Renegade Rising || Leo Fitz Book Two

Chapter Nine

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The next morning, Asia found herself on a familiar rooftop once more, her scope trained on the HYDRA building. She watched carefully through a set of binoculars as Jemma made her way down the street, bagel in hand, red hair flowing in the breeze. Just another day of work for Jemma, and another day of work for her. She would wait till Jemma was inside, the all clear given when she would give a wave to the secretary, and then she would take out her next target. Quick. Easy. Clean. She would spend her day partaking in and plotting future assassinations, and then that evening she would find herself curled up in Jemma's open windowsill oncemore.

She took a deep breath, centering herself, as she stared out the scope.

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Back at HQ, May was watching Skye's firearms training. They had been working on pistols for a while now, but she was thinking it was about time Skye got used to something a bit bigger. A handgun wasn't the only weapon she would ever be using after all. Skye turned around,a grin on her tan face as the target slid forward for them to see. Perfect aim on every hit.

"I imagined every one was Ward," she said smoothly, unable to keep that grin off her face.

May had to fight not to roll her eyes. "Don't imagine they're anything besides target. This practice is the last thing you want to be getting cocky about." And she meant it, earnestly. "You need to be able to be in control of the situation at all times. In the field, the targets won't always just stand there while you fire at their chest. You have to be ready at a moments notice, and ready to take your shot whenever is best. How is your heart rate?"

Skye looked down at a fit watch on her wrist, then held it up for May to see. "61 beats per minute, nice and steady." Skye was proud of herself and rightly so.

"Good. Because next, I want you to start getting used to this," May said, hefting up a sniper rifle, the same one Skye had seen Agent Monroe walking around with.

The brunette's eyes widened, and a small, timid smile spread over her cheeks. "That's the same rifle Asia uses...isn't it?"

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Asia reached up and carefully adjusted her sights just a notch, making the image of her target clearer. He was still too far from the HYDRA building. Coulson wanted them all to fall in front of the building, so she would make it happen. She watched his movements from three blocks up, watched him order a coffee from the local store, flirt with the barista. Watched him cross a crosswalk far too close to the numbers being at zero. She watched him text while he walked and check his watch a few times. She watched him do all the things Fitz couldn't do anymore because of what had happened. She let the anger boil through her veins. Being angry made it far easier to do what she was about to do.

She knew the weight of taking a life. She understood it. She understood this guy might have a family back home, a wife, a husband, kids. She understood all of it. But she also understood she had a job. And she understood that all members of HYDRA were a bunch of Nazis. She had to do what she had to do, and bury the rest of it down. She took a steady breath and adjusted her grip on her sniper rifle.

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"It is the same, yes," May replied, offering Skye a small smile. "Don't let it go to your head. But there will come a time you're going to need to take someone out. It's my job to make sure you're ready."

"I'll be ready, scout's honour," Skye mock saluted her, shifting the weight of the rifle on her shoulder. It was heavier than she imagined. She couldn't believe what it must be like lugging that thing around all day. She would have knots in her shoulders for sure.

While they were talking, Hunter and Mack came sauntering through, pushing a cart full of supplies for inventory. "Woah, woah, woah, that's quite the gun you've got there," Hunter nodded towards her, smiling innocently, as if he hadn't just ICEd her the day before.

"Careful, or she'll use you for target practice," May told him flatly. He was about to interrupt their training, break the cool head Skye had on her shoulders right now.

Hunter rolled his eyes before replying, "Once again, I am very, very sorry," he muttered. And he was. Sorry of having to say sorry so many bloody times. He understood their annoyance but honestly. It was getting a little old.

May flicked him a glance before looking at Skye, then turning to go replace the pistol in the weapons room.

"So, we've got a bit of a bet going on," Mack said, leaning on the cart and looking Skye over. "Over whether or not you went to the Academy."

"You mean like, SHIELD Academy? SciTech and that?" Skye scoffed. "Yea that's a no. Sort of a study abroad thing. Except the abroad meant the Bus and study meant learning to kick ass instead of hack secure government facilities."

Mack turned to Hunter and grinned. "Told ya. Enjoy the rest of inventory by yourself." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and lazily shuffled out of the door they had entered, glancing over his shoulder as he did so to shoot a wink back at the other two agents in the hall.

Hunter turned back to look at Skye, eying her up at down. "I've got another bet going, with myself." He paused, rubbing her thumb over the stubble on his chin. "In this line of work, you have to do some dangerous, difficult things. The kind of things that you'd do with a gun like that." He nodded towards the rifle she had resting on her should.

Skye furrowed her brow. "What, you want to know if I've ever...taken someone out?" The words hung heavily in the air.

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After shifting her hold on the weapon, Asia checked the sights again. Everything was looking good for her to take the shot. She inhaled deeply and held onto her breath, waiting for the right moment. And there it was, his head lining up in the T of her vision, ready for her, waiting. She closed her eyes for a moment and let the thoughts rush at her. She could see Leo in that chest, falling out of the plane, down, down into the ocean. She could feel each drag of the bastard of a businessman working for HYDRA drawing his blade across her skin. She could hear Leo in that hospital room. "I-I-I-I I re-remember what y-you said. I...I w-wanted. I wanted to,erm." He had paused, his face in pain as he tried to make his words function, tried to make his brain compute. "I-I-I. I l-love, erm, love you, too, um," he had stammered out and broke her heart with his words. She remembered the tears streaming down her face as she crawled into that heating vent and shuddered against the metal, begging for the world to curse her instead of him, hurt her instead of him.

She opened her eyes and gazed down the sight. She squeezed her finger on the trigger and the gunfire echoed across her brain.

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"Not once?" Hunter stared at Skye in what appeared to be disbelief. "No one, ever? In all your time at SHIELD?"

Skye set the rifle down on a rack and crossed her arms uncomfortably. "No, I mean. Not that I know of. Not intentionally."

Hunter let out a low whistle. "Well, word for the wise," he said, grabbing his cart and pushing it down the hall, before calling out over his shoulder. "It doesn't get any easier."

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Asia stared down her sights at the red splash where her target's head had once been. A coffee spilled on the ground, glasses flung into the street. Jemma, safely out of view, inside, unaware. She would hear of it soon enough, Asia was sure. She stared at the body still for a moment, unmoving, scared to even breathe, thinking about his life, what it might have been. Then she closed her eyes, and remembered it all over again. She stood up.

She picked up her gun.

Dissembled it.

Looked over her shoulder one more time.

And ran.