Fractured Glass

by caffeinenut

What if season 3 had gone a bit differently? What if Coulson and Daisy had been at odds with each other? What if Ward had seen the error of his ways and was trying to change? What if Lash had just been poorly misunderstood? What if Hive had possessed another person? My take on season 3.

3. Power Expansions

Part 3: Power Expansions

It appeared to May as if Andrew wasn't home. She stood behind a tree, across the street from his house, just staring at it. She was waiting for Skye and Ward to arrive so they could confront Andrew together. Maybe get him to talk about what was happening, to get him to come quietly, before the ATCU and SHIELD discovered who he was and came for him, guns blazing.

She looked behind her when she heard someone approach from out in the darkness. It was Skye. The younger woman came up to her and grabbed her and pulled her into one of her hard, squeezing, full body hugs. If May was honest with herself, she knew she missed Skye's hugs. There were not many people she allowed to touch her like that, but Skye was one of them. May returned the hug, a little less forcefully, but held on just the same.

"Where's Ward?" May asked, when they had released each other.

"Circling around from the other side. We decided it best to check from both angles. He'll be here in a moment. I think he held up to give us a moment alone," Skye said shyly, suddenly looking at the ground.

"Why?" May asked, suddenly suspicious. "What do you need to tell me that you can't tell me with Ward here?"

"I wasn't sure I was going to tell you. Not yet, anyway, especially with why we're here...but I'm not sure if I'll get a chance later on...with everything that's going on...and I wanted to tell you in person...and this is something you might, well, glare at him for, or threaten him...or actually kill him...so, um...it's better he isn't here, I think..."

"Skye," May said, calmly, trying to bury her exasperation at her protege's rambling. "Just tell me what it is."

"Yeah, okay..."

"Did he hurt you? Is that why he's being a coward about facing me with this news?"

"Oh, no, no, May, nothing like that," Skye quickly reassured. "It's just...well...I'm not sure how you'll take the news...but I know how much you love me, so I know you won't hurt me...but him? Not sure..."

"Skye, are you about to tell me you're pregnant?"

"What?" Skye practically shouted. "Oh, no. Hell no. So not ready for that...No, um..."

"We've decided to get married," Ward said, coming out of the shadows.

"Married?" May questioned, stunned. Normally, she thought of all outcomes and wasn't surprised by much. But this, this surprised her. She had never pictured Ward as the married man type. Honestly, she had figured Skye wasn't exactly that type of person either, at least not this soon. But, then again, no one ever thought of her as someone who would ever get married, and yet she had an ex-husband, one she had been happily married to for several years before her trauma pushed them apart.

"May, you're too quiet, even for you," Skye said, trying to break the somber mood. "You're not plotting Grant's death, are you?"

"What? No. I'm just surprised, and for once, speechless," May admitted. "This was probably the last thing I ever expected you to tell me. Especially with what's going on." She looked at Skye, seeing happiness in her face, tinged with hope, and a little bit of apprehension. May knew the apprehension was due to her. Skye was waiting for her approval of her choice, approval she wasn't sure she was going to get.

"I'm happy for you two," May said, smiling. "You two take care of each other. I'm not sure why I find this so surprising. Maybe it's because I have a hard time thinking of you as anything other than my kid. You, Fitz, and Simmons will always be kids to me."

AOSAOSAOS

Coulson was worried about May. More worried than he had been in a long time. Usually, if she needed some time alone, she'd tell him, or at least text him, before disappearing. Like she had last year after the fallout from the other SHIELD and the Inhumans from Afterlife. Not this time.

It had been four since Lincoln and Fitz had made their startling revelation about Lash. And May was nowhere to be found. She hadn't turned up for that meeting, and she hadn't checked in or returned any of his calls or texts. In fact, no one had heard from her or seen her a few days. She was missing. A deep fear had set up in Coulson mind. A fear that the reason they couldn't reach May was because Andrew/Lash had gotten to her already.

If that were the case, then there might be no way to reach her. She could even be dead by now. And he would probably never know. It wasn't as if Andrew would admit to him what he had done, or who he was becoming. Even though Coulson knew that was the case, he had half a mind to call Andrew and see if he could get any information out of him.

Suddenly, a bit of cold dread went through Coulson. Skye. What if she was a target now? Andrew...Lash...was tracking and killing Inhumans. Skye was Inhuman, and had regular contact with Andrew. What if the man...monster...was biding his time and waiting until he was alone with Skye to take her out? How much danger was she in? Could he have already gotten to her, and that was why May was missing? Would anyone even tell him if something happened to Skye?

Grabbing his cell phone, he pulled up Skye's number and hit call. He had to hear her voice, know that she was okay. And maybe she could tell him if she'd been in contact with May lately, give him piece of mind on that front as well.

His call went straight to voicemail. Dammit, he thought. Not helpful on any front. Now he was even more worried. The few times he'd try to call Skye, it had never gone directly to voicemail. She hadn't picked up, but it had at least rang a few times. He figured, once she saw it was him on caller ID, she'd sent the call to her voicemail, choosing not to speak to him. But now? Why was her phone off? Terrible thoughts, terrible scenarios, ran through his head, and he had a hard time making his mind stop. Deciding he needed another perspective, or at least another person to try to reach Skye, Coulson left his office to find Fitz. Maybe the scientist could reach her another way, or better yet, know why Skye wasn't answering.

Coulson found Fitz in the common room, wolfing down some hot oatmeal and scrolling around on Facebook. Simmons was sitting at the other end of the table with a cup of either tea or coffee in front of her, deep in conversation with Bobbi. He sat down across from Fitz and coughed to get his attention. The younger man looked up and scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion.

"Coulson, you need something?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. I need to run something by you, and maybe you have a way to help. I'm worried about May. She hasn't contacted me, and even though she might take off to deal with something, she at least lets me know. But not this time," Coulson started to explain. "It's been days. Way too long for her to not communicate something back."

"You think she found out about Dr. Garner and what? She's his prisoner or something?" Fitz asked, suddenly sounding worried. At his tone, both Simmons and Bobbi came over to see if it was something they could help with.

"Maybe. So I tried to contact Skye, both to warn her about Andrew and to see if she's talked with May recently, and the call went right to voicemail. It's never done that before. Usually it rings first..."

"Until she sends it to voicemail herself," Simmons finished for Coulson. "I tried to call her as soon as we found out about Dr. Garner and the same thing happened to my call."

"Well, depending on what she was doing, she still might be dark," Fitz informed them.

"Dark? She's running an op?" Coulson asked.

Fitz nodded. "I think so. Lincoln spoke to her a few days before he figured out Dr. Garner was Lash. She told him she was going dark. It could be that she still is right now."

"How long ago was this?" Bobbi asked, concerned like the rest of them.

Fitz shrugged. "Not sure. I didn't ask for exact dates and times from Lincoln, but he said several days before he figured it all out."

"Several days!" Coulson practically yelled. "Anything could have happened to Skye and we wouldn't even know! Do you have a contact number for Ward? Maybe we can reach him? We need to warn them about Andrew."

Fitz shook his head. "No, I don't have a number for Ward, sorry. The few times I've actually spoken to Ward has been through Skye's phone."

"You've spoken to Ward?" Bobbi asked, cautiously. "How'd he sound?"

"Normal," Fitz replied, shoveling some more oatmeal into his mouth. "Ward's...normal now. Changed. Actually," Fitz said, smiling at something only he remembered or understood, "he's funny. Last time we spoke he told me a joke that..." Fitz broke off, seeing the expressions on the others' faces. "I mean it, he's good now."

"Look, Fitz, you may have jumped on the 'Ward is good' bandwagon, but the rest of us might need some time, and you talking about him like he's your new best friend...it's uncomfortable," Simmons tried to say as tactfully as she could. "I mean, he's still the same man who dropped us into the ocean and kidnapped and tortured Bobbi."

"Fair enough, I won't bring it up, as long as you don't keep harping on Ward manipulating Skye in my presence," Fitz hedged.

"Can we get back to topic?" Coulson asked, exasperated. "We need to warn Skye about Andrew, and she's not answering her phone."

Fitz took a deep breath. "There may be another way. But if she's not answering her phone, she might not be using the internet..."

"Email?" Bobbi guessed.

Fitz shook his head. "No. Dropbox. Skye set up a secure drop box for me and her to use to share information, set meeting times, give updates. Email was too easy for you guys to get information from, since you can demand access to mine," Fitz admitted.

"So how does this drop box work?" Coulson asked.

"One of us leaves a message or document or something and the other's phone pings, letting us know that something's in the drop box. It's highly encrypted, so probably impossible for someone to hack it, unless they are better than Skye, and let's face it, probably no one is better than her..."

"And you've been communicating this way? Sharing information?" Coulson said angrily.

"Yeah," Fitz admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm not proud of hiding it, but I'm not sorry we did it."

"So, can you message her to tell her about Andrew?" Coulson asked, knowing he needed to address this secrecy with Fitz, but also knowing right now wasn't the time.

"I already did. As soon as Lincoln told us. I haven't heard back from her...but that's not unusual," he quickly reassured, seeing the fear on their faces. "She sometimes doesn't answer right away. Or she may not be in a place where she can access the drop box safely. My access is through a very complicated, encrypted, pass code. Also location based. Her access is similar, so if she's not in the right location, she won't be able to decrypt the drop box and read my message."

"So, really, we just have to wait," Coulson said unhappily. "May could be dead, Skye could be a target, and we have no way of knowing what's going on or reaching Skye? This isn't sitting well with me."

"We could go pay a visit to Dr. Garner at his home," Bobbi suggested. "Confront him? Or, if he's not home, search his place."

"That thought has been on my mind for four hours," Coulson said. "But I wanted to wait to speak to May first, to see if there might be a way to work with Andrew and get him to turn himself in and work with us. But since I can't seem to find May...it might be the only option."

AOSAOSAOS

May stood in the doorway, in the shadows, waiting for the trespasser to show themselves, so she could beat them. Knock them out. Incapacitate and maybe kill them if necessary. She hoped it wasn't Andrew. She wasn't sure if she could handle seeing him as Lash. She wasn't sure how she would react, what she would do. Could she hurt him? Kill him? What if it became necessary to take him out before he hurt anyone else? Like Skye.

She looked across the hall to the other doorway, where Grant Ward was silently waiting as her backup. Grant Ward. If anyone had told her a year ago she'd be not only working with Ward, but asking him to back her up, she'd have suggested they see her ex-husband for mental illness. Or would have hit them so hard their brain would have reset. But now? Here she was, inside her ex-husband's house, waiting for whoever was sneaking in to appear, with Ward as her backup.

Lucky for May, it wasn't Andrew quietly coming through the door. The arm was too low for Lash and too white for Andrew. And the gun in the hand was an Icer. This was a SHIELD agent. And judging by the color and nails, most likely Hunter. She waited a beat, letting him get a little farther into the room, and then jumped on him, knocking the gun away and pinning his arms behind his back. She forced him down into the wall, pressing his face into the wood paneling. Ward was a step behind her, grabbing the next person in line, shoving him to the ground and pinning him down with his foot, an arm ripped back and held awkwardly behind him. It was Mack.

Bobbi Morse was right behind them and immediately took stock of the situation. "May, what the hell? Where the hell have you been?" she shouted out, then swinging her gun up onto Ward. "And with him?! Let them go!"

May pushed harder, just for a second, and then released the British agent. Ward followed her move and let Mack up as well. "Sorry, wasn't sure who was coming in, unannounced," she said unapologetic. She then looked past Bobbi and saw Coulson, Simmons, and Fitz, as well as Rosalind Price and Banks. So, the whole gang is here, she thought. Great. This isn't going to end well, her internal voice taunted.

"Yeah, I get that, mate, but seriously? Did you have push so hard you broke my nose?" Hunter whined.

"Stop whining, Hunter. She didn't hold you down that hard," Bobbi said quickly. Then she turned back to May. "What are you doing here? And I repeat, with him?!" She was trying hard to avoid looking at Ward. She was mostly successful. But she could feel her heart rate and breathing increasing just at the thought of him being near her, with a weapon. She used all her training to block those thoughts, and keeping him in her peripheral vision, she focused on May. She was ever so glad when Hunter came over and gently took hold of her hand, giving it a squeeze. And when Mack stood up and positioned himself between her and Ward.

"This is my ex-husband's place," May said as if the answer was obvious.

"Yes, and I've been trying to reach you for a few days. You went AWOL and then we find you here." Coulson stared at May for a few heartbeats as he pushed past Bobbi, Hunter, and Mack to reach her. "You know, don't you," he said quietly, as sympathetically as he could.

Coulson didn't need to elaborate on what. May knew what he was talking about. Andrew. Lash. One and the same. She still couldn't get her mind around it. But the evidence was staring her in the face. Literally. She'd seen the leftover husk of rock in Andrew's study. The room that Skye was currently going through, while May had volunteered to check out the visitors, asking Ward to come with her just in case. She couldn't stay in that room a moment longer.

"Yes," May answered softly. "That's why I have Ward as backup. I thought you might be him...as Lash."

At that moment, Ward turned back down the hall toward the study and called out loudly, "It's everybody but."

"Copy that," came back a female voice. A female voice, that to all of them, sounded eerily like Skye.

"Is that Skye?" Bobbi asked. "You called her in on this, too? I guess we shouldn't be too surprised on that, since he is here," she said angrily, indicating Ward with a lift of her chin. "Wait, how did you know when we only just found out a few hours ago?"

May shrugged. "Actually Skye called me. To tell me. She figured it out days ago..."

"Right as you disappeared," Coulson finished. "She told you and you didn't want us to know?"

"Hey," Ward interrupted, drawing back May's attention. "You good here?" When she nodded he turned and mockingly saluted everyone, and then walked back down the hallway in the direction he had called out earlier. In a few seconds, he opened a door and walked through, shutting it behind him.

Once Ward was gone, May continued her explanation. "I wanted to see if it was the truth for myself, before I got SHIELD and the ATCU involved."

"You're worried that the ATCU won't be so...understanding," Mack guessed.

May nodded. "Or SHIELD. I had to know first. And I had to have people with me who wouldn't shoot first."

"What do you mean?" Simmons spoke up for the first time. "Not shoot first? Isn't that usually Ward's MO?"

May shook her head. "I didn't want anyone who would possibly shoot Andrew before we had the whole story. Skye and Ward were least likely of everyone to pull the trigger just because...he's different now."

"May," Coulson said, softly, placating as best he could. "No one here would shoot Andrew unless they were in imminent danger..."

"Like with Skye, right?" May cut him off scathingly. "Sorry, Phil, but I don't trust your new friends, even if they are trying to help us take down Hydra. I don't trust them with Andrew, and definitely not with Skye."

No one knew how to reply to that statement. They all just stared at May, and she stared right back, not giving an inch. There was no way she was going to give on the lives of the two most important people in her life. Even if that meant working with and protecting Ward. Even if that meant working independently and going against Coulson and SHIELD.

Uncomfortable with the silence, Hunter said loudly, "Well, this is awkward."

"Way to state the obvious," Mack said under his breath.

May frowned. "I never thought you'd figure this out," she said softly, conscious of how upset everyone seemed to be with her hiding this from them and working with Skye and Ward behind their backs. "I thought Skye, Ward, and I would find the truth and then I would report back to SHIELD. I'm sorry you're in this position now."

"Lincoln figured out it was someone in SHIELD. Someone with access to Jiaying's material. Coulson was ruled out, since he lost his arm and all instead of changing. So that left Skye and Dr. Garner. And Skye can't simultaneously be herself and Lash and attack herself. Sorry, May, but your ex is a homicidal monster," Bobbi informed her.

"I know," was all May said in response. She stayed rooted to the spot.

After a moment, Hunter became frustrated with the silence and the standing around. "We gonna go in there or what?"

"Why do you need to go in there? Andrew's not here, so there's no reason for you to be here," May said bluntly.

"May," Coulson said softly, once again trying to placate her. "We need all the information he has. All of the books and papers from Jiaying. We think that is how he's been tracking down all the Inhumans."

"Probably," May said simply, refusing to let them by.

"May," Coulson said, a bit of a warning creeping into his voice, even a little annoyance.

"Is there any reason you won't let us by?" Price asked, speaking up for the first time. "Don't you want us to stop Lash and protect the other Inhumans?"

"If I thought that was what you were going to use the information for, I'd have no problem giving it to you," May replied back.

"May, you can't possibly think..." Coulson started, but May cut him off.

"Oh yes I can. Most of you here haven't given me a reason not to think that."

"Melinda," Coulson pleaded sadly, stepping closer to her in an attempt to keep the others from overhearing, "Don't make me make it an order."

"Do I need to resign, too?" she asked him back, loud enough for everyone else to hear and guess at what he had said.

Sighing, Coulson shook his head. "I'm not going to order you. I know this must be very difficult for you, even if you won't admit it. Just...let us help you. Help us. We all want the same thing in the end. We all want to stop Lash from killing more Inhumans. At least let us help each other do that."

Instead of replying, May shouted out behind her, "Skye! They want Jiaying's writings and logs."

"Hang on a sec."

May stayed in the middle hallway, blocking everyone from going past, staring back and forth between everyone, trying to gauge if they were going to make a move towards her. When no one tried to push past, she wondered if there might be a way to come to terms and work this out together.

Skye appeared a few moments later, hands up in an attempt to show peace. "Hey guys, fancy meeting you here."

"Skye," Coulson said softly, wish and longing appearing in his expression.

"Love the new look," Hunter replied.

"Yeah, fugitive chic looks good on me," Skye shot back. She then ignored everyone else there and turned her attention on May. "You would not believe the stuff we found. It makes my head spin just trying to understand it. I mean, I knew Jiaying lived a long time, but I had no idea how long."

"Any information in there on how to help Andrew?" May questioned.

Skye shrugged and screwed up her face in an expression of frustration. "Who can say. It will literally take me days to go through all that. And most of it is in Chinese. An ancient dialect that my programs can't even identify, let alone translate."

"Do you need me to take a look? Maybe it's just a dialect you don't recognize, not necessarily an ancient one," May said.

Skye shook her head. "No, uh..."

"Ward's already looked?" May guessed.

Skye nodded. "Yeah. And, seriously, I have a program on my laptop that can translate most languages and dialects, even ancient ones. But this one is unrecognizable. I have an underground hacker contact I can tap. He's into linguistics. He might know something or be able to point me in the right direction to get some translations."

"So, you're going to take this stuff with you?" Simmons asked, speaking up. "You can't do that...it's SHIELD property."

Skye smirked. "Finders keepers, losers weepers."

"Skye," May said in a warning tone, letting the younger woman know that she wasn't in the mood for cheeky answers and messing around.

Skye frowned in response. "Okay, okay," she relented. "Look, the main thing here is that Dr. Garner is Lash. It all adds up. The other stuff that Jiaying had...not so important to you, but very important to me. There's no way I'm going to let a tell-all list of Inhumans fall into the hands of the ATCU. And as for the ancient Chinese writings...I'll see what I can get translated and then I'll relay any pertinent information to May or Fitz. For all I know, that information could be cooking recipes."

"Skye," Coulson said, trying hard not to lose his temper, "we all know damn well that's not what that is."

"What can I say? I beat you to the punch. If it had been reversed, would you have shared the information with me?" At their silence, she nodded. "Yeah, didn't think so. Next time, be faster."

"Where are all the Inhumans you stole? Where are you keeping them?" Banks shouted out at Skye from the back of the group stuffed into the hallway.

"Stole?" Skye asked. "You mean the Inhumans we saved from your imprisonment?"

"We didn't imprison them. We put them into stasis to protect them and others," Price started to try to explain, once again.

"Save it," Skye cut in, stopping her. "I've head that story before. The fact is, you imprisoned innocent people because you were afraid of what they could do. Not because they actually did anything."

"We just want to talk, Skye. About the Inhumans you've been saving. That's all. We just want to make sure you are okay," Coulson said calmly.

"And you had to bring the ATCU with you?" she said angrily, body turned away, refusing to meet Coulson's eyes.

May sighed. Great, this was not going well, just as she thought. But, before she could step in and before things got any uglier, Fitz spoke up.

"They are here because they want to stop Hydra as well. With Malick as the head, and his crazy plan, collecting Inhumans was for his benefit..."

Skye cut him off as well. "So, giving them the list of Inhumans is better than keeping it myself? Yeah, not seeing that one. How do I know they won't just turn around and give it to Hydra behind your backs? I mean, they were working with Malick last time I checked."

"We're not with Hydra or Malick," Price said briskly, trying to step in and take control. "Now that we know the full picture, Banks and I are not working with Hydra. Yes, we are still with the ATCU, but we are only there so that we can keep an eye on what Malick is doing, how far he's getting."

"And tell me," a voice came from down the hallway, Ward joining the group of people and the conversation. "How long do you think it will be before Malick realizes you're not capturing Inhumans anymore? Or are you still capturing them to save your own skins?"

"Undercover work requires certain sacrifices..." Banks started to answer.

"Don't lecture me on undercover work and sacrifices," Ward shot back angrily. "I'm not in the mood, and you know exactly who and what I am, and what I do to people who piss me off." He took a deep breath to settle himself and then continued. "The list will stay with Skye, the only person I know who won't misuse it. As for the other information, we'll have it translated and pass on any important information."

"And what about the Inhumans you have?" Price asked again.

Ward let out a bark of laughter and shook his head. "You're really not going to let that go, are you?" He turned to Skye. "Dragon Lady, no. More like a mule...stubborn as hell and doesn't know when to quit."

"Ward," May said, holding up a warning hand. "This isn't helping."

"Look, I'm polite to you and Fitz because you two truly care about Skye and because you're not trying to force her back. And you're polite to me. I'll even be polite to the others from SHIELD because I wasn't a good man back then and understand their scorn and hate. But them? The ATCU bigots? Don't ask me to make nice with them after what they did to Skye."

"Look," Coulson said, sounding tired. "Maybe we can come to a compromise on all this? If we just talk it out a bit?"

May looked to Ward and Skye to gauge their reactions and their willingness to sit and talk with the others. She knew that if Skye refused, then Ward would too, and then they may never be able to get this settled. She knew that Skye held all the cards here, and she also knew that Skye knew this too. So it was really all up to her. Would she be willing to put aside some of her anger and pain to work together with SHIELD and the ATCU to stop Lash and to ultimately stop Hydra again?

Skye shared a look with Ward and it seemed as if a whole conversation was taking place with just their looks. Skye then looked away and briefly caught the eyes of all her old teammates, except Coulson, a move that everyone there noticed but no one chose to comment on. Skye then looked back and Ward and seemed to have another conversation without words. Finally, just as several SHIELD agents were about to speak up simultaneously, Skye cocked her head and indicated that everyone should follow her.

As they all filed into Dr. Garner's living space, they watched Ward go into the kitchen, placing the counter top between him and the others. Skye came to stand beside him, both keeping the counter between them and the others for protection as well as showing the others where they stood.

"So, what do you want to know?" she asked them.

As Price was about to step forward to talk, Coulson grabbed her arm and pulled her back. He gently shook her head at her and then stepped forward himself. "We've seen you two taking Inhumans out of the field and we just want to make sure you're...prepared for them. Even if they don't mean any harm, as you well know, they can be dangerous as they learn their powers. We just want to know that everyone's safe."

"Where are you hiding them?" Price demanded, stepping up next to Coulson, angry that he had taken over and pushed her back.

May turned to Rosalind Price and gave her a dirty look. This was not going to go well if the others demanded answers without listening first. She could see this going south very quickly. This was not the way to approach Skye in this. Direct and demanding would get nowhere.

"Not going to tell you that," Ward responded to Price. "I assure you, all are safe and with us due to their own choice. Unlike those you have." He placed a hand on Skye's shoulder. "They are free to come and go as they please, where we have left them."

"So you have a facility of your own?" Banks asked, joining the conversation.

"In a manner of speaking," Ward replied coolly.

"Can we see this facility?" Price asked, curious as to where they had gotten the funds to set up their own operation.

Ward shook his head. "No."

"We're just worried," Simmons said, trying to interject some calm into the conversation. "We just want to make sure you're safe, Skye."

"I am," Skye replied back, no emotion whatsoever in her voice.

The two sides just stared down at each other after that, neither speaking, neither making a move to leave. The uncomfortable silence was getting to Fitz. He hated seeing Skye as such odds with everyone else. He decided he needed to break this uncomfortable situation. So he just walked around the counter and grabbed Skye, pulling her into a hug. He felt her hesitate, go rigid, and he thought quickly that he had done the wrong thing. He was about to let her go and apologize, when he felt her suddenly relax and wrap her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. They stood like that for a few minutes, neither one caring that the others were all staring. It just felt good to finally hug each other again and reaffirm their friendship.

"Did you come here to lecture me or try to get me to give up the Inhumans, too?" Skye asked in a soft voice.

"Nope," Fitz replied. "I didn't even know you were going to be here. I came to see if there was something I could find on Dr. Garner's computer to help him. Or find him." Fitz pulled way from Skye and then looked at Ward. He offered his hand. "I appreciate you looking after my friend. Thank you."

Ward hesitated for a second, then shook Fitz's outstretched hand. "You're welcome. It's actually something I want to do. No need to thank me."

Once Fitz had broken the silence, things seemed to get a bit better. Ward gestured to the living room, offering to sit with them in a more comfortable way so they could all talk. Coulson, Simmons, and Rosalind Price sat on one end of the sectional couch, while May and Fitz slid to the middle, and Bobbi sat on the other end, Hunter standing next to her, staying close. Mack and Banks preferred to stand behind the couch. Skye sat in the arm chair, and Ward sat on the arm, keeping close and keeping a hand on her shoulder.

"So, what exactly do you want to know," Skye started off the conversation.

"We know you've been getting to Inhumans out in the public, taking them from us, as well as one from a Hydra team," Price started off. "We can't figure out how, though." When she got no response, just blank stares from both Skye and Ward, she continued, "And we have no idea where or how you are hiding them. We'd like to know where they are, in case something were to happen. To go wrong."

"Nothing is going to go wrong. Nothing we can't handle, anyway," Skye told her. She turned to Coulson, a flash of anger in her eyes. "Why are they still allies, after everything?"

"They are working with us now to expose Malick and Hydra. Price, Banks, they're not Hydra. They had no idea, until May brought back the information Ward gave her at the park. Hydra is the greater threat, especially with the possibility of them bringing back this super powered being," Coulson said calmly. "Plus, there's Lash. The ATCU has the better equipment for bringing him in."

"You mean the Inhuman catching and killing guns, right?" Skye snapped back, subconscioulsy, reaching behind herself to rub her back. Ward quickly noticed and replaced her hand with his own, rubbing gently.

"We want all of us to work together on this," Coulson said gently, leaning forward towards Skye.

For the first time since they had all arrived, uninvited, Skye turned her eyes to Coulson. What he saw in them took him aback. She wasn't warm or welcoming. She wasn't mischievous or sparkling with laughter. Or even calm and collected. No, her eyes were filled with anger, and hurt. And maybe, to Coulson's surprise, a little bit of hate.

"When you say all of us, does that include Grant?" Skye asked, a hard edge in her voice.

Coulson hesitated and sat back, pursing his lips. He wasn't sure how to answer that. But his hesitation seemed to have answered it for Skye anyway.

"Oh, I see. You'll work with the people who tried to kill me, but not with the person who saved me. You'll only work with him if it benefits you, or if it is your idea first. You expect me to work with people who tried to kill me, but won't ask anyone else to do the same. Got it. Thanks, but no thanks. We're done talking here." She stood up abruptly, practically causing Grant to fall off the arm of the chair. "Thanks for not shooting us this time. We gotta do this again never."

"Skye, don't..." Mack started to say, walking towards her. But she put her hands up, telling him to stay where he was. Mack wisely followed her directive. He stayed put, but tried again, "I think we could work something out...I'm not sure what, but maybe..." He trailed off when he saw her shake her head.

"It's too late for that, Mack. I'm sorry, but I just can't work with the ATCU. Or SHIELD right now. Too much has happened and I just..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "It's like a glass mirror, you know. And now, with one hit, it's in pieces. Shattered. And even if you sit there and try to glue all the pieces back together, there will still be tiny shards missing, and all the cracks will show. It can't be fixed. It can't go back to what it was."

"I know that the ATCU tried to hurt you. I know it shook your trust in all of us," Coulson tried to reason.

"Tried to hurt me?" Skye shot back, incredulously. "They freaking tried to kill me, Coulson. Not hurt. Kill. And you let them."

"I didn't know they were going to do that..." Coulson tried to reason, voice quiet, eyes sad, only to be cut off by Skye.

"Bullshit. All the signs were there. Hell, the others saw it, too. But you were a blind fool, and it nearly cost me my life. Sorry, but I am so not going down that road again."

"So, if we stop working with the ATCU, you'll come back?" Coulson asked. "Is that the only thing keeping you away?"

"No, not completely. This happened well before the ATCU," Skye shot back. "That was just the final punch that made all the pieces fall apart. The cracks were there already."

"I'm not sure I'm following, Skye. Are you talking about me asking you to work with the ATCU? I'm really trying to understand this, here," Coulson almost pleaded with Skye. "I don't know what happened, where we all went wrong. I thought we were doing well, and then I find out you're sneaking off to see Ward, and then resigning from SHIELD. I don't know what to do and think, Skye."

Skye let out a sardonic laugh. "You really have no idea, do you?"

"Because you haven't told him," Grant said softly, reaching out and taking Skye's hand. "You need to talk about this and tell him."

"Ward's right," May joined in, getting up from the chair and coming over to Skye. "He needs to know so you both can work past this."

Skye shut her eyes and began shaking her head vigorously. "No. If he can't figure it out, that's his problem," she said angrily. "I don't feel like sharing."

"Skye," Coulson said sadly, pleading, tears coming to the forefront. "Please, tell me what's wrong so that we can fix it. I care about you and I hate seeing you in so much pain, especially if it is something I did or can help with."

"You care about me?" Skye asked with a sardonic laugh. "No you don't."

Confused and fighting back tears, Coulson went on, "Yes, I do. I don't understand this, where all this is coming from, but I do care about you, Skye. That's why I am here."

"Then why did you just leave me there?!" Skye demanded. "Why did you take me there at all?!"

Coulson looked at her, confused. He wasn't sure what she was trying to say, to tell him. "I'm not following," he admitted carefully, not wanting to upset Skye even more.

"You left me at that place in the middle of nowhere, alone, after my powers, scared out of my mind, with no plan in place. With no information. Nothing!"

"You're talking about the Retreat?" Coulson said, suddenly remembering a conversation he'd had with May several months ago. May had said she and Ward thought that one event was the start of much of Skye's hurt and anger. "I thought you...it was to protect you. You know that, Skye."

"But you left me there! All alone! You didn't stay, and you didn't even let anyone else stay with me! You left me all alone, isolated, and afraid! That's not the actions of someone who cares! That's someone who doesn't want you anymore!" Skye shouted at Coulson, tears streaming down her face. "Or the actions of someone trying to control or manipulate someone else! Make them dependent! Like someone else we both knew!"

"Seriously? You're going to compare me and you to Garrett and Ward?" Coulson shot back, then immediately regretting it. He had promised himself, the next time he was able to see and speak with Skye, that he wouldn't get angry, that he wouldn't take anything Skye said too personally. That he would really listen and try to see it from her perspective. He was finding it hard to keep his promise. "Skye," he said softly, reaching out for her. "I don't want to fight. I don't want to be on opposite sides. I want us to work on this, fix this, so that we can be a team again. You and me."

Skye just stood there, shaking her head sadly, tears running down her face. "It's too late for that," she all but whispered. Then she just turned and walked away, heading out the back door.

Stunned silence filled the room as everyone glanced around at each other, trying to make sense of what had just happened. It was several minutes before anyone spoke.

"What the hell just happened?" Banks asked loudly.

"Progress," Ward replied, staring after Skye.

Nobody spoke again, until Fitz asked, "Do you think I can go out there after her? Do you think it might help?"

Ward shrugged. "I don't think that's a good idea right now, even if it's you, Fitz. She just..." Ward sighed, not able to finish his sentence. "I think it's time we got going." He turned to May. "We have the material we need. We'll get it translated somehow. If it gives us any information of where to find him, or how, you'll be our first call. In the meantime, if you encounter Lash again..."

"Yes," May nodded at Ward. "I know what to do."

Ward nodded back, then turned and followed Skye's path to the back door.

"Wait!" someone called out. "You're just going to leave now? With all that information? Information that belongs to SHIELD? Information we need?"

Ward stopped and turned, trying to figure out who had spoken. Giving up, he just addressed the whole group. "Yes, I am. Right now, SHIELD and the ATCU having this information is just as bad as Hydra having it. I've seen no evidence it is any safer with you than Hydra. But it is safe with me and Skye." He then turned again and walked out the door, making sure that it closed quietly behind him, despite his need to slam it to make a point.

AOSAOSAOS

The remaining people in Andrew Garner's living room just stared, speechless, at the door where the two others had departed. No one knew what to say to make this situation better. No one knew what to say to calm each others' fears. No one knew what to say to change the outcome of what had just happened.

"So, that's it then?" Hunter finally broke the silence. He was never one who could stand uncomfortable silences. He knew he often said something too insensitive or stupid in these cases, but he felt saying something was better than the silence.

No one answered for a moment. Then Coulson stood up and said, "No, that's not it." He then marched toward the door and flung it open, searching in the dark for the two people who had just left. Luckily he didn't have to go very far. He saw them at the edge of the yard, just standing there.

Steeling himself for whatever fight was about to ensue, he briskly walked up to the two figures in the back of the yard, quickly assessing them the closer he got. The taller figure, Ward, was holding the smaller figure of Skye close to his body, arms wrapped around her. Skye had her head pressed against Ward's chest, arms snaked around his back. Coulson could hear her crying, could she her shaking with each sob. It broke his heart to know she was in this much pain.

They heard his approach and immediately they both turned to face him, jumping apart. Neither having a welcoming expression on their face. Coulson ignored that and came to a stop right in front of them, practically invading their personal space. He watched Skye wipe the tears from her eyes and steel her facial expression, trying to hide how upset she was from him. Something she never used to do. Something he hoped she would never do again.

"I can't leave it like this," he said softly, frowning. "I just..there has to be some way we can...fix this? Anything?" He looked directly to Skye, tears welling up in his eyes. "I don't want to lose you. I don't want us to reach a point where we can't work this out and be a team again. I miss you, Skye. I miss our family. I miss my daughter. I made the wrong decision back then, leaving you at the Retreat. I see that now. I honestly thought I was protecting you from whatever was going to happen. I just assumed you realized that, too. I should have made much more of an effort to explain it to you, help you understand. Or even given you a choice. I'm so sorry I hurt you this badly."

Coulson watched out of his peripheral vision as Ward took a step back, leaving this conversation to just him and Skye. He also watched as Skye's angry face softened during his apology, and then changed to sad and tears started running down her face. But she wasn't running away or telling him to go away, so Coulson took it as a step forward and as an invitation to continue.

"And I was so angry after the fall of Afterlife and what happened, and I think I did take that anger out on you. You didn't deserve that. You did nothing wrong there. That was all me being upset about the second SHIELD, and then...Jiaying...and then I lost my hand, and then May left...I had never felt so lost, so unbalanced, and it angered me. And I see now that I made you a target, instead of a comfort. And it made me blind to the hurt and pain you were going through. You needed someone. You needed me, and I was so awful to you. That...I'm not sure I can ever make up for that, but I would like a chance. And as for my most recent screw ups...I really thought my favoritism of you would keep the ATCU from harming you. I am so sorry that I misread that. I never should have put you in that position. You were right all along. I can't...I don't think there are enough words to apologize for that. For all of it. I can try, but..." He didn't know how to finish that sentence. He knew the next move was hers now.

Skye just stared at him, tears flowing down her cheeks. She shifted her weight back and forth between her feet, not sure if she should hit Coulson, hug him, or run away. She wanted to do all three. Finally, she just decided that standing there and speaking was the best option.

"It hurt. All of that hurt," she said quietly, trying to brush away her tears.

"I know," Coulson responded, just as quietly. "I can see that now. I can see how much. I am so sorry."

"Okay," Skye said. After an uncomfortable beat of silence, Skye continued, "I can't forgive you yet. I want to, but I can't yet. I don't trust you. I need to work this all out first."

"I understand."

"I'll give May or Fitz a heads up with anything important that we find."

AOSAOSAOS

Sam Foster (because that's what he always considered himself...a Foster kid, and because he couldn't remember his real last name), waited impatiently for Skye and Grant to return. They had told him they were meeting an old friend to help them confront the Inhuman known as Lash. Sam knew of Lash, but had not seen the person himself. A few people he'd run into on the streets, also Inhumans, had warned him about Lash, but so far, he'd never encountered the killing machine.

He'd been living with Skye and Grant, and the other Inhumans, for a few weeks now, and so far, it had been the best place he'd ever lived. The other Inhumans, and what family members had come her with them, all had their own guest houses. Skye had determined that he was too young to live alone, even on their property. He had been terrified for a brief second that she would send him away, or dump him with another Inhuman. But he quickly realized that wasn't the case, when Skye looked to Grant and Sam heard what she was thinking. Grant seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, too, because he nodded once. They were going to give Sam a room in their house with them.

He had been ecstatic. But, as a thirteen year old boy, he knew he had to play it cool and not look like a little kid at Christmas. So he accepted their offer of one of the rooms upstairs, letting Grant know that it would do, when he was showed his new bedroom. He couldn't help but catch Grant's thoughts, and he realized both he and Skye knew exactly how happy and safe Sam now felt, no matter how he played it, but that would let him keep his attitude and dignity and not make a big deal about it.

That was one of the many reasons he really liked Skye and Grant. They didn't sweat the small stuff. They never lectured him if his room wasn't spotless, if his laundry piled up a bit, or if he burned something in the toaster. And he made sure to respect their personal space. Their bedroom was a knock and wait zone, as was Skye's office. But he was allowed all other places whenever, including the gym that they had set up in the basement. Sam had never been to a gym before, never worked out. He made his way down there once, just to see what it was all about, and caught Grant and another Inhuman, Evan, using the weights and machines. After lurking for almost fifteen minutes, Grant noticed him and offered to show him how to use a few simple machines and weights. Now, every morning, he'd meet Grant down there for some exercise, while Skye did some martial arts/yoga thing called Tai Chi.

After a few weeks, he was starting to think of the couple as his new foster parents. They certainly acted like it, what with making him food, working with him on some school programs Skye had him taking on the computer, reminding him that the dryer was full of his clothes, watching sitcoms or movies together most nights, giving him a ten o'clock curfew...it was like having parents. But really good ones, something he hadn't had much experience with, and judging by Skye's thoughts, something she had been lacking as well.

So Sam found himself missing them when they were gone. Trina and Julie were keeping an eye on him for the other two. They had offered the extra bedroom in their guest house, but Sam assured them he'd be more comfortable in his own bed. So they made sure he was tucked in at night before leaving for their place, making sure he had a radio to contact them if he needed anything. And then one of them was always in the house before he woke up, to make sure he was fed and doing any schoolwork or chores he needed to do. Sam never complained about the babysitters, never gave them an attitude or mouthed off. He never did that to Skye and Grant, either. Sam knew how good he now had it. He wasn't going to do anything to mess that up.

He just wished there were other kids his age here. Even just one. Boy or girl, it didn't matter. He just wished he had someone his age to hang with sometimes. As much as he was beginning to love Skye and Grant, they were parental figures, and not friends. There were just some things he would rather tell a friend.

AOSAOSAOS

They landed the jet as close to the village as they dared. It still left them with an hour drive, but neither of them were bothered by it at all. It had taken them several weeks to track down the last of the elders who could possibly be able to translate Jiaying's writings for them. They lived in this tiny, agrarian village in the middle of nowhere, China, among goat herders and rice growers.

Arriving at the village, Skye noticed that all the children were following them on foot, impressed with the SUV that Grant drove. She wondered briefly if they had ever even seen a car before. Pushing that thought out of her mind, partly because it didn't really matter and partly because it was depressing, she kept her eyes out for someone who could possibly help them.

Grant pulled the SUV off the dirt path and parked. "I say we just get out and ask," he voiced. "I speak the dialect well enough. I can translate if needed."

Skye nodded. "Sounds like a plan." She exited the SUV, then reached into the backseat and grabbed her backpack filled with Jiaying's papers and books. She then followed Grant as he walked up to a middle aged man in the ring of people who were standing around, watching him.

After speaking in Chinese for a while, Grant turned to Skye to give her information. "This is Liang. He says that the two people we are searching for live in the house down the end, on the left. They will most likely accept us as visitors, especially since you are the daughter of Jiaying."

"So they knew my mother?" she asked, surprised.

Grant nodded. "Yes. Your mother visited this village many times, and is even well known by some of the other older people here."

Skye and Grant made their way down the dirt path to the small, rundown little home at the end. Grant walked up and knocked on the door, then took two steps back to stand next to Skye. They waited several minutes, and Skye debated whether they should knock again, when the door creaked open and an extremely elderly man stood in the doorway. He said something in one of the Chinese dialects, and Grant answered, his words a little broken and unsure, but enough of a message got through because the old man nodded and stepped aside, gesturing for them to enter his home.

Once inside, he led them to a small couch to the left and offered them a seat. And elderly woman came in, carrying a tray with tea and mugs. She placed it on the table in front of Skye and Grant, and then preceded to pour out four small mugs. She gave one to Skye, one to Grant, then one to the older man. She took the fourth for herself and then sat in the chair across from the couch. The old man took the other open chair. They stared at the younger pair, just waiting.

"Uh, thanks, for talking to us," Skye started to say, and then stopped when she realized that they probably didn't understand her. She looked to Grant, helplessly.

"We speak English," the old woman said in a heavy accent. "Not well, but enough."

Skye smiled, now much more at ease. "Thank you. I'm sorry we're disturbing you like this. It's just, we came across some writings of my mother's and we can't translate them. We've been trying to track down some of her contacts, to see if anyone can help us."

The old man nodded. "I will take look." Skye reached into her backpack and pulled out all the papers and books she had taken from Andrew's home. She handed them over to the old man. He opened them and began to scan through them, nodding and making small comments in Chinese to himself.

"Can you read this?" Skye asked hopefully.

The old man nodded. "This secret language of the ancient Chinese dynasties. Passed down from father to son, mother to daughter. Many have stopped teaching, learning. But we know. We remember. Jiaying told the stories. We tell you"

And so, the two older people laid it all out for the two younger people. The old stories that they know, and the ancient histories that Jiaying wrote about from years before the older couple were even born. Most of what Jiaying had written about was the history of the Inhuman race and how their powers manifested. She had written about how no two Inhumans had the same power at the same time, but how they re-manifested every few generations or so. One thick volume contained the whole history and battle with the first Inhuman, known as Alveus, and how he had become too powerful, too power-hungry, and how many other Inhumans had joined with humans to try to defeat him. They hadn't been able to kill him, but they were able to banish him to another place, using the ancient rocks. Skye believed it was the monolith that had sent Jemma to Maveth.

Jiaying had also written of the prediction of his return, brought back to Earth by some rogue group known as Hydra. She had also written about Hydra, and where it came from and the atrocities it had committed, both past and present.

"Does it give more detail about how they banished this Alveus?" Grant asked. "We think Hydra is trying to bring him back, and we'd like to be prepared in case they succeed."

The old woman nodded. "Yes. Inhumans not have power to kill him. Just banish. And save others from him. He is...not know word in English..." so she said it in her Chinese dialect, hoping one of them or even her husband could translate.

"I think that means disease. Or infection," Grant said thoughtfully. "I think."

"Yes, that is what I mean," the old woman continued. "Alveus could infect other Inhumans then they work for him."

"How?" Skye asked.

"Infect here," the old man jumped in, tapping his head. "Make them change. Follow him. Do what he says."

"Sounds like a form of mind control," Grant surmised. "So his power was mind control. His name makes sense, then. Alveus is Latin for Hive. Guess he infects and makes his army work like a hive mind. Did it work on everyone?"

The old man shook his head. "Inhumans only."

"Because they were the most powerful," Skye said. "I get it. So the Inhumans he hadn't infected yet saw he was too dangerous to continue with them and they found a way to send him away. Did my mother write about how they did that?"

"Yes, she was there," the old man said.

"Wait, what?" Skye asked, taken aback. "That was...centuries ago."

"Jiaying was very old," the old woman said gently. "She lived...long time. Her gift...it was blessing and curse."

"Tell me about it," Skye mumbled. Then she turned to Grant. "I had no idea she had lived that long. She...I can't even wrap my mind around how much life energy she had to take to live that long."

"She take only elderly, ready to leave this world," the old man said.

"Still doesn't make it okay," Skye said, grumbling.

"Maybe not," the old woman tried to comfort her, "but was what she needed to do."

"How did Alveus get banished?" Grant asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Skye's dark thoughts.

"She found the pieces needed. The Inhumans with the powers to work," the old man told them. "One to cure the Inhumans under control, one to open rock, one to push him through, one to protect others."

"Does she name or describe them or their powers," Skye asked, curious. Maybe, if powers recycled, she could find those same powers and keep Alveus from gaining power again on Earth.

The old woman rifled through the book, and then stopped, opening up to a page with both words and drawings. She placed it on the table and turned it so that the two younger people could see. Four names and sketches were labeled. Three Skye barely took notice of, but the fourth immediately caught her attention.

It was a sketch of Lash.

"This one," she said quickly, pointing at the picture. "Tell me about his one."

The old man looked at where she had pointed. "That Inhuman saves others. Cannot be made sick by Alveus. Saves other Inhumans by...pulling disease out of them."

"Pull out the disease? What does that mean?" Skye asked.

The old man shook his head. "I do not understand this process. Just that this was his power."

"Well, if this Alveus is like a disease, then maybe Lash's power works like an antibiotic?" Grant suggested.

"But it doesn't say he cures them. It says he pulls it out. That's what I'm not getting here. Is that literal? And if it is, and he really pulls the infection out, where does it go? And can he pull this Alveus out of his host?"

"I do not know," the old man answered. "Maybe they no try because host was already dead."

"What do you mean dead?"

"Alveus only inhabits dead human bodies. Cannot take Inhuman that way, so that why he needs to...what you said...mind control."

"So this Alveus is a parasite," Grant concluded. "An Inhuman with parasitic powers that can be used to reanimate a dead body and mind control other Inhumans. And I'm guessing he can't be killed. If they had to send him to another planet to get rid of him, they must not have had the right weapons or powers to kill him."

"Jiaying write they tried. But too strong, too powerful, and dead body perfect place to stay."

"Because you can't kill what's already dead. But he must be vulnerable at the transfer between the two hosts, right?" Skye asked hopefully. "What about in the moments between switching bodies? He's alive himself, right?"

"He has no need to find second host."

"So he doesn't leave the host."

"But if he did...if he was coerced or forced out...could he be killed before he slipped into a new host?"

The old man shrugged. "Nothing written here. Jiaying wrote he did not switch hosts, so she was unsure if he could be killed."

"Did this guy," Skye asked, holding up the sketch of Lash, "did he try to pull this Alveus from the dead host? If he can pull out the infection, why not the cause?"

"Jiaying wrote many things, but this part is...what is word...unclear I think? She not understand exactly how Alveus' powers work. She not have enough time to study because he too dangerous to Inhumans."

AOSAOSAOS

Sam reached for his bowl of ice cream from his spot on the couch. Grant handed it to him, and then sat on his left. Skye took the cushion on his right. Sam smiled behind his bowl. A family. That was what they were. All sitting together on the couch, preparing to watch some lame-ass sitcom. Sam couldn't care less what it was they were going to watch. Just the act of sitting together was what mattered to him. Made him feel safe and important, for the first time in his life.

But, before their sitcom could come on, the news interrupted, bringing them the details of some new anti-Inhuman group called the Watchdogs and what they were about. They deemed it their responsibility to rid the world of Inhumans, abominatins that should be exterminated. They used that word. Exterminate. The news showed footage of an attack on Inhumans by this new group. None had survived.

"Even though I figured this was coming, after the government and ATCU let the existence of Inhumans be known, I still feel blindsided. Or shocked," Skye said softly, her ice cream melting, long forgotten.

Grant nodded. "It probably came faster because of the Sokovia Accords that went into effect a few months ago. People are scared that their neighbors, their friends, their family, could all be unregistered powered people with the ability to hurt or kill. This is their solution. Destroy all powered people so that everyone else will feel safe."

"It goes back deeper. People were killed by Maximoff's powers in Nigeria. It was an accident, and instead of treating it as such, and learning from it, the government turned society against powered people, saying they were to blame, instead of taking responsibility for the reason Captain America and his team were there...cleaning up the rest of Hydra. Not to mention the bombing of the UN meeting not long after...making it look like an enhanced person did that..."

"They'll come for us, won't they," Sam asked, a quiver of fear in his voice. "They'll make us sign their stupid papers. Or else lock us up. Maybe experiment on us."

"I doubt that." Grant asked, trying to protect Sam from the harsh truths.

Sam shot Grant a look. "I'm thirteen, not five. I'm not stupid."

AOSAOSAOS

"Did you see the news earlier?" Skye asked quietly into her cell phone.

"I did," May replied on the other end. "Are you okay?"

Skye shrugged, before realizing May couldn't see her. "I don't know," she replied. "It's not like I didn't expect this. This is part of the reason why I left. It was starting to happen with the ATCU capturing and imprisoning Inhumans."

"But it's more real now, since it is out in the open," May guessed.

"Yeah," Skye said softly. "I don't know how I feel about it, really. I can understand wanting to protect society from dangerous people, and yet...not all Inhumans or powered people are dangerous. Or mean to be. And these Watchdogs are civilians. They aren't military or government agents. Most of the Inhumans with me don't even want to use their powers for good, let alone evil. They don't want to use them at all. They don't want them."

"And you?" May questioned.

"If I could...I wish I had been given a choice. I wish I had had all this explained to me, what being an Inhuman meant, the types of powers I could have had...I don't know," Skye said, frustrated. "I just really wish I had been given a choice. I'm not sure that I would have chosen this, even if it had all been explained to me before. By someone who wasn't unhinged himself."

"No, you still would have chosen to get your powers. You're too curious. You'd want to know what it was all about, experience something new. And you're altruistic. You'd have made up lists of all the good you could do for people with your powers. That's who you are, Skye," May said plainly.

"Maybe," Skye said, trying not to make much of the compliment May had given her, as well as steer the conversation away. "Did you see what the government is planning to apease these Watchdogs? The one some of those ultra conservative bigots want to enact? I'm just so glad that came on after Sam went off to bed. If he'd have seen that..."

"Sam?" May asked, confused.

"Oh, um, yeah...Sam's a thirteen year old kid that Grant and I saved from the ATCU. He's been staying with us, since he has no family. Foster kid, like I was, but he ran away when he went through Terrigenesis," Skye explained quickly, trying to rush over the fact that she and Grant were basically parenting a teenager.

May filed that information away for a later time. Clearly, Skye and Grant were stable and happy together, if they were taking in stray kids, like she and Coulson did a few years ago. Smiling into the phone, she held back from congratulating Skye on motherhood and instead waited out her protege.

"I can't believe they want to enact that piece of garbage bill," Skye snarled. "Aren't there laws AGAINST that sort of thing? Though I guess they don't think they apply to Inhumans, since they don't see us a human, or as important, or the same or anything."

"You sound worried that it will pass," May observed.

"Yes. Aren't you?"

May sighed. Truthfully, she was worried. Very worried, especially after the conversation she and Phil had had with Price just the other day. But she didn't want to tell Skye about that and scare her even more. "A little, but I don't think anything will happen quickly," she tried to reassure the younger woman.

"May, the government first gave agents the okay to round up Inhumans and store them unconscious in gel cubes. Or kill them. Kids, even. Then they wanted all Inhumans to register so that every movement, decision, choice, phone call, TV program, hell, even grocery bills, can be monitored. And now? A bill to make it illegal for anyone on that list to have children? What's next? Concentration camps full of Inhumans?"

"Skye..." May started, but Skye cut her off.

"No, May, don't tell me to hang in there, or to have patience, or any of a number of condescending platitudes. The plain truth is that my people are feared and hunted by our own government. None of us are safe and we probably will never be safe."

"The problem is you're seeing it as us versus them..."

"They're seeing it that way! I was very willing to work together, to help. Then the ATCU thought I was the enemy just because I can do something they can't explain. Because my blood is a little different. The Inhumans I have with me all just want to be able to go about their lives as they did before Terrigenesis. This gave us powers, not changed our personalities. We're all still good people. It didn't make us bad overnight. But the government made us outlaws and painted us as the enemy overnight. None of us have done anything!"

"You know that isn't true, Skye," May said, trying to reason with the younger woman. "It changed Andrew. He was always so kind. Never violent. And now, as Lash...becoming an Inhuman changed him. He murders people, Skye. If it happened to him, it could happen to other Inhumans."

"I'm not convinced what he is doing is actually...that he has bad intentions," Skye said to May, not wanting to give too much away.

"How can you say that? He's murdering other Inhumans," May pointed out bluntly.

"Well..." Skye hedged, "there's more to this than you know. Just trust me when I say that his execution might be poor, but his intentions are good."

"What are you talking about? He's a killer now, Skye. I know how much you liked Andrew, but you have to accept that now. I do. It was hard, probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to accept, but I did it. I can help you do that, too. But he is now a killer and needs to be caught and locked up."

"I'm not saying that he shouldn't be reigned in," Skye quickly amended. "I'm just saying that he's not out killing indiscriminately."

"What do you know that you haven't shared yet? Are you saying there's a method, a reasoning, to what he is doing?" May asked suspiciously.

"I'm not saying anything," Skye stated, shutting down the conversation, realizing she had said too much. If SHIELD or the ATCU knew what Andrew/Lash was doing, they might interfere, and cause more damage and problems than stopping Lash would solve. At least until all the puzzle pieces were put together. And Skye wasn't willing to share the biggest pieces she and Grant had learned on their trip to China.

"Skye," May said, trying to get the other woman to talk.

"No, May. Just no," Skye stated firmly. "Look, I gotta run. I'll call you when I have stuff I can share." With that, Skye hung up, knowing in the back of her mind that she probably wouldn't be calling May again any time soon, no matter how much that might hurt.

AOSAOSAOS

Grant snapped awake at the sound. He wasn't sure what it was at first, but it had been loud, loud enough to break him out of a dead sleep. He blinked a few times to get the room into focus, not seeing anything. He looked over to Skye, preparing to wake her, only to notice her thrashing about and whimpering. Then she let out a scream. That was what he had heard. Skye screaming, stuck in her nightmare.

Immediately, Grant tried to wake her by gently grabbing her shoulder and giving a shake. Nothing. She still thrashed around, whimpering again. He leaned over to the lamp on his end table and snapped it on. In the light, he could see her better. She was all sweat soaked, red in the face, tears flowing from her closed eyes. Eyes that were clamped shut so tightly he was afraid she'd damage them.

"Skye," Grant said, shaking her a little more forcefully this time. "Skye, wake up. You're having another nightmare. You need to wake up." He received no response from her other than another whimper.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the bedroom door and a frantic Sam called out, "Grant! Grant! Is Skye okay?!"

It only took Grant a few seconds to realize what had happened, that Sam must have heard or felt Skye's distressed state in his mind, causing the boy to become frightened and worried. "She's having a nightmare," Grant called back. "It'll be okay, Sam. I'll get her awake. You can go back to bed." Though Grant had told Sam to go back to bed, he also knew that Sam wouldn't. He would either sit right outside their bedroom door, or in the kitchen, waiting until Skye was better. Grant didn't blame him. There was no way he'd be able to go back to sleep when Skye was like this. He loved her too much.

Trying again, he took Skye's face in his hands this time and said forcefully, "Skye, you need to wake up now!" Still no acknowledgment on Skye's part, except for more thrashing and another scream.

And then the bedroom began to shake. She was losing control of her powers. Grant knew he needed to do something fast, before she either hurt herself or the house came crashing down around them.

"Grant! The house is shaking!" Sam yelled from outside the door.

Ignoring the boy for the moment, Grant, still holding Skye's face in his hands, leaned in as close as he could to her ear and yelled, "Skye, for the love of everyone's safety, wake the hell up!"

That seemed to do the trick because her eyes immediately opened and she shot up. Her eyes darting around the room, not seeing anything, her body shaking violently, her breath coming in gasps. Grant could see the panic attack happening, her breathing getting worse and worse, her eyes not taking in anything in the room. He quickly got in front of her, taking her head for a third time in his hands, trying to force her to make eye contact this time.

"Skye, it's me. I've got you. You were having a nightmare. You're home. You're okay now. I've got you," he kept reassuring her in as calm a voice as he could. He had no idea how he was staying so calm. He had seen Skye go through numerous nightmares before, but he had never had this much trouble getting her to wake up and come back from them. She had never had a panic attack this severe.

Skye finally focused on him and seemed to recognize him. Her eyes blinked rapidly several times, and he was finally able to inhale and exhale without hyperventilating. The room stopped shaking.

"Skye!" Sam shouted from outside the bedroom door. "Grant! Is she okay?"

Skye nodded, staring at Grant. Then she realized that Sam couldn't see her response so spoke. "Yeah," she croaked out. "I'm okay. You can come in and see for yourself."

Sam practically slammed open the door and ran to their bed. "You sure you're okay?" he questioned, staring at Skye intently.

Skye nodded again. "Yeah," she said, sounding a bit more like herself. "Just a really bad nightmare. I'm sorry you saw it all."

Sam shook his head. "That's okay. Just glad you woke up and you're okay, too."

The three sat in silence for a few moments, before Skye began shifting around. "Sorry, I'm feeling kinda...sweaty and gross...after that nightmare. I think I'm going to take a quick shower and change the bed sheets."

"You go shower. I can change the sheets," Grant told her.

"I'll help. I can't sleep right now anyway," Sam offered to help.

Nodding, Skye got up off the bed and grabbed some clean pajamas from a drawer. She then made her way into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Grant watched her go, and Sam watched Grant. As soon as the water was running from the shower, Grant turned to Sam.

"You saw what she was dreaming about?" At Sam's nod, Grant put his and on the boy's shoulder and frowned. "I'm sorry you got sucked into her nightmare. I know that they aren't...pleasant," he said for lack of a better description. "Which one was this? Which memory?"

Sam screwed up his face and thought. "I don't think this was a memory or an event that she went through," he said after a moment. "I think this was a fear of what could happen, thanks to what we saw on the news the other night."

"You mean the Watchdogs?" Grant asked.

"Yeah. Skye, she...I think she's really afraid of what could happen to all of us, if we're found out. Especially now. In her dream..." Sam trailed off, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to keep tears from coming.

"Hey, hey," Grant said softly, "you don't have to tell me about it if it's too much for you."

"No, you should know. To help her," Sam stated.

"Skye will tell me herself," Grant said, letting Sam off the hook.

Sam shook his head negatively. "No, she won't. Not this one." He took a deep breath and said, "There were places, lined with barbed wire, people...Inhumans...inside these places...like pictures I've seen of the concentration camps the Nazis put the Jews in. There were screams...but I can't tell what they were, where they were coming from..."

"Sam..."

Sam waved Grant off. "No, you need to know. Then she jumped to a new scene...her thoughts were all over...but I saw...saw...someone...someone being tortured. I think it was her...it was hard to tell. There were people standing around wearing jackets with that symbol...the one you said was SHIELD...see seemed to know these people...and then there was someone else being hurt...kids too...SHIELD people firing guns at the Inhumans...more types of torture...Inhumans locked in cells, no food or water..."

"Sam, Sam," Grant said, grabbing the boy by the shoulder and forcing him to make eye contact. "I get it. I do. You don't have to to tell me anymore."

Sam realized then that he was crying, tears flowing steadily down his cheeks. He sniffed and wiped them away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cry. It wasn't even like I was there or it was my dream..."

"But your powers let you experience it like it was your own," Grant said calmly. "It's okay to be upset about this. It is horrifying. And I'm sure you've only told me some of it."

Sam nodded. "I think I came in halfway through...I didn't mean to, but sometimes I can't help it, even in my sleep..."

"It's okay, Sam. I know you can't control it. So does Skye. She doesn't blame you. She's probably worried that her dream has scarred you."

"She's really scared, Grant. I could see that."

Grant nodded in understanding. "These are scary, dangerous times for Inhumans now. But I promise that we will do everything to keep this place safe and off the radar."

"I know," Sam said. "But it is still scary. And what about all those others who haven't been able to come here? Or those we don't know about?"

"We can only do what we can do. We'll still try to bring as many here as we can. Julie is working on a way to keep this place hidden. I'm not a scientist, but she was talking about altering the phase something or other. Or cloaking. She'll figure something out. She's pretty good at being a techie."

Taking a deep breath, Sam reached around Grant and gave him a hug. Startled, Grant wasn't sure what to do, but after a moment, he wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders. They stood like that for a few moments, before Sam pulled away.

"We better change the sheets before Skye gets out of the shower, or we'll have a lot of explaining to do."

AOSAOSAOS

Grant pulled the SUV into the parking lot of the hardware store in town. He parked and shut the car off, but before he and Skye could exit the SUV and make their way into the store, there was a rap at his window. Startled, Grant turned and saw Sheriff Bowman standing on the other side of the door. Taking a deep breath, Grant got out of the SUV, Skye doing the same on the other side and hurrying around to stand next to Grant.

"Sheriff," Grant said carefully, "how can we help you?"

"I know what you are," he said quietly, so he wasn't overheard by anyone else around. "Come with me so we can talk, please? I don't want to make a scene."

Skye glanced at Grant, who met her eyes, fear in his. Was this it? The end? Was the Sheriff going to call the US government and turn them in? Grant turned back to the Sheriff and nodded, gesturing that they would follow. Sheriff Bowman started off towards the building across the street. His office and the town jail. Without a word, Skye and Grant followed behind, crossing the seemingly empty street and entering the office behind the Sheriff. Once inside, Sheriff Bowman shut the door and led them back to his private office.

Inside, he offered Skye and Grant seats, and then sat behind his desk, leaning forward toward his guests so that they could speak quietly and still be heard.

"I know what you two are," he said quietly. "I know what you two are doing up at your place, with all those other people." He paused, letting his words sink in. "I know you're like those people on the news...Inhumans."

Skye took a deep breath. "I'm not sure what..."

"Don't patronize me, or try to lie your way out of this. I've been doing this job for far too long to not be able to tell when someone is blowing smoke up my ass." He stared right at Skye. "You two are Inhumans, and you've started a school of sorts or something, to help teach other Inhumans. I've seen some of the others from your place down here...they thought they were being secret, but I could see some of the things they do."

"In Grant's defense," Skye said, realizing she couldn't talk her way out of this, "he's not actually Inhuman. Only me."

"Skye...don't try to save me in all of this."

"Are you going to turn us in?"

"Turn you in? Hell no," Sheriff Bowman said. "You're my only hope, actually."

"I'm confused," Skye said.

"I need your help," Sheriff Bowman confessed. "My daughter Kylie...she's only twenty two...Doc Haloran prescribed her fish oil to help with her headaches...and she can...do stuff now. Like your friends. I think she's Inhuman." He stared straight at Skye. "She's in denial that anything is different and sometimes things happen when she's outside our home. I'm afraid someone is going to pick up on her new...abilities...and turn her in. When I talk to her about it, she just shuts me down and says that I'm wrong and there is nothing wrong with her. I know there's nothing wrong with her...she's can just do something new now, something that a lot of people fear. I just want her to get help and be safe. Is there any way you can possibly help her?"

This was the exact opposite of what Skye and Grant were afraid was going to happen. Skye turned to Grant and stared at him, unsure of how to answer and where to go with this conversation. He looked back at her and shrugged, as if to say this was her call since she was the Inhuman in the group. Sighing inwardly, afraid of where this might end up, Skye decided to play it straight, being open and honest with the Sheriff, and hoping it wouldn't get her and Grant and all the other Inhumans into trouble.

"Look, I can try to help your daughter. That's what we're here for. We don't turn our back on Inhumans who want and need help. But a lot of it is up to her, too. She has to want help and she has to put the work in as well. She has to accept that she is different now, and that she may not be able to have her past life anymore. This isn't really something that she can change. She is Inhuman, and with that comes a whole new world. If she isn't willing to accept that, then there's really little I can do to help her because she won't listen to me."

"I understand," Sheriff Bowman said, nodding. "She is different now, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It doesn't change the fact that she is my daughter and I will do anything to help her and keep her safe." He leaned forward even more, resting completely on his desk. "I've seen the news. I'm also a law enforcement officer, so I've gotten lots of memos and papers about Inhumans. And I know that we're out in the boondocks of a very conservative state. I'm not stupid or blind. But I'm also not a bigot, and I don't believe in turning people in and locking them up because they have the potential to do bad things. They actually have to do them for me to see them as needing to be removed from society. Anyone who has a beer in their hand might become a drunk driver. Do I lock up all people who drink beer because of that? Same applies to Inhumans, as far as I'm concerned. You and your guests out there haven't done anything wrong, and I will leave you alone as long as that remains the case. With my daughter, I'm afraid that her denial will cause something bad to happen, whether intentional or not, and then it won't be able to be ignored. I'd like to keep that from happening. Which is why I am coming to you, before things get out of hand."

Skye smiled. "It's nice to hear that not all outsiders view us as a danger or as...well, wrong for even existing."

"Don't get me wrong. I know that there are some Inhumans who have the potential for being dangerous. And I will keep monitoring the situation. But, until I see definite danger, I don't plan on doing anything other than keeping your secret and keeping my daughter safe."

"Why don't you bring your daughter out to our place," Grant suggested, stepping into the conversation. "Let her see exactly what we're doing, and let her talk to some other Inhumans. It might help her accept her new reality and maybe even convince her to get help."

"Yes," Skye added, liking the idea. "She doesn't have to stay, either, even if she wants us to help her. I mean, we're only a short car ride away. Honestly, it would probably be better if she stayed with us, but if that thought scares her, we can probably work something out where she comes every day for a specified time period and then can go home to you."

"That idea might ease her mind a bit," Sheriff Bowman said thoughtfully. "I think part of the problem is that she's afraid I'll lock her up or send her away. But if she knew I wasn't going to do that, or that she could still stay with me...it might help her open up to all of this. It's just me and her, has been for almost twenty years. So I think she's afraid of being by herself, or me rejecting her because she's different now."

"I kinda know how that feels," Skye said softly. "Having those you care about afraid of you or think there's something wrong with you. And sending you away. I get it, so I might be able to help her. At the very least, I can try to get through to her that you aren't like that in the least. She might listen if she knew the person talking with her went through all of that, too."

AOSAOSOAS

Rosalind Price nodded her thanks to the marine who opened her cab's door for her. She walked down the path to the door, where another marine stood, waiting to open it for guests. Rosalind paused, taking a deep breath to steel herself, before walking towards the door, again thanking this marine with a nod.

Once inside, she was quickly met by one of the high level staffers to the President, and then briskly walked to the Oval Office. Once inside, President Ellis walked around his desk and held out his hand in greeting.

"Rosalind, thank you for coming on such short notice. I know how busy you are," President Ellis said graciously.

Rosalind smiled, but her eyes were drawn to the the two other men in the room. The older, heavyset man she knew was Gideon Malick. The other man, dressed in an Air Force uniform, with a short, almost buzz cut, on his head, and a mustache over his lips, she did not recognize. But he seemed to be well at home in the Oval Office.

"Rosalind, you know Gideon Malick," President Ellis gestured, "This other man is General Glenn Talbot, USAF."

General Talbot held out his hand and Rosalind shook it, trying to gauge why this man was in a highly classified meeting with her, Malick, and the President. As far as Rosalind was concerned, this meeting was to be about the Inhumans, and she did not think there were many who had the clearance to talk about them, as well as to set a plan about what to do about Skye and her hidden Inhuman facility.

"Let's all sit," Ellis suggested. Once he was seated on one couch, Rosalind and Malick to the other, and Talbot took a chair at the end. "I have asked you here, Rosalind, because I wish to inform you of some developments. Malick here says I shouldn't, but I hold too much respect for you to not say something."

"I'm afraid I'm a bit lost here," Rosalind admitted.

"I'm worried your working relationship with Phil Coulson is getting in the way of your job," President Ellis said bluntly. "Mr. Malick here is concerned as well. We're afraid your friendship with Coulson is affecting your ability to capture and contain Inhumans, considering Coulson's soft spot for them. And one in particular."

"You're talking about Agent Daisy Johnson, now known as Skye," Rosalind surmised.

"Exactly. She needs to be captured. She's dangerous. And neither the President, nor I, feel that you can be trusted to do that accordingly, given your friendship with Phil Coulson," Malick stated bluntly.

"Sir," Rosalind said, leaning forward to address the President, "I can assure you that Phil Coulson and I have a strictly business only relationship. And as for Agent Johnson, no one knows where she is, currently. Not even Coulson."

"Still, I think we'd all feel better if someone is brought in who knows Coulson and Agent Johnson, and who isn't put off by silly inconveniences like mutual agreements," Ellis said. He gestured to the General. "That's why General Talbot is here. He's now going to be heading a task force to search out and capture Agent Johnson. Talbot has a history with SHIELD, and more specifically, Phil Coulson and his team. He's the perfect man for the job."

AOSAOSAOS

Skye and Grant were enjoying some much needed alone time. Jordan had organized a camp out in one of the clearings a few hundred yards from the house. Sam had asked if he could go, and Skye and Grant had both given an enthusiastic yes for an answer. It had been hard for them to do anything in the house, when Sam could literally read their minds. Skye and Jordan had been working with him on control, and there were times when Sam could actually block his mind from others. However, at night, when sleeping, he had very little control, and oftentimes, his mind wandered into others nearby, thus making it hard for Skye and Grant to spend time together romantically. Julie was working on a solution, some kind of blocking field, that could be set up in Sam's bedroom to keep his mind to himself. Skye didn't quite understand it, but she figured it worked on similar principles to what Fitz had used against Gordon, to keep him from teleporting on the Illiad.

As she and Grant snuggled and kissed in front of the fire, the TV with a stupid sitcom long forgotten, a third bottle of wine almost finished, Skye's cell phone started beeping obnoxiously loud. Or maybe it only felt obnoxiously loud, as she was just this side of drunk and all sounds other than the ones coming from her and Grant were not wanted at that moment.

"Ignore it," Grant mumbled against her lips, pulling her closer as she started to pull away.

"Can't," she whined against him. "That's Lincoln's chime...it won't stop unless I turn it off, in case he has an emergency."

Reluctantly, Skye pulled away from Grant a little, and reached over, running her hand across the table, trying to locate the offending cell phone. She knocked the remote off the table, some papers, and almost the candle, before Grant reached out and steadied it. "Oops, thanks," Skye said sheepishly. "That would have been bad."

Finally, Skye located her phone and snapped it open, glancing quickly at Lincoln's text. They had agreed long ago that all caps meant immediate attention. Pulling away from Grant completely, Skye opened up the texts fully to read. Her eyes grew wide and she immediately lost her alcoholic buzz. "Put on the news, now!" she yelled at Grant.

Grant recognized the hidden fear in her voice and did as she asked, no questions. He found CNN quickly and turned up the volume, before he reached over to the table by him and snapped on the light.

It took him all of fifteen seconds to realize both his and Skye's pictures were on the news, both being listed as wanted fugitives, armed and dangerous. That a phone number was listed as a line to the direct ATCU task force ordered with their capture. As Grant and Skye listened to the news, the whole story unfolded. Or, Grant thought, the whole lie unfolded. He and Skye were being accused of being domestic terrorists, threatening the government and anyone who interfered with the liberation of all Inhumans. The report went on to classify Skye as the most dangerous Inhuman as yet known, and that she was trying to create an army of Inhumans to overtake the government and then oppress humans into slavery. The report went on and on, but Grant tuned it out, terrified for Skye. This was painting a bullseye on her. Any person with a gun now, government official or civilian, would most likely shoot her on sight.

He muted the news, reaching out for her, but she pulled away before he could take her hands. She stood up and began pacing, running her fingers through her hair. "How could he...just let them...I just can't...," she muttered, holding back the tears.

"Skye?" Grant said softly, trying to draw her attention to him, trying to get into her head and figure out what was going on.

Skye stopped pacing at the sound of Grant's voice, turning to face him, tears starting to fall. "After what he said...I thought we were making progress...and now this? How could he let them do this?"

Grant frowned, knowing exactly who and what Skye was talking about. "Hey, maybe Coulson didn't even know this was going to happen? I mean, it could be that Price woman? I can't believe that Coulson would do this to you, no matter where you each stand on Inhumans."

"Grant! Our pictures are on the screen being shown as domestic terrorists, with numbers to call if we're spotted! The whole town down the road knows us! We shop for food and clothing in that town! Have a PO box in the post office so no one has our address! How long before SHIELD and the ATCU show up here with their guns and their gel cubes?"

"But you just said it," Grant said, trying to soothe her, keep her panic from rising to dangerous levels where she could lose control of her powers. "The people in town know us. Hell, the Sheriff's daughter is here, learning about her new powers. So is Doctor Haloran. And a few others, remember? I doubt they will turn us in and risk their loved ones being taking in by the government. They sent their loved ones here precisely to keep that from happening." He got up from the couch and walked over to Skye, slowly, to try not to scare her or force her into anything. She had stopped pacing, and didn't object this time as he got closer and reached out for her. When she let him take her hands, he took that as a sign and gently drew her in to him, holding her tightly. He ran his hands up and down her back, trying to calm her as much as he could. "I really don't think anyone from the town will turn us in."

"How can you be so sure?" Skye sniffed, her voice muffled by his chest.

"Because Sheriff Bowman was here just last week, sitting in our living room, thanking us for helping his daughter and the other people of his town. He won't let anyone hurt us. He won't let anyone hurt his daughter."

"I wish I could be as sure of this as you," Skye said, taking a deep breath. "Okay, so what do we do now?"

Grant shrugged. "I have no idea, really. I'm just making this up as we go along." He took Skye's hand and led her back to the couch. Once they were both sitting, he turned to her and asked, "What did Lincoln say?"

"He was just telling us to put on the news. And he sent us some information to my email about this, including who is now in charge of hunting us down."

"Who?"

"Our good, old friend, General Talbot."

AOSAOSAOS

The mission to Colombia went well, according to Coulson. Sure, Malick and Hydra had stolen one Inhuman criminal, giving another soldier for the Maveth Inhuman's army, if he eventually returned. But, SHIELD had gained another ally, another Inhuman ally. Elena Rodriguez. A woman with super speed, a power that may come in handy in the future.

Elena hadn't wanted to return with them to the United States, preferring to remain in Bogota and fight against the crime lords in her home country. However, they had set up a way of communications, so either could ask the other for help when and if they were needed. As much as Coulson would have wanted to have the Inhuman woman working with them, on his base, he was comfortable enough with the arrangement. It seemed as if Elena had much better control of her powers than most newly initiated Inhumans, and that alone gave him confidence that she wouldn't cause any accidental trouble. That, and the fact that her powers were not destructive.

And he needn't mention this to Rosalind Price, either.

"Are you sure that leaving Elena alone in Colombia was the right decision?" Mack asked Coulson as the two walked to Coulson's office.

Coulson shrugged. "I don't know. My instincts tell me that she's clean and on our side. I'm not sure..." Coulson stopped and looked around to see if anyone was around to overhear their conversation. Seeing too many ears in the hallway, he motioned for Mack to follow him into his office to finish this conversation.

Once the door was shut, Coulson turned to the other man to give his assessment. "Honestly, I'm not really sure what the right and wrong choices are anymore. Everything used to be so black and white. Or it felt that way. SHIELD good, Hydra bad. Then SHIELD and Hydra were one and the same, and it all fell apart. And it hasn't come back together yet. Now there are Inhumans, people with powers who can either help or destroy everything. I have no idea what is right and wrong, which decisions to make, who to share information with... May barely talks to me anymore...and Daisy...Skye...she's not on our side anymore. Or maybe she is, I don't know. But she chose to go off with a traitor who kidnapped her twice...I just know that nothing is the same and I have no idea who to trust or what the right choices are anymore."

"I don't think Skye's an enemy," Mack started, thinking his response through carefully. "I still think she wants the same things we do...she'd just chosen to go about it a different way. As for what is right and wrong, well, I always thought that if you choose something out of the goodness of your heart, it can never be wrong. If it comes from wanting to help people and make the world a better place, it can't be wrong. And May not talking to you...I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole."

AOSAOSAOS

Coulson looked at his phone, shocked, when he saw who was displayed as caller ID. Skye. She hadn't reached out to him since before she officially left SHIELD. He had always been the one to call her, even though she always let it go to voicemail. Sometimes he left a message. Other times, not. No matter what was going on, he had always wanted to try to repair whatever had happened between the two of them, and get her to come home. He took this as a good sign.

Picking up his cell phone, he accepted the call. "Hi, Skye, how are you?" he asked.

"How am I?" she practically spat into the phone. "Have you seen the news?"

Coulson shook his head, and then realized she couldn't see him and responded in the negative. "No, we just got back from a trip to South America. I haven't had time to check all the news sources or my contacts. Why, what's going on?" He could tell she was very upset, almost rage-like, and that meant something bad had happened. Trying to remain calm was the only way he was going to be able to talk to her. "Did something happen to you or your Inhumans?"

"Are you playing me? Or do you really not know?" Skye retorted, some of the anger leaving her voice.

"Skye, I honestly don't know what you're talking about. We've been in South America..." He was cut off by FitzSimmons, both running full speed into his office, Fitz frantically waving his arms, while Simmons grabbed his remote and searched out a news channel. "Hold on..."

He looked at the screen, trying to take in all that was being said and written across the screen. The more he saw, the more scared he became, and he finally understood Skye's anger.

"Skye," he said softly. "I'm just seeing this now, for the first time. I am so sorry...we had nothing to do with this. We had no idea. Like I said, we were in South America. No one gave us a heads up, or asked us to consult, or anything.

"You really didn't know about this? Or have anything to do with it?" Skye asked again, her voice almost pleading that it be the truth.

"I promise you, we knew nothing about this. I also promise you that I will find out who did, and we will fix this. No matter what has been going on between us, I still care about you. We all do. And this...what's going on...this is something that we would never be a part of, no matter how much we are at odds," Coulson tried to reassure her as calmly as he could. "And I know that this...story...they are spinning is a lie. You would never do what they are saying, I know that."

"Yeah, okay...I just had to check. Sorry I was so...well, you know," Skye said hurriedly, almost embarrassed at needing the confirmation from him. Coulson sighed sadly that it had come to this, that she didn't trust him not to hurt her or do something against her. May was right. There was a long road to repair.

"That's okay, Skye. It's understandable. I promise you, when I find out what is going on, who is creating this story, I will do whatever I can to fix it."

"Okay...um...thanks...I guess that's it," Skye said, stumbling over her words. "I'll...um...maybe talk...soon?"

Coulson smiled into the phone, happy at the small progress. She had accepted his assurances and had offered to talk sometime soon. That was a lot more that he had previouisly gotten. "Sound's good, Skye. I'll be in touch with any information."

"Okay...well...bye then," Skye said over the phone, but Coulson didn't hear her hang up.

"Skye? You need something else?" he asked gently, not wanting to scare her off.

"Uh...no...just...it's nothing. Well, just thought I should let you know...that Inhuman on Maveth...that Hydra want so badly...he can control minds. He creates some kind of hive mind with them...not sure exactly how it works, but he infects them with a part of himself...and then he can control them...gets them to do what he wants. He's called Alveus."

"Fitting, from what you've described, since it's Latin for Hive," Coulson said.

"Yeah, that's what Grant said," Skye added. "Well, I just thought you should know. Bye." This time, he did hear the click of her hanging up. But he had also heard something in her voice. Fear. It had been underlying in the whole conversation. Skye was afraid of what was happing, and Coulson couldn't blame her. She was scared, and was reaching to him for some assurances, maybe even some comfort, as a parent. He hoped he had succeded in giving her even a little bit of that.

Coulson knew he had to act quickly, if for no other reason than to show Skye he was serious in helping her fix this and clear her name. He thanked FitzSimmons for letting him know what was going on, and then ushered them out of his office. Once alone, he picked his cell phone up and placed a call.

"We need to meet. Now," he said once the other person had answered. "I'm betting you've seen the news."

"Yes. I wanted to..." Price started, but Coulson cut her off, now interested in hearing her excuses over the phone.

"Meet now. Fred's Dinner." Coulson hung up on her, grabbed his coat, and left the base, hoping to get some answers for Skye and a way to fix this.

AOSAOSAOS

"I had no idea this was happening," Rosalind Price tried to explain. "I was ordered to the White House and told that another ATCU task force was being created for the sole purpose of finding Agent Johnson and Grant Ward. That General Glenn Talbot was going to be in command."

"And you didn't think to call me and let me know?" Coulson asked angrily.

"I didn't think it was something we should talk about over the phone. And you were in Colombia, so I couldn't exactly meet you," Price pointed out.

"And did you know what kind of lie they were going to spin? Terrorists? Planning insurrections?"

"No," Price said forcefully. "That they did not tell me. If they had, I definitely would have gotten in touch with you and told you." Price paused, watching Coulson seethe with anger. "Look, you're the one who still thinks I should be in the ATCU to get information on Malick and Hydra. If you are rethinking that, let me know and we can discuss how I should leave."

Coulson shook his head, anger deflating. "No, we still need an inside person to feed us information. I'm sorry I got so heated a moment ago."

"It's understandable. Despite the separation, Skye's still one of your people."

"It's more than that," Coulson admitted quietly. "She's...she's my daughter, in everythign but DNA. I have to protect her."

"Phil," Price said with sympathy. "This must be so hard for you. How can I help?"

"I'm not sure yet. I don't want to jeopardize our positions, but I also don't want to go along with their narrative. Is there any way you could convince them to pull back the story?"

"I could try, but I'm not sure it would make much of a difference. The story is already out to the public and the government won't walk it back and claim a mea culpa on this."

"The we just have to prove their lie, prove Skye's innocence," Coulson concluded.

"And how do we do that?" Price asked.

"We catch Hydra at their game and show the world that they are to blame, not Skye and her Inhumans. Make it impossible for the government to paint a bullseye on her."

AOSAOSAOS

It was very late when Andrew Garner knocked on the door. He had taken a big risk in coming to Skye and Ward. He could turn into Lash at any moment, and attack the other Inhumans living in their guest cabins. He could even attack Skye, although he was beginning to doubt that. He'd had every opportunity to do so, and yet he felt no compulsion to kill her, as he did other Inhumans. And not every other Inhuman, either. He'd been to their Wyoming compound a few times and never turned into Lash. Never felt a need to kill any of the Inhumans here. He wasn't sure why that was, just that it wasn't a need. Perhaps that would change in the future, but for now, he felt there must be a reason for each person he chose to kill as Lash, and each person he chose not to kill. He just wished he knew what those reasons were.

Ward answered the door in a pair of sweats, rubbing his eyes awake. When he saw who it was, he hesitated, but then offered Andrew some coffee and a seat at the table to talk. After he closed the door, he gestured towards the kitchen, and then went to wake up Skye.

"Hey," Grant said softly, leaning over Skye and stroking her arm gently. "Skye, can you wake up? Dr. Garner's here."

"Mmslppd," Skye mumbled back.

Grant laughed softly, but continued to try to wake her. "Hey, I know you're asleep. But you need to wake up. Dr. Garner is here, in our house."

"Huh, whuh?" Skye asked, rousing slowly and rubbing her eyes. "Wha' you say?"

"I said, Dr. Garner is here," Grant informed her for the third time. He wasn't annoyed. Skye was notoriously hard to wake up, as he remembered from all those times he was training her back before he left them for Garrett. He had to literally yank her blankets off of her and pull her off the bed many an early morning. Some things never change.

"Andrew's here?" Skye asked with a loud yawn. She sat up and rolled her neck, stretching out the muscles. "He's here? Has he tried anything? Should I be grabbing a weapon?"

"No, I don't think so," Grant said. "I think he's here for help, not to hurt anyone. He could have attacked any of our guest houses, but nothing seems amiss. I really think he's here because he's afraid of what is happening."

Skye nodded. "'Kay," she said, yawning again. "I'll just put some clothes on...meet you in the kitchen? Coffee...need coffee for this."

Grant leaned in and gave Skye a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll go start the coffee." He pulled himself away from her, forcing himself to step away. What he really wanted to do at that moment was strip himself and climb back into bed with her, sleepy Skye and all. But now was not the time, especially with Dr. Garner, also known as Lash, the Inhuman killing machine, in their kitchen.

When he entered the kitchen, he saw Dr. Garner seated at the bar top, head in hands. Grant walked around him and towards the coffee maker, grabbing the carafe to fill with water. He went about making the coffee, glancing occasionally at the psychiatrist, but not saying anything to the man. And he did not make any comments either. In fact, Dr. Garner never looked up from the bar top. Never took his head out of his hands.

As the aroma of coffee started to take over, Skye joined them in the kitchen and immediately sat down next to Dr. Garner. "Tough night?" she asked, trying to get him to talk.

Andrew shook his head. "I don't know...tough...months, I guess. I'm sorry I came here...possibly endangering you and the others. I just didn't know where else to go."

Skye shrugged. "Here's about as good a place as any. You haven't attacked me yet, and you have had plenty of opportunities to do so."

"I have no idea why that is. I've been here before and never attacked any of the Inhumans here," Andrew said, nodding thanks at Grant for placing a steaming mug at his hands.

"Grant has a theory," Skye said. "There's a bit of backstory to it, if you'd like to hear us out."

Andrew nodded. "I have nothing else to do. And no ideas on my own."

Grant stood in the kitchen, sipping his mug of coffee and leaning against the counter across from the bar top. "The shortened version is that an Inhuman with the exact same powers as you was involved in banishing Hive to that planet. Though you kill Inhumans, you have the power to...cure, for lack of a better term...cure them from Hive's influence. It was described as pulling the infection out of them. Anyway, couple that with the fact that you don't kill all Inhumans you come into contact with, I think you are only killing those who will be taken over or want to join Hive."

"I'm killing them so Hive will have less Inhumans in his army?" Andrew asked, intrigued by Grant's theory. "But how do I know which ones are which?"

"I'm not sure, really. But, we do know that when Hive was first banished, there was another Inhuman with your exact powers who helped fight against him."

"Lincoln said that Jiaying explained to him that each Inhuman power was expressed when there was a need," Skye said.

"Like filling a niche," Grant added to the explanation. "Evolutionary adaptation."

"Evolutionary adaptation suggests hundreds if not thousands of years of genetic selection by nature. This, what's happening with Inhumans, knowing exactly which powers are needed, you're talking a much quicker time frame. You're talking intelligent design," Andrew clarified. "I'm not sure I believe that."

"Then how do you explain you're powers as Lash coming out just when Hive returns?" Skye asked.

"Has he returned? Last I remember, he was still on that planet, not here on Earth," Andrew pointed out.

"It's just a matter of time," Skye said, frowning. "I doubt that Hydra will sit back and just wait. And, even thought May and Simmons said that they would destroy FitzSimmons' research on how to open the portal, do we really think they'd destroy all that? They are scientists, discovery is their thing. To destroy that...it's like chopping off a limb."

"You think they disobeyed that order?"

Skye nodded. "Yeah, I do. Fitz hasn't said anything to me about it, but I just don't think it would all be destroyed. One of them, if not both, saved it somewhere, on a hard drive maybe, and hid it. Jemma cares too much for that guy, Will, on Maveth, to just let it go. And Fitz...he will do anything to help her."

"Have you asked Fitz about it?" Grant asked, concerned that this could lead to a lot of death.

Skye shook her head. "No. I don't want to put him in that uncomfortable position of betraying Jemma. I'm just going on the assumption that one or both didn't destroy everything. Which is why I am doing this...trying to gather Inhumans to help us in case Hive is brought back. Trying to find all the powers who were able to banish him years ago. Maybe we could do it again."

"How do you know all of this? Where did you get the information? This doesn't sound like speculation on your part," Andrew asked.

"We had some help," Skye replied. "We, uh...well, May, Grant, and I...we kinda broke into your house...don't be mad...but we needed all of Jiaying's collected information and writings and stuff...and you had all of them...that's how you knew where the Inhumans would be...and it was all in an ancient Chinese dialect..."

"I remember. I couldn't get much out of it, except the list. That was in English...but the rest..." Andrew said, rubbing a hand over his chin. "I was gong to contact Melinda and ask her to take a look, see if she could translate, but then..."

"Then you came into contact with the terrigen crystal she had hidden," Grant finished. "Nasty trick that woman played." He then seemed to realize he was talking about Skye's mother, and immediately felt regretful. He looked at Skye, trying to convey an apology, but she waved him off.

"Don't worry...it was a nasty trick. Andrew's lucky he actually is an Inhuman, or he'd be dead...and we would be in a worse position than we are now."

"How so?"

"Well, we found someone who could translate all of Jiaying's journals and notes. You wouldn't believe the information we got from them. It explains a lot, especially your powers. And how to use them. I can show you, if you'd like...we, um, well, if we have to battle Hive, then, we could use your powers to help us. Or save those in his army...I know you probably want to just run away, but you have this power for a reason..."

"Skye," Andrew said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you think I can help, I will. I don't want to be a killing monster. So if you say there's a reason I have these powers and can use them for good, then I want to stay and find out. And help." He paused, thinking over the logistics of what Skye and Grant were saying. "I'm just not sure where I should stay. I don't want to put any other Inhumans at risk. Even if my purpose is to...cure...other Inhumans, I am killing them before they even get infected. How am I not going to do the same thing here with your Inhuman friends?"

Skye shrugged. "Maybe fully understanding your powers will help you keep control? I have no idea, really. I'm just making this up...all of this up...as I go along. I still have no idea exactly what I can do. I have no idea how I'm supposed to help these other Inhumans. How am I supposed to teach them control when I can barely keep my own powers under control? I had a nightmare and nearly brought the house down around me, Grant, and Sam! How can I be a teacher when I'm still a student! And they all look to me as the savior, as someone who knows all and can help them. Fix them. Something. Like I'm the one who's got it all together! I don't! I really had no plan for this, after getting a place for Inhumans to live safely. I never thought about the after part of this. I just wanted to save them, give them a place to learn and be themselves. I had no idea I'd have to do the teaching. How can I teach them, any of them, to face their fears about their powers when I'm still so afraid of mine? I'm terrified I'll hurt someone, or kill someone, someone not bad, a close friend, even Grant, and yet I still use my powers. I still take that risk, but is it too high? How do I guard against a mistake I might not even see coming? How can I teach them to do good in this world when I hurt people to keep them safe? How can I expect them to help fight Hive when I have no plan and no way of actually defeating him? Can I even expect them to fight? Or does that make me a hypocrite? I wanted them all to have a place to come to be safe and choose for themselves. And now I want them to fight? What if they say no? What do I do then?"

"How long have you been keeping that in?" Andrew asked.

"A while," Skye admitted, embarrassed, and looking down at the counter. "I didn't want to burden either of you with all of that...given what was going on."

"Skye," Grant said, frowning slightly. "It's not a burden when I want to be here with you."

"He's right," Andrew pointed out. "You're not a burden to people who love you and want to help you. Relationships, romantic or platonic, are about give and take, and yes, fifty-fifty. But that doesn't mean that it is fifty-fifty every second of the relationship. Each person goes through things that may tip the balance for a time, but it always rights itself."

"Not for you and May," Skye said sullenly.

Andrew nodded and placed a hand on Skye's shoulder. "Not for lack of trying. But both sides have to try, have to accept that this see-saw back and forth is how relationships work. And they each have to let the other in to help them when they are down. Melinda didn't do that. Maybe she couldn't. Something wasn't letting her come to that realization and wouldn't let her lean on me for support." He gently took Skye's chin in his hand and turned her to face him. He wanted her to see his face when he said this next part, so she would understand the gravity of it. "I'm almost one hundred percent sure that if Melinda had been able to do that, we would still be together. Don't make the same choices, the same mistakes, and not let Grant, or anyone else really, help you carry this. There will come a time where he needs you to help him, carry him." Then Andrew turned to Grant. "And don't you try to be a big, macho, idiot and not let her help you. It goes both ways."

Grant nodded. "Yeah, those days are over." He then passed the sandwich he had been making over to Andrew. "I know I have the second chance I don't deserve. I'm not going to mess it up." He smirked, laughing a little to himself. "Why do you think I keep saying yes to all these fish? I don't want to mess this up."

"Hey, if it's too many, too expensive, I can stop," Skye said quickly, not wanting to make Grant mad or force him into anything.

"No, don't," Grant stopped her train of thought. "I love how you get with them. You can fill this house with aquariums. I don't care. It makes you happy. I just meant that I don't want to do anything to make you less happy. I couldn't care less how many fish we have." Grant leaned forward, across from Skye, getting in her face. "I just want some naming rights to the next few, okay?"

Skye smiled brightly. "Deal."

"As much as I like playing marriage counselor," Andrew joked, "can we get back to the topic at hand? You really think that Hydra will get their hands on FitzSimmons' research and bring Hive back?"

Skye nodded, taking a chug of her coffee. "Yeah, I do. I mean, the evidence is already in. We know that FitzSimmons will preserve research. It's what scientists do. That, plus the fact that your powers have been...reincarnated...into you. Powers that were essential in helping save people from Alveus...

"Come to think of it," Grant said, bring his thoughts to the table, "Andrew's powers were powers from back then. So, probably, were yours, Skye, or something like them. Someone had to push him into that portal. Or open the portal. You can do both. Though, it seems, that Kylie Bowman can open portals to other places without that rock you used. So maybe she opens the portal and you push him through?"

"And who protects everyone while we do this? We don't have anyone who can make a shield or anything," Skye pointed out.

"Maybe you're being too literal," Andrew suggested thoughtfully. "Maybe protect the others refers to just the other three and not all the Inhumans. So maybe just a good fighter to take care of anyone trying to attack the three attempting to banish him."

"Or maybe," Skye said, fear suddenly on her face, "it means someone to protect the other minds. The minds of those he hasn't infected yet?"

Grant met her fear with his own. "You mean Sam? He's just a kid. He can't handle that kind of work or pressure."

"I agree," Skye said softly. "We can't put this on him."

"That seems like a stretch," Andrew said, trying to help them. "I mean, if there was an Inhuman who could block Hive from taking over minds, then why would they need to banish him? This other Inhuman could just block his mind control."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Skye said, scrunching up her face. "I think we have some of this wrong. There are lots of Inhumans who can send Alveus through that portal other than me. Evan can just blast him through, for one. No, I think my part is different. I think I'm the protector. I just not sure how I'm supposed to do that part yet."

"Also, just because these powers lined up back then doesn't necessarily mean they will again," Andrew pointed out. "I know you think so, but lots of things have changed from then to now. The powers may not be exactly the same, or the Inhumans wielding them may not think to use them in exactly the same manner."

"Also, there are probably many more Inhumans out there, either afraid to come forward, or who haven't gone through Terrigenesis yet. One of them might be the missing piece," Grant said.

"And," Andrew continued the thought, "you want to kill Hive this time. Not just banish him. You may need different powers for that. Otherwise, they would have killed him back then and we wouldn't be in this position now."

AOSAOSAOS

Skye was nervous. She knew she probably shouldn't be. She and Grant had made this kind of pick up numerous times by now. Lincoln would contact her and set up a time and place, and then she and Grant would arrive, usually in the cloaked jet, but sometimes in the SUV, if it was close enough. At first, it was just the Inhuman, but the last several times, Lincoln had come along as well. Not to stay, although Skye wished he would, but mostly to just see his work through, and probably to check on her for Fitz.

But this time it was different. It hadn't been Lincoln contacting her about a pick up. It was May. May didn't say much, except that it was a child that they had to get into hiding, fast. That his father was a prominent military man who had come to her to ask for her help in hiding his son before anyone in government, aka the ATCU, found out. Why he had come to May, secretly, Skye wasn't sure. She had her suspicions, first and foremost, this man must know her, or at least know of her, and her Inhuman status. Otherwise, why contact someone who might be closely working with the very organization he was trying to hide his son from?

Her thoughts strayed back to May. The last conversation they had had, before May had contacted her about this, hand ended in frustration, differing opinions, and Skye having hung up on the older agent. She hadn't been sure if they would be able to get past what had been said, and what was happening. But then May had called her to ask for her help, and had apologized for not being more sympathetic to Skye's position. So then Skye had apologized herself for trying to force May to choose sides. Before they knew it, both of them were crying apologies (yes, even May cried a little) and they were able to move past their disagreement. That had made Skye happy, knowing that if the other side wanted to work through this, they would. May was proof of that, of the fact that their relationship was more important that who was right, or who worked with whom. She hoped it would ring true for the others, in the future.

Grant tapped her on her shoulder to get her attention, letting her know he was about to land. She had zoned out, not paying any attention to where they were, lost in her thoughts about this mission. Because it was a mission. Any time they were secretly picking up Inhumans had become a mission, since they had to stay under the radar and away from both SHIELD and the ATCU, all the while finding and secluding high profile targets.

Grant put the jet down in the field she and May had decided upon in Wayne National Forest, in Ohio. Skye had offered to come closer to DC, but May had quickly shot that down, saying it was too risky at the moment, and that she was more than willing to make the drive to them. That in and of itself, got Skye's guard up. Who was May bringing that either didn't want to meet her alone, or who May was worried Skye herself wouldn't believe or help?

It appeared as if she and Grant were there first. Grant did not turn off the cloak, just in case. Usual protocol in their pick ups was that the person or persons they were taking in would show up first, so that Skye and Grant would not be ambushed. However, as this was May, Skye was a little less worried about an ambush, and more worried that whoever this high profile military man was had been caught trying to smuggle his son to her.

They didn't have to wait long before Grant nudged her and pointed out the windshield at an approaching vehicle. It drove into the field swung a left, and then came to a stop. Both Grant and Skye watched as May got out of the driver's seat, and then leaned back into the car, possibly to speak to whomever she had transported. She must have told them not to come out yet, because no one but May exited the SUV.

Skye looked at Grant and shrugged. She would have rather known who it was before decloaking and leaving the jet, and she knew Grant wished that as well. But it did not seem like that was going to be an option. Trusting May, Skye turned the cloak off while Grant lowered the ramp. The two then exited the jet, walking towards May.

May again leaned into the SUV and said something, then stood back up and walked over to Skye and Grant. "I know this isn't exactly how you do this, but it had to happen ASAP," she almost apologized.

Skye waved her off. "No, no. We trust you, so if you said this had to happen right away, then we can work that out. Lincoln usually only gives us a few days anyway, so working with only a few hours window isn't that unusual."

"You said it was a child?" Grant asked, trying to speed this up so they could be in the air quickly. The longer they stood around chatting, the more likely they could be found.

May nodded. "Yeah. His father contacted me yesterday, panicked, not sure what to do to protect him. He knows you, and knows what you are doing right now. He doesn't want his son to end up in a stasis pod with the ATCU, but he knows it would only be a matter of time before someone found out."

Skye nodded. "Okay, we can do what we can to help. Is he in the car?"

May turned and motioned for the people in the car to come out. Nothing shocked Skye more than to see General Glenn Talbot exit the car with his wife and son.

"Okay, so not the person I was expecting," Skye said, unable to hide the surprise in her voice.

"I know, I know," Talbot said softly. "I just didn't know what to do, who to call who wouldn't just hand George over to the ATCU for testing and containment."

"Just to be clear," Grant said, "your son is an Inhuman?"

Talbot put his arm around his son's shoulder. "I think so. All I know is that the other day, he and Carla ate some fish. And now George can suddenly walk through walls."

"And you're not exhibiting any powers?" Skye asked the general's wife.

"No," Carla said, shaking her head. "I seem to be fine, normal. Or...not changed. Normal isn't exactly a...defining term anymore."

"So, chances are you don't have the Inhuman gene, so..." Skye said trailing off, as everyone turned to look at Talbot.

"And what about you, General?" Grant asked.

"I didn't eat the fish. I was working late and missed dinner. So what?" he asked, slightly confused, "you trying to say that George got it from me? That I'm actually Inhuman?"

"I'm not a doctor or scientist, but that's generally how genetics works. Technically, you are Inhuman, but unless you go through Terrigenesis, you'll never get any powers or change. And since Carla ate the fish and didn't change, then George's Inhuman gene probably came from you," Grant explained.

"What happened exactly?" Skye asked gently, looking to Carla and George.

"Four nights ago, I made tuna steaks," Carla said. "Glenn called and said he was going to be working very late, so I thought I would make something both George and I like that Glenn can't have. He's allergic to fish. Anyway, about ten minutes after we had started eating, George began...he began...he..."

"This stuff started to grow on me or something," George said, picking up where his mother had left off. "Like a cocoon, but rock hard. I remember darkness, and then I pushed my way out. And I seemed fine, just fuzzy. In my head. I told my mom I wanted to go lie down. I think I fell asleep. Then I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and just walked right out of my bedroom. Didn't even open the door. And it just keeps happening. I can walk through walls. I even slipped down from the second floor to the first floor. But I wasn't trying to do that, like with the walls. Mom startled me and I just...fell through the floor."

"Sounds like you went through Terrigenesis," Skye said. "What you described...the rock hard cocoon...that's exactly what it was like. And then the fuzzy feeling in your head at first. One of the other Inhumans with us said she felt fuzzy in the head as well."

"My Dad says that you're Inhuman, too. Did the same thing happen to you?" George asked.

"Yeah. I had a cocoon, too. But my feeling afterward was bees...I felt like there were a million bees buzzing around inside me."

"So what do we do now?" Talbot asked. "I don't want the ATCU to get him, so I was hoping he could go with you to wherever you are hiding the other Inhumans you have. Can you even take George with you? He's only twelve."

Grant nodded. "We take anyone who wants to come. It's not forced, so ideally, this would be George's decision. He is old enough to make his own choice."

"We also take in family and loved ones of Inhumans, if they want to come as well," Skye told them. "So, General, you and Carla could come too, if you wanted."

"Really?" George asked. "You really mean that Mom and Dad could come too?"

"Yes," Skye said. "We're not about to separate Inhumans from loving family. Most of the Inhumans with us do not have family with them, since many of their families now want nothing to do with them. But it isn't the case with all. Grant isn't an Inhuman either."

"I don't want to be separated from George," Carla said quickly.

"And what about you, General?"

Talbot hesitated before answering. "I want nothing more that to be able to come. But, with how high ranking I am, if I were to suddenly disappear like that..."

"Too many would notice and grow concerned," May said, understanding.

"I'm afraid I can't go. At least not yet," Talbot said, noticing his son's disappointed face. "But maybe I can get things in motion to make it look like I'm going to take a leave. A vacation...then maybe I could come?"

Seeing the sadness on the boy's face, Grant said, "I'm sure we could work something out to get you to us."

"And you won't be the only kid there, either. We have a few younger ones, with their families. And Grant and I have a thirteen year old Inhuman boy named Sam staying with us. I bet he'll be so excited to finally have someone his own age to hang around with," Skye told George.

"Does he like fishing?" George asked, perking up at the idea of having another Inhuman friend.

Skye smirked. "He and Grant could fish together for hours. I'm sure they wouldn't mind you joining them." Grant smiled and nodded, showing his approval.

"Okay, this might not be so bad," George said. He turned to his father. "I'll really miss you, Dad, but I have to go."

"I know, son," Talbot said, placing a hand on George's shoulder. "I understand, and you'll have Mom with you, so you won't be all alone. And I'll be fine, knowing you are safe. And I promise, I'll come visit as soon as I can."

"Do you have a private email, General? Something the government doesn't have access to?" Skye asked suddenly.

Talbot nodded. "I do. Why?"

"Write it down and give it to May when you're back home. She can give it to Fitz to send to me throught encrypted channels and then I can set up a private, encrypted drop box for just you and me. I can send progress reports about George to you. And even upload any letters he or Carla want to write. And you can send them letters as well," Skye told them. "That way, you can still have some contact, without putting anyone is danger."

"That...that sounds...well, thank you, Skye. I really appreciate that," Talbot said gratefully.

AOSAOSAOS

Gideon Malick smiled. It was coming along well. Very well, if he really wanted to pat himself on the back. They had found the resonance chamber down deep in the castle in England. The castle where many offerings to the super powered god had been made. The castle and chamber where his science team would open the portal and where they would send people through to bring back the god.

The only problem he still had was that no one on his team had been able to figure out how to open the portal. At least, not without the resonance chamber. So, once they found the god, they had no way of returning.

"Why can't we just open the portal again on this side at a specified time, so our team and guest can return?" his daughter, Stephanie asked.

"Because that won't work!" Malick snapped at his daughter, immediately feeling remorseful after. At her hurt look, his eyes softened and he apologized. "I'm sorry. I forget you weren't here in the beginning. It won't work because the opening isn't a fixed point. It changes due to planet rotation and some other such explanations. So, unless someone can go there and calculate where the portal will open when it's opened from this end, anyone going will be a one way trip."

"So, how are we going to get around that? You have the smartest scientists in Hydra, since Dr. Whitehall was killed last year. And they haven't been able to figure it out," Stephanie asked her father.

"I've been thinking on that," Malick said, rubbing his chin. "I had Rosalind Price's office and home bugged. I caught some very informative conversations over the past several months. None more so than a conversation she had with her second in command, a man named Banks. In the conversation she told him that there was a scientist within SHIELD who had been able to operate this chamber and bring a fellow scientist back. Presumably, the scientist who had been stuck on the planet could calculate the point the portal would open."

"Are we sure this is the truth?"

Malick nodded. "I'm not sure how much Price understood, but it does appear that SHIELD lost a scientist to that planet and were able to use this resonance chamber and bring her back."

"So, what? You want to steal their records on it?"

"No," Malick said, smiling. "I want to steal those scientists."

AOSAOSAOS

"Hey," Skye said, approaching Dr. Garner slowly, so as not to startle him. "You have some time to talk?" she asked cautiously.

Andrew nodded. "I have a lot of time, now, out here in the middle of nowhere," he said, gesturing with his hands.

"You know," Skye reminded him, sitting down on the rock next to him, "you could have stayed with us back at the compound. You're probably not going to attack anyone there."

"I can't take that chance. It's bad enough I can walk there in a day," Andrew said, frowning. "But being out here has its perks."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"I get to finally experience true nature. And fear."

"Fear?"

"Yeah. Big ass grizzly wandered right by the cabin this morning and looked in the window at me. Nearly gave me a heart attack."

Skye laughed. "Ah, according to Grant, you don't really need to worry about the bears. They mostly leave you alone. Just don't leave food or garbage out."

"Okay, and what do I need to worry about?" he asked, sensing by her tone that there was more to her thoughts.

"It's the mountain lions you gotta watch out for."

"And you walked here by yourself?"

Skye waved her hands at him. "Powers, remember?"

They sat in silence, watching the sun go down, the colors barely visible over the canopy of trees. Once it got dark, Andrew stood up, offering his hand to Skye. "Maybe we should go in, in case of those mountain lions."

Accepting his hand, Skye allowed him to pull her up, and followed him into the cabin that he was staying in. The same cabin Grant had built with his own two hands when he was fifteen. The cabin he had built when Garrett had left him out here in the wilderness, all alone. Skye pushed those thoughts from her mind as she entered the cabin, Andrew closing the door behind her.

Once the door was closed, Andrew lit a gas lamp and then started a fire in the fireplace while Skye took a seat in one of the chairs. Once the fire was going nicely, Andrew snagged two bottles of water from the kitchen area and offered one to Skye. She took it an took a long drink, mostly to fill the silence.

Andrew sat in the chair across from her, his bottle left unopened. "How can I help you, Skye? Why'd you walk here all day alone? And how are you getting back in the dark?"

"Grant's going to come by in a few hours to pick me up and bring me home. I wanted to walk here and spend some time thinking, clearing my head, spend some time alone."

"Anything you care to share?" Andrew asked, prompting the young woman. He knew from past experience that Skye took her time to talk about what was bothering her, and no amount of pushing would work. But gently prodding sometimes got the job done, especially if it seemed he wasn't forcing anything or expecting a response.

"When Grant and I met May at your place...it seems that Lincoln also put it together, just a few days later...while we were there, SHIELD showed up...with some ATCU members...it was...it didn't go so well...but maybe it did...I don't know..."

"It must have been difficult for you to see them there, to have to deal with them. You haven't seemed ready for that yet."

Skye shook her head. "I didn't think I was. And I still think that, if my response was anything to go by...but Coulson did apologize..."

"He apologized?"

"Mmmhmm. It was weird...they wanted to talk...I didn't...they asked questions...questions about the Inhumans and what we're doing...of course Grant and I didn't answer...it looked like it was going to blow up in our faces...but Fitz...he stepped up and made some peace...and then we talked...or really, I asked why they were working with the ATCU and Hydra...anyway, I unloaded on Coulson...let him know some of what I was feeling...I was so angry...after, he apologized...but I don't know..."

"Don't know what?" Andrew asked when it was clear Skye wasn't going to continue.

"Don't know if he meant it. Don't know if I can trust him again."

"Broken trust is really hard to repair. I'm not surprised you have doubts. That's normal, Skye."

"Why can't I get past this?"

"Because, for the first time, when you joined the SHIELD team, you found yourself finally believing that you were worth something that you were more that just some body to take up space. That you counted. Coulson, the team, but mainly Coulson, made you feel that. That you weren't worthless or invisible, but rather had something to contribute, someone to be seen. But then, you got your powers and people turned on you. You were suddenly the enemy, someone to be feared, not loved. Someone dangerous and not to be trusted. And it only continued. Continued to the point where allies tried to kill you. This isn't something you can just get past. Nor should you have to. You were deeply hurt, even if it wasn't intentional, and you deserve an apology at least, and a change in behavior by the others at most. Especially if they want to continue to be in your life."

"But doesn't that make me selfish? I mean, if they didn't even mean it...if they didn't mean to hurt me, then how can I expect...I mean, I'm an adult, right? Shouldn't I be responsible for my own feelings? Can't I choose how to feel something?"

"It doesn't matter if they meant it or not, Skye. It happened. And it happened to you. Yes, sometimes you can choose how to feel. Other times you can't, but you can choose what to do, how to deal and react with those feelings. That doesn't negate another person's bad behavior or hurtful words. Otherwise, no one would ever have to apologize or make amends for anything."

Skye nodded, seeing Andrew's point. "So what do I do about this? What I just can't get past?"

"What is it exactly that you can't get past? Lay it out in words, feelings, give precise examples. That might give us a starting point."

"Okay, well," Skye said hesitantly, "I mean, I'm still pretty pissed that...that...Jemma thinks my being Inhuman is like a disease and was trying to cure me."

"Good," Andrew said. "Now we're getting somewhere. What else, Skye? What else are you still pissed about?"

"Well, I'm still angry at Mack for first thinking I was...bad? Dangerous? I'm not sure, just...for thinking bad of me just because I had a new power I couldn't control."

"Control yet," Andrew reminded her. "At that point, you couldn't control it. But now you can."

"Yeah, yeah, and now he wants to act like it never happened, or like I should just pretend that he never said those things, never acted that way...like I have to forgive and forget and never mention it again."

"And that isn't something you have to do. You don't have to forgive, forget, or never mention it again. No one can tell you what to do or how to heal from this. Only you."

Skye rubbed her eyes furiously, trying to keep them from tearing up and leaking. "I hate this," she said softly. "I hate feeling like this. I hate being at odds with friends. But I just...sometimes I wonder if they really were friends, if they could turn on me so quickly over something I had no control over? Did they actually think I wanted this? That I wanted to be different even more than I already was? That I would suddenly turn evil because I got these super powers? Like some crazy comic book villain?"

Andrew snorted at her humor. Underneath all that pain, fear, anger, sadness, she was still Skye, snarky, humorous, and quick thinking. And hiding a lot of pain. He changed from amused, to sympathetic quickly. "It was fear talking for them. It's not an excuse, just an deduction." He paused a moment, gearing up to what he was going to ask her. It would be hard, and he'd probably meet with resistance, but he thought this might be the best way to help her face these demons and heal. "I don't think that you'll ever be able to be with your old team again, not until you deal with this and heal. And part of this is confronting the people who hurt you so deeply."

"I can't do that," Skye immediately replied, voice all shaky with fear. "I can't talk...I tried...with Coulson...at your place...but the words, they just...just came out...wrong, or jumbled, or just got stuck..."

"You don't have to confront them face to face. Actually, I think that is a supremely bad idea right now. Mostly, and this isn't a criticism, just an observation, you have trouble getting out what you want to say when you're scared, or hurt, or worried. It comes out, as you just said, jumbled." Andrew put a hand on Skye's shoulder and gave a squeeze to reassure her. "That won't work in this case. No, what I mean by confront is write a letter. Write a letter to each of your old team. Tell them in that letter exactly what they did, exactly what you felt, exactly how it's affected you since, and exactly what you want from them now in order to help you heal."

"That sounds a lot less scary than telling them face to face. Or more like a coward's way..."

Andrew shook his head. "No, this is just the first step. Eventually, I hope to have you at a place where you can talk to them and say this stuff to them face to face. But you're not there yet. But, if you write it all out, you can spend as much time as you want and need to put it all out there, change things, fix it so it makes sense, so it's not verbal diarrhea..."

"That makes some sense...", Skye said slowly, thinking over the idea. "Would I have to send them?"

"No. Though, after doing all this, you might choose to, and that's okay. Or you could burn them, or keep them locked up...this is your party, Skye, and you choose what you want to do to heal and move on from what happened to you."

Skye took a deep breath and said, "I think this idea is probably going to help me. It's just so...scary...to put it all down in words...I don't want to sound selfish, or self-centered, or...or...like I'm blaming them for all my problems, my feelings..."

"But they are responsible, Skye, for what you are feeling. What you are responsible for is how you respond and move on from that. You can't always choose what to feel, especially if people have hurt you. But you can choose what to do with those feelings, how it affects you and changes you."

"Why didn't I have this issue with Grant?" Skye asked bluntly. "I was so hurt by what he did...and now look at us. What's different here? Why am I not still so angry with him? How did I give that up so easily?"

"I don't think it was easily. I mean, I heard you shot him four times," Andrew pointed out, only half joking.

"Well, two hit the vest...so really, it was only twice..." Skye hedged, smiling. "But that's what I mean," she said, suddenly serious again. "I was so hurt that I SHOT him FOUR times. And now I'm working with him, living with him...counting on him to have my back. How can I just do that, after everything he did? It doesn't make sense to me."

"Are you questioning whether you should trust him now?"

"No, absolutely not. He's really one of the only people I trust implicitly. That's just it...how did I get from shooting him to being in his bed so easily and quickly?"

"Do you want my friend opinion or my therapist opinion?" Andrew asked.

"Let's start with therapist," Skye said warily.

"Well, Ward has faced his inner demons and is more at peace with himself than he was before. He's accepted who he is, what he is, and all the dark in him and what he has done. He holds no more illusions about himself, so he can more easily accept himself. He's not afraid of himself, darkness and all. He also has seemed to accept that not all of this was his fault, that he was shaped by people and situations out of his control. It has allowed him to rest, for lack of a better word, and let the real Grant Ward emerge. And in going through all of that, it has given him an understanding and an awareness in how to help you. That understanding, that need for others to look at you, Skye, and see you, not who they want you to be, but who you really are, that is something that Ward can easily do, now that he's dealt with his own demons. I'd also add that he was there and just willing to listen when you needed someone to talk to. He gave you something you desperately needed at that point...connection to another person, a connection that let you be seen. Ward was there and let you know you weren't invisible or unimportant."

"But how can he, after everything I had said and done...how can he just accept me?"

"I'm sure there are a lot of reasons, Skye, and only Ward can give them to you. I can only guess."

"Guess then."

"Well, in seeing how you two interact, he's definitely forgiven you for whatever you have done in the past against him. Somewhere along the line you have shown him that you are sorry for it, and that you have changed. That's usually enough for people to forgive and move on, especially if they love someone."

"And why did I jump in so fast? I mean, one chance meeting and now we're here..."

Andrew shrugged. "What do you think?"

"Grant accepts me and doesn't try to change me. He just lets me be who I am. Sometimes, though, I worry that he is this way because he's afraid of me. Afraid of my powers and what I can do."

"Why do you think that?"

Skye smiled sadly. "Because everyone's afraid of me and my powers. Coulson, Simmons, even May. They're all afraid. Why should Grant be any different?"

"Have you asked him about it?"

Skye shook her head. "No. I don't think I want to know the truth on that one. Not yet."

"Leaving out Ward, do you really believe that all the others are afraid of you?"

Skye nodded. "They even said as much. I've told you this before. Coulson tried to send me away, keep me isolated and away from everyone. The others wanted to lock me up. Only Fitz fought for me. And even May...though now I understand where her fear came from, having learned what happened in Bahrain, but still...she is afraid of me, or of me losing control." Skye started to cry again and angrily wiped away the tears. "It's not fair. The first time I finally found a family, a place to call home, and they shove me away. Again. It hurts more this time than all the others because I was happy there."

"It was their fear, Skye, that made them make those choices, feel those feelings," Andrew consoled. "Not you."

"Yeah, their fear of me," Skye said darkly.

"People fear what they don't understand. It's a survival mechanism, unfortunately, and in this case, it hurts you and your relationships with them. I wish I could give you a magic answer to make it all better, but I can't. The only way it can get better is if you work on you and they all work on themselves. And then, maybe, you might salvage something out of all of this. It might be back to what it was, or it might be a barely passable friendship. I can't tell the future, that's not my Inhuman power."

"At least I know why May was afraid of me. Well, not really of me so much as afraid of me losing control and hurting people. I know what happened in Bahrain, and I can only imagine what she was thinking when she realized I had my powers and I wasn't able to control it. I think she was as worried for me as she was of me. After talking with her, I see that now. But May's different than the others. She's not blind to her own faults and prejudices."

"And that's why you can forgive her and work it out with her," Andrew pointed out. "It's the same with Ward." He paused, staring at Skye for a moment. "That's a very insightful thing to say, Skye. I'm proud that you've come this far."

Skye shrugged, wanting to deflect the credit. "I have a good therapist. And some good books Grant's given me to read. Opened my eyes to...everything, really. I mean, I know this rift between me and the others...I have some blame in it, since I didn't speak up or talk to anyone about what was going on. And I kept my relationship with Grant a secret. The fact that I even started one with him is probably a real sore spot with the others. It also didn't help that I ran away to join my crazy mother, either. Though, in my defense, I didn't know she was crazy at the time. And I can understand their fear. Hell, I'm afraid of me sometimes. My powers are crazy powerful, and are growing. But the others...sometimes...sometimes I feel like they think I chose this...that I wanted this...that I caused all these issues because I got powers. That it's my fault all this happened."

"Skye, you know it's not your fault, right? This was done to you, not by you," Andrew said gently, trying to reassure the crying girl.

Skye nodded. "I do now. It took a long time, you, Grant, being away from them, but I don't think that anymore." Skye sniffed and wiped away more tears. "Still hurts, though. And the worst part of all of this...none of them have apologized. Not really. Except for May. And Coulson tried earlier, but I just couldn't deal. I'm not sure it was genuine either, or if he was just saying what he thought I wanted to hear."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because I'm still not sure I can trust him. Not after what he did. And certainly not after he is still working with Price and the ATCU."

Andrew nodded thoughtfully. "That may be a bridge you might never be able to cross. And that's okay. You were deeply hurt by his actions, made even worse because you think of him as a father. It's okay to stay away and protect yourself, especially if you don't think he's sincere. And it is okay for you to need more actions and more time to see if he is sincere. That's why I want you to write those letters, Skye. Get all this out to them. Let them know exactly what happened, how you feel, how they made you feel. And what you are doing to help yourself and what you need from them."

Skye nodded. "I can work on that. Those letters might take me several drafts and a long time," she admitted.

"I'd be worried if they didn't," Andrew told her. "They should take a long time, and you should go through several drafts, as you let your feelings out and feel them."

Skye took a deep breath and then admitted, "I called Coulson a while ago. When the news...about me and Grant being terrorists...when the government decided that was how they would go after us...I called Coulson, upset that he would allow that."

"Did he have anything to do with it?"

Skye shook her head. "He said no. He even sounded almost as upset as I was over it all. He promised to try to fix it."

"Do you believe him?"

"I want to," Skye said hesitantly, not sure how to answer, or if she even knew the answer. "I so really really do. Because, if he had...then it would...it would shatter everything. I mean, I still...I still...have some hope...that we could...well, maybe not fix it all...but work something out...become friends again. Colleagues, maybe. But if he knew of this lie the government was going to spew...or if he was in on it...that would completely shatter the foundation that we have...the foundation that might let us be...together again."

"I'm not going to tell you what to believe, or force you to take this one way or the other. But I will tell you that I've know Phil a long time. He has his faults and his blind spots. But I would never think he would go along with that kind of lie. Especially not with the way he cares about you. He's made mistakes, don't get me wrong, and they have really hurt you. But to do this...it would have to be deliberate, and I just can't see him doing that."

"I really want to believe that," Skye said sadly.

"What's holding you back?" Andrew asked.

"Fear," Skye said simply.

"Fear that you are right? Or that he is?" Andrew asked.

"Part of me is afraid that I blew this all out of proportion and that I made this mess bigger with all my insecurities than it needed to be. That it's my fault," Skye admitted, wiping a few stray tears.

"If I thought that, I would have said so," Andrew told her gently. "I don't think that you blew anything out of proportion. You were hurt. Badly. You have a right to be angry and try to protect yourself. But you have to ask yourself, did they treat you that way because they are bad people? Or was it because they let their fear rule them?"

Skye nodded. "I'm beginning to understand that it was all fear based on their end. And just poor decisions. It still hurts, but I don't think they were trying to hurt me."

"You sound less angry now than last time we had a conversation like this," Andrew observed.

"I feel less angry," Skye admitted. "Is that good?"

"That's very good," Andrew agreed. "It means you are processing and healing. Someday, you may even be able to have a nice conversation with them."

"You never told me your friend opinion on why Grant an I are together," Skye pointed out as she stood up, hearing Grant's SUV driving down the dirt path to the cabin, glad that their time was up. She didn't want to delve into her personal demons anymore.

Andrew followed her lead and stood up as well. "That one's easy...the heart doesn't always take direction from the brain. Sometimes, it leads."

AOSAOSAOS

"Nothing!" Skye spat out, throwing one of Jiaying's translated notebooks across the room. It smashed against the wall and then fell, open at one of the pages picturing the Inhumans who had been able to banish Alveus. Skye felt as if the notebook had opened to that page in particular, almost mocking her, since she was still unable to see a way to defeat Alveus.

Grant looked up from the bed and watched as Skye began to pace back and forth. He could see her anger building up, could almost feel the waves, the vibrations, coming off of her. Wait, those were real, he realized, as soon as he saw the water in the glass on his nightstand being to vibrate.

"Hey, Skye," he called out casually, trying to not alarm her as well as accuse her. "If I had wanted a carbonated beverage, I'd have gotten one, instead of water," he tried to joke.

"Huh?" Skye asked, stopping her pacing and looking over to Grant, confused. He jerked his head towards his glass of water. Skye stared at it a moment, trying to make sense, before what was happening registered in her already turbulent mind.

"Oops, sorry," she said quickly, taking a deep breath and reigning in her powers. "I didn't mean that to happen. I guess I need to work on my control."

"It's okay," Grant said, brushing it off. "At least until you shake apart the house...I don't want to wait months for it to be rebuilt."

Skye walked over and sat down on the bed with Grant, curling up next to him and sighing in defeat. "This isn't getting me anywhere. Nothing in these journals tells me how to defeat Alveus."

"Maybe," Grant said softly, starting to run his fingers through Skye's hair to calm her, "maybe Jiaying never found a way, and that was why he was banished."

"No, I get that. That she didn't have an answer so they had to banish him then. But after? All those years, and nothing? It just...it just seems like a waste to not find the answer. Especially since we basically stole this information from SHIELD."

"Maybe it's up to us to figure this out. We have some of the smartest people to work with. And several Inhumans with awesome powers. There must be some way to defeat this Alveus."

"Except most of us don't understand our powers," Skye huffed. "What is it that Evan does when he charges objects? How can Wilson change his appearance? Even I don't really understand what I do. Fitz said it has something to do with vibrations, but I'm not even sure he understands it completely. I know I can blow things up from the inside. I can change the flow and direction of water, I can stop myself or others from falling quickly, but how do I do it? What are my limits? What is it exactly that I'm working with?"

"Look, don't take this the wrong way," Grant started, afraid to offend Skye, "but there are people out there smarter than Fitz. Not many," he quickly stated when he saw her angry look. "And I love Fitz dearly, but maybe we need to go speak to someone else? Someone smarter?"

"There aren't many, especially in the physics and engineering field," Skye pointed out. "Actually, I can really only think of two off the top of my head. And one of them is a definite no-go. He'd just turn me in...but the other one...he might be able to figure this all out..." Skye sat up, pulling away from Grant to reach over to her laptop. "But he's in hiding now, or so I've heard...finding him will be extremely difficult...but there may be someone I can get to who might be able to give me a location...or a starting point..." The whole time Skye was tapping away on her laptop, windows popping up and down faster than most people would be able to process what was on them.

Grant just stared at her, not sure where her thoughts were going or what to say to try to help. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Skye?" Grant questioned, hoping to get her to share her thoughts.

"Aha!" she shouted in his ear, a huge grin on her face. "Got 'em!"

"Skye," Grant said carefully, only coming up with one name as to who she might be talking about. "I hope you aren't planning on kidnapping Tony Stark...that might be frowned upon and not really help our case."

"No, I don't want to kidnap him," Skye quickly replied, still engrossed in whatever she was searching on her laptop. "I just want to talk to him, secretly, privately. From what I've been able to gather, he seems pretty open and might be able to help me."

"Tony Stark? Open to all this?" Grant questioned, wondering if his girlfriend had completely lost her mind. Last he checked, Stark was working with the government and turning in powered people not signing the Accords.

"Huh, what?" Skye asked, finally looking up at him, his words finally registering in her speeding thoughts. "Who's talking about Stark? He's the last person I would turn to right now."

"Well, who else is smart enough to help you understand your powers?" Grant asked, relieved she wasn't going to risking her life going to Stark.

"I'm talking about Dr. Hank Pym."

"Wasn't he the scientist who figured out nanotechnology and can shrink himself?"

"That's a part of it. He's a genius, and he has multiple degrees in biochemistry and physics. Two fields I need help in," Skye stated. "And Dr. Pym would be a good choice, if I could find him. He has no love for SHIELD or the government and for agendas. But he's in hiding, and even I can't find him quick enough for this."

"How do you know?"

"I've tried already," Skye admitted, focus still on her computer. "A few months ago. I thought he'd make a good addition to our growing...team. But I couldn't find him or his daughter. Still looking, though."

"So, who is it that you're planning to meet?"

"A colleague of his. He's on house arrest right now, but I can hack into the FBI security and loop the cameras for a while so I can sneak in and talk to him."

"On house arrest? Are you sure this is a safe plan?"

Skye shrugged. "I don't really have any other way. Facial recognition and tracking certain science and engineering equipment is taking too long. I've been at this too long. We can't waste any more time."

"Okay," Grant said, knowing she was right. Time was running out. It was only a matter of time before Hydra got that portal open. "What do you need me to do to help?"

AOSAOSAOS

Once again, Skye found herself hacking into a government organization from a laptop in the back of a van. She laughed out loud at coming full circle, causing Grant to look at her strangely.

"What?" he asked.

"Just remembering how this all started for me," she told him.

He looked at her, confused for a second, before it all came back to him and he chuckled, too. "Seems like it was years and years ago that I hauled you out of that van in LA."

"With a bag on my head," Skye added, trying hard not to laugh. "Did you ever think we'd end up here? And together?"

"Never would have thought this in a million years," Grant admitted. "I thought you were the most annoying, impudent, sarcastic, immature, did I mention annoying, kid I had ever met." He caught Skye giving him a scathing look. "Just goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover."

"You're just saying that because you're afraid I'll blast you with my powers," Skye only half joked. "Like everyone else."

"No I'm not," Grant replied sincerely.

"Huh?" Skye asked, looking at him in confusion.

"I'm not afraid of you. Or your powers. Never was."

Skye stared at him, searching his face for the lie she was sure he was hiding. But she didn't see any. He was being completely open and honest and sincere. Grant Ward was not afraid of her in any way. Her powers didn't scare him. He just accepted them as a part of her, and loved all of her.

She dropped what she was doing and impulsively reached over and grabbed Grant's face, kissing him strongly, leaving nothing to the imagination on what she felt. She held the kiss for several long moments, before finally releasing him, a dazed look on his face. Skye laughed and went back to her hacking. "You should see the look on your face."

Snapping back, Grant looked at her and chucked. "What brought that on?"

"You're saying all the right things," Skye said back, not looking up from her computer.

"Good," Grant replied, smiling, returning to his job of lookout. After a few minutes, he turned to look at Skye when she called his name.

"Grant," Skye said softly, looking at him again. "I think, when we're back home, we should ask Sheriff Bowman to, well, officiate...make it official for us..."

"You mean marry us?" At Skye's nod, he continued. "Sure, I think he'd like that. And so would I. When were you thinking?"

"When we get back home. I thought I made that part clear."

"I haven't even been able to get you a ring yet," Grant pointed out.

Skye shrugged. "I don't need a ring. You know I'm not into material things or symbols. But, if you really need something to make it official, how about calling this awesome laptop you bought me my engagement present."

AOSAOSAOS

"I have no idea where they are," Lang said, frowning. "They didn't exactly leave me a forwarding address. Plus, being associated with me made them jump to the top of the government's hit list."

"They're not the top. Trust me," Skye said sardonically.

"True," Scott replied. "I've seen the news reports. That's you, actually. I'm sorry. You don't seem like the kind of person they're making you out to be."

"I'm not. I just want to understand my powers and to help others with them. I don't want to make an army and overthrow the government or any other crazy ideas the government has been spewing about me. I just want Inhumans and humans to coexist peacefully. Maybe even help each other. But there is still the possibility of this big, bad, mind controlling Inhuman returning to Earth and fighting for the exact opposite of what I want. I need to understand my powers so that I can stop him."

"What about Stark?"

Skye scoffed. "How'd that work for you?"

Scott smirked. "Not so well." He dropped his shoulders and sighed. "I might have a way. It's a long shot, but you can try it." He walked over to his hiding place in the wall and pulled out his cell phone. He handed it to Skye. "Both Hank's and Hope's numbers are in there. I've been too afraid to call them."

"Can I take this?" Skye asked, waving the cell phone.

Scott nodded. "Yeah, sure. I probably won't be using it anyway," he said sadly.

"I'll put in a good word for you," Skye promised. "And if I can, I'll bring this back to you. Just in case."

AOSAOSAOS

"I'm glad you could meet us, but we're a bit rushed, so if you would just get in, we'll be on our way," Skye said to Dr. Pym and his daughter, Hope. She led the way into the quinjet, gesturing for them to take their seats.

Dr. Pym sat down, making sure his wheeled case was close, and started to belt himself in. Hope followed him, snapping her harness closed quickly. "What? Are we keeping you from something? Because you called us, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," Skye said, nodded, sitting across from them. Once she saw that both doctors were securely harnessed, she signaled for Grant to take off. "It's just, we didn't expect such a quick response from you...and we had something planned for today..."

"What? What could be more important than finding a way...how did you put it...'stopping a horror being visited upon this world because SHIELD is being stupid'? Aren't those your words?" Dr. Pym asked.

Skye scrunched up her face. "Yeah, sounds like me," she admitted. "And SHIELD really is being stupid about this...but that's not the point. Yes, we need your help...but today...well...we have a wedding to get to."

"A wedding?" Hope asked incredulously. "What the hell? Who's wedding?"

Skye pointed to herself and then pointed to Grant in the cockpit. Both Dr. Pym and Hope craned their heads out and around to see who she was pointing at. Grant waved back.

Sitting back, Dr. Pym commented, "Well, at least there will be drinks where we're going."

"Hold on," Hope said, trying to understand. "You two are getting married?" Skye nodded. "Today?" she continued, trying to put it all together.

"Yeah. We arranged it with the town Sheriff. And then you called asking to be picked up ASAP, so...well...as soon as we get back...nuptials...and then science."

Dr. Pym laughed. "I always thought marriage in and of itself as a science experiment...chemistry at it's best. Or worst."

"No kidding," Grant said, joining in. "If anyone had said to me last year that I would be marrying this woman, I would have laughed in their faces. I mean, she shot me four times!"

Dr. Pym and Hope stared at Skye as if they couldn't believe what Grant had said and were hoping that she'd contradict him. She shrugged instead, shouting up to Grant, "Hey, two of those bullets hit your vest, so really, it was only twice. And I didn't even hit anything vital." She then directed her next comments to the two scientists. "I was mad...he had kidnapped me."

"I didn't kidnap you...you came willingly," Grant countered from the cockpit.

"You were holding my friends hostage and threatened to blow up the Bus if I didn't come with you...what else would you call it?"

"Blackmail?" Dr. Pym suggested before Grant could answer, trying not to laugh. He was starting to like these two. They reminded him of himself and his lost wife.

AOSAOSAOS

Dr. Hank Pym sat back in his chair in the dining room, belonging to this woman, Skye, and folded his arms across his chest. The story she and the man, Grant Ward, had told him both scared and intrigued him. The idea that humankind could all be enslaved by an Inhuman overlord, or wiped out, or both, scared him, even though he knew several people he would claim deserved it. And the other side, the side about people having super powers genetically engineered into them by blue aliens...well, from a scientific standpoint, that was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. But, then again, what had been going on the last few years...it was certainly possible. And the scientist in him wanted to know more.

"That's one crazy tale you've spun," he said slowly. "Too crazy to be all bullshit. Especially with what's been going on the last few years, starting with aliens coming out of a portal in the sky and attacking New York City."

"And we all know super soldiers are possible. Look at our Captain America and Russia's Winter Soldier," Hope added, leaning forward on her elbows. "I can concede that it is possible that aliens could also create super powered beings. Though I'm not sure why they'd bother with us lowly humans."

Grant shrugged. "Something about compatible biology combined with primitiveness and easily controlled. I mean, the Kree did this hundreds of years ago, when most humans didn't have language and were hunter gatherers. Easy to capture and experiment on."

"And you," Hope said, turning toward Skye, "You are one of those Inhumans? From back then? That's incredible," Hope said.

Skye shook her head. "No, I was born in 1988. But one of my ancestors must have been, and the genetic...rewrite, for lack of a better term...was passed down from generation to generation."

"So, explain to me why we're just learning about this now? Shouldn't there be lots of Inhumans throughout history?"

"We're normal," Skye tried to explain. "The genes that code for Inhuman abilities are dormant. Until we get exposed to a terrigen crystal. That activates the dormant genes that give us our powers. So, unless an Inhuman comes into contact with this crystal, our genetic code will not be rewritten and we will never develop our powers."

"And that happened to you?" Dr. Pym asked.

Skye nodded. "Almost two years ago. Scared the crap outta me. I could suddenly do this...thing...and I had no control. And it was dangerous, and I could hurt people without meaning to, if I couldn't learn control. Long story short, I learned that control, thankfully, and now I'm trying to help others learn that control."

Dr Pym nodded, thinking this through. He stared piercingly at Skye, trying to decide if he should trust her or not. Nothing she had said had given him any cause to disbelieve her, or to think she wasn't being one hundred percent honest. Or that she wanted to use her powers for dark reasons. She seemed pretty open and focused on learning control to help people, not hurt them.

"How is SHIELD involved?" he finally asked.

Skye scrunched up her face and huffed. "I used to be a SHIELD agent," she admitted. "Then this happened and they wanted to lock me up, or send me away. Or both. I ran and found others like me and learned my control. Then I came back, and...well..."

"Have you heard of the ATCU?" Grant asked, interrupting Skye.

Both scientists nodded. "They're a task force the President created to track down alien threats..." Hope trailed off. She turned from Grant to Skye and stared at the other woman. "You...they're tracking you down, and others like you..."

"They partnered with SHIELD," Skye said softly. "And tried to kill me."

"They nearly did," Grant spat with venom. "Nine bullets, remember?"

Skye shrugged at the horrified looks on the scientists' faces. "Lucky I had him to come and get me."

"So, your own team, your own organization, tried to have you killed?"

Skye shook her head. "I don't know...Coulson told me that he had no idea that the ATCU were going to do that, but I don't know if I believe him, after all that has happened before and after. But, after that...working with them...I just couldn't do it."

"Hence why you're no longer SHIELD," Dr. Pym guessed, once he'd gotten over the initial shock of what the other two had told them. "And why you came to me and not Stark. I have no love for SHIELD."

"Yeah. I knew, that even if you wouldn't or couldn't help me, at least you wouldn't turn me in," Skye said.

"I'd like to help, if I can," Dr. Pym told her. "I'm not sure where to start, other than to see what you can do, and then go from there. I want to be honest...there might not be anything I can do, if this is beyond my equipment or understanding. I mean, if your powers don't follow Earth's laws of science. Anything could be possible, since we're dealing with alien genetics and alien science. Do you know anything about your powers, other than what you can do?"

"All I know is what Fitz has told me. That I can manipulate vibrations of matter. That's it. He explained a bit more, but I have no idea what he was talking about. But I do know that what he was saying, by his tone and pauses and such, that he wasn't too sure what he was talking about, either. I'm hoping someone with your knowledge could put the pieces together better. It's just, we don't exactly have a lab here."

Dr. Pym nodded. "It just so happens, we do," he said, lifting up his wheeled suitcase, smiling at the confused looks on both Skye's and Grant's faces.

AOSAOSAOS

"So, from what I have seen and gathered, you do manipulate vibrations. You're working on a big scale...knocking down rocks, playing with the flow of water from a tap, rolling over cars...big objects. And mostly what I've observed is you manipulating the vibration of air molecules to affect your changes. But everything in the world, all matter, vibrates down to subatomic particles. See, air molecules vibrating at different frequencies is how we get hot and cold air. Light wavelengths vibrate at different frequencies giving us color. Protons, electrons, neutrons, all vibrate at different rates and frequencies to give us atoms. You could even go smaller to subatomic particles, if you want. It's all part of the QFT...Quantum Field Theory, where theoretical physicists describe all atomic and subatomic particles as actually vibrating fields that interact with each other and change each other. Vibrating fields. If you could tap into those and manipulate them at your will...you could affect any piece of matter on it's most basic level."

"So, you're saying I can set off an atom bomb if I wanted to, without the on switch?"

"Well, yes, but what I'm also saying is that you could STOP an atom bomb from going off, without the off switch," Dr. Pym clarified. "Not only can you speed up vibrations of an object to change them, you can slow them down within objects as well. As with the example of the atom bomb, you could jump start the concussive force, or you could slow it down, or contain it by manipulating the air vibrations around it. But, you keep thinking on a large scale. It's probably not your fault. You seem to have only been around people who consider what you do dangerous. Or would use you as a weapon of destruction. Without you understanding the principles, you probably have no conception of exactly what you can do. You can't create or destroy matter. That's impossible for anyone to do. Yet. But you can manipulate it to change its states and forms. So, in theory, you could even break apart that atom bomb we've been talking about and turn it into it's subatomic particles. You would make it microscopic dust, for lack of a better understanding on your part."

"So," Skye said slowly, trying to make sense of what Dr. Pym was saying, "I mostly just manipulate the air vibrations to do what I want, but I can manipulate the vibrations of everything if I wanted to?"

"Yes," Dr. Pym said emphatically. "Everything. You don't need to manipulate the air to get that rock to crumble You can just maniplate that rock so that it crumbles itself. You don't need to maniplate the air to change the water current. You just manipulate the actual current flow of the water itself."

"I don't need to manipulate the air to push the car to go faster. I just manipulate the car's movement itself to speed it up," Skye said, seeming to understand. "I just speed up the atoms or something that force the car to move."

"Exactly," Dr. Pym said, smiling. "You've been focusing on manipulating air vibrations to get your powers to work. But you aren't just able to manipulate air. You can manipulate the vibrations of anything and everything."

"Everything? So why haven't I already done this? Why do I only focus on air molecules?" Skye asked.

"Honestly? I think it's because no one has told you that you can. So you didn't know you could, so you never did," Dr. Pym explained. "It's kinda like with kids...if I told Hope she wouldn't like something, a food for instance, she either wouldn't try it and just assume she'd hate it, or she would try it, and conclude that she hated it, because I told her she would. I hadn't given her the tools to know and decide and try for herself. That's what I think happened to you. No one understood or told you that you could. Or let you figure it out for yourself."

"It's true," Hope said, speaking up to confirm what her father said.

"Kinda like when I was a kid...all the nuns told me I was a difficult kid, a bad kid, so became a difficult and bad kid. I did bad things, because no one told me I could do good things. Self fullfilling prophesy."

"I'm sorry you grew up that way," Dr. Pym said quietly, sadly. "Even though I've only known you a short time, I don't think you are a bad kid."

"Thanks," Skye said, smiling at him. "I've learned to tune all that out, for the most part. I know I'm not a bad person. I sometimes make bad decisions, but I'm not inherently bad." Skye paused and ran some thoughts through her head. "Hank, if I asked you to help others here, help them figure out exactly how their powers work, could you do it? I mean, only those who want to know. I won't force anyone to experiement or learn things they don't want to know. But if there are some who do? Could you help them like you're helping me?"

"I could try," Hank said kindly, giving Skye's shoulder a squeeze. "I don't claim to be a genius in all science fields, but if I can help them, I will as much as I can."

"Thanks," Skye said sincerely, for the first time finally feeling like she was helping those Inhumans who were looking to her to help them, lead them. Now she had an ally to help her. "What else about my powers can you tell me?"

"Well, in theory, you should also be able to affect the vibrations inside of a living object. Like an animal. Or a human."

"How so?"

"The theory is that all things vibrate. You could tap into that vibration and affect it. Disrupt it. That includes the brain waves in people's conscious and unconscious minds. Think about it...all waves, sound, light, brain...they all work the same way...particles vibrating at specific frequencies. So, it you could touch those brain waves in a person...not to mention their organs...you could help them, feel if they are normal or diseased, calm them if they are hysterical, disrupt normal brain function...you could be the most dangerous person on the face of this planet."

"Bark like a chicken, cluck like a dog? That stuff?"

Dr Pym shook his head. "Not conscious thought. At least, I don't think so, but we wouldn't know unless you tried. What I'm talking about is inducing sleep or comas in people most likely. Or reverse them. Diagnosing chemical imbalances that lead to mental disorders. Acessing memories that have been repressed."

"Good to know that the next time Grant bores me with a history lesson, I could just tap his mind and put him to sleep," Skye joked.

"You'd have to know exactly what to manipulate, otherwise you could cause some real damage," Dr. Pym warned. "But I understand the sentiment. We could learn all that, that's not the issue. The issue is whether or not you should."

"Believe me. Even though I only understand about a tenth of what you're saying, I get the gist. I really don't want to be playing with people's minds, especially if I don't understand what I am doing, or there's a real chance I could do damage. I get it. That's not exactly why I am here. Yes, I want to know all I can do. That doesn't necessarily mean I want to learn how to do it all. I'm just hoping for a way to defeat Alveus. I was hoping my powers, if I understood exactly how they work, not necessarily what I can do, but how I do any of it, then I could apply that to defeating Alveus for good."

"And what does defeating Alveus look like?" Dr. Pym asked. "Caged? Unconscious for life? Dead?"

Skye shrugged. "Whatever it takes. I just know banishment to another planet only works for so long."

"Well, you could send him back to that Maveth planet you told me about and then blow up the planet," Dr. Pym suggested.

"I need serious options, Hank," Skye said.

"Haven't you been listening? You CAN blow up a planet with your powers. You just need to get the planet's core to vibrate at the right frequency."

"Except that I would have to be there, too. And if I blew up Maveth...I would kill myself, too."

"Well, if you want to look at the negative side," Dr. Pym said, sardonically. "Unless you have a hidden spaceship hiding somewhere to escape on, actually blowing up Maveth probably won't be your first plan."

"No," Skye said bluntly. "I'd rather not die if I don't have to. I just got married a month ago."

"So, other options," Hope said, smiling. She'd really grown to like the younger woman. She was smart, quick witted, and had a heart bigger than most. Everything Skye had done, leaving SHIELD, starting this home for Inhumans, wanting to stop Hive, it was all to help people. Save people. There was no thought of her own gain, no selfishness in her desire to do this. And no desire to use her powers to hurt people. Even those who had repeatedly hurt her in the past.

"You said earlier that brain waves are also vibrations. Possibly vibrations I could control," Skye started hesitantly.

"Yes. And you said that you didn't want to learn how to invade people's minds and manipulate them, since the consequences could be disastrous and damaging," Dr. Pym pointed out.

"I know," Skye said. "But, what if that's the only way?"

"What do you mean?" Hope asked cautiously.

"You said I could possibly induce sleep. Or comas. What if the only way to stop Hive is to effectively put him into a perpetual coma?" Skye threw out there. "He's a living creature, despite needing a dead host to move around, right? All living creatures have a brain, and since he was once human, it would be very similar to a human brain, still, right?"

"In theory," Dr. Pym agreed. "It could have been changed due to the nature of his powers, but let's go with it still functions like a human brain."

"So I just reach out and find his brain waves and push him into a coma," Skye suggested. "Could that work?"

"Again, in theory," Dr. Pym told her.

"How would you do that without being taken over by him yourself?" Hope asked.

"Dr. Garner's Inhuman powers...we think he can remove Hive's infections particles from anyone who he takes over. In theory...and going by writings from my mother, who was there when Alveus was first banished."

"How's that possible? According to you, that was hundreds of years ago."

"My mother's Inhuman power was long life...it's a long story. Anyway, she wrote about an Inhuman from her time who could take Hive's infection out of other Inhumans, and who couldn't be infected himself. We think that power has been reincarnated in Dr. Garner."

"So, if he can keep Hive out of you..."

"Then maybe I can shut down Hive's mind." Skye looked up and gazed intently off in the distance. "And then we take the host body and...destroy it."

"Then we better get started on figuring out how to get you to touch brain waves and manipulate them," Dr. Pym said.

AOSAOSAOS

Simmons took a deep breath and knocked on Fitz's quarters. Usually she wasn't so nervous about seeing Fitz. In fact, she used to just open his door and walk into his room. They had always had an open door policy between the two of them. All of that had changed, however, when Skye had left and Fitz had defended her decisions, including the one to have a relationship with Grant Ward. That was something Jemma couldn't understand, from either of their standpoints. Ward had betrayed, hurt, manipulated, and kidnapped Skye. And he had tried to kill her and Fitz. How the two of them could forgive him all that was beyond her.

Before she could get too much into her thoughts on Ward, Fitz opened the door, a look of surprise on his face. Jemma flinched inwardly. Not too long ago he'd have smiled and been happy to see her. Now he was surprised, and probably a bit wary. It hurt to think that their close friendship had deteriorated into something like this, which was one of the reasons Jemma was here. She was going to try to put things right.

"Hi, Fitz," she said awkwardly. "Got a minute?"

Fitz shrugged. "I wasn't doing anything. What do you need?" he asked, standing in the doorway. It did not go past Jemma that he didn't invite her in.

"I was wondering if you were hungry? If you wanted to go get something to eat? Together? So we could talk?" she hurriedly asked, nervousness leaking through her voice.

"Won't really be just us, though, with everyone here," Fitz pointed out lamely.

"I know," Jemma agreed. "That's why I thought we could go off base. Just the two of us?"

Fitz stared at Jemma for a moment, trying to gauge her questions and her motives. Finding nothing but honesty and wanting to talk, he nodded his head. "Sure. I'll meet you in the garage in ten? I just want to finish this email to my mum."

Jemma briefly wondered if it really was his mum he was emailing, and not Skye or Ward, but quickly squashed that thought. Trying to fix things with Fitz would never work if she constantly second guessed his answers and constantly accused him of hiding things.

"Okay, good," Jemma replied, smiling. "I'll go let Coulson know and meet you at an SUV. I thought maybe that new place that Hunter and Bobbi were raving about last week? They said it had a real British pub feel."

"Sounds good. See you in ten." With that, Jemma walked away, hearing Fitz close the door behind him.

A little over half an hour later they were being seated in a small, dim booth in a back corner of the pub. Their waitress handed them menus and said she would be back in a few moments to take drink orders. Fitz slid into the booth across from Jemma, opening his menu and holding it up in front of his face so he wouldn't see Jemma. He perused the menu, but didn't really take in anything he saw, too focused on why Jemma had asked him to dinner.

"Fitz?" Jemma asked him, placing a hand on top of his menu and lowering it so she could see him. "I wanted to talk..."

"Yeah, okay, sure," he got out quickly, fumbling over his own tongue. "What about?"

Jemma took a deep breath. "I have...well...I've done something...but we'll get to that...I just...I hate this!"

"Hate what?"

"This!" she practically yelled, waving a hand between the two of them. "Us! How we can't even have a simple conversation anymore!"

"Nothing is simple anymore," Fitz said sadly, frowning. "Everything's changed now, and it's hard to go back."

Before Jemma could respond, the waitress came back and, thankful for the distraction, they ordered their food and drinks. Once she read back their order, the waitress nodded and went off to the kitchen.

"I miss you," Jemma finally got out, eyes searching for some reflection in Fitz's eyes and expression. "I miss my best friend. I know I did and said some things to mess this up. And I'm sorry. I just want us to go back to what we were."

Fitz sat back and thought, her words blazing a path in his brain. If he were honest with himself, he really did miss her, too. So much that it hurt. Not having Jemma next to him all the time, finishing his sentences, was like having an arm cut off. It hurt. But he couldn't spend all that time with her, listening to her bad mouth Ward or try to justify what had happened with Skye. He just couldn't do that, and live with himself. Skye and Ward were his friends, too.

"Say something, Fitz, please," Jemma pleaded when his silence had gone on.

"I miss you, too," he started slowly, carefully, "But I miss Skye, too. And even Ward. You may not understand what is going on, but I do. Or as much as I can, anyway. And to hear you, and the others, but mainly you, constantly cut Ward down or bad mouth him or Skye and her decisions...that hurts, too. Since they are my friends. They used to be yours, too."

"But Ward is a bad person and Skye's chosen to go off with him...she is making bad decisions and..." Jemma was cut off by Fitz raising a hand.

"How do you expect people to change if you don't give them a chance? How do you forgive if you don't let people show you they changed?" he asked her.

"Well, you can't, really," Jemma said quietly. "But you also have to want to give them that chance. I guess, when it comes to Ward, I don't."

"And that's okay, Jemma," Fitz said understandingly. "He did do horrible things, and it's okay to not be able or willing to forgive. But it's not okay to expect everyone else to also think that way."

"So you feel I'm pushing my beliefs about Ward onto you and the others?" Jemma concluded.

Fitz nodded. "And Skye. The more you push this 'Ward is evil' narrative at her, the more she'll pull away. She doesn't see him as evil. Not anymore, and to be honest, with what she and I have talked about, I'm not ever sure that she did see him that way. Damaged, hurt, confused, misguided, a few other adjectives, but I don't think evil crossed her mind." Fitz stared right at Jemma as he said the next part. "And I agree with her. I think the same as her about Ward."

"I can't understand that at all," Jemma confessed.

"I know," Fitz said sadly. "And that's probably a good thing. It means that you grew up happy and healthy and didn't have severe traumas in your childhood. That's a good thing, Jemma. But it doesn't make you an authority on what, or who, is good or bad."

Jemma wiped some tears from her eyes. "Fitz...your father..." she said, sniffing. "I don't know what to say..."

"That's okay. It's something that is hard to talk about, especially with someone who doesn't understand and hasn't been through it. Skye and Ward have, so it's easier with them, sometimes. And it gives us an understanding of each others' behaviors. And I at least had my mum to help me through it all. Ward had no one, until Garrett, and we all know how that turned out. Skye had no one at all, and to be honest, I'm not sure how she turned out so well."

Jemma was openly crying now, not sure how to deal with Fitz talking about the abuse he and the others had suffered. She had grown up with two loving parents who gave her everything, made her the center of their world. She had no idea how to relate to what Fitz was implying. "I really don't know..."

"It's okay, Jemma," Fitz said, leaning forward and taking her hand. "You said you did something?"

Thankful for the change in conversation, but also worried about what Fitz would say, Jemma said, "Remember when we deleted all our work on opening the portal to Maveth?"

"Yes..." Fitz said, not sure where she was going.

"Well, I...I didn't exactly...well, I did destroy all our work...only I did it after...after I saved it on a backup drive..." She reached into her purse and pulled out the back up hard drive.

"Jemma!" Fitz hissed at her, shoving her hand down to the table and covering it and the hard drive with both of his. "What the bloody hell? All that information was supposed to be gone so that Hydra couldn't get their hands on it."

"I know, I know," Jemma said, still crying. "I just couldn't leave Will there. I just couldn't. It isn't fair to him, after he saved my life."

"Jemma, we can't have that hard drive or that information," Fitz reiterated. "If it falls into Hydra hands...I hate how much leaving Will there hurts you, but we can't chance this information getting out. We have to destroy it. Now." At that moment, the waitress returned with their food, and Fitz couldn't stop his mouth watering from the smells. "Okay, right after we eat."

Neither noticed the three men at the bar, intently studying the scientists. Neither noticed when one man made a quick call on his cell. Neither noticed that the three men had not taken a sip of their drinks or eaten a bite of their food.

AOSAOSAOS

When neither Fitz nor Simmons came back after going to dinner, with not even a text or call to say they were running late or decided to extend their evening, Coulson knew. He knew that they had been taken by Hydra. That it was happening. That Hyrda was figuring out a way to open that portal and bring back Hive. Fitz and Simmons were the key. They had figured out not only how to open the portal, but how to predict where on Maveth it would open so anyone there could come back.

"What do we do?" May asked, coming to stand next to him as he stared out his office window.

Coulson had no idea what to tell her. He had no plan, no ideas, not even a thought. This was bad. Hydra had Fitz and Simmons. They were going to bring back Hive, and there didn't seem like there was anything he or his team could do about it.

"I have no idea," Coulson finally admitted quietly. "Hydra is poised to bring back Hive and they have a whole army of Inhumans at his disposal, thanks to Malick and the ATCU. We have Lincoln, maybe, and Ms. Rodriguez."

"YoYo," May said to him. At his confused look she elaborated. "Mack's nicknamed her YoYo. She seems to like it, so I think it's sticking."

"YoYo," Coulson said, rolling the name around. "Where does he come up with these nicknames?"

May shrugged. "I don't know, but they're pretty good. I think we should let him name things now, instead of Fitz."

"That's the truth," Coulson said, the names Fitz had come up with for various pieces for tech running through his brain. None of them had both the wit or simplicity of Mack's names.

"I think we should contact Skye," May stated bluntly, pulling him back to their conversation.

Coulson shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea. We don't know what is going on, and bringing her in might cause more problems. We don't know what we're dealing with yet."

May stared at him, trying to figure out what in the hell he was talking about. "But we do, Phil. Hydra has kidnapped Fitz and Simmons. There's only one reason I can come up with as to why they would take the time to take those two scientists. They need them to open the portal and bring back Hive. We need Inhumans to help us fight Hive. The two we possibly have as allies aren't enough."

"I can't agree to that. I can't take the risk all those Inhumans could fall prey to Hive," Coulson pointed out.

"I understand your fear," May said softly, coming to stand next to her long time friend. "I don't want to risk Skye being taken over by Hive, either. But she has people who can help. She can help. She's probably our best shot at this."

"No," Coulson said, shaking his head again. "We're taking too much of a risk just asking Lincoln and YoYo to come with us. I can't put more Inhumans in Hive's path."

Sighing, May turned away, briefly wondering if she should go behind his back and contact Skye anyway and ask her to help. May knew she would, especially with FitzSimmons being kidnapped. She knew there wasn't anything Skye wouldn't do to get those two back, even Simmons, who she'd been at odds with since leaving SHIELD.

AOSAOSAOS

Coulson looked around, waiting in the dark. YoYo had already scouted ahead, returning with information on the number of Hydra agents and their layout, but he had sent May and Bobbi forward to see if they could determine how far Malick had gotten in opening the chamber. Neither had returned yet, and he was starting to worry. He could count ten himself from his vantage point, just standing around, weapons held loosely. As if they were waiting for something. Or someone.

He thoughts drifted to the past, and how this would have gone had Skye remained a SHIELD agent. She would either be up her with him, counting the Hydra agents and making snarky comments about their clothes. Or she would be out scouting with May, learning and following. But she had left over a year ago, and it still hurt. She had chosen Grant Ward, a traitor, a Hydra plant, a murderer. Chosen him over Coulson and her team. Her friends. It was something he still couldn't understand, despite her trying to explain it to him. It just didn't make sense, not to him. The others had asked him on multiple occasions, if they thought Skye would ever come back.

He wasn't sure. Wasn't sure if she even wanted to, now.

He was startled out of his thinking when his comms beeped to get his attention. Clicking it, he listened in, figuring it was either May or Bobbi giving him an update or count on Hydra agents. But it was neither of them.

"Coulson," said the brisk voice of General Talbot. "We're here, waiting a bit back from their radar, for air support if you need it."

"Glenn? What are you doing here?" Coulson asked, confused.

"Air support, like I said," he replied, tone as if Coulson couldn't understand English.

"Aren't you working for the President, and therefore Malick and Hydra as well?" Coulson countered.

Talbot let out a gruff laugh. "Don't insult me, Coulson. I don't work for those megalomaniac squidheads. I received a heads up from a mutual source, thought you might need some help. I can take my fighters and missiles elsewhere, if you'd like?"

"Mutual source?"

"Yep."

"You're not going to say who?"

"Nope."

"Well, we appreciate all the help and support we can get in this. So, thank you. And stay on this channel, in case we need to contact you, or you need us."

"Will do, Coulson. Just a heads up...I think they have their own jet, though not as fancy as your cloaked ones. Oh, and there's more help on the way."

"Help? Who?" Coulson asked, wondering who in the government would be on their side and available to help them. Or willing. But before he could ponder it too much, May and Bobbi returned at almost the exact same time, both slinking out of the shadows to him and the rest of the team. Once they reached him, he could clearly see the anguish on May's face. To see it on someone who was a master at hiding emotions scared him to no end. Something had happened. Something bad.

"What is it?" he asked her, not wanting to drag it out.

"I used the cloaked dwarf that Fitz had and got close to the castle and was able to see down into the chamber. They've already opened the portal to Maveth. I watched as some Hydra agents, as well as Malick, jumped through...they took Fitz to Maveth."

"They took Fitz to Maveth?" Coulson asked quickly, not really able to wrap his head around the implications yet.

May nodded. "Yes...and Simmons is inside that chamber."

Coulson shook his head in sadness. How much worse could this get? Every time he turned around they were taking another hit. How much more could they take before they were beaten?

Before they could discuss this further, a snap of a twig alerted them to someone approaching. The SHIELD team, plus Price and Banks, all turned in the direction of the sound, weapons coming up at the ready. It was only a moment before they saw who it was. Skye. With Grant Ward, Andrew Garner, Joey Gutierrez, and several other people he did not know, but some he recognized from SHIELD and ATCU reports. Inhumans Skye and Ward had taken right out from under them.

"Skye," Coulson greeted his former team member, nodding his head. "What are you doing here? How do you know what's going on?"

"She's the help and the mutual source," Talbot said over the comms, Coulson forgetting for a moment that he had left it open and Talbot could hear everything.

"Wait, what? I thought you were hunting her down? I thought that was your job?" Bobbi asked, trying to make sense of what Talbot had just said.

"Things change," Talbot replied. "Circumstances make people change."

"And you've come to help us?" Coulson asked, facing Skye.

"May told me what was going on. Stopping Hive is in all of our best interests," Skye said blandly, as if she was reading talking points off of a speech. Coulson watched her look around, taking in everyone who was there. He saw her gaze stop briefly on Price and Banks, a little quirk of her mouth a tell, letting him know that she wasn't pleased with their being included. He watched as her gaze made it's way to Lincoln and a smile broke out on her face.

"Lincoln, glad you're here."

Lincoln stepped up and gave Skye a quick hug. "I might not like to fight, but I will when it is necessary."

At the same time, May reached out to Andrew, grabbing his hand. "I'm glad you're okay," she said to him, giving him a small, Melinda May smile.

Andrew grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. "Me, too. It's been difficult, but Skye's been helpful in the powers department. And I've learned I have a reason for this, a way to contribute as best I can. It's all I can ask for at the moment."

May nodded, pulling away. "Thanks for looking out for Skye."

"You have a plan?" Ward asked, bringing them all back to the current situation.

"Not much of one," Mack admitted grudgingly.

Coulson shot him a look, and then picked up where he left off. "There's too many Hydra agents to be able to storm in there and stop them from opening the portal," he said, sighing. "So the plan is to stop Hive right here."

"Wait, so you're going to let them bring him back?" one of the Inhumans asked, staring at him incredulously. "That's the stupidest idea I can think of."

"No shit," another Inhuman agreed. "We should stop them from bringing Alveus back. There's no guarantee we can actually stop him here. Our plan to kill Alveus on Maveth is better. He doesn't have access to an army on Maveth."

"Malick took Fitz to Maveth," May stated. "We don't let them back, we lose one of our scientists."

"And Hydra is all over the castle," Bobbi added. "There's no way to get to the chamber with the portal and Simmons."

"Dammit," Skye swore, rubbing her forehead. "That really complicates things." She turned to her Inhuman team. "Plan A is a no go now."

"How do you figure that?" countered the first Inhuman who spoke. "One life, or everyone else's? Seems a no brainer to me."

"Wait?" the Inhuman named Evan said, trying to follow Skye's talking. "We're going to let them bring that evil being here?"

"I didn't say that," Skye said. "Yes, Fitz being on Maveth just complicates things, but it doesn't change the ultimate goal, which is to kill Alveus. Preferably on Maveth."

Evan nodded, giving in to Skye's assessment. "Got it. So, still planning to do this on Maveth."

"And how do you plan to get there, Mate? Maveth is another planet. And the only way on or off is in that castle, surrounded by Hydra guards and power-wielding Inhuman bad guys," Hunter pointed out sarcastically.

"Ehhh, not entirely true..." Skye hedged. "We might have another way." Skye walked up to one of her Inhuman teammates and asked, "Kylie, do you think you can reach out into space and find Maveth if I help you tune in?"

"I don't know, Skye," Kylie said nervously, glancing around at everyone looking at her. "I've never done something like that before. So far away. What if I don't have enough power?"

Skye shrugged. "Then you don't have enough power. But we won't know until you try. And I can tell you when you hit the right frequency. Maveth is burned into my brain."

Kylie nodded. "I can try. Now?"

"No, not yet. We need a plan first."

"Wait, are you saying this Inhuman can go to Maveth?" Price asked, incredulously.

"No. She can tap into the connections of space and time and open portals. Doorways. Usually just here on Earth, but the principle, as we understand it, works for other worlds as well. Like changing a radio station. I can help her and find the right frequency for Maveth," Skye explained as clearly as she could.

"I can boost your power if I have to," another Inhuman said, coming forward. He placed his hand on Kylie's shoulder. "We can do this." He then turned to Skye and said, "It just means that I won't be able to boost you if you need it..."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," Skye quickly brushed him off.

"We have a plan," Coulson jumped in, forcing himself in to the conversation. "We go in, secure the portal, wait for whomever to come back, rescue our scientists, and either capture or kill Hive."

"You don't have time for that, to wait for them to come back," Grant argued softly.

"What do you mean by that?" Coulson turned on him, demanding an answer.

"They took Fitz to Maveth," he replied, as if it were obvious.

It was to Skye. "You think they plan on using him as a host?"

Grant shrugged. "It's what I would do," he admitted. "Good way to keep your enemies at bay...using one of their friends as your new weapon."

"In that case...if we're too late...he might be dead already. Even if we go to Maveth in the next minute...But that doesn't change what I have to do. I'll still have to do it, even with his face..."

"I know," Grant said softly, clapping his hand onto Skye shoulder. "I just want you to know what you will probably have to face...it sucks, but there it is."

Skye nodded, subdued. The scenario Grant had put in her head sobered her and saddened her, since he realized he was probably right. It's exactly the kind of thing Hydra our Alveus would plot, possibly together. "Sometimes, having you with your Hydra background, comes in handy. I doubt I ever would have thought of this possibility on my own," Skye told him. "It's completely diabolical. And totally what they would do."

"So, wait a moment," Banks said, speaking up. "You think they took your scientist friend to make him the next host?"

"Yes," Skye said bluntly, watching the faces of her old teammates fall, defeated. "We need to know, now, if they've done it already. If not, there might be a chance to save whichever one is there from becoming a mind controlling zombie. Kylie, Jake, open that portal now."

"Just stop for a second!" Coulson yelled, stepping up to Skye. "Do you hear yourself? You're going to open a portal to another planet here? Now? And then what? Go there? What if you can't get back? And what if you meet Hive? Are you going to take him on alone?"

"If need be," Skye said boldly, starting right at Coulson. "But I don't plan on going alone. We have a plan to take out Alveus. Andrew's going with me. Our powers are what is needed." She turned away from her former boss and faced Evan. "Ev, you and Grant take some people and get inside that castle. Rescue Simmons, and then beat it out of there. If I can't take down Alveus, or if we're too late, he'll be coming through that portal. He not only took Fitz as a host, but also so they can get them home."

"I think we all need to talk this out and come up with a plan together," Coulson said, cutting Skye off.

Skye shook her head. "We don't have time. We might already be too late to save Fitz or Simmons. This has to happen now. We have a plan. You can either go along and help, or get the hell out of our way. Your choice." Skye walked away form Coulson. She didn't have time to work this out with him. Not now.

"Malick has an Inhuman working for him," Price spoke up. "Giyera. He is telekinetic. So I'd be very careful."

"He'll probably be inside the castle then, keeping an eye on things," Banks added.

"In that case, I'll go with them, too," Matt said, stepping up next to Evan. "Telekinetic versus telekinetic...better that champion MMA."

"He also has that Inhuman we tried to capture in Colombia. The one who can...freeze...a person with his eyes," Bobbi added.

"Does it kill?" Skye asked.

Bobbi shrugged. "Not that we've seen," she said. "Though he had several opportunities to kill us and only froze us. Me and Hunter. Lasted for a few hours I think? Painful to wake up from. He wears sunglasses over his eyes...lifts them to use his power."

Skye nodded. "Thanks. They'll keep an eye out for him, too. I doubt Malick sent any Inhumans to Maveth. He wouldn't risk that, risk not having them back here for any reason." Skye turned to Joey. "You're on sunglass melting duty."

Joey mock saluted her, and moved to join Matt and Evan, who were waiting with Grant.

"I'll take May and Mack as well," Grant said. "I trust the two of them not to put a bullet in my back." May moved over to join them while Mack pumped his shotgunaxe and nodded."

"I'll go with them," Price said suddenly. "I know Malick better than any of you. I might be able to talk him down. Besides, I'll probably be useless out here, just in the way. At least this way I can try to contribute."

"I go where she goes," Banks added, stepping up and clutching his weapon for emphasis.

Skye glanced at Grant, trying to read how he felt about this. This would effectively put the people who wanted her captured or killed on his team. The people he wouldn't think twice about not saving, if it were to come to that. She caught the slight shake of his head, and she knew that they would not be a priority to him. He'd let them come, but he wouldn't watch out for them the way he would May or Mack. Skye wasn't sure how to take that, but she wasn't going to worry about it now. They were adults and capable of making their own choices. Price and Banks had to know that Grant didn't care about them at all, and probably wanted them out of the picture anyway. It was their choice putting themselves in that position.

"It's possible she could help with Malick," May allowed grudgingly. She wasn't too keen on Price and Banks joining them as well, letting it show in her tone of voice.

"I think I should go with them, too" YoYo spoke up for the first time. "I have...gift...like you. I can...run fast and scout ahead. Keep them from surprises."

"Okay," Skye said, nodding. "If you think you can help, then by all means, go with them. They could probably use all the help they can get in there. So, it's settled, then," Skye stated with authority. "Grant, take your team and get going. Kylie and Jake will open the portal here and Andrew and I will go through. Hopefully, we can get both scientists back."

Grant nodded and then leaned down, hesitating before giving Skye a quick kiss, feeling Coulson and his team staring daggers at him. "Be careful and come home, okay?"

"That's the plan," Skye said to him, smiling softly. "We still haven't opened that bottle of wine from..." she trailed off, blushing furiously, not wanting to let her former team know what she was talking about. "Yeah, you know what I'm talking about."

May stared at Skye for a second before realizing what she and Grant hadn't said. "You did it, didn't you."

Skye's expression turned sheepish and she nodded. This was not something she wanted to talk about right before going into battle.

"What? Did what?" Mack asked, eyes darting between Skye, May, and Ward. None of them answered. He just watched as May smiled and gave Skye a quick hug, before turning and starting towards the castle, telling him and Ward and the others to keep up.

Skye watched them for a few seconds, allowing her fearful thoughts only a moment before banishing them to the back of her mind. Now was not the time to dwell on what ifs an what could happens. Grant was a trained agent with a wealth of knowledge in how to stay alive. He'll be okay, she told herself. She then turned to the others around her, taking a deep breath before she doled out orders.

"Bobbi, you're the best shot we have, with May on the other team. I want you up on that ridge there," she said, pointing to a spot about 80 yards behind Bobbi. "Jordan, give her the sniper rifle we brought."

Bobbi took the rifle and inspected it closely, not sure where Skye had gotten this particular one, but guessing it actually belonged to Ward. A shudder ran through her, but she accepted the gun, telling herself it was the best she'd ever seen, probably made and assembled by Ward himself. It would definitely get the job done. "I could use a spotter," she requested.

"Take Hunter. He'd probably be better off with you, anyway," Skye said. "Shoot anyone who isn't me, Andrew, or Fitz coming through the portal Kylie is about to open. That means their either under Hive's control, or they're Hydra."

"And what if you and Dr. Garner come back under Hive's control?" Bobbi asked.

"We won't," Skye said bluntly. "Hive can't control Andrew, and if he gets to me...well...Andrew knows what to do." Skye turned to Andrew and gave him a significant look. Andrew nodded back at her in understanding.

"So you're going to take Hive on, just you two?" Lincoln asked, speaking up for the first time. "That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. It sounds like a suicide mission. Or at the very least, you're going to be handing yourself over to Hive."

"There things you don't know yet, things I don't have time to explain. Just trust me, only Andrew and I can do this," Skye tried to reassure her friend. "I'll explain it all when I get back. I promise."

Skye then turned to Kylie and gave her the go ahead to open the portal. With Jake's help, Kylie managed to reach her power out and open a portal off of Earth. She flipped through what she could, until Skye yelled at her to stop, as she fell to her knees, grabbing her head. A trickle of blood ran from her nose.

"Skye!" Coulson yelled, crouching down next to her. "This needs to stop...you're hurting yourself!"

"No, I'm good," she said, gathering her strength, standing back up and wiping the drip of blood from her nose. "Forgot how much that planet's vibrations hurt. But I got this." She then walked up to the portal, Andrew at her side. "Keep it open if you can." With that, both she and Andrew stepped through to another planet. Those on Earth watched the walk through the dunes and sand hills, until they could no longer be seen.

AOSAOSOAS

As they waited for any sign of Skye, Fitz, Dr. Garner, even Hive, Coulson went over and over in his mind the things that Talbot had said. It didn't make sense, until suddenly, the answer hit Coulson like a ton of bricks. "Your wife or son?" he asked Talbot over the comms.

"My son," Talbot admitted. "Not too long after I was given that assignment."

"And how did you contact her?"

"Agent May," Talbot replied, hoping he wasn't going to cause problems between the two. "I knew she could be trusted and that she would help."

"Wait! I'm confused...why would you need to contact Skye?" Hunter asked over the comms from his position on the ridge, waiting with Bobbi and a sniper rifle.

"George went through Terrigenesis," Talbot informed them all. "With what has been happening, the ATCU, my new mission to hunt down Skye, I got scared for my son. I asked May if she could contact Skye so I could ask her to keep George safe."

"And she did, then? Where's Carla in all of this?" Coulson asked gently.

"With George. Skye and Ward took them both, saying they take family and loved ones of the Inhumans who come to them as well. So they won't be separated. They offered to take me as well, but I couldn't leave. It would be too suspicious."

"Glenn?" Coulson questioned, hurt that the general, a sometimes friend, hadn't come to him with his family situation. "Why didn't you tell us? Come to us?"

"Seriously, you're asking that question?" one of the Inhumans who had stayed with them, asked, sarcastically.

"Coulson, I couldn't go to you. You're allying yourself with the people who want to lock up people like my son. I couldn't trust you," Talbot said bluntly.

"And yet, you're here now. And you brought Skye and the other Inhumans," Coulson pointed out.

"Hive is a threat to not only humans, but Inhumans as well. Call me crazy, but if you want to fight an army of powered people, you might need an army of powered people."

"So, Ros was right? Skye's training an arm of Inhumans?" Coulson asked.

Jordan, standing to his right, snorted loudly. "Hardly."

Coulson turned to him, his look demanding an answer. Jordan shook his head in annoyance. No wonder Skye had left this team. "She's not creating an army. Most of us there can't even throw a punch without falling over or breaking our fingers. We're there to learn about our powers and how to control them. Those of us who came here today came because we wanted to, not because Skye ordered us. Those of us willing to fight Hive are not doing so not because we're an army, but rather because we don't want to see him take control over everything."

"Phil, seriously, I'm a military man, but do you really think I'd send George and Carla to a militant training ground? That I'd send them off to be terrorists?" Talbot questioned over the comms. "They're with Skye because she's George's best hope with learning how to live with his powers. He wants to learn how to control them so that he can live as normal a life as possible."

"That's why all of us are there," Jordan said. "Skye didn't create this safe haven to fight humans. She created it so that we don't have to."

AOSAOSAOS

They watched as Fitz ran as fast as he could, reaching Kylie's open portal and throwing himself through, landing hard on the ground and rolling out of the way of the portal, panting heavily. Behind Fitz, about 30 yards in the distance, Skye and Dr. Garner were taking turns blasting back at Hive as they ran to the portal themselves. But Hive was shaking them off, gaining on them.

Without giving it much thought, and before he could warn anyone what he was about to do, Lincoln jumped through the portal and ran to them, gathering his power in his hands. Then suddenly, the portal shut down and they couldn't see onto Maveth anymore.

"What the hell!" Bobbi yelled through the comms. "Why'd you close it? They have no way out now!"

Kylie fell to the ground, panting just as hard as Fitz. "I can't...anymore...too much..." she managed to get out.

"They'll be trapped!" Coulson yelled at her. "You have to open that portal back up!"

"Stop yelling at her!" Jake said angrily, stepping up between Coulson and Kylie. "She's done the best she can. Skye and Andrew both knew this might be a one way trip, that Kylie and I might not be able to hold it open for them. It was their choice to go and do things this way."

"I told them," Fitz panted from the ground.

"Told them what?" Coulson asked, rounding on his scientist.

"Told them where...where the portal...from the castle...would open," he said. "They can...can maybe make...make it there...in time."

Immediately, Coulson got on his comms and called to May. "You might have incoming from our side...Skye, Andrew, and Lincoln."

"Copy that," May said quickly, not asking for an explanation, guessing what had happened. "Fitz?"

"We have him."

"Tell them..." Fitz said as quickly as he could. "Tell them Hive...Hive is in Malick now. Skye...Skye killed...Malick. And Hive...took his body."

"Skye killed Malick?" Coulson asked, not believing that she was capable of taking a life.

Fitz nodded. "I don't...don't know how, exactly. Her powers...she did something to his brain? I don't know. He was...about...to shoot me. Make me the next host. Skye...she stopped him." He wanted to make sure it was absolutely clear that Skye had killed with her powers to save him, and that was the only reason she used her powers to kill anyone.

AOSAOSAOS

"Well, that changes things here," Grant said once May had informed him of what Coulson had said about Skye, Andrew, and Lincoln. "We have to secure that portal opening, or they'll be coming back to Hydra."

"Agreed," May said. "Any ideas on how?"

Grant shrugged. "We have a lot of fire power with us, both weapons and Inhumans. I say we just go in there and take over."

"And risk hitting Simmons?" Mack pointed out.

"I can run in there and get her," YoYo said.

"No, that would definitely let them know we are here," Grant said, frowning. "I don't like risking her, but we can't let them know we're here."

"I can at least free her from restraints. That would make it able to get her out faster," YoYo offered as another option.

"That's a better idea. And then once we attack, can you get her out fast?"

"Yes."

"Okay, that's what we do," Grant concluded.

"And what do we do about the Inhumans that Hydra have working for them?" Evan asked.

"We don't give them a chance to react. Joey will melt the glasses over Flash Freeze, and Matt can go toe to toe with the other telekinetic. Hopefully keep him occupied enough that we can take control," Grant replied. "I'm not sure how...we need to take away anything the rival telekinetic can use against us, including ourselves."

"I can try to draw him away to another chamber," Matt suggested. "Or distract him long enough for you to put a bullet in him."

Grant nodded. "I will if I have to. In the chaos, he might not be able to stop everything." Grant knelt down and took out a map of the castle. He studied it, trying to find the entrances and exits into the portal chamber. At his count there was only two ways in or out. They needed to split up and hit then at the exact same time. "Two teams," he said. "May, Price, Banks, Evan, and Joey will stay here. The rest will come with me around and through these passages here," he said, tracing his finger along the map, "to come out on this side of the chamber at the other entry point. Then we attack at the same time. Hopefully, in the confusion, we can win this one."

May stared at the map a moment, and then agreed with Ward's plan. "It's the best we got right now. Just know, if you don't make it back, it's not Skye you'll have to worry about. I'll bring you back from the dead just to kill you again for dying on her after what you two just did."

Grant let out a quiet bark of laughter. "Copy that," he said. Then he gathered YoYo, Mack and Matt and started off in another direction to make their way around the chamber to the other side.

As they walked, Mack right behind Ward, he asked, "Want did you and Tremors do? What was May referring to?"

"Nothing," Grant replied, brushing Mack off, but Matt couldn't.

"They did something really stupid, in my book," he told Mack.

"What?" YoYo asked.

"They got married," Matt stated. "Pretty stupid, huh? Since either one could die fighting Hive. I would have waited until this was over before tying the knot, but that's just me."

"Married?" Mack questioned Ward, not believing the other man's statement. When Ward didn't protest, Mack knew it was the truth. "Wow. I guess Tremors isn't coming back to SHIELD, is she?"

"No," Ward replied softly.

Mack sighed. "I guess as long as she's happy, it's okay with me. I miss being her partner, but I understand. And congratulations."

Ward nodded his thanks, too engrossed in navigating the tunnels to say much. As much as he wanted to shout how happy he was from the rooftops that Skye had married him, he had wanted to keep it from SHIELD, simply because he was worried it would hurt Skye's chances of making peace with her old team. Even though she didn't want to return, Grant knew she still hoped to at least come out of all this with friendships repaired. Knowing she had married him, someone they all pretty much despised, might hurt her chances. Before he could ask Mack not to say anything about it to the others yet, the found themselves right outside the entrance to the portal chamber.

Grant code checked with May over the comms, making sure that they were in position as well. Once she confirmed, he counted to three and then told YoYo to free Simmons. She took off, returning a second later, holding up Simmons' handcuffs. Smiling at her, and knowing that Simmons now knew they were there to rescue her, he made the call. They attacked the Hydra agents from both sides, trapping them inside the chamber, while YoYo shoved Simmons out with her super speed.

AOSAOSAOS

As Lincoln reached Skye and Andrew, he let loose his power, slamming Hive backwards. He kept advancing, shooting more and more electricity at the other Inhuman. Vaguely, he could hear Skye screaming something at him, but he was so angry and so in his head space that he didn't hear what she was yelling.

And then Hive was before him, something swirling out of his hand, and then it was all over him, and Lincoln felt it go inside him, and the he suddenly could hear Hive, could see what he was and feel what he was. It was thrilling, wonderful, powerful. And addicting. And he wanted more. He'd do anything, help Hive with anything he wanted, if only he could have more.

He turned to Skye and Andrew, ready to bring his power to bear on them when suddenly, a powerful force slammed into his midsection, knocking him down. He was aware that the same thing had happened to his master. Hive. Lincoln looked up, confused. When had he landed on his back? Lash was leaning over him, hands above his body, blue light glowing.

And then Lincoln was in pain, his body and his mind were screaming in pain. Hive was being ripped from him. Or maybe he was being ripped from Hive. He wasn't sure what was happening. Just that he was losing that connection, that power.

And then nothing. He was Lincoln again. No Hive.

Lash leaned down and helped him up. "We must go. Now."

Lincoln stood, wobbly, looking around. He saw Skye a few yards away, holding Hive back with her power. It wasn't enough. Hive was slowly walking towards them.

"Run. Leave me and run," Lincoln pleaded with them.

"No way," Skye said back, stepping back towards them. "Together. We're getting back together. Fitz told us when and where for the portal. I think we can make it."

Suddenly, Skye increased her power, shoving Hive backwards nearly 100 yards. She dropped her hands, grabbed Lincoln around his other side, and took off with Lash, the two practically dragging a disoriented and weak Lincoln between them.

Then ran as fast as they could, knowing that Hive was gaining on them, despite being in Gideon Malick's older body. They were in sight of the portal, watching it slowly open as they ran, knowing they probably wouldn't make it. Trying to pick up speed, Lincoln stumbled, going down, and both Skye and Lash lost their grips. They were dragged down, and Skye landed on a rock, hitting her head hard enough to blur her vision and disorient her. As Andrew tried to bring her around, Hive came closer, sending out his infection dust towards Lincoln.

But this time it didn't enter him. It stopped in front of Lincoln, swirling around, but didn't enter his body. It was as if I couldn't. Andrew and Skye watched as Andrew tried to get a shaky Skye to her feet, blood obscuring her view as it ran into her eyes from the gash on her forehead.

Confused, Hive called it back and tried again, just as Skye and Lash made it to Lincoln. Skye, despite being dizzy, was able to build her power and sent a blast of vibrations through the air, shoving both Hive and his dust back again. Then she and Lash grabbed Lincoln and ran as fast as they could for the portal, throwing themselves through to the other side.

AOSAOSAOS

Luck was a bit on Grant Ward's side that evening. Neither of Malick's Inhumans were there in the chamber. Just Hydra agents. Grant took cover behind a large metal piece of equipment, Matt hiding with him. Mack moved in and hid behind a table on the other side, May and her team moving in as well, everyone firing their weapons. Bullets whizzed through the air, everyone trying to keep hidden and still have sight lines to fire.

The barrels of unknown substances that Rosalind Price was hiding behind, firing her pistol, suddenly exploded and she was exposed. The next thing she knew, everything seemed to go into slow motion, her life flashed before her eyes as she saw three bullet headed right at her. This is it, she thought. This is how my life ends.

But, she was surprised when the bullets never reached her. Instead, they stopped in front of her face, about three inches from her nose, and then suddenly flew back in the direction they had come, hitting the Hydra agent who had fired at her.

Shocked, she whirled around, only to see Daisy Johnson...Skye...behind her, just out of the portal, arm outstretched. It didn't take a rocket scientist for Price to realize what had just happened. Skye had stopped those bullets and saved her life.

Right behind Skye were two other Inhumans, Lash and Lincoln Campbell, Lincoln leaning heavily on Lash, but still able to shoot his electricity into another Hydra agent, knocking him down. In a matter of seconds, all the Hydra agents were subdued or incapacitated, mostly due to Skye and Lincoln and their powers.

"Agent Johnson...Skye...I...you...thank you..."

Skye waved her off. "We don't have time. Hive is right behind us. Get out, now. I'll take this castle down and hopefully that will stop him coming back."

Still shocked that Skye would save her life, after what she had done months ago, Price opened her mouth to speak again, but Banks grabbed her and pulled her away, running with her, right behind most of the others. She quickly realized that both Ward and May were not with them. She glanced back quickly, only to see Lash and Lincoln right behind her and Banks.

"Run faster," Lincoln suggested, being almost completely carried by Lash. "You don't want to be anywhere near here when she lets loose."

Out of the castle they went, fast paced and puffing, running all the way back to where Coulson and the others were. She and Banks finally stopped, and Price turned to watch for the three missing members of their team. A matter of seconds later and both Ward and May appeared in the distance, stopped and turned, waiting.

Suddenly, Price saw what they were waiting for. The castle shook violently, as if it was on a fault line and an earthquake was happening that very moment. Then suddenly the stones fell down, almost as if the castle had imploded, leaving it a mass of rubble, and anything inside, buried beneath tons of stone. When things seemed to calm down, she, Banks, and Coulson t looked up towards the remains of the castle, searching through the dust and debris for the missing team members. It seemed like minutes later, but probably only seconds, before they saw all three, May, Ward, and Skye, making their way down the path towards them.

Before they had gotten very far, a hissing sound reached them. Looking up, they all saw a ballsitic missile, heading down towards the castle. It only took a few seconds, but that missile landed right at the center of where the castle had stood, causing an even bigger explosion. There was nothing left but rubble. Everyone ducked, hoping debris wouldn't hit them. When nothing came around them, Coulson looked around, trying to figure out why rocks and stones weren't reigning down upon them. It only took him a few moments to see Skye, arms outstretched, creating a bubble around everyone, keeping the debris from hitting anyone. Once the explosion had calmed down, she lowered her hands, and she, Ward, and May continued back to the rest of them.

Once the three reached them, Lash set Lincoln down on the ground and transformed back into Dr. Andrew Garner. He reached out and took May by the arm, pulling her in for a bone crushing hug. The other Inhumans made their way up to Skye, checking on her. Lincoln managed to get to his feet, grabbed her chin, and stared hard at the gash on her forehead, assessing the damage.

"Hive?" Coulson asked.

"If he got through...and that's a big if...he's buried under that," Skye said, shaking a hand back towards the destroyed castle. "I doubt he could survive that, even in a body that's dead already."

Lincoln moved from her head to her arms, examining the bruising. "You used too much, pushed too hard," he said, admonishing her slightly.

Skye shrugged. "They're just bruised. No fractures. It's okay. They'll heal just fine," she said, brushing him off.

"When we get home, you're going to rest up and take care of those arms," Grant told her. "No excuses. Those look pretty painful, even without being broken."

Skye turned to him and smiled, amused and happy with his protectiveness. A snarky reply was on her lips, when it happened. No one saw it coming, and there was nothing any of them could do about it.

There was nothing Skye could do. She couldn't get her powers to get to him in time. Couldn't process what was happening in time to move Grant out of the way. The shot came. It hit him right between the eyes. And he dropped, like a sack of potatoes. Onto the ground. Dead. Eyes open and staring. Right at her. And she hadn't been quick enough to stop it. Her mind went blank then. She couldn't think. She couldn't feel. She couldn't decide what to do and give orders. All the could do was stare at Grant's lifeless body. She forgot about what she was supposed to be doing, what was going on around her. She was frozen.

A yell rang out through the air. It startled Skye out of her frozen body and she looked up to see Evan bringing his powers to bear, aiming them at the SHIELD team. Quickly, Skye used her powers to create a barrier between her team and SHIELD, at the same time as she yelled out a few orders.

"Kylie! We need an exit home! Jordan, jump first!"

It wasn't even a second after she called out that Kylie created the portal right behind her and Skye used her powers to shove Grant's body through, even using her force to propel Jordan right after him. Next, she shoved Evan through, and then called for the rest of her team to fall back and go back through the portal. One by one, they jumped, leaving her, Lincoln, Kylie, and Andrew as the last remaining. She indicated for Kylie and Andrew to go through without her and Lincoln.

Once they were gone and the portal closed behind Kylie, Skye turned to her ex-team. There was so much she wanted to say, to scream at them. There was so much she wanted to do to them, especially Bobbi and Hunter, knowing one of them had taken that shot. It had come from a distance, a sniper shot. There wasn't anyone else here to blame. They were up on that ridge with a rifle. She just stared at her ex-team for a moment. She could see the pity and sympathy in May's eyes, as well as Fitz's. The confusion in Mack. The fear in Simmons. And Coulson, she could see the pity in his eyes. As well as what looked like hope. Hope for her return, she would guess. But Coulson shouldn't be hoping for that anymore. There was no way she would ever return to them now.

"My team came here as allies. We leave as enemies," she stated plainly, fighting back tears. She couldn't go to pieces, not yet. That was for later, when she was alone, or home, or both. Or for the rest of her life. But not now, not right in front of them.

"Skye..." Coulson started, making a move towards her. He stopped when Skye put up her hands. He wasn't sure if she was telling him to stop, or threatening him with her powers. And if Skye were to think about it, she wasn't sure either.

"When I leave," she started, only to be interrupted by Lincoln.

"When we leave," he stated, standing solidly with Skye, having finally made a choice on where to be.

Skye looked to him and nodded. "When we leave we will no longer be working with you. You have a problem? Handle it yourselves." Then Skye turned on her heel and took off to their cloaked jet, just a hundred yards away, Lincoln right behind her. Once on board, Skye ran through the flight checks that Grant had taught her, and then took off, not knowing if Hive was still stuck on Maveth or dead, and if she had collapsed the portal. And not caring.