TW for minor swearing, mention of gunshot
Bobbi couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so worried. Anxiety or panic was one thing – something fast and hot and tight that overwhelmed her in a moment and ground the world to a halt around her while her mind went into lightspeed and shouted at her that everything was wrong, wrong, wrong – but that was different than the slow, gnawing, gnarling worry that was eating away at her insides now. This was something sinking, something heavy and full of dread and what-ifs. This time was maybe, maybe, maybe, and each one was worse than the last.
She wasn't happy about her task, sitting by the phone, waiting on the slim possibility that Skye or Jemma would call home, or watching out the window in case they came strolling up the walk. Something in her gut was telling her that wasn't going to happen. She understood why May and Phil had asked her to stay behind, but she wished desperately that she could be out there with them, looking, doing something, anything. She hated how powerless she felt, stuck inside and waiting, waiting, waiting for something she feared would never happen.
When half an hour, then an hour slowly ticked by, Bobbi started to realize that there was no way May and Phil had found Skye and Jemma at the park. They would have been home long before now if that was the case. She fingered the business card May had left with her before heading out. It had May's cellphone number, which Bobbi had long since learned by now, plus her phone number at work. Bobbi wondered briefly if she should call, ask for an update, but she decided against it almost as quickly. If they hadn't found Skye and Jemma yet, then they were probably working hard to do so. Her calling and asking questions would only slow them down.
Frustrated, Bobbi got to her feet and began to pace around the living room, twirling her batons, which she'd brought down with her. Her knee flexed with each step, a little stiff, but strong and steady. She had gotten her brace off yesterday, but that now felt like such a long time ago. It felt so insignificant compared to everything else that was going on now, everything else that had happened in the last 24 hours. Bobbi began to run through everything in her mind, trying to piece it all together, make sense of the mess that was splayed out in front of them.
She had seen Skye and Jemma before school yesterday, and everything had seemed normal. Skye seemed eager to get back to class – or at least, as eager as Skye ever got about school – and they were both excited and a little nervous to see Fitz again. School had been normal, too, as far as Bobbi was aware, although, she realized with a start, something had happened in the afternoon. Raina. Skye had talked with Raina, and it had scared her. Whatever Raina had said, it had made Skye shrink in on herself and worry about how safe everyone was being. Skye had said Raina had just talked about what happened with Ward and Fitz, but, Bobbi was slowly realizing, that was probably a lie.
If Bobbi knew one thing about the conversations between Skye and Raina, it was that Skye's parents were likely a topic of conversation. She wracked her brain, trying to think back to the conversation she and Hunter had overheard at the soccer game all those weeks ago. Raina knew Skye's father. He was a dangerous person, a bad guy. And he wanted to meet Skye.
Bobbi cursed herself internally with a particularly forceful pump of her baton. She had all but forgotten about that, what with the chaos of everything that had happened after that moment, but now, it seemed like an important thing. She had been so stupid to miss it, to not tell May and Phil about it. She had gotten so wrapped up in the fallout with Hunter and that absurd fight that she had let Skye fall right through the cracks. She had let her down.
Before she had fully realized what she was doing, Bobbi was jamming her shoes onto her feet, shrugging into her coat. May's card and her batons ended up in her coat pocket, and her hand was on the door, and the next thing she knew, her feet were carrying her down the sidewalk, walking at first, then faster and faster until she was running, really running, legs pumping hard and wind whipping around her face and sending her hair dancing back away from her eyes. It had been months since she'd run, but she fell into form as if she wasn't out of practice in the least, arms tucked and rocketing back and forth like pistons, feet hitting the pavement with a light step that propelled her forward.
Her knee twinged a little every so often, but she ignored the pain. Dr. Gambhir would probably have a fit if he knew she was running full out less than a day after getting her brace off – that wasn't in her rehab plan – but she didn't care. Some things were more important than being careful, than taking it slow and steady. Sometimes you just had to jump in with both feet, take a leap and see if you could fly before you had fully tested your wings. And right now, god, was she ever flying. Flying down the sidewalk, lungs working hard to keep her fueled as she pushed herself, faster and faster. Her feet were carrying her down the familiar path towards the high school, the route Phil had driven so many times she now knew it like the wood grain of her batons. There was only one person she could think of who might know where Skye and Jemma were, and Bobbi was determined to find her.
She was red-faced and sweaty by the time she pulled up outside of the high school, and her hair was probably sticking out in eleven wrong directions, but Bobbi didn't have time to think about how off her rocker she probably looked right now. She had to find Raina. It was still early, about ten minutes before the first bell, but there were plenty of students arriving and trickling in towards the building, busy little ants going about their lives, not realizing just how much was at stake right under their noses.
Bobbi thundered up the stone steps at the front of the building and burst through the front doors. She elbowed her way past confused kids, ducked and weaved around locker doors and backpacks, making her way towards the senior hall. She had to find Raina.
She didn't see her amongst the lockers, didn't spot her flowered dress flapping between bemused seniors, who were looking at Bobbi like she was a space alien. Bobbi kept moving, reaching the stairwell at the end of the senior hall. And there she was.
"Raina!" Bobbi bellowed, loud enough to force Raina to stop in her tracks. Slowly, Raina turned around and slid a smile full of polite surprise onto her face at the sight of a windswept, sweaty, and very angry Bobbi.
"Bobbi, what are you doing on this side of the building?" she asked breezily. Her face puckered into saccharine, insincere concern. "You don't look so good. Maybe you ought to see the nurse."
"Where are they?" Bobbi growled, each word taking up the space of a full sentence. She could feel fire burning in her eyes, and she forced herself to look Raina straight in the face, no matter how prickly it made the back of her neck feel. Raina had to know she meant business.
"I don't know who you're talking about—"
"Skye and Jemma," Bobbi interrupted. "They're gone. And I want you to tell me where they are."
"And why do you think that's something I would know anything about?" Raina pushed back. Now her face was flat, like she was trying to keep it aloof, but her eyes flickered with something sharp and defiant.
"Because I know you talked to Skye yesterday about her dad, and whatever you said upset her enough that she left."
"I can't control when or why someone runs away from home, Bobbi," said Raina, condescension dripping from her voice. "Maybe she didn't want to stay with your foster family anymore."
"She didn't run away!" Bobbi snapped. Run away. Run away. Run. No, Skye wasn't running, Bobbi was sure of it. "She went to go see her dad, and Jemma went with her. I know it. You know it. You probably gave her the idea."
"I did no such thing," smirked Raina. "Skye's wanted to meet her father her whole life. All I said was that he wanted to meet her too, and that if he didn't get his way soon, she might not like what happened next."
"So you blackmailed her?" Bobbi felt her jaw drop. "She's just a kid. How could you do that? What's the matter with you?"
"I just gave her all the information she needed to make an informed decision."
"You keep telling yourself that," Bobbi glowered. "I hope it helps you sleep at night. Meanwhile, I'm going to go and try to find my sisters, who you encouraged to go run off with a guy you know is dangerous. You have about two seconds to tell me where they are, otherwise you might not like what happens next."
"I'm surprised, Bobbi," Raina laughed airily, in that infuriating kind of way that made Bobbi's already hot and sweaty face go even hotter. "I hadn't taken you for a threat-maker."
"Then you must not know me as well as you think you do," Bobbi said darkly. She drew herself up to her full height and took a step towards Raina, backing the older girl up to the wall. Bobbi planted her hands on the wall behind Raina, blocking Raina's path away to either side, and towered over her, glaring. "Where are my sisters?"
All of Raina's cool silkiness slid away as she cowered under Bobbi's hard stare. Her big eyes pooled with unease, and the corners of her mouth went tight. Scared face. A face Bobbi had worn before herself. Bobbi felt bad for intimidating Raina like this, in a way that felt so similar to people like Ward or her father that it filled her mouth with a bitter taste, but she didn't know what other option she had. She needed to find Skye and Jemma.
"Cal told Skye to meet him at Halifax Park at midnight last night," Raina said nervously. Her eyes darted around, looking for a way out. Bobbi watched as Raina's eyes found the handles of her batons jutting out from her coat pocket and went even wider than before. "They probably didn't stay there long. But I don't know where they went after." After. After. What happened after?
"That's not good enough." Bobbi narrowed her eyes. She reached down slowly and eased one of her batons out from her pocket, then tapped it harshly on the wall right next to Raina's head. The wood made a dull thunk. "Think harder."
Raina gulped. "He's got places all around, in Milwaukee, in Sheboygan. The one in Two Rivers is closest. That's usually where I go when we need to meet up. He could have taken them there."
"I need specifics. An address."
"It's a warehouse, downtown, not too far from the East Twin River. There's a fish market nearby. 18th Street, I think."
Bobbi closed her eyes, trying to remember the times she'd been in downtown Two Rivers with her dad. His office was off the West Twin River, so she didn't know the east side as well, but the fish market was a decent-enough landmark. She could work with that.
"18th Street, 18th, 18th," she murmured, cementing the number in her brain.
"Bobbi? What the hell are you doing?" Bobbi's eyes snapped open, and she twisted around to see Hunter standing a few feet away, apparently having just turned the corner and stumbled upon what Bobbi could now understand was probably a very strange sight. She was flushed and sweaty, and she had Raina pinned against the wall with a big stick very near her face.
"I think that's my cue to leave," Raina said smoothly, her cool demeanor reapplied and firmly in place. Taking advantage of Bobbi's distraction, she slipped out from under Bobbi's outstretched arm and slunk off down the stairs.
"Seriously, what the hell?" Hunter asked again.
"Not now, Hunter," Bobbi said tersely, casting her eyes downward. She wasn't interested in his cold shoulder routine or a lecture. "I know you don't want anything to do with me, so just stay out of my business, okay?"
"You look terrible," he said bluntly.
"Thanks, I'm trying something new out."
"That's not what I meant," he backtracked. "I mean you look like something's wrong. And why are you all sweaty?"
"I ran to school."
"All the way from your house? What about your knee?"
"I'm out of my brace," she said flatly. She left out the fact that she had most definitely tweaked it on her run, and it was starting to ache.
"Pretty sure that doesn't mean you can just start running halfway across town. In November, no less. What's going on, Bob?" She looked up from the floor, examined his face. His eyebrows were floating upwards on his face, his eyes full of questions, his mouth turned down, but still soft – no pinched corners or tight lines. A concerned face. An open face. He really wanted to know.
"Skye and Jemma are gone," she told him, the words snagging in the back of her throat. Somehow admitting it to Hunter was harder than confronting Raina about the same fact. Maybe it was because of the shock and horror that immediately slid onto Hunter's face at the news. Maybe it was because she could feel the adrenaline that had propelled her across town slipping out of her muscles. Maybe it was because telling Hunter made it feel that much more real.
"They're… gone?"
"They vanished overnight. And I think Raina had something to do with it. I think she convinced Skye to go see her father, and I think Jemma tagged along."
"But her dad's… he's a bad bloke, isn't he? Hurt a bunch of people or something?"
"I don't exactly know, but that's why we can't let her go off with him. May and Phil are out looking, probably combing the city at this point. Raina thinks he might have taken them to a place in Two Rivers, though."
"Well, what are we standing around here for, then?" Hunter asked incredulously. "Come on."
"What?"
"Let's go to Two Rivers. I'll drive you. We have to go find Jemma and Skye."
"Hunter, I—"
"We don't have time to stand around discussing it, do we?" he pressed. Bobbi didn't know what to say. Hunter dug into his pocket, producing his car keys. "Seriously, Bob, I'm always looking for a reason to ditch class, and I'm not about to let something bad happen to those two. They're your sisters, and they're pretty tolerable, as far as middle school girls go. Plus Fitz would never let me hear the end of it if I didn't do something to help."
"I think I should call May and Phil, let them know—"
"Call them on the way if you want," Hunter shrugged. "But we both know Raina's a bloody liar." He paused and gave her a weighty, knowing look at that, a look that told Bobbi he was trying to say more with his words than just their face value. "You can't always trust what she says, and she might be sending us off on a wild goose chase. You don't want to send your foster parents all the way to Two Rivers for a dead end. We'll go check it out, and we can call them for backup if we need it."
"I… okay," Bobbi agreed, surprising herself. "Let's go."
It was shockingly easy to sneak back out of the school and over to the lot where Hunter's car was parked. They wasted no time in getting on the road, and Bobbi directed Hunter towards highway 42, which would take them along the lakeshore and straight up to Two Rivers. They rode in an only slightly uncomfortable silence for a little while, until Hunter eventually broke it.
"How's your knee?"
Bobbi, who had been massaging it absentmindedly, withdrew her hand, embarrassed at being caught. "Fine."
"Liar," Hunter smirked. "You didn't mess it up too badly, did you?"
"I don't think so. It's just a little sore. Not used to being used that hard."
"That's good to hear."
"Thanks for this," she said abruptly. "For driving up here. I know we're not really friends right now, but I… I appreciate it."
"Look, Bobbi, I've… I've been a huge idiot. About a lot of things in my sixteen years of life, but especially about you. I never should have taken Raina's word over yours. And I shouldn't have treated you the way I did."
"Hunter, you don't have to—"
"I do. I was hurt, because I thought you had been lying to me, but that's no excuse. Choosing what parts of your story you share isn't lying. I wasn't entitled to know things about you that you weren't ready to talk about. Raina shouldn't have spilled your secrets like that, and I shouldn't have taken her side. She put you in a bad spot, and I made it worse. I'm sorry."
"I was going to tell you," Bobbi said quietly. "I was trying to, but I was having a hard time finding the words. But I wanted to tell you. I told Natasha first because it all just kind of came spilling out, not because I wanted to keep you out of the loop. It wasn't personal, it was… I don't know, it just happened that way."
"I know that now. I took it personally at the time because I was being thick. That happens to me a lot, particularly when it comes to people I care about." He shifted in his seat slightly, looking a little bashful.
"Oh," Bobbi said. It took her a minute to realize what he was saying, but when she did, she felt her face go beet red. "Oh."
"Not that that's any excuse," he added quickly. "I was still very much an idiot either way."
"What changed your mind? About me? About the whole Raina thing?"
"One of our mutual friends may have finally managed to talk some sense into me," Hunter admitted, smiling sheepishly. "She called me plenty of things worse than idiot, let me tell you, and some even in Russian. But she was right. And I realized you're too good of a friend to let my ego get in the way of us."
"You're a pretty good friend, too," Bobbi smiled. "Not just anybody would drive me to the next town over in pursuit of two kids and a convicted felon."
"Well, I've never been known for my good decision making," Hunter joked, cracking a grin. When silence fell over them once more, Bobbi's thoughts returning to the daunting scenario that potentially awaited them, he broke it again with a voice more tender than Bobbi had ever heard. "They're going to be all right, Bob. We're going to find them, and they'll be okay."
"Okay, okay, okay." She nodded, not really agreeing with him, more like wishing that she could. Maybe if she said it out loud enough times, she might be able to believe him. Maybe if she said it enough times it might be true. "Okay. Okay. Okay."
They had been driving for about fifteen minutes before they reached the familiar edges of Two Rivers. They crossed the West River, then the East, and soon Bobbi was counting streets – something that reminded her, with a pang, of Jemma – searching for the fish market and 18th. They passed 20th, 19th, and then—
"There's the fish market," she said, pointing. "18th should be next."
Hunter slowed the car as they approached their turn, then eased around the corner. A short ways down the street, a dilapidated-looking warehouse loomed into view.
"Do you think that's it?" she asked.
"I mean, if I were a vaguely evil guy who was looking for a place to hide out with the two kids I just kidnapped, this would be an appealing spot," Hunter shrugged, bring the car to a stop. A white van blocked the entrance in the large wire fence. "He drives a white van. How original."
"Come on, let's take a look around," Bobbi said, climbing out of the car. Hunter cut the engine and joined her, squeezing past the van and into the gravelly lot out front of the warehouse.
"What are we looking for exactly?"
"I don't really know. A way in? Some sign that they're here?"
"Works for me."
There wasn't much out front, just the gravel, which looked like it might have been recently disturbed. Bobbi could see where the tires of the van had skidded on the rocks, and it looked like a number of people had been moving fast across it, too. They drew closer to the building, and Bobbi noticed a large broken window about a foot over her head. The gravel underneath the window, mixed with shards of glass, looked like it had been disturbed, too, and a cold, sinister feeling of foreboding dripped into her stomach. It was a long drop from the base of the window to the ground. She hoped that wasn't what had happened here.
"Hey, Bob, come have a look," Hunter called in a hushed voice. He beckoned her around the back side of the building. "Doors. Regular one and a delivery one. And take a look at the locks on here. Somebody's awfully concerned about intruders for a busted down warehouse like this."
Bobbi stepped closer to inspect the locks he was indicating, but as she did something odd crunched under her shoe. Something hard, but not in the way the gravel had been. Almost plasticky. She lifted her foot and looked down. It was a bracelet. A DNA double helix. It was Jemma's, she was sure of it.
"They're here," she breathed, scooping up the bracelet and sliding it into her pocket gently. "Hunter, they're here. They have to be."
"So how do we get in?"
"We don't," she told him, making up her mind as she spoke. "You're going back to the car. Call May, tell her we're here." She pulled the business card out of her pocket and pushed it into Hunter's hands. "Stay there and wait for them. I'm going inside."
"Are you mental?"
"They're my sisters, Hunter. I can't wait. Plus, I have these," she said, extracting her batons. "Those locks look rusty enough that I think I can break them off with my batons. You have a phone. Go, please."
Hunter looked like he wanted to argue with her for a moment, and Bobbi watched his expression as he wrestled with whether or not to insist on a different plan. Eventually, resignation settled over him. "Fine," he said, nodding stoutly. "Just be careful, all right? Don't die in there."
"I'll do my best," she said with much more confidence than she actually had. Gripped by what she could only assume was a sudden bout of insanity, she leaned over and kissed Hunter quickly on the cheek. "Go."
That's when they heard the gunshot.