Chapter 35

Simmons walks closer to the glass. "Looks human doesn't it." Whitehall says with amusement. "Of course it's not." He says sternly, to make sure Simmons gets the message.

Oh Skye, what had Simmons gotten herself into, what had she done?

Simmons tries her best to hold in the tears. "Wow, she looks identical to us; I see the evil behind it." Simmons improvises to gain Whitehall's trust.

"How so?"

"She pretends to look like us, even trying to replicate our DNA, when really she's a monster underneath." Simmons explains. "We must discover what secrets she's hiding."

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Whitehall says with a smile. It made Simmons sick, how he believed her words so easily, and how she could say them. "I like you Simmons; I want you promoted to the core research team right away."

Core research team? That would mean she's working directly with Skye.

"It would be an honor." Simmons tells Whitehall directly. Her eyes not leaving his. He nods, and Simmons turns back to the glass.

Her skin is pale, she'd only been here a couple of days but even from where she stood Simmons could tell Skye had lost weight. Her eyes were shut, and an IV was attached to her arm.

"Professor Raina, is she here? I'd like to give her the news of my promotion." Simmons asks. She needed to make sure that Raina wouldn't be suspicious of her, she needed to get Raina to think that she really want to do research on Skye, when really what she had to do was rescue her.

"She's left for the night with Mr. Quinn." Doctor Bakshi explains. "Though she'll be back around noon today." Bakshi looks down at Simmons. "In the meantime, I think you should go get some rest."

"Yes of course, but it will be hard to sleep with my promotion and …" Simmons has to gulp to hide her own disgust at herself. "Pry into the specimen's secrets."

"It shall be an exciting journey indeed." Whitehall tells both Bakshi and Simmons. "I hope this time she'll be more willing to give up her secrets."

Simmons squeezes her nails into her side, causing a nasty cut that was most likely bleeding. But she just felt so helpless seeing Skye there alone, strapped to a table like some animal.

The specimen had been her? This entire time, how could Simmons have been so stupid? She'd thought she'd been working on an alien, a different life form.

But this, Skye, she was her friend.

Would Simmons have really questioned the specimen if it were another person, but because she knew Skye, she wasn't okay with it? Maybe science wasn't where she was supposed to be. Doing this? Hurting her, to what extent was science?

Simmons watches Bakshi and Whitehall head in another direction. Simmons knew there were multiple cameras in place, and most likely an alarm would sound if someone entered the room with her key card, but still, she wanted to tell Skye she'd be alright that she'd be rescued.

Simmons needed to tell Coulson, she needed to find Coulson and tell him.

She'd save her, she had to. She couldn't let Skye go through the torture she knew they were going to put her through. Simmons turns away from Skye, making a silent promise to save her before going back and calling Coulson.

XxXxXxX

Coulson sat at his desk. May was beside him, and Bobbi and Ward were sitting on a chair on the other side. "I brought you all here because I have good news, but also that I don't want this information to leave this room." Coulson looks around. "Now I trust all three of you, but I've now come to realize I may not be able to trust the other staff."

"How you found her!?" Ward immediately interrupts, not able to hold it in. Skye had been gone for four days, and who knew what could have happened to her.

Coulson takes a breath. "Someone has, unintentionally actually." Coulson bites his lip. "You see it seems we were being played this entire time."

"Being played?" Bobbi repeats, a bit confused. Coulson brings out two files and hands the two off to Bobbi and Ward, May already knew the story. Bobbi opens the folder. "Roy Quinn, the rich kid?"

"And Professor Raina." Ward mutters. "I understand Quinn, but isn't Raina harmless."

"Apparently both have been going behind the Academy's back." Coulson explains. "Simmons as you know left to work as an intern for Raina, and while there she discovered some major things." Coulson rubs his temples. "You see Raina thought she could convince Simmons that science was worth more than friends, but she knows better than that." Coulson squeeze the handle of his chair. "Simmons found Skye, she wasn't supposed to be given clearance, but she was. Apparently the specimen they were supposed to be working on…. that Simmons has been studying this whole time…is Skye."

Ward stands up in frustration. "So why haven't we sent a rescue team in!" Ward demands. "She should be back here by now, we need to save her!"

"Like I explained Ward this situation is delicate. Ian Quinn has had tied to Shield for a long time, Raina has been working under us for years. Who's to say there could be more?" Coulson says.

"Not to mention the little twerp Quinn is still here, acting all innocent." May mutters in frustration.

"So you're telling us this…. Why? ...what does that mean the plan is exactly?" Bobbi asks.

"I send you three in alone to rescue Skye, along with a select few others we can trust." Coulson explains.

"By others you mean high trained special agents right?" Ward confirms. "We need the best to rescue Skye."

"No agents here, as soon as this is declared as a real mission the word will get out all through Shield." May clarified.

Coulson leans back in his chair. "Fury has given me the task of selecting a five or six man team lead by May to rescue Skye." Coulson closes his eyes for a few short seconds. "And when I say team I mean students."

Bobbi crosses her arms. "Sir, I graduated early, and Ward's been trained under agent May since day one. We have required skills, the other students… not exactly required skills."

"We can't trust the staff, using the students at this academy is the conclusion I've come to. We train Shield agents here; all you have to do is pick trustworthy people to help with this assignment." Coulson elaborates.

"But we need trained professionals!" Ward shouts. "The odds of rescuing Skye with students…"

"Ward this is your chance to rescue her, you can either sit out and do nothing, or rescue her with Bobbi, May and some other top students." Ward bites his lip. "I'm trusting you Ward." Coulson says, which goes to repeat in Ward's head.

"You can save her." May states. "Don't let the opportunity go to waste."

Ward sits back down, thoughts of Skye lingering through his head.

Skye we're coming, just hold on

So now Coulson and the rest know where to save Skye! Next chapter is mostly a flashback for Skye, but then will be going into the rescue party that's going out to save her. Will probably be Ward, Bobbi, Fitz, Mack, Hunter, Triplett and May. But I might leave Mack behind since that's a big team…. But maybe not…. Anyway Happy New Year, and review guys! Maybe I'll get the next chapter up tomorrow!