Chapter Seven:
Selena looked out from the opened hangar door, eyeing the snow and trees with wonder written all over her face.
Like any kid, she loved snow, but growing up in the city, she never got a chance to actually play in it or see clean, white snow.
To her, this was paradise. Like Narnia.
"Okay, you have your boots, your gloves, your coat…..." Skye pulled her from her own thoughts, crouching down in front of her to zip the coat up all the way. "Where's your hat?"
"It doesn't fit." Selena rolled her eyes at her sister's mother-henning and held the hat up in her hand. "My hair's too big."
"I bet I can get it on." Skye took the hat from her and pulled it down on the child's head, but it slid right back up. "Okay, new plan." Skye handed the hat back to her sister and rapidly began braiding her hair.
"Owww…..you're pulling." Selena grimaced as her gloved hand flew to the site of her pain, only to be pushed away.
"Stay still."
"But you're rough!" Selena tried to turn around and look at Skye, but the older girl twisted her head forward again.
"I'm almost done. If you stay still, maybe it won't hurt so much." Skye had already finished one braid and was halfway through the second.
"Owww." Selena squeezed her eyes shut in pain.
"There." Skye finished the braid and turned her back around to look at her. "You're so cute! Now, put your hat on."
"I'm not cute." Selena grumbled, putting the hat on her head. This time it slid on with ease.
"You're beyond cute." Skye teased. "Do you need a scarf?"
"If you put anything else on her, she's going to overheat." May informed Skye, looking at an all bundled up Selena. "The coat has a hood, she'll be fine."
Selena sighed in relief. At least someone didn't want to smother her in winter clothes!
"Coordinates are about a seven mile hike from here." Coulson began to prepare them fo what was outside. "Terrain's pretty tough, even it it wasn't covered with snow."
"Agent May and I can lead a scouting party, make sure it isn't a trap." Trip suggested.
"There's no time. In less than eight hours a NATO satellite will pass directly over us. If The Bus is still here, they'll know. I've been doing this long enough to know that something's up there. But this mission, has to be your choice." He looked directly at Fitz-Simmons before continuing. "A lot's changed in the last few days. I know you all have your doubts about what we've been doing, about me." He looked at May. "But I don't. Which is why I'm going to find whatever Fury has waiting for us..…with you or without you."
And with that, Coulson fully opened the hatch, looking down at his badge and compass, before stepping into the frigid atmosphere.
Skye looked at everyone else before hiking her bag up on her shoulder and following, holding Selena's hand as she went, while May lifted her hood onto her head and trekked after Coulson, leaving Trip and Fitz-Simmons staring after them.
"Well." Fitz shrugged. "You heard the man. We don't have much time." He, Simmons, and Trip zipped up their coats and grabbed their things before they followed.
The air was colder than Selena had ever experienced. It almost made it hard to breathe. She thought that if she ended up crying or got a runny nose, the tears and the snot would freeze, just like icicles on her face.
That would've been really cool.
"Skye, you're walking too fast." She tugged on her sister's arm. "My legs are short. Slow down."
Normally, Selena would have been able to keep without a single complaint, (not that she was complaining, she just would appreciate if Skye would walk a little slower), but between the snow and her boots, she was struggling to walk at a quickened pace.
The boots she was wearing were a little too big for her feet, so she stuffed them with discarded rags, but that didn't lessen her struggle. It just kept her feet warm and her shoes from flying off.
"I know." Skye acknowledged. "But we have to keep moving."
Selena huffed and watched as her breath vaporized in the air, allowing Skye to keep pulling her.
"This is not good." Fitz spoke, looking down at his tablet as he walked side by side with Jemma.
"Bears?" Jemma questioned frightfully. "Did it find bears?"
"No." Fitz shook his head, easing her fears. "Found nothing. No sign of life or S.H.I.E.L.D. base or anything making it even remotely worthwhile for freezing our butts off."
"Did you mean what you said earlier about Coulson?" Jemma stopped, forcing him to do the same.
"I don't know Jemma." He shrugged. "I want to believe Coulson knows what he's doing, but…."
"Well, at least we have each other."
"Yeah. Good. Cause the last thing I want is for things to change."
"Fitz….it's too late for that." Jemma sent him a sad smile before continuing to walk.
"You think he's okay?" Skye asked May as she began to walk beside her.
"It's been a rough couple of days."
"That's not what I meant."
"Don't act like you know what Fury had me do."
"Well, he had you spy on him for a reason. So what was it?"
And to Selena's luck, they stopped walking, giving her feet a little break.
"Fury was concerned about Coulson finding out the truth." May began to explain. "The doctors thought it would have negative consequences."
"Like what?" Skye asked. "Like he'd go crazy? Spontaneously combust or something?"
"It's not clear. All I know is, he seemed stable until today. And now he has us in the middle of nowhere, chasing ghosts."
"That's because his whole world fell apart."
"He's not alone in that." May told her before walking off, leaving Skye and Selena to follow her, much to Selena's chagrin.
She didn't sign up for this. Once S.H.I.E.L.D. was fixed, she was going to write out a hand written grievance to whoever was in charge.
"Skye, you're going too — ooof!" Her whole sentence was cut off when she tripped over something under the snow and fell right onto her face.
Snow shot up her nose and filled her mouth, making her colder than she already was.
Bet she wished she had worn a scarf now.
"Oh my goodness." It was all Skye could do to keep from laughing before she helped her stand up and brushed the snow off of her face.
"You did that on purpose." Selena shivered, her teeth rattling as she spit out some snow.
"What?" Skye scoffed. "I didn't do anything!"
"Yes, you did!" Selena insisted, her cheeks bright red with embarrassment from being 'that one' to fall in the snow. But no one could really tell, her cheeks and her nose were already red from the cold. "You were walking too fast!" Her eyes burned with tears.
She was wrong, it wasn't cold enough for her tears to freeze.
"Okay." Skye rolled her eyes, noticing that everyone had stopped when Selena face planted in the snow. "Okay, it was my fault and I'm sorry. You're okay."
Looking at her now, Skye noticed just how young her sister looked. She knew she wasn't crying just because she tripped and fell, it had to have been a mixture of everything that had happened over the past few days. This was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Tired?" She asked, holding out her hands.
Selena pouted for a moment and nodded, raising her arms and allowing the older girl to set her on her hip.
And either Skye was really strong, or Selena was really light, because it was no struggle at all to carry her.
"It wasn't that bad a fall Curly Sue." Trip winked at her, but even his comforting words couldn't put the smile back onto her face.
Selena just pouted and buried her head on her sister's shoulder. She was still upset with her, but she liked being held.
"This is it!" Coulson exclaimed, looking around. "There's got to be something here. Stay alert. Eyes open."
Everyone looked around and found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.
It was just trees, trees, and more trees.
"How long should we look before thinking about heading back?" Skye asked after a few moments.
"We're not going back, not until we find whatever Fury has waiting for us."
"What about shelter?" Trip asked. It was too cold for all this.
"It doesn't matter. The Bus used all its remaining fuel just to get us here."
"Did you know this before flying us out to the middle of nowhere?" Jemma asked in shock.
"It was the right play." Coulson defended himself. "Fury sent us these coordinates for a reason."
"And what reason was that?' May was losing her patience right along with her body heat.
"I don't know May!" Coulson snapped. "I don't know! There's got to be something there!"
He turned around and looked at everyone with desperation written all over his face, holding his badge up. "This means something! This has to mean something! The world needs us! Hydra is out there! We cannot let them win. We.…we cannot let them define us. Do you understand that?"
No one said a word. There was nothing to say.
"We are not agents of nothing! We are agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and that still carries weight! It…..it has to carry weight! After everything we've been through, that carries weight!"
After a moment, he seemed to realize how erratic his behavior had become and calmed himself down.
"I'm sorry." And with a cry of anger, he threw his badge as far away from him as possible.
And out of nowhere, a gun turret fired at it, prompting them all to run and find cover behind some nearby boulders.
"Well, it looks like we found it." Fitz deadpanned.
"Nobody move!" May ordered.
Nobody move? What kind of order was that? Of course no one was going to move!
"I don't really think that's going to be a problem!" Jemma piped up.
"This is a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility." Coulson glanced out from behind his boulder.
"Shoot first, ask questions later? Doesn't sound like S.H.I.E.L.D. to me." Trip commented.
"It's not Hydra. This is Fury reaching out."
"There's no way to know that for sure." May didn't want to take any chances.
"There's one way." Coulson answered before coming out of his hiding place, much to everyone's chagrin.
"Phil! Don't!" May attempted to grab him, but missed. "Phil!"
But Coulson, being the stubborn and determined man that he is, kept on going right along, only stopping when the gun turned to his direction.
"Identify yourself." An automated voice commanded.
"I'm Phil Coulson, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D."
And just like that, the turret was lowered.
"Welcome, Agent Coulson. We've been expecting you."
A panel that had appeared to be a stone wall slid open to reveal a doorway.
The team wasted no time in getting out of the cold and walking through the doorway and into a hallway with the door shutting behind them.
It was nice and warm.
"What is this place?" Skye asked, setting Selena down.
"One of Fury's secret bases." A man they had never met answered. "Uh, I call it Providence, although technically it doesn't have a name, because technically it doesn't exist, it being a secret base and all."
"If everyone would follow me." He began walking further into the hallway as they followed hesitantly. He led them through a set of double doors and into a dining area, stopping directly in the middle of the room with a proud smile. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"I'm sorry." Coulson interrupted his little tour. "Who are you, exactly?"
"Eric Koenig, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Level Six." The man held up an I.D. for him to look at.
"Phil Coulson."
"I know. I know." Eric gushed, putting a hand out for him to shake. "It is an honor to meet you Agent Coulson. And I apologize for the kerfuffle outside. The precision remote system was designed to destroy any rapidly moving metallic object."
"It was my badge."
"It was.….okay." Eric looked kind of surprised. "That's gonna be tough to replace…..but very soon you're gonna be issued your very own lanyard." He held up his I.D. once again. "Lanyards for others will be distributed on a case-by-case basis."
"What happened to Director Fury? Is he alive?"
"Fury.…..didn't make it out of D.C." Eric told him sadly. "It's been rough. We're a little shaken up, especially now that The Fridge has fallen."
Coulson perked up at the mention of The Fridge and glanced back at his team with a slightly concerned look.
Skye nearly panicked as she stepped away from everyone and pulled her phone out of her pocket, dialing Ward's number.
"Who's she calling?"
"We had a man at The Fridge." Coulson explained before Eric got all excited.
"Ward? Oh, thank goodness."
"Can I speak to you in private?" Eric asked Coulson quietly.
Coulson looked at May as she nodded at him, before leaving with Eric.
Selena watched the two leave and then leaned on Jemma, who wrapped her arms around her.
"Are you alright darling?" The bio-chemist asked.
"Mmhmm." Selena nodded truthfully. "I'm okay."
They all were.
At least, for now.
A/N: A little short, but I didn't know what else to do with it. I just knew I wanted Selena to eat some snow :). Poor Selena :(. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed it, and the next chapter will be up shortly. These chapters seem to be slow at the moment, but I promise, they will pick up soon. XOXOXO.