I really appreciate that you are taking the time to read this, so I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. My schedule is getting a bit busier, but I will still try and update weekly although future chapters might be a bit late.
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For the purposes of this fic, Coulson knows about his death and May is level 8(so there are no secrets between them). I will also not be completely following the show-I might skip episodes and characters.
Disclaimer -I do not own Agents of Shield but I love it very much and have watched it multiple times.
Recap: Tony Stark is May's brother. Only Coulson, Natasha and Skye know. May is still dying and Tony refused to promise not to save her.
"We need to go back into the field. Other teams are tying to handle our missions and It getting agents killed. Only the other day, 2 of SHIELD's best scientists died of an alien virus, and over the last week Good agents have lost their lives to Akela Amador…"
"Amador is alive?"
"No, she was killed by three strike teams after taking out 4 good field agents."
"How did that kill her?"
"What do you mean, how did that kill her, most normal people would have been taken out by the four field agents?" Skye asked.
"Amador almost rivaled May in the field, she is the second most dangerous un-enhanced SHIELD agent we have ever had."
"You're the…" she began, turning to May.
"I've been holding back in training," May replied.
"Melinda, what did we say about holding back against new recruits?"
"I didn't want to kill her!"
"You wouldn't have killed me," Skye injected into the conversation."
"Yes, I would." "Yes, she would," they said over each other.
"Anyway, there is another mission about to run, and I think we should take it. It's about time we get to do something interesting anyway."
"Nat, give me fitty dollars, she's bored already."
"She lasted longer than I thought she would."
"You're telling me that Mels lasted more than 3 days on holiday?"
"You also owe Nick a large sum of money because Mel admitted that she had almost died 43 times."
"Nick was right? I thought we just let him in because he was definitely wrong?"
"It kind of backfired on us."
"So, what's the mission."
"Clint, Nat you can't come. We will use this as. A base of operations and see you afterwards. Can you keep our prisoners for you?"
"That depends. Who are they?"
"Camilla Reyes and s bunch of Peruvian militaries."
"Wasn't she your girlfriend?"
"Nat!" he groaned. "That's not the point."
"She is a psychotic murderer who my idiot of a fiancé felt the need to date, a year after she killed my partner and got my friend locked in the fridge. So don't let her out."
"You don't really think I'm an idiot."
"On this, I do."
"In general?"
"Whatever Phil."
"Put them on floor -6 when you're ready."
"Thanks Tony."
"So, what's the mission?"
"Possibly Asgardian weapon was taken from the middle of a tree in Norway."
"And we have to go and track it down?"
"They said to send Fitzsimmons to check out the location first because there is no apparent reason how they knew which tree to split open."
"Any suspects?"
"Paganist hate group obsessed with Norse mythology. Came in, split the tree in 2, took the artefact and left."
"How long till touchdown?"
"2 and a half hours," she replied, switching the plane to autopilot.
"You alright?" he asked, brushing her hair out of her face."
"Well as I can be."
"You don't have to do this."
"Yeah, I do."
"Mel, please. If you won't do it for you, do it for me."
"Please don't make me do this again. I don't know how much longer I can keep telling you no."
"Then don't. There's an easy path out. Just walk down it."
"You know its not easy. You don't know how much I wish there was a third option."
"Just stop bringing it up. I don't want to relive this moment every day, for the rest of my life. Just forget about it, and we can spend my last few weeks together, like we would have normally."
"I won't be able to move on."
"I'm not asking you to forget. Just create a life where you are happy."
"I don't know if I…"
"Then don't think about it. You don't have to," she cut him off, placing a kiss over his mouth before he could respond.
"I can't argue with you without you just terminating the conversation, Mel."
"No, you can't."
"Not fair Mel!"
"Don't see you complaining."
Most of the team were lounging around the bus, taking advantage of the time they had before they landed the plane. The sky was a white, grey colour, not blue like in a fairy-tale but that normal overcast sky. The only view from the plane was smooth white-grey clouds, so most of the blinds were down. Bobbi and Hunter were sitting at the bar with 2 beers contemplating how hard May had hit Reyes into the glass surface, because there was now a fracture along the surface, Fitzsimmons were in the lab just downstairs, where they were arguing over the name of the night-night gun, which they could still not find an appropriate title. May and Coulson were sitting in silence in the cockpit, May curled up in Coulson's lap, with her head on his shoulder. The only member of the bus who was not relaxing was Skye, well apart from Ward, who Skye had described as a 'sulky cat', who never relaxed and just skulked in random places around the bus.
Skye was sitting in her bunk, letting the newly discovered information sink in- May was dying. Although Skye rarely got attached to people, she was attached to May. Despite her silence, she managed to say so much without words, she understood her, well at least part of her life that no-one else could quite comprehend. She had learnt so much without even realizing it, and now the family that she had built from the people around her was about to crumble- May would die, Coulson would become distant, Fitzsimmons would be relocated, Ward was not even included in her family group. May didn't trust Ward, and although she didn't trust easily, the active mistrust that she had of Ward meant that she should take the cues and avoid him to. Bobbi and Hunter were nice, but they separated from the team and were only really present during team activities or missions. If she was lucky, Romanoff and Stark would feel sorry for her and take her in, if she was unlucky- like she always was, then she would be back to square one. Return to her van, return to hacking, the life that she looks back on and feels ashamed about.
Shifting from her position in Phil's lap, May leaned forward to take control of the plane and start the decent towards the Norwegian forest but Phil put his arm round her waist and pulled her back into the chair.
"I need to fly the plane," she said, turning towards him.
"Can't it wait?"
"We have a mission," she said, laughing at him as she pulled away and moved into the pilot's chair. This time she successfully started the decent, and sent a message through the comms, telling them that they had fifteen minutes.
"Can't the missions wait?"
"No, Phil, they can't."
"Should you even be doing missions?"
"Don't. You know you can't stop me. Might as well go out doing something worthwhile."
"And that kind of comment just makes me want to lock you in here and never let you out."
"As if this room could hold me," she said skeptically.
"The cage would."
"And how are you planning on getting me there?" she questioned, an amused smile on her face.
"Exactly," was her response to his silence.
"So, they just came in here, split this tree open, took the artefact and left?"
"Yes," May confirmed.
"We need someone up there to scan it."
"You're the only one who can operate the tablet, so we can attach you to this harness and send you up."
"She isn't a field agent, you cand just randomly attach her to ropes Ward. I can operate it."
"Since when could you…"
"I pick up things very quickly," she told him. Not a complete lie-she did pick up things quickly, but she also had unexpectedly good technology skills- most likely inherited from her father, so when she saw someone do it, she could almost perfectly repeat it.
She picked up the tablet, and despite everyone thinking she was slightly crazy, climbed up the tree without the harness, one hand holding the tablet, and started to scan the imprint.
"How are you planning on getting down?" Ward asked, smugly.
"Easy," she responded, before doing a neat flip of the side of the tree with the tablet and landing on her feet.
"Show-off," Phil whispered in her ear.
"Sometimes these new ops idiots need put in their place," she responded, also whispering. Handing the tablet back to Simmons, they summarized that it was definitely Asgardian, and most likely had two or more other pieces, judging by the fact that their 3D model that Fitz had generated had been broken at each end.
"So, we need to find the rest before they do."
"Could be a problem when we don't even know how they found it."
"Any ideas?"
"Use magic," Skye joked.
"Don't be silly," Fitzsimmons replied in unison.
"Actually, that is exactly what we are going to do. It was the first thing I did when I was put on the Thor case. Consult a specialist in Norse mythology."
"I was actually right for once?"
"Yes Skye, you were."
"So, we are visiting a Norse Mythology professor."
"Elliot Randolph helped with Thor; I believe he can help here. Mel, can you set course for Seville. Skye, keep an eye on the internet-see if you can find any traces of our 2 suspects. Fitzsimmons, can you take another look at the artefact; make sure no-one has missed anything.
"Landing in two minutes."
"You take Ward, Hunter and Bobbi, go talk to Elliot Randolph. I'll stay here so that we can pick up any leads Skye or Fitzsimmons find. If we have to leave, we'll pick you up as soon as possible.
"Try not to get killed by an old mythology professor," she joked.
"You think an old mythology professor would be able to kill me?"
"You never know."
"See you in a few hours Mel."
"That was quick, did you find anything?"
"A few riddles."
"Why can they never just give you latitude and longitude!"
"Who knows."
"Its very annoying. Do you have any ideas as to what any of them mean?"
"You don't need to guess. They are not hiding," Skye said, showing them a tablet with fiery letters on it.
"We are gods? Not very modest, are they?
"We should head there then."
"wheels up in 5."
"You can't touch the staff, Mel."
"Why not?"
"It gives you superhuman strength, but at the cost of resurfacing all your unpleasant and painful memories."
"Doesn't sound like something I want to touch, but I will if I have to. I can't risk the mission just because I have some dark unpleasant past that I never want to relive. I will pick it up if I need to pick it up."
"Melinda, picking that up might kill you."
"I know."
"But you're going to do it anyway."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because that staff in the hands of bad people could kill hundreds. That was the oath that we made when we joined SHIELD, and I'm not about to give that up now."
Thanks for reading :) Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please review.