Previously: Skye and Fitz escaped the Skrulls' spaceship when Skye went through Terrigenesis. Fitz got knocked out, so Skye had to carry him through the streets until they saw the team at a bar. Skye wasn't sure if it was them, considering the Skrull's abilities. But Skye was also distracted by seeing people with sudden color auras. Skye realizes that the Skrulls' auras look a little different and determines which people are truly her teammates.
Wolfe shows up holding an unconscious Simmons, saying the Skrulls got to her. When Skye tries to reach out for Wolfe Ward grabs her arm to stop her from getting to close, and she collapses.
Chapter Thirty Six
"If you would untie me I could help her. Please."
"Last we saw you, you were threatening to murder thousands of people if Skye didn't kill herself. So no, I don't think we'll untie you."
The first voice Fitz didn't recognize. But the second he knew incredibly well. Coulson.
"I told you that wasn't me!"
"Why is he not he knocked out again?" asked a new voice.
Another unrecognizable. Definitely English.
What had happened? Last thing he remembered he was….
And then he remembered everything.
Fitz willed his eyes open, though he was met with mainly darkness. As his eyes trailed, he could spy out faint moonlight shedding rays through a small window high up in the room. From what he could tell, the walls looked wooden. And old. He was sitting on something that was soft yet harsh and prickly… straw.
He was in a barn.
Fitz shot up.
He glanced around himself immediately. Coulson, May, Triplett… even Ward stood just a few feet away, along with a man in a leather jacket who looked somewhat cross. Tied to a post meant to hold up the barn was another man Fitz didn't recognize, though his face tugged at his memory as if he should. Still, Fitz guessed he wasn't good news. You know, considering the bondage.
But that was just the people standing, and he'd been set in the middle of two lying unconscious on the ground.
Skye and Jemma.
Though Fitz found himself somewhat grateful to be alive, as it occurred to him he could have very well died after what transpired with the… ritual, he couldn't help but feel frantic and worried at the thousand questions that rushed to his mind.
Was it just another game? Payback for letting Skye kill herself early?
The thought jerked in his head.
Skye, kill herself. Skye. Dead.
He looked down at the two women beside him with a heart full of dread, utterly expecting them to be still as stone and just as cold.
But they were breathing. Both of them were breathing.
Simmons' breaths were even and she had a healthy flush to her cheeks, as though she were simply having a nap. She appeared peacefully sound and blissfully unaware that she was lying on the ground of a barn in unknown circumstances.
And Skye was… sparking. Sparking with a blue that matched the hue of the mists, so Fitz assumed it was a side effect of what she'd put herself through in that chamber. She seemed to be in some amount of pain. This was evidenced by sweat making her clammy face glisten and by the small shivers that shook through her, as though she were ill. Another thing he noticed as she lay there, scowling in her sleep somewhat, was that her agitated eyes seemed to be glowing… underneath her eyelids.
Fitz finally looked back up at the group of standing people, the sudden movement seeming to gain attention.
"Thank god, man," Triplett said through a sigh, coming closer to him with a relieved expression. Fitz scurried back. He didn't want to go too far, as he didn't want to leave Skye. Or Jemma really, but odds were… well, she probably wasn't her.
"He thinks you're a Skrull," informed Ward calmly.
Trip's face fell, but he looked understanding. He backed off.
"I don't think you're a Skrull, it's that I don't know if you're a Skrull," said Fitz weakly. He didn't realize until he tried to speak how upset his stomach was or how much his head hurt.
Coulson pursed his lips. "I can say with the utmost sincerity we're not, but we'll keep our distance while you figure it out," said the team leader, stepping forward just slightly as if to reassure, though he stopped himself. The man was staying true to his word. He smiled. "Don't mistake our aloofness for displeasure though; we're thrilled to have you back with us."
Fitz wasn't exactly sure what to do. Could he leave? He certainly didn't want to leave if this was really his team. And he couldn't leave Skye anyhow, especially in her current condition.
"Triplett, the water," May said suddenly, to which the man nodded nodded. He grabbed a water bottle out of a black backpack that lay near him on the ground, sending it Fitz's way by rolling it across the floor. It nudged at his feet insistently. He knelt down to pick it up, eyeing it warily. He was thirsty, but he needed more time to access the situation.
"And while you're figuring out whether to trust us or not," Coulson said patiently, seeming to sense Fitz's unease even with that, "feel free to ask us any questions. We'll try to fill you in the best we can. Maybe later you can do the same for us."
Questions. Yeah, that was a good plan. Make out a hypothesis as to what was going on after being given facts. Fitz didn't know whether they were Skrulls or being sincere and were truly his team, but he decided on a question that would be fitting to either situation.
"What happened to Simmons?" Fitz asked, fairly certain he knew whatever was going on with Skye was just a side effect of the Terrigen Mists.
"The Skrulls tried to take her place," said May. "They knocked her out too, but I checked over her. She should be fine."
"And the field agent protecting her didn't even notice it happened," Trip added somewhat accusingly, and he sent a glare to the leather jacket bloke.
"I said I was sorry!" he screeched in offense. He was the British one. "I mean they looked exactly the same."
"We're in a barn. Why are we in a barn?" Fitz questioned, standing up to brush himself off. Though he didn't leave his place between Simmons and Skye. "And how… if you aren't Skrulls, I mean… how did we get away?"
"The ritual triggered something," explained Coulson. "It's unclear exactly how, but you got knocked out and we found Skye carrying you through the streets."
"Skye was awake?" asked Fitz. He'd assumed she was in some kind of coma since the process.
And she'd been carrying him? That must have been a sight…
Coulson continued. "She was awake, but Ward touched her and... she collapsed. She started sparking more and that caused the electricity in the area to kind of... well, spaz out, so we had to go somewhere isolated. Though we don't really know what actually happened…"
"He shorted her out, somehow," announced the man bound to the post abruptly, and Fitz watched the group turn in unison towards him. The man sighed. "The process of Terrigenisis has to use a great deal of power to succeed in changing an Inhuman. But Skye's not completely Inhuman, and it seems to have created extra energy inside of her, manifesting in the form of electricity, I guess. And for some reason it reached a breaking point when your agent touched her," he tried to explain. But to be honest, he didn't sound incredibly certain about his own reasoning.
The team just stared at him. Incredulous, confused, angry stares.
"Look, I can't know why unless I examine her. To try to glimpse what power she has. Her form of hybrid has never undergone Terrigenesis and we don't know what it's doing to her!"
"You are not going anywhere near Skye," Coulson growled.
The man took in a sharp breath as his head careened backwards, hitting the post in frustration. He looked dejected and desperate. He looked broken.
"Coulson please… I worked with you for years. You know me. I just want to help my daughter."
"Your… daughter?" mumbled Fitz. His eyes lit up. "You're Wolfe! Skye told me about you. She said you weren't… real."
"He's not," snapped Ward.
"Yes I am!" he protested, fruitlessly struggling in formidable bonds. "Paibok took my place about a year ago and has kept me prisoner on that ship-"
"We heard what you said: the prophecy that you-" Coulson paused to scoff in disbelief, "I'm sorry, the prophecy that the Skrull told us about was a fake one."
Wolfe nodded frantically in agreement. "Yes, it's true. Just as true as how I was a SHIELD agent for twenty-three years. I still am! And that is my daughter." He was near panting in desperation, and Fitz couldn't help but feel bad for him. "You're killing her, Coulson!"
"Coulson… maybe we should give him a chance," suggested May, and Wolfe's face lifted in hopeful intrigue. "She's not getting better."
"I want Simmons to look her over first," Coulson said firmly. "She has to wake up soon."
"Soon may be too long."
Fitz saw the worry spark in Coulson's eyes, his determination beginning to falter.
"But, if he's lying… I mean the odds of him just suddenly being free at the exact same time-"
"We'll have guns on him," assured May firmly, though Coulson pursed his lips. He didn't seem to want to give in. Fitz watched as the woman he'd thought of generally as cold place a hand on Coulson's shoulder, her voice soft as silk when she spoke. "Phil, look at her."
Coulson did, and Fitz followed his gaze down and near gasped at what he saw: Skye looked worse than she had mere minutes ago. Her teeth chattered and the trembles wracking her body were approaching a violent speed.
He feared what would come next.
The grimace on Coulson's face made Fitz sure the man was not happy about it, but he nodded. He stood straighter, and his voice came out as a near bellow.
"Alright, weapons up. I want him surrounded. Triplett, block the exit."
Fitz felt awkward as they shuffled into position. He still didn't want to trust them and was sure to keep his distance. This could be a rouse. A giant game to make a fool out of him, again. Because of course with Skye lying sick on the ground, whom else would they use as their plaything?
But he almost doubted it now. The situation seemed too detailed to be made up. Too… sincere.
Though he wouldn't put exaggerated lengths passed the sadistic bastards.
"Fitz?" Coulson asked carefully. "Could you move Simmons so she's not so close to Skye?"
Not seeing the harm in it, Fitz did as he was told. He grabbed her carefully under the arms and felt a pang of guilt when he accidentally knocked her lolling head on the ground.
"Ah, so sorry Simmons," he muttered quietly. "That may smart when you wake up."
Laying her delicately in a particularly fluffy bale of hay he found a few feet away, he took a moment to appreciate the way the moonlight passed over her face. Highlighted all her perfect features. Of course, they were all perfect to him.
He really hoped she was real.
"Alright, May, untie him," Coulson then announced.
May used a pocketknife to free the man of his many bindings (honestly, the amount he was strung up was near ridiculous), and the sheer vigor with which he bolted away caused the field agents to raise their weapons higher, but they didn't shoot. He was merely eager to get to Skye. Then they circled him, trapping him so he couldn't get away even though he clearly had no intention of it.
Wolfe began observing her, moving her arms and giving them a shake or feeling the back of her neck. He pried open an eye, and Fitz saw the source of the glowing that was masked before. Her actual eye was radiating blue light.
It was a startling sight.
"Well?" asked Coulson impatiently. "What's happening to her?"
"Hard to say…" Wolfe mumbled. "I've never exactly dealt with someone of her species before. Actually, I've never encountered any half-breeds that met with the mists."
"I thought you said you could help her!"
"Well I have a better chance at helping her than you do!" he snapped at Coulson, before peering down at Skye with pity and fear. "I may not know exactly what to do, but I have to try…"
He brought his hands – Fitz could see now that they were shaking- up and soon after his thumbs were pressed firmly down, just on top on Skye's eyes. They near disappeared from his hands as they pushed into her head.
"What are you doing?" shouted a very alarmed Ward, making a step forward for the man. May put her arm out to stop him. Coulson looked frozen.
Fitz… didn't know what to think.
The pressure was obviously fairly great, though not enough to cause ocular damage. At first there was no change. But soon Skye began to move. Then she began to thrash, moaning against him in distraught.
Still no one did anything, because something that could be described along the lines of miraculous was obviously happening, even if she felt pain.
The frequent sparks that were coming off Skye started to gravitate towards Wolfe once he'd knelt over her. And that same power, the Terrigen power, was now being drained from her eyes and pulled over into her father.
The man snatched his hands away suddenly; tugging a few times before he could. It took some force but soon they snapped apart like magnets. Just like that, the power exchange ended.
Skye slumped down in to the ground, seeming completely spent. It reminded Fitz of how she'd been after she was shot. Put through so much, her body just needed to crash and recharge.
But she looked better.
"What did you do?" Coulson asked the man curiously, at the same time Ward hoisted him up and had his hands pinned up behind his back.
"I, uh. I think I absorbed some of the Mists' energy…"
"You think?" questioned Ward.
"Like I said, never done this before. First time dad and all. But I believe that because she's different…" he trailed to a stop, and Fitz could see him trying to arrange thoughts in his head for the rest of them. "I've heard the Mists work abnormally on non-pure Inhumans. They results are unpredictable and can even be fatal. It's why I hadn't wanted to expose her, ever in her life. But the Mist's power seemed to be lingering on her… so I thought, being an Inhuman, maybe I could help by taking some of it."
May was taking Skye's pulse. She then she put the back of her hand on the girl's cheek.
"I think it's working," said May, and it was hard to miss the relief in her voice.
As if to prove her point, Skye mumbled beneath her. Something incoherent.
"Did she try to say something?" asked Trip.
Wolfe leaned over in Ward's arms as if trying to hear. May backed off, trying to give her space. Fitz got closer, but he didn't want to leave Jemma too far behind as she was alone in the corner now. If she was real they all were real, but he just didn't feel right leaving her by herself even so.
"Stop…" fell muffled through Skye's lips. The group shared looks of concern.
"Yep, definitely trying to talk," confirmed the Brit.
"Quiet," scolded Coulson softly, as he leaned closer to the girl.
"Stop… being so… concerned."
No one knew how exactly to take the statement. At least, judging by the confused looks on their faces. But the confusion was momentary, less than a millisecond, as they filled with relief just after. Smiles on every one of them.
Fitz could tell they were holding back pouncing on her in joy.
Even so, as she tried to sit up she was met with a great deal of attempted help, Triplett and May fighting over a spot on her back and Coulson took her hand as she tried to steady herself. Ward shifted slightly in annoyance, and Fitz could tell he yearned to be helping her as well. Fitz would have jumped in as well, but the girl was already swamped with support.
"Ah, guys…" she mumbled in a slightly irritated tone, rubbing her head. "You just replaced concern with relief. Just… just tone it down."
Her words are a little off, Fitz noticed.
Skye glanced around as her senses returned to her. Her eyes landed on Ward, who had Wolfe smiling in his arms at her. She looked about to say something, when her stare flickered towards Fitz and the words died in her throat. Her face flooded with relief.
Despite a state that was obviously far from perfect, she picked herself up and ran over towards the engineer, pulling him into a tight hug. He felt her arms linger for only a few moments before he was released. But her eyes seemed to trail up and down his body, as though checking he was really there.
"You're ok!" she told him gleefully. "I thought you may have... not been ok when I knocked you out with the ritual."
"Fit as a fiddle," he told her with a smile. But despite having a gut feeling that these people were really his team, he had to warn her. He'd been fooled, humiliated and hurt by the Skrulls too much in the passed week not to be sure. "Skye… I just woke up here. I don't know if this is our team. You know… the real ones."
He was aware they were all watching them, but he was focused on Skye, and couldn't see if the words affected them.
Skye's grin seemed to be an answer in it of itself, but the girl explained anyhow.
"They are. Fitz, it's them; I can tell. And I know you're confused… and scared and concerned," she added, looking up as though gathering the information from her head, "but I am one-hundred percent sure." She turned towards their audience, running a hand through her hair exasperatedly. "I'm sure, and I can't even begin to explain how amazing it is to see each and every one of you."
Her eyes were gleaming with tears of relief and what appeared to be overwhelming happiness, and Fitz couldn't help but smile with the same reason. Now that Skye had confirmed they weren't Skrulls. Now that their time in that place was over, and he and Skye wouldn't be forced to play mortifying games. Now that Jemma's eyes could open any moment and he could see her bright smile illuminate the room; no longer having the last thing he saw of the real Simmons be her screaming in horror at the bottom of the ocean.
But… how did Skye know they weren't Skrulls? She'd just woken up!
"Skye," he said firmly, turning her away as she looked over the group gleefully.
He needed to make sure this was real. Optimism had seemed to be his downfall in the past. He'd been too trusting. Too quick to believe good news, when what hid just beneath the ice were life-threatening lies.
"Yeah?"
"How… how can you be sure that we're safe?"
She cocked her head then, gave him a crooked half-smile. She had a secret, and it was at this moment Fitz noticed something he probably should have a bit earlier.
Wolfe hadn't taken away the blue color from her eyes completely with the power exchange. The sheen of color was still there, burning in her eyes like a fire. Like it was moving and living inside of her. The brown was still prominent, but Skye surely had a new aspect to her now.
"Well…" she started, taking a moment to side-step herself so she was addressing the entire group. "Guys. I think I may have gotten one of those cool alien powers."
Everyone looked puzzled, sharing glances sporting furrowed brows, though most were still smiling. Wolfe was definitely smiling. In fact, he looked proud.
"You can tell when people are Skrulls?" asked Ward. Skye opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off.
The barn rumbled greatly, rattling the rafters and beams and shaking up the hay in the place. The old boards began to shed a shower of dust onto them, and everyone in the old building stumbled about for the few seconds it lasted.
"What was that?" asked Fitz urgently.
Coulson and May shared a look, just before turning around to head towards the barn doors. Skye followed them, though Ward stayed behind with Wolfe, and Triplett didn't make a move for the door either. Fitz felt a pang of guilt leaving Jemma, but she was just lying there. Plus, he was just going to the door.
Outside was a mainly quiet night, but they could make off something in the distance. It was so far that it looked merely like a speck floating in the air, but Fitz could tell it was just perspective. And that meant the object had to be large.
"What is that?" asked Hunter incredulously.
Skye was looking around herself, and Fitz followed suit in checking the surroundings. They were on a country road with a lot of greenery spread out in either direction. Though it was difficult to see far in the distance in the night.
"Well first off, can you tell me where we are?" asked Skye.
"We're a good chunk away from Rome," explained Coulson. "We drove until we came across the first rural area we could and that took us a few miles out."
"So… is that noise coming from the city of Rome, then?" asked Fitz, pointing to the floating speck.
"I think so, but it's so far," said Coulson, matching the others as he stared off into the distance. "Whatever's over there would have to be big for us to be able to see it from here."
"It is," stated May, and all four of their eyes shifted to her as she held up her phone for them to see. It was a news website, holding a picture of the floating Italian iconic building. "That's the Colosseum."
The news website showed the architecture hanging in the air. And the article mentioned hostages, along with a few casualties that had already taken place.
Skye paled, her face knitting together with strings of alarm and concern.
"Graviton's making good on his threat," she whispered in distraught. "I… I thought if it would do no good to threaten me, because I already did the ritual before the right date, I thought they wouldn't…"
Skye couldn't finish her sentence, the horror of causing this to happen fresh on her face. Fitz scooted closer to her.
"Maybe they think the ritual has a chance to still work. Or they were always planning on using Graviton anyway no matter what you did," said Fitz, the theories suddenly piling up in his head. "Or maybe…"
"They're pissed and want me back to make me suffer for it," Skye finished the thought Fitz had become unwilling to voice. He still nodded in agreement. Based on the Skrulls tendencies, that honestly seemed to be the most likely option.
Skye's breathing became hard, her chest visibly expanding with every breath.
"I have to go back," she said with an air of terrified realization. Her voice quivered, and she stared ahead with a true fear, as though she were imagining exactly how that particular meeting was going to unfold. She might as well have proclaimed, "even though it's the last thing I'd want to do," along with it, as obvious as it was. "I have to-"
"Skye, shut up," Coulson said, a tad harshly. But it seemed to do the trick. Skye snapped out of the strange fixation she had on the floating Colosseum. Her stare moving to Coulson with something almost like hurt on her face, but more of a silent askance. "You're not doing that. Again. Remember what happened last time?"
Skye blinked.
"But… but the people-"
"We have a new agent working on a device to take him down. We just have to get Fitz back to the BUS as quickly as possible to help him finish it."
"And there's no way we could know they're going to stop once they have you, Skye," Fitz added. "Like you said, they're angry."
"Right," agreed Coulson. "In fact, I could think of a good amount of reasons why that's a horrible idea. But right now we need to focus on getting back to the BUS. Ok?"
Skye looked stunned for a moment, but then her lips pressed together in a sort of suppressed smile. She nodded with enthusiastic relief, obviously grateful for the reasoning of not having to go back to those people.
Fitz could not blame her. He would take any excuse he could get his hands on to never return to them.
Skye seemed to be renewed with energy from the whiplash of expectations of her. She then, actually, grinned.
"Then let's get back to the BUS, help this new dude with whatever it is you're talking about, and get the bad guy beat. They'll be sorry they ever messed with agents of SHIELD!"
May gave her a rather exasperated look as the woman turned to go back through the threshold of the barn, presumably to get Simmons or help Ward with Skye's dad. Though Fitz could have sworn he saw a slight grin up the corner of her mouth. Still, he even had to glance at Skye uncertainly with the way she worded her enthusiasm.
"You sound like you hopped out of a comic book," admonished Coulson.
Skye fixed him a look. "And Graviton doesn't?" she asked wryly. "Plus I apparently have super powers… face it Coulson, we basically are in a comic book."
Fitz pointed to her. "She does have a point there, sir."
Coulson sported an amused expression as he shrugged. "I guess you're right. We'd better get going then. I think it's to take down this super villain."
A/n: Man, these guys need like a trust seminar! Dang shapeshifters making trust hard.
Well, happy 2015 guys! Thank you so much for following this story. I love getting email updates about any sort of response to it, so thank you very much!
Also, if this is getting too confusing or anything shoot me a message. I'll clarify, or give a recap... Cause legit, this storyline's craziness is getting out of hand!