"Sir?" Fitz repeated, looking up at Coulson. Something was wrong. His eyes were fixed on the blue gem, widened in shock. Fitz remembered seeing a similar look on his face back at the Guest House, when Coulson had gone into some kind of trance after finding the drug for Skye.

Fitz shared a concerned glance with May. They couldn't afford for Coulson to shut down right now.

"The 0-8-4, Phil," May began softly. "Is it-"

"From Loki's scepter?" Coulson finished, and even though his eyes were still trained on the stone, Fitz was relieved that he seemed to be coming back to them. "I don't know, Melinda," he murmured, and his voice came the closest to cracking that Fitz had ever heard. "It sure looks like it."

Fitz turned back towards the object, confused. "The Chitauri?" he asked in amazement. "Then it-"

"Has the ability to bend the will of even the strongest S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, yes," Coulson replied. "I've seen it happen. Lorelei is nothing compared to this. This destroyed…" He paused, and briefly closed his eyes. "Nearly everything."

Fitz tried not to back away from the stone that was right in front of him. This seemingly harmless gem had brought death and destruction at an unprecedented level, almost obliterating one of the largest cities in the world and tearing through the heart of Coulson himself. It was hard to believe that something so small could hold so much power.

"Are you sure it's the same thing, Phil? I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. confiscated Loki's weapon after the Battle. Do you think someone stole it? Or is there another one?"

"I don't know, May," Coulson shook his head. "But you saw those guards. Someone's been playing around with it here. The manager was in on it, but we don't know how deep the rabbit hole goes. That thing," he pointed at the 0-8-4, "corrupts the mind. And I sure as hell don't want it on my plane."

Fitz shared another glance with May before venturing forward. "Sir," he said quietly. "We have our orders. We're to bring the object back to the Hub."

There was a long pause as he waited for Coulson's response.

"Phil, we can keep it in the Cage. No one has to go near it."

Fitz saw Coulson's gaze finally break away from the stone to look over at May. There was so much pain in his expression and so many unspoken words flying between them that Fitz felt like he was intruding on a private moment. He fiddled with the gloves in his hands until they silently reached an agreement.

"Fine," Coulson finally said after a sigh. "Fitz, put it in the containment case, and make sure you don't touch it directly. We don't need our engineer going over to the dark side again."

Even though Fitz's heart sped faster at the prospect of handling such a dangerous object, he felt slightly comforted that Coulson was present enough to make lame jokes. He tried not to look directly at the stone as he carefully placed it in the case, lest it somehow take hold of his brainpower that way. If the incident with Lorelei had taught him anything, it was that he very much liked to be in control of his own mind.

They gingerly made their way around the unconscious bodies littering the floor. When they reached the big metal door, Fitz noticed the lock had been blasted off. Outside in the hallway, the airport manager was on the ground, blinking confusedly and rubbing his head. Ward must have knocked him out when he left with Skye. Even though Fitz would never have admitted it in a million years, he was secretly impressed. Carrying the girl back to safety and knocking out an assailant at the same time? Show off.

As the manager's eyes fell on the three of them, he lifted up a hand to stop them. Without hesitating, Coulson walked up to him and hit the side of his head with the ICER, effectively knocking him out again.

Stowing his weapon, Coulson straightened his suit jacket and nodded at the unconscious manager. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Ward had a pretty good memory, but even he had a little trouble recalling the way back to the Bus. Thankfully Skye was pretty light, so he could concentrate on getting out of there quickly without being distracted by the weight. But every so often he worriedly glanced down at her still face and felt his heart constrict as he thought about what she'd had to do. He cursed himself for not paying more attention to her. She had been fine, and she would be fine, physically, but Ward still remembered the first time he had killed someone. It changes something in an agent.

When he finally reached the cargo ramp of the Bus, Skye stirred in his arms.

"Ward?" she whispered confusedly, trying to look around.

"Hey, you're okay," he said softly. "We're on the Bus."

As he quickly made his way into the lab, he noticed there was no sign of Simmons or her sister. They must have been upstairs in the conference room. He carefully set Skye down in one of the lab's swivel chairs.

"No, Ward, I can't sit here," Skye said groggily.

Ward shook his head. "What? Why?"

"This is Fitz's seat," she whispered conspiratorially. "He's very particular about his seat."

Ward tried not to roll his eyes, with little success. "Well, one, Fitz isn't here," he said as he gently lifted her right ankle up onto the desk, positioning the chair so that it wouldn't roll away. "And two…uh…I don't care."

Skye laughed. "Okay, then. But you should know that if the choice comes between taking the blame and ratting you out, you will definitely be the one facing Fitz's wrath." Ward was relieved that she was mentally and emotionally stable enough to make jokes, but when he looked at her, he noticed a pain in her eyes that cracked something deep inside of him. He knew that the pain would fade with time, but it would always be there.

"I'm terrified," he said sarcastically. "Okay, I'm gonna go find Simmons. Stay here, okay?"

She snorted. "No, Ward, I'm gonna go do some cartwheels out on the runway."

He rolled his eyes again and turned around, racing up the steps two at a time. He could hear Simmons and Ellie arguing in the conference room.

"Maybe you could try the comms again. Surely they've retrieved the 0-8-4 by now-"

"Ellie, for the last time, I've been trying and there's nothing. We have to be patient-"

"Simmons," Ward said as he ducked in the doorway.

Both of their heads whipped toward him at the same time. "Yes?" they replied in unison.

Oh, yeah.

"Uh…Jem-Jemma," Ward corrected, and inwardly cringed. Her name felt foreign on his tongue, and by the small smile playing on her lips, he could tell she wanted to make fun of him for it. But as she took in his appearance, her face fell.

"Ward, what happened?" She searched his eyes, and he saw something harden in her expression. "Who is it?"

He didn't want to tell her. But if he didn't say anything, she would assume the worst. He tried to choose his words carefully.

"It's…Skye," he said hesitantly. "But-"

Ward had never seen Simmons so angry. "I bloody knew it," she hissed as she bolted past him. He raced after her down the steps.

"Simmons, she's fine. She just hurt her ankle-"

But Simmons wasn't having it. "Nobody ever listens to what I say. I tried to tell you all she wasn't ready to go into the field yet, but did you care? Absolutely not. And now look what's happened." She was livid, but Ward could hear tears in her voice.

"Skye," she said worriedly as she entered the lab.

Skye gave Ward a look of accusation. "God, Ward, you didn't freak her out, did you? She'll never let me go out again. Simmons, I'm totally fine. I just twisted my ankle."

"Oh, you poor thing." Ward turned around to see that Ellie had followed them. "What happened?"

As Simmons gingerly removed Skye's shoe to better examine her ankle, Ward gave them a very watered-down version of what had actually happened in the bunker.

Ellie's face went white. "You actually ran into hostiles?"

"Yeah," he replied. "But we took care of it. It was weird. They seemed to be guarding the 0-8-4."

Simmons's hands stilled. She glanced quickly around the room before her gaze fell on Ward. "Where are the others?" she said slowly. The look in her eyes was one he had grown accustomed to, a look of fear she reserved for only one person.

"Fitz is fine. They're getting the 0-8-4 and bringing it here right now."

Her shoulders relaxed slightly, but Ward still noticed tension in her movements. She turned back to Skye's ankle.

"Okay, let me know if this hurts." She gently tilted Skye's toes backward. When Skye shook her head, Simmons nodded and inched her foot over to the right. Ward could tell Skye was trying not to show too much pain, but a hiss still escaped through her teeth.

Ward heard a small gasp and felt a hand on his arm. He looked over to see Ellie had clapped her other hand over her mouth and was looking at Skye with concern. Her eyes darted over to Ward and her face turned pink as she seemed to realize what had happened. "Sorry," she whispered before removing her hand from his arm.

Skye tried to laugh through the pain, but her face was scrunched up. "Hey, I could probably use some of that miracle drug again right about now."

"Miracle drug?"

Skye's eyes flew open in surprise. She must have forgotten that Ellie was in the room.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Just an expression."

Ellie looked slightly confused, but shook her head. "Jemma, where do you keep the paracetamol?"

Simmons was still inspecting Skye's ankle. "It's up in the kitchen cupboard," she replied without looking up. "Ward, could you show her, please?"

"Yeah, sure thing," he nodded. He really didn't want to be on Simmons's bad side, so he waited until he and Ellie had reached the top of the stairs before murmuring, "Para-what now?"

Ellie smiled at him. "Acetaminophen."

He closed his eyes in embarrassment. "Yeah, it's, uh, right over here."

As he took the bottle out of the medicine cabinet, Ellie filled a glass up with water. When she turned the faucet off, he noticed her hands shaking a little bit.

"Ward?" she said quietly.

"Yeah?"

She turned to face him, and the anxious expression on her face was almost identical to that of her sister's. "Are you sure Leo is all right?"

He sighed. "Ellie, he'll be fine. He's dealt with this kind of thing before. And he's got May and Coulson with him. He couldn't be in better hands."

She nodded, but didn't seem too convinced.

When they reentered the lab, Ellie rushed over to Skye and handed her the glass of water, along with the pills.

"Now, I'm giving you 600 milligrams, even though technically you should only take a maximum of 400 milligrams every 4 to 6 hours, but these are extenuating circumstances, so I'm bending the rules a little bit. Just don't make a habit of this, okay? It could damage your stomach."

Skye laughed, but Ward saw the look that passed over her face. Her stomach had seen a lot more damage than Ellie probably realized.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she said as she downed the pills. "Gee, Simmons, your sister is almost as finicky as you are." Simmons rolled her eyes but didn't say anything as she continued to examine Skye's ankle. Skye glanced over at Ellie, who looked slightly hurt, and grabbed her hand. "I'm kidding, Ellie. Thank you. Really."

When Ellie gave her a small smile in return, Skye released her hand and turned back towards her leg. "So, Simmons, what's the damage? Am I gonna walk again?"

Simmons smiled ruefully. "It's not even a break, Skye. You'll be fine." She stood up and retrieved a first aid kit, removing a roll of bandages. "In fact, you'll probably be able to walk normally in a couple of days."

Skye looked shocked. "A couple days? You're kidding, right?"

Simmons shook her head as she began to wrap Skye's ankle. "You'll have to keep it elevated for a little while, yes, but you should be back on your feet in no time. It's just a strain."

"You mean sprain?"

"No," Simmons replied almost apologetically. "Strain."

"Wha-Seriously?" Skye groaned. "My first real mission, and I had to get injured in probably the lamest possible way."

Ellie walked around Ward to stand next to Simmons, pointing at Skye's ankle. "Jemma," she murmured, "you probably want to wrap it the other way in order to prevent pressure from building up on-"

"I know what I'm doing, Ellie," Simmons snapped at her. Ellie fell silent as Simmons finished wrapping the bandage.

"Thanks, Simmons," Skye said, trying and failing to suppress a yawn. "You're the best."

"Looks like it's someone's bedtime," Ward sighed and moved to help her out of the chair.

She feebly held up her arms in protest. "No, Ward, I have to wait up for the rest of the team."

He ignored her and lifted her out of the chair. "It's been a long night, Skye, and you're injured."

"Barely," she muttered sleepily. He tried not to laugh at her disappointment for not getting a more serious injury.

"I'll wake you up when we get back to the Hub. Deal?"

She sighed. "Deal."

Simmons briskly walked ahead of him and opened the door to Skye's bunk, pulling back her covers and getting extra blankets to elevate her foot. He set Skye down on the bed and stood by the door as Simmons got her situated.

"All right, do you need anything else?"

Skye shook her head.

Ellie came in the bunk with Skye's glass of water refilled and set it down on the shelf. "Here you are. Now, you'll call out if you need us, right?"

Skye chuckled, but her eyelids were drooping. "Yes, Dr. Simmons."

Simmons and Ellie filed past Ward and began to head back down to the lab. Ward was about to close Skye's door when he heard a sound that made him freeze.

"Ward?" The light was dim, but he could hear the tears in her voice. He quickly walked over to her side and gingerly sat down on the bed, making sure not to sit on her leg.

"What is it?" he asked, even though he knew. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were glistened over as she looked at him with open agony.

"Does it get easier?" she whispered, and he didn't have to ask what she was talking about.

He thought about lying to her. But only for a moment.

"No," he said quietly.

Skye breathed out slowly and nodded. He could tell she was trying to be strong. "Could you stay until I fall asleep?"

"Of course."

She was out in less than a minute.