Cut It Out and Restart *Daredevil*Damned*Agents of SHIELD*

3) Loss of Wreath *

Was it though?

-.-.-

Hours later, Nica, Ward, Simmons and Coulson finally reached the point of the supposed catastrophe; a tree cut down.

To be fair, the trees in the national park remembered thousands of years and some piece of a jerk had made some serious damage, damage that hurt Nica in her soul, because being back in Europe in the woods, reminding her of her home-- that was a trial itself. She tried her best to shake off the familiar feeling and more so, the longing.

She snapped back to the present when she noticed Jemma hesitating at the bottom of the said tree, few ropes securing her as she was about to climb several metres up; due to the proximity of other trees, the top of the trunk was leaned against them, indeed needing to be climbed. Simmons didn't look very happy about it, but to Nica's surprise, Ward stood by her side, soothingly speaking to her, his voice gentle and purposely distracting her.

Huh. Perhaps Nica had read him wrong. Perhaps he wasn't that much of a calculating dick, bad-boy leather jacket aside. Only time would tell.

She made her way to the pair, scanning the surroundings of the fallen tree. There were many splinters there, some truly only enough to pierce the skin and annoy the hell out the poor bastard getting it, some were actual chunks of wood.

Deciding to examine said witnesses of the catastrophe since the actual breathing one stuttered and refused to speak to her, too anxious to talk to a young woman and preferring an experienced-looking male agent, Nica made her way to the mess, one cautious step after another, because for all she knew, these chunks of wood could be alien too.

It wouldn't surprise her. Nica doubted that anything would surprise her at this point.

"Some of these trees are thousands of years old," Jemma chatted distractedly, minding every step, her eyes flickering to the ropes securing her from time to time.

"How old exactly?" Ward coaxed her into further speaking and the scientist obliged happily, sounding truly excited and intrigued.

Nica tuned them out when a peculiar object caught her attention; more precisely, something that looked like an imprint of an object, as if... as if inside of the tree had been a home to some sort of a staff with strange ornaments. Careful not to touch it, she sidestepped it and looked up at Jemma, who was still walking up.

Nica cleared her throat, hoping not to frightened the Brit.

"Uhm, S- Ward?" she called out in the end, opting for the person on the ground.

The pair eyed her.

"Hm?"

"You think this would help us?" Nica asked nonchalantly, pointing her thumb towards the remnants of the tree.

Simmons smiled at her brightly as she reached the part of the tree from which the chunk apparently had been cut off.

"It will certainly give us a more complex picture. Wonderful."

The complex picture – read a hologamic 3D model – indeed showed them a staff upon sending scans to Fitz on the quinjet to create a simulation.

And they didn't have to look too hard for information on said staff; it apparently gave the people carrying it supernatural powers; powers of Gods, as they themselves called it while ruining whole towns and tearing through authorities standing in their way. And lastly... yesy it was of alien origin.

Well. So much for nothing surprising Nica today.

Apparently, it was time to deal with gods. Nica guessed that next time, they might actually deal with Thor himself. Afterall, the staff was Asgardian; and according to dynamic duo Fitz-Simmons, it was still missing at least two pieces.