Drabble 34: Torn Asunder (Part One)

"No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man's mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time."

Laurence Sterne

Simmons gripped the blade tightly, fist clenched and shaking as she stood there, muscles tensed.

"Do it!" he yelled.

Her body started moving forward, towards Fitz. Half of her mind screamed at her to move faster and just do as instructed. The other half screamed back that it was Fitz, and she couldn't hurt him, it didn't make sense.

She stepped over to reach Fitz and stood only two steps away, easily enough distance to lunge and plunge the knife in his chest. But she managed to stop there, two steps away from him, her body trembling with the effort as her mind waged war against itself.

"Do it now!" the voice was angrier now, impatient.

She raised the knife to chest level and then cried out as the pain inside her head became overwhelming. Her vision went white, and the arm that held the knife fell.

Earlier…

Fitz and Simmons were asked to speak at a science convention in Washington. Fitz opened the letter asking them to come and talk to young scientists, and when he told Simmons she said they had to go. He had to admit that it had been a while since they'd done something like this. But it wasn't a S.H.I.E.L.D. event, because they hadn't heard about it before. They were confused by that at first, until Simmons recognized the name on the signature. It was someone they had gone to the Academy with.

"Maybe they're just doing something on the side?" Fitz mused.

"Darren Creed." Simmons said. "If I remember correctly, he didn't care where he did science, or with whom; as long as he got to do it, he was happy." She smiled. "He must be promoting the sciences to everyone now."

"We haven't heard from him in a few years." Fitz said. "Wasn't he older than us?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure he was. Oh, Fitz, we have to do it! It'll be just like back in the Academy, talking to the other students."

"It can't hurt." He said. Then he smiled. "Alright. Let's do it."

They told Coulson about the letter, and he thought it was a good idea for them to do it. "You guys will have fun there." He said. "It might be nice to do something non-S.H.I.E.L.D. for a day; you never know."

So they answered that they would speak at the convention, and a week later went to D.C.

It was supposed to last two days, and Coulson had said they could stay the full time if they wanted to. Simmons booked them a room for the night in between the convention days, and after dropping off their bags, they walked to the building the convention was supposed to be held in. They were an hour late, so they walked quickly to the gym where the main panel was, to see where they were supposed to be.

But there was no one there. The rest of the building was bustling with people; they learned when they got there that it was a museum of sorts, converted from an old school and completely redone architecturally. The gym was made so kids could play while parents enjoyed the rest of the museum.

The door was unlocked, so they walked in easily enough. But the room was empty except for one person: a man who stood in the center of the gym, reading a book.

Simmons stood by the door for a second. This felt really strange.

"Welcome!" Darren cried when he saw them.

"Where is everyone else?" Fitz asked.

"You're the last ones to arrive." Darren said. He walked over to them, putting the book he had been reading by his side. "Unfortunately, the museum was double-booked today, so we can't hold the convention. We just found out when we tried to set up an hour ago. Everyone else left, and I stayed here to tell you."

"So, should we go home?" Simmons asked, looking at Fitz.

"No, don't do that!" Darren said quickly. He smiled. "I meant the convention won't be held today. We're still doing it tomorrow. People just went to do whatever they wanted for today."

"Oh." Fitz said. "Well I'm glad you waited to tell us."

Darren looked at them. "It's been a while since I've seen you guys. Do you think we could go catch up?"

Fitz looked at Simmons, who raised her eyebrows and shrugged, saying why not.

"Great. I'll show you my place, and we can go over the plans for tomorrow once we've relaxed a bit."

"That sounds great." Fitz said as Darren started walking out of the gym. They followed him out of the building and down the street. It was a longer walk to reach the place, but it felt good. They walked in and gasped at the size of it, walking towards the middle as they looked around. It wasn't like an apartment at all; more like… a garage.

"Darren, why did you bring us here?" Simmons asked.

"I told you," he said as he closed the door behind him. He locked it with a passcode and turned to face them, smiling. "I want to catch up."

Fitz immediately swung off his backpack and kneeled down, rifling through it as quickly as he could. "There's got to be some sort of weapon in here." He said.

"I'll call Coulson." Simmons said, pulling out her cell phone.

Darren smiled to himself. "It's so cute that you try."

He walked over quickly. Fitz abandoned his search and stood, throwing the backpack into Darren. The other man only stopped for a second. Fitz wished it was more like his bag in high school; that would have knocked him out cold, it was so heavy. Fitz knew he had to give Jemma time to call Coulson, and she'd only just dialed the number, so he threw himself at Darren.

They stumbled backwards, but Darren used Fitz's momentum against him, twisting and making him fall and using it to push himself forward again. Fitz crashed against the floor.

Darren rushed forward and grabbed the phone from Simmons's hand, ending the call and throwing the phone aside. "You really don't want to do that." He said. He struck her near the base of the throat, applying pressure against the sensitive nerve there. Simmons collapsed in a heap, losing consciousness.

"Simmons." Fitz said, standing up. He tried to punch Darren, but the other man blocked his fist easily and reached out, pinching Fitz in the same spot he had pinched Simmons. Fitz fell limp against the floor.

Darren shook his head and laughed a bit. "They never were good with self-defense."

Simmons woke up and sat up quickly, remembering what had happened. Her hands were tied behind her, and to the chair she was sitting on. Fitz sat across from her, bound as she was. He was still out, his head falling against his shoulder. She looked around and saw that they were still in the garage; that was good, because if they could escape, they knew how to get back to the museum and hotel.

But how to escape the garage?

She looked around as much as she could, and jumped when she heard Darren's voice.

"I'm glad you're awake." He said, walking over to her. "It means we can start having fun."

"Darren, why are you doing this?"

Fitz groaned, and Simmons watched as his eyes opened. They immediately fixed on her, and he tried to stand up, held back by the bindings.

"Do you remember your first year at the Academy?" Darren asked. "I was a year ahead of you. I even showed you around a few times." He started walking slowly between them, enjoying himself. "I was the star back then. I always topped the charts, and made a name for myself. And when you two showed up, suddenly I was like trash. It was Fitz-Simmons this and Fitz-Simmons that. It made me sick."

"We never meant any harm." Simmons said. "We were just learning, like everyone else."

"That's what's so annoying!" he said. "You didn't have to try to get all that attention. It just happened. I know I'm smart, but I worked to get the reputation I had! You had yours handed to you the moment you started at the Academy!"

"That's ridiculous, and you know it." Fitz said. "We worked hard for everything we got. And you still graduated at the top of your year! Why are you so mad at us?"

"Science is all I've ever had!" he yelled. "I showed the professors my inventions every month, and they loved them. But your inventions were better, they said. I had potential, but my work wasn't like yours, it was too specific and expensive to make. So just before I graduated I had an idea. I worked night and day to make it in time; I knew it would beat anything of yours. I was right too. But what happened? The night before I had to hand it in, I completely crashed in the library. I was exhausted. My project was on the table in front of me. When I woke up the next morning, it was gone. All my hard work, and it was left in pieces."

"We didn't destroy your project!" Simmons cried.

"Don't you think I know that?" he exploded. He took a deep breath and spoke more calmly. "I know exactly who did it, and believe me, they're next. But they did it because I'd told them how successful my project would be. They knew it was better than anything you could do, so they destroyed it. For you."

"But we didn't ask them to!" Fitz said. "You're doing this for no reason."

Darren smiled. "Oh, I have a reason. Like I said before, Fitz, science is all I've ever had. My greatest opportunity was stolen from me, and it was done for the two of you. So I want to get even. And what means the most to you?"

Simmons felt cold fear flood through her, and looked at Fitz before forcing herself to look away.

"You've always had each other." He said.

"Now that we've heard the deranged story, will you tell us why we're here?" Fitz said angrily.

"I lost my respect after I showed up without the project I had boasted about. My scientific career was ruined. Now you're going to lose what you've always had."

Fitz swallowed. "Maybe you could keep telling us stories?"

Darren laughed. "No, you were right. It's time to start." He walked out of Simmons's view and came back with a briefcase, which he set down on a small table and opened. "Who wants to go first?" he looked them over. "Simmons?"

"Don't touch her!" Fitz yelled.

"That settles it." He took a syringe out of the briefcase and showed it to them. "I've developed a perfect serum for this occasion. You'll do exactly as I say. Doesn't that sound fun?"

"So you figured out how to brainwash people." Fitz said.

"In a way." Darren said. "Except… well, you'll see in a minute." He filled the syringe and then walked over to Simmons. She tried to shrink away from him, but her movement was limited by the restraints. He walked behind her and roughly turned her arm, and a second later she felt the needle press into her skin.

Her body tensed as the serum ran through it. "You're the first test-subject, Simmons." Darren said as he walked into view. "Tell me how it feels." She bit her lip and stared at the floor. Her senses were numbing. Her vision blurred and her hearing faded for a minute. When it cleared and she could hear she saw Fitz staring at her, worried. Darren stood right next to her.

"Look at me." Darren said.

Simmons tried for a second to not listen, but her head snapped up so she was looking at Darren. She saw him smile. "Excellent." He went behind her again, and she felt her hands come free of their binding. She thought she wanted to move, to run away and get help, but she couldn't do anything. She only half wanted to.

"Stand up."

She stood immediately. It was as if her muscles weren't under her control anymore.

"See?" Darren said. "The serum I made is perfect. The affected person responds instantly to my command. And it's much better than other methods of control. They're so easy to break out of, because of how unnatural they are. Mine doesn't completely control the person like that. It allows them to think as they want to, but their actions are decided by me." He looked at Simmons. "Can you move right now?"

"No." she said.

"Go and punch Fitz."

Her thoughts protested, but the action was completed instantly. It was weird. She could think as she wanted to, but it was as if she was a spectator in her mind, able to see the things happening and think about them, but unable to do anything about it.

"You little bastard." Fitz said to Darren.

Darren grinned. "Let's have some fun!"

A/N: I decided to post this drabble as two parts. But don't worry. I'm posting both at the same time. I hope you liked part one!