Halle

We had been there for less a week before we disappeared.

It all started when the cabin was under attack and people in black with large guns surrounded the house. Skye and I had been sitting on opposite facing sofas, lazily flipping through magazine when we heard the first earth-shaking pound at the door. My heart almost stopped beating. I quickly turned on the faucet, giving my mutation some ammunition, and Skye desperately tried to call Coulson. Before the battering ram was able to demolish the front door, I pulled Skye through a window.

"Who are these people?" Skye asked, wide eyed and full of worry.

We ducked behind a bush and I twisted the water nervously around my fingers. "I have no idea. Could you get ahold of Coulson?"

Skye's face fell. "No luck." We watched the people in black, through the kitchen window, rummage through our cabin and I couldn't help but feel slightly saddened by the destruction of our temporary home. I felt a sort of emotional connection to the Safe House because of what happened between Loki and me.

Skye interrupted my thoughts. "Whoever stormed this place knew there were people with powers staying here."

I nodded. "This wasn't a random attack."

"What should we do?"

My fists clenched as I thought, while the water from the tap formed a sphere above my right shoulder. We had the advantage of darkness; we could run through the woods and hopefully make it out of the perimeter of whoever was following us. Once we were in the clear, we could try again to radio for help. I explained the plan to Skye and with a curt nod, we took off through the woods.

I did not take into account just how difficult it would be to run through woods in the dark of night. There were several times either Skye or I would trip and fall. But we wouldn't make a sound, for fear of being discovered. With each exhilarating steps, I believed more and more in our abilities, but every time I would throw a glance at Skye's terrified face, my confidence would be smashed like a toddler's Playdough project. Coulson had told me that she was a fully trained agent, but it was obvious that the discovery of her powers took a toll on her, mentally as well as physically.

My lungs burned hot with each step I took, and my breath started to come short. Just when I was convinced that we were in the clear, a beam of light engulfed us. We looked up to see a helicopter following us.

"Halle!" Skye panicked. I grabbed her arm and continued to dodge the blinding beam. I tried to throw water at the helicopter, but the water I gathered at the cabin wasn't enough to take down a helicopter.

"Skye!" I yelled, breathlessly as we continued to sprint. "I need you to take out that helicopter with your powers!"

My tall demand seemed lost in her wide brown saucers.

"If we wait any longer, that helicopter will alert others, and they'll be onto us even faster!"

"We're already here." From behind a tree, a balding young man with a gun stepped out. His expression was hard and relentless. It was obvious we were his target, and his firearm position was set.

"What do you want with us?" I asked, poising to strike.

The man rolled his eyes. "Not you." He shift his target slightly to my right, fixing on Skye. "I want her."

My ears picked up on Skye's uneven breathing. "You won't be taking her," I stated, blatantly. I positioned myself in front of Skye, blocking her from the man's gun. My hands summoned water from moss on the nearby tree, and I collected it in both of my palms. The man's expression came undone as he realized that I was just like the girl they were supposed to be capturing. But after a split second, the man came to his senses and tightened his grip on his gun.

He shrugged, sickeningly, "two birds with one stone."

I began to lift my hands in defense as I heard someone from behind the man scream, "no." The next thing I knew, I was being shot backwards in the air by what felt like a wave of energy. I collected my thoughts quickly enough to use my summoned water to break my fall, but I crumpled into a limp ball on the dark ground. Using all my strength to pull up my head, through my fuzzy vision, I saw Skye standing in the middle of a shallow crater, staring at her hands.

I saw the terror in her eyes as I realized what happened, and I reached out towards her.

"Skye!" I called out. She looked up from her hands and looked to me, horrified.

Suddenly, there was a force field of blue lasers that blinded me. I used my outstretched arm to shield my fragile eyes and when I looked back, Skye was gone.

"Skye!" I screamed into nothingness. My body went limp and I began to shake with anguish. This was supposed to be my job, a job Coulson had come back from the grave to offer me. This was a task I had thrown away everything back at the X-Men for, and I had failed. I had only known Skye for about a week, but I had already felt a connection with her that made her disappearance hurt more than just losing a fellow person with powers. I had lost a friend.

My body refused to move from its mourning position and I was found a few minutes later. Two large men wearing identical black marched me into a large jet. I was thrown into a seat and was approached by a tall, slender woman with strawberry blonde hair who I thought I had seen on base earlier. If Coulson had trusted her to be on the underground base, why was she now treating me like a prisoner? I wondered if what Steve had told me about Hydra taking over had applied to Coulson's selective group of agents.

"You probably don't remember me, Agent Rhodes," she stated, standing with her hand on her hips. Her bright eyes burrowed into mine fiercely.

"You're probably right," I spat weakly, not making eye contact. "I don't usually associate with traitors."

Her eyes flashed, obviously taken aback, but she continued. "I'm Bobby Morse. We went to the academy together." I said nothing as Bobby made herself comfortable in the seat next to mine. "I was short, uncoordinated, and terrible at combat." She laughed to herself. "But you were amazing."

"Where's Skye?" I interrupted sharply.

She pursed her lips. "We don't know."

"What do you mean?" I forcefully inquired. "Your people attacked us and kidnapped Skye."

"My people?" Bobby raised an eyebrow, dodging my question and statement. "Halle, I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, just like you."

My head turned away from her, shielding myself from her obviously lies. "Bursting through our door, chasing us through the woods, holding us at gunpoint. That isn't S.H.I.E.L.D."

I heard Bobby sigh beside me. "Agent Calderon acted against order. We never meant to hurt either of you."

"A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent never would've disobeyed orders to kill another agent," I said, bitterly.

I heard no response from Bobby, but I continued to face in the opposite direction. My mind was flowing with obscenities that I wanted to scream, my hands clenched into fists as I punched the seat. I needed to get out of here, and I needed to find Skye.

Realizing that I wasn't being restrained in any way, I quickly got up and walked towards the back of the jet. We had been airborne for several minutes, so I knew that we weren't at peak altitude. I figured I could jump out the back, and float on a cloud until I found Skye. No one seemed to bat an eye as I stood thoughtfully over the deck opening. I turned back around to get one last look at Bobby and the rest of the treacherous flying crew, and it was enough to fuel me to open the deck. Alarms instantly went off and I was able to throw one last smug grin to the crew before I tumbled through the air.

The fall was serene, as I gathered bits of cloud to land on. But just as I began to get my footing and focus on the task at hand, I was surrounded by a blue force field, grabbed around the stomach, and sucked into darkness.

I was teleported into a room I had never seen before. It was decorated in reds and golds, and I deduced Chinese influence in the bamboo rugs and cultural artwork. My mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that I was in China, but I needed more evidence to reach a final decision. Cautiously, I poked my head outside to see one of the most beautiful courtyards I had ever seen. The stone walkway was lit with aesthetically-pleasing flowers, and even though I was more confused now than ever, I wasn't afraid to follow the stones. With each step, I took in something new. First it was the view of the awe-inspiring snow-capped mountains. Then it was the design of the other one-room houses, with more obvious Chinese influence. Finally, my path lead me to a wide stone road which lead to a grand gold and red building. My eyes danced on the detail of the building greedily, until I finally rested on a group of people standing on the stairs to the building. One was a tall, blonde man with kind eyes, another was a slender Chinese woman in a red kimono, and the other was…

Skye.

"Skye!" I cried, and ran towards her.

Her gaze turned in my direction and her face lit up. "Rhodie!"

We hugged tightly and I felt a sense of relief flow through my body. Our eyes began to mist over as I questioned her.

"What happened to you?" I asked. "Are you okay?"

She nodded vigorous, wiping a tear from her cheek. "I'm fine, Rhodie." I smiled again and wrapped her in a hug.

The kind-eyed man walked up to us. "So, Skye, who's your friend?"

Skye looked to the man and I thought I saw her blush. "Oh yeah. Lincoln this is my friend, Halle Rhodes. Rhodie, this is Lincoln."

Lincoln smiled and shook my hand. "Charmed."

I quickly turned back to Skye. "What is this place?"

"It's called Afterlife," input the red kimono woman who had joined our conversation. "It's a safe place for people like us."

I almost asked her if Afterlife was another place for mutants, but then I remembered how Skye was convinced that she wasn't a mutant, but instead got her powers from an alien rock. So instead I simply clarified, "a place for people with powers?"

The woman nodded. "My name is Jaiying, and I am in charge of preserving the peace and security of this place." Upon further observance, I noticed that Jaiying's face was the home for three large scars that ran from the top of her right temple, down to the chin on her opposing side. An amusing thought flashed to me, involving Logan and his claws that often left similar scars. It was the first time I had let my mind wander to my life outside of S.H.I.E.L.D., but, oddly enough, I didn't regret nor miss my time with the X-Men. Instead, the thought left me feeling satisfied.

I reached out and shook Jaiying's hand, mustering a smile. Something about the woman felt off, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Plus, Skye seemed to be quite taken with her, so I decided to push the unsettling feeling in my stomach out of my mind. "This is a truly beautiful place. I'd love a tour."

"Of course." Jaiying smiled a closed-mouth smile. "And I'm sure you will have time to let the landscape speak to you during your time here."

Our time here? "You want us to stay?" I asked, slightly concerned. I looked to Skye for backup, but she smiled blankly back at me. "I'm sorry ma'am, but we have to get back and help our friends."

The three of them stared at me like I was making a scene, and I realized that I had just said the worst thing possible.

But Jaiying quickly summoned her thin smile again. "We will discuss your stay later. Right now, allow me to show you to your room, and introduce you to your roommate."

I had to struggle to keep from groaning. Just what we needed, another person to keep secrets from. The four of us followed a long, woven stone path to an elegant building that looked similar to the building I had first arrived in.

"Gordon just brought her in, like you, so she's a little shaken up," explained Jaiying as we approached the front door. We slid open the bamboo screen and set foot in a refined scarlet room, decorated with green, Oriental house plants and gold silk. The living room branched out into three other rooms, which I could only assumed was our bedrooms. Just as I was about to question Jaiying about my luggage, she vanished into one of the bedrooms, and returned with a short and slim Chinese girl. She was shaking, and Jaiying put her arm around her for comfort.

"Halle, Skye, I would like you to meet your new roommate, Jai Xu."

Hey guys! Thank you for putting up with my laziness. As the summer comes to a close, hopefully I will begin to be more motivated to do things like write. Personally, this is the slowest time of year for me because of the lack of inspiration. I usually draw my inspiration from the new episodes I watch, and since the new season doesn't start for quite a while, it's been hard to me to just sit down and write about something I havn't thought about in a while. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this jam-packed chapter.

Pls favorite/follow/review. I really do enjoy hearing from you guys.

P.S. If you haven't checked out the cast of AOS and Agent Carter's dubsmash war, I suggest that you do.