A/N: This probably should have been two chapters, but it all came at once (along with much of the next two chapters). So enjoy! :)
The rattle of the old hatchback filled the air as the car chugged slowly down the road. The seat belt pinched tightly across Skye's chest as she leaned over to press her nose to the window. The scenery was vaguely familiar, and while she couldn't place it, it stirred up a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.
She glanced around the interior of the car, noticing with a vague feeling of strangeness that there was no one in the front seat, and only herself in the back.
Huh.
Then the voices started, layering over one another like a discordant orchestra.
Her father's voice: "You're exactly where you're supposed to be. This is your destiny."
Raina's: "You belong with your own people, Skye."
Cal's again: "After you change, no one else will understand."
May's: "Poison tree, poison fruit."
Cal's: "Change is terrifying."
Coulson's, soft with sadness: "Bye-bye, Angel Eyes."
Skye opened her eyes as the Bus's intercom dinged, her heart fluttering wildly. May's voice came over the loudspeaker.
"Prepare for landing. Touchdown in fifteen minutes."
"Coulson, satellite feed is up. You guys are good to go as soon as Martin and Ramirez are in place."
"Copy that."
Ramirez' voice crackled through the comms. "We're in position."
"Okay. Here we go," Coulson said jauntily. After a pause, he added, "Remember to smile."
Hunter didn't say anything. May muttered, "I'll try my best."
Skye stifled a laugh.
They were all getting a little punchy after six days of constant mission mode. Because, apparently, SHIELD had had a lot of actionable intelligence they hadn't acted on, and now they were in a mad rush to act on it all - or change it all - before anyone else could get to it. They'd spent the last 140 hours or so hopping from one op to the next, basically living on the Bus.
Well. Skye had been living there much longer than that. But now everyone else was there, too. And the Bus was in the air. That part was different.
Top on Coulson's priority list had been securing assets he didn't want falling into anyone else's hands. He had had an interesting phone conversation with Talbot after Hunter's interrogation, letting the Brigadier General know about the systematic security flaws SHIELD had discovered - after retrieving the quinjet - in the facility where the government was keeping all the confiscated SHIELD tech.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Talbot had demanded irritably.
Coulson had been his usual unflappable self. "We thought the knowledge might come in handy, in the event that we ever needed access to certain pieces of equipment."
"But why leave it here if you might want it?"
"Because, frankly, General, you're doing a better job of securing it than my people would be able to do right now with the resources we have. We do have to prioritize."
Talbot had grumbled audibly over the line Skye was listening in on. "And now you say there's a rogue element of your organization that knows the facility's weaknesses?"
"Yes. Which is why I recommend you take steps to strengthen them immediately."
"Dammit, Coulson. This is exactly why I wanted to bring you in when I had the chance. Another rogue organization that's broken off from yours. Don't you have any control over your people?"
"In my defense," Coulson had replied casually, "Hydra broke off from SHIELD before I became the Director. And they're a little bigger on control than I am."
"You're lucky I trust you, Coulson."
"Is that what this is?" Coulson had inquired with surprise. "Because I thought you didn't trust me at all."
"I trust you enough to look into what you're saying."
"Good." Coulson had disconnected the line, then said to May and Skye, "That went better than I expected."
The second priority, after Talbot, was relocation. Apparently SHIELD had kept tabs on as many as they could find of the gifteds who had escaped from custody during the Hydra uprising, taking a hands-off approach to those who stayed out of trouble. But many of them had abilities that could be useful - or dangerous - in the wrong hands. As a result, they were currently embarking on the twenty-third relocation they'd done in the last six days.
"What are this guy's special abilities again?" Skye heard Hunter ask quietly as they approached the building. "I'm losing track."
"This one manipulates fluids," Coulson clarified. "Which is why we've left him alone, in exchange for an agreement that he maintain residence at least 100 miles from the nearest major body of water. There's only so much you can do with a bathtub," he added. "But Lake Huron is a different story."
That was a different story Skye was going to have to remember to ask about in the future. "Okay," she said, bringing them up to speed. "Once you're inside, you're going to head to the west elevator and take it up to the third floor. Apartment 302."
"Copy that," Coulson confirmed.
"Ramirez, how's the alley look?" Skye clarified.
"Quiet as a mouse. Fire escape that we're right under."
"ICERs should be hot," Coulson said quietly.
"Yes, sir."
Martin and Ramirez had been part of another East Coast SHIELD installation, which had boasted three field agents before one of them disappeared the same night as Bobbi and Mack. Coulson had made the call to collapse the two facilities together and had sent the Bus to pick up their team and all of their gear. Running ops with five field agents instead of three made much more sense.
Skye didn't know the two men well yet. Martin was short and swarthy, with a usually intense expression and very little sense of humor to speak of. Ramirez was taller, easygoing. Sometimes he reminded her a little bit of Trip.
She tried not to think about that too much.
Coulson, May, and Hunter's signals stopped outside the apartment door, and Skye heard the knock over the comms.
She held her breath. The door creaked open.
"Mr. Abadi? Hi. I'm Phil Coulson, with SHIELD. These are my colleagues, Melinda May and Lance Hunter. You may be in danger. Can we come in?"
Vincent Abadi, a sturdily built middle-aged man with sharp features and curly dark hair, was initially suspicious, but after being reassured that they were not here to bring him back into custody, he let them come inside and explain to him the need for relocation.
"So, you think this other group might try to hurt me?" he asked gruffly.
"We're not sure," Coulson clarified cautiously. "It may be that they would want to bring you in as an asset to their organization. But I don't think that's something you're interested in."
"I just want to be left alone," Abadi growled, glaring at the three agents.
Hunter's fingers twitched in the direction of his ICER, and Coulson shook his head just perceptibly.
"And we would be happy to leave you alone, Mr. Abadi. Somewhere other than here."
Abadi glowered at Coulson, as if weighing the veracity of his words, before heaving a sigh. "Fine," he said resolutely. "When do we leave?"
"I can give you thirty minutes to pack your things. We'll take care of all the necessary arrangements."
Abadi disappeared into his bedroom, and Coulson breathed a sigh of relief. "Well," he said, sounding upbeat. "So far so good."
"So far," May observed dryly.
"If we hear the bath start running, I'm out of here," Hunter quipped.
May's answering glare wasn't quite as withering as it might have been a week ago. She'd been gradually softening toward him since his decision to stay with SHIELD, and Hunter was hopeful that perhaps his days of watching out for friendly fire were drawing to a close.
"Heads up," Skye's voice came unexpectedly into their ears. "Couple of suits walking in the front door."
May arched an eyebrow.
A few tense minutes passed.
Knock, knock.
Coulson nodded toward the door as Mr. Abadi came out of his bedroom. "Are you expecting someone?" he asked in a low voice.
Abadi shook his head, blinking nervously. "No. What should I do?"
"Find out who it is."
"Who's there?" Abadi called, stepping closer to the door.
"Agents Smith and Jamison from the World Counterterrorism Agency. Mr. Abadi, we'd like to have a few words with you."
Coulson turned to May, mouthing, "World Counterterrorism Agency?"
May shook her head blankly. "No idea," she whispered.
"What do you want?" Abadi demanded. Coulson was suddenly grateful for his gruffness.
"We have an offer to make you," came the answer from outside the door. "A very lucrative offer."
Abadi turned to look at Coulson helplessly. Coulson's brow was furrowed in thought. "Ask for more information," he said quietly.
"What kind of offer?"
There was a rustling outside the door, then the agent spoke up. "We'd like for you to become a contractor for our agency. We're prepared to reimburse you very well in exchange for your unique services."
"They're recruiting super-powered mercenaries," Hunter muttered. "That's ironic."
"Ask them for a few minutes," Coulson whispered to Abadi.
He nodded. "Give me a few minutes," he called out irritably. "I'm not decent."
Coulson nodded approvingly. "Skye, is the alley clear?"
"Clear as glass."
"Keep an eye on it," he said quietly. "Ramirez, get the van. We're coming down the fire escape."
Abadi blinked at him as realization set in. "My - my things?"
"You remember that question people always ask about what you'd save in a fire?" Hunter asked, as Coulson walked over to the window and threw it open. Abadi nodded. "Grab that," Hunter said, pulling out his ICER to cover the door as Agent May did the same.
Abadi's eyes widened. He disappeared into the bedroom and came back quickly with a backpack. "Okay. Let's go."
Coulson glanced over at May, gesturing toward the window. She rolled her eyes at him. "You first, then Abadi. Hunter and I will cover you."
"Mr. Abadi?" came the call from out in the hallway, as Coulson was slipping out the window, his own ICER in hand.
"Just a minute!" Abadi called back, before following Coulson ungracefully out the window.
May nodded to Hunter. "You next."
"Ladies first," he attempted, keeping his ICER trained on the door.
"Don't push it."
Ah. There was the withering glare.
Hunter grimaced and climbed out the window, then turned to cover May as she came through. The men in the hallway were beginning to pound loudly on the door. It wouldn't be long before they were breaking it down.
Coulson was already sliding down the ladder at the bottom of the fire escape. Ramirez pulled up in the van, and Martin leaned out the passenger side to cover the open apartment window.
Hunter heard the splintery sound of an impact against the door and traded alert glances with May. They both worked their way backward down the stairs to the lowest platform, Hunter checking below to see Coulson practically pushing Abadi into the back of the van.
"Get down there," May hissed, and Hunter tucked his ICER into his belt and flung himself down the ladder, pulling the sidearm back out as soon as his feet left the bottom rung. He nodded crisply at May to take her turn, and she scrambled down nimbly.
They piled into the back of the van, and Ramirez pulled away, just as two men in what were really rather nice suits burst out the open window, aiming some kind of weapons in the SHIELD team's direction.
Hunter and Martin got off ICER rounds at the same time, and the two agents on the fire escape crumpled as the van picked up speed. May and Hunter pulled the doors shut as they slipped into traffic.
The back of the van was quiet for a few minutes, except for the sound of four people catching their breath. Then Hunter spoke up, still somewhat breathlessly. "I recognized one of them. Jamison. I've worked with him before, in Belgium." He glanced over at Coulson. "He was on Bobbi's team."
Coulson's jaw set. "You think it's safe to say these were Bobbi's people?"
Hunter nodded slowly.
"'World Counterterrorism Agency,'" May repeated thoughtfully. "It's a little grandiose."
"At least it isn't a bloody acronym," Hunter grumbled under his breath.
A few hours later, Vincent Abadi had been safely relocated to a suburb of Las Vegas - complete with his own shiny new identity, courtesy of Skye - and the Bus was on its way to India for the last relocation on their list, with seven more hours of intercontinental flight before them.
Skye took a deep breath and let it out slowly, settling into a meditation technique May had taught her as the biofeedback monitors flashed at her quietly. She had spent the last forty-five minutes practicing her control.
That's pretty much what she had been doing with all the travel time in between relocations, when she wasn't sleeping or working out. She was getting good with the physical processes - heart rate, blood pressure, temperature - but somehow, control over her new abilities wasn't coming as easily. She could trigger the vibrations with painful thoughts, and she could bring down her heart rate and blood pressure while emitting them, which would often make them dissipate or even stop. But she couldn't keep herself from having them in the first place, and that made it too dangerous still for her to be out in the world. It might take only a moment of strong emotion, or a sudden surprise, to set her off, and even her initial response could be devastating.
Ward had been her trigger today. He was her trigger a lot of days, actually. The anger stirred up by thinking of him was one of the surest ways to get her stress hormones flowing. And less painful than some other things she could think about. The anger still felt safer, more controllable, than the grief.
Or the fear, which still crept up on her in unguarded moments, and which she tried never to think about.
Skye sighed in frustration. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was really close to figuring it out. It was like there was something she was missing, some key that would make it click, but it just wasn't clicking yet.
Knock knock knock-knock knock
Another welcome interruption. They'd been fewer and further between, lately, with how busy everyone had been. "Come in!"
She was expecting May or Coulson, the two people she'd seen most this week, but it was Hunter standing in the doorway. "Hey there," he said.
She blinked up at him in pleased surprise. She hadn't seen him face to face since the morning after the interrogation.
The knock on the door came 15 minutes after she finished her workout with May, and she knew it was him.
"Come in!" she called, pulling the elastic out of her ragged ponytail to put her hair back up more neatly.
He opened the door, tub full of warm water in hand, and Skye came over, eyeing him uncertainly. His eyes were uncertain, too. "Hey," she said quietly.
"Hey," he replied, offering the tub. She took it and set it down behind the screen, and he leaned against the doorframe, saying with affected casualness, "I guess you heard I passed the creepy Koenig lie detector test."
Skye cracked a faint smile, coming out from behind the partition and leaning against the wall. "Yeah," she replied softly. She looked at him for a moment. "I'm really glad you're sticking around."
He smiled self-deprecatingly. "Yeah, well." He folded his arms and looked down at his feet, then back up at her. "Guess I'm locked in now. Sworn my loyalty and everything."
"You're not big on loyalty?" Skye could have bitten her tongue the instant the words came out of her mouth. Clearly, given Hunter's responses to Bobbi and Izzy Hartley, loyalty wasn't his problem.
"Not big on being locked in," he clarified. "I've been on my own for a while now. Didn't really expect I'd ever be part of an organization like this again - not voluntarily." He studied her for a moment, with what looked like a trace of regret. "I've never been a lifer, like you are."
Skye frowned. Her answering question was quiet. "Why did you decide to stay?"
Hunter's brows quirked, and he looked down at his feet. "I've seen a lot of shady leadership over the years, and a lot of angles being played. After a while, you stop believing that there's anybody out there with honest motives." Skye winced at his words. To her idealistic sensibilities, such a level of jadedness was tragic, though not as unthinkable as she might have considered it a year ago.
"You're still pretty new to all this," Hunter continued frankly, and somehow it didn't sound condescending. "You'd be surprised how hard honest motives are to come by." He took a deep breath. "But I've been surprised by Coulson. If I have to be in this line of work somewhere, he seems like someone worth taking orders from."
Skye's eyes were moist. "He is," she said in a wavery tone, then cleared her throat and continued in a stronger voice. "He's the real thing, and May is, and Fitz and Simmons. And probably the Koenigs too, despite the creepy factor."
Hunter's faintly amused grin mirrored hers.
"I'm - I'm really glad you decided to stay." Skye searched his eyes. "We need you."
Hunter laughed quietly. "Well, it's good to be needed."
She hesitated before probing more deeply. "How are you doing, about Bobbi?"
Hunter looked at her steadily for a few beats, then dropped his eyes to the floor. "It hurts," he admitted quietly. "It hurts not knowing how much of it was real and how much was just an angle. I don't suppose I'll ever know."
Skye's heart ached for him. She knew a little bit of what that felt like, though not as deeply as he did. "I didn't realize you two had broken it off before she left."
Hunter peered at her strangely. "How did you know that?"
Skye's cheeks burned. Crap. She considered fudging, but decided just to come clean. "I - uh - the security camera feed of your interrogation was a pretty easy hack," she admitted, daring a glance at him. "So was the audio." She made an apologetic face.
Hunter lifted his eyebrows, looking a little taken aback. "Well, the creepy factor just went up a few more notches."
Skye grimaced. "Stalker," she joked, pointing to herself, then abandoned the attempt at humor. "I'm sorry," she said in a subdued voice. "I just...I had to see it with my own eyes, you know? I had to know..." She trailed off, swallowing hard. "I had to know I wasn't being betrayed by another person I cared about."
Hunter nodded slowly. "I can understand that," he said grimly.
Skye closed her eyes, sighing. "I'm sorry that you've been through so much," she murmured.
"I'm hardly the only one," he deflected.
"No, I know," she said. "But you must have gone through a lot to lose faith in everybody. I mean, I've been betrayed, but never to the point where I didn't have anyone left to trust. I've never...stopped believing that there are good people out there."
"Maybe you're better at that than I am," he observed lightly, glancing over at her. He held her gaze searchingly for a moment; then his eyes clouded, and he looked away. "Sometimes I wish I could still think that way." He shifted his weight, as if the confession made him uncomfortable, but his countenance looked clearer after he'd said it.
Skye heard the longing under his words, and a lump rose up in her throat. "Well, stick around here," she said quietly, "and maybe you'll be able to."
"Maybe," he replied, mustering up a half-smile.
They looked at each other for a moment, and then Skye broke eye contact, glancing over toward the screen. "I should probably de-gunk before the water gets cold."
"And I should probably close this door," Hunter agreed, standing up straighter. He grabbed the door handle, then paused, letting his fingers slip off it. "Thank you," he said lightly. "For being willing not to think the worst of me." He was trying to be casual, but the look in his eyes betrayed his sincerity.
She blinked and pressed her lips together to forestall more tears. "Thank you," she answered quietly, "for not making me have to."
He nodded, hesitating before grabbing the door handle again. "See you at briefing."
From morning briefing, they'd embarked on their globe-spanning relocation saga. And she hadn't seen him since then. Honestly, it felt a little weird.
"Hey, stranger!" Skye replied casually, her smile giving away her pleasure at his visit.
Hunter smiled in return, glancing from her to the biofeedback equipment strewn all over the table. "You ready to unplug? Time zones usually throw me off, but I'm pretty sure it's about dinner time back at the Playground." He proffered a plate, which Skye saw had a sandwich on it. "Peanut butter and grape jelly, as per usual. Thought you might be hungry."
Skye had, in fact, just noticed her stomach starting to rumble. "Perfect timing," she said appreciatively. "Thanks." Carefully, she pulled the sensors off her skin and came over to accept the sandwich from him. He held out a bottle of water, too.
Hunter nodded toward the biofeedback equipment. "Any luck with all of that?"
"Yes and no," she replied with a sigh, slumping against the wall. "Enough to know I'm on the right track. Not enough yet to get me out of here."
Hunter nodded, studying her thoughtfully. "It'll come. Give it time."
Skye rolled her eyes. "Great," she said dryly. "Because that's exactly what I want to hear."
Hunter winced apologetically.
Skye looked at him carefully. "How've you been?"
He shook his head in mock despair. "Awful. There've been far too few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my life in the last week."
Skye wrinkled her nose at him. "You know you secretly wish you could eat the way I do."
"I honestly don't know how you can train the way you do and eat the way you do," he said skeptically. "Makes me want to sneak kale and protein powder into your sandwiches."
"Don't you dare." Skye smirked and put the plate down on the table, then turned back to him, growing more serious. "Really, though...how are you doing?"
Hunter sighed, seeing he wasn't going to escape. "I've been okay," he replied straightforwardly, his facade of nonchalance crumbling. "Good days and bad days." To Skye's eyes, he suddenly looked very tired, as if carrying a heavy weight.
She nodded, studying him carefully. She glanced over at her computer, then back at him. "What are you doing right now?"
Hunter screwed up his face noncommittally. "Well, I was thinking about a good long nap before we get to India." He paused, seeing her disappointment. "What did you have in mind?"
"Company." She hesitated. "I think maybe we could both use some?"
Hunter nodded slowly, as if the idea appealed to him. "Let me go 'borrow' Ramirez' tablet. I think he's sleeping."
Skye smiled. "Sounds great."
They talked for almost two hours over FACE before Hunter's yawning prompted Skye to suggest they sign off for the time being. A good (if not overly long) nap later, the team gathered in the Command Center for a briefing on their final relocation.
"Kamala Singh," Coulson identified their target, displaying her picture on the screen. "Age 25. Was working at a telecommunications company in Pune when she was involved in an industrial accident. She woke up thinking she was going crazy, then realized she was detecting electronic communications passing through the air around her."
"Like e-mails and things?" Ramirez clarified.
Coulson and May both nodded. "E-mails, text messages, Internet - any electronic signal," Coulson clarified. "She can both detect them and amplify them. She's basically a walking wi-fi hot spot."
"And you thought you were good with computers," May observed wryly, glancing at Skye.
"Honestly, I'm kind of jealous," Skye admitted, wide-eyed.
"She would be a huge asset to any organization," Coulson elaborated. "However, she's also a liability, since there's no way to keep anything classified from her unless it's wirelessly inaccessible."
"Wow," Skye murmured enviously, hastily adding, "not that I'd, you know, want to get into anything classified."
Hunter shot her a knowing look, a teasing smile playing on his lips.
"She can detect anything within an area of about 100 square miles," Coulson continued. "We let her choose where she wanted to settle, as long as it was too far from any government or SHIELD facilities to obtain classified intel. We also have her on a travel restriction with which she's been fully cooperative. We'll be relocating her to another village in the same region, so she's still near family."
"Same drill, three door-knockers and two stalkers?" Hunter asked cheerily. Skye noticed that his countenance looked clearer than it had before. Maybe the nap had helped. Or the conversation.
"Yup," Coulson confirmed. "We touch down in forty-five minutes. Better go suit up."
"I forgot how hot India is," Ramirez muttered over the comms. The humming of cicadas in the village they were walking through was so loud that Skye could hear it in the background.
"Especially in the middle of the afternoon," May added dryly.
"Her house is the last one in this row, on your left," Skye directed.
"Copy," Coulson grunted.
Apparently the heat was getting to everyone. The body armor under their street clothes - which were more appropriate for a temperate climate than a tropical one - probably wasn't helping.
Skye heard the rap-rap of Coulson knocking on the front door of the small, earth-brick dwelling. "Ms. Singh!" he called out.
There was no answer.
"Ms. Singh!"
"Nobody home?" May asked quietly.
"I'm going inside," Coulson muttered.
Skye heard a creak, some shuffling, and then nothing. "Fill me in, guys."
"Nobody inside," Hunter said quietly. "No signs of a struggle."
Skye tried to pull up an overhead view of the village, to no avail. "Sat surveillance sucks in this region. I've got nothing," she informed them.
"Let's ask around," Coulson said.
May and Martin both spoke the local language, so the two teams split up, trying to find someone who had seen Kamala Singh that day. After a little while, May found a woman who had been sitting outside her home in the wee hours of the morning when a couple of men had come to Ms. Singh's door. "Dark clothes, spoke English," May passed on. "She said Ms. Singh went with them willingly."
"Damn it," Coulson muttered under his breath. "We lost one." From the tone of his voice, Skye knew exactly the tight-lipped, pained expression he was wearing.
Everyone was quiet for a moment.
"It could be worse," May ventured diplomatically.
"It could be," Coulson acknowledged reluctantly.
Skye chipped in. "At least it wasn't the guy who melted down the munitions factory."
Coulson's sigh was audible through the comms. "Nothing we can do about it now. Let's head home and regroup."
A/N: If you love or hate something about this story so far, if you have thoughts about the plot threads, character and relationship development, the super long flashback in this chapter (hehe), I would love to hear it! I really get motivated through interaction with my readers, so if you're out there lurking, leave me a review and share your thoughts. I treasure them! :)