Skye's POV
"You guys may think it's old news, but it's new...news to everybody else. So, Asgardians are aliens from another planet that visited us thousands of years ago?"
I was holding a box while Coulson and I walked around our latest crime scene. Coulson must have seen something; bending down to pick it up and placing it in the box.
"Or more."
"And because we couldn't understand aliens, we thought they were Gods?"
We passed by May who was kneeling on the floor above an artifact; testing it.
"That's where our Norse mythology comes from."
I let out a deep sigh.
"That's too crazy. Do you think other deities are aliens, too?" Hydra hadn't taught me about any of this stuff! Almost everything I knew about other cultures and religions I had learned on my own after I escaped from them.
Coulson walked past me and dropped something into my box.
"Vishnu for sure, right? Ohh, what about Mount Olympus and all the Greek Gods and Goddesses?" I liked them best. Zeus with his lightning bolts, Athena and her wisdom, Artemis with her love for the hunt, and Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, and all the others! There were so many. I didn't know what it was exactly, but something about the legends of the Greek gods and goddesses resonated with me more so than the other mythologies out there.
"You know, it'd be nice if, for once, Thor and his people sent down the God of cleaning up after yourself. They probably have a magic broom for this kind of thing." I had never met this Thor, but these Asguardians only seemed to bring destruction in their wake...
"I just wish they'd left their alien ship behind!" I commented.
"So we can clean that up, too?"
"So we could go inside, take a peek under the hood, maybe take it for a spin. Come on, you're telling me piloting an alien ship isn't on your bucket list?" I asked May.
May gave an intrigued look at this notion.
"I can't think of a single time when anything alien in human hands ended well!" Coulson pointed out.
He put another piece into the box I was holding.
"Wouldn't mind getting my human hands on Thor. He looks so dreamy..." I had only seen a few pictures from his first landing on Midgard. But from what I had seen, he was very impressive. So were Tony, Steve, Clint, Bucky, and Natasha though. I was still dreaming about them, even more now that I had run into four of them recently at The Hub. I blinked and tried to refocus.
"Sure, he's handsome, but –" Coulson started to say.
"No, he's dreamy!" May cut in.
I shot Coulson a "I told you so" look before following after May as she walked off.
********************************************
"Anything else? Details? Anything that might help us to find these people or where they might be hiding?" I heard Coulson say to one of the Rangers through his earpiece.
"Sir, doesn't look like they're hiding," I informed him from my spot in the Planning Room on The Bus. I was watching a news broadcast, which looked to be footage of a riot.
"Sending to your devices, now," May added to Coulson as she sent them the recording.
"The rioting has left 20 injured, 3 in critical condition. Reports indicate that the group of about a dozen was led by this man and woman," a female reporter was saying. "And although their motive was unclear, their message was hauntingly spelled out on the streets of Oslo."
May and I gave each other a worried look.
There was a fire on the street. The fire was in the form of letters and they spelled out "We are Gods".
********************************************
"Jakob Nystrom, 30. Girlfriend, Petra Larson. Leaders of a Norse Paganist hate group," Ward filled us in after he, Coulson, Simmons, and Fitz had rejoined May and I on The Bus.
"And their numbers are growing thanks to what happened in Greenwich and thanks to the internet. Yay, internet," I said sarcastically.
"Norse Paganist?" Simmons asked.
"Obsessed with anything derived from Norse mythology, stories of Asgard," I explained.
Ward picked up the 3-D model of the rod that Fitz printed out.
"And now a weapon," he commented.
"The scan accounted for only one side. Too much damage to the tree for a complete reproduction," Fitz said.
"But, see here, it's clearly broken on both ends," Simmons pointed out.
"So there are more pieces?" asked Ward.
"Yeah, two at least," Fitz answered.
"Which means Sid and Nancy may be looking for a complete set," I said.
"The markings?" Ward asked as Coulson and May entered the lab.
"Asgardian symbolism. Hard to translate with our limited knowledge," Coulson told us, taking the rod and checking it out.
"You should give your buddy the God of Thunder a shout. He gets his powers from his hammer, right? What if this is his nail to the hammer?" I said.
"I already did. Director Fury told me he's off the grid. And if he has a cellphone, we don't have the number."
"Shied's investigations are on the trail of Nystrom and his followers," May chipped in.
"We're charged with identifying the object and finding any other pieces before they do," declared Coulson. "They seem to have some advantage. They found this thing in 150 square kilometers of Norwegian forest," he added as an afterthought.
"Guys, what if it called to them with magic?" I suggested with raised brows, my eyes large and excited.
May gave me a "be real" look in response.
"We know it's Asgardian, so the rules are a little bendy here!" I continued. I knew more than anyone on this plane that it wasn't such a crazy idea!
Everyone seemed uncomfortable with the notion of it being magic though.
"Just because we don't understand something yet doesn't mean we should regress back to the dark ages, talking of magic and fairy tales," Simmons said as Fitz scoffed his agreement. I caught his eyes for a brief moment as he glanced over at me. I winced, wishing that there weren't so many people out there who knew the truth about me now. If Hydra was ever ableto get their hands on Fitz or the others, I was doomed.
"Actually, that's exactly what we're going to do!" Coulson stated.
"Really?" I looked at him in surprise.
"When we first found the hammer in New Mexico, I consulted one of the world's leading experts on Norse mythology. Elliot Randolph, a professor at a University in Seville. We'll leave immediately. Maybe he can tell us more about these markings."
********************************************
"Now, based on these runes, I'd say I'm looking at a piece of the Berserker Staff," I heard Randolph tell Coulson. I was using my earpiece to eavesdrop on their conversation.
My ears twitched eagerly as I listened to the professor tell the tale of the Asguardian warrior who left the Berserker Army when he fell in love with humanity and life on Earth. I smiled at this. Supposedly, the soldier fell so much in love that when his army returned to Asgard, he stayed behind, breaking his staff into three pieces; hiding each one in a different location.
It reminded me of this one story I had come across while reviewing an obscure website on the web. It mentioned a child of Zeus escaping or being sent from (that part hadn't been specific) Mt. Olympus. It also had not been clear who her mother had been. The website listed several possibilities; one being that Zeus had fallen in love with a human female, but considering how Greek mythology was filled with tales of Zeus and his sexual exploits, I was more inclined to believe that the potential baby would have been the result of Zeus's union with yet another one of his relatives. I mean the web was chalk full of stories of him sleeping with and impregnating the women in his life in the most ridiculous ways imaginable!
But as hard as I searched for more information on the topic, I was never able to dig up anything credible...
Coulson asked whether or not the manuscript had left any clues to the locations, which it turned out, did include three verses: one about a tree, which had clearly already been found. Another was "east of the river, sun overhead, buried in Earth with the bones of the dead." I thought that was a bit macabre. The third one didn't even have a rhyme. But the gist of it was "close to God." That could be anything, couldn't it? Or nothing?
"Now, there have been some recent interesting findings of Norse relics on Baffin Island off the coast of Canada. Yeah, virtual treasure trove of new artifacts," I heard Elliot say.
"We'll start there, then. Thank you, Professor." I turned down the volume of my earpiece as I stood up and prepared for our newest destination.
********************************************
"Did you know there's Mount Thor on Baffin Island?" Coulson's voice reached my supercharged ears as I scanned through message-boards in the Planning Room.
"I did not," Ward replied from the hallway.
"Do you know what's not on Mount Thor? Anything Asgardian at all. Our agents on the ground haven't found a thing. What about you?"
I chuckled slightly at Coulson's irritation but glanced up at him as he directed the second question to me.
"Nystorm's deep-web message boards are just abuzz with psychos," I informed him, pointing to the holocom where I had the messages plastered. "They believe they're gonna ascend to be the Gods of destruction and death. People suck, sir!" I added.
Ward glared at me. "That's your progress, "people suck"?" I stuck my tongue out at him; eliciting an eye roll.
"These people do. And there's also chatter about going underground," I said.
"Could be going incognito or –" Ward started to say.
"Or searching for the next piece," Coulson finished.
"Randolph said to check Viking routes. Find any others?" Ward asked me.
"There's some sites along the Volga River in Russia, some in Kiev, and weirdly, here."
I pressed a few buttons and popped up a map of Seville, Spain, pointing to the area in question.
"In Seville, Spain?" I nodded
"It's a long shot, but Vikings sacked Seville twice," I informed him as May entered the room.
"We found promising locations with Viking relics; El Divino Nino. A church built on the ruins of an 8th century crypt built on Roman ruins from 206 B.C." she started to tell us.
"East of a river," commented Ward.
"And lots of bones. Let's see what we can dig up. See what I did there?" I smiled at Coulson's attempt to lighten the mood.
********************************************
"Must be nice, having a mandatory nap time," I overheard Fitz saying to Coulson.
"Siesta isn't mandatory. Just very pleasant. How are you doing, Agent Ward?"
"Wishing I was shorter." I grinned at Ward's response, relishing the fact that my shorter stature was coming in handy for once and not a teasing point like it usually was. "Nothing yet. All my readings are normal," Ward added.
"What about you, Skye? Any luck?"
I looked around at the dark walls of the underground tunnel my flashlight was partially illuminating and shuddered as Hydra memories flashed across my mind.
"I'm lucky my S.O. volunteered to take the super creepy hallway instead of the slightly less creepy dungeon room place - but on the positive side, I'm feeling better about my height now." I glanced down at my tablet as my earpiece remained silent. Geesh, least I laughed at Coulson's attempts at humor! "I got nothing. Sorry, nada," I grumbled into my earpiece.
"Ward, your spectrograph is reading something near you." I frowned at Fitz's warning. That didn't sound good...
"I don't see anything," I heard Ward reply.
"Well, it's right in front of you. Oh, wait. No. Uh, okay, hold on. It's moving – northwest."
I stopped in my tracks, wondering if I should continue or go back and try to help Ward. But as Ward confirmed that he had visual contact, I remembered for the milionth time that there wasn't much I could do to help without revealing myself - though at this point, more people on the plane knew the truth than the two who didn't...but I was still terrified about what Jemma might do if/when she found out and what with Ward finally acting nicer towards me...
I continued forward as I listened to Fitz directing Ward.
"Ran into some unexpected –" Before Ward could finish his sentence, however, sounds of a struggle were heard, followed by a body hitting the ground and a grunt of pain that I recognized as Ward's.
"Ward, what's happening?" I heard Coulson ask worriedly. I spun around and hurried back the way I came as Fitz told us all that Ward's device had gone down.
"Skye, can you get –"
"Already on it!" I said before Coulson could complete his request.
I turned a corner and looked down before rushing forward.
"Ward!"
He was collapsed on the ground. I reached him but when I bent down and touched him, he let out a loud gasp and quickly scrambled away, almost afraid.
"Hey, hey, hey. Whoa, whoa, who. Grant, calm down. Calm down, please!" I exclaimed, hoping the use of his first name would help bring him to his senses.
He was panting with fright but after a few moments, my words finally seemed to get to him and he calmed a bit. His heavy breathing becoming more steady.
"The staff, he has it," he stuttered out. I frowned, never having seen Ward act this way.
"Somethings wrong with Ward. The staff's gone, someone took it!" I informed Coulson as I helped Ward to his feet.
********************************************
Turns out that someone, was Professor Randolph...
"This is ridiculous," Ward argued. He was sitting on a table in the lab with his shirt off and various monitors attached to his body. Despite his irritation, I caught him smirking slightly when he noticed how my eyes lingered momentarily at the sight of his bared chest. I rolled my eyes at him in response.
"It's anything but. Ward, you passed out. And you were acting not right!" I retorted. Simmons nodded in agreement.
"Coulson ordered me to give you a full work-up, and that's exactly what I'm doing. Um, before you lost consciousness, were you feeling claustrophobic?" She asked.
"Why?"
"She's ruling out a panic attack," Fitz explained.
"I don't panic. Ever." I rolled my eyes again at Ward's declaration.
"There we go, ruled out," Simmons hurried to say.
"Touching the staff caused it, right?" I asked.
Ward looked at me and nodded a bit.
"Any residual effects? Are you exhibiting any extra s-stregnth?" Simmons inquired.
"Why don't I find out on that guy?" Ward stated, glancing past me and towards the camera feed of the holding cell. Coulson was inside with Elliot.
"Why don't we not do that?" I suggested nervously.
"What's the last thing you remember before you lost consciousness?" asked Fitz.
"This is a waste of time!" Ward declared.
He angrily got out of the chair, putting his hand on the blood pressure cuff on his opposite arm and pulling it out. "We need to find the staff."
"What exactly do you remember?" Fitz asked as Simmons and I looked at Ward with worry over his display of anger.
"Something I hadn't thought about in a long time."
"Why don't we leave it alone?" I suggested, sensing how irritated Ward was getting about all of our questions.
"Well, I mean he just pulled his arm out of this –" Simmons started to say as she and Fitz began their normal routine of talking rapidly over each other – although this time it was done in quite voices.
"Quiet!"
We all went silent and glanced over at Ward.
"I want to hear this."
He turned his attention back to the monitor showing the holding cell and I stepped closer to join him as we listened in.
"One of my men is hurt, the staff is gone," Coulson was saying.
"I didn't want any of that to happen."
"What did you want? The staff's power for yourself?"
"Nothing like that. You know, I just wanted to be the first to study it. To prove that the Berserkers were actually here, a part of history. You think about that." I watched as Elliot crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. Something about his demeanor nagged at me. He didn't seemed worried or scared of Coulson. In fact, he almost seemed smug.
"Oh, I'm thinking about it."
I blinked as the feed from the holding cell was cut off suddenly. Ward stood up tall and looked around in anger to see who did it.
"What are you doing?" His glare focused on Simmons, who, for her part, didn't look nervous. She kept her voice soft and calm when she spoke to him.
"Your heart rate's rising, adrenaline's spiking. You need to calm down, not get worked up."
He let out a sigh and looked away taking a deep breath. He let the breath out slowly putting his hands on the table in front of him. I leaned in and lowered myself, putting my arms on the table, to look up at Ward.
"The memory, was it about your brother?" I asked.
Ward stared at me with warning in his eyes.
"Drop it."
"Ward, if you need to get it out, I'm here."
"Right, to talk. Because that's what you do, talk...and talk." While he was speaking, Ward was leaning in closer to me, his voice getting heated as he spoke; his eyes flashing with anger and something else I couldn't quite label. I stood up hastily.
"Don't you ever get tired of hearing your own voice?"
When I stood up, he got even closer to me. Stepping forward with my every step back.
"Ward, stop!" I squeaked out as he got closer to me.
"I don't want to stop. I'm tired of stopping myself around you! Just shut up for once in your life!" I cried out in shock as his hands latched around my neck - but unlike my incident with Miles, I wasn't alone this time, and I silently thanked Fitz as he ran forward and managed to pull Ward off of me.
"Well! This makes more sense!" Simmons exclaimed as I massaged my neck as I drew in long breaths of air. "Ward, what you're experiencing, this feeling, it's chemistry."
"Hope so," I said, glaring over at Ward.
"Yeah. Spikes in his adrenocorticotropic hormone. It's like those stories you hear when a mother is able to lift a car to save her baby."
Ward was listening to her but I could tell he was still on edge, probably getting put there by her tendency to prattle on.
"An adrenaline surge can create a massive –"
"Stop talking! Just fix it!" Ward declared.
"I wish I could. We can relieve some of the symptoms. I'm going to give you 10cc of Benzodiazepine."
Ward turned away frustrated.
"Chill pill, good idea." I glanced at him nervously, not liking the idea of him trying to attack me again.
"A sedative? Not gonna happen."
"Yeah, well be reasonable. Look at how you're behaving," Fitz pointed out.
Ward got in close to Fitz intimidating him. I stepped forward, tensing up in case he tried to launch himself at Fitz next.
"And if I'm sedated and we cross paths with those juiced freaks, the ones who flip cars and smash people up, are you going to take them on? Keep us safe? Or am I gonna have to save your ass...again?"
Fitz looked appropriately meek as Ward grabbed his shirt and exited the lab. The three of us looked at one another, at a loss for words, at least for a moment, until Simmons comes up with them. While she spoke, I saw tears in her eyes.
"That was just a biochemical reaction. He didn't mean all that."
"No, I know," I reassured her, but growling under my breath at the fact that he had hurt my new friends and made one of them cry. As for myself, I was breathing heavily as I did my best to hold off the flood of Hydra flashbacks that were threatening to drown me at the moment.
********************************************
"I had no clue. Did you?" Fitz looked at Simmons and I as we stood in the Planning Room watching as Coulson and Ward revealed the fact that Elliot was actually the Asguardian Berserker who stayed.
"Hidden in plain sight, an actual Asgardian. Brilliant."
"How long do you suppose he's been on our planet?" I asked.
"A thousand years, maybe more. If we could just cut him open a little bit..."
My heart dropped at this comment and I shot her a worried look as I glanced sideways at Fitz - who at first nodded his head in agreement until he saw me staring wide-eyed at him in panic and realized the cause for the worry on my face. Is it any wonder I don't want Simmons knowing about me anytime soon?! She had just casually mentioned cutting this Asguardian Berserker open as if it was as normal as discussing the weather!
I mean growing up surrounded by Hydra you would think I'd be used to people talking in such a fashion, especially the maniac of a scientist who actually had cut me open on several occasions - he talked about it all the time, but these last several months with Coulson and his team had started to make me realize how twisted Hydra really was and that their way of life was not as normal as I had been brought up to believe.
"...get some tissue samples, maybe some bodily fluids, we could find out." I grimaced as I fought the urge to run out of the room and far far away from her.
"Or we could just ask him, weirdo. This is way, way better than the History Channel. I mean this guy has lived through all the scary stuff, the Crusades, the Black Death, Disco." I rambled on, trying to distract myself from thoughts of Hydra experiments as May entered the room holding a tablet. Ever since I had escaped Hydra's clutches I had been reading up on as many things as I could; trying to catch up on everything I had missed in my education. History had been one of my favorite subjects to learn about. That and mythology.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
"Sealing the interrogation room door. Coulson's orders."
I couldn't help but laugh as we listened to Elliot reciting the tale of how his sexual urges had been his downfall in the 1540's.
"What did it do to me?" I listened closely for the answer to Ward's question.
"It shines a light into your dark places. Doesn't matter if you're human, Asgardian, the effect is the same. Unpleasant.
"'Shines a light", that's no explanation."
"It was forged from a rare metal and reacts to whoever is holding it. Or interacts. I went to such great lengths to make sure that the staff wasn't found. Unfortunately, since the myth was written down, people have been searching for it for centuries."
"I need your help to stop them before they get the last piece of your staff."
"Oh, I'm a pacifist now."
"And you don't want to risk your identity being discovered."
"Listen, I wouldn't worry too much about these angry youths. They always clam down, and eventually, they die of old age. And that is one of the pleasant aspects of life here. Everything changes."
"I'll tell you what's gonna change, your anonymity, unless you help us find the final piece of your staff. You may not know Thor, but I do."
"My first love on this planet was Ireland. There was a monastery and the monks gave a nice, warm place to sleep, some soup and some mulled wine."
"Near God."
********************************************
Ward turned away from Elliot and slammed the case shut, the sudden noise making me flinch slightly as Coulson and I watched Ward stalk to the SUV.
"Are you sure Ward's okay to go out into the field? He's not exactly acting like himself," I asked Coulson.
"But he knows it. He'll be fine."
Coulson walked away. I glanced over at May, still worried about Ward.
"I'm with Coulson."
I nodded, knowing that there wasn't anything else I could say to change their minds.
I sighed and got into the SUV myself and stared out of the window the whole drive to the monastery. Today was just too much of a reminder of why I was keeping my powers hidden and of all the experimentations Hydra had done on me.
"Well, it's been awhile. I wonder – ah, yes. There it is. Still here," Elliot said as we entered the monastery and watched him walk to the front of the room where a book was set up on a stand. "Well, the nose isn't quite right, but..."
With my enhanced sight, I managed to see that he was looking at a drawing of a man wearing long robes and holding the staff.
"That's you?" Fitz asked.
"Yeah, they venerated me a bit as a saint."
"They're idiots," Ward growled out. I couldn't help but chuckle. "Where's the staff?"
"It's upstairs."
We followed Elliot as he lead the way. I trailed behind so that I was walking next to Coulson.
"Is that the normal Ward or the new, angrier Ward? I can't tell," I said quietly. I didn't like not knowing what to expect from people; especially men - it had never ended well for me.
"It's quiet," May pointed out once we had all made our way upstairs.
"Why do you think I trusted them with my secret? They take a vow of silence."
"But when you get them talking, they squeal." I whipped my head around to see that Jakob had appeared from behind one of the walls holding the staff. My eyes widened as I watched him hold the staff up high and stab Elliot in the chest with it.
"If you want to defeat a God, you must become one." I stepped back, not liking the psychotic gleam in Jakob's eyes. It was far to similar to the look Rumlow always gave me. He was also staring at me for some reason as opposed to the others in the group. I stepped back in fear as he pointed the second half of the staff at me.
I made to step forward though as Ward bent down to Elliot, grabbing the staff sticking out of his chest. After what happened the first time, I was worried about what effect the staff would have on him. The staff once again glowed orange as did Ward's hand – he then threw himself at Jakob and they both went over the banister railing to the floor below.
"We need to help him!" I cried out as Coulson, May, and I watched Jakob pick Ward up and slam him down into the ground. I dashed towards them, May following after me.
We arrived downstairs in time to see Ward pretty effectively being thrown around the room. I grimaced as he hit a wall landing with a hard thud. When he got up May and I saw his face was already pretty battered. He stood up and started hitting Jakob. It seemed those memories made Ward stronger, he now was having no problem hitting Jakob enough to do some damage.
"Grant! Drop the staff!" I cried out.
"Get away from me," he hissed angrily.
I glanced sideways as May ran up behind me.
"Agent Ward!"
I stepped hesitantly closer to Ward.
"This isn't you," I said.
The three of us turned when the door was kicked open and the rest of Jakob's group entered the monastery. May grabbed my shoulder and pushed me sideways. I glared, not liking to be touched or her assumption that I couldn't hold my own. She now knew that I had powers not to mention could probably beat her in a fight, not that we'd had a chance to test that yet.
"Get back!" Ward growled at me. I glared again, but stood back, not wanting to make him any angrier than he already was.
Ward bent down and took the section of the staff that Jakob dropped, now holding onto two of the pieces. I winced inwardly thinking about how much that must be hurting him.
The room filled with big rowdy men all yelling at Ward. A few of them managed to catch my eye, however, and I quickly found myself separated from May and Ward as a bunch of the men surrounded me.
"Well aren't you just a pretty young thing!" One of them shouted. I easily dodged the punch he sent my way and lashed out with a hard kick to his solar plexus that knocked the air out of his lungs and sent him flying across the room. I grinned wickedly at him as he stared at me in shock.
"Damn, love a girl who puts up a fight. Gonna have fun breaking you in, beautiful!" I glared at the man who spoke, raising a fist up in defiance.
"Not if I claim her first!" Another brute declared from behind me. Before he could finish his sentence, I had spun around and landed a heavy uppercut to his chin, knocking him out cold. I smirked as I turned back around to face the other guys.
"Who's next?" I sneered, motioning for one of them to come at me. I smiled at the sudden looks of apprehension on their faces as they all began to attack.
It didn't take long to take care of them all and I looked up triumphantly from where I stood in the center of unconscious and bleeding men to see that Ward was kneeling on the floor holding both pieces of the staff. All of the men who entered the monastery were in heaps on the floor around him, May, and I. Ward shakily dropped both pieces and collapsed to his elbows.
I hurried over to him and knelt in front of him.
"Oh, my God. Are you okay?
I put my arm around his shoulders as I helped him up. May walked over towards us and the door opened behind her. Petra was there with the third piece.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed as I rolled my eyes.
Ward wearily sighed and went to pick up a piece of the staff. Just as he was about to grab it - and before I could reach out, May's hand had grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
"This time, let me help," she said. I frowned, not liking the idea of standing by and letting the staff also effect her in unimaginable ways.
Ward dropped his hand and closed his eyes exhausted.
"Okay," he agreed. I glanced at him and noticed just how much of a toll holding the staff had taken and clutched his shoulder tighter.
"Come on," I told him gently, leading him away from the center of the room and over to one of the corners as far away from the two women as possible.
I watched in trepidation as May went to the two pieces, hesitated for a moment and then gripped them both. Both pieces glowed orange up into her arms. I noticed the man who entered with Petra had seen what she had done and watched in fear as he rushed at her. I stepped forward desperate to help her but a sudden hand on my wrist stopped me. I hissed at Ward as he fought to hold me back from joining the fight between May and Petra.
It was obvious that Petra knew how to fight, but not the same way May did. She knocked Petra to the ground and Petra lost her piece of the staff. I tensed with worry as I watched May connect Petra's piece to the one in her left hand. Worry was quickly replaced by panic as May looked at the piece in her right hand and joined that with the other combined pieces completing the staff.
I broke free out of Ward's grasp and darted over to her side as Petra got to her feet still loopy from the hit May delivered.
"I am not afraid of you!" Petra stated. She started forward, and for a moment I thought that May would be fine, but just as Petra drew close, May's knees collapsed on her as she struggled to control the power of the reconstructed staff.
"May!" I cried out. Now, as I mentioned, I'm sort of a kamikaze so instead of running away from danger, I stepped right into it. I tugged and pulled hard until I managed to wrestle the staff out of her hands.
The minute I did, I realized just how much I regretted it. Sure I was happy that May was no longer struggling, but holding the darn thing was definitely no walk in the park - which funnily enough was one of the million things I had on my list of things I wanted to do now that I was free of Hydra.
The orange glow trailed up my arms but something new seemed to be happening. I gritted my teeth against the pain emanating from the staff and tried my best to block out the memories of Hydra as we all watched the orange glow seeping into my veins and slowly getting replaced with an even brighter golden glow. I sighed in relief as the gold replaced the orange inch by inch - and the pain and memories were slowly dulled to a manageable level. The memories, pain and intense rage was still there, but as the staff glowed gold instead of orange, it seemed to move into the back of my mind as I felt a surge of confidence and control steal over me; allowing me to channel the overwhelming anger I had experienced just seconds earlier onto a focused target.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of myself in one of the stain-glass windows of the monastery - and if my mind hadn't been solely locked onto my target, I would have been more surprised and shocked to see the reflection that stared back at me. My body was lit up in bright golden-white light and my eyes were glowing equally bright.
I twisted my head towards Petra, who looked petrafied in fear as I swooped down on her and struck her down with the staff. Once she was taken care of, I slowly lifted the staff up to eye level, feeling myself slowly being drawn to the power and confidence it was providing me. It was almost too good to let go. After years of never feeling in control of my power - or even my life, holding the staff was incredibly seductive to me.
My eyes stayed locked on the staff until I suddenly heard Elliot's voice speaking to me; telling me in a kind and almost caring tone of voice that I was destined to wield great power but not the kind his staff would give me. I blinked slowly as I loosened my grip and let him gently pry the staff out of my hands; quickly dropping it onto the floor.
I stumbled backwards slightly as I gazed at Elliot's face and blinked away the golden light from my eyes. My brows raised in confusion at the look of shock and awe that was on his face. He was staring at me like - like...it was hard to describe - it was like recognition, disbelief, loyalty and servitude all rolled into one; not that any of it made any sense...
I quickly shifted my focus away from his stare that was making me feel very uncomfortable and instead looked over at Ward and May, who gave me a little nod of their heads in acknowledgment, which I returned.
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"Coulson did that? He just shoved his hand inside?" I asked Fitz-Simmons, not sure if I believed what they had just told me. It was now morning and sunlight was streaming through the monastery windows.
"Well he had to. I froze, didn't know what to do," Jemma confirmed.
"Hey, you didn't freeze. You just weren't up for the..." Fitz said, trying to reassure her.
Jemma scoffed.
"Idea of putting your hand inside somebody else's chest," Fitz finished saying. I grimaced, not liking the idea at all myself, especially not when I knew exactly how it felt to be on the receiving end of someone digging around inside your body. It was not a pleasant experience - and hopefully one I would never have to go through again.
Jemma's phone rang; it was her parents, who she had been avoiding ever since she had decided to experience skydiving, so she left to go answer it. Once she had left, Elliot came over to us and requested to talk to me alone. I nodded hesitantly to Fitz that I was ok with this, unsure of whether or not I liked the way the professor kept staring at me. It was slightly off-putting to see someone looking at me with that much reverence.
"Um, so...what's up?" I asked, at a loss for words.
"You don't even know who you are, do you?" Elliot asked after Fitz had left.
"Well, that's kind of a vague and loaded question but um, no not really?" I answered.
"The staff, you held the staff...no mortal human can do that...the intense rage and power it holds is far too strong for them to handle, and yet, you did..." I shrugged lamely, not sure how to respond and unsure where this conversation was going.
"The staff changed colors...I'm sure you noticed that," he added.
I shrugged again but nodded to confirm that yes, I had indeed noticed that fact.
"Yes, I don't quite understand that, it glowed orange when Ward and May touched it," I stated.
"What exactly did you feel when you touched the staff?" Elliot asked, his face as hard to read as ever.
"Um, well a lot of anger and pain, and horrible memories like Ward and May did, but then...I don't know...it was strange, once the staff started changing colors it was like all of it was pushed back by this overwhelming sense of confidence and power. It was unlike anything I have ever felt before!" I tried to explain.
"Yes, I can imagine. You have power inside of you...Skye was it? Yes that's it, I remember now. Your aura reeks of it - and yet, there seems to be something blocking your abilities. I hypothesize that my staff temporarily released that block and gave you a taste of your full potential."
"I guess that makes sense," I said, slowly nodding. "But I don't even know what half my powers are, Hydra did a lot of experiments on me over the years, and I'm constantly discovering new abilities. I try not to use them ever, because most are too dangerous and I can barely control them." I looked down as I mentioned Hydra. I couldn't stand the look of sympathy on Elliot's face.
"You know, Coulson told me they've been experimenting on you for a very long time, which would explain the block on your memory as well, since you don't even know who you truly are."
"Wait, does that mean that you do?" I asked in surprise.
"I have some theories, but they are only theories and it really isn't my place to speak them."
"That's what everyone keeps telling me!" I huffed exasperatedly. Why will no one ever give me any real answers!
"All I can say is that even for Berserker's, the staff glows orange. It is said that it only changes color when touched by a divine being."
"What the hell does that mean!" I was even more confused than before. It sounded like he was hinting at the fact that I was one of those divine beings but that couldn't possibly be true! I was just your average human - who had been experimented on and given superhuman abilities! That's all! Right?...
"You will find out when the time is right; not before. I look forward to the day you do. But a word of caution - the amount of power that resides within you, it can easily consume you if you do not learn to control it properly; just like my staff, your powers have the potential to destroy you, and if you are not careful, this planet, or even those beyond this one." I frowned deeply at his words. Why was he being so vague and mysterious! His sly hints made me want to punch him in the face!
But before I could, he had walked away from me with nothing but a parting wink and a wave. Ugh. I didn't have the mental energy to start trying to comprehend anything he had just said to me. It was too much to handle right now!
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I walked into the hotel bar and saw Ward sitting at the counter, a drink in front of him, but not drinking it. He appeared to be lost in his thoughts. I strode up to the bar and stood next to him.
"Hey," I greeted. It took a moment, but he finally turned to face me. "I could get used to the turndown service and little mints on my pillow," I commented, lightly.
"Overnights aren't standard."
"We deserve a nice night. You especially!" I replied.
He shrugged his agreement as I looked him over nervously.
"How are you feeling?" I asked him gently.
"Not great, though I can't imagine how you must be feeling. You actually held the full staff." He glanced up at me, then away, then back again as he held eye contact with me for a brief spell.
"I'm sorry. For before." He looked away again, pausing as he stared at my face and the already fading bruise that stained my cheek. "I'm...I'm not that guy," Ward said.
"You're a guy who saves lives! I can overlook a little misplaced rage. No harm, no foul."
"Does everything just roll off your back?" Ward asked, giving me a wry smile.
"No. If it helped, I'd rage all the time, but it doesn't." I sighed, it didn't help that I had to worry about losing control of my powers if/when I got overly emotional. Constantly having to worry about causing accidental damage definitely put a damper on releasing any pent up anger...
"What I saw...It was about my brother," he said, his voice breaking. I opened my mouth to respond with what I had seen, before realizing I couldn't tell him about Hydra as it would raise too many questions.
I leaned in a bit closer to him. "I figured," I told Ward, reaching out to put my hand on his arm. "I know you're not one to talk but, like I said, I'm here. My shoulder's free," I assured him.
I took my hand away and he gave me a little smile. He took a deep breath and looked down at his drink.
"I'm beat. Another time, maybe," Ward mumbled. I smiled, though I could tell that he wasn't going to talk about it.
"Well, you know where I live!" I replied, trying to lighten the mood. He finished his drink and then walked away, leaving me alone.
I sat at the bar for a little longer, but quickly got up as several men pounced on me when they saw me sitting by myself. I was unlocking the door to my room, when a sound caused me to glance down the hall; just in time to see Ward slipping into May's room...
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In-line Comments
- Hehe couldn't resist the Petra petrafied pun
- gonna be trying to get more into Avenger stuff again soon so wanted to get my lovely reader's perspective on what episodes if any you think should still be included in the story before I do my flash forward to her leaving the plane and joining the avenger's initiative!
- In order for me to flash forward though, I have to figure out how I want her parentage to play out so that I can do the flashbacks properly - as I mentioned I'm thinking greek mythology but not sure if both shld be good/both bad, or one good and one bad? Also not sure if she shld be fathered by zeus, hades, ares, etc, I was thinking zeus that way itd be even more of a link to Thor and lightning/being able to pick up the hammer, and for mother i was thinking, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis or if anyone has any other suggestions?
- As stated in the story zeus in greek mythology pretty much had sex with like all of his relatives etc so i was thinking some sort of crazy combo to explain/give her a multitude of powers etc but getting overwhelmed trying to contemplate it rn since life has been pretty busy lately.
- so yeah if anyone has any suggestions for parentage and what episode of aos I should break away at that'd be great! Until i figure that out i'm going to keep the structure that i have so unless inspiration strikes or someone has a good suggestion it'll either happen sooner or later so again just feel free to chime in! Think i'm going to add a scene where Clint, Natasha, Steve, and Bucky discuss Skye etc and how they want to proceed with things so if anyone has any thoughts on how that'd go just let me know so that i can try to include it! End of ramble.