacity for naming things," the other soldier quipped, his English accent further underlining his sarcasm.
"Is it true?" May asked, although by the scattered bodies of soldiers around the square, she already had her answer.
"It would appear so."
"They just brought him in last week, but this kinda guy can't be locked down like anybody else. It was never gonna work."
Over by the Absorbing Man, the last remaining soldier was flung off to the side, crashing into one of the abandoned vendor carts. May motioned for the three of them to spread in a line. "I'm guessing the colonel was the one who locked him up."
Despite the situation, the woman gave her a smirk as she raised her ICER. "Now what could have possibly given you that impression?"
May felt the strange urge to laugh, but a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.
"Trip, no!" she shouted into her comm, but Triplett had already dashed out of the tree line, firing ICER bullets one after another at the attacker. The Absorbing Man only shuddered for a second the veins in his skin flashing blue momentarily before he lashed out his arm in anger, clipping Triplett on the shoulder.
"Hey!" the woman shouted, running down the center of the pavement and firing her ICER repeatedly. "Over here, big guy."
Triplett was wincing as he used the distraction to run up to May. "I'm fine," he assured her, but he was shaking out his right arm, which must have gone numb from the contact. "Looks like ICERs aren't gonna work, though."
The English soldier jogged over, keeping his ICER raised towards the action. "We're almost out of time. I'll go get the prisoner and meet you back at the rendezvous. You guys deal with…Troubled SpongeBob SquarePants over there."
May kept an eye on him as he ran towards the building, unsure if enlisting a mercenary to complete the job was Coulson's best idea. "Trip, you go with Hunter."
Triplett didn't race after him, but instead remained by her side as she edged closer to the scene. "Guys like him tend to work alone."
May simply glared at him, and within a second he nodded. "Understood."
The woman must have run out of ICER bullets, because she was quickly backing away from the Absorbing Man. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked when she reached May.
May nodded. "You go around back," she ordered. "I'll try to get him away from the crowd."
"Copy that."
As soon as she'd raced away, May lifted her ICER and fired once, hitting the man square in the chest. He immediately turned his attention to her, and she saw the twitch in his muscles the split second before he took off. She ran back, hoping he would follow her further into the center of the square, and as he came closer, she held up her weapon. The fountain towered behind her, blocking off her escape, but she heard an inconsistent splash that gave her the assurance she needed.
"Mr. Creel, we're not here to hurt you," she called out. "You need to calm down."
He shook his head, stepping forward so that he was only a few paces away. "They did this to me. Turned me into a…a monster. And now…they're gonna pay for it."
"I understand," she said, trying to reason with him. "But we're not them. We can help you."
He wasn't listening, though. "No," he growled. "You've helped enough."
May took a deep breath. "Now!" she shouted, sidestepping out of the way as Creel lunged forward. Behind her, the agent, still dressed in her soldier's disguise, used both of her hands to send a huge splash onto him.
The man stumbled backwards, momentarily startled by the water hitting his face. He stared at his hands in confusion as bits of his skin appeared to drip onto the ground, and let out a yell of frustration. May's eyes widened at the impossible sight she was looking at, but she took advantage of his hesitancy to leap up and kick him in the chest.
The force from her boot seemed to give him renewed strength, but when he turned around he lost his footing, falling backwards into the fountain. May held her arms up, determined to keep fighting if their plan didn't work. But when the mist cleared, there was only one person standing in the basin.
She stepped over the fountain wall, wringing out her hat. "Looks like we still got it," she smirked at May.
May returned her smile, although her eyes were still searching the water for any sign of their adversary. "Good to see you too, Izzy."
Izzy glanced behind her. "You think that did it?"
"Not sure," May replied, still trying to wrap her head around how someone's physical makeup could be altered so strongly to be able to become what he touched. "We'll have to let the base deal with it for now, though. We've already been here too long."
Izzy tossed her hat aside and grinned. "Let's go get our boys."
Fitz stood up quickly as the lab doors opened, picking up the device in front of him and trying to pretend like he hadn't been staring at it in bafflement for the last twenty minutes. But Skye wasn't really paying much attention to him, flopping down on one of the swivel chairs in a huff and opening up the laptop she kept on the desk.
"Didn't go well, I take it?" he asked hesitantly, hoping she wasn't too upset to talk to him.
She spun around and gave him a sarcastic smile. "How could you tell?" She stood up and walked over to lean against the bench across from him. "Ugh," she groaned, running her fingers through her hair in frustration. "He just makes me so…mad sometimes. I don't know why he insists on treating me like a little kid."
"He's only looking out for you, you know."
She met his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, I know," she said, folding her arms. "I just wish he'd focus on…I don't know, things that are actually important."
The words spilled out of his mouth on accident. "You're important," he said quietly.
She didn't appear to hear him, though. "Huh?"
"Sorry," he muttered, gesturing towards the contraption in his hands. "Bloody bot."
He thanked his lucky stars that she didn't press the matter further. Instead she leaned against the bench again and rested her head in her hands, watching him intently. After about a minute he heard her sigh. "Hey, you wanna take a break?"
He chuckled, though with the trouble he was having, a break sounded like just what he needed. "And do what?"
She sat up again, and the spark in her eyes only made him a little nervous. "I just realized that for all the time you've spent in here, you've never gotten a tour of the Bus."
Fitz glanced away from her, trying to think of a way to respond without hurting her feelings. "Skye, I appreciate what you're trying to do…"
"Look, I know it's a pretty big leap," she admitted, her faltered smile making him feel even worse. "And yeah, nothing will probably happen, but…I think it's at least worth a shot."
He didn't want to refuse her, because he didn't want to give her something else to be upset about. But he also knew that even if they brought him to every single place he'd been in the last eight years, there was probably little to no chance that he would remember being there. Or, perhaps more accurately, he wouldn't remember everything about being there.
Because the truth was, he wasn't completely ignorant. He recognized some things, even recalled some events that he knew couldn't have happened over the last two months. The problem was that he couldn't remember everything. The things he remembered were bits and pieces, scattered across his mind haphazardly so that he couldn't understand them. And they didn't stay in one place either. Sometimes he would see something at the edge of his mind, and when he tried to recall it further, it would slip through the cracks.
It was the most frustrating thing he'd ever experienced in his life. And the expectant faces around him didn't help in the slightest.
Across from him, Skye had folded her hands under her chin and stuck her lower lip out. "Please, Fitz?" she asked, her eyes shining brightly under the fluorescent light. "Pretty pretty please?"
Damn. How was he supposed to refuse that? "All right, all right," he laughed, shaking his head. "Lead the way, I guess."
She smiled again, walking out of the lab and taking him up the winding staircase. She gave him a brief overview as they made their way through the main level.
"Wait, let me get this straight," he interrupted, looking around in amazement. "You have a fully functional laboratory, a communications room, three levels, a bar, a holding cell, and enough space to house at least six people. But only one bathroom?"
"Yup," she nodded.
He raised his eyebrows and gave a low whistle. "Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen."
"You know, I thought so too, at first," she replied. "But the novelty of walking in on everyone naked kinda wears off after the third or fourth time." She'd said the last bit casually, but he saw the smirk on her face as she walked on ahead of him.
Fitz held up a hand. "You didn't...uh," he stammered, following her down a hallway. "Now wait a minute-"
"This is May's bunk," she continued, ignoring him as she pointed to a set of sliding doors. "Though I swear she's, like, never in it." They continued walking along the hall. "That one is Simmons's, mine, and…" She stopped in front of one bunk, opening the door to gesture inside. "Ta-da!"
He pointed a finger at his chest. "Me?"
"All yours," she nodded, smiling as she leaned against the outer door.
He hesitantly stepped inside the bunk, not really sure what he was expecting to find. The bed was fairly nondescript, just a plain duvet and a couple pillows. All in all he supposed it was a nice room, if a bit on the small side.
"Nothing, huh?" Skye asked from behind him.
He slowly spun around, trying to take in the details. "It's got that certain vibe I would probably go for, I'll give you that," he admitted. "The window is a nice touch. But it's a lot neater than I would've…" His voice trailed off as his eyes fell on the shelf to the left of his bed. "Expected," he finished quietly. The shelf was filled with various odds and ends, some items he recognized and some he didn't. He smiled a little to himself as he noticed a miniature TARDIS and a framed portrait of Charles Babbage, his favorite engineer. There was even a small monkey hanging off of the ledge, right next to…
"What's this?" he asked, noticing the edges of a few photographs near the back of the shelf. He carefully slid them out, but Skye wasn't the one who answered him.
"That one's from one of our first field missions," Simmons said, standing hesitantly near the doorway. "We went to Peru-"
"Yeah, you told me about that," he replied, staring at the photograph in his hands. He and Simmons were standing in front of a huge pyramid. "What was it again, a 2-8-7?"
"0-8-4," she corrected him.
"0-8-4, yeah, that was it." He flipped to the next photo, which showed him and Simmons again, this time grinning in front of an industrial-looking building, holding up their badges to the camera.
"Yeah…and that one's from our first day at SciOps," she went on, stepping a little further into the room to get a better look at the picture. He snuck a glance over at her and noticed an almost nostalgic smile on her lips, as if she were remembering what had happened that day. He slowly flipped to the last picture, and almost wished he hadn't.
"And that one…" Simmons continued quietly, "was the day we graduated from the Academy." It was the two of them, again, which wasn't really the surprising part. They looked younger, or at least she did. Her hair was a little unkempt, as if she'd only just removed the cap upon her head, while his looked about ready to fall off. He had his arm around her shoulders, and his face was spread out into an almost laughably huge grin. And in the center, right next to him, Simmons was leaning up on her toes in order to press her lips to his cheek. It must have been a spontaneous shot, because the outer edges of the photograph were a little blurry. But it was their faces that were in focus, and it was their faces that surprised him.
Because they looked…well…happy. In all senses of the word. As if they could take on the world together, a world full of endless possibilities.
A world in which nothing bad could ever happen to them.
He didn't know why, but all of a sudden he didn't want to be in that bunk anymore. Thankfully Simmons broke the silence.
"I brought some sandwiches over," she announced, clearing her throat. "In case either of you were hungry."
"Oh, my God, yes," Skye replied a little too loudly. "Simmons, you're the best. I'm starving."
Fitz silently put the photographs back on the shelf before following after them into the kitchen, even though he was pretty sure he'd lost his appetite. Simmons was pulling a few wrapped bundles out of a paper bag, and Fitz noticed with some amusement that they'd been labeled with his and Skye's names in probably the neatest handwriting he'd ever seen.
"Thanks," he said, unwrapping the sandwich in front of him.
"Of course," she smiled, though she avoided his eyes.
Fitz could feel Skye watching the both of them closely before she loudly rewrapped her sandwich. "You know, I completely forgot," she said, waving her hand near her head. "I was supposed to meet up with Koenig right about now, so I've gotta take this to go. See you guys later?"
Fitz nodded after her, even though she hadn't waited for their response. He snuck another glance at Simmons and noticed a small flash of panic in her eyes, and that she hadn't even touched the sandwich in front of her. He wracked his brain for something to say, and his gaze wandered to one of the bunks Skye hadn't mentioned.
"That man," he said after a few awkward seconds. "The one the others are going to get…is he the one who…?"
"Yes," Simmons replied simply, avoiding his eyes again. Sometimes he wished he could remember what had happened, if only so he would know which topics to steer clear of with her.
"Oh…" he nodded, taking a bite out of the sandwich as a way to figure out what to say next. Because, after all, the man in question was the reason he couldn't remember anything in the first place. "And…and you think he could still be working with HYDRA?"
Simmons sighed, but he was relieved to see her relax a little. "I don't know, Fitz. It could very well be possible."
They'd explained everything to him before, but he was still having trouble putting some of the pieces together. "The colonel who transferred him…I think you said we've met him before, yeah?"
"Yes," she said in annoyance. "He was awful, kept trying to intimidate us into giving him information." Before he knew what was happening, there were tears in her eyes. "But…I never-"
"Hey, it's okay-"
"Suspected he was the one who-"
"You couldn't have known it was him," he tried to assure her, uncertain if he should pat her on the back or offer his hand or something. Skye had told him that the girl from the roof, Ellie he'd recently discovered, had been tortured by HYDRA, and had only recently escaped from the colonel's clutches. He couldn't even imagine how Simmons was handling the news, but he had absolutely no idea how to comfort her. In the end he settled for handing her a napkin.
She simply stared at his hand for a few seconds before glancing up at his face, one eyebrow raised in bewilderment. And he didn't know how it started, but the next thing he knew they were both doubled over laughing.
"I'm sorry," he choked out, the napkin still hanging uselessly from his hand. "I don't have a clue of how-"
"No, no, Fitz," she said, shaking her head as she took it from him and tried to stifle another laugh. "That is…that is exactly something you would've done before."
"Well, that's a relief," he smiled. "Wouldn't want to brutally embarrass myself or anything."
She laughed again, and he found himself inexplicably sad when it faded. Maybe it was because she had a contagious laugh. Or maybe it was because when she laughed, her smile played upon the parts of his brain that he struggled to remember.
"Yes, well," she sighed, looking back down at her untouched food. "Hopefully it'll all be over with soon."
Fitz wasn't sure whether she was talking about getting their former team member back in their custody or if her comment was about his impending departure. He quickly tried to change the subject. "Your sister, did she-"
"She left, yes. Went back to Stark. I don't think she was ever going to stay on long, but it was probably all a bit much for her."
Fitz nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah," he whispered.
He saw her wince. "Oh, I'm sorry, Fitz," she said. "I'd forgotten all about Glasgow. I know it was probably a surprise for you."
He shook his head, even though she was right. "No, no, it was…it was fine. Just a wee bit of a shock, that's all." He glanced down at his hands, which were tracing circles in the counter. "To be honest, though, I don't think I really believed any of you until-"
"Until you saw her," she finished quietly.
"Until I saw how much time had passed, yeah," he admitted, still staring at the counter. "It's easy to get in your head, you know? To tell yourself that none of it is real. But then something like that happens, and-"
"It shakes you up."
He nodded again, finding it hard to speak all of a sudden. But this time he didn't feel compelled to say anything, knowing that he and Simmons had probably sat in silence loads of time. They continued eating quietly, and though his appetite was weaker than usual, he ended up devouring his food in record time.
"The sandwich," Simmons said, her voice a little high. "Is it all right?"
He nodded emphatically, just realizing how much he'd actually enjoyed it. "Yeah, yeah, it's…it's really good." He lifted up the bread on the small bit of sandwich still remaining. "What's in it? Is that…ham, I think it is?"
"Prosciutto, actually," she clarified. "And buffalo mozzarella."
"With homemade pesto aioli?"
He froze, a string of curses going through his head. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. He could hear the absence of her breath as she waited for him to let her down again. Slowly he raised his eyes to meet hers, and the look on her face when she met his gaze could have killed him.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"It's fine, Fitz," she said, bustling around the kitchen as she cleared off the counter. "I'll take that if you're finished."
He wordlessly crumpled up the remainder of his sandwich and handed her the paper. As he watched her clear the kitchen, he silently vowed to himself that he wouldn't slip up again. Because as much as she pretended to be unaffected, he saw how the hope was destroying her.
It wasn't that he wanted to take the hope away from her. Hell, she deserved to have some hope after all she'd gone through for him. It wasn't even that he wanted to deliberately hide things from her. It was that every time he accidentally finished her sentence, every damn time his brain reflexively gave him words he didn't understand, he had to crush that hope again. He had to see her search his face for the recognition, only to be disappointed time and time again.
No. He wasn't going to do that to her anymore. It wasn't fair to her, and it wasn't fair to the person he used to be. He would have to be careful around her, no doubt, to make sure he didn't do it again. He didn't like it, didn't like any of it.
But sometimes, he told himself, it was just easier to lie.
