While FitzSimmons were giving their speech, one of the students, Donnie, was almost killed, but luckily they were able to destroy the advice just in time. Ward realised that if they wanted to find out who the real culprit was, they weren't going to find out through formal interviews, so he wanted to go to where everyone in the Academy hung out and ask people there.
"And when we get there?" Simmons inquired.
"We mingle, low key. You, Skye, and Kayla get comfortable with the students...see if you can get them gossiping. Kayla is young enough to blend in" Ward explained.
"You're not exactly old man river, and Fitz looks younger than us" Skye retorted, in Kayla's defence.
"Time will come when you won't make fun of me for that. You'll be jealous. You'll be jealous, wrinkly old hags" Fitz told them, getting a nudge from Kayla.
"I want Fitz to go talk to Donnie" Ward stated.
"Sorry?" Fitz asked.
"Donnie's withdrawn, might know more than he's letting on. You're a hero here, Fitz. He looks up to you. Go hang out with him. Even if he has no clue who might be after him, he could use a friend" Ward explained.
"That is a wonderful idea" Simmons explained.
"Ward has them from time to time. I'll meet you later" Fitz grumbled, as all three girls turned to look at Ward with grins on their faces.
"What? It's strategic" Ward told them.
"It's adorable" Simmons stated.
"The Tin Man has a heart after all" Skye grinned.
"What did I say, you really are an adorable teddy bear at heart" Kayla smirked.
"So, where are we going?" Ward asked, with a small blush on his face, making the girls giggle.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps careful watch of everything within their walls, so in the late '60s, to escape the cameras and the prying eyes of the faculty, a few Cadets started sneaking down to the boiler room to play cards, you know, exchange ideas" Simmons announced.
"My kind of people" Skye stated.
"Some amazing breakthroughs have come out of here. So the tradition lives on" Simmons explained.
"Of cramming into the boiler room?" Skye questioned.
"Yeah, it doesn't sound…okay…" Kayla trailed off, as they entered the room, and found it was more like a club.
"Well, over the years, we made a few improvements. Do you have one of these at operations?" Simmons smirked.
"No" Ward grumbled.
"Did not think so" Simmons grinned.
"I'll get the drinks" Ward stated, walking towards the bartender.
"No, this is my time to shine" Kayla smirked, as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and sauntered over to the bartender.
Ward watched the interaction for a few minutes, his jaw tightening as he saw the way Kayla was obviously flirting with the bartender who was lapping it up. Thankfully, she soon came back over to him, not before throwing the bartender a smirk.
"Bartender seems chatty" Ward announced.
"Is someone jealous?" Kayla grinned.
"What? No, of course not" Ward replied, making Kayla laugh.
"Hey, no drinking for you!" Ward exclaimed, as Kayla was about to drink her beer.
"What?" Kayla questioned.
"You're underage" He stated.
"He didn't ask for an I.D" Kayla retorted.
"Well he seemed a little distracted" Ward said, as he saw the bartender was still looking at Kayla.
He quickly put his arm around Kayla's shoulder and pulled her around the corner, making Kayla's grin grow wider.
"So I did get some interesting info out of him, apparently the girl with curls behind us. Callie Hanniga...ambitious, gunned hard for getting assigned to the Sandbox. And apparently, word's gotten around she just lost the top spot" Kayla explained.
"She was at the pool" Ward realized.
"But didn't want to go in" Kayla stated, making Ward smile proudly, seeing she was learning.
Ward soon went over to talk to the girl while Kayla went to sit with Skye and Simmons, a frown on her face.
"Oh my God, you're not jealous are you?" Skye questioned, indicating to Ward and the girl.
"No!" Kayla quickly relied.
"You totally are" Skye laughed.
"Ward and Kayla, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G-" Skye was quickly cut off by Kayla slamming her foot onto her's, when she saw Ward coming back over.
"Donnie, and the other guy have been talking about FitzSimmons coming here for weeks, they planned the whole thing" Ward explained.
"Wait, what?" Simmons inquired.
"No time to explain, come on" Ward insisted.
They soon informed Fitz about what Donnie was doing, who went back to Donnie's room and was knocked out by his partner. A search was set up for the two, which was headed by Ward and Agent Weaver. Meanwhile, the others were tracking for any freak weather in the area and soon found it. While this was going on Coulson had informed Skye about her parents, which had incredibly upset her. Kayla had been watching in the corner while Coulson was talking to her, deciding that she would see what had upset Skye so much later. They had soon found Donnie and his friend, who had been killed and took him in, then sent him off to the sandbox. Kayla found Skye after the mission and sat her down in her bunk, Skye unburdening her start in life on Kayla. She was surprised that she instantly felt better after telling someone, especially since Kayla hadn't had a great start in life either.
A few days later they finally got some information the man they had been tracking.
"Ian Quinn" Coulson announced.
"You found him?" May questioned.
"No, but we think we know how we can. Skye tracked down an invoice from one of his shell companies. He made a big purchase recently" Coulson explained.
"$10 million big" Skye added.
"Damn" Kayla said, raising an eyebrow.
"Any idea what it is?" Simmons inquired.
"No clue, but it was designed and built by Cybertek, Inc., a small firm that deals in advanced technology and research" Skye told them.
"Which is where this gets interesting. They've hired a private-security outfit to transport the purchase…former military, ex-mercs" Coulson continued.
"Lot of muscle to move one package" Ward exclaimed.
"Probably means whatever they're transporting is pretty dangerous…wonderful" Kayla sighed.
"And they know S.H.I.E.L.D.'s got eyes on Quinn" Coulson explained.
"Which is why they're transporting it old-school" Skye told them.
"On a train, through the Italian countryside, from Verona to Zagreb...very rural, very isolated" Coulson announced.
"And you think Quinn's on that train" May suggested.
"No, but I believe they're delivering the item to Quinn himself. We got our intel from Italian authorities who have been monitoring the situation" Coulson replied.
"And they don't mind us taking over the op?" May asked.
"I asked very nicely. If everything goes as planned, Cybertek's security team won't even know we were on the train" Coulson explained.
"So we're going in undercover" Ward exclaimed.
"I hate undercover" May grimaced.
"May and Ward, you're front and center. Once we locate the package, you'll tag it with a tracker. Skye, Kayla and Fitz, you'll be running communications. After the package is tagged, we'll follow it to Quinn. Once we capture Quinn, we'll be one step closer to the Clairvoyant" Coulson announced.
"And what about the two of us, sir?" Simmons inquired.
"We'll be posing as father and daughter" Coulson replied.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! We've got a really good few chapters coming up, with lots of Ward/Kayla;) Please leave a review:)