Hey babes! Back with a new chapter for ya! Things are definitely starting to pick up now in the story, so I hope you're ready. :)
Enjoy!
Things are finally starting to calm down. She hadn't wanted for the news of her and Grant's new DNA to cause problems, mainly for Grant. But that's exactly what happened to them.
All it took was for one Asgardian, Lady Sif, to come down to earth and say how dangerous she and Grant were, and the next thing they know, Coulson is sending them off to a remote cabin in the middle of nowhere. Of course, the whole mess with her arms very nearly being destroyed because she kept pushing her abilities inwards didn't help matters much. And the fact that her so-called father came back into play. That didn't help either.
They haven't even been able to see Adian yet since Coulson brought them to this cabin. That's all she has wanted to do from the moment that whole underground building started collapsing on them in San Juan. But now she's stuck in the middle of nowhere with only a phone or computer screen to let her talk to her son. Which is what she's grateful to be able to be doing at the present moment.
"Hi, baby," she says with a wide smile, leaning forward to the screen. "Momma misses you so much, my sweet boy."
Adian gurgles and babbles, reaching out to the screen as Rose holds him in her lap. "Can you say hi to momma?" Rose speaks to her nephew.
"Daddy misses you too," Skye says to her son. "He's outside with Max right now, but he should be back soon."
"So how are you holding up?" Rose asks curiously. They'd been honest with her from the moment they first video chatted after getting to the cabin. Grant didn't want there to be any more secrets within his family if he could help it. Even if that meant telling his sister that he wasn't completely human. And that there's a possibility she's like him if this whole thing is based in genetics.
She lets out a heavy sigh as she leans back in her chair, messing with the sleeves of her shirt. "It's weird," she admits. "We're settling in okay, though. I haven't lived in such close quarters with your brother since being on the Bus, but even then there were four other people, and we all had separate rooms."
"Is he behaving himself?"
Skye smiles a little. "Yes, he is. I think he's still worried about upsetting me somehow, so he's always careful. I can see it in the way he moves and in his eyes before he says something. I'm not sure if he knows that I know, but I do."
"Have you thought about telling him?" Rose asks as she keeps Adian from falling head first onto the floor when he reaches for one of his fallen toys. "It might make things easier for him if you say something," she advises before leaning down to grab Adian's toy.
"I don't know. I just don't want to make things worse for him by bringing it up. I know he called Lisa some time after we got out here, so I don't want to add to whatever he's feeling."
"Alright, I'll let it go, then. I just don't want you guys to regret anything later down the line."
Skye smiles at the other woman. "I appreciate it, Rose. And I also really appreciate you watching Adian for us. There's been so much going on here lately so I guess it's a good thing we brought him to you before we went to San Juan. Also, with what's going on with me and Grant right now, I don't know about him, but I don't think I trust myself completely to hold Adian at the moment."
"You're not alone in that."
She casts a glance over her shoulder to see Grant entering the cabin again, Max trotting in beside him before settling himself down in front of the fireplace. "Hey."
He gives her a small smile. "Hey." He moves to pull up a chair next to her in front of the desk, his smile widening when he sees Adian on the other end. "Adian," he speaks up, gathering their son's attention. "Hey, bud, I miss you so much."
"Dadadada," Adian mumbles with a small smile, leaning toward the screen and reaching out.
Skye frowns. "He does that with you but not me. It's not fair."
"He will for you eventually," Grant tells her. "You're his mom and he loves you very much."
She sighs. "I know, I know."
Adian's whimpering pulls their attention away from each other and back toward the screen.
"Is he okay?" she asks, on immediate alert, worry for her son starting to course through her.
"He's fine," Rose assures her. "I think he's just getting tired, and he's still teething. I should probably go put him down, though."
Skye nods, mentally chastising herself for not recognizing that. Then again, she hasn't been taking care of her son for nearly a week even though it's felt like a lot longer. "Right, yeah. We'll let you go, then. Talk to you soon?"
"Of course. Bye, guys. And stay safe."
Skye gives her a small smile. "We'll do our best."
She ends the call and leans back in her chair again, letting out a heavy breath and running her hands through her hair. She frowns at the heavily present purple bruises on her arms, still a little upset with herself for hurting herself so badly. It isn't that it was on purpose, she just didn't want to hurt anyone around her. And as a result, she wound up hurting herself.
"Have you tried on those new gloves yet that Fitz sent over?" Grant asks and she turns her head to look at him, her eyes wandering past him for just a moment to the case sitting on the table.
She shakes her head. "No. I know they're supposed to help me, but I just...I don't know."
He nods. "I get it. It'd probably be easier if we knew more about what is going on besides just what Lady Sif said. I don't want to be dangerous. I don't want to hurt people."
"Neither do I." She stares at the case a moment longer before looking back at Grant. "Do you really think I should try them on?" she asks.
He nods. "I do. If Fitz and some of the other scientists have come up with a way to help you so you don't hurt yourself anymore, I think it's a good idea."
"I wish he could have figured out something for you," she tells him.
"We don't really know what I can do, though," he says back. "And I haven't...I don't have any...I seem to be..."
"You haven't hurt yourself like I did," she finishes the thought for him.
"I was trying to find a better way to put it."
She shakes her head. "There's no need, it's the truth." She stands from the chair and moves toward the case, running her fingers over the top of it before unlatching it and lifting the lid. "Maybe I should try them on," she says aloud, not necessarily to Grant. It's quiet in the room, she figures Grant is letting her have this moment to herself, to allow her to make the decision for herself and experience it by herself too. Not so that she feels alone, but so that she doesn't feel overwhelmed. At least, that what she hopes.
Taking a deep breath, she reaches inside for the first glove, examining it for a moment before slowly and carefully sliding it onto her arm, wincing a little as she does. Then she slides on the second one and flexes her fingers, watching as the gloves light up briefly and hum quietly.
"Whoa." She turns around to look at Grant, a tiny smile on her face when she realizes the pain in her arms is subsiding just the slightest. "How do I look?" she asks, holding up her arms to show off the gloves.
Before he can answer her, she furrows her brows at the message on the screen of the computer behind him: CONNECTION LOST. "Did you accidentally trip a wire?" she asks, gesturing to the screen.
He glances at the screen before back at her, shaking his head. "Not that I know of."
She moves to check on the cables coming from the computer when there's an electric crackling sound from somewhere in the cabin. "What was that?"
"I don't know."
She quickly moves to the front door of the cabin, checking the security to make sure that it's secure. Finding that it is, she peers out the window before quickly pulling the curtains closed. She takes deep breaths in to try and control her breathing, her fingers flexing again involuntarily. The last thing she needs is to be attacked by some random maniac when she's in the middle of nowhere and doesn't have control over her new abilities.
Moving away from the window, she allows Grant to open the door and check outside. Not that she isn't capable of doing it herself, but she knows he'll feel better about the situation if he does it himself. He gives the all clear and she lets out a relieved sigh.
A loud knock at the door a second later makes her jump. She narrows her eyes at Grant. "I thought you said no one was there."
"When I looked there wasn't anyone there."
"Well, clearly someone's there now." She moves quickly toward the door, wanting to get this whole thing over with, and pulls it open. She startles at the sight of an older man standing on the other side, staring straight into the cabin, but with no eyes on his face. No eye sockets are there, just a blank patch of skin covering where his eyes should be.
"Hello, Skye," he speaks up. "I'm Gordon. May I come in?"
.
.
.
Grant stays back while Gordon is inside the cabin. He's always been wary of new people, his entire life. It was a way to keep himself safe, and it still is to an extent. He doesn't know anything about this Gordon, and he doesn't trust him. But he just sits back, listening and watching as Gordon talks to Skye about what happened to them. Gordon is focusing completely on Skye as he talks, but occasionally, the man will cast a glance in his direction. Well, as much of a glance as he can cast when he has no eyes. Apparently, they were blue.
"What does it feel like, your gift?" Gordon asks.
"I don't know," Skye replies, shifting on the couch. "Um...it's intense. Like a thousand bees are trapped inside of me. And I feel it, all the time. It's always there. And I can't stop it."
"And you, Grant?" Gordon says, looking over at him.
He shifts in his seat as well, his brows furrowing together as he thinks. "Uh...it's uh...it's kind of...not like bees like Skye. But uh...it's like there's always this heat inside some part of my body. It varies in how intense it is, but it's usually in my hands. I feel like I'm going to set something on fire if I touch it for too long."
Skye looks at him. "You never told me that."
He shrugs. "You were dealing with your own problems. I didn't want to add mine to the mix." He avoids her gaze and looks back at Gordon. "It's always there too, and I can't stop it either."
"Why would either of you want to stop it?" Gordon asks them next.
"Because I destroy everything around me," Skye answers the question.
"And we don't want to hurt anyone we care about," Grant adds. He doesn't trust the man completely, but he needs to know at least some of what they're feeling. He needs to know why they don't want to keep living like this.
"That is simply not true," Gordon replies with a small smile. "About destroying everything around you." He focuses in on Skye, talking to her about her abilities, and explaining things to her that no one else has yet. But then, this Gordon obviously knows what he's talking about and what they're dealing with. Then he focuses on Grant, talking to him about his abilities, about the possibilities of what he can do. He admits that he doesn't know much about his abilities, but that he wants to help.
"Most gifts come with a price," Gordon tells them both, standing behind the ratty couch and leaning against it. "But you both could learn to manage what you've been given." He looks away then. "I apologize. I'm saying too much. This is probably not the best place to continue our conversation. You don't have the tools or the understanding that you need just yet."
"To do what?" Skye asks.
"To be who you were always meant to be. Without fear, without pain. We can offer that to you. To both of you."
"How?"
"I'll take you to a place where you can be with people like us."
"Us?" Grant asks, standing from his place and moving closer to Skye. "How many are there?"
"You can learn about yourselves," Gordon says instead. "About your gifts. You can be safe. You'll be able to interact with your peers without fear that you're going to hurt them. But only if you want to come." It's quiet for a moment before Gordon straightens up and buttons his jacket. "When you're ready, I'll find you."
Gordon leaves and then it's just him and Skye alone again in the cabin again, silence surrounding them once more as they both consider everything that Gordon said to them. If there's a place where they can go to be with others who are going through the same thing as them, then it's something they should definitely consider. But how much longer can they realistically be away from their son? But if they go to this place, and learn about what they are now, then maybe they won't be afraid to hold their son and risk hurting him.
"You're considering this."
He looks up at Skye and slowly nods his head. He breathes in deeply. "Yeah, I am. I know I didn't tell you about what my abilities felt like, I just didn't want you to worry. I still don't. I just...I've lived in fear for so long, Skye, I don't want to go through that anymore."
She shakes her head. "No, I get it, I really do. I don't want to be scared either. I just...we don't know anything about him."
"We know that he's like us," he reminds her. "His change was physical, you can actually see it, and he seems to have adjusted pretty well to it. Ours was only on the inside, there's no indication just looking at us that we're any different. Maybe whoever helped Gordon come to terms with his change, can help us with ours. I don't want to be scared to hold my son, Skye."
"Me neither. I guess, maybe we just need to think on it a little more, it's a big decision to make."
He nods. "Maybe we should sleep on it."
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'm uh, I'm just going to go…" she trails off, gesturing to the bathroom before grabbing one of her bags and moving in there. He knows she's going to pump more milk for Adian, despite their son not being there with them. He knows that she still doesn't feel completely comfortable talking about that stuff with him, and he doesn't really blame her. They're not in any kind of relationship and he wouldn't expect her to be so open about those things with him.
While she's busy with that, he takes to settling himself on the couch and continuing one of the few books he'd brought with him when they came. As he reads, though, he can't help when his mind wanders to everything that Gordon told them. There's a small voice at the back of his head, telling him that it seems too good to be true, but he pushes it back. He wants to feel better about himself, he doesn't want to be scared.
A trilling from the cell phone on the table draws his attention away from the pages of the book. He finds Skye already moving for it, his brows furrowing together when he realizes he didn't even notice her come out of the bathroom.
He focuses on the call when she answers, putting it on speaker. "Hello?"
"Skye."
"May, you're on speaker," she says as she sets the phone down on the table. "What's happening? We couldn't connect to you guys."
"You two need to get out of there. Now."
They both sit up straighter and he sets his book aside. "What? Why?" Skye asks. "What are you talking about?"
"There's a panel on the Southwest corner of the compound. It'll let you bring down the laser-grid fence."
"May, stop," Skye says.
"You guys can do this. I believe in both of you. But you need to run. Now. They're coming for you."
"Who—who's coming for us?" he asks, seeing the look of panic in Skye's eyes.
"SHIELD."
They share a look of concern and confusion right before the power cuts out and the line goes dead.
"May?" Skye says in the direction of the phone and he can hear her breathing getting heavier as she leans forward. "May?"
"Skye," he speaks up, drawing her attention to him. "We need to go. We can't stay here anymore."
"But…"
He nods. "I know. But I don't think we have a choice right now. Grab what you need, I'll get Max and meet you outside."
He listens to her feet against the hardwood flooring as he attaches Max's leash to his collar and then does a quick glance over the room before deciding he doesn't have time to gather up anything. With the power shutting off like that, whoever is after them is obviously close.
He follows Skye to the door, not bothering to close it behind him as they make their way down the front porch of the cabin.
A quinjet roars above them, a bright searchlight from its underside shining down into the woods, most likely trying to find them.
Skye stumbles over her feet as she turns and stares up at the plane. He grabs onto her elbow carefully before she can fall and steadies her.
"This way," he says quietly, guiding her through the trees. "Watch your step."
They pick up their pace as they move, a second quinjet having now joined the search.
"We need to keep moving," he says to Skye as they bob and weave through some low hanging branches.
"Where exactly are we going?" she asks him.
"I don't know. But we need to try and get as far away from them as possible. Whoever they are."
"We need to find that panel May told us about. I think she said it was in the Southwest corner."
He takes a moment to look around them and think as he guides them through the brush. He keeps his eyes trained for the panel May told them about as they move.
"I think I see it," Skye announces, moving ahead of him.
His eyes lock on the panel she found, a small green light in one of the corners at the top. His body stiffens and he turns in time to see an agent covered from head to toe in tac gear quickly approaching them.
"Skye," he calls out to her.
She turns and grabs the gun that the agent has, lifting the barrel into the air as it's shot off.
"They probably heard that," he says to her. "We need to get out of here."
"A little busy at the moment," she replies, engaging in a hand-to-hand fight with the agent. Her moves are a little sloppy, seeing as she hasn't done much training in recent months. She's done enough to stay fit since Adian was born, but she hasn't done any heavy training. He has a feeling she won't last long against the fully-trained again unless he intervenes.
He drops Max's leash on the ground, trusting the dog to stay put, and then jumps into the fight. He shoots Skye a quick glance, nodding in Max's direction before focusing on the agent in front of him. They trade blows back and forth. The other agent gets in a few good hits. But so does he. It doesn't take long for him to knock the other man unconscious.
He turns to Skye to find her with the agent's discarded handgun from her spot kneeling down next to Max, the puppy huddling close to her side as he growls lowly at the unconscious agent.
"You okay?" he asks her.
She nods and swallows, keeping the gun trained on the agent on the ground. "Yeah. You?"
"I think so."
Noises in the brush and the soft clicking of a gun immediately draws his attention to the edge of the small clearing. He instantly recognizes Bobbi Morse as she moves out of the trees with a man that is unfamiliar to him.
"No!" Bobbi shouts in their direction. "Skye!"
The other man raises his gun in their direction and he can see the moment in Skye's eyes when she reacts on instinct, no thought except for the one to survive. He's had it himself more times than he can count.
He moves on instinct too, standing next to her and clenching his fists when the heat that had already been there starts to increase in intensity. He watches as Skye raises her hands in front of her, a move of self-defense if there ever was one.
It all seems to happen in slow motion. The man fires his gun at the same moment a massive shockwave is sent out from where he and Skye are standing, a slight red-orange tinge to it that he suspects came from him. The wave spreads out fast, taking down a large tree in its path and sending Bobbi and the other man to the ground. A few of the trees around them shake and get scorched.
He can see the fear in Skye's eyes as she watches the destruction happen in front of them, the exact feeling that neither of them ever wanted to experience again.
"What did I do?" she whispers quietly to herself.
He looks down at his fists to see small flames flickering at his fingertips before disappearing. He looks back at Skye and takes a small step toward her. "This wasn't your fault," he tries to assure her. "You can't blame yourself."
"I think we need to take Gordon up on his offer," she says to him.
He nods. "I think you're right."
Electricity cracks behind them and they both turn around to see Gordon appearing out of thin air, landing between them and standing up straight.
"Would you like to go home?" he asks, glancing between the both of them.
Skye nods and looks over at him. Grant bends down to pick up Max, hoping that however they're getting to where they're going, it won't hurt the dog, and then reaches out for Skye's hand. She immediately grabs onto him, holding tightly to him as Gordon wraps his arms around the both of them from behind.
Electricity cracks again, echoing in his ears. There's a bright, intense light that surrounds them and he can't help but close his eyes. He can't see it happen, but he knows in that moment that they're gone.
So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!