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✧·ﾟ:CHAPTER SEVEN*:·ﾟ✧
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✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* the hub *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
date: 5th November 2013
location: the Bus, classified
━━If Agent Roy blatantly said she was excited to do a paranasal extraction, that would be weird, wouldn't it? But it was just so James Bond and old-fashion espionage-like to keep secret data shoved up one's nostril! Sure, she worked in a secret agency, and nasal extractions are well heard of━but it was like she was in some sort of movie, ready to receive some exciting secret information that will save the world.
Agent Shaw eyed the device Roy happily clipped in front of him with a big smile on her face. She must look crazy━perhaps she was. Roy was sure Fitz wouldn't put it past her.
"I bet you're usually the one holding something like this," said Coulson from the other side of the medical bed. Agent Shaw swallowed nervously, and Roy chuckled to herself (which probably wasn't making it any better). "Don't worry," her team leader nodded to her. "She knows what she's doing."
Clipping the device again, she grinned at Agent Shaw. "Whatever you do," she turned on the light above her glasses, "don't breathe."
Her grin grew when he did as she was told, and she let out a small snort of laughter. "That was a joke." Rising the device closer to his left nostril, Roy continued to talk. "You should, of course, breathe comfortably if you need to. Just not through your nose. And very minimally through your mouth."
Glancing back and forth between Shaw and the monitor, Agent Roy gently manoeuvred the rod up his naval canal. He let out a few disgruntled noises, and she couldn't blame him. While it was exciting for her, it most certainly wasn't for him. Reaching the thumb drive, the arms of the rod that Fitz invented for her extended out and grabbed a hold of it. She let out a happy gasp, "Ah-hah! There we are━"
And so gingerly, she began to pull it out. This was going to hurt. Shaw winced but stayed as still as he could. When the thumb drive encased in a small, cylinder pill-like casing came out, Roy grinned and set it on the table. Agent Shaw massaged his nose, eyeing it with a small glare.
"That's all the intel you recovered?" asked Coulson.
He sniffed, "I certainly hope so."
Taking it out of the casing, Roy handed over the thumbdrive to Coulson who took it with picky fingers. "Well, thank you, Agent Shaw, for keeping it safe up there. We'll push this through to the Hub. In fact, we're headed there now to drop you off." Roy's head glanced up, her eyes glittering in excitement. They were going to the Hub? "Get you a change of clothes, proper meal. You'll be good as new."
Coulson sent Roy a thankful nod for her work, and she said, "The Hub? Really?" she pulled her gloves and glasses off. "How exciting! Oh, it's been ages."
Rushing up the stairs to the main level, she saw Simmons, Fitz and Skye sitting down with cups of tea and coffee, waiting for them. As soon as the door opened, Fitz stood up, "Ah. Good, you're done with that paranasal extraction nonsense," Skye and Simmons followed. "Do you need me to analyse the data?" he held his hand out to take it, but Coulson brushed right past him.
"That won't be necessary."
"If it's encrypted, I can mine the chip for him," offered Skye.
Coulson shook his head, "I'm afraid this mission's classified," he told the group. "Clearance Level Eight."
Skye frowned, confused while Fitz-Roy-Simmons shared an understanding nod, not bothered at all. They were used to it. It was how the system works. Ready to head back to the lab, Roy was going to whine to Fitz and ask him to get her a tea, but Skye stopped them. "Wait, what? He can just shut us out of the process like that?"
"Well, he did say the mission is Level Eight," Fitz told her.
Simmons nodded, "And we're not. So we can't know about it."
"Right," said Skye, "but this is normally the part where we all stand around the Holocom and we learn about stuff. I mean, aren't we all on the same team?"
"No need to get started on one of your socialist riffs," said Fitz, and Skye narrowed her eyes slightly as a few of them chuckled.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s whole infrastructre is based on the hierarchy and compartmentalisation of intelligence," explained Roy. Skye just arched a brow.
"Every agent can't have the intel on every mission," added Ward, and seeing him Roy went a bright red. Turning around quickly, she forgot about her tea and rushed back down to the lab with Simmons and Fitz in tow. "Makes the entire organisation vulnerable."
Seeing the tinted rosy cheeks on Roy's face, Simmons arched a brow. "What's got you all flustered?"
Being caught red-handed, Roy gaped, "Ah━um━uh━well━um━" she just left it there, continuing on and down the stairs.
Fitz watched her, frowning. He knew that reaction. It was the reaction she had when she first met Milton━ugh, Milton (he was the absolute worst). "Who does she fancy now?" he tried to hide the bubbling jealousy in his stomach. Who cares if she likes someone? If it's someone on this plane, that was a problem. It was against protocol━he was just looking out for her, that's all. "She's doing her bug-eyed-bright-red-caught-stealing-sweets-from-the-jar face."
Simmons wanted to tease him a little bit, noticing that glare on his face he had whenever Roy had even gotten close to a boy that wasn't him. He was a little jealous green monster and didn't even admit it. "Why you so bothered about it, hmm?"
As if slapped in the face, Fitz stared at her. "Uh━what? I'm not bothered. Why would I be bothered? She can like whoever she wants, I don't care. I just think that if it's someone on the Bus, she's just looking for trouble. And can she make it any less obvious?" he scoffed and the two of them followed where she had skuttled off to. "It's a little sad, to be honest. I'm getting second-hand embarrassment."
Sure, thought Simmons, but didn't say anything.
━━After spending so long on a plane with only a few members of a team, it was a fresh feeling to see other agents hustling and walking through the halls of the Hub. Agent Roy had a great big grin plastered on her face, her eyes sparkling with excitement as the group of them shuffled through the bustle━out and up from the hangar and to the ground floor. The Hub was over twenty stories, and both magnificent and intimidating.
"I didn't realise Big Brother was this big," muttered Skye, her breath falling away in awe at the columns of glass standing tall on either side of them as they walked.
Roy and Simmons turned to her, cheerful. "Oh, this is nothing," said Simmons, nudging the hacker while Roy nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah," she added. "Just wait until you see the Triskelion." Glancing at Fitz, she was expecting an equal look of excitement. He smiled at her.
"Everyone's wearing the same suit," said Skye. "Someone tell me why, please?"
Walking up to the reception desk, each agent took their temporary lanyard for their stay. Roy picked up her I.D, clipping it to her blazer. It hung on her chest proudly. Passing through and up a set of stairs, Skye frowned when she didn't find her name amongst the cards. "Do I get one?"
Coulson pointed to the band around her wrist, "That's your badge." Skye pursed her lips, looking down at the bondage with a sombre gleam. "Which means you've got a long way to go to even make Level One."
Frustrated, she gave it an angry shake, "Copy that."
"Do you think we can check out the labs?" wondered Simmons, glancing at the sign pointing towards Sci-Ops. "I miss the extensive chemical fridge."
"Hopefully," said Roy, "I need to restock on medical supplies, since our team love to get themselves hurt."
"And jump out of planes," added Fitz, and she narrowed her gaze at him.
She knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to get a reaction out of her━even the slighest twitch of her nose to see how she was doing. Roy hasn't talked to anyone about nearly dying, at least, not to the point of how much it had scared her. She didn't talk about the nightmares, or the fear of looking out the window of the plane every time, or the churn in her stomach when they lifted up into the air. She hasn't even told her father what happened yet. Roy had a tendency of keeping everything in━she wasn't good at being open about her feelings. Maybe it was her 'mummy issues', but the likeliness of her chatting about her near-death experiences (yeah, both of them━Chan still messed her up), even to Fitz━while it was more likely than others━was not something that happened commonly. She tended to bottle everything up and then break down until she told someone.
Instead, she just smiled, "Well, that will definitely not be happening again."
Fitz pursed his lips, not particularly happy with her answer. Sharing a glance with Simmons, they decided to just let her be. She'll talk to them when she was ready ... which will be a long time. They knew that she'll keep to herself until she couldn't anymore, and then she'd break, and they'll be there for her when she did. Fitz was quite used to it━Roy randomly starting to cry late at night before their exams at the Academy ... quite literally out of nowhere.
The group of them continued their way through the halls. Another agent walked up to meet them. Short, stout, with bug-eyes from his glasses and a bald head━looking very much like an egg━was Agent Sitwell. Roy knew he was to be respected (he had his own strike team), but that didn't stop her muttering quick jokes to Fitz and Simmons, and the three friends chuckled amongst themselves.
"Agent Sitwell," greeted Coulson, meeting him and shaking his hand.
"Agent Coulson," he replied. "Good to see you're feeling better. Agent Hand's waiting for you in the situation room."
Roy gasped, "Agent Hand?!" she whispered to her friends. Huddled a little bit behind Sitwell and Coulson, they walked up to the conference room. Her short figure tried to see through the glass in search for the infamous agent. When she saw her, she gaped. There she was: Agent Victoria Hand. Tall, broad shouldered with a stern face and a sharp tongue. Roy has imagined things from the reputation, but she didn't imagine Hand having a strike of red hair amongst dark brown. It seemed rather rebellious for such a person as herself. But it only made her more awesome.
Reaching the panel, Sitwell called back to the others, "Your Level Sevens can join us in the briefing."
Roy stopped, disappointed. She really wanted to go in and meet Victoria Hand. Simmons and Fitz came to a stance either side of her, watching their other team mates pass through security. Skye followed, trying to sneak in only for her band to be caught in the magnetic field underneath the panel. Surprised, she let out a gasp as she hit the wall. Tugging, Skye growled to herself when she couldn't remove her hand.
Fitz winced, "Ouch..."
"Second-hand embarrassment," muttered Roy in a sing-songy voice.
Skye was making a fool of herself in her struggle. The other agents who were chatting through the glass doors started to glance back, seeing her pull with all her might. Coulson sighed, exasperated and returned to the door. As it slid open, Skye looked up, eyes wide and caught in the act. "Is this your subtle way of saying I can't come with?" she tried to make a joke out of it.
"We'll be back," Coulson said, eyes flickering with amusement. He left her there, and Skye desperately tried to look through the doors before they closed.
"We should probably head over to the Tech corridor," Fitz told Roy and Simmons.
This caused for Jemma to let out an, "Oh, I can't wait to see the new chem kit!"
The three scientists huddled off, leaving Skye still tugging by the door. She called out to them. "Hey! Hey━wait! Hang on!"
In the end, she caught up to them. Skye rushed to shuffle in next to Simmons, a little breathless. The four friends made their way to the tech corridor, and when they realised that Skye couldn't follow them in, Roy offered to stay with her while Fitz and Simmons continued (with a promise that they'll get her the resources she needed). Smiling softly to Skye, she nudged her. "You won't have that for much longer, I'm sure," she nodded to her band, and Skye fiddled with it. "One day, you'll be able to go anywhere! Maybe more places than Simmons, Fitz and I!"
She nodded. Roy's soft smile widened, and Skye couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Knowing that they had some time alone, Skye decided to distract herself and be mischevious. Narrowing her gaze playfully, she propped her knee up to her chest and turned to face Roy on the bench they sat and waited at. Clara arched a brow, and Skye smirked. "So, tell me, how long have you and Fitz known each other?"
Roy stared at her, surprised at the sudden conversation starter. "Uh ... since we were sixteen, why?"
"Explains why you two are so close," her brows jumped suggestively. Realising, Roy scoffed, shaking her head. "You and Fitz, though━!" Skye continued at the indiginent noise she made in the back of her throat, "━You two are so close, you're literally psychically linked!"
Skye was determined to play cupid for her friends. Simmons told her she shouldn't, but Skye never listened to rules. She liked the thrill it was giving her, knowing that Fitz and Roy were meant to be together. It was so obvious! It was amusing to see Roy, however━despite how red she was━shake her head and continue to scoff. "Oh, I wouldn't say that," she was saying. "No one is psychically linked, that's scientifically━so far━impossible..."
Skye nodded, not believing her one bit.
Simmons returned before Fitz, walking through the doors with a grin at the camera. Coming to a stop in front of the girls, she said, "Fitz is just taking a little longer. How are we? We tried to be as quick as we could."
"Oh, Roy and I were just having a lovely chat about how her and Fitz first met," Skye grinned, and Roy returned to her blubbering mess. Simmons sighed, giving Skye a flat look. "How did you join them?"
"I became friends with Roy," said Simmons simply. "To be honest, if I knew that would mean becoming friends with Fitz as well━"
Roy gaped at her, but didn't blame her. Fitz was an idiot and very hard to deal with sometimes. The three girls chuckled amongst each other. Speaking of the idiot━Fitz rounded the corner with his trolly of equipment. Shuffling along, he grinned at the girls as he neared the doors. They stood up, patiently waiting for him to pass through. The doors opened, and he called through: "I found a localised EMP, plus a few other party favours━"
The doors closed in on his cart. Fitz faltered, frowning up at the sensor with a mutter of, "What? Oh, come on━" he shoved the cart slightly, hoping that it would open the doors again, "━what the...? Open." Roy arched a brow. Oh, Fitz ... one of the smartest people Roy knows, and he was telling an automatic sliding door to open. Meeting their gazes, Fitz told them: "It's stuck! The cart's stuck!"
Wrapping his fingers around the glass edge, his feet slid along the tiles to try and force the doors to open. Once satisifed, he sighed out, shaking his head. Turning back to the cart, he muttered, "That's unbelievable━what the hell?!" the doors shut on him again. "Who designed this?! In the Hub, of all places!" flustered, he tried to push the cart through━and was having quite the trouble with it.
Finally getting it through, he fell to his knees in his effort. The cart rolled to the other side, and Fitz stood up, ready to follow it only for the glass doors to slide close a final time. "Oh that's━" his final words were cut off.
Roy and Simmons shared a look, equally realising that that idiot, was their friend.
Roy sighed, "Oh, Fitz..."
━━Coming into S.H.I.E.L.D., one of the first things they teach you is to: 'trust the system'. Roy had always been fine with that: not knowing certain things. She understood why, and it never really effected her directly. But right now, it was, and her once simplistic acceptance of not knowing was gone and replaced with a churning bubble of fear. Her legs jittered up and down as she watched Fitz pack all of his things into his bag.
They were always together━in everything. Never have they left each other's side, and the last time they did, something bad happened. Roy found herself subconsciously checking whether he had everything. This was his first time out in the field ... alone ... facing danger ... and not knowing what that danger was. He was going in completely dark! How was he supposed to prepare if he didn't know what he was facing? She pursed her lips, seeing him grab his gaffer tape, spin it a little before suffing it into a small side patch. He was dressed in an all black S.H.I.E.L.D. operations uniform. Roy wasn't sure how that made her feel. She liked him in cardigans. Being in cardigans told her that they were in the lab, safe, and working out problems together.
Maybe she was fretting too much, but she couldn't help it. Simmons already wished him good luck, double checking everything he had herself (and getting snapped at for her to stop mothering him━but they both knew he appreciated it). Roy didn't want to annoy him and triple check ... but what if he needed an extra EMP? Perhaps another set of batteries? Did he have sunscreen? She was sure he wouldn't have to worry about it, but his pasty Scottish skin burnt and bruised like a peach.
"I can't believe you're going in," muttered Roy finally, her green gaze flickering back and forth between him and the equipment he packed. "Dark. In hostile territory, not to mention━without comms!" Fitz gave her a brief glance, realising she was going off on her usual tangents. "You've never learnt how to shoot a gun properly, you lack any real physical strength━"
At this, he told her, "I'll be fine," and she fell silent.
Back to fiddling with her thumbs and jittering her legs, Roy bit her bottom lip. What if he got hurt? She wasn't there to patch him up, to make sure he cleans his wounds and properly applies the sturtures. What if he gets a cut infected because he's off doing something he has no idea on?! It caused her to jump in realisation, "Oh! Fitz━did I give you an antivenin pack━?" reaching into the pocket of her jacket, Roy knew he had forgotten something (or rather her). As she passed it over, Fitz gave her an annoyed, flat look. "What?" she gapped. "The Caucasus have a plethora of highly endemic spider species, what if you get bitten? Do you know how to use this, do I need to show you━?"
He held his hands out towards her, "Clara, stop," she faltered once more. "Stop babying me, okay? I can do this." Her gaze flickered down, back to biting her lip to stop it from trembling. Fitz took the antivenin pack anyway, muttering a soft, "Thank you." He placed it in the front smallest patch of his already stuffed black bag. "A━and don't you do anything rash while I'm gone," added Fitz, watching her glance up, confused. His lips tugged up into a small smile as he joked: "Like jump out of an aeroplane."
He managed to get a breath of a smile━a real one. Her eyes darted away, still not liking this at all. Yes, Roy had to believe in him, and she did believe in him. Fitz was very smart━incredibly smart. The smartest person she's met. But he wasn't invincible, no matter how much she wished he was. And no matter what, she'll always worry about him, and get all 'doctor-y' (as he describes it) and fuss over him, because it was how Roy showed she cared━despite her harsh words sometimes; she cared a lot for him.
So, when he reached down to grab his torch, she met his hand, gripping it tight. He froze, and glanced up. Roy pursed her lips, her eyes fixed on his hand that was smaller than others━he had baby fingers. But they were good for the precise work he did, and were soft and smooth, no callouses. He hasn't seen any horrors on the field━his hands showed that. But Roy had to remind herself he was stronger than he showed. He was very resiliant. He spent his childhood ridiculed for his genius by his own father before he walked out, and here he was, the smartest one of them all. He was strong. He can do this. "I━I know you can do this," she told him softly. "You are very strong-minded and stubborn and smart and ..." Clara Roy took a deep breath. "But still ... you'll be careful?"
He sent her a nervous smile, and she let go of his hand. "Yeah," he promised her. He packed away the torch. "I've handled worse."
"Yeah..." she muttered off-handedly.
"And when I get back," continued Fitz, trying to cheer her up, "I'll let you fuss and doctor me all you want, okay?"
She nodded, "Okay ..." he will be fine. Reassuring herself with a few more nods, another thought crossed Roy's mind. "Oh! I almost forgot━" Fitz threw his head back, exasperated as she reached beside her to her handbag, pulling out her surprise for him (she will always doctor him, he can't stop her), "━I made you this..." taking out the sandwhich, she held it out for him, and Fitz's eyes widened. "I can't force you to eat substantially on this field op, but ... I made your favoutie sandwhich. Proscuito and buffalo mozzarella."
He reached out a tentative hand, his blue eyes brightening up. "With your homemade pesto aioli?!"
"Just a hint," she said, chuckling.
Fitz took it, giving her a grateful smile. He held it close, happy. Like Roy said, no matter how hard he tried to stop her, she would never stop fussing over him (and he secretly enjoyed it, especially when she made his favourite sandwhich to make sure he ate properly).
Skye knocked on the door, breaking up their small conversation with a wiggle of a bag in her fingers. "Hey, is this what you wanted?" she frowned, glancing down at it. "Also, what is this?"
Seeing it, Fitz immediately snatched it, and Roy sighed. "Oh, Fitz. A full-sized mag pouch? You already have such a stuffed bag as it is. You don't want to be weighing yourself down━"
"It's just one of the many tactical decisions I've had to make already," he replied back, forcily pushing the pouch in before closing up the bag. "And first you're telling me to pack everything and now you're telling me to pack less, make your mind up, Roy."
Roy rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
Fitz glanced back at Skye to add, "And Ward said we needed it."
He threw the bag over his shoulder. He was about to leave, but Roy called him back with a, "Fitz━wait, your watch!" blushing, he glanced back and quickly snatched it off the bunk.
The two girls followed him out. Simmons was waiting anxiously by the command centre for them, playing with the rings on her finger. Roy hurried to her side, the two friends equally fussing and worrying over their best friend as he walked into the circular room with a statement of: "More moving, less talking, Agent Ward. Time's not on our side."
He brushed past the specialist, on his way to leave. Roy and Simmons watched, their breaths hitched. A thought crossed his mind, and he glanced back. He met their gazes, each of the girls giving him an encouraging smile and nod. He lingered on Roy, returning a smile and nod of his own, telling her they'll (or he'll) be okay one final time before he and Agent Ward were off. Roy's smile fell once his back was turned.
He's going to be okay.
He will be okay.
With the depature of Fitz and Ward, came the arrival of many other agents that packed themselves into the already small and coxy lab with boxes upon boxes of inventory that Roy wasn't allowed to know the contents of. Already stressed for her best friend, she and Simmons fussed around to make sure the lab stayed neat and everything was in proper condition (especially Fitz's equipment and work). When one agent roughly brushed past the Night-Night Gun, she was quick to rush over and grab it before it would fall. "Oh, no, no, no! Please be careful! Do you know how fragile this is━it contains amounts of dendrotoxin━" she continued to ramble as she packed it away safely in her handbag (not the agent was listening to her). "Oh, can you imagine what Fitz would do if the Night-Night Gun was broken when he came back?" she added to Simmons and Skye, who were watching the whole exchange.
Simmons sighed, her brows furrowed, "Surely he'll be okay out there, right?" she asked Skye, and Roy turned to the hacker, finding herself looking for reassurance on the same thing.
Skye looked surprised, glancing up from her laptop. "Well ... Agent May's Level Seven," she turned to the Cavalry as she leaned against the Holotable, filling out inventory, "maybe she can give us an update on their mission?" May just gave her a bank, warning stare. Skye frowned, "Uh━d━does that mean that you do know something and you can't tell us, or that you don't know anything? Which non-expression is this?"
"We know what we're supposed to," replied May sternly, and Roy and Simmons, who had their shoulders tense in expectation, slumped, defeated. "When we have more information, we'll react."
Skye sighed, not happy. May left the conversation there, turning to the rest of the agents with a shout of, "All right, clear out. I need to run some diagnostics and reboot." When the girls didn't move, she rolled her eyes and added, "That means you, too. Off."
Annoyed, Skye slammed closed her latop. Picking it up, she stormed to where Roy and Simmons huddled together, grabbing their things to leave. "You guys may be okay with being in the dark, but I'm not into it," she said. "I need answers. And I know just the person who has them."
Roy arched a brow, confused. She shared a glance with Simmons, who was equally lost. "Who?"
Skye blinked, "Couslon," she told them as if it was obvious━and it kind of was. The scientists shared a dumb oh... "I'm obviously talking about Coulson."
Roy didn't think this was a good idea, but she couldn't help but want to know. She and Simmons━they were seriously unravelling without Fitz. The two girls huddled away in the distance, watching Skye chat to Coulson back in the bustling corridors of the Hub. They couldn't hear what they were saying, but Roy hoped it was a conversation that included knowing what Fitz and Ward were doing, and whether they were okay.
She was terrified that they weren't. Roy didn't know what she'd do without Fitz annoying her all the time━her days would surely be very boring. Who else would she argue with?
When Coulson walked away, Roy and Simmons trotted up behind Skye, hopeful for some answers. With a bright grin, Jemma asked sweetly: "How did it go?"
Skye crossed her arms and glowered at Coulson reatreating figure, "Nothing. He's acting like a robot version of himself right now." Roy frowned, twiddling her thumbs. Skye spun around back to the two girls, her brown gaze becoming determined. In a quiet voice, she said lowly: "If we want the truth, we gotta get it ourselves."
"Okay," nodded Roy, ready. "How would you suggest...?" she trailed off when she understood, seeing the look on Skye's face. "Oh, wait. No. No."
"Yes!" nodded Skye vigorously.
"No!" added Simmons, exasperated. "We can't be apart of your bad girl shenanigans!"
"Yes," agreed Roy. "We like following the rules, and doing what's expected of us." Jemma gave an affirmative nod. "It makes us feel nice!"
"Guys, wake up!" Skye shook their shoulders slightly. "Ward and Fitz went on a top secret two-man operation. And look━" she threw her head to the side, jutting her chin at a group of strike team members marching past, "━there are more men." Roy followed her gaze, feeling her chest tighten up. "And either it's a bigger deal and they're not telling us, or something went wrong out there. And maybe there's nothing we can do to help, but we gotta know if there is. What if they're injured? Or being tortured somewhere right now?"
Roy swallowed hard, feeling her stomach churn at the very thought of Fitz being hurt, or tortured ... no, no, no━she couldn't ... Roy couldn't even think of that possibility. "Fitz?" she breathed out, her throat suddenly very dry. "Tortured?"
Skye quirked a brow, waiting for her to agree. Simmons pursed her lips, and the girls shared another look━a secret conversation of: what do we do? What if she's right? Fitz, tortured?
In the end, they came to a similar conclusion. Returning their gazes back to Skye, Roy took a deep breath and said, "What exactly do you have in mind?"
━━"Say cheese."
Agent Roy gave a nervous smile to the camera. When it came up positive, showing her photo and Level Five identification, she turned back to Skye, letting out a happy and relieved, "I did it!"
Skye pursed her lips, "Yes. Yes, you did. But that's not the only thing you gotta do, okay?"
Roy's nerves returned. She nodded, her lips pursed as she realised what she actually had to do. "Right, yes, of course."
"Okay," said Skye slowly, like she was speaking to a child. And at this moment, perhaps she was. Roy and Simmons were both on the verge of hyperventialting at the very thought of breaking the rules. What if they're demoted, or put behind bars, or executed━or worse: fired?! "You have the flash drive. Go━" she motioned for them to go forward with a small shake of her hand.
Simmons and Roy jumped through the open glass doors like they had been zapped (and trust her, Roy knows how that feels better than anyone). Through the comms in their ears, Skye continued to talk, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. She already knew this would be a disaster━they were going to get caught. But this was the only way.
"I programmed it with a decoy crawler," said Skye. "It'll use my browser history to simulate my usual online activity, so while S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks I'm trolling Reddit and Facebook with the laptop you gave me━"
"You'll be hacking the files for Ward and Fitz's mission," finished Simmons as Roy nervously looked around the hallway. They passed Tactical, and at the glass doors, Roy let out a small squeak and hurried past it as quick as she could in hopes that no one would see her. Skye sighed.
"Right. And remember, once you plug it in, you only have about━"
"Three minutes before S.H.I.E.L.D. catches on," Roy tucked her hair behind her ear, looking away as an agent passed them. He gave them incredulous glances, but said nothing, continuing on his way.
"Do you realise that you keep finishing my━?"
"Your sentences," whimpered Simmons. "Yeah. We know━"
"Bad habit," added Roy. The girls faltered as another Agent passed, giving nervous smiles (that were not at all suspicious). Once passed, the girls shuffled to the invisible wall pannel. Roy couldn't help but grin as she muttered, "This is actually a bit thrilling," she told Skye.
"Ah, good," there was slight sarcasm. "I'm glad. Now, we just gotta figure out a way to get the panel open."
"Don't worry," said Simmons, reaching into her bag with a proud grin, "made a special something. It's what we do." She sprayed the mist over the wall, and the handprint from previous agents showed. Roy high-fived Simmons as their instrument worked, opening up the wall panel and revealing the electronic small monitor behind. "All done."
"Really?" Skye breathed a chuckle of awe. "Wow. Okay, uh, now just find a USB port."
"On it," said Roy, and narrowed her eyes at the panel as she searched for the thumb drive in her handbag. She and Simmons were crouched down, face-to-face with the wall (probably not the best position to be found in).
And they were. "Agents Roy, Simmons..."
Both the girls jumped, spinning around with a start. Roy gasped, seeing Sitwell stare them down. She froze, her mouth gaping open a close like a fish out of water. Simmons wasn't much better.
"It's fine," Skye said quickly, peeking through the glass doors, "just play it cool."
"Hello, Mister Agent Sitwell, sir!" chirped Simmons in greeting, plastering a wide, nervous smile on her face. "May we help you?"
"Call me Jasper," he said, and both the girls let out flustered 'er's and 'uh's.
"Uh..." Roy cleared her throat, flicking her hair over her shoulder in an attempt (a failed one, at that) to seem nochalant. "What brings you to this restricted hallway so late at night?"
Leaning forward, Sitwell replied: "I could ask you the same thing."
"No," Roy winced at the pleading tone to her voice. "Don't."
"Guys, focus," Skye told them. "Just make up an excuse."
"We were just on our way to the loo!" said Jemma━perhaps a bit too cheerfuly. "I could swear it was two rights and a left, but is that it here?" she pointed to the wall.
Sitwell frowned, "That's a wall panel," he said. "Why are you accessing it?"
"Don't spiral! Just say something. Anything!"
Roy breathed out a nervous chuckle, shuffling in closer to Simmons as she thought of something to say. She was spiralling! In the end, she splurted out: "You certainly have a gorgeous head, don't you?" she played with her hair, twirling it around with her finger. Simmons turned to her, and behind the doors, she and Skye shared an equal look of, what?! Roy already knew this was terrible, but she couldn't stop. Her mouth wouldn't stop. She was freaking out! "I like men that are about my height, but heavier than me━"
"Stop talking," said Skye, and Roy's pursed her lips, feeling her chest get tighter and tighter. "Just stop."
Sitwell did not take her attempt at flirting very well. "Agent Roy, do you or Agent Simmons have authorisation to access that panel?"
"Say yes. Say you do."
"Uh, yes," said Roy. "Yes, yes I do. Of course, um..." her scoff wasn't very convincing. Reaching down into her handbag, she was most certainly spiralling. "I have it right here in my bag!" in a whisper, she added to Skye, "He's onto us."
"Stop talking to me! He can hear you!"
"Are you on comms with someone?" Sitwell said, alarmed. Roy looked back up, and Simmons winced━busted. Sitwell reached for his radio, and Roy started to panic. In her bag, she found herself gripping the handle of the Night-Night Gun as he turned on the radio: "This is Agent Sitwell, I need an escort━"
Roy let out a squeal as she shot Sitwell right in the chest with the gun. He fell back to the ground, unconscious while Simmons gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. Agent Roy's hands shook as she returned the gun to her bag and pulled out the thumb drive. "Oh, my God," muttered Skye. "Oh, my God!"
"You just shot a superior officer!" cried Simmons.
Roy fumbled with the drive, but managed to place it into the USB port. Once she did, she muttered, "Okay, okay, okay━" she turned to Simmons and pointed to Sitwell, "━help!"
The two scienists awkwardly grabbed one foot each, dragging Sitwell out from the hallway and to the corner of the panel, out of view from the outside corridor. Once they did, they rushed back to the doors. Simmons fretted, "Okay, you definitely shot Agent Sitwell. Good, good, good," meeting back up with Skye, both girls breathed sheepish smiles. "Was that all right?"
"That was terrible!" exclaimed Skye. "You two are terrible at this! That was a total meltdown!"
Roy was breathless in trying to explain, "The Night-Night gun was right there━" she had to stop, out of breath and wheezing. Skye cut her off.
"We need help!" she said. "You need to go get May."
This sobered the girls up. "May?!" Simmons let out, "What? No!"
"Listen, that flash drive will only give me a few minutes of access to the Hub's mainframe to find out what happened to our boys! So just go get May, okay? Just tell her it was an accident."
Yes, sure, Roy thought to herself. Just tell her it was an accident, easy as pie! "I'm going to die..." she whimpered as she and Simmons hurried off.
━━The Mag Pouch came in useful. Using it to travel underneath a truck into the compound, Fitz and Ward snuck their way in to the Overkill Device. Still rather angry that Ward threw away his sandwhich (and too stubborn to admit he did the right thing), Fitz didn't speak to the specialist as they passed under the stairs to a catwalk. There was distant chatter, telling them they didn't have much time. But coming out from underneath, Fitz breathed out a sigh of confused awe at what must be the Overkill Device. A spider of pipes extending out in all directions, it didn't look as intimidating as it was told to be.
Frowning, he and Ward approached it. Fitz slung off his bag, "Weird," he muttered at the singular hatch in the middle. Tapping his fist on the metal, he heard it to be hollow. He peeked in through the tiny hole. "Core must be inside here, that's what's important. The piping around it just serves to amplify and direct the sound. To trigger munitions from a distance."
He crouched down to his bag, unzipping it and taking out what he needed. As he did, Ward crossed his arms, narrowing his gaze at the hatch. "Doesn't look like it could take a jet out of the sky."
Pulling out his drill, Fitz was quick to mutter a witty (albeit annoyed) comment of: "Well, you should know by now, Agent Ward, that looks can be deceiving."
Taking out the screws, he tried to work as fast as he could as the chatter neared. As soon as he was done, he and Ward took off the hatch, revealing a complicated wired device in the middle━gleaming orange in the dark. Fitz's eyes widened, "Uh ... this is gonna take a while."
Ward stared at him, frustrated. "You have ten minutes."
"I thought you'd say five," Fitz started his timer, and got to work. Taking Simmons's advice to heart, Fitz worked as if he was under exam conditions. Don't get an 'F'━an 'F' equals a deadly explosion that will take out most of the countries population. But he had to work with a system he didn't fully understand, so in reality, he was most definitely improvising on the spot. To his side, Ward spotted for him, his gun loaded and ready. Out of the corner of his eye, Fitz could see the clench of his jaw, and the tension of his shoulders. He was worried about something; impatient. It was surely about the oncoming threat, but Fitz felt a churn in his stomach that made him feel like it was something else.
As the ten minutes were getting closer to an end, Ward gritted his teeth and finally turned back to Fitz to say, "All right, show me the final steps to disable this thing. I'll get it done."
"No," Fitz said, not taking his eyes off his work, "we stick to the extraction plan. I'll be done in a minute."
At those words, Ward sighed. He shook his head, hesitantly glancing at the young engineer to tell him quietly, "Extraction plan's a bust." Fitz frowned, meeting his gaze.
"What?"
"Exfil team didn't make contact," said Ward. "Once you take that thing apart, and I set off the remote beacon, we're on our own. You should go."
Fitz's throat was dry. No extraction team ... something in his gut rolled over, but he pushed through it, turning back to the device. He promised Roy he'd be careful, but he had to get the job done. She'd understand. He wasn't scared━well, he was, but he knew that he had to do the right thing. If he didn't, a lot of people could die. And despite the fear of leaving those he cared about behind, Fitz knew as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, this was apart of the job. He knew this going in.
And despite their arguments, Fitz wasn't going to just leave Ward here to die alone either. Coulson told him to keep an eye on the specialist, and that was exactly what he was going to do. "I'm not leaving," he said.
Ward sighed, annoyed. "Fitz," he tried to stop him working, "There's no time━"
Fitz pushed him away, a sudden anger in his chest. Why does everyone think he needs saving? That he isn't strong? Isn't capable? "You don't think I can handle this?"
"No," replied Ward, "I am trying to protect you━"
"Ah," Fitz scoffed, "you think I'm a coward. Is that it?"
Taken-aback, the specialist tilted his head, "What? No!"
Not believing it, Fitz leaned in to tell him, "I am every bit the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that you are." And with that said, he turned back to the Overkill Device, hating how he had a lump in his throat. He swallowed it down, his fear with it, and continued to do what he had to do.
Ward was very confused. A hand on the metal casing, he shuffled closer to Fitz to say gently, "You don't have anything to prove," Fitz didn't say anything. He pursed his lips. "What you said about me always needing to swoop in? I know you would've jumped out of the plane to save Roy." Ward dropped his voice to a whisper to finish, "And she knows that, too."
Fitz met his gaze again, shaking his head. "I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone," he told him. He looked right into Ward's eyes━lost, confused, and if not a tiny bit scared, just like him. They were in this together, no matter what he had to say about it. "Okay? Before we left, you're not the only one that Coulson talked to, okay? He told me to take care of you, too. And that's exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm not going anywhere," taking a deep breath, Fitz nodded. "You understand?"
He saw Ward's eyes flicker with something he didn't really understand. Maybe gratitude, or was it guilt? Fitz didn't know, but when his teammate nodded, he huffed, satisfied, and then turned back to his work. To change the tense atmosphere between them, Fitz added: "And I'm bloody starving."
━━They had an extraction team after all. The rest of their teammates came to their rescue, blowing down the forces in the compound and bringing them out before S.H.I.E.L.D. blew it out of the sky. Roy and Simmons waited in the lab, both of them finding it hard to stand still in waiting for Fitz to return.
Seeing their boys safe and well (and perhaps a bit bruised) made Roy's breath hitch. Fitz had a bruise and a cut on his face. Jumping to action, she rushed to her small station to grab some alcohol wipes and tape as Coulson greeted them in the cargo bay. Simmons chuckled at her friend, just glad the two of them were alive.
As soon as she could (and before Roy would take Fitz away and annoy the hell out of him with her 'doctor-ing'), Simmons rushed forward and hugged her best friend. Fitz smiled, happy to be back (and alive). "Good job!" said Simmons. "Well done, Fitz. So glad you're all right."
She pulled away, grinning. He gave her a salute, "Good to see you, too," he replied. The two friends shared their signature handshake. Jemma was quick to give him another hug, relieved before leaving him with Agent Roy so he could get a check up. Simmons winked, and Fitz rolled his eyes.
His gaze flickered over to where Clara Roy was hurrying around the lab, grabbing everything she needed (and perhaps too much), and he found himself dropping his bag to the ground. Leaving Ward's side, the specialist frowned, staring at the bag he left for him to take. Shaking his head, he grabbed it and made his way up, sharing a nod with The Cavalry as he did.
Turning around, Roy faltered once again in seeing Fitz. She looked him over, seeing the bruises, and dirt, and a cut above his brow. The blood was dry, and she let out an exasperated, "What did you do?! How many times have I told you━clean the cut straight away or it could get infected!" Roy rushed forward and grabbed his arm roughly, tugging him back into the lab. Fitz let her (putting on an annoyed front, but deep down, he was glad to see her), sitting down on the hospital bed while Roy fussed over every single bruise━no matter how small.
"You told me you'd be careful," she continued to vent, angrily wiping the cotton wipe against his cut. Clara Roy just snapped, "Stay still!" when he squirmed at the sting the alcohol brought. "Honestly, it's like you want me to be angry with you."
"Clara, Clara," he said, "I'm fine━" he tried to push her away, but she just smacked his hands. "You're such a control freak."
"You," she pointed her finger at his grimy face, "shut up and stay still." Realising what he had said, Agent Roy gaped. "I am not. If anything, you're the control freak with your stupid: this has to go here, and that goes there━"
"Hey, you know full well that my system keeps the lab clean━"
"━What? No it doesn't, have you seen your desk━?"
"━What's that supposed to mean━?"
"━If it weren't for Simmons and I, the lab would be a pig-sty━"
"━Do I need to remind you that you were the one who put a cat's liver next to my lunch━?" Fitz was cut off by Roy throwing her arms around him. Closing her eyes, she held onto him tight, finally feeling at peace now that he was back, and okay, and alive. Fitz froze, suddenly finding himself unsure on what to do. In the end, he wrapped his arms around her too, setting his chin on her shoulder.
"I'm glad you're okay," said Clara, before quickly pulling away. Turning to her work station, she threw the dirty wipes in her bin so Fitz wouldn't see her rosy cheeks.
Taken-aback, he quickly cleared his throat and nodded. "Yep. Thanks. Uh━I'm glad I'm okay, too."
She rolled her eyes, shaking her head to herself as she breathed out a chuckle. A thought popped into her mind, and she let out an, "Oh!" Spinning back around, her stomach was fluttering as she asked, "How was the sandwhich?" he looked like he was ready to say something, but thought better of it. Clara flatered, frowning. "Too much aoili?"
Fitz shook his head. Forcing a smile, he told her, "It was delicious.
Clara smiled, happy. "So, how was the op?" she walked back up to him, taping the cut above his brow.
As she stepped back, clasping her hands together waiting for an answer, Fitz took the opportunity to shift in his position, puffing out his chest. "I had Ward's back the whole time."
Her brows jumped, "Really?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said, happy she was believing him. "Pretty much saved him from a gang of Russian mobsters. And kicked a few guys' heads in." She nodded, impressed. Fitz let out a hefty sigh, hopping off the hospital bed and stretching out his arms, to come off as modest. "But enough mission talk already. Erm, anything exciting happen at the Hub?"
Clara suddenly grinned. Holding her hands up to her chest, she giddily told him: "I shot a superior officer in the chest."
Fitz's smile fell.
━━Clara and Fitz had a wonderful chat (and him telling her that she held a lot of pent up anger because she shot the bloody superior officer━it gave her a little bit of a laugh, his reaction), but afterwards, she retired to her bunk. Looking through her papers, trying to help Fitz in some of his creations that they were working on together (some new heart monitor devices, I.V drips ... the like), there was a knock on her door.
She looked up, and furrowed her brow slightly in seeing Coulson. He sent her a small smile. "Uh, hello, sir...?" she greeted, and set the papers aside. "How are you?"
"I'm all right," he nodded. He gestured to the space beside her, "You got some room?"
"Sure," Clara was confused, but she shuffled the papers away, giving him some room to sit on her bed beside her. Coulson looked around her bunk, and smiled slightly at the pictures of her, Fitz and Simmons on her wall.
He pointed to them, "Nice decor."
Clara chuckled, and nodded. "Yeah," there was a distant smile on her face. "They help brighten up the day."
"Is that the Ican temple?"
"Maybe ..."
Coulson chuckled himself. Clara smiled, meeting his gaze briefly. He took a deep breath, and decided to ask her what he came here for. "How are you doing after...?"
Agent Roy's lips parted slightly. She didn't want to think about it. She has been avoiding it━it was what she did. But she found it hard to avoid it, and push it away, when Coulson was asking her. Perhaps it was his face; he had a kind face. One that was approachable, with laugh lines around his eyes and a twinkle in them that reminded her of her father. She missed her father.
(So maybe that was why she opened up).
"I don't know," she muttered truthfully. "It's ... it's a lot," she tried to laugh it off, but the chuckle came out dry, "... you know ... nearly dying. I've been, well, not thinking about it. Just trying to push through, focus on this job, this team, saving lives ..."
He sighed. "It's not good," he advised. "Bottling it up..."
"No, maybe not," Clara pursed her lips. "But right now, it's helping..."
"Well," he leaned back against the wall. Clara arched a brow, amused. "I decided I might has well check on you, considering I know a two or thing about almost dying." Despite the weight of his words, they shared a chuckle. "I know it's scary, and that it takes a little while to hit you. But when it does, Clara, I'm here."
She met his gaze again, and Coulson sent her a warm smile. Clara returned it, feeling a swell of gratitude in her chest. There was something about knowing that Coulson was here for her that made her feel better; feel like she could get through this rough time. "Thank you, sir."
He nodded, satisifed. Crossing his arms, he looked up at the ceiling. Clara watched him, amused. "You know," said Coulson, "you should put some of those photos up on the ceiling. Come on, have a look, I think it would be a great decor choice."
She laughed, but leaned back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling with him. Clara thought about it, and nodded. "You know what? I think you may be right."
✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
a/n: roy: *rebels cautiously*
also roy *shoots sitwell*
and then there's simmons: *is cute*
also roy and coulson are gonna have the best mentor/student father/daughter relationship there is and you can't stop me. i don't care. you will not stop me. i want it. it's happening. skye and clara are his daughters who are complete opposites and unrelated but they're his daughters come AT ME ITS HAPPENING.
(if there is any mistakes i is sorry)