They stayed on the bridge in shock for a solid half hour before even considering going back to the Bus. May looked like she was about to fall over in more ways than one. When she reached for the drivers door, Skye put a hand over hers. "You shouldn't drive." She said softly. "You can hardly stand."
May glared, a fire behind her eyes, but Skye stood her ground. "I know you can't, I can feel it." She swallowed. "It's Coulson, right? He's... out of it."
"Tranquillised." She supplied, swaying slightly. "He's- in and out." May surrendered, climbing into the passengers seat. Fitzsimmons sat on either side of Ace, doing all they could to keep him distracted.
Skye frowned, starting the car. "You can't block it?"
"This is me blocking it." Bile rose in her throat. "It's new. If I didn't know better..."
Skye stared, pulling them away. "You don't think they could know?"
"I don't know how they could."
"It's possible that it's a side-effect." Jemma said softly. "But less likely. It would be unnecessarily strong if it's impacting you and the others through Coulson."
"They can't know." May said. "The only ones who know about sensates are other sensates. Hard to sell out people who share your thoughts."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
May was proud of how well the kids had gone rounding up Vanchat, to the point that she almost felt better. She couldn't feel him though. Even now.
Tori was on mission with them, Izzy was dropping in. Maria, however, was running it.
Tori found her in the cockpit. "Got anything from him?"
She shook her head.
Tori grimaced. "Me neither. They must still have him under sedation."
May nodded.
"You had any sleep?"
A glare.
She rolled her eyes. "Mel, you have to rest."
"Later."
"Fine. Just eat something." Tori held out a protein bar.
Melinda snatched it. "Fine." She grumbled, taking a bite.
Tori raised an eyebrow, but remained silent for a while. Eventually she said, "Your kids are doing well."
"They're not my kids."
"You know what I mean."
"You should say what you mean."
"You're being stubborn and unreasonable. That's what I mean."
As always, Tori confronting her was what made Melinda realise she was on the defensive. "Sorry." She muttered, "Everything's just... we can't lose him again."
"We won't." Tori said. "And it wasn't your fault."
Melinda set her jaw. "I could have stopped him."
"Sure. So could I. So could Izzy."
"You weren't there."
"We're always there. Haven't you accepted that by now?"
Melinda sighed. "Skye needs to be off this plane."
Tori frowned. "Look, I know you don't like calling them your kids but that seems a little extreme."
She crushed a piece of the protein bar between her teeth. It felt good to put some force behind something. "She can't find Coulson with all these agents around. She doesn't work well inside the system."
"You really think she can find him. That one kid who's not even a SHIELD agent."
"She can do it."
Tori nodded. "I believe you. It's just been a long time since you've had that kind of faith in someone."
"She's good."
"I know."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Skye was fighting against her tracker bracelet when May appeared. She looked up at her. May looked tired. She probably did too. Her bunk door was still shut, guarding Skye from any prying eyes. She swallowed. "I can find him."
"I know you can." May said, stepping closer. "But you can't do it here."
Skye felt her heart rate speed up at the words. "Fitzsimmons could-"
"No. They'd get noticed, and then we'd be in an even worse position." May sat down beside her. "Skye, the only way you can do this is if you're off the Bus."
She clenched her hands into fists. "I- how? I'm meant to be on SHIELD's watch list. Hill can't just let me go."
"We've got a car organised. They'll take you somewhere safe before the others even notice you're gone." Skye looked so scared and uncertain that May sighed. "I know you can find him Skye, I trust you to do it."
Skye swallowed. "You promise you're not just trying to get rid of me?" She asked, failing at making it sound like a joke.
Melinda gently eased Skye's thoughts back to normal. "I promise." She said softly. "We'll come back for you, no matter what happens."
She knew that Skye was going to hug her. Even without feeling her emotions that was pretty clear May knew that she couldn't bring herself to push her away.
Skye clung to her tightly, taking a few deep breaths to calm down. This wasn't what she wanted to be. She didn't want to be some clingy kid. She wanted to be an agent. She wanted to find Coulson. She closed her eyes for a moment. "I'll see you soon."
May nodded. "Soon. You can always find us."
"I know."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
May let her mind fall back to the cockpit. "Have you gotten anything from him?" She asked Tori.
She shook her head. "No."
"Me neither." Izzy grimaced. "He could be anywhere."
"Skye will find him."
Izzy smiled. "She's a great kid."
Melinda snorted. "You going to adopt?"
"I can't," Izzy shot back, "You beat me to it."
Before she could retort, all three of them doubled over in pain, clutching their heads.
"Son of a-" Izzy spat when it abetted, "What the hell was that?"
"Phil?" Tori tried to get through. "Do you guys have anything?"
"Only a migraine." Izzy grunted, rubbing her eyes. "They- they did something."
"How?" Melinda groaned, "How can they even know?" A horrifying thought occurred to her. "What if that's why they took him? Because..."
Izzy set her jaw. "Having a cluster of supersoldiers..."
"Good." Tori said firmly. "It means they can't kill him. Which means we have time. Phil's tough."
There was a knock on the cockpit and Izzy vanished. "Agent May, Agent Hand." Maria Hill said, "We could use you in the briefing room."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Skye took it as a statement of the gravity of the situation that Jemma wasn't disapproving of Skye's frankly extensive thievery. Or that neither of them were reminding her that she didn't technically have her license.
She stopped the car, trying to work out how to get it back to Rathman's house. She scowled. This would all be so much easier without this stupid bracelet. She was almost tempted to break her hand to get it off, but no. She could get around it. She could get around anything.
Her team believed in her.
Her eyes fell onto the water barrels by the road. Skye swallowed. "Guys, brace yourselves." She said out loud. "I've just had a really bad idea."
Fitz appeared behind her. "Skye..."
She floored the pedal before he could say anything.
May jumped slightly at the loud banging and splashing, but she caught herself before she made a more pronounced reaction. She looked to Hill. "Your interrogation isn't working." She said flatly. "Give me five minutes. And turn off the surveillance."
Maria raised an eyebrow. "You going to break any laws Agent May?"
"None that you can prove." She said, walking to the interrogation room. No one endangered Phil on her watch.
Skye caught her breath as the roadside assistance towed her right to Rathman's house. Jemma appeared in the passenger seat. "That was reckless."
Skye rolled her eyes. "It's fine Jemma. Not like you guys are being super well behaved right now anyway."
Jemma glared, simultaneously watching Vanchat flailing to avoid being sucked out of the plane. "Well honestly, we're just doing what we need to do to get Coulson back."
"So am I!"
Jemma sighed. "I suppose you're right." She said, "Just be careful. None of us want to lose you."
Skye smiled. "I'm fine. We've all been through worse than this. We'll find Coulson."
"I know we will."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
It wasn't hard to get into Rathman's house. Nor was it hard to intimidate him. Skye had kind of thought a guy who was in as many shady deals as he was would have a bit more of a spine than demanding to see her badge. Like he was some pissed off customer at a store.
Hell, half the reason she took his car was just because he'd annoyed her.
"Guys?" She said as she sped down the highway. The wind howled in her ears. Belatedly Skye wished she'd stolen the SUV. "I've got a lead on where they might be holding Coulson."
"Skye?" May appeared in the passenger seat. "What did you find?"
Skye frowned. "What's wrong?" She asked, "You..."
"They're hurting him." She muttered, wincing, "So they're hurting us too. Where is he?"
"Some abandoned lot out in Arizona." Skye said, "I'm going there now, you guys can read the coordinates from me, right?"
May nodded. "We'll meet you there, do not engage without backup, understood?"
Skye nodded. "I'll see you soon."
"Be careful. We're right behind you."
May shook herself, going back to the Bus. "Skye has him." She muttered to Tori. "We just need to get there."
Tori wet her lips. "Izzy's been unofficially running her own mission to find him." She said, "If she calls Maria with the location Skye gave you, your team could have clearance to go after him with the Bus while the rest of us follow Vanchat's names."
"Copy that." Izzy saluted from the Triskellion, dialling Hill's number.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Skye arrived at the lot, and there was an undercurrent unease about the whole thing. The dust bowls. The silence, just that little bit too quiet. The hairs on the back of her neck stuck up.
She was really wishing she'd taken the SUV. Anything that threw up less of a dusty trail. Made less noise on approaching off road. Skye knew that she promised May she'd wait for backup, but technically she always had backup. Right?
Skye got out of the car, willing her nerves to go down at the sight of the creepy mannequins and the empty houses. The wind blew her ponytail up. She didn't like this. But Coulson was here somewhere.
"You shouldn't be here."
Skye turned at the voice, eyes widening. A centipede soldier. Part of her was happy. This meant that Coulson was definitely here.
On the other hand...
She was about to run when Skye found that she couldn't move. No, she could. Her arms just weren't listening to her. Then again, her arms were pretty conclusively beating the crap out of this guy, so she wasn't going to complain too much.
The soldier fell down, unconscious, when she landed a hit to the temple. Skye looked up when she heard the familiar growl of their SHIELD SUV. Relief flooded her senses until May rounded the corner and grabbed her by the collar. "Is this waiting for backup?" She growled, dragging Skye along with her.
Skye grinned when she caught sight of Fitzsimmons hurrying after them, Izzy on their tail. "Well I've always got backup. Right?"
May let her go, shoving her. "You know that's not what I meant. Split up. Find him."
Skye nodded, running for the nearest door. "Coulson!"
She jumped when she felt Jemma duck an attacker, who Izzy promptly nailed in the face with their latest night-night serum. Skye hurried to the next door, hearing the noise from inside.
As she got closer, her stomach dropped.
"Please let me die! Please!"
She ran to the house, May right behind her, and found Raina looking over Coulson, writhing and screaming in whatever kind of torture device they had hooked him up to. Anger boiled her blood.
"It's for his own good." Raina said, and Skye promptly punched her in the face, knocking her unconscious.
She ran to the controls, pressing buttons randomly in the hopes of shutting it down as Coulson continued to beg for death.
Melinda watched in horror as her partner whimpered and pleaded. Her eyes followed the power lines to the wall, where she immediately ripped them from. Both relaxed when they saw that this caused the machine to power down.
Skye clung to his hand and May sank to the ground. Their proximity brought their connection back somewhat. "Izzy," She gasped. "We found him. Don't come in."
"Skye," Coulson gasped, coming back to reality. "Skye."
May dragged herself over to him, taking his other hand. "Phil."
"Mel." He whispered, "Oh thank God."
They were helping him up when Izzy came in. "It's been two minutes." She said, "That's long enough." She pulled Phil into a crushing hug. "God Philly, can you go a few months without almost dying?"
Skye started to smile, the emergency over. "Philly?"
Melinda grinned weakly.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
As soon as they made it clear, Coulson was swept away by a med team and some serious looking agents. Skye watched nervously as they took him to the med bay, and May appeared at her shoulder. "Nice jacket."
Skye looked at her, and her eyes widened when she saw the smirk on her face. She laughed nervously. "I had to scare him a bit is all."
"Hmm." Skye couldn't help but get the feeling that May found it funny. Which was kind of a relief. "You found him."
Skye blushed a little, kicking her feet. "I said I could."
"Good job."
Skye smiled bashfully, looking down. She was proud, but she didn't want to act like it. "Thanks." She muttered.
Coulson watched from the top of the stairs as they took Raina away. She looked to him, but he gave no reaction. Tori and Hill approached up the ramp.
"I've just been on the phone with HQ," Maria said, "Fury's relieved that you're back."
He nodded. "I understand you've been busy."
Maria cocked her head, "Well we've been taking those bastards down, so yeah. Nice plane you've got."
"You can't have it." He said flatly, and Tori grinned from behind Maria.
Maria smirked. "Maybe not today." She said. "It's good to have you back Phil."
"Thank you." He extended a hand to shake hers. "For your help."
"Any time." Maria said warmly. "We'd hate to lose you."
Tori remained, and Izzy and the others immediately approached him as the cargo ramp came up. Phil looked at each of them. He didn't have a family, but this was as close as he would ever get. "I just want to say... thank you." He said, voice rough with suppressed emotion.
Melinda nodded, refusing to be the one to cave and hug him first.
Coulson straightened, "Now get back to work."
Fitz and Jemma smiled, walking back to the lab. Skye hesitated, wanting to talk to him, but then realised that maybe this was just a moment for their cluster to be together. She followed her own cluster away. She could talk to him later.
Phil watched them go with a smile. "They did good." He said softly.
A moment later Izzy launched at him, squeezing tightly enough that he grunted through laughter, "Ow- hey, Izzy!"
She grinned, not letting up, "Ugh, you jerk, it was my turn to almost die!"
Melinda and Tori stumbled into the hug by no will of their own and Tori sighed. "Izzy goddamnit."
"Shut up Tori, you're mine."
May fought valiantly not to smile, but she just couldn't hold it in. Everything was okay. Everyone was safe.
Besides, she was pretty sure the smiling was all Izzy and Skye's fault anyway.
"Sure," Izzy teased, poking her, "You keep telling yourself that, softie."
Phil laughed and Melinda buried her head in his chest. This was okay. This was good.
This was home.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Skye was heading to the kitchen for a late night snack when she ran into Coulson again. Or maybe he was waiting for her. It seemed like he was, by how unsurprised he seemed to see her. He smiled, gesturing for her to join him across the small table. "I heard what you did for me." He said softly, so as not to wake the others. "Thank you, Skye."
Skye looked down. "Well I couldn't just... I had to help."
"I know you did." He murmured. "That's what's most important." Coulson reached for her arm, gently taking her hand. "I think it's time to take this off." He brought the bracelet closer to him. "Disengage bracelet."
Skye stared as it released. "Wait, that's it?"
He grinned. "I thought you'd like that."
Skye smiled shyly. "Thank you." She said. "For trusting me. It means a lot."
"You saved my life." He murmured.
"Yeah." Skye said, "But.."
"You're a part of this team Skye." Coulson said, his eyes going right through her. "You're part of your cluster, and mine. We're not going to turn our backs. I promise."