Chapter 52 - It Wasn't Supposed To Be Like This

Events of this chapter occur during and after Season 2, Episode 22, and may use dialogue from this episode.

"I don't care where you take them, but they can't stay here." Weaver's tone was hard, determined. "Get them off my ship."

May nodded. "We can secure them at the Playground. Better medical facilities for Coulson there, too."

"I know. The medics say he's stable enough to be moved now." Agent Weaver sighed, relaxing somewhat as the anticipated argument failed to materialize.

"We'll need to make sure we stay in contact while Coulson is recovering," May added calmly. "The council is fairly decimated, but I think between us we can keep things running smoothly until he's fit enough to take over again."

Weaver sighed again but nodded. "We'll have to work something out when he's well, but yes, I agree that for now we should be able to manage."

"I'll give my team the word, then," May replied briskly. With a polite nod, she left the bridge to Weaver. It wouldn't take her team long to gather up records, prisoners and those cases full of crystals. May was in full agreement with Skye; the crystals were too dangerous to keep unsecured, but they couldn't just shatter them all either. Vault B should be secure enough, at least for the short term.

The last trip to the quinjets included Coulson on a stretcher. He was deeply asleep, under heavy medication to make the transition easier on him. Coulson and the cases of crystals were on one jet and the prisoners on the other. Skye and Lincoln would watch over him, while Brock kept a watchful eye on Cal and the Inhumans.

Thankfully, the journey was uneventful. Alisha was still spitting mad, but Lincoln had suggested putting the inhibitor gauntlets that Jiaying and Gordon had put on Skye on the redhead, and it did seem to have restricted her from cloning. Brock wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating her, though. The redhead was a dangerous opponent even without her ability.

"Fuck off," she snarled at him as he came over to detach her from the quinjet's prisoner securing points.

Brock shrugged at Alisha, pulling her to her feet. "Frankly, you can sleep here on the metal floor for all I care. But SHIELD are more into giving you a bed and three square meals a day while they decide what to do with you."

Alisha scowled at him, but she also allowed him to tow her along to Vault D without resisting. May followed along silently; managed the screens as Brock sent Alisha to her knees and unfastened her cuffs before releasing the inhibitor bands.

"You can clone yourself inside the barrier if you want to," he said quietly, "but I wouldn't recommend trying to pass through it if I were you. Your every move will be watched anyway." He nodded towards a surveillance camera in an upper corner of the vault.

She glared at him, her eyes snapping hate, but nodded grudgingly, waited until he'd stepped back and May had raised the screen again before peeling the gauntlets off and throwing them aside.

"Do you think she'll come around?" May asked quietly as they left the Vault.

"I've no idea," Brock admitted. "I've only exchanged a few words with her before today. We'll need to understand her motives, why she chose to follow along with Jiaying's plan. Perhaps she'll talk to Skye, when she's feeling better."

"I thought Skye would be here for this."

"She's taking Cal to secure quarters. He's cooperating, so we didn't see any need to put him in a holding cell. I believe Lincoln will be quartered nearby; he'll have an escort, as any non-SHIELD guest would, but he's not a bad kid."

"That's the one who helped us on the ship, right? The medic?"

Brock nodded. "His attitude is a lot like Skye's; there's little he won't do to protect people he cares about, but what Jiaying was planning went too far beyond that. He's not a killer."

May accepted the comparison without a word, just considering the situation. There was a lot of potential in the Inhumans, and doubtless Coulson had some ideas already.

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Lincoln waited in the hall with the guards while Skye got Cal settled into his room. When she emerged and they continued down the hall, he noticed that some of the guards still followed. "So, are we all prisoners now?" he asked, his tone defensive.

"Of course not." Skye shook her head. "All non-agents have an escort while on base. Among other things, this place is huge and with an escort you never get lost. Here," she held out a key card. When he took it, she nodded to the reader beside the door. "This will let you into your room anytime. It will also let you into the gym and the base's leisure areas, should they be locked. We're mostly pretty casual, and not a lot of people lock their offices or whatever unless they're not there."

Lincoln swiped the key and walked into the room. Skye leaned against the doorway. "It's not much, but at least the beds are comfortable."

"How long do I have to stay here?" he asked.

"You don't. If you really want to leave, I'll arrange transport to get you home, wherever that is for you. But I'm hoping you'll stay, at least for a while."

"Why?"

Skye sighed and stepped into the room so their conversation could stay private. "Two reasons. Firstly, I'd like your help. I don't want our people to be counted enemies of SHIELD - or of anyone, really. I know most of them weren't involved in my mom's vendetta. Also, with her and Gordon gone - how do we go about figuring out who has the potential to change? We have the crystals; we can still make it happen if people want to. You know way more about the Inhumans, and being an Inhuman, than I do, Lincoln."

Lincoln just stared at her. "I didn't think SHIELD would let us continue to change people. To train them, to teach them about what they are and what they could be."

"SHIELD doesn't actually have anything against people with powers," Skye replied with a smile. "As long as we don't use them to hurt people, Director Coulson is willing to live and let live. I'd like to see it be more than that, though, if possible. If we can put together a system to keep tabs on our own people I think he'll be willing to work with us, especially if we can help against other people with strange powers or artificially created super powers."

"Will he let us have Afterlife back? All our equipment is there, and we really do need the isolation to train people with dangerous powers."

Skye shrugged. "I can talk to Coulson about it. I know he'll agree that we can't really train people here; it didn't work so well for Brock and I." She smirked and he laughed.

"Alright, Skye. I'll… give this a chance. But… what about the Index?"

"What about it?"

"Will you force everyone onto it?"

"What is is that you specifically object to?" Skye asked after a moment. "It seemed to me that mom and Gordon knew every Inhuman and all their powers. You certainly had enough medical information on Brock and I when we were there. What's the difference?"

That made Lincoln pause, and he thought about it for a long moment. "I guess because I trusted them. It didn't bother me that our people knew about each other."

"Would you feel better if the Index were similarly restricted? If it were limited to, say, the governing council and whoever they assign as liaison to the Inhumans?"

"What makes you think they'd do that?"

Skye smiled. "Coulson really is a decent man, you know. If we can bring him good, solid reasons to do something like that then he will at least consider it."

"I… guess we'll see, then." Lincoln sighed. "For so long, we believed that SHIELD was the enemy. Get tangled up with them and they'll run you through a million tests and then put us all on the Index. If they didn't just kill us outright."

Skye shook her head. "Maybe under the old SHIELD, when so much of the organization was made up of HYDRA infiltrators. But not anymore. We're different now."

Lincoln chewed on his lip thoughtfully, pacing slowly around the room. "I think I can trust you, Skye. And Brock. But the others - you'll have to give me some time."

"We can do that. As long as you aren't being actively antagonistic - as long as you'll help us with Alisha, for a start, maybe try to talk her down - then I can pretty much guarantee that nobody here will have a problem with you. And if they do, they can take it up with me."

Lincoln looked at her - small, fierce, bloodied and grieving - and nodded slowly. "Thank you."

Skye gave him a wry little smile. "You're welcome. I'll send someone by with some clean clothes for you."

All she really wanted was to fall into bed with Brock and sleep in his arms for about a week. But there was at least one thing that she had to do first.

She found Jemma fussing over Phil in the medical bay. Phil was deeply asleep again, and Jemma was examining the stump of his arm, tears running down her cheeks.

"He saved hundreds of lives, Jemma," Skye said quietly.

"Oh, Skye," Jemma flung herself at her friend, and the two girls hugged tightly. "I'm so glad you're all right," Jemma mumbled into her hair. "Please don't go away like that again. When Rumlow came back without you, I thought… I don't know what I thought… just please don't."

"I'll try." They stayed clasped tightly together for several minutes, and then Skye asked quietly, "How's Bobbi?"

"Oh," Jemma's tears broke free again and began to slide down her cheeks. "She's - she's pretty bad. Her left lung was collapsed and badly damaged, and her knee - I did my best but I think she's going to need a new knee joint."

Skye's own tears joined Jemma's. "I can't believe that Ward would do that."

"I can," Jemma said fiercely. "I'm so angry with myself, if I'd just managed to kill him instead of Bakshi in that HYDRA base…"

"What?" Skye gasped. "You killed Bakshi?"

Jemma hesitated only a moment before nodding. "Rumlow didn't tell you? He saw it. I was trying for Ward. And I wish I'd managed it, because then Bobbi wouldn't be at death's door and Hunter wouldn't have completely fallen apart because he loves her so much." She began to re-wrap Coulson's stump deftly, not looking at Skye.

Skye hugged herself silently, watching Jemma as she carefully tucked Coulson's arm back under the bedcovers and checked his monitors before turning to Skye.

"Do you want to see Bobbi?" Jemma asked quietly.

"I think I should. I - the last time I saw her - I might have killed someone."

"Agent Calderon? He's not dead."

Skye sighed with relief as Jemma led her to another medical suite, where they found Hunter asleep in the chair by Bobbi's bed. From the dirty combat gear and the thick growth of stubble, Skye suspected he hadn't moved from that spot since they arrived back at the base.

Bobbi's face looked almost grey. Blood plasma was transfusing into her through an IV in her arm; Jemma told Skye quietly that she'd lost a dangerous amount of blood. Bobbi's eyes opened slightly as she heard voices, and she blinked a little blearily at them before recognising Skye. Her blue eyes opened wider, cracked dry lips parted, and she whispered;

"I tried to stop him…"

"Shh," Skye hurried to her side, leaning close. "Please, Bobbi. It's okay, I'm okay. I'm - I'm so sorry this has happened."

"My own fault," Bobbi whispered.

"No it fucking well wasn't," Hunter growled, and Skye looked across to see the former mercenary's eyes open as he sat up straight. "You followed orders, nothin' more, and you had no way to know Palamas would be caught up, nor that she'd been brainwashed when you saw her working with HYDRA. Ward, that fucking maniac, and his crazy bitch of a girlfriend, they're so far off the fuckin' deep end..." he shook his head, skin drawn tight across his cheekbones. "I'm going after them as soon as I'm sure you're not going to die on me, angel."

"Hunter, no," Bobbi whispered, and to Skye's horror she saw tears starting in the older agent's blue eyes. "I can't lose you. I didn't take a bullet for you, just to lose you now…"

"You won't lose me," the hard-bitten Brit said gently, his fingers ghosting lightly over his ex-wife's bruised cheek. "You won't get rid of me that easy."

Skye sensed Brock's presence well before he spoke, but he hadn't made a sound entering the room and everyone else jumped. "Good to hear, Hunter."

"Rums," Hunter didn't remove his hand from Bobbi's face, and she rolled her head slowly to the side and kissed his fingertips. "You up for a hunt soon?"

Brock's smile was white and vicious. "Sure. Gotta get everything squared away here and we'll go."

"Men," Skye said to Bobbi, who returned a weak smile.

"At least they'll look out for each other. Wouldn't want Hunter to walk into that alone, but with Rumlow to watch his back…" her voice trailed off as her eyes drifted closed.

"She's fine," Jemma reassured Hunter as he instantly looked panicky. "Just weak and exhausted, and on some pretty strong painkilling medication. I'm surprised she woke up at all."

"Hmm," Hunter was about to sink back into his chair when Brock's strong hand closed firmly on his shoulder.

"Go shower. You stink."

"Love you too."

"I'm not kidding, Hunter. Plus you've still got Bobbi's blood all over you. Go wash it off, it's fucking unhygienic." He could see the torn expression on Hunter's face, his desperate need not to leave Bobbi's side, the fear that if he did, she would die while he was gone. "She's stable now, isn't she, Simmons?"

"She is, and I promise I won't leave her until you get back."

Hunter huffed then nodded. "Alright, darlin'," he said to Jemma quietly. "I won't be gone long." He looked back up at Skye and Rumlow. "Skye, love, you look knackered. If I have to take a break, so do you."

Skye chuckled wryly and nodded her agreement. "Come on, then." She tucked one hand into Hunter's arm and one into Brock's and tugged them out of the medical area. He wasn't wrong and she knew it. She was holding on by sheer determination at this point. But she'd done what needed to be done and the rest of her team wouldn't thank her for neglecting herself.

Skye and Rumlow left Hunter at the door to his quarters, making him promise to get something to eat as well even if he took it back to Bobbi's room with him. "I promise, I promise," he answered, laughing. "And I'm glad you're back," he said in a softer tone, looking from Skye to Rumlow and back again. "This place isn't the same without you." Skye smiled softly and nodded.

"I'm glad you're okay. And we'll help Bobbi get back on her feet too," Skye promised. Hunter nodded and disappeared into his room.

With a soft sigh, Skye leaned on Brock for the short walk back to their room. Brock didn't ask if she was alright; he knew she wasn't. She put on a good show for her friends and teammates, but she couldn't hide from him. Under better circumstances she couldn't fool them for long either, but no one was at their best at the moment. Not with the various injuries and consequences of the past few weeks.

With the door closed and locked behind them, Skye took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She took the few steps over to the bed and let Brock tug her gently into his lap. As his arms closed around her, she let go of the tight control she had over her emotions.

Tears welled in her eyes as she pressed closer to him and it wasn't long before she began to sob despondently. Brock just held her, comforting her as best he could with his presence both physically and mentally; he didn't try to hush her, knowing how badly she needed to vent her grief. It wasn't supposed to be like this! she wailed silently, unable to get her breath enough to speak aloud.

"I know, sweetheart," he whispered back as she clung to him.

She would've killed me! And our team, our friends… our family. Why? Because we wouldn't let her wipe out normal humans? But that's insane! Brock was silent, just held her a little tighter. She cried wordlessly for a while longer.

"Why?" she whispered as her crying tapered off. "Why couldn't she try to see my side? Why… why couldn't she love me…"

"I think she did, sweetheart. But what she went through… it messed her up so badly that she never recovered. Not really. Some people are like that, love. They seem perfectly fine until confronted with the cause of their problem, or until someone - anyone - tries to stop them."

Skye shivered. "I couldn't… couldn't let her. But I couldn't stop her. Not once she had me like that. I couldn't think, couldn't use my power against her even while she was killing me. And then… then…" She stopped, unable to go on as the tears began to flow again.

"Your father loves you, too, Skye," Brock answered soothingly. "I think on some level he always knew Jiaying lost some essential part of her humanity during Whitehall's experiments. And in the end, he chose you and your life over hers."

"I know," Skye whispered. "I wish he hadn't had to. I should've been stronger, faster…"

"You can't blame yourself," Brock broke in. "You were barely born when everything began going wrong for them. If it had been anyone other than you in her way, they would've died a lot sooner. Like Raina did. Your mom held herself back because it was you, hoping you'd understand in the end, I'm sure. I think she started off just wanting to make the world safe for you, she just - maybe she just lost sight of that."

She shook her head. "I would never have wanted that. Never would've been able to forgive her, if she'd succeeded."

"But she didn't. And now she's at peace, love. You have to believe that; she's free from the pain, both physical and mental. Now she can watch over you and really understand."

Skye blinked at him, pulling back just a bit. "You really believe that?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I suppose I do. I've lost enough friends and teammates over the years. It helps to think that they're better off in whatever afterlife they've found."

With a deep, shaky breath, Skye finally managed to relax. A wave of exhaustion rolled over her, and Brock laid her gently down on the bed as he felt her go limp. He lifted her legs to unlace and remove her boots, setting them aside as she snuggled into the pillows. "Rest, now," he soothed her gently.

"Stay with me?" she asked, cracking her eyes open to give him a pleading look.

"Always," he promised her. She smiled just a little and her eyes drifted closed as sleep took her. "I'll never leave you alone to deal with your pain, love," he whispered into the quiet room. "Never."

The more observant among you may notice something that's been updated above… the final chapter count at 67, which will be 66 chapters plus an Epilogue. Yes, after about 6 months of work, we've finally just about finished writing the story!