Skye's POV
I woke up a few hours later, feeling slightly better as I examined my now completely healed leg - but still groggy. I got up and went to search the plane for something to do to kill the time before we landed.
I headed to the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey; not that it; or any alcohol for that matter, was strong enough to affect me for very long what with my insane metabolism - but it would have to do as my form of entertainment for now. On my way back to my room, I stumbled upon Ward, who was sitting on a couch reading a book.
"Hunger Games"? I asked, teasingly.
Ward looked up at me and the bottle in my hand.
"Matterhorn," he answered. I glanced over at the soldiers on the other side of the room, who were sitting at a table playing cards. Though where their leader was, I didn't know. Her name was Camilla; if I remembered correctly, but I figured she and Coulson were catching up.
"One of a hundred books my S.O. gave me that I'm just getting around to," Ward said, his eyes on me. He had this look of realization on his face - almost as if he was remembering something. Before I could give it much thought, his face had returned to it's normal expressionlessness.
I tilted my head at him, questioning his use of words.
"S.O., Supervising Officer," he explained. Huh, I guess they called them differently at Shield. Hydra just called them what they were. Trainers. While certain similarities existed between the two groups, there were so many differences I could barely keep up. I decided to play up my role as the "not so innocent hacker" in order to explain my confusion.
"Got it. Hackers have lingo too, but I'll pick yours up...I feel like you and me, wrong foot. Can I -" I raised the bottle up and swung it side to side, "- buy you a drink?"
Ward gave me a tiny smile as he waved me over and put his book aside; mumbling to himself as he did so. It sounded like he'd said, "so now she cares?" but I had no idea what he was talking about and dismissed it easily as I twirled the whisky bottle behind my back, tossed it over my shoulder, and spun it around in one hand, before pouring the amber liquid into two glass tumblers.
"What I said before, when I said the uprising was...whatever I said, a good thing. I don't want you to think I'm oblivious. What I was talking about was the tweets," I said, attempting to explain what I had meant earlier, while trying not to let myself get distracted with thoughts of Hydra - instead, focusing on what a typical hacker might say.
"Tweets. Are you trying to make things better or worse?"
"Peruvians have organized for the first time in decades. Thousands of suffering people who have never met uniting over a common idea? It's mind-blowing. And, I don't want to bring it up because I don't want to see your hate face..." I tried again, pausing as I gave him a look when his face turned into a frown.
"...since I know you prefer to do everything on your own, but usually one person doesn't have the solution. But, 100 people with 1% of the solution, that'll get it done!" I said, having no idea where any of this was coming from yet seeing the truth in what I said as the words tumbled out.
Ward continued to stare at me with a blank face.
"I think that's beautiful, pieces solving a puzzle." Not that I had ever gotten to play with puzzles; or any other normal toys, with Hydra raising me...
Ward let out a sigh, leaned up, and took his share of whiskey from my hand.
"You and I see the world differently is all."
We both took a drink before setting the glasses down. He let out a grunt when he leaned forward and I looked worriedly at his side, noticing for the first time, a circle of blood on his shirt. Ha! So, I wasn't the only one to get shot! Was it wrong that I felt slightly better knowing that he had gotten shot too?
"You got shot too?" I asked, clamping my mouth shut as I realized I had just slipped up. Not that he seemed to notice...
"Skin deep. Nothing to worry about," he said in a very nonchalant way.
"Well, no wonder you were so pissed," I commented, not about to mention the fact that I had just pulled out two bullets from my leg not more than a few hours ago yet hadn't felt the need to blame the members of the team for it or end up shouting at Fitz-Simmons like he had done.
"I wasn't pissed. I was trained to be the whole solution, to eliminate variables," he stated, looking around at the soldiers playing cards. "...And today, they keep adding up."
I looked up at the ceiling.
"We're turning."
"We've entered restricted airspace, so we have to follow certain flight paths according to regulation. This plane is capable of fully automated flight, but May has to be on the stick herself tonight."
I couldn't help letting out a little laugh.
"You've got an S.O. and May's got to 'be on the stick'. Lots of good lingo on this plane."
"Yeah. We just can't seem to understand each other," Ward said. He had a point there, not that I would admit it.
I watched the soldiers closely, noticing that they hadn't touched their drink. Then I saw one of the soldiers give a barely perceptible nod to the other - but it was perceptible to me and my enhanced eyes - and apparently to Ward as well.
"Skye, hand me the bottle," he said, trying to sound calm, probably thinking I hadn't noticed what was going on around me. Boo, I was gonna use it to bash one of the soldier's heads in...Ward was ruining my fun!
But we couldn't let them know we had spotted what they were up to.
"Okay, turbo, but you're still nursing the one you got," I said, lightly. Keeping up a charade for the soldiers. I picked up the bottle reluctantly and handed it over to him, glancing around the room to find something else I could use as a weapon; other than the pillows on the couch, which would hardly cause any damage.
I could always use the glass tumblers still filled with whiskey, but it seemed a shame to waste it...
"I'm not the only one," Ward said, flicking his eyes over to the soldiers, in his attempt to warn me about them - thinking, wrongfully so, that I hadn't noticed. That man gave me no credit whatsoever!
The next thing I know, Ward was grabbing me and pushing me out of the way as one of the soldiers rushed at us - the bottle broke on the table as they fought - what a waste.
I hit one of the soldiers in the face, sending him over a half wall. The other rushed at Ward and Ward tackled into him driving the man into a post.
I looked up as Coulson ran down the spiral staircase with Camilla right behind, which gave the soldier I was about to fight, a chance to grab me from behind. Damn, if I wasn't worried about my cover, I'd knock this asshole to the ground!
We all froze and looked around. On one of the monitors we could see one of the soldiers was holding Fitz with a knife to his neck. Coulson looked over to Camilla, who was holding an injured side, as he walked towards her.
"We were allies. We had history. When did you decide to throw that away?" he asked her angrily.
Her face no longer showed smiles or flirtation, it showed determination.
"As soon as I saw your team."
The next thing I knew, the soldier behind me was knocking me out - Ward's worried face, the last thing I saw as stars swam before my eyes and I passed out in the soldiers arms. Aww, was Ward finally starting to care? was my last thought before the world faded to black.
*****
I woke up only to find myself tied with my hands behind my back. Ward on my left, Simmons on my right.
"This is all my fault. I should've learned Kung Fu," I heard Fitz saying as I groaned and squirmed my way up into a seated position as best I could. Ward nudged me and I nodded to tell him that I was fine.
"Oh, yeah, but I shouldn't have pushed you into the field in the first place. You weren't ready," Simmons said back to Fitz.
Everyone started to speak at the same time. I just blinked as I focused on not seeing stars.
"It was my job to make a proper threat assessment," Ward commented.
"This wouldn't have happened if Agent May wasn't on the stick," I said, or if I weren't so worried about my cover being blown! I just didn't want to lose their friendship; not realizing how nice it was to have, and I certainly didn't want Tony or Steve and the others to find me just yet and end up ruining everything. I wanted to use my powers to help...I really did, but I wasn't quite ready to just dive right in so soon after escaping from Hydra. Maybe Coulson's team would be the perfect way to ease myself into the idea of it all. "She would've busted out some of her ninja know-how," I said, finishing my sentence.
Fitz looked at me and shook his head. "Agent May? No. No, no, she transferred from administration."
"Well, I've seen her destroy a guy, so..." I said, thinking back to the train station and the whole Mike Peterson fiasco.
We all looked over to Ward. He glanced at us then sighed.
"You've heard of The Cavalry?"
"She's the Calvary? No way! No wonder Natasha looked at me like that when I pretended to be her!" May definitely didn't seem like someone who would have appreciated my little stunt - I had yet to see her crack even the tiniest of smiles.
"I told you, never to call me that," we heard May say, as she finally woke up. I noticed her looking at me suspiciously and clamped my mouth shut, hoping she hadn't heard me mention Natasha. Did they personally know each other?
"I can't believe it. Oh, we're sure to get out of here now," Simmons said, giggling. She leaned over and around me to look at May. "Um, how do we get out of here?" I mean technically I could just break out of this with my inhuman strength...
May sat up with a grunt. "We can't go through the doors. They're bolted, tied to the pressurization lines. You two geniuses have nothing?"
Fitz and Simmons shared a look.
"Yeah, well, it's hard to concentrate in these intense situations," they said.
Ward spoke softly to Fitz and I was surprised to hear the compassion in his voice.
"Hey, don't freeze up. Take a breath. You don't need to come up with the whole solution -" he nudged my side, "- just part of it. Right?"
I smiled and nodded, happy that we were finally starting to get along and that he had been listening to what I said.
"Yeah. Pieces solving a puzzle."
Everyone started to glance around the cargo hold until a plan slowly started to form.
"Well, that's clearly the worst idea I've heard yet," Simmons said.
"But, it could work," I pointed out.
"Reyes is gonna kill us the minute we land, regardless, and blame it on rebels. This way we have a fighting chance. I'll take it!" Ward said, looking at Fitz. "What's first?"
"We can't get upstairs without going in the lab," Fitz answered.
"And the only way to release the lab doors is from upstairs," Simmons continued for him.
"The first thing is we're tied to the cargo door -" I started to say, thinking that I might just have to break out after all and hope no one questioned me about it. But just as I was about to, we heard a loud crack that cut me off and I looked over to where it originated from, May.
We all flinched.
"What the hell was that?" Fitz cried out.
"Her wrist," Ward explained.
"What's next?" May asked after she had taken out the soldier who had been guarding us from the landing above. She gripped her wrist with her other hand and gave it a twist, causing more cracks.
"Okay, we're sure, right? Everyone's sure?" I asked as we huddled.
"We're all on board. Yep. Let's do this fast," said Fitz-Simmons.
"No turning back, no freezing up," added Ward.
"Because if we do then..." Fitz started to say.
"All of us die," Ward finished - I noticed he was looking at me as he said that, but didn't really get why.
The sound of a car engine revving caught our attention. May was standing on the driver's side door of the SUV looking at us all.
"You guys talk a lot."
She got into the car closing the door. She then put the SUV into drive, sending it into the glass doors of the lab.
We entered the lab and started getting to work.
Simmons stood on a table with a drill, using it on the ceiling of the lab to open up the air vent. Fitz was getting out his drones and I went over to the lockers and looked through them.
May finally got the door open and headed out. Fitz sent one of his drones up through the vent and Ward was kneeling on the floor above a black bag, pulling out some rope.
I also had a bag I was digging into and I pulled out some black straps triumphantly.
I walked over to Fitz and wrapped a few of the straps around his waist while Ward saw to Simmons. He then came over to me. I sighed when he stepped in close to loop a rope to my own waist, not willing to tell him that I wouldn't need it. I wasn't some frail girl who was going to start flopping around helplessly once the second part of our plan went into effect!
Fitz-Simmons and I made our way to the catwalk inside the cargo hold.
Fitz looked at Simmons with a worried look. "Forget what I said before. This, is the moment we'll regret."
I heard a beeping noise from his tablet as the drone he was controlling located the 0-8-4 and sent a pulse at it. As we had been hoping, the device let out a ray of energy that blasted a hole in The Bus.
Alarms started blaring as the various screens throughout the plane showed the damage to the plane.
"It worked," I said as Simmons smiled at Ward.
"The drop in cabin pressure released the doors!" she said excitedly.
"I'll take care of the soldiers, you guys get to the 0-8-4," said Ward. I frowned, wanting to get in on the action - yet not wanting to have to explain how I knew how to fight.
"And Coulson?" Fitz asked.
"Let's hope he can handle himself," Ward told him as he opened the door to where the breach was and we all braced against the wind. One of the remaining soldiers immediately began firing at us.
"Get back!" Ward shouted.
The soldier stopped firing and ran toward us. He and Ward began to fight. I noticed a second soldier had appeared and was aiming his gun up to point at Ward; who wasn't aware of him.
I looked around carefully to make sure no one was watching, before quickly spinning around and kicking the gun out of the soldiers hand so that when Ward turned around and saw him, he was able to restrain him with ease.
"Go now! Find the 0-8-4." Ward called out to us. Your welcome! I thought as I left with Fitz-Simmons, bracing myself against the wind.
I pulled Fitz in close as he narrowly avoided tumbling out of the plane. I should be put on the pay roll as his bodyguard at this point!
We finally managed to locate the 0-8-4; which had buried itself into the wall. Ward was struggling to reel us in by the straps we had wrapped around us when the pamphlet Ward had gave me that morning flew into my face. I suddenly remembered something I had spotted when I had read it earlier and reached down to untie myself.
"What are you doing? We need your help!" Simmons cried out.
"Trust me!" I called out over my shoulder as I headed over to a box on one of the walls.
I opened it and yanked out something bright yellow and plastic. I grabbed onto it tight as I began my way back across the room as I spotted a soldier who was clinging onto the black line I had abandoned - which was still currently attached to Simmons.
I saw Fitz moving deeper into the room, pulling on the line between him and Simmons, bringing her close to him, but the solider still had a hold of the line. Stupid plane! There wasn't enough room for my wings to expand, and with the harsh wind coming from the hole in the plane, my speed was dulled to that of a normal human! I clenched my jaw as I tried desperately to reach them in time.
"Cut him loose!" I heard Simmons shout to Fitz. I applauded her quick thinking as Fitz released the carabiner on his waist and the line the soldier was holding onto went slack, sending him backwards into Ward.
I watched in fear as the soldier's momentum pushed the two of them closer towards the hole. Ward used one of his hands to grab onto a post and the other to hold onto the soldier.
"Sorry! Sorry, Ward!" Fitz-Simmons yelled over the wind.
"Hold on!" Ward was shouting to the soldier, who was gripping his shirt tightly. But the wind was too strong and Ward's shirt ripped, sending the soldier flying out of the open hole.
I hurried to open the bag in my hands and watched anxiously as it began to inflate into a boat right as Ward lost his grip on the post and flew towards the opening.
The boat arrived just in time to stop Ward from being sucked out. I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked around the room. The last soldier hadn't given up yet. He was on his belly, dragging himself closer towards a gun on the floor. A foot with a dress shoe arrived to pin his hand as the solider looked up at the owner with anger.
I smirked as Coulson's fist slammed down, knocking the solider out. Coulson then bent down and picked up the gun. Ward, breathing hard, glanced over, astonished at what happened. I stepped back and leaned against the closest wall as the plane banked; May having gained control once more. Fitz and Simmons both popped their heads over the half wall, panting.
I heaved myself back up straight and made my way over to Ward; offering up a hand to help him up - he accepted the gesture and got to his feet.
"I read the safety pamphlet," I told him with a grin.
"I think you may be the first."
We all met up in the Planning Room; panting with exertion and relief.
"No other way in, huh?" Coulson asked, setting a partially broken glass down on the table. "I was just starting to warm up to this place."
I reached over and grabbed a coaster; moving the tumbler to sit on top of it as I gave him a little smile.
"The 0-8-4 is cooling and stable. But we should call H.Q. and get it to the slingshot as soon as possible," Fitz said.
Coulson turned and looked down at Camilla; who was now tied to a pole. She slowly looked up at him in defeat.
"I told you they were good," Coulson said with pride.
*****
A few hours later we finally reached our destination. I headed down the spiral staircase to see Coulson leaning over Lola, looking her over for damage.
"Not a scratch, but your plane's totaled. I hope Shield insurance covers hijackings," I said.
"Sure, under 'incidentals'."
I couldn't help but laugh.
"What exactly am I signing up for?" I asked. I had been shot twice, knocked unconscious, and almost sucked out of a plane - and that was just day one!
"Like I said, front-row seat to the craziest show on Earth." Coulson replied. Maybe I was wrong about this being a good stepping stone...seems like I already have dived into the deep end before learning to swim first...
"Yeah, but I didn't expect the show to get this crazy this fast, all for an object you're just going to destroy."
"Slingshot is protocol. A weapon like the 0-8-4 is too dangerous for any person or country to have. People like Reyes would always be after it." I guess that made sense.
"What happened with Reyes, anyway?" There had definitely been chemistry between the two.
"She's being held at a Shield detainment facility. I expect the Peruvian government will negotiate for her release. She probably won't spend much time in jail," Coulson answered, not understanding what I was getting at.
"No, I mean, what happened with you and Reyes?" I clarified. "You guys totally did it back in the day, right?" I grinned at him.
He looked up at me and raised his eyebrows.
"That's classified," he said. I chuckled under my breath as he walked away quickly.
I glanced up as Fitz and Simmons walked down the spiral staircase; Fitz holding a cooler and Simmons a beer.
"We blew up a plane," Fitz was saying.
"I had a new experience," stated Simmons.
"Eat that, Professor Vaughn!" I laughed at Fitz's remark; though not knowing who he was referring to. He turned and looked at May and Ward; who had just joined us. "Hey, come on. You guys don't want to miss this!" He said, excitedly.
Fitz-Simmons walked to the end of the ramp and sat on the edge, their legs dangling. Ward, May, and I headed over to join them.
"So, it'll take about 180 days to reach the sun. Now, yes, of course, it would have been faster if they'd use hydrogen-fueled APUs, but they're having fun," Fitz explained as Simmons reached into the cooler and pulled out beers for us. I shook my head though.
No offense, but when I had started working at "Nights", I had quickly discovered that I hated the taste of beer. I had never been allowed to have alcohol of any kind when Hydra had me in their clutches and I was excited at first to finally be able to try it, but it had been disgusting and a huge disappointment.
For some reason, all of my customers acted personally offended whenever I told them about my dislike for beer whenever they tried to buy me one - hoping to get on my good side. Plenty had tried to tell me that I would eventually acquire the taste for it, but I sincerely doubted that I would ever drink enough of the foul substance in order to do so. It was just too bitter...and that hoppy aftertaste...yuck.
"How many of those have you guys had?" I asked, grimacing as I watched her drink.
Simmons offered me one for a second time, but I turned her down again. She looked over at May and Ward; who both had one, and scoffed.
"Skye, it's important, when in the field, to unwind from time to time," she said.
"Yeah, yeah, especially after a hard day of everyone almost dying," Fitz added. I rolled my eyes and showed them the new bottle of whiskey I had dug out.
Coulson walked up behind me as I opened it and took a sip straight from the bottle.
"Which doesn't happen every day, right? It's an anomaly, an irregularity. Not, the norm," Simmons stated, though she didn't sound very confident about that. I took a larger gulp of whiskey.
"Speaking of "not the norm", whose idea was it to blow a hole in the plane?" I swallowed down an even larger portion of my drink at this, wishing again that I could actually feel the affect.
"May said that the doors were tied to the pressurization so I thought –" I started to say.
"So we thought it was the only way to release them," Simmons corrected. I sent her a smile of gratitude.
"It was everyone's idea, sir," Ward stated, surprising me.
"Yeah, quite genius, really," Fitz boasted.
"Nice work," Coulson said after a long pause.
"All clear for liftoff," said a voice over the loudspeaker.
"Oh, time for blastoff!" Fitz exclaimed. He pinched his nose closed - giving him a funny sound to his voice. "Launching in three, two..." I giggled at his boyish antics as we watched the rocket take flight in front of us.
"The trajectory will take it beyond the Lagrange Point so that it doesn't hit Herschel," Fitch told us.
"And there haven't been any coronal mass ejections, so it shouldn't lose telemetry," added Simmons.
Ward looked at them. "Guys, English."
We all watched the rocket fly away and I smiled as I saw Ward clap Fitz on the back. He seemed to be slowly getting used to working as a part of a team - and so was I, now that I thought about it. It was a strange feeling, having been trained like Ward, to always work alone.
3rd Person POV
"Really? Really, Coulson? Six Days?"
Coulson kept his face neutral as he listened to his boss lecture him.
"It only took you six days to take a completely renovated piece of state-of-the-art machinery and turn it into scrap?!" Director Fury shouted.
"My team acted with my authority," Coulson replied, trying not to show any emotion.
"Don't talk to me about authority. Do you know how much this plane costs? It's got a bar! A really nice one...Talking to me about authority. You know, I have the authority to downgrade your ass to a Winnebago."
"I'm aware of that, sir."
"Well, I want it fixed just like you found it. So don't have Fitz-Simmons going making modifications, like a-a-a damn fish tank," Fury said, pointing an angry finger at Coulson.
"Yes, sir."
Fury started to walk past him but stopped.
"And the new girl, Billy - Skye, or whatever she calls herself, she has a habit of disappearing - make sure that doesn't! She's special," said Fury, not wanting the potential recruit he had been searching months for to run off again.
"I know, sir."
"You know, sir?" Fury mimicked back, sarcastically. "Do you? Do you know how pissed Stark and the others are going to be if they ever find out that she's on board this plane and no one told them? Don't you dare let that happen! If you do, I'll tell them you are still alive and you can deal with the fallout yourself!"
Coulson shivered at the very thought, having finally agreed with Fury that it was for the best that he keep his existence a secret for now - knowing how insanely ticked off everyone would be when they eventually found out. But he didn't understand why Fury was so worried. They'd find out sooner or later, just hopefully later rather than sooner. But considering Fury was the one who had talked him begrudgingly into keeping his distance in the first place, he didn't understand why he would threaten to spill the beans now.
"What's their connection to Skye? What does she have to do with any of this? She can't possibly be worth you opening up that whole can of worms!"
"That's need-to-know, and you don't need to know. How's Lola?" Fury asked, attempting to direct Coulson's attention away from the new girl. He knew that the less people who knew about her and her powers, the better. He trusted Coulson more than anyone else, but he was not going to risk Hydra getting their hands back on such a powerful individual.
Coulson gave a little smile, knowing better than to push Fury for an answer. "She's fine, sir. Thanks for asking."
"Talking to me about authority," he heard Fury muttering under his breath as he left the room.
Coulson's smile faltered as he put his finger to his earpiece. "Yeah, we're gonna have to kill the fish tank!" he said sadly.