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I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 3 the asset
The team walks into the briefing room to see Phil waiting for us. "A few minutes ago a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport was attacked while carrying a priority red protection asset, off Route Seventy-six Sterling road," Phil explains.
"Priority red?" Jemma asks.
"The asset was Canadian physicist," Phil says. He shows them a picture of him. "Dr. Frank Hall, known for his work….."
"Oh, no, not Frank," Jemma says.
"Doctor Hall?" Fitz asks. "He was out chemical kinetic advisor our second year."
"Yeah, he's so enthusiastic about science, we just adore him. We can rescue him, can't we?" Jemma says.
"He's one of ours. We're gonna try," Phil says.
"If Jemma and Fitz think he's good at science, then I don't want to imagine the weapons his kidnappers could force hm to make," I say.
"And the attackers?" Ward asks.
"Invisible," Phil says.
"Wait. Invisible. Cool," Skye says. Skye says laughing. Skye stops when Ward glares at her. "But terrible."
Scene change.
"Doctor Hall was an asset?" Skye asks.
"One of a select few scientists S.H.I.E.L.D. has been protecting. People our enemies would love to get their hands on. We keep them hidden, keep them on the move," Phil explains.
"Which is why Fitz and I were so lucky to have him," Jemma says.
"We don't have him anymore," Phil says.
"And what does priority red mean?" Skye asks.
"It means security should've been….," Phil says. Phil sees a truck in a tree and we stop walking. "Heavy."
"It was pretty damn scary. And I don't scare easily, boss," the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent says.
"Nothing in the air? From above?" May asks.
"And nothing over our shoulder," the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent says.
"What's scary is, they knew our route. They were waiting for us," the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent says.
"Are you saying they were working with somebody inside of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Phil asks.
"Sorry to say, it had to be," the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent says.
"Fitz, what am I seeing here?" Jemma asks.
"Well, I'm not wearing the full-spectrum goggles I designed, so," Fitz says. Fitz laughs. "No clue." Fitz walks over to Jemma. "let me have a look."
"No, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! Don't move. Wait a second," Jemma says. Jemma grabs some rocks off the ground and throws it in the air. The rocks start to float and spin around in the air.
"What the hell?" May asks.
"I think the electro-static field scanner activated some….. thing," Jemma says.
"Ok. Can we deactivate it? Now?" Phil asks. Jemma presses a few buttons causing the rocks to spin faster.
"You have increased the density!" Fitz shouts.
"I tried, Fitz!" Jemma replies. Fitz takes the tablet.
"Fitz!" May shouts. Fitz presses a few button and the machine explodes and the rocks fall the ground. Jemma bends down and picks up a small object.
"That did all this," Jemma says. Phil snatches it and inspects it.
"What is that?" Skye asks.
"Something big," Phil says.
Scene change.
"Either someone cracked our comm system, or Doctor Hall's movements leaked from inside S.H.I.E.L.D.," Phil says.
"You really think we have a mole?" May says.
"I think you should go through communication logs. Rule it out. We'll work the tractor tread that we found on the scene," Phil says.
"I can do that. Instead of pull-ups. I can upload the image of the tread pattern and check to see if there's any….," Skye says.
"Already done," Ward says. "Matched it to a two thousand and ten model. Found a list of purchasers within five hundred mile radius, narrowed down to those with financial troubles, or a propensity for risk-taking. Three suspects," Ward says. Images of their faces are projected onto a screen.
"Who may have sold their construction equipment to the kidnappers. We'll ask," Phil says.
"Hey," Skye says. "So, Ward said a funny thing. "He said that you guys don't have a truth serum." Phil smiles at her.
"Did he? Ward said that?" Phil asks.
"Yeah," Skye says.
"Interesting," Phil replies.
"Yeah," Skye says. Phil walks away. "Hey, wait, but….. I…." May walks into the room holding a folder with hundreds of sheets of paper.
"Hey," May says and places the folder in Skye's arms.
"Do you want me to bench press this?" Skye asks.
"Read it," May replies. "Every communication out of HQ since they decided to transfer Doctor Hall." May walks off.
"Hang in there, Doc. It's gonna be a while," Skye says.
"You want help?" I ask.
"Yeah," Skye replies.
Time skip.
"Gravitonium," Fitz says.
"It's an extremely rare, high-atomic number element…," Fitz says.
"…that powers the device. So extremely rare that most people didn't believe it existed, much less the theory that isolated positive charge…," Jemma says.
"Yeah, would turn the flow from isotropic…," Fitz says.
"Guys? High school drop out here," Skye says. "How does the device work again."
"Well, Gravitonium distorts gravity field within itself, causing an undulating, amorphous shape," Jemma says.
"Which causes these, um, wiggly bits here," Fitz says pointing at a part of the diagram on the screen. "But when an electric current is applied, the Gravitonium solidifies, and those gravity fields erupt, randomly changing the rules of gravity around it," Fitz explains.
"So it would be able to make a car fly and crash to the ground?" I ask.
"Yes, and guess which genius published evert theory about Gravitonium, and possible applications? Year ago." Jemma asks.
"Doctor Franklin Hall," Skye says.
"Correct," Fitz says.
"What would happen if they got Doctor Hall to turn it into a weapon?" I ask.
"Catastrophe," Jemma says.
"Doctor Hall attended the university of Cambridge at the same time as Ian Quinn," Fitz says.
"Coulson may be off on this. Quinn is a notoriously good guy. His charity endowment's something like eight billion dollars," Skye says.
"Yes. With money he made from leeching the Earth of its resources. Looks like he's dug up another," Jemma says.
Scene change.
"The man's a prisoner and it's up to us to get him out," Phil says.
"We've checked the specs," Ward says. "There's no way into Quinn's compound without a large S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force or a man inside." Skye walks into the room. "He's got neodymium laser fencing surrounding the property."
"They'll never allow a strike force into Matta," Phil says. "Plus, this weekend Quinn worldwide's got its annual shareholders' gathering. We'd risk global outrage. But….."
"If we go in alone…..," May says.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. can disavow us, claim ignorance," Phil says.
"Without a man inside. It's impossible," May says. "Unless you're immune to pulse laser emissions."
"If we had a monkey we could get in," Fitz says. I face palm.
"Oh, Fitz!" Jemma shouts.
"If we had a small monkey, he could slip through the sensors and disable the fence power source with his adorable little hands," Fitz says.
"I could go in," Skye says.
"Drop me in the hills outside of Valletta. I'll spend a few weeks establish a cover, gathering intel…," Ward says.
"Hall doesn't have a few weeks," Phil says.
"Guys!' I shout. Everyone turns to me. "Skye has a plan."
"I could go in," Skye adds.
"Skye, this is serious," Ward says.
"Wait," Phil says. Phil walks over. "What are you saying?" Phil asks.
"We'll, I'm not an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., so I can go in without breaking all these stupid rules," Skye says.
"International laws," Jemma corrects.
"This isn't something the Rising Tide can hack, Skye," Ward says.
"Did you hear the deadly lasers part? Without a brave monkey….," Fitz says. Jemma sighs.
"You said you could go in with a man inside," Skye says.
"And you want to be that man?" May asks.
"Fitz-Simmons love the guy, and he needs help," Skye says. "They could be torturing him. Or worse, making him do straight training." I roll my eyes.
"But you don't have the background, or clearance, or experience with any of this," Ward says.
"I know," Skye says. Skye flips her phone so we can see the screen. "But, I've got an invitation. Well, technically it's an e-vite."
Scene change.
"Skye will walk in the front door," Phil says. "The only external access point to Quinn's underground facility is from a beach cove. A two-man extraction team could slip in there, but it's not easy. Fits-Simmons."
"The perimeter is surrounded by a two-hundred foot high neodymium laser grid," Fitz says. "Touch it, and you toast."
"Dead toast," Colson says. "The only way to disable the grid is to crack the system and trigger a reboot. This would give the team three seconds to cross. Of course, Quinn's too smart to allow any wireless access on his property."
"That's where I come in," Skye says.
"Yes," Jemma says. Jemma holds a makeup mirror "Working compact. Holds up under X-ray." Fitz grabs the mirror.
"Desert Rose, to match your complexion. But, oh, what's this?" Fitz says. The mirror's screen has four red square figures on the right. "A readout, Okay?" The squares move to the left and changes color to green. "It turns green if you're in close enough proximity to a computer to gain wireless access."
"And when it does, you just drop it nearby and walk out," Jemma says. "We'll do the rest. As easy as pie."
"Or it will be, if you stick to the plan," Ward says as he cocks his gun.
"Got it. Plan. Green. Drop. Walk. Pie," Skye says. Phil and May have their private conversation.
"Alright team, let's suit up," May says.
"Sir, could I take the mission off?" I ask.
"Why?" Phil replies. I look at the ground and bit my lip. "Oh, that, sure, we'll call you if we need you," Phil says. I nod and walk to my room.
Scene change.
I walk into Phil's office. "Sir, we need to get to the hub, now," I say.
"Why?" Phil asks.
"Visitor from Earth-1, he was wrongfully arrested, by S.H.I.E.L.D.," I say.
I hope you enjoyed. Next chapter will not be a based off of an episode and based around Oliver. Until next time, Ant-boy out.
