Hey guys! I'm back! Sorry I've been gone a couple of months. I took an exam a week ago and I had to study for it for a while. Btw, English is not my first language so please excuse any spelling/grammatical errors. Agents of SHIELD is not mine.
Previously:
"Sir?" A voice suddenly calls him from behind, startling him. It's Jemma.
"What are you doing here so late at night?"
Coulson shrugs. "I could ask you the same thing."
"I couldn't force myself to sleep." Jemma admits. "I have been staring at the ceiling of my bunk for the past hour, trying to put my mind to rest. I can't, obviously." She chuckles half-heartedly. "But then, out of nowhere actually, I remembered one of the philosophy lectures I've attended while I was still an undergraduate student. Well, it's not exactly similar, but somehow, I couldn't think of another explanation more fitting. For Skye's case, at least."
Coulson nods. "Tell me."
"For the past few days after San Juan, what has Skye been desperately trying to do?" Simmons asks. "What does she badly want to achieve?"
"Control." Coulson replies quickly.
"Precisely." Jemma agrees. "When most people think of control, what they really mean is just conscious control. But control, in reality, is governed by two things—the conscious, and the subconscious."
The director's eyebrows furrow. "So what are you trying to say?"
"I think that while her conscious mind is still stuck trying to make sense of everything that's happening to her, her subconscious tries to take over. That's why strong emotions like fear or guilt could easily trigger her." Jemma began; hope clearly brimming from her eyes. "I posit that if we could find a way to bridge the two, I mean, elucidate her conscious mind on what exactly she can or cannot do, we can help her harness control. We could finally shift the command of her seismic capabilities from one to the other."
"And how do you suggest do we do that?"
The excitement in Jemma's face dies and it is suddenly replaced with trepidation. "Sir," she begins, "what are your thoughts about possibly dying a very painful death?"
"So I'm just supposed to walk through here-" Coulson asks as he carefully enters a wide cylindrical chamber surrounded by glass. "-stand inside this scanner device," he peers at the gadgets surrounding him with as much as apprehension someone who's about to be converted into a holographic simulation in a couple of minutes, "or whatever this is?"
Apparently, Simmons created this whole algorithm involving various emotional and environmental stimuli that they could use to analyze Skye's triggers. And Jemma, bless her, got it in her head that he's the best candidate for trigger number one.
Well, May was actually her first choice. But after that whole Agent 33 fiasco, Simmons figured that the older agent wouldn't be so keen on having her face duplicated again soon. As temporary as it may be.
The entire set up has Fitz's signature all over it, too. For one, he designed and earthquake-proofed the huge simulation room where Skye's currently in. He also made every piece of tech they have inside it-from the interactive wall panels, to the wireless physiologic data scanners, to the shock-resistant screens-you name it, Fitz built it.
Coulson may have already said this a million times before, but really, he is lucky to have Fitzsimmons on his team. He is lucky he was able to get to them first.
"It's nothing but a simple holographic scanner, sir."
Still, Coulson can't help but feel slightly terrified of the prospect of being trapped inside a technologically advanced glass cage. If he could recall correctly, the last time he's been standing close to one of these, he ended up harpooned in the chest by a megalomaniacal alien. Nothing happened really. He just sort of died for a bit there. No biggie. "If you say so."
Jemma offers him a reassuring smile. "Sir, it's going to be fine."
"No, it's not that." He tries to smile at her in return, but fails miserably at it. "I trust you. It's just-"
Simmons simply nods. She understands. "We are not a hundred percent certain that this will work for her, but still, don't you think we owe it to her to at least try?"
Ever since the incident in the cliff, Skye has been in continuous sedation. It has been a week since then. Sedating her for prolonged periods didn't sit well with any of the team's members, but they found no other options. Whenever the sedatives are titrated down and Skye comes to, everything starts out okay. But every time someone—a friend, a stranger, anyone—enters her room (hell, even it's just for a quick glance), the entire room begins to shake again.
So perhaps Fitzsimmon's plan is indeed their only option.
Now, Skye has been staying for almost three days in her new room. The walls remind him of the cage, just that instead of dull gray, the hexagons on the walls are brownish. The only means of communication they could use, or at least, the only means that she and her powers allow is via the huge sceen on the right side of the room. Food is being delivered to her by some magic window in one of the walls. Of course, it's another one of Fitz's.
Among the team, May is the one who's incessantly asking Skye if she could come in. She adamantly declines her requests every single time though, every movable fixture in the room punctuating her refusal.
Back inside the chamber, Coulson tries to lift one of his arms. "Um," he begins, movements halted halfway by a series of multicolored wires that Jemma has been sticking on him, "Thank god Hunter opted to stay outside. I look ridiculous with these."
"Don't be so quick to judge Director Coulson," she replies, giving the last of the sticky things in his shoulder one reassuring tap, "if we're still in the academy this would be far from fact, they may even call this device theoretically beautiful."
"So there's zero chance that one of your high precision lasers will accidentally chop my gorgeous head off, you know, theoretically?"
"Skye told you about that?" Simmons face flushes in sheer embarrassment as she gapes at her incident with Agent Sitwell back in the hub is something she'd rather forget. And to her disappointment, again and again, Skye finds away to remind her of that little mishap. Honestly, she's beginning to doubt if hacker friend will ever let her live that one down.
"Didn't figure you for someone who prefers people about your height but heavier than you."
Face beet red, Simmons wordlessly makes her way back out the machine. It takes exactly two seconds before she finally manages to gain back her composure. "Ready, sir?"
Swallowing back a laugh, Coulson musters a straight face and takes a deep breath. "Here goes nothing."
The moment she makes a swiping motion somewhere on the glass encasement, light beams suddenly hit his entire body from all directions, scanning him from head to foot. A pinging sound erupts somewhere above Coulson and he flinches, gaze nervously trailing after its source. "It's supposed to do that, right?"
"Of course, sir. Absolutely normal."
His weight shifts uncomfortably from one foot to another."Any idea how long this would take?"
"Um, maybe five to six minutes," she says, "give or take."
Indeed, after a couple of minutes, Coulson finally sees Simmons nodding approvingly at the figures on her tablet. She makes a final swipe on the thing. "And were done!"
Coulson quickly disentangles himself from the wires, exits the chamber, and walks straight towards where Simmons is. He peers over her shoulders and onto her handheld device. "What possible problems should we expect from this point on?"
"Unless Skye discovers that what she's seeing is not the real you but a mere hologram of you sir, we would not be having any issues."
"Well that'd be a pleasant change." He says. He wishes he could share her optimism.
"So sir, are you ready to meet your virtual doppelganger?" Jemma asks Coulson. Her fingers are poised to swipe something on her tablet at her boss' signal.
Coulson nods. What the hell. They might as well try. "Do it."
"Skye?" Hearing Coulson's voice causes Skye to wake with a jolt. She sits up quickly, eyes wide in surprise.
"It's fine. It's just me." He assures her. He takes a step closer.
"Oh no, wait..." Skye frantically says. "Wait, shit! Damn it." She scrambles out of her blanket. "Stop!"
He takes another step.
She sinks further back to the far side of her bed. Her panic is causing her pillows to tremble slightly. "Are you crazy? You can't be here. Get out!"
"I'm still the director of this agency, Skye." He replies with a tight smile. "You can't tell me what I can or cannot do."
Shit. shit. shit. "I almost got Mack killed! I almost got you killed!" By then even the bedside table is shaking. And it is getting worse. "I don't know why seeing people keeps on setting this damn curse off, so you have to leave! You know I can't control this!"
"Oops. Sorry." He takes four steps closer to Skye's bed, not looking the least apologetic. For once, he forgoes wearing a suit for civilian clothes. If Skye isn't so panicked, she'd probably tease him about it. "You don't have a choice."
Seeing him in jeans feels weird, but Skye doesn't actually had the luxury of time to ponder much about it. "Choice? This is not about choices, Coulson!" She screams, her back hitting the wall beside her bed. "This is about you being stupid!"
"We'll I am here now, so you might as well deal with this stupid man before you." He grins as he makes an inward-outward motion with his hands. "Breathe. Do careful breaths, okay? Just as what May taught you."
All the room's lighting explodes, sending the room in utter darkness.
"Oh god." Skye groans at her boss' stubbornness, while her eyes are starting to tear up in fright. She doesn't want to hurt him.
"Breathe, Skye, breathe…" Coulson instructs her. "Don't mind me being here. Mind youself. The room is shaking and you're the only one who can stop it."
"If I know how to do that, I wouldn't be stuck here in the first place goddamn it!" She snaps. "Get the fuck out of here, Coulson!"
To Skye's horror, Coulson simply sits on the floor with his arms crossed. He tilts his head and stares at her in challenge. Like he's quietly telling her that if she doesn't do as he says, she wouldn't like what would happen next.
She grits her teeth and tearfully drags her eyes towards the ceiling. Slow and careful breaths leave her lungs as she forces her own body to cooperate with her for once in her life.
Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.
"Okay, you're doing great." Coulson notes. Fortunately, Skye wasn't looking at him when a piece of furniture flies straight through his head. She'd freak out for sure if she was. "Just keep breathing slowly. Focus on calming yourself."
Skye groans as she valiantly refuses to look at her boss. "Shut up, Coulson, you're not helping!" If her powers don't end up killing him, she will. With her bare hands. How can he be so careless? "God, DC, I could really strangle you right now."
Phil smiles. Maybe this could work after all. "That's the spirit."
I'm on duty tomorrow, so perhaps the next one will be up 48 hours or so from now. Thanks for reading!
