They weren't running, no one wanted to risk straying outside the field of invisibility, but the group hurried as fast as they could, sticking close together in a soundless, lump-like herd.
Until the first ball of light from an alien blaster sped by, grazing Jemma's shoulder and Fitz saw her bite down hard on her lip to avoid crying out in pain and surprise.
"I can see you," the Olos told them, his skin was a silver-grey and he was at least a head taller than any of the others Fitz had met. He wore dark glasses over his eyes, the sides of them flashing with green lights, and Fitz guessed they had some sort infrared sensor inside of them.
Mack reached for his gun but the Olos was quicker, shifting his blaster to point towards him. "I wouldn't try that," he warned.
Frowning, Mack lifted his hands to show that he understood and several more Olos appeared from around the corner behind the first, each wearing the same pair of glasses and flooding around them with their weapons until each one of the small team had a blaster pointed towards them.
Cornered, they raised their hands in surrender, the bubble of invisibility dissolving when Lincoln and Violet broke contact, and the aliens moved forward to apprehend them.
Jemma struggled viciously when they tried to pull her and Fitz apart but the Olos holding her pushed a finger into her wound and she cried out, distracted long enough to be dragged back.
"Leave her alone!" Fitz roared, trying his best to elbow his captor until the end of a blaster poked into his chest and he stopped, breathing hard and glaring at them before his eyes met Jemma's and she silently mouthed that she was OK. She didn't look OK. She was still wincing from the pain in her arm, staring frantically at him as if she were in a panic.
Another group of Olos joined them and, to his horror, Fitz saw that they had managed to subdue the rest of his team.
One had her arm around Coulson's neck, a blaster pointed towards his head, and another held May's arm with one pressed against her side. The right leg of May's pants was ripped and wet with blood and most of her weight had been taken on by her opposite side, as if it hurt to stand with the injury.
The area around Skye's eye was swollen, red with the beginning of a bruise, but otherwise she appeared uninjured.
'I'm so sorry,' he thought, his friends' wounds making his stomach churn. 'I didn't want any of you to be hurt because of me.'
The sole hostage-less alien, her skin a dark blue, stepped forward, the usual patient chipperness Fitz had come to expect from the beings faded out entirely.
"We would very much like you to come with us now," she said tensely, eyes narrowing as they rested on him.
Fitz was scared, for himself as well as his team, but he stood tall, glaring back at her defiantly. "Let them go," he demanded.
"You will not give us orders," she snapped. "We'll be killing the intruders after we've questioned them."
"Good luck with that," Skye huffed. She squirmed uncomfortably but her captor only tightened his grip.
"You should not have tried to steal from us," he scolded harshly.
"Steal from you?" Despite the blaster aimed at her belly, Jemma puffed up at that, her eyes blazing. "He's a human being not property, no one can steal him."
"He belongs to us," the one restraining her said firmly. "We created him."
Jemma scoffed. "You experimented on him. And that hardly gives you the right to-"
"Enough!" he snapped, jabbing her with the edge of his weapon so that she let out a short grunt of discomfort, his hand worryingly close to the trigger. "We'll start with this one."
Fitz felt the jolt of a cold knife in his chest at his words. "No!" he shrieked, struggling fiercely to get to her but held back by a strong grasp on his arms. "No you can't."
"Don't," warned the dark blue one. Her tone of voice hinted at authority and her colleague stopped, turning to her in surprise. "She is linked to him," she explained. "She's helping stabilize the soul-body connection. Don't you remember why we sent them home in the first place? His soul is far from set, he still needs her."
Connected. The man had said that too, the one who'd killed him. Niel. He and Jemma were connected in a way they didn't understand. Could it be true? Was Jemma stabilizing him somehow? He couldn't really see how it was possible, but then again he couldn't really see how him standing there, occupying a newly formed body, was possible either.
"We're dissecting him," the one holding Jemma pointed out. "Does it really matter?"
"I'd like him to be alive when we do," she replied.
The answer seemed to satisfy him and he nodded his acceptance and Fitz's insides churned at their plans.
"You're monsters, all of you," Jemma muttered. She was nearly rippling with fury as she struggled to free herself. "Is that what you did the people whose body parts you're keeping in glass jars?" she spat.
"They would have died far sooner if we hadn't interfered," she dismissed easily. "We gave them more time, and in exchange they will give us forever."
"He isn't going to give you anything!" she growled.
"That isn't up to you," she repeated irritably. "You've brought a poor rescue team," she taunted. "A handful of humans. You're mice to us."
"Mice with titans for friends."
The alien's heads snapped around at the sound of lady Sif's voice, their jaws dropping in surprise. A small force of Asgardians followed behind her.
"This operation violates our interworld law," she boomed. "Experimentation on sentient beings is prohibited."
"The Olos do not see humans as worthy of interworld law," the dark blue one shot back coldly. "And you aren't in much of a position to arrest us. Not when we have your precious humans as hostages."
"There is no way out of this for you," lady Sif told her evenly. "If you give yourselves up this will be easier on you."
A few of the other Olos glanced between each other uncomfortably, however their leader simply glared back at her. "You can't be serious?" she scoffed. "We'll be in an Asgardian prison for the rest of our lives, whatever we do."
"There are far more severe penalties for the crime you've chosen to commit," lady Sif answered sternly. "You and your colleagues have murdered dozens of innocent people, that will not be taken lightly by our justice system."
At last she seemed afraid. Her mouth twitched and Fitz could see that she was deep in thought, debating her options.
"None of us will be killed," she demanded at last, standing tall as she stared down her adversary. "And our research will remain intact and given to our people to continue it within the boundaries of your laws."
Lady Sif hesitated and the Olos' leader jerked her head towards the alien holding Jemma, signalling to him silently. He tapped a button on his blaster and lights lit along the sides as it emitted a low hum, charging up.
"This will be my only offer for their lives," she said venomously.
Fitz felt his throat constrict and his gaze darted to meet lady Sif's, pleading with her to stop this before it was pulled back to Jemma. Her face was carved stone but he could see her shoulders had become rigid and her back had stiffened up, a bit of the colour draining from her face. She must have been so frightened, but she was fighting not to show it.
"Very well," lady Sif agreed, after what felt like far too long. "I agree to your terms."
Fitz's muscles uncoiled like loosened springs and he heard Jemma let out a ragged sigh of relief as the blaster was pulled away from her and she and the others were released. The moment they were free she and Fitz leapt towards each other, his hands finding hers and holding on tightly as lady Sif and her team bound the small group of Olos with silver and gold, faintly glowing contraptions that looked a bit like bulky handcuffs.
To his immense relief the wound on her arm didn't look too deep even after that brute had pawed at it and when she saw his eyes lingering on it she smiled, shaking her head to tell that she was OK.
"You didn't really think we came here without any backup did you?" Coulson asked, raising his eyebrows at the Asgardian's new prisoners.
They Olos were fuming, refusing to look at them or speak and any sharp remarks were kept inside of their heads.
Six of the Asgardians led them away, however lady Sif did not follow. After instructing them to take the prisoners to back to Asgard, she drifted towards Fitz and Jemma, stopping only a few feet away and tilting her head curiously at them.
To his surprise, Jemma's demeanor changed on a dime from relief to hostility. Glaring at lady Sif she shuffled so that she was between her and Fitz, extending one arm out in front of him.
"He's staying with us," Coulson told her before Jemma had a chance to pelt out the angry words on the tip of her tongue. He shrugged apologetically. "We're grateful for your help, but you can't take him with you."
Fitz frowned. Why would the Asgardians want him?
Lady Sif looked past him and Jemma, speaking directly to Fitz. "Do you understand what you are?" she asked evenly.
He hesitated. "Sort of… I'm… uh… I'm some sort of clone? But not really, because clones don't remember the lives of their tissue donors, they have their own memories and experiences. My body is a clone but my… er… my… I suppose you'd call it a soul…"
"That is what the Olos would call it," she said flatly and he stopped, swallowing nervously.
Was she asking him to prove that he was himself? How could he when he still barely believed it? Did he really think that he was the same person he remembered being? Did he even believe that was possible? What was going to happen to him if lady Sif thought it wasn't?
Beside him, Jemma nudged his hand with her own, her fingers slipping through his, and when he turned his head towards her he was encouraged by the warmth in her gaze. She certainly believed it, or at least she loved him, whatever he was, and it was making his heart swell wonderfully to bask under her glow. He glanced around at the others and he could see by the way they looked at him that they all cared for him too. They'd all come for him, to bring him back home, despite the danger to themselves, and that knowledge, along with the memory of Jemma's three gentle squeezes, was enough to weave together his own, still fragile belief, that he was who he felt he was.
He turned back to lady Sif and lifted his chin, speaking firmly. "I'm not going with you. I belong here, this is my home and I'm not going anywhere."
That he knew right down to his core.
"You understand that you are not meant to exist?" she asked him calmly.
"Yeah, well I do," he replied forcefully, refusing to break eye contact. "We all do," he added, remembering the boy who he'd helped escape, the one he promised he wouldn't leave here. "And I'll fight you for all of us if I have to."
Lady Sif shook her head. "That will not be necessary." She turned her body, addressing Coulson now. "We freed them as Coulson's team distracted the Olos for us. We are willing to pass on the responsibility of the remnants of this experiment over to you," she told him. "I will expect for you to account for each one and return them to where it is most appropriate."
"You mean bring them home?" Skye asked hopefully.
She nodded. "If that is what is appropriate," she answered simply.
Fitz felt a grin stretch across his face. "Thank you."
She gave him a small smile, staring for a few seconds, curious. Then Jemma's arms were around him, her face nuzzling into his shoulder, and then Skye was holding him too, and Mack, his arms managing to stretch around the three of them. Coulson squeezed his arm fondly and May let her hand rest on his free shoulder.
Fitz closed his eyes contently and smiled as he leaned his head onto Jemma's. He wasn't alone anymore. He belonged to these people, the way they belonged to him and with him. That was something he was sure he'd never stop appreciating because he could never forget how painful it was to have no one. The stark contrast of the love and companionship he felt now was enough to saturate him with chorusing joy that left his knees weak and his head light.
They brought him back on the quinjet, taking the five other survivors with them, and Jemma held onto his hand the entire way there while Mack and Skye took turns shooting him wide grins, the three of them filling him in on what had happened in the time he'd been gone.
That night he ate with his friends and slept in his bed, wrapping his arms around Jemma whose head lay against his chest, chirping away until their endless conversations finally dwindled and her eyes fell shut from exhaustion. He soon joined her, sleeping in his own bed for the first time in what felt to him like weeks but that had actually been much, much longer.
/-/-/
Thank you to notapepper for your help with lady Sif, as well as the rest of this story :D
One more chapter to wrap everything up. It's a bit long, but I think that everything that happens in it goes together.
Also, I don't think the teenage boy has a name. So you can give him one if you'd like :D