"Definitely not your run-of-the-mill arson," the blue-dot operative had said when he called in the incident - and, looking at what was left of the building through May's body camera, Skye was definitely inclined to agree.
At one point, the structure had been a rather shabby 20,000-or-so-square-foot single-level industrial building at the river's edge in quaint Mt. Vernon, WA, officially shared by three shipping and distribution companies. Now, it was a 20,000-square-foot heap of twisted, melted metal and charred wreckage through which the team was picking gingerly.
The operative had managed to keep local law enforcement off-site by sending in a team to pose as federal agents (Skye was relatively sure that was incredibly illegal, and that it would be counterproductive if Talbot ever found out about it) until their team could get there to run analysis. Because, to quote their man on the ground, "I don't know of any weapon that could do what this did without leaving a crater or taking out the whole block along with it."
May had found a nearby field to land the Bus in, so Skye was only a few minutes from the action.
Yay for semi-rural small towns with suspicious episodes of supernatural destruction.
"The, uh, the DWARFS are up," Skye heard Fitz announce over the comms. "We're ready to send them in."
"Good," Coulson replied shortly. "Everyone else, let's get you out of the wreckage until we know more about what we're dealing with. I don't know how stable any of this is."
"Sounds good to me," Hunter murmured in response, and despite her mission-minded focus, a little smile came to Skye's lips at the sound of his voice.
Their relationship so far was definitely unconventional - all stolen kisses and long conversations via electronic devices - but Skye couldn't remember feeling this secure in a relationship in a long time. Maybe it was because this was a guy who knew all her least-attractive qualities - from her slovenly tendencies to the way she looked after sweating like a pig for an hour and a half, the emotional instability she always tried to pretend she didn't have, not to mention the fact that she could level standing structures in a single moment of panic - and somehow still thought she was the most amazing thing ever.
He wasn't so bad himself.
They were keeping things under wraps for now - knowing Coulson, Skye had a feeling he would lean hard on the selectively-enforced SHIELD anti-fraternization policy if he had any idea what was going on. She knew they probably shouldn't be doing what they were doing - but Hunter made her feel grounded, secure, in a way she hadn't felt for a while. She didn't want to think about letting go of that.
Simmons was in on it, of course. She had to be. Skye found herself thankful that, somewhere along the line, terrible-liar-Jemma had figured out how to keep secrets.
Skye entered a few keystrokes, bringing up the readouts from the seven DWARFS, who had scattered all over the collapsed building by now, scanning and parsing data - not that she could interpret most of the data they were beginning to send in, but at least she could see their little camera feeds and get a better idea of what was on the ground there. After a few minutes, Sleepy seemed to detect something, hovering a little longer in one place. Fitz let out a yelp.
"Wow," Simmons murmured. "Gamma radiation signatures, certainly."
"They look familiar," Fitz observed. "Skye, can you, uh, cross-check the signatures against the weapon specs we have on file?"
"On it." Tap-tap-tap.
Then Bashful's feed lit up, and through May's camera, Skye saw Simmons walk over to where the little droid was hovering at the riverside edge of the wreckage and bend down to examine something. From what Skye could see, they were shards of glass.
"They're test tube fragments," Simmons reported. "According to Bashful's analysis, the chemical compounds they contained are not commonly found nor easy to procure." She straightened up, looking over the rubble speculatively, then turned back toward Fitz. "I think this was a lab."
"A lab?" Coulson repeated.
Simmons nodded. "There's no reason these chemicals should be on site at a commercial distribution facility. Perhaps the legitimate business was just a front?"
"It would make more sense for someone to firebomb a secret lab with advanced tech than a shipping company," May observed dryly.
Fitz cleared his throat, interrupting. "The DWARFS are finding organic material now - probably human remains," he informed them evenly. "It might be difficult to tell how many dead."
"Lovely," Hunter muttered.
"We can take samples," Simmons put in, "and run DNA tests to determine how many victims."
Everyone was quiet for a few minutes, examining, and then Hunter spoke up. "There're fresh tire tracks over here, just a few hours old by the look of it. Heavy vehicles, two of them."
May confirmed. "One SUV, maybe a van."
Coulson chipped in. "Skye, run analysis on them, would you? I'm sending you the photographs now."
"On that," she replied confidently. Just then, her laptop finished the search of the weapons database, flashing up the results on the screen. "Fitzsimmons - I have two matches on that gamma radiation signature. Both are Hydra weapons we recovered off the Maribel del Mar on the Donnie Gill mission."
"So it's possible this was Hydra?" Coulson clarified.
Skye clicked through for more information about the weapons. Both entries came up with a flashing red inventory status beside them: "Unaccounted For."
Skye's lips tightened. "Hydra...or Bobbi's World Counterterrorism Agency."
An hour later, the team re-boarded the Bus with enough samples to keep Fitzsimmons busy downstairs for hours. Skye felt the shiver of the plane as everyone else tromped up the spiral stair, and a few minutes later, a video call came through from the Command Center.
"Skye," Coulson said as soon as he popped up on the screen, "I want you combing cyberspace for more information about the businesses that were renting the building, as well as any pictures, video, anything we can find that might give us an idea of what's been happening at this location in the last month."
Behind him, Hunter walked into the frame, glancing casually over at her on the screen before stopping to listen to their conversation. Skye made eye contact with him briefly before flicking her gaze back to Coulson. "Already on it," she announced, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hunter's lips quirk in a small, proud smile. She bit her lip to stifle an answering smile. "Nothing so far, but it's not exactly a hopping metropolis."
Coulson sighed. "No, it isn't. And no security cameras nearby. Hopefully someone was in the right place at the right time. I'll be in my office if you need me."
"Copy that," Skye quipped. She forced herself not to glance at Hunter again as Coulson disconnected the transmission.
She checked the status of all her searches - still running - drained her bottle of water, and tossed it over to the recycle bin. It landed on the rim, wedged between the bin and the wall. Skye shut her eyes and concentrated for a moment, then opened her eyes and watched as it vibrated, wiggled, then dropped into the bin.
A quiet, familiar knock came on the door, and Skye called back equally quietly, "Come in!"
Skye heard the beeping of the code, and then Hunter came in, closing the door behind him. He grinned in greeting, his eyes soft with that adoring look that made Skye's breath catch in her throat. "Coulson's in his office," he reported. "May's getting the plane off the ground, and Fitzsimmons are buried under a pile of samples in the lab. We have a few minutes."
"Good." Skye grinned in return, standing up and walking over to him. She slid her hands up his chest to twine them around his neck, and Hunter leaned in for a lingering kiss, wrapping his arms around her. "I've been wanting to do that all day," Skye murmured as they separated.
"So've I," he replied, ducking in for another, and Skye didn't object. They were pushing the limits...but she was starting to gain some control over her powers, and she felt more confident that she wasn't going to hurt him.
"How was it out there?" she asked wistfully. She wasn't talking about the burned-out building, and he knew it.
"It was beautiful," he admitted with an apologetic smile. "Birds chirping, the quiet sound of the river, wide blue sky with puffy clouds, just the right temperature." He buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply, as she sighed. "But I think you can be glad you sat this one out, love. I haven't smelt cow that strongly since summers at my uncle's place in Frettenham. I was half-afraid we were all at risk of methane poisoning."
Skye laughed, and Hunter smiled, tightening his arms around her to pull her closer.
They just held each other for a few minutes, Hunter resting his head against hers as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Hell of a weapon, whatever they used out there," he said quietly. "It was a mess."
"Do you think it was Bobbi's people?" Skye asked hesitantly. They hadn't talked about Bobbi, really, at all, and she wasn't sure what to expect bringing her up.
Skye felt Hunter's muscles tense and wondered what was going through his mind. "I don't know," he equivocated, but there was a sharp, iron edge to his voice. Clearly, there were still some strong emotions there. Skye could guess what some of them were.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. She slipped her arms around his waist and began rubbing his back, hoping it would be soothing.
He exhaled slowly, relaxing under her touch and growing heavy against her. When he spoke, his voice was tired, broken - stripped of the confidence and snark he usually wore around like body armor. "Promise me you won't ever lie to me?" he murmured.
Skye squeezed him tightly, her heart in her throat. She hesitated, knowing how unpredictable this life of theirs could be, and how dangerous a promise like that could be. But it was a promise she wanted to make. "I promise," she agreed, "as long as it goes both ways."
"Deal," he answered immediately, then let out a heavy sigh.
After a moment, he spoke up again, his voice a little stronger. "The craziest part is that I think I actually believe you."
Tears sprang to Skye's eyes. "Good," she replied.
"Gamma radiation signatures were present throughout the wreckage," Jemma reported, "and the pattern of destruction suggests that the building was hit by a blast or a series of blasts from the river side. The weapon apparently has highly sophisticated targeting capabilities that enabled it to level the structure without affecting any of the surrounding area." She glanced at Fitz, who nodded.
"This could be, uh...uh..." - he snapped his fingers - "consistent with one of the weapons we studied. We never did determine its method of operation, since the gamma radiation made it, ah, unattractive for widespread use."
"What are the possible side effects of its use?" Coulson asked grimly.
"Well, gamma radiation is always unpredictable," Simmons pointed out. "It seemed to do what it was meant to here, but thankfully there was no one nearby to be affected by it. Well," she corrected uncomfortably, "other than the four people in the lab."
Coulson's jaw set grimly. "Any idea what kind of laboratory this was?"
Fitz made an uncertain face. "From the chemicals present at the site, we theorize that they were working on experimentation of a biological nature, but it's difficult to know for sure. The destruction was, uh...thorough."
"It could have been medical, government, private enterprise, Hydra, or something else entirely," Simmons added. "It's impossible to tell."
Coulson sighed in exasperation. Skye reflected that he'd been doing that a lot lately. "Skye, anything?" he asked.
"Yeah, actually," she replied, pulling up the data she'd uncovered. "Tire treads and tracks belong to a Chevy Tahoe and a Ford Econoline cargo van. The tracks from the van were deeper on the way out than on the way in, which suggests -"
"They took something with them," Coulson finished.
Skye nodded. "It looks like this was a 'pillage and destroy' mission, and not just sabotage."
Coulson's eyes lit up. "Can we track the vehicles?"
Skye shook her head. "Yeah, tried that. They went north, but satellite surveillance drops off about ten miles up the road. It's like it's the end of the world or something." She rolled her eyes. "I've been combing traffic cameras, but nothing so far."
"They could have switched vehicles, or just known how to avoid the cameras." Coulson sighed. "Anything else?"
"Yeah." Skye pulled up a few photos and shared them onto the screen in the Command Center. "I found the Flickr account of a guy who works at the nearby dairy distribution plant -" Hunter coughed, his eyes twinkling, and Skye fiercely resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the inside joke - "and has an obsession with sunset photos. These were taken on different days in the last week. What do you notice?"
In both photos, the sky was painted glowing hues of orange and pink that were reflected in the waters of the river - it was really beautiful, Skye acknowledged. The destroyed building (here still intact) was silhouetted against the colors, and between the building and the river stood a figure, wearing dark clothes and something that looked like a helmet.
"Can you zoom in?" May asked.
"Yep." Skye silently gave the photographer kudos on his choice in camera, as the high resolution enabled her to zoom in pretty far without sacrificing quality.
"About 5'4"," Hunter observed. "Slight build. Probably a woman."
"Anybody know what's on her head? Because I can not figure it out," Skye put in.
"Noise-canceling headphones," Fitz announced decisively. "Industrial grade. I used to have a pair like that."
There were four pairs of raised eyebrows in the room, and one more in the Cage.
"Noise-canceling headphones," Coulson mused. "Drowning out distractions? But why?"
May glanced over at Coulson cautiously. "Maybe she's listening to something else."
"It can't be telepathy," Simmons stated emphatically.
Coulson shrugged, suddenly looking resigned. "It's a whole new world out there, Simmons. We can't take anything for granted any more."
On the way home from Washington, Skye was dozing on her cot when her laptop pinged at her.
Incoming message from the Playground
She sat up, squinting, then made her way over to the table to open the message, noting it was from the team of tech specialists she oversaw. Her eyes scanned back and forth across the screen quickly.
They had a hit on her algorithm program. An anonymous party was claiming to be in possession of a plasma particle beam from SHIELD's inventory (probably that thing they'd found in Peru, from what it sounded like) and were willing to hand it over to SHIELD or any other interested party for the measly sum of $1.2 million in unmarked bills. But the electronic signature and routing behind the tip matched the intel from the mysterious needle-mark ambushes that had put fifteen SHIELD agents in quarantine for the next five months.
Skye video-called the Command Center. "Coulson?" she said hurriedly when the screen popped up, but it was May standing there, keeping watch over the screens in the dimly lit plane.
"I'll get him," May replied immediately, catching the urgency in Skye's tone. She strode off quickly and returned in a few minutes with the Director, who also seemed to have been catching a nap.
"We've got them," Skye said triumphantly, then explained the situation. "They're trying to set up a rendezvous to sell off this tech, and I'd bet you $1.2 million that if we send a team in there, they'll be ambushed."
The wheels were turning behind Coulson's eyes, and a cautious excitement crept over his face. "Let's set it up," he said decisively. "Then we'll send the team ahead of time and wait for them. We'll ambush the ambush." He glanced at May, who nodded firmly, a tiny, fierce smile on her lips. "Let's find out who the hell's been doing this and what exactly they've been doing."
A/N: Chapters are coming out more slowly now that the show is back...it takes me a few days after each episode to readjust my brain back to the AYC universe! No, I have no idea what a blue-dot operative is, either, but it seems like they occasionally call in tips, as did the one who spotted Sif in Portugal - so I'm happily abducting and using the terminology. ;)
Yep...it's going down in the next chapter, baby. Stay tuned!
Thanks to RC and Marvel-Tolkien Fangirl for beta'ing/prereading and sharing thoughts! :)
Thanks so much to those who've reviewed, followed, favorited in the last week! It really keeps my motivation going, and I appreciate it so much! Reviews really help me understand what's working for you about the story and what isn't so great/what I can improve on to be a better writer, so please take a moment to let me know your thoughts! :)