"Skye!" Y/n shouted when she got down there. "Phil!"
"Y/n?" Phil responded, his voice not too far off. Y/N jogged up to him. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Helping."
"You-"
"Can't get mad at me now. It's too late."
Coulson huffed, shaking his head. "Fine. Keep a look out."
"Of course."
Y/n and Coulson started moving forward. Y/n keeping her gun up. The two reached an intersection. They knowingly nodded to each other before going separate ways, Y/n going right and Coulson going left. They were both calling Skye's name.
"Skye!" Y/n yelled.
"Y/N?" It was Tripp. He appeared out of another hall. "What the hell were you thinking? Coming down here?"
"I could obviously ask you the same thing."
"I came down to save you, Skye, and Coulson."
"Just you?" Y/N smiled. "Ever the hero."
"I've also set explosives to blow the city."
"Good. Let's keep going."
The two began running down the corridor. They noticed a room with the doors slowly beginning to close. They quickly entered the room. The Obelisk was in the center with Skye and Raina standing around it.
"No!" Skye shouted as the doors closed. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We came to get you," Tripp replied.
"Can't afford to lose one of our own again," Y/N commented.
The three of them looked around the room. Eventually, all eyes were on the Obelisk as it began to open. Inside the Obelisk were blue crystals that were growing.
"How do we stop it?" Tripp asked.
Skye shook her head. "I don't think we can." The crystals continued to grow.
"What's supposed to happen?" Y/N asked.
"Something beautiful," Raina replied, clearly the only one not afraid of what was about to happen.
Suddenly a mist shot out from the crystals, hitting all of the women in the chest as Tripp tried to shield himself from it. They all are unsteadied by it. Trying to regain their composure, Skye and Raina step closer to the crystals. Y/N felt it first, on her finger tips. Looking down, she noticed something black beginning to form around her. Looking around, it was happening to Skye and Raina too.
"Oh, God," Skye gasped.
Tripp looked over at each women with big worried eyes then looked down at his own arms, nothing happening.
"Oh-oh, God," Skye repeated. She was gasping. "Tr-Tripp!"
Skye reached out as the blackness enveloped her whole. Tripp spun around to Y/N.
"JAR-JARVIS," she gasped as the blackness spread up her. "Call Tony."
Then she was covered.
~~~
"Maybe were should take a break Tony," Bruce suggested. "We've been at it for days."
"If you want to take a break you can," Tony replied, working on a few screens at his desk.
Bruce sighed. "How long is Y/N going to be gone this time?"
"Don't know. I just have to find this stupid scepter."
"I'm sure-"
"Pardon the interruption," JARVIS interrupted. "But, Sir, Y/N has requested that I call you. It seems that she may be in some trouble."
Tony was immediately moving towards his suit. "Can you put her through?"
"I've tried, but she's not answering."
"Damn it! Create a flight plan to wherever she is." Tony stepped into the suit. "And get me there as fast as you can."
"JARVIS, let me know if you need me to prepare the med bay," Bruce offered as Tony took off.
"Of course," the AI replied.
~~~
Tripp had watched as all three women were covered with what looked to be black molten rock. He turned to the crystals, kicking them enough to shatter them. He fell onto his side, breathing hard, as he looked around to notice no change in any of them.
"No. No!" He was frustrated.
Looking at his two friends, he took a few breaths with tears in his eyes before looking down. A fragment of a crystal was embedded in his chest, the burning being to spread. He focused on Skye as the blackness covered him completely.
The room was still for a moment before Raina's shell began to crack. Skye's fingers broke through first, the cracks traveling up, breaking through so her eyes could be free. She immediately saw Tripp's covered body looking up at her and, behind him, Y/N's. Her eyes teared up and she suddenly threw her head back as all the pieces broke off of her in one motion. A shock wave of some short emitted from her as the black blew off her body. A rumbling inside the chamber started as a rock dropped down from the ceiling.
Skye looked back over at Tripp, watching as his crumbled to nothing before her very eyes. Sadness and guilt over take her. She quickly looks at Y/N, who is still in the shell.
~~~
Mack and Coulson, outside the room, could feel the trembling. Almost the whole island could.
"Skye!" Coulson shouted, still trying to get in. "Skye!"
"Wait, she's in there?!" Mack asked.
"Yes, and we need to get her out."
Suddenly, something burst through the roof above them, causing the two men to try and cover themselves from the falling debris. Coughing, Coulson looked up to see Iron Man.
"St-Stark?" Coulson coughed, standing up straight. "What are you doing here?"
"Y/N sent for help," he replied, helmet folding into his suit. "But now she's not answering. Her location is coming from in there." He pointed to the closed room.
"Wait, Y/N's in there?" Mack asked, almost panicking. Him and Coulson shared a look.
"Yeah. And we need to get her out." The ground quaked again.
"Sir, the center of the quaking is coming from inside that room," JARVIS explained.
"Any signs of life?"
"Three."
"How do we get in there, J?"
"Scanning now."
"When could Y/N have gotten in there?" Mack asked.
"She must of found a way in after we split up," Coulson guessed.
"You guys split up?" Tony repeated. "Have you learned nothing from leaving her on her own?"
"I didn't really have a choice, Stark."
"Sir," JARVIS interrupted. "It appears that we won't have to break in."
"And why's that J?" Tony asked.
"The doors are opening by themselves."
All three of the men's heads snapped in the direction of the slowly opening, stone doors. Tony's helmet formed back over his face so that he could see JARVIS' reading of the inside of the room.
"Stay back," Tony ordered as the other two men took a step forward. "I'm getting some weird readings." He turned to look at Coulson. "You might want to call in your scientists and hazmat teams, Director."
Carefully, Tony stepped inside the room. Looking around, he immediately noticed Skye. She was sitting on the ground holding her knees to her chest, sobbing.
"Skye," Tony called, moving to crotch down in front of her. "Skye, where's Y/N?"
"I- she- they shouldn't have been in her," Skye cried.
"I know, I know. Neither should you have. I'm here to help but I need to know where Y/N is."
"There..."
Skye pointed at something behind Tony. Turning, Tony could see it. The rock shell of Y/N. He quickly stood up and rushed over to her.
"Talk to me, JARVIS," Tony ordered, voice shaky. "What's happening?"
"It seems that Y/N is covered in some sort of volcanic rock," JARVIS answered. "She is alive." Tony let out a long, shaky breath of relief. "But she is unconscious. Though her brain activity is strange."
"Keep scanning it."
"She shouldn't have followed me!" Skye cried, the ground trembled. "They both shouldn't have followed me."
Tony hurried back to Skye. "This is not your fault, Skye. You know Y/N can't be stopped when she puts her mind to something." The ground and walls trembled.
"Sir," JARVIS called, "it appears that Skye is causing the trembling."
"Skye, I need you to take a deep breath," Tony coaxed. "I need you to calm down."
"What's happening to me?" She continued to cry.
"I don't know. But we're going to figure this out, Skye. I promise."
~~~
Tony wouldn't let anyone touch Y/N besides him. And he was also very protective of Skye as well. They immediately placed Y/N and Skye in different containment modules. Coulson and Tony fought on where the two should go, the Tower or SHIELD's base. Tony conceded to SHIELD's base as long as he could come and was allowed to send any information back to Bruce. Coulson reluctantly agreed.
Skye told everyone what had happened to Tripp, which devastated everyone. Raina had made her escape as soon as the chamber doors opened, disappearing before anyone could see her.
JARVIS continued to run scans on Y/N. Everyone was confused about what was happening. It was clear she was alive, but she was stuck in this shell. Simmons and Tony were afraid of what could happen if they were to break her out of it, so they didn't. And the waiting game began.
~~~
Y/N's eyes snapped open as she gasped for breath. She looked around, immediately noticing that she was no longer in the room with Skye, Tripp, and Raina. She couldn't even be in Puerto Rico. Y/N seemed to be in a glass room. Looking around, she noticed a person walking towards her. The person was clothed in a yellow robe, hood over their head and a interesting eye shaped necklace around their neck. Coming closer, the person lifted the hood off their head to reveal a bald headed woman.
"Y/N Rogers," the woman greeted with a slight smile.
"Who are you?" Y/N asked, looking around. "And where am I?"
"I am the Ancient One and you are in the Mirror Dimension. The Stones have brought you here for your safety."
"The Stones? Like the Infinity Stones?"
"Correct. You are special and are needed for something important in the future. They want to protect you."
"Is that how I've survived all these years?"
The woman nodded. "As I said, they want to protect you."
"And how do you play a role in that?"
She moved her hands in a motion in front of the necklace she was wearing, revealing a green stone. "I am the keeper of the Time Stone. And I am here because the Stones have asked me to be. They say it's time for you to start using your gift."
"My gift?" Y/N scoffed. "I don't have a gift. I'm not special."
"On the contrary, you are very special. No mere mortal could have wielded the Tesseract in their hand and lived to tell the tale."
"So, if what you're saying is true, that I have a gift... what is it?"
"You can wield the power of the Stones. That buzzing you have in your head all the time is the power of them, trying to come out. Begging to be used."
"I'm sorry," Y/n shook her head, "None of this is making any sense to me."
"It will, with time. We need only focus on one right now anyway. The one you've actually touched. The-"
"Space Stone.... That's what the Tesseract is carrying. I... it showed me once. It showed me all of them and what they are capable of."
"Yes," the Ancient One nodded, "it did."
"I'm not sure I want to control all that power. It can be used for such awful things."
"But it can also be used for wonderful things as well. It's all about how a person uses them."
"So... what can I do because of it?"
"Let me show you."
~~~
Tony and Coulson were sitting in front of the isolation pods Skye and Y/N were being keep in. Coulson was directly in front of Skye's and Tony's was directly in front of Y/N's.
"It hurt her," Tony said quietly, eyes not leaving Y/N's shell, "when you died. You were the first face she saw waking up, her first friend."
"And it hurt her to keep this all a secret from you," Coulson replied, looking over and meeting the billionaire's sad and tired eyes. "I'm glad she doesn't have to anymore."
Skye turned onto her back, waking up from her dream. Rubbing her eyes, the men turn to face her.
"We haven't been able to sleep either," Coulson told her.
Skye sighed and sat up to face them. "I keep thinking Tripp is gonna come see me," she said. "Make fun of me for being stuck in quarantine, call me a goldfish or a hamster or something. And every time I wake up-" Her voice broke as her eyes filled with tears. "I remember all over again." She looked over at Y/N's shell. "I just can't believe he's not coming back.... They should not have been down there."
"You all went in for a good reason." Skye looked at Coulson with unbelieving eyes. "To prevent HYDRA from starting a cataclysm."
"They were trying to save me."
"Tripp may have saved all of us." Coulson stood up from his chair and walked towards the wall separating him from Skye. Tony watched. "The Obelisk triggered a massive earthquake. Imagine how much worse it could have been if he hadn't destroyed it. He died a hero."
Skye nodded sadly, eyeing Tony from the corner of her eye. Tony knew the truth, but wasn't going to say anything. Not yet anyway. He wasn't even fully sure if Skye understood what had happened down there.
"Once medical clears you, we'll get you out of there," Coulson continued. "You'll just be stuck underground, like the rest of us."
"Or you could come back to the Tower?" Tony offered, turning their gazes on him. "If you need a place up high instead of underground, Skye, the offers always on the table."
She nodded lightly, actually thinking about it before turning back to Coulson. "How's everyone doing?"
"Just trying to keep busy. Everyone deals with it in their own way. When you sign up for this kind of life you accept that loss will be part of it, but you never get used to losing one of your own. Especially when it's a good man like Tripp. It happens too much. And over time, it makes it harder to let people in. Sometimes, just makes you want to pack up and run."
"Is that what you want to do, run?"
"Sometimes. You?"
"Couldn't if I tried." She got off the bed and began to pace. "How long did it take for Mack to get out of quarantine?"
"He cleared pretty quickly. Whatever took over his system is gone, but he's pretty shaken up."
"And Simmons, is she back?"
"She's still in Puerto Rico," Tony replied. "She has a team documenting whatever they can in the tunnels, cleaning up. It's slow going with no electricity, but I gave her somethings that could help."
"She'll assess the structural integrity of the place and if possible," Coulson said, "blow one of the vertical shafts under the ocean floor, flood the city with water."
"And drown it for good," Skye said.
"Hopefully, the bedrock wasn't too badly damaged by the quake. The temple collapsed on itself. It's a miracle you're still alive. And that we're getting signs of life from Y/N."
"Did you find Raina's body yet?"
"There's a lot of rubble to dig through, but not yet. Whatever gas came out of that Obelisk hit you, too. That's why we're being extra cautious. It's hard to make sense of all this."
"What? What - no. No it isn't. We lost. We failed."
"Skye, don't say that."
"It wasn't because of HYDRA. It was because of me."
"Don't blame yourself."
Tony could see her getting angry so he stood up to come stand beside Coulson.
"If I did't go down there you could have blown the place!" She yelled.
"That was one battle, this is a war," Coulson responded.
"And Ward and my father-"
"Skye," Tony called, trying to get her calm.
"The rotten core at the center of everything!"
Coulson hit the glass hard, getting Skye's attention and causing Tony to jump. "We did not fail! Tripp prevented a disaster and Whitehall's dead. We cut off the head. And while HYDRA scrambles for a new one, I will crush them! I'm gonna make somebody pay, whoever the hell it is."
"Coulson," Tony called. "I think we all need to take a step back. Whatever-"
An alarm began blaring from Y/N's isolation pod. Their attentions were immediately back on the shell. It was cracking.
"What's happening?" Skye asked.
"JARVIS?" Tony called.
"She seems to be waking," the AI replied.
"No shit."
The cracks got big enough that the shell was falling onto the ground, revealing Y/N. She gasped as her mouth was uncovered. Frantically, her eyes looked around the room when they were uncovered. Eventually they landed on Tony, who has his hands pressed against the glass and standing right in front of her.
"Y/N? Y/N, can you here me?" He called. "I'm right here, hun."
Once the shell was off, she fell onto her hands and knees, exhausted. Her mind was filled with the new knowledge that the Ancient One had gifted her with. And she was exhausted from the practice she had done in the Mirror Dimension.
"Y/N, look at me sweetheart," Tony continued. "Look at me."
She looked up and gave him a small smile. "I'm good, Tony," she replied. "I'm fine."
"Really?! You're in that shell for days and that's the first thing you say to me?"
"Days?" Y/N questioned. She looked around. They were back at the SHIELD base. She noticed Skye in an isolation pod beside hers. "Skye! You're okay."
"Yeah..." Skye responded quietly, with a somber expression.
"What happened?" Y/N pushed herself up off the ground. She looked around at the other three, who each had sadden expressions. "Who died?"
"Y/N..." Tony called. "Tripp didn't make it out of the room."
"No." Tears filled her eyes. "Not Tripp..."
"Y/N, I'm sorry," Skye said, tears falling down her face. "It's my fault. You guys followed me and-"
"Hey!" Y/N moved so that she was at the glass wall separating the two pods. "Do not blame yourself. Tripp and I knew what we were doing."
"He's dust now, nothing but pieces. And it's all my fault..."
"It's okay... he knew what he was doing..."
"Did something happen in there, Y/N?" Coulson asked. "Your brain activity was extremely high the whole time you when encased in that shell."
"I got answers." She met Coulson's eyes. "About the Tesseract."
"What?" Coulson and Tony questioned.
"It's hard to explain but... it saved me. Protected me. I should have ended up dust like Tripp. But I didn't."
"What do you mean it saved you?" Tony asked.
"This is going to sound ridiculous," Y/N shook her head. "It's going to sound like something right out of a fantasy-sci fi something. But... They're saving me for something. Something in going to happen in the future that I'm needed for. I can't die until then."
"You're right. That does sound completely ridiculous... I believe you though. Cause I love you and we've seen some crazy shit together."
Y/n laughed. "I love you too. Now, when can I get out of here?"
~~~
Tony was the one who came into the isolation pod to draw Y/N's blood. He was covered in his Iron Man suit, for safety measures, which did not make Y/n very happy. She wanted to her and kiss her boyfriend, but she also understood the need to be cautious.
Skye had informed everyone about Ward, Y/N shooting him, previously. But they had to break the news that Ward's body was missing. That he might have survived. This was not sitting well with anyone on the team. Tony and Coulson were currently devising a plan in his office when Bobbi came to visit Skye and Y/N.
"Hey," she greeted the two as she walked towards the isolation pods. Bobbi held up two brightly colored bags as she smiled. "Quarantine survival kits."
Opening a drawer to Y/N's pod first, she set the bag down and Y/n began to go through it as Bobbi did the same for Skye.
"A deck of cards for solitaire, bag of homemade trail mix if you want to eat healthy," Bobbi explained, "a couple of candy bars if not, headphones, a few trashy magazines." Skye took out a can of drink of some sort. "Cactus cooler. I keep a stash. I mean, you can only get it in California, it's the best. Anyway...I've been in quarantine before and I know it can drive you absolutely nuts."
"Thanks," Skye said. "I was beginning to feel like a leper."
"Same here," Y/N commented. "And I've only been awake for a few hours."
"Are you kidding?" Bobbi said. "You two managed to be taken hostage by three known murderers, you gunned down Ward, then were blasted by an alien chemical weapon and walked out unscathed. Leper? I think you both are rock stars."
"Thanks, Bob," Y/N smiled.
~~~
It wasn't mush later when the whole team, plus Tony and minus Simmons, was outside the isolation pods. Coulson had explained a plan to do a prisoner exchange.
"With a prisoner exchange?" Bobbi repeated. "Using Bakshi out in the open like that, it's a dangerous strategy, sir."
"I know it's high risk but we have a small window to take advantage of HYDRA's lack of leadership," Coulson said.
"It puts us out on a limb," Hunter added.
"With a chance to deliver a crushing blow to those responsible for Trip's death. I'll take it."
"Responsible, huh?" Mack repeated.
"You have something to say, Mack?" Tony asked.
"Plenty, but I'll keep it to myself."
"Don't mind him, he's just coming down from eh worst alien acid trip of all time," Hunter tried to joke.
"That's not funny," Fitz said.
"Just trying to lighten the mood, mate."
"Yeah, well, Mack didn't ask for what happened to him."
"Of course not."
"No one asked for any of this to happen," May said. "HYDRA forced our hand, and now Coulson plans to force theirs."
"Did they?" Mack asked, angry. "Did HYDRA force our hand?"
"Calm down, Mack," Bobbi urged.
"Repeatedly," Coulson explained, "but we have a chance here-"
"Or did we hand them detailed plans and the location of that city?" Mack fought back.
"Are you saying we shouldn't have gone in to save them?"
"I'm saying there wouldn't have been anything to take if you and Skye hadn't been obsessed with the alien messages in your damn head."
"Alright," Bobbi tried to stop them, "let's all just-"
"This isn't about blame," Coulson stated.
"No one would've left Skye or Y/N there," Fitz stated. "That's not what he's saying."
Tony moved closer to Y/N, whispering, "We have to get them to calm down."
"What for?" Y/N asked.
"Because Skye's the one who caused the earthquake. Not the Obelisk. Only JARVIS and I know that though."
"Are you sure?"
"Mhm," Tony nodded. "We need to calm this down."
"I shouldn't have to ask any of you to save one of our own," Coulson defended.
Mack stepped closer to Coulson, towering over him. "You never ask!" He yelled. "You just give your orders, no matter how cracked out they are!"
"Mack, you'd do well to remember your rank right now," May said.
"Really? Rank at a time like this?" Hunter questioned. "Why don't you shove rank up your-"
"Not helping, Hunter," Bobbi said.
"Guys, stop," Skye begged, her voice low. Only Tony and Y/n heard it.
They turned to see one of the monitors is freaking out, beeping faster. And the can of cactus juice from early is rattling.
"Do you have any thoughts of your own on it or do you just parrot his?" Hunter asked.
"Coulson's only trying to stop HYDRA," May stated.
Tony went over to Skye's isolation pod as they continued to argue. "Skye, Skye, look at me," Tony pled. "Focus on me and my focus, not the arguing."
"Please get them to stop," she begged.
The arguing continued as Y/N and Tony tried to calm Skye.
"We didn't stop anything!" Mack shouted. "We unleashed something on the planet!"
"No one knows what happened yet," Fitz said.
"Tripp averted disaster," May stated. "It could have been a lot worse!"
"And Skye and Y/n barely made it out alive!" Mack yelled.
"Thanks to Tripp, he sacrificed his life, Mack!"
"No! He traded his life for theirs! And then he was shattered into a thousand pieces!"
"That's enough!" Tony yelled.
Everyone became silent and the trembling in Skye's isolation pod halted. Y/N and Skye made eye contact.
"It's okay," Y/N mouthed to Skye. "It's going to be okay."
"I don't know how you guys all work together," Tony began speaking to the team, very sternly. "And I didn't know Tripp, but from what I know about him, if he was here, he wouldn't be arguing. He wouldn't be bitching. He would be gearing up to do what needs to be done. Yes, we're dealing with forces we don't understand, but HYDRA I do understand."
"I want everyone ready when the sun comes up," Coulson ordered. "End of discussion."
~~~
"I want to come in there," Tony said, leaning up against Y/N's pod.
Bobbi, May, Hunter, and Coulson had left to complete their plan. Leaving, Tony to watch over Y/N and Skye, and the others to do their jobs around the base.
"Then come in," Y/N replied. "I promise, I'm fine." Y/n held up her arms. "Simmons and Bruce will both say that my blood hasn't changed."
"I-"
"Thank goodness you two are both alright," Simmons said, entering the lab. "Wouldn't want you to have to stay in there forever."
"Nice to see you too, Simmons," Y/n smiled.
"And Mr. Stark, thank you so much for all your help."
"Anything for Y/N," he responded.
"Yes, of course... You guys should have seen her, Raina. She was unrecognizable." Coulson had told them all about Simmons run it with a newly looking Raina the day before. "It was insane, and not just from the outside." She pulled up something on the tablet she was carrying. "Look."
Tony, Skye, and Y/N all looked closer.
"We separated her DNA and mapped it using gel electrophoresis," Simmons explained. "Her DNA didn't just rearrange, it contains extra macromolecules. I wouldn't think that even possible."
"That's amazing," Skye said.
"It's horrific."
"Is it though?" Tony asked.
"We need to make sure that the two of you are not contaminated or infected in any way."
"What's the worst that could happen?"
"An epidemic."
"That's a pretty harsh conclusion," Tony stated.
"Well, and I feel responsible."
"We all do," Skye said. "There's nothing you could have done."
"Yes there was... I was so curious about powers, about unearthly biology, wondering where it might lead, hoping to better understand it, control it. I should have been trying been trying to terminate it, erase it from existence."
"What? You - you've helped plenty of people with powers. It's - it's part of the world that we live in."
"It's a plague, all of it. It only ever brings us death. Donnie Gill, Chan Ho Yin, Creel - the list keeps growing."
"Not the Avengers," Y/N said. "We're not -"
"The Avengers wouldn't have been necessary if we hadn't unleashed alien horrors."
"There must be another-"
"Tripp was in fragments." Simmons voice broke.
"I know," Skye said.
"Well...it ends with him. Flooding the alien city may be the first responsible thing I've done, to protect the people I care about." Skye nodded her head sadly. "I'll check these samples and compare them to samples of your blood we had from before, just to be safe. I'll send them to Dr. Banner as well.... Just to be safe."
Then Simmons turned and walked away.
"We have to get you guys out of here," Tony stated. "If they find out that you two have powers-"
"I can get us out," Y/N stated. "Just not yet."
~~~
Tony had left to talk to Bruce about something, so Skye and Y/N were both laying on their beds in their isolation pods.
"Hey, Fitz," Skye greeted, noticing the man first.
Both women sat up to face him. They both notice the tears in Fitz's eyes.
"What's wrong?" Y/N asked.
"Can you tell me?" He showed what was in his hands. Skye's watch. "I fixed Skye's bio-meter watch." He lifted it up, but couldn't look at either of them. "Checked your vitals at the time of the temple collapse." His hands moved to his hips as Y/N moved closer to the wall that separated him from them. "Skye's heart rate was recorded at almost... 300 BPM."
"That's very fast," Skye replied quietly.
"No." He shook his head before finally meeting Skye's eyes. "That's inhuman." Skye shook her head as tears filled her eyes. "I thought the readings were a mistake that I put the thing together wrong. Been struggling to, uh, um..." he snapped his fingers as he tried to come up with the word. Angry, he clapped loudly. "Something's wrong with the data in my head."
"What are you saying?"
Fitz began to pace. "So I was thinking how the heart monitor seemed to shatter from the inside out, but it was still on your wrist when we found you. That doesn't make sense. And how we found you - basically unharmed in the collapse with destruction all around you!"
His breath became shaky as he put his fingers to press into his eyes. Skye and Y/N noticed at things began to rattle and shake inside her cell. They looked at each other, Skye was clearly nervous.
"I thought I was losing my mind all over again..." He continued. "That there was something wrong. So it took a while to dawn on me, or maybe I was just afraid to think it, that -" The shaking was getting worse. "You survived the destruction...because you caused it."
"No. No, no, no, Fitz," Skye pled.
"Raina wasn't the only one changed in there."
"No."
"And I'm pretty sure the DNA results we're running right now are gonna confirm it... for both of you."
"Fitz," Y/N called.
"No!" Skye cried out, placing her arms on top of her head.
"There's nothing wrong with the data in my head."
"No!"
"Fitz, stop!"
"There's something wrong with the two of you."
"No!" Skye screamed.
The light in her cell shorted out and sparked, shattering it. Fitz took a step back with large eyes as Y/N suddenly appeared in Skye's pod. Fitz watched as a blue portal closed from behind Y/N as she pulled Skye into her arms. Fitz hurried out of there.
"You're okay..." Y/N whispered, rocking Skye. "You're okay."
"What happened?" Tony rushed in. He had JARVIS set to notify him of any changes. "Y/N, how did you-"
"The Tesseract creates portals. So can I." Skye cried into Y/N's shoulder. "It's okay... I've got you."
"Agent May is on her way," JARVIS informed them. "Y/N might want to- Nevermind."
Y/N was already back in her cell before JARVIS could advise her to go back. Skye began to hastily sweep up the broken glass on the floor, cutting herself. As May entered the lab, Skye quickly stood up, hiding her hand behind her back.
"Hey," May smiled.
"Hey," Skye repeated.
"You two feeling like you've been in that glass box your whole life?"
"Yes," Y/N replied, trying to get May distracted. But she could tell something was off with Skye.
"You doing okay?" May asked Skye.
"Yeah, yeah," Skye replied. "I-I just... I feel isolated and exposed at the same time. Being a caged animal is no fun."
"It's for your own good, temporary."
"I know, I know."
"I think we both just need hugs," Y/N said. "We hate seeing you all fight."
"They're just having a hard time," May said.
"Yeah, but I've never seen Coulson like that before," Skye said. "He seemed so... cutthroat."
"Definitely not the man I'm used to," Tony added.
"Yeah, I've rarely seen him like this myself," May said. "For Coulson, Trip was the embodiment of the principles he wants SHIELD to be built upon... Compassion, loyalty, heart. And that is SHIELD's strength. And Trip's death reminded Coulson that HYDRA doesn't have that, and that is their weakness." Skye turned a bit to face Y/N and Tony. "Are you bleeding?"
"We should have your DNA results back any minute now," Simmons interrupted. "Once we know there's nothing wrong, we'll have you out of there." Simmons gives a big excited smile as May looked from Simmons to a worried looking Skye. "Something's wrong?"
Skye brought her hand forward, showing a bloody looking palm. Y/n looked at Tony, who nodded knowing.
"What the hell happened?" May asked. Skye just stared, too afraid to speak. "Skye?"
"F-Fitz-" Skye started.
"Fitz was a klutz again," Fitz interrupted, entering the lab. "Uh, she's cleaning up the mess. Sorry. It was my fault. I knocked over the lamp when I was taking a sample of Skye's blood with one of those ridiculous Hazmat suits on. Uh, I guess my coordination still needs work. But I was anxious to double check the results." He pulled some things up on a tablet and handed it to Simmons. "Both of their DNA is an exact match to what it was before. They're clear.
"Thank God," Tony says.
"I'm gonna call Coulson. He can use the good news," May stated. "You all right?"
"Yeah," Skye answered, clearly confused at what just happened.
"Uh, Skye is your bunk made?" Fitz wondered.
"Uh, no. No, it's a mess."
"Uh, well, maybe you could get her some clean sheets," Fitz suggested to Simmons. "She should probably sleep."
"Yes," Simmons agreed. "You deserve a good night's rest."
"Yeah, um, I mean, I - and I would do it but last time I was in there, there were lots of ladies' things and she's a slob." He pointed at Skye before holding up some gauze and tape. "I'll help bandage her hands. It was my fault anyway."
"Okay." Simmons gave one last very relieved smile to both women before leaving.
"What did you just do?" Skye asked as Fitz entered her cell.
"I switched your blood results with your old samples," he explained. "Give me your hand."
"The new samples are different?" Y/N asked.
"For who?" Tony wondered.
"Just Skye," Fitz answered. He looked in Skye's eyes. "Drastically. But until everyone around here calms down I don't think we should tell anybody outside of this four. What with the way Simmons is acting. For now, we should just keep it between us. Keep you both safe until we figure it out, okay?" Skye began crying and reached to hug Fitz. He let her cry into his shoulder. "It's okay..."
Tony entered Y/N's isolation pod as she stared at Fitz and Skye. He wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her cheek before resting his chin against her shoulder to watch as well.
"This is all my fault," Skye cried out.
"How?" Fitz asked.
"I could've stopped her. I let - I let this happen and I am so sorry."
"No, it's okay."
"Everything's my fault. You're right. There's something very wrong with me."
"No, you're just different now. You're just different now and there's nothing wrong with that."
"We're going to help you, Skye," Tony promised, tightening his hold on Y/N. "The both of you."