They seemed to fall into a routine pretty quickly: go down one floor, have Skye knock out the 'normals' on the other side of the door, then have someone (usually Bruce) take out any super-guards before they were able to sound an alarm to warn the rest of Centipede to their presence. "This seems too easy," Skye insisted as Coulson opened the door to the stairwell.
"You worry too much," teased Coulson.
The fifth floor began the same way the previous floors had; Skye peeked out of a crack in the door to survey the scene, then projected her 'spell' across the floor.
Beckett stretched her hearing to confirm that the sleep projection had worked. "Clear," she announced.
They filed into a lab that was bigger and more high-tech than any of the others that they had seen to that point. Castle scanned the area around him as they went, his active mind trying and failing to piece together what he was seeing. "What are they *working* on down here?" he asked.
"Creating the ultimate super-soldier," answered Coulson. "The guys we've been fighting have been the failed attempts."
Castle's eyes flew wide. "*Failed* attempts?" he exclaimed. "We haven't met the latest version yet?!"
Skye's breath caught in her throat. "I think we might have just found him."
The group cautiously approached the operating table that Skye was staring at. It was taking all of Bruce's control to not feel the emotions rolling off the younger woman in waves. "You know him, don't you?"
Skye wiped tears away from her eyes as she nodded. "His name's Mike Peterson. He's a friend of mine...was a friend of mine..."
The hum of a laser told Coulson that Skye's projection had stopped Peterson's doctors in the middle of some sort of procedure. "Doctor Banner?" he asked Bruce. "Can you turn that off, please?"
Bruce found the power switch for the laser unit and shut it off, then pulled the unit out of the ceiling in a shower of angry sparks and threw it aside.
Skye ignored the noise, unable as she was to take her gaze off of the severe scarring on her friend's face. "What did they do to him?" she asked, choking back a sob.
"Judging from what I can see of his injuries," Bruce seethed, "he either died or almost died. The tech is what these SOBs are using to keep him alive."
"And under their control," added Coulson. For the Guardians, he explained, "the Clairvoyant implants a special chip in the brains of his super-soldiers. They're given orders through the chip and if they don't obey, he sends an electric pulse into the chip that kills them instantly."
"The explosion?" Skye asked Coulson.
Coulson nodded. "That would be my guess," he agreed.
"God, Mike," Skye whispered using one hand to wipe tears away from her eyes as she used her other hand to gently caress the scars on Mike's cheek. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry..."
Mike ripped the restraints off his wrists, grabbing Skye's hand and twisting it at an painful and unnatural angle. His other hand slipped between Skye's legs. He sat up and lifted Skye up over his head. Peterson threw Skye across the room, breaking shelves, beakers and computers as she went until she hit the opposite wall and dropped, unconscious, to the floor. He scanned the room and sized up his opponents - only one of whom he recognized. "Coulson," he spat angrily, breathing out the word as more of a threat than a greeting.
Coulson faced Peterson in a defensive crouch. "Mike," he warned. "You don't have to do this."
"NO!" Mike screamed. "You abandoned me to these people, 'Agent' Coulson! Believe me, I *want* to do this."
He raised his arm, pointing a closed fist at Coulson. The metal sleeve on his arm expanded to show a miniature rocket launcher. Coulson dove to the side once the rocket launched, away from where he knew Skye had collapsed. He was safely underneath a lab table when the rocket exploded behind him; the tiger rolled him safely out of the way of the path of the blast.
Bruce took Peterson's metal arm and forced it to a safe position behind the super-solider's back. Peterson twisted his metal leg, lifting his foot until it was between Banner's legs, and with a swift kick pushed Banner away from him and through the lab doors behind him. Banner shoved the debris away from his body and stood up, his eyes glowing green as he growled, "this guy is really starting to piss me off..."
Ryan stepped away from the chaos of the gang fight and tried to open his mind, determined to connect with Peterson and find out what was driving his fury. He failed. "There's too much interference," he called out to Castle over the sounds of Peterson fighting Coulson, Beckett and Banner. "I can't reach him."
Castle threw up shields to protect his team even as he tried to fling energy bolts at the cybernetic super-solder. Peterson moved quick enough to keep from getting directly hit by the blasts but not quick enough to protect his extremities; his hands and human leg twitched from the impacts, even though he pushed on, seemingly unable to feel the attacks on his body.
And then, all of a sudden...the attacks just stopped. Mike Peterson seemed anchored to his spot, unable to move save for the twitching in his hands and feet. Castle took the opportunity to cast a full containment shield around the super-soldier, then Coulson pointed his pistol at their prisoner's head.
"Put the gun down, AC," Skye declared weakly.
The attention of the group shifted away from Peterson and toward the one person that they had not expected to hear from. "Skye?" Coulson asked. He swallowed hard at the sight of her injuries, trying and failing to not flash back to one of the worst days of his life. "Are you...?"
Skye ignored her mentor. Her attention was completely and exclusively focused on her former friend. "You don't have to do this, Mike. We can help you. Make you better. Get you back with your son."
"No," Mike exclaimed, his voice shaking from anger and disbelief. "It's too late for that now. I...I can't..."
"You *can*," Skye argued. "You're a *good* man, Mike."
The power of Skye's gift pushed past all of the technology and pain in Mike's head. "I'm a g-g-good man," he stammered, weakly and slowly.
"You don't have to fight. You don't have to kill."
"Don't have to fight," Mike repeated blankly. "Don't have to kill."
"You don't have to serve the Clairvoyant anymore..."
Skye's last words broke her hold on Mike as fear overwhelmed him. "No! You don't understand. I'm not in control anymore. *He* is. If I don't do everything he says, he'll...he'll kill me. I'm surprised he hasn't already."
"That's because of this," insisted Skye. She poked a finger at the shield surrounding Peterson, setting off a ripple of blue energy from the spot. "Mike, these people...these people can do things that nobody else in the world can do. They healed me when I should have died. They showed me things I never would have believed before. They're protecting you from the Clairvoyant even now. They can get that chip out of your head. I promise you, they can help you get your life back. They may be the *only* ones that can help you get your life back."
Mike's face fell. He leaned back against the shield in surrender, only to jump back when the energy of the shield shocked him back to attention. When the sting of the shock passed, he turned his attention back to Skye. "But I just tried to kill them. To kill *you*," he insisted quietly. "Why would they want to help me anymore?"
"Because that's what they *do*," Skye countered. She turned to talk to Castle. "Can you and Yoda here take Mike back to the Yīzhì? Can she help him like she helped me?"
Coulson saw the determination on Skye's face and knew that he couldn't just say no to her outright. "I vote we bring everyone down here," he suggested. "I know what I would do, but he would be going to your house, not mine. It should be your call."
The instant arrival of four new faces in the lab stunned Mike to his core. "How...did I just see what I think I saw?"
"Told ya," Skye replied with a smile.
Fallon took in the situation, quickly recognizing the shield around the man in the middle of the room - and the ruins surrounding him that probably necessitated the casting of said shield. "Is he...?" Fallon asked Coulson.
Skye shook her head. "This is not the Clairvoyant. This is my friend Mike Peterson. He's a *victim* of the Clairvoyant. I'd like to see him get treatment for his injuries..."
"What kind of treatment?" asked Esposito, his being radiating a defensiveness that showed he was on high alert.
Skye didn't back down. "The same kind of treatment that saved me," she insisted, knowing that Esposito would recognize exactly what that meant.
Esposito realized he didn't have nearly enough information on the situation surrounding him. "I need instant replay. What about you guys?"
Mike watched the heads around the room nod in agreement, frowning when he realized that he might be the only one in the room who didn't understand the meaning behind the reference. "Instant replay?"
"Quiet," Skye ordered him.
Once the memories of the fight replayed through the minds of everyone in the group, their opinions on Mike's fate became decidedly more conflicted. "Not a chance in hell," declared Esposito. "There's no way we should let that...that *thing* into the warehouse."
Alexis was on the other side of the matter. "But what if your wife can help him?" she argued. "He's got a son. Wouldn't you want someone to help your father if your father was in his shoes..."
"My father wouldn't have been stupid enough to *get* into his shoes," Esposito growled.
"You've *seen* Oz!" Skye countered, knowing that Esposito had a copy of her memories of the child. "You mean to tell me that you can look at the face of that sweet little boy and *choose* to take his father away from him?!"
Esposito gawked at the group, dumbfounded at why no one else seemed to be on his side. "This...thing is *not* Oz's father!" he argued. "Not anymore!"
"Pull his memories!" Skye argued back. "He's saved people's lives. He fought for our country. He joined SHIELD to *help* people..."
"ENOUGH!" Fallon yelled. "I don't do this very often, but 'technically' I'm the boss here and I'm gonna pull rank for once. We don't have time for this." He turned to Castle. "Can you keep this shield up *as* you transport him to the warehouse?"
Castle nodded. "Not a problem."
"Then I see no reason not to take Mr. Peterson here to the warehouse and give him the chance to get his normal life back." Fallon pushed his way through until he was directly on the opposite side of the shield from the subject of their argument. "But you get *one* chance, Mr. Peterson. See, the universe has seen to it that Master Sìfāng here can't kill you. But that doesn't mean that he can't teleport you into the heart of a volcano. Where you would suffer for the rest of your natural life. Do you understand where I'm going with this, Mr. Peterson?"
Mike nodded, swallowing hard as he contemplated the idea of living the rest of his life boiling in melted lava. "Yes, sir. I understand."
"Then Master Sìfāng, you should go with him, along with you, Yoda. The Yīzhì may need extra muscle and medical help." Bruce nodded.
"Skye, you should go with them, too," Coulson ordered.
Skye's jaw hit the floor. "No!" she exclaimed. "Don't do this to me! This is the man that killed my mother, and now you're telling me I can't..."
"You're *walking* *wounded*, Skye," Coulson insisted. "Your injuries are a weakness that the Clairvoyant can use against us." His face softened as his next words poured out with overwhelming emotion. "You almost died in my arms once. I refuse to go through that again. Not when I can do something about it."
Coulson's sincere declaration melted Skye's heart. She wrapped her arms around her mentor and leaned into his embrace. The SHIELD agent took advantage of the opportunity. He turned to Fallon, who turned to Castle in a moment of unspoken communication.
When Skye disappeared from his arms, Coulson's expression hardened into pure determination and fury. He turned to Esposito. "Any traps above us? Any bombs that could send this place crashing down on our heads?"
"Not anymore," Esposito replied.
"What about below us?"
Ryan shook his head. "He never expected any of his enemies to get down this far."
"Can young Ms. Crusher here get us to him?" When Alexis and Ryan nodded, Coulson eyes flashed with orange light as he ordered them, "Then get us there. I've had it up to here with this guy. It's past time we end this."
The rest of the group disappeared.
#
A/N: I know I haven't really begged for comments since we started this story, but *no* comments on Chapter 17? I'm going to try not to take that personally...*sniff*
