Chapter 23

Jemma sat at her lab table with nothing to do. Both she and Andrew had gotten there fairly early as usual. With nothing to do, the biochemist began to pace around the area. The night before Coulson had mentioned to both of them to make friends so they could move up in ranks.

Andrew had just laughed at that. He wasn't one to go around and make friends exactly. It was a miracle that he somehow became friends with Fitz and then herself. It was tough when you go through school as fast as all of them did.

Jemma on the other hand had always tried too hard to make friends. Most of the time nothing happened but meeting Fitz helped the cause. The two became inseparable after meeting in one of their classes at the academy.

So making friends? How was she going to do that?

Maybe she could ask her supervisor if he wanted to hang out with her and Andrew. That wouldn't be too weird, right? But then again would Andrew want to do that also? He probably mad a few friends already, well if he actually tried. He was pretty stubborn sometimes.

The biochemist stopped pacing when she saw her supervisor walking quickly towards her. He looked worried but she easily dismissed it as she tried to think about the making friends attempt that Coulson had told her to try.

"Mr. Turgeon, hello." Jemma said happily. "I was thinking of going to Salties with Andrew and a few of his friends. Would you like to join us?"

"Mrs. Parker." He says.

"Please call me Dr. Simmons. I use my maiden name for scientific inquiries. Or better yet, just call me Jemma."

Mr. Turgeon lets out a sigh before continuing.

"You are wanted upstairs."

"Is this because of my analysis from yesterday that we discussed?"

"It's a security matter. There should be a few guards to escort you."

Jemma doesn't get a response in after once she sees the guards coming to escort her. It's not Andrew and she's kind of sad it isn't. She kind of wonders where he could be at.

"What did you do?" Turgeon asks.

The biochemist shrugs her shoulders and doesn't say much. Only that she has no idea what is going on. Jemma hopes that nothing bad has happened to Andrew or that they have been caught. That's the last thing both agents would want right now.

23AOS23

Andrew is told that morning that Mr. Bakshi wanted to speak with him but it after he was done in a meeting with Dr. Whitehall. Andrew had saw him go into the doctor's office an hour after both he and Jemma had arrived. It had been an hour spent inside until he came out but Andrew hadn't known that as he was in a different area of the building at the time. He ended up with a bruised eye and a cut lip once again from another fight he helped stop.

Mr. Bakshi eventually approached him, escorting him to one of the conference room with no one in it. Just a table and a few chairs to be exact.

The agent is standing in the corner where Bakshi told him to stand. Andrew is kind of sure that he isn't in trouble. Normally if that happened, he would be sitting at the table.

A few minutes after Bakshi leaves the room, two other guards come in escorting someone. Andrew is looking down at the ground but he can still see their feet as all three of them come in quietly. He eventually hears the door close and when he looks up, the agent finds Jemma staring back at him.

He ends up hearing a gasp come out of her mouth and tries to get up to help him but if quickly stopped by the opening of the door. In comes Bakshi looking serious and holding a folder of paper work. Andrew can only imagine what could happen next.

"You have been lying to us, Dr. Simmons." Bakshi says.

He calls her doctor instead of by Andrew's last name meaning he must have had time to read the file that listed what she preferred to go by while she was here. Andrew holds his breath for as long as he can waiting to see how Jemma ends up handling the situation. It's too early for him to try to intervene since they both have no clue what Bakshi is referring to.

"Not long ago you were a level five S.H.I.E.L.D. agent just like your husband standing over there."

Andrew looked over at Bakshi with a curious look. So what if they both used to be S.H.I.E.L.D, a lot of agents had left and joined Hydra.

"Yes, before the fall. Both Andrew and I had left once it happened."

"Mr. Parker, I'm guessing. You both left that out of your paperwork."

Both Jemma and Andrew gulped at the answer Bakshi had given them.

"If we did, it wasn't intentional. Andrew didn't think we needed to put why or how we left."

"Stop... lying. You've been doing cellular analysis for project Blizzard, yet didn't inform your supervisor that you knew the subject." Bakshi threw down the paperwork in front of her.

Andrew almost was ready to jump Bakshi but stopped when he caught a look from Jemma.

"I didn't realize it was Gill until yesterday, when I saw a photo in Kenneth's file. I-I would have said something."

"Yet you never said anything about it. What are you hiding doctor?"

"I didn't want to corrupt my analysis. I barely knew him."

"Yet you saved his life. Was your husband there when that happened?"

"No, he was away on a mission. I was giving a lecture at the time."

Bakshi stepped back and Andrew felt relieved for a few seconds. He kept a fist clenched although just in case they both needed to make a get away happen.

"You seem nervous, doctor." Bakshi pointed out looking at Andrew before he looked back at Jemma.

"Because I am. I was escorted by two guards and I was worried that something may have happened to my husband. I know who I am working for."

"Well let's discuss your previous job then, shall we." Bakshi tells her. "Why did you join S.H.I.E.L.D, was it because of Mr. Parker?"

"We were both at the academy at the same time so of course it wasn't because of him. I met him there and soon we then began a relationship together."

Andrew was kind of thankful that Coulson paired them together. Especially since this was happening. He knew Jemma was terrible at lying but having a story like this kind of helped. She could feel better that she was telling the truth.

"I was a seventeen year old girl with two PhDs and millions of questions. S.H.I.E.L.D. had the resources for me to find them." Jemma explained. "I didn't expect for all of this to happen."

"And now they don't so you've come to Hydra. Are your loyalties with us then?" Bakshi then asked.

"I'm loyal to science."

"That's not what I asked."

That's when Andrew decided to speak up. He knew he had to get both of them out of the situation somehow.

"Jemma is loyal to me. You don't need to worry."

Baskshi turned around and looked at the agent carefully. It was the first time the whole time he had even said anything.

"Are your loyalties to Hydra then, Mr. Parker? Can we trust you?"

Andrew nodded his head. "Yes, sir. My loyalties are here and if my wife is loyal to me then she is loyal enough."

"And who exactly is it exactly that you are loyal to?"

"Hydra. You and Dr. Whitehall."

23AOS23

Fitz started walking quickly once he found the tablet that Koenig kept in Coulson's office. He was glad that Mack had mentioned that basically the whole team was gone so he could do what he planned to do.

The engineer left his friend in the common room playing on the Xbox. Some shooting game that Fitz couldn't manage to sit through watching. As he walked through the hallway, all he could hear was his two best friends that he knew were both gone.

"Leo, this is crazy. What are you trying to accomplish?" He heard Parker ask him.

"I figured out the asset, it's him." Fitz answered.

"Who's him exactly?"

Fitz threw up his hands and groaned.

"It's Ward isn't it?" Simmons asked.

Fitz didn't answer but he heard Parker start up a conversation with Simmons. He began to get irritated with them and eventually just broke.

"Just stop!" Fitz yelled. "You two are not real. I mean you are but you're not here. Your just part of my imagination."

"Leo."

The engineer closed his eyes and when he opened them once again both of his best friends were gone. He didn't see Simmons in her sweater and he didn't see Parker in his plaid shirt. Fitz took a deep breath and continued towards the basement where Ward was being held at.

He put in the key code to the door and when he walked in, the lights to the staircase began to light up. The screen was still closed so he couldn't see Ward and the former specialist couldn't see him until he pressed a button on the tablet.

Fitz took another deep breath and when he finished he pressed the button on the tablet to raise the screen.

"Skye." He heard Ward say with his back facing him.

The engineer waited until the former specialist turned around only to be surprised that it was him and not the hacker.

"I bet you have a lot to say to me, Fitz."

Fitz doesn't say anything as he watches Ward try to explain himself. Eventually he starts to panic as he sits down in the chair set up right in front of the cell. The engineer puts his head in his hands and he begins to quietly talk to himself, saying that he'll be alright. But all he can hear is Ward.

"Are you alright?" Ward asks with what sounds like a concern question.

"Just stop talking."

"I didn't want to hurt you or Simmons."

Fitz looks up from the chair.

"But you did. You hurt Simmons, you almost killed Andrew. And most importantly I'm… I'm damaged."

"I didn't mean to. I wanted to keep both of you safe. Garrett wanted you dead."

"Did you mean to… to hurt Andrew?"

"Fitz, that one you know I can't answer."

The engineer stood back up and pointed towards the former specialist.

"You did, didn't you? Once you saw him you knew you had to. It was the only way to get Skye."

Ward raised his voice. "That was my own motive!"

"Andrew is a good guy, Ward. Always has been."

"Yes, I thought if I took him out, that I had a chance."

"You don't have a chance. Skye will never love you as much as she loves Andrew. They're meant… meant to be together."

"Fitz, I know I've done some bad things, but I can try to help and gain back your trust."

"Do you know what you did to me? I'm damaged. I have trouble with… with my… words. Its best if I… if I show you."

Fitz began to play around with the tablet. He adjusted a few of the cell levels and made it to where Ward wasn't supposed to be able to breath.

Once it started, the engineer watched as Ward had to take a seat on the bed he was supplied with attempting to catch his breath.

"Fitz, what are you doing?" Ward asked.

"I'm showing you, like when you're deprived... of, uh... The oxygen ... the brain cells, they... they react first. They die. Three minutes, damage is permanent."

"Fitz, stop. Where is Skye?"

"Gone. The team went after Donnie. And I should with them!"

23AOS23

Jemma was escorted an hour and a half later by the same two guards from earlier. She had no idea where she was going and when she tried to ask where or about Andrew, she couldn't get an answer.

It wasn't until they rounded the corner to see Mr. Bakshi and Andrew getting ready with a few other guards.

When Bakshi turned around he gave a smile and a nod to the other guards.

"Dr. Simmons, do you have something warmer?"

Jemma nodded her head no. It wasn't until Andrew looked up from hearing the question that he was taking off his jacket for Bakshi to take.

"She can take mine, sir. I'll be fine without it." Andrew told him.

The agent was still dressed in all black but he wore a t-shirt underneath his armor. Jemma had seen a similar outfit on Ward shortly after they had caught Garrett the first time.

"Mr. Parker, you know there's a chance it will most defiantly be cold on the ship." Bakshi told him. "Wouldn't want one of my best guards with frostbite."

"If I need to, I'll grab another one."

The biochemist continued to listen to the conversation picking up a few things from the guards but not all of it.

"Where are we leaving to?" she finally questioned.

Andrew was going to answer but instead Bakshi beat him to it.

"We've found Donnie Gill. We tried to bring him in before but were unsuccessful." Bakshi tells her. "Maybe now with a familiar face, we can finally do that."

Jemma takes a deep breath. She couldn't believe that she was going to be the one that would help bring in a former S.H.I.E.L.D. academy student.

"Make sure you are all suited up. There will be no excuses on why we didn't get him this time." Bakshi tells them.

"He's dangerous isn't he?"

"Don't worry, Jem. I'll be with you the whole step of the way." Andrew tells her before helping her put on his Hydra jacket.

Chapter 23 is now in the books. We are getting closer and closer to my big idea. Do you think there could be some relation between Andrew's father and Daniel Whitehall? Let me know what you think with a review. If you have any ideas you would like to see, let me know also. Next chapter, we will see Jemma and Andrew go after Donnie Gill and Skye will return seeing something she doesn't expect.