Wishing Well | Leo Fitz Book Four

Chapter FiftyFive

The screaming match between Yoyo and Daisy was almost too much for Asia to handle, even as she tucked herself in the co-pilot's seat where she didn't have to hear it. There was a part of her that wasn't surprised he had refused to come. He loved that little girl so much, simulation or not. But if they were planning to go back for Leo, they could go back for Mack all the same. Yet, she understood how Yoyo was feeling right now. If it weren't for Dr. Radcliffe...she would be feeling the same exact way. And now, Yoyo had to live with what it felt like to know Mack wouldn't leave that world for anything, even her. She looked over her shoulder and met Yoyo's eyes, exchanging a gaze of understanding. It hurt Asia to see that pain in her eyes, pain she could have mirrored if things were different.

"So why didn't you ever touch down while we were in there?" Asia asked, turning to look at Davis, and Piper who stood leaning against the chair behind him. "We're almost on empty and clearly the power isn't in the best state. It could have been a quick gas and go. Whoever the hell tried to shoot us out of the sky wouldn't have been any the wiser."

Piper and Davis exchanged a glance, something that spoke words even through the silence. "We should show her," Piper said finally, and Davis sighed, but nodded in agreement. It was only a matter of time before they found out, after all.

Piper gathered them all on the main deck after Davis had set the bird back to autopilot. Then, she turned on the news briefing of Talbot. Talbot describing the explosion at Shield HQ. Talbot saying he couldn't rule out Inhuman involvement. Talbot admitting a manhunt was ensuing, saying that they were terrorists. Talbot describing what was going on in Europe, how another, similar explosion had killed the King of Wakanda. How the Avengers were, essentiality, grounded."

"Makes a bit more sense now," Asia admitted as she stared at the screen in horror, reaching for her phone in her back pocket. She had many messages, encoded, many in another language. Clint. Nat. Both asking her to listen to them, to listen to the side that needed them the most. The Sokovia Accords had caused all of this, how some believed they needed to be signed and others didn't. She read through them all, unsure what to think, what to feel. She would sort that out later, especially the pending calendar invite, telling her where she was needed...and when. She had to fix things here first, before she went charting off to another country to stop a temper tantrum between arguing, superpowered, adults.

Asia stayed on board the Zephyr as Daisy and Yoyo moved to the structure, rounding a corner just in time to find Coulson and a very weakened May exiting an elevator shaft. Daisy rushed to May, helping her limp towards where they could get her back on board. Asia surveyed the internal structures of the rig that the plane was scanning. "There," she said, tapping a room near the bottom. "That's where she would have kept them. Look at the layout, Mack is definitely down there." Suddenly, an explosion rippled through the rig, fire shooting out of the elevator shaft.

"Where are the stairs?" Yoyo radioed, and Jemma pressed her lips into a thin line, calling back that they were down, too. They needed to get off the rig, now. Before it collapsed beneath them. Asia was doing all she could with ice to keep the legs standing, but in a few more torpedo blasts, that really wouldn't matter anymore. The whole thing would be submerged.

"Get them in the containment module, now, Daisy," Asia barked the order out, knowing Yoyo's heart must be breaking.

Suddenly, behind them, there was a whirring sound. Asia turned around in time to see a blue and white light, then water and three bodies splash to the ground. Mack, Aida, and Leo, all landing on the ramp of the Zephyr in the cargo hold, a good amount of salt water joining them, their clothes soaked and clinging to their skin.

"You did it, Ophelia, you did it!" Leo said, startled, shaking as he stood. He hadn't expected her to, really. To save them all. Ophelia closed her eyes and looked up, soaking in the feeling of this. Of triumph. She really had saved them. She was a hero.