Birds of a Feather | | Leo Fitz Book One

Chapter 4

The events which followed occurred faster than Asia could have ever expected them. What was initially a reunion between Coulson and one of his old friends, turned into Fitz being held at knife point, gun fire, the side of the Bus blown out, and Ward nearly dying if it weren't for Skye's quick ingenuity. It left the entire team exhausted, but it also left them with a bond, a link. They had survived, together, and only with the help of each other. It made them finally, completely, well, completely enough, into a team ready for missions. After Simmons had patched up Asia's bullet wound, she and Leo had left to get something or other. Asia hadn't paid much attention, for May was clearly beckoning her over.

" Looks like Skye might end up as more than a consultant, despite our reservations." Ward said as he handed an empty suitcase to his old classmate for her to start packing.

"I didn't doubt her nearly as much as you," Asia teased, beginning to carefully fill the suitcase, "Girl's got spunk. Plus, if you remember, she sort of saved your ass back there."

May simply nodded, bending over and picking up a gun, shifting its weight before placing it in a crate.

"She could be an asset..." Ward admitted, "With a lot of training. And, she didn't 'save my ass,'" he used air quotes,"We might not have even been in this situation if she weren't out there." Monroe simply rolled her eyes. It would take a lot for Ward to admit anyone had saved him.

"Well, if she wants to be a field agent, she'll need a supervising officer, someone disciplined, someone good, someone who knows their stuff, and isn't afraid to take someone from ground level and build them up," May finally said, glancing back and forth between the two field agents.

Asia immediately glanced at Ward and slowly slid away from him. She was not about to take on someone else's training, not with everything in her world changing so abruptly. "That is all you, Ward," she said sheepishly. In truth, while she would like to train Skye as best she could, she was worried she would screw it up. She had never been responsible for anyone's complete training. Yet, in the hall that first day, she had made an offer to teach the girl a thing or too, and she intended to keep that.

Ward straightened up, looking back and forth between the two female agents who stood on either side of him, before finally saying, "Alright. I'll do it." And the three commenced packing once more. Asia slowed only slightly as she saw Fitz and Simmons come back down the spiral stairs of the Bus, carrying a large, blue cooler. Simmon's had an open beer in her hand. Asia bet it didn't take her all too much to get intoxicated. She didn't exactly look like she had a tolerance. Thanks to Natasha, Agent Monroe had built a huge tolerance for vodka, particularly Russian vodka, but she had a good beer with Clint from time to time as well.

As the two scientists passed, Leo stopped and turned, placing a hand lightly on Asia's shoulder. "Come on, you guys don't want to miss this," he said to all of them, but he met the special op's agent's gentle brown eyes with his stormy blue ones, and smiled, before turning and following Jemma to the edge of the Bus' ramp, sitting down and setting the cooler between them.

Absentmindedly, Asia rubbed the spot where his hand had just been, before glancing back at May and Ward, then walking over towards Leo and sitting beside him, legs dangling over the edge. He looked over at her and smiled, reaching into the cooler and handing her a cool, brown bottle. She took it,popping it open, and looked down at the bottle cap. It was small and gold, with a little blue wave on it. She tucked it gently into the pocket of her pants to deal with later.

"How's your arm? I mean, that bullet wound," Leo asked, taking a sip from his beer.

Asia shrugged, "That is probably one of the least painful bullet wounds I've had. I'd take it again, if I had to." And she meant it, in both aspects. The bullet was really nothing, by far not the worst she had received on her many missions with the Strike Team. And to keep Leo from getting hit, her first new friend here, she would do it again. Not that this was a big deal, really. Protecting her friends, those she cared about, was one of her biggest priorities. She couldn't protect her little sister, the least she could do was protect them.

From behind them, a small radio crackled. "Oh, it's time for blastoff!" Leo said excitedly, turn to face the horizon.

"Where am I looking exactly?" Asia asked, squinting at the horizon. Reaching over, Leo grabbed her hand, making it into a pointer finger and gesturing it in the right direction.

"Just follow that line of sight,but you won't need to in a moment." He then pinched his nose, dropping his voice into a nasally announcer's tone, " Launching in three, two..."

In front of the team, a bright light appears, propelling a long rocket upwards from the ground. Asia's mouth dropped open, her hand falling back to her side.

"The trajectory will take it beyond the Lagrange Point so that it doesn't hit Herschel," Leo explained beside her, Jemma tagging on " And there haven't been any coronal mass ejections, so it shouldn't lose telemetry."

Asia didn't mind that she could not understand what the two of them were saying, she could hear the happiness in both of their voices, and in turn she found herself smiling as she took another sip from her beer. As desolate as things had felt yesterday, today was completely different. Today, things were promising, hopeful even. As she finished her beer, setting it on the ramp beside her before cracking open another, she thought perhaps it was simply the faintest of buzzes she was feeling that was causing this sense of content, but then she glanced over at her team. Jemma was laughing, clearly already tipsy, watching the rocket with enthusiasm. Ward and May stood behind them, exchanging a glance knowingly, slight smiles on both of their lips. And Leo, he was watching the sky, but when he felt Asia's gaze upon him, he turned to look at her. When their eyes met, she smiled. Yea, she was going to be just fine here.