Skye and I ducked down, behind a large Rosemary bush and looked through the stiff branches at the mansion we'd traced one of the cars to. We watched as a sleek, black car pulled up and Ian Quinn stepped out.
"You were right. Cybertek led us to Quinn." Skye said.
"I don't know where the others are but they need to know we're here." I said and pulled out the last tracker, setting it to 'ping' our location back to 'The Bus'. I glanced over at Skye who was watching Quinn intensely as he disappeared inside the mansion. "You want to go after him." I said to her.
"We can't let Quinn get away again. If Coulson were here, he wouldn't let that happen. He wouldn't want us to let that happen." She replied.
"You wanna go in." I guessed and as she continued to watch the house as I added, "Let's do it."
"Really?" She asked surprised.
"Hey, you want to get him as much as I do." I replied. "But I'm coming with you."
"The more the merrier." She replied. So we grabbed our 'Night-night' guns, left our bags and ran out from behind the bush, making our way round to the back of the house. We paused by the back door and I peaked around the side of the wall and saw a man guarding the door. I stepped out from the corner and fired one shot at him, hitting him in between the eyes and he crumpled against the wall.
"Come on." I said to Skye and we ran up the steps, through the door and into a long hallway. I heard voices and I held up my hand to stop Skye and we waited for a couple to emerge from one room and then disappear into another.
"Find Mr Quinn. Tell him his purchase is downstairs." We heard the woman say and I gestured to Skye to follow as I headed down the hallway, keeping close to the wall. We arrived at the room the couple had come from and I slowly pushed open the door to reveal a flight of stone steps, heading down to a solid metal door.
We walked slowly down the stairs and I stopped behind the door. I turned the handle and pushed it open, holding my 'Night-night' up, in front of my face. The room inside was dark and the only source of light came from a high, barred window. There was a table in the middle of a room with all manner of different tools, from hammers to an anvil, strewn across it. In one corner was a type of metal, containment chamber, which had a faint, blue light glowing from a small, glass window set into the metal. Skye and I walked over to it slowly and she gasped as we saw a man inside, who I recognised as Mike Peterson. One side of his face was badly burned and scarred and he was missing one of his legs.
"Hello." I heard someone say behind us and I whipped around, pointing my gun at Ian Quinn. "Agent 11 and Skye. The Clairvoyant told me to expect you." He said and I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned my gun on another man. But he was fast and grabbed the gun out of my hand, turning it on me.
"We've found something particularly interesting." Quinn continued, ignoring the small scuffle and he walked over to the chamber, opened it and pulled out Mr Peterson, who groaned slightly and then sat up.
"Mike, you're alive." Skye said quietly.
"That's right. You two know each other." Quinn said. "Hey. Do you know who I am?" he asked Mr Peterson, who nodded. "And you have your orders?" he nodded again. "Good, because I purchased something that's gonna help you complete them." He chuckled.
"Mr Peterson we can get you out of here." I said. "What are your orders?" I asked but he didn't reply. Quinn opened the case and pulled out a large metallic cone and walked over to Mr Peterson. He attached it to his leg.
"Stand up." Quinn ordered and he did so. The cone on his leg began to extend and he cried out in pain as it grew into a full cybernetic leg.
"That is the best money can buy, my friend." Quinn said to him. "Every piece of technology in you is top-of-the-line. I just wonder if I'm getting my moneys worth. I know you get your orders from the Clairvoyant, so that means you have a job to do." He finished and Mr Peterson nodded before leaving the room with the other man.
"Wait! Mike!" Skye called after him, running to the door, but he was gone. "What the hell did you do to him?" she asked.
"He has his orders." Quinn replied. "And I have mine." He said and reached inside his jacket and pulled out a gun. While he was focused on Skye I took my chance and ran forward, kicking the back of his knee and he faltered. I knocked the gun out of his hand and reached down to lift him up by his jacket but he quickly pulled out a small knife and sliced it across my thigh. I faltered slightly at the sharp pain and he took the split-second to bring his foot up and kick me in the face. I tumbled backwards against the table and landed to the side of it. Quinn glanced at the table and lifted one end of it up. I wondered what he was doing but I soon found out as I saw the large anvil fall past my face and land on my outstretched hand.
I couldn't stop the cry that escaped my lips as I felt every bone in my hand shatter. My vision started to go blurry but I pushed it away and tried to push the anvil off my hand but it was too heavy.
"Rook!" Skye cried and she started to rush back to me. I heard a gunshot and she faltered. I looked up and saw Quinn aiming his gun at Skye's stomach. I looked back at her as she pulled her hand away from her stomach, as blood gushed out of it. She started to fall but Quinn walked forwards and caught her. He fired again and Skye gasped, before he lowered her to the ground and then hurried from the room.
"Skye." I said trying to reach for her but my hand was still caught. I lay down on my stomach and tried to reach for her that way but she was too far away. "Skye. Skye. Stay with my voice. Okay." I said calmly but firmly. "Try and roll onto your side. It'll make it easier to breath."
She tried to push herself over. "I can't." she cried weakly.
"Yes, you can." I said and looked beside her where a chest of draws where situated. "Okay, hold onto the leg of the drawers and pull yourself up, so you've got your back to it." I explained and she reached out her hand and managed to lean herself against the drawers. But it seemed to use every ounce of energy she had left, because she wheezed once and then her eyes closed as a small trail of blood started to pour from the side of her mouth. "Skye. Skye!" I yelled but she didn't reply. I tried to pull my hand out from under the anvil again but it wasn't going anywhere. I stopped struggling as I heard gunshots and bangs from upstairs. I heard people yelling and Coulson's voice floated down the stairs.
"Coulson!" I yelled, using my remaining strength. "Coulson! Down here!" I yelled as my vision blurred and waves of nausea washed over me. "Coul…!" I started again but stopped as I heard footsteps running down the stairs and the door flew open. Coulson stood in the doorway. He saw me first and ran over to me.
"Agent 11…" he started.
"No. Skye." I said and pushed him away, towards Skye. When his eyes fell on her, he gasped and dropped down beside her.
"Oh, no. Skye. Oh, no. Simmons! Get down here!" Coulson yelled, pulling her close to him. "Oh. Hang on. Just hand on, okay?" he whispered to her as Simmons burst through the door, closely followed by Fitz, Ward and May.
"She's been shot. Two in the stomach." I said to Simmons and she started towards me but I pointed to Skye and she bent down next to her.
"Keep her upright." Simmons ordered.
"I got no pulse." Coulson said.
"Ah…she's lost to much blood. I don't…" Simmons started and then her eyes fell on the chamber. "Put her in there." She ordered.
"Do you even know what this thing is?" Ward asked.
"It's a Hyperbaric Chamber, and I said put her in there, now!" she cried and together, the team lifted Skye up, put her on the bed and slid it into the chamber, closing the door at her head. "Fitz, I need to get her temperature down." She said and she and Fitz punched some commands into the chamber's computer.
"Temperature's dropping. Pressure stabilizing." Fitz read.
"Is it working?" May asked but no one said anything.
"Is it working?!" Coulson cried and it was quiet for a moment longer.
"We have a pulse." Simmons said. "It's working. For now." She finished and everyone sighed in relief.
I put my hand against the anvil, which was still crushing my hand and tried to push it off again, but of course it didn't budge. I looked up as Simmons dropped down next to me.
"We need to get this off." She said to May and Ward. They both grabbed onto the anvil and managed to heave it up, just enough for me to be able to pull my hand out. I nearly passed out when I looked at it. From my wrist down, it was about half the height it had been, was purple along where the bones were and the muscles and tendons were loose and mangled. I tried to move it but it had no feeling and hung limp on the end of my arm.
