Chapter 14: Blushing Biochemist

Early Morning August 2

Fitzsimmons' Lab in the Capitol

Kurt and Logan had been at Simmons' mercy for the past few days since Peter had been taken by whoever it was that was targeting the kids and victors. Whatever had been in those darts was slow to metabolize, so it had taken some time before either of them were very aware

Kurt was the first to come out of it, and even though he was more or less back to awareness and life, he still was a little… off. Just a little slower on the uptake than usual, and not as quick-witted either. Logan, on the other hand, was still much deeper under the influence.

Coulson had already told the others in District Seven what was going on, but for the most part, they were keeping the whole thing under wraps, not willing to let anyone else know that they were there, in case someone came after them.

When Logan did finally wake up, it was when Simmons was, of course, putting in a new IV line. "Learn to say hello like a normal person," Logan grumbled, though he didn't move more than to turn his head her way.

"But then you'd have nothing to tease me about," Simmons said with a little laugh, though she sounded entirely relieved that he was waking up.

"Sure I will," he argued. "Always something." He waited a beat or two before he frowned. "You change your name yet?"

Simmons stopped short and stared at him before she started blushing horribly. "Really."

He grinned crookedly her way and waggled his eyebrows. "Yeah. You both gotta do it. Make it official."

"If we both did, we would still be Fitzsimmons," she pointed out, not taking him seriously at all.

"Yes. Exactly. No more differentiating the two. Just …" He clasped both hands together. "Smoosh it up."

"Aren't you a little… overeager?" Simmons chuckled.

"Well, somebody's gotta be," he countered.

"At the rate you go, you seem to think you're in charge of setting up all our dates and important changes," she teased. "What do you do when you're not coordinating our lives?"

He let out a weary breath and closed his eyes. "I just want to see it happen before I die."

"Logan, you're going to live another eighty years. I think that's plenty of time."

"You don't know that," he said with a frown.

"It could be closer to ninety — with as much of the Tahiti drugs as they've used putting you back together during the war, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it made you more resilient," Simmons said, shaking her head.

"You're full of it," he said, trying to go back to sleep.

"Have you ever known me to lie about my science?" she asked, sounding incredibly offended.

"I'm not arguing the science," he replied. "You're just … ridiculously optimistic."

"That's just the way I am," she told him with a little smile as she patted his arm.

"He's just saying you're not factoring in the job," Kurt called out.

Simmons waved her hand. "Oh, please. Like I'd ever let either of you slip through my fingers."

"You won't get a choice in the matter," Logan said.

Simmons shook her head at both of them. "If you say so," she said, waving him off with one hand.

"When do we go back?" Kurt asked, trying to sit up straighter, though it was clear he was still dizzy.

"I can probably sign off on you flying in the next day or so," Simmons told him. "And Logan can stay with Skye after that until he's fully recovered."

"Where's Petey?" Logan asked. "You found him, didn't you?"

Simmons frowned and looked toward Kurt — she'd already told him, but Logan hadn't been aware. "Not yet," she admitted. "By the time SHIELD got to where the three of you were attacked, there was no sign of him — and the crowd you attracted trampled most of the evidence we could have used."

"SHIELD couldn't find its own ass with both hands, a road map, and a flashlight," Logan rumbled.

"We did our best. Fitz went with them," Simmons said with a frown.

"We could have found them," Kurt said belligerently.

"Whoever did this wiped their tracks," Simmons argued.

"I still coulda found 'em," Logan said quietly.

Simmons let out a breath, drumming her fingers against the table.

"He's not wrong," Kurt agreed.

"We're going to find them," Simmons said. "It's just a matter of time."

Logan turned on his side so he could face Kurt and try to whisper around her. "She wants to get rid of us now for being right. She can't stand it."

Simmons rolled her eyes at that, but Kurt was just chuckling to himself.

"Well, he's not wrong," Fitz agreed from the other side of the room.

"Oh, stop it. All of you," Simmons said, shaking her head at the three boys. "You're all horrible." She gathered up a few of her test results as she spoke.

"Then why do you keep comin' back?" Logan called out.

"Because I need someone to poke with needles!" she called back to him as she headed for the door.

"Fitz, your girlfriend's got a weird way of flirting."

"I don't think it's weird," Fitz said with a little laugh that had Jemma huffing at him on her way out. He was still chuckling as the door closed and then shook his head. "We really did try everything in Eight," he told the two boys. "I had the dwarves running for 24 hours just trying to track anything down."

"You're not going to start sending them on missions, are you?" Logan asked, still looking a bit too doped up.

"I already do, remember?" Fitz laughed. "What do you think? Agent Sleepy?"

"No, no," Kurt said, waving one hand with a chuckle. "This one is Agent Stabby."

Fitz laughed outright. "Oh, yeah. That's his name."

"I'm not even mad," Logan said, eyes closed.

"That's because it fits," Kurt said, nodding thoughtfully.

Logan grinned, though he didn't open his eyes. "That makes you Agent Squishy."

"No, no. Agent Swashbuckles."

"You haven't buckled any swashes lately, Elf."

"You forget that fight we had on the water," Kurt laughed.

"Trying to, yeah."

"It's because you lost, isn't it?"

"I did not lose," Logan said, sitting up.

"How would you know? You've forgotten the fight entirely," Kurt laughed.

"What was the payout for then?" he asked, frowning.

"The removal of our shirts, if I remember right," Kurt said. "I may not remember right, admittedly."

"What the hell is going on out in Seven?" Fitz asked.

"Piracy," Kurt replied, laughing.

"By America," Logan said, smirking crookedly.

"American piracy," Kurt agreed, starting to laugh harder. "The worst kind."

Fitz shook his head at the two of them. "I don't know how much to believe of what you two are saying," he said.

"Just don't swordfight around America unless you're okay with her being handsy. Cold. Cold hands handsy."

"I thought she was engaged?" Fitz asked, tipping his head to the side.

"Didn't seem to stop her," Kurt giggled.

Fitz shook his head once more, though he looked toward the door. "What is taking Jemma so long?" he asked himself.

"Probably found someone that didn't have enough holes in 'em," Logan muttered.

Fitz shook his head. "She was just going to drop off her notes…" he muttered. "I'll go get her. She's probably been distracted — or there might be news…" He slipped around to the other side of the lab and out the door that Simmons had exited — though when he went to the room next door, he didn't see any sign of her.

"Jemma?" Fitz called out, breaking into a jog as he peered into a few of the nearby rooms — still with no sign of his girlfriend.

He was starting to panic a bit, running down the hall as he called her name — but still, he couldn't find her. There was simply… no sign of her. Anywhere.

Now fully panicked, Fitz rushed to the panel near the wall of the main lab and keyed in the code for an emergency — and the alarms blared.

Back in the lab, Kurt was trying to talk to his friend, who was increasingly making less and less sense, though both of them seemed to wake up considerably when the alarms went off and the doors to the lab slammed shut — sealing the two of them in.

They shared a look for a moment, and Logan shook his head. "I am not kissing you."

"Good, because I don't want to have to stab you."

"Lecherous Elf," Logan muttered as he settled back in.

The two of them waited for a good long while before someone outside the lab finally poked her head in — though it wasn't either of the usual scientist visitors.

"We're leaving," May said, without any preamble, as she got to work getting the IV lines out of Logan. "Can either of you two walk, or am I carrying you?"

"You can carry him," Logan said. "I think I can make it."

"You're worse than he is," May pointed out, even as Kurt tried to help the situation by trying to get to his feet.

"With more experience bein' that bad," Logan pointed out as he let his feet dangle off the bed.

May shook her head as she helped first Kurt and then Logan to get up, though both of them would need someone to lean on. She pursed her lips and looked between the two of them before she sighed and ducked out again, returning with a frazzled-looking Fitz.

"You're with Kurt," May told him, practically guiding him over. She put her arm around Logan's shoulders as she started to hustle the group of them out the door. "Fitz. Move."

"What's goin' on?" Logan asked as they rushed down the hall.

"There's been a security breach," May told him, looking furious. "No one can locate Simmons. We're getting you and anyone else related to the Games out of the Triskellion."

"But they already proved they don't want us," Logan pointed out.

"You told me Peter's theory that they're snatching scientists, yes," May said testily. "But they've already proven they'll kill anyone else, and I'm not taking the chance that they'll come back to finish the job with you two — or the chance that they'll come back for anyone in the labs," she added, with a little look Fitz's way.

Logan gave her a crooked smile. "You're gettin' a kiss before you leave."

"Please don't," May said, shaking her head as she kept up the pace down the hall.

"But you're so concerned."

"It's my job to make sure you don't get killed," May pointed out.

Logan looked over his shoulder to Kurt and Fitz. "You're her favorite."

"That's because he knew her longer," Kurt said, tipping his head toward Fitz, who didn't look amused in the least, instead just… upset.

"And he's afraid of her," Logan agreed.

"But we're not," Kurt said, nodding sagely. "We know better."

May shook her head at both of them, but it wasn't long before they hit the hangar, and May wasted absolutely no time making sure they were in the air and no one was following them, yanking out tracking equipment as she went.

Kurt and Logan were asleep again when they got to Seven, though at least there was a larger group to help get the two of them into the house.

"Are you going to be staying, then?" Kitty asked as she and Skye helped get Logan inside.

May paused and glanced first at the still shell-shocked Fitz and then at Skye, who looked hopeful. "Yes," she said with a small nod. "I'll stay until the security around here is a little stronger. I'm sure Fitz can upgrade it, but in the meantime, I'm not taking any chances, especially with such a large concentration of you in one place."

"Smitty'll help," Logan said. "Just have Mr. Kenneth talk to him."

"I want to keep the circle as small as possible. Only people who already know you're here," May told him.

"Smitty more or less raised me; he knows I'm here. He knows everything that happens around here."

She nodded once. "Then set it up. I'm going to clear out Coulson's old office — for the time being."

"Everything's still set up the way he left it," Skye said. "All the comms and connections."

"Perfect." May shot her a little smirk. "Now I just have to clear out his collection of antique nonsense."

"Then what are you going to longingly stare at?" Logan teased before he leaned away from Skye and Kitty to plant a kiss on May's cheek. "You know... To force that sour look."

She gave him an incredibly dry look. "I'm sure I'll come up with something."

District Eight

Osborn's Evil Lair

Simmons was still reeling from everything that had happened. One minute, she was on her way to file her results, and the next, there was a cloth bag over her head and she was trying unsuccessfully to get away from whoever it was that had surprised her. She had even tried to put to use some of the tricks she'd learned from Logan, but it had been so long since she'd had anything like those kinds of lessons that she simply didn't remember all of it, and whoever it was that had grabbed her seemed to anticipate her attempts to break free.

She knew that she wasn't in the Capitol anymore simply because of how much time had passed, but she had no concept of where she was beyond that or who she was with. Her captors were entirely silent, and it felt like she had just gone from one hallway to a transport to another hallway that echoed in a duller manner when they walked than the Triskellion did. Sort of muffled ... though that might have been the bag.

When, finally, the bag had been removed and none other than Norman Osborn, the former victor, was sitting there calmly at his desk, Jemma had to admit that a few things seemed to fall into place — specifically the pattern of who, exactly, was being targeted. But she didn't get to articulate that. She didn't really say much of anything at all, honestly, still reeling and off-balance and frightened. She had, after all, read the autopsy reports for Happy Hogan and Otto Octavius, and she was sure that was what happened to people who crossed the victor sitting in front of her — kidnapping or no.

She somehow wasn't surprised at all by the terms that Osborn laid out. He wanted her to work in his lab, and while everything he said was perfectly businesslike, she was entirely sure that there was some kind of 'or else' involved that she absolutely did not want to find out about.

That was how she ended up being escorted down a long hallway — this time without a bag over her head — by Johnny, who had a rather concerning sort of glaze to his expression that she was sure she could help with. If she was allowed the chance to help.

When they arrived at the lab, Jemma startled when at first she thought she was under attack — and then quickly all but melted into the hugs from both Miles and Gwen at the same time.

"I'm so relieved to see you both," she managed to say after both of them had tried to simply squeeze the life out of her. "Though… I wish it was under different circumstances."

"Well, how long can it take if you're missing?" Miles said. "The magnetic pull from Fitz will bring them right here."

"Or it may just bring him here," Simmons pointed out. "Isn't that what happened with you and Peter?" She turned to Gwen with slightly wide eyes. "He is here, isn't he? Please tell me he's alright."

"Yes, Peter's here," Gwen replied. "Though he's been protesting … everything. Norman was particularly cruel on his birthday." She leaned closer to whisper. "Made him watch the video of Kurt and Logan … you know…"

"Of what?" Simmons asked. "Of the attack?"

"Yeah, and he made sure to let Peter know it was his fault they died."

Simmons blinked at her. "What are you talking about? They died? No, they didn't! Not unless something has changed in the last couple of hours! I was just with them!"

"What?" Gwen said, looking borderline furious. "You have to tell him that. He's been beside himself."

"Of course I will," Simmons assured her, looking upset herself. "Dead… really. The neurotoxin in two darts for Logan wasn't even fatal, and Kurt was only hit with one."

"Neurotox- ooooh, that slimy rotten little …"

"Where's Peter now?" Simmons asked. "If he's that upset — well, at least we can ease his mind." She looked around the lab with a little frown. "Please tell me he's not… like … Johnny. That … that is a serious problem."

"No, he's … still Peter. He's just been refusing to do anything. We thought he was channeling Logan, to be honest."

"Good for him," Jemma said with a little smirk. She wrapped Gwen up in a hug, simply relieved to see her still alive, before she did the same for Miles. "Don't worry. If I know Fitz, we'll all be out of here in now time," she promised.