Chapter 37: Sub-Level 27
"A shrink?" Skye asked, looking up at the two agents in front of her in disbelief. "You guys want me to see a shrink?"
She was sitting on the couch in Coulson's office, after he had called her up here once more, only that this time Agent May was with them as well, standing next to their team's leader to provide backup.
"Psychiatrist," Coulson corrected the young woman, only to then nod in agreement, "but, yes, that is exactly what Agent May and I both think is best for you right now." He leaned back against the front of his desk at this point, watching Skye as she struggled to come up with a response, anything that would speak against this assessment.
Before she had the chance to say anything, though, May spoke up as well, clearly hoping that her input would make the young woman realise that getting some professional help was the best course of action right now.
"Skye, this isn't just about whether you need help or not. Any agent who goes through a traumatic ordeal like you have has to pass a mandatory psychological evaluation before being allowed back to active duty."
"Which means it's not mandatory for me, seeing as I'm not an agent," the hacker pointed out with a sly grin on her lips. Said grin quickly vanished again, however, as she looked back at Coulson and noticed the disapproving expression on his face.
"It might not be, officially, but I still think it's necessary. You know that all of us are here to help you however we can, Skye, but I believe that talking to a professional is an important step on your road to recovery. A step that I can't let you dodge just because it might be uncomfortable," he emphasised, much to the young woman's disappointment. "But don't worry," he added, in a much more light-hearted tone this time, "I've already spoken to an old friend of mine at Wakefield Institute, Dr. Patrick, and he is willing to see you as soon as we get there."
There was a slightly confused look on Skye's face, but before she could voice her question out loud, Agent May already supplied the answer.
"Wakefield Institute is SHIELD's leading mental trauma facility. They employ some of the best doctors in the world, and a lot of agents go there to get help."
Although Skye had so far only been slightly opposed to the idea of seeing a psychiatrist as part of her recovery, the idea of a mental trauma facility suddenly made her mind jump to conclusions that left the young woman visibly upset. She quickly got up from her seat in clear distress, facing the two agents in front of her with an appalled expression on her face.
"Okay, I get that I'm not ready for active duty right away again after everything that happened, but not only do I apparently have to wait for what sounds like weeks to even start training again, now you actually want to have me committed to an asylum?"
Coulson and May exchanged a brief glance in confusion, both of them caught off guard by Skye's fierce reaction, but before either of them had the chance to correct her, the hacker already continued, her voice rising steadily.
"Honestly, I don't care if this is mandatory or not, I'm not going to go there. I know you probably think that just because I'm not fit to go on missions any longer you can just lock me up with the other nutjobs, but–"
"Skye, that's enough!" Agent Coulson suddenly interrupted his team's rookie, his loud and unusually sharp tone stunning her into silence immediately.
For a moment there was an uncomfortable tension in the air as Skye stared at her superior angrily and he in turn faced her with a look of disapproval. A few seconds later, however, after Coulson had used the opportunity to take in the young woman's appearance more thoroughly, he ultimately let out a heavy sigh as if he was reminding himself that it was fear that had motivated her outburst and nothing else.
He gestured for Skye to sit back down on the couch as he pulled up a seat for himself so that they were on eye level. When he went on to explain the situation more thoroughly to the team's rookie, his harshness from before was gone entirely, replaced once again by the fatherly affection that had always characterised their relationship.
"First of all, Wakefield Institute is neither an asylum, nor will you be committed there against your will. Should you or Dr. Patrick think it would be helpful for you to stay a while longer, we will talk about it, but again, none of this will happen without your approval.
And secondly, not a single one of the patients at Wakefield Institute is a 'nutjob' and neither are you, Skye. All of them are agents who were fighting for the greater good, willing to lay down their lives in the service of SHIELD, even though it didn't come to that. Instead they sacrificed their health and in a few cases even their sanity in the line of duty and now SHIELD is doing everything humanly possible to help them get better."
Coulson leaned forward a little in his chair at this point, as if he was trying to put even more emphasis on his next words.
"And that is exactly the reason why I want you to talk to Dr. Patrick. Skye, I know you've been fighting hard to keep going ever since you're back with us, that you're trying to push away what happened to you, but I think if you're being honest with yourself, you know that what you are dealing with is not going to go away overnight. There are people capable of helping you come to terms with what you've gone through, but even the best psychiatrist in the world won't be able to do anything for you if you're not willing to give this a chance.
So that's all I'm asking for here, a chance. One session and if you don't want to continue, I promise you, you won't have to." Coulson looked at Skye imploringly, finally causing her sceptical expression to soften.
"One session?" she repeated, wanting to make sure that she wasn't agreeing to anything else for now. "That's it? And no padded rooms, no straitjackets–"
"Skye–", Coulson began, but before he could say anything more, the hacker cut him off again quickly, a smile on her lips and her voice sounding a lot more relaxed than before.
"Kidding, alright? I mean, I know I have some issues right now, but I also know that it's not that bad; or, well, at least I hope it's not that bad," she conceded, laughing awkwardly. "Anyway, if it means I'll get back to my training more quickly, I'll talk to your guy, just don't expect this to go all 'Good Will Hunting', okay?"
"We'll be there tomorrow, then we'll see how it goes," Coulson replied diplomatically, before Skye finally got up from her seat once more, excusing herself from the office as she knew they were done here.
After she had closed the door behind her and stood on top of the spiral staircase, she hesitated a moment, not really knowing what to think.
On the one hand she obviously realised that Coulson and May had had a point, and that turning away professional help when it was offered to her would be more than stupid, but on the other hand she also couldn't quite shake off the feeling of dread in her stomach at the mere idea of once again having to go over everything she had been through and to relive all the details of her kidnapping.
While she had obviously already told parts of what had happened to her to her teammates, the truth was that deep down Skye wanted nothing more than to stop thinking about it and to forget she had ever been taken. If there were a way, she would do anything to remove the names Jack and Curtis Tyler from her mind and erase all the damage he had caused in there.
She knew, however, that there was little point in wishing the memory away and so she sighed deeply as she headed down the steps to the common area, only to almost run into Agent Haze, who had been walking her way.
"Oh, sorry," Skye mumbled, embarrassed that she hadn't been paying any attention to her surroundings.
"Don't worry, no harm done," Haze replied quickly before she fell silent for a moment, obviously considering what to say next. As they were both just looking at each other, Skye suddenly noticed something in the other woman's hand, but before she could even start guessing about what it was, the agent continued, giving the answer herself.
"Agent Fitz and I finally finished our work on Talos' damaged hard drives and I just wanted to give Agent Coulson the data we were able to save," she indicated a small flash drive in her hand, "before I was going to say goodbye to everyone."
"You're leaving?" Skye asked back in surprise, the files in Talos' database she had been so concerned about earlier quickly forgotten. Of course she had known that the blonde agent's stay with the team was only going to be temporary, but for some reason she hadn't thought she would be gone again so soon.
"Yes, I am. One of the last support teams that has been helping with the prisoners is heading for the Hub, so I'll be hitching a ride with them later. I have to admit, I enjoyed my stay with your team, more than I would have thought, but I came here to help find you and Dr. O'Leary and that's both done, so it's time for me to go back to my usual work."
"Monitoring SHIELD tags?" Skye quipped before she could stop herself, prompting a slightly embarrassed look to appear on the agent's face.
"So Agent Coulson told you, huh?"
"Yeah, he mentioned it," Skye answered, but there wasn't even a trace of an accusation in her voice. She still didn't really like the thought of the woman in front of her having run surveillance on her, but aside from the fact that she had brought said surveillance onto herself, Haze's role in ending her kidnapping was more than enough for Skye to look past any hard feelings she might have had towards her.
"I guess I probably should have mentioned it at some point," Haze admitted now, "but it just didn't seem like the best way to introduce myself."
"Honestly, it doesn't really matter anymore," Skye replied with a small shake of her head, alleviating the blonde woman's obvious concern. "I always knew that there was someone monitoring me with that bracelet, I guess finding out that it was you just doesn't make that much of a difference."
"Well, at least now you know who that 'someone somewhere' was," Haze pointed out in return, much to Skye's bewilderment.
"What?" the young woman asked, startled by the familiar term.
"Oh, it's what Agent Ward called me once he figured out my connection to you. I think he mentioned that it was something you had said once," Haze recalled, a slightly uncertain frown on her face.
"Yeah, I did say that," Skye agreed hesitantly, the mention of Ward and their last mission together catching her completely off guard.
She fell silent after that, leaving an awkward silence in the air that quickly made Agent Haze realise what a difficult subject her teammate was for the young woman at the moment, prompting her to change the topic of the conversation.
"Actually, there's also something else I wanted to tell you before I leave. It's something I found while I was taking a look through what remained of Talos' database earlier."
"What, more of Jack's home videos?" Skye asked, using her sometimes dark sense of humour to try and mask how horrified she still was by the idea that there existed a recording of her ordeal.
"No," Haze replied, shaking her head as she ignored the slightly crude joke, "it's actually something good for once. As it turns out, Trevor Green had his people make a copy of the files you deleted from SHIELD's servers and while parts of it were irreparably damaged when we took their hideout, Agent Fitz and I were able to save most of it after all. I just thought you'd like to know that you didn't cause as much damage with your hack into SHIELD as you might have thought."
"Well, that's good," Skye replied with a faint smile, but to her own surprise she realised that she wasn't nearly as relieved at the news as she would have thought she'd be. After all, while it was good to know that the team's efforts against Centipede so far hadn't been for nothing, the fact that she had helped Jack in the first place remained and nothing would ever change that.
The young woman knew of course that she was already ignoring her earlier realisation, that continuing to punish herself for what she had done during her imprisonment was pointless, but she just couldn't stop the angry thoughts from creeping back up on her repeatedly despite knowing better.
Seeing as Skye hadn't exactly shown the reaction Agent Haze must have expected, the taller woman looked at her slightly perplexed for a moment, scrutinising her. She could obviously tell that something was wrong, but didn't know what exactly was going through Skye's mind. At first, she didn't quite seem to know how to respond, but then she obviously decided that the young woman could need some cheering up, no matter what had caused her sullen mood.
"You know, off the record, I actually thought that hack you did was pretty impressive. You got through all of SHIELD's security measures and then you even managed to use them to your advantage to delete the files you were targeting; that was really clever," she pointed out, clearly impressed.
It didn't do much to improve Skye's mood, however, as the young woman replied sulkily once again.
"Yeah, just too bad that that was me using my skills against SHIELD once again. I guess there are probably a couple of agents out there who'd rather see me in the Fridge for that than still here with Coulson's team," she stated, but to her surprise her statement actually prompted a small laugh from Agent Haze.
"No, that would be a waste of talent. Trust me, SHIELD is rather comfortable with recruiting people who have a tendency for breaking the rules," she reassured the young hacker.
Her words involuntarily made Skye think back to her first solo mission on the team and to what Ian Quinn had told her back then.
"Yeah, I guess I do fit their profile. A criminal with a specialised skill set and no family; that's me, the perfect SHIELD recruit," she huffed, the completely accurate assessment still as painful as it had been when she had first heard it.
As Agent Haze looked back at her, there was a warm expression in her eyes, betraying a genuine fondness for the young woman.
"You know, Skye, you definitely possess the skill set and maybe you really haven't completely shaken off the criminal part just yet, but if you honestly think that you don't have a family, then I don't know who I've been spending the last few days with," she pointed out much to the hacker's surprise.
Both women fell silent after this for a few seconds, until Skye's mood finally seemed to lighten up a little, a small smile playing on her lips.
"I'm actually not sure if I said this before, but in case I haven't, thank you. For helping with my rescue and… everything," she declared, prompting a small nod from Agent Haze.
"Anytime, Skye. And I'm really glad I could help," the blonde woman replied as she held out her hand for the hacker. Skye ignored it, however, and gave the agent a brief hug instead, before she left, giving her the opportunity to continue on her way up to Coulson's office.
A car was going to pick her up any minute now, but at the moment Agent Haze was still standing in the cargo hold, saying goodbye to Agent Coulson and his team for good.
She had already shaken hands with Agent Ward, who was now standing a noticeable distance away from the others, including Skye, and even though she didn't know either of them that well, the analyst nevertheless hoped that the suddenly tense situation between the two would be resolved soon. Not only did the young woman already have more than enough on her plate to deal with, without being at odds with her S.O., but Haze herself had also seen what a u-turn the specialist had made regarding his rookie, once he had found out that she had been in danger and had not, as he had initially believed, abandoned the them.
The agent briefly wondered if she would ever meet Coulson's team again and find out how this rift between them had turned out, but before she could think about that any further, Agent May stepped forward now and briefly shook her hand as well, causing the thought to disappear from her mind.
"It was good to have you on board," she simply noted curtly, before it was Agent Fitz's turn to see the blonde woman off.
"I don't know when we're going to be at the Hub again, but maybe Jemma and I will come in to say hi when we're there," he proposed with a shy grin, causing the blonde agent to nod in return.
"Of course, please do that, I'd be happy to hear from any of you again," she replied eagerly, already knowing that she would actually miss the familial atmosphere on the Bus.
"Yeah, now that you're not getting daily updates from my tracker anymore, you'll be pretty out of the loop, right?" Skye chimed in, but it was obvious that her teasing was meant as a light-hearted joke and not genuine bitterness.
"You think you can complain?" Fitz now replied back, looking over at Skye. "Agent Haze might have been monitoring your tracker, but at least she didn't break any of your invaluable prototypes," he pointed out with an only half-serious look of anger on his face.
"Well, technically, I think it was Agent Ward who broke the Overkill device," Haze now jumped in on the friendly banter, causing even the specialist in question to break his silence.
"It was either us or the other guys and that shot saved our lives." His voice was completely deadpan as he made that observation, but even the often so serious agent softened a little as he continued. "Honestly, though, that thing was pretty handy. When you make a new one, Fitz, you should just see that you make it smaller. And lighter. And not so prone to blowing up in your hands when you fire it more than once," he added, a smirk on his lips that was clearly meant as a provocation to Fitz.
Before the scientist had a chance to reply, however, Agent Simmons came forward now, giving Agent Haze a firm hug that cut off the back and forth between the group.
"Well, I'll certainly admit that I would have preferred to meet under better circumstances," she stated as she pulled back after a few seconds, "but I'm still glad we had you on the team for this, Rebecca. And of course we'll drop by if we happen to be at the Hub and get the opportunity."
"I'd love that," the agent replied back, but before she could say anything else, they were interrupted as a car suddenly pulled up outside.
"Well, that's my ride," Haze stated with a sigh before she looked at the group around her once more, a twinge of sadness inside of her. Her eyes rested on Skye for a long moment, but in the end, she didn't say anything to the young woman and simply nodded at her encouragingly, knowing that she was in good hands.
Then she headed down the cargo hold ramp, Agent Coulson accompanying her a few steps along the way.
"I meant what I said before; I owe you a favour, so don't forget to call if you need anything."
"I won't, sir," Agent Haze replied, looking back at the Bus one last time.
When Agent Coulson held out his hand to her, she shook it immediately, feeling a deep-seated respect for the man after having seen how he was leading his team.
"Goodbye, Agent Coulson. I'm not sure when we'll meet next time, but I'm with Agent Simmons and hope that the circumstances will be better then."
"Agreed," Coulson answered, before he nodded to the blonde woman and she headed down the rest of the way to the car.
When she opened the back door of the black SHIELD vehicle, however, she suddenly realised that there was already someone sitting on the other side of the backseat, causing her to pause briefly. It just took her a short moment to recognise the familiar face, though, prompting her to let out a small sigh before she ultimately sat down inside the car after all, closing the door in the process.
"Agent Wilson," she curtly greeted the man she had met at the hospital the night before; the same man who had given her the drug she had used on Tyler. "I guess you're not here to take me back to the Hub, are you?" Of course she already knew the answer to this and wasn't really surprised as the agent replied.
"No, I'm not. He wants to see you."
"Of course he does," Haze responded sarcastically, resigned herself to her new orders as she leaned back in her seat, determined to make the best of the situation. "Well, we might as well meet face to face now, because, honestly, I've got some questions of my own."
Breathe in. Breathe out.
There was complete darkness around her and the only thing disrupting the silence was the sound of her own breathing, as Skye was desperately trying to force herself to relax.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
She knew that she was probably being too stubborn for her own good right now, but nevertheless she kept repeating these instructions in her head over and over while taking one deep breath after another, willing herself to calm down and fall asleep. Her fingers were still gripping the bed sheet underneath her tightly, however, proving that this was easier said than done.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
The Bus had taken off a while ago, but while it was certainly a relief to be in the air again, not even the change in scenery was making it any easier for the young woman to find some relaxation in the confinement of her bunk, the tight dark space reminding her far too much of her cell during her kidnapping.
Of course she knew that the easiest thing would be to just turn on the light on her bedside table again, but she just hated the fact that the darkness was making her feel this vulnerable, defenceless and afraid, and so she was stubbornly trying her best to push past all that and go back to her usual sleeping routine, no matter how uncomfortable it was making her feel.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Skye's mind wandered back to the psychiatrist she was going to see tomorrow at Wakefield Institute, where they were headed right now, and her determination increased even further. If Coulson and May thought that she couldn't function properly anymore without professional help, she was going to prove them wrong right here and now. She was going to get through her fear on her own, without some stranger analysing her and everything she'd been through.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
A part of her wanted to get up and go to the kitchen to get some warm milk like the night before, but not only was she determined to face this problem head-on without leaving her bunk again before she had been able to fall asleep at night in here, but a part of her also realised that it probably hadn't been so much the warm beverage that had calmed her down last night, but Ward's presence instead. Now, the possibility that she might run into him out there was actually another reason for her to remain where she was, staring up into the darkness around her.
Skye knew that the specialist regretted his lack of faith in her and that he had wanted to abandon her to her fate, but despite the fact that even someone like Fitz had been urging her to give him another chance, she couldn't quite bring herself to do that yet. She already hated not being able to talk to Ward as freely as before, but the fact that she kept feeling worse whenever she so much as saw him at the moment made staying away from him the obvious choice.
Which was one of the reasons why she was lying here alone right now, forcing herself to remain in the dark in this suffocatingly small room, despite all the memories and fears that it was bringing back to the surface.
Breathe in. Breathe –
– "Maybe a few more hours in the dark will help you see the truth more clearly." –
Skye closed her eyes tightly as the memory of Jack's voice shot through her mind, pulling her right back into the cold and dark confinement of her cell, the image of his silhouette blocking out the light from the doorway suddenly all she could think of.
Without being able to stop herself, she was suddenly sitting upright in her bed, her fingers flying to a switch on the nightstand, turning on the light in the room.
Skye took a sharp breath to calm herself down, as her heart was racing in her chest, and then punched the covers in anger, frustrated with herself.
This is getting ridiculous, she thought dryly, hating the fact that something as simple as falling asleep in her own bunk was suddenly such a difficult issue. She knew the others would tell her to be patient right now, but the way things were going, she was quickly running out of patience with herself on this matter.
Her frustrated thought were interrupted, when there was suddenly a soft knock on the door, startling the young woman. She didn't answer at first, but a few seconds later she could hear May's voice coming from the outside, causing her to roll her eyes at the agent's persistence.
"Is everything alright in there, Skye?"
The hacker remained silent for another moment, but as she was pretty sure that Agent May wasn't going to go away, and she certainly didn't want her to burst into her room and most likely wake everyone else in the process, she finally got out of bed and opened the door.
"Yes, I'm fine," she told the specialist, an annoyed look on her face.
"You're having trouble sleeping." It was an observation, not a question, and Skye actually rolled her eyes once more in response.
"Yeah, so what? Turning off the lights makes me nervous, I'm just trying to get over that." She did her best to make the issue sound as harmless as possible, but somehow May was still able to see right through her and figure out the reason for her difficulties.
"Tyler kept you locked up in complete darkness for long periods of time, didn't he?" she asked, causing a look of embarrassment to pass over the young woman's features and only prompting a small nod in reply. "It's not unusual for traumatic memories associated with a specific environment to be triggered in similar circumstances, Skye," the specialist went on to explain, but obviously without much effect.
"Yeah, well, if you say it like that, of course it sounds better than 'I'm afraid of the dark, just like a six-year-old'", Skye pointed out, a disgruntled look on her face.
May watched the team's rookie in silence for a few seconds, clearly trying to decide how to handle her, but as she finally spoke again, it wasn't exactly the reply Skye had expected.
"Come with me, I want to show you something."
The team's pilot didn't wait for a reply to her invitation and instead headed back towards the front of the plane, clearly expecting Skye to follow her. The hacker looked after her for a moment, unsure about what to do, but in the end she realised that she wasn't going to get any sleep any time soon, anyway, so she figured she might as well find out what all of this was about.
She followed Agent May into the cockpit, the agent already back in the pilot seat, and sat down beside her, uncertain about what to expect.
"So, what is it you want to show me, because, honestly, if you want to start giving me pilot lessons, I'm not so sure this is the right time for it."
Skye could clearly see the disapproval in May's eyes as she looked over at her, not liking the way she kept resorting to jokes, no matter the situation. The agent didn't say anything about it, though, and kept her voice at ease as she answered her.
"No, I just want to show you something that might help you with your sleeping problem," she announced cryptically. "Just … relax," May finally ordered gently as she reached out to the control panels in front of her, flipping a few switches until all the lights in the small room, except from a few important looking displays, suddenly went out, leaving the two women in the dark.
"What the hell are you doing?" Skye asked, bewildered, already about to get up from her seat as Agent May reached out, laying a gentle but firm hand on her wrist.
"Stay," the agent said emphatically, causing Skye to look at her in anger.
"Why should I? I already admitted that I can't stand being in a dark room anymore after Jack always kept me locked up in one, and that I can't even sleep in my own bunk with the lights out now, so what is all this going to prove? Even with you here, it's still dark, so unless you plan on babysitting me even when I want to go to sleep, I don't see how this is going to help."
"Are you done?" Agent May asked in a perfectly serene tone which somehow annoyed Skye more than she would have thought. "Because this isn't about me being here with you, it's about you realising that there is more than enough light in your bunk, even without you turning on the one on your bedside table."
"What are you talking about?" Skye protested, indicating the controls of the plane. "I don't have all these kinds of displays in my room, so–"
"No, that's not what I mean," May interrupted her immediately, seemingly disappointed that the young woman didn't understand what she was getting at. "Look outside, Skye," she said, tilting her head slightly in the direction of the front window.
The hacker kept looking at May for another moment in confusion, before she finally followed her line of sight and looked out into the night sky surrounding the plane.
She kept her gaze directed this way for several seconds without realising what exactly she was supposed to be looking at, but just as she was about to turn back to the agent beside her and complain about this pointless exercise, she noticed a bright star slightly to the left of the window. And then another one right beside it. And another.
With the lights inside the cockpit turned off, and now that she was actually paying attention, Skye continued to become aware of more and more stars around them and even leaned closer to the windows so that she was getting a better view. She could even make out the Milky Way now, stretching across the sky like a wide ribbon, something she hadn't consciously looked at since she had been a child.
"You don't see the stars like that in L.A.," she pointed out absentmindedly, her eyes still focused on the beautiful display all around her.
"No, you don't," Agent May agreed with a small shake of her head, quickly falling silent again.
Still clearly impressed with the view, Skye remained quiet as well and just kept sitting in her seat, looking around in wonder. She almost couldn't believe that she had never noticed this spectacle right outside her bunk window, especially in a moment like earlier, when she had been so desperate for any light in the darkness.
The silence in the cockpit stretched on for a long time, both women surprisingly comfortable with each other as they were sitting side by side.
"Thank you," Skye finally muttered after a while, briefly glancing over at the agent beside her, not knowing what else to say.
May returned the look and simply nodded in reply, certain that any more words would be unnecessary right now.
Skye wasn't quite sure if she had fallen asleep for a while or had just started to doze off, but she was suddenly startled wide awake again, as she suddenly heard movement from behind. It took her a moment to realise what was happening, but then she realised that Agent Coulson had entered the cockpit, clearly as surprised to see her here as she was to see him.
He just briefly acknowledged her presence, though, and then focused on the pilot instead.
"May, I need you to divert us to Batesville, Utah. Looks like we have a mission there," he announced, obviously startling the specialist.
"You picked us a new mission?" she asked, only a slight raise of her eyebrow betraying her bewilderment at the new order. "Now?" She added, her eyes darting over to Skye briefly, a movement that wasn't lost on the young woman and caused her to let out an exasperated sound.
"Look, guys, I know that I'm not fit to go out on a mission yet, but that doesn't mean that none of you can, either. So you drop me off with that SHIELD shrink one day later, what's the big deal?"
Coulson scrutinised the hacker for a brief moment, the hint of a grin playing on his lips at her nonchalant attitude, but ultimately he ignored her objection completely and replied to the team's pilot instead.
"I know what you're saying, May, and I did try to pass this one off, but it's a delicate situation regarding a possibly gifted person and at this point it's either us or a strike team going in, which is something I'd really like to avoid. So would you please redirect the Bus to Utah?"
Instead of replying directly, the agent simply glared at Coulson for another moment, before she turned back around to the controls and started making the according adjustments to change the course of the plane, pointedly ignoring her superior.
Meanwhile, Skye was becoming increasingly excited at the prospect of meeting a person with special abilities, her fascination with the matter still as profound as it had been when she had met Mike Peterson a few months ago. She had turned completely around in her seat by now and was hugging the back of the chair as she looked up at Coulson, a grin plastered on her lips.
"So this 'possibly gifted person', what can he do? Is he super strong, like Mike? Or maybe shoot lightning from his hands? I mean, that'd be pretty cool, right?"
Coulson regarded the young woman with a soft smile for a moment, obviously glad to see some of her usual enthusiasm resurfaced, even though there was still a small trace of concern hidden in his eyes.
"No, according to the reports, she seems to possess telekinetic abilities, although it will be up to us to verify that," he explained, causing Skye to lean further towards him.
"Wait, a telekinetic, I thought they didn't exist," she replied, visibly in awe at the news.
"Well, we haven't found one yet, but as they say, there is always a first," Coulson pointed out, the professional look on his face never wavering although even he seemed to be slightly excited at the prospect of encountering someone with powers they had never come across before.
He was already about to leave the cockpit again at this point, when May's voice suddenly held him back.
"Coulson," she said quietly, causing the other agent to turn back around to her, "if it's just us going out there, you might want to reconsider Ward's suspension. If the reports are true, you know we could use him out there."
"I know. I'll think about it," he conceded, this time finally leaving the cockpit. Before he managed to close the door, however, Skye called out to him once more, curiosity getting the better of her.
"What's her name?" she asked, and once Coulson had opened the door fully once more, looking directly at her, she repeated the question. "The woman, the telekinetic, what's her name?"
"Hannah Hutchins."
Agent Haze took another look at the dark, non-descript walls around her, trying futilely to get a read on her whereabouts as she was walking down a long corridor alongside Agent Wilson.
Location: classified, indeed.
They had gotten here on a small plane with just the two of them and the pilot, the windows blocked and no information on where they were going, much to the agent's annoyance. She already had a pretty clear idea about what this facility was, and knew whom she was going to meet here, but this entire operation already entailed far too much secrecy for her liking, and it was becoming more than apparent that despite the role she had been forced to play in all of this, she wasn't completely trusted, either.
They had reached the end of the corridor now and were standing in front of an elevator, but before Haze could ask where exactly they were going, Agent Wilson had pressed the button to open the door, motioning for her to get inside.
She raised an eyebrow in slight surprise as the man remained outside the elevator, wondering why he wasn't coming along.
"Sub-level 27. He'll meet you down there in a few minutes," he simply instructed and then silently stood in front of the female agent as he waited for her to press the according button.
As she knew that there wasn't much point in arguing or asking any questions, Haze followed the instruction and pressed the button reading SL27, a bright blue ring appearing around it. The elevator didn't take long to get all those floors down, but when the doors opened in front of her again, her surroundings had changed significantly.
While the first level of the building had obviously been nothing more but the entrance area, this section here was clearly a medical ward, with rows of med beds behind glass walls to both sides of the corridor that was leading away from the elevator.
She could see medical staff tending to a couple of patients, but she knew that none of them were the reason why she was here, so she continued down the hallway instead. After she had passed through a door, she suddenly found herself in a wider, but shorter corridor, with only four beds behind glass in total, two on each side. Going by the medical equipment present here, these cells were clearly restricted to patients with more severe injuries in contrast to the ones before.
As Agent Haze looked around, she quickly realised that three of the four beds were empty, leaving her to approach the fourth one slowly. She already knew whom she was going to see here, but there was still a tight knot in her stomach as she looked at the bandaged figure lying in the bed in front of her; the monster the entire world thought was dead. Curtis Tyler.
To be continued…
A/N: The cockpit scene was for Salkri Kachemench, who requested it ages ago!
You guys can't believe how glad I am that this chapter is out now, because it really became annoying to have to keep Jack's true fate to myself. Lol! I guess if one day I actually do decide to kill him off for real, though, I will have to make an announcement or something, because by that time nobody is going to believe it otherwise. :D
The mystery of Haze's employer is going to be revealed in the next chapter as well, so stay tuned!