Chapter 36
Skye ducked immediately as soon as she saw May throw a punch at her. The hacker tried her best to try and move along and the team knew that but she needed distractions. She couldn't stay in her room looking at his belongings. Or the pictures that set on the dresser next to the wall. She still wore his wedding ring on the same finger as her own and sometimes like she was right now, wore a few of his clothes. Right now she just happened to be wearing the sweatshirt he wore to train.
"Not bad, Skye." May complements her. "But if you want to be better, you need to stop holding back."
"I don't want to hurt you." Skye comments.
"You're not going to hurt me."
Skye takes a deep breath before continuing with the training. She knows what she can do. The hacker just hopes that May ends up being right.
May throws another punch when she thinks Skye is not ready. But the hacker is, she is ready for the punch. Skye is prepared knowing that this is a much different training experience from training with her husband.
"You need to train harder, Skye." May says.
"I need my training partner." Skye breathed out after executing a kick.
"Look, I know we lost agent Parker but you wanted a distraction for now. I'm helping with that right now."
Skye tried to continue but it was hard. The hacker was worried about everything. She was worried about her powers, she was still grieving for her husband. But she couldn't just sit around doing nothing. Skye had to do something to keep her mind going.
"Maybe Skye should take a break?" they heard Fitz comment.
The hacker hadn't even heard any one come into the training room. But also it didn't help that all you could hear was the sounds of breathing and the wind as punches and kicks were made.
"Training isn't a group activity." May says. "Maybe in an hour you could come back?"
"No, I was just seeing if Skye was, well yeah." Fitz says.
Skye takes a drink of her water and then sets it back where she got it from. She's fine, right? Yeah the hacker was fine. She knew she didn't want to hurt May but she felt fine. Almost normal like.
"I'm fine, Fitz. Totally in control." Skye tells the engineer.
Fitz only nods his head and by the time Skye can blink, he's out of the room and the hacker is dodging another punch from May.
Skye only got a couple of minutes of downtime before the team was leaving for Portugal. She had somehow made time on the Bus though to type out an email to Sara, Drew's mother, letting her know of her son's death. It had been days since it happened and then Bobbi and Fitz had to travel to San Diego without her. Trip was assigned to keep her company while they were gone. Originally Simmons was supposed to go but she didn't think she could handle it and chose to stay back.
That didn't stop her from contacting Sara about everything. She deserved to know everything that happened. How Drew had protected her in the temple. That he had found his dad before Skye herself learned that Whitehall was dead. She never addressed him as that though. The time she called him Daniel like the father he was before faking his death. She had finished it out saying that her husband was a hero and that she loved him very much.
Before she knew it, there was a knock on her bunk's door. Skye looked up to find Trip smiling at her.
"Coulson has requested our presence." He tells her.
"Thanks Trip." She tells him as she shuts her laptop close.
They walk out to the command table and video feed that is up. Standing around the table is already FitzSimmons along with Coulson and Lady Sif.
"Trip helped find the video feed that we have up on the feed." Coulson explains.
Skye looked over at the specialist who smiled back at her. Trip offered to find some video footage while the hacker worked on her email. He had picked up a little bit from the last time they worked together on Skye's specialty.
They watch as the video keeps going, hearing screams and a few electricity cracks along the way. Both Fitz and Simmons cringe as they watch the fight.
"We know you were after him, Sif." Coulson tells the warrior. "Question is what is he after?"
"Take me to your supplies, elements. Fuel!" they hear from the video.
"Well that might answer it." Trip comments.
They continue to watch the fight closely, taking mental notes every so often. They hear the man explain that he's looking for someone. A person that has been changed to be exact and this time it makes Skye cringe. They then see Lady Sif throw the man into some of the stands on the boardwalk.
"I do very much enjoy that part." Sif says.
The fights continues with the man getting up and hitting her with something before Sif, herself ends up in the water.
"So, he's... he's wearing something… something mechanical, and she nailed it." Fitz says when he sees it.
The engineer tries to point but Coulson gets the idea before he turns the video off.
"Fitz, once we land, take Hunter and Mack with you to handle forensics. This could help with the blood we saw." Coulson starts to say. "Skye, you're with Bobbi talking to the locals and Trip, you are with Simmons handling the science division."
"Like old times." Trip comments towards Simmons.
Skye thought he must have been referring to that time they were trapped at the Hub when HYDRA made their reveal.
"Sir, the science division has loaded the team with heavier suppression artillery. After Raina's vanishing act, we advise that when you find this... man, you contain him first, ask questions later." Simmons comments.
"I get it, Simmons. I'll make sure it happens." Coulson says before telling the rest of the team that they are dismissed.
"I can't see blood." Hunter claims. He, Fitz and Mack had left to go to the pier to check out the damage. "Fitz, is there some special light we can use?"
The engineer is currently walking around with one of his tablets scanning the area. He doesn't seem to pick up anything until he's right on top of the spot that Hunter is trying to examine.
"That's because I don't think its blood." Fitz answers.
Hunter sighs at the spot before moving on while Fitz moved on to scan another area. He looked over the guard rails and tried to keep focused. His thoughts kept moving from Skye to Andrew and back again. He saved her that's why he can't be here to help. Parker risked his life. As Jemma used to tell the engineer after the whole thing with jumping out of the plane; you're the hero. Yeah Andrew, You're the hero.
The engineer was taken out of his thoughts when he heard Mack and Hunter studying another object. This time a lamp post. Fitz had turned around just in time to see Hunter pushing it down.
"I barely touched it. I swear!" the mercenary exclaims with his hands up.
Fitz shook his head and prepared the tablet to scan what was now left of the lamp post.
"Trust me, there is no universe on which I think you did that on your own." Mack tells Hunter before looking over at Fitz. "Turbo, what do you think?"
"I'm not sure exactly." Fitz answers before talking into his com set. "Simmons."
It's only a few seconds before the response come back.
"Yes, Fitz."
"I'm uploading some information for you and Trip to take a look at. Seems Hunter has found the lamp post that Sif hit with her sword." Fitz explains cutting off a piece and placing it in the box he had. "Whatever came out of that guy's chest wasn't blood."
There's mumbles in the background and it sounds like Trip. Only a few seconds later, it's confirmed.
"We got it, Fitz. Simmons and I will take a look." Trip answers.
"Thanks Trip."
"See, who doesn't love a good mystery." Hunter says smiling up at Mack only to see him roll his eyes.
Skye was tasked with spending some time with Bobbi while they searched a nearby hospital. With what they had learned on the video, there could be a possibility that the man could come and search for supplies that he needed. Skye tried to keep her distance talking wise. Bobbi was super close to her husband, more then it seemed like FitzSimmons just by a little bit. But who could blame them, they were on missions together.
When they first enter the hospital, it's empty. There's no one around really except the janitor who is cleaning up the floor.
So when Bobbi walks up to him, she asks if he can find some that spoke English since her Portuguese was awful. When the janitor leaves, the mockingbird finds Skye smiling at her.
"So you speak Portuguese too?" Skye questions.
"Do you know someone else who speaks the language as well?" Bobbi replies with a grin.
Skye nods her head. "Drew learned it when he was a kid. All the traveling with his parents. Well back when his parents were as normal as could be."
"I'm not an expert like he was but Drew was the one that taught me a little bit."
"I could never pick it up."
"It's a pretty language. But it can be hard to gauge when someone is lying." Bobbi says.
"Are you an expert at that too? Skye asks.
"At lying or telling if someone is lying?"
"I would say both. But you probably are."
Bobbi doesn't get a chance to answer because there is a nurse now at the counter waiting to talk to them.
Walking up to the counter, the mockingbird pulls out the tablet that Fitz gave her to use, so she can show the nurse.
"Can I help you?" the nurse asks.
Bobbi greets the nurse with a smile before asking the questions she had in her mind. "Hi, we are looking for anyone who may have been injured at the pier." Bobbi turns the tablet around. "Or possibly have seen this man."
The nurse shakes her head. "This man, he doesn't look familiar to me. As far as the injuries, I would have to ask around. I came in later since the nurse that was here earlier was ill. We are short staffed right now."
Bobbi nods her head. "We'll be around here if you do have any information."
Skye keeps looking around at the surroundings behind the counter and nudges the mockingbird on the arm when she sees a woman being helped by another nurse. The hacker isn't sure what they are saying and hopes that maybe Bobbi can pick it up.
The mockingbird looks at Skye and then looks past the nurse to see the other women behind the counter.
"Is that woman alright?" she asks the nurse after picking up a bit of their conversation. "What happened to her?"
"I'm not entirely sure." The nurse answers.
The two agents look at each other and then step away from the counter. Bobbi takes her phone from her pocket and then walk towards the door. She and Skye step outside briefly.
"We need to call Coulson." Bobbi states.
Jemma and Trip carefully conducted their search on the Bus. It took them awhile to figure it out but they soon got it.
"Trip, it's not blood." Jemma states looking up from the microscope.
"Okay, girl. What do you think it is?" Trip asks as he walks towards where the biochemist was doing her research.
"Liquid Nitrogen."
Jemma steps away from the lab table she was temporally working at goes back to the command table before pressing a bunch of buttons.
"Sir, the boys were right." She states. "It's not blood."
"What are we talking about then?" Coulson asks.
"It's liquid nitrogen."
"Explains why the lamp post was frozen solid and cracked." Trip comments when he walks back over to the command table.
"He must have been carrying a supply and Sif must have damaged it." Coulson says coming to a conclusion. "Why carry Nitrogen?"
"If he's alien, he might need it to breathe." Jemma answers.
The two agents hear mumbling over the sound of Coulson's com before he dismisses them. Jemma could only think that it wasn't good.
"I'll call Coulson." Bobbi tells Skye. "You keep an eye out for the man."
The hacker nods and then watches as the mockingbird began to call the director. Skye wasn't surprised when Bobbi began pacing when she was on the phone.
"Sir, we have evidence that he's somewhere here at the hospital." Bobbi says after she hears the director pick up her call.
"Okay, keep an eye out. I know it's a big place." Coulson tells her. "But we know that he needs Nitrogen and they use it to power hospital equipment."
Bobbi nods but she knows he can't see her do that. The mockingbird is little bit out from Skye now who is still keeping an eye on their surroundings. Somehow she ventured close to a small alley way but she isn't too close to it.
"Let's start there." she hears Coulson tell her.
"Yes, sir." Bobbi hangs up and is about to walk back towards when she is actually pulled into the alley way.
"I know karate!" she yells towards her attacker. "I don't think you want to mess with me."
She hears them chuckling a bit before receiving an answer. "Yeah, I know."
"I can take you on no… wait you know?"
Now the mockingbird is terribly confused. How did her attacker know who she was? This couldn't have been the man they were after. He couldn't have known that they were after him.
There's only a slight dim of light coming into the ally way so she can't see much but knows the person before her is wearing a hood. Great, her attacker was probably a thief of some sorts.
"Yeah." He says. Their voice is deep but she can tell it was a guy.
"Who are you?" Bobbi demands curiously because whoever he was, she was intrigued by the nature of him.
"Well lately I've been going by the name Taskmaster." He tells her. "But you know me as someone else."
Bobbi rolls her eyes. He can't see her but she really didn't want to play games with this guy.
"And that would be?"
"Andrew Parker."
The mockingbird is looking at him wide eye before taking her hand to try to slap him on the face. For the past week or so, they thought he was dead. She and Fitz went to San Diego and told his mom that he was dead. She never does get a chance to slap him because now he's got a hold of her wrist.
"Jeez, Bobbi. You can't do that." He tells her.
She looks at him with her mouth open but immediately shuts it after pulling her phone out of her pocket. The mockingbird somehow manages to get the flashlight activated on it and shines it between them. Drew has a few cuts but other than that, he looks okay.
"You're alive." Bobbi states.
Drew smiles at the comment. He knows he's home now and in not some alternate timeline.
"Very much."
"Where have you been?"
"It's a long story."
"You need to come back with me. You need to come to Skye."
"I know but right now isn't the time."
"How is it not the right time!?" Bobbi exclaims. "Skye needs you. You're death is killing her."
"Something changed us down there. I need to figure it out."
"Bobbi!" they both hear a voice that they both knew all too well.
"Skye's with you?" Drew questions.
"Yes. We're tracking down a lead."
"Don't tell her you saw me, please."
"Parker, you can't make me lie about this."
"I'm sorry but you have to."
Bobbi closed her eyes and felt her eyes begin to water. She couldn't do that. The mockingbird could lie about her baby brother to his wife. That wasn't how it was supposed to be.
"Bobbi?" she hears Skye now in front of her say.
The mockingbird opens her eyes to find the hacker standing in front of her. She's now back on the sidewalk next to the ally way. Bobbi looks towards the now empty area and then looks back at Skye.
"Everything all right? You disappeared for a few minutes." Skye comments.
Bobbi nods her head. "Yeah. Let's go catch this guy."
Skye smiles before they begin to walk back into the hospital hoping to catch the man they were after. When they reenter the building, they see the janitor back at it cleaning the floors. Bobbi asks him in Portuguese where they could find a room that kept nitrogen and other machinery. But Skye thinks Bobbi just asked him very discretely since he didn't question their reason.
When they do find the room that the janitor points out to them, the two agents take it slow before opening the door. Whatever was on the other side, they just hoped it wasn't too serious.
Bobbi is the one that ends up pushing the door open. Skye is still at her side prepared for the next thing to happen. When they do get a full look, there is indeed the man in there except for now he's blue. An alien of some sorts? He looks at them as he presses a button on his jacket securing it there.
"You don't want to fight me." He says.
"We just have some questions." Bobbi answers calmly.
But that doesn't seem to work because now the blue man is coming towards them ready to fight. As Bobbi pulls out her batons, Skye is ready to fight if needed. That ends up being the case after the blue man throws the mockingbird into a wall.
The hacker pulls out her gun and she's prepared to shoot before she begins to feel a rumble. The magazine of the gun falls out and she's beginning to feel like she's in the temple all over again. Skye closes her eyes and tries to keep herself centered and trying to get calm.
That doesn't seem to work as the gun begins to break more and the ground starts to shake harder. Skye opens her eyes just in time to see a shelf of material falling towards her and to take cover.
The man makes his escape as both agents lay there helplessly. It's only a matter of time until Skye can pick herself up of the ground and make sure Bobbi is okay. She can only think this wouldn't have happened if Drew was still alive to help them.
After talking with Sif and Coulson after getting on the plane and learning about kava meaning key, Skye went to the only person she could talk to about her situation. As she talked to the engineer, Fitz kept focus while seemingly biting part of his finger nail. It was a bad habit for him.
"The whole room was shaking, Fitz." Skye explained. "The gun exploded in my hand. I thought I could handle it but I'm not too sure now. We should just tell Coulson."
"Wait hold on. I'm still trying to analysis everything." Fitz tells her.
"I can't control it. I tried going to a happy place with Drew but then it just goes back to the temple when… when I killed him."
"Skye, you didn't kill Andrew." Fitz assures her. "I'm finishing up with your blood samples right now. When it's done, we should have a solution."
Skye is about to comment and she gets the words 'I feel' out before there are footsteps walking towards where they are meeting which just happens to be in-between the shelving of some gadgets.
"Pardon me, whatever this is." Lance Hunter says when he makes his reveal. "Just want to check out some new toys from sci-tech."
The hacker and engineer look at each other before mumbling a few words and then leave as Hunter takes out a gun. They're both nervous but hope that something good out of it happens soon.
Jemma places the butterfly bandage carefully on Bobbi's cut forehead before taking a step back to check for any other places that she seemed to have missed.
"Alright, you Ms. Morse seems to be alright."
Bobbi smiles. "That sounds great."
"Let me go grab some antibiotic cream and then you'll be all set." Jemma tells her. "Just hang tight."
Bobbi does what is instructed stays in the garage watching as Mack finishes up with a case.
"There goes your modeling career." He says when he's done.
"You should talk, pretty boy." Bobbi responds.
Mack shakes his head not agreeing with the statement. He looks around the garage and then upstairs for a brief moment.
"What are Hunter's plans?" the mechanic questions.
He knows that Bobbi was supposed to talk to him. They both had discussed it the other morning when they were making plans about the thumb drive.
"He said that he wanted to stick around." Bobbi answers. "Maybe we should bring him on?"
"No way, Barbara."
"Why not? Do you not trust him? We are building something real here."
"We don't need him to react badly if we tell him. I don't want it to blow up in our faces."
Mack looks away from the mockingbird sighing before commenting once more.
"You have to be careful."
"Well I don't want him fighting against us." Bobbi states. "We already have that happening with Drew and Skye."
Mack looks puzzled for a moment. "Parker is dead. He died in that temple of doom, Barbara."
Bobbi closes her eyes and steps away from the mechanic. She holds her hand up to her face, rubbing it as she kind of paces.
"He's alive." Bobbi tells Mack when she turns back around. "I saw him."
"That's not possible."
"You have to believe me, Mack. He was there when Skye and I were at the hospital."
The mechanic shakes his head. He's thinking that Bobbi must have much more than just a cut on her head. Maybe a concussion or something.
"Does Skye know?"
"No. Drew found me after I made that phone call to Coulson."
Mack looks away towards the door and before he can say anything else, he sees Jemma walking down the hallway into the garage.
"Got the antibiotic cream." She says cheerfully holding it up in her hand. "Am I interrupting?"
"No." Mack tells her and then walks out of the room.
Skye walks back into the kitchen area of the Bus to find Coulson and May on computers as Lady Sif watches. She's looking over Coulson's shoulder so she must be helping in some way.
"I found something." May says as Skye steps behind the counter.
"Hmm. Chaves, known for its sedimentary basins. May, I don't get it." Coulson says after reading the tablet that May gave him.
"Guess what Chaves means."
Coulson makes a face before answering. "Let me guess, keys?"
"That's where I was chasing him. That was my mission." Sif points out.
"Chaves, Portugal. Where have I heard that name?" Coulson questions.
The four of them stand there thinking for a few seconds before May completes the answer.
"Whitehall's SSR files. The site of his dig for the first obelisk back in 1945."
Skye looks away when her S.O. says his name. Of course it would all be linked back to Drew's father. Everything seemed to be. When the hacker looked back, she saw Coulson give her a sympathetic look. He knew who Whitehall's real identity was. She was the one that told him after she figured it out. Skye gave the director a nod. Whitehall was gone, shot by his own son.
"Then that's where we go." Coulson says.
The director gets up and is ready to follow May and Sif out so they can find the spot. Skye on the other hand is not so ready.
"Is it fine if I sit this one out?" the hacker asks.
Coulson gets it. He knows it's because of the mention of Whitehall. He still affects her even though he's long gone. The former HYDRA head was part of her family even if she liked it or not. The director knows too, it just brings up her husband. She's not done grieving.
"Yeah." Coulson says softly. "I'll have Trip check on you every so often while the rest of us are out."
"Thanks A.C."
Bobbi was assigned to scan the truncheon and she was kind of surprised that it wasn't Jemma doing it but it was a change in pace for her. After all she was a biochemist too. She was fully capable of getting it done.
"Wow, Bobbi Morse actually doing something scientific." She hears.
"Do you forget I'm capable of handling this kind of work?" she asks back.
"No. Just different."
Bobbi looks up towards the closed ramp of the plane. She can't see much but she can hear the voice. She looks back at the monitor before looking out again to see a man in front of her.
"Are you sure you're not the all new all different Captain America?" she asks.
The man chuckles before saying deeply; "Not exactly in star bangle banner colors, mockingbird."
Bobbi smiles.
"You rarely call me that."
"At least you have a better looking tactical suit here."
The mockingbird isn't quite sure what he means by that. She's not even sure where he's been this whole time. But the man in front of her is wearing a hood with a mask covering half his face. He's also wearing what looks to be a bullet proof vest and is that ICERs in the holsters strapped onto his belt? The shield is covering his back but there is also a sword in-between his back and the shield. Much different then what he had looked like when she first saw him in the alley way.
"You changed your clothes. Is that some form of uniform?" Bobbi questions.
"There was this engineer who drew up some plans before I came back."
Bobbi looks at him with her head tilted. An engineer? Did that mean Fitz possibly know about him coming back?
"Would that be a guy named Fitz?" she questions with a smile.
He shakes his head no and Bobbi loses the smile.
"How did you get back on the plane with no one seeing you, Drew?"
"I had a very good teacher."
The mockingbird begins to smile once again knowing who he was referring to. She did her best to train him the best she could when he was out of the academy and Maria was his S.O still.
"It's not that hard to sneak around your teammates." Drew states.
"Have you seen Skye yet?"
"Eventually."
Bobbi huffed and then sat down the truncheon.
"Drew, you need to."
The Taskmaster shakes his head and then points towards the door. Bobbi looks at him confused and then over at the doorway's entrance to the garage to see Hunter coming. When she turns back around to see Drew, he's gone.
"Bobbi, were you talking to yourself again?" Hunter asks as he enters the garage.
She looks at him with a made face. "What? No."
Hunter shakes his head before walking closer to the mockingbird and sitting on the table that she was working on.
"I see Simmons left you with truncheon duty. It's a funny word. Truncheon."
"She's being precautious. Which I guess I don't blame her since there could be more than meets the eye."
"Been saying that about you for years."
Bobbi rolls her eyes and then sets down the truncheon. She stands up from her chair to stretch as she had been working for a bit plus Hunter wasn't making it easy for her to work.
"Supposedly the Kree used this to wipe Lady Sif's mind." Bobbi explains. "There's a dial at the bottom but our equipment doesn't seem to pick anything up."
"So really you have no clue."
"Can you back away a bit?"
"Ah, you don't like that?" Hunter challenges.
"I'm trying to work." Bobbi laughs a little bit.
"I could help. It could be fun."
Hunter leans off the table a bit to try and reason.
"Maybe we should slow things down? I need a different distraction." Bobbi tells him.
"Slow things down? A different distraction? Bob, I know you're still trying to get over that kid's death but you have to move on. He was just an agent."
The mockingbird closes her eyes and then steps away from the table. She runs her hands through her hair as she tries to not face Hunter. Not just yet at least.
"He's not just an agent, Hunter!" she yells turning around. "He was important to me. I was on the first mission he ever went on. We bonded, we got to know each other. By the end of it we were friends. The next one we went on, he almost lost Skye when she was shot. I held him in my arms after I found him trying to drink himself to death. By the end of it all, I promised to myself and him that I would protect him. Drew was the baby brother I never had and I was his older sister. So please, Hunter. Tell me he's just an agent or I swear…"
Hunter raises his hands in defense as he normally did whenever he tried to get out of trouble.
"Fine, Bob. If you want slow, I can do that. I'm not surprised you turned frosty this time." Hunter tells her. "Considered it slow."
He's about to say one more thing but then Mack appears. The mercenary pushes his way past him and just leaves the garage.
"Are you okay, Barbara?" Mack asks the mockingbird who is trying to slow herself down.
She looks at him and nods before looking back into the shadows that she knows Drew had to of disappeared into.
"Drew, come home." She says,
"It's just a matter of time." Bobbi gets answered.
Mack raises an eyebrow. "Did someone just answer you back?"
Bobbi smiles at the mechanic and he kind of thinks that something is up. That she is concocting some sort of plan.
"Not that hard to do when someone is in here with you." Drew says coming out from his spot and flipping down his hood. Bobbi can see that he has a cut on his left cheek. "Hey Mack."
"Okay, okay." Mack starts to say. "I almost thought I might have to take Barbara to Simmons for a concussion test. It makes sense now."
Drew smiles and gives a gloved thumbs up to Bobbi. "I'll be around here but Mack, this is our secret for now."
The mechanic only nods as he can't seem to find the right words.
The team arrived back on the playground. When they walked into the base, Bobbi discussed the truncheon with Coulson, Mack and Skye before splitting up. Coulson and Skye were going to talk to the Kree and hopefully get some form of answers.
"Tell us how the truncheon works." Sif told the Kree.
It had been a few minutes of standoff with guns pulled out making sure he didn't try anything. Coulson though, tried to keep a firm grip on truncheon.
"The Kree has a name. Its Vin-Tak." replied the man before pointing over towards Coulson. "And that only works in my hand."
"That's convenient." May comments.
Skye watches the man carefully. He wasn't Asgardian so how was his truncheon like Thor's hammer? May was kind of right though. But did they really want to give the Kree back his truncheon?
"It has a dial at the bottom." The Kree says once more before doing some sort of move and kick to get it out of Coulson's hand.
Skye presses harder against her gun ready to shoot when the Kree points the truncheon at Sif. The warrior is being pushed into one of the tables in the room. When she gets back up from the shot, she composes herself.
"Are you back with us?" Coulson asks.
"My memories. They have seemed to return." She says. "I am Lady Sif of Asgard and friend to S.H.I.E.L.D."
The Kree is shaking his head as everything makes sense to him now.
"We do not trust Kree." Sif continues. "When Heimdall saw that one landed on your world, Odin charged me with retrieving him."
"So you came to pick a fight."
"We know enough about the Kree to be concerned."
"Well, then, if you know Kree history, perhaps you've heard the tale of Terrigenesis."
Sif nods her head as Skye begins to get worried. Cal and Raina had both mentioned it before when they were talking about her changing.
When Vin-Tak finishes the story, Skye begins to ask questions.
"Why did you come here?"
"These transformations are abominations. I knew I had to find the other diviners."
Skye tries to keep herself calm as she knows that Vin-Tak is referring to her. She changed after going down into the temple. The hacker lost her husband because of it.
"How many diviners are supposed to be in the crate?" May asks.
"Enough to create an army."
Skye tries looking away. This was all too much.
"Sir." The hacker hears from the room's com link.
"Go ahead, Simmons." Coulson tells her.
"The crate is empty."
Vin-Tak shakes his head. "My worst fears then."
"We have to assume they were all taken at the same time back in the '40s. Does that mean Hydra has them?" Simmons asks.
"Or if HYDRA doesn't, who does?" they now hear Fitz comment.
"We must find the remaining diviners plus anyone else that was transformed." Vin-Tak requests.
"We drowned the temple after we found a diviner." Coulson says. "But we do know a woman that was changed."
Skye knows he's referring to Raina. Trip had tried to shoot her when he and Simmons were down there trying to figure everything out. Right now though, Trip was hanging with Hunter.
"So someone was changed. Have you put them down?"
"No, she disappeared. Skye witnessed the transformation but didn't see much."
"You were there?" Vin-Tak questions the hacker.
"Yes. I went down there with intentions of stopping Raina. My husband followed to rescue me." Skye tells the Kree. "Drew, he didn't make it."
"Did you see anything?"
"I was shielded when I was found. I don't remember seeing anything."
"The changes may not be on the outside, but instead the inside."
The comment makes Skye worry more. She knows of the changes now that Fitz had provoked her and what had happened at the hospital. The hacker begins to feel a rumble as Vin-Tak continues about abominations and needing to put them down. It gets worse as he goes on.
"Another one?" she hears Coulson question.
"What is this, Son of Coul?" Sif asks the director.
Skye tries to steady herself but she can't seem to get a hold.
"Skye, you want to talk to us?" May questions walking towards her.
"Skye, what's doing this?" Coulson asks.
"I am."
The hacker pulls her hands over her ears and tries to escape out the door but it's all too late. The window begins to crack behind her and everything in the room explodes.
"Hand her over." Sif says when everything slows down. "I will take her to Asgard. It will be safer there."
"Wait a minute. You can't do that." Coulson tells the warrior.
"The weapon has been activated." Vin-Tak protests. "It needs to be eliminated before it hurts someone."
"Skye is not a weapon." May states.
Vin-Tak goes on explaining what can happen and Skye is still trying to hold herself. She doesn't want to die.
"Skye, let's go." May says pulling her out of the room.
"Fitz, we need bambino!" Coulson shouts when he sees him come by before protecting the door."
May and Skye run down the hallway as quickly as possible. The hacker is unsure where her S.O is taking her but she sure does hope it's safe where ever it is. They go pass the lab and Skye sees Jemma coming out of the lab.
"I'm so sorry, Jemma!" Skye yells.
She could have sworn, she saw someone else in the lab with a hood on when they do go pass. Someone that looks to have Drew's facial features. No, that's not possible. She lost him in the temple. He's been on her mind and Skye would rather somehow find a way to be with him then be here during all of this.
Jemma looks terribly confused when Skye goes by. All the biochemist knows is that there has been an earthquake. But it didn't make sense that Skye was being pulled away by agent May. When Fitz starts to run by the lab after exiting it before, she puts it all together.
"You knew." Jemma quietly gets out.
Fitz looks at her with a sad look that only confirms her suspicions.
Fitz ends up running past Mack and Bobbi and he quickly tells them what is going on. Both the agents nod to each other and then take off to help. When they turn the hallway corner, there is Vin-Tak and he looks to be ready to kill.
"Your friend Skye is an atrocity, and I must go put an end to this." He says.
"Nah, I don't think so. Right now she stays and you're not going anywhere." Mack says.
"This is not your fight."
"It kind of is now." Mack tells him before throwing a punch.
Vin-Tak is taken a back just slightly.
"Maybe we should call in back up." Bobbi tells Mack referring to Drew that was still trying to stay hidden.
By the time Mack can reply, he's being punched towards the end of the hallway where Hunter and Trip are now coming in. Hunter is the next one to take a punch followed by Trip but that doesn't last long when Hunter is being thrown into Trip.
Both of them are hurt and rubbing their heads as the end up near where Mack was.
Bobbi takes out her batons and begins to wave them around in her hands. She needs to signal Drew for backup but then again she doesn't know if he can help. She hadn't seen him around on base yet since after walking off the Bus.
"This is twice now." Vin-Tak comments. "You must really like fighting."
Bobbi shakes her head as she leads him into the lab. "No. But I do it to protect the people I love and I made a promise to Skye's husband that I intend to keep."
"So noble even after the man is dead."
Vin-Tak is the one that hits first after jumping on a table and then towards the mockingbird. Bobbi is trying her best to keep herself protected as all of it happens. She gets a few punches in and as of right now, it's a close battle.
"Listen to me, Skye. You have to calm down." May sooths her.
They had just made it down to the vault that Ward used to be held in and May set the force field to stop anyone else from coming in. Skye sits on the bed doing the best she can but there is no way to stop it. The hacker doesn't know what to do.
"Skye, you can control it.'
"I can't. Make it stop." Skye whispers.
May tries to continue to talk to her. "You got this. Think of your happy spot. Come on. Think of Drew."
Skye closes her eyes and tries to think of her husband. She can see the night that she first met him at the club. How shy he was before getting him to talk to her by the end of the night. Their wedding. It had been so perfect. Just a little one consisting of his family and her by the beach. Everything was so good until she went to S.H.I.E.L.D. and she began to risk her life like he did.
The moment is briefly broken when Sif tries to break in. May tries her best to protect Skye but there isn't much to do. There was only a matter of time until Sif actually broke through.
"Agent May, release the girl." Sif says.
Skye takes a deep breath before realizing she still had an ICER near her. The hacker took it off the blanket and pointed it towards her shoulder before shooting it into herself. Nothing was heard after that as she went back to her happy spot with Drew.
Bobbi and Vin-Tak continued to fight in the lab. She did her best to try and make sure nothing was broken. It was a pretty even match until the Kree held her against a wall.
"You knew you couldn't stop me." he growls out.
"But I could." Bobbi hears as a shield blocks her view.
Vin-Tak is being taken down the floor and he looks up at the person who did it in awe.
"What took you so long?" Bobbi asks.
"Patience, Bob." Drew chuckles.
"There's another one? Why wasn't that mentioned?" Vin-Tak questions.
"Maybe because I'm living in the shadows right now. But I will protect my wife from you."
The Taskmaster picks him up and throws him into another area of the room. Right there it seems to be the perfect shot for Fitz to come in with bambino. A burst of fire power goes right by and the engineer is on the ground himself near the wall now.
Drew gives Bobbi a nod before looking at Fitz who is confused now and then dispears from the scene. The mockingbird takes the truncheon and puts it back in Vin-Tak's hand and it removes his own memories. He's knocked out now when Fitz gets back up on his feet.
"Who was that?" Fitz questions and the mockingbird knows he's referring to Drew.
"A friend." Bobbi just tells him.
While Coulson and May took Sif and Vin-Tak out to send them back, the rest of the team was cleaning up the common room that had glass left everywhere from Skye. Trip and Hunter were still reeling over there small head wounds while FitzSimmons tried to sweep everywhere. Mack and Bobbi were doing their best to get some of the glass that ended up on the furniture.
"Jemma, I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Fitz eventually says when their out of the way briefly.
"You lied to me." Jemma comments back.
"Can you blame me? You were worried this was a plague."
"Fitz. Skye is my friend. She was way before I learned of her marriage to Andrew and before all of this. She's different."
"You were my friend and then that all changed when I became different." Fitz tells her. "Now we have to work on it. Well we have been."
"The point is, we have to stop having secrets. They don't help us." Mack comments when the rest of the team notices them talking. "Skye should have come clean."
"Mack." Bobbi warns.
"She should have warned us that she was different."
"I think this is different. Skye is our friend." Fitz says. "We should protect her."
"I agree with Fitz on this." Trip comments and Fitz nods a thank you towards him.
"Fitz, I think we are the ones that need protection from her!" Mack argues.
"Mack!" Bobbi warns again when she sees Skye standing outside the door.
Fitz takes notice too when she begins to leave. The engineer goes to follow her but it's too late. Skye is already leaving through the base's door and heading towards the Bus. She figures just locking herself in the cage we help until she can get everything figured out.
Back in the room, Bobbi is having a stare down with Mack in a corner.
"I warned you, Mack. He's not going to be happy with you."
"Me?" Mack questions. "There's nothing wrong with that kid."
"That's what we thought of Skye. He is clearly different too."
"Fine. I'm going to go work in the garage."
The mechanic turns to leave but the mockingbird grabs a hold of his arm.
"I'm serious, Mack."
Andrew Parker watched from the very top of the Bus as Skye came through with a bag. He knew what had happened and was already aware of what his wife could do now. From his time in an alternate universe, that gave it away.
He could tell that she was scared just by the way she held the bag close and the sweatshirt that was in her other hand. Drew could tell it was his just by the powder blue color.
The Taskmaster saw her lock herself in the cage as he tried to be unnoticeable. He wanted to talk to her but he knew the time wasn't right. Eventually that would happen.
About twenty minutes later, Drew saw Mack come in and push around a few of his things. He could tell the mechanic was angry.
"Something bothering you, big guy?" Drew questions when he jumps on the overhead balcony.
Mack turns around and points a finger at him. "You! This is your fault too."
"Woah." Andrew raises his hands in defense. "I heard what you said about my wife. So what if we changed. It's not our fault."
"If Coulson didn't bring us there, it wouldn't have happened."
"Actually I think it would have happened no matter what, Mack. It was our destiny."
"Where were you when all this happened, huh? You could have been here helping Skye."
"I was dealing with my own powers. Did you know I dimension jumped? That seemed to be fun. Can't do it now since the diviner was a portal for me. But I can disappear easily. Go invisible when I want to. I couldn't figure that out until I got back and Skye came looking for Bobbi. That's how I'm protecting all of you. And somehow I can read anyone's moves so you don't want to mess with me."
Mack let out a huff of air.
"If you want me to continue to help you and Bobbi out with the real S.H.I.E.L.D. then you need to get yourself together and stop trying to hurt my wife."
Mack breaths out and then turns around to open the hood of the SUV he planned to work on. He grabbed some of his tools from the counter and set them on his tool rack.
"Have you talked to Gonzales yet?" Mack eventually asks
"Have you?"
"Told him you were dead the last time I talked to him."
Drew lets out a small chuckle. "Keep it that way. It will be a big surprise."
Mack looked up towards the balcony and smiled just slightly. "Are you trying to give the man a heart attack?"
"Wouldn't be the first time we've all attempted to."
Minutes pass as Mack continues to work on the SUV. He and Drew try to have a simple conversation until they hear the base's door open and then shut with a thump. The Taskmaster immediately goes invisible and it turns out he needed to when he sees Hunter walking up the ramp.
"Let's talk." He says approaching Mack.
"Okay, what's up?" Mack questions.
"You and Bobbi. There's something up and I need to know."
"What are you talking about?"
"I know you two are keeping something away from me. I know about the thumb drive. Coulson probably would like to know about it too." Hunter rambles. "And there's no support group. I mean seriously she got all defensive of Parker when I mentioned him."
"Hunter, listen."
"No, you listen. Who is backup? I heard Bobbi mention it when Trip and I came down the hallway."
"Okay, well that is…" Mack begins but is cut off by Drew who is now jumping off the balcony.
"That would be me." He says.
Hunter gaps at him and then is immediately taken out with a punch.
"Well that was a lot different then what I planned." Mack says.
"Sorry. Hunter isn't exactly on the list of people that should know about my identity just yet."
The engineer looks back at Hunter and then picks him up, placing him in the SUV.
"You want to help with this or stay on base?" Mack questions.
Drew smiles. "Oh I think I'll want to help for a little bit."
Wow the comeback of Andrew Parker. There was no plans too really kill him off completely as I would of have had no story to continue writing. He was always meant to comeback and with this I put a different twist on the character Taskmaster and made Andrew become him.
So please review. Let me know what you think along with other ideas you may have. You can also check out the two part story that goes along with this called Our Line of Business Never Prepares Us for This. It gives a quick explanation of what Andrew had happen to him after the diviner and a chapter where Bobbi and Fitz make a trip to San Diego.
Also follow me on Tumblr at clintbartonishawkeye