A/N: You know, I think I really still like my surprise-party theory better. So much drama on the show! :(

Chapter 25: There's Never A Guarantee

Fitz was kneeling on the black leather couch in the lounge part of the Playground's common room, trying to reach into the tiny space behind the massive pipe that was running into the ground there as Mack walked into the room, tilting his head slightly as he watched the engineer's efforts.

"What exactly are you doing there, Turbo?" he finally asked after a few moments, his arms crossed in front of his chest as Fitz turned around, looking slightly embarrassed at being caught in this unflattering position.

"Peggy is hiding behind the pipe," he explained, gesturing towards the tight space he had been focused on, "and I'm trying to get her out of there. Hunter asked me to cat-sit for him before he left with the others, so that's what I'm trying to do, but she won't even let me pet her." The frustration in the young man's voice was obvious as he thought back to his brief talk with Hunter, before the mercenary had left the base with the rest of the field team.

"Hey, Fitz, have you ever had a pet before?" had sounded like such an innocent question at the time, but by now the engineer was already relieved that the answer to that question had been 'no', as he didn't get the feeling that he was much of a pet-person, at least judging by how this first experience was going so far.

"'Cat-sit', huh?" Mack repeated the word with a soft chuckle as he leaned to the side, barely able to make out a tuft of grey fur in the corner of the room behind the large pipe.

"Yes, I told him that I never had a cat, and that I'm busy with… with work and everything and that he should ask you, but he said that you were utterly afraid of cats and that they hate you, so-"

"Hey, I am not afraid of cats, alright?", Mack protested, prompting a disbelieving expression to appear on the younger man's face.

"He said 'utterly'", Fitz repeated, absolutely deadpan, as if Hunter's word was more than enough evidence for Mack's supposed fear of the base's newest inhabitant. The mechanic responded with a rather sour look and crossed his arms even further.

"Well, let's just say I'm not a fan of cats and they're no fans of me, either. Dogs are great, I love dogs, but cats, not so much."

Fitz looked at him sceptically for another second, until he finally decided to drop the issue, shrugging helplessly as he stood up from the couch.

"Yeah, alright, but now I have to take care of her. Hunter said Peggy was low-maintenance and that I should just look after her for a bit while everything here is still new to her, to make sure she doesn't cause any damage, but she doesn't listen when I call her, and now she's been hiding behind that pipe for a while already and won't come out again." A slight trace of desperation was creeping into the engineer's voice as he explained his futile efforts to get the furry animal under control and when Mack answered him in a light-hearted tone, it didn't do anything to improve his mood.

"You really never had a cat, did you?", the mechanic asked, prompting an almost incredulous look from Fitz.

"No, that's what I just said, Mack," he replied matter-of-factly, already questioning the taller agent's listening skills. "I don't know how to do this."

Finally taking pity on the obviously distraught scientist, Mack nodded slowly and walked over to the kitchen, while indicating to Fitz to sit down on the couch opposite to the one he had been kneeling on before.

"Okay, Fitz, I might not exactly be a cat-person, but I think I might still be able to give you a few tips on how to handle her. First of all, cats don't listen. Ever. They come to you when they want to, not because you tell them to. Well, unless you have food, that usually does the trick," he added as he opened the fridge and pulled out a piece of cold chicken meat. Then he walked back over to the lounge area and sat down next to the younger man, handing him the food in the process.

"Throw a little piece of that over to her and then we wait," he instructed, watching as Fitz tore of a small chunk from the meat and tossed it into the corner behind the large metal pipe. For a second he thought about commenting on the fact that Fitz had actually managed to hit the small space on the first try, but then he decided against it, realising that something else seemed to be bothering the engineer and that he didn't need him bringing up his coordination problems as well now.

They could see Peggy quickly eating the piece of chicken Fitz had thrown her, but so far there wasn't any more movement in the corner, and so Mack turned towards the young man beside him, scrutinising his worried expression.

"So… what's all this really about, Turbo? It's not just about Hunter's cat, is it?"

Fitz looked down at his hands for a moment, obviously avoiding Mack's questioning glare, and when he replied, he sounded so upset that he actually startled the mechanic for a moment.

"No, no it's not. It's just… hearing all that talk about dead informants and that terrible poison and lasting effects and everything…", he trailed off for a moment, his concern more than evident in his features. When he finally continued, he looked directly at Mack, an uneasy expression on his face. "What if I have to keep her?"

"Keep her? What do you mean, 'keep her'?", the mechanic asked back, not understanding what the younger man was getting at.

"Peggy," he replied, gesturing into the corner. "What if Hunter doesn't come back, then I'll have to keep her and… and that's not going to work if I don't know how to do this."

Caught slightly off guard by Fitz's emotional words, Mack lowered his voice a little as he replied, a decisive look in his eyes.

"Hunter's going to be fine, alright? Bobbi's there and they're both looking out for each other. They make a great team, so don't worry," he tried to reassure the scientist, but obviously to no avail.

"And what about the others? Skye, Trip, they might get in trouble. Agent May is out there all on her own, something could happen to her," Fitz pointed out, prompting an exasperated sound to escape Mack's throat.

"Okay, first of all, none of our teams is on their own, they all have General Talbot's soldiers there as backup. And second, they're field agents, Fitz, they go out there all the time, why are you suddenly so worried about them now?" the mechanic asked, shaking his head slightly as he tried to figure out what had caused the younger agent's panic.

"Didn't you hear what Coulson said?" Fitz replied instantly, looking at Mack incredulously. "There were fifteen names on that list and Hydra already killed twelve of them." He might have wanted to say something else, but the taller agent replied immediately.

"They were informants, Fitz, they didn't have-", he started, but the scientist cut him off again instantly, not even letting him finish his sentence.

"They were working for Coulson, which means they were working for SHIELD and that's why they were killed. I don't care if they had a badge or not, losing them still means that we lost another part of SHIELD," he pointed out, his words absolutely sincere.

Mack looked at him for a moment in silence, studying the younger man's expression, understanding in his voice as he finally replied.

"I know. But what I was trying to say, Fitz, is that they didn't have any training, our field teams do. They'll be alright," he assured him, his eyes wandering over to the stairs leading to Coulson's office for a split second.

"Hunter's dad had training," Fitz countered back quietly, causing Mack to sigh deeply in response, a genuinely sad look on his face as the scientist continued. "Judging by the stories going around the base, he was an amazing field agent in the past and now he's dead. Hydra shot him right in front of Hunter just yesterday, and now he's out there, too, risking his life with the others, so what does it matter if they're all trained? There's no guarantee that that's gonna save them."

Mack was already about to reply something, when a soft purring sound interrupted him, and as he and Fitz both looked down, they saw Peggy coming around the side of the couch and rubbing herself against the engineer's legs.

"See, she does like you after all," the mechanic pointed out with a soft chuckle, which only intensified as he noticed the slightly panicked expression on Fitz's face.

"Whoa, what… what do I do now?" the young scientist asked, looking mildly terrified.

"Well, give her the rest of the meat and then you could try petting her. If she lets you, you could even pick her up," Mack suggested, nodding his head encouragingly.

After another moment's hesitation, Fitz finally followed the instruction and leaned down a little, holding out his hand with the chicken, which Peggy ate up immediately. Once she was done, Fitz began running his hand over the cat's soft fur, eliciting an even louder purring than before from her in response as she leaned against him further. A smile spread on the engineer's lips at this small victory, a little nervous at first, but quickly becoming steadier as he continued to stroke the striped animal.

In the end he actually gathered his courage and leaned down to carefully pick up the small cat and, after a brief indecisive moment, put her down in his lap where she curled up, clearly enjoying the attention.

They all sat like this in silence for a short while, the only sound in the room Peggy's soft purring, until Mack spoke again gently, finally answering to Fitz's outburst from earlier.

"There's never a guarantee, Turbo, not for anything in this business, or in this life, really. But I'm sure Coulson's got our people's backs, they have military support on the scene and they know what they're doing. They're being as safe as they can be, so stop worrying so much, alright?" he asked, waiting until Fitz nodded briefly before continuing with a grin. "Though it's probably still a good thing that you're getting along with her this well," he said, indicating the grey tabby, "'cause knowing Hunter, this definitely won't be the last time he'll dump the responsibility for her onto you," he explained, reaching out to pet the cat himself now, despite his usual aversion against the species in general.

His statement that this aversion was mutual apparently was true, though, as Peggy suddenly let out an angry hiss as soon as Mack touched her, quickly swiping at his hand.

"Ah, damn it!" the mechanic cursed as he pulled back and looked at the small scratch across his index finger before eying the pet in Fitz's lap with a disgruntled look. "I knew there was a reason why I don't like these stupid furballs. Call me once there's any news on our teams, Turbo, okay? I've still got stuff to finish in the garage, so I'll better head back there for now."

He threw one last irritated look at Peggy, who had curled back up in Fitz's lap innocently and was obviously quite enjoying herself, going by the continued purring, and then nodded to the scientist, before heading off towards the hangar again.

Fitz stayed behind, a little more at ease now after Mack's comforting words, but even while he kept stroking gently across Peggy's soft grey fur, he couldn't stop himself from glancing to the stairs to Coulson's office repeatedly, an uneasy feeling still in the pit of his stomach.

"Get down!", Agent May shouted at Allison, causing the terrified woman to lay low across the back seat of the car, covering her head with her hands.

The specialist took a quick glance around, assessing their situation in a single moment. Her first suspicion had been right of course, and just like the one in front of them, the car that had been driving behind them so far was now nothing more than a burning wreckage, after what she suspected must have been an RPG, had hit it.

There were several buildings in the vicinity, but May couldn't make out where the attack had come from, as her line of sight was severely restricted, due to the flames and smoke surrounding the vehicle.

"Get us out of here, now!" she instructed the soldier sitting next to her in a fierce tone, causing the young man to nod in response, snapping out of his initial moment of shock. He shifted gears and drove several feet backwards, so he could manoeuvre around the still burning car in front of them, but the second he was about to switch back to forward speed, the supposedly bullet-proof glass next to May shattered, and the soldier collapsed in his seat, dead, blood trickling down from the bullet hole in the side of his head.

As she knew that she had no time to waste, Agent May instantly sprang into action, her jaw set firmly, mirroring her perfect composure, even under these extreme circumstances. She unlocked the safety belt of the now limp soldier in the driver's seat, not even having bothered with her own yet, then reached over him to open the door.

If a part of her was feeling regret for her pragmatic response, the agent didn't show it as she pushed the young man's dead body out of the car and then slipped into the now empty seat herself, before shutting the door again and shifting the gear back into the right position.

Allison was whimpering slightly in the back seat as the car started moving again at a fast pace, the small jolt as they swiped the burning wreckage in front of them causing her to press herself even lower against the upholstery in fear.

May glanced back at her briefly, to make sure that the woman she was supposed to protect was alright, aside from the understandable panic, then kept her eyes on the road again as she finally had the chance to activate her radio to call for additional backup.

Usually she appreciated Coulson's good judgement, but this was definitely one of the few times she absolutely hated the fact that he had been right once again.

"You know, if I ever have to go into hiding again, I think I'm gonna pick a place just like this one to lay low," Skye remarked light-heartedly as she and Trip stepped out of the elevator on the twentieth floor of the very expensive looking apartment building where Nina Kuralenkow, the woman Coulson had told them to protect, was hiding out at the moment.

"Yeah well, then you better start saving up already, 'cause I don't think Coulson would spring for this," Trip replied with a grin as he looked down at the considerably shorter woman beside him.

They were both wearing their tactical outfits and had their guns ready as they approached their target's location, the carefree banter not distracting them from the seriousness of their situation. A team of four soldiers was right behind them, securing the exit and the corridor as they went, while the rest of their support team had stayed downstairs in the lobby, to make sure to stop a possible Hydra attack before it could even happen.

"Yeah, I know," Skye answered him with a chuckle, "he likes spending SHIELD's money on boring stuff like food rations, ammo or jet fuel instead."

"That man's obviously got no sense of priorities," Trip agreed as he was checking the numbers on the doors they were passing, finally indicating one not far ahead of them. He had been smiling brightly throughout this light-hearted exchange with Skye, but now his expression became serious again as they approached their target.

Just as Skye was about to knock, her heart seemed to skip a beat as one of the doors they had passed seconds ago suddenly opened, but it was only an old woman, who wanted to take her small dog for a walk, prompting the hacker to relax again. The lady was quickly ushered back into her apartment by the soldiers accompanying them and Skye was already glad for the backup, just so she didn't have to deal with this.

She exchanged one final look with Trip, before knocking on the door in front of her, and a moment later a woman in her late twenties opened up, a frightened look on her face.

She was wearing a simple pair of jeans, a t-shirt from an 80's rock band and a hoody, her long black hair tied up messily. Skye knew that this was definitely their target, Nina Kuralenkow, but if she hadn't seen the picture of her from Coulson's file, she never would have believed that the woman in front of her earned her money as a high-society escort, despite the fact that she was quite beautiful even in her extremely casual outfit.

"Hey, Nina, I'm Skye, this is Trip," the young agent introduced herself and her partner, deciding to make this meeting as informal as possible to put her target at ease, knowing how frightening the situation had to be for her. "Director Coulson sent us to protect you, so if you have anything you want to take with you, get your things and we'll move you to a secure location."

The young woman took a long look at the two agents in front of her and the soldiers accompanying them, before she nodded reluctantly, and stepped back into the apartment.

"And you're sure I'm not safe here?" she asked as she went into the living room, where she started to gather up the few things on the table there and stuffed them into a bag that had been lying on the couch. "This apartment belongs to a… friend, he lets me stay here sometimes, but I've never told anyone where it is."

"Sorry, ma'am, but we just can't risk it. Not with Hydra looking for you. Even if they don't know about this place yet, sooner or later they would find you here, so it's better if we get going before they do," Trip pointed out, causing Nina to look up at him, her brow slightly furrowed.

"Alright, you're the experts on this, and if you and Coulson think I'm in danger, then I'll come with you, but only if you promise never to call me 'ma'am' again, alright?", she asked with a grin, and even though Trip could tell that she was just putting on a brave face, he answered her with a bright smile in return.

"If you insist, milady," he replied with a hinted bow, causing Nina to chuckle softly and shake her head at his teasing demeanour.

Skye looked back and forth between the two for a moment, looking both amused and appalled at the same time.

"Seriously, guys, now?" she wondered incredulously, but before Trip could reply anything to her, they were suddenly interrupted as their radios came back to life and Coulson's tense voice sounded over the comm channel.

"Skye, Trip, are you alright?" he asked, causing the hacker to glance over at her partner in confusion.

"Yeah, we're fine. We've just picked up Nina and are about to head out. What's wrong?" she asked, pulling her gun from its holster in anticipation of danger as her training kicked in.

"May's been attacked. She and her target are alright, but she's lost her support team and is on her own now."

Skye's mouth stood slightly agape for a second as her concern for her S.O. grew with ever word Coulson said. She knew that she and Trip still had a mission of their own, but she also couldn't stop herself from wanting to do something, anything to assist Agent May.

"Is there anything Trip and I can do? I know May is… May, but I'm not sure even she can take on a whole Hydra team by herself." Even without looking at the small monitor around her wrist, Skye knew that her heart was racing at the moment, but right now she couldn't care less about her lessons to control her emotions.

"No, Skye," Coulson replied, and the young hacker didn't even need to see him to know that there was a mixture of concern and appreciation on his face. "You and Trip stay with Nina. Get her out of there safely and be on your guard! We don't know how many Hydra teams are out there. They might just be at one location, or maybe they're at yours, too, and this entire rescue operation has been nothing but one big trap."

The anxious look on Skye's face only became stronger at these words, but in the end it was Trip, who spoke next, even his professional tone not completely hiding his concern.

"What about Hunter and Agent Morse, are they alright?"

"They were when I spoke with them about two minutes ago, and I haven't heard anything yet saying otherwise. But I'm going to check on them next. Now you two get out of there, alright, and… be careful."

"Copy that, sir," Trip replied with a tense look at Skye, who nodded briefly.

"Yeah, copy that." Then she turned off the comm and faced Nina once again, who had obviously only been hearing half of the conversation, but had still gathered that there was something wrong.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking from Skye to Trip and back again, waiting for one of the agents to give her an honest answer.

"It might be nothing, but we need to move. Now," Skye informed her curtly as she took a hold of the young woman's arm and began pulling her towards the door gently, but decisively. She glanced briefly over at Trip, who was right beside them, then nodded to the two soldiers standing by the door, signalling them that they needed to leave.

Before either of them could open the door, though, a deafening blast coming from the wall to Skye's left suddenly shook the entire apartment, hurling everyone inside the room off their feet and sending them crashing to the floor as fire and smoke filled the air and debris came raining down on them.

To be continued…

A/N: Spoiler for 'Aftershocks' ahead:

While I was re-reading a few scenes from Poison, I had a really good laugh at one particular line from Hunter from chapter 13 as he and Fitz modify mini-Lola so she can actually fly. I just thought I would point this out here:
"As we've already established, I have no technical skills whatsoever, so to me this actually looks like it's just a toy car and not the fancy high-tech spying equipment it probably is,"
Hunter really does see through everything, doesn't he? Lol