Birds of a Feather | | Leo Fitz Book One

Chapter 65

He wouldn't turn her over. Even though the stood him down, missiles at the ready, Ward called their bluff. Of course, Coulson would never sacrifice Skye and blow up the Bus. Not a chance in hell. And Ward knew this all too well--after all, he had spent months with that team, studying their moves, studying what they would and wouldn't do for their team.

But what he didn't know, what he couldn't predict, was what Coulson was planning next. The difficult part was the waiting game for the rest of the team. If Coulson failed, both he and Skye would be lost. If he succeeded, they could only wait in the dismal motel they had rented for the next few nights. While Asia had full belief in Coulson's abilities, that didn't mean she wasn't worried. There were so many variables that could go wrong.

The others were clearly worried as well. Trip and Jemma sat next to each other on the couch, staring blankly at the TV as some show played repeats, and Maria was pacing the room. Leo sat next to Asia, muttering something about how he still couldn't believe Ward was behind this. Asia didn't want to think about it. The more she thought about it, the more real it became. And while it apparently was real, that didn't mean she was quite ready to admit it. There had to be another explanation, there just had to.

But then they were back. When Coulson and Skye entered the room, Asia stood up, hands trembling. Then, next thing she knew, she was running to Skye, and threw her arms around the agent. Both girls hugged the other tight, an incomprehensible bond linking between them. They were survivors, and they would survive this too.

"Are you ok?" Asia asked, still not letting her go. She could feel Skye still shaking slightly. She wanted to be there to comfort her friend, she wanted her to know nothing like this would ever happen again.

"A few bumps and bruises, but I'll make it," Skye mumbled back. "I still just...I can't quite believe everything that happened."

"So it's true?" Asia whispered, pulling back and looking Skye in the eyes, hoping all all hope she could make her worst fear go away. Maybe she would tell her Ward was being brainwashed, or controlled by an implant in his pupil.

But Skye looked down at her feet, not wanting to meet Asia's gaze. "It's...yea, it's true. All of it. Ward killed Koenig, he's HYDRA, he's Garrett's left hand. It's disgusting." When she closed her eyes, she was back on the Bus, being held captive by Ward, and Mike Peterson, who was still being controlled by those monsters. "But it's fine, I'm back now. And now, we can figure out how to stop them."

Asia couldn't help but admire her determination. She had just been through hell, an almost literal hell, and here she was, ready to fight again. It was a good quality. Asia wished she could say she had bounced back that quickly after she had found out about her oldest friend being a killer, but that would be a lie. She was still reeling from it, and would be for a long time. But she smiled, for the sake of her friend. She would keep up an optimistic front as long as she could.

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Later that evening, Asia sat beside Leo, bare feet dangling in the pool in front of them. She looked up at the cloudless sky and watching planes high above flying by, leaving trails in their wake. She wondered if any of them was the Bus, jetting away from them, with all their things on board. That also made her angry, knowing all her photos were flying away from her, being separated from her memories once more.

"Where do you think they are right now?" she asked him softly, not taking her eyes off of the disappearing vapor trails.

"Hopefully somewhere far from here," Leo murmured back, his foot brushing hers in the cool, blue water. Suddenly, he turned to look at her. "Asia, tell me you're not HYDRA."

"What?" Asia asked, almost laughing, but this didn't seem like the time nor the place. "Of course I'm not HDYRA, I could never." She looked over at him with a shy gaze. "Are you?"

"Bloody hell, of course not," he replied with a sigh. "I just needed to hear you say it." He shrugged sheepishly, looking down at their feet in the blue water. "I just don't want any disappointing news, I don't think I could bare it if I found out you were a traitor."

"Leo, you know me better than that. You're basically my best friend," Asia replied, bumping his ankle with her toes softly. "You have nothing to worry about with me."

"Good...I don't know what I would do..." He whispered softly. "If you went over to the dark side...I would...I'd..."

"Shh," Asia said, looking him in the eyes. "You don't need to worry about that, because it will never happen." She felt the urge to grab his hand, but couldn't bring herself to do it.

Instead, she set her hands next to his on the warm concrete, her pinky finger running parallel to his, dwarfed in the size in comparison. Still, even with that smallest touch, she felt a spark. As she looked back up at the open sky, she wondered if he could feel it too.

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The next morning, Skye, Asia, Jemma, and Leo all gathered in one of the small motel rooms, staring at the TV screen in front of them. Of course, as per usual, the news was somber. There had been a murder...an assassination really, by all accounts. And it was very apparent to everyone in the room that more of the hell unleashed from the Sandbox was running loose.

Skye sighed, typing rapidly away at her laptop. "I guess if drug lord assassinations are being carried out in Columbia, I should probably expand my search for the Bus to world wide. As if it weren't frustrating enough as is," she mumbled the last bit under her bed.

Asia looked over at her, trying to give her a sympathetic gaze. They were all frustrated at this point, and it was coming to affect their work. It affected their entire lives. They seemed to be running, but without direction.

A knock came from outside the door, and Jemma sprang up to open it, hoping to see Trip on the other side. He had been gone all morning. To her disappointment, it was only Coulson.

"I hate to interrupt your little party in here, but we've got something you're going to need to see." He said, motioning for them to follow into another one of the motel rooms they had rented out. They followed, and entered a nearly identical room, with two beds, heavy curtains, and most importantly, May, standing next a large whiteboard with different names and locations written all over it. "So, what do you think connects all these things?" Coulson asked them, tapping the end of a dry erase marker at the board.

Asia studied the board with scrutiny, but couldn't seem to pair together exactly what Coulson was implying. Several of them had connections yes, but one large idea? Maybe it was because it was so early in the morning, or because everything still felt so off, so out of wack.

Instead of waiting for a response, Coulson drew another large circle inside the names and locations. "Cybertek. They are the connecting factor in all of this." He stabbed the marker in the center after he finished writing the name. "Sense this whole thing began to unravel, Cybertek has been a leading factor, and we've just been pawns in their endgame. It's time we take the fight back to them. Thanks to Skye's quick thinking," he pointed over at the agent, "A trojan horse was placed in their system. Only problem is, we have to find a source to plug her flashdrive into. If we can access that, we can access everything they're doing."

"Garrett and Cybertek have been partners for years," May continued, "If we can get this plugged into Cybertek's system, we see everything he sees."

"So we're going to break into Cybertek?" Asia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup. We've got no jurisdiction here though, no coverage, no backup. We're not going in as Agents of SHIELD," Coulson explained.

"We're vigilantes!" Leo said, his tone actually hinting at excitement. He turned to look over at Asia, raising his eyebrows.

She looked up at the board, then at her team. They were more than just vigilantes, more than just agents now. "We're renegades," she whispered softly.