Ward knew he couldn't take them all, there were too many. He had put up a good fight, but the mass of soldiers got him to put his hands in the air when there were at least five guns trained on him at once.
One soldier who seemed to be throwing around orders waved for them to go ahead and shoot Ward and he closed his eyes, preparing for the end. He heard a gunshot, but it didn't hit him. He heard another. And ten more.
Ward opened his eyes to find that May, Coulson and Fitz had driven up to the cargo hold, having come back early. Fitz was trembling in the car, but May and Coulson took down the majority of the soldiers before they even turned to look. Ward jumped into action and the three of them quickly eliminated the threat.
"Where's Simmons?" Fitz called as he ran over from the jeep, once it was safe of course.
"She and Skye are gone, I told them to run." Ward explained, wiping some blood off of his busted lip.
"That was probably best. Do you know where they are?" May asked him.
Then Ward realized something terrible. He knew exactly where Skye would take Simmons. She would try to run home. But Ward knew that centipede knew she was there. He realized that since Skye can't fight, she wouldn't have escaped centipede unless they intended for her to do so. And he knew that they were trying to make her stay with Ashley. The laser he saw on the table in the diner wasn't from the people they were trying to catch, it was from centipede, who wanted to eliminate him so he didn't take Skye with him. Him taking Skye back to the bus is what put them on offense, what made them want to bring Skye back into custody.
"I have an idea." Ward said sadly.
When Ward, May, Coulson, and Fitz finally made it to the diner, they followed the customer's instructions to get to Ashley's apartment. Apparently everybody knew everybody in the town.
Ward didn't wait for Ashley to answer the door, he kicked it down.
"I know you're here Ashley, where is Skye?" Ward called. The others follow behind him as he entered the apartment.
"You're too late. She was here, but a bunch of people came and took her. I tried to stop them." Ashley said as he stepped out of a bedroom, exposing her black eye. Ward didn't know that it was Skye that gave it to her in an attempt to keep Simmons safe.
"Come on guys, Skye's not here." Coulson told his team as he led them back out to the jeep.
"Do you think Simmons and Skye are still together?" Fitz asked no one in particular. They all faced him in the back seat.
"The necklace I gave Simmons for her birthday, the one she always wears, I put a tracker in it." Fitz told them.
"You're a genius Fitz! Can you track it?!" Coulson asked.
"The computer I need is back at the bus." Fitz informed him.
"Then we're going back to the bus." May said as she started the car and started driving in the right direction.
"Just do what we ask, and this can all be over." The doctor woman told Skye as she circled her chair.
"Skye, don't do it!" Jemma shouted at her. It appeared that Skye couldn't hear her, she looked as if she was in a trance when she was plugged in. A wire ran from the now glowing device on the back of her neck to a large computer sitting on the plain table behind her. Skye's chair was facing Jemma, and Jemma could see Skye's eyes glowing an unnatural orange color, like the technology is installed much deeper than her neck. Skye's wrists were tied to the arms of the chair, she didn't need them to hack anymore. Jemma was tied up as well, and she'd long since given up tugging against her restraints.
"I'll offer you a deal. If you delete all of SHIELD's files, we won't ask you to give us a copy. Just destroy them." The doctor stood directly in front of Skye, blocking her from Jemma's view. Sweat began to show over Jemma's brow, she was terrified that something would happen to one of them.
Jemma couldn't tell where they were, but she knew that they weren't at ground level because she couldn't see anything but blue sky and clouds outside the window near the ceiling.
"Just hack their systems, you've done it before!" The doctor hissed. "And don't try to send them any messages, your guard knows a little about hacking and he'll know if you try." she warned Skye. When she still didn't respond, the doctor's hand jerked slightly and Jemma flinched. The woman took a step away from Skye and an animalistic growl escaped Jemma's throat when she saw the blood leaking from a cut on Skye's cheek. Skye didn't seem fazed though. Jemma assumed that was Skye's way of coping.
Skye tried to make herself not present, she tried to mentally put herself somewhere else. She couldn't give a reaction or it would never stop.
"Guess it's time to finally put you to use." The woman slowly walked towards Jemma, each footstep making a loud noise as her boot hit the tile floor.
For the first time since they gained consciousness in the room, Jemma saw Skye's eyes move. They flickered over to her for just a second. The doctor noticed this and smirked as she approached Jemma. Jemma didn't expect the blow, so when the fist of the woman beside her made contact with her jaw, Jemma's head flew to the side.
Jemma's head spun, but all she could allow herself to focus on was Skye. Skye pulled against her restrains suddenly. The doctor threw another punch at Jemma and the screen behind Skye flickered, to life, windows popping up everywhere to prepare for the hack.
"Don't do it Skye." Jemma said warningly as she spit a small amount of blood out of her mouth.
"We just had that carpet done." The doctor complained sarcastically as she moved back towards Skye. The woman held the same knife she used on Skye earlier in her hands to press against the skin on Skye's forearm until it popped and blood came rushing out. This was when Jemma noticed that Skye's sleeves were pulled up to her shoulders and her hands were tied in such a way that the scarred underside of her arms was exposed.
A single tear escaped Skye's eye as she closed them both. Jemma wished there was something she could do.
The woman leaned in close until her face was an inch from Skye's ear.
"Just complete the hack." She muttered into Skye's ear. Skye visibly shook as her face paled. Jemma was furious that this woman could be so cruel to someone as childlike and innocent as Skye.
The doctor, who noticed everything, could see Jemma pulling as far out of her seat as she could towards Skye.
"Cut her loose." the brunette woman ordered one of her men, nodding towards Jemma. They did as they were told and cut the zip ties confining her.
"You have half an hour to convince her to finish that hack, or I'll make you witness her slow, bloody murder while I search for a more compliant hacker." The woman threatened as she exited the room with most of her men, slamming the large door behind her. The one guard that was tech savvy stayed in the room to make sure Skye didn't contact anyone.
Jemma ran over to Skye's chair and collapsed onto her knees.
"Hey, hey. Shh, it's ok." Jemma whispered to Skye as she hugged Skye's head to her chest and ran her hand through Skye's hair. Skye was sobbing, but the steady thumping of Jemma's heartbeat calmed her.
"What am I supposed to do? If I delete those files I'm destroying SHIELD and betraying my team, but if I don't she'll kill us both." Skye cried.
"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I think you need to delete those files." Simmons told Skye. Jemma wanted to release Skye, but she couldn't break the zip ties around Skye's wrists with her bare hands.
"Are you crazy? I can't do that." Skye whispered. Jemma focused on the one thing she could do, bandaging Skye's arm. Jemma ripped off some of the hem of her own flowery shirt to wrap around Skye's bloody arm.
Skye flinched when Jemma tied it off, but she had to tie it tight enough to apply a little pressure. Jemma knew what the look on Skye's face begged Jemma to do, so she gently tugged Skye's sleeves back into place. If she could provide Skye with any comfort, no matter how small, she would.
"I hate to do it Skye, but I'm begging you to delete those files, because I can't lose you." Jemma told Skye as calmly as possible, trying not to get choked up.
Tears were freely flowing now, from both girls. Jemma couldn't stop staring at Skye's eyes; the glow frightened her. It looked as if Skye was possessed.
"I can't do that." Skye responded, stubborn as ever. Jemma looked away for a moment to take a breath, then stared back into Skye's eyes. Jemma kneeled between Skye's knees and placed her hands on Skye's.
"If you don't do it they'll kill you and make another super hacker to do it. It will be done anyway, your choice is whether or not you want us to live." When Skye still didn't respond, Jemma placed one hand on the back of Skye's neck, careful to avoid the device, and pulled Skye's head closer until their foreheads touched. Jemma's other hand moved to Skye's neck and she could feel her rapid pulse.
"Please." Jemma breathed.
"Jem, there's a back door." Skye whispered, so quietly that Jemma wasn't sure she heard it. For a moment she was hung up on the fact that Skye called her Jem, but the second part instilled her with some hope. Skye had a plan. And Skye's plans usually worked. She remembered Skye's amazing solo mission to deceive Ian Quinn.
The screen behind Skye buzzed to life. Within seconds a bar started traveling across a long window, symbolizing the progress of the files being deleted.
"See Skye, that's it. It's going to be fine, we're going to be ok now." Jemma urged Skye to keep going because she could see the pain in Skye's eyes. She couldn't tell if it was physical, emotional, or both, but Skye was hurting.
When the bar was finally at the end and the hack was completed, Skye let out a huge breath and panted as if it had taken actual physical exertion.