Episode 8: The Well
Part One

Simmons looked around the ruined, messy building.
"In ancient times, people believed the heavens were filled with Gods and monsters and magical worlds. Then, as time passed, those beliefs faded into myth and folklore. But now we know the stories were true. Other worlds, with other names like Asgard, do exist. And beings once revered as Gods, like Thor, have returned. Leaving us with more question." She sighed looking around.
"And enormous mess to clean up," Sara complained.

Ward rolled her eyes, dropping a box in front of her.
"Don't say I never gave you anything," he teased. She rolled her eyes at him as Fitz got to his knees, kneeling over the parts in the box with a beeping tablet in his hands.
"Checking for alien spectrographic signatures one teeny rock at a time," he muttered.
"Necessary precaution," Ward shrugged. "Don't want anything alien getting in the wrong hands."
"Still, this is definitely the type of work a monkey could easily do."
"You're our little monkey," Sara smirked

Nearby at a table, Simmons' cell phone rang in her pocket. She fished it out and looked at the display: MOM & DAD. She clicked the mute button. When she looked up, she found Fitz and Sara giving her a look.
"Don't look at me like that," she snapped. "I'll talk to them when I talk to them." Ward glanced over at her.
"Talk to who?"
"Mum and Dad," she exasperated. "They want explanations and answers for… well, all this. But I don't have any answers. And, more importantly, I haven't talked to them since I was Ill. And if they knew that, they'd be even more terrified. So, you know…" Her phone beeped again, and she clicked a button. "… Why waste any of our time, really?"

Coulson and Skye walked through a different part of the University.
"You guys may think it's old news, but it's new… news to everybody else," Skye said. "So, Asgardians are aliens from another planet that visited us thousands of years ago?" Coulson saw something, picking it up and putting it in the box she was holding.
"Or more," he said.
"And because we couldn't understand aliens, we thought they were Gods?" Skye asked.

They passed by May who was kneeling on the floor above an artifact testing it.
"That's where our Norse mythology comes from." Skye let out a deep sigh. "That's too crazy. Do you think other deities are aliens, too?" Coulson put another piece in her box."Vishnu for sure, right?"
"You know, it'd be nice if, for once, Thor and his people sent down the god of cleaning up after yourself. They probably have a magic boom for this kind of thing."
"I just wish they'd left their alien ship behind."

May glanced up, giving her a look.
"So we can clean that up, too?"
"So we could go inside," Skye corrected. "Take a peek under the hood, maybe take it for a spin. Come on, you're telling me piloting an alien ship isn't on your bucket list?" May gave her an intrigued look at that notion.
"I can't think of a single time when anything alien in human hands ended well," Coulson muttered.

A sly looked appeared on Skye's face.
"Wouldn't mind getting my human hands on Thor. He's so dreamy."
"Sure, he's handsome, but –" May cut off him.
"No, he's dreamy."
"I disagree," Sara called to them. "Clint Barton and Steve Rogers are dreamy. Not Thor."
"Hey!" Ward snapped. She turned to him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Jealous much," she teased.

Fitz picked up a piece of wreckage and tested it with his tablet, which made a lot of beeps.
"Fitz is that, um –" Simmons asked.
"Definitely not from here," Fitz nodded. Ward reached out with his gloved hand, picking up the piece, carrying it away. Simmons leaned away as Ward passed. "Another piece of the ship," Fitz said. He frowned when Ward sprayed the piece with something out of an aerosol can. "What are you doing?"
"Out of sight…" He placed the piece on some spongy material and closed the lid on the case he put it into.
"… Out of mind," Sara finished.

A jeep entered the Trillmarka National Park; Norway, driving through the wooded area on a trail. Two men were inside and they both out to stare at the sign. It had a weird red symbol painted over the sign. It looked like a red X with a triangle on top of it.
"Now, who would do something like that?" the first asked.
"Ah, who knows?" the second shrugged. They shut their doors and walked to the sign.

A young couple walked through the woods, holding hands. They slowed when they came to a clearing, looking around.
"Baby, look," the woman said. They were by a large tree ringed by blue boulders. The man looked down at the notebook he was holding. ""South of the water, north of the hill… A halo of stones –""
""Protect the tree still,"" she finished.

The couple smiled at each other.
"Jakob is this it?" she asked eagerly. He looked at the tree and gave a slight not of his head. He pulled a chainsaw out of his backpack and started it up, putting on dark goggles. He started sawing down the tree.

The two rangers, who were trying to clean up the sign, turned their heads when they heard the chainsaw and a tree falling over.
"We should check that out," the first said. His partner nodded and they started through the trees.

Jakob walked up the downed three. He climbed to the highest part and began to cut. He kicked a piece away and removed a metal rod. It was broken and he turned, walking down the tree as his girlfriend watched. He held it out to her.
"Finally, after all this time." She grabbed his face, pulling him in for a kiss.
"I can't wait to tell the others," she said, staring at the piece of metal.
"I told it was real, and that I would fine it," he smirked.

Holding it out, he gestured for her to take it.
"Are you ready?" The woman nodded, licked her lips, then put her hands on the road. When she did, a red glow came from inside the rod and symbols appeared on her hands. She gasped and her hands shook, but she held on until the glowing and the symbols disappeared.

She continued to hold it as she fell to her knees.
"What you're feeling, don't fight it," Jakob encouraged. "That rage, it's already inside of you. Don't be afraid of it. Don't hide from its power. Embrace it. Embrace it!"

Letting out a loud scream then took a deep breath as she let go of the rod and stood. Jakob knelt just watching her. The rangers came into the clearing.
"God! What have you done?" the second asked.

The woman turned and looked at the rangers with rage in her eyes. She let out a scream and flat handed the second ranger in the chest, sending him flying a good distance backwards and into a tree. She smiled as Jakob stood up behind her.

In the clearing, the team stood around the fallen tree. Ward stood by Simmons at the base of the tree. Sara tied another safety wire around Simmons' belt.
"I can climb it if you want," Ward offered. "Just talk me through what to do with the… doodads."
"I can do this," she said.
"Yeah," he nodded. "It's only about 15 feet."
"I'll be fine. I'm – I'm just a bit more wary about the height thing since falling to certain death."
"You're afraid," he said.

Simmons looked at him.
"Hmm?" he continued. "Shaken up? It's normal. But some feelings will take over if you dwell on them." While he was taking, he took her hand and led her onto the tree.
"Especially fear. Now, keep your eyes ahead, focus on what you like to do best."
"Yep. Not falling."
"No, research," Ward corrected. "You're a scientist, you like to figure things out."
"Yes, with my doodads."

Ward stared ahead at the tree, putting a finger to his lips as he pondered.
"I'm curious." She stopped walking. "Whatever was up in these trees had to be there for centuries, right?"
"At least a millennium," Simmons nodded. "Radiocarbon-14 dates some of these trees at 9,000 years old."
"That sounds impossible," Ward commented. "Think the tree grew around it?"
"I'd have to check the dendrochronology first to know for certain."

She began walking up the tree again.
"Uh-huh. Of course," Ward nodded.
"I mean the Norway Spruce is rather fast growing coniferous, and I know you're trying to trick me into going but, but I'm going up anyway. So…"
"I'll catch you if you fall," he promised. She laughed lightly.
"Only because Sara will give you hell if you don't." Sara caught that and laughed, throwing Ward a wink.

Coulson was nearby, talking with the only ranger left.
"Screaming," he said. "And so much hate in her eyes."
"And you said she had a sliver stick?" Coulson asked.
"Steal, maybe. I don't know. It, uh, had decorations on it."
"Could you describe or draw them?" Coulson asked. The man shook his head.
"I didn't get a good look. I – I just ran." He began to cry, and Coulson grimaced. "Who would do something so evil?"
"I'm sorry for your loss," Coulson said.

Simmons went to reach for her tablet and sighed she realized she'd forgotten it.
"Sara, can you bring me your tablet?" Sara grabbed the item and quickly scaled the tree without any safety.
"Here you go," she smiled.
"You're a squirrel," Simmons remarked.
"Yeah. I know. I offered to climb, but Ward insisted you had to attempt it."

Holing the tablet above the hole, Simmons frowned as it started to beep and read: Result: Positive. Alien substances detected.
"Oh, um, whatever was in here was definitely not form his world. Fitz, are you getting this? It's not Chitahuri, is it?"

In the lab on The Bus, Fitz shook his head.
"No, no, no. Don't worry. This isn't another viral threat… Um, hang on." He messed with his tablet. "Spectrographic signatures match readings from… Thor's hammer."

Ward's face turned concerned.
"Simmons, whatever was in that tree is Asgardian."
"I can see an imprint of what was embedded," Simmons said. She shifted on the tree and Sara moved down a few feet, shifting her footing. Ward watched below them, yelling internally at the fact Sara wasn't wearing any gear.

Taking out another device, Simmons scanned the inside of the tree.
"Scanning for three-dimensional restoration," Simmons told Fitz. "Tell me when."

Fitz hit a few buttons on his holocom in the lab and pulled with what she scanned.
"When." The picture was yellow until the rod in the middle was lit blue. "Um… it looks like a staff or a rod. He got rid of the data from the tree except for the rod. "Well crafted, engraved. I'll convert it, print a 3-D model."

Coulson was still talking with the ranger who had calmed down.
"This forest is a protected reserve," the man said angrily. "I mean, who do they think they are."
"Anything else?" Coulson asked. "Details? Anything that might help us find these people or where they might be hiding?" Skye's voice came over his earpiece.
"Sir, doesn't look like they're hiding."

In the Planning Room on The Bus, Skye was watching a news broadcast. It was footage of a riot. The runner at the bottom of the screen identified the location as Oslo.
"Sending to your devices, now," May said.
"The rioting has left 20 injured, 3 in critical condition. Reports indicate that the group of about a dozen was led by this name and woman." Two pictures were shown. "And although their motive was unclear, their message was hauntingly spelled out on the streets of Oslo." There was a fire on the street and in letters it spelt out: We are Gods. May and Skye gave each other worried looks.

Coulson walked up to Ward, holding out his phone.
"Well, I guess we know who they think they are," he remarked. Ward nodded, looking up at the two girls.
"Time to go," he called. Sara gracefully walked down, hopping to the ground.
"You weren't wearing a helmet," Coulson scolded. She looked at him as Ward held out a hand to Simmons.
"Coulson, I've climbed plenty of trees and metal structures. Clint and I once scaled an entire building without any safety gear. I think I'll be fine."
"You think," Ward muttered.
"I heard that, Grant Ward," Sara scolded.

Ward stood in front of the large screen mounted on the wall. There were two pictures on the screen.
"Jakob Nystrom, 30. Girlfriend, Petra Larson. Leaders of a Norse Paganist hate group," he told, Fitz-Simmons, Skye, and Sara.
"And their numbers are growing thanks to what happened in Greenwich and thanks to the internet," Skye added.
"Yay internet," Sara said sarcastically. They exchanged smirks.

Simmons looked at them.
"Norse Paganist?" she asked.
"Obsessed with anything and everything derived from Norse mythology… Stories of Asgard," Skye said. Ward picked up the 3-D model of the rod that Fitz printed out, looking at it.
"And now a weapon," Ward said.
"The scan accounted for only one side," Fitz told him. "Too much damage to the tree for complete reproduction."
"But see here," Simmons pointed. "It's clearly broken on both ends."
"So, there are more pieces?" Ward asked.
"Yeah, two at least," Sara said.
"Which means Sid and Nancy may be looking for a complete set," Ward remarked. Sara laughed, catching his reference.

Coulson and May entered as Ward asked another question.
"What are the markings?" he asked.
"Asgardian symbolism," Coulson said. "Hard to translate with our limited knowledge." He took the rod, checking it out.
"You should give your buddy the God of Thunder a shout," Skye said. "He gets his powers from his hammer right? What if this is his nail to the hammer?"
"I already did. Director Fury told me he's off the grid. And if he has a cellphone, we don't have the number."

May nodded, glancing at the screen.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigations are on the trail of Nystrom and his followers."
"We are charged with identifying the objects and finding any other pieces before they do," Coulson said.
"They seem to have some advantage," Sara reminded him. "They found this thin in 150 square kilometers of Norwegian forest."
"Guys, what if it called to them with magic?" Skye asked.

Skye's eyes were large and excited, dimming only slight when May gave her a "be real" look.
"Called to them?" May deadpanned.
"We know it's Asgardian," Skye shrugged. "So, the rules are a little bendy here." Sara shifted on the balls of her feet at the notion of magic. She didn't like the idea.
"Just because we don't understand something yet, doesn't mean we should regress back to the dark ages, talking of magic and fairytales," Simmons said. Fitz scoffed his agreement.
"Actually that's exactly what we're going to do," Coulson said.

Fitz-Simmons and Sara gapped at him.
"Excuse me?" Simmons asked.
"Really?" Skye questioned.
"When we first found the hammer in New Mexico. I consulted one of the world's leading experts on Norse mythology. Elliot Randolph, a professor at a University in Seville. We'll leave immediately. Maybe he can tell us more about these markings."

In Seville, Spain, Elliot Randolph sat across from a young woman at his desk, writing something down on a piece of paper.
"Well, one must adapt, Elena," he was saying. "Recent events have thrown us all for a loop. I thought I was teaching Norse mythology. No, turns out I'm a history professor." He passed her the paper he was writing on.
"So, you're not going to change my grade?" Elena asked.
"No. I will give you a week to rewrite it. I think, in general, a little more history, little less lit crit. But I do hope we're still on for dinner tonight."

The man walked her to the door, and she shot him a glance.
"I've included a list of books there that might help you," he said. He opened the door to let her out. "I'll see you later, Elena."

As the young woman walked out, Coulson appeared, and Elliot jumped.
"Oh!"
"Professor Randolph," Coulson nodded.
"Agent Coulson, come in, come in." They shook hands as Coulson entered his office. Fitz-Simmons walked in behind Coulson.
"Waterfield 44," Coulson said. He pointed at the pen in Elliot's hand. "14-Karat gold nib with mother of Peral inlay."
Elliot laughed, "That's quite an eye you've got. I didn't know you were a collector."
"On a government salary?" Coulson chuckled. "Not quite.

Elliot smirked before leaning back against his desk.
"Well, I'm assuming you found something on the ground in London."
"In a tree in Norway," Coulson corrected. "And unfortunately we weren't the ones who found it." Coulson opened a cased and pulled out the printed rob that Fitz made.
"It's a 3-D model," Fitz said.

Coulson handed the rod to Elliot who took it and examined it closely.
"Oh, that is amazing." Elliot turned away from them and put the rod's symbols under a light to look at them better. "Now, based on these runes, I'd say I'm looking at a piece of the Berserker Staff." He set the rod down and picked up a book. "Let's have a look."

Opening a book, he began looking through the pages.
"Yeah," he nodded slowly. "The myth dates back to the late 12th century. It's all about a powerful warrior from Asgard. Here." He set the book down and the three agents saw a pen drawing of a man holding the rod up high over his head. The rod was considerably bigger than the one that was taken out of the tree. "A soldier in the Berserker Army."
"Berserker Army?" Fitz asked.
"Oh, yeah," Elliot agreed. "A powerful army. Fierce army. Berserkers battled like raging beasts, destroying everything in their path. A single Berserker had the same strength of 20 warriors."

Coulson pursed his lips together thoughtfully before speaking.
"So, whoever wielded the staff got superhuman strength?"
"Fighting with it put the warrior in a state of uncontrollable rage." Elliot picked up the staff, showing it to Coulson. "The staff contained a very powerful magic."
"Or a scientific attribute we've yet to discover," Simmons pipped up.
"Analytically minded and pretty as a peach," Elliot murmured.
"The warrior in the story?" Fitz asked.
Elliot nodded, "Yes, and in the story, he came to Earth to fight, but he ended up falling in love."
"With whom?" Simmons asked.
"With life, on Earth. Humanity."

Simmons smiled at that notion. It was beautiful.
"He fell in love so much that when his army returned to Asgard, he stayed behind."
"What happened to the staff?" Fitz asked.
"Well, he didn't want it's dark magic falling into the wrong hands. So, he broke it into three pieces and hid each one in a different location."

Coulson, who was staring at the rod, lifted his head.
"The manuscript wouldn't happen to say where he hid them, would it?" he asked.
"Actually, it does," Elliot told him. He turned back to the book and picked it up, walking to his desk. "In three verses. Now, let's all bear in mind these are poetic abstracts from long-lost ancient texts. So, there is one about a tree, which they've found it seems. Another is "east of the river, sun overhead, buried in Earth with the bones of the dead." That's a bit macabre, isn't it? There's another one here. Well, this one doesn't even have a rhyme. But the gist of it is "close to God." That could be anything couldn't it?"

Simmons shook her head.
"It could also mean nothing," she reminded him.
"I was hoping for less metaphor, more longitude and latitude," Coulson muttered.
"Well, I mean, it does stand to reason to search near Viking raid routes, doesn't it?" Elliot asked. Coulson shot him a look at that suggestion. "Now, there have been some recent interesting findings of Norse relics on Baffin Island off the coast of Canada. Yeah, virtual treasure trove of new artifacts."
"We'll start there, then," Coulson said. "Thank you Professor."

Inside The Bus, Coulson walked down a hallway with Ward and Sara behind him.
"Did you know there's Mount Thor on Baffin Island?" Coulson asked.
"I did not," Ward shook his head.
"Do you know what's not on Mount Thor?" he asked him. "Anything Asgardian at all. Agents on the ground haven't found a thing. What about you, Skye?"

They walked into The Planning Room where Skye was waiting.
"Nystorm's deep-web message boards are just abuzz with psychos," Skye said, pointing at the holocom, messages scrolling across it. "They believe they're gonna ascend to be the Gods of destruction and death. People suck, sir." "That's your progress?" Ward questioned. ""People suck?""
Skye rolled her eyes, "These people do. And there's also chatter about going underground."
"Could be boing incognito or –"
"Or searching for the next piece," Coulson said.
"Randolph said to check Viking routes. Find any others?" Sara asked Skye.
"There's some sites along the Volga River in Russia, some in Kiev, and weirdly, here."

Skye touched an area on the map displayed on the holocom, it zoomed in to show Seville, Spain.
"In Seville, Spain?" Coulson asked.
"It's a long shot, but Vikings sacked Seville twice." "We found promising locations with Viking relics," May said, walking into the room. "El Divino Nino. A church built on the ruins of an 8th century crypt built on Roman ruins from 206 B.C."
"East of a river," Ward mumbled.
"And lots of bones," Sara added.
"Let's see what we can dig up," Coulson said. He looked at Sara. "See what I did there?" She rolled her eyes at him as he turned and exited the room.

Near a bright pink building, Coulson and Fitz sat together in an SUV.
"Must be nice, having a mandatory nap time," Fitz commented.
"Siesta isn't mandatory," Coulson said. "Just… very pleasant… How are you doing, Agent Ward?"

Ward was walking through a very dark tunnel, grimacing when he hit his head on the ceiling.
"Wishing I was shorter," he grumbled. He glanced at his tablet. "Nothing yet. All my readings are normal."
"What about you, Sara, Skye? Any luck?"

Sara glanced around a room, holding a flashlight and her tablet.
"I'm just lucky my boyfriend volunteered to take the super creepy hallway instead of the slightly less creepy dungeon room," she said cheerfully.
"But we've got nothing, Sir," Skye added. She looked at Sara.
"How can you be so happy? It's kinda gloomy in here."
"I'm a naturally happy person, Skye. Haven't you realized that?" Her smile widened when they heard Ward scoff.

Ward glanced down at his tablet as it made a dinging noise.
"Ward, your spectrograph is reading something near you," Fitz buzzed.
"I don't see anything," Ward told him.
"Well, it's right in front of you. Oh, wait. No. Uh, okay, hold on. It's moving – northwest." Turning, Ward saw someone starting away from him.
"Visual contact," he said.
"Turn left," Fitz called.

Entering a hallway, Ward caught up to the person he saw. When the turned the body around, he came face to face with Elliot Randolph.
"I have a wonderful explanation," Elliot said.
"Ran into some unexpected –" Ward started to say. He reached out and took hold of Elliot, but heard some strange low rumbling sounds. Ward dipped his head in pain as he gripped another part of the staff. With Ward's hand on it, it was glowing bright orange. Ward grunted and fell to the ground.

Fitz stared at his tablet as they heard Ward groaning in pain.
"Ward, what's happening?" Coulson asked. Fitz turned his tablet so Coulson would see what it said.
"His device just went down."

Sara and Skye ran through the tunnels.
"Girls, can you get –"
"Already on it," Skye answered quickly. They turned a corner and looked down before rushing forward. "Ward!" Skye exclaimed. He was collapsed on the ground. She reached out and touched him softly. He let out a loud gasp and quickly scrambled away, his eyes dilated with fear.

Pushing Skye behind her, Sara crouched down to his level.
"Hey, hey, hey," she soothed. "Grant. Calm down, please… You need to calm down." He was panting in fright, but her words got to him, and he calmed a bit. His heavy breathing became steadier.
"The staff, he has it," he strained.
"Somethings wrong with Ward," Skye told Coulson and Fitz. "The staff's gone, someone took it." Sara held her hand out carefully to Ward and with a deep breath he took it, allowing her to help him stand.

Outside the tunnels, Elliot was walking down the sidewalk, constantly looking over his shoulder. The staff was sticking out of one end of his bag. He walked by a group of people and accidently bumped into one of them.
"Sorry," he said quickly as he hurried on. Jakob, Petra, and two men turned as one and watched him walk away. Jakob's eyes focused on the staff sticking out of bag.

Elliot entered a parking area, taking out his keys and walking to a car. He fumbled to unlock the door, taking longer than it should. When he got it unlocked, he opened the door and looked up. Standing on the other side of his car were Jakob, Petra, and the other two. The four of them didn't look so good, pale skin and dark circles under their eyes.
"I have one too," Jakob said. Jakob lifted his part of the staff up, showing it to Elliot.

Coulson was talking to Fitz as he got out of the SUV.
"He can't just disappear," Coulson said. "He'll have to turn up some –" They heard someone yelling behind them and a whooshing sound. "Where," he finished. Coulson turned and saw a car tossed into the street, landing on its roof. "There we go. A block south of the church." Coulson started in that direction.

Running around the corner, he caught sight of Elliot picking books up off the pavement, putting them back inside his bag. Coulson ran over to him, and Elliot looked up, sitting down hard on his butt.
"Professor," Coulson said.
"I screwed up."