A/N: This story is coming to it's closer, so things will get a little crazy, but I am confident that it will be a great ending to this story that I have really enjoyed putting together. Now I got some PM's about not having Afterlife and I'm sorry to disappoint, but it's here. Afterlife was going to be involved from the beginning, Inhumans, Cal and Jaiying were set. The title's about to really come into play, I've hinted at it in the past, but this last arc is really what the title was about. Coulson and May are not here to play around and what they do to get Skye, I think will be great. Plus all the other characters who come together to bring our missing inhumans home.
Alright, enough talking, it's time for the show :)
Summary: Agents Melinda May and Phil Coulson are put on a new assignment to look after an object of unknown origin, an 0-8-4. The only catch is this 0-8-4 is a person. A fourteen year old girl who's spent her life in the foster system is now in more danger than ever. A man beast is hunting her and SHIELD has to make sure that it doesn't get close to her. AU, MCU characters will be used.
Chapter Twenty Two
"How did he get in here," Coulson asked through gritted teeth.
The agent before him, whose name he didn't know, replied, "We don't know sir. There is no way he could have made through the doors or ventilation system. It's as if he just appeared in the room."
Coulson spoke sharply, "I want some answers, go figure them out. Dismissed."
The agent nodded and quickly left Coulson alone. It had been seven hours since an intruder had made their way into this facility and took three superpowered teenagers, including the one he called his daughter. No cameras caught him entering through any doors, but he did appear randomly in two hallways before his vanishing act continued.
The only reason they had been alerted that there was an intruder was because of Skye. The senior agent looked to the security camera that had recorded most of what happened in the lab which held the three teenagers. How the man appeared right after the cameras glitched followed by Skye fighting him, the whole building began to shake as she fought and tried to use her abilities.
Coulson inhaled deeply as the cameras glitched once again, stopping the feed of the lab. When it came back on, the intruder and teens were gone without a single trace. Now Coulson knew fear, there had been plenty of times in this line of work that he felt afraid for his life or for others, yet Skye showed him a new kind of fear. One that went deeper than his bones. He feared the loss of his only child.
"Phil," said May coming to stand beside him, "Tell me you have something new."
Coulson turned to face May and shook his head once. The only one who understood the fear, the anger, the determination, that he felt was May. Both of them were suffering with this situation as it was their child out there, stolen in the blink of an eyes and neither of them had been there to help her. And now that they were still here in this building, that feeling of helplessness filled them.
There was no a single lead for them to follow, not a single clue they could use that would lead them to Skye and the others. Typically there was always some kind of lead that they could use to their advantage, but how is there a lead when the suspect vanished into literal thin air?
May looked to the cameras, the same scene on loop of Skye fighting off the intruder, her powers causing the building to shake, Lincoln's powers causing the building's electricity to act up. May focused on the video of Skye fighting, her hair all over the place, but she was proud to see her form was just fine. Almost unconsciously, May raised her hand to touch the screen, letting her fingers sit over the image of Skye. In all her years, May never thought of herself as mother material and having Skye changed it all. For a long time she had known that Skye was hers and that meant no one would get away with hurting her.
"You're small and not very strong," May said matter of factly.
Skye made a face, "Gee thanks."
May let a small smile grow, "So that means what you lack there you can make up in speed and reaction. The best option for you is to use your enemies weight and slower responses against them."
Skye nodded, "And how would I do that?"
"I'll show you."
"What are we going to do," May asked looking away from the screen, "How are we going to find her?"
The obvious answer that Coulson hated was that he didn't know. He had no idea what they were going to do, how they were going to find Skye and the others when they had nothing to go off of. It looked hopeless, it was hopeless. But he couldn't afford to think that way. Never could.
Coulson forced himself to keep his eyes on May, "We'll figure something out. I've already made some calls. Natasha and Maria are close by, Clint is on his way. Fury is putting together some more teams and gathering some intel now. I even got Stark to help."
May brought her gaze to him then, "Stark? You told him about Skye?"
Coulson nodded, "He may not be officially part of SHIELD, but he's on the watch list for that Initiative I told you about and if anyone get past any red tape, it would be him. More friends are on their way to help. Nothing will stop us from finding out girl."
"Nothing," May said, her brown eyes met his clear ones, "Whatever it takes to bring her home."
Coulson studied May for a moment. Throughout the past few hours whenever he saw May, he could not see her as a fellow agent working to find a missing 0-8-4, he couldn't see himself as an agent trying to find missing kids. All he could see May as was a mother, all he saw himself as was a father. Two panicked parents who could think of nothing else, but bringing their daughter home. Coulson took May's hand in his own, but did not break eye contact with her.
"Whatever it takes," Coulson agreed.
For a few moments they stood their, making silent vows that they would get Skye back no matter it cost either of them. The silence stretched on until the doors open revealing Natasha and Tony Stark. Dressed in casual clothing, Stark made his way over to the agents with a small smirk on his face. It had certainly been a huge surprise to learn that Agent had a daughter, even more disappointing that he only learned of her existence because she had been taken and they needed help finding her. Help Stark was more than willing to give.
"Agents," Stark greeted them.
Natasha spoke next, "Tony's been monitoring airways and satellites since you called."
Coulson asked him, tone pleading, "You found anything?"
Stark was ready with a quip, but he decided not to speak it now. Based on the desperation on both agents faces, he knew it was better to get straight to business before any clear sarcastic remarks. So he nodded.
"I did," Stark said clearly, he glanced to the screen, "Our little kidnapper released a lot of energy when he did his little disappearing act. A unique signature that's been picked up a couple of times before in the past."
"So you're saying you can trace him," May guessed, her eyes widened slightly.
Stark let a smirk form then, "Of course. We've got some locations you can check out and should he make anymore vanishing acts, we'll know."\
Natasha watched as May and Coulson looked at each other them, both wore an expression of hope. When she heard Skye and the others had been taken, the first emotion she felt was anger and concern for Skye, but then her worry shifted to May and Coulson. Wondering how they were handling this considering they had no leads or clues to lead them to their girl. She knew it wasn't well, but now, not it was better. Now they had a chance.
"Skye, punching through random walls isn't going to help us."
"Worried I'll cause another earthquake?"
Lincoln held back a huff of annoyance. It had only been a few minutes since he had woken up in this red room, Skye and Elena were there as well along with another boy who had refused to give his name. They had no idea where they were, but they remembered how they got here before everything went dark. Lincoln felt as if any second he was going to go over the edge and lose what little control he had over his own abilities. As he looked down at his feet he could see very small flashes of electricity move along his clothes. He forced himself to look at Skye.
"It likely won't help us if everything starts shaking," Lincoln remarked dryly.
Skye rolled her eyes, "Whatever. At least it got us all in here. Now that we're together, we have some better chances."
Lincoln made a face at that, his eyes glanced to the gaping hole across from him. The only reason he had woken up was because Skye in her panic had managed to punch massive holes through the walls. Each time she did it, she was lead to another red room and that was how she found Elena and the other boy, dragging them with her until she found Lincoln here still unconscious.
Originally she planned to start letting her powers go haywire when he was awake, but he had told her it was a terrible idea and her control was hardly stable. But now that they were still stuck in this room without any clear way out or any knowledge of who took them, the gravity of the situation was starting to weigh down on them. Skye had woken up alone, the last thing she remembered was fighting the man with no eyes, the world around her shaking before there was a flash of blue light and she was in a forest.
The very last ting she saw was Elena and Lincoln standing behind her, or falling behind her she should say since they both collapsed. The darkness took her over before they hit the ground. Skye leaned against the wall, her eyes looked up to the window that likely was an observation room. No one had since come in there, but that didn't mean someone wouldn't be there soon.
"What are we going to do," asked Elena, her accent thick.
Skye glanced at her, "I want to bust out of here. We have powers, we should use them."
Lincoln both hands through his hair, "We don't know how to use them! What are we supposed to do? Punch around and hope it works? There's no telling what will happen when the guys who took us show up."
"And I'd rather we didn't stick around to find out," Skye argued, her eyes alight with anger.
"We have to be smart about this," Lincoln protested.
"So smart to you means waiting for our kidnappers to show up," Skye asked incredulous, "If we wait for them to show up, they have the advantage. We don't know why they brought us here and it could range from dissection to execution!"
"No one here will hurt you. You are safe."
The four teens practically jumped out of their skin at the sound of the overhead voice. Elena and Skye brought up their hands ready to fight while Lincoln stood still, the other boy only hunched over in the corner. In the observation room stood a group of older men and women with one young woman at the front, looking down at them. None of the teens stances relaxed, but their attention was focused.
Each one had their expression that told a different story. The silent boy was terrified of what happened, he didn't know what was going and he just wanted to go home. Elena was angry. For the past few weeks every aspect of her life seemed to change and she was so tired of everything around her dictating what happened next.
Lincoln was apprehensive, he would have preferred to do what the captors said to avoid any trouble. He understood why that might be crazy, but as scared teenager he had no idea what was the better option here. Skye was pained. Only when her life was starting to be normal did things go wrong, only after she learns that she truly has a family is she ripped away from them. Anger burned in her stomach, it was the best thing she could focus on besides the fear.
"Who the hell are you," Skye shouted at them, "What do you want?"
The young woman answered them, "We are friends, family. We do not want to hurt you. Only to help you with your gifts."
Elena spoke sharply, "Yeah, because that starts with kidnapping."
"Not kidnap, rescue," said the man with no eyes, who was standing across from them.
The ground shook due to Skye's surprise, but she regained composure and glared at him. Lincoln grabbed Skye's forearm as both a warning and a silent plea for her not to do anything risky. He was afraid, more afraid than he had been in ages and the last thing he wanted was for any of them to get hurt because they couldn't stay in line. Even though nothing would have made him happier than to get out of here and fight, he feared what consequences could come if they dared to do that.
"Forgive our actions in removing you from the facility, but we could not allow you to stay there. SHIELD is not a friend to people like us," the man told them calmly. "You all must have questions and we all want to answer them. Please, return to your rooms and wait for one of us to get you so we can talk."
Elena replied, "We have no reason to trust you or do anything you say."
The man nodded once, "I understand your hesitance. All will be explained, you are safe and we mean you no harm. Please, allow us the chance to show you that. No one will hurt you here."
Elena and Lincoln looked at Skye, a question in their eyes. Both of them knew of a little trick Skye had been working on, pinpointing heartbeats and being able to measure them to tell the difference when someone was lying or telling the truth. Like regular lie detectors, it wasn't perfect and plenty of people could control their heart rate when lying, but it was the only thing any of them had to go off of. From what Skye could tell, the man was telling the truth. However she did not want to leave Elena and Lincoln, or even the boy who's name she still didn't know.
The man focused on Skye, "I assure you, you are safe here with us. My name is Gordon, I am a friend."
No one said anything. There were a few beats of silence. Gordon was not surprised at the distrust and fear on their faces. Considering their abrupt departure, it was only fair that they not trust him or want to be here. The way he usually did these things was that he had to wait until the person they were watching called out for him. None of them had called, but they could not allow SHIELD to hold them prisoner any longer. It was wrong.
"He's telling the truth," Skye said quietly, in a louder voice she said to him, "What happens when we split up?"
"You will not be apart for long, just go to your rooms for explanations, introductions and soon, you will all be reunited with each other," Gordon told her, his tone gentle.
"Fine, we'll do as you say so long as no one gets hurt," Elena said, she looked at Skye and Lincoln, she told them softly, "Be careful."
Both the young teens nodded once, silently telling her they would be and for her to do the same. Wordlessly, Elena and the silent boy walked away back through the gaping holes Skye had put there. Skye and Lincoln were more hesitant to move apart, after all they were best friends and had already been through craziness together, why split up now?
Lincoln had no desire to let Skye go, but he knew that right Gordon was playing nice, the people above were playing nice. It was only a matter of time before they decided to use force and make them do as they were told. No one needed to get hurt. For now the safest thing they could do was stay in line, avoid getting in trouble and hopefully SHIELD would get them soon.
Skye looked at Lincoln with worry in her eyes. Skye didn't want to leave Lincoln alone, she feared what would happen when they were apart and she feared what these people would do if they refused to play along. Quickly she pulled him into a hug which he returned, whispering that they would be okay. When Skye let go of him, she turned away and willed herself to walk back across the rooms until she made it to her own.
Once she got there, she looked back through the holes she made letting her eyes travel from the silent boy, to Elena and finally resting on Lincoln. They were not safe here. She prayed to whatever higher power was out there that her parents would come for them, would come for her.