Episode 7: The Hub
Part Two

Fitz and Ward sat in the tunnel as night fell.
"Why do you think S.H.I.E.L.D. sent in just the two of us?" Fitz asked.
"I don't know," Ward shrugged. "They said they needed a guy like you and a guy like me." Fitz dug into his bag and pulled out the sandwich Simmons made for him.

Ward looked over at the noise and Fitz pulled the bag, took a deep smell and made an appreciative noise.
"Is that a sandwich?" Ward asked. Fitz' hand froze as it reached into the bag.
"Simons made it. My favorite Prosciutto buffalo mozzarella with a hint of pesto aioli." Fitz carefully unwrapped the sandwich and held it out to Ward."Here, you can have half."

Quickly, Ward took the whole sandwich into his hands and threw it into the drainage water as Fitz looked on shocked.
"What the hell?" he gasped.
"There are dogs tracking up and you bring a prosciutto sandwich," Ward hissed.
"I can't believe you just did that."
"This is a mission, not a picnic!"
"Oh, I'm well aware, it's not a picnic, Mr. Save the Day."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ward asked.
"Oh, come on. You obviously get off on it, being the guy who always got to throw the last punch, who always swooped in to save the girl. And, now you've destroyed the world's most dangerous sandwich. Congratulations."

Ward looked up when he heard someone shouted, but Fitz didn't seem to hear it.
"Well, I'll tell you something, I don't need to be rescued by anyone, Grant Ward." Ward leaned forward and put his hand over Fitz' mouth. Fitz tried to move away, but Ward held tight and put his lips to his fingers, asking for quiet.

Once Fitz stopped struggling, he could hear the voices and dogs barking. Ward pointed his finger up, letting Fitz know they were above them. Fitz angrily shoved off Ward's hand and after a few moments, they both began to relax as the noises became fainter.
"Listen," Ward said. "Before we left, Coulson told me to take care of you. That is what I'm doing, nothing more, nothing less"

Unzipping a pocket on his shoulder, he pulled out a bar and held it out to Fitz.
"Here. If you're hungry, eat this." Fitz took it from him and began to unwrap it. "It's odorless… And I don't save the damsels in distress anymore, Fitz. I'm dating your sister, remember?" Fitz got the package open and sighed.

Skye started scrolling through her laptop. "All right, boys. Let's find out where you really are." Numbers and letters rolled across her screen then a menu page popped up.

Current missions

Ops Analysis

Tech

Classified Data L5

Classified Data l4

Redacted Documents

Facility Systems

Mission Archive

Skye clicked on the Current Missions tab. That brought up new options that were titled:

Tatical_Com Field Data

There were various numbers following them. Skye's eyes tracked over to another option.
"Redacted documents," she whispered. She hit another table and more options appeared on her screen. The files names seemed to appear to be as generic as the ones for the missions. Skye exhaled a deep breath and looked over at her phone which showed a countdown, she had 1 minute, and 11 seconds left. "Okay."

A new box appeared on her laptop.

Enter Search Parms

Skye entered 04/26/89. Something new popped up on her screen and the files began to light in blue.
"Okay," she said again. Sara glanced at her before turning her eyes back at the people walking around them. More files were lighting up in blue and she looked to her phone. 46 seconds left. The files that met her parameters began to open on her screen.

Finally, the redacted letter she showed Coulson appeared on the screen.
"Okay. There it is… If I could just access the raw file…" She looked at her phone again. 34 seconds. "Oh, crap, I don't have time." She stared at the computer for a couple more seconds then started hitting keys.

Returning to the mainframe menu screen, once again she hit on "Current Missions". Another search engine popped up and in this one she put "South Ossetia". The computer scanned through three files and pulled up one. The corner of the screen read:

OP_OVERKILL.

When she sat that, she typed in "TROOP LOCATIONS". There was some beeping noises and the map on her screen lit the area in green with red triangles inside the green area. Some yellow dots also appeared then blue circles seemed to zero into a couple of places. One of the blue areas lit up and a pop up appeared over it:

2 MAN INFIL TEAM; TIMETABLE: 08:00; EXPTRACTION: - -

"Oh my God!" Skye exclaimed. Sara turned to her as she studied the screen closer. "No extraction!" Sara's eyes widened and Coulson suddenly appeared, shutting the laptop.
"What did I tell you?" he snapped.
"You told me to trust the system. And the system sent Ward and Fitz in there to die."

Ward and Fitz laid on the ground with their eyes on the sky. They were lying on some sort of tarp.
"Good day to be a rat," Fitz remarked. Ward closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "I mean, there you are, minding your own business, spreading filth and disease, scavenging for grub worms, or rotten fruit. When lo and behold, you see it – a prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich." Ward closed his eyes again in irritation.
"Fitz…"
"With just a hint of pesto aioli."
"Quiet!"

Fitz went quiet but started shaking his head with disgust. Ward seemed to focus.
"Feel that?" Fitz lifted his head a bit, looking around then looked at Ward. "A truck… It's coming. Zip up the mag pouch." They both grabbed the flap of material that was laying on their chests and legs, pulling it up over them. They zipped up the side and the sleeping bag became almost invisible and mostly blended in with the road. The truck passed over them before continuing towards a factory building.

Coulson and Skye walked in a hallway in The Hub with Sara a few feet behind them.
"I told you I'd get answers about your family."
"That's not what I was looking for!" Skye exclaimed. "I was trying to find out what was happening with Ward and Fitz."
"That's a classified operation," Coulson reminded her.
"It's a suicide mission!" Skye argued. "I saw it all, the troop placements, the aerial assault. Once Ward and Fitz disable that device, there's going to be a huge attack on that compound, with no extraction plan, and you hid that from us."

Finally, Coulson lost his cool. He grabbed Skye by her arm and pushed her into an open room.
"I didn't hide anything from you," he hissed. "You don't have the clearance to know that."
"Is that really what S.H.I.E.L.D.'s is all about? Level 5s are more expendable than Level 8? Is that all we are, just a number to you?"
"Are you done?" Coulson asked when she stopped.
"I don't know, am I?"

He frowned at her, "If S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps a secret from you, it's for a good reason."
"So they can hold all the secrets," she muttered.
"Don't interrupt," Coulson snapped.
"You just hacked a Level 8 secure server, saw operational plans that you have no context for. If details get out, the whole operation could be compromised. Lives could be lost, Ward and Fitz among them."
"I know! Those are two people we care about. On the plane, you're always telling me to think outside the box, so I went off book 'cause I was trying to watch their backs."
"Our team can go off the book because there is a book. A Hub. An organization watching our backs. You claim you want to be a part of that, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Do you?"
"Yes."
"Someday, Skye, I may have to trust you with a secret, and I need to know that you can keep it."

Gesturing to Sara, Coulson started walking away.
"Can I ask you one question?" Skye called.
"What?" Coulson asked.
"Did you know there was not extraction plan for Ward and Fitz?" He stared at her a beat as Sara's fists clenched tightly at her side.
"That's classified." He turned and walked out, Sara following.

The truck entered the compound and armed guards were working all about. The truck pulled to a stop and Ward and Fitz rolled out from under it. They moved quickly and quietly as they tried to avoid being seen.
"Okay, go, go, go," Ward said. Fitz hurried forward with Ward right behind him.

When Ward reached him, he put his arm out and around Fitz' waist, pushing him back. Ward looked around then waved Fitz forward.
"Shh, shh, shh… Go, go, go!" Fitz got to a door and took his backpack off.
"I'll signal extraction," Ward said.
"Okay," Fitz nodded. He pulled a device out of his back and started working with it."Simmons calls it "The Magic Window"." He had a tube in his hands and opened it. "You'd probably guess, "is that x-tray technology"?"

While Fitz rambled on, Ward had a device in his hands. He clicked it on, and it looked like a flashlight. He waved his free hand in front of the beam of light a few times. He waited a moment then did it again.
"There are actually S-Band microwave antennae embedded in this sheet. Works more like a radar system, really." Ward's face was serious as he lowered his flashlight. "Okay. Let's see."

Fitz put the magic window up against a wall and turned it on. He could see some sort of infrared image of what's happening in the room beyond the wall.
"Okay, we have two guards on the west wall. Both carrying automatic weapons. Correction make that three guards. We have three guards now." The third guard started to attack the other two. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God, Ward. He's attacking the others."

The other two guards fell to the ground as the third walked away.
"He's coming straight for us." Fitz reached out behind himself to find Ward. "Ward?" Fitz turned and looked around. "Ward!" The door next to Fitz opened with a thud and Ward was standing in the doorway.
"Hurry, inside."
"Ah! That makes sense now!"

Inside the building, Ward and Fitz moved between a lot of smoking pipes. Ward got around a staircase and stopped in his tracks. He let out a deep sigh.
"This must be it." Fitz walked towards the large device that looked almost like an airplane engine.
"Weird," Fitz remarked.

Ward looked at the device confused as Fitz knocked on it. He closed one eye and looked through a tiny hole on the end of the device.
"Core must be inside here, that's what's important. The piping around it just serves to amplify and direct the sound, to trigger munitions from a distance." He took off his backpack and set it on the ground.
"Doesn't look like it could take a jet out of the sky," Ward said.
"Well, you should know by now, Agent Ward, that looks can be deceiving."

Pulling a tool from his backpack, Fitz took bolts off the outside the device. Ward remained on guard, looking around, but also prepared to help Fitz when he needed.
"Good?" Ward asked.
"Yeah," Fitz nodded. They both took hold of the cover of the device and moved it off. Fitz stared in awe at the interior of the machine, even Ward stopped for a moment and looked in too. "This is gonna take a while," Fitz murmured.
"You have ten minutes," Ward said.
"I thought you'd say five," Fitz shrugged. Looking at his watch, he hit a button and it beeped.

Inside The Hub's control room, Hand turned as Coulson and Sara entered. None of them looked happy.
"Agent Sitwell is in the infirmary," Hand said, glaring at Sara. "Apparently a member of your team rendered him unconscious."
"Wasn't me," Sara told her. "Wish it was."
"It was a misunderstanding," Coulson said, frowning at Sara. "I'll handle the matter internally."
"Tranquilizing or wanting to tranquilize an agent does not qualify as a misunderstanding," Hand snapped.
"You're right," Coulson nodded. "But being told there's an extraction team in place when, in fact, there isn't, that does. I'm Level 8. I'm entitled to information regarding the welfare of my team. You should have told me."
"Seemed I didn't have too," Hand shrugged. "And what would that have changed, Agent Coulson? You, yourself, have designed dozens of operations like this. You know how this works."

Coulson's eyes darkened and narrowed.
"Usually with an extraction plan."
"Barton, Romanoff, they never have an extraction plan."
"They know that going in," Sara reminded her.
"Agent Fitz is unproven in the field, and knowing would've caused him to lose focus or courage."
"That should have been my call," Coulson snapped.
"I wasn't sure you'd comply," Hand dismissed. "Your team includes an electronically tagged non-agent who is notorious for leaking secrets, which reminds me, how did you get this information again?"
"I know what the safety of a thousand men is worth. I know the importance of taking the Overkill device out of play. But I also know my men, and what they're wort! The decision to go in should have been theirs to make!"
"Perhaps," Hand shrugged. "But you need to trust the system, Agent Coulson."

As Agent Hand started walking away, Sara finally snapped.
"Agent Hand," she called. The woman turned, pushing her black glasses further up her nose.
"Yes, Agent Reyes-Fitz?" she asked exasperated. Sara marched forward, slamming her badge on the table.
"I'm calling rank," she said darkly. "As a Level 9 agent, I. Out. Rank. You. And my team is going to get Fitz and Ward." Hand looked at the badge before glaring at Sara.
"You have got until we get there," she hissed. "If they aren't out, I won't guarantee anything, Princess."
"That's all I wanted," Sara said calmly, picking up her badge again. "Till we meet again, Agent Hand."

Inside the factory, Fitz had just cut something in the device.
"All right. Show me the final steps to disable this thing," Ward said. "I'll get it done."
"No, we stick to the extraction plan," Fitz shook his head. "I'll be done in a minute." Ward closed his eyes and shook his head. There was no extraction.
"Extraction plan's a bust."

Fitz stopped working to look at him.
"What?"
"Exfil team didn't make contact. Once you take that thing apart and I set off the remote beacon, we're on our own." Ward's words sunk into Fitz. "You should go." Fitz began to work again.
"I'm not leaving."

Ward grabbed Fitz' hand.
"Fitz, there's no time to argue."
"You don't think I can handle this?" Fitz asked.
"No," Ward disagreed. "I'm trying to protect you."
"Ah, you think I'm a coward, is that it?"
"What? No."
"I am every bit the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that you are." Fitz roughly removed his arm from Ward's grip.
"Whoa, whoa," Ward said.

Fitz went back to working and Ward leaned a bit on the device.
"You don't have anything to prove," he told Fitz. "What you said about me always needing to swoop in, I know you would have jumped out of the plane to save Simmons, and she knows it too."
"I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. Okay? Before we left, you're not the only one that Coulson talked to, okay? He told me to take care of you, too. And that's exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm not going anywhere. You understand?" Ward stared at him for a moment before nodding. Fitz went back to work. "And I'm bloody starving!"

Sara sat in the cockpit, pressing buttons, listening on the comms as May spoke in the cargo hold.
"You got information, now we react," May told Skye and Simmons.
"We gonna get our guys?" Skye asked.
"Somebody has too," May nodded.
"What about the S.H.I.E.L.D. assault?" Simmons asked.
"We won't interfere. You don't need a battalion for an extraction. Four can pull it off."
"Five is better," Coulson said. The three women looked up at the catwalk. Coulson looked down at them with a little grin.
"You're in?" Skye asked. "I thought we all have to be Level 8 to discuss this."
"We're not discussing anything," Coulson said. They all smiled, sharing pleased looks.

Fitz removed a glowing yellow rod out of the device. He took a hold of one of the wires and began to twist.
"Ah-ah," Ward stopped him. "Last chance, Fitz. Are you sure you don't want a head start? Because the second you pull that final wire –" No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Fitz pulled the wire. They heard the machine power down.
"Your turn," Fitz commanded.

Holding up a device, Ward pressed a button, causing a red light to go off and it to beep. The rock outside the bar also began to beep.

In the Hub, the map that Hand had spent the whole time staring at the lights up with the receipt of the beacon.
"Beacon's hot," Hand said. "The device is disabled. Mission's a go."

Ward looked down at Fitz.
"Okay, Fitz. Let's go." Fitz pulled off another wire from the device.
"We need to slip out of here before they notice the device is powered down." Fitz looked a piece off the device and held it out to Ward.
"Got it," Fitz said. An alarm sounded out, causing them both to look up and Ward sighed. They spoke at the same time.
"We need a new plan."
"Wait," Fitz said after a quick second. "I have an idea."

Holding what Fitz handed to him, Ward watched Fitz work on the device.
"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Ward asked.
"Yes… Theoretically." Ward closed his eyes and shook his head a bit. There was still alarms going off and it sounded like a door was opened.
"Hurry!"
"Okay, finished."

Something whizzed through the air and hit not too far away. The boys ducked for cover. After the fire and noise passed, they stood again.
"What was that?" Fitz asked. Ward exhaled sharply.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. They've started their attack, which means we don't have much time before they crush the compound."

While they were speaking, Ward looked up and saw a guard enter the factory. He pointed to another section of the factory.
"Get up there and take out as many of their weapons as you can with that thing." Fitz hurried to do as Ward said. The guards all came down the stairs, heading for Ward. "Fitz!"

Fitz fired up the device that he built from parts of the Overkill device. It sent out a pulse of energy that disabled the guards guns. They dropped them in surprise as the guns exploded on the ground. Fitz fired it again, hitting a guard's gun, and it began to discharge. The guard dropped it.

One of the men picked up a big pipe and swung it at Ward. He used the guys momentum to swing him around then uses that guard's pipe against the second guard that came in to fight him.

As the third guard headed towards Ward, Fitz fired the device again, hitting something and causing it to go up in a big ball of flames. After ducking from the impact, Ward saw a chain on the wall. He grabbed it and used it on the guard.

Another guard recovered and was trying to get up the ladder to where Fitz was. Ward swung the chain at the guard, and it wrapped around his legs, pulling him from the ladder. One of the guards tackled Ward from behind.
"Behind you!" Fitz called. Ward shot him a 'yeah, no kidding' look. The guard get in a few good punches to Ward's face, but finally Ward was able to knock him out.

Fitz climbed down the ladder and both guys were standing there, looking a bit shocked at the knocked out guards.
"I just did that," Fitz gapped. Ward nodded, looking down at the guards.
"Okay. Let's go."

The two of them ran out of the building. They heard explosions going off around them. Ward was in the lead, but he stopped running to wait for Fitz and look around. They saw at least 10 armed guards pointing their weapons at Wad and Fitz while advancing on them. They saw a few fighter jets go over the factory building as the guards slowly moved in closer to Ward and Fitz.
"You said they needed a guy like me and a guy like you, right?" Fitz asked.
Ward nodded, "Right."

Suddenly, a shadow fell over them and they heard an engine noise. They both looked up in surprise.
"It's the extraction team!" Fitz cheered.
"Better," Ward corrected. "It's The Cavalry." All the guards on the ground now had their guns pointed at The Bus. "Never get tired of seeing this," Ward remarked. The hover engines rotated and the wash from them hit the guard knocking them off their feet. Ward and Fitz had large smiles as they watched it happen.

Inside The Hub, Sitwell opened the door and entered the command center walking over to Hand.
"Are Coulson's people clear?" Hand asked.
"They are," Sitwell nodded. "I thought there wasn't going to be an extraction."
"All our resources were needed elsewhere," Hand nodded. "But Reyes-Fitz pulled rank and I figured they'd be okay getting them out… Okay, let's mop up." She walked one way and Sitwell walked the other.

Ward shook Coulson's hand.
"Thank you for coming to get us, sir," he said.
Coulson nodded, "We take care of our own… And Sara can be pretty persuasive. Did you know she's Level 9?"
Ward nodded, "We don't talk about it." Coulson smirked at him before turning to Fitz

Simmons rushed into the cargo hold as Fitz shook Coulson's hands. Fitz took off his backpack and walked over to Simmons. Ward stared down at the backpack, made a grunting noise and picked it up.
"Well done, Fitz," Simmons said. "So glad you're all right."
"Yep. Good to see you too."

Thing between them were awkward for a moment, almost like they were lost for words.
"Oh! The sandwich, how was it?" Simmons asked eagerly. She smiled at him, but he just stared, which made her smile drop a bit. "Too much aioli?"
"It was delicious," Fitz lied. Her bright smile returned. They bent down and picked up a metal box on the floor between them.

Skye entered the cargo hold and walked over to Ward with a smile. When she got close, she punched his arm.
"You know, for a second there, I thought I'd have to find a new supervising officer."
"Sorry to disappoint," Ward shrugged. He looked over to Fitz-Simmons. "Truth is, I was in good hands."

Fitz smiled at Ward before focusing back on Simmons.
"I had Ward's back the whole time." She scoffed in a 'of course you did' way. "Yeah. Pretty much saved him from a gang of Russian mobsters, and kicked a few guys' heads in." She gave him a grin as he realized a deep sigh. "But enough mission talk already. Um, anything exciting happen at The Hub?"
"I shot a superior officer in the chest," Simmons said cheerfully. The little grin Fitz was wearing disappeared.

Sara smiled as Ward walked into the living room area.
"Welcome back," she said, standing from the couch.
"Thought you didn't pull rank anymore, Agent Reyes-Fitz," he teased when he reached her.
"Only when someone pisses me off," she shrugged. "Like Agent Hand. God, I hate that woman." Ward laughed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Skye sat in her bunk with her pillow on her lap, looking lost in thought. She looked up when Coulson came to a stop in her doorway.
"Hey," she greeted quietly. "I was thinking about today, and I'm really sorry –"
"I just wanted to let you know that I didn't forget about what you asked me back at The Hub." Skye looked up at him confused.
"Um, what do you mean?"
"The un-redacted file about your past. I found it."

Taking a shaky breath, Skye scooted closer to the edge of the bed.
"Oh. W-what did it day?"
"The document wasn't about you directly," he began. "It was about the person who dropped you off at the orphanage. Turns out, it was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."
"A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent?" She stood up, looking at him with hurt and confusion. "Why? I mean, who? What does that mean? I –"
"The agent was unidentified," he cut her off. "We don't know if she was your mother or if she just found you on a doorstep."
"Mother?"

Skye smiled at the word.
"It was a woman?"
"I put in a request to dig further into the files for any related materials, but right now that's all I have. I'm sorry." She shook her head a bit. "Sorry? Thank you." Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him. "Thank you so much."

Coulson's face was hard as he let out a deep sigh. Skye broke the hug and gave him a hopeful look. He gave her a small smile and left. Once more, Skye sat on her bed, looking lost in thought.

Inside Coulson's office, May sat in one of the chairs by the desk, looking over some papers. She looked up when she heard Coulson's footsteps then looked back down to the papers.
"You finish reading it yet?" Coulson asked.
May nodded, "What did you tell her?"
"The truth," he shrugged. "I told her a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent dropped her off at the orphanage."

May cocked her head disapprovingly.
"But you didn't tell her why."
"I can't," he sighed. "Some secrets are meant to stay secret." She pursed her lips, but didn't disagree. "Will you help me find out what really happened?"
"Dangerous waters," she told him. He didn't respond and she sighed, setting the papers said.

Sitting up straighter in the chair, she looked up at him.
"But I can try," she conceded.
"Thank you," he said gratefully. May looked down at the desk, frowning at a picture of a dead woman. She was lying on the ground with a large pool of blood under her head.
"Poor girl," May said.

Coulson shut the door to his office and picked up his cellphone. Punching in some numbers, he put the phone to his ear. A male voice answered after a few rings.
"Company."
"Yes, I need access to a restricted file. Bravo Charlie Yankee 307604."
"Authorization code?"
"X-ray 2896."
"You're looking for a death and recovery report, sir?"
"Yes, for a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Mostly interested in his recovery. It took place in Tahiti."
"I'm sorry, but you don't have access to that document, sir."

Frowning, Coulson shook his head.
"There must be some mistake. I'm Level 8. I have clearance for that file."
"The system indicates that you don't. Would you like me to submit a formal request to Director Fury, sir?"
"No. Thank you." Lowering the phone in disappointment, he clicked it off.