AN: Hello there! Here come's the latest chapter. As always, many thank to MegaDiary123 for helping out, and to all of you for continuing to support the story. A fair warning, I have quite a few changes happening in my life right now, so bear with me, updates will be slow. I will be posting them as soon as I have them written and proofed :) I hope you all enjoy the disaster that is about to be this story, until next time...

All rights go to Marvel

Skye's POV

I was fighting this guy, who seemed to be similarly strong as Steve, with a metal arm, and that was staying close to me, keeping me busy, so that I was not able to use my vibrations to pin him down.

Bobbi and May were keeping their distance, trying to get a shot in when they could, but it would be suited to come closer. I had heard a crashing sound from the barn back, but the moment I had turned my attention there, this guy was onto me, not letting me even move. I was sending waves at him, he kept dodging them.

I did not even have time to lock onto his vibrational signals to try and bring him down from the inside out. He just kept moving, coming at me with fists and a knife that he drew, dodging left and right, before coming back to attacking.

I needed to get to that barn and get rid of this guy. There was something happening and I didn't know what. What I was sure of was that people were in danger.

There was a loud crash, behind me, I found a small opening to turn around and see what was going on. All I saw what the barn door exploding outwards, with a figure making his way out. A strong punch brought me back to the present, the distraction was enough to earn me what would be a bruised jaw in the least. The moment I landed on my knees, I let the momentum take me, and I rolled away from the following punch that made a hole in the ground, standing up quickly I tried to send a wave at him, but he dodged out of the way.

This stupid, motherfucker, I gritted my teeth. I was getting tired. I could feel my movements slowing down. I already had a multitude of bruises and cuts all over my body, my powers were on an even the ground with his skill and what must have been super strength.

Guns shots rang behind me, but I could not get distracted by the stranger.

But then came something I won't forget.

Fitz screamed bloody murder.

A scream that was Jemma's name.

I felt my heart stop, time slowing down as the stranger was coming for another attack. I lifted my hand, and send a wave at him. Not caring that I could feel my bones breaking from the force. He landed some distance away, breaking tree trunk after tree trunk as it slowed down his fall.

I turned around and ran back, sensing the other person, whoever it was running away. I bolted towards the direction of where Coulson was holding onto Jemma, landed on my knees next to her as if in slow motion.

The next moments were a bit of a blur.

We rushed Jemma to the lab, redirecting all the power that was left in the Bus there, as Bobbi was yelling out instructions. I had to leave the craft to keep watch in order to make sure no hostiles were coming back.

Tony arrived at some point, I didn't even question why he was there, all that mattered was that he was and he could help. So, he took Jemma to the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D. medical facility before coming back to help us fix the Bus to at least fly it to where Jemma was.

I kinda shut down as soon as we got there, planting myself to one of the chairs in the waiting room and just waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I looked down at my hands, at some point They were still tainted with Jemma's blood. I felt myself start to shake, my hands trembling. I had not taken more than a singular shuddering breath before May was kneeling in front of me. Her eyes were so soft as she looked at me.

I opened my mouth to say something, I was not even sure what, but a voice stopped me. "Jemma Simmons?"

I was out of my chair and by the doctor's side in an instant. "How is she?", I asked.

The grim expression that she held did not help. The words that came next even less. "Not good. The shot perforated her stomach and pierced her large intensive". And oh no, I felt like I was going to be sick. "We resected what we could, but… there's been too much damage"

I felt like I was about to faint, but a hen on my shoulder kept me from moving.

"So, what's next?" I heard Coulson ask, his voice trembling just the tinniest bit.

"We can keep her comfortable, but you'll need to make a decision on whether or not you want to keep her on life support", the doctor replied.

Bobbi was the one to speak this time. "You're saying there's nothing to be done?"

The doctor looked sorry. "I'm saying you need to call her family and get them here as soon as possible"

My knees felt weak. But the hand on my shoulder gripped a bit tighter. "If we use one of the medical pods that S.H.I.E.L.D. has, can she be transported?" I turned my head to see Tony, lips tight but determination on his face.

The doctor paused. "She should be, as long as she is put on life support as soon as possible. But this decision would have to be made by her next of kin"

Tony moved in front of me, looking me in the eyes. "I have everyone on a stand-by. The Tower has more than enough equipment to facilitate this. Bruce is there. I will fly in anyone we need to. Anything, Skye. We will do anything, we can do so much more than here".

I nodded, not even thinking about it. We would do anything in our power. "As long as it's safe, please prepare her for the journey", I looked at the doctor.

He shook his head. "I cannot do that, only fam—"

"I am her emergency contact", I cut him off. "I will come with you to verify that, but I need you to prepare her as soon as possible. We can't lose time". A goal, that was all I needed. Somewhere to focus on. That's all.

Jemma would be fine. We just had to get her to the Tower, and everything would be fine. She would be okay.

The Bus would take a few more hours to be repaired, so the plan was for me to fly Bobbi, Jemma, Fitz and myself to the Tower with a borrowed aircraft, while the rest would wait and join us at the Tower as soon as they could. Tony would fly ahead to prepare everything and keep me updated on the situation there.

"Tony", I stopped him before he left. I pulled him close, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, without you there there wouldn't be any hope", I said with my face buried in his chest.

His arms wrapped around me, squeezing back. "Of course", and damn it I could hear the emotion in his voice.

I leaned back, pushing my turmoiled emotions deep, deep down. Not now, I could not afford to lose it now. I had things to do. "How did you know to come?", I found myself asking. "Did Tee contact Jar? An emergency protocol that I don't know?"

At this, he hesitated. Opened his mouth, but closed it again, while taking a deep breath. "It was Jemma", he said. "She called Pepper"

I startled awake when something landed on my back. Fuck, I didn't mean to fall asleep, I thought groggily as I pushed myself up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you", Pepper said lowly. "You seemed cold"

I looked out of the large windows, seeing the night sky. "How long was I out Jar?"

"2 hours and 37 minutes", came the reply from the U.I. "No new updates on the tracing, either of Mr. Peterson or the Stranger".

I nodded to no-one in particular. "I want to be kept updated in 30-minute intervals, unless you found anything of great importance before then". I got up, grabbing the empty cup and went to the coffee machine, filling up and letting the caffeine wake me up somewhat. Not that it ever really helped, I had grown too used to that stuff. And my higher metabolism didn't help. "Why are you up?", I asked Pepper.

She was sitting on a small sofa that I had in my workshop. Workshop made it sounds like I was buildings things… maybe office? Eh, it had everything I needed for my hacking needs, plus anything that happened here was isolated from the Tower servers for privacy.

"Couldn't sleep". It was a lie, but I was not going to call her out. "Do you mind if I stay here with you? Everyone is either asleep, or working out their frustrations"

"Be my guest", I motioned to the sofa. "As long as you don't mind me making a few phone calls, talking to my self, or yelling at others"

"Don't worry about it", she waved me off. "I have spent way too much time with you and Tony to be bothered with these things. Plus, have you seen the members of our board? Honestly, some of those men don't even try to hide it when they feel threatened", she planted herself on the sofa, getting comfortable while taking out a Stark Industries tablet, her agenda most likely. I turned back to my work, when she exclaimed, "Oh! I made myself a sandwich but didn't really feel like eating anything. Too stressed with work", she shrugged off. "Feel free to have it if you feel like it".

And sure enough, there it was, sitting on top of my desk.

I narrowed my eyes at it. I knew what this was. The ploy was right there, not even pretending to be anything else than what it truly was. Not when it was the same sandwich she would make me any time I would stay up late working.

I tried munching on the sandwich for the next few hours, only getting around halfway through it by the time the sun rose. Pepper fell asleep at some point, in a very awkward position, so I made sure to place the blanket over her form, and a pillow under her head. At least I knew that she would not wake up with a back pain, since Tony had bought me a good sofa knowing I would be dozing there more often than not.

"There is no way you have an unregistered Quinjet, Fury", I whisper-yelled outside my office so as not to wake Pepper up.

"Don't get that tone with me, young lady. We don't even know for sure it was a Quinjet to begin with", his voice was strong, but after knowing him for so long I could hear the hesitation in his voice.

"I know what I saw". I looked around, making sure I was the only one, using my powers to also check that no-one was spying at me. "They are getting bolder. We need to move, or it will be too late to do anything", I hissed at him.

He sighed on the other end of the line. "You know we can't do that Skye. We are so close to finding out the root of the issue, you know how deep it goes. It will end up in a disaster"

"It already is a disaster! We have been playing their games because of all the secrecy, Jay. We told the Avengers about Coulson, and guess what, you are still alive"

"It's not the same and you know it", he said after a pause.

I gritted my teeth. "Jemma was shot. She is on life support because of our little side project. It is the same", I felt my temper rise. "You might be willing to make sacrifices and think of your agents as pawns to your games, but I am not"

"Now, Skye, this is not—"

"Talk to you later, Joseph", I cut him off.

"Don't you d—", was all I heard before I hang up the call. I found myself massaging the bridge of my nose. I was getting a headache. And my desire to punch something was just rising, and rising.

But not now, I had to keep my head straight and fix things.

I felt, before I heard, someone approaching, and by the vibes of it, it was May. With my eyes still closed, I waited for her to come close and say what she wanted to say. "Tai Chi. You got 10 minutes, I will see you downstairs", she simply passed by me and kept walking.

I shook my head. "I'm busy". I also did kinda have had my arms fractured before, but had not said anything. I was not about to take medical personnel away from Jemma. I could deal with the pain.

"It wasn't a suggestion", she replied easily. I could hear the command even if it wasn't said as one.

I took a deep breath, letting it out harshly. Fine. Fine. I was gonna go. Only because my life would be hell if I didn't. "Jar, I need any important updates to be transmitted to my ear piece as soon as anything happens. Understood?", I told him as I wore said earpiece and made sure to lower the blinds for Pepper's shake.

As soon as I walked to the gym, I saw Bobbi and May standing at the centre. Coulson was sitting at a bench nearby with the water bottles.

"May said I could join. Well, I think it was an open invitation but Ward was already getting his own workout over there", Bobbi motioned to Ward who was in his own world, giving it his all against a punching bag. "Is that okay with you?"

For all the confidence that Bobbi always carried, this seemed a bit out of character. But then, she did seem to always care. "It's a free country", I replied as I started stretching and making my way to them. "Fitz?"

"He's upstairs", May replied.

Upstairs meaning Jemma's room, which he had not left once, even with all the doctors going in and out. The same room that I had yet to even step in the same floor as.

The same floor that I bolted towards as soon as Jar let me know that Bruce was calling for me. And Bruce was there, outside the fogged up windows, with Tony and Pepper by his side. The moment they understood I was there and turned in my direction, I stopped short. I felt the ground fall out from underneath my feet from the expression on their faces.

"No…" it was like the breath was stolen from me.

Bruce took a step in my direction. "I'm sorry, Skye. There's nothing—"

"No, no, no", I started shaking my head. "There must be something, someone else we can reach to. There has to be something, anything we can do. Helen Cho! Helen Cho can help, we can call her in!", I remembered the geneticist who Bruce and Tony were keeping tabs with.

"She has been consulting us for the past many hours, Skye", Bruce answered calmly. "Her technology is not on that level yet, not with how much time passed from the… accident", he paused there for a second. "Tony brought in the best of the best, anyone that could come".

"Then we will bring other people, there must be someone that can help her. Right, Tony?", I turned to him. "Right?" I felt anger rise within me. "I am not going to call Olivia and Arthur to tell them that their daughter, who they think works as an executive events planner, is not going to call them ever again. Do you know how many messages I had to send them today alone, to convince them that she was okay because she didn't call them? She calls them every, single, day. No exceptions"

There was a deafening quiet as soon as I stopped talking.

The rest of the team had joined in on the conversation at some point, following me after I left the gym, and Fitz was even standing outside the room, half-hidden behind Bruce.

I made eye contact with him, his eyes blood shot. "If you're not gonna help, then I'll find something on my own", I referred to the others while I nodded to him. It was a promise.

I heard my name being called as I walked away, but I didn't turn around.

Someone knocked on the door after many hours had passed, and I was holed up in my office, but I ignored the noise. Kept typing and searching.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., take a break", the voice said.

"Right away, Dr. Banner", the U.I. replied and every screen in the room shut down, locking me out of the system.

"Traitor!", I yelled in the air. "What do you want Bruce? I'm busy trying to save Jemma's life here", I bit at him.

He didn't take the bait, walking closer and planting himself on the chair next to mine. "Give me your arms", he said calmly. Well, shit, I thought. I am not getting out of this one. So I took the hoodie off, marvelling at the bruises that were webbing all over my extremities. "I watched the video from Tee", he started explaining as he started examining the area. "You don't have to worry, I think I'm the only one that understood you hurt yourself on that last push. Did the gauntlets help?"

"There's only so much they can do", I replied, jaw tight. "Plus, I kinda had to use them to deflect his knife a lot, they took quite the beating".

We stayed there in silence after that, as he methodically proceeded to wrap my arms before placing them in some very familiar casts that Tony had made. They allowed more movement than a traditional one, while still holding the area stiff enough to help the bones heal properly. Plus they exceeded this sort of vibration constantly which helped decrease the recovery time even more than my slightly higher healing abilities.

As soon as he finished, there was a pause as he patted my hand. "You know I am doing everything I can, right?", he sounded tired. I doubt he slept at all since we got here. "I have searched, I have asked everyone that I know. Tony has pulled strings on every single contact that he has"

I sighed. "I know, but I can't stop looking. I can't give up on her, she wouldn't give up on me". Shit, my emotions were coming up. "She doesn't deserve to die", I gritted out.

"She doesn't", he shook his head. "But we have done everything humanly possible", he said softly, even if his voice was filled with sorrow.

I moved back away from him, taking the old, oversized M.I.T. hoodie I had stolen from Tony and putting it on again, covering the casts. Bruce said nothing as he watched me leave.

I started walking around, trying to stifle the energy that I had, the restlessness. I couldn't go to the gym, cause I would make my arms worse, and I needed to be ready for anything I had to do to help find a solution and fix Jemma up. But I was getting nowhere and it was starting to become irritating. The little boxes were getting filled, and it was becoming harder and harder to keep my cool with the situation… or with specific people.

"Skye", I heard Jar say in my earpiece after a few minutes.

"What happened?", I asked, my heart rate spiking, as I started making my way back. Not sure if I should head to the medical room or the office.

"You asked me to let you know if anyone connected to the servers. Agent Ward plugged in a USB, trying to install a system to infiltrate our own"

I stopped sort in the middle of the corridor, before speeding to my office. No, he did not just do that. The door was opened by Jar before I even reached it. "End of break, J.A.R.V.I.S.", I called out and my screens light up immediately to the same pages they were displaying before. "Move", was all I said to Bruce, who was still seating before I hunched over the keyboards and started typing.

I felt the room shake slightly, feeling my anger rising, and I had to swallow it back down. "What's going on?", Bruce asked from the side.

"What's going on", I started saying from between gritted teeth, "is that someone is a sleazy piece of shit, that does not have the decency to respect being hosted in the Tower". It didn't take too long to push the malware off the main servers, isolate it and lock it away. "Jar, don't you touch this. I redirected it to an isolated, personal server that I have. If they try to breach again, let me know, but not a word of this to Tony, I will bring him up to speed in a bit". As soon as I got the affirmative from J.A.R.V.I.S., I asked, "Where is he?"

The door opened behind me once more, without me having to ask. "He is currently at the gym, sparring"

"Who is?" I barely heard Bruce as I marched towards the stairs. The elevator would take too long and I would have to stand still. Not a combination I could currently achieve.

I all but flew down the stairs, able to feel the structure shake beneath my feet. "Skye, are you okay? What's going on?", Tony's voice filled my ears, and I took my earpiece out, crashing it in my palm before continuing down.

The door would have been blasted open just by proxy had it not been already open. I could tell there were more people in here, but I did not care. My vision had tunnelled just to him, feeling the blood boil in my veins.

He was backing away as I marched towards him, my powers not letting him move left or right. "You slimy, son of a bitch", I punched him hard on the face, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pushing him against the wall. The whole room shaking. "You deserve to die, not her. You don't even have the decency to pretend not to have an ulterior motive, do you?"

I could tell that my powers were pushing hard on his chest, as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of the water, but I didn't care. "I don't know what you are talking about", he choked out.

I had half a mind to hear the others calling my name trying to close in, but a dome I had created was keeping them back. "You…", I leaned in sending some more waves into him. "You have the audacity to pretend even now. I have been letting things slide, but no more. You are a despicable human being, that has been nothing but a pain in my ass, and I am sick and tired of pretending you re anything but a two-faced snake that has been leaking information left and right!"

A gun shot was heard in the room and I turned to see the stone-faced May, gun pointed to the roof, as she was slowing bringing it down. "Skye", she started cautiously. "Let Ward go". I could tell that she was not even going to point it at me, but it was more of a warning.

I looked around the room, to see that everyone was keeping their distance, whether voluntarily or not I couldn't say, but all had a look of shock, apprehension and confusion on their faces. I exhaled angrily, throwing him to an opposite wall, not too hard to break anything, but hard enough to knock the air out of him.

"Dr. Banner", May said, still looking at me, and he quickly went over to look at the groaning asshole.

There was a standoff of shorts for a couple of seconds between the two of us, as our gazes were locked. "I cannot stand still anymore while he is working against us. I could look the other way when he got me shot, but getting Jemma shot and then trying to install malware in the Tower?"

"He what?!" Tony, who had found his way down here, exclaimed.

"Not now, Tony", I bit his off sharply, before he could continue. "I was gonna tell you as soon as I dealt with him", I turned back to May. "He is a lying son of a bitch, that honestly deserves so much worse than I have given him. Screw redirecting energy! Screw pretending that he is not working for the enemy! Screw the lies and the secrets!"

If a pin dropped people would be able to hear it.

My chest was heaving, shoulders moving up and down from the sharp drawing of breaths. I saw May's eyes travel from Ward, back to me, and then landing on my arms, her eyebrows twitching ever so slightly. I looked down and saw that the sleeves of the hoodie had risen up ever so slightly, making the cast visible. I pushed them back down harshly, daring May to bring it up.

Just then, the door of the gym opened and Clint walked in. "J.A.R.V.I.S. told me you are all here" he said while messing with something in his bag. Then looked up and froze, eyes travelling around the room. "Why do I feel like I missed something?"