The lab
"Guys, I swear, we are fine. How much blood are you gonna draw before you believe us?" Skye asks Fitz-Simmons as they are both taking yet another sample of yours and Skye's blood. It had been a few weeks since you both had woken up after being shot, and according to Simmons, the team had gone to extreme lengths to find a treatment for the life-threatening wounds you two had suffered.
They had nearly been blown up to find a miracle drug that immediately started working and you both had started healing at an exponential rate. But, something interesting Coulson had told you two is that the drug came from an alien's DNA, which didn't freak you out as much as it freaked Coulson out. He had tried to keep Simmons from giving you guys the drug, but was too late. Ever since then, you had made a full recovery, and Simmons had been very keen to study your blood.
"Your recovery-it's honestly quite unbelievable. We know Coulson had a very different recovery experience, so we understand why he's hesitant about sharing our findings with others." Simmons explains.
"Yeah, but something like this drug needs to be studied. Has the potential to save so many lives." Fitz adds on.
"We'd like to send a blood sample of yours to some colleagues to do a molecular breakdown. Maybe if you spoke to Agent Coulson..."
"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. If Coulson thinks it's important that this stays between us, then we should trust him. Right? He's the boss." You say, to cover up the fact that you know what the drug is made from.
"So you're saying we should obey the rules." Simmons says skeptically.
"Who are you, and what have you done with Skye and
(Y/N)?" Fitz jokes. Suddenly, you hear Ward's voice behind you.
"Skye, (Y/N), upstairs. Top brass wants to see you." He says, and you and Skye walk upstairs to see agents Hand, Blake, Sitwell, Garrett, Triplett, and Coulson. Coulson asks you and Skye to explain your strategy for an upcoming mission that everyone will be involved with, in which teams are going to each investigate a different potential suspect to be the Clairvoyant.
"Pairing off makes total sense. Just one thought, though... what if we make it a double-blind?" You ask Coulson.
"How so?"
"Well, Skye will give one person from each team the potential Clairvoyant's coordinates, and I'll give the other one the identity. That way, no one person knows the full specs of the op until you get there." You explain. Agent Garrett smiles.
"I like how you think. I like how she thinks." He says.
"One question...how are we supposed to access all the classified files without someone in the room? We don't have clearance." Skye points out.
"Now you do. Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D." Coulson pulls out two badges. Your eyes widen. Then, May and Fitz-Simmons appear behind you with smiles as well.
"I told them to come up." May says.
"I...don't know what to say." You exclaim.
"Thank you." Skye tells Coulson.
"Don't thank me. You've both passed every required S.H.I.E.L.D. exam with flying colors."
"For a level 1 agent." Hand interrupts Coulson.
"You've assisted us on multiple field missions, put your life on the line. You earned this."
"Hell, you both took one in the gut. More than Sitwell here's ever done." Garrett jokes. Agent Sitwell doesn't say anything in response, just glances at Garrett, then looks away awkwardly.
"Okay, everyone. Back to work." Coulson announces. The rest of the team all give you guys hugs and congratulations, except for Ward, who just hangs back to get his own time with the two of you.
"Couldn't have done it without a great and very patient S.O." Skye tells him.
"Yeah, you could have. I'm no Clairvoyant, but I do believe some things are meant to be." He responds, giving Skye a look you can only describe as pride with a twinge of longing. Then, he walks away.
——
The Cage
"Okay, on this phone, you will find a set of coordinates that'll lead you to one of the three potential Clairvoyants we've chosen. When you're within a mile, your partner will be granted access to the candidate's name and profile on their own phone. Make sense?" Skye explains to Agent Garrett.
"You know, we haven't officially met. John Garrett." He introduces himself to you two, shaking each of your hands.
"I guess lying unconscious in a gurney really should not count." You comment, and he chuckles.
"How are you two feeling?" He asks. You two look at each other and make a silent consensus on how to answer him.
"A lot better, actually." Skye responds on your behalf.
"I've been shot a couple times myself...back, shoulder. Had my throat cut once. But you know the toughest one?" He pulls down his turtle neck to reveal some nasty-looking burned skin across about half of his chest.
"Thing about a third-degree burn...the burn itself doesn't hurt at all. Crazy, right? The nerve endings get all fried. But the area around the burn? That smarts. Still, gut shot's the worst."
"Sir, we know what you did for us, how you risked your life to save us. So thank you." Skye tells him.
"You've got a good team around you. I just jumped on the bandwagon."
"Well, you trained one of them, sir." You point out to him.
"Guess it all comes full circle. Ward's your S.O., I was his. Turn, turn, turn. But this S.O. thing goes both ways. You two've had a big impact on him. He's different than I remember him." Garrett explains.
"Different how?" You ask curiously.
"Well, the tough thing about being a specialist is being alone. A team gives you a whole new perspective. Guess it's the difference between fighting against something and fighting for something. Or someone," Garrett glances to Skye. "Ward's got that now," Garrett gets up from his seat, and motions toward the phone Skye had handed him.
"Thanks for this. And, Skye, (Y/N), lose the "sir." I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, just like you." You both smile wide as he leaves the room, and you give Skye a big hug. A few moments later, Coulson walks in and it is your turn to explain. You plug in his phone to your laptop and begin your explanation.
"Okay, you will be given on this phone the name and profile of one of the potential Clairvoyants, but only once you're within a mile of the coordinates that Skye has given your partner. From there, you two can move in on your target and complete your mission as normal. Make sense?"
"Yep. Understood." Coulson confirms, and you unplug the phone, which has completed the file transfer.
"Okay. You're all set." You tell him.
"Hope you paired me with someone good...or interesting, at least." He says as he stands up. You just bite your thumb, and Skye avoids eye contact with him.
"Stop worrying. You wear your hearts on your sleeves. And your faces. I trust your guys' judgment. The way you two see the world...it's different than the rest of us. That's why I want you to dig deeper into these." He points to your laptops, which have files pulled up about the potential Clairvoyants.
"The candidates' psych evaluations?" Skye questions.
"The Clairvoyant thinks he can read our minds. See if you can read his. We need some insight into who this person really is, a weakness. So, do what you do...find the exploit. And stop worrying." He orders and walks out. You look at Skye warily and get to work, you both deciding to read half of the files and brief each other on that half to get it done faster and then come to some sort of conclusion together.
A few hours later, you were listening to comms in the kitchen getting a snack when you hear May's voice come through shouting.
"May to Hub. Deathlok's here! Blake's down!"
"All backup teams move in. We have an agent down. Repeat, Agent Blake is down." You hear Agent Hand respond and you run to Skye, grabbing her and racing to the ramp of the bus to meet everyone when they get back.
——
The Lab
"According to index archives, Nash has been on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar for about six years." Skye begins to brief Coulson and May after things had cooled down. May was standing next to the two of you, while Coulson was examining the items Agent Blake had on him when he was attacked by Deathlok.
"He was originally a bond trader in Canada doing very well for himself. Then the Canadian government recruited him to a secret department H-type program." You continue.
May says, "They were looking for people with psychic abilities."
"Specifically people who could control human behavior, and Nash claimed he had a gift." You respond.
"Claimed?" May asks.
"According to records, he couldn't affect a person's behavior. But he could, on occasion, predict it." Skye explains.
"But S.H.I.E.L.D. crossed him off the index after his accident because of his supposed catatonic state." Coulson explains, leading you to believe that Coulson had been personally involved in Nash's case at the time.
"Which he recovered from quite nicely." Skye comments sarcastically.
"It was all a lie...just to throw S.H.I.E.L.D. off his scent. You said Blake fired how many rounds?" Coulson asks May. You, May, and Skye all walk closer to him.
"I heard six. Why?" Coulson holds up two bullet magazines, one in each hand.
"Because there are only five missing from this magazine," he holds up the magazine in his right hand, "and one from here," he then holds up the other magazine. "These are Fitz's tag rounds." Coulson realizes. Your eyes widen.
"We can track him." You announce.
"Skye, (Y/N), check all the sat feeds. Find that signal." Coulson orders you.
"On it." You both say at the same time, which makes you smile, since you hadn't done that in a while. Then you guys walk out, and work on finding the signal.
——
Pensacola, Florida
Several S.H.I.E.L.D. vans screech to a stop in front of a building near a racetrack where you and Skye had found Deathlok's signal to be at. The team, as well as another team of more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in full tactical gear hop out of the vans.
"I want this perimeter sealed. Two-man teams on every exit. Fitz, you got a signal?" Coulson orders.
"94%, sir. Deathlok must be inside somewhere."
"Possible civilians inside?" May asks Fitz.
"Highly doubtful. This racetrack's been shut down for months."
"Move out!" May orders to the tactical team, and you and Skye go to follow but are stopped by Ward, who is also in tactical gear.
"Skye, (Y/N), run a back end from the tactical van. You," He points to another agent, "I want you 6 feet from Skye and (Y/N) at all times, weapons hot."
"Ward, it's okay. We're ready." Skye tries to convince him, but he wasn't budging.
"Ward's right. I feel bad enough you're already back in the field. I'm not taking any chances with your safety." Coulson ends the conversation with this, and you two give up. You both hop into the back of largest van there, which is full of tech needed to run back end on the operation. You listen into comms and hack into the security cameras within the building to get a visual on what's going on.
The first camera you see movement on is the one facing the front door, which is blasted open. The agents all file in and canvas the area for hostiles, as is standard procedure.
"Clear!"
"Fitz, you're up." You hear Coulson say. Fitz places a black case down onto a flat surface, revealing a container for a set of surveillance drones that he's been working on. He turns them on, and you instantly can see anything they see on Skye's laptop screen.
"It's time to hunt, boys. Let's find us a Deathlok." Fitz says under his breath.
"Impressive toy." Garrett compliments Fitz.
"I prefer the term 'high-tech hardware.'" He responds.
"Skye, (Y/N), you online?" Coulson asks.
"Hang on. Northwest corridor is getting something.
(Y/N)'s pulling up a live feed." Skye responds. When you pull up the feed, you can see a person moving, but the camera is filming infrared, so you can't tell for sure if it truly is Deathlok or not.
"I can't confirm it's him. Initiating multi-spectrum overlay." You say, pressing a button. The camera switches to backscatter, which reveals that not only is there tech on the outside of Mike's body, but Cybertek had put technology underneath his skin as well.
"What the hell did they do to him?" Skye mutters.
"What are you seeing?" Coulson asks.
"It's not just his leg or his eye. They did stuff to him. It's all under his skin." You explain. You and Skye watch as Mike spots the drone and punches it, causing the feed to go out.
"Uh, signal's dead. Retriever's down." Fitz says.
"He knows we're here."
"Fitz, get back to the van now." Coulson orders, and you see Fitz run out of the building as Garrett, Coulson, and May continue on. Eventually, Fitz hops in the van to join you two as you all watch the agents separate, Coulson going alone as Ward and May take their own teams.
"Contact! Take cover!" Ward shouts, and something in the blind spot of the camera you are watching through shoots a small missile at the agents who are scrambling for cover. It hits a large beam and knocks two of the agents back. You hear Ward shoot back, but no return fire.
"Ward, are you okay?" Skye asks through comms.
"Uh, I got two men down. We need a med team."
"Requesting one now." You respond.
"May, he's coming your way." Skye warns.
"Got him!" May shouts in response. You see Deathlok hop over the railing near him, falling several stories. Before you can pull up another camera feed to follow him, he disappears.
"He just ducked into the Southwest stairwell. In pursuit." Coulson informs. There are no cameras in the stairwell, so you, Skye, and Fitz are all left sitting ducks on your end.
"All teams-he's headed into the sub-basement. I do not have a visual. Fitz, you have a retriever down here?" Coulson asks.
"On their way." Fitz confirms, and once again, you tap into their feed. The drone flies ahead over Coulson's head and around a corner, also seeing Garrett. The feed is getting very hard to see because of how far underground it is.
"Easy. I come in peace."
"How about a signal next time?" You hear Garrett and Coulson speak. Suddenly you hear gunfire coming from their comms and Fitz flies the drone back over to them.
"Fitz, you getting this?" Coulson asks, in reference to a ladder that leads down to where Deathlok went.
"Uh, barely, sir. It leads down into the sewer system. That's under at least...40 feet of concrete? We'll be blind down there." Fitz responds. Then suddenly, you see another body on the infrared feed and have Fitz fly the drone over the spot you saw it.
"Sir, there's someone else down there." You inform Coulson.
"Copy that." Coulson and Garrett then head down the hallway to the room where the drone is. The room is full of screens displaying different all sorts of different things. In the center of the room is Thomas Nash, with a breathing tube in his mouth and an I.V. in his arm. You can make out a faint beeping from a heart monitor.
"What the hell?" You hear Garrett say under his breath.
"Agent Coulson, Agent Garrett, I surrender." You hear a computer's voice say.
——
"Forgive me if we don't shake hands. I don't like to be touched." The computer voice, which you have been informed is Thomas Nash, says. The rest of the agents in the building had met up with Garrett and Coulson, searching the room for anything out of the ordinary.
"Sir, we've got a lot of wires back here." Ward says.
"Don't touch anything. We need this room swept for explosives." You hear Coulson order.
"There are no traps here, Agent Coulson. You're here because we are destined to meet."
"You're the Clairvoyant?" Garrett asks.
"I'm Thomas Nash. Mr. Po gave me that other name. A bit dramatic for my taste."
"Eyes open, everybody. We don't know where Deathlok is or who else is down here." Coulson orders.
"Mr. Peterson is gone. I cut his feed, so you won't find him."
"But you had him lead us here. Why?" Coulson asks Nash.
"So I could see you with my own eyes instead of his. Now I understand why I couldn't see you after you died-because you, yourself, could not see. You were simply a broken man who did not know he was broken."
"You're one to talk." Coulson retorts.
"Let's pack this freak off to the fridge where he belongs." Garrett says.
"Agent Garrett, look at me. Do you believe you can confine me any more than this chair?"
"Can somebody please tell me how we turn that stupid voice thing off?" Garrett asks the other agents.
"I will join Raina in your prison, Agent Coulson, but I will see you wherever you go, just as I saw you holding Skye and (Y/N) in your arms, bleeding...dying...knowing it was all your fault." You watch Coulson walk up to Nash's face.
"You're going away. We're gonna stick you in a little box where no one will ever hear you again."
"I see you're angry. Head clouded with lies. You've been betrayed, and now you fear what's about to happen."
"Nothing's about to happen. Just more empty threats from you."
"No. It is the inevitable. A force beyond your comprehension is coming for you-you and Skye and (Y/N). They have something we want. And they will die giving it to us. I have seen it."
"Go to hell."
"No matter where I go or what you do to me, I will always-" you hear a gunshot go off, followed by a flatline. Ward had killed Thomas Nash.
"What did you do?" Coulson asks him. The other agents point their guns at Ward and May takes the pistol out of his hand.
"Wait. What just happened?" Skye asks.
"Did Ward just..." Fitz says, but all you can do is raise your hand to your mouth in shock, tears in your eyes.
"He's dead. It's over."
——
Coulson's Office
You knock on the door, Skye next to you, a tablet in her arms. "Mind if we talk some stuff through with you? Are you busy?"
"I'm worried." Coulson says.
"About Ward? I know. I can't believe he just killed someone like that." You say.
"I'm worried he killed the wrong man." Coulson expresses, and you look at Skye before looking back to Coulson confused.
"How do we know it was him? He never spoke. The computer spoke for him. How do we know he was the one controlling it?"
"Are you saying Nash could have been pretending to be the Clairvoyant?" Skye asks.
"I'm saying Nash could have been a prop."
"And now he's dead." You say.
"After the attacks led us right to him. The investigation all wrapped up in a neat little bow. I feel like he could still be out there right now, in our heads." Coulson explains. Then you realize something, looking to Skye, seeing that she was thinking the same thing.
"Or in our files." You both say. Coulson looks up at the both of you.
"When you told us to check into the psych evals, you said something. You said, "read his mind." And it got us thinking. And Ward said that the Clairvoyant knew how to push all the right buttons." Skye explains.
"Raina did that to me, too."
"Did she mention your father's death? Your psych evaluation called it 'a defining moment.'" Coulson looks at you when you say this, and Skye hands him the tablet.
"These aren't just personality tests. They're surveillance on every agent-pictures, stats, where you've been stationed, who you'd visit, where you'd like to eat." Skye explains.
"Dinners at the Richmond. He's been monitoring us. Think about it. The Clairvoyant only knew you'd be at Quinn's villa-"
"After we dropped a tracker." You finish for Coulson.
"And the only thing he's had trouble seeing is what happened to you after you died." Skye says.
"Because Director Fury wouldn't release that file to anyone."
"No..." you and Skye say at the same time.
"The Clairvoyant doesn't have abilities. He has security clearance. He's an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." Coulson races out of the room, leaving you two in awe. You both run out of the room as well, and you begin searching for Fitz, finding him speed-walking away from the cockpit.
"Fitz." You call to him.
"What?"
"I was just looking for you."
"Why? I didn't do anything."
"What? I didn't say you did. What'd you do?" Skye comes up behind you.
"Well, uh... I'm not quite sure, actually. 'Cause, um...I was just, um...um, doing maintenance in the avionics bay before. Okay. Why would May...why would May have an unauthorized encrypted hard line in the cockpit, complete with a thumb scanner? That isn't in any of the plane's specs." Fitz asks.
"Slow down. An encrypted hard line?" Skye asks him.
"Yeah. Dedicated to one receiver. She's not supposed to have that. Who's she talking to?" Fitz thinks out loud.
"Cut the line." You order him.
"What?"
"You need to cut the line right now, Fitz. Do not let her call out!" He runs off, and you go to find Coulson, who was in the cage with Ward. You open the door.
"What?" He asks.
"We have a problem."
——
The Ramp
"Put it down. Put it down, May!" Coulson shouts at May from the top of the stairs, who has an ICER in her hands.
"It's not what you think, Coulson. It's just an icer."
"This one is not. It's real, with real bullets. So you better put yours down and tell me what the hell's going on right now." He orders.
"I-"
"Now!"
"I can't."
"You better listen to the man, Agent May." Skye says, popping out from next to the lab.
"You have no idea what you're doing." May tells her.
"Maybe not. But I know you're not fast enough to take all three of us." She responds, and you pop up from behind Lola, pointing your gun at her.
"Look... I can explain everything. But not here." May tries, putting her arms in the air.
"Why not here? You have to check with someone first, using that encrypted phone in the cockpit? Who's on the other end of that line, May?" Coulson drills May with questions.
"I can't say."
"That's okay. I think I know. It makes sense now why Deathlok put Blake in critical condition, left you alive and well, why he led us to the track only to disappear... instead of defending his boss. Why would he do that? Because that wasn't his boss, was it? Was it?!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Stop lying to me! Who do you answer to?! Who's the real Clairvoyant?!"
"Wha...?" Suddenly the plane lurches to the right, throwing everyone off balance.
"What did you do? Where are we going?" Coulson shouts.
"I don't know! I didn't do it, Phil! I don't know what's happening here, I swear!" She shouts back.
"If you're not doing this, who is?" He asks.
~3982 words~