A/N: Wow, 83 days? Sorry! This is such a bad habit!

Anyway, I've finally gotten a decisive new line of events for this story, so updating and such shouldn't be too much of a problem. The only things are that I have a job now, and uni starts again soon (yay!)

Thanks to jellybean96 and a guest for your reviews! :)

"Fitz, Simmons, have you got the documents translated yet?" Coulson asked as he walked into the lab. The scientists in question, who were animatedly discussing one of Fitz's previous inventions from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Science Academy, looked up and halted their conversation.

"A few, sir." Fitz replied, reaching out to the monitor in front of him and turning it so Coulson could see. "The first one was from Norway, and a very northern part at that."

"You can be that specific?"

"Norway's a thin and long country." Simmons put in. "The top half of it is in the Arctic Circle, and its entire eastern border runs along Sweden, Finland and Russia. There really can't be anything other than a variety of accents and dialects, so yes, we can be that specific."

"So which part of Norway is it from?" Coulson moved a little closer, peering at the screen.

"Finnmark."

"It's the most northern region," Fitz explained further. "And covers most of the Finnish border as well as the entire length of the Russian border."

"It's far north enough to go mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world, but technologically advanced enough that it's not likely they'll stand out." Simmons pulled a nearby stool over and sat on it. "A perfect place to hide."

"Hmm." Was all Coulson said. FitzSimmons glanced at each other, watching their boss with concern when he merely kept his gaze on the screen.

"Sir?" Fitz finally asked.

"Hmm?"

"Are…you going to send any agents to check it out?"

Coulson shook his head. "Not yet. We have some low profile contacts in Sweden, so I can ask them to scout it out." The scientists nodded. "Anything else that you've figured out? I expected these all to be done by two o'clock."

"The algorithm's underway, but it took more than one to figure out the sorting process." Simmons was the one who answered, running a hand through her hair; a sign of oncoming stress. "So many variables and some of them keep changing, like you said."

"As well as the fact that the documents take longer to translate than expected." Fitz continued.

"Okay. Well, you're keeping records of any new changes?" Coulson took it in stride, surprising them with his cool demeanour.

"Yes, sir…but in order to keep up, we'll need someone awake all the time and a significant increase in the amount of storage space so we don't lose anything."

"We need Skye." Simmons clarified. "She could make it so that it's fully efficient and automated."

"And the storage space?" Coulson asked.

"Och, any green techie is capable of that." Fitz shrugged off the difficulty of the task. "We just need to find the right hard drive."

"Alright." Coulson flicked his gaze between the translated documents and the sorting algorithm before he continued. "What about the rest of the few already done?"

Fitz picked up the printed documents beside him and rifled through them. "South Africa, Israel and Siberia."

"Russia?" Coulson moved to clarify. "As in the Red Room?"

"It's very possible that the remnants of the Red Room and perhaps even the KGB survive with Hydra's resources." Simmons answered. "Considering that the Republic of South Ossetia kept the name for their own secret service after they broke from Georgia with Russian help…" she shrugged, her meaning clear.

"They still had an HQ." The Director finished, catching up. "And that would be twenty years ago?" He remembered the trouble that S.H.I.E.L.D. had had with keeping tabs on the changing political situations in Europe and Asia in the 1990s.

"At least." Fitz replied.

"Okay." Coulson sighed. "What about South Africa?"

"It appears to come from a northern province of the country, but it's much more difficult to be as specific as Norway." Simmons said. "And tracking the document didn't help either, so we assume that it came from one of the cities in the region. Pretoria, Johannesburg or Polokwane, for example."

"Israel's filled with military from both the Jewish nation and the United States." Fitz continued, pulling out the document from Israel. "Hydra could even hide in Hamas, so no one would be able to tell the difference."

"But the point of origin?" Coulson prompted, an eyebrow raised.

"This particular document came from Tel Aviv."

Coulson sighed again. "Thank you for this. Keep at it." He gave an encouraging smile and walked back out of the room.

May was sparring with Mack when Coulson walked into the training centre. Mack's gaze flicked momentarily to the Director, and that was all the distraction May needed; striking at his chin, causing him to reel back while she positioned herself to kick the inside of his knee. Mack lost his balance and toppled over, landing forcefully onto his back. May stood over him, an eyebrow raised in question.

"You got this one." He grumbled. He held his hands in surrender, and May relaxed. Turning around, she merely looked at Coulson, giving him leave to speak to her.

"From what FitzSimmons have found from the few documents they've managed to get through their algorithm," Coulson began, falling into step with May as she headed for the showers. "Hydra has bases, or at least groups of agents in northern Norway, Siberia, Pretoria-ish," May cast him an amused look as Coulson held out his hand flat, with the palm facing down and shaking it in a 'sort-of' gesture. "And Tel Aviv."

"Brilliant." She murmured as she stopped by her locker. "But I thought they'd've finished by…" she glanced at the time on her phone. "Half an hour ago?"

"So did they. But it's a lot more complicated than a few hours of effort."

May shrugged, understanding that. "Anything else?"

"I was hoping you could get in contact with Agent Romanoff." Coulson kept his posture calm, knowing his request wouldn't be well received.

"Phil…" she warned, tensing.

"I just want the two of you to check out Siberia, see what you can find."

"There's no way you can ask her of all people to go back–"

"Of course I can. She's done it plenty of times."

"Because she was the best agent we had to do those jobs!"

"She's still the best agent."

"And she's not an agent anymore. At least not for us."

"May–"

"This is about the Red Room, isn't it?"

Coulson blinked. "How'd…?"

May rolled her eyes. "You want Romanoff to do a reconnaissance mission in Siberia. It's really not that big of a leap."

Taking a deep breath, he tried again. "Could you still check on that? It's not like they'd be expecting her or anyone else to know they're up there."

"And I suppose while I'm at it, to mention to her that you're alive?" She flung the question at him over her shoulder as she marched towards the showers.

Coulson stood there for a moment, remembering that none of the Avengers knew. "Ah." This could definitely be a problem.

May was waiting for him in his office after he'd visited Bobbi and explained to her the scientists' progress. Her hair was still wet, but her expression was as challenging as ever.

"You still want me to go through with this?"

"I would appreciate it, yes." He said softly as he shut the door behind him.

"Then you tell them."

Coulson froze, taking in May's expression and demeanour. She wasn't kidding. "What?" he asked, his voice a little weak.

"You tell the Avengers – all of them – that you're alive and well, and then you can ask them personally for their help."

"I…don't even know how to get a hold of them."

"You could try Stark."

"I don't have the resources to get through JARVIS."

"Yes, you do." May moved closer to his desk, sitting on the edge. "Ask Fitz."

"He's busy–"

"Because I'm sure he'd love to check in with Skye."

He stopped bothering to talk, just staring at his deputy, who subtly raised an eyebrow.

"Okay." He glanced at the door, torn between calling Fitz to him, or going back to the lab.

"Oh, for goodness' sake." May muttered. She reached over to the intercom, and pressed the button to open the channel. "Agent Fitz, report to the Director's office." Retracting her hand, she turned back to Coulson. "The equipment is here, after all."

Fitz walked in a few minutes later, holding a thin folder in his left hand.

"We're not finished yet, but if you're really insistent, here's–"

"Fitz!" Coulson raised his voice to be heard over the young man. Fitz quietened immediately. "We didn't call you here for that."

"Specifically." May interjected. Both Fitz and Coulson looked at her, the latter silently asking for her to speak for him. She sighed. "The Russian document has got Coulson thinking that it has something to do with the Red Room."

"Yeah." Fitz glanced at Coulson and back. "We've been through that."

"And I told him that if he wants help from the Avengers, he has to tell them he's alive."

"…oh."

"Yeah." Coulson muttered.

"So could you ask Skye for help?"

Fitz's eyes lit up. "Sure! I, ah…I'll go and tell Simmons." Without waiting for another word from his superiors, he ran out of the room.

Coulson turned to May and took a deep breath. "Great…"

May just smirked.

A/N: How'd you like it? You all happy with the direction of this? Let me know, and any suggestions for improvements, or character additions, or ideas for the story would be greatly appreciated! :)