The Perfect One

by choejhulkp9

SHIELD. The Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division protects the world from a much weirder one. But they soon meet someone with a unique ability set that makes him a force of nature. One of Earth's mightiest heroes will turn into its last hope from total annihilation. You don't mess with Inhuman perfection.

13. Skye's Secret revealed

Hope everyone had some Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. Check out my profile page and look for the bold-faced updates I'll post. From now on, I'll post updates so check back periodically for updates on when stories will be released and any issues I have.

Here is chapter 13 of the Perfect One. It's Will's time to lead the team in missions and his are interesting, important and a smidge of fun as well. First up is his underworld contacts inform him of some serious hacking and deaths that lead them to Washington and stopping a crazy hacking group from destroying the country. Then another SHIELD leak puts the team on the Rising Tide and Skye's secret is reveal. Enjoy!

July 2013: SHIELD 6-1-6 The Bus

After the mission and their rescue of Akeela Amador, the team looked into possible traces of the true mastermind but weren't able to get anything solid and SHIELD was still analyzing the equation found on the chalkboard. When Will was alone and no one was around to eavesdrop, he contact Crystal on Attilan and showed her the Kree language they found. Crystal showed the others and they were able to deduce that the writing was in fact Kree but incomplete so they couldn't translate it. They were able to decipher part of it and it was written by someone from the Kree Science guild so it's source was either a Kree artifact or weapon that the humans found or it could have been a clue the Kree scientists left behind that might lead the way to a Diviner or hidden city. Will kept a closer eye on any similar writing or symbols that would show up. If it did lead to a Diviner then he needed to find it before anyone else did.

The Bus was currently flying over the Atlantic ocean making its way from European airspace to American airspace because Will noticed something peculiar that needed to be dealt with. He and Coulson assembled everyone in the main ops room to go over what was going on.

"Sorry for the abrupt changes in time zones but Will found something that warrants some concern and he thinks could lead to something big." Coulson told them.

"What is it?" Ward asked.

"Nothing extraterrestrial but something that could be serious. I've had some contacts pay close attention to any kind of digital security threats and they've been noticing a lot of chatter on the dark web. Up until a few months ago, nothing actionable but a pattern has started to come up." Will pressed a button on the main touch table and brought up some information on various people and internet activity. "Over the last few weeks, very prominent computer hackers and cyber security specialists have died. A grand total of 13 from what I've been able to find right now and many of their deaths have been labeled as accidental by local police."

"What makes you think their deaths aren't accidents?" Fitz asked.

"That many deaths aren't an accident, it's a pattern." Will stated and the more experienced agents agreed. "That and most household gas main explosions don't have C4 residue."

"Military? Espionage?" Ward wondered.

"I'm not sure but it wasn't just a nutcase with access to military grade technology. They were controlled explosions perfect for each location. They tried to make the accidents look normal but in doing so, used material that made it abnormal." Will answered.

"So, by trying to be smart they actually did something stupid." Skye surmised.

"You just explained the human condition, Skye." Will joked. "Anyway, all of these deaths have led up to a serious data breach at the FBI. They didn't dig too deep but it's something for concern. The FBI are running point on this given what's going on but clearly this is something that could escalate. SHIELD has decided to give a helping hand to Hoover's men and we're gonna aid in the search and make sure that whatever this is doesn't spiral into something worse. Given how short staffed everyone will be given July 4th, we want to make sure that if this does become something serious that we can stop it."

"So, how are we doing that?" Simmons wondered so Will brought the address of a hacker named Mathew Farrell who lives in Camden, New Jersey.

"Matthew Farrell." Skye said.

"You know him?" Ward asked.

"Yeah, he's a hacker like me. Well, not like me but he's really good. I met him before I started up with the Rising Tide. He got busted once by the FBI and put on the watchlist." Skye answered.

"And he's kept his nose clean ever since working digital security and data encryption for companies but EDI managed to trace some IP packets sent from his computer that match stuff sent from the victims." Will told them. "I'm not sure if he's completely involved but he's knows something so we pick him up and figure out what that is. Ward and I will be on the welcome wagon to pick him up. Skye, want to come along?"

"Me?" She asked.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Ward asked Will.

"She knows him which could help put him at ease. He hasn't done anything illegal yet because we have no idea what's going on. At the very least, we'll pick him up and put him back when we're done. At the very most…we're on top of the situation." He pointed out.

"All right. Sounds like a plan. May, get us to New Jersey." Coulson told her.

Camden, New Jersey

May piloted the bus to a nearby airfield where they would oversee everything but given that this was just a regular pickup, they didn't expect any problems. Will drove them in his red and black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS since the SHIELD van would draw some unwanted attention. It was late so there wasn't traffic and they arrived at Matthew Farrell's apartment without any issues. Will parked his car in the side alley and he, Ward, and Skye took the elevator up.

"If we're here to talk to him, maybe we should let Will do all the talking." Skye suggested.

"Why?" Ward asked.

"Well, like he said, we're still not sure exactly what Matt has done. Getting him to cooperate will be easier if we don't automatically assume he's a bad guy." Skye pointed out.

"We're not assuming anything but if the pattern holds then he could be in danger." Ward reminded her.

"I know but you're too intimidating whereas Will is more charming." Skye told him.

"Thanks." Will replied as the elevator arrived on the floor. "Let me talk to him first."

Will knocked on the door loudly given the music coming from inside the apartment which meant that someone was inside. He didn't get an answer so he knocked again and this time he heard the music shut off. "Who is it?"

"SHIELD. Open the door please." Will said and the door opened slightly but the chain was still connected. This gave Will his first glance at Matthew Farrell and like his file, he was just an unassuming computer hacker. "Hi."

"SHIELD? Really? Ok. Oh, I get it. Um, I'll help you out. Don't worry about it. Everyone gets lost around here. I'm happy to help. Take…"

"I'm not lost." Will stopped him there. "Matthew Farrell?"

"Uh, no he actually does not live here anymore."

"Really? And who are you?" Will wondered, playing along a bit.

"My name is Daisy Duke. Got a lot of shit for it when I was kid. Please don't add to it. Can I see some identification, please?" He asked so Will showed him his SHIELD badge. "Oh, nice? Looks real. Where'd you get that? Toy's R Us?"

"I know you're Matthew Farrell. SHIELD needs to talk to you. I believe you know her." Will said as Skye walked into view.

"Hey, Matt. They know who you are. Trust me, it'll go easier if you just listen to them and cooperate." Skye told him. Farrell sighed before undoing the chain and letting them in.

"Never took you for the government agent kind, Skye." Farrell pointed out.

"A lot's changed and it's sort of a pro-bono thing." Skye replied.

"What's this about?" Farrell asked, walking over to his computer set up.

"SHIELD's been monitoring trace IP packets of known hackers and digital security experts in relation to a cyber-attack at the FBI. Turns out some of those IP packets match work you've been doing from here. We need to talk to you someplace secure so grab your stuff and let's go." Will told him.

"I've been white hat for four years. Once you're on that goddamn list, it's such a pain in the ass." Farrell whispered.

"Trust me. This the nice approach. When they recruited me they did the whole black bag over the head." Skye pointed out, shooting Ward a look.

"Every collection method varies. We decided on a more subtle and gentler approach on this one." Ward stated.

"You haven't done anything wrong yet, Farrell but we think whatever is going on at the FBI could lead to something bigger. So, let's go." Will told him as Farrell grabbed his bag and tried to shut off his computer when he made a run for the window and tried to open it to escape. "Is he trying to escape?"

"I think he is." Ward replied when a bullet shot through the window close to Farrell's head and destroyed a lamp in the apartment. "Gun!"

"GET DOWN!" Will grabbed Farrell from the window and pushed him to the ground, covering him while Ward did the same with Skye. The four took cover in the apartment as a literal barrage of bullets came through the window and shot up the place. "Ward, Skye? You ok?"

"We're clear." Ward replied, taking out his pistol from his back and covering Skye. "You?"

"I'm good. Keep your head down." He told Farrell as he sat against the wall near the window and peaked his head out. He got a glimpse of the shooter at the parking garage across the street. "Singe shooter. Parking garage, fourth floor. Ward, get them out and head down to the car. I'll keep him pinned down."

"Got it. On your go." Ward replied.

"Stay down and move quickly." Will told them before leaning to the side and unloading his pistol at the shooter. His shots missed or hit the concrete walls while the shooter ducked for cover. While Will kept the sniper pinned down, Ward ushered Skye and Farrell having them stay low and crawl to the door. Will reloaded his pistol and fired a few more shots before rushing over to the door. Ward peaked out and saw the hallway was empty so he was out first, his pistol at the ready with Will out second followed by Skye and Farrell. The four made their way to the elevator and Skye hastily pressed the down button. The elevator was coming but the clattering of boots by the stairwell meant they would have company before it arrived. They were sitting ducks in the hallway and going back to the room was too risky which is when Will saw the fire extinguisher on the wall. "Ward, get them down to the car. I'll meet you there."

"What are you gonna do?" Skye asked him as Will took the fire extinguisher off the wall.

"Stall them." Will threw the extinguisher forward and let it roll on the floor just as the first of three men got up the stairs. With one well placed shot from his pistol, the fire extinguisher exploded right in front of one of the men and the impact sent the guy flying out the window and crashing into a garbage can on the street. The explosion also disoriented the two shooters by the stairwell allowing Will to vault over the stairwell railing and kick one into the wall while elbowing the other in the face, causing him to fall down the stairs. The gunmen he kicked into the wall aimed his USP submachine gun but Will pushed it aside so the bullets riddled the wall. He grabbed the submachine gun and drove the stock into his stomach before bringing it up so it hit him in the jaw. Will then kneed him in the stomach and put his head in a guillotine choke before snapping his neck and throwing his body down the stairs which ended up falling on the other gunmen at the bottom of the stairs.

The gunmen pushed the dead body off and raised his gun before firing a barrage from his USP submachine gun. Will kicked off the wall and vaulted over the stairwell, dodging the gunfire with his superhuman agility that made him look like a parkour athlete. The gunmen pushed the dead body off him and got to his feet before firing the rest of his clip at Will who slid forward and moved into a TD raiz spin flip. The bullets skimmed past his body and he flipped into a three point landing just as the gunmen's clip ran empty. He ejected the spent clip but before he could reload a new one Will took out his knife stashed in the back of his belt and threw it at his hand, impaling it through his palm. The gunmen shouted in pain as he dropped his gun and the fresh ammo clip. His moment of pain gave Will the chance so he slid forward and punched him in the groin causing him to buckle before knocking him out with a rising elbow strike to the forehead. Will finished him off with a powerful stomp on the throat that broke his neck.

Ward, Skye, and Matt Farrell were in the elevator as it continued going down until it reached the first floor. Ward pushed Skye and Farrell to one side while he got to the other just as the elevator arrived. It dinged and the doors opened with Ward aiming his gun up only to see Will waiting for them.

"Guess stairs really are faster. Let's go." Will told them, leading the way to the alley door. He looked around and didn't notice anyone around but did notice a black van parked at the side alley entrance that wasn't there before. It likely belonged to the gunmen who tried to kill Farrell but no one was there now so he motioned Ward and the others to follow. Will and Ward covered 12 and 6 o'clock with Skye and Farrell in the middle.

"Skye, go. Get in the car." Ward told her.

Skye and Farrell rushed over and quickly got into the backseats of Will's Chevelle while Ward and Will got into the driver's and passenger seat. Will started up the car and put it in reverse and sped backwards out of the alley before pulling a 180. "What the hell is going on? Who were those guys?!" Farrell shouted as Will rolled down his window.

"Hold that thought." He took out his pistol and fired two shots out of his window to the left, killing someone who had a gun aimed at them.

"Nice catch." Ward told him.

"How the hell did you see him?" Skye asked Will.

"Eyes in the back of my head." He replied as he stepped on the accelerator and sped down the alley when he saw someone jump from the parking garage to the fire escapes across the street. "12 o'clock high."

Ward looked up and saw the man dropping down the fire escapes like a professional parkour athlete. "I see him."

Ward cocked his gun as he saw the man drop from the fire escape to the ground in front of them behind a large fence. "Hang on!" Will shouted, speeding up and driving through the fence as the assassin climbed up at the last second. Will's Chevelle was pushing the fence down the alley with the assassin perched up and going for a ride. "That fence better not have scratched the hood."

The assassin steadied himself as best he could and reached for his pistol only for Will to jerk the steering wheel so the sudden shifts made him lose balance. The Chevelle kept driving the fence forward until one end got caught on a dumpster and sent the assassin flying through the air where he crashed to the ground with a thud.

"Whoa!" Farrell shouted as he and Skye looked back while Will kept driving.

"That probably hurt." Ward commented as Will turned from the alley onto the street. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Camden Police Base One-double-oh-seven-seven. Come back, Camden Base. Priority emergency Code 1175." He said into his phone.

"Camden Base, go ahead."

"I need to speak to your chief of detectives: Federal Emergency. Asap." Will said.

"Standby. This is Chief Detective Weisman."

"Chief Detective, this is Agent William Detmer of SHIELD, Serial number November-Echo-Six-One-Six-India-November. Federal Emergency. I want to report a federal shooting in your jurisdiction. Four gunmen down, one possible injured. I need you to send units to contain the scene at 1341 Ocean Street Apartment complex and secure a three block radius until Federal authorities arrive." Will told him.

"Roger that. Police units are enroute."

"Thanks, Chief Detective." Will hung up and looked in his rearview window to see if Skye and Farrell were all right.

"I called Coulson. SHIELD's sending a team to secure the scene." Ward told him.

"Good. You two, ok?" Will asked.

"I think so. Guess I'm getting used to getting shot at." Skye replied but Farrell didn't respond right away.

"Matt. Farrell!" Will shouted, getting his attention. "Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"I—I don't think so. Oh my god. What the fuck?" Farrell muttered.

"Just breathe." Will told him.

"I am breathing. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm…I just can't stop shaking." Farrell replied.

"It's the adrenaline. It's normal. Give it a few more minutes and it'll pass." Ward told him.

"So, who were those guys? Why were they trying to kill you? Why did they shoot up my apartment?" Farrell asked.

"They weren't there to kill us. They were there to kill you, Farrell." Will stated.

"Why would they want to kill me?" Farrell asked.

"That's what we're about to find out." Will responded, speeding up to the airfield and to get Farrell airborne. Whatever they just stumbled on was something big if they sent assassins after a computer hacker. Now they just needed to find out what for.

Line Break xxxxx

SHIELD 6-1-6 The Bus

Matthew Farrell was escorted onto the bus and was sitting in the interrogation room with some food and water to relax and come down from the adrenaline high. Farrell finished the sandwich and water he was given when he heard the door unlock and in walked Will and Coulson.

"How are you feeling?" Will asked.

"I'm all right. Kind of exhausted." Farrell answered.

"That's normal after that sudden surge of adrenaline. If you're feeling anything else or sick just let us know and we can have our medic look you over but she says you should be fine." Coulson assured him. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Agent Phil Coulson with SHIELD and you know Agent Detmer."

"Yeah. So, what do you want?" Farrell asked them as Coulson took a seat across the table while Will opened a file.

"We want to help you. Those men at your apartment complex were there to kill you and we need to know who they're working for." Coulson told him.

"I don't know. Ok, I don't know why they were trying to kill me." Farrell said so Will put the file down on the table and placed some photos of other prominent hackers and cyber security specialists who have all been killed within the last 72 hours.

"You're right, you probably don't but whoever they are they were after you. And if we hadn't gotten there when we did, your picture would be in this file." Will told him.

"They're all dead?" Farrell asked and got nods in response.

"Killed in explosions using C4 explosives hidden in their computers. Funny enough, when the police and our agents went over your place for evidence they found C4 hidden in your computer as well." Coulson informed him.

"If we hadn't gotten there when we did you'd be dead like them. They wanted you dead like these guys." Will said. "Look, Farrell we honestly couldn't care less about your past history as a hacktivist. Ok, we have Skye on our team and she's a prominent hacker as well. What we care about is what this group is trying to do. The trace IP packets we found that matched the deceased match stuff you were doing…so what is going on?"

"If you help us then things will go a lot easier and we might be able to prevent something very bad from happening." Coulson told him as Farrell took a deep breath to steady himself.

"These guys…they were my competition." Farrell told them as Will and Coulson took a seat at the table. "Some people reached out for help in cyber security. Said they were a software firm that had developed a mutating encryption algorithm, and they just wanted to see if it could be cracked. And I did. I do Math-based security. It's my job."

"The code that broke this algorithm, what would it be used for?" Coulson asked him.

"I don't know. After I made the code for the server group, I've been trying to find out what it could be used for but no security system or software system that I found uses it." Farrell told them.

"Which means that whatever you were developing was unique. What can you tell us about these?" Will showed him some of data that they were able to scoop up from the trace IP packets they got from the hackers and cyber security experts who were dead. There wasn't a lot they were able to figure out but maybe Farrell could see something they couldn't. He looked over the information for a few minutes and noticed some similarities but it wasn't the exact same code he developed.

"It's not the same stuff I was working on but I recognize some of the stuff you have. Did you get anything else?" He wondered.

"No, just this. Whoever is behind this wanted to cover their tracks." Will told him.

"What can you tell us?" Coulson asked him.

"They're base algorithm codes for cracking encryption software. Basically, what hackers to do get access to private servers or databases. Which I don't do anymore. Trust me, I've learned my lesson." Farrell told them.

"It's fine. Is there anything else you can tell us?" Will wondered.

"Well, from what I can tell these codes were made to get through some serious digital security encryption." Farrell explained.

"So, not the kind of thing a garden variety hacker would use to steal some bank information from a suburban dad, I'm guessing." Will pointed out.

"No. These kinds of encryptions are more specialized. Each is unique but I had to wager a guess, these kinds of codes would be used to break in to federal databases or systems." Farrell told them.

"Like the FBI." Coulson looked at Will and nodded but raised his hand to stop Farrell from speaking. "We know it wasn't you. Is there anyway to stop these codes?"

"Stop?" Farrell was confused.

"Like, make a digital wall so these codes can't work? Or some way to track down where these codes might be used?" Coulson asked him.

"Uh…I'm not sure about the digital wall but if you got all of the codes and IP packets containing them then you might be able to track them." Farrell told them when there was a knock at the door and Ward walked in.

"Sir, there's something you two should see." He informed them.

Will and Coulson got up and walked out of the interrogation room to the main area around the touch table where they saw several breaking news stories up along with information from SHIELD databases and satellite networks tracking a lot of things at once. "What's going on?" Will asked.

"Mass transit systems in DC started going down about thirty minutes ago. Chicago then reported a system crash on their L-train network, Amtrak is showing a level-one crash in their comm system, F.A.A just issued an alert as their ATC network went down. Mass transit and support systems are going down all over the country. And then a few seconds ago, all Anthrax alarms started going off at all major federal buildings." May informed them when their system got a new alert. "Skye, what's going on?"

She checked the system and dug a little deeper which is when she brought up information coming from the New York Stock Exchange that something seriously bad was happening. Great Depression level bad. "All the stocks just took a nose dive. This is bad. Possible Great Depression bad." Skye stated.

"Jesus Christ…" Will muttered.

"Will, bring Farrell here." Coulson said as he nodded, leaving to bring him over. "Ok. Skye, I want you to prioritize and secure a private satellite network and make sure that connection to the BUS is secured. Whatever encryption system you can manage, I want to make sure we can communicate. Fitz, make sure our digital system is secure here and monitor everything going on at SHIELD. If something happens and so much as a gigabyte of data is taken then I want to know. May, stay in the cockpit and make sure we're flying safe."

Everyone nodded and went about their tasks as Coulson made a secure line to SHIELD command. Their systems were hit too but not as severe, mainly surface level stuff but all their known locations including the Triskelion in DC was digitally hit. Luckily their digital networks were holding and so far nothing from their databases was taken so this wasn't to steal data and their unknown locations were safe including the Fridge and the Cube. This was to keep them chasing their tails. He managed to get in contact with Hill and she informed him that Fury was speaking with the President. He was ordering the Secretary of Transportation to halt all travel to and from the country and spoke with the President and Secretary of the Treasury to halt trading. But whoever was behind this needed to be stopped or else the entire country would descend into chaos.

Will returned with Farrell so he could see the news about everything going down. "Oh, man this is all bad." He muttered.

"Yeah, it is. Coulson, how's it looking?" Will asked him.

"Bad and could get worse. Whatever this is hit SHIELD as well but it wasn't a data breach. The same as everything else. Cyber-attack. The President's halted trading but he wants this handled quickly before the whole world starts to fall apart." Coulson answered.

"Farrell, those codes and stuff you were telling us about. Could they have done this?" Will asked him.

"If they managed to break through the encrypted firewalls and digital security…yeah. They could control everything." Farrell told him.

"I know I'm a hacktivist but even I wouldn't do something like this." Skye pointed out when some broadcast signal appeared. "What the?"

"Skye, what's going on?" Coulson asked her as she began trying to figure out what was going on.

"I'm not sure. Some signal is tapped into the nationwide broadcast system." Skye told them when a video started and the song Hail to the Chief began playing with the Presidential seal shown before it was brought to a stop.

"My fellow Americans…It is time to…strike—fear—into—the hearts of—citizenry. Ask not…what your country can do—to—avert this—crisis. The answer—is nothing—whatsoever."

A video began playing using snippets from past US presidential speeches or addresses. "What the hell is going on?" Ward asked.

"Sir?" Simmons asked Coulson but he, like Will was too engrossed in the video and its message.

"Our military strength-is-in-this-case…useless. Read my lips. The-great-confident-roar-of-the-American progress-and growth—has come to—an end. All the vital—technology—that-this nation—holds dears. All-communications—transportation—the internet-connectivity-electrical-power-critical utilities—their fate—now rests-in-our-hands. We will not tire. We will not falter. And we will not fail. Thank you. And-a-happy- Independence Day—to everyone."

The footage then cut out after that. "What just happened?" Fitz asked.

"Whoever's behind this…just made a statement." Will told them.

"Oh my god. It's a fire sale." Farrell muttered.

"What?" Simmons asked.

"It's a fire sale." Farrell stated.

"That's just a myth. It's not possible." Skye told him.

"Look at all this, Skye. I don't think it's just a myth anymore." Farrell pointed out.

"Farrell, what's a fire sale?" Will asked him.

"It's a three-step systematic attack on the entire national infrastructure. Okay, step one: take out all the transportation. Step two: the financial base and telecoms. Step three: you get rid of all the utilities—gas, water, electric, nuclear. Pretty much anything that's run by computers, which, which, today is almost everything. So, that's why they call it a fire sale, because everything must go." Farrell explained.

"But it's just been a myth. No hacker or group has ever even tried to do something like that." Skye added.

"I think all of this is enough evidence that someone tried." Coulson remarked.

"Sir, you don't think any of that is actually possible, right?" Ward asked him and Farrell chuckled.

"Actually possible? Let me explain. If you digitally take out any one thing, the system can recover, right? It has its failsafe but if you take it all down at once, the system crashes and…pfft, look!" Farrell pointed to the screens at the growing pandemonium and crisis.

"Not the kind of thing someone could alone, right?" Will asked out loud.

"Not unless you could do the work of a hundred people all at the same time at a server farm the size of a small city." Farrell told him.

"So, whoever is behind this is obviously part of a group with someone at the top calling the shots. Someone behind all of this." Coulson said.

"And someone who would need the help of some of the nation's best hackers and cyber specialists to get through the toughest Federal Digital Databases…" Will said, starting to put the pieces together. "…but once their jobs were done and everything was sent to the group behind all this…"

"Then those hackers and specialists are dead ends and need to be taken off the board." Ward finished his train of thought.

"Either by explosions designed to look like accidents or hit squads like the one we ran into." Skye added and Farrell began to panic.

"Look, believe me I had no idea. I swear to god, I had no idea an accessory to Armageddon." Farrell swore and Will raised his hand to get him to stop.

"Relax, Farrell we know you're telling the truth." Will promised before taking a deep breath to figure out what to do next. "Ok, so if this is a fire sale, how do we stop it?"

"I guess…finding the group responsible and undoing everything they did. Maybe?" Farrell suggested.

"All right, then that's our plan. We find the group behind this attack and we stop them before their damage is irreversible." Will told everyone.

"Find them how? They could doing this from anywhere in the country and our only possible leads were the hit squad we ran into in Jersey and they're all dead." Ward pointed out.

"Lucky for us we have two hackers here who might be able to help with that." Coulson added, referring to Skye and Farrell.

"Whoa, Coulson I know I'm a hacker but I was more into the freedom of information, not tearing down the country I happen to live in." Skye reminded him.

"And I told you everything that I know. I don't know where this group is." Farrell stated.

"But you two know more about this stuff then anyone here. From everything we've seen, this group is on stage two. Financial centers and communication so we need to intercept them before they start stage three. Put yourselves in their shoes with everything you know. If this was your job, your fire sale what would you do?" Will asked them so Skye and Farrell got to thinking. Farrell began pacing back and forth to think while Skye tapped the side of her head and racked her fingers against the table.

"Right, right, right…um, ok. The whole point of a fire sale is that it's—it's mostly done by remote. Everything done right now was done from wherever they're operating out of. So…uh if I was doing this I would need a lot of space. Privacy. Some place no one would think to look at twice and a lot of power to run all the equipment I would need. I would be patched into external servers or old satellite communications networks to do everything so far. It's what the Rising Tide uses sometimes to talk to one another and it isn't as closely monitored if at all so it's probably what they're using too" Skye said.

"Fitz, start running searches." Coulson told him and he did based on everything Skye told him.

"But that will only get you so far." Farrell added, letting the ideas come to him. "Not everything is run a hundred percent by computers. Uh, uh…major utilities aren't. Electric, gas, power stuff are run by closed-circuit so you could break the security up to a certain point, but, um…to shut it down, you would have to physically go there. You'd have to actually show up there and do it yourself. Can you bring up the National Power Grid centers?"

Will nodded to Skye and she brought up the information on the grids for the Nation's power grid. "Ok, there." Farrell pointed to the touch table that showed three main points across the country. "Gas and electric is divided into three zones, right? Eastern, central, and western, each with a primary hub. That's what these are. If they take these out then they wipe out all the power for the entire country but again, you'd have to do it manually."

"Ok. Middleton, West Virginia it is. We'll take the Eastern Hub. Coulson, get on the line to the nearest SHIELD teams at the Central and Western Hubs and we take them all down at once." Will stated and Coulson agreed with the plan. Will tapped the touch table and activated the Bus's intercom system. "May, change in course. Get us to West Virginia."

"Roger that. Just so you know, the FAA and the President just declared to ground all air-traffic." May informed him.

"I'll talk to Fury. We need to get to Virginia now." Will told her before making a call and everyone got to work to prevent this crisis from escalating into something even worse.

Line Break xxxxx

Middleton, West Virginia

Will managed to speak with Fury and told him they had a possible lead on the group behind this. He was able to get the Bus clearance to remain up in the air but Fury wanted this handled quickly. Coulson was able to get in contact with other SHIELD teams near the Central and Western Hubs. Sure, most of the nations communications networks were down but Skye was able to secure one solid line of communication between a SHIELD Satellite and the BUS. Whoever was behind this managed to sever the connection between communication grids so Skye made sure that their communication network was up by using the BUS as a sort of relay. So long as the BUS's systems were up and running then they shouldn't have any issues. Teams were gearing up to hit the Central and Western hubs while Coulson's team would take the Eastern one. If they did this right then they'd prevent the country's power grid from falling into some very bad hands.

Everyone was meeting up in the cargo ramp for the Bus for a last minute briefing session before moving into the field. May managed to find a big enough clearing to land the Bus because moving to an airfield would take them miles out of their way. Here they were only about half a mile away total so things would move faster. Ward was wearing a tactical vest and loaded his pistol into his thigh holster before putting in bullets to a magazine for his Kriss Vector Submachine gun which had a silencer attachment. Fitz closed up the ammo box and took it back to storage as May finished loading her Glock 26 pistol and put it behind her back. She didn't traditionally use guns but given they had no idea what could be waiting for them then her having a gun might be necessary. Skye and Farrell were coming since the two of them were the only hackers of the group so their expertise was needed and it might be up to them to undo whatever damage might have been done. Will was rounding out the team while Coulson, Fitz, and Simmons watched over things from the Bus. He strapped his HK pistol to his leg and put the last of his pistol clips in his thigh holster before slipping on a small vest with pellet holders on the shoulders.

Farrell was leaning against the SHIELD SUV, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down but given his jittery knee it wasn't really working so Will walked over and held out a small piece of Salt Water Taffy. "Here, eat this."

"Thanks, but I'm not really hungry." Farrell told him.

"It's not to fill you up, it's to relax you." Will said, putting in his hand before taking out another piece and putting it in his mouth. "It's kind of a habit of mine but every time I've had a piece of James Candy Company Salt Water Taffy in my mouth, everything's worked out for the better. You'll be fine. We're not gonna let anything happen to you."

Farrell nodded and unwrapped his piece before putting it in his mouth and chewing. "James Candy Company from the Atlantic City?"

"Born and raised." Will remarked as Coulson walked down to join for the final briefing.

"Ok. Western and Central teams finished assembling and are moving into position at the hubs so its time we move in as well. Things haven't changed much since our last progress report from HQ. From everything SHIELD has managed to get along with collaborating sources with FBI and DHS, our intel suggests that this group is mobile. Our efforts at signal triangulation haven't managed to lock down an exact area because it's constantly shifting. Based on everything we know now they're most likely operating out of a large vehicle like a semitrailer rig so we have ground assets looking for them as we speak." Coulson informed them. "The Middleton plant is massive so we'll provide overwatch and directions from the ops center while Fitz will keep an eye out with his drones."

Fitz walked over and handed a case to Skye. "Be careful with these."

"Promise." She replied.

"Expected resistance?" May wondered.

"We're not sure but we're getting no response from anyone at the plant so the terrorists are already there." Coulson answered.

"Which means we're running out of time. Skye, Farrell, listen to me or Ward and do everything we say exactly when we say it. Let's move." Will ordered, heading over to the SHIELD SUV, and putting in a large bag in the trunk. Everyone got into the car with May in the driver's seat and she gunned it there as fast as possible while Coulson, Fitz, and Simmons headed to the main area to monitory everything.

When they arrived at the plant, May stopped the car by the security entrance on the east side and there was no one around. "Stay in the car." Ward told Skye and Farrell as he and Will got out. They had their pistols out and checked the area with Ward heading over to the small shed near the gate which was one of the security rooms. He looked inside and saw no one around and signaled to Will who nodded.

The two walked back to the car and opened up the trunk. Ward grabbed his gun while Will opened up Fitz's droid case before tapping his ear comm. "Ok, Fitz. Give us eyes."

"Roger that. Stand bye."

Will took a few steps back as the drones in the case powered up and hovered into the air before moving into the plant. All of the drone's feed was fed back to Bus so Fitz, Coulson, and Simmons could relay the information back to the team on the ground. The drones managed to cover the entire plant. One of them found the dead bodies of the guards at the plant near the two FBI helicopters on the helipad, likely used by the terrorists to get here. Two of the drones got them footage of six men wearing FBI jackets and carrying assault rifles.

"What are the odds that the real FBI are there?" Simmons wondered only for another drone to show more dead security guards. "Never mind."

"Fitz can we get thermal images of the interior of the plant?" Coulson asked him and Fitz checked, switching the drones to infrared but given the heat generated from all the equipment and machinery in the plant all they saw a large thermal blob.

"Sorry, sir. All the heat generated by the plant is preventing thermal imaging. We have no idea how many could be waiting for them inside." Fitz answered. "Maybe we should get some backup before they go in."

"If we had more time then I'd say yes but we're running against the clock. This group can handle it." Coulson told them before switching the comm to contact Will, Ward, and May. "Drones have finished surveying the plant. We've got eyes on six of the terrorists wearing FBI jackets covering the south and western entrances into the facility."

Back with Will, Ward, and May at the SHIELD SUV, they were gearing up along with outfitting Skye and Farrell with Kelvar vests just in case. Ward tightened his vest before grabbing his submachine gun and loading a magazine. "Roger that. Any idea on enemy number inside the plant?" Ward wondered.

"Negative. Heat from the plant is obscuring thermal imaging so we're not sure what you could be walking into." Coulson told them.

"Understood. Best direction for entry?" Will asked.

"Scans show from your position that there's an entry via the eastern entrance and no one's watching it at the moment. We'll keep you updated if something changes." Fitz told him.

"Roger that." Will replied, grabbing his bag from the trunk.

"Three of us against who knows how many of them aren't the best odds." Ward remarked.

"I agree but Coulson wouldn't send us in if he didn't think we could handle it." May told him.

"She's right. Besides, we can't risk waiting around for backup. We have a window of opportunity and we need to take it now." Will added, unzipping his bag, and taking out a small quiver of about twenty arrows and put it on. After he secured the strap, he took out a small handle that seemed to have components and parts attached to it that he hooked onto his belt.

"A quiver?" Ward was confused.

"I trained with Clint Barton for a bit. Picked up a thing or two." Will remarked. "Ok, let's go. May and I will move in first. Ward, watch after Skye and Farrell and we'll let you know when to move up. We'll give you the go ahead when it's clear."

Ward nodded as Will and May moved into the plant. They stayed low but moved as quickly as they could. They cleared the open area and road and made their way over to the helipad where the two helicopters were before moving inward to one of the plants outer observation rooms. He and May moved into the room and saw two dead guards on the ground. Will went to one of the computers and brought up the map of the plant before plugging in a small USB pone-box which connected this system to the BUS. "Fitz, you should be connected to the plant's security system. Where are we heading?"

"Give me a moment. Uh…if they're trying to shut down the power then they're gonna be doing that at the central control room. Fourth floor." Fitz told him.

"Be advised, Will. Drones are picking up movement. The six guards are moving from the from the southern and western sector and heading your way and we've got two more men coming out from the main plant. They must be patched into the security cameras and know you're there. You're about to have some company." Coulson informed him.

"Roger that. Come on." Will led May out of the room and into the plant itself. They stacked up at the door and May had her pistol out. He removed his handle from the back of his belt and pressed a button on the side which caused the sides to open up and reveal that the handle was actually a compacted Oneida Kestrel Compound Bow. He took out an arrow from his quiver and put it on the draw string before nodding to May who opened the door.

He moved in first with the arrow pulled taught and checking his sectors while May entered behind him doing the same. There didn't seem to be anyone around but given what Coulson told them it wouldn't be much longer before they had company. "You stay low, I'll go high." Will told her and she nodded. He headed up the stairs and covered the second floor while May covered the first.

Will kept his eyes open and his arrow drawn on his bow. Being alone in a power plant at night was creepy enough but knowing that the Fire Sale group behind all of this was here made the stakes high. He kept moving and checked the corners before stopping temporarily because his hearing and telepathic sense picked up movement. He quickly turned around and released the arrow, hitting one of the three gunmen in the leg. He grabbed his leg and fell to the ground in pain while the other two opened fire. Will rolled to the side and quickly fired another arrow, knocking the assault rifle out of the hands of the second gunmen. He pulled out a special arrowhead and aimed while the third gunmen reloaded his rifle. Before he could pull the trigger, Will released the arrow. It hit him in the chest, going into the Kevlar vest he was wearing and released a full body taser shock through the material into his body which knocked him out.

The second gunmen managed to grab his gun fired at Will who stayed low and ran away. The second gunmen reloaded and chased after him while the first pulled out the arrow in his leg and staggered to his feet before limping after him. The second gunmen stalked around the area with his rifle at the ready looking for any sign of the intruder with the bow. There weren't any scuff marks or tracks on the ground so he kept his eyes open and ears listening, disregarding the slight thumping sound in the distance since that was the guy who got the arrow in the leg and was limping. The gunmen walked past some pipes and tanks, unaware that Will was right above him hanging in the rafters.

He quietly dropped down and quickly grabbed the gunmen from behind before snapping his neck. He dropped the body to the ground and did a quick mental download of the gunmen to get some knowledge. This guy didn't know a lot but he knew what they were here for and the person in charge. An Asian woman in charge named Mai and apparently she was the number two to the person in charge.

The third gunmen staggered forward in the same direction as his friend when he heard some noise. He hissed in pain and held his rifle with one hand while clutching the arrow wound with the other when he saw a body on the ground. That's when he was hit in the back of the other leg by another arrow and lost his footing. "SHIT!" He cursed and shouted in anger as getting hit a second time hurt like hell only for Will to walk over and kick him across the face. He was knocked unconscious and Will yanked the arrow out of his leg before moving on.

May continued her sweep of the first floor and hadn't found anything when she passed a door that opened and out walked one of the terrorists. He raised his gun at her but she did as well and both fired a shot but their bullets missed. May knocked his gun away and he pushed her hands to the side, knocking her gun to the ground and grabbed her from behind. She threw her head back and hit him in the nose before breaking one of his wrists and reaching for the pistol he had holstered on his side. She adjusted the aim and pulled the trigger, shooting him in the foot and elbowed him in the face while taking the gun. He fell to a knee and reached for a knife only for May to shoot him twice in the chest.

She took a breath and grabbed her gun off the ground when she heard movement and two gunmen turned the corner. They aimed their guns but then an arrow hit the ground in front of them and exploded in a bright flash of light and loud ringing. The flashbang arrow disoriented them as May saw Will dive off a second floor railing in a spin with two arrows pulled back on his bow. During his spin dive to the ground, he aimed and let the two arrows loose. They flew through the air and hit both gunmen in the chest, killing them. Will landed on the ground from his spin and rolled back to his feet.

"Nice shot." May remarked and he nodded.

"I took care of three and that two…" Will quickly ducked as May raised her gun and shot the third gunmen dead when he tried to surprise them. "…and you took out the sixth guard. Plus, one more. So far I'm liking our odds. Ward, first and second floors are clear. Bring Skye and Farrell in. We're moving to secure the control room."

"Copy that. On our way." Ward replied while Will and May continued on into the plant to the central power room on the fourth floor. They hadn't run in to any more terrorists but did find some more bodies.

In the fourth floor main control room, the technicians were all dead and the terrorists had gotten to work on their job of shutting down all the power and taking over the system since they got there. The only person in the room now was Mai, who was the leader of the group sent to this hub. The two guards she had with her went to find the intruders and take care of them. She diligently went to work with all the gear they had connected to the terminals and computers and so far they had about 90% control of the power for the Eastern sector of the country and power shutdown procedures were already starting.

"You're gonna fry for this I guarantee it." She heard and reached for her gun on the table only to feel a gun barrel pressed against the back of her head curtesy of Will.

"Don't even think about it. Take your hand off the gun." He ordered and she did. "Hands up. Stand up."

She did as she was told and Will took her gun before moving her away from the terminal. "I got her." May said, taking control of her with her gun aimed at her head and moving her away from the others.

"All right. Skye, Farrell get to work." Ward told them and they got situated at the terminals. Farrell put his bag on the table and opened it to reveal a small personal laptop. He took one of the foldable keyboards from the other desk and connected it to his laptop which he then connected to the system and Skye did the same on her laptop.

"Skye…" Will tossed her another small pone-box and she connected it into a free USB slot.

"EDI, are you connected?" Skye asked, plugging in her laptop, and getting to work as EDI connected to Skye's system.

"I am connected. Shall we begin?"

Mai turned around, hit May in the face with a chop and grabbed the gun before ejecting the magazine only for May to punch her in the face and push the gun up so the round in the chamber hit the ceiling. Mai tossed the gun to the side and threw out two quick punches to the face that May blocked before she kicked Mai in the stomach and knocked her into a desk. Mai got up and threw out a kick that May caught and used as leverage to throw her over a desk as the two continued their fight. Mai was good but May was better.

"Think we should help?" Will wondered as he saw May block Mai's punches and kicks before hitting her across the face with a right cross and landed a knee to the chest before doing a flying armbar takedown.

"We'd probably just get in the way." Ward told him as May laid the beatdown on Mai in the mount position. "How's it looking guys?"

"Complicated. It's not exactly like checking emails ok. They ran this hack in V.M.O, so we're isolating their A.P.I and just booting the host." Farrell told them.

"What?" Will asked him.

"It means about a few minutes." Skye stated.

"Ok. Keep working." Ward told them as Will touched his ear comm to connect to the Bus when he saw Mai tackle May through the glass of an office room. Ward gave him a nod and watched over things incase May needed help.

"Uh…Coulson, we're at the control room on the fourth floor. It looks like we got here just in time. Skye and Farrell are busy undoing everything they're doing right now and Ward's watching over them." He reported.

"That's good to here and here's some more good news. We've gotten word from the teams at the Western and Central Hubs. They encountered some resistance like you did but nothing too extensive. Clearly whoever is planning this didn't expect to run into much resistance at these hubs." Coulson told him.

"Well, in their thinking they thought we'd be too inept or busy chasing our tails to figure out what they were planning. Unlucky for them that we're not inept." Will remarked.

"Agreed. They managed to secure the sites but none of the technicians on the teams are as computer savvy as Skye or Farrell so once they're done there we'll have them connect to the other teams and walk them through this."

"That shouldn't be a problem. All resistance so far has been dealt with and Ward is watching over them." Will told him.

"What about May?" Coulson asked as Will looked over and saw May knee Mai in the face twice before breaking her wrist and throwing her into a shelf.

"She's dealing with some resistance but I think that's the last of it. Wait, hold on…" Will un-collapsed his bow and pulled out an arrow before firing it to the left without looking, shooting a gunman directly in the heart and killing him. "…ok, all resistance has been dealt with."

"All right. Keep me updated. We're one step closer to ending this." Coulson told him and Will tapped his ear comm before walking back over to Skye and Farrell. Ward was still watching over them and May was standing over Mai's body and tied her hands behind her back.

"How's it looking?" Will asked them.

"So far so good. Digital security is reactivated and we're nearly finished expunging the last of the intrusive IP signatures." Farrell answered.

"The eastern hub for power is ours again. We cut it close to the wire on this one but we did it." Skye said with a smile when they heard a phone ring. Everyone checked to see if it was their personal phone but it wasn't. It was a phone that the terrorists brought with them and left at the desk Mai was sitting at so it was probably hers. Along with the laptop that had the remote connection interface deactivated.

Will picked up the cellphone and nodded to Skye who began working on tracing the call to see where it was coming from while Farrell activated the remote connection interface on the terrorists laptop so that they could see whoever was calling. He gave Will a nod and he nodded back before he answered and heard a man speak.

"Mai, talk to me. What's going on?"

"Mai? Mai? Sorry, not that familiar with the name. Oh, wait I think I know who you're talking about…" Will said as the remote connection got them access to the camera attached to the computer of whoever was behind it. It gave them a clean image of his face that Farrell took a screen cap of and sent it to the Bus so they could do facial recognition. "Asian woman in all black with the silenced pistol? I remember her. She got her ask kicked all over the room. She's good but not that good. Last time I saw her she got her ass thrown into a shelf. Oh, look she's here."

May brought her over next to Will and in view of the camera so that the guy who was behind this could see her face. "Doesn't look that good, does she?" Will remarked.

"Fuck you." Mai whispered only for Will to slam her head into the desk and break her nose. May grabbed her body and pulled her away despite her struggles but Will could see that everything he did was getting to this guy.

"People these days have no manners, I tell you. Like you. I mean, you're the one behind all this chaos aren't you. Your Fire Sale is over, asshole. So, I'm gonna give you this one chance to surrender or I'm gonna find you and put a bullet through your skull." He warned him.

"You have no idea who I am or what I am capable of. When I'm finished here—and I promise it'll be soon…I will focus all my attention on you. You want to make things personal, fine."

The man shut the line off after that. "Kind of a scary threat." Farrell remarked.

"I've dealt with worse. Skye, how was the trace?" Will asked her.

"Some good news and bad news. Good news we were able to trace the IP packets from the remote connection and I was able to back trace it to its source. The bad news is that they're mobile. I got them traced somewhere on I-97 outside of Baltimore." Skye answered.

"That close to DC?" Ward couldn't believe it.

"The trace cut out after the connection went down. I don't know where they're going." Skye told him.

"EDI?" Will wondered if she had any better luck.

"I'm afraid my attempts at tracking them encountered the same amount of success as Skye. I don't know where they're going."

"But someone else might." Will looked over at Mai who was sitting against a desk with May pointing a gun at her. "Skye, talk to Coulson. You and Farrell need to talk the other teams into undoing what they did. Ward, May, get them back to the car."

"What about you?" May asked him.

"I've got some questions to ask our friend, Mai." He answered, grabbing her by the arm and putting her into a chair. "Go on ahead. I'll meet you at the car. You're not gonna want to see what happens next."

"Right. Let's go." Ward said so Farrell and Skye grabbed their gear and left with May while Will stayed behind. He pressed a button on his bow's handle which retracted its parts back so he could holster it on his belt before looking at Mai who just spit out some blood.

"I'm not telling you anything." She swore as Will looked up and the second he saw the door close behind May he could do what he did best. He grabbed her by the head and began prying into her mind with his telepathy while his eyes glowed blue.

"You're gonna tell me everything." He said to her as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Will extracted everything she knew and it was painful. It took all of a few seconds and when it was done, he pulled out his pistol and shot her in the head before doing a double tap to the chest. "Don't worry. Your boyfriend will join you soon."

He finished up in the control room, getting anything that they might need but hung around a bit longer to keep up appearances that he was interrogating her. Ward, May, Skye, and Farrell walked out of the plant and made their way back to the car. They put their gear in their bags and the drones Fitz was controlling returned to the case which Ward put in the trunk.

"Do you think Will is gonna be able to get anything out of her?" Skye wondered.

"Not sure but if he's made it to his level in SHIELD then he has to know what he's doing." May replied.

"Question is how long it's going to take. Mai is clearly a professional so she's not someone who is gonna break easily." Ward pointed out, taking some water bottles from a bag and handing them out. "We could be here a while."

"Or sooner." They heard and Will walked up to them.

"That was quick." Farrell remarked.

"Yeah, it was…" May muttered when she noticed he was alone. "Where's Mai?"

"Laying on the floor with three bullets in her. She had nothing else to contribute and I thought I'd makes things easier to avoid grand jury summons and such." He answered with a nonchalant attitude that was kind of disturbing. He just admitted that he killed someone but didn't seem to show any kind of remorse.

"You killed her? I mean, shouldn't we have brought her in?" Skye pointed out.

"And let her get an army of lawyers and a cushy jail cell while awaiting trial which will take years only to end up in another jail cell where she and the others could try to escape? No. People like her and her boyfriend who do all this crap and hurt so many people don't deserve a free ride like that. A bullet to the head and they're in the ground. It's simpler that way." Will told her. Skye was kind of concerned but May and Ward nodded.

"Did you get anything?" Ward asked and got a nod in response.

"Let's head to the Bus. I'll brief everyone at once." Will answered, getting into the car, and driving back to the Bus.

The car pulled into the cargo ramp and everyone went up the stairs to the main ops center where Coulson, Fitz, and Simmons were waiting. That's when Simmons noticed May had some cuts on her face. "May, you ok?" Coulson asked as Simmons went to get a med kit.

"Fine. Nothing I couldn't handle." She replied.

"Good job everyone. We just prevented a major nationwide disaster and we've got a photo of their leader." Coulson told them as Fitz brought it up.

"So, who is this guy, sir?" Ward asked him.

"This is Thomas Gabriel. He was the chief programmer for infrastructure security for the Department of Defense four years ago. He helped design a lot of the failsafe and cyber security policies and programs that the country has been using for years before he was terminated from employment four years ago." Coulson pointed out his picture as Fitz brought up some more information just as Simmons returned with a med kit to fix up May. She tried to stop her but Simmons wasn't having it and continued.

"So, what happened?" Farrell wondered.

"After 9/11, he was the one who submitted to the Joint Chiefs that the country's cyber security system were vulnerable and open to compromise. He was pushing for a total overhaul of all systems but they wouldn't listen to him and he didn't take it well." Coulson told him.

"Yeah, pieced that together from my conversation with him. Not exactly people friendly." Will remarked.

"So, what'd he do?" May asked.

"It was redacted but Fitz managed to find an unredacted copy on the NSA servers. He broke into a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and using his laptop he was able to hack into NORAD and shut down our entire defense system to prove his point." Coulson answered.

"I'd actually think this guy is really cool if he wasn't so crazy." Skye muttered.

"So, they put a gun to his head and forced him to undo everything he did. After that, he was let to and when he tried to go public they crucified him. Destroyed his reputation, froze all his assets, he lost everything." Coulson finished.

"This is revenge. He's starting this Fire Sale to prove himself right." Ward stated.

"Not just that but to get even and leave the US with nothing. The dude is certifiable and everyone following him is just as crazy. Mai, especially but he's got foreign mercenaries working with him and some of the most morally bankrupt hackers for his tech support." Will added. "Once I broke Mai I was able to learn everything including their endgame and it's also why they wanted you dead, Farrell. It's because of the code you sent them."

"My mutating algorithmic security code?" Farrell asked.

"Yeah. The only security system in the country that is using that particular template is the Social Security Administration and it's only used at their facility…at Woodlawn." Will said and Coulson groaned in annoyance.

"What's a Woodlawn?" Fitz asked.

"It's a special NSA facility outside of Baltimore that was built as a fail-safe after 9/11 to back up all financial information. Banks, Wall Street, Corporate records, government funds. It's essentially a backup for the accumulated wealth of America in case something ever happened." Coulson answered.

"The second this started with the cyber attack at the FBI and then when the financial sectors started getting hit, all the data began automatically downloading to those servers at the Woodlawn building. He knew that the second this started that everything would be sent there. Trillions of dollars all in one location." Will added.

"How could he possibly know that?" Simmons asked, finished with fixing up May.

"Because he was the one who designed it. This is all about revenge. The second they finish the download he'll take all that data and siphon trillions for himself leaving the country back where it was before the British ever stepped foot here." Will stated.

"Jesus Christ." Farrell muttered.

"Not if we stop him. May, get us to Maryland as fast as you can." Coulson ordered and she nodded.

Line Break xxxxx

Maryland, USA

Clean up crews were sent to the Eastern Hub to clean up the bodies and make sure that the power hub stayed secured. Farrell and Skye spoke with the Western and Central teams and managed to talk them through everything they needed to do in order to reverse the damage done. Now that the power systems for the country were secured, Coulson and Will were able to report to Fury that they had a lead on the man responsible for everything, Thomas Gabriel and were heading to Woodlawn to stop him. Fury stressed that nothing from that facility could be taken under any circumstances and that they were authorized to use whatever force necessary to prevent that. Support teams were on the way but their team would get their first and they couldn't risk waiting for backup.

May would stay on the BUS to pilot with Fitz and Simmons monitoring everything from the ops center while Coulson, Ward, and Will would go down with Farrell and Skye. May would normally go but there wasn't a clear enough area to land the Bus near the facility so she would need to pilot the Bus and the team would go down on Will's quinjet.

They got all the gear they needed and Will piloted them down, managing to land the quinjet in a small clearing in the surrounding woods. They proceeded on foot to the Woodlawn facility but skirted the front gate for sneaking through a side fence. Coulson used some nano-wire to cut through the fence and proceeded into the facility using a vent. Will deviated from the group to sabotage the giant truck rig he saw by the entrance. If on the off chance that Gabriel or whoever headed there then they'd have a surprise waiting for them. He slowly crept to the truck and quickly hugged the side when he saw a guard walk over. He took out his phone to get a glimpse and saw the guard head inside the truck where they had a whole bunch of monitors and equipment set up backing up their guesses that Gabriel used a mobile tech center to do all this.

The guard walked into the truck and spoke to one of the hackers. Just some unassuming guy with glasses and short brown hair. The guy grabbed a laptop and bag and walked out of the truck which is when the guard took out his pistol and killed the rest of the hackers in the truck. Gabriel was cleaning up shop which meant this made his job easier. Will activated his bow and pulled out an arrow, taking aim at the hacker who got off the truck and walked to the building.

[Whistle]

The sharp whistle got the hackers attention and he turned around only for Will to shoot an arrow dead center in his chest with enough force that it went through him and hit the side of the building. The hacker stumbled a bit and coughed up some blood before he fell back. The guard walked out of the truck and saw the hacker on the ground when Will walked into view. Before he could shoot him, Will shot him through the neck with another arrow. Like before, the arrow went clean through and hit the side of the truck as the guard grabbed his bleeding throat in vain. Will just walked past and pushed him aside where he fell to the ground and bled out.

He walked into the truck and saw all the dead hackers of this group and didn't really feel anything for them. Their choices got them here so he walked past their bodies and over to a terminal where he connected a pone-box to a USB slot. "EDI, get everything you can and feed it back to the BUS."

"Right away."

He walked out of the truck and towards the building when he stopped at the hacker he shot through the chest. He was still alive and hadn't bled out and he reached his hand out for help. "Please…h-help…"

Will just pulled an arrow from his quiver and pulled it back on his bow before aiming. "Sorry. Don't have mercy for bad guys." He shot the hacker in the heart, killing him and walking into the facility from the front while Coulson and Ward continued from the ventilation system which led them to the utility tunnels.

They arrived at a small junction area where Farrell stopped to plug his laptop into a computer terminal. "Give me a second. I may not be able to stop them from here but I might be able to slow them down at least." Farrell accessed the building's system and deactivated one of the cooling turbines and the alarm sounded off. If it didn't slow them down it would at least give them something to focus on. "Give me another second and I can bring up a floor plan of this place."

"Don't move! Hands up!" They heard as three guards walked over with their guns pointed at them. "You—get away from the bag. Now!"

"Okay. Okay." Farrell slowly backed away from his laptop as Ward, Skye, and Coulson raised their hands. Coulson subtle reached into his belt as he raised his hands and pulled out a small pellet. Two of the guards slowly walked over to take their guns when Ward nodded to Coulson.

Coulson clicked the pellet and dropped it to the ground where it exploded in a bright flash of light. The guards shielded their eyes as Coulson and Ward turned and attacked. Coulson punched one of the guards in the face and kicked him back while Ward knocked the gun out of the hands of his guard and knocked him into a terminal bank. Coulson then grappled the third guard and pushed his gun to the ground just as he started shooting. The commotion caused Farrell and Skye to hide behind the terminal only to lose their footing and fall, landing on some grates which gave way so they crashed down into one of the cooling tunnels. Coulson disarmed the guard and elbowed him in the jaw before taking his sidearm and shooting him in the leg and knocking him out with a blow to the back of the head.

Ward blocked a punch and headbutted another guard before pushing him into a chair and throwing him down the stairs. He picked up a gun from the ground and shot the other guard before he could shoot Coulson in the back. "Ward, you good?" Coulson asked him.

"Fine." He replied when he saw Skye and Farrell were gone. He walked over to the terminal and saw some of the grates near the terminal were gone. "SKYE?!"

"Ward? Coulson? Can you hear me?" Skye radioed in on her ear comm and they were able to hear her but also heard a lot of noise from fans and generators.

"Skye? Skye, are you ok?" Coulson asked her, tapping his ear comm.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Farrell's with me too. We fell down the grate and landed in one of the cooling tunnels." She radioed back. "I can't see a way back up but there's a vent here. I think it'll lead us somewhere into the facility."

"Whoa, Skye wait a minute. You take the wrong turn in that vent then you could be lost or run into one of the men working for Gabriel." Ward warned her.

"Hang on. Will can you hear me?" Coulson radioed him.

"Yeah, I can read you and I heard over the comms. I'm in the facility now and moving in. I had EDI tap into a nearby terminal and she's giving me access to the building's blueprints. Skye, you and Farrell take the vent. It'll actually lead you a exit to level four by the server farms. I'll meet you there. Coulson and Ward, you two take the long way and we'll regroup there." He radioed in and sent a copy of the blueprints to Coulson's phone along with the route for them to take.

"Roger that. We're on our way. Be careful and stay on comms." Coulson told them all as he and Ward followed the directions to level four while Skye and Farrell followed the vent.

They kept moving and eventually arrived in another utility tunnel and neared some stairs to take them up out of the tunnel when they heard footsteps. She and Farrell hugged the wall to be safe and they were right as they saw a mercenary walk by with a submachine gun. He just walked out of the secured server farm room and walking up the stairs to check something out. Skye and Farrell waited until the sound of his footsteps lessened but when they heard some grunts and groans of pain followed by some loud thuds and then something hitting the metal stairs before another loud thud.

"You can come up now." They heard and saw Will waiting for them by the ladder.

"Where did you come from?" Skye asked as she and Farrell climbed up from the tunnel.

"Like I told you and Coulson, I found another way into the building and rushed over here. Ran into a little hiccup…" Will pointed behind him and they saw the body of the guard that walked by who was lying on the floor either unconscious or dead. "…but it all worked out. What about you two? Everything ok?"

"Yeah, thanks." Farrell replied as they walked over to the secured door to level four and saw its security was state of the art. That along with the fancy plaque for the NSA and Social Security told them they were in the right place. Will touched a button on the security card reader and part of the wall came down to reveal a security panel that had some kind of weird lock that required a series of numbers to be inputted and there was a series of changing numbers on the side. "My algorithm. Hang on."

Farrell took out a key card from his bag and attached a security strip modifier on the bottom before plugging that in to his laptop. "Please work."

Farrell swiped his keycard and then 8 digit spaces appeared in two groups of four. Farrell put in four numbers making a rectangle like configuration on the series of numbers before inputting four more to make a smaller diamond. The two series of numbers connected before hissing was heard from the door and the locks retracted and the door opened. "Nicely done." Will pat him on the back and led him and Skye inside the room but not before he took out an arrow from his quiver and threw it at the ceiling. The arrow shaft broke apart and fell to the ground leaving just the arrow head stuck in the ceiling which began beeping with a faint blue light. They saw a series of server banks lined up against the walls that led to a dead end at the end of the hall. It had the most server banks and the largest one was in the middle of the room where there was some equipment connected to it.

They walked over to the server and saw on the screen that there was a download commencing targeting all the funds and was currently draining all federal funding files with the download complete at 100% "Oh, Jesus, they got all the money." Farrell remarked.

"Get to work you two." Will told them so Farrell and Skye connected their laptops to the equipment and they began working on undoing everything that these hackers have done and putting the money back where it belonged. "And don't think about getting smart with that money. We're gonna triple check everything when you two are done."

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence." Farrell told him.

"I didn't mean you. I meant her." Will said as Skye looked at him only for him to wink. She chuckled and got to work. This job was difficult and there was going to be millions of gigabytes to go through but it wasn't impossible. Lucky for them all the files and money were on the drive connected to the server so as long as they had that then they had the money.

"You three, step away from the machine! Hands up!" A guard shouted as he walked in with an assault rifle aimed at their banks.

"If you kill us then you're not gonna get anything!" Skye shouted as they raised their hands. The guard walked over and ushered them away to see what they did and saw that they had encrypted the hard drive containing all the money and it needed a decryption sequence to unlock.

"Looks like you're not getting your money now." Will told him.

"Shut up!" The guard told Will as he took out his radio to contact his boss when he was shot in the head. Farrell and Skye shuddered in shock as Ward and Coulson walked into the room.

"What took you two so long?" Will wondered.

"Got held up in a hallway and ran into a few more of Gabriel's men. Tell me they didn't get the money." Coulson said.

"They didn't. It's on that hard drive." Will assured him and Coulson breathed a sigh of relief.

"We managed to encrypt in just in case but he showed up before we could return it." Skye added.

"I'm gonna need you to undo what you just did." They heard and in walked Gabriel along with the rest of his men armed with assault rifles or submachine guns. Including Gabriel there were about 6 men with him. "Did you really think that we didn't know what you were doing?"

"Well to be honest, we kind of operating in the thinking that you were too smart to see what was right in front of you mindset." Will remarked.

"Not the greatest plan. I said we should have waited for backup." Ward told him as two of the guards came over and took their guns. Ward handed over his submachine gun and pistol while Coulson handed over his.

"Well, goodie for you." Will mocked as he handed him his quiver and bow along with his pistol while subtly sending out hand signals that Ward and Coulson picked up on. "If we get out of this then next time we can do things your way."

"There won't be a next time." Gabriel said as he walked over and saw the encryption put on his money drive. He took out his pistol and pointed it at Skye and Farrell who he picked up as the hackers of the group. "These two come with us."

"That's not gonna happen." Ward told him only for the guards to hit him, Coulson, and Will in the stomach while one of the henchmen grabbed Skye and Farrell.

Gabriel knelt over to Will who was on his hands and knees to catch his breath and grabbed him by the back of the head and pointing his gun at his face. "When last we spoke you were all high and mighty. You threatened to put a bullet in my skull. How do you still feel about that?"

"One small change. I'm gonna shoot an arrow through your heart." Will told him only for Gabriel to punch him in the face and then kick him in the stomach. Ward and Coulson tried to help but were knocked down. Skye and Farrell looked away in fear as Gabriel kicked Will in the side three more times before letting out a sharp exhale. "Shit…"

"You know, I feel like we've gotten off on the wrong foot. I'm wondering if you gentlemen knew the truth then you might feel differently. You think I'm the bad guy and nothing could be further form the truth: I'm the good guy here. I told them this could happen if they didn't prepare. Did I get a thank you? No, I got a fuck you. But they wouldn't listen." Gabriel told them.

"My heart's bleeding for you." Will said sarcastically. "Bet you got them listening now, huh?"

"Exactly. I am doing this country a favor." Gabriel stated.

"By tearing an entire country apart and pulling millions into a panic?" Coulson asked him.

"Better me than some outsider, some religious nut job bent on Armageddon or god forbid another alien attack. Nobody wants to see that happen." Gabriel told him, grabbing Will by the shoulder, and bringing him close. "Everything I've broken can be fixed…if the country is willing to pay for it."

"It's all about the money, isn't it?" Ward asked him.

"What, I shouldn't get paid for my work? I'm working my ass off here, guys." Gabriel remarked.

"Then how about I write you fucking check and nail it to your head?" Will suggested. "I don't give a damn about what you're doing this for but at least have the guts to admit it and not hide behind your fucking tirade."

Gabriel just glared at Will and punched him across the face before pulling him close so he could see his phone that had the information on his aunt, uncle, and sister. "Such a cute family, aren't they? You must love them a great deal? After all you went to Paris to rescue your cousin. You took away something I deeply cared about so after I kill you, I'm gonna track them down along with everyone else you know and make sure that they die slowly. And before they all die, they'll know it was because of you. Do you have a witty remark for that?"

Will spit out some blood and spared a quick glance to Ward who was double over which let him pull out a small knife from his belt. Ward sent a quick nod to Will who winked back. "Yeah…in the words of the protagonist in the greatest Christmas movie ever…Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker. EDI!"

The arrowhead stuck on the ceiling let out a loud beep before it let out a large electrical field that pulled Gabriel's gun out of his hand and stuck it to the ceiling. Not just his gun but the guns of all his henchmen. Will headbutted Gabriel in the face and punched him in the face while Ward slashed and stabbed his guard. Coulson took a guard to the ground and punched him across the face as Will kneed Gabriel in the chest and threw him into wall. He then tackled another guard to the ground and took his knife before slashing him across the neck and throwing the knife at another guard. Ward blocked and parried a baton from another guard and wrestled him to the ground as Coulson knocked out his guard with a stomp to the face. Will tossed the knife behind him and Coulson grabbed it before using it to take out another guard. Skye stomped on the foot of the guard holding her and Farrell and punched him in the gut before tackling him to the ground. He kicked Farrell off and pushed Skye to the ground only for Coulson to tackle him. Will dodged and blocked a spin kick and roundhouse kick from a guard then caught his side kick before taking him to the ground and grappling him, quickly putting him in leg lock and then breaking his leg. He then saw his quiver on the ground and pulled out an arrow to stab him in the chest.

Gabriel grabbed his nose in pain and saw the hard drive containing the money so he grabbed it and pushed past Farrell and Skye before running out of the door. "He's got the drive!" Farrell shouted.

Coulson saw him run but was grabbed from behind so he pushed back into the wall and elbowed his attacker in the gut before turning around and punching him in the face. "Will, go!"

Will pulled out the arrow he used to stab the guard and grabbed his bow off the ground before chasing after Gabriel. Ward slammed a guard's head into the wall and dropped him to the ground just as the arrowhead's electrical field shut down and all the guns fell from the ceiling. Skye and Farrell quickly grabbed some guns and aimed them at the guards who were still alive. Coulson and Ward grabbed some guns as well and secured Gabriel's henchmen. Speaking of Gabriel, he had ran as fast as he could out of the facility to the front entrance where there was a car he could take. He still had the drive in his hand and made it out of the front of the building where the car and semi-rig truck/command center where he saw one of his mercenaries on the ground dead along with the hacker he planned to come with him after they were done. He ran out of the front of the building and passed the arrow embedded in the wall that killed the hacker causing the arrowhead to beep and explode in a small explosion that knocked him to the ground.

He was groggy as the explosion did knock the wind out of him but he didn't suffer any serious injuries. He looked up and saw the hard drive had slid to the car, having been knocked out of his hand during the explosion. He pushed himself up and rushed over to pick up the hard drive and drive away only to feel a sharp piercing pain in his chest and stop. He looked down and saw a bloody arrowhead pierced through his chest. He coughed up some blood and reached up to pull it out only for stumble on his feet and fall onto the car. Gabriel took pained labored breaths as blood continued to pour out of his chest wound and mouth while he lost feeling in his body. That's when he heard footsteps and saw the agent walk past him.

Will walked past Gabriel's body after shooting an arrow in his back through his heart and picked up the hard drive. The only damage was superficial, probably suffered from being dropped but it didn't look compromised. He smiled before walking over to Gabriel's body and looking at him with a completely neutral expression. "Told you so."

Gabriel soon slumped to the ground and let out a final exhale before dying. Just as he did, federal and local backup arrived. Better late then never but it was a win. Thomas Gabriel was dead, his Fire Sale was over and all the data he stole was secured. All in all, another day at the office.

Line Break xxxxx

July 2013: SHIELD 6-1-6 The Bus

The drama of the Fourth of July Fire Sale was over and things went back to normal. All the damage done by Thomas Gabriel and his group was fixed and everything they stole from Woodlawn was returned with the help of hackers Matthew Farrell and Skye. The NSA had their best agents triple check everything just to be safe, of course but the temporary nightmare was over. They managed to take down the rest of Gabriel's network that helped him pull this off and the news reported to the world that things were over. The President commented on the success and thanks of Federal Authorities and agencies in stopping this crisis and stopping those responsible.

For Coulson's team, it was just another day at SHIELD.

Coulson and Will put in a good word on behalf of Matthew Farrell for everything he did in stopping Thomas Gabriel so the NSA and FBI didn't prosecute him. In fact, the NSA extended a job offer to Farrell to help shore up Federal cyber security standards and encryption software. Farrell said he'd think about it but just wanted to rest and get his apartment fixed up.

For the team, it was business as usual. Staying aboard the BUS and waiting for the next mission. Will was currently in the cargo hold and doing some one-handed pushups to finish up his morning exercise. He was wearing shorts and an athletic shirt which were wet with some wet and after the hundredth pushup, he rolled onto his back and did a kip-up back to his feet. That's when he saw May standing at the top of the stairs with a towel and water bottle. "Can I help you with something?" He wondered.

"No, just wanted to get some training in when you're done." May told.

"Just about finished so you can go ahead unless you want to have a sparring partner?" He suggested. "I could do with some practice."

"Fair enough." May walked down the stairs and put her stuff down before getting onto the mat across from Will. "No tape? No gloves?"

"No gloves in the real world so why use them here." Will told her, cracking his neck a bit before taking a deep breath.

"Coulson teach you that?" May wondered, doing some light stretching before assuming a fighting stance.

"Natasha Romanoff." He corrected her as she threw out three quick jabs to his face that he blocked and side stepped a front kick before throwing out a side kick that she grabbed. She tried to take him to the ground but he managed to do it first with a leg throw. May landed on her back and quickly rolled out of the way of a knee drop before blocking a kick to the face and throwing out a kick to his chest that he blocked.

"You trained with Agent Romanoff? How did that happen? She's not one for taking on agents as an SO." May pointed out throwing out a low kick to his leg and made him drop to a knee and then tried an elbow to the face that he blocked and threw her over his side with a judo throw but she landed on her feet and then used the momentum to throw him to the ground but he landed on his feet as well. He threw out an elbow that she blocked but the force staggered her back and then he hit her with a jumping back kick. She stumbled back a bit and backstepped off the mat, impressed with his skill and noticed he didn't look that fazed.

"She's not. My training with SHIELD wasn't exactly like everyone else's." He then threw out a few quick jabs and straight punches that she blocked and parried before locking his arms. He put her into an arm lock and she leaned forward to kick her back leg up over her head and hit him in the head but he blocked it and then fell backward to take her to the ground. He got on top of her and threw out a punch to her face but stopped just before it connected. "That's one win to me."

He got up and held out his hand to help her back to her feet. "Not bad. Agent Romanoff teach you that?" May wondered.

"No, Coulson did." Will corrected her. "You don't have to worry about me but given we're all SHIELD agents its common. I'm not here to mess with anything. Fury brought me on to make sure things run smoothly."

"And it wasn't before?" May asked.

"Well, the incident where you were hijacked comes to mind but that's only part of it. I'm here to keep an eye on Coulson." Will told her.

"Fury wants you to keep an eye on him?" May asked.

"Partially yes because he kind of nearly lost the plane so Fury wants me to look after him which is honestly hilarious because he trained me and now I get to watch him. Ha, great turn of circumstances." He chuckled. "But partially its personal. He's my friend and after the Battle of New York…it was tough to hear what happened."

May nodded and dabbed her face with a towel before quickly throwing it in his face. Will knocked it to the side and threw out a quick jab that she blocked before crouching low and doing a leg takedown that caught him off guard. He landed on his back and she got on top and threw out a punch but stopped it before it connected. "Now that's one for me."

"Cheap shot but nicely done." Will pushed her over him to the ground and did a kip up to avoid her leg sweep. He turned and caught her side kick with both hands and then twisted it so she flipped to the ground. "That all you got?"

"You're gonna wish you didn't say that." May smirked as she got back to her feet and assumed a fighting stance. For the new two hours, May and Will had an intense sparring session to see who was better.

Up in the living quarters of the BUS, Ward and Skye were sitting at a table as part of their Supervising Officer/Agent in training lesson. "Every decision you make from here on out has consequences. So be warned…the kiddie gloves are off." Ward warned her.

"G7."

Ward looked down and sighed. "Hit."

"Yes! Ha!" Skye put a dot on her board and Ward did the same. Their training was actually a game of Battleship. Skye took a sip of water and ate a pretzel from their snack bowl while Goose was perched up on the same table to watch. Skye pet him on the head while thinking of her next move. "So, explain to me again what this has to do with my training."

"It's important for every S.O. to evaluate their student's thought process." Ward explained and she nodded but wasn't buying it. "And I like board games. B10."

"Nope." She replied and Ward grimaced as he put his dot on the board. "This isn't thinking, this is stabbing in the dark but it's nice to take a break from the workouts."

"Well…you deserve a break. I got to give Coulson credit, I never would have pegged an ex-Rising Tide hacker as a good fit, but you're picking things up pretty fast. Plus, you handled yourself pretty well during the Fire Sale Event." Ward admitted.

"Did you just give me a compliment?"

"I—no, I made a comment."

"A kind one. Did it physically hurt to do that? Do you need an ice pack?" Skye joked and they both laughed. "Wow. A compliment and a smile."

"Comment."

"I don't want to ruin the moment but I'm gonna have to respond with…G4." Skye said and Ward's smile dropped as he looked at his board. "Say it, Ward. Say it."

"You sank my battleship." Ward muttered.

"Ha-ha-ha! Yes!" Skye sipped her water in victory.

"All right, best two out of three." Ward told her as the two began resetting their boards while Skye relished in her victory.

Coulson watched from the doorway with a smile on his face as May walked over. "She's fitting in nicely."

"Gloating?" May asked.

"A little."

"You were up early this morning. Heard you puttering around even before I sparred against your former trainee." May pointed out. "Having trouble sleeping?"

"No, feel great. Just have a little extra energy to burn." Coulson told her. "Who won?"

"It was a tie but I could tell he was holding back." May answered and Coulson nodded.

"Sounds like him. He doesn't go all out unless in the field." Coulon told her.

"You and he know a lot about each other, don't you?" May wondered and Coulson chuckled. "You know, he told me that part of the reason he's stuck around here is to keep an eye on you. That kind of loyalty is admirable."

"Will's a good kid. If the world was filled with more people like him then there would be less reason for us to be around." Coulson admitted. "He's good for the team."

Before the conversation could keep going the alarm went off with an alert from HQ. "I'll get the others." May told him.

Coulson walked over to the main ops center where he saw Will waiting there, already having washed up and in some clean clothes and looking through the file HQ sent. "Heard you and May had a spar this morning." Coulson said to him and Will nodded.

"She's good." He replied.

"And she could tell you were holding back." Coulson pointed out only for him and Will to look down at the Tatau on his arm. "But there's reason for that."

"Didn't want to send her to the medical bay and put her out of commission." Will stated as the others joined them so they could start the briefing.

Coulson tapped the touch table and brought up a SHIELD file on a Chinese native, Chan Ho Yin. "Chan Ho Yin—just a struggling street performer until a few years ago when Mr. Chan began to exhibit moderate pyrokinetic abilities."

"So, what gave him powers?" Fitz questioned.

"That's still being researched. Chan did live near the decommissioned Wan Tai Nuclear Plant when it caught fire years ago. But no one else nearby has exhibited similar traits so there's something that must have happened to Chan specifically." Will explained.

"So, how did we find out about him?" Simmons asked.

"Informants saw him lighting torches in a street show…with his pinkie." May answered.

"Brought it to SHIELDs attention. We told him to keep his abilities under wrap and he's been on the Index ever since." Coulson added.

"The Index?" Skye was confused.

"It's a list SHIELD keeps of people and objects with powers." Simmons told her.

"Wait. What? How many are there?" Skye was excited. "Are you saying there are more people with—"

"Not many." May told her.

"Well, enough to keep a list." Skye pointed out.

"A short list, meant to protect them." Coulson informed her.

"Though, in rare cases, SHIELD has had to take action." Ward added.

"Action against objects or people?" Skye asked.

"Both. Could be like the Hydra object we found in Peru or someone dangerous like Emil Blonski AKA the Abomination. Most of the Avengers are on the SHIELD Index list except for one in particular." Will told her.

"Which one?" Skye wondered.

"Aegis. The blue glowing telekinetic Avenger who guided the nuke through the wormhole. His file on the Index list is encrypted to level-10 Clearance." Will answered, fibbing to the team considering his situation and his deal with Fury.

"What does that mean?" Skye asked.

"It means that only Director Fury has access to the file." Coulson said as he and Will shared a quick look that went unnoticed by everyone else. "No one else has access to the file so Aegis reports to Director Fury only."

"Wow, kind of cool but also kind of creepy. Having your own super soldier who can destroy alien warships with his mind. How are they monitored—tapped phones, satellite surveillance, body probes in dark, unpleasant places." Skye questioned.

"Body probes. Now, that's ridiculous. SHIELD doesn't do that. We don't do that, do we?" Fitz asked.

"The methods vary." Coulson stated. "Mr. Chan was low-risk so he was assigned a case agent who checked in with him every few days. That's how we knew he was missing."

May contacted the SHIELD team on location in China. "Hello Agent Kwan. How are you?" She asked in Cantonese.

"Not as good as I could be." Agent Kwan replied back.

"Everyone, this is Agent Kwan, Chan Ho Yin's case agent." May introduced them and they all waved or nodded. "What can you tell us?'

"Not much, I'm afraid. Chan is a magician so at first, I thought he'd made himself disappeared." Kwan told them.

"The file says that you've caught him violating his Index agreement before." Coulson said.

"On two separate occasions—claimed we were hampering his artistic expression. But late last night he was taken by professionals. The only thing they left behind was this scrap of aluminized material." Kwan showed them the evidence bag containing the material.

"Fireproof clothing." Simmons stated.

"So, whoever took him knew about his power." Ward surmised.

"Yes, and we think we know why. Over the last few days, tech division discovered a crack into our data stream. It's the same cyber punks who hacked us before. Somehow they got in again. It's the Rising Tide." Kwan said so everyone looked at Skye. "Hello? It got real quiet. You guys still there?"

After that little reveal, they told Agent Kwan and his team to continue working before Coulson called Skye to his office. Ward came with her as her Supervising Officer. "The Rising Tide is a huge organization of hacktivists from all around the world. Any of them could have done this. It wasn't me." Skye pleaded her innocence.

"No one's saying it was." Ward told her.

"But you're thinking it. I can see your faces thinking it." Skye pointed out.

"We're assessing the situation." Coulson stated.

"Then I'm sure you're taking into account that I've been living on this plane with you this whole time. It would be impossible for me to hack SHIELD." Skye said.

"Or easier. We're gonna need more than that." Coulson told her.

"Fine. Let me trace the hack and I'll prove it." Skye suggested.

"I believe her, sir. And if she's telling the truth, then we need to track down the person responsible." Ward added.

"Dig up something, and fast." Coulson ordered. "The longer Mr. Chan's missing, the more danger he's in."

She nodded and left with Ward following to keep an eye on her. Ward closed the door after they left and Coulson let out a sigh. "What do you think?" Coulson asked and Will shimmered into view, revealing he used his powers to witness the conversation and read Skye's mind.

"She's telling the truth. This hack isn't her but as you know she's hiding something." Will told him. Coulson took a moment to think it over before making a decision.

"Then it's time we find out what. Keep an eye on her. Let's see what she digs up and if she's really on our side." Coulson told him.

"Roger that." Will shimmered out of view again and left.

Line Break xxxxx

The team assembled at the touch table when Skye announced she was almost done with breaking the encrypted signal that hacked into SHIELD's database. "How close are we?" Coulson asked.

"Almost there." Skye told him.

"She's identified the remote-access trojan and the infected endpoint…"

"And is searching for a TCP to correlate the hypertext with signature information and then…"

"Bob is your uncle."

"Voila."

"You get any of that?" Coulson wondered.

"Only the uncle part." Ward replied.

"We got our origin. Austin, Texas." Skye brought it up on the map.

"You got a name?" Coulson asked.

"Just the café our hacker worked out of, but I'm in the system. I'm gonna check to see if any credit-card charges from that day match up with any known hackers." Skye did her search before finding someone. "We got a hit."

She brought up the information of the hacker. "Miles Lydon, not Skye—that's to all of our relief." Fitz stated.

"You know him?" Coulson asked Skye.

"Every hacker in the world knows him." Skye pointed out.

"Not just the hacker world. He infiltrated the Kremlin." Simmons told them.

"Yeah, the picture of, uh, Putin shirtless on horseback—that was his hack." Fitz said as he and Simmons chuckled.

"It was also his hack that got Chan kidnapped." Will reminded them and they stopped laughing.

"May, set a course for Austin." Coulson told her.

"Just did."

"What about Chan?" Skye asked.

"Kwan's got a SHIELD team in Hong Kong. They'll continue running things there but our best option is to run things on this end. We finds Miles Lydon then we find out who's behind this." Will stated and Coulson nodded.

Austin, Texas

A few hours later, the team was in Texas and on the ground to find Miles Lydon. Skye walked out of the café and tapped her ear. "I just left the café where Miles logged in. Cashier says she hasn't seen him in over a week."

"I may have eyes on him." Ward blended in with the foot traffic and saw Miles walk out of a building. He looked around while chewing on a pretzel when he noticed Ward and began running. "I've been made. Heading east on 5th street. Target is now in a Silver Jetta."

Miles drove away in his car so Coulson followed in the SHIELD SUV. "I got him." The two engaged in a small car chase through the streets when all the traffics lights for a few blocks suddenly turned green, causing gridlock and a traffic jam that he slipped away from but Coulson got trapped. "I lost him."

Miles slipped away and managed to return to his apartment, checking to make sure no one followed him. "Are you sure they're not following you?" Skye asked him, waiting for him in his apartment.

"Yeah. Had to pull out all the stops, though. Thanks for the text." He said but noticed her expression. "Wait, are you mad?"

"Are you kidding me? I don't have much time. Who did you leak those files to?" She asked him.

"Wait a second. What? Good to see you too, Miles. I released them into the world, where they belong." Miles told her.

"They'll keep hunting you unless they have someone else to look for. And why the hell would you hack SHIELD?" Skye questioned.

"Because that's what we do." Miles told her.

"Now when I'm on the inside. You could have ruined everything, you dumbass." Skye told him off.

"Seems like you handled it."

"I've come too far for you too—" She stopped when he noticed he was looking at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He walked over to her and smiled. "Did you just call me dumbass?"

"Stop smiling. I'm serious." Skye told him only for their argument to turn into flirting that eventually led them to the bedroom.

An hour later, Skye slipped on her bra but made sure the memory card she hid there was safe. "That's where you keep that, huh?" Miles wondered.

"Better safe than busted." Skye pointed out.

"Making any progress on that?"

"I'm digging, but your little stunt is gonna make it harder. Where's my top?" Skye looked around for it.

"You know, I could be helping you. If you send me ciphertext, I could be working on algorithms—"

"No, I can't contact you. I never should have. There's a SHIELD team looking for you right now—my team and if they suspect something, I'm screwed." She told him.

"There's a joke here that I'm resisting that involves the word screwed." He joked and leaned up to her.

"Shut up. There's a guy in trouble because of you and I got to get back. So, if you want to help me, hep me find my clothes." She got up and Miles did to before holding her hand.

"Hey…I'm sorry, Skye. Really, I am, if I messed anything up. I've missed you." He told her.

"Me, too. But we talked about this when I left for LA. I've got a chance here. So, SHIELD's off limits, ok?" She told him.

"Ok. At least tell me what it's like. Come on, the Belly of the Beast." Miles wondered, grabbing his pants.

"Surprisingly…unbeastly. I've got good people I'm working with and we've done some real good." She said.

"Some good stories, though, I hope?" He asked, tossing Skye her pants.

"Miles. You have no idea. But that's classified." She joked as she slipped on her pants.

"You did not just say that to me. Come on, you got to tell me something."

"Someday."

"Well, if they ever let you go on leave or whatever, let me know, and I'll get us a suite at the…fancy hotel that has suites, and you regale me with stories while naked." He suggested.

"A suite? You? That's funny. But they're never gonna let me go on anything if I don't find my stupid…" She opened the door from his bedroom to the living room only to see Will standing there holding her shirt with one hand and a very serious look on his face. "…top…"

"Get…dressed." He told her and Skye realized she was done.

Coulson and the others soon arrived at the apartment. Coulson was going through some papers, Fitz was going through Miles computer with Simmons, Ward was watching over Skye and May and Will had Miles in the bedroom. Skye looked over at Miles just as May closed the door. She then looked over at Coulson who hadn't so much as looked at her when he arrived. "I know how this looks—" She was cut off when he raised his index finger up, getting her to stop.

"How long have you two been in contact?" Coulson interrogated her.

"I contacted him once the day I joined to tell him I was ok and once earlier today." She answered.

"When you tipped off an active suspect?" Coulson corrected her.

"No, it's not like that. Miles and I—we met when were both a little screwed up. Scratch that—he was a little screwed up, I was a lot. But we looked after one another. That's why I warned him. Not because we're working together on this, but because we're…friends." Skye explained her side of this. "I'm really sorry."

"Noted." Coulson remarked in a rather uncaring tone. "If not you, then who is Mr. Lydon working with?"

"No one. He's an idealist, believes in freedom of information." Skye said.

"That information cost a man his freedom, and you sabotaged our attempts to remedy that." Coulson accused her.

"No, I came here to find out what Miles knows about Chan." Skye corrected him.

"And?"

"Nothing. Miles is a dead end. He's harmless." She said yet again.

"We'll see."

"Really, I was gonna find out everything I could to try to help. I just—I felt like I couldn't tell you guys everything." Skye told Coulson.

"I know. We knew you were hiding something so that's why I had Will follow you. Seems that wasn't a dead end." Coulson pointed out.

Skye exhaled as she saw the rest of the team either wouldn't look at her or looked disappointed and hurt. Fitz looked at her with a sad look before whispering to Simmons. "Why would Skye do this to us for him? I thought she was our friend."

"I think she is, Fitz. He's just obviously more than that." Simmons told him.

"Yeah, but we've been through so much together, and she didn't even tell us that she has a guy." Fitz pointed out.

"Well, who knows what they've been through together." Simmons suggested.

May and Will had Miles handcuffed in his bedroom. "The classified information you stole from us—who did you give it to." May asked him.

"It's information. It has a life of its own." Miles told her proudly.

"What happened to Mr. Chan?" May asked him.

"I don't know who that is, so why don't you tell me?" Miles shot back when he heard the noise and clatter going on in his living room. "So, are you guys just gonna destroy all my stuff?"

"Yes." May replied.

"You say that information has a life of its own. So, in that train of thought if I hacked everything about your life and put it online would that be ok? I mean, according to you its just information so it has a life of its own." Will pointed out, finding the humor when Miles's face showed he wasn't exactly comfortable with that. "I think it'd be funny but then again it would probably be uneventful. Probably a boring read, right May?"

"Pretty boring." May replied.

"You know what wouldn't be boring? If somehow your address was put online for the Russian government to find." He suggested and Miles stiffened up a bit. "I mean, you did some pretty serious hacking against them so I think they'd have a lot to say to you. I mean, a Russian welcome is actually kind of relaxing if you find torture and relentless beatings enjoyable. Of course, given your character…you mind it find it horrible. The Cold War may be over but I think there are some ex-KGB people who would love to get their hands on you."

"I'm not afraid of you government thugs. You hide and keep secrets the people have a right to know. I'm the good guy here." Miles stated and Will actually chuckled.

"Oh, that was good. Really good. You practice that in the mirror every day as part of your morning affirmations." Will joked as he walked over and grabbed Miles by the back of the head. He playfully pat him on the head before pulling him close rather roughly and headbutting him.

"Shit…" Miles groaned in pain.

"Stop hiding behind your high horse and tell us who ordered you to hack SHIELD." Will told him as Miles grabbed his nose.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Miles replied when Coulson opened the door.

"Anything?"

May and Will shook their heads no. "Can I shoot him yet?" Will wondered.

"Not everything can be solved with shooting it, Will." Coulson remarked.

"How about dangling him outside the window by his leg? That might get him to speak." Will suggested and Coulson actually considered it.

"May?" Coulson asked, wanting to get her thoughts.

"Daytime. You could drop him on someone." May pointed out.

"Rats. Guess we'll have to raincheck that." Will muttered.

"Take him in." Coulson ordered so Will grabbed Miles by the arm and pulled him up. He pushed him into the living room but when Miles tried to fight him, Will just moved in front of him and kneed him in the groin.

Skye looked at Miles worried as Will grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to his feet. "Try that again and I break your fucking arm." He warned him.

"Gather all evidence and secure the prisoners. We got what we were looking for here. We're going to Hong Kong." Coulson ordered so Will took Miles out of the room with him while Fitz and Simmons boxed up all the evidence.

Ward walked over to Skye and took out a pair of handcuffs. "I'm so sorry, Ward. This is not what it looks like."

"Hands." He told her, not wanting to hear it. She raised them up and he handcuffed her. "Now get up."

She did and followed Ward out of the apartment when Simmons stopped her. "Uh…you missed a button."

Line Break xxxxx

The Bus was currently on route to China to help the SHIELD team there find Chan. Skye and Miles were handcuffed in the interrogation room while the rest of the team went over the evidence. Ward watched them via the cameras in the room with Skye showing some regret over what happened and the SHIELD leak while Miles kept on his ideological stance.

"Guy's hiding behind platitudes. He's dirty. I can feel it." Ward said.

"Scrubbed clean, actually—nothing much on him. He's got no family records. His apartment's under an alias. And he plays a lot of Minecraft, where he runs a rather nasty mob." Simmons told him.

"Is it—is it Zombie?" Fitz wondered.

"Zombie Pigmen." Simmons corrected him and Fitz was impressed.

"Keep looking." Ward told her.

"It's the money. He was paid to do this. Check his financials." They heard as Will walked in with Goose following him. Goose jumped up onto the desk where the files were and began messing with them as Fitz tried to shoo him away.

"What makes you say that?" Simmons asked.

"Motive. Either it's personal, it's political, or its financial. When I snuck into the apartment, I overhead him promise Skye that he would take her to a fancy hotel when she had free time which means he came into some money. Check his financials." Will told Simmons and Fitz and the two checked the boxes. He then looked at Ward and noticed his grimace. "You all right?"

"Not really." He replied.

"Give it some time. I've found alcohol works. That and shooting something." Will suggested.

"When this is over, I'll try the alcohol." Ward remarked as Fitz looked through the box he put Miles's financial files in.

"Where is that file? I know I put it in…" Fitz stopped when he saw that Goose had the file on the table and nudged it over to him. "Oh…thank you."

"Nice work, Goose." Will scratched him on the head. Fitz checked the file and looked through it before finding some deposit slips.

"I think I got it." Fitz said, handing it to Ward who looked through it.

"Go and see what you can find out about that. I'll tell Coulson." Will said to Ward who nodded. He went to the interrogation room while Will went to Coulson and overhead his conversation with May. Coulson was upset with himself that he let this happen and May was being May. He trusted his gut with Skye despite the concerns from the others and it just blew up in his face. He knew she was still hiding something and he just hoped it wouldn't put more people in danger. Will knocked on the wall before entering the office. "Coulson, we found some evidence."

Ward walked into the interrogation room with the financial file. Skye sat up straight, wondering what he found out as he walked over. "She's been defending you, saying you're a stand-up guy. So, I'm going to give you a chance. Do you want to tell her, or should I?"

"I don't have to listen to you—"

"There goes your chance." Ward opened up the file and began taking out bank check deposit slips. "Your boyfriend here made a few deposits in the days following the leak. All said…it's about a million dollars."

"What?" Skye looked at Miles in anger and hurt.

"Real stand-up guy." Ward remarked.

"I can explain—"

"Did you sell information?" Skye asked him. "Miles? Yes or no? Did you?!"

"Yes, but—"

"OHH! You are so dead!" Skye jumped at him but she was handcuffed to the table. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

"It was a million dollars. A million dollars. It would change my life—our lives. And that woman was harmless. I looked into it." Miles explained.

"No one with good intentions pays that kind of money for information. Did you ever think about that?" She questioned.

"Of course, I did. I never would have done it if I thought—"

"Who's the woman you're referring to?" Ward asked Miles.

"A fan of the Rising Tide, some rich girl in a flower dress. She knew all about me, said I had a gift. She thought people like use deserved more." He said.

"Oh, you deserve more." Skye told him off.

"She pointed me to a Chinese SHIELD feed—wanted me to crack it."

"You thought that was harmless?" Ward pointed out.

"I checked the data stream. It didn't seem like anything you and I hadn't already put out there, Skye. And I traced the account where the money came from to make sure it wasn't some evil corporation. It was just an Eco-Research lab. Otherwise, I would have never—"

"Ecological research?" Ward asked him.

"Yeah, insects. Some study with centipedes. What's more harmless than that?" Miles pointed out while Ward and Skye shared a look. They knew who was behind this.

The team, minus Skye reconvened in the ops center. "It appears that Centipede is responsible for Mr. Chan's kidnapping." Coulson told them.

"First LA, now Hong Kong. What kind of organization are we dealing with?" Ward questioned.

"International, well-financed, interested in creating a super soldier. Let's hope finding Mr. Chan will provide some answers. Using the account information Mr. Lydon gave us, SHIELD HQ believes he's being held here." Coulson brought up a map and highlighted a building.

"Any ideas what Centipede wants with Chan?" May asked.

"Hard to say but Simmons thinks considering he's pyrokinetic…"

"There's a good chance his genetics could stabilize the Extremis element of the Centipede Serum."

"Keep the test subjects from going…"

"Boom."

"If Mr. Chan is Centipede's lab rat, we need to get there before the experiment's over." Coulson stated and the team got ready.

Hong Kong, China

The Bus landed on the ground so the ground team was gearing up. May was coming along with Will who suited up and was bringing his quiver and bow. Ward was coming as well when Coulson walked over to him. "Agent May, Detmer and I will be handling the field work. You stay and oversee the prisoners." Coulson told him.

"Sir? I was Skye's S.O. It was my responsibility—"

"It was my call to bring Skye onto the plane, and you warned me against it. My problem—I fix it." Coulson told him as the team left the plane and joined up their tactical support.

Back in the interrogation room, there was a palpable tension as Skye looked at Miles in anger and disgust. "I'm sorry. I honestly didn't know."

"All our talks—did you mean none of it? I risked everything to help you and it turns out every word out of your mouth since we met is total crap." Skye told him off.

"That's not true."

"Democratization of knowledge—the truth will set you free? The truth sure as hell came out." She spat out.

"I believe in all those things. I just don't know why they have to go hand in hand with barely scraping by. Come on, Skye. You lived in your van for the last two years." Miles pointed out.

"Now you're making fun of my van?"

"I could have funded us for years—us. So, you wouldn't have to sacrifice your principles, joining this corrupt institution to find what you're looking for. And what's wrong with me trying to do that?"

"I'll tell you what's wrong with that—an innocent guy might die…for money." Skye stated.

"You know I'd never intentionally hurt anyone." He promised. "I'm just trying to get my life together. At least you know what you're looking for. Me, I don't have that. For a long time, I thought it was you. I guess I was wrong."

"I guess so." Skye muttered.

With Will and Coulson…

The SHIELD team was outside the building going over the last minute details before they breached. Coulson brought up the blueprints on his phone to show them. "Building has five floors. The first four are research. Fifth is listed as maintenance but uses half the building's energy." Coulson informed them.

"Either they're guarding the world's largest vacuum…"

"Or that's where Chan's being held. Send your B and C teams into the tunnels to secure the lower floors. Warn them that the Centipede serum's highly explosive." Coulson said.

"Understood. Where do we go in?" Agent Chan asked as May fired a grapple hook onto the roof and hooked herself in before being pulled up. The other agents did the same.

"The roof." Coulson answered.

Will fired a grapple arrow at the roof that pulled himself up. They grouped up on the roof but Will took out a special electronic payload arrow and fired it at a nearby junction box. "EDI, are you connected?" He asked.

"I am. I'm currently connected to the build's security system and feeding all the data back to the BUS. Centipede has not been made aware of your arrival yet." EDI told him.

"Then let's move before they discover our welcome wagon." Will said so the team moved in.

They moved down the hall with Will leading point next to another SHIELD agent with May, Coulson, and Agent Kwan behind them. May had a scanner out which was leading them to Chan's unique heat signature. Given his powers, his signature was much more intense and it led them to a set of highly secured double doors. "There. Heat signature confirmed."

Coulson walked over to the door and May handed him a small puck. "I love these things." He attached it to door near the handle and pressed it. It beeped and powered up as the agents turned around before it blew a hole through the lock and they walked in. May disarmed and knocked out one of the guards. A nearby guard pulled out his gun to shoot her only for Will to fire an arrow and kill the guard with an arrow to the chest. He quickly fired two more at the guards coming down from the other side of the room and killed them as well. One of the scientists quickly pressed a red button on the wall and initiated a lockdown. The alarm sounded and all the doors shut. The scientist picked up a gas tank and tried to hit Coulson only for the agent knock him out with a punch to the throat. With the guards dead, the only other person in the room was Chan who was strapped to a medical table where his hands suffered severe burns. Will rushed over to one of the computers and connected EDI to it to get all the data they had while taking a small vial of some kind of serum from a cabinet.

"Agent Kwan…it's you." Chan muttered.

"We're here to get you out." Kwan promised as he undid the straps. Coulson rushed to the door they used to get in but it was locked shut. The doors must have had secondary magnetic locks that kept them shut.

"EDI, start breaking through the encryption and get these doors open. Kwan, tell your men…" Coulson stopped mid-sentence when he saw Kwan standing there with blood dripping down his mouth. The reason for that was because of the burning hole straight through his stomach. Kwan fell to the ground to show Chan standing behind him with a menacing look after he finished injecting himself with something. "Chan, what have you done?"

"I've set myself free." Chan stated as he summoned fire in his hands.

"Coulson, run!" Will quickly fired an arrow at Chan who turned and vaporized it with a powerful blast of fire. Coulson and May ducked behind nearby crates or desks for cover as Chan threw a volley of fireballs at Will who ran through the lab. The other SHIELD Agent tried to shoot him only for Chan to kill him with a fireball to the face. Will vaulted over a desk and slid past some cabinets on his knees before firing two arrows that Chan burnt to a crisp. Will pulled out an explosive arrow and fired it and Chan who incinerated it which made it go off but his fireball made it explode from a safe enough distance. Will used the distraction to quickly shoot an electronic-bolo arrow to restrain and knock out Chan but the second the arrowhead exploded and the wire wrapped around him, he just summoned more fire that turned it to ash. "That's not good."

"RAHH!" Chan let out a loud roar and threw a giant fireball at Will who quickly ran for cover. He managed to dive over some computers and terminals just as Chan threw it. It made a giant burning hole through the electrical equipment with parts vaporized or melted and Will scrambled to the side and quickly hid behind a pillar. That's when he noticed his sleeve was on fire so he put it out. "AAAH!"

Chan's scream of pain was because of the burns that had made their way up his arms. The more he used his powers the more it hurt him. "Mr. Chan, I know you're in pain." Coulson said to him.

"This is nothing. You were ones killing me, forcing me to keep this gift locked up inside!" Chan shouted.

"Chan, I'm sorry you've lived a life you didn't want…but violence will solve nothing." May said to him in Cantonese.

"It will keep me from being kept prisoner. By you, by them. There's no difference. I was given this gift for a reason. To burn bright!" Chan exclaimed with arrogance.

"There's no turning back." May warned him.

"I don't want to go back." He shouted as May looked at Coulson.

"So, we're good right?" Coulson asked.

Will peaked out from behind the pillar and to see Chan's position. He had lost it. Their best bet was knocking him out and getting him to a facility and if that didn't work then they may have to stop him.

"RAH!" Chan shouted as he threw a fireball at Coulson who quickly moved out of the way and stopped near May.

Will walked out from behind the pillar with an arrow on his bow that had a blue colored arrowhead. He fired it at the ground in front of Chan and it released a gas that quickly enveloped a few feet around it and began freezing everything. Chan's body soon was covered from head to toe in a thick layer of ice. Will walked forward and saw that Chan was captured and frozen. "Clear." He told them so May and Coulson peaked their heads out to see Chan was frozen solid along with the ground around him.

"What did you do?" May asked.

"Fermionic gas. Cools to a few degrees of absolute zero. This'll keep him chilled until we get him to a SHIELD facility." He explained.

"Good work, Will. What about the lockdown?" Coulson asked him.

"EDI, status on the doors?" He asked her.

"The building's lockdown procedure has disconnected the system from all exterior servers including the junction box on the roof. The only way to disable the alarm is to get to the security room on the floor below you. You can deactivate the lockdown and give me complete control of the building." Edi informed him.

"The building's lockdown. I need to get to the security room one floor below to lift it." Will pulled out three explosive arrows from his quiver and looked at the security door nearest to him. "Three explosive arrows should be enough to break it down."

That's when they heard some hissing and cracking and looked to see the ice around Chan began to crack and melt quickly as his body was glowing orange. "That's not good." Coulson muttered so Will quickly ran away and dove behind the same cover Coulson and May were hiding behind just as Chan erupted in a bright flash of fire. The ice that didn't melt was blown away and the three felt the intense wave of heat that emanated from Chan.

"AHH!" Chan shouted in pain as more of his body was burned after using his powers to escape the ice.

"His file say anything about him being homicidal?" May asked Coulson.

"Just said he was kind of a tool." Coulson summarized. "Mr. Chan, believe it or not, this can still get worse."

"You bend someone long enough, and they break. Poor little Chan Ho Yin may have believed your lies, but not Scorch!" Chan declared.

"Who?" May asked and Will groaned.

"Oh, crap. They gave him a name." He muttered before looking at the security door. "I'll be back. Try not to get yourselves killed."

Will rushed out from cover and ran across the room as Chan threw fireball after fireball in an attempt to hit him but missed. Will fired the three explosive arrows at the door which erupted in a big explosion and loud bang. He then jumped forward and hit the door which fell off its hinges to the ground. Not having a moment to waste, he got back to his feet and raced to the control room.

He barreled through the door to the stairs and jumped down a floor before kicking the door in to the floor. He ran down the hall and turned the corner where he slid forward and tripped a guard with his bow.

"Where are we with the doors?" May radioed as Will smacked the guard in the back of his head with his bow before turning and firing an arrow at another guard and hit him in chest.

"Working on it." He walked over to the security room and quickly fired an arrow behind him that split into two, killing two guards who turned the hallway.

Will kicked the door in and connected Edi to the security system. "I am connected to the system. One moment…" Edi told him and the security alarm shut off. "Lockdown protocols are lifted."

"Thanks, EDI. Get what you can from the system. Coulson, lockdown is deactivated. Status report?"

"Chan's gone. It's time to minimize the damage. Close all vents and hatches to redirect an explosion to the roof." Coulson told him.

"Roger that. Edi, get on it." He said before leaving.

Coulson found Chan standing in a hallway with a pile of ashes in front of him, having used his powers to kill someone. "Mr. Chan, we don't want to hurt you…" Coulson told him as Chan turned to him with a demented look on his face. "…but we have to."

May snuck up behind Chan and injected him in the back with two vials of Centipede serum they found in the lab. Chan groaned in pain as the serum's volatility began to take effect. Everyone raced out of the building as quickly as they could. The SHIELD teams went back out through the tunnels they used to get in as Coulson, May, and Will rushed out the front door just in time as Chan exploded. Luckily, EDI was able to redirect the blast up to the roof.

"EDI managed to extract some files from the security room. They could give us a lead on Centipede." Will told him.

"Maybe." Coulson replied.

"We did everything we could, Coulson. Sometimes you can't save someone from themselves." Will stated.

"You can if you get to them early enough." Coulson said, referring to Skye. Back at the BUS, Miles and Skye were taken out of the interrogation room to the cargo ramp where Coulson walked over with a box. "You've got two choices—take what's in this box, or we put you in a slightly bigger one."

You want to give me a hint?" Miles asked but Coulson just kept stoic. Miles took the box and opened it to see a silver band. "What's it do?"

"Whatever we tell it to do." Coulson took the band out of the box and attached it around Miles's wrist. "I'd try to avoid any unlawful activity, and I think you'll find it hard to use any electronic devices for a while. You can go now."

"Cool, but we're still in Hong Kong."

"Yep."

"I live in Austin, Texas." Miles reminded him.

"I know. Oh, and Agent Kwan's family thanks you for the anonymous donation." Coulson told him. Miles just stood there and had to take it as Coulson to the stairs before looking at Skye. "My office."

Skye walked over to Miles to bid him farewell. "So, you plan to stay?"

"If they let me." She replied.

"You've changed."

"Good."

"I mean, you're not who you used to be." Miles pointed out.

"And you're not who I thought you were." Skye told him.

"I hope you find what you're looking for." Miles said as she walked up the stairs to the living area while Miles walked out of the Bus and had to figure out how to get home.

Coulson walked into his office to see Will waiting there with some files. "What did you find?"

"Not much but some possible leads on who could be working with them. If my hunch is right and that Centipede could be working with what's left of AIM then it might give me a lead to pursue. I'm gonna head to Avengers Tower and see if this can get me somewhere." Will answered. "There is this though."

He handed her a drawing he sketched of a woman in a flower dress. "Who's she?"

"Not sure but the person Chan was recruited by. I read his mind when he was encased in ice. Her name is Raina. He didn't know a lot but she's a smooth talker. Told him everything he wanted to hear and had him wrapped around her finger. She was working with a scientist to extract Chan's blood and experiment on him. Never got the name but I also got her face so I'll do some digging." Will added.

"Good work. Anything else?" Coulson wondered.

"Just everything Miles knew about the Rising Tide including names, addresses and pretty much the entire network. Sent that information to the FBI so that's something." He remarked. "We did everything we could, Coulson. Chan was a lost cause by the time we got there so don't beat yourself up."

"Kind of hard not to." Coulson muttered. "How are you?"

"Grateful that when you and Fury approached me that it went differently. I can imagine turning into Chan under the same circumstances. Having powers you're told you can use and are a part of you and then when someone else tells you you're special…it can make you do a lot of things." Will admitted. Chan's story was now a cautionary one. He could have easily ended up like him under the same circumstances.

"And with the same bad name as Scorch." Coulson remarked and they both found the humor in that. That's when Skye knocked on the door and walked in to take a seat at his desk.

"I didn't want anything to—"

"Stop lying. Since the moment you stepped foot on this plane, you've been lying to my face, to all of us." Coulson told her.

"I haven't—"

"You're lying now. I stood up for you to my team down there. And some of us started to believe in you, risked our lives for you." Coulson added.

"I—"

"Why are you here?! You've been keeping something from us this whole time. And it wasn't just a boyfriend. You have a secret, Skye, and one chance to come out with it. And that's now, or I'm done with you." Coulson warned her. Skye held back her tears before taking out the memory card from her bra. "What is this?"

"It's everything I have."

"On us?"

"On me." Skye told him so Coulson took the memory card and put it in his phone to see what was on it. "It's why learned to crack systems. Why I joined the Rising Tide—to find any details I could about my parents."

The information on the drive came up on the monitor in Coulson's office and after a whole bunch of birth records, adoption agency information, and financial records, the last file was from a redacted and classified SHIELD notice.

"There's nothing. No records. There's no trace of them. My lifelong search has led to a single document—redacted."

"By SHIELD." Coulson muttered.

"No matter what you do, I'll never stop looking." Skye told him as her voice started to break.

That's when Will stepped forward and looked at Skye with genuine concern. "From one orphan to another…you might not like what you find." He warned her.

"It can't be worse than what I've imagined." She pointed out.

Coulson walked over to her and made his decision. "Maybe I can help." Skye exhaled and wiped the tears coming down her cheek when Coulson handed her a box like the one he gave to Miles. She nodded and opened the box before taking out the band. Coulson and Will walked out of the room as she put the band on her wrist. She wasn't kicked out but now she had to regain the trust of everyone if she really wanted to stay. And like Will warned her…she might not like the answers she gets.

End of Chapter 13

That's the end of Chapter 13. Skye's secret has been found out and her real purpose for being there is revealed. Looking for her birth parents might not give her the answers she wants if she wants to know them at all. Also, there was a little filler mission before that and for those that were able to pick up where it came from, yes it came from Live Free or Die Hard. Not the greatest Die Hard movie but had some moments that were ok. In this universe, that movie was never released but Die Hard is a franchise hence Will's use of John McClane's line. If there are any movies or tv shows or events you think would make for great missions then leave it in a review or PM me. Will's dynamic with the team is improving which will further develop in the next chapter.

Next chapter, Will digs into the Centipede lead to do another track down of AIM and hopefully get some answers but that's easier said then done. They're hidden and won't be so easily found. Still, there's work to be done. The Team encountered odd electrical deaths with fire fighters that involves what happened in New York, before doing another mission of Will's that takes them to Monaco for a high stakes Poker Game, and then a trip to the HUB. Until then.

Next stories to be updated: January we'll get Multiverse, Blue Wolf, Omniverse, and Spectacular Spider-man. Check out my profile page for Updates from now on. I'll post updates there on my main page to keep you guys informed.

Have a Happy New Year!

William Alexander Detmer/Birthname: William Alexander Danvers

Born: September 8th, 1988-Currently 24

Moniker= Aegis (means something under protection from a benevolent source/Shield of Zeus and Athena)

Primagen Enhanced Inhuman

SHIELD Status: Level 8 Agent / Special Operations, Tactics and Defense Specialist (SOTD) Serial number: NE616IN

Member of the Avengers

Appearance: Stephen Amell from Arrow, Season 1 build.

Aegis Combat gear: Earth X's Dark Arrow Vibranium jacket and pants with retractable full-face mask colored Black and Blue. Eye covers in mask are colored blue as well. Improved design resists more damage and certain atmospheric pressures.

Shoulder strap pellet holders. Combat gloves and forearm guards with weapons and equipment.

SHIELD gear: Combat boots, black combat pants, with form fitting dark blue long sleeve athletic shirt. SHIELD Tactical combat vest.

Shoulder strap pellet holders. Combat gloves and forearm guards with weapons and equipment.

Casual Outfit: dark blue or black sneakers, jeans, blue or black t-shirt and either a zip-up hoodie, jacket, or button up over.

Weapons:

Signature Guns:

Modified Heckler & Koch P30L handgun with custom grip and compensator or suppressor attachment. Spare firearm Glock 17.

Modified Knight's Armament SR-25 Sniper rifle with modified scope, bipod, and suppressor.

Modified M249 Mk46 Light Machine gun with a modified barrel, magazine insertion well. Equipped with adjustable buttstock, 100-round magazine drum, deployable bipod, red dot sight, flashlight, and laser sight attachment.

Modified TDI/KRISS Vector-.45 ACP with modified barrel, stock, grip, extended magazine, red-dot sight, flashlight, laser sight, and silencer attachment.

Modified Remington 879 MSC Masterkey 12-gauge compact shotgun.

Custom collapsible Oneida Kestrel Compound Bow and quiver of special arrows.

Others:

Right forearm guard wrist mounted retractable Vibranium/alloy blades.

Left forearm guard wrist mounted small retractable Vibranium Shield & touchpad computer.

10 dark blue flechettes/throwing arrows wrapped around his ankles.

2 Vibranium orbs that Will is able to manipulate.

Natural Language Modified Artificial Intelligence program EDI.

Predator Combi stick/spear

2 Predator Shuriken

4 Laser net devices

Predator knife

Microtech Combat Troodon OTF knife

Personal Vehicles: Red and Black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, Red and Black 1970 Harley Davidson Titan V-Rod motorcycle, SHIELD Quinjet for transport

Notable talents: Genius level intellect potential, self-defense military training from Harold Detmer, knowledge, and training in 15 types of martial arts, gun knowledge and expert marksman trained by Clint Barton, espionage and spy skills trained by Natasha Romanoff, SHIELD tactics and medical training from Coulson and SHIELD trainers, well-crafted knowledge and understanding of psychology, knowledge, and experience with engineering both mechanical and electrical, fluent in dozens of languages, trained pilot.

Personality: Kind, caring, composed, attentive, intelligent, and driven. Can be a bit of a smartass.

When insulted, angered, or in a serious situation, focused and relentless. Considered dangerous and unforgiving in these types of situations.

Uses powers sparingly in the field unless absolutely needs to.

Pairing: Will x Skye/Daisy Johnson x Crystal

Powers:

Rakyat Tatau: Mystical tattoo that enhances speed, strength, stamina, intelligence, instincts, healing speed ad metabolic function to absolute human peak potential. (Captain America Level Super Soldier)

Telekinesis, the ability to impact objects through the direct influence of mental power or other non-physical means

Power Level=Advanced: level 4 out of 5

Binding-to keep an object/being from moving

Levitation-to lift an object

Orbital Field-to makes objects and energy orbit around user

Telekinetic Shield-to create a shield of telekinetic energy around user or others/strength of shield depends on mental strength and focus of user

Psionic Speed-to augment user's physical speed

Psionic Strength-to augment user's physical strength

Telekinetic Bullet Projection-projecting telekinetic energy as bullets

Telekinetic Choking-to strangle someone with telekinesis

Telekinetic Grip-To grasp an object firmly in place

Telekinetic Maneuver-to alter an object's directional course

Telekinetic Pull & Push-to pull or push objects away from user

Molecular Manipulation-to manipulate matter at molecular level. Can accelerate, slow down and adjust spacing of molecules.

Limited in use. i.e., manipulating Vibranium orbs and reshaping them

Telekinetic Aura/Sense-To sense one's surroundings with telekinesis

Telekinetic Compression-to crush or compact an object

Telekinetic Blast-to emit telekinetic energy as a blast of blue energy

Telekinetic Destruction-to make an object explode into dust

Telekinetic Flight-using telekinesis to fly

Psionic Explosion-to create/discharge psychic energy across a wide range

Telepathy, mentally receive or transmit information

Power Level=Advanced: level 4 out of 5

Mind Reading-ability to read the thoughts of others

Memory Reading-the ability to read the target's memories

Psychic Communication-the ability to secretly converse with others

Telepathic Speaking-to speak aloud using the mind

Telepathic Projection-to project images or memories into the physical plane

Download-the ability to process/download information of another person (If used in a violent or angry mood, can harm the victim)

Knowledge Replication-the ability to replicate learned knowledge and skills

Knowledge Projection-the ability to project knowledge to another

Rapid brain activity-the ability to process and understand information at incredible rates

Mental Inducement-The ability to put the targets mind into the wanted state

Mental Hallucination-the ability to cause mental hallucinations

Mind Link-the ability to develop a permanent mental bond with any person

Mind Walking/Melding-to enter another's consciousness

Precognition awareness-six sense awareness of imminent danger

Telepathic Prediction-the ability to know a person's moves by reading their brain waves

Astral Projection-to separate one's mind from their body and explore physical plane

Cannot use telekinesis in this state. If separated from body too long, very dangerous.

Telepathic Surgery-the ability to perform neuropsychic surgery, healing and/or damaging the mind

Memory/Mental Manipulation-the ability to manipulate a target's memories and mind

Clairvoyance-the ability to gain direct visual information through non-physical means

Triggered only by serious events

Foresight-the ability to foresee possible future events and observe what may happen

Needs certain triggers to activate

Disclaimer: I don't own Agents of SHIELD or any Marvel Properties, they belong to their respective owners, I'm just a fan.