"So what happened to you guys after I left you?"
"We went to the first creepy house and were hit with multiple electric shocks. We eventually realised that there were pictures showing us where the key was." Fitz told him, putting emphasis on the creepy house.
"It wasn't that creepy." May told him.
"It totally was." Fitz objected.
"They got worse Fitz." Skye told him making Fitz shudder.
"What happened after that that forced May to run not Simmons?" Coulson asked. He wanted to know what went wrong.
"We misread the clue." Ward admitted.
"What happened?"
"Lots of washing machines filled with things I'm sure you'd rather not know about, but we had to climb to get into some of them."
"So you had to find the key in the washer?"
"No we had to find a heart. The key was in the heart."
"Which you didn't realise so you wasted time by looking for the wrong thing?" Coulson asked them, starting to catch on.
"Yeah."
"We got to the really creepy house and had to reassemble a human body." Skye told them in a quiet voice.
"You had to do what?" Fitz asked, choking on his beer.
"We had to find body parts and reassemble the body." Simmons told him as if she did it all the time.
"Where was the key?" May asked.
"In his mouth. These two screamed and practically ran out of the room when it started moving." Ward told them, indicating to Simmons and Skye.
"I don't blame them!" Fitz said turning green.
"So that's why you got such a good head start." Coulson said, realising that reassembling body parts would have been Simmons speciality.
"Yeah. I was still fearing for my life!" Simmons said remembering how she felt when the dogs were chasing her.
"What took you guys so long on the next one then?" May asked.
She had wondered what took Ward and Skye so long to complete the next challenge. She realised that so far none of them had been overly challenging, the fear of what they were facing being the only thing slowing them down.
"Chainsaw wielding clown." Ward told her, taking a sip of his coffee.
"A what?" Coulson asked him, thinking he hadn't quite heard him right.
"We got to a puppet show and it showed us a story of what had happened to us leading to that point. It showed us popping balloons and when they were popped a clown with a chainsaw came up behind us in the show. Then the lights went off and a clown with a chainsaw burst out of the show and actually chased us. We got back into the woods and when we turned around it was gone." Skye told them.
"What did you have to do?" Fitz asked curiously.
"Pop a crap load of balloons."
"That doesn't sound too hard?" May pointed out, not quite seeing what had taken them so long.
"I had to pick Skye up to pop one set; the second were done using darts." Ward told them
"With your hand – eye coordination that shouldn't have been a problem." Coulson pointed out. He also didn't seem to get why it had taken them so long.
"The balloons were spread out in the trees and were full of all sorts of things making it a little difficult to see and the bell went before we even made it to the first set. We popped both sets of balloons and there was a massive one on the ground. I popped it with a dart and Ward pulled me away before I lost a limb." Skye explained.
"The clown was in the balloon." Ward elaborated when he saw everyone's blank expressions.
"Yeah, then the lights went off and when they came back on the clown had gone and there was one more balloon to pop and that's when we got the key!"
"So you lost ground because you had to evade a chainsaw wielding clown?" May asked with a snort of laughter.
"Basically, yeah." Ward admitted.
"Who made the call to let Skye complete the last one alone?" Coulson asked, glaring at Ward.
"I did." Skye said "I knew I couldn't outrun the dogs from that distance, so I took the gamble and chose to continue."
"What did you have to do? By the time you got to us you were soaked." Ward asked her, pulling his mug into his chest for warmth.
"I had to answer the phone. It was a girl asking for help. The door slammed behind me and water started filling up the phone booth. Next thing I know there's a scary looking girl looking straight at me. There was a noise in the woods so I turned to look."
"That was a stupid mistake. When there's a scary girl and a noise – you keep looking at the girl. Did you not learn anything from our horror movie marathon?" Fitz scolded her.
"I realise that now. When I turned back she was right outside the booth and was writing a number on it. Didn't take me long to figure out I had to type it into the phone. The booth blew out when I finished and a light came on in the woods. It was the girls' coat. When I picked it up the key was under it." Skye finished.
"And then we all know the rest of it." Coulson said.
He had been interested in what him team had gone through. He was proud that, even though he had given them a set running order to follow, they had thought about it as a team and had actually adapted the plan to suit the situation.
He was more impressed that they had all come out of it unscathed, well most of them. He noticed Ward was looking a little worse for wear.
Slowly, the team went their separate ways. May went to lay down some mats and do some late night Tai Chi to try and relax her body and Fitz and Simmons went to the lab, still discussing the adventure they had. Fitz wanted to know more details about the washing machines and human body situations. He was trying to figure out how the dead, rotting corpse spat out a key.
"Ward. Are you alright?" Coulson asked him.
"I'll be fine." Ward replied.
"You seem to have had a rougher time than anyone out there. How come?"
"I got wet. When were being shocked the water made it worse."
"Of course. And then there was the body parts, looking after the girls."
"And the slime, maggots, weird white powder and blood."
Coulson looked at him like he was crazy.
"Don't forget ripping body parts open to find the key." Skye prompted him.
"That too! When May and I opened the washing machines they were full of the slime, body parts and maggots. The balloons had the blood." Ward explained.
Coulson nodded his understanding and went to his office to video conference Director Fury.
Ward got up, walked into the kitchen and placed his coffee mug in the sink. He would clean it in the morning. He felt a presence behind him.
"What's up Skye?"
"Do you want to know how I stayed so calm in that booth when my impulse was to freak out?" she asked him.
"I have a pretty good idea, but why don't you tell me anyway." Ward replied, turning to face her and leaning on the counter behind him.
"It was you. What you said to me before you left." Skye told him, closing the gap between them.
"Really? I spoke words of wisdom? Who knew?" Ward jested.
"That kiss helped." Skye whispered.
She was now so close to him that he could smell the shampoo from her freshly washed hair.
Before he knew what was happening Skye placed her lips on his and he found himself responding, snaking his hand around her back and pulling her closer. She parted her lips and allowed him to sweep his tongue across her teeth.
Coulson watched the cameras with a smile. He could see that something had happened between the two of them when they were alone in the woods, even if no one else had.
He had known it when Skye admitted she kept a clear head in the phone booth and why else would they have been so playful with each other in the cage?
A/N: We have come to the end of Release the Hounds! I do hope you have enjoyed it! I have another completely AU one called "Undomestic Goddess" planned soon so watch this space!