𝐓𝐇𝐘 𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋, leo fitz

vii. Looks Are Deceiving

    "I didn't realise Big Brother was this big," muttered Skye, her breath falling away in awe at the columns of glass standing tall on either side of them as they walked.

    Roy and Simmons turned to her, cheerful. "Oh, this is nothing," said Simmons, nudging the hacker while Roy nodded enthusiastically.

    "Yeah," she added. "Just wait until you see the Triskelion." Glancing at Fitz, she was expecting an equal look of excitement. He smiled at her.

    "Everyone's wearing the same suit," said Skye. "Someone tell me why, please?"

    Walking up to the reception desk, each agent took their temporary lanyard for their stay. Roy picked up her I.D, clipping it to her blazer. It hung on her chest proudly. Passing through and up a set of stairs, Skye frowned when she didn't find her name amongst the cards. "Do I get one?"

    Coulson pointed to the band around her wrist, "That's your badge." Skye pursed her lips, looking down at the bondage with a sombre gleam. "Which means you've got a long way to go to even make Level One."

    Frustrated, she gave it an angry shake, "Copy that."

    "Do you think we can check out the labs?" wondered Simmons, glancing at the sign pointing towards Sci-Ops. "I miss the extensive chemical fridge."

    "Hopefully," said Roy, "I need to restock on medical supplies, since our team love to get themselves hurt."

    "And jump out of planes," added Fitz, and she narrowed her gaze at him.

    She knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to get a reaction out of her━even the slighest twitch of her nose to see how she was doing. Roy hasn't talked to anyone about nearly dying, at least, not to the point of how much it had scared her. She didn't talk about the nightmares, or the fear of looking out the window of the plane every time, or the churn in her stomach when they lifted up into the air. She hasn't even told her father what happened yet. Roy had a tendency of keeping everything in━she wasn't good at being open about her feelings. Maybe it was her 'mummy issues', but the likeliness of her chatting about her near-death experiences (yeah, both of them━Chan still messed her up), even to Fitz━while it was more likely than others━was not something that happened commonly. She tended to bottle everything up and then break down until she told someone.

    Instead, she just smiled, "Well, that will definitely not be happening again."

    Fitz pursed his lips, not particularly happy with her answer. Sharing a glance with Simmons, they decided to just let her be. She'll talk to them when she was ready ... which will be a long time. They knew that she'll keep to herself until she couldn't anymore, and then she'd break, and they'll be there for her when she did. Fitz was quite used to it━Roy randomly starting to cry late at night before their exams at the Academy ... quite literally out of nowhere.

    The group of them continued their way through the halls. Another agent walked up to meet them. Short, stout, with bug-eyes from his glasses and a bald head━looking very much like an egg━was Agent Sitwell. Roy knew he was to be respected (he had his own strike team), but that didn't stop her muttering quick jokes to Fitz and Simmons, and the three friends chuckled amongst themselves.

    "Agent Sitwell," greeted Coulson, meeting him and shaking his hand.

    "Agent Coulson," he replied. "Good to see you're feeling better. Agent Hand's waiting for you in the situation room."

    Roy gasped, "Agent Hand?!" she whispered to her friends. Huddled a little bit behind Sitwell and Coulson, they walked up to the conference room. Her short figure tried to see through the glass in search for the infamous agent. When she saw her, she gaped. There she was: Agent Victoria Hand. Tall, broad shouldered with a stern face and a sharp tongue. Roy has imagined things from the reputation, but she didn't imagine Hand having a strike of red hair amongst dark brown. It seemed rather rebellious for such a person as herself. But it only made her more awesome.