0.8.4.: Part 2

May sat in the cockpit with Coulson standing behind her, talking on the radio.
"And the 0-8-4 is in your possession?" the woman on the radio asked.
"It's on board and contains a Tesseract fuel cell, so… there's that." May shot him a dirty look that he missed.
"Copy. You are go for check-in guidance through restricted airspace. Safe travels."

Coulson sighed and put the radio down.
"Top speed's a priority, May. Obviously." May said nothing, keeping her body tense and her eyes ahead. "I know you didn't want to see combat, I apologize for that." He waited a beat, but she still said nothing. "Do you need anything else before I go check on the device fueled by evil that's sitting in our cargo hold?" May remained stoic as she reached up and flipped a switch. "This was fun," Coulson said before exiting the cockpit.

Down in the lab, Simmons carefully lifted the device out of the bag while Skye watched nervously.
"Not to worry, the device is stable." Skye shifted on the balls of her feet as Simmons chuckled awkwardly. "Not that it couldn't explode at any minute, especially if hit with machine gun fire. But, things like this happen from time to time when in the field, and at first, it's very unpleasant, and you regret your decision to leave the lab at all."

Sara was sitting on top of her desk, icing her shoulder as the doors opened.
"Are you mental?" Fitz was saying. Sara sighed when she saw him and Ward arguing. "I did explain in great detail, exactly what I meant using the Queen's bloody English!"
"I use normal English. Words like "duck" and "run" and "might blow us to pieces"," Ward snapped at him.
"Oh, well congratulations, Agent Ward. You managed to string three words together in a sentence!"
"Boys!" Sara snapped. "Shut up. We're alive and that's all that matters."

Coulson walked down the spiral staircase, addressing Camilla's soldiers.
"Is everyone all right?"
"Banged up, but alive," a soldier said.
"Thank you for extraction," another said as Coulson stowed his gun in a case. He closed the crate and locked it with a pin code.
"But we lost a lot of men," Camilla told him.
"We'll make sure the rest of you get home safe," Coulson promised.

The two of them walked over to the glass wall and looked in on Fitz-Simmons' lab. Fitz and Ward were still arguing while Sara tried to get them to stop.
"Are we safe?" Camilla asked. "On a plane with that? There's a PMP airfield in lquitos, it's a short distance –"
"We'll burn as fast as we can for a S.H.I.E.L.D. containment facility."

Camilla's face fell slightly, but she nodded her head.
"There's no safer place for us to go," Coulson told her. A soldier walked up to him.
"Sir, if I may? You got anything to drink around here?"
"Upstairs," Coulson nodded. "I think you'll find it quite comfortable up there." Camilla helped a soldier stand and all the soldiers moved to the staircase.
"I expect the grand tour," Camilla remarked.
"I know you do," Coulson said.

Turning away from her, he opened the door to the lap. He instantly heard Fitz and Ward screaming at each other.
"I'm trying to tell you –"
"Don't understand anything you're saying!" Ward snapped.
"Do we have a problem?" Coulson asked, walking into the lab with his arms crossed.

The two agents immediately stopped fighting and looked at him like chastised children.
"No, sir. Just working on our communication," Ward said. "Not everyone was prepared for a firefight." He looked over at Simmons then back at Coulson.
"We got out, didn't lose anyone, saved a few of there, I'd say we did all right. Anything else?"
Skye raised her hand, "Uh, yeah. I have got a small question. Because I've been feeling like the tagalong hayseed rookie, but now I get the sense that Ward doesn't know which ones Simmons and which one's Fitz, and they've seen even less gunfire than me, and I'm not a rocket scientist, but is this your first mission together?"

Simmons was meek when she spoke up.
"No, of course not. It's our second."
"I was your first? That's sweet," Skye chuckled.
"You're amused?" Ward asked.
"I'm terrified," Skye corrected. "I am in way over my head, but I have been on this team just as long as any of you. I might as well be Team Captain." Simmons scoffed and looked away as Fitz shot a look at Ward. "I was joking," Skye said, "but maybe that's not a bad idea, because these guys do not like each other much."
"This isn't about that," Ward disagreed as he turned to Coulson.
"I'm a specialist. Today, I could have eliminated the enemy threat myself if I was working alone. But, I had non-combat ready agents –"

Fitz interrupted him, "Whoa, wait? You work alone?" Simmons walked around to stand by her lab partner.
"So typical. Who do you think designs your equipment?"
"Or the polymers for your weaponry?" Fitz asked. Skye walked around the table as Ward focused on the other two, about to dissolve into another fight.
"Yeah," Simmons agreed.
"People like us do," Fitz snapped.
"Try going into the field with just your bare bum," Simmons told Ward.

Skye leaned closer to Coulson, speaking quietly.
"See, proving the point I just made."
"You're not wrong. We still need to iron out the kinks," Coulson said before addressing his team. "But, Ward, you can speak six languages. Simmons, you have two PhDs in fields I can't pronounce, Fitz, you're a rocket scientist, and Sara, you can do all that and more. Work it out!" He left the room and Skye looked after him with disbelief.
"I-I'm – I'm good at stuff too!"

May sat in the cockpit alone, reaching up to flick a switch. In her bunk, Skye was lying on her buck holding her hula girl. She took a deep sigh and flicked the hula girl making her move before setting it on the windowsill. In the living room area of the plane, Camilla's soldiers where there talking, eating, and drinking. Coulson was showing Camilla around before waving her up another staircase to his office.

Down in the lab, Fitz put one of the drones onto a docking station. Simmons was next to him at a large lit table, a drone on a dock next to her also. While she spoke, she moved her hands around the table, causing a hologram to appear for her to manipulate.
"So, should we work, or just continue to –" Fitz got his own hologram going in front of him.
"I'm saying I said there would come a moment when we could regret the decision to go in the field. I just didn't think that it would happen in week one."

Simmons scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, God." She pulled up a screen and saw something flashing. "This seam in the sedimentary layers suggest some sort of molten cave-in a few decades back." Fitz had a hologram between his fingers nad moved it to be in front of Simmons. He spread it out and it looked like a flat square box. It had bright blue glowing lines inside it.
"Yeah, well, this here, its optical amplification." Simmons grabbed it and rotated it.

Fitz continued, "Now, I think, well, I'm most likely dead on, that the Tesseract energy excites plasma with inverse populations of energy levels."
"A laser," Simmons guessed. "A ray of, pure energy, two terajoules. See the amplifiers? We're lucky the drones didn't trigger it while taking electromagnetic readings."

While the talked, some of the area of blue turned read.
"This is a weapon powerful enough to—"
"Enough to melt through 50 feet of solid rock to bury itself. Imagine what it could do to a person."
"Yeah, or an airplane," Fitz added. They shared a worried look.
"For example." Fitz took it between his fingers and moved it away.

Across the lab, ignoring the conversation, Sara stitched up Ward's side.
"Want to come upstairs with me?" he asked as she set the needle down on a tray.
"Sure," she said grabbing a roll of gauge. "Lift your arms," she told him. He did as she said, and she reached around him to bandage the wound. "Magnet for pain," she teased. "Nah, that's you," he teased back, looking at the bruise on her face again.
"It's was an accident. May thought I was a rebel."
"How'd she let you drive?"
"Apparently it would be good practice," she said, pulling back on her sling.

A little while later, Ward sat on the couch reading a book while Sara laid with her head on his leg while she scrolled through her tablet. Skye left her bunk, carrying a bottle and approached the two of them.
"Hunger games?" she asked, referring to Ward's book.
Ward looked up, "Matterhorn. One of a hundred books my S.O. gave me that I'm just getting around too." Her face turned questioning."S.O., Supervising Officer," Sara relayed. "Got it," Skye nodded. "Hackers have lingo too, but I'll pick yours up. I feel like you and me, wrong food. Can I…" She raised the bottle up. "Buy you a drink?"

The sides of Ward's mouth lifted slightly and set down his book. She sat across from him, opening the bottle.
"What I said before, when I said the uprising was… whatever I said, a good thing. I don't want you to think I'm oblivious. What I was talking about was the tweets."
"Tweets," Ward repeated. "Are you trying to make things better or worse?"
"Peruvians have organized for the first time in decades. Thousands of suffering people who have never met uniting over a common idea. It's mind-blowing. And I don't want to bring it up because I don't want to see your hate face…"

Skye shot him a look as his brow drew down in a frown.
"… But, that's what the Rising Tide is all about." Sara's eyes closed as she took a deep breath, trying to even her breathing at the mention of the Rising Tide.
"Okay," Ward said, looking at Sara from the corner of his eyes.
"Usually, one person doesn't have the solution. But, 100 people with 1% of the solution, that'll get it done." Skye smiled at him, hoping that he saw what he was trying to tell him. "I think that's beautiful, pieces solving a puzzle.

Ward sighed, taking a sip from his glass. He swallowed before speaking.
"You and I see the world differently is all."
Skye nodded, "I've never been in a war zone, during a war, until today. That was crazy. I take it you've seen that a lot?" He sighed again, letting out a grunt when he leaned forward to set his glass on the coffee table.

Sara sat up, looking worriedly at his side. Thankfully it was only dried blood on his shirt that she could see.
"Wh – did you get shot?" Skye asked.
"Skin deep. Nothing to worry about." Sara smirked at his nonchalant tone.
"You got shot!" Skye exclaimed. "Did that happen protecting us?"
"Skye don't worry about it," Sara said softly.
"Well, no wonder you were so pissed."
Ward rolled his eyes, "I wasn't pissed. I was trained to be the whole solution, to eliminate variables." He glanced over at the soldiers playing cards. "And today, they keep adding up."

Skye looked at the ceiling as she felt the plane turn.
"We're turning."
Sara nodded, "We've entered restricted airspace, so we have to follow certain flight paths, regulation. This plane is capable of fully automated flight, but May feels like she needs to be on the stick herself tonight."
Skye let out a little laugh, "Ward's got an S.O. May's got to be on the stick. Lots of good lingo on this plane."
"Yeah," Ward agreed as Sara laid back down. "We just can't seem to understand each other."

Up in Coulson's office, he held up something to show Camilla.
"First walkie-talkie wristwatch. 1936, Poland." He handed it over to her. "They only made 20, I think. Still works." She turned it back and forth as she looked over it.
"I forgot you're such a sentimentalist, Philip." She handed him back the wristwatch and he gave her a little laugh. "Romanticizing history, huh?"

She walked deeper into his office, looking this over. She reached to touch something, but it didn't' move.
"Yeah, most of its glued down." He put his watch away. "There was an elegance to things back then." Camilla walked around behind him.
"There we agree."
"With everything around us changing so quickly, it doesn't hurt to have a few touchstones to the past. Reminds me what's important."

While he spoke he turned to face her, leaning against his desk. "
The last thing I want to do is relieve days gone by. A few nights, maybe." She was standing in the doorway, flirting heavily. She reached behind herself and closed the door, giving him a smile. He had a smile too, but it didn't read as true.
"I see what you're doing," Coulson said.
"I'm reminiscing."

Camilla leaned against a pillar and gave him a big smile.
"This plane is such a step up from the R.V. we used to work out of when you were stationed in Cusco."
"I don't remember much working," Coulson said, causing Camilla to laugh. "I also don't remember you doing this direct." He gave her a sly smile and her large smile faltered a bit.

In the living room, Sara watched the soldiers closely, focusing on their drinks. She nudged Ward and he followed her gaze, noticing when one of the soldiers gave a barely perceptible nod to the other.
"I just remember," Sara said with a yawn, "that I forgot something in the lab. Please don't get in a fight while I'm gone." She got to her feet, walking calmly to the stairs.

Ward looked over at Skye, his voice as calm as Sara.
"Skye, hand me the bottle." Skye gave him a confused look and a little laugh.
"Okay, turbo, but you're still nursing the one you got" She picked it up the bottle and he took it out of her hand before she could even offer it.
"I'm not the only one," he muttered. He threw a look over to the soldiers without moving his head, and Skye got the gist.

Up in Coulson's office, Camilla as still trying to seduce Coulson. For his part, he looked uninterested.
"We're stuck above the clouds for the next few hours," Camilla pointed out.
"We might as well enjoy ourselves." For his part, he looked uninterested. "We could make a few more memories to add to your collection." She took a few steps forward, putting her hand on her hip. "What do you think?"
"I think…" He stood away from the desk, stepping closer to her. "Ward already knows you'll have to eliminate May from the equation to have a chance, which gives him about 20 seconds to get to her first."

In the living room, Ward grabbed Skye, pushing her out of the way as one of the soldiers rushed at Ward, who was prepared for him, the bottle broke on the table as they fought. Outside the cockpit door, another soldier put a device on the door, and he heard a whirling sound as the tip of a drill poked through the other side. Inside the cockpit, May reached up to flip another switch.

Sara raced down the stairs, pulling a knife from the back of her waistband as a Soldier advanced on her. She threw the knife, slicing him across the forehead. He fell back and she pulled her gun, aiming at him.

Ward hit one soldier in the face, sending him over a half wall. The other rushed at him and Ward tackled him, driving him into a post. In the cockpit, a smoky gas was being fed into the room, May passed out at the controls.

In Coulson's office, he was now actively fighting against Camille. He heard some snaps as he grabbed her wrist, bending it back. She became off balanced and he threw her to the couch. Ward knocked out the second soldier as Coulson rushed down the spiral staircase with Camilla right behind him. Sara jumped down the last few steps, coming face to face to a soldier who was holding Fitz by a knife to his neck.
"Drop it," he said firmly, pressing the knife closer to Fitz' neck.

Upstairs, a soldier ran up behind Skye and grabbed hold of her arms, pinning her. Ward angrily assessed the situation and sighed in frustration. Sara lowered the gun to the ground, kicking it away. Coulson looked over to Camilla, who was standing on the stairs.
"We were allies. We had history. When did you decide to throw that away?" Her face no longer showed smiles or flirtation, it showed determination.
"As soon as I saw your team."

Coulson was tied to something in the planning room and a soldier hit his face. Camilla watched him, nodding to the soldier. Coulson spat blood out of his mouth.
"The reason I'm still alive is because you need me to verify the change in routes for your pilot when HQ calls in any minute." Camilla walked around the table, looking at things. "I'd appreciate that."
"But if I don't S.H.I.E.L.D. will shot this aircraft out of the sky. That'll take the 0-8-4 out of your hands. Maybe I should let him." She leaned against the table, showing no signs of worry.
"Oh, no, I think you'll make the call. You already handed me your plane for the lift of open of your little lab rats. If I open the cargo hold, you'll lose them all. And you're such a sentimentalist."

Leaning against the ramp, Ward, Sara, Fitz-Simmons, and Skye sat with their hands tied behind their backs.
"This is all my fault," Fitz said. "I should've learned Kung Fu."
"Oh, yeah," Simmons nodded, "but I shouldn't have pushed you into the field in the first place. You weren't ready."

They all stared to speak at the same time.
"It was my job to make proper threat assessment," Ward snapped.
"Uh, we – we weren't ready," Fitz said softly.
"This wouldn't have happened if Agent May wasn't on the stick," Skye said. "She could have busted out some of her ninja know-how."
"Agent May?" Fitz asked. "No. No, no, she transferred from administration."

Simmons looked over to Skye with a confused smile.
"Well, I've seen her destroy a guy, so…" The three of them looked over at Sara and Ward. Ward glanced at them then sighed.
"You ever heard of The Cavalry?"
"Yeah," said Fitz-Simmons. "Everyone in the academy talks about… She's the Calvary?"

They looked quickly over to May, who slowly sat up.
"I told you, never to call me that." Simmons gave a little giggle.
"I can't believe it. Oh, we're sure to get out of here now." She leaned around Skye to look at May. "Uh, how do we get out of here?"
"Well," May started. "We can't go through the doors. They're bolted, tied to the pressurization lines. You three geniuses have nothing?"

Fitz-Simmons shared a look.
"Yeah, well, it's hard to concentrate in these intense situations," Fitz mumbled.
"Hey, don't freeze up," Ward said softly. "Take a breath. You don't need to come up with the whole solution." He leaned past Fitz-Simmons to look at Skye. "Just part of it. Right?"
Skye nodded and smile, "Yeah. Pieces solving a puzzle."

Sara closed her eyes, leaning her head on Ward's shoulder.
"Okay, who wants to start?" Simmons asked.

Coulson glared at Camilla.
"You knew this was a weapon all along."
"But you got to it first," she said. "I had to play nice. Yes, Coulson. For once, I'm actually ahead of you. My Country commissioned that weapon decades ago. After the fall of Hydra, many scientists followed their Nazi friends to hide on this side of the room." She looked out to the room beyond Coulson, staring at the 0-8-4.
"German engineering," Coulson muttered.

While she was looking at the 0-8-4, Coulson tried to loosen the rope holding his hands.
"The weapon," Camilla said, "was lost during a clash in the jungle, until today. With it, we'll end the rebel uprising and finally stabilize my Country."
"You mean rule your Country," Coulson snapped. She looked down and away from the 0-8-4, turning back to face Coulson.
"You stay in your borders, I'll stay in mine."

Coulson shook his head, "Those borders are disappearing. Aliens descended on New York, remember? They don't care whose colors you wear, they just care who's in the way. We should be working together, not fighting."

Back in the cargo hold, the team looked to the left as Simmons spoke.
"Well, that's clearly the worst idea I've heard yet," Simmons said.
"But, it could work," Skye said.
"Reyes is gonna kill us the minute we land, regardless, and blame it on rebels," Ward said. "This way he have a fighting chance. I'll take it." He looked at Fitz, "What's first?" Fitz spoke first
"We can't get upstairs without going in the lab."
"And the only way to release the lab doors is from upstairs," Simmons added. "The first thing is we're tied to the cargo door, so unless –"

Sara flinched as she heard May crack her wrist. It was loud enough to force Skye to stop.
"What the hell was that?" Fitz asked.
"Her wrist," Sara answered.

One of the soldiers up on the catwalk heard her and looked down. He saw everyone but May, and his brow furled. He gasped as May's legs wrapped around his neck. She threw him over the railing then dropped down beside him. She gripped her wrist with her other hand and gave it a twist, causing more cracks.
"What's next?" Skye and Fitz-Simmons looked at her with awe and shock while Ward and Sara gave her small smiles.

Camilla knelt down in front of Coulson.
"Was it twenty-six years ago now? You swooped in with S.H.I.E.L.D. with so much confidence, so much mystery. You had a hundred men at your disposal. And no –"
"A handpicked team. And, yes, they're that good."
"Oh, Phil," she sighed. "You're not even aware. Your renewed idealism, your collectables, your airborne man-cave, surrounding yourself with young, attractive agents…"
"One of which is our daughter," he interrupted.
She shook her head, "You're having a mid-life crisis." She stood and he shrugged.
"More like an afterlife thing, really."

She walked away, but remained in the room.
"And I'm not even going to mention the red corvette."
"Her name's Lola." She sat in the far side of the room with a laugh.
"Of course it is. It's textbook. You built this team so that you could feel relevant, to feel needed."
"They don't need me," Coulson disagreed. "They need time."
"Well, time is not on their side."
"No, but you gave them something better, a common enemy." Coulson gave him a little smile.

The team stood in a circle, taking things out.
"Okay, we're sure, right?" Skye asked. "Everyone's sure?"
Simmons nodded, "We're all on board."
"Yep," Fitz agreed. "Let's do this fast."
"No turning back," Ward warned, "no freezing up."
"Because if we do then…" Fitz trailed off, so Ward finished for him.
"All of us die."
"We know," Simmons said.

Ward looked at all of them, his eyes firm.
"All right." They all stopped at the sound of a car engine revving. May stood in the driver's side door runner of the SUV looking at them all.
"You guys talk a lot." She got into the car, closing the door. Fitz-Simmons panicked as Ward swept them both past him and out of the way. May put the SUV into drive, sending it into the glass doors of the lab. She was able to easily break the glass giving them a way in.

The plane jolted and Camilla sat up straighter, trying to figure out what happened.
"No, no, no!" she rushed to the door, speaking to her soldiers.
"That's exactly what they want."

Simmons stood in a table with a drill and started drilling into an air-vent. Fitz opened up one of his briefcases. Skye was at the lockers and she opened them. Simmons got the grate off the ceiling as May went to the other set of glass doors. Sara rubbed at her temples as she headed to her desk.
"Are you okay?" Ward asked as she slowly got to her feet.
"Yep," she said, heading over to Fitz.

Lifting out Sneezy, Fitz set it on the table as Sara grabbed his tablet, turning it on. May got the door open and went out. Sara got Sneezy in the air and sent him into the open air vent. Ward knelt on the floor above a black bag. He unzipped it, pulling out some rope and a chain. Skye walked over with some black straps.

Camilla looked up as a female voice came over the radio.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. 6-1-6 we have radar contact. Requesting confirmation on a change of course. Over." When the message ended, Camilla pulled her gun and aimed it at Coulson, cocking it.
"Answer it, or they all learn what a 30,000-food drop feels like."
"Agent Coulson, are you there?"

Sara sat on a chair, holding the tablet as Ward tied straps around Fitz-Simmons and Skye. She had been "ordered" by both Ward and May that she would be staying in the lab. Which was fine… she guessed. The headache hurt something dreadful.

Coulson continued working on the ropes as Camilla look at the radio. "
You have course confirmation. You are cleared direct to the Slingshot." Coulson heard a light whirling and looked over his shoulder to see Sneezy. The small drone ducked under a tale and looked at one of the soldiers. "Agent Coulson? Everything all right up there?" He froze from untying his hands as Camilla turned back, pointing her gun at him. "We heard you had a little dustup on the ground." "Yeah," Coulson said, "we're all good. It's gonna be blue skies from here on out."

Skye and Fitz-Simmons stood on the catwalk inside the cargo hold.
Fitz glanced at Simmons, "Simmons, forget what I said before. This is the moment we'll regret." There was a beep from the tablet and Sara glanced down at it. Sneezy was hovering over the 0-8-4 and sent out a small pulse, causing the device to begin showing glowing blue lines that ever flowing over it.

Watching on Sneezy's cam, Sara's eyes narrowed as it ejected energy out through a blue-ray. The ray hit the chair in front of it, passed through the chair and punched a hole in The Bus. The soldier that Sneezy was watching was sucked out of the hole on the plane.

Alarms started blaring as various screens showed the damage to the plane. Camilla was tossed around and tried to hold onto something. Coulson was up in the air, holding onto a rope that had bound his hand. He was groaning with the stress of holding on, if he were to let go, he was angled to go right out the hole.

Ward stood with the others in the cargo hold/lad area.
Skye smiled in relief, "It worked."
Simmons nodded, "The drop in cabin pressure released the door."
"I'll take care of the soldiers, you guys get to the 0-8-4," Ward commanded.
"And Coulson?" Fitz asked.
"Let's hope he can handle himself."

Coulson hung in the air as Camilla started sliding across the floor. Ward opened the door to where the breach was and braced himself against the wind. The other three followed behind him. One of the remaining soldiers began to fire at them.
"Get back!" Ward shouted at the others.

The soldier stopped firing and ran towards them. He and Ward began to fight was Skye peeked out. A second soldier appeared and brought his gun up to point at Ward. Ward jumped over the little half-way and pinned the gun against the couch before kicking that soldier in the face.

The first one recovered and lunged at Ward. Ward saw this and used the man's momentum to force him to the couch. He used one of the seatbelts to tie the man's wrist. He kneeled the soldier in the throat then bound his other man.
"Go now!" Ward shouted. "Find the 0-8-4."

Skye and Fitz-Simmons made their way out, bracing against the wind. The second soldier tackled Ward from behind. The group got thrown around by the wind and Fitz got knocked to the ground.
"Help!"

In the cockpit, the soldier inside flipped a switch as the door behind him opened. He pulled his gun, but May was able to deflect it away. She elbowed him in the face, sending him backwards into the controls. The plane began to dive, sending everyone scrambling.

Coulson was still in the air as Camilla passed under him.
"Coulson!" she screamed.
"Got you!" He gripped on of her hands and she wrapped the other around his wrist, holding tight. "Camilla! Hold on! It's okay!"

Simmons found the 0-8-4 embedded in the wall and tried to get it. With a yell, she pulled it from the wall.
"I've got it! Fitz!" she cried.
Skye turned back, "We got it, reel us back in!"
"I've got you!" Fitz shouted.

As Skye was waiting, a pamphlet from Ward flew into her face, she took it away and looked down at it. She went to the buckle at her waist, freeing herself.
"What are you doing?" Simmons asked. "We need your help!"
"Trust me!" Skye said, moving away from them.

Coulson and Camilla were now on the floor, scrambling to get better holding. Coulson pulled on his rope and used it to tie her hands where he had been.
"Don't want you to know what a 30,000-food drop feels like," he said.

In the cockpit, May gave the soldier another elbow to the face, this time he flew down to the floor out cold. She quickly moved around him and got to the controls, leveling the plane. When she just about had it, the soldier got up, gripped her hair and slammed her face into the controls.

After a second, she got the upper hand, bashing his face on the controls, causing a beeping noise sound. She delivered a hard knee to his face, dropping him to the ground once again. She made sure the man was out cold for sure before she got back behind the controls.

Ward was still fighting against the second soldier, who had the upper hand on him. Skye was at a small box on the wall that she opened and pulled out something bright yellow and plastic. A soldier pulled on the black line that connected Fitz-Simmons and Simmons fell to the ground.
"Fitz!" she cried.

Fitz moved deeper into the room, pulling on the line between him and Simmons, bringing her closer to him, but the soldier had hold of the line that Skye had abandoned. Skye moved along the floor with the yellow bag as the man reached Fitz-Simmons. He started pulling on the clips that held them inside their line.
"Cut him loose!" Simmons called to Fitz.

He beat the soldier to the punch and opened the carabiner on his waist. That freed both Fitz and gave slack to the soldier. The man was sent backwards, knocking into Ward. The momentum pushed Ward into the other soldier who was holding onto Ward's arm tightly. The shift pushed them closer to the opening in the plane. Ward used one of his hands to hold onto a post in the room.
"Sorry!" Fitz called.
"Sorry, Ward," Simmons said.

Ward didn't let go of the soldier's hand and the man used his free hand to grip Ward's arm, starting to climb back toward him.
"Hold on," Ward said. The soldier griped onto Ward's shirt, but it tore, sending the man out the open hole. Ward stared in shock.

Skye opened the bag and it started to inflate into a boat. As it started to inflate, Ward lost his grip on the post and flew towards the opening. The boat arrived just before he did, saving him. The last soldier still wasn't giving up. He was on his belly, pulling himself closer to a gun on the floor.

A foot with a dress shoe arrived to pin the man's hand down. The soldier looked up at Coulson with anger and Coulson's fist slammed down, knocking the solider out. He picked up the gun as Sara rushed up the stairs. Ward, breathing hard, looked around astonished at what happened. Skye had a relieved look on her face and leaned against a wall.

The plane banked as May got it under control once more. Fitz-Simmons' heads popped over the half wall panting and looking around. Sara sighed in relief at seeing everyone safe. She watched as Skye walked over to Ward, holding out her hand to help him up. He took her hand and got to his feet.
"I read the safety pamphlet," Skye told him.
"I think you may be the first," Ward said as he pulled Sara into his arms.

They gathered in the planning room, panting with exertion and relief.
"No other way in, huh?" Coulson asked, setting a glass down on the table. "I was just starting to warm up to this place." Skye reached over and grabbed a coaster, moving the glass to sit on top of it. She gave him a little smile.
"The 0-8-4 is cooling and stable," Fitz informed them. "But we should call H.Q. and get it to the slingshot as soon as possible."

Coulson looked down at Camilla who was still tied to the pole. She slowly looked up at him defeated.
"I told you they were good," Coulson smirked. Sara smiled, leaning against Ward's chest. He tightened his grip around her waist, kissing the top of her head.

Near the slingshot, the ramp of The Bus was lowered, and Coulson was looking over Lola for damage. Skye walked down the spiral staircase and walked to Coulson.
"Not a scratch, but your plane's totaled. I hope S.H.I.E.L.D. insurance covers hijackings."
"Sure, under "incidentals"," Coulson joked.
Skye laughed, "What exactly am I signing up for?"
"Like I said, front-row seat to the craziest show on Earth."
"Yeah," Skye nodded, "but I didn't expect the show to get this crazy this fast all for an object you're just going to destroy."

Coulson sighed, "Slingshot is protocol. A weapon like the 0-8-4 is too dangerous for any person or country to have. People like Reyes would always be after it." While speaking, he pulled out a handkerchief. He wetted it with his tongue and rubbed at a spot on Lola.
"What happened with Reyes, anyway?" Skye asked.
"She's being held at a S.H.I.E.L.D. detainment facility. I expect the Peruvian government will negotiate for her release. She probably won't spend much time in jail."
"No," Skye shook her head. "I mean, what happened with you and Reyes?"

She gave him a small smile.
"You guys totally did it back in the day, right? I mean, Sara's proof of that." He looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.
"That's classified." She laughed as he walked away.

Sara, May, and Ward stood nearby, putting things away into briefcases.
"Looks like Skye might end up as more than a consultant, despite our reservations," Ward said. May nodded, continuing to pack.
"She could turn into a solid asset with some serious work," Sara commented.
"Well," said May, "if she wants to be a field agent, she'll need a supervising officer, someone disciplined, someone good." Both women looked at Ward, who was half-heartedly nodding in agreement.
"All right, I'll do it."

May and Sara smirked at each other as they went back to putting things away. Ward's brow furled.
"Just to clarify, you were, uh, talking about me, right?"
"Just be careful," Sara told him.
"Jealous?" he teased.
"You wish," she teased back.
May snorted, "Enough you two." Ward rolled his eyes as Fitz-Simmons walked down the staircase.

Fitz was holding a cooler and Simmons as holding a beer.
"We blew up a plane," Fitz said incredibly.
"I've had a new experience," Simmons nodded.
"Eat that, Professor Vaughn," Fitz cheered.
Simmons smiled brightly, "You had a new experience, but it was new for all of us." They grinned at each other as they headed out of the plane.

Sara hopped up from her seat on the ground.
"Come on, you guys don't want to miss this." She went to follow her brother, but Ward grabbed her wrist.
"Slow down," he chided. "Wait for us." She rolled her eyes at him, but laced her fingers with his.

They walked over to Fitz-Simmons and sat on the edge of the ramp, their legs dangling. Skye and May joined them as Fitz passed a can of sprite to Sara.
"So," he began. "It'll take about 180 days to reach the sun."
"But it would have been faster if they'd use hydrogen-fueled APUS," Sara said.
"They're having fun," he shrugged.

Simmons reached into the cooler, passing beers around.
"How many of those have you guys had?" Skye asked, turning down the bottle.
Simmons scoffed, "Skye, it's important, when in the field, to unwind from time to time."
Fitz nodded, "Yeah, yeah, especially after a hard day of everyone almost dying."
Skye frowned, "Which doesn't happen every day, right? It's an anomaly, an irregularity. Not the norm."

No one answered as Coulson walked up to join them.
"Speaking of "not the norm" whose idea was it to blow a hole in the plane?" Their faces dropped.
"May said that the doors were tied to the pressurization," Skye said, "so I thought –"
"So we thought," Simmons corrected, "that it was the only way to release them."
Ward looked up, "It was everyone's idea, sir." "
Yeah, quite genius, really," Fitz agreed.
Coulson smiled, "Nice work."

Sara looked up as they heard a voice over the loudspeaker.
"Oh, time for blastoff," Fitz said. He pinched his nose, giving him a funny sound to his voice. "Launching in three, two…" They all grinned as they saw a rocket take flight in front of them. "The trajectory will take it beyond the Lagrange Point so that it doesn't hit Herschel."
"And there haven't been any coronal mass ejections," Sara added, "so it shouldn't lose telemetry."
Ward nudged her softly. "Guys, English."

Skye looked down as her phone started vibrating. She pulled it out of her pocket, staring at the message:

Protocol 24323.211011INC EMC MSG
SECURE LOGIN USER X3JGD803
 10 SECOND UNTRACEABLE ENCRYPT
 09 [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
-
RISING TIDE IN A HOLDING PATTERN.
PLANNING TO GO DARK
WHAT IS YOUR STATUS?
-
REPLY

She stared at it as the time started counting down. She looked at the team, who was still watching the launch, and started to slowly back away. She looked at them for a long moment before starting to type.

-
REPLY
I'M IN.

She put her phone back into her pocket, looking away thoughtfully.

Sara sat on a counter as Coulson talked with Director Fury.
"Really? Really, Coulson? Six days? It only took you six days to take a completely renovated piece of state-of-the-art machinery and turn it into scrap?" Coulson showed no emotion.
"My team acted with my authority." Fury shook his head.
"Don't talk to me about authority. Do you know how much this plane costs?"

Coulson walked over to one side of the plane motioning to something.
"It's got a bar!" Fury continued. "A really nice one. Talking to me about authority. You know, I have the authority to downgrade your ass to a Winnebago."
"I'm aware of that, sir," Coulson said. Fury looked at Sara, who had pulled out her phone.
"Sara, I want this fixed just the way you found it. Don't let him have Fitz-Simmons going around making modifications, like a-a-a damn fish tank!"
"Yes, sir," Sara nodded.

Fury went to walk past them, but stopped.
"And the new girl, she's a risk."
"I know, sir," Coulson said.
"You know, sir?" Fury started at him a beat then walked past him. "How's Lola?"
Coulson smiled softly," She's fine, sir. Thanks for asking." Fury muttered as he walked away.
"Talking to me about authority."

Coulson's smile fell as Fury left the room. He put a finger to his earpiece.
"Yeah, we're gonna have to kill the fish tank." Sara chuckled and he looked over at her. "Thought you'd be spending some free time with Ward," he remarked.
"Now, why would you think that?" she asked.
He shrugged, "I don't know… young love maybe?"
"We've been dating three years, Coulson and sometimes we need our space."
"What was it like? Seeing Camilla?"

Sara's eyes darkened and he paused.
"It was just as wonderful as it was twenty years ago."
"What happened, Sara? I was never…"
"May came for a visit and Camilla practically threw me into her arms… May found Fitz' family and I became one of them. Entered S.H.I.E.L.D.'s field program at 16. Graduated that at 18… youngest by the way and the quickest for that section."
Coulson smiled, "I know. I was at your graduation ceremony."

She smiled back, but it seemed slightly haunted.
"Yep. Fitz-Simmons entered the science program the year before, so I thought, what the hell, I'll join too. Graduated four years later. Met Ward on a mission three years later. And you know the rest from there."
Coulson sighed, "I'm sorry, Sara. If I had…"
She shook her head, "No. I don't think I would have wanted it any other way. Fitz is the best brother I could ever ask for and Ward's awesome. Having May to look up too was a high-point."

They looked up as a man carrying tools walked into the living room. Sara got to her feet.
"I'm supposed to meet Fitz-Simmons for lunch in a few. See you soon, Coulson." He gave her a small nod and she picked up her messenger bag, heading out.

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