Authors Note: Awww you guys are so sweet thank you all for your continued support and reviews I'd like to dedicate this chapter to MusicAngel98, Bellapaige88 and Dragonball256. This is because you guys always take the time to write a review and I really appreciate that, I have to say I was nervous about that chapter because I've started to bring in a few characters that I know and love from my original works. I really hope you'll all love Dex as much as I do, I just thought he'd slide into the world of S.H.I.E.L.D so well.

The suit arrived at the small airfield in less than 20 minutes, driving like he belonged on a Nascar track. Dex had felt the need to point out to Agent Grant Ward that they weren't going to be much use to Skye if they wound up upside down in a ditch. He drove the SUV straight up into the cargo hold of the plane and parked up right next to a smoking hot red corvette. He looked the suit up and down definitely not this guys, he was definitely not in to restored classics, If he had to guess he'd say this baby belonged to a middle aged man with a receding hairline with a love of collectables. He didn't know how spot on he was until Ward took him to Agent Phil Coulsons office/museum, agent Coulson was polite and friendly which instantly set Dex on edge. He was sure this guy was nice enough but he was definitely not to be trusted, he'd met many suits like this and they were always all smiles right until they stuck a knife in your back.

"Welcome aboard Major O'Neil" great they had read his file, he sighed inwardly.

"It's just Dex now Agent Coulson" he corrected.

"Well then...Dex, Agent Ward tells me you may be able to track down a member of my team that has gone missing. We are running her face through all our facial recognition programmes but as yet, no luck. So any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated."

"You're not going to find her that way"

"Oh?"

"She's far too smart for that and if suit here is right about the guys that have her then they're too smart for that too. When they left the bar they were headed for a private air field, they didn't say where but there's not that many of them in Austen. Our best bet is to start there maybe if we're lucky one of the attendants caught something, if it were me I'd have filed a fake flight plan with the FDA but these rich guys will often pay someone to do that for them. If you find out who maybe you can get them to talk. They said they were taking her to Hong Kong but I'd want proof of that before you fly out there."

Coulson observed Dex closely he was impressed the Marine Core must have been pissed to lose a guy like this, he wondered briefly what could have happened to drive him from the military. That was not listed on his file by all accounts Major O'Neil was a model operative highly skilled and very talented much like Ward in that respect. "I can have my team put together a list for you and Agent Ward to check out"

"I thought I was just brining him in to help FitzSimmons with the hacking stuff?" he had had no intention of taking a rising tide hacker along with him; this was supposed to be a one man mission.

"Agent Ward, Dex here is an ex Marine Core Black Ops specialist he is highly skilled and very talented, he may now be a bartender with a side line shall we say but I think given the state of things we'd be foolish to turn down his help here. I'm sure once you return he can assist FitzSimmons in gathering more information, he is right we need to determine for sure that they were headed to Hong Kong before we can go charging in. Chinese-US relations are not the best and there is a lot of corruption amongst Hong Kongs elite if we were to just barge in and start knocking on doors it's likely they would flee with her before we even got close"

"I wasn't suggesting that" he grumbled "Fine let's go see FitzSimmons in the lab, see what they've come up with"

"Excellent idea" he smiled at the two men. This would be interesting on paper they were the same guy but something had obviously happened to the newcomer to make him distrustful of the government and the military.

"Nice Ride by the way" Dex shot at Coulson.

"Thanks, Lola's a collectable. You into the classics?"

"My dad was" wow he even named it, nice to know his instincts were still sharp.


Ward led Dex down into the lab "So who's this FitzSimmons guy then?"

"Well it's actually Agents Jemma Simmons our biochem specialist and Agent Leo Fitz our engineer" Ward corrected him introducing the two young agents; he wasn't the first person to make that mistake.

"Hey" he nodded at perhaps the youngest suits he'd ever seen, they had to be younger than Skye and as far as he knew she was only 24. "And which grade are you graduating from?"

"Excuse me Mr..."

"Dex"

"Mr Dex but Fitz and I are both fully qualified S.H.I.E.L.D agents just because we graduated the academy a tad early does not mean we are not capable of performing our duties" Fitz would have backed her up but after being shot in the back once already that day he was a little intimidated by the blonde version of Ward. "What exactly are you doing in our lab anyway?"

Well I'll be she's a bit feistier than he thought she would be, pretty young thing and British too. He flashed her a winning smile he was very good at talking his way out of the dog house. "No offense Agent Simmons your just a bit younger than I was expecting, I'm sure you have brains as well as beauty" wow that was a little corny but it seemed to work, the young woman flushed. Wow she was beautiful when she smiled like that "Well...erm...thank you"

"My pleasure and it's just Dex"

"Well this is all very nice but back to the point why are you in our lab?" the one Ward had called Fitz cut in.

"Suit?" he thought it best that Ward explain just in case he put his foot in his mouth again.

"He's here to help us find Skye, he's an old friend of hers we're guessing he's Rising Tide but I doubt he'd admit to that. He's also ex black ops so Coulson and I think that he could be a big help especially since we don't have very much to go on at the moment" he turned to Dex "and it's just Ward!"

"Thought I was just here to help with the hacker stuff" a minute ago he didn't want his help now he was saying he thought he could be a big help in the field. That right there was why he didn't like suits, slippery bastards "Suit" he flashed a sarcastic smile at Mr T-1000. The pretty brunette stifled a giggle at the exchange, he shot her another of his panty dropping smiles while the other two men glared at him.

"Can we just get on with it please, we need to move quickly" man this guy was going to piss him off.

"Sure, what do you know hon?" he asked Simmons politely.

"Well we managed to track Skye to your bar but after that we lost them they must have parked the car out back and there were no working security cameras back there. So no licence plates means..."

"You couldn't track the car" Dex filled in wow the Fitz kid really didn't like that.

"Exactly" Jemma smiled.

"Well that's annoying but I've never been afraid of hard work, like I said to your boss they were headed to a private air strip and there aren't that many in Austen. If you get a list put together we can check them out with any luck we can track down the plane and find out where it went for certain"

"Excellent Idea we'll get right on it, So your ex black ops?" she was curious about this very dashing stranger and given they day she'd been having what was the harm in a little flirtation.

"Yeah I enrolled in the Marine Core when I was 18 worked my way up, left 7 years ago" he supplied no harm in giving her what they already knew.

"Did you serve abroad?"

"Yeah I did a few tours of Iraq and Afghanistan before I moved up to black Ops"

"You must have lots of war stories" she sounded slightly excited about that, he couldn't be pissed at her though. She was young too young to appreciate the reality of war.

"A few" he nodded.

"Can we save the get to know you for later, we have work to do. Simmons get me that list and Fitz keep checking for Skye try Hong Kong you may get lucky with the facial recognition" he was restless fed up of the chit chat. Ward was a man of action he needed to get that list and track down that plane because if he stood around idle he was going to lose it.

"About your facial recognition are you just running it through your own systems?"

"Of course not we have the CIA, NSA, DOD, Interpol and local PD on it as well as Jarvis" supplied Fitz smugly.

"Please tell me your joking, right?"

"No" Fitz face dropped. "Why?"

"You're kidding me, you have... let's say an Asset missing something that's at risk not only from this Hyde person but maybe even from S.H.I.E.L.D itself and your running facial recognition software through every agency in the US?! And just hoping that if they find it they'll tell you! And you don't see why that might be a problem" Jesus this kid was dumb well he must be intelligent but he had no common sense that much was apparent.

"Well Coulson said to use every channel we had" reasoned Fitz.

"I doubt he meant you to broadcast that you were looking for her to the whole world! Look call them tell them the problems fixed and that includes S.H.I.E.L.D if you can't trust them then you shouldn't be using anything other than what you can encrypt on this plane to track her" The kid looked like he was about to throw up, Dex actually felt bad for him.

"But it'll take ages to run this through our lab and we'd only be able to use certain satellites without being detected, Skye's so much better at this stuff than me..."

"Look you said you were running a search through Jarvis right? Through Stark not S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"Yes"

"Well keep it running I know for a fact that Tony Stark loves nothing more than giving the middle finger to authority. If he thinks he's up to no good even if it's on your behalf he'll keep it locked down, I'd trust him more than I'd trust the others. Plus he owes me a favour when you call him tell him Dex says Hi"

"OK" Fitz stretched the word out "Your telling me that Iron Man owes you a favour?"

"Actually he owes me a few" he winked.

"Agent Ward I have your list, I've sent it to your phone" Simmons piped up.

"Right let's get going then, I want to get this done ASAP. Fitz make sure you do what Dex suggested as much as it pains me to admit it he's right. The fewer people know we're searching for her the better. Less chance of him finding out and moving her, If you find anything useful call my cell" normally they'd give Ward a good telling off for barking orders at them but given the stress he was likely under they gave him a pass. "You coming?" he shot at Dex.

"Yeah" Dex turned back to Simmons "Laters Beautiful" she flushed furiously at that and gave him a shy wave. He chuckled as he followed Ward back to the SUV leaving the two scientists in the lab.

"Does he have to do that?" Fitz complained.

"Oh Fitz he's just being nice"

"To you maybe and he made it perfectly obvious why"

"Really Fitz we just met, he's a very handsome fellow though. I wonder if he and Skye were just friends or if there's some history their" she busied herself with her work after that thought.


On their way back to the bus partly because he knew it would make Ward uncomfortable and partly because he was interested he brought up the subject of Agent Jemma Simmons "So the beauty in your lab what's the deal with her and that Fitz guy? They like a thing?"

Jesus this guy didn't waste time; this was not something Grant wanted to discuss even if his mind was not otherwise occupied. His co-workers love lives were something he deemed as off limits he did not need to know so he did not want to know. "You'd have to ask her that" he responded stiffly.

"Come on suit are you seriously telling me you don't know, I thought you were a specialist isn't it your job to notice the little details" reasoned Dex.

"Not when it comes to my colleague's social lives"

"Their your team you don't take an interest in what they do outside of work?"

"Not really"

"Well aren't you just a big barrel of fun, look we got what we needed the guy squealed they definitely left for Hong Kong it's a start. Now we can track her and this Dr Mark Johnson down with any luck we can get to her before they do any real damage" he winced internally at that he was no stranger to torture having been a recipient a few times in the line of duty.

Ward went still his knuckles white on the steering wheel, he had to get to her there was a very real possibility that she was being tortured at this very moment. Before when he'd been active it was easy to distract himself but it had now been almost 7 hours since she'd been taken and he had a whole flight to Hong Kong to contemplate what could be happening to her. He banged his hands off the steering wheel in sheer frustration they had all been right he'd needed to find evidence of where she was first but his heart was screaming at him to find her now.

He didn't know what made him do it maybe it was the outburst, maybe it was his own worry for his friend but he clapped the suit on the shoulder "We'll get her back Ward, we'll get her back and then we'll make the sons of bitches pay" he was deadly serious the leader in him coming out. He'd always been good at inspiring and calming his men even in warzones, Ward relaxed a little in the driver's seat.

"You called me Ward" he cocked an eyebrow at the surfer in the passenger seat.

"Don't get used to it Suit" he laughed.

Ward shook his head "To answer your earlier question as far as I know Simmons and Fitz are just friends" he volunteered.

"See was that so hard well that is interesting" he smiled to himself. It was clear that he and Agent Ward had their differences but Dex could tell he was a good guy and he was really worried about Skye. He reminded him of himself back in his military days before things had gone to shit. He had been Mr serious too, he was naturally talented and along with all the extra work he put in to his training he advanced through the ranks quickly. His guys had always been loyal to him, he knew they'd have followed him to Hell if he asked and in some cases he had to. Not all of them made it back alive that was an occupational hazard but he did his best to ensure no man was left behind. Even carrying one of his privates over his shoulder back to base when he'd been mortally wounded by the enemy he'd got an award for that one. Who knew that by the end of his career he would wish he'd never set a foot in that recruitment centre, he pushed those thoughts away he'd get Skye back with Ward and then he was gone back to the bar.


Ward headed for Coulsons office as soon as they got back leaving Dex in the lab to flirt with Simmons and hopefully track down Skye in between. He knocked on the door and waited till Coulson called him in; when he entered the office he spotted May in the corner they both looked severe. "Whats wrong?"

"Stark identified the man that Skye left with and it's not good" Coulson informed him, he swallowed before he continued "Dr Mark Johnson does not exist the man that Skye left with is Andrew Grayson, he was the head of the faction that killed Skye's parents. He went to ground after her parents murders, Hyde is his number two. Grant I will move heaven and earth to get her back but who knows how she will be when she returns" he took in his superiors over bright eyes and May's almost sad expression.

"Have you told the others yet?" he asked if only to give himself time to take that in.

"No, not yet we only just got the news"

"Grant, I'm sorry you were right I should have told you sooner this is all my fault" Coulson put his head in his hands, May just stared straight ahead silently. Ward wasn't going to argue with him because the fact was it was partially his fault but he wasn't heartless he put a reassuring hand on Coulson shoulder.

"I'm going to find her, I'm going to bring her home and then I'll kill them both" he stated.

May chose to ignore the last part of that statement and turned to Grant "Did you find anything out?"

"Yes, Dex was right they did bribe the guy at the desk to file a phony flight plan he confirmed that he overheard the pilot saying they were headed to Hong Kong. Dex thinks he can track her laptop, he seems optimistic that they will try and keep the ruse up at least until she contacts him he may be able to warn her when she does" up until they told him who her captor actually was he had had hope as well. That was gone now, he shuddered he felt cold spreading from his heart outwards, he felt like he'd never be warm again not until he held her in his arms. He turned away from his colleagues as he felt the lump in his throat rise and moisture prick his eyes. May approached him giving him an awkward hug before she turned to Coulson "I'll set a flight plan for Hong Kong, with any luck our rising tide friend and FitzSimmons will have a location for us by the time we arrive" and with that she was gone.

Ward left Coulsons office he had planned to hit something but as he descended the stairs to the training area he sank onto the bottom step. His head falling into his hands and for the first time since his childhood he let the utter misery overtake him and he wept for her, for the girl she had been before all this had started and may never be again. He knew he would always love her no matter what she became or how she was affected; it was now inconceivable to him that she would come out of this unchanged. If the others saw from the lab they wisely left him to it he didn't think he could bare their looks of pity at the moment. All he could do now was get to her as fast as humanly possible, he had to fix this, she had to be OK because he knew he wouldn't survive losing her.

So I surprised myself with how quickly I got this one up, I was in the zone and it kind of wrote itself J. Hope you liked it the next one will take a few days to write as we'll be back with Skye :O