Chapter 37

Simmons stands outside Raina's office. She knew that Raina would find out she'd been promoted and then everything would go very downhill very quickly. Simmons had warned Coulson though, she had warned him, and he was getting a rescue team ready to save Skye. He was going to be able to save Skye. So doing this was a precaution.

Simmons knocks on Raina's door. "Come in." She says in her so convincing voice. Simmons walks through the door. "Ah Simmons, please do come in."

Simmons comes inside, the office on the top floor with a view overlooking the city. It was large, and Simmons realized just how much Raina was doing to overrun the project. "What's the reason for your visit?" Raina says, while continuing to read over some papers.

"Yesterday Professor Raina, you asked me if I'd choose science, or a friend. Now I didn't exactly give you a clear answer, but I'm here to now."

Raina puts down the papers she was reading, and gives Simmons her full attention. She looked tired, and she looked like she hadn't slept in the last few days. "I'm surprised you're revisiting this topic, you give it some thought last night."

Simmons grinds her teeth. Coulson had said to take little to no action, but be ready when the team got there and when he had a plan in place. But Simmons knew better than that, she needed to take this risk, or Skye and the whole operation could be relocated, all because Raina didn't trust her.

"Last night, I saw her." Simmons explains.

Raina leans back in her chair eyebrows raised in suspicion. "I'm listening."

"The specimen, Doctor Bakashi showed her to me." Simmons explains. Raina opens her mouth, but Simmons speaks before her. "At first I was confused, by her, I thought how impossible it was that my friend could be in a place like this. But then I realized, this wasn't my friend was it, this was the specimen." Simmons takes a deep breath, trying to not throw up on her own words. "Skye's an alien, isn't she?"

It felt weird saying it, and in that instance, Simmons wasn't sure if handing Skye back to Shield was the necessary thing to do. Maybe she needed to be experimented on, if she wasn't from earth, it made sense right? Maybe she really was evil; maybe she was disguising herself as human?

"My dear Simmons, this is why I chose you. You're not like every other scientist. You see the real picture." Simmons closes her eyes for a second, to keep her face serious, and try not to let her emotions overtake her. "Yes, the friend you thought of… Skye… which by the way isn't her real name, just a name she chose for herself. Not that she needs a name really." Raina adds as a side comment. "You see she isn't human at all really." Raina motions her hand to a chair. "Simmons take a seat, this will be a long conversation."

Simmons sits down across from Raina at her desk. "Now if I'm to tell you the truth about Skye, I first need to know your serious when you say you don't see her as a friend anymore."

Simmons crosses her arms. "Of course I'm serious, how could I not be. She pretended to be normal!" Simmons shouts, but slowly Simmons felt like the words were her own not pretend. "She pretended to be my friend at the academy, she hid all this from me, she acted normal… when really, she was nothing more than a monster with human skin."

Simmons hands were shaking, and Raina noticed. Simmons wasn't sure anymore if this was an act.

Skye had lied to her, she'd lied and pretended to be normal, and underneath Skye really could be a monster.

But then Simmons pictures the first time she met Skye. She walked into the lab where Simmons had been at work for hours, trying to impress Raina for this internship. Skye had walked in so casually asking for directions with no hesitation—Jemma would have worked for hours if she Skye hadn't interrupted her.

How Skye had gradually joined her friend group, no protest whatsoever from anyone, they just all like her.

How she was smiling even when she was hiding all this pain. If Skye really was the specimen, that means she'd been kept for three years at a lab, being experimented on. How was she even able to smile?

But Simmons remembers hearing her cries and moaning from the room next door. She'd heard Skye cry multiple nights at the academy, she'd thought it was because someone close to her was gone, but now Simmons understood that it was so much more. How could Simmons not have seen this?

"Simmons you were going to be promoted, but I want to up your previous promotion." A third promotion and she hadn't even been here a week. "You're to become my personal assistant, and today you are going to be present at the specimen's blood transfusion. She's going to be giving us new blood samples to study, and test on our volunteers."

See Skye? "Surely you don't need me." Simmons says modestly, not sure if she can handle even seeing Skye.

"Simmons you've had the training. I'll stand by as you do it, with the help of another doctor." Raina explains.

Simmons looks at Raina, knowing most certainly this was a test. She couldn't even risk calling Coulson for this, Simmons would have to be careful. "Will Skye….or really will she… the specimen … be awake?"

"Yes, it's just taking some of her blood. Simple really, we're only planning to take about 2 or 3 pints."

2 or 3? At 3 you're close to dead. But if it was a blood transfusion, Simmons imagined Skye would be gaining the blood back.

"We're doing this Simmons so I can see you truly have lost all feeling of friendship with Skye." Raina gets up from her desk, and looks Simmons in the eye. "After all if you truly care about her, you're internship will be over, and you'll become a volunteer." Raina threatens casually without remorse.

Simmons gulps a volunteer. Simmons imagined they actually were volunteers, not forced to do the experiments. This whole internship was starting to take a very foul turn.

Testing alien DNA with humans was done near the end stages, during the early stages the volunteers usually had a low life expectancy because they did the test rapidly and without caution.

"Don't worry, there won't be a problem Professor Raina, I really feel nothing for her."

Even if Simmons did really think of Skye has not a human anymore, that lie she just told couldn't be more than that. She really wouldn't be able to throw away their friendship, no matter what she thought Skye was. And seeing her helpless and strapped to a table really wasn't going to help her.

Oooooo so Simmons has to see Skye how do you think Skye will react to seeing her friend Simmons there? Review please! Looking to end this in the next 10 or so chapters, including an epilogue.