Episode 12: Seeds
Part Two

Sitting on The Bus, Coulson looked down at Lumley's blue pill.
"Cyanide?" he asked. 'What did you think we were gonna do to you?"
"What they did to her." Lumley set down a picture of a dead, tortured agent.
"Agent Linda Avery?"
"She wasn't the first one to die. We were headed into the Hunan Providence of China. A senior agent had called in an 0-8-4."
"An object of unknown origin. We've dealt with those before."
"He said the entire village had died trying to protect this one. Avery and I were fresh out of the Academy. And there were five of us, just running the back end, until we lost communications with the first team. We went searching. We found the senior agent under a bridge. He—he managed to escape with a gunshot wound to the neck, but he bled out. He was still holding onto the 0-8-4."

Scoffing, Lumley shook his head.
"Poor thing was covered in blood. We thought she was dead, too, but sh—she was just asleep in the dead agent's arm." Coulson leaned closer. "I—the baby? The girl was the 0-8-4?" "If she had powers or something, we never witnessed it." Coulson looked up at May as Lumley continued. "The five of us helicoptered the kid off, headed home. After we landed, we started getting crossed off."
"Executed?"
"Tortured, heads bashed in. And when it came down to Avery and I, we realized the only way to keep our people and the kid from being hunted—"
"Was to erase her from existence," Coulson murmured.
"Avery was smart. She used a lead agent's credentials to fake a Level 8 clearance. She set up a nearly invisible protocol. The foster system was ordered to move the child around every few months."
"But they still got to Avery."
"She died protecting that secret."
"And you left town."

The agent in front of him nodded.
"Oh, I left everything. I mean, whoever killed that kid's family, and all those agents were a force to be reckoned with."
"And that girl—" May was cut off as Lumley glared at her.
"Don't tell me a damn thing about her. I don't want to know. You understand? Just tell me, is she okay?"
"She's safe."
"Then maybe it was worth it… you taking me in?"
"Yeah," May nodded, moving towards the cockpit.
"No."

Stopping, May looked at Coulson.
"I'm not sure S.H.I.E.L.D. is the safest place for you right now." Bending down, May picked up the photos of Avery form the table, shooting Coulson a look. "We'll get in the air and drop you off somewhere along the route."
"Thank you."

The two agents began to walk away but paused when Lumley called out to them.
"Bit of advice, stop digging, and stay the hell away from that girl. Cause wherever she goes, death follows." Coulson and May shared a look then continued to walk away.
"It's best no one knows about this, for Skye's safety and for ours. You can never tell her," May told Coulson. He gave her a look, but said nothing.

Skye carried a couple beers over to Ward and Sara. Sara looking around at the young agents as Ward looked at Skye.
"Bartender seemed chatty."
"He's in computer sciences. Didn't take long to convince him that I was a Level 7 CS operative. And guess where I'm stationed, The Sandbox."
"Good thinking," Sara said. Skye beamed at her.
"I asked if any of the cadets had hopes on getting assigned there." Ward took a swig of his beer as Skye gestured behind her. "The one with the curls…"

Lifting her head, Sara focused on a young woman playing pool.
"Callie Hannigan, ambitious, gunned hard for getting assigned to The Sandbox. And apparently, word's gotten around that she's lost the top spot."
"She was at the pool," Ward said.
"But didn't want to go in," Skye told him. Nodding, Ward gave her an approving look.

Fitz looked over another of Donnie's designs.
"A battery that carries a terawatt of energy. This is amazing."
"Would be, if it worked," Donnie mumbled. "I'm—I'm close. I've built some quarter scale and they work at that size, but the heat increases to a 4 to 1 ratio with scale."
"And it melts down."

As Donnie nodded, Fitz picked up one of the scaled down models.
"Why not use oxygen, you know, breathe it in from the outside?" Donnie's eyes went wide at the thought.
"Sure, its' not gonna react as well with the lithium ion, but the cooling effect would surely make up for that discrepancy." Donnie's eyes moved down to his work and Fitz looked at him. "No?"
"Holy crap."
"I mean, it's just an idea," Fitz shrugged.
"That's insane."

Uncomfortable with the way Donnie was staring at him with awe, Fitz cleared his throat.
"Um, but you should show it to Agent Weaver before you test it. You have no idea how powerful this thing could be."
"Of course," Donnie nodded quickly. "Wow. I'm sorry. That—that was awesome. It's true what the other guys say, you are the smartest person to come through here."
"Is that what they say?" Fitz asked. "Yeah? Well, Simmons is probably smarter, technically, but that's because she likes homework more than life itself. And actually, I think Sara is smarter than both Simmons and I combined..."
"Nice to have someone to talk shop with all the time… or to just plain talk too."

With his last words, Donnie shut down a bit, his eyes lowering to the ground.
"You know, um, I didn't like it here at the Academy at first." Donnie looked up at him in surprise.
"You didn't?"
"No," Fitz shook his head. "I was shy, bit of a loner. My mum did her best at home, but I may has well have been speaking Japanese when I talked about electronics. Sara, my sister, understood, but she was in S.H.I.E.L.D. long before I was… so I kept things to myself."
"Me, too," Donnie told him. "The kids in my hometown wouldn't talk to me. And when S.H.I.E.L.D. told my dad I was gifted he said, "at what?""

Chuckling, Fitz nodded.
"Yeah. Well, hang in there. You'll find a friend here." Donnie gave him a look and Fitz headed towards the door. "I'm off to meet the team right now. At the boiler room, if you'd like to join." Donnie duck his head.
"Uh, maybe later. I'm gonna try and draw up some of those changes."
Fitz understood, "Later it is." He was about to leave the room when Donnie called out to him.
"Hey… thanks Fitz." Fitz looked back at him.
"No problem."

Sara sat beside Simmons, watching Ward with a faint smirk. He was playing pool against Callie, giving her a flirtatious smile. She leaned closer to Simmons. "Does this count as cheating?" Simmons followed her gaze, shrugging lightly. "I don't really know... maybe?" They laughed together, Sara's gaze never leaving Ward and Callie.

Ward straigthened his back, watching her sink a ball.
"Not a bad shot," he said.
"You mean for a girl," Callie shot back.
"For anybody," Ward corrected.

Lining up a shot, Callie spoke as she nailed the ball.
"Elastic collision equations, contact point geometry, and practice. So, why is a guy from operations hanging out in the boiler room, anyway?" Ward smiled, dropping his voice slightly.
"Looking for the smartest mind you have here to duck out, join my top shadow unit." The girl's head shot up, looking at him. "Is that you?"
"Could be," Callie said, her surprised face morphing into one of indifference. "Shadow unit doing what?"

Sighing, Ward looked away. He picked up the chalk cube, using it on his pool cue.
"I've said too much already, btu that tech in the lecture hall, it was impressive. Whoever built that tech, I could see them moving to Level 6 within the year." Callie took the chalk from his hand.
"Even though Donnie and Seth were hurt?"
"The boys survived," Ward shrugged.
"Yeah, probably the best thing that's happened to them all year." Lining up her next shot, Callie hit the cue ball. Ward caught it, holding it up.
"Why don't you tell me what you mean by that? And I'll not tell Agent Weaver how eager you were to jump rank over to operations."

The girl sobered at his words.
"I'm just saying they got to meet Agent Fitz. They've been talking about it for weeks."
"Weeks?" Ward asked. "We just came here…" He trailed off. "Talking about it to whom?"
"Each other." Ward set the ball back down on the pool table and hurried over to his group.

Simmons listened to Ward before pulling out her phone to call Fitz. He picked up on the second ring.
"Jemma, please don't tell me you've left the boiler room already."
"Fitz, they staged the attacks!"
"Well, that's nonsense. Why?"
"To lure us to the Academy and to take them of our radar as suspects. You need to get out of there. He's after you."
"Relax. I'm out. You're overreacting. He's just a lonely kid."
"But—"
"We had a nice little hang session. I helped him solve his… power problem…" When Fitz trailed off, Simmons hung up, her eyes meeting Sara.

Having reached the bottom of the steps, Fitz turned back, heading to Donnie's room. He walked up, pushing the door open. Donnie looked up with surprise as Fitz saw his work on the table.
"Oh, no," Donnie moaned.
"That's what you're trying to power?" Fitz cried. "A bigger version of the ice machine?"
"You weren't supposed to see this," Donnie said sadly.

Walking deeper into the room, Fitz got closer to the device.
"This is very, very dangerous, okay?" he said. "You can't have this here. You must turn it in to Agent Weaver."
"You weren't supposed to see this," a voice said from the corner of the room.

Looking over, Fitz frowned when he saw Seth holding the ionized air canon gun. He pointed the gun at Fitz, sending him crashing into a chest of drawers. He crumpled onto the ground. Seth set the gun down, focusing on Donnie.
"We need to go."

The boy began gathering things from Donnie's desk while Donnie stood frozen, staring at Fitz' limp body.
"Come on!" Seth snapped. Donnie broke out of his stupor, hurrying over to his partner to grab things.

Fitz walked up the cargo bay door, holding a rag to the back of his head, Simmons and Skye trailing after him.
"How could I be so stupid?" Fitz kept muttering.
"Fitz, will you stop?" Simmons asked. Coulson and May met them near the lab.
"I'm sorry, sir," Fitz said. "It's my fault."
"Any words on the missing cadets?" Coulson questioned.
"Ward and Sara are coordinating the search with Agent Weaver. They've set up a perimeter and are going building to building," Simmons answered.
"Where did you guys go?" Skye asked. "We've been trying to reach you." Coulson shook his head at her.
"Not now."

Turning to Fitz-Simmons, he asked another question.
"How dangerous are they?"
"Extremely dangerous," Simmons said. "This device turns any moisture around it to ice very rapidly at a great range."
"But Donnie's a good kid, just felt isolated," Fitz said. "Seth must have befriended him to manipulate him, using him to finish the – the product."
"Product?" May asked, waiting for him to continue.

A thought had occurred to Fitz while he had been speaking and he squeezed his eyes closed in anger.
"Okay, I think they have a backer. The device, the components are incredibly rare and expensive. Nothing either of them could find on the open market themselves."
"If the parts are that rare, we can trace the purchases," Skye remarked.
"Sometimes it's not a bad seed, just a bad influence. Let's go," Coulson commanded.

Quinn sat in his plane, listening to Seth ramble about running into trouble while at the Academy.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is looking for us now," the boy finished.
Quinn groaned, "Seth, what did I say was the most important aspect of this deal?"
"That nobody knew about it," Seth mumbled.
"Right. Well, now the deal's gonna have to change."

The team, except for Ward and Sara, stood inside the lab as Skye told them what she found while tracing back the rare parts.
"We were worried about bad influences. He's the worst there is."

With a flick of her wrist, Ian Quinn appeared on the monitor.
"Ian Quinn," Coulson scoffed. "You've got to be kidding."
"Thermopile radiation sensors," Fitz murmured, looking at the parts.
Skye nodded, "Shipped to Seth's father who's a lawyer for Quinn Worldwide. Quinn's buying their technology."
"What a sleaze," Simmons complained. "The cadets have no idea he's a criminal. To them, he's just a venture capitalist."
"That's Quinn's M.O.," Skye reminded her. "He finds young talent and takes advantage, right?"

She looked at Coulson, who had been lost in thought for the past several minutes.
"Hello?" she said loudly. Coulson looked at Fitz-Simmons.
"Contact Ward, Sara, and Agent Weaver. Have them widen their search to include Ian Quinn." They nodded, hurrying off.

Walking around the table, Skye stopped beside Coulson.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"
"I have to brief May," he told her.
"Just, two seconds, that's all."
"Fine." He walked away and she followed.

Sitting on his jet, Quinn spoke to Seth through his cell.
"This is an unfortunate situation you've gotten us into, Seth. Where are you?"
"We're – We're hiding out in a parking garage near the Academy. There's checkpoints set up all around. We're boxed in."
"Well, it looks like I'll be turning around. Sorry we couldn't do business."
"No, no wait! M-Mr. Quinn, please! Can you send a chopper or something to come and get us? Look, believe me, it's worth it."
"Prove it, Seth."
"W-what do you mean?"
"A demonstration. I want to see what I'm paying for in action, right there, at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"And then you'll come and get us?"
"I wouldn't be able to resist."

Hanging up the phone, Quinn sighed deeply. He glanced into the cockpit, calling out to the pilot.
"The deal's a no go. Let's turn around, go back to the Seychelles." "Copy that, sir." Quinn held up his nearly empty wine glass, looking at the woman who was accompanying him. "Darling, can you freshen this up?" She smiled slyly, taking the glass from him.

In the parking garage, Seth looked down at Donnie, who was fiddling with the device.
"Are you ready for this, Donnie?" Donnie didn't answer, just looked at Seth for a moment before going back to work. "Hey, we've come this far," Seth said, tugging on his jacket.
"Maybe it's too far," Donnie muttered.
"We're in this together," Seth reminded him. "You and me against the world, right? How many times have we said we want a chance to do something incredible? Well, this is it. And it comes with a ton of money. Come on, say something."
"I'm – I'm nervous. The – the prototypes are harmless, but out in minutes. But this? We haven't run virtual simulations. At this size, with the new power source, it's not – it's not safe."

Seth rolled his eyes.
"Donnie, you need to grow a pair. All right? Now you can't bail on me. We have one chance to impress Mr. Quinn, and now he's our only way out. We can't turn back after what we did back there."
"What—what—what you did," Donnie stuttered. "You knocked Agent Fitz unconscious."
"He found us out," Seth snapped. "And it was your idea to draw him here to fix your damn power source! Our plan has worked so far, Donnie, and so will this."

Taking a deep breath, Donnie flipped on the power. The machine began to whir was blue light emitted from the device. He startled as there was a small 'poof' and the blue light went out. It turned to smoke, and he looked at it in confusion.
"W-what happened?" Seth asked. "I-is it a dud?"
"I-I don't, I don't know."

Coulson led Skye down one of the hallways on the Bus, his face serious as Skye continued to press him about what why he was so distant. She thought it was her fault and that she had done something wrong.
"No, I did. Ian Quinn's not the only one who manipulates people, Skye. We do it all the time, teaching it at the Academy. It's our trade."
"What are you talking about?" Skye asked.
"I've been keeping something from you. But recently, I realized I had no right to do that."

Pausing, Skye looked at him.
"You lied to me?"
Coulson nodded, "Agent May and I went down to Mexico City to talk to somebody. Somebody who knows where you came from." Skye tried her best to stay steady.
"Tell me." He took a breath.
"When we started this, I warned you… that you might not like what you learn."
"And I told you…" She too took a deep breath, trying to keep her emotions in check. "… that it can't be worse than what I have imagined."

There was a long pause before Coulson spoke again.
"It is." Skye jolted back slightly. "The agent who dropped you at St. Agnes was not your mother. But she was killed trying to protect you. 24 years ago, an entire S.H.I.L.E.D. team in the small village were massacred." Skye could barely hear what else he said, tears streaming down her face as he continues his story. She didn't completely break down until he finished, sobbing in her hands.

Sara grimaced as she stepped outside, getting hit in the head from a hailstone slightly smaller than a golf ball. She picked it up, staring at it until Ward grabbed her, yanking her back inside the building as the hailstones become bigger and bigger.
"This is impossible," Sara said, watching as a hailstone the size of a bowling ball obliterates a rosebush. She looked at Weaver. "We need to get everyone somewhere safe."

Ward took the hailstone from her. He studied it as Sara started directing people towards the boiler room. He tossed the hailstone away as Sara saw the storm end.
"It's over?" he asked.
"I don't think so."

Donnie and Seth watch as the hailstones fall. Donnie impressed and Seth excited. Well, he was excited until the hail came to a stop.
"It's ending?" Seth asked.
"No. It's just beginning. We're in the eye of the storm."
"A storm? But Crystalline nucleation should only create ice around the—"
"It did."

Without paying much attention, Donnie waved at the dark clouds that swirled around above them.
"Up there."
Seth whistled, "We seeded the clouds?"
"In the most effective way in history, Seth. We created a superstorm."
"He said he wanted a demonstration!"

Taking a calming breath, Donnie jumped into the bed of the truck heading for the device.
"What are you doing?" Seth asked. "I have to try to reverse the process." Concerned, Seth jumped into the bed of the truck, stopping Donnie.
"Look, Quinn specifically said he needed a working apparatus to come and pick us up."
"All the money in the world won't matter if we're dead… Please, please help me."

In the Command center, Coulson and a majority of the team gathered around the holocom.
"How do we stop it?" he asked.
"We can't," Fitz answered. "They're in real trouble."
"Where is the device?" May asked. Simmons reached out and touched the center of the storm which was on the screen.
"Dead center of the storm," she answered.
"We've got to get Donnie out of there," Fitz said.
"Ward, how are things on the ground?" Coulson asked.

In the boiler room, Ward huddled near the door with Sara and Agent Weaver.
"We've got most everyone safe in the Boiler Room," Ward answered. Sara flinched at a particularly violent shake, pressing up against Ward to make room for students were still flooding into the room.
"Everyone! Make room!" Weaver shouted.
"How bad is this gonna get?" Ward asked.
"Bad. Can you and Sara reach the North Campus Parking Garage? We think Donnie Gill and his device may be trapped in the center of the storm."
"That's not far from where we are," Sara said.
"We can get there," Ward agreed.

He hurried towards the door and tried to open. He got it mostly open, but the strength of the wind caused it to slam shut. He glanced at Sara, shaking his head.
"Never mind, sir, we're trapped," she told Coulson. Her shoulders slumped slightly.

Coulson asked for other ideas causing Fitz to speak up and May barely agreed to it. It was a difficult plan. The Bus flying over the storm and lowering into the eye of the storm. She knew she could do it, but to what cost of the Bus?

Sitting in the cockpit, she told everyone to hold on tight as she began the vertical descend through the eye of the storm. Rain rocked the Bus, causing the four strapped into chairs in the cargo hold to flinch. Fitz-Simmons gripped tighter to their straps as Coulson looked over at Skye. She looked numb and he gently took hold of her hand.

Donnie and Seth tried to turn of the device, Donnie shooting orders to Seth.
"Hold the Barium Hydroxide chamber in place!"
"Okay!" Donnie clipped something onto the deice. "Okay, that should do it. Now take—"

Before the young scientist could finish speaking, a bolt of lightning hit the device, sending Seth flying backwards. Donnie got knocked against the truck cabin, the device set aflame. Donnie forced himself into a sitting position, looking down at the device. It did nothing for the storm and he groaned from a combination of pain and from the destruction around him.

He jolted up, thinking of Seth. He yelled out for his friend, climbing out of the car.
"Seth! We're gonna have to try to get underground, ride it out till the storm passes." He looked down at Seth, who didn't move or show any acknowledgement of Donnie's words. "Hey, Seth! Seth!"

Getting to his knees, Donnie tried to find a pulse.
"Seth! Can you hear me?" He started to panic and looked up at the sound of something descending above him. He watched it land and Fitz-Simmons and Coulson ran off. "He's been hurt!" he shouted. "Please, you need to help him!"

With the help of Fitz and Coulson, Donnie got Seth onto the Bus.
"He's in cardiac arrest," Simmons said. "Skye, get a blanket for his head! Lay him down here!" She looked to Coulson and Fitz. "Sir, I need an A.E.D.! Fitz, oxygen!"

As they worked to start Seth's heart again, May attempted to fly the Bus up and out the same way they came. It was proving to be rather difficult, not impossible, but difficult. She hit a patch of turbulence, knocking everyone in the cargo bay off balance.

No matter how many times Simmons attempted to restart Seth's heart, he wasn't responding, and Coulson finally put his hand on her shoulder. He shook his head at her.
"He's gone." Donnie shook his head violent.
"No! Seth!" he screamed his friend's name. His head lowered to Seth's chest as he began to sob. "No! No!" He barely felt Skye's hand that began to rub lightly on his back.

The wind stopped and Ward opened the doors of the boiler room. Students spilled out, leaving him and Sara standing inside.
"I hate storms," she muttered.
"You like storms, you just hate thunder," he corrected.
"Yes, well, I'm not over thrilled with what comes after either," she said. He rolled his eyes, slinging his arm around her shoulders as they headed to where May parked the Bus.

Fitz walked Donnie out of the Bus, trying to figure out something to say.
"Donnie, I wanted to wish you good luck and I'm very sorry."
"Don't say you're sorry," Donnie hissed. "My only friend is dead because of me."
"Well," Fitz said sheepishly. "I don't know what else to say."
"Then don't say anything." He yanked away from Fitz and marched to the waiting SUV.

Up in the bar, May asked Coulson what was going to happen to him.
"They're moving him to The Sandbox," Coulson answered. "But not as a researcher. They want to keep an eye on him."
May nodded, "You uh, you heard what I said in Mexico, yeah?"
"What, specifically?"
"About Ward… the ring?"

Rolling his eyes, Coulson nodded.
"Yeah, I heard."
She grinned, "How do you feel about that?"
"I don't know… If they get married without my knowledge, I'm shipping him away… how about the deepest level of the fridge?" He chuckled at that thought. He didn't have anything against Ward, but seriously.

She didn't laugh along with him.
"You better say yes," she told him. "It'll crush Sara if you don't." He nodded at her before looking around for the team that was usually already up here. "Well, anyway, Skye requested a moment alone on campus," May told him. "And Sara said something about Ward owing her a beer… You told Skye, didn't you?"
"I had to."

Sighing, May shook her head sadly.
"It must have destroyed her to hear all that."
"That's the thing about Skye," he said. "What I told her, shattered her world. Her lifelong search led to stories of murder and now it's too difficult to continue. Her search is over. Her story ends here. But you know what she said?"
"Tell me."
"She said no, her story started here."

Coulson looked to May, his eyes sad, but happy all at the same time.
"Here I am, telling Skye something that could destroy her faith in humanity and somehow, she manages to repair a little piece of mine. The world is full of evil and lies and pain and death, and you can't hide from it, you can only face it. The question is, when do you? How do you respond? Who do you become?"

Skye stood in front of the memorial that Ward had shown her earlier. For her entire life, she had thought she wasn't wanted, that she didn't belong, that every family that took her in didn't want her to stay, didn't care. But all that time, it was S.H.I.E.L.D. protecting her, looking out for her. God, that was a lot to taken in.

Briefly, her fingers pressed against the name of Agent L. Avery. The woman who had saved her. She wasn't Skye's mother but had gotten her out of a dangerous situation. Skye owed her life to this woman, who sacrificed herself on Skye's behalf.

In the boiler room, still mostly empty aside from a bar tender, Ward spun Sara around on the dancefloor. If anyone else had been there, Ward wouldn't have dared. It wasn't often that he and Sara got to spend time alone unless they were in their bunks with the thinnest walls possible. She spun back to him, humming along with the music.
"We should get back," he said as the song came to an end. "But first… Sara. You know I love you."
"Of course," Sara nodded, touching his cheek gently. He started to reach into his back pocket.
"Well, um—"

Just as Ward managed to get his hand around the small ring-box, Sara's phone rang. She gave him an apologetic looking, pulling it out.
"Hello? Now?... Be there soon." She lowered the phone as Ward hastily put the ring-box back in his pocket. "We've got to go. What were you going to say?" He shook his head.
"We'll talk later." Her brow furled, but she nodded as he wrapped an arm around her waist. She leaned into him as they walked out of the boiler room.

Sitting in the back of the SUV, Donnie lifted his burned hand up and ran one of his fingers against the glass on the window. He left a trail of frost from where his finger touched it. He looked over and saw what he had done and grinned grimly.

In his office, Coulson pressed a button on Seth's phone. It was only two rings before someone picked up. The smooth, charismatic voice of Ian Quinn came through.
"Seth, I've got to say you have exceeded my expectations—"
"We're onto you," Coulson said.
"Who is this?"
"Agent Phil Coulson with S.H.I.E.L.D. We've never actually met, but I'm familiar with your work, all of it."
"So… this is a "getting to know you" call?"
"No, just a message."

Taking a breath, Coulson delivered the threat that would mess up his team for the next couple weeks, but he didn't realize it.
"The first time your aircraft drifts over any country allied with S.H.I.E.D., we will shoot you out of the sky."
"Ah, so this is a courtesy call. Well, thank you, Agent Coulson. And I have a message for you. The Clairvoyant told me to say hello."

Quinn hung up and Coulson lowered Seth's phone from his ear. He stared at the small device, gripping it tightly in his hand.

All rights belong to Marvel & Disney