Simmons looked around at the unfamiliar agents puttering around the bus. *Her* bus. Maybe it was because it was her first field assignment, but Gemma had come to feel very possessive about the plane that was quickly starting to seem like her home. So to have so many strangers around...it rankled her. She looked across the table at her lab partner, surrogate 'brother' and best friend. "Doesn't this bother you?" she asked Fitz.
"What?" Fitz asked, never looking up from his work.
Simmons turned to her right, then her left, as if looking for the invisible microphones she worried were listening to her every word. "The idea that we can be loaned out from one agent to another like we're a...cocktail dress? You're okay with that?"
"We're soldiers, Gemma," Fitz replied calmly. "We follow orders. Just like May; just like Ward..."
Simmons' eyes widened as she recognized the source of the recent changes she had noticed in her partner. "That's it, isn't it?!" she exclaimed in a harsh whisper. "You've developed some sort of man-crush on Agent Ward, and because of that you're trying to become like him or something..."
That got the first rise out of Fitz that Simmons had seen in days. "I do *not* have a man-crush on Agent *Ward*..." he growled.
The agent in question cleared his throat at the entranceway to the lab. The scientists looked up to see Agents Garrett and Ward watching them. While Ward was clearly blushing, Garrett simply trained his eye on the pair with a mischevious half-smile. "You two girls done working on my new truth serum yet?" he asked Fitz.
"It's in the centrifuge," Simmons replied. "It will be ready in about five minutes."
Garrett nodded, then pulled out his cell phone when the device buzzed for his attention. All traces of emotion fell off his face as he read the new information that his phone had presented him. "Agent Fitz," he ordered. "I need you to track down the source of this text."
Fitz took the phone that Garrett was offering him. "Quinn, Pioneer, Tennessee?" he asked, reading the text off the phone. "What does that mean?"
"Pioneer, Tennessee," Ward mused, repeating the last two words of the text. His expression lit up as an idea popped into his head. "Can you bring up a map of the state?" he asked Simmons.
When the map appeared in the empty air above the table, it was clear to everyone what Ward's idea had been. "Pioneer is a town," Simmons exclaimed.
"In the middle of nowhere," Garrett agreed. "And surrounded by mountains, unless I miss my guess..." Simmons changed the map to a topographical view of the region, confirming Garrett's theory and making him even more determined to find the source of the message that had led them to that location. "Anything, Fitz?"
Fitz shook his head. "The message has been re-routed through about a dozen servers to start. Whoever sent this doesn't want us to know where they sent it from. Skye could probably figure it out..."
"Could *Skye* have been the one to send the message, perhaps?" asked Simmons. "Perhaps she and Agent Coulson want us to bring Quinn there for some reason?"
"Why don't we ask the man himself?" suggested Garrett.
"Agent *Coulson*?" asked Simmons, clearly confused.
Garrett shook his head. "Nope. If this text has something to do with our friend Mr. Quinn, perhaps he'll be able to give us some sort of clue as to what that something might be."
#
Ian Quinn looked up as the door to his holding cell opened. The blood dripping down from the gash over his eye had crusted over as he slept, making opening his eyelids an awkward and uncomfortable process. "Hey," he cracked, "do you think one of your minions could possibly come in here with a washcloth or something like that? I'd hate for the ladies to see me looking like this..."
Ward smacked Quinn across the face, earning the man's silence. Garrett took advantage of the shock to get straight to the point. "Ian," he asked, "what's in Pioneer, Tennessee?"
Quinn's face paled for a split second before he regained his composure. "Dollywood, maybe?" he teased. "Oooh, what about Little House on the Prarie?"
Garrett ignored Quinn's attempts at further wise-cracking, going straight to the intercom once he and Ward left the cell. "Agent May," he ordered, "set our course for Pioneer, Tennessee. Let me know the second we get there."
The resolute determination in his old boss' voice surprised Ward. "Sir?" he asked, confused.
"Did you see that look on Quinn's face, Grant?" Garrett asked.
"I'm not following, sir," Ward countered.
"Whatever's going on in Pioneer, Tennessee, it was obvious that Quinn never, *ever* expected one of us to say those two words to him in the same sentence."
Ward was starting to catch on. "Which is why we need to go there and find out what Quinn was so sure we would never get the chance to see."
Garrett smirked mischeviously. "Exactly."
#
"There," Ryan declared decisively, pointing to a spot on the electronic wall. "Quinn's hideout is right there."
Fallon stretched his hands across the wall, zooming in on the spot that Ryan pointed to. "It's a *mansion*," he told the group. Katya glared at her husband, annoyed at his announcement of what seemed to be obvious. "I'm just saying that it's a bigger place than I was expecting to see on the satellite view..."
"It's just the tip of the iceberg, I assure you," Coulson chimed in. "If that's Centipede's home base then I can guarantee that the building is three times that size below ground."
"And how many people will be in the building?" asked Fallon.
"A couple'a hundred," Esposito replied. "Probably half of them super-soldiers."
Skye's eyes widened. "A *hundred* super-soldiers?" she exclaimed. "You guys are *sure* you can handle that many?"
Esposito shrugged. "We've seen worse."
"A *lot* worse," Ryan agreed.
"How many guys are coming with us?" asked Skye.
Fallon turned to his wife for the answer. "We have thirty men," she replied. "Most of them my best black belts."
Skye was starting to feel a little light-headed. "*Thirty* men?! And you guys are just counting on my shield to give you the upper hand? Against *that* many super soldiers?!"
"We *are* counting on your shield, Skye," said Beckett. "But it's not our only advantage..."
Coulson held up a hand to silence the rest of the room, knowing that any further reassurances were likely to fall on deaf ears. "Do you trust me, Skye?" he asked quietly.
"You know I do," Skye replied.
"Then trust me *now*," Coulson insisted, squeezing Skye's hand. "If the Guardians say they can handle this, they can handle it."
Skye sighed, but reluctantly nodded. "Okay."
"What kind of weapons should we expect?" asked Castle.
"Anything," Coulson replied. "Up to and including major explosives and experimental weaponry."
"Noted," said Castle.
Fallon continued to closely study the map. "Master Sìfāng?" he asked Castle. "Where should we meet up?"
Castle shifted his attention fully to the wall. "There," he directed, pointing out a nearby clearing. "Should have more than enough space, and is concealed far enough away for any guards to not be able to see us."
Fallon seemed to be satisfied with their level of preparation. "Then it seems we're ready to go," he declared.
Skye's heart suddenly started to race. "That means I'm up, right?"
Fallon nodded. "Would it help to meet the guys you're going to be protecting?"
"Yeah," Skye agreed, her voice shaking from nerves. "Yeah, it would."
Fallon stepped aside, clearing the way for Katya to lead Skye out of the conference room and into a nearby exercise room. Skye gasped, surprised by the scene in front of her. The thirty people standing at attention ran the gamut: men and women both, some of whom looked older than Coulson and others who looked like they still had a year or two before graduating high school. Skye walked the three rows of 'soldiers', shaking hands and trying to imprint every face into her memory as she went.
When she finally got to the last being, though, Skye relaxed, finally trusting that the last of the 'soldiers' in the room could easily handle fighting off more than one of the super-soldiers on his own. If the rumors were true, at any rate. "It's so good to see you here...Yoda," Skye greeted her friend.
Bruce shared Skye's smile, hoping his sincerity would help to fight off Skye's obvious case of nerves. "Are you kidding?" he teased. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world."
Someone else in the room also noticed how nervous Skye was getting. Breathe, Skye, Ryan's voice echoed through the young woman's mind. You know you can do this...but it'll be a lot harder if you let your nerves get in the way.
Skye nodded, silently accepting Ryan's instruction. A core of peaceful energy came to life within Skye's being, and she grabbed onto it like a lifeline, waiting for what seemed like an eternity until her heartbeat slowed down to a speed approaching normal. She then pictured that energy rising out from the top of her head, spreading throughout the room. When the energy floated down, covering each and every person going to fight for her freedom, Skye opened her eyes and turned to Fallon. "It's done. We're ready."
The room emptied a split second later.
