They were back at the motel and Legs was counting the bills alongside several other higher up members of their team.
"You did good you three," he praised. "Even if things got a bit messy." He cast his gave sternly on Kenzi who looked away, fearful of someone for once and he laughed. "Lighten up kid, at least now we know you can get your hands dirty." he jested and she gave him a half smile.
"Dave did you want to... get some air," Donnie offered in a hushed voice to his teammate who sat on a chair beside him.
"You OK?" Dave asked him, concerned.
He must have been showing how nervous he was, which wasn't too out of the ordinary for someone who had robbed a bank recently, however he didn't want the others to be suspicious so he forced an easygoing smile.
"I'm just feeling a bit shut in," he improvised.
"I get it," Dave assured him, even though he didn't. "I could go for a walk. Hey, can we take a walk?" He asked Legs. "This place stinks, literally stinks and it's making Blizzard wanna hurl."
"Don't go too far," Legs instructed, waving them away without turning his attention from the money.
Donnie and Dave walked down the quiet street in silence for a few blocks before Donnie felt safe enough to speak.
"Shield is going to find us," he warned him quietly.
"Oh c'mon Donnie, stop worrying," Dave objected, laughing at him like he was being silly.
"Dave I left my credit card at the bank," he stated flatly. "They're going to find us."
"What?!" Dave exclaimed, before gazing around fretfully and lowering his voice. "What the hell-"
"Do you really think that what happened back at the bank was OK?" Donnie demanded.
Dave was a friend, almost anyway, and Donnie wanted to help him, he wanted to believe that he wasn't like the others. He was kind, he could be a good person if he had the courage to, to say no to these people like Donnie was trying to do. he deserved a chance to make the right decision even if it meant Donnie taking a huge risk.
He sighed and turned away, "It's... it isn't that simple," he mumbled.
"It is though," Donnie persisted. "We can leave, go somewhere else. We can-"
"You little traitor!" Someone snarled behind them.
It was Legs, he had followed them.
He pointed at Dave. "You, get back to the others," he barked. "And you-"
But he didn't have time to finish because Donnie bolted, leaving both of them behind.
'Coward,' he scolded himself, but he kept running.
Dave would be fine, he wasn't the one in trouble.
Donnie dashed into a nearby motel, crummier than even the one they'd been staying at before and hopefully empty of guests.
"Help, call the police!" he shouted at the man at the reception desk but Legs leapt over Donnie and snapped the man's neck and Donnie ran on even though he knew he couldn't escape.
All he'd done was get someone else killed and he hated himself for it. He'd done so much harm, maybe he deserved this, but he was terrified and he kept going, trying to reach the exit on the other side of the room.
Legs cut him off, blocking the door and he skidded to a halt. The giant man brought up a fist to strike him and Donnie flinched, expecting a blow before someone grabbed Legs' arm and jumped onto his back like a monkey.
Legs took him by the scruff of his shirt him and threw him off but the distraction had been enough to give Donnie time to think and he froze Legs solid.
"Fitz?" he gasped, recognizing the man who was struggling to his feet.
"Oww," he replied. "Good, you remember me."
Of course he remembered him, he'd know about him since before he'd met him, everyone at the academy knew Fitz and Simmons.
"What are you doing here?" he exclaimed. "Why did you-"
"I followed you, from the other motel," he explained, grinning at him. "I heard what you said. You want out do you?"
Donnie nodded before the ice surrounding Legs cracked and he shook himself out.
No one needed to tell either of them to scramble away and they dashed together through the motel, trying to find a place to hide.
They turned left at the end of the Hall and Legs went right, not seeing them, giving them time to double back to the entrance but the centipede soldier had made his way around the building and was lurking outside the door.
The two of them managed to scramble underneath a desk before he saw them, but they were trapped.
"Where are the others?" he whispered. "Don't you have a team?"
"I came on my own," Fitz let him know, shaking his head. "They didn't... they were going to send in armed agents but I wanted to talk to you."
"Why?" Donnie wondered, confused.
"Because you don't seem like you want to be doing this," Fitz reasoned. "And I didn't want you or David getting hurt."
Dave... he better be OK. He better not be dead too because of Donnie.
There was a crash as the door was kicked off it's hinges. Donnie thought that was a waste of energy and materials, it hadn't even been locked, however his stomach squeezed and a chill ran down his spine at the loud noise. Legs was coming, he'd find them and then he'd kill them.
"When I tell you, run to the door, go get help," Fitz instructed but Donnie didn't understand.
"I can't make it... h-he'll see me," he fretted, shaking with fear. That was a horrible idea, how had Leopold Fitz come up with it?
"No, no he won't, he'll be focusing on me," Fitz assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder and his plan suddenly made awful sense.
"I can't ask you to-" he tried to protest but Fitz cut him off.
"You don't have to ask me, I can do the math," he let him know determinedly. "It isn't difficult, I have more time than you. They need me alive, they'll question me-"
"They'll torture you," Donnie corrected. This wasn't right, he couldn't let him do this.
"It's either that or we both die," he reminded him grimly and Donnie shook his head.
"I can be the distraction," he offered, not sure when he'd become so bold, all he knew was that he couldn't stand to let anyone else die because of him.
"You know you can't," Fitz objected as if he was being ridiculous. "They don't need you alive, they'll kill you."
"Who cares about me," he muttered, looking away.
"I care about you," Fitz insisted and Donnie met his gaze, shocked. "Now stop arguing with me and go get help, and hurry up I don't have a very high threshold for... well..." he gulped. "Just hurry up."
"Fitz-" Donnie tried to grab his arm but he shook him off and began to rise to his feet.
"Tell Simmons I didn't mean it," he said quickly, taking a breath, steeling himself before he leapt over the desk. "Hey, you creepy bugman!" he taunted. "I bet you can't catch me, even with all those... legs!"
He was joking, he was facing the possibility of a horrible death and he was joking. Donnie realized that, even if he no longer wanted to be a Shield agent, he wanted to be more like Fitz. He wanted to be brave and good like that, but first he had to save him so gathered his courage and sprung over the desk, racing towards the door.
Kenzi appeared in his way, stopping him with a hand on his chest and he flinched, expecting to be burned up like the man at the bank but something fast and spinning hit her, sending her flying away and crashing into the wall.
"Dave?" he gasped.
"We need to get out of here," he said, taking Donnie's arm and pulling him out the door as Kenzi struggled to her feet.
"We need to find Shield," he panted as he ran.
"Have you lost your mind?" Dave exclaimed breathlessly, a bit ahead of him.
"They have Fitz," he explained.
"That's not our prob-" Dave began.
"Yes it is," Donnie declared forcefully. "He saved my life and he's a good man. We can't leave him there."
"Geez Donnie, you've got to big a conscious for your own good," Dave muttered and he grumbled before adding, "fine, let's go find Shield."
/-/-/
Jemma and her team were at the motel which Donnie, Kenzi and David had been staying at. The area had been evacuated and a back up team was on its way but they had to move in immediately before it was too late.
"Wait here," Coulson ordered as Jemma reached for the bullet proof vest.
She shook her head stubbornly. "No, I'm coming. If he's hurt he'll need me-"
"He'll need you alive," May finished. "It's too dangerous, wait here."
"I'm not scared," she protested. "I can-"
"Wait. Here." May repeated firmly, and she realized she was wasting time, holding them up, so she nodded.
"I mean it Simmons," Coulson warned and she met his eyes before nodding again.
"If you need me-" she began.
"We'll call you," he assured her. "But we need you here for now to steer the two D.W.A.R.F.s. Stay here, stay safe, and be ready."
"I will," she vowed. "Go get him out of there."
"We're on it," Trip grinned encouragingly and Skye smiled confidently at her before they left the truck.
She watched her teammates go and struggled with the compulsive need to follow, to charge in there and rescue him.
They were right, it was too dangerous. She was irrational, feeling reckless and that wouldn't be helpful at all. They weren't just worried she wasn't yet cleared for combat (not cleared for combat, what a joke, she'd seen plenty of combat and come through) they were concerned she was going to do something crazy.
She felt a little crazed, jittery and jumpy and terrified, her mind flashing through worst case scenarios which she attempted to block out because they were feeding her insanity.
"We have them surrounded," Skye told her quietly over the coms. "I don't see Fitz," Jemma felt sick with fear because she hadn't found him either, he wasn't appearing on either of the monitors. "Maybe he's further inside."
She couldn't reply, it was taking everything she had to stay put, as Coulson had instructed, and there was no effort left for words.
Then the coms went dead and the drones stopped communicating with the monitors right before the sound of gunfire and she lost it completely.
"Skye? Trip? anyone?" she shouted, receiving only static.
Now they could all be in danger and there was no way she was going to wait in a truck while her team and her beloved needed her.
Grabbing an ICER and the vest, which she hastily buckled on, she opened the door and collided with Donnie in her rush to get out.
"What the-" she exclaimed, knocked on her butt, before scooping up the ICER and pointing it him. "What have you done with Fitz?" she snarled. "Where is he?"
"Hey, don't point that thing at us," another man objected, offended.
She looked to her left to seem him standing over her and darted the ICER from Donnie to him and then back to Donnie again, unsure what to do.
"You need to come with us," Donnie announced.
"That isn't really how this works-" she argued.
"They have Fitz," Donnie informed her impatiently. "They have him somewhere else, close by."
"How can I believe you?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes.
"You don't have a choice," Donnie asserted and she scoffed at him. "Simmons, please listen to me, I know-..." he took a breath. "They're going to hurt him... they're probably doing it now and then they're going to kill him."
"They're hurting him?" she whispered, fear clawing its way up he spine and he nodded, holding her gaze.
She didn't know if it was because what he said stabbed knives into her stomach or if it was because he seemed sincere in his concern, but she made a decision to trust him.
"Bloody hell," she swore, thinking this was probably a mistake but not knowing what else to do. "Here, there are more ICERs in the truck," she handed one to each of them. "It's a stun gun," she let them know. "It wont kill anyone, just knock them out, so you shoot if you have to. We don't have time to get the others they're..." her heart ached from another stab of worry, "...busy... and I can't communicate with them."
"That's my fault," Donnie admitted as they broke into a run and she followed behind him and the other man.
"Of course it is," she muttered angrily.
How much trouble could one person cause?
/-/-/
Legs threw him again and he landed on one of the pool chairs, breaking it underneath him and becoming tangled in the cracked plastic, the wind knocked out of him.
Oww...
It wasn't so bad, he told himself, he'd been beat up before... not by anyone with super strength, but still it was better than having his fingers cut off or one of the other frightening things action movies had taught him about. Action movies and the academy.
Better, but it still hurt.
Whose idea was it to plant hedges around the pool area? How badly did the guests need privacy while swimming? If they'd just left it open maybe someone would see him and help.
Or they'd be doing this inside.
He struggled to sit up but Legs pushed him down with his foot, pressing on his chest until he could barely breath and threatening to break his ribs.
"I'm not...telling...anything," he choked out defiantly, hoping Legs wasn't about to take out the finger chopper... whatever that was.
"You will," Legs said, stomping down on him and almost making him pass out.
He heard a disturbing crack and it hurt to breathe.
How was he suppose to tell him anything if he couldn't talk? The brute.
He backed away and Leo tried to sit up but pain seared across his body when the muscles in his chest and abdomen contracted and he fell back down, unable to free himself from the chair.
"Why don't we try warming him up a bit?" Legs suggested to Mackenzie, who'd been watching uneasily a short distance away.
"Don't you want him to talk?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "I'll probably kill him if I try what I did at the bank."
"Can't you slow it down?" he demanded challengingly. "Go on, if you want to stop Shield you need to get your hands dirty, I know you can."
Leo remembered the man at the bank and was filled with terror. Where the hell was Donnie with help?
She hesitated, gazing unhappily at Leo and he wondered if maybe this was too far for her.
"You better try it or it'll be you I throw into a chair next," Legs threatened and she gave a little start before nodding and approaching them.
"Don't," Leo pleaded, trying again to sit up, to squirm away, however he was still tangled in the chair and pain shot across his chest again.
"Talk then," she said coldly, kneeling down beside him. "Where is the new sandbox?"
He shook his head and she looked to Legs for direction.
"Go on then," he ordered impatiently and Mackenzi placed a hand on his stomach.
/-/-/
Donnie and David led her to another motel a few blocks away which seemed, if anything, more run down than the first had been.
They searched the building, Jemma biting her tongue to stop herself from calling out to Leo, until David called them over, he'd found them in the pool area.
There was a man standing over Leo, who appeared to have been smashed into one of the pool chairs, and Mackenzie knelt beside him, pressing a hand against him in a terrifyingly familiar way.
'No you don't,` she thought furiously, shoving her way through the door, aiming the ICER and managing to hit her body, knocking her unconscious.
The man started towards her but Donnie froze his feet to the ground, slowing him before shooting him with his own ICER several times and knocking him unconscious as well.
Jemma dashed towards Leo and saw, to her horror, that she'd been too late to stop Mackenzie.
He was burning up, red faced and sweating. At least he could still sweat, at least he hadn't heated up beyond the point where his body could produce it, but she knew that was coming.
"David, go get help," she shouted firmly. "Donnie, stay here, I'll need you."
David bolted away while she knelt beside Leo and gently lifting him up out of the broken plastic.
"J-...Jemma..." he stuttered, gasping in air, staring up at her, all the words he hadn't the strength to say dancing behind his eyes.
"It's OK," she soothed, dragging him towards the pool. "I've got you, you're going to be aright."
"I- I'm..." he was struggling to speak, to keep his eyes open.
"Shhh," she whispered, smoothing his hair gently and they closed.
Jemma was so scared they were never going to open again, so frightened he wouldn't wake up but she couldn't let it overwhelm her now. She needed to be strong, be brave for him.
"Make me as much ice as you can," she ordered Donnie, pulling Leo into the water and holding him up in the shallow end. "But don't freeze us," she warned fiercely because she still didn't entirely trust him.
"I won't," he promised, turning portions of the pool water solid and then breaking the ice up into chunks before pushing it towards them.
This was buying them time but it wasn't stopping what was happening to him, the water around them wasn't cooling him off fast enough, it was as if he had heater inside of him countering its effects.
She carefully splashed some of the water over his face, he was no longer sweating, his body wasn't able to cool itself anymore.
He opened his eyes and stared up at her dazedly.
"There you are," she cooed, smiling at him and wetting her hand to run over his face again, it was so hot it warmed the droplets immediately. "You can stop now," she told Donnie, raising her head for a brief moment before looking back down at Leo, because the water around them was making her shiver it had grown so cold.
They didn't want the blood vessels next to the surface of his skin to constrict in reaction to it, that could slow down heat loss and he needed to lose this heat quickly.
He was reaching up to her, trying to say something.
"It's OK," she soothed, keeping his face and hair wet while holding them above the water by splashing it onto him. "We're cooling you off, don't worry."
She was lying, they weren't cooling him off they were merely preventing him from continuing to heat up but she didn't know what else to do, she didn't know what else to say.
He was trying to move again and she took his wrist to place his arm gently back in the water.
"Sit still," she insisted however the second she let go he attempted to reach up again and she let him in hopes he would stop struggling once he did what he wanted to do. Hyperthermia could cause strange behaviour, disorientation, and she wondered if that was what this was.
He pressed his hand against her chest, over her heart and he stared into her eyes, his own filled with what could have been regret but also with love and she understood immediately.
"The meta-" he said weakly as his hand fell slowly back into the water.
"I know what you mean," she assured him softly, lifting him to kiss his face before spreading more water onto it.
He gave her such a small smile his mouth barely moved but it was all in his eyes anyway and she smiled back before he closed them and her vision blurred from her tears.
She didn't know what to do, whatever was happening to him she didn't know how to stop it, didn't know how to put out the flames that were burning him up.
The only thing she knew for sure would stop it was when it finally killed him. Mr. Maroon's body had been as cold as any corpse.
'Think!' she commanded herself. 'There has to be something, something here you can use.'
She'd done everything she knew how to do though, except remove the source of the heat. Which was important, vitally important, but seemingly impossible.
It was invisible, inside of him, almost like wicked magic. The truth was, she had no idea how Mackenzie's powers worked, no idea how to save him.
He was so warm, too warm, a sharp contrast against the cold water, and he was getting warmer. He'd fallen unconscious again and she knew they were running out of time.
"No," she sobbed helplessly, her tears dripping onto him, cooler than his skin.
/-/-/
Donnie didn't know what Fitz's gesture meant but Simmons did so it didn't really matter. He waded into the pool, staying back a few feet, watching, but neither of them noticed him there.
Fitz was dying, the water, the ice, it wasn't working and he was going to die.
It wasn't fair, he was good person, a kind person, one of the only people who had ever cared about Donnie. He'd cared enough to risk his life to save him and now he was paying the price.
He had to do something, anything but he didn't know what he could do. There was nothing they could do. Simmons knew it, he could see it in her eyes as she stared into Fitz's face, she knew she was losing him.
"No," he heard her say, barely loud enough to reach him. It was like an echo of his own desperate shout almost a year ago and he couldn't watch this anymore so he turned his attention to the water, feebly freezing chunks of ice and pushing them towards them.
Gazing down at his hands he suddenly had an idea and he waded forward to kneel beside them.
Simmons was shivering, and crying, tiny sobs escaping her, and she didn't acknowledge his presence until he placed his hands on Fitz and her head snapped up, eyes blazing.
"Get away from us," she hissed, pulling both of them backwards. "Haven't you done enough already? Just...just leave us alone."
"I can help," he insisted, ignoring the venom in her words even as it burned him.
"How?" she demanded, fury and desperation melded together.
"I can cool him down, trust me," he pleaded.
She stared into his eyes, her own filled with misery before they blazed again with the same determination she'd had moments before. "Do it then," she commanded.
Donnie placed his hands over Fitz again, one on his shoulder and one on his stomach and concentrated.
Not too cold, he didn't want to hurt him. He soon realized too cold wasn't going to be an issue as he fought the heat searing out of him, trying to extinguish it.
It was working, he was cooling down and now his skin no longer felt as if a flame were lit beneath it. He opened his eyes again and looked between Donnie and Simmons and he smiled at Donnie before his gaze caught on her remained there.
Simmons choked out a short laugh of relief and pressed her forehead against Fitz's.
"I love you," he murmured with difficulty. "I'm so sorry..."
"Me too," she whispered softly. "I love you too sweetheart." She lifted her head for a moment and smiled at Donnie. "Thank you." she told him gratefully.
"I'm glad he's OK," he answered.
When he finished, when the heater had been snuffed out, Donnie drew back to view the rewards of his efforts.
Simmons pulled Fitz out of the water and cradled him against her, whispering things to him while she stroked his cheek which lit his face with a smile that was almost surprising to see on someone whose insides had been broiling only a minute ago. They looked so happy together, content with one another's presence. Donnie thought that maybe he would have been a little jealous of that closeness if Fitz hadn't just risked everything to save him. There were people in this world who could care about him, good people inhabiting the planet, and that was enough for now.
Simmons lifted Fitz up to kiss him, on the mouth this time, truly surprising Donnie. That was new... maybe... what did he know? Maybe it had been there the whole time, he'd met them only once.
It felt like something private, that he shouldn't be watching but he didn't know what else to do until Simmons looked up and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Why are you still here?" she wondered, no longer hostile.
"Y-you want me to... what?" he stammered but she had turned her attention back to Fitz whose eyes had closed again, his head resting against her and he realized she was letting him go.
Fitz was sleeping but he'd be fine, Donnie was sure of it. He would be fine and Donnie really did need to go if he didn't want to be taken back into Shield custody again.
So he climbed out of the pool and, after one last look behind him at the two of them to see that Simmons was making a point of ignoring him, of not seeing what he was doing, he ran away from the motel. He didn't know where he was running to, somewhere new.
Fitz and Simmons had given him a chance, given him an opportunity to start a new life, something better, he hoped.
/-/-/
Thank you for all the reviews, follows, likes and reads. You are all great :D and I am grateful.
Oh yeah! There is one more chapter because not everything has been resolved yet.
The Fringe reference is the line "Who care's about me?" and the response "I care about you." In the first season episode Bound, Peter is worrying about Olivia because she just escaped being kidnapped and she says the first part (because she is distracted by the case) to which he responds with the second part.
The last line of the chapter was based on the quote from the finale where Simmons is talking about what happens after you die and says "...we gave them new life, a good one, I hope."
I think the whole 'how cold should the water be' thing is debatable (according to wiki, I also found an article that said 2 degree Celsius water was good for cooling) but it is true that the blood vessels next to the surface of your skin contract when something cold is against it .