A/N:
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm posting early just because it's a holiday and I missed Christmas!
I'm back along with Paige, Coulson, and the rest of the team! I have to say that these chapters are much longer than any of them in The Avengers, so it takes a lot longer for me to get them down. But longer chapters means happier viewers, so I'm willing to suffer the pain.
Shout outs to Rubi Yuki, my first reviewer on this story! Love all the love, hon! Thank you! Also to AoSFanatic, so here is your update!
Disclaimer:
-_- I don't own anything from Marvel. Paige is mine.
-:-
As we flew to our next destination, I took the time to catch up on my studies. My Italian wasn't going to just magically appear in my brain, unfortunately, and Natasha would kill me if I didn't keep up with it. Speaking of Natasha, I should probably check in with her and Clint. Setting my workbook aside, I turned on a call screen."Romanoff, Natasha, Level Seven," I said, and it began to connect the call immediately. I knew that if she wasn't on a mission, she'd be at her house, and Clint would most likely be with her.
Sure enough, her image popped up onscreen, red hair wild and wearing a SHIELD-issue tank top. "Kotenok," she greeted me, and I smiled a little at her nickname. It had taken me a while to figure out how to spell it, and then a little longer to figure out what it meant, but she was basically calling me "kitten" in Russian. When I asked her why, she just shrugged and said, "Because you growl and act all fierce when someone new comes around, but really, you just want your belly rubbed. And you're tiny." In all honesty, I wasn't that much shorter than she was, but I had let the subject drop.
"Just checking in," I informed her. "Where's Clint?"
"Training the new batch of agents," she replied, scrutinizing my appearance. Her eyes locked on the nasty bump on my head that had gone down quite a bit, but was still tender. Her emerald green eyes flashed murderously. "Explain." Her voice brooked no argument.
"Tasha, deep breath," I said calmly. Usually she tried to pretend that she didn't have attachments, but when someone she cared about got hurt, she got homicidal. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Some guy juiced up on a supersoldier serum attacked me with May. It's just a bump. No concussion, nothing serious."
The deprogrammed Russian spy gave me a long, hard stare. "You're with Melinda?" I nodded, knowing what was going through her head. May was probably going to get a call from Natasha asking her to keep an eye on me. "Anyone else I would know?"
My thoughts immediately went to Coulson, but I stayed quiet and said instead, "Grant Ward." Tasha's lip curled in disgust. Clara had told me that when Ward first arrived in SHIELD, he had taken a fancy to Natasha. After a week of her blatantly ignoring him and showing no signs of giving up, Natasha had politely told him to back off. In other words, she pinned him to a wall and got personal. Since, he avoided her, and Natasha (and Clint, for that matter) had never forgiven him.
"Keep an eye on him, Paige," she told me. "And keep up with your schoolwork. I'll tell Clint you called."
"Bye, Tasha." She ended the call, and I laid back on my pillows. It was times like this that I wondered about my mum and brother, Danny. He would be fourteen now. Did he miss me? Was I even missing at home? I was no closer to answers than I had been three years ago after crash-landing into the middle of a war. Yeah, my timing really sucks, doesn't it?
There was a knock on my door. "It's Skye."
"Come on it." The door opened and the woman stepped in. Since moving in, Skye had kind of gravitated towards me. I assumed it was because I was as close to the normalcy she was looking for as she was going to find on this plane. Ward was, in a sense, a robot. May was closed off. Coulson was distant. FitzSimmons… were just plain weird, most of the time. Skye was just looking for a friend who sort of knew what having a normal life was like. I had almost fourteen years of one.
"Hey. Who were you talking to?" she asked, standing awkwardly in the doorway. I motioned for her to come in and sit, which she did.
"Just one of the agents who are in charge of my training. I guess you could call her my handler," I replied. "Anyway, we'd better get out there and get ready to go."
-:-
Not maybe two hours earlier, I had followed Coulson, May, and Ward into the briefing room, where May and Ward continued to argue against Coulson's decision to let Skye tag along.
"Skye? That girl's not qualified to be a SHIELD agent," Ward said.
"Agreed," Coulson replied. "That's why I've invited her on as a consultant. SHIELD does it all the time. Technically, Stark's a consultant." I was silent for the moment, simply watching everything unfold. Skye was busy unpacking her van, so there was no chance of her hearing this.
"And technically, Skye's a member of the Rising Tide. She hacked our RSA implementation," Ward argued.
"Twice," Coulson clarified. "From a laptop. Imagine what she'll do with our resources."
"I am. That's exactly what I'm imagining during this frown," Ward countered. May, like me, was silent and watching how it played out. For now. "You brought me on for risk assessment. She's a risk." Ward leaned towards Coulson. "She doesn't think like us."
"Exactly," Coulson said.
"We have three kids on this Bus, and two of them aren't cleared for combat. Now you're adding a third," May said, almost incredulously. I was just the tiniest bit offended at being called a kid (even though it was true), but her saying I was cleared for combat sort of made up for it.
"At least FitzSimmons are trained SHIELD scientists," ward said. "And Paige is cleared for combat. But Skye? You said this was a select team. Assembled to work new cases, to protect people. I don't see how letting some hacker tag along—"
"You're looking for an objection I haven't already anticipated," Coulson said, finally irritated. "I'm calling this, but your frown will be on record."
"We've been called to investigate an 0-8-4, you know what that means," Ward said. Technically, I was a 0-8-4. An object of unknown origins. Well, unknown to them, but not necessarily unknown to me.
"Yes, we do. It means… we don't know what it means," Coulson said, making the corner of my mouth turn up. He handed May a tablet, and she walked off just as Fitz, Simmons, and Skye came upstairs looking for the bunks.
A few minutes later, May's voice came on over the intercom. "Wheel's up in two. Lock it or loose it." Ward left to give a safety pamphlet to Skye, and Coulson turned to look at me with a sigh.
"I assume you have some complaints of your own," he said.
"You shouldn't assume anything about me, sir," I replied. "I have no complaints." Coulson gave me a long, hard stare, which reminded me so much of Clint and Natasha. So that is where they had learned that from.
"That's right. You were trained by Natasha. Well then, better get settled in." He turned and began to leave the room, probably headed for his office.
"They miss you, you know," I said quietly.
He paused. "I know. But they can't know. Not yet." And then he left. I waited a few minutes before following him out. Heading back to my bunk, I downed some painkillers, twisting my hair into a knot on top of my head and sticking a couple of decorative chopsticks through to hold it in place. Natasha was the one who taught me style, and I never went anywhere without accessories. I then made my way to the cockpit and strapped myself in beside May.
Neither of us said anything. Not for a long while. I knew that if a conversation was going to take place, May had to be the one to start it. Finally, she said, "Fury put you onboard." I immediately knew she was talking about Coulson. The message really was, You know about TAHITI.
"Last minute assignment," I replied. He didn't have a choice.
"And now you're here." How did you know?
"I usually work alone or with a partner. I need to work on group skills." We all have secrets. This one's mine.
-:-
We landed in Peru two hours later; within that time I had contacted Natasha to let her know I was fine, even though the bump on my head certainly didn't help convince her of that. After receiving orders, we all piled into the SUVs and drove into a dig site. I climbed out, looking around.
"Tire tracks forty meters back," Ward said as soon as he got out. "I'll check them against the site's trucks, make sure we're alone."
"Too much exposure here," May said as she looked around. "I'm gonna find a place to park."
"Something feels off," I muttered, my hand sliding to the whip coiled around my waist. Fitz and Simmons were chattering on about monkeys (surprise, surprise) as we made our way into an Incan temple. Skye asked about warning the locals about the potentially dangerous object, only to be shut down by Coulson.
"So what am I doing here?" Skye asked.
"Well, if something gets out, I might need you to create some kind of diversion," Coulson replied. "Put people on the wrong scent."
"So, everything that I'm against," Skye said.
Coulson thought about it for a second. "Yep." And then he headed for the temple, leaving Skye standing there. I took a second to talk to her.
"You get used to it, eventually," I said.
"What, getting left behind?"
"No, the secrets," I replied. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't have personal morals, but you'll eventually learn how to bend those morals to fit the rules. That's what I do. Come on, we have work to do." Inside the temple was dark and dusty, but that wasn't what caught my attention: it was the metal contraption with blue lights stuck into the wall. It totally did not fit inside an ancient temple. Nope.
"Sir, I need you and your team to evacuate this site until we determine the risk associated with this object," Coulson was saying to the professor who had discovered the object. Fitz had started to take out the Dwarves. "Agent Willows will escort you out and make sure you and your team leave safely." One of the Dwarves—Sleepy, if I remembered correctly—flew right past the professor's face.
"Leave the man alone," Simmons chastised the robot.
"Now, for your own safety," Coulson said.
I stepped forward. "This way, professor," I said, letting him lead the way out of the temple. May was waiting outside. "I'm clearing out the team," I informer her before following the professor back to the camp. Ward passed us on the path. Once back where all the others were, I picked up a nearby bullhorn and turned it on,
"Puedo tener su atencion, por favor! Todo el mundo es comenzar a empacar en preparencion para salir de este sitio immediamente!" I yelled into it, and without question, the team began packing things up and into trucks. Suddenly, more trucks started streaming in. These weren't the site trucks. I looked to make sure the crew was well on their way before racing back towards the temple. May had two guys down and Ward had one.
"There's more," I rushed out, pulling the gun from my left thigh and my whip from my waist. "There's—" I didn't have time to finished before trucked pulled up and more guys with guns appeared. Ward held his guy in front of him as a shield and told May,
"You should've taken more guns." Suddenly, I saw the woman in charge and relaxed only slightly. Commandate Camilla Reyes. Ward radioed Coulson, who was out with us a few seconds later, talking in Spanish to the troops in front of us.
Camilla stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at the man in charge with surprise. "Philip?"
Coulson looked equally surprised. "Camilla?" he gestured to her soldiers. "Do you mind?"
She shrugged. "After you." Ward begrudgingly let his shield go, May lowered her stolen guns, and I put my gun away, keeping my whip out. Camilla ordered her men to stand down, and they did immediately, and she made her way up to Phil. They greeted each other, and Camilla pressed a kiss to each of his cheeks.
"Agent Melinda May, Agent Grant Ward, Agent Paige Willows, this is Commandate Camilla Reyes," Coulson informed us, and proceeded to tell us her work agency. They used to work together back in the day, how sweet.
Yep, totally sweet, right up until the part where she tries to kill everyone, I then thought sarcastically.
"Let the team know everything's okay." Ward moved towards the entrance of the temple to complete his orders. Compliance will be rewarded. May followed him. I started to as well, but Coulson motioned for me to stay put.
"I know you found a strange object on Peruvian soil," Reyes said. "We should have a conversation on how to proceed."
"Of course," Coulson said readily. "But an oh-eight-four supersedes all national claims."
"You look good," Reyes complimented, probably hoping to work things out in her favor. Apparently, "back in the day" was too long ago and her memory was a bit hazy on Agent "Unflappable" Coulson.
All he said was, "I work out."
"Come, let me show you something," Reyes said, throwing an arm around his shoulders and leading him down the steps. I followed a couple feet behind, giving her men dubious glances and getting many hostile ones in return. Just as I thought. Camilla offered Coulson "the best chocolate in the world."
"Could've used some sugar," Coulson replied, handing the rest back to me. I took a nibble, and agreed even though the flavor was delicious. I slipped the chocolate into a bag and into my pocket.
Reyes laughed. "You Americans."
"You know me, Camilla," Coulson said. "I'm a simple guy."
"There was nothing "simple" about your last mission here," eyes replied, still smiling, the little witch. Okay, she was taller than me, but most people were. Only sixteen, duh!
"I had some great help," Coulson told her. I was edgy, because two of Reyes's goons were following along behind me where I couldn't see what they were doing. I hated not knowing what people were doing behind my back.
"There isn't any chance we get to keep the device, is there?" Reyes asked, finally cutting to the chase.
"It's not mine to give, but I'm sure we can find a way to resolve this," Coulson said. "Respectfully, in a way that gives your—" Coulson was cut off by an explosion behind us. I whipped around, and the goons began shooting.
"Rebels," Reyes hissed.
"Stay close, on my six," Coulson replied, drawing his gun. "Willows, get to the team and get Skye and FitzSimmons out safely!"
"Yes, sir," I said, pulling out my gun again and running full speed ahead toward the temple. Three rebels blocked my path. One went down with a bullet in the brain, another ran after loosing his gun from a flick of the whip in my hand, only to drop to the ground with a bullet in his calf, and the third dropped his gun and ran after I looked at him and said,
"Boo!" I kept running, shooting, and dodging explosions. How on earth did the rebels get explosives? I ducked inside the temple just in time to see Ward putting the 0-8-4 into a black duffel bag and Fitz freaking out.
"Skye, FitzSimmons, come on and stay close," I ordered. Skye handed Fitz a case, and she was the first one to follow Ward and I out the door. There were too many rebels surrounding the temple entrance. "Get down!" I yelled back to the "kids," who scrambled to do as I said. "Ward, you got the stick?"
"Of course," he replied, pulling it out and extending it. He slammed the point into the ground, and I ducked as the top came off, hovered in mid-air, and let loose an explosion that knock anyone standing to the ground. Ward stood up and grabbed the stick.
I looked back at the other three. "Come on! Hurry! Stay close!" Unfortunately, two of the three were weighed down with equipment, and were unable to get out of the way with any speed at all. There was a sniper, ready to shoot. I saw the SUV pulling up, and started running.
"Paige, what are you doing?" several people called out behind me. Just as May pulled up, blocking the bullets, I ran up the side of the van, flipping up onto the top of the vehicle, and fired off three shots. Three rebels, including the sniper, went down as lifeless bodies. There wasn't enough time for me to get in the van. I smacked the top of it twice, and May must've understood my message, because she hit the gas. If I hadn't held onto the rack for dear life, I would've went tumbling off. Still, I needed both hands to fight. I hit a button on the handle of my whip, and the handle extended and stretched, turning into a harness of sorts, and the whip part secured me to the rack on top. I pulled out a second gun and began shooting at rebels as we went.
Did I mention I had gotten a whole lot braver over the past three years?
Coulson and Reyes were in the truck directly behind us, and behind them was a truck filled with rebels who had machine guns. Really? Explosives and machine guns? What was this, World War One? Sheesh! The ride was bumpy and fast, and I felt several bullets graze me. If I took the time to listen, I could hear faint yelling from inside the vehicle underneath me. Loose strands of hair were whipping around, and dust was flying into my face, forcing me to squish my eyes into slits and make it even harder to hit my targets. Suddenly, we were out in the open, which meant we had made it to the field where the Bus was waiting, hatch open. I ducked down as we flew up into the open hold, and then hit another button on my harness, which shrank back into a handle, unwrapping myself from the van and jumping down, startling Skye as she climbed out.
"You were on top that whole time?" she gasped as I hurried her and the scientists further into the plane.
"Yep, pretty much," I said. "Come on!" she saw that Ward was closing the ramp.
"What are you doing?" she demanded. "Coulson is still out there!"
"Get off the ramp, you're in the line of fire," Ward growled, and I followed him to keep firing at the rebels as Coulson, Reyes, and her goons fled toward the Bus. The gun in my left hand ran out of bullets, and I dropped it to the floor with a curse. Coulson made it on, and Ward left his post to follow him, but I stayed behind and helped three of Camilla's men cover us as the hatch began to shut. When I got back to my team, they were discussing the 0-8-4.
"You're saying that it's nuclear," Ward was saying.
"No," Coulson replied gravely. "It's much worse." They all scooted back from the thing a little further. Then he saw me: dusty, windblown out of breath, my catsuit covered in rips from bullets. "Willows, what were you thinking?" he demanded.
"I was thinking that if I took the time to get down off the van and inside I, we wouldn't have made it," I replied, wincing some as I coiled up my whip. "I planned accordingly from that point on."
"You could've been killed," he said.
"But I wasn't," I said. "Trained by Natasha, remember? Clint too." He was still angry, that much I could tell. "Hey, you told me to get them out safely. I did."
"I meant get yourself out safely as well," he said, stepping forward to support me as I made my way towards the lab to get patched up.
"I'm alive, aren't I?"
"Agent Willows, you will not take unnecessary risks, do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir," I said, not bothering to try and argue that the risk was necessary.
-:-
Nine bullet grazes. Luckily, only three needed stitches, and no more than three stitches we needed on the scratches. Needless to say, my body hurt. Nothing painkillers wouldn't fix, and I had doctor's orders not to strain myself until they've healed. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to get the chance to do that for a while. I was now sitting in the commons area, trying not to make any sudden movements. I was soon joined by Reyes and what was left of her men. She took a seat next to me.
"So, do you often ride on top of a car during a gun fight?" she asked, making me laugh a little, despite myself and my distrust for her. I winced a little as the movement pilled at the two grazes on my side.
"Not often, no," I replied. "Just when the situation calls for it."
"You look a little young to be in all of this," Reyes said, gesturing around the Bus. I debated on what I was able to tell her without giving too much information away or showing that I didn't trust her. I had to let fate run its course.
"Probably because I am," I said, taking a drink from the water bottle Coulson had given me. "I'm sixteen. But even though I have training, I don't have enough teamwork skills, so I get thrown on this plane with everyone else and someone Fury trusts completely to keep an eye on me. I like to get into trouble."
Reyes laughed. "Paige Willows, I think I like you." That was when Coulson came up, and they went upstairs to his office. I stood up and joined May in the cockpit. I knew what was coming, I knew how this whole thing would end, but I preferred May's company to anyone else's/ Coulson came in briefly to ask HQ for permission to fly into restricted airspace and to apologize to May for her seeing combat, all through which she stayed silent. I could tell she was mad, and figured she wouldn't talk for a while. I stared out at the passing clouds, knowing that Skye and Ward were probably talking and working out their differences, and that any minute, gas would leak into the cockpit and knock us both unconscious.
"You want to tell me why I got a call from Romanoff?" May asked, so suddenly that I started a bit. I knew Natasha would call her, I didn't think it would happen so soon.
"Natasha can be… protective," I finished lamely. "When I called her to check in earlier today, she saw the bump from Mike and sort of flipped. I accidentally let slip that you were with me on the team. I assume she asked you to look out for me?"
May nodded. "She's not going to be happy when she sees those grazes. That was a stupid stunt you pulled back there," May reprimanded. Before I could even begin to defend myself, she said, "But, I understand why you did it. It was necessary."
"I'm glad someone realizes that," I muttered, shifting in my seat.
"Coulson does, too," May confided. "He worries. You're an Avenger. You replaced him on Strike Team Delta, and he doesn't want Barton and Romanoff to loose you, too."
I was shocked, to say the least. "I wouldn't—couldn't—replace Coulson on Strike team Delta," I said. "And I haven't."
"But you've helped," May said calmly, turning to follow a certain flight path. "You've eased the pain, if only a little bit. He's kept track of them. And you." And then she shut up and left me to my own musings. Did I really help ease Clint and Natasha's pain of loosing Coulson? Suddenly, my vision blurred, and the last thing I saw was May loosing consciousness before I was out like a light.
-:-
When I woke up, my hands were tied behind my back with a ziptie, and my head was fuzzy. The tie was tight enough that I'd have to pull my thumb in unnaturally (and very painfully, I might add) far in to get one hand out. In simpler terms, I had to dislocate my thumb. May was already awake and up.
"Paige, thank goodness," Simmons said.
"We're just making a plan to escape," Skye informed me, and then May continued.
"Can't go through the doors. They're bolted, tied to the pressurization lines," she said, and I tried to clear the fuzziness out of my head. Whatever gas they used was definitely not one I would like to encounter again. It worked fast, dang it! "You two geniuses have anything?"
"It's hard to concentrate in these tense situations," Fitz defended himself.
"Deep breaths do wonders, Fitz," I said calmly, kindly. "Take some. It'll clear your mind." It always worked for me, unless I was panicking because of a dream, but I wasn't about to say anything about my dreams.
"Agreed," Ward said. "Don't freeze up. Take a breath. You don't have to come up with the whole solution. Just part of it, right?" the last question was directed at Skye, and I could hear the smile in her voice.
"Yeah," she said. "Pieces solving a puzzle."
"I love puzzles," I added in my useless random fact, because I was now focusing on the wrong subject, like I usually did. Three, almost four years of training, and I still was focusing on the things that didn't really matter in life-or-death situations. Hmm. I should probably get that checked out or something. All of them looked at me like I was crazy. "What?" I asked.
"Doesn't matter," Skye said, and proceeded to tell us her plan, which consisted of escaping, getting the 0-8-4, and blasting a hole in the side of the Bus with it.
"Well that's clearly the worst idea we've heard yet," Simmons said as soon as Skye was done explaining.
"But it could work," Skye defended.
"Reyes is going to kill us the minute we land regardless and blame it on rebels," Ward added his opinion. "This way, we have a fighting chance. I'll take it. What's first?" May turned to look at me and got my attention.
Her eyes said, You coming with?
Absolutely, mine replied. I began massaging the thumb of my right hand with my left one, bracing myself for the inevitable pain.
"We can't get upstairs without going through the lab," Fitz started.
"And the only way to release the lab doors is from upstairs," Simmons finished. I took three deep breaths, because my heart was racing and even though I didn't have my heart monitor on anymore, I had to keep it below 180 beats per minute.
"The first thing is we're tied to the cargo door," Skye said, struggling. "So unless you can—" her sentence was cut off by the loud crack of May dislocating her wrist. She had bigger hands than I did, and hers were positioned. May's loud crack was followed by the smaller one of my thumb dislocating, and I clenched my teeth against the pain.
"What the hell was that?" Fitz demanded.
Ward looked faintly disgusted. "Her wrist," he replied. "And most likely Paige's thumb." I freed myself from the ziptie and popped my thumb back into place with a sharp breath. What was worse than dislocating a joint? Popping it back into place. I stood up, helped May to her feet, and then boosted her up above the catwalk overlooking the cargo hold. I had just enough time to duck into the back on an SUV before one of Reyes's men came through. I didn't see what happened, but I heard May take the guy out. I climbed out and made my way toward the team.
May snapped her wrist back into place. "What's next?" we chorused. The others just blinked at us until I started untying them. I pulled out a knife hidden in my bra and began to hack at ward's bindings. If there is one place no one ever thinks to check for weapons on a woman, it's her bra. They took my guns and my whip, but I still had this.
Upon seeing Ward's expression, I recited, "Rule Three: don't go anywhere without a knife."
When everyone was free, they stood up and confirmed jobs. May had joined us in the hold and made her way toward the SUV. The others were confirming their positions on the matter, because in all honesty, Skye's plan was a disaster waiting to happen.
An engine revved, capturing the others' attentions. May was standing halfway inside the SUV. "You guys talk a lot," was all she said before climbing all the way in. Ward, Skye, Fitz, and Simmons hurried out of her way just as May hit the gas and slammed into the lab doors, crashing straight through. I was the first one moving towards it. I followed May through the doors, and we rushed to get to the cockpit. I heard and felt the explosion rip through the plane as the 0-8-4 blasted a hole in the side of the Bus, and I could hear Fury's ranting now. The Bus was going all over the place, making it hard to balance. When we made it to the cockpit, May knocked out the goon piloting, and while she steadied the But, I hog-tied him with my whip (which had been left on the ground, apparently).
"We can't stay in the air much longer," I said breathlessly, standing up after finishing my task.
"I know," May said loudly. "Get over here and help me!" Hah, okay, because I totally knew how to fly a jet! I'm sixteen, for crying out loud! I can't even drive a car without supervision! Still I sat down in the co-pilot seat and did what she commanded.
Suddenly, the plane stopped jerking to the right and straightened out. "They found a way to cover the hole," I said, relieved.
-:-
The Slingshot, a classified base, is where we stopped to fix the plane and get rid of the 0-8-4. I really hated 0-8-4s. Maybe even as much as Infinity Stones. Wait, scratch that. Still, it was a pretty close competition. I checked my bunk—weapons, clothes, and personal items were flung all over the place, but everything was fine other than that.
At the moment, I was standing by the open cargo hatch, while Skye talked to Coulson and May and Ward discussed Skye becoming an agent. FitzSimmons arrived, carrying a cooler filled with beer.
"Hey, come on, you guys don't want to miss this," Fitz said. As he sat down and began rambling about how fast it would take the 0-8-4 to reach the Sun. Simmons handed me a bottle of Coke, and I took it with a smile before sitting down next to may.
"—It's an irregularity," Simmons was saying. "Not… the norm."
Coulson was looking down at us. "Speaking of "not the norm," whose idea was it to blow a hole in the side of the plane?" whoops. We all stared up at him like kids who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
"May… said that the doors were tied to the pressurization so I thought—" Skye started, only to be cut off by Simmons.
"So we thought it was the only way to release them."
"It was everyone's idea, sir," Ward added.
"Yeah, it was quite genius, really," Fitz agreed. For a tense moment, we all stared up at the man in charge, waiting for the hammer to fall.
All Coulson said was, "Nice work."
"All clear for lift off!" came a voice over a loudspeaker.
"Oh, time for blast off," Fitz said, then plugged his nose for comic effect, making Simmons laugh and the rest of us smile. "Launching in three, two…" the rocket holding the 0-8-4 lifted off the ground in a column of smoke. Fitz and Simmons rambled briefly in Science, and Ward said,
"Guys, English." We all watched the rocket disappear into the cloud layer. I took a drink of my Coke, and pulled out the Peruvian chocolate from earlier, popping it into my mouth.
Behind me, I knew Sky had gotten a message from the Rising Tide, asking about her status on a hack they were running.
Behind me, I knew Skye had replied.
I'm in.
-:-
Ooh, Skye! Just kidding, it's not that big of a deal. Yet. Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR (again), and by the way: I don't believe in New Years resolutions, so neither should you! Enjoy!
Love,
Angel