The timing had to be perfect. As soon as the Bus reached the coast they would send the Iron Legion to attack. Tony, Fitz, and Bruce had done all kinds of calculations to check that their timing would be precise. From when the first blast of the Iron Legion hit the base's missile defenses to the moment the Bus touched down would be exactly 8 minutes. That would be enough time for the Legion to destroy their defenses according to Tony and hopefully not enough time for Hydra to recover and prepare internal defenses. Also, hopefully not enough time for anyone to hurt Skye in retaliation.
Then, the Iron Legion would patrol the perimeter, taking out any planes that Hydra launched, either to attack or escape, and any men that came outside to fight them off. The four teams would enter the base and split up to find Skye. Team 1 consisting of Coulson, Natasha, and Simmons. Team 2 with May, Clint, and Mack. Team 3, Tony, Fitz, and Tripp. And Team 4 would be Steve, Bobbi, and Hunter.
May was staying in the cockpit until the plane touched down, not trusting autopilot to land in the midst of the explosions that would be occurring. Tony was in the command center, waiting to send the Iron Legion into battle at the exact right moment. Everyone else was in the cargo bay, they hadn't brought any cars so there was room for everyone to stand in their respective teams. Bruce was standing by the doors to the old lab turned garage now med bay. The garage had been converted into a medical bay by Jemma weeks ago in the hope that they would find Skye. She had stocked it with everything she could think of that Skye might need when they rescued her.
"5 minutes from the coastline, after that it will take 3 minutes for the Iron Legion to reach the base and begin their assault, then another 8 minutes for us to be on the ground. Be ready." May's voice played throughout the cargo bay and across the comms in everyone's ears. As she finished everyone fell back into silence. There were tense looks shared between teammates and friends but no one dared to speak. This was not the time for quips or words of encouragement, all of that had been said before they moved down here, now it was time for focus.
"We have reached the coast, I've deployed the Iron Legion." Tony's voice was the next one to break through the silence. There was no turning back now.
"The assault has begun, Hydra has not fired back yet. They seem to have been effectively surprised. I am heading down to the cargo bay." Tony spoke again exactly three minutes later. 30 seconds after that he appeared at the top of the stairs. When he reached the bottom he rushed to the far corner where he deployed his suit from one of his portable suitcases. He joined his team in standing by the bay doors and fell into silence with everyone else. He was keeping a close eye on his heads up display and would occasionally announce to the group that another of Hydra's weapons array had been destroyed but otherwise no one spoke.
"1 minute to touch down, after touchdown it will take less than 15 seconds for the ramp to be down." May's voice came over the comms.
"This is it, Team 3 and 4 take the lead, Tony take to the skies and report any Hydra resistance you see. Team 1 and 2 wait for May to make it down here from the cockpit then follow. As soon as all teams are clear we take the doors." Coulson ordered. A chorus of "Yes sir" followed.
"Touchdown in 10, 9, 8" May's calm voice had an abnormal edge of tenseness even over the comms.
"7, 6, 5, 4" Coulson closed his eyes and forced air into his lungs, he threw his eyes open and focused on May's voice, letting it ground him in the present. The plane rocked as an explosion was heard to their left. It didn't stop May.
"3, 2, 1 touchdown. Bay doors opening." May was already running by the time she finished speaking. She leapt out of her seat and raced through the plane. She had made it to the top of the cargo bay stairs in time to see Tony take off and the first two teams rush out of the plane. As soon as she hit the ground Coulson gave the order for the other two teams to go. Bruce closed his eyes as his watched his comrades exit the plane and sent up a silent prayer to the universe that they all make it back safely. He would be listening to the comms to make sure he was ready to treat any injuries when they returned.
They exited the Bus to absolute devastation. Things were on fire all around them. Coulson was endlessly thankful for May's skill as a pilot, no one else would have been able to land in the middle of all this. He heard the unmistakable sound of Iron Man suits flying through the sky and the occasional blast from one of them but other than that there was an eerie quiet in the air. The teams spread out in a line as they approached the base. The resistance they had expected to be met with was nowhere to be seen.
"Tony blow the doors." No sooner had the words left Coulson's mouth than a large explosion blew a gaping hole in the front of the structure. Tony landed in front of it as Steve, Natasha, and Clint raced up to aim their weapons inside. Again, there was no one to be seen. A chill went through the group.
"Team 1, we'll take the hallway to the right, team 2 take the hallway left, team 3 take those stairs, go up, team 4, go down. Be prepared for resistance, we know that there are people here we just haven't found them yet. Stay in constant communication." Coulson ordered and the groups immediately went their separate ways.
Line Break
Team 1, Coulson, Simmons, and Nat, took the hallway to the right until it branched off in two directions. Natasha took the branch to the right while Coulson and Simmons took the branch to the left.
The hallway that Simmons and Coulson find themselves in now has a lot of doors but still, no people. They begin checking doors one at a time. Each door leads to an office, all of them nearly identical. They each have a desk, a chair, some have file cabinets, or a computer, nothing special. The last office at the end of the hallway is the only special one. It is bigger than the others, probably belonging to the boss. This office has more chairs, a bigger desk, and more file cabinets. The file cabinets are all open with a lot of things missing and papers all over the floor as if they were emptied in a hurry. Coulson instructs Simmons to plug in a data stick and try to break into the system, she may not be as good as Skye or Fitz but she's no slouch when it comes to computers. She manages to get through the login and starts to download as many files as she can while Coulson thumbs through the file cabinet.
"Coulson, Simmons, I found something you guys should see." Natasha's voice comes over the comms on their team's channel. Coulson looks at Simmons who nods and unplugs the data stick from the computer. She had taken all the most encrypted and secure stuff first so she is sure she got some important documents that Fitz can break into back at the base. Coulson and Simmons cautiously work their way back through the halls to Natasha's location.
When they enter the room Natasha directed them to, they find what looks like a lab. There are microscopes, DNA sequencers, spectrometers, all kinds of scientific equipment. If it weren't for the stone walls and general lack of cleanliness it would be a state-of-the-art facility.
"Over here." Natasha's voice calls from the other side of the room. There are several file cabinets in here as well, all of which are thrown open and have little left inside them. There are papers strewn across several of the lab tables and much of the floor.
"Looks like they left in a hurry, took what they could carry and cleared out." Coulson says.
"Yeah, but look at this." Natasha responds, pointing at the clear door of the refrigerator that she is in front of. Coulson and Simmons both step up next to her and peer inside to see what she is looking at. Inside the fridge, there are hundreds of vials and containers, all full of various biological materials, and all with Skye's name on them. Coulson feels the blood drain from his face.
"Those… those are tissue samples, spinal fluid, that looks like a lymph node… I'm not even sure what that is…maybe, maybe an appendix… Oh my God Coulson. What did they do to her?" Simmons has silent tears running down her face as she stares at the samples. She can't tear her eyes away. She knows she can't fall apart now, Skye needs her to be strong. Coulson grabs her hand.
"We… we need to keep moving. It looks like they were trying to leave when they heard us coming. We need to find her before they have a chance to move her too." Coulson says, fighting to hold himself together too. He glances at Natasha, her face is stone, showing no emotion. Her eyes are a different story. He has seen that murderous look in them before, it never ends well for the person responsible for it.
The three of them make their way back down the halls, reporting to the other teams over the comms that they didn't find Skye in their section. They don't mention what they did find.
Line Break
Team 3, Tony, Fitz, and Tripp, went up the stairs to the upper levels. They still haven't found any people which is making them more and more anxious. What they have found are bunks. Each level has a at least a dozen bunks. Some of them are in rooms with a single bed, probably for officers, the rest are just bunkbeds along the halls. The whole thing reminds Tripp of stories his Grandfather used to tell him about how they slept during the War. Bodies stacked on top of each other, packed in like sardines.
With the three levels they have had to search they have concluded that at least 40 Hydra agents could have been stationed here. With the revelation that none of them are upstairs the three begin to make their way back down to rejoin the groups on the lower levels. On the way they reported their findings to the others.
Line Break
Team 2, May, Clint, and Mack went left. They were in a relatively short hallway, so they were able to stay together. The hallway has two doors, one on the left and one on the right. They decided to check the door on the left first.
Clint threw the door open and entered first, gun raised, with May and Mack close behind him. It was immediately apparent that the room was empty, not just of people, but of what should be in there. This room was the armory, and all the guns are gone.
The three shared a tense look as they turned to exit the room. They crossed the hall to the other door, worried about what ominous thing they might find next. What they found this time was not ominous, but exactly what they needed. The next room was the security room, with live camera feeds all over the base. May felt a rush of excitement.
"Mack, can you find Skye on the feeds?" Mack immediately pushed the chair out of the way to stand in front of the desk, his eyes running across all the camera feeds as fast as they could.
"I don't see her… there's a lot of blind spots on these things. Wait… bottom left corner, there's the Hydra agents. They're escaping through a tunnel on the lower level." Mack says, pointing at the screen in front of him.
"Steve, you hear that? In a few turns you are going to run into the entire population of this base, they are trying to get away!" Clint says into his comms.
"Yeah, I heard, but you all should get down here. I think this is where Skye was being kept." Steve's voice responds, there is an unusual strain in his voice. Like he is fighting to sound calm.
May and Clint took one look at each other and bolted from the room, May throwing orders for Mack to stay and keep tabs on the cameras over her shoulder.
In the other areas, Team 1 and Team 3 started running downstairs at Steve's words, all of them praying he is right and Skye is down there somewhere.
Line Break
Team 4, Steve, Bobbi, and Hunter made their way down the stairs to the lower level. It wasn't a basement like they had expected, instead they got to the bottom of the stairs and were faced with another door. On the count of three Hunter yanked open the door and Steve rushed in with Bobbi and Hunter following right behind him. They didn't find any people behind the door, instead just more hallways and rooms.
They started to make their way down the hallways very slowly. They peered in open doors along the way but they didn't find anyone, just a couple of storage rooms. Eventually they got to a turn in the hallway and they came face to face with a massive window. What they saw on the other wide of the window had all of them struggling to maintain their composure. On the other side of the window there was a sort of surgical suite, with a metal table in the middle, surgical lights, trays of instruments, and last but not least, restraints on the table to hold down whoever was on it. Bobbi took a deep breath and turned to look at Hunter. He had lost all color in his face. She knew he was thinking the same thing as her. Their friend had probably been strapped to that table.
Their comms suddenly came to life, they had gotten reports from teams 1 and 3 telling them what they had found but this was the first time team 2 was reporting in. Apparently they had found the security room and could see everyone on the camera feeds. Clint informed them that up ahead of them they were going to run into all the Hydra agents trying to escape.
"Yeah, I heard, but you all should get down here. I think this is where Skye was being kept." Steve responded, shooting a look at Bobbi and Hunter. They were all thinking the same thing. If the surgical room is on this floor then this is where they were keeping their prisoners. The three of them weren't going to wait for the others to get here. Without a word they moved on. They needed to find Skye.
They rounded the next corner and came into a more open space. To their right were several tables with computers on them and chairs pulled up to them, kind of like individual workstations had been set up all in one room. To the left, where all the tables were facing, were two glass walls. The glass walls opened onto what appeared to be two cells. The cells were mirror images of each other. On the outer wall of each there was a cot with a couple thin blankets on them, on the inner wall there was a horrifying toilet, sink combination and a small table on wheels. Bobbi felt a shudder roll through her body unbidden, the cot in the cell on the right had blood on the sheets.
Bobbi tried to fight off the tears that threatened to well in her eyes. She turned away from the window and scanned the room, looking for signs of her missing friend. Hunter had to tear his eyes off the window, he could barely control his impulse to suddenly punch the wall. Steve turned to the other two people in the room. He knew they were barely holding it together.
"We need to keep moving." He ordered, the other two nodded and joined him to start moving toward the hallway on the other side of the room. But before they get to the doorway, Skye walked in. They all froze, too stunned to move.
Bobbi just stares at her for a moment. She looks awful. She has lost so much weight since the last time Bobbi saw her. Her ribs are visible even from several feet away, which makes it easy to see that a couple of them are likely broken. Both of her arms are covered in grotesque purple and blue bruises. Her hands have blood dripping off of them. She has a thick, bloody bandage taped to her stomach which is visible since she is only wearing a black sports bra and gray sweatpants, no socks or shoes. The worst is her face. She has large, dark circles under both of her eyes. Her left cheek has a massive purple bruise on it. But her eyes, her eyes make Bobbi gasp. They are blue, like neon blue. Bobbi takes a breath and forces herself not to cry.
"Skye (no response) Skye its ok. Its Bobbi and Hunter. You're safe now. We're here to take you home." Skye doesn't respond. She doesn't do anything. Steve decides to try.
"Skye I'm Steve, I'm—" Steve takes a step toward Skye and without warning she throws up her arm and blasts him across the room. He hits the wall. Hard. He crumples to the floor and groans as he pulls himself back up.
"Skye, stop! It's us! We aren't gonna hur—" Bobbi moves forward, Skye blasts her back, she slams into the glass windows of the cell. She hits the ground unconscious. Hunter runs to her and tries to rouse her.
"Skye, we aren't going to hurt you." Steve tries again approaching her slowly, his shield raised defensively in front of him. Skye tries to blast him again. Steve is too quick though, he raises his shield and holds it up to protect himself. The Vibranium does its job, absorbing the vibrational blasts that Skye sends its way. With his head tucked down Steve pushes forward, gaining ground. As he gets within striking distance Skye stops her blasting attack and switches to hand-to-hand.
She lunges at Steve, throwing her whole body at him with a feral scream. Steve does his best to catch her and cushion the blow but the force rolls them both to the floor. He absorbs as much of the impact as he can. Skye grapples with him, punching, kicking, trying anything she can to get him off of her, but Steve easily overpowers her weakened body and tries to hold her down in a way that won't hurt her. Skye keeps screaming, fighting with all her strength.
The others run into the room to see Skye's vicious attack on Steve, Bobbi unconscious a few feet away with Hunter still trying to wake her up.
"Help me! She won't stop and I don't want to hurt her worse!" Steve yells over the noises coming from Skye which are sounding less and less human. Clint, Phil, Tripp, and May run forward to help Steve contain Skye. While Steve has his arms wrapped around her torso, Tripp and Clint each grab one of her legs while May and Phil each take an arm. Skye never stops fighting, even when May and Phil starting talking to her, trying to get through to her.
"It's us, Skye. Sweetheart we aren't trying to hurt you." Phil pleads.
"Please Skye, let us help you." May yells.
Simmons runs forward and cups Skye's face in her hands trying to get her to focus on her. When she raises Skye's face to hers she notices her eyes.
"Her eyes, what's wrong with her eyes?" Simmons says causing everyone to look.
"It's the staff. That's what it looks like when someone is under the influence of the staff." Natasha says, making eye contact with Clint.
"What do we do? In order to snap me out of it Nat had to smash my head into a rail, considering the state of her I don't think that's a great idea." Clint says from where he is struggling to maintain his hold on Skye's leg.
"Let me help." Wanda says, as Pietro sets her on the ground as he zips them into the room.
"Who the hell are you?" Nat asks pointing her gun at the new pair while Tony raises his blasters to aim at the two, stepping between them and Fitz. Pietro tenses and looks like he might move toward Stark but Wanda puts up her hand and he stills.
"We were also Hydra's prisoners here. I can help her." Wanda says. The others don't know what to do. None of them trust two unknown gifted people who were with Hydra, but they don't know what else to do.
"Something's happening, I think she is using her powers!" Steve says as he notices his arms have started to shake. Suddenly waves of vibrations start to pulse out of Skye. The group holding her can barely hang on. The ground starts to rumble and dust falls from the ceiling.
"Do it. Help her!" Coulson says. Wanda nods and without hesitation she sends red tendrils of her power toward Skye. As soon as the red reaches Skye's head she goes limp in Steve's arms and the vibrations stop. Tripp, Clint, Phil, and May release her limbs and Steve gently lays her on her back on the floor. The bruising on Skye's arms has gotten noticeably worse and the blood on her torso has started to run down her stomach since the bandage has become too saturated with it.
"Skye, we're here. We got you." Coulson says as he rushes forward to kneel by Skye's head and brush the hair out of her eyes. Her eyes which have returned to their beautiful shades of brown. Simmons immediately rushes forward to peel the bandages from Skye's torso.
"Coulson? Is this real?" Skye weakly mutters out as she fights to stay awake.
"It's real kiddo. We're all here." Coulson responds as tears gush down his face. May has come up to stroke Skye's cheek. Skye's eyes slowly move over to look at May. The tiniest hint of a smile touches Skye's face, and she slips into unconsciousness.