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.

14. A Poker Game to Win

Hey, everyone. Here's chapter 14 of the Perfect One. Will digs into the Centipede angle to try and find another lead. He's not sure what they're doing or have planned but it's not good but that'll have to wait as an investigation into odd deaths involving static electricity takes precedent. Then uncovering a network of terrorists, criminals, and generally horrible people and their money involves something rather unusual. They need to win a poker game. Enjoy!

The Perfect One: A Poker Game to win

July 2013: San Francisco, California

Residing near the Golden Gate Bridge was a series of luxury apartment buildings. Just the location itself would cost a pretty penny in rent but combined with easy access to public transportation, proximity to high-end stores and the city's business centers it made it one of the city's most luxurious and expensive apartment complexes. Residing in one of the nicer apartments was a small group of people you'd think are just friends or family but that wasn't the whole truth. The reality was that these people were a small cell of a American-based hate group that had been ramping up their attacks. They recently got their hands on some high-tech weapons and gear from people who wanted to aid their cause.

The group consisted of four men and a woman. They had some bomb material on one of their tables with plans to hit a target when the doorbell to their apartment rang. One of the guys unclicked the safety from his pistol and walked over to the door. He peaked through the peephole to see the building super and a tall man in a gas company uniform standing next to her. "Sorry to bother you but there's a gas leak in the building. Our utilities contractor is going through all the units in this area to do an inspection." The super announced.

"Our gas works fine. There's no problem." The man told her.

"We need to inspect all the units regardless. It'll just take a few minutes. And it is an emergency." The super told him. The man looked back at the others who were unsure when there was another knock on the door. "It's quite important, sir. By law, I am allowed to use my own key to enter your apartment for inspection. I promise this will just take a few minutes."

"A-all right. Just a second." The man replied before he motioned the others to hide their bomb stuff. They used some blankets from the couch to hide the stuff on the table before giving the man the thumbs up. He opened the door to see the super and the gas man with a bag of tools. His name tag read Oliver Queen.

"Come out when you're done and I'll take you to the next flat." The super told the gas man.

"No problem, ma'am. I'll be done quick." Oliver promised before entering the apartment and the man closed the door once he entered.

"This way." The man motioned him into the apartment. Everyone smiled and the guy walked in to the kitchen to see one of the guys getting a drink of water. He had some burn marks on his hands.

"Can I see your boiler please?" Oliver asked.

"Would you mind putting your bag on the table?" The man asked and Oliver nodded.

"Sure." Oliver walked into the kitchen and placed the bag on the kitchen table.

"Open it up." The man told him so Oliver unzipped the bag. The guy in the kitchen with the glass of water walked over and the other guy did the same. "That's enough."

Oliver stepped back and the man walked over to see that inside the bag were just tools. He then dumped the contents out onto the table and saw a large towel with a tube sticking out at the end. The man undid the towel to see it was an HK MP-7 submachine gun with an attached silencer. Oliver kicked one of the men back and wrestled with the other for control of the gun, inadvertently sending a barrage of bullets up the wall and into the ceiling. Oliver kicked the guy over the couch and slid back into the kitchen as the two men on the couch took out pistols and shot at him while the one he kicked in the kitchen crawled back into the living room. Oliver kicked over the table for cover and fired at the terrorists who blindly fired over the couch. All four shot at him while Oliver shot through and around the table. He peaked out and shot one of the men in the chest. A second tried to run for door but Oliver shot him in the back as he ran away and took up cover by the fridge after removing some containers. The woman rushed over to her dead friend as Oliver and the two remaining men shot at one another.

Oliver's gun was shot out of his hand and the two men continued shooting at him before one got up to the wall and shot behind the corner where Oliver was. Only he missed as Oliver had jumped up on top of the fridge. He leapt out and grabbed the guy's gun, causing him to shoot the remaining bullets in the pistol clip and hit the woman in the shoulder. He quickly disarmed the man and knocked the gun out of his hand when he was put in a rear naked choke. Oliver moved the guy around, slamming him into the wall before grabbing a nearby lamp and smashing it on his head to get free. He grabbed his wrist and punched him in the neck and shoulder before landing a right jab across the face. He then picked him up over his shoulder and slammed him onto the ground before picking up the TV and smashing it on his head, killing him.

Oliver quickly dodged the knife swings from the last man standing and the two waited for the other to make the first move. The man with the knife tried to stab Oliver in the stomach but he grabbed his arm and stopped the knife before twisting his arms and kicking the guy back. He quickly grabbed one of the blankets from the couch and held it out as the guy did another lunge. Oliver wrapped the blanket around his wrist and then threw him over his shoulder to the ground where he quickly pulled his wrist to his neck and wrapped the rest of the blanket around his neck. The guy struggled to get free but Oliver held on tight before he snapped the man's neck, killing him. (1)

"Jesus…" He muttered before he stood up and saw the woman was still alive. She reached over for one of the guns only for Oliver to walk over and kick it away before moving her onto her back and putting his boot on her bullet wound, making her cry out in pain. "Make another move and you're dead."

"Go fuck yourself!" She shouted so Oliver just stomped on her wrist and broke it. "AH!"

"Yeah, I've heard that before." He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "This is Agent Detmer. Four KIA and one secured. Close in and secure location."

"Roger that."

The door handle and lock on the front door was blown off before it was kicked in. In walked several SHIELD agents in full tactical gear followed by Coulson. He took a look around the place and noticed its state before looking at the woman and at Will. "You all right?" Coulson wondered, pointing to his hair.

Will tentatively reached up and pulled out a piece of plaster from his hair before flicking it away. "I'm fine. Just another day in the life of SHIELD." He remarked.

Back on the BUS, Fitz, Simmons, Skye, May, and Ward had witnessed the entire exchange and fight via the camera placed on a button on Will's shirt. Many of them had seen Will in combat but seeing it in first person in those close quarters was still shocking. "My word…" Simmons muttered.

"Bloody hell." Fitz added.

"Yeah, what they said." Skye remarked. "He took them down like it was nothing."

"I thought him going in on his own was too dangerous but clearly I was wrong." Simmons said. "If anything, they needed help."

"Well, you don't get to be level-8 without learning to defend yourself and handle situations like that." May stated.

"That almost sounded like a compliment." Ward told her.

"I've seen him in action. He's earned that promotion." May replied.

"Still, not sure how much help they are gonna be. Do we really think they'll be able to give us another lead on Centipede?" Ward pointed out.

"All the data we've gone over from the Centipede lab in Hong Kong didn't give us much to go on. Even after back tracing all the tech from that lab and then going through the info downloaded gave us barely anything on where they're getting their supplies. Still, I managed to isolate some financial transactions for that lab and then matched them to shipping and billing information through enough dummy corporations and fake bank accounts to isolate one of them. Just so happened that whoever the account belonged to doesn't exist but this group did send money to them for the weapons and bomb supplies. If we can get that routing number then I can look into it more." Skye explained.

Back with Will and Coulson, the other SHIELD agents were going through the apartment and recovered some high-tech weapons and plenty of sophisticated bomb-making supplies. Definitely not the kind of stuff you'd get from a regular arms dealer. Two of the agents were standing guard over the female terrorist as Will walked over to Coulson who was looking at the table of weapons the group had along with their bomb making material.

"Brand new Glocks, HK G36 assault rifles with armor piercing rounds and attached grenade launchers, anti-personnel mines, C4 explosives, flashbangs, heavy duty Kevlar body armor and not to mention sophisticated bomb making supplies including polymer metals that can get past a metal detector." Coulson listed off. "Not the kind of stuff regular people could find."

"Brand new. No matches on the serial numbers and most of this stuff is government issued." Will added. He picked up one of their armbands that had the initials FOH on it. "The friends of humanity? What kind of friends of humanity would build bombs?"

"None that are friendly. We'll pass the relevant information to the FBI but keep a file on them in SHIELD's database. According to their manifesto…" Coulson held up a small booklet that was on a table. "…this group isn't exactly open minded. They believe that humanity has been infiltrated by aliens and that the Avengers and SHIELD are not here to protect us but to enslave us to aliens and mutants."

"Mutants?" Will took the manifesto and turned off the camera on his chest. He then shut off his commlink before motioning Coulson to do the same. "You don't think this group actually knows about mutants do you?"

"A part of me would like to say not but after the Battle of New York, mutant chatter has increased. Scientific studies have been published about the existence of super powered individuals and those conspiracy theorists that were thought to be delusion or crazy are now starting to gain traction. It's a brave new world." Coulson remarked with full irony and sarcasm.

"Yeah, and the new world sucks. We get stuck cleaning up the messes of the new world started by these idiots who'd rather blame and hate others for the problems in their lives then take a moment of self-reflection." Will said in disgust. "If this group is actually referring to mutants then this could be a problem."

"Agreed. I'd advise alerting the professor and have them be vigilant. We'll inform the FBI on a limited basis and make sure this group is kept on SHIELD's radar but we came here for a reason." Coulson told him.

"Right. Shall we." He put the manifesto down before they reactivated their comms and walked over to the female extremist they had in custody. She was being watched by two SHIELD agents who had cuffed her and cleaned up her bullet wound. "So, do you feel like cooperating yet?"

"Fuck you." She cursed only for Will and Coulson to look at each other in exhaustion.

"People these days have no manners, don't they Coulson?" Will asked him and Coulson nodded.

"Agreed. I blame too much television." Coulson quipped. "What happened to the days when people could have a nice, polite conversation. Granted, I think we can chalk up your poor attitude to the bullet hole in your shoulder and the fact that your friends are all dead."

"Well, to be fair. Considering everything you have here and what you were planning it was kind of warranted." Will pointed out. "Where did you get the weapons and bomb materials from?"

"Fuck you." She cursed yet again and Will just sighed.

"At the very least you could be a bit more creative." Will told her before stomping on her other wrist and breaking it.

"Bloody hell." Fitz muttered, not expecting that. The team on the plane got a good view and sound of the woman screaming in pain.

"Trust me, this can get worse for you but if you cooperate then it'll get easier." Coulson told her as Will reached down and grabbed her by the arm.

"Who gave you weapons? How did they reach out to you?!" He shouted but the woman just spit in his face. He sighed and wiped off the blood and saliva before punching her across the face. He looked over at Coulson and he nodded back so he tapped his ear piece. "Ward, you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Ward responded.

"Have Fitz, Simmons, and Skye leave the room. They're not gonna want to see what's about to happen." Will told him. Ward looked at the others and was inclined to agree.

"Roger that." Ward replied. "All right, you three. Out."

"Seriously?" Skye felt like they were getting sidelined.

"Trust me, Skye. You're not gonna want to see what happens next." Coulson told her so the three left. He knelt to the injured woman and looked at her face to face. "Miss, it would be in your best interest to tell us what you know. Please."

"Go to hell, Fed." She cursed.

Coulson sighed and nodded to Will who sighed as well. "I always hate that the bad guys want to play it the hard way. I never get it." He muttered before rolling up his sleeves. Suffice to say that Will was right to have the others not watch what was gonna happen.

A few minutes later…

A SHIELD team arrived to take inventory of everything in the apartment including cleaning up the fight and the dead bodies which were placed into plastic body bags for transport while another SHIELD agent escorted the bruised and bleeding lone female survivor out of the apartment complex for detainment. Coulson watched as Will wrote down the information he got from the interrogation which wasn't much but he got a name and a face. The name was Michael M. Ouse so that was likely an alias, not a very good one, but he was able to read the woman's mind and when they went to pick up the guns and bomb stuff she got a look at the guy's face. Will finished drawing the sketch of the man and showed Coulson.

"That's him?" Coulson asked and Will nodded.

"This is Michael M. Ouse. Kind of a stupid alias. It's not much but Skye might be able to get us something with the guy's face and name." Will pointed out. "Whatever way this investigation goes tells us something. Either we're able to wrap this up quickly or…"

"Or this Centipede organization is a much bigger threat then we realize." Coulson finished Will's train of thought. "Let's find out which one it is."

They returned to the Bus to have Skye track down their only lead.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas. Sin City. The Entertainment capital of the world. It's earned those names over its storied history and drew in tourists from all over the world looking for nights of drinking, gambling, strip clubs, and regrettable actions that led to mornings of hangovers, forgotten memories and the realization you lost your child's college fund at the roulette table. Good times. But for those in the know, it was also a place where you could get anything you needed whether it was legal or illegal.

A few miles from the strip in the surrounding suburbs, warehouses, and neighborhoods where the actual natives of Las Vegas lived, Will, Ward, and Coulson were with a SHIELD tactical team to launch a raid on the warehouse belonging to Michal M. Ouse. The information they got from the Friends of Humanity wasn't much with just a fake name and a sketch but Skye was able to do enough with a little. The name was an alias but said alias was used in several bank accounts both local and offshore for money laundering including the accounts that led them to the extremists in San Francisco. The account had ties to various businesses both legal and illegal located in Las Vegas. After that, Skye ran a facial recognition pattern trace on the sketch that Will gave her and they actually found a match to a person in Las Vegas. Michal M. Ouse was actually Ronald Pierson, former FBI agent before he was arrested for taking bribes and obstructing in investigations in organized crime. He was released 5 years ago and since then he's been the suspected middle man for criminal organizations and made Las Vegas his home, surrounding himself with women and people of influence.

The SHIELD SUVs arrived at a small two-story building with the sign that read Pierson's Management and Consulting. It was one of Ronald Pierson's fronts and where he would be at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The SHIELD agents got out of the vehicles and quickly set up a perimeter around the building while Ward, Will, and Coulson went to the front entrance with four other agents. Will pulled the cocking hammer on his silenced KRISS Vector submachine gun and stacked up on the right side of the door while Ward and Coulson stacked up on the left side. Everyone readied their guns as an agent placed a scanner on the door to get them a visual inside. He didn't pick up any kind of trip wires or explosives and didn't pick up any heat signatures at the door so he signaled that it was clear. Ward placed a breaching charge on the door's lock and primed it. Everyone turned their heads away as the charge let out a high-pitched beep before it exploded and blew the lock off the door.

Will went in first followed by Ward and then the others. They moved in quickly and efficiently, covering corners and keeping their eyes open but nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Ward saw a dead body on the ground. He walked over and it was a woman dead with a bullet hole in her head. Her body was next to the reception desk so she was likely the receptionist. "Got a body." Ward announced.

"Spread out and secure the perimeter." Coulson ordered so the agents did as they were told. They found a few more bodies on the first floor before heading up to the second. Will and Coulson headed to the main office belong to Ronald Pierson and found him only he wasn't going to be talking considering the two bullets in the chest and one in the head.

Will took a few careful steps to get a better look and judging by his skin color, he wasn't killed that long ago. "Dead about 24 hours, maybe more." Will told Coulson.

"Whoever did this knew we were coming, knew that Pierson was the weak link in the chain and decided to get rid of him." Coulson suggested and Will agreed. "Guess we were right that Centipede is a bigger threat."

"I hate being right." Will said and Coulson nodded.

"Likewise."

A few hours later…

Will and Ward returned to the BUS to stow their gear while Coulson spoke with the field agents about containment and clean-up. Clearly this Centipede group was a much bigger threat then they realized so SHIELD would be taking a more proactive approach in trying to ID and apprehend them. Will and Ward put their gear away and walked into the lab to see Fitz-Simmons going over the evidence from the crime scene with Skye watching them. Goose was there to keep everyone company.

"Simmons, anything useable from the crime scene?" Ward asked her.

"I'm afraid not. Whoever the attackers were didn't leave a trail. No hair or clothing fibers. They even picked up the brass casings from their guns." Simmons reported.

"All CCTV cameras around the block were shut down for an hour within our time of death window so we've got nothing." Fitz added.

"8 bodies in total and yet no one heard a shot. How did no one know something was wrong?" Skye wondered.

"Normally I would say you could blame people's general lack of empathy towards anything that doesn't have to do with them but this was professional and likely done by a team." Will suggested and Ward agreed with that assessment. "Catching that many people off guard is hard for one person unless you can turn invisible which we won't discount but given the fact that the cameras were taken out then this team didn't want to be seen. Plus, they used 95 grain subsonic rounds which means suppressor. And having the peace of mind to pick up the shell casings after you dropped eight bodies means they didn't want to leave a trace."

"Centipede knew that Pierson was the weak link and they got rid of him. Must have been paying close attention to all his accounts. When Skye dug too deep, they got rid of him." Ward said. "And they weren't afraid to kill Pierson's civilian employees in broad daylight either. This group is dangerous."

"Coulson's finishing his report to SHIELD. Centipede's on their radar now so that should help." Will added.

"So, what do we do in the meantime?" Fitz questioned.

"We keep doing our jobs." They heard as Coulson walked in. "SHIELD's been made aware of Centipede but our last chance for answers was Ronald Pierson."

"And Centipede cut that tie pretty quickly when they found out we were on to them." Will said.

"How did they even known we were looking into them?" Skye asked.

"After what happened in Hong Kong, it's safe to say that they know we're on their trail. They probably had alerts incase Pierson's information was ever flagged." Ward suggested.

"Which means that Centipede has a long reach and the resources to want to stay off the radar along with tie up loose ends." Coulson surmised.

"And if Fitz-Simmons is right that they did everything in Hong Kong to stabilize their Extremis serum hybrid then they have all the more reason to try and avoid getting on SHIELD's radar again." Will finished. "But they can't stay hidden forever. SHIELD will keep monitoring them for any signs of activity or anything else out of the ordinary so the second they pop up we'll know but that could be months or years."

"Will's right. In the meantime, there's still work for us to do. Fitz-Simmons, double check our inventory and make sure we're maxed out on everything. Once our fuel is topped off we're out of here." Coulson informed.

"And here I was thinking we would have some time to catch in a show in Vegas." Will joked. "Come on, Goose. Dinner."

Will and Coulson left the lab with Goose jumping off the table he was sitting on to follow. Ward left as well to make sure their weapons and ammo supply was maxed out leaving Skye hanging out with Fitz-Simmons as they went through the lab to double check the supplies in the lab. "That's it? We all just slip back to how things were before?" Skye wondered.

"Pretty much." Simmons told her.

"Feeling a little whiplash?" Fitz asked.

"A little. I mean, I know that's kind of the plan and job description but we just forget about Centipede and move on?" Skye questioned.

"We're not forgetting them, Skye. We can't do anything more with what we have so until another leads comes up we still have jobs to do." Simmons corrected her.

"Right, which means I get to go back to those SHIELD manuals. Oh joy." Skye remarked sarcastically before getting up and heading back upstairs to the living quarters. She walked up the stairs and headed to the kitchen to see Goose sitting on the kitchen island as Will poured his food into his bowl.

"Hey, Skye. Why the long face?" Will wondered, scratching Goose on the head as he began eating his food.

"Nothing really other then the long night I have with every single SHIELD manual as I read every single rule and regulation." Skye answered and he grimaced.

"Ah, I see your dilemma. I remember that. Worse few weeks of my life learning all that crap when in reality you only need to know a few of the basic ones." Will pointed out. "I like to think of the rest of them as more…guidelines to follow rather than actual rules. I mean, the whole business casual clothing appearance for all agents. I've got nothing against looking good in a suit but if anything, it makes you look more like a spy then if you were in regular clothes."

"That's really a rule?" Skye asked and he nodded.

"Yup but I doubt anyone has really cared that I don't follow it. Granted my time with SHIELD isn't exactly like the others. I'm actually a lot like you in that regard, Skye." Will opened up the fridge and pulled out an Italian sub he made this morning for lunch. "Sandwich?"

"Uh, sure." Skye replied so Will took a knife and cut it in half before placing both on a plate and handing one to her before getting some sodas from the fridge along with pickles and then a bag of chips from the cupboard. "What do you mean you're a lot like me?"

"In some personal ways to but I meant that I didn't take the same kind of normal avenue to join SHIELD like the others. Coulson, May, Ward, and Fitz-Simmons joined SHIELD like how pretty much 99% of agents join SHIELD. Recruitment followed up by time at one of SHIELD's training academies before being taken on by an SO and trained in the field." He explained. "My experience wasn't like that. I actually lived a fairly normal life that an adopted kid could have. I was like Batman minus the obscene wealth and butler."

"Adopted?" Skye didn't expect to hear that.

"Like I told you before, finding out about your birth parents is kind of like opening Pandora's box." He reminded her he said that after the mission in Hong Kong and Skye revealed the real reason she had stayed with them. "I was in college when SHIELD reached out to recruit me. Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned and my adopted parents got caught in the middle."

"You don't have to explain if you don't want to." Skye said.

"It's fine. It was an assassination attempt on some SHIELD Agents and Director Fury happened to be there. My parents got caught in the middle and didn't make it. I joined SHIELD soon after and they began training me. My training differed as I was joining to be an SOTD specialist and don't let anyone know I told you this but I think I also got preferential treatment from the Director and Coulson because they feel partly responsible for what happened." He told her. He was probably part right but it was just the lie he told her since he couldn't say his training was different because of his powers. "So, my situation was a lot like yours. A sort of stray cat who lost his way and SHIELD brought on."

"I'm sorry about your parents. What about your birth parents?" Skye wondered and Will just took a bite out of his sandwich.

"Left and probably don't know I exist." He answered. "Sometimes ignorance is bliss. But enough about that dower talk. Just get through those manuals and Ward will have you out of the doghouse soon enough."

"You think so? How are you not as angry as him? I mean, I know I lied to you guys and I'm sorry but I did what I had to do to protect my boyfriend. Well, ex-boyfriend." Skye told him.

"Ward's a little more peeved since he's your SO. A part of him feels like he should have picked it up sooner but Coulson and I knew you were hiding something all along. You've been through what we have long enough and you pick up things like that." He answered and she understood that.

"It's funny. You're a big shot like Coulson yet you're my age. How did that happen?" Skye wondered, taking a bite of the sandwich, and stopping to enjoy it. She even gave him a thumbs up. Will could make a good sandwich.

"Gifted talent. SHIELD and its agents recognize skill when they see it. It's what Coulson saw in you and I can see it as well. Serious computer hacking skills and someone with a good heart but most of all…someone looking for a place to belong." He diagnosed Skye and was pretty spot on.

"And you think I can find that here?" Skye asked him.

"With this team and Coulson…yeah. I'm not sure any other SHIELD agent would be as forgiving and do the same for you yet he did. Coulson's one of a kind that way." Will assured her.

"Not the only one if he trained you." Skye pointed out.

"He rubbed off on me a lot. Coulson's one of SHIELD's purest and most dedicated to what we do. Protect people. Sometimes it means stopping terrorists and saving the world while other times it means giving people a second chance. And after everything we've been through and the things we've seen…it's hard to remember that not everyone is that bad." He admitted.

"Speaking from personal experience? You mentioned what happened to your cousin and then Coulson said something about pirates. I'll admit I was a bit confused." Skye told him.

"Yeah, those two experiences kind of showed me just how bad the world and people can be. Those experiences did a lot not just in terms of field work but in sort of setting what I do. The people I kill, the bad people, I make sure they can't hurt anyone ever again and I sleep better at night knowing that." Will told her.

"That's kind of harsh, isn't it?" Skye pointed out and he nodded.

"It is but the world's a harsh and brutal place, Skye. My cousin was kidnapped by a human trafficking and prostitution ring set up in Paris and run by nothing more than a bunch of Albanian thugs who left their own country in order to make a profit and ruin lives. Rescuing her and stopping them was my first experience in the field. And then a month later, pirates kidnapped my friends and I while on vacation in Thailand. Turns out we stumbled onto their giant human trafficking and drug operation. That was a dip into insanity if there ever was one." He remembered.

"Seriously? And all of this was before you were even made an official agent? They just let you go off on your own?" Skye asked, getting intrigued with the story.

"With my cousin, I sort of went off on my own. Coulson can tell you and everything I did was just me acting on my own. I gave Coulson and others a headache when I returned. But with my friends I was on vacation. I just have some serious rotten luck." He stated.

"That does seem like bad luck." Skye said.

"Seeing what they did to their victims and the people who got in their way, how they prayed on women traveling through the city and what they do…their memories I kind of wish I could forget." He remarked and Skye could tell he meant it. "But it's also one that reminds me that every action and kill I take, brutal and heartless it may seem, prevents something like that from happening again. The people I take down deserve to stay down so they can't get back up and hurt other people."

"Kind of a bleak and unforgiving view." Skye told him. "I'm not trying to start anything considering you've saved me but you don't ever worry that you've accidently killed a good person who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"If I was just a mindless vigilante gunning people down on the streets but it's not like that, Skye. Every mission I've been sent on is meticulously planned and I only engage when needed but when I do I don't put on the kid gloves. I don't want you thinking I'm just doing this on my free time." Will assured her when remembered something. "Actually, scratch that last part. I have taken some pro bono assignments that weren't SHIELD missions although in those cases I made sure to take down on the people responsible."

"You're sure?" Skye asked and he nodded.

"I am. New York and Long Island were glad to be rid of the Collector and Texas is doing better without that Cannibal hick family and chainsaw wielding Leatherface." He told her.

"The Collector? You're the one who took down the serial killer? How did that happen?" Skye asked so Will began recounting his past extracurricular missions he had undertook. Taking down the Collector and his mad warehouse of horrors, dismantling the Southern Front in Atlantic City, helping his friend Grant clear his friend's name and take down that construction company stealing money and killing people along with Zec Chelovek, taking out the Cannibal family in Texas and then dismantling a Maggia operation in Los Angeles. He left out some details that she didn't need to know about but it was a fun afternoon of story telling and a good distraction from Skye's impending manual reading.

Line Break xxxxx

The BUS

The team was onboard the BUS which was traveling to a new destination. May was piloting and Will was up in the living area reading a book while Goose took a nap. Fitz was in the lab working on something with Ward while Skye read through the SHIELD manuals. Simmons had set up the treadmill in the cargo area and was monitoring Coulson's vitals while he ran.

"Working up a good sweat there, sir?" Simmons asked him.

"I don't sweat. I glisten." He corrected her.

"Blood pressure, heart rate, biochems, all normal. All that's left is the blood sample." Simmons told him as he stopped the treadmill and grabbed his water bottle and towel.

"You should know, I'm not a fan of getting poked." Coulson informed her.

"Tell me sir, have you been feeling under the weather lately?" Simmons questioned.

"Why?"

"I just noticed from your chart that you're not due for a general physical for another three months." She pointed out.

"I made a mistake. Took a call from my physical therapist. Asked how I was feeling, I said a little rusty. Next thing you know, I'm wired to this hamster wheel." Coulson let her know.

"Well, you can officially tell your physical therapist that you're fit as the proverbial fiddle. Especially for a man of your age." Simmons commented.

"A man of my age? That's something you say to an old person." Coulson remarked and Simmons blushed.

"Is it? Well, let's get you some electrolytes, shall we?" She suggested, changing the conversation when she realized she should've kept her mouth shut.

Fitz handed Ward the new Night-Night pistol and he checked the weight before holding it up like he was going to take a shot. "Sorry, Fitz. It's close but it's just not right." Ward stated, putting the gun down.

"Really? 'Cause Agent Coulson had no problems." Fitz told him, checking the gun for himself.

"It's an ounce too heavy." Ward let him know.

"An ounce? Seriously?" Skye thought he was joking.

"It's the difference between success and failure. When you're on a rooftop with a 15 mile-an-hour wind, your target is 500 yards away…"

"Yeah, but we do have a rifle." Fitz reminded him only to get Ward's glare in response.

"Lose the ounce."

"Right, ok. On it." Fitz replied and Ward left the lab, leaving the engineer to grumble over the stupid stipulation. "Lost the ounce. Oh, I'm Agent Grant Ward and I can shoot the legs off a flea from 500 yards, as long as it's not windy."

Fitz impression of Ward was pretty spot on and it got Skye to laugh which was a bonus. "Hey, that's a sound I haven't heard in a bit."

"Yeh, well you wouldn't be laughing a whole lot if you were living in Ward's doghouse." Skye pointed out.

"You made the rounds, apologized to us all." Fitz assured her. "What more can he ask for?"

"I don't know. I have been busting my ass, memorizing every SHIELD protocol manual, following every order. Yes, sir. No, sir. I even let them tag me like a stray dog." Skye held up her wrist to show the bracelet she had to wear which restricted her access and tracked her movements. "I mean, I know I lied to you guys, but I was trying to protect my boyfriend."

"You know, we all make mistakes. I—who—I don't care…who cares about your ex-boyfriend?" Fitz stammered.

"It's not like I'm comparing Ward to Miles, but at least with Miles I didn't have to worry about passive-aggressive stuff. There's no mind games. We spoke the same language, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, a bit like we do." Fitz told her.

"Totally. You and Simmons are so tight. It's like your psychically linked." Skye told Fitz.

"No, actually, no I don't think so." Fitz remarked when Simmons walked back into the lab.

"So, Ward was here? Let me guess. The Night-Night pistol again?" Simmons wondered.

"Yeah. Oh, yeah, and he said it was off by an ounce." Fitz told her and she scoffed.

"Of course, he did." Simmons muttered before adopting her Ward impression. "I'm Agent Grant Ward and I could rupture your spleen with my left pinky. Blindfolded."

"That is dead on." Skye laughed when the door opened and in walked Ward.

"Hey, hustle up and grab your gear. We're on a mission." Ward told them when he noticed the looks they were giving him and the smirks on their faces that they tried to hide. "Something funny?"

Skye shook her head no and Fitz diverted his gaze and tried to hide his chuckle. "Poor, silly Fitz." Simmons took the Night-Night gun and held it up to Ward. "He mistakenly left a dummy round in the pistol. Should be proper now."

Ward took the gun and assumed a stance to check the weight. "Great. Thanks." Ward put the gun down before leaving and the three couldn't hide their laughter.

Pennsylvania

The mission the Team had been called to was in Pennsylvania at the camp grounds where a boy scout troop leader died under mysterious circumstances. The team walked around the campsite and began going over evidence with Will taking a look around the perimeter for signs of anyone that could have been in the area.

"Troop leader's name was Adam Cross. Apparently, he said he heard something in the woods, went to check it out. That's where the electrostatic anomaly occurred." Coulson told them as the team minus Will checked out the campsite.

"What I don't understand is usually they're caused by a massive electrical storm." Fitz pointed out.

"But there wasn't a storm within 1,000 miles of here last night." Simmons informed Coulson.

"This anomaly is different. It has a side effect we've never seen before." Coulson told them.

May popped open the truck belonging to the victim to check it out. "The battery blew straight up through the hood." May informed them.

"Landed over here. Hell of a force to cause that trajectory." Ward knelt to check out the car battery which was completely fried. He took a look at a nearby tree that had some scorch marks on it when he felt something brush against him so he turned to see Skye right behind him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm shadowing my supervising officer." Skye told him.

"Shadowing. Not smothering." Ward told her as they kept walking. "There's scorch marks all over that tree. We're lucky the whole forest didn't burn down."

"I don't get it. Seems to me like this electroshock thingy was some freak lightning strike. I mean, why call us? What's the big…" Skye stopped when she saw the victim. "Oh…never mind."

They saw the victim hadn't moved from the spot he died but he was actually floating about 5ft off the ground in front of them. Nothing was holding him yet how he was floating in the air. "So sad a man died this way. And yet, so amazing." Simmons commented.

"Fitz-Simmons, any idea what could cause an effect like this?" Coulson asked them only for both to begin rambling and talking over one another so he held up his hands to get them to stop. "Time. Let's try that again. Any idea what could cause an effect like this?"

"The hell if I know."

"Uh, no. No idea."

"Seems to me like we're either dealing with some freak natural event or a new high-tech weapon." Ward said to Coulson.

"Or could it be someone from your uber secret index?" Skye suggested.

"There's no one on the Index with this type of power." May pointed out.

"That we know of. I'll contact Agent Blake at SHIELD HQ, have him check it out. Whoever or whatever, we can't let this happen again." Coulson said when he saw Will return from his survey of the area. "Anything?"

"No tracks, no signs of anything human or otherwise out here except for squirrels and the occasional racoon. No one else was here for miles." Will told him.

"Will. Best guess theory?" Coulson asked him.

"My best guess is he came into contact with something that caused this." He answered but the answer was a bit vague.

"Fitz, see the forehead?" Simmons asked, putting on some gloves as she got close to do an examination. "Look at the endothelial discoloration."

"Yeah, same dispersal pattern as the strike on the truck." Fitz told her.

"Could be an entry would, cauterized immediately?" She suggested, getting close to his body when a small flicker of electricity from his face sparked and the body just dropped to the ground.

"Freaky." Fitz remarked.

"Freaky." Simmons agreed.

Back on the BUS

The victim's body was taken to the lab so Simmons could do her analysis and Skye began digging up anything on the victim. Will, Coulson, and Ward walking into the main briefing room to see what she had so far.

"You found something on Cross?" Coulson asked her.

"Many things, actually. But you already knew that, thanks to my fancy SHIELD house-arrest gizmo tracking my every key swipe, my online activity, my cholesterol. Just wish it came in another color. Or came off." Skye rambled.

"The victim?" Ward wanted her to get to the point.

"Adam Cross. Single, no kids, originally from Wrigley, Pennsylvania, not far from here." Skye told them while bringing up some information on him.

"Been there. They have a nice little strawberry festival in the spring." Coulson commented.

"Add it to the bucket list." Will remarked. "Occupation?"

"Phys. Ed teacher at the local high school, and varsity baseball coach, and troop leader, and volunteer firefighter. This guy makes Captain America look like the Dude." She joked only to get stone-faced stares. "The Big Lebowski? Seriously?"

"We get the reference." Will promised.

"What about a criminal record, restraining order, something that might give us a suspect?" Ward asked her.

"Nada. Not even a parking ticking. I skimmed all his posts, anyone linked to his pages hoping for a crazy ex or super-powered stalker, and he's clean." Skye answered.

"Everybody looks clean on their first go 'round." Ward remarked, not so subtly referencing her little double-agent betrayal.

"Ward's right. We're missing something. Dig deeper." Coulson told her and she nodded before leaving. "You've been pretty tough on her."

"She lied to us. Contacted the Rising Tide while we were on mission. If she wants our trust back, she's got to earn it." Ward pointed out.

"The background she ran on Cross is a good start. Put it up on the server. I want May to have a look when she's done with her interrogation." Coulson ordered. Said interrogation was talking to the oldest scout member that found the body. Kid was freaked out and May's usual stoic demeanor didn't help.

Will went down to the lab to see if Simmons found anything and what he saw was the victim's body on the table they usually gathered around. He made a mental note to avoid touching that for a while. "Excellent time, Will. I've been analyzing sagittal and coronal images of the victim's brain." Simmons told Will when he noticed something. He saw Fitz working outside in the cargo area with Goose watching him.

"Why's Fitz out there?" He wondered.

"He detected a strange energy coming off the body." Simmons answered but that wasn't the truth and Will could tell.

"He doesn't want to be around the body, doesn't he?" Will guessed.

"It's the smell!" Fitz clarified.

"There's no shame in it, Fitz. It's perfectly natural to be afraid." Simmons assured him and he stood up in response.

"No, the only thing I'm afraid of is putrid, decaying flesh corrupting my pristine workspace. Do you remember the last time you brought a dead thing into the lab?" He asked her.

"Oh, not the stupid cat, again!"

"The cat! Tell him about the cat!"

"And it's our lab, Fitz, not your lab!"

"You left his liver next to my lunch!"

"Guys!" Will shouted, getting them to stop. "Can we please move on?"

"Yes, sorry. Um, as I was saying, this is the victim's brain." Simmons brought up a scan on the monitor and the brain looked like it had been completely deep fried.

"Geez. What happened to it?" Will asked Simmons.

"It was hit to close to 2,000 megajoules of electrostatic energy. That's almost double the power of a lightning bolt." She answered.

"Interesting. So, that would explain his death but why was he floating in the air?" He wondered.

"Not sure yet. The molecular density of the victim was temporarily altered by an unknown energy source. I'm hoping to shed some light on its effects once I extract a brain tissue sample." She suggested.

"It's happening, again!" Fitz commented.

"It's science, Fitz! I have to dissect something!" Simmons pointed out.

"No, the satellite's picking up another electrostatic event, not 20 kilometers from here!" Fitz reported and showing them a satellite scan on his tablet.

"Coulson, we've got another one!" Will reported into his commlink. He quickly got into the driver's seat of the SHIELD SUV as Coulson, Ward, and May joined him. They drove away from the BUS to the coordinates of the event.

"Fitz, what's the latest reading?" Coulson asked him.

"We're at 324 megajoules and growing stronger. Dangerous territory, sir." Fitz reported.

"There's a farmhouse a mile north of you right at the center of the signal. That's gotta be it." Skye told them.

"Skye, dig up everything you can on whoever lives at that farm. We need to know who we're dealing with." Coulson ordered when the satellite scans picked up a sudden surge of electrostatic energy before it vanished.

"Hold on now. What just happened?" Fitz checked the scanners and whatever energy they were tracking was gone. "Um, it's gone."

"What's gone?" Will asked him.

"The electrostatic signal. It seemed to pulse, then disappear." Fitz reported.

"Will, we need a shortcut." Coulson told him.

"On it. Hang on." He stepped on the accelerator and went off road, driving through a field to save on time. He kept off-roading until they arrived at the farmhouse. Will and Ward were out first with their guns at the ready followed by Coulson and May before they stacked up at the barn doors.

"Door's barred from the inside." Coulson said and Ward looked up and noticed something.

"Hayloft's open."

"We could ram it with the truck." Will suggested only for May to kick the door in. "Or that works too."

Will walked in first followed by Ward and then Coulson and May. They didn't seen anyone around and the only thing of note was that there was a bunch of farming tools all over the place. Then they saw a man floating up in the air like their first victim.

"Ward, Will, scan the perimeter. Whoever did this couldn't have gotten far." Coulson ordered. Will and Ward went out and checked the area while May climbed up a ladder to get a better view of the victim. "Barricaded himself inside. Went for his shotgun."

"He was scared. Trying to protect himself." May suggested based on the scene and everything around it.

"From who? How'd they get to him?" Coulson questioned.

"Another burn mark on the forehead." May told him, seeing the same wound on his forehead as the first victim when Will and Ward returned.

"No sign of anyone. No tracks, no vehicles down the road." Ward reported.

"Something weird is going on. Skye, get us real-time satellite surveillance of the entire area right now." Will ordered and she went to work.

"Hang on. I think I found something you might want to see first. Sending it over now." Skye sent him the image and Will checked his phone. It was a photo of the second victim with the first one at a fire station. "The guy who owns the farm's name is Frank Whalen. He's a volunteer firefighter at the same station house as our first victim, Adam Cross."

"Our two victims knew each other?" Ward asked.

"They were both responders when the aliens crashed New York." Skye added.

"Two victims from the same firehouse found in the same weird way. That's not a coincidence. That's a victim pool." Will stated. "Fitz, Simmons, Skye, get your gear. We're coming to you and bringing you here for field analysis. Find out what's going on."

"Ward, stay here with them while they do their analysis." Coulson told him and he nodded. "Will, May and I will go check out the fire station house and see if we can get some more answers."

Line Break xxxxx

Fire Station House 77, Pennsylvania

Will was driving Coulson and May to the firehouse while Ward looked after Fitz, Simmons, and Skye as they did some crime scene analysis at the farmhouse. "Skye, what'd you find out about the firehouse?" Coulson radioed her.

"It turns out they sent an engine to New York with a dozen volunteers after the Chitauri invasion, including Cross and Whalen. Maybe it has something to do with why they were targeted?" She suggested.

"Or how they were killed?" Ward added.

"You mean, like, an alien weapon?" Skye wondered.

"Let's just make sure we get to those firefighters before anyone else does." Coulson said so Will sped up the car. They arrived at the fire house just as it was getting dark. Will parked the car outside on the driveway and they could see some firefighters gathered at a table in the truck bay playing cards.

"Evening gentlemen." Coulson greeted them as he, May, and Will walked inside the fire house and flashed their SHIELD badges. "Agent Phil Coulson with SHIELD. We were on the ground with you in New York."

"SHIELD. Right. What's this all about?" The captain asked.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions, take a look around." Coulson said so May and Will split up to search the place. That's when another Fire Fighter joined them only he wasn't looking that well. A bit pale in the face and kind of sweaty.

"Hey, guys. What's…uh, what's going on?"

"I'm sorry to inform you but SHIELD has encountered an incident and the body of your colleague, Frank Whalen was found dead at his farm house several hours ago." Coulson explained.

"Frankie's dead?" The Captain asked.

"How'd it…how'd it happen?"

"The same way your other friend Mr. Cross died the day before." Coulson answered.

"Which was how, exactly?"

Coulson looked at the man and began to notice his pale face and sweat along with his questions rang some alarms in his head. "I'm sorry. Your name is?" Coulson questioned him.

"Tony. Tony Diaz."

"Are you ok, Mr. Diaz?" Coulson asked/.

"Actually, uh…I'm actually not feeling so hot." The firefighter replied before heading back in. Coulson tapped his commlink and contacted Will.

"Cover the back door. Nobody comes in or out."

"Roger that." Will headed to the back door while Coulson went to talk to Mr. Diaz. He followed him into the kitchen and saw Mr. Diaz standing at the counter but seemed out of it.

"That humming noise, you hear that?"

"No, I don't. Were you in New York with Mr. Cross and Mr. Whalen after the Chitauri invasion?" Coulson asked him.

"Come on, you don't hear that?" Diaz asked him. "It's driving me nuts."

"Mr. Diaz, are you with me?" Coulson questioned. The guy seemed out of it which is when he saw a pot on the stove float up in the air next to the firefighter so he pulled out his gun. "Whatever you're doing, make it stop."

"I-I-I'm not doing anything!"

"Where's the weapon?!" Coulson questioned.

"The what?"

"Coulson, I found it. It's a Chitauri helmet." May reported, finding it in a room where it was put in a glass display case like a trophy. She took out her phone and sent a video back to the BUS. "Fitz-Simmons, are you seeing this?"

"What are you doing with the helmet?" Coulson questioned.

"What? The alien thing? It's a souvenir!" Diaz told him when there was a spark of electricity and the pot dropped to the ground. "AH! Not again."

"Answer the question, Mr. Diaz. What are you doing with the helmet?" Coulson repeated.

"The first time anyone's touched it since New York was a couple night ago." He answered.

"Why?"

"It had rust all over it. We were cleaning it!"

"That wasn't rust. May, don't touch it! Sir, he's not using a weapon. He's infected. I think the helmet was the source of an alien virus." Simmons reported.

"All we did was clean it, I swear! Me, Frankie, and Adam were bored on the third shift, so—so we decided to clean it!" Diaz explained as May, Will and the other firefighters arrived at the kitchen to see what was going on. "Adam and Frankie…"

"Mr. Diaz, I'm putting my gun away now, ok?" Coulson assured him before holstering his gun.

"Sir, he's a 600 megajoules and climbing! Sir?!" Simmons reported.

"Clear everybody out. Clear everybody out now." Coulson ordered so May and Will did as they were ordered to and quickly escorted the firefighters away. Coulson remained and closed the door to the kitchen so he and Mr. Diaz could talk.

"I-I'm gonna end up like them, aren't I?" Diaz asked only for Coulson took a deep breath.

"Why don't you take a seat?" Coulson suggested and he did. "You have any family? Wife? Kids? Is there anyone you want to talk to? Anything I can do?"

"Sir, you have to get out of there right now! He's going—" Coulson took out his earpiece so the others didn't interrupt him before sitting down at the table with Mr. Diaz. Even though his earpiece was out the others could still hear him.

"Listen to me. I've been where you are right now. So please believe me when I tell you, you don't have to be afraid." Coulson assured him.

"Wha—what are you talking about?"

"Your job. It's gets pretty dangerous, doesn't it? Mine, too. I got hurt once. Pretty bad. And I…I died. Some say it was only for eight seconds, but I know it was more than that. I know I wasn't here anymore. I was there." Coulson told him.

"What's it like?"

"It's beautiful." Coulson whispered giving Mr. Diaz some words of comfort in his final moments. That's when they saw his fingertips spark with electricity and the kitchen knife on the table float into the air.

"You better get going, buddy." He told Coulson, giving him a thankful nod. "Go."

Coulson stood up and walked out of the kitchen. He then joined the others outside the firehouse just in time as a bright glow of blue light could be seen from the windows before it fizzled out.

Several hours later….

More SHIELD backup arrived and implemented biohazard protocols. The firefighters were isolated and looked after by hazmat wearing agents while the Chitauri helmet was isolated and put into a containment box. May, Will, and Coulson were checked out by Fitz and luckily their scans were normal.

"All clean. No traces of electrostatic energy." Fitz reported.

"What about the other firefighters?" Skye wondered.

"They'll be quarantined and observed at a SHIELD bio-hazard facility." Simmons told her when two agents in hazmat suits walked out of the firehouse. They were carrying the containment box with the Chitauri helmet and placed it in the back of a SHIELD SUV.

"Um, anyone else notice they're putting the infected alien thing on our truck?" Skye pointed out.

"We're flying it to the Sandbox." Coulson told her.

"Sandbox?"

"It's a SHIELD research facility across the Atlantic. They specialize in hazardous materials." Simmons explained.

"If what you suspect is true, that this is a virus then those firefighters could be infected and they're gonna need a cure. Find one." Coulson told Simmons and she nodded.

"Yes, sir."

The Containment box was put in the holding cell on the BUS since it would be the safest place for it until they arrived at the Sandbox. Due to the nature of their new assignment, they were given a clear path straight to their destination. And despite that the flight there would be the most nerve-wracking part they now had a new problem to deal with. Dr. Simmons was now infected. She was quarantined in the lab, still processing everything, and dealing with the fact that she didn't have much time to find a cure. Fitz was using his tools to make her some things but the mood on the plane was tense for obvious reasons. Coulson, May, Will, Skye, and Ward were in the cargo area to discuss what to do going forward.

"Simmons believes she contracted the virus approximately 36 hours ago when she received the electrostatic shock from the first victim." Coulson told them.

"How much time does she have?" Skye asked.

"Based on when the firemen were infected, how quickly their symptoms manifested…two hours at most." Coulson theorized.

"That's enough time, right? I mean, SHIELD has dozens of labs and scientists working on this thing, don't they?" Skye wondered.

"They do, Skye but we have another problem. Our path to the Sandbox put us in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Even if we push the BUS as fast as it can go we're still three hours from touching down." Will laid out the situation and it wasn't good.

"Sir, forgive me if I'm wrong but if we can't land in time…"

"Simmons will release a pulse that will blow this plane right out of the sky." Coulson finished Ward's assessment of the situation.

"We can't just sit here and watch her die. We have to do something." Skye stated.

"There's only one person on this plane capable of finding a solution for this, and I'm willing to be my life that she will." Coulon and the others looked at Simmons sitting against the lab door while Fitz finished what she needed.

"Coulson's right. As much as we hate it…this isn't something that any of us can fix. So, unless one of us managed to somehow get a PHD in advance molecular xenobiology and virology then Simmons is our best hope." Will said.

As much as they didn't like it, the Team had no choice but to let Simmons to what she did best and hopefully find a cure to whatever this thing was. They left the cargo area to try and keep their minds off of their current predicament while Simmons did her thing. She was in the lab with Fitz talking her through it from the outside but she was rightfully scared. Coulson spoke with Agent Blake over at the Sandbox and unfortunately the orders were that SHIELD needed the alien virus sample delivered unharmed incase of an outbreak and if there any infected people then they needed to be dumped. Coulson wasn't exactly fond of that and cut the connection. Will was sitting on a chair in the living area with Goose in front of him. He was playing catch with Goose using a tennis ball.

"Didn't know cats could play catch." He heard and saw Skye walk over.

"Goose isn't like other cats. He likes to play catch." He answered before rolling the Tennis ball on the ground and Goose chased after it. "Honestly, it's the only thing I can think of to keep my mind occupied and I've already eaten through my supply of Salt Water Taffy. Waiting is the worst part."

"How do you handle this? I mean, I know there's nothing we can do but we just have to wait here?" She asked and he nodded.

"We prepare ourselves for whatever happens." He told her when they heard running and saw Fitz run up the stairs to the holding cell. He then came out a few seconds later with the containment box holding the Chitauri helmet."

"Isn't that the helmet?" Skye asked.

"Fitz!" Will shouted but he kept running. Will and Skye chased after him but came into the cargo area to see Fitz went into with the helmet. The others soon arrived and saw the current situation. They just had to stand there and watch as Fitz-Simmons tried their latest attempts at a cure for this alien virus. Unfortunately, they had to watch as their latest serum didn't work and the test rat died the same as the firefighters.

Simmons stilled herself before walking up to the glass to talk to Coulson. "Sir, I know the protocol in these circumstances, but could you please tell my dad first? I just think my mum would take it better if it comes from him."

"We're not there yet. There's still time." Coulson told her.

"Sir, please." She begged and he nodded. "Would you mind if I had a brief moment alone with Fitz?"

They proceeded to walk out of the area one by one. Skye couldn't hold back her tears while May, Ward, Coulson, and Will were able to stay dried eyed but that didn't mean this didn't hurt them. They headed back up to the living area and waited when they got a communique from the Sandbox. "Agent Blake is on the line. He wants to know what's going on." May told them. "If you won't answer, he asked for Will."

"Coulson, what do you want to do?" Will asked him.

Coulson walked away from his phone and looked at the others. "Nothing's changed." He declared when they heard an alarm go off.

"What is that?" Skye asked so May checked the system.

"Someone's lowering the cargo hold ramp." May told them.

"Simmons." Will muttered as Ward and he raced down to cargo area. They got there just in time to see Fitz scrambling for a parachute.

"The anti-serum worked but she jumped!" Fitz told him so Ward grabbed the serum and parachute before jumping out of the plane.

"WARD! SHIT!" Will quickly tapped his earcomm. "May, Ward jumped after Simmons. Get us down there!"

May ran into the cockpit and piloted the BUS down to the ocean to pick up Ward and Simmons. He gave her the serum just in time and it saved them. Now they were currently getting a reprimand from Coulson. "Don't get me wrong! I'm happy you're both alive. Truly. And I realize you were trying to save the team. But what you did today, that was not your call. Just getting you out of the water! Do you have any idea what a pain it is dealing with the Moroccan office? Don't you ever pull a stunt like that again!" Coulson told her. "We'd hate to lose you, Jemma."

"Thank you, sir." She replied before he sat down. "Oh, is that to mean we're supposed to leave now?"

Coulson's lack of response gave her the answer and she and Ward left. She and Ward had a nice little heart-to-heart and Skye gave Simmons a nice hug before Will walked over with a glass of Scotch. "I'm glad you're all right, Jemma. And congrats on your parachute free skydive." He told her before handing her the scotch.

"Thank you but I'm not much of a drinker." She told him.

"Trust me. It'll help." He told her before giving her a hug and heading up to talk to Coulson. He leaned against the door to his office and saw him looking over his medical file. "I think what she did was pretty brave. I'd do the same thing in her situation."

Coulson turned around and looked at him. "No, you wouldn't. You'd fly straight into the sky."

"Fair enough but the point still stands. Guess you've rubbed off on your team a lot since bringing them together. I gave her some alcohol to help but it's still taking a while for everything to sink it. When that happens she's gonna need you and the others more than ever." He told him and Coulson nodded. That's when he saw May walk over so he decided to give the two some space. "Let me know if you need me."

Coulson nodded so Will left to give him and May some alone time. He overheard their conversation with Coulson admitting that he felt different than before. Like he was a stranger in his body. Despite the physical examination that he ordered himself he didn't feel like before but May told him that he wasn't the same. He died and any kind of trauma like that leaves scars. He just had to move forward. It was a touching moment between two friends.

The Sandbox

The BUS landed at the Sandbox with Coulson waiting in the cargo area with the Chitauri helmet. Agent Blake arrived with two shield agents who took the alien item away for transport.

"That's the best you could come up with? There's a bad connection." Blake asked him.

"I was pressed for time." Coulson admitted.

"Bold move. You know our chat wasn't exactly private." Blake reminded him.

"They never are."

"I don't know what happened to you in New York, if you really flatlined or if that's just what they tell us when we reach Level 7. But whatever did happen doesn't give you license to disobey an order from HQ. And you keep pulling stunts like that, someone might decide to take this little dream team away from you." Blake warned him.

"I'd like to see them try." Coulson replied.

"That doesn't sound like the Phil Coulson I used to know." Blake pointed out.

"No, I suppose it doesn't. Get used to it." Coulson told him before Blake left. Coulson turned around to see Will leaning against the railing by the stairs.

"That had to have felt good." Will told him.

"It did." Coulson replied with his signature smirk.

Line Break xxxxx

Madagascar

After the whole situation with the alien virus and Simmons nearly dying, it was a lot to handle for everyone. As Will predicted, the trauma that Simmons underwent hit her so with some therapy and support from the team she was able to get into a good place. Rather then risk another alien-related incident, Coulson gave Will authorization for the team to assist him in one of his assignments. Nothing super serious just something he had on the back burner for a while. He had been tracking recent terrorist activity and financial transactions that were possibly linked and orchestrated by someone or a group so now the team was tracking down a lead. Notorious mercenary and bomb-maker Mollaka was their target as recent attacks using his bombs had seemingly related financial impacts to bigger fish SHIELD had on their radar.

The Team was in Madagascar after tracking Mollaka down. Skye, Simmons, Coulson, and May were monitoring the situation from the BUS while Will, Ward, and Fitz were in the field. Ward and Will were undercover and blending in with the locals at a cobra and mongoose fighting pit. Ward was in the crowd of people watching the fight while Will was up above in a building with some other spectators watching. "Fitz, do you have visual?" Will asked.

Fitz was back in the van setting up his drone console for field surveillance. "One moment." Fitz activated the drones which flew out of the van's window to Will and Ward's location. The drones soon arrived in the area giving the team back on the BUS full view of the area. "I have visual. Cameras on drones 1, 2, and 3 are clear."

"Skye, run facial recognition on the crowd." Will told her.

"On it." She was on the BUS and ran the facial recognition program against every single person there in the crowd to pick out the bomber they were looking for. "Just out of curiosity, what happens if our guy isn't here and we just wasted all this time for nothing."

"He should be here. Bomb-makers have to do something in their off time and in this area this is the hottest ticket there is." Ward told her.

"I just never understood it. Cobra versus a Mongoose. Surely a Mongoose would win every time." Simmons pointed out as Ward and Will watched the fight. As expected, the Mongoose did win. "Ha, I was right."

"We'll get you your winnings later, Jemma." Will promised. "Skye, anything yet?"

"No, not yet." She replied, as the program finished with one crowd of people before moving on to the next one. That's when the camera zoomed in one person with burn scars on one side of his face and it found a match. "Got him. He's in the crowd to Ward's right. Shaved head, burn scars on the right side of his face, wearing a grey jacket."

Ward looked to his right and saw the man. "I got him. Burn scars on his face." Ward replied.

"I wonder if bomb-makers get insured for injuries like that?" Will joked when he saw the guy get a message on his phone. Whatever the message was, he finished his beer and began making his way through the crowd. "Ward, he's coming right at you."

"I see him." Ward replied.

"Fitz, pull the drones back. We don't want to spook him." Will ordered.

"Roger that." Fitz began piloting the drones back when someone accidently bumped into the bomb-maker. He sneered at the guy who pushed him but he glanced up and saw a drone hovering in the air before leaving. That put on him alert and he began scanning the crowd.

"I think he's on to us." Will said as Ward turned around at the wrong time and locked eyes with the bomber who made him as an agent before running.

"He made me!" Ward chased after him. The bomber ran through the fighting pit with Ward chasing after him and then Will followed. He jumped from the second floor onto the roof of a shack and then to the ground as he and Ward chased after the bomb maker. Said bomb maker vaulted through an old van with Ward running around it while Will slid over the hood.

"Fitz, the bomb maker's on the run. He's heading north west. Set the drones in pursuit and give us aerial coverage." Will told him as he and Ward chased the bomb maker through the surrounding jungle before ending up at a construction yard for a new building. They climbed the fence and saw him heading further in so they chased after with Ward thinking of a plan after seeing a nearby bulldozer.

Fitz was monitoring everything via the drones and saw the bomb maker hiding in the construction yard behind some tubes with a pistol in his hand. "Guys, be careful. He's hiding behind some plastic tubing with a gun."

"Roger that." Ward drove the bulldozer forward with Will perched up on top. The bomb maker took a few shots at them but then ran away and climbed into the building under construction so Will jumped off and chased after him.

"Ward, move around to the side and head to the north exit! I'm gonna push him there!" Will told him.

"On it." Ward got out of the bulldozer and headed around the construction yard to cut him off.

Will saw the bomb maker jump off a generator and grabbed onto a steel beam before climbing up. "Geez, what kind of bomb maker is this? The one with a gymnast background?" Fitz wondered.

Will saw him climbing so he ran up a crane to cut the time in half and jumped to the steel scaffolds. He saw the bomb maker kick a worker off his perch, pulling a pressurized tank of gas with him and when they fell it created an explosion. Will began climbing the steel beams as the bomb maker shot at two guards who tried to stop him. He then jumped onto a payload of steel beams being carried by an electric tower crane and climbed up.

"Hang on, Will. I'll find you a route to him." Fitz had the drones begin finding an alternate route.

"No time!" Will just ran and jumped forward, landing on the payload before climbing after the bomb maker.

"Geez, Will. You're gonna get yourself killed." Skye told him.

"I could do without the commentary, thanks." He stated, trying to focus on what he was doing. He made his way up to the crane with the bomb maker who was carefully moving up on top of the crane but saw Will after him so he slowly shimmied away. Will climbed up so the bomber grabbed his gun and pressed the trigger but ran out of bullets. He decided to throw the gun but that didn't work as Will caught it and threw it back at him. It hit him in the face and he fell back, nearly falling off but managed to catch himself. He scrambled to get away, rushing down the crane before he took a massive leap onto an adjacent crane and another jump landed him on the roof of a building. Will followed and everyone watched with baited breath as he made the jumps before following the bomb maker. "Ward, I'm pushing him to you."

"I'm ready." Ward replied.

Will kept chasing him but was purposely coming from a certain direction to force the bomb maker to go north. The bomb maker exited the construction yard at the north exit and pushed past some workers only for Ward to tackle him from the side and slam him into a truck. The bomb maker pushed Ward off and punched him in the stomach before throwing out a kick but Ward blocked it and kneed him in the gut before slamming his face into the hood of the car. That knocked him out as Will had arrived taking a few deep breaths from all the running and climbing.

"Bomber in custody." Will radioed to Coulson.

"Good work, you two. Police and Interpol are enroute for detainment." Coulson told them.

Will searched the guy, making sure he didn't have anything else on him and other then a knife he had nothing. He took his backpack and opened it, carefully removing a bomb he had before he found the pocket that held his phone. He did a quick search and found the message he got that made him leave. All that was in the message was one word: Ellipsis. When the authorities arrived, Will and Ward left to join Fitz and headed back to the BUS.

The Van drove onto the Bus where Will and Ward helped Fitz with his drones. They placed them back in storage before heading up to the command center where Coulson and the others were waiting for them.

"Have a nice run?" Skye asked with a playful smirk on her face before tossing Will and Ward water bottles.

"Guy was fast. If he had gotten lucky then he would have escaped." Ward said.

"Lucky for us he didn't. And we now have his phone." Will took it out and handed it to Fitz. Fitz plugged in a cable and began downloading all the information from it. "He must have another job but all I saw was a word. Ellipsis. It must mean something because right after he got the message he left."

"Doesn't ring a bell to me." Coulson said. "Skye, do a search and see what you can find."

"On it." Skye began putting in some information to figure out what Ellipsis meant as their system finished pulling everything from the phone.

"Ok, bad news. I can't find out who owns the phone. It's a burner cell with no listed name but I can trace where the text came from." Fitz ran a quick algorithm and pulled up the tracking data on the message from the time it was sent. "Ok, it was sent from the Bahamas at Paradise Island. Exact location is the Ocean Club at 19:12:22 local time. Tracer program has it right outside the Ocean Club here."

Everyone looked on the map and saw the GPS for the tracer program put the phone right outside the Ocean Club resort.

"So, someone sent our bomber a text just as they were checking in?" Simmons wondered.

"Kill two birds with one stone. But we have a location. Skye, can you get us CCTV footage?" Coulson asked and she checked but that wasn't gonna happen.

"No. The resorts security system is a closed network with no internet access. Probably still kept hardcopy too. I can't hack into it since there's nothing to hack into. It's all cameras recording to a main server. They're probably still using DVDs." Skye suggested.

"All right, then we head to the resort and get the security footage ourselves." Ward stated.

"We can't go there as SHIELD agents. Whoever sent that text could still be there and if words gets around that Federal Agents are in the area then whoever is behind this could get spooked." May cautioned.

"May's right. We'll have to go in undercover. Once we get the footage then we can move on from there." Coulson added. "I've always wanted to go to the Bahamas. So, who's going?"

"I'll go!" Simmons, Skye, and Fitz all raised their hands.

"I was being rhetorical. Will is gonna go." Coulson told them and instantly deflated their excitement. "His Oliver Queen Alias is perfect. Eccentric billionaire staying at the nicest resort on the island fits. And he can charm his way into the security room."

"Glad to know you have such a high opinion of Oliver Queen." Will joked. "But I could use some backup. An eccentric billionaire showing up for vacation works but by himself is kind of sad. He'd show up with a date. And that way I get some backup in case I need it. Simmons, up for a trip to the Bahamas?"

"Excuse me?" Simmons was caught off guard at that request.

"Yeah, excuse me?" Fitz asked him.

"Well, you did just have a near-death experience so some relaxation is in order. Think of it as a bonus." Will suggested.

"Thank you for the offer, Will but I'm not that good at all in undercover operations. Really, May or Skye should be the one to go." Simmons told him.

"Yeah, what the hell?" Skye asked him, offended he wouldn't ask her.

"You can go next time, Skye. Simmons could use something to take the edge off. And if I asked May…she's probably shoot me." He pointed out.

"Good assessment." May told him.

"All right, Will and Simmons will head to the resort and get us that security footage. Once we have an ID on our target then we'll move on from there. May, set a flight path to the Bahamas." Coulson ordered and she left for the cockpit.

The group then separated with Will heading to the kitchen to get Goose's lunch. He got a bowl and poured in some tuna fish mixed with celery, onions, bell pepper and added in some croutons. He then grabbed two slices of bread to make himself a sandwich with the tuna. Will put the bread on the plate when he saw Fitz not-so subtly make his way over. "Hey, Fitz? Tuna Fish?"

"No, I'm ok. Um…are you sure that Simmons going on this mission is such a good idea?" Fitz asked him. "I mean, she's right. I've seen her try to lie and it is not pretty. She is not good at it at all."

"And are you asking out of concern for the mission or because your jealous?" Will wondered and Fitz stammered a bit with his response. "Relax, Fitz. I'm doing this to help Jemma take the edge off. After what happened with the near-death experience this is exactly what she needs. We may be there for a bit but a nice drive in the sun in the Bahamas and maybe a drink and she'll be a hundred percent."

"Yeah, it's no so much that but uh…"

"And don't worry, Fitz. I don't like Jemma that way. She's all yours." Will grabbed a soda and a bag of chips before patting Fitz on the shoulder and left with his and Goose's lunch.

"He's good." Fitz admitted and Goose let out a meow as he followed Will. The translation? Yes he is.

Line Break xxxxx

Bahamas

They arrived at a private hangar in Nassau International Airport. From there, they'd go to the Ocean Club on the northeastern part of the island near. Will changed into some nice clothes consisting of some nice shoes, a nice pair of slacks, a white button up, a grey sports jacket with a pair of sunglasses to complete the look. Simmons didn't really have anything that fancy so she just wore a pair of heels, a skirt, and a nice blouse.

Will had to get his quinjet detached from the BUS and fly it off to get his car to drive them there. This gave her a moment to collect her nerves as she was nervous about the undercover assignment. That and if Will would use this moment alone to try and make a pass at her. He was rather charming and handsome but this wasn't the time. Coulson, Skye, Fitz, and Ward were in the cargo area with Simmons as she readied herself when they heard tires screeching and saw Will drive up in his Red and Black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS.

"It's not a Mercedes but it'll do in a pinch. Shall we?" He asked Simmons and she nodded before grabbing her bag and walking over. He got out of the car and opened the door for her to get in the passenger seat. "We'll make radio contact once we get there."

"Roger that." Coulson replied as Will got in the driver's seat and drove away.

"This sucks." Skye stated and the others agreed. They were stuck in the plane while Will and Simmons got to go. And she was pissed that Will chose Simmons instead of her.

Will drove Chevrolet Chevelle down the two lane roads and highways of the Bahamas with Simmons in the passengers seat. With their sunglasses on it felt like something out of a movie. He glanced over at Simmons and despite the sunglasses on her face he could tell she was nervous. "Relax, Simmons. There's nothing to worry about." He told her.

"Sorry. It's just that I'm not very good with lies at all so you'll understand that I'm a little nervous about going undercover." Simmons told him.

"It's not like we're trying to infiltrate the Kremlin, Jemma. Which if you ever get asked I have only done twice." He told her and she looked at him in shock. "I was joking."

"Right, jokes. Yes, funny." She muttered and he could really tell she was nervous.

"Wow, you really are nervous. You know it's kind of ironic that you're so nervous of lying considering you work for an international spy agency." Will pointed out.

"Yes, in the biochemical department which doesn't involve me lying. Science is based on facts." Simmons told him and Will thought up of a way that could help her.

"True. But facts are first gotten by a hypothesis that is then proven through the scientific method of data analysis and experimentation." He added drawing a look of pleasant surprise from Jemma. "I always did get A's in science in school."

"Color me impressed." Simmons said to him.

"Thank you." He told her before thinking up of a better way to help Simmons relax. "All right, if you're not good with lying then how about we get you ready another way? As a scientist I imagine you've had to speak at panels or before professors and higher ups about certain projects and such."

"Yes, naturally." She replied.

"And the thing that helps with those kinds of situations is preparation and planning." Will figured.

"Yes, preparation. I excel at preparation." Simmons assured him.

"Ok, so we still have some time on our drive. We set you up with a prepared detail backstory for the character that you will be playing to make you feel better." He suggested and she agreed. The spent the rest of the drive working on her undercover character like she was preparing for an acting role. Once Simmons saw it as preparation then she began to loosen up. Jemma Simmons would be Elizabeth Henstridge, a pharmaceutical biologist Oliver met in London and now they were on vacation. They managed to get that all settled when they arrived at the Ocean's club. Will pulled them up to the front and the valet attendants opened the doors for them.

"Good day, sir, and welcome to the Ocean Club." The attendant handed Will a valet ticket as he and Jemma got out of the car. She put her purse over her shoulder and joined Will before the attendant drove the car to the parking lot.

"A lovely place, isn't it dear?" Simmons asked him, getting into character.

"It is. A perfect place for a vacation." He told her, before removing his jacket and put it around Simmons shoulders. "You can go the bathroom. I'll be inside shortly."

"Oh, thank you. I have to go." Simmons walked in to go to the bathroom while Will knelt to tie his shoe but was actually using that moment to check out the security camera placements. There were two by the main entrance with a good view of the valet parking area so they would be able to get an ID on their target. That's when a silver Range Rover pulled up front and the two occupants stepped out.

"Hello." The driver said in English with a German accent. He and his friend were wearing golf clothes so they came back from playing a course. "Are you going to take this or make me wait?"

He tossed the keys to Will thinking he was an employee. Will caught them because he saw an opportunity. "Certainly, sir. Sorry, sir." Will got into the driver's seat and drove the car to the parking lot. He managed to find an open spot so he pulled into it only to then back up and crashed through a wooden divider. The wooden divider fell onto the other cars parks in the same row so all their car alarms went off. Will just got out and tossed the keys to the side.

He got back to the resort and walked in to see Simmons waiting for him. "Darling, there you are." She held his arm and leaned in. "Security room is past those double doors but it's currently occupied."

Then two of the hotel's security guards rushed out to investigate the car alarms. "Not anymore." He whispered as the two walked over to the security room. They made sure no one was around before walking in. "We're in the security room."

"Roger that." Coulson reported from the BUS. Will and Simmons walked over to the security station that had a wall of monitors for the cameras all over the resort. Simmons saw the second parking lot camera to see the little situation.

"Did you do that?" She asked him and he shrugged.

"Saw an opportunity to keep security occupied. It's what insurance is for." Will joked. He saw the camera aimed at the valet car area by the front of the resort so he walked over to a file cabinet containing the DVDs of past security footage before pulling out the one from the date their bomber got his text. He took out the disk and put it in the DVD player. "Simmons, what was the time?"

"19:12:22." Simmons told him.

"All right." Will sped up the recording until it arrived at 19:12 before slowing it down. As the recording played a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 pulled to the resort. A man and a woman got out of the car and the man sent a text at exactly the same time of 19:12:22 in the exact spot that Fitz's track showed.

"That's him." Simmons said.

"There he is." Will took out his phone and plugged in a cable to the DVD player to send them the screen shot. "I've got the target. Screen shot is coming in now."

Back on the BUS, the rest of the team saw the screen shot of the man appear on the touch table. "We've got it. Skye, run facial recognition and get us a name." Coulson told her.

"On it." Skye ran the facial recognition program on it but the picture quality wasn't good so it was gonna take a while. "Program is running now but it'll take a while."

"I might have a way to speed that up. He was here so maybe the resort knows who he is." Will suggested before looking at Simmons. "Simmons, I think it's time we check in."

"What?" Simmons followed him out of the security room and Will led them to the check-in area.

"Welcome to the Ocean Club. Checking in?" The Receptionist asked.

"Yes, but it's a bit of a spur of the moment thing." Oliver told her. "Elizabeth and I were here last night for a dinner and we fell in love with the place. Right honey?"

"Oh yes. This place is amazing. I haven't been to many resorts like this but I don't think I can go to any others now." Simmons said, putting on her best girlfriend on vacation bit and it wasn't that bad but her delivery did seem anxious.

"We don't have a reservation and were hoping that you might have a room available." Will said so the Receptionist checked.

"We have an ocean-view villa, Mr.…?"

"Queen, Oliver Queen. And it sounds perfect." Will took out his credit card used for SHIELD undercover operations.

"Will there be anything else?" The receptionist questioned.

"Actually yes. Like I said, Elizabeth and I were here for dinner last night and I parked my car next to a very beautiful 1964 Aston Martin. And I'm ashamed to admit that I nicked the door. You wouldn't happen to know…"

"Mr. Dimitrios." She answered, knowing who that was just by the car meaning he was a regular here. "If he hadn't noticed, I'm not sure I'd mention it. He isn't the type to take bad news well."

"Well, that's not how Oliver is. Such a good man. If we were hoping to make it up to him do you know where we could find him?" Simmons asked, quickly assisting in Will's question.

"He does have a house just up the beach." The Receptionist informed him.

"Thank you. And could you send up a bottle of champagne to our room?" He asked and she nodded before handing them two room cards. Will and Simmons walked through the resort to find their ocean view villa before he tapped his earcomm to give the team an update. "Got a little more information. Skye, try searching for the name Dimitrios. And all of you pack your bags. I got a villa at the resort so we can work from here but wear some regular clothes to blend in."

Will used his keycard to enter the villa and it was nice. An open living room with a view of the ocean, two bathrooms and two bedrooms. "This is amazing." Simmons said in awe.

"Wow, it is." He admitted. "I can't remember the last time I was on vacation like this."

"Is that the reason for the Champagne?" Simmons asked him.

"We have to blend in, don't we?" He pointed out. "Besides, this is a mission so it's a business expenditure and in the spirit of that, I'm gonna order some room service."

He grabbed the menu from the table and began to skim through it. "Will, I don't think Coulson or SHIELD would approve of us using SHIELD resources like this?" Simmons reminded him.

"So, that's a no to the caviar, charcuterie platter, and wagyu steak?" He asked her and Simmons took a moment to let that sink in.

"Then again, when am I ever gonna get a chance like this again? Do they have lobster here?" Simmons wondered.

"Yes they do." He answered and she walked over to look over the rest of the menu.

Coulson, May, Ward, Skye, and Fitz packed a bag and some gear before driving to the resort in the SUV but covered up the SHIELD logo. Ward didn't valet park as a precaution and parked on the road near the resort before they walked in like guest carrying bags. When they walked into the ocean view villa they saw a literal feast of food in the kitchen and living room. A bowl of ice with several small cases of caviar and assorted accoutrements, clams and mussels, shrimp, oysters, lobster, a charcuterie board complete with assorted meats and cheeses, steak, chicken, a tray of desserts and some champagne were just of the things there. Will and Simmons were sitting in the kitchen and enjoying the food. Both were laughing probably from a joke when they saw the rest of the team arrive.

"Hey, you made it. Come in. Plenty of room and plenty of food." Will told them.

"I highly recommend the lobster. So delicious." Simmons recommended.

"Oh, lobster." Fitz walked in and grabbed a plate before piling on the food.

"I see you're definitely settling in." Coulson remarked, putting his bag down.

"Oliver Queen has a reputation to uphold. It's called blending in." Will walked over with a tray of caviar on little pancakes. "Caviar?"

"Ooh…" Skye took one to eat as this would probably be the only chance she would get to eat caviar.

"Besides, we haven't just been eating. I tracked down Dimitrios. He owns a house on the beach less than a quarter mile from the resort. I talked to some of the employees and locals and it turns out that Dimitrios is a regular. He vacations here once a year and the Ocean Club is his favorite place to come for dinner and engage in the occasional poker game." Will let them know.

"He's here for the week with his girlfriend." Simmons added, sipping some water as Skye and Fitz joined her at the kitchen table.

"Mixing business with pleasure?" Ward wondered, bringing their bags into the villa, and picking up a small sandwich as he did.

"He's the one who sent the text with Ellipsis on it. Who is this guy?" Will wondered.

"Skye." Coulson got her attention before taking a caviar pancake and eating it. Skye nodded, putting her lobster tail down and taking out her laptop to bring up the file. "Alex Dimitrios, former Greek intelligence before he went into business for himself. Works as the middleman for criminals, terrorists, and rogue nations. He's someone who knows the right people for the right job and to give them exactly what they need."

"Like hiring a bomb-maker for whatever your cause it." May added, grabbing a shrimp from the seafood tower.

"Interpol has been after this guy for years and he is someone on SHIELD's radar including some of his known associates. People you might remember, Will." Coulson showed him the files on Vanya Bor, Heni Marville-Beau, and Izzie Sawakowa.

"Well, this brings back memories." Will admitted, seeing their old files that had them all listed as deceased.

"You knew them?" Skye wondered.

"Not exactly. I'm the one who killed them." He corrected her. "Vanya Bor was head of a Ukrainian private military group that committed genocides all over the country. I put a bullet in his head. Heni Marville-Beau was a French terrorist who killed the former Prime Minster. He broke his neck after I kicked him off the roof of a building and he landed on a car. And Izzie Sawakowa was head of the Yakuza in Okinawa before I stabbed him in the heart with his own samurai sword."

"Bloody hell." Simmons commented. "You sure do get around."

"Some of the worst people on the planet that are no longer here thanks to Will. All except for one." Coulson brought up the last file on a man named Le Chiffre. That drew Will's attention before he looked over at Coulson.

"This is our chance to get Le Chiffre." Will said and Coulson nodded.

"Who is Le Chef?" Skye asked.

"It's Le Chiffre. It means the Cypher or the Number in French and he's someone who's been on the most wanted list of every single intelligence and law enforcement agency in the world." He explained.

"Le Chiffre is the private banker to the world's terrorists, despots, and high-ranking criminals. He's how they're able to operate. He invested their money and gave them access to it wherever they wanted and however they wanted. Albanian in origin, chess prodigy, and mathematical genius with an avid love for Poker. He's been active for years but first got onto our radar after 9/11. When the stock market was analyzed after the attack, the CIA discovered a massive shorting of airline stocks. When the stocks hit bottom on 9/12, somebody made a fortune. They were never able to figure out who but they long suspected that it was Le Chiffre using his clients money to make them more money." Coulson added.

"But he's a banker. He's not someone who's gonna get his hands dirty. He has people for that. People like Dimitrios who can get him a mercenary he needs." May stated.

"Le Chiffre must have something planned that he needs someone for a job. Well, not anymore now that the bomb-maker is in jail." Fitz pointed out.

"Someone like Le Chiffre is gonna be well connected and keep his ear to the ground in case of variables like that." Ward surmised. "Just because one bomb-maker is in jail doesn't mean that whatever he's planning is over."

"Ward's right. If this really is Le Chiffre and our one chance to get him then Dimitrios is our way in. Skye, monitor all financial markets and set up a notice for any kind of serious moving or shorting of stocks. If Le Chiffre is seeking to make money then someone's gonna be losing it soon enough. We'll keep watch on Dimitrios and see if Le Chiffre makes contact." Coulson said to the team as Will poured himself a little champagne.

"Staying in a five-star resort to stop a terrorist attack? Sounds like a plan." Will quipped before taking a drink.

Line Break xxxxx

Bahamas

The team monitored Dimitrios for a few days and kept watch on his patterns and activities which usually included hanging out on the beach, going out to fancy restaurants, and heading to the Ocean Club for dinner and drinks. It was the evening so Will and Simmons were dressed up and went to the Ocean Clubs small casino lodge. They walked in and headed over to the bar where they saw Ward blending in at the end of the bar keeping watch over Dimitrios who was over at a poker table.

"What can I get for you?" The bartender asked Will and Simmons.

"Glass of Pinot Grigio, please." Simmons ordered.

"Old fashioned, please." Will ordered and the bartender made them their drinks.

"Careful with the drinks guys. We don't want to have to carry you back to the room." Skye joked. She was with Fitz, Coulson, and May back in the room who were monitoring the feed from the camera button on Will's black button-up and the one placed on Simmons' necklace. They were there to monitor the situation and incase Dimitrios had to leave then May could follow him.

"Thank you." Simmons took her glass and sipped it a bit. Will grabbed his drink when he saw the two German tourists who owned the Range Rover he crashed sitting at the bar. They looked at him in shock while Will couldn't help but smirk.

"Guten Abend." Will greeted them as he sipped his drink and walked over to the poker table with Simmons. "Do you mind if we join you?"

"Not at all." They said and Will sat down for a game of Texas Hold'em. Will put his chips on the table when he saw Dimitrios glance to the side. His girlfriend walked in wearing a very beautiful rose-colored dress. Her entrance did distract some of the players at the game. She made her way over to Dimitrios and hugged him before giving him a kiss on the head.

"If that was for luck, you're two hours late." He told her before focusing back on the game. Will and Simmons felt sorry for her as she made her way over to the bar for a drink.

"Ward, stay on the girlfriend. That could be an angle we could exploit." Coulson told him.

"Roger that." Ward sipped his drink and watched her a bit before making his move.

Will and Simmons sat at the poker table for about an hour and in that time, he was starting to clean up. His pile of chips grew larger while Dimitrios's got smaller. Dimitrios wasn't happy about it and they could tell but his agitated state could get him to make a mistake. Their latest hand had a large pile of chips in the center. The Dealer put down a 9 of spades, a 3 of hearts, and an Ace of clubs with Will and Dimitrios being the only two players to bet. The dealer dealt the fourth card which was the 7 of hearts. "Check or bet."

"Check." Will said.

"And to you."

"Five thousand." Dimitrios bet.

"Five to call." The dealer said so Will put in the chips with no hesitation. After that the dealer revealed the river which was the King of clubs.

"Check." Will said.

"Check to you, sir."

"All in." Dimitrios put in his last remaining chips before taking out his check book. "No, wait. Twenty thousand."

"Table stakes, I'm sorry, sir." The dealer told him.

Dimitrios put his checkbook away and held up the keychain to his Aston Martin. "Ok. This is on the table. That's my car. Wanna bet?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Dimitrios." The dealer again tried to stop him.

"It's ok. Let's give him a chance to win his money back." Will told her and she nodded. He put in all his chips much to the worry of Simmons and the others watching back in the villa.

"All right, show me, gentlemen." The dealer instructed so Dimitrios turned his cards to reveal he had a king of diamonds and a kind of spades giving him a hand of three kings. "Three Kings." Will then revealed his cards to show he had the ace of hearts and ace of diamonds giving him three aces. Dimitrios's smirk instantly went away when he saw the cards. "Trip Aces. Aces win."

"Yeah!" Fitz and Skye cheered as Simmons hugged him to keep up their cover.

Will piled his chips together which now included the key chain. "Oh, I'm gonna need the valet ticket." He said to Dimitrios who reluctantly handed it over. That's when an attendant came over and handed him a note which made him get up and leave. Will tipped the dealer and collected his winnings before he and Simmons left the table. Ward had Dimitrios's girlfriend occupied as the two were still talking and since he just lost his car it must have been something important. "Coulson you see that."

"We saw it. We're heading to the car now to follow. Maintain your positions for now but be prepared to fall back to the BUS." Coulson ordered as he, May, Fitz, and Skye rushed out of the villa to the SUV.

"Roger that." Ward, Will, and Simmons muttered back.

Despite the delay and catch up they had to do, Coulson and the others manage to track Dimitrios all the way back to Nassau to the dockyard for boats and yachts. He went to one yacht in particular that had a group of armed guards protecting it.

"We can't approach on foot. Fitz, deploy the drone and let see if we can at least listen in on what's going on." Coulson ordered.

"Yes, sir." Fitz grabbed the case for one of his drones and deployed it as quickly as possible. He hovered the drone close the yacht and it picked up the subtle vibrations coming from inside. They were then able to adjust the audio and briefly pick up what they were saying. "It's coming through now, sir."

"My associate will be at the Body Worlds Exhibit in Miami to pick up the package that I will personally deliver. The last flight to Miami leaves in an hour and I'll be on it."

"I'll have someone waiting for you with what he needs. And remember…this is your last chance."

"That's got to be Le Chiffre. Dimitrios needs him to complete a job and whatever it is must be happening tonight." Coulson said. "Fitz, plant a tracker on Le Chiffre's boat and monitor the signal at all times. We're not letting him get away, we're letting him dangle himself on a hook. Skye, contact Will, Simmons, and Ward and tell them to head back to the BUS. I'll contact the Miami field office. We're leaving for Miami in an hour."

Miami

The Team landed in Miami and thankfully they had agents on the ground tracking Dimitrios when he landed. He picked something up from baggage claim despite not bringing a bag on before heading to the museum where the Body Worlds exhibit was. Will went in after him, dressed in his regular clothes and saw him check in his bag before walking into the exhibit. "He's here for a drop off. I have eyes on him." Will reported, seeing Dimitrios over by the Poker table exhibit. He sent a text before placing his baggage token the check-in worker gave him before leaving.

Will watched the table to see if anyone came to pick it up when someone grabbed his shoulder from behind and he heard the click of a retractable knife extend before it was placed against his back. Will was led away from the poker exhibit before he turned around and isolated the wrist holding the knife before physical forcing it away from his body and towards Dimitrios. Dimitrios tried to push the knife back into Will's body but he stepped on his foot and used that moment to force the knife into side, killing him. He carefully placed Dimitrios down like he was asleep before taking his phone and saw another recent text he sent with the same word Ellipsis. He walked over to the poker exhibit and saw the token was gone so he rushed over to check-in area and the bag was missing.

He rushed out of the museum to find a literal sea of people walking around but eventually saw the man with the bag. He was walking over to get a taxi. "Target spotted. Yellow Taxi. 12 o'clock. Follow in pursuit." Will told the others before getting into a Taxi and following his new target which ended up taking him back to the Miami International Airport. Will got out of the taxi at departures and followed the target inside. "Coulson, coordinate with airport security and SHIELD and secure the airport. Skye, he's got to be targeting something here at the airport. Find it."

"On it."

Will followed his target through the airport, staying as far back as possible. He saw his target dip into clothing store and walk out dressed as an airport security guard before heading into the restricted area. He shut the door behind him so Will couldn't follow. "Dammit. Skye, I need you to hack into the airport security and get me inside."

"Ok, hang on one second. Their security is tricky." Skye told him when he remembered the message Dimitrios sent both his mercenaries and saw the security keypad had numbers as well as letters so he input the numbers to spell out Ellipsis and got in.

"Never mind, I got it. Skye, give me a possible target." Will told her and she managed to find something going on at the airport tonight.

"I got it. Stark Industries subsidiary Skyfleet is unveiling their new S570 prototype. It's the largest and best airplane in the world and will be unveiled tonight." Skye told him, checking the stock market information Coulson had her keep an eye out for and saw the Skyfleet stock had one investor short over a hundred million shares. "And someone shorted over a hundred million shares of the stock when it's supposed to be going up."

"That's it. That's the target. May, Ward, and I are heading over to secure the area and clear the hangar. Will, keep on the bomber." Coulson ordered as Will made his way through the airport's secured areas when the fire alarm and sprinkler system went off. "What was that?"

"Fire alarm and sprinkler system just went off. Fire Department and Police are responding." Skye told him.

"He's trying to disappear in the chaos. Will, you need to find him." Coulson told him as Will exited the security wing and saw the target head over to a police car.

"I got him." He rushed out and ran as the bomber got into the police car and drove away. Coulson, Ward, and May and the other agents arrived at the hangar where the airplane was being pulled out for show and began trying to clear them out as fast as possible.

Will ran after the police car on foot and saw it stop by a parked plane on the tarmac. The bomber killed the operator of a gas truck and attached a small remote bomb to the bottom before getting in. Will ran with his super soldier speed as the bomber drove out of the terminal area to head to the hangars. He ran up a boarding stairs cart and jumped on top of the gas truck. The bomber quickly sped up and tried to shake him off but Will held on tight.

"Coulson, what's the status of the hangar?!" Will asked.

"We're working on it." Coulson told him.

"Well, work faster!" Will shouted when the bomber ran over a luggage cart and the jolt caused him to lose his footing. He would have fallen off but grabbed onto a handle bar so he was hanging on for dear life. The bomber saw this and sped up while jostling the car back and forth to try and shake him off. That's when he saw a large transport truck driving at them from the opposite direction so he aimed the truck into a collision course with it. The driver of said transport truck honked and diverted his vehicle out of the way only for the bomber to keep on a collision course. "You've got to be kidding me."

Will waited until the last second as the gas truck neared collision before the bomber turned so the two trucks skimmed each other. Will would have been crushed only he used his telekinesis to flip himself back up onto the roof of the truck just before the collision. The bomber didn't see a person hanging off the side so he thought he succeeded and continued driving to the hangar. He was wrong as Will ran to the front of the truck and grabbed the railing so he flipped to the side and yanked the passenger side door off. The bomber fired a few shots with his gun before Will swung in and kicked the gun out of his hand. He then punched him in the gut and headbutted him in the chin before he was kicked off and elbowed in the face. Will blocked his knee and punched him in the face before the bomber pushed him back and reached for his gun. Will knocked it to the side as he fired a shot before twisting his wrist and knocking the gun out of the truck only for the bomber to knee him in the side of the head and then kick him in the back.

Will fell out of the truck but managed to grab onto the seatbelt so he was dangling off the side of the truck. He picked his head up and saw the explosive keychain hanging onto the bottom of the truck. A Police SUV and two sedans quickly pulled up to stop the runaway gas truck. They shot out one of the back tires only for the bomber to crash the truck into one of the sedans making the officer accidently shot the tanker and cause it to spill out gasoline. Will pulled himself back into the truck to see the bomber tie the seatbelt around the wheel to keep it going straight towards the hangar before opening the driver side door to get out. Will pulled him back and choked him out only to get an elbow to the side and a knee to the face before he jumped out. Will hit the brakes but they were out and the truck quickly crashed into three police cars in the way. He undid the seatbelt and pulled the handbrake before turning the car into a stop just before it crashed into the plane.

"That was close." He muttered, getting out of the truck when a dozen police officers surrounded him at gunpoint. He got on his knees and put his hands behind his head as they quickly put cuffs on him. They dragged him over and placed him on the hood of a police cruiser before checking his body. Will looked up and saw the bomber watching from a distance, blending in since he was wearing an airport police uniform. He smirked and pressed a button on his phone, activating the bomb but heard an accelerated beeping sound coming from his body. He turned and saw the keychain bomb strapped to his belt behind him and then it went off, blowing him to pieces.

Coulson, May, and Ward walked over and were met with some officers who tried to keep them back but showed them their badges. "SHIELD, let this man go now. He's one of our own." Coulson told him.

"Badge is in my back pocket." Will told them so an officer checked and found his SHIELD badge.

"He saved all of you from the real bomber who just blew up." Coulson informed them as Will stood up straight and brought his hands in front of him showing that he undid the handcuffs around his wrists.

"Nice try though." Will tossed the officers the handcuffs as paramedics, CSU, and more SHIELD backup arrived to deal with the carnival of an attempted plane bombing. Le Chiffre's plan failed and that would provide a new opportunity for them.

Line Break xxxxx

The BUS, Miami International Airport

After dealing with the clusterfuck that was the airport scene when the bombing was prevented, Will and the team were cleared of any wrongdoing. If anything Will was praised for stopping an attempted bombing with the actual bomber blown to bits and pieces of him still on the tarmac. Tony himself even called Will to thank him for saving one of his companies prototypes and preventing a massive disaster. Dimitrios body was collected from the museum and his girlfriend's body was found dead in their beach house less than 24 hours later. Le Chiffre must have thought there was a leak and with Dimitrios dead they went after her.

The team monitored Le Chiffre's movements and activity thanks to the tracker placed on his yacht. He stayed in the Bahamas for a bit before booking a private charter to Montenegro. They did a brief calculation and estimated he lost one hundred and one million, two hundred and six thousand dollars in his attempted plane bombing stock market manipulation. With some more information from SHIELD as well as Interpol and corroboration from other intelligence agencies they now had a solid plan to go after Le Chiffre so Coulson gathered the team to the briefing area to discuss it.

"First off, I just want to thank everyone for the great job on the work done so far. We prevented a serious disaster at the Miami airport so well done." Coulson told them.

"Yeah, it went well until I was arrested by Miami's finest and then nearly getting dragged by a truck but another one in the win column." Will remarked.

"I've updated command on the situation and given the delicate nature and value Le Chiffre has we now have a new plan going forward." Coulson brought up some information on the touch table. "With preventing the damage to Skyfleet's latest prototype, we saved the company and the account that shorted the million shares has lost a considerable amount of money. The account we now know connects to Le Chiffre. And after that, he left the Bahamas and charted a private jet to Montenegro. We have intel on the ground that tells us he's been set up in the area and just set up a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale. Ten players, $10 million buy-in, $5 million re-buy. Winner takes all with a potential total of $150 million."

"Wow…" Skye muttered. "That's a lot of money."

"Money he's trying to get to recoup his loses. Interpol and SHIELD intelligence believe that the hundred million dollars he lost in his latest scheme is actually money he invested from one of his clients." Coulson informed them.

"He's playing the stock market with his clients' funds? That's a sure way to get yourself killed." Will pointed out.

"Exactly. He's desperate to get back the money he lost because he knows that if he doesn't it means he's a dead man which is precisely why SHIELD command doesn't want that to happen." Coulson told them.

"If he loses then he's out of options and will possibly surrender to save his own life." Ward suggested and Coulson nodded.

"Le Chiffre is the banker to a lot of bad people which means the knowledge he has could help take them down for good. This is the one case where we need him alive and the more desperate he is the better for us. We offer him protection in return for everything he knows. To ensure he doesn't win, one of our own will be going undercover at the game to win. One of the players worked for a crime syndicate but has unfortunately been arrested. Lucky for us there is someone here with a rock solid alias that has the money and reputation to fit the profile. And with some help curtesy of SHIELD and Interpol criminal assets, he got himself an invitation." Coulson said and everyone looked at Will.

He took out his phone and checked one of the private email accounts he set up for his Oliver Queen alias to see an invitation to play at Casino Royale. "Huh, how about that?" Will joked.

"Sir, are you sure about this?" Ward wondered. "I'm not doubting Will's talent as an agent but wouldn't this raise some red flags for Le Chiffre?"

"Ward's got a point. Someone as well connected as Le Chiffre would have to sense something funny going on with my recommendation especially if it comes after the arrest of one of the other players." Will added.

"Agreed but if Le Chiffre suspected that Oliver Queen was an undercover agent he wouldn't have sent him an invitation anyway. This tells us he's either incredibly arrogant and thinks he'll still win while escaping capture or is desperate enough for the money and then will surrender to get a deal. Either way, Command is greenlighting the mission but to avoid any leak it'll just be us on the ground with the local SHIELD agent already on his way to the Kolasin to check out the city and the casino. We'll take the train to the city so make sure we have everything we need before we leave." Coulson told them and they nodded. "All that leaves is the actual funding for the mission."

"What? Wouldn't SHIELD fund the buy-in for the money?" Skye pointed out.

"Normally yes but when I suggested Will be the one to undertake the undercover assignment for the poker game…they suggested that he finance the buy-in with funds from Oliver Queen's bank accounts." Coulson replied.

"What?" Will knew that was messed up and not the truth at all. "Oh, that's just bullshit. Just because I can fund the buy-in doesn't mean I want to."

"You have ten million dollars?" Fitz asked him.

"Treasure and money I got from a mission that I kept and invested. Coulson, come on this is ridiculous. What's the real reason?" Will asked him.

"That's what they told me but I wager it probably has something to do with the massive bill SHIELD was sent for our stay in the Bahamas." Coulson pointed out. This was probably Fury or Hill's way of getting back at Will for abusing SHIELD resources like that.

"It was worth it though. Best food I've ever had." Skye stated only to see the annoyed look on Will's face. "You were the one who ordered everything."

"And you ate it. Want to chip in and pay me back a couple grand?" He wondered and she shut up after that. "All right, fine. I'll finance the buy-in but I'm keeping all the money when I win."

"50%." Coulson told him.

"95%." Will offered.

"65%" Coulson suggested instead.

"85%. My final offer."

"75% is the highest SHIELD will allow." Coulson put as his final offer.

"Deal." Will agreed and Coulson nodded.

"I'll send it up the chain to command. Make any last minute preparations here before we leave." Coulson told them before he left.

"Well, Skye looks like you get to go undercover after all. How does a trip to a casino sound?" Will wondered and she gave it some thought.

"Not the beach but I'm in." she replied.

The team took care of any last minute details in Miami which included making sure they had everything they could possibly need. Will contacted Tony to assist in some last minute details. Tony had been to Montenegro plenty of times and knew the area well so he had some contacts at the hotel that could help solidify his cover. Tony also took that time to thank Will for sending him the 1964 Aston Martin. After he got it, he sent it to Tony since he didn't have space for it on the Quinjet or BUS and he figured that Tony would appreciate the car. To his surprise, it was the one Aston Martin he didn't have so Tony did appreciate it and said he'd send Will something as a thank you. That along with using his resources to help in his stay at Montenegro.

Helped to have friends in high places.

Two days later…

Montenegro

After taking care of everything they needed for the trip and for Will to go undercover, the Team flew to Montenegro on the BUS and parked it in a hangar as the Podgorica International Airport. They kept their arrival as secretive as possible to avoid any leaks to corrupt police or people working for Le Chiffre or anyone else. After that, the team got onto the train that would take them to Kosolin, the resort town in the mountains where Casino Royale was located. They couldn't risk taking the BUS closer since there weren't any nearby towns or cities with a big enough space to hold it and it increased the risk of word getting to Le Chiffre. So, they were taking the train.

Will was wearing a nice three-piece black and blue suit while Skye had on a grey business dress and jacket. Their bags were taken and shown to their seats where they were offered drinks but settled for water at the moment. "We're in first class Cabin A. Status report?" Will muttered under his breath as he took his seat.

"I'm in my seat. First-Class Cabin B. I see Fitz and Simmons several rows away." Ward radioed.

"We're all good on our end." Simmons checked in.

"May and I are in at the end of Cabin A. We've got eyes on you and Skye." Coulson radioed in.

"All right, we're set. Enjoy the train ride to Casino Royale." Will told them as Skye moved her backpack onto the empty seat next to her as she sat across from him. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just not exactly someone who wears this kind of stuff." Skye was referring to her choice of clothing.

"It's just for the ride there to the hotel. We'll have a complete wardrobe waiting at our hotel room to help us blend in." Will told her.

"Let me guess. You charged that to SHIELD's expense account?" Skye joked.

"No, that and the train ride are curtesy of Tony Stark. He said it was the least he could do for saving his airplane prototype." He corrected her.

"You know Tony Stark?" Skye asked him.

"I do. Can't say how or why but we're…acquaintances." Will decided to leave it at that.

"Wow, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Skye pointed out.

"Comes with the life, Skye. We keep secrets and are full of surprises but in exchange we handle serious life or death missions and make some interesting memories and friends along the way." He joked as the train left the station and was on its way to Kosolin. "Nervous?"

"A little bit. The last time I went undercover didn't exactly end that well." Skye reminded him.

"It wasn't that bad. You handled yourself pretty well and this is gonna be a lot different. Everyone's gonna be focused on the game so you can use that chance to do what you do best and get us more information on Le Chiffre, his organization, and the other players at the table. There's no way Le Chiffre is the only bad guy there. The more we get the better this mission turns out. And we'll have the others backing us up the whole time. We'll be fine." Will assured her.

"You're not nervous. The Poker game part of it, at least?" Skye wondered and he shrugged.

"I'm good with poker. I played a game with Fitz and I won. Then again, I didn't so much as beat him as he suddenly quit. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" He wondered only for Skye to blush. He chuckled seeing her flustered like that and took a sip of water. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? Maybe Fitz could rig up something for you to help you see the cards the other players have?" She suggested.

"This high-end game won't be like the regular ones at Casinos. The high-end games happen in special rooms with advanced security measures to prevent cheating like that." He told her. "I'll be fine though. I've got some skills to use and it's less about being good at the game but more about reading people."

"What do you mean?" Skye asked him.

"Poker isn't about luck. Sure, luck might help you but it's about probability and statistics. How good your hand is, the probability of the dealers cards giving you what you need and the probability that the other players have cards to beat your hand. Poker is never about playing your hand but rather about playing the other people. It's about reading people and that's something I've been trained to do well." He explained which was partially right but he couldn't tell her that he could use his telepathy to read the minds of the other players and ensure he would win. "Subtle hints, tells, and even the slightest twitch can tell you everything you need to know about how well a player is doing."

"Sounds complicated and risky. I mean I know you're good Will but if you lose then we're inadvertently funding terrorism." Skye pointed out.

"Oh, Skye of little faith." Will joked. "Then again it's why they call it gambling."

Several hours later…

After a meal and several hours on the train, they arrived at Kosolin. It was a nice European village that was a big hit with wealthy vacationers and locals and home to many sights including Casino Royale. The team exited the train station with Will and Skye taking a private car service to Hotel Splendid where the team would be setting up shop. Coulson and May took another car to the hotel while Ward had a car waiting to drive him, Fitz, and Simmons along with their gear.

Skye looked out the window at the picturesque city they were in. "Wow, this place is like something you'd see in a movie." She said.

"Yeah. The perfect kind of place for a high-stakes poker game." He joked as they arrived at the hotel. Will and Skye got out to see Coulson and May arrive just behind them. They gave Will and Skye a subtle nod before the two walked in and headed to the receptionist.

"Welcome to the Hotel Splendid. Your name, sir?" She asked Will.

"Oliver Queen." He told her and the receptionist put his bill on the table which he signed before giving him two keycards and a yellow envelope with his alias's name on it. "Thank you."

The two walked over to the elevator where Coulson and May joined them, dressed up like a couple on vacation. Will handed Skye one of the keys while subtly slipping the other into Coulson's pocket just as the elevator arrived. "Your not coming, sweetie?" Skye asked him.

"You go ahead, dear. There's something I want to check out." Will told her and gave her a wink as the elevator doors closed.

"Sweetie?" May asked her.

"I'm in character." Skye reminded her which only drew chuckles from Coulson and May.

Will stayed in the lobby where he opened the envelope left for him. Inside was a set of car keys and a note. It read:

A gift for your mission to Casino Royale. Trust me, it'll do you more good then me. It's in the parking lot. You'll know it when you see it. Good luck, kid and let me know how she handles.

-Tony

He walked out of the hotel to the parking lot and looked around for a bit before he found what he was looking for. He walked over and there was a brand new 2012 Aston Martin DB5 in a parking spot. He used his key to unlock the car and got into the driver's seat where it had that new car smell. There was another note on the passenger seat addressed to him so he took it.

The car's yours, kid. I bought and modified it but never got around to driving it. Since you sent me the old classic, I figured I'd send you a brand new one as a thank you. And it doesn't just look nice with a modified V-12 turbo engine. Every single inch of the car has been modified and reinforced to be exactly what an undercover agent would need. I was bored one weekend and got carried away doing modifications. Trust me, she'll do you good. I also got you a new gun in the glove compartment for convenience.

Let me know how she drives.

"Thanks, Tony." He smiled and folded up the note before touching the glove compartment handle. A tray came out with a new model Heckler & Koch P30L Handgun chambered in the .45 ACP caliber. He removed it to see the custom grip but noted the special sensor in the back by the cocking hammer. When he removed the gun the tray moved back in and then the one underneath came out with a manual so he took that. His new pistol was like his old one, just a newer model with some new upgrades as well. It had a micro-dermal sensor in the grip which was coded to his palm print so only he could fire it. The barrel had been modified for improved accuracy and damage output with rifling fit on the end for an attached suppressor or silencer. Will took both and slipped them in his pants pocket before putting the gun inside his jacket.

The car itself was a modified 2012 Aston Martin DBS with a V-12 supercharged engine. Zero to Sixty in 4.2 seconds. It was specially modified with bulletproof siding, bulletproof windows, ejector seats, two front firing machine guns hidden behind the front lights, hood mounted target seeking shotguns, bulletproof wheels, deployable spike traps, oil slick, and stinger missile launcher deployable from the trunk. Tony really never did anything in a half measure.

When he returned to the hotel suite, he saw the Team getting settled in with the living area turned into the makeshift operating center. It was a two bed-room suite to keep up appearances so some of them would be sleeping on the couch or floor.

"Everything all right? You were gone a while." Skye pointed out.

"Fine. Are we all set up here?" Will wondered.

"We are. Ward and May will watch over things here while Will and I will head into town. Mathis is waiting for us." Coulson told the team.

"I'll bring the car around." Ward told him.

"No need, Ward." Will held up the car keys to his new car. "I got that covered."

Suffice to say that the sound of an Aston Martin driving through the city was unique but Kosolin was a city that attracted a lot of wealthy travelers and tourists so it actually wasn't out of place. Will drove him and Coulson into town and parked on the side of the road near the main square. He got out of the car and removed his sunglasses.

"Nice car." Coulson told him.

"Helps to have friends." Will joked as the two walked over to the outdoor seating of a little café where they were met by another SHIELD agent. He was around Coulson's age and wearing a blue business suit.

"Agent Detmer, Agent Coulson, pleasure to meet you. My name is Mathis, Rene Mathis." Rene shook their hands and they took a seat at a table of a small café. The waiter brought them some wine and water. "Le Chiffre arrived two days ago and spent the time re-establishing old relationships. The chief of police and he are now quite close."

"He's not leaving things to chance. He's paranoid." Will commented.

"That's good. Means he knows he's in danger and is making sure that he's safe here. Does he know that we've been watching him?" Coulson asked Mathis.

"No, I don't think so but he's got his bases covered. I'd advise keeping a low-profile and avoid getting into trouble. Over my left shoulder with the two women. The man with the mustache." Mathis told them and they saw the man he was describing. "That's the chief of police and Le Chiffre paid him a lot of money to keep him safe and notified of any people of interest who come into the city. And should things take a turn for him during the game, arrest his competition."

"That can make things a little difficult." Will pointed out.

"And quite possibly, shorter. He's not a very subtle man. I thought about trying to buy his services but outbidding Le Chiffre's price was not on the table." Mathis said as they heard police sirens closing in before three police cars arrived and officers got out. "I figured it would easier to supply his deputy with evidence of the chief's corruption. That takes him out of the equation and improves your odds, Mr. Detmer."

"Significantly." Will remarked as Mathis slid an envelope over to Coulson.

"Your credentials to get into the game. I'm afraid I was only able to get one made. The rest of your team will have to work out different means of watching over things." Mathis told him.

"That won't be a problem." Coulson assured him.

Later that night…

The team was getting ready for the mission with a final mission overview to go over any last minute details. "All right, the game is going to start in two hours. Will and Skye will make their entry and I'll be there with them along with Mathis. Ward will go in to the Casino as a patron while May runs things from here along with Fitz and Simmons. Normally, the high-end game rooms had advanced security to keep watchful eyes and ears on everything but Fitz had rigged up some things to get past them."

Fitz brought over a small case and opened it to reveal what looked like a small dot. "New polymer blend audio communications device. Small but with a long range and clear audio vibration technology. Fits perfectly in a watch." Fitz removed a watch from the case and inserted it into the bottom before giving it to Will. "Watch itself is fine. 12-carots, gold inlay and holds up under X-ray and metal detector but is the receiver and also houses one mini-tracker/listening bug for Le Chiffre. Given how close you'll be sitting with the other players at the table you can't wear a regular earpiece so this one actually fits in the back of your ear and we'll disguise to look like a skin mark. Granted the design is only meant so you can listen in to the rest of the team. They won't be able to hear you but we can at least keep you informed in case something comes up."

"Nicely done, Fitz." Will told him as he put the watch on.

He then took out a very nice looking diamond necklace. "And this is for Skye." Simmons handed it over to her.

"I'm not really a diamond person." Skye told them.

"Yes, it is a bit gaudy but hidden in the necklace is a camera so we can see what's going on. We've also designed smaller earpieces for you and Coulson so you can stay in contact." Simmons explained.

"Good job, Fitz-Simmons. All right, let's get ready." Coulson told them.

After some showers and sprucing up, Will was just about ready to leave, wearing the tuxedo that Tony had made for him. A one-button front, silk trimmed peak lapels, jetted pockets, and no vents black jacket. An accompanied white button-up shirt and to pull it all together was a matching black bowtie. Will looked at himself in the mirror and felt every bit the secret agent you would see in movies or TV shows only they didn't look as good as him. He put on the watch Fitz made for him and spritzed on some cologne before walking out into the living room.

Fitz, Simmons, Coulson, May, and Skye saw Will come out looking very handsome in his tuxedo. There were some blushes on Skye and Simmons face and even May had to admit he looked good. Coulson was wearing a dinner jacket as well but his wasn't as nice as Will's was. "Looking good, Mr. Queen." Coulson said to him.

"Feeling good, Mr. Brown." Will replied. Coulson's alias for the night was Roderick J. Brown, Oliver Queen's attorney and assistant. Not exactly glamorous but it got him into the game. Skye stood up and walked over, wearing the dress she would be wearing for the game. She was wearing a one-shouldered orange satin dress that had a matching orange silk shawl to cover her shoulders. Her hair was done up a little bit and she was wearing the diamond necklace that had the camera. "We look pretty damn good, don't we?"

"That we do." Skye replied, spinning around a bit to show off the nice dress. "I'll admit that I'm not exactly one for dresses but this one is amazing."

"Now I feel a little under dressed." Coulson pointed out.

"No, you look good, Coulson." Will assured him. "We look exactly like the people we're supposed to be and we'll fit right in. Although we might draw too much attention with how good we look."

That earned him a few laughs. "All right, Ward is already there and the game starts soon so we better get going. We'll let you know if anything comes up." Coulson told May, Fitz, and Simmons before he, Will and May left.

The three were now stuck together in the hotel suite while the others got to go out. "Should we feel jealous that we didn't get to go?" Fitz wondered.

"I had the time of my life in the Bahamas so I'm ok." Simmons admitted and May remained her same stoic self with no answer.

Line Break xxxxx

Casino Royale

Will drove up in the Aston Martin and parked outside the Casino. He got out and opened the door for Skye, helping her out of the car before he helped Coulson out of the back seat. They headed inside where the place was busy with activity. Various rooms filled with roulette tables or poker games of relatively low stakes but all designed to take your money. Ward was at a roulette table blending in when he saw them walk by.

"They're in the casino. I have on eyes on them and they're heading to the private salon." Ward muttered.

"Roger that." May replied, back at the hotel.

"Good evening, sir." The lady at the private salon entrance greeted Will and the others are they walked in. The Casino's private security were set up in the wing of the private salon with a guard waiting at a metal detector. Will removed his watch and phone and handed it to the guard before walking through with no sensor going off. He took his items back and that's when he removed the listening device from the bottom of his watch and subtly placed it behind his right ear when he scratched it.

Skye and Coulson went through the metal detector with no issue with their earpieces or the camera in the necklace not setting off any alarms so now they were in. "We're in." Coulson muttered under his breath before looking at Will. "Nice place, isn't it. Mr. Queen."

"We've got a clean signal from camera in Skye's necklace. Will, can you hear us?" Fitz asked them.

"Yes. Yes, indeed. This place is quite nice." Will replied, staying undercover but also answering Fitz's question. They walked into the private parlor for the game, where they saw several tables set up around the room for the guests with the main poker table in the center and a private bar at the other end. Will walked over to the bar with Skye and Coulson where the other players were waiting when Le Chiffre got up.

"And you must be Mr. Bliss's replacement. Welcome, Mr. Queen." Le Chiffre greeted him with a handshake and Will shook it.

"Thank you. It's a pleasure to get an invitation." He said back with a smile on his face.

"Forgive me but I wasn't aware among your many exploits and illustrious travel that poker was one of your many talents. Just a fair warning, the stakes of this game are very high." Le Chiffre cautioned him.

"That's what makes it so much fun, doesn't it?" He told him. "Best of luck."

The Salon patron stood up by the table with the Swiss Banker Mr. Mendel. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome. As you know, the game is no-limit hold 'em poker. Five communal cards, two in the hole. Monsieur Mendel here represents the Basel Bank, Switzerland, holding the stakes."

Mr. Mendel stepped forward to address everyone. "Mesdames et Messieurs, you have each deposited $10 million buy-in. A further buy-in of $5 million can be made by electronic transfer. The money will remain in escrow until I return and the winner of the contest enters his or her password into the encryptor, whereupon the entire sum will be wired to any bank account in the world you nominate."

One by one the players were brought up to the encryptor where they put in their own passcode. Skye used that time before the game started to get a look at the other players in the game. She made sure the necklace had a clean view of them and the live view was sent back to the hotel. Facial recognition was run on their faces and they all got matches. There was some regular well known poker players at the game Madam Wu, the elder Chinese Woman was a well-known gambler along with Fukuto, the Japanese gambler as well as Grafin von Wallenstein who was a madame playing for a Casino in Germany. There was also Tomelli who was an Italian aristocrat with a penchant for gambling. The rest of the players were a little more suspect. The Spanish player Gallardo had deep tied to arms trafficking in Europe, Infante was playing for a Diamond Cartel in Africa and Kaminosky had tied to a Serbian military group that wasn't exactly fond of following the Geneva Convention. With Le Chiffre there was a mix of regular high rollers and criminals.

The game soon begun so the players took their seats. Coulson and Skye watched from the bar and blended in. "High card for deader position. It's Signor Gallardo. Mr. Kaminosky is the small blind, $5,000, and Mr. Fukutu, the big blind, $10,000." The Salon manager announced as the two players put in their chips. "Well, enjoy the game."

The dealer dealt out cards to everyone at the table and after checking what they had initial bets were made. Will put his chips in along with three other players, one of whom was Le Chiffre. "Four players." The dealer announced as he placed the cards down for the flop which were the 5 of hearts, 8 of hearts, and 9 of hearts. After seeing the cards. Mr. Fukutu and Infante checked while Le Chiffre bet Fifty thousand. Will watched him and saw the man place a finger against his temple by his left eye. One could mistake it as him dealing with a headache or hiding a tell and it was the latter. The scar over his left eye which made it slightly opaque caused some retinal damage but not significant enough judging by his movements earlier. However, one side effect of an injury like that would be haemolacria which was bleeding from the eye. It was caused by a derangement and damage of the tear duct. It was common for injuries like that but in situations of a high-stakes poker game, the nerves and stress could cause the weeping to start which was a definite tell of his cards and luck. He was pressing against his temple to cut off the nerve near his eye to prevent the bleeding.

Will read his mind and knew he had a 2 of spades and a 2 of clubs and with the current state of the cards he was betting on the turn and the river to be his saving grace so Will decided to see if that would happen and called his bet. Fukutu and Infante folded their hands as the dealer put the chips into the pile and placed down the card for the turn which was the 9 of clubs.

"Monsieur Le Chiffre." The dealer had him go and he bet one hundred thousand. Will called his bet and put in a hundred thousand. The dealer then placed down the card for the river which was the 2 of hearts. The five community cards gave Le Chiffre a full house, Deuces full of nines. Guess his bluff paid off and he knew that because he raised his bet with two hundred thousand. Will decided to fold giving Le Chiffre and early win.

"Could you send the barman over?" Will asked and the Patron and he signaled him over. "A dry martini."

"Oui, Monsieur."

"Wait. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet, shake it over ice, and then add a thin slice of lemon peel." Will ordered.

"Yes, sir." The barman replied.

"You know, I'll have one of those." Gallardo said.

"So will I." Infante ordered.

"Certainly." The barman replied.

"My friend, bring me one as well. Keep the fruit." Felix Leiter ordered and the barman nodded.

"That's it? Hmm? Anyone want to play poker now?" Le Chiffre wondered.

"Someone's in a hurry." Felix remarked.

"If I was winning like him then I would be as well." Will joked before deciding to skip this hand and go to the bar. "Would you excuse me?"

He went over to Skye and hugged her close before kissing her on the cheek. "Are they still watching?" He whispered.

"Yes." Coulson replied as the bartender put Will's drink order down on the bar.

"Not to micromanage the situation sweetie but things aren't exactly off to a good start." Skye pointed out as Will took a sip of the drink.

"Oh, that's terrible. I'm not sure why I ordered that. I hate martinis." Will put the drink down. "Can I get a beer please?"

"Then why?" Coulson asked him.

"To make a power statement. Keep up the appearance of confidence after folding the hand." Will told him as the bartender handed him a glass of beer. "But it was worth it to discover his tell. He suffers from haemolacria and pressed his finger into the vessel in the side of his head by his left eye to stop the bleeding when he was bluffing."

"He was bluffing? But didn't he have the best hand?" Skye whispered.

"Which he got on the last card the dealer put down. The odds against it were 23-to-1 and being a mathematician, he knew that. When he did his first raise he had nothing. Like I said before luck helps but it can turn on you fast." Will told them before taking a sip of his beer. "There's another thing. The player sitting on my right."

"Felix Leiter. Fitz ran an background check on him. He's clean." Coulson told him.

"No, he's not. He's CIA. He's also after Le Chiffre. Guess the CIA didn't care that SHIELD was taking point on this. You might want to call their station chief." Will whispered before heading back to the table.

"Oh, he's good." Skye muttered.

"If anyone's got a chance to pull this off it's him." Coulson whispered to her. "Fitz, dig into Felix Leiter more and May contact the CIA station chief for Europe. We need to talk to them."

"Roger that." She replied.

Skye got curious about the martini Will ordered so she took a sip but recoiled at the taste. Guess Martinis weren't for everyone.

Several hours later…

The game continued with Will making up for his bad start and then some. Due to his telepathy, he knew the cards of every single player at the table which helped him win the hands he could win and avoid the hands he couldn't. To avoid drawing too much attention and make it seem like he was cheating, which he technically was, he lost some hands on purpose but after several hours of playing he was one of the players with the most chips in the game. The other player with the most was Le Chiffre.

The dealer shuffled the deck of cards as the salon patron stood up for an announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, Mesdames, Messieurs, we've now been playing for four hours. It's time for a short break. We will resume play in one hour."

Le Chiffre's bodyguard walked over and whispered something to him which made him get up. Will saw the man's inhaler left on the table his drink was so he walked over, subtly removed the tracker from his watch and placed it inside his inhaler as Coulson came over with a beer for him.

"Cheers on winning." Coulson told him as they walked away. Le Chiffre then came over and took his inhaler before he and his men left. "Ward, Le Chiffre's leaving the salon without his bodyguard or assistant. Follow him."

"Roger that." Ward replied. He was still up on the main floors of the casino and saw Le Chiffre walk out so he followed him. Le Chiffre got a cab and left the Casino to return to Hotel Splendid. "May, he's back at the hotel. I'm heading up to his room now."

"I'm on my way." She put her jacket on and went to back him up incase something happened. Fitz and Simmons monitored the tracker in his inhaler as he entered his room and listened in on what was going on.

"All right, I'm here. What's so…"

"I'm sorry."

[Sounds of a struggle and gasping for air]

"Where is my money?! You think you can lose that kind of money and no one would notice?!"

"Your money is safe."

"Sir, there's another man in the room with Le Chiffre and he's not happy." Fitz reported.

"It's got to be someone Le Chiffre did business with. Ward, May, move into position but do not engage." Coulson told them.

"What do we do?" Skye wondered.

"Despite how horrible Le Chiffre is, he's worth more to us alive." Will told her.

"He's right. Fitz keep listening in on what's going on. Ward, May do not engage unless absolutely necessary and only if his life is in danger." Coulson ordered. Fitz continued listening in as Ward and May headed to the floor Le Chiffre's room was on.

"You'll have it tomorrow. All of it."

"I would take a hand for this betrayal but you need it to play cards. Hold out your arm. Hold out your arm my beauty or I will take your head."

"AH!"

Fitz recoiled a bit but didn't hear any screaming after that.

"Not a word of protest. You should find a new boyfriend."

"Guys, I think he's coming out." Fitz told them so Ward and May pulled back to the elevator like they were just coming out and saw two men walk out of Le Chiffre's room. Ward and May just paid them no attention and acted like they were a couple heading to their room and it seemed like Le Chiffre's attackers would leave but then one of the men noticed that May had an earpiece in. He kept walking before taking out a pistol with an attached silencer and fired a few shots. May and Ward ducked into the stairwell as the two men chased after them. Ward knocked the gun out of the man's hand and punched him in the face before throwing him off the stairs where he fell to his death. The other man pulled out a machete and began swinging and knocked Ward's gun out of his hand. Ward ducked and punched him in the gut as May kicked him in the head. The man slashed Ward in the arm and pushed him back as May kicked him in the groin, grabbed his arm and threw him into the wall. He recovered and hacked with his machete but missed as May caught his arm and threw him down the stairs. He got up only for Ward to jump forward and knee him in the chest before knocking the machete away. He pulled out a knife only for May to grab his wrist and pull it to his body. He pushed against her grip and moved the knife away only for Ward to punch him in the stomach and then forcibly shove his arm into his body so the knife stabbed him in the heart.

Ward and May let out some heavy breaths before dropping his body to the ground. "Hostiles neutralized. Clean-up crew needed." Ward reported.

"I'll contact Mathis and have it taken care of. Good work you two. Have Simmons check you both out." Coulson told him.

"Will, you better win this game." May told him with the threat of violence should he fail not-so subtle in her tone.

"Duly noted." Will responded.

Le Chiffre returned to the poker room about ten minutes later and everyone sat around the poker table to resume the game. Despite his near death threatening he didn't let it affect him on the outside. On the outside he was no different then before except for the obvious touch up to his hair and clothing from his attack but no one noticed it except for Will. On the inside, he was still worried about what it could mean if he didn't get the money.

"Are you all right, Mr. Le Chiffre?" Will asked him. "You look troubled. I hope it doesn't affect you in the game. It's just getting good."

"It would appear so." Le Chiffre replied.

The game continued for another few hours with Gallardo, the Spanish player that had ties to arm trafficking losing all his $10 million chips and he decided not to do the $5 million dollar buy-in and left. Unlucky for him, Interpol was given information on his whereabouts and would be waiting for him when he returned to Madrid.

Line Break xxxxx

The next day, the team was relaxing after what happened and Coulson gave command a heads up on their progress. Will was still in the game as one of the top players with him and Le Chiffre neck and neck. The bodies were taken care of and it turns out that the person Ward and May killed was Steven Obanno, commander and terrorist who led the Lord's Resistance Army in Africa. No one felt bad that we was dealt with and his body along with his bodyguard were dumped outside the city and found by the local police. By now word had gotten to Le Chiffre about what happened. He was worried about who took out his attackers and wondering who else is coming after him.

Will went out to a local café for lunch. Just some coffee and a nice meal when he felt someone sit behind him at another table. "How good is the food here?" A man asked him.

"Actually, quite good. I recommend the salmon. Very nicely cooked and tastes great." Will suggested. "One thing you can bet on with Salmon is that they don't get involved in other Salmon's business."

"Only when it's something important." The man replied as the waiter came by and handed him a menu. The man was Felix Leiter, one of the poker players from the game but was actually an agent with the CIA sent undercover to get Le Chiffre.

"Langley must not have gotten the memo. SHIELD's taking point on this one." Will told him.

"Doesn't SHIELD have bigger things to worry about like when the next alien invasion is gonna happen?" Felix pointed out.

"Oh sure. But we've got to have something to do on our days off." Will pointed out. "I'd say let the best man win but with the way you're playing it's obvious what's gonna happen. You're not very good at poker are you?"

"Not really but Le Chiffre needs to be taken in so they sent me." Felix said when someone sat down at his table and it was Coulson.

"We know. Which is why we're here talking to discuss a solution. Instead of dealing with the massive bureaucratic nonsense both our agencies would have to endure, we let the game play as it will. Whoever wins, wins but in the spirit of inter-agency relationship…the CIA gets the credit for bagging Le Chiffre. Only stipulation is that the intel he gets is shared." Coulson offered.

"You must have some serious confidence in your friend." Felix said to Coulson.

"He can do it. And if I had to wager a bet on who would win given how the game has been playing out then I'd be put money on him to win." Coulson stated.

"Fair point. I sure hope you can win this game, kid." Felix said to Will.

"I've got this." Will promised.

Later that night…

The poker game continued with the Italian Poker Player Tomelli losing early in the evening. The chips of the six remaining players were dwindling while the stock of chips belonging to Le Chiffre and Will was growing. Le Chiffre had more chips at the moment and had the lead which was on purpose. Will wanted him to maintain the momentum for a while but he was nipping at his heels.

"Three players." The dealer pulled the chips of Le Chiffre, Felix, and Will into a pile before putting down the turn which was a Jack of Diamonds to add to the flop of a Jack of Hearts, King of Spades, and Ace of Clubs. Felix was up first and raised the bet with three hundred thousand. "Bet. Three hundred thousand."

Will decided to call his bet as did Le Chiffre and the river revealed a King of Diamonds. Will had a King and Ace of Hearts which would give him a Full House Kings and Aces but Le Chiffre had a Jack of Clubs and a Jack of Spades which would give him four Jacks to win. Le Chiffre knew he had the winning hand which made his finger to the temple an interesting sight. He was fake bluffing to bait Will into betting higher. Unlucky for him, he wasn't gonna fall for it.

"I think that's enough for this hand. No reason to bet on an unsure thing." He folded his hand much to the shock of everyone. He lost money but he would have lost more if he raised. Coulson, Skye, and the others didn't know what he know so it seemed like he folded for nothing but they just had to trust he was doing the right thing.

"Fold. Monsieur Le Chiffre?" The Dealer called and he checked. Felix revealed his hand to show he had the King of Hearts and a Nine of Spade giving two pair of Kings and Jacks but Le Chiffre revealed his two Jacks giving him four of a kind, the higher hand. "Four of a kind. All Jacks. Monsieur Le Chiffre wins."

"Seems like someone knew something I didn't." Felix grumbled as Le Chiffre took his winnings.

"You surprised me, Mr. Queen. Why fold a hand after all that effort?" Le Chiffre asked him.

"A smart player knows when to cut his losses and wait until the opportune moment." Will remarked as the two had a bit of a stare down before the game continued.

Will managed to make up his momentary loss with some more winning and forcing Le Chiffre to fold three separate times. Le Chiffre knew he was getting picked at bit by bit and Will was looking to be the person to take down so he had contingency plans. His girlfriend uncorked a small vial and poured in a liquid into Will's beer before the bartender brought it over for him to drink. He reached for his drink and brought it to his mouth when his nose picked up a scent. It was faint and even on a second or third whiff you wouldn't be able to smell it but Will wasn't normal. His senses were heighted to superhuman levels and knew it was poisoned. He looked over at Le Chiffre's girlfriend by the bar and read her mind. She's the one who spiked his drink. Judging by the smell it was a digitalis derivative which would make his heart beat irregularly while increasing blood flow throughout his body.

From the smell alone Will could tell that his body would be able to fight off the infection but knew that if he didn't drink then Le Chiffre's suspicions would grow so he decided to chance it and drank the beer completely in a few gulps. Le Chiffre stared at him for a few minutes and saw Will start to act like there was something wrong.

"Excuse me." Will got up from his chair and left the table, heading to the bathroom. Felix was concerned when he saw him leave as was Coulson who followed him to the bathroom. He walked in to see Will in the stall, puking his guts out.

"Will, you ok?" He asked as Will held up his finger to give him a moment and motioned him to close the door. Will sat on the ground and took a few deep breaths before closing his eyes and holding his hand to his stomach. Coulson was unsure what was happening when he saw Will's hand begin glowing blue which meant he was using his powers. Before he could ask why, he saw something move up Will's stomach to his chest and soon enough a brownish liquid was being pulled out of his mouth bit by bit. It was honestly disgusting to watch as Will used his powers to draw whatever that liquid was from his body and once he had it all he dumped it in the toilet and flushed.

Will then puked one more time before wiping his mouth with tissue paper and going to the sink to rinse his mouth out. After that, he fixed his shirt and checked his appearance in the mirror. "I'm ok, Coulson." He assured him.

"What just happened?" Coulson asked him.

"Le Chiffre isn't leaving anything to chance. He poisoned my drink but I picked it up." Will told him.

"But you still drank it. That was risky." Coulson warned him.

"I know but I had to keep up appearances. I know my body could handle it but to be on the safe side I pulled it from my body." He explained.

"I didn't know that your powers were that precise." Coulson pointed out.

"I call it molecular manipulation. Let's me control certain molecules of certain objects like say the beer and poison and separate it from the other junk in my stomach and then pull it out of my body." Will cleared his throat as he still had that puke aftertaste in his mouth. "Not something I recommend doing again and it requires serious concentration but it worked."

"Le Chiffre must be very desperate to try and take you out of the game but I'm glad you're all right. You sure you're ok?" Coulson asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just give it another few minutes to make it seem like he succeeded before I go back." Will suggested and Coulson agreed.

While Will was in the bathroom, the game continued with more players taken out including Felix who lost in his final bet. Le Chiffre couldn't hold back his smirk and Felix grumbled when Will walked past him and sat back in his chair like nothing was wrong and he did just go the bathroom. Le Chiffre and his girlfriend shared looks of shock but Le Chiffre kept his much more restrained.

"Sorry for the wait. I think I drank something that didn't agree with me." Will remarked as Coulson rejoined Skye and assured her that everything was fine. "Shall we continue?"

"Gentlemen, with this chip exchange, we enter the final phase of the game, which means no more buy-ins. The big blind is now $1 million." The Salon manager announced as the game continued.

One hour later…

It was down to four final players. Will, Le Chiffre, Fukutu and Infante, the latter two of the four were hanging on with bare minimum so it was really a game against Will and Le Chiffre. After the small and big blinds were made and the cards were dealt out, the game continued with everyone in. The Flop on the table was an Ace of Hearts, an 8 of Spades, a 6 of Spades, and the turn put a Four of Spades on the table.

"It's your bet." The dealer said to Le Chiffre and he checked. "Mr. Queen?"

"Check." He replied and everyone else checked so the dealer dealt the river which was an Ace of Spades.

"Check." Le Chiffre said.

"Check." Will said.

Fukutu put in all his remaining chips for his bet. "All in. Six million."

"Bet. Six million. All in." The dealer announced. Infante called his bet and went all in with five million. "Five million. All in. Bet is Six million."

Le Chiffre grabbed some blue plaques and placed them on two small towers of chips before pushing them in. "Raise."

"Raise. Twelve million. Heads up." The dealer announced and everyone began to get anxious.

Will leaned forward and sized up Le Chiffre before he decided to act. "All in." Will pushed in all his chips to the center.

Le Chiffre was taken back by the gamble but his cards were a 6 of Hearts and an Ace of Clubs and was confident that he had this. "Well, I think I will call you on that one. All in." Le Chiffre pushed in all his chips as well.

"That's one hundred and fifteen million in the pot right now. Does he have this?" Skye asked Coulson.

"He does." Coulson whispered back while back in the hotel, Fitz, Simmons, and May were watching in anticipation with a bowl of popcorn shared between the three.

"Gentlemen, showdown, please." The dealer announced.

Fukutu put in his cards which were a King and Queen of Spades, giving him a Flush with the 8, 6, and Ace of Spades. "Flush. Ace, King, Queen." The Dealer announced with Fukutu feeling confident. Infante then revealed his cards to be an 8 of Clubs and 8 of Aces, giving him the better hand. "Full house. Eights full of Aces."

Le Chiffre then put his two cards forward. A 6 of Hearts and Ace of Clubs. "A higher full house. Aces full of Sixes." The Dealer announced with Le Chiffre having the highest hand so far. He couldn't help but smile and neither could his girlfriend. Based on all the odds and probability he had this won. "Mr. Queen?"

Will let out a sad exhaled in defeat. "That was a good game, Mr. Le Chiffre. I'm man enough to admit that. It was fun and there is some comfort in defeat…" He moved his cards forward and then flipped them to reveal a 5 and 7 of Spades, giving him a Straight Flush from 4 to 8. "But more comfort in winning."

Everyone in the room let out oohs and ahhhs with some small applause at the incredible turnaround for the match. "Five and Seven of Spades. A Straight Flush. Four to the Eight. The High Hand. Monsieur Queen wins." The dealer announces as Le Chiffre's face turned to fear and internal panic as his eye began bleeding. He quickly got up and left with his girlfriend and bodyguards following.

Will slid the dealer a $500,000 plaque as a thank you at the end of the game. "For you."

"Thank you very much." The dealer thanked him.

Will got up and walked over to Felix who couldn't help but chuckle. "He's all yours." Will said to him.

"Much appreciated, brother." Felix followed Le Chiffre as Coulson and Skye walked over and joined Will.

"Congratulations." Coulson praised him.

"So, did your tell and predicted let you know that was gonna happen?" Skye wondered.

"No, that hand was all luck." Will joked. "Coulson, get the team together at the hotel. I'm hungry."

The trio joined Ward upstairs at the Casino where they headed back to the hotel and met up with May, Fitz, and Simmons for dinner. They ordered food and some wine to celebrate their victory. Le Chiffre lost and he was going to go down. Coulson checked his phone to see an update from Command. "Felix has made contact with Le Chiffre. The CIA plan to extract him before dawn." Coulson informed him.

"So, they get the credit for his arrest? You guy are ok with that?" Skye wondered.

"It's not the first time a deal like that has been made. What's important now is that Le Chiffre is arrested and the intel he gives up will go to both the CIA and SHIELD and the people in charge are happy. Good guys win, bad guys lose and I get some spending money." Will joked, taking a sip of water.

"So, what does a SHIELD agent do with one hundred and fifteen million dollars in his bank account?" Simmons wondered.

"Actually, it'll only be 86,250,000 after SHIELD gets their cut and probably even a lot less after taxes." Ward corrected her.

"Who said I was gonna pay taxes?" Will wondered much to the laughs of everyone at the table.

"Seriously, Will. What are you gonna do with that money?" Skye asked him.

"Set some aside for retirement, take care of some friends and family but donate most to some good charities." Will answered and everyone liked that answer.

"Would we fall under that category of friends because I wouldn't mind some money for retirement?" Fitz wondered and Simmons laughed. "What? I'm sure Coulson wouldn't mind another vacation to Tahiti."

"It's a magical place." Coulson replied. "And being able to go there without being in the hospital beforehand would be nice."

"I don't know. If I'm going on vacation I wouldn't mind going back to the Bahamas. It'd be nice to go there when I don't have to work." Simmons said.

"I second Simmons choice. Ward, what about you?" Skye wondered.

"The Alps. Skiing all the way." Ward answered.

"Hawaii." May said. "Sun, beaches, and hiking."

"And where they filmed Jurassic Park." Fitz said and everyone laughed. "What? It's true."

Will wiped his mouth when he got a phone call from a blocked number. "Excuse me." He stood up and walked away from the table to answer but not before encrypting his phone before he did. "Hello?"

No one answered and there wasn't a dial tone so there was someone on the other end but there was no response. "Hello?"

Will closed his eyes and activated his telekinetic sense of the surrounding area. He didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary until he sensed six people outside the hotel in the parking lot and they were carrying guns. He read their minds and they were there for him. Private mercenaries on order from Le Chiffre and the organization he worked for.

"Will, what's going on?" Coulson asked him.

"Head back up to the room." Will told them, pocketing his phone, and walked out of the restaurant and hotel. He spotted the men outside the hotel so he walked over to the parking lot. They were following him as he predicted they would so he ran and quickly got into his car. He drove the Aston Martin out of the parking lot, spinning out a bit as he did while Le Chiffre's mercenaries rushed back into their cars and drove after him.

Will drove through the city streets, dodging night traffic and pedestrians as he did and began heading out of the city. That's when the dashboard to his car alerted him of call from Coulson. "Will, what's your status?"

"I'm heading north out of the city. Le Chiffre had men waiting outside the hotel for me. They're following me now. Coulson, contact Felix and make sure that Le Chiffre is secured. He might be trying to escape." Will told him.

"Roger that. Ward and May are getting geared up to follow."

"No, Coulson. Le Chiffre saw me with you and Skye so he could have more men waiting. Stay at the hotel. I'll handle these guys." Will ended the call when he saw four cars gaining on him. Two were black Mercedes sedans while the other two were Jeeps. They were catching up and the lead car had someone lean out of the passenger window with an assault rifle and began shooting at him. Lucky for Will, Tony had reinforced the car so it was able to take the bullets without much damage. "And I just got this car too. Fine."

Will pressed a button on the dashboard touch screen to deploy the car's oil slick. Two small tubs descended from the Aston Martin's back bumper and sprayed out oil onto the road. The four follow cars began to swerve and spun out while Will drove away before he pulled a 180 turn and stopped. He pressed another button on his touch screen and brought up the targeting system for the stinger missile. It locked on to one of the jeeps and he hit fire which made part of the trunk open up and a stinger missile was fired out. It flew up into the air before curving down to the truck it was locked on to. The two sedans managed to drive away but the two jeeps weren't so lucky. When the stinger hit one of the jeeps, it was close enough to the other that they both blew up and killed the attackers leaving just the two sedans.

Will revved his car's engine and drove right at the sedans and they drove at him. Men leaned out of the cars and fired at the Aston Martin with assault rifles but the armor and window was able to take the bullets. Will pressed a button on his steering wheel which made the front lights move to the side and two barrels deployed, one for each light. They were the barrels for 5.56mm machine guns and after pressing the button again the machine guns fired at the two sedans. One of the sedans was unlucky as the bullets grouped up on the window and managed to make enough force together to pierce through and kill the driver causing it to swerve and then went flipping onto its roof after about six or seven previous flips. The last sedan kept driving right at Will and started to swerve to avoid the bullets so Will retracted the guns and sped up. He and the sedan played a game of chicken as they drove at one another. When he was close enough, he rolled down his window and pulled the handbrake before drifting into a 180 spin around the sedan while the sedan veered to side at the last moment. Both cars skimmed past one another as Will tossed a metal puck out his window which attached to the sedan's passenger side door. The Aston Martin drifted to a perfect stop while the sedan spun out and began flipping on its side before the metal puck exploded.

Will put the car in park and retrieved his gun from the glove compartment. He attached the silencer and the sensor glowed green meaning it accepted his handprint before he got out of the car and walked over to the flipped sedan. One of the men in the back managed to pull himself part way out of the car but when Will got to him he was dead. He noted the Q lapel pin on the man's jacket before he read his mind. Le Chiffre ordered the men who worked for some group called Quantum to bring him Oliver Queen so he could get the money or else he would be dead. Once they had him they would meet up at the old, abandoned ship by an old lake to torture him. That's where Le Chiffre was.

Will returned to his car and grabbed another grenade which he threw at the sedan before getting in his car and calling Coulson. The grenade went off and blew up the car just as Coulson answered. "Will, I just talked to the CIA. Le Chiffre escaped capture and is on the run."

"I know and I know where he is. Send me SHIELD backup to an abandoned dock yard at Lake Tarno 4 miles northwest of the city. That's where he is. I'm on my way now." Will shifted the car into drive and headed there as fast as he could.

When he arrived, he saw two cars parked outside so he grabbed two extra ammo clips and headed inside. Something felt odd about this and it only got weirder when he saw a dead body by the door. He recognized the man as Le Chiffre's bodyguard. He slowly walked in and moved through the abandoned boat where he found more dead bodies, including Le Chiffre's girlfriend. When he got to the last room he found Le Chiffre dead on the floor with a bullet hole in his head. He rushed over and began reading his mind before it was too far gone for him to get anything. The bullet did a lot of damage but he was able to get some information about Le Chiffre's network and accounts before he checked his memory and saw what happened.

Le Chiffre was pacing around the room waiting for the call from his men about capturing Oliver Queen when he heard the pings of silenced gunshots. In walked a man aiming a gun at him and based on Le Chiffre's memory it was a man called Mr. White. He was Le Chiffre's superior and worked for this Quantum group.

"I'll…get the money. Tell them I'll…I'll get the money." Le Chiffre promised, trying to save his life at this point.

"Money isn't as valuable to our organization as knowing who to trust." Mr. White said before killing him with a headshot.

Will exited Le Chiffre's memories and exhaled. He searched his body and found his phone. He checked everything and found what he was looking for which was the number for this Mr. White. Clearly there was something more going on and they needed to get to the bottom of it. He pocket Le Chiffre's cellphone before calling Coulson.

"Coulson, negative on the backup. I need a clean-up crew. Le Chiffre's dead." Will told him.

"What happened?" Coulson questioned.

"We stumbled onto something a lot bigger than just one banker." He answered.

Two weeks later…

A very nice black Rolls Royce drove past the gates of a very beautiful and expensive villa on Lake Como in Italy. The car pulled up to the side of the house and out walked a relatively unassuming older man, likely in his late 50s or 60s. He walked over and looked out at the view of the Lake when his cell phone rang so he answered.

"Hello."

"Mr. White? We need to talk."

"Who is this?" He asked when he suddenly felt a blinding pain in his right left leg as a bullet went straight through his kneecap. He grunted in pain and crawled through his gravel driveway before managing to make it to the steps leading to his house. That's when two people walked up those steps and looked down at him.

It was Will, wearing a very snazzy three piece blue suit. He was holding his Kriss Vector Submachine gun with an attached silencer and in his other hand was Le Chiffre's cellphone which he put away. The other person was Coulson wearing a very nice grey suit. Mr. White looked up at the two men in irritation.

"The name's Detmer. William Detmer." Will introduced himself.

"Mr. White…we have much to talk about." Coulson told him.

1). The apartment fight scene from the Jackie Chan film the Foreigner.

End of Chapter 14

Sorry for the delay guys. I know I said yesterday but things got crazy and I underestimated how much time I had. But the story's up now and again I'm sorry for the delay. The team handled another mission and stumbled onto a new one that leads to something much deeper. I hoped you guys liked the inclusion of Casino Royale. It's one of my favorite Bond films although I do have a partial preference for the Pierce Brosnan films, this one is really good. Hands down favorite scene is the ending of the movie that I wrote above. Best ending to a Bond film I could think of.

Next chapter, The team digs further into the organization behind Le Chiffre. They're not sure who they are but they up to very bad things and need to be stopped.

For those wondering why I only did one mission from the show, it's because I'm trying to space them out for the timeline. I started Will and the team's mission much earlier then in the show. When they go the HUB, it's November chronologically in the MCU while it's still July in my story so there's still time to cover. Especially since the events of Thor the Dark World take place in November and right after that is the Berserker staff episode so I'm included more missions which also give Will more of a chance to hang out with the team.

Updates for April: Adventures through the Multiverse and the Blue Wolf on April 30th. Until then, everyone stay safe.

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 micro-dermal sensor to his palm print. Improved barrel for accuracy and damage output. Added 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, Specially modified 2012 Aston Martin DBs V-12 spy car, 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.