Birds of a Feather | | Leo Fitz Book One

Chapter 6

The forest in which the were trecking was rather beautiful, well, without the sense of foreboding which hung in the air like a heavy musk. The sun was shining just barely through the dense leaves, and Asia felt rather calm here, compared to the rapidity with which her heart had been beating only an hour in previous. She was almost so distracted by the beauty that she nearly missed what Coulson was saying.

"Troop Leader's name was Adam Cross. Apparently he said he heard something in the woods, went to check it out. It was late at night, and he wanted to make sure nothing was out there that would cause harm to the scout's. That's where the electrostatic anomaly occurred," He explained, pointing over at an old truck which still had a little bit of smoke trickling out of the hood.

Ah yes. The boy scout troop. That's why they were here. The boy scout troop leader who had ended up dead. Asia snapped out of her daydream when she felt the weight of someone's gaze upon her. Expecting it to be May or Coulson, preparing to reprimand her for getting lost in her thoughts, she attempted to make it appear as if she were surveying the land. When she glanced over to see who was gazing at her, her chocolate eyes melded with icy blue and she locked glances with Leo. Quickly she turned back away. If she ignored this issue long enough, their friendship would go back to the way it should be...right? It would have to.

Then, from almost right behind her, she heard him speak, almost causing her to jump, if she were not a well trained SHIELD Ops Agent.

"What I don't understand is, usually, they're caused by a massive electrical storm, thunder, lightning, all of that," He addressed the entire team, but Asia could swear she could feel his breath on her neck.

"But there wasn't a storm within a thousand miles of here last night... The sky was perfectly clear." Simmons mused, looking at the trees above them, biting her lower lip ever so slightly. "Bet you could see the stars just perfectly from here..."

"This anomaly is different, it has a side effect we've never seen before," Coulson replied, "One that makes it worth our team flying all the way out here. Trust me."

"What sort of anomaly?" Asia asked, watching May walk over to inspect the destroyed truck. "084 worthy?"

"Definitely an 084," Coulson replied, "But the rest, you're just going to have to wait and see...and trust me, it's worth the wait. You've never seen anything like this before." He began to walk off, and Asia, with one glance back at Jemma and Leo as she wiggled her eyebrows in excitement, turned to follow him, skipping slightly until she was back at his side.

"Gotta love a good 084," She said with a slight smile, "Keeps things interesting."

"You know, you were an 084, once," Coulson said nonchalantly, as if this were the most average thing someone could say, as if he were speaking about the weather, not dropping bombs.

"I was whatnow?" Asia choked out. "You're kidding. Why the hell was I an 084? There's nothing special about me."

"Well, when you were found in your house after the HYDRA attack, SHIELD didn't know exactly what had happened," Coulson explained, "They didn't know how you had survived or why your sister was taken...so for a while, the both of you were on that list. You've been cleared now though, so don't go doing anything unexpected," he joked.

Asia couldn't do anything but nod. What he said made sense. And she had often wondered the same things, especially about her sister. There were so many questions she didn't have answers to. And maybe she never would. But she cherished every sliver of information she gained about her sister. If she kept gaining more and more, she would eventually find her, or at least find out what happened.

Asia followed Coulson into the clearing but stopped short at the entrance, her mouth dropping open. Fitz ran into her, and Jemma into him.

"What the?" Fitz muttered, looking up from his small tablet, one hand on the small of her back as he brushed past Agent Monroe. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up slightly. Skye stopped beside her, muttering "Holy shit..."