Going over the mission plan one more plan, Skye can't help but to worry. Throughout the mission she has been on with this time so far, and from the mission plans she has seen from her siblings and aunt, she has never seen one as complicated as this one. So many moving parts at once and she had been placed with Fitz to keep track on it all. What a joy, at least she got Fitz and wasn't stuck in a close space with Ward.
Moving through the full train, Skye starts to look for their seats, knowing that she has Fitz behind her. Finding their seat, she sists down as Fitz stack away their bags for now. She feels slightly bad for making him carry all of their heavy equipment by himself, but he had offered and refused a no.
"You nervous?"
Fitz asks as she is looking over a map of Italy, making Skye look up. She can see worry in his own eyes and she understands it. This is far from what they have ever done before.
"Just ready for this all to be over. Ready to get Quinn."
"Me, too. So, are we British or American?"
Is his next question and Skye can't help but to rise one eyebrow at the question.
"Does that matter?"
"Well, we're traveling together. We should at least be from the same country. How's your Scottish accent?"
"I don't know. You tell me how great it is, laddie."
Skye tries to say, hearing how bad of an accent she is making and is on the verge of apologise for it.
"American then."
Fitz says before she has a chance to, in a perfect American accent.
"That's a better idea."
"Oh! That was really good!"
"I used to watch a lot of American TV growing up. Some of it's quite good. Lots of nice teeth."
At his last sentence, Skye puts her head slightly to the side, that was far too much information for her taste. Moving her eyes, she sees the coach attendant coming towards them.
"Oh, here we go. Follow my lead."
Skye informs Fitz who turns.
"Excuse me. Do you speak English?"
"Of course. How may I be of service?"
"Can you recommend a restaurant in downtown Zagreb?"
"Someplace affordable. With big portions."
Fitz jumps in quickly and Skye isn't sure he knows what the plan even is.
"You are looking for something romantic?"
The coach attendant asks and from the corner of her eye, Skye can see that Fitz is trying to keep it together. If she had been a bit more comfortable around the young engineer, she would have gone with this route, but she shakes her head.
"No, my brother and I are on a tight budget."
She informs the man who nods his head in understanding and as Skye hands him the map she had been looking at, she managed to take the mans keys, thanking Natasha for teaching her how to best pick pocket someone. Thanking him for the suggestion he gives, they wait for him to move down the line before grabbing their bags and heading for the storage room.
"Thank you for not going the romantic line back there."
Fitz points out as he closes the door behind him and Skye smiles.
"I got to say, I was tempted to, but I wasn't all to comfortable myself. I mean, it's already a big step I'm taking to be stuck in a close space with only you, no Jemma or May around."
She explains as she puts down the large bag on the ground and starts unpacking.
"I mean, I was almost expecting you to ask for a change."
"I was, but out of the three males on BUS you are the best option, and we all know you are the only one that will be able to keep up with me so."
Skye can feel Fitz's eyes on her as she explains, but she decides to just ignore it. If he wants to ask something, he better do it, she won't try and get it out of him.
"I have a device that could've done those things. Broken the lock and all that."
Fitz decides to say instead, and Skye looks at him, not even surprised over this fact.
"Why wouldn't you tell me that?"
"I'm always the gadget guy. Maybe sometimes I wanna do things with my bare hands."
"You make the gadgets with your bare hands."
"Just allow me these rare moments of self-pity, OK?"
This makes Skye laugh slightly and shaking her head. Being stuck with Fitz isn't that bad after all.
"You're the least supportive pretend sister I've ever had."
He adds, which makes Skye stop working for a few seconds before her smile grows larger. She could almost see it, having a Fitz as her brother. At least it would be a brother that doesn't take every moment he gets to get himself and her into trouble.
"Comms is live. Coulson? Simmons? You in position?"
Skye asks, deciding now is as best as any to get back to the mission in hand.
"Yes. Just waiting for May's signal."
Coulson responds back. Ever since he and Melinda had taken a trip of their own, he has been even more distant from her, and she has been wondering what Melinda might have told him. She needs to remember to ask her mother about it once all of this is over and done. Once Fitz is done with his set up, he carefully sits down beside her, eyes on the screens.
"He's headed your way."
He warns their team leader and best friend. Hearing the full conversation and acting from Jemma, Skye has to agree with her, she is a good actor if she has time to prepare. Changing to the feed Melinda's glasses is taking in, Skye leans forwards slightly.
"Great. We see what you see."
"All right, May, Cyberteck cases are usually lined with tungsten polymer to prevent scanning. It should appear black on your infrared. Bingo. Eyes on the package, fourth seat from the back."
Fitz says, keeping a close eye on what is going on. Skye is quite sure the only other person she could have been with that would have known this information was Jemma. Fitz lifts his eyes from the screen and Skye let's out a sigh, they are getting close now, she can feel it.
Hearing the P.A system start up, Skye lifts her head, wondering if she should try and learn some Italian at some point. Her siblings have proved knowing more than one language have helped them.
"As we round the bend the passengers on the north side of the train..."
"I wish we had more time to take in the scenery."
Fitz comments and Skye can understand him. They have been traveling the world so much at this point and there have been so many things they have missed to see.
"Three peaks of Lavaredo. They're supposed to be stunning."
"How about this, once we get some free time, you, me and Jemma will take a proper train ride through Italy?"
Skye asks, which makes Fitz look at her out of surprise.
"Wait, you would allow me to come with?"
"Of course, Jemma would love it and it would be a fun experience. And after everything we have been through these past few months, we deserve time off."
Skye tells him, giving him a warm smile that he returns. Hearing the static sounds coming from the COMM system, their attentions turn towards their computers.
"Whoa. May's goggles are offline. When did that happen? May, do you copy?"
"All coms and phones are dead. Someone's using some sort of electronic scrambler."
"Cyberteck knows we're here."
"I have to warn our team."
Skye says, rising from the seat, she has a bad feeling about this and all she wants is to make sure her mother and Jemma is alright. Just as they are about to head for the door, it slams open to a man pointing a gun towards them.
"Fitz! Get down."
Skye managed to call out as she throws herself towards Fitz to knock him out of the way of the shoot. The gunmen keep shooting at everything in the close room. Fitz being the first to act, rises and pulling what Skye recognise as the nigh-night gun, aiming for the man who attacked them, only to miss. It does open up an opening for Skye to take him down, which doesn't go as she planned, being kicked down and have Fitz jump to rescue her.
As the poor engineer is being beaten up, Skye grabs the gun as she rises, aiming for the man who pulls out a blue glowing device. From behind him, Skye sees Jemma entering and fear shoots through her body.
"We've been made!"
Jemma calls out, pulling the attention of the man who attacked her and Fitz.
"Oh, bloody hell."
Skye hears Jemma say as the man turns towards her and Skye tries to get a good aim on the man to shoot, making sure Jemma isn't hurt in the progress. Hearing Fitz call out Jemma's name, Skye watches how Jemma grabs hold of the man and pulls him towards her as the device he had been holding onto goes off, emanating a blue mist around them before both falls to the floor.
"Oh, my God."
Skye rushes for her friend, dropping to the floor and starts checking for a pulse, the blue vein looking markings around her eyes is making her worried. What on earth could have been in that container.
"She's OK."
Skye says once she found her friends pulse, lifting her head to look at Fitz, only to see how he let's out a deep sigh of relief.
"OK, hold her up."
Fitz orders, somehow managing to get his head back in order before her. Doing as she is told; Skye sees how Fitz takes one of the bags from the shelf and they place it under Jemma's head.
"I think this is some form of dendrotoxin."
"The same stuff that's in the Night-Night gun?"
"Yeah, but it's clearly evolved. I think they made it airborne."
"Is that why their eyes are open?"
"I suppose it they're in some sort of black sleep, that would make sense."
Fitz explains and Skye starts to dislike all of this more and more. It should have been so easy, and now it was all going down. Jemma is out clod, and they have no idea of where Melinda, Coulson or Ward is. It's just her and Fitz now.
"We gotta get out of here. Find the others and figure out what to do next."
She says to Fitz, and she can see that he has realised the same thing she has.
"Yeah, help me move Simmons first. Can't just leave her like this."
He says and Skye can't help but found it slightly amusing that when she was in danger, he called her by her first name, now he's back to using her last name. Maybe she should use the trip to get them back together somehow.
"Look at her little face. She'd be so embarrassed."
He adds and Skye rolls her eyes. She might need to have this talk with Fitz sooner than that. He rises as she managed to find a blanket to put over Jemma.
"Wee should leave her with something to protect herself. Just in case."
"Yeah. I have a spare."
Fitz says and as Skye lifts her head, she sees him walking over with another Night-Night gun. She should probably ask him if he could make her one at some point. He makes sure it loaded before placing it in Jemma's hand.
"What about him?"
"I'll deal with him. See if you can find the others?"
He asks and Skye nods her head, quickly getting to her feet and out through the door. She makes sure to quickly go through the whole train, looking for her mother at first hand, Coulson and Ward in second. Finding none of them, she heads back, entering the storage room only to hear Fitz saying that's from Simmons. As she gets further into the room, the train suddenly stops.
"Train stopped."
"I know. And I looked everywhere. May, Ward and Coulson are gone."
"What about Cyberteck?"
Fitz asks, but they can hear cars coming towards the train. Moving towards one of the windows, they scrub some of the dirt away to look outside, seeing people moving what is obviously the box they have been looking for.
"They have the package, Fitz."
"What do we do? We're the only ones left."
"Do you have an extra tracker?"
"Of course."
"Then we follow them."
She knows this is a bad idea, they should be waiting in the train with Jemma, to wait for Melinda, Coulson and Ward to come and find them. But she also knows this is their only chance to get to Ian Quinn and she won't let it go.
Grabbing what they need, the two of them makes sure to follow the black cars away from the train. They stay as far back as they can, making sure they can't bee seen in any mirrors and once they reach the mansion the car's stop by, they dive into one of the bushes outside. Crime must be paying quite good if one can afford to live like this.
"Coulson was right. Cyberteck led us to Quinn."
Fitz whispers when a new black car drives up and Ian Quinn himself steps out of it.
"Activate the tracker. Let them know we're here."
Skye orders, making sure to keep her eyes on the target.
"You want to go in?"
There's worry in Fitz voice as he asks her this and Skye feels slightly bad about that. But he had read her like an open book.
"We can't let Quinn get away again. If Coulson were here, he wouldn't let that happen. He wouldn't want us to let that happen."
"You're right."
He says and from the corner of her eyes, Skye can see that Fitz is taking of his backpack and opens it.
"Let's do it."
He says, as he looks for something.
"Can you disable their cars?"
"With my bare hands."
He says, holding up something Skye isn't sure what it is, but she smiles.
"Take this."
He then adds, pulling out the Night-Night gun and hands it to her.
"You'll need it out here."
"Just take it. Be careful, OK?"
He tells her and Skye smiles weakly.
"You too, Leo."
She tells him and she can see the confusion in his eyes for a few seconds. She hadn't planned on calling him by his first name, but it had come out so naturally and she finds herself not regretting it. He had grown a lot on her in the last hour and she can't think of where she would be if he hadn't been with her up until now.
"OK."
Leo says and moves away from her, heading for the cars and Skye takes the other way. Sneaking around the house, she starts looking for a back way in. Finding a guard, she shoots him, happy that the Night-Night gun doesn't give of any laud sounds. With two shoots, the man goes down and she quickly enters the building, hearing male voices, she keeps close to the wall.
Hearing a door opening further down the corridor she's in, she quickly hides, seeing a man and a woman leaving the room.
"Find Mr Quinn. Tell him his purchase is downstairs."
"Si."
The woman orders and the man answers with what she can only guess is yes. Waiting for them to get out of view, Skye heads for the door they have left open. With a deep breath and gun at the ready, she heads down the stairs.
Multiple things went through her mind of what she might find when getting down there but finding the package and Mike had not been one of them. She had been so sure he had died in that explosion, yet he's here, right in front of her in a large silver machine. She really wishes she had either Jemma or Leo with her so they could tell her what it is, and if he is alright or not in it.
"Hello."
Hearing a man's voice behind her, Skye quickly turns, her gun pointing towards Quinn. But before she has a chance to pull the trigger, and this time she wanted to, another man sneaks up beside her, pulling her gun away, one hand on her throat.
"Skye. The Clairvoyant told me to expect you."
"Signore Quinn, this is the same gun as the specs you gave us."
The man holding onto Skye points out, at least now she knows who gave them the technology, the question now. How did Quinn get hold of it.
"You guys have been looking at us. Well, we've been looking at you. And we found a handful of some particularly interesting things."
The man finally let's go of Skye, just as Quinn seems to open the cylinder that Mike is in, pulling out the sleeping man who slowly wakes. Now Skye can see the damage done to him, the burn marks and missing leg and arm.
"Mike. Oh God. You're alive."
She says, the man looking at her.
"That's right. You two know each other. Hey. Do you know who I am?"
Quinn points out, slapping Mike on his back. Mike simply nods his head as an answer.
"And you have your orders?"
Quinn asks, receiving another head nod.
"Good. Because I purchased something that's gonna help you complete them."
Quinn says with a chuckle, he turns towards the man that had grabbed her, taking the gun from the man, still keeping it on Skye.
"Orders? Mike. What is happening here? Mike."
She tries to get information out of him, but he keeps silent. The man that took her gun, opens the box on the table, taking out a silvery device, its hollow inside shining blue. Placing it on Mike's leg, the man turns to look at Skye. As the device is on his leg, the man takes a step back.
"Stand, please."
He orders, and Mike does. The man has turned back to the box, working on something, activating the device put on Mike, making him scream in pain. A new mechanical leg starts to grow out of the small device and Mike can soon stand on two legs once more.
"Manchini, thank you. You will be receiving your payment shortly."
Quinn says, clearly happy over all of this, handing the man the Night-Night gun once more. The man takes the gun and heads for the stairs, without a second word.
"That is the best money can buy, my friend."
Quinn tells Mike as he taps the new mechanical leg.
"Every piece of technology in you is top of the line. I just wonder if I'm getting my money's worth. I know you get your orders from The Clairvoyant. So that means you're not allowed to hurt me, right? No. What if I tried to hurt you?"
Quinn keeps talking, pulling a small handgun in the progress, pointing it towards his chest.
"Would you stop me?"
"No. I would not."
Mike speaks for the first time. There was a hollowness in his voice and Skye can't help but to wonder what happened to him.
"Mike, listen. I don't know what they're doing to you, but we have to get out of here. Now."
She tells him, but he lowers his head.
"And if I wanted you to hurt her?"
Quinn speaks, giving Mike the gun and holds it up so Mike is aiming at her.
"You know, to kill her, will you?"
Quinn edges on, and Skye is holding her breath.
"I mean, what would hurt Agent Coulson more than to lose his pet project?"
Quinn asks and Skye can't help but to feel sorry for Quinn, he had obviously not done his homework properly. If anything were to happen to her, it wouldn't be Coulson he would have to worry about, but her mother, her sibling, her aunt and the full force of the Avengers.
"Those aren't my orders."
Mike finally says, turning his attention towards Quinn. Handing him the gun back, to Quinn's big surprise.
"She's not who I'm supposed to kill."
Mike then adds, before walking out of the room.
"Wait. Wait. Wait!"
Skye calls out, as she moves to follow him. She just found Mike again, she wasn't going to lose him now.
"What the hell did you do to him?"
Skye asks, turning her attention towards Quinn. She needed more information about all of this, and she needed it now. But what she is meet with is a gun shoot, directly to her stomach. He walks towards her, holding her upright as he puts another bullet to her stomach, slowly lowering her to the ground after that.
"I'm sorry."
He says as he takes out a handkerchief to clean up the blood on his hands.
"I have my orders, too."
She can hear him say as everything is starting to go black.