Chapter Forty Five

Ada sat perched on the rocky cliff where the workshop Tony used to spend so much time in once stood. She looked down below where the debris had fallen just a day ago. The attack seemed like ages ago, even though it had only been a day since the mansion was destroyed. She'd made a quick recovery from the initial shock of the attack. Once fully recovered, she returned to the site of the mansion to see how much they lost. To her relief, Pepper decided to stay behind and manage the media as they demanded answers to what had happened.

She let out a quiet sigh as she leaned back.

Christmas was only a couple of days away. She knew the press would go crazy over finding out what had happened to the mansion. The public would panic after finding out that Tony was gone. The Mandarin attacks were only getting worse with each passing day. Something in the back of her mind told her that the wisest choice would be to ask for help.

She doubted Tony would have thanked her if she called SHIELD for help. Besides, she wasn't in any hurry to get an earful from Fury again. No, this was something she needed to do on her own.

Tony had been planning on booking a trip to Rosehill, Tennessee. With transportation in such short supply, a plane was her next best choice. He'd made it perfectly clear that he didn't want her going with him. Yet, Ada couldn't ignore the fact that the Mandarin was responsible for this most recent attack. Everything had gotten personal, and she wasn't about to forgive the Mandarin for everything he'd done. Her fists clenched at the thought as raw determination swept through her.

She was about to turn and leave when she noticed she was no longer alone. Her heart nearly skipped a beat as she realized said new arrival happened to be someone she wasn't expecting to see after the battle of Manhattan.

"Look, I know after everything that's happened, I'm the last person you want to see—"

"Coulson? How the fuck are you alive?" she practically shouted after cutting him off. Coulson wasn't the least bit surprised with her reaction. Seeing him alive again left her reeling with confusion and anger. "We were told that you were killed during the battle on the Hellicarrier!"

He winced at the accusation in her tone. Of all the people she was expecting to see again, he was the least. She hadn't seen him die when Loki stabbed her in the chest. Yet, Tony and the others told her that he'd died due to an injury to the hip. Which left her wondering how Fury had gotten away with lying to the team for so long.

"It's a bit of a long story," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as her fists clenched with anger. Her mind was already running a mile a minute to figure out a way to Tennessee. Now, Coulson had to throw this bombshell at her. "I'd prefer explaining it to you somewhere less… conspicuous," he added, gesturing to the busy street behind them.

Ada narrowed her eyes. For a moment, she thought of arguing. But, she knew that wouldn't get her anywhere. Coulson was alive, and, she wanted answers. The only way she would get said answers was by following him, and, something told her that he had a way of getting her to where she needed.

…

"How the hell did you survive if you were attacked by Loki when the Hellicarrier was under attack?" she demanded as they reached what looked like a large plane parked on an airstrip. Coulson had been quiet the whole ride there. The awkward, tense silence was almost overwhelming to Ada as she tried formulating a question that wouldn't explode into a shouting match. Coulson rarely shouted, but, when he did, it was best to avoid him at all costs. "Everyone said you were dead."

"Fury used a bit of your blood along with some therapy at Tahiti to help," Coulson finally explained when they stepped out of the car. Ada narrowed her eyes once more when she realized Fury had used her blood without her consent. To make matters worse, he'd lied to them for all that time. "We had to make it convincing; the team was never going to band together at the rate they were going."

"So, you mean to tell me that all of it was just an act? A ruse to get the team to work together?"

She was fuming with outrage. After the battle of Manhattan, she had blamed herself for his death because it could have been avoided. To find out that he had lived was like a kick in the face.

The worst part was, she doubted Coulson would have shown himself if nothing happened to her father. The only reason he would have gone out of his way to show that he was alive was if there had been some kind of emergency.

"There's an old saying that we used to go by, 'Without sacrifice, there is no victory'," he said after turning to face her. "Ada, I wanted to tell you and the rest of the team since the battle. Fury was the one who ordered everyone involved to keep it quiet."

She swallowed hard. Everything was happening too fast. She felt her head beginning to spin with the realization that Coulson was alive, and that he had been long before the battle happened. If Fury had ordered him to keep it quiet, there had to be a good reason behind it.

Of course, he could have just been saving his own sorry ass. If the rest of the team found out, there would likely be hell to pay for keeping them in the dark for so long. She knew full-well Tony wouldn't have taken the news that Coulson was still alive lightly. He would have likely reacted the same way she did, if not worse. As for the others, she wasn't sure how they would react. She grimaced at the thought.

Part of her did understand why Coulson was keeping his miraculous recovery a secret. If the world suddenly found out that he was alive, there would be questions asked. People would begin demanding how he was brought back to life, and if SHIELD had been keeping other secrets from them.

"Does anyone else know?" she asked warily.

"Only Romanoff and Barton know," he replied.

"Son of a bitch," she swore under her breath, knowing that was a secret the two assassins would keep.

They were probably the first to find out, given their long history with Coulson. It only made sense that they would know. Being higher-level agents meant they had the right to know the truth. Yet, it still hurt to know they hadn't told anyone else.

"I know this is all a bit much, but we really do need to get going," he sighed after reaching the large plane. Ada eyed the plane warily as she realized that this was some of SHIELD's technology. She'd read bits and pieces of the engineering behind the BUS, and she saw firsthand just how large it was. The plane was designed to travel through the air for long periods of time, without being detected by any satellites or radars. "I've had a team put together during the last month; they may be new, but they're some of the best agents I could put together."

Ada rose an eyebrow as she followed him into the BUS. She wasn't expecting to find the space itself strangely cozy. The hangar bay was filled with all sorts of objects, including the red car that Coulson liked to call 'Lola'. She actually had the privilege of riding with him in Lola on more than one occasion, and she secretly admired the fact that Coulson was so possessive of the car. A quinjet and a helicopter were parked nearby, along with a couple of other smaller cars for transportation.

Coulson didn't waste any time in leading her further into the BUS. She tried taking everything in at once, having only seen pictures of it. She had to admit, she was impressed with how well kept it was. Despite being a plane, it was large enough to house a couple of people at a time without making it seem too small. The tiny windows would take some getting used to, but when they were high up, Ada didn't mind.

"This is your new base?" she asked curiously.

Coulson glanced over his shoulder, and she could have sworn he was trying to hide a grin. He must have been like a kid at the candy shop when Fury offered him the BUS as retribution for keeping his miraculous recovery a secret.

"It's a mobile base," he corrected her. "Figured it would be good for any underground missions we need to take part in. Most people wouldn't ever guess there's so much tech hidden inside."

She gave a slight nod, having already guessed it was something along those lines. Though, her thoughts were cut short when they finally reached what looked like a lab. Ada eyed the lab in surprise when she recognized two agents who were sitting at a work table, working on what looked like a gun. Two other agents were approaching the lab after finding out that Coulson had returned. One was an agent Ada had heard about through Coulson, and the other was a young looking brunette around her age standing beside him.

"You're… You're Ada Stark, aren't you?" the brunette asked. Her eyes widened in amazement after seeing Ada for the first time, while the man standing beside her, Grant Ward, rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I've always wanted to meet you in person."

"Ada! It's good to see you again!" Jemma Simmons greeted her immediately after realizing who Coulson brought with him. Both she and Leo Fitz had been so distracted with their project that they didn't notice the new arrivals. Though, that hadn't surprised Ada. She knew what they were like when it came to new projects – they would often get so focused that they didn't realize they were no longer alone, or they would forget anyone else was in the room with them. "It's been ages."

"Yeah, it has been," Ada nodded in agreement, feeling more than relieved to see a couple of familiar faces. Jemma and Leo had worked alongside herself and Jimmy during a few of their projects. She had seen firsthand what they were capable of when it came to engineering. Both were geniuses in their own rights, and they had designed more than a few weapons that were now commonly used during field missions. She glanced at the brunette, who had been staring at her for the last few seconds now. "Sorry; it's been a rough last couple of days."

"I've heard," Grant replied, crossing his arms as he studied her cautiously, "What happened to the mansion?"

Ada chewed the bottom of her lip as memories of the other day came rushing back. She could still picture the look of horror written across Tony's face when he realized they were under attack. The feeling of water rushing around her as she struggled to bring them both back to the surface sent shivers of unease through her. The terror and reality of drowning had gripped her like an iron vice, and she knew that it could have easily happened if Tony hadn't reacted the way he did.

"The Mandarin attacked us," she explained, feeling the familiar lump in her throat. Coulson gently placed a hand on her shoulder as she looked down at the floor, feeling a rush of guilt and shame crawl through her. "I couldn't control my powers… Tony… dad, he could be—"

"We're going to make sure that he isn't," Coulson reassured her, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. Ada looked at him in surprise, and it took everything she had not to break down in that moment. She nearly lost everything because she'd lost control. She knew it was a real possibility, and the idea of hurting everyone she cared about left her wishing a hole would open up and swallow her. "You didn't lose control, Ada. The ground was already unstable when those missiles hit the cliff. None of it was your fault."

That's easy for you to say; you weren't there at the time, she retorted silently. There wasn't any point in arguing against logic. Besides, Coulson might have been right. She had no idea of telling whether or not she was responsible for the building sinking into the ocean.

"Do you think there's a connection between the Mandarin and the bombs that have been going off?" Jemma chose to cut through the awkward silence that followed.

Ada was thankful that Grant had led the woman known as Skigh out of the lab. She wasn't in the mood to deal with someone staring at them the whole time, especially when they had work to do. She did feel slightly guilty for pushing the brunette aside like that. But they had work to do. The sooner they got this mess taken care of, the better off everyone would be.

"Dad and I were running some research on the sites that were targeted. The first one was in Rosehill, Tennessee," she explained warily, "The strange thing was, there wasn't any bomb casings for that attack, either. Just like all the others."

"Then, that's where we need to go," Coulson concluded with a nod.

Ada rose an eyebrow at that. After planning on visiting the town herself, she knew that this was the next best bet at getting a ride. Once he'd gotten the coordinates of their location, he headed off to the cockpit.

"Who was the new girl with Ward?" she asked once he was gone.

"Her name is Skye," Leo replied before Jemma could. "Yeah, Coulson nabbed her when she managed to hack into SHIELD's database."

That was enough to catch Ada's attention. Though Tony managed to hack into SHIELD's database, it was rare for others to do so. She knew of only a handful of people who were capable of hacking into such a highly secured database, and, it suddenly left her feeling unnerved that someone unknown to SHIELD did so.

"Any idea why?" she asked, leaning against the lab table as she studied whatever they were working on.

It looked like a prototype weapon of some sort, and it was obvious they had just been finishing the first testing phase.

"About the only reasons we were able to summarize was that she worked for a group known as the Rising Tide," Jemma replied with a shrug. "Though, she doesn't exactly trust us enough to tell us the truth."

Well, I can see why, she thought with a roll of her eyes. After getting plucked off the streets without any warning, Ada could understand Skye's reluctance to trust them. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Coulson returned to the lab, with both Skye and Ward close behind. The pair seemed close, though Ada hadn't missed how on edge Ward was around the small group. About the only thing she heard of Ward was that he preferred working alone rather than in groups. She was surprised that he agreed to work with Coulson's team.

"The coordinates were set to Rosehill, Tennessee," Coulson explained when he reached them, "Are you sure this is where he'd likely be?"

"That was the last location he had set with Jarvis," she replied with a curt nod. Ada chewed the bottom of her lip as she thought of how resilient Tony was. Even if the mansion had been destroyed, and he'd left everyone, she couldn't shake off the feeling that he was still alive. He was too stubborn to die, as far as she was concerned. "From what we were able to gather, the victims of the bombings were all part of the military."

Jemma furrowed her brows together thoughtfully. Though they hadn't discussed how the attacks occurred, Ada had mentioned how their bodies glowed a sickly orange before the explosion followed. She'd seen the heat radiating from their glowing hands and face. And while they may not have meant to cause such an attack, it was possible they had no control over the explosions.

"We'll continue running research on these explosions, and see what's causing them," Leo stated as he caught Jemma's eye.

"Good. Maybe we can find a way to stop them, and the Mandarin," Coulson put in. "Once we get to Rosehill, you need to investigate whatever it was your father was interested in."

Ada gave another nod of agreement to those terms. They needed to put an end to these attacks. The Mandarin's most recent attack was just another reminder of how vulnerable they really were. And, that they were more than determined to keep the world safe from people like him. Whether it cost them their lives or not.

AN: It's been ages since I've last seen Agents of SHIELD... Hopefully I didn't completely ruin the characters from the show, but I apologize in advance if I did /: I've also changed my schedule to every Saturday if possible, seeing as I've already reached the halfway point of this story... or at least part of the halfway point. At any rate, please review! And, gently let me know what you thought of this chapter (I'm still not sure what I think of it; I know it could be better)...

Also, that quote 'without sacrifices, there are no victories' is kind of a homage to the Transformers series. I thought it was an appropriate line, given the circumstances :)