DESCENDING the stairs Melinda followed the sounds she'd heard all the way from her bunk. She entered the science lab and through the windows she watched her protégée beat the crap out of their 100 pound punching bag.
"I'm surprised to see you up this early." May spoke, she got no response except for a series of punches. She walked toward the younger woman. "Sienna?"
Sienna spun backward throwing an alarmingly fast punch in the same spot where May's head had been only a few nanoseconds ago.
"Woah! Take it easy." May said stepping backward.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to." Sienna turned back to the bag punching it with more force then before, if that was even possible.
"Maybe you should wrap your knuckles, or perhaps take a second to breathe." May suggested, keeping her distance.
"I'm fine." Sienna snapped.
"Sienna if you don't wrap your hands, you're going to break your knuckles, and then you won't be of any use to anyone." May moved in between the bag and Sienna's fists catching her hands.
"Let go May."
"No. You're going to hurt yourself, or someone else. What if instead of me it was Skye who came up behind you? Or FitzSimmons? You would've knocked them out. Take a break. The bag isn't going anywhere."
"Whatever." Sienna pulled her hands out of May's grasp and walked over to her water bottle.
"I don't know what's got you in such a rage, but whatever it is-"
"Don't let it interrupt your focus. I know."
"No. Don't let it destroy you."
"You should talk more often. You give good advice."
"It's only good if people listen to it."
"Point taken."
The two women looked up as they heard steps come across the balcony above the hangar. Coulson — dressed in his usual suit and tie — emerged from the shadows and stood at the edge of the balcony.
"Thought I heard noise coming from over here. At least you two are awake, I hate having to wake the rest of them up, they are most definitely not morning people. You would think-"
"Sir?" Sienna asked breaking up his tangent.
"Oh yes. We have a mission. May, I need you to chart a course for Italy."
"Yes sir."
"What about me?"
"Go take a shower, it's an undercover mission." Coulson turned, but quickly turned back. "And wrap your knuckles please, they look bad." May gave Sienna an I-Told-You-So look before walking away in the direction of the cockpit.
"Copy that." Sienna muttered under her breath.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
"Ian Quinn." Coulson stated as he walked in the room, Skye following behind.
"You found him?" May asked, almost eagerly.
"No, but we think we know how we can. Skye tracked down an invoice from one of his shell companies. He made a big purchase recently." Coulson responded.
"Ten million dollars big." Skye interrupted.
"Any idea what it is?" Simmons questioned.
"No clue, but it was designed and built by Cybertek, Inc., a small firm that deals in advanced technology and research." Skye answered.
"Which is where it gets interesting." Coulson spoke. "They've hired an private security outfit to transport the purchase -- former military, ex-mercs."
"Lot of muscle to move one package." Ward observed.
"And they know SHIELD's got eyes on Quinn." Coulson reminded the team.
"Which is why they're transporting it old-school." Skye explained.
"On a train, through the Italian countryside, from Verona to Zagreb -- very rural, very isolated." Coulson elaborated.
"And you think Quinn's on that train?" Sienna asked.
"No, but I believe they're delivering the item to Quinn himself. We got our intel from Italian authorities who have been monitoring the situation." Coulson answered.
"And they don't mind up taking over the op?" May asked, a slight smirk forming on her face.
"I asked very nicely." Coulson quipped back. "If everything goes as planned, Cybertek's security team won't even know we were on the train."
"So we're going in undercover." Ward said, clearly unhappy with this plan.
"I hate undercover." May said, as she rolled her eyes.
"May and Ward, you're front and center. Once we locate the package, you'll tag it with a tracker. Skye and Fitz, you'll be running communications. After the package is tagged, we'll follow it to Quinn. Sienna, for the beginning of the mission, you'll stick with Skye and Fitz, you'll follow them to the back car and then circle back and meet-up with Ward. We catch Quinn, we'll be one step closer to finding the Clairvoyant. Simmons, you'll stick with me." Coulson announced.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
"You guys nervous?" Fitz asked the two sisters.
"Not really, but Fitz you're not supposed to be talking to me." Sienna answered. She was sitting across the aisle from Skye and Fitz, the plan was for Skye and Fitz to pose as a couple asking questions, distracting the worker long enough for Sienna to grab his keys.
"So, are we Scottish or American? We're traveling together we should at least be from the same country." Sienna heard Fitz tell her sister. "How's your Scottish accent?"
"I don't know, you tell me how great it is laddie." Skye answered.
Sienna internally cringed as she heard her sister speak in the worst Scottish accent known to humankind. "Oh jeez."
"American then. That's the better idea." Fitz spoke in a quite impressive accent.
"Oh. That was really good." Skye responded, smiling wildly.
"I used to watch a lot of American TV growing up. Some of it's quite good, lots of teeth."
"Hey, lovebirds, get ready." Sienna whispered as she noticed the train worker emerging from the other train car.
"Excuse me, do you speak English?" Skye grabbed the attention of the employee.
"Of course, how may I be of service?"
"Can you recommend a restaurant in downtown Zagreb?"
"Someplace affordable with big portions." Fitz cut in.
Sienna pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head from second hand embarrassment.
"You are looking for something romantic?"
"Yes. Please!" Skye wrapped her arm around Fitz and kissed him on his cheek.
Sienna recognized that unfortunate gesture as her que. She stood up and pulled her sunglasses over her eyes. She walked into the train worker, making sure to slip her hand into his pocket to grab his ID and back out before he even turned around.
"Scuse, sono molto maldestro!" Sienna faked a smile as she apologized and hurried to the next train car. She waited there until the horror show that was Skye and Fitz as couple was over.
"That was the worst thing I've ever seen." Sienna announced as she used the employee's key to open the storage car in the train.
"Well Fitz got a little flustered." Skye smiled.
"What? When you kissed me on the cheek like my grandmother? Good going. Really selling our relationship there." Fitz set his bags down on the table. "You know I have a device that could've done all those things — broken the lock and all that."
"What? Why wouldn't you tell us that?" Sienna asked, only slightly flustered. Pickpocketing brought back memories she really didn't want to think about.
"I'm always the gadget guy. Maybe sometimes I want to do things with my bare hands."
"You make the gadgets with your bare hands." Skye answered, looking up from her laptop.
"Just allow me these rare moments of self-pity, okay? You're the least supportive pretend girlfriend I've ever had."
Sienna quietly stuck her fist out and Fitz took note and they fist bumped leaving Skye scowling at them.
"Comms are live. Coulson, Simmons, you in position?" Skye asked.
"Yes. Just waiting on May's signal." Coulson's voice crackled in over the speaker.
After a few moments of radio silence, Coulson's voice came over the comms once again. "May, coming your way."
"Copy that. Following the target to the package." May answered over the comm channel.
"Great. We see what you see." Sienna observed as she watched the screen that was showcasing the infrared goggles Fitz had made.
"Alright May, Cybertek cases are usually lined with tungsten polymer to prevent scanning. It should appear black on your infrared." Fitz spoke. "Bingo! Eyes in the package, fourth seat from the back."
No answer.
"May? May?" Sienna yelled into the comms, she received nothing but an awful staticky sound. "Shit."
"What do we do now?" Skye asked in a panic.
"Well first, we're not going to panic, so relax." The two sisters took a couple of deep breaths while Fitz tried to fix the comms. "I'm going to go find Ward, okay? We're supposed to meet up around now anyway. I'm sure we just lost reception or something." Sienna started grabbing her jacket.
"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to go out there by yourself?" Fitz asked.
"I'll be fine, it's a residential train, what's the worst that can happen? Just worry about yourselves okay?"
"Be safe out there okay?" Skye stood up and the two sisters hugged.
"Aw I want to be a part of this." Fitz fake whined.
Sienna waved him over and the three hugged for a few seconds before Sienna started for the door. "I'll love you forever Skye!" Sienna said, in her fake dramatic voice.
"I'll love you forever Si!" Skye said back, in an equally dramatic voice.
Sienna stepped out of the train car and shut the door behind her. She walked as normally as possible till she got to the car with the private rooms, that's where her and Ward were supposed to meet.
She slid her back against the wall and slowly inched closer to the bunk where Ward and May had made their 'reservation', she pressed her ear to the door.
Sienna opened the door after hearing no noise and was surprised by the scene she was met with. There was a woman laying on the floor, a gun sitting on the floor a few inches away from her hand. There was also a man stuffed behind the door. Sienna made the resourceful decision and tucked the gun into her pants and covered it with her jacket.
After observing that Ward was no where near the meet-up point, she headed back towards the storage car. Sienna walked through a full train car and noticed that Simmons wasn't in her reserved seat. Sliding the car door open she walked the short distance to the next car door.
She regretted her decision as soon as she entered the car and saw that there were no people sitting in the seats. Moments later she felt the cold barrel of a handgun being pressed against her upper back. She raised her hands slowly.
"Are you armed?" A man with a thick Italian accent asked. When he received no answer he pressed the barrel further into her back. "Are you armed?" He asked a second time.
"Yes. A handgun, my lower back." Sienna sighed as the man took her gun and threw it to the side. Sienna heard door slide open and closed as a second person entered the car.
"I can't find the other three." A man whispered, not low enough since Sienna still heard. She deduced that they were probably talking about her sister and FitzSimmons, if anything went bad they were supposed to hide in the storage car together.
"Knock this one out. Bring her to the barn, Russo already has the older woman there." The first man spoke.
Russo? Sienna thought. Wasn't that the guy Coulson had talked with?
Her thoughts were cut short however when the ICER discharged, the dark void of unconsciousness consumed her mind.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Sienna's eyes shot open when whatever car she was in hit a large bump, shortly after it slowed to a stop. Hearing the front door open, she shut her eyes and tried to mimic the slowed involuntary breathing that her body was doing seconds before.
A man carried her bridal style into what smelled like the barn the men were talking about before. She kept her eyes shut as her wrists were bound and attached to a long rope hanging from the ceiling. However, her eyes involuntarily opened when she received a blow to the face which sent her swinging back and forth like a yo-yo.
"Ah good, you're awake." Russo spoke, Sienna turned her head and noticed May hanging from the ceiling next to her. Sienna's breathing grew irregular as her worry increased. "Don't worry, your friend is fine, for now anyways."
Russo signaled at one of his men and moments later a bucket of water was being thrown on to May, May's eyes shot open, as she breathed heavily. "Get your bearings, sweetheart, get your bearings." Russo said gently. He stepped back and smiled at Sienna and May. "I realize you must be confused, but I'm here to help. You see, I make sure Cybertek products move across Italy without incident. They make sure I'm well taken care of and they'll take care of you too. All you have to do is tell me where Agents Coulson and Ward are. That's it."
"I'll tell you if you let me down." Sienna spoke, Russo smiled. "Come closer." Russo stepped closer. "They're up your ass and to the left." Sienna whispered, the smile from Russo's face disappearing and a new smile forming on hers. Russo threw a punch that landed in the same spot where a bruise was already developing on the left side of her face. Sienna spit out some blood, "So worth it." She said, smirking.
"Fine. Have it your way. Just remember that your boss asked to be a part of this OP, so if you're looking for someone to blame, blame him." Russo turned backward and took off his glasses and set them down on a table. At the same time May turned her head toward Sienna with a look that asked if she was okay. Sienna nodded.
Russo wheeled around quickly, before Sienna had any time to brace for the impact, she felt a blade tear through her skin and plunge into her shoulder area. Sienna bit her lip hard to stop herself from screaming, although an audible groan escaped her. Sienna could even hear May groan slightly, that was before she heard May chuckle and speak. "That's just what I needed." Sienna took the hint and braced herself for what she was going to attempt to do.
Russo turned around and started speaking Italian to his men. The two women simultaneously pulled their knives out, grabbed the rope, and pulling themselves higher they cut the rope with the knives. May landed gracefully while Sienna fell to the floor, she was not prepared for this.
May did her usual thing and kicked the guys asses, while doing so one of their guns skidded across the floor to where Sienna was. Sienna picked up the gun with her non-injured arm and shot a guy in the head giving May the freedom to knock out the last guy. The two women's heads perked up as they heard what sounded like Russo driving away.
"Can you walk?" May asked Sienna, the sense of urgency evident in her voice.
"Yeah, I'm assuming we're following the guy who just tried to kill us." Sienna said in a tired tone, May nodded. "Yay!" Sienna exclaimed unenthusiastically.
About 20 minutes later May and Sienna were still following Russo, at a walking pace much to Sienna's pleasure. The skill of running was not one she wanted to practice right now.
"So, you want to talk about that back there?" May asked, keeping her eye on the black SUV they were following.
"About which part? The torture?"
"The part where you shot someone and killed them."
"Oh, that. It's not a big deal."
"Look. I know better then anyone that sometimes the job requires you to do things you don't necessarily want to do. Take my advice when I say to not carry that guilt with you. Now because your adrenaline is pumping, you aren't thinking much of it. But when that wears off, you're going to feel like a part of you was removed. So remember me saying this, you did what you had to do. It was not your fault."
"Okay, I'll remember." The two women continued in silence until Sienna spoke up again. "Isn't this where you parked the Bus?" As if on command the Bus's cloaking was turned off, revealing their very large jet. The women watched as Russo exited his car. They ran up behind him and noticed a gun in his hand.
"Agent Coulson, it's going to be all right. We found your people. The train, it's-" Russo was cut off by two knives being thrown into his back. He fell to the ground and the two women were met with extremely weird looks from Ward and Coulson.
"Wheels up in five." May breathed.
At the same time Sienna whispered. "I can not believe I hit him!"
"You guys okay?" Ward asked the two bloody women standing in front of him. "You were on the train when it disappeared."
"The train didn't disappear." May snapped.
"Russo sold us out." Sienna explained.
"Get the plane ready. I need a shower." May said sternly. Ward followed her and said something Sienna couldn't hear. She did hear May yell. "I said get the plane ready!"
• • • • • • • • • • • •
"Hello? Earth to Ward." Sienna waved her hand in front of Ward's face.
"Uh, yeah. You were saying?" Ward answered still watching May and Coulson.
"So I killed the guy." Sienna said nonchalantly, as she wrapped up her detailed account of what had happened.
"Yeah yeah, wait. You killed someone?"
"Well he was a bad guy, mean too, and he kidnapped me." Ward, obviously satisfied by her explanation, focused his gaze back on May and Coulson. "If you're going to be distracted, let me do my own stitches. You're going to mess them up."
"What? I'm not distracted."
"Really, then why have you not even begun to suture my wound yet? We've been sitting here for five minutes."
"Oh."
"Yeah, so wanna tell me why you're staring at May?"
"I'm not staring at May."
"Oooo you're denying it. Oh my God."
"What?"
"You're jealous staring."
"That's not even a thing."
"Oh it is 100% a thing, and you're doing it right now." After a few moments of silence, Sienna gasped, loudly.
"What? Are you okay?"
"Did you sleep with her?!" Sienna asked, her mouth wide open in disbelief. Ward's look all but gave Sienna the verbal confirmation she was looking for. "Oh my God, you slept with May?!"
"Shut up."
"I mean I'm not judging, but May?"
"Shut up."
"Okay! So, do you know where the train ended up?" Sienna said, trying to change the topic.
"No. I'm going to go check. Can you handle this?"
"You mean stitching myself up? Yeah, I'm fine." Ward nodded and turned to leave, but Sienna grabbed his arm. "Promise me you'll find the train."
"I promise, just worry about getting yourself stitched up."
"Okay, thanks Ward."
"Of course."
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Sienna stood next to May and Coulson as Ward talked to one of the cops that were at the scene. While Sienna was stitching herself up, Ward had found the train that they were once on.
"Parked here 15 minutes ago." Ward said, as he walked over to where Sienna was waiting. "Agents on the ground have no idea why."
"Any sign of my sister?" Sienna asked worriedly. "Or FitzSimmons?" She added.
"No." Ward answered solemnly. Sienna noticed Coulson staring at the train.
"Coulson what are you looking at?" Coulson didn't answer so Sienna followed his gaze to the window of the storage car. On the window there were what looked like smudged hand prints.
The group of four found the closest entrance to the train and climbed inside. Ward kicked the door in, May followed behind, then Sienna, then Coulson. The group surveilled the area with flashlights as they entered the train car.
"Oh God." Sienna whispered, her gaze intricately studied the computer system that her sister and Fitz had set up. It looked the same as before, plus a few dozen bullet holes. Sienna lifted her gaze from the computer system as she heard clattering from the back of the car, she simultaneously picked up her gun from its place on the table.
"Everybody get down!" An oddly familiar woman's voice shouted.
Jemma sprung up from the wooden box she was lying in and started shooting her ICER in every direction. Sienna ducked just in time as an ICER bullet flew above her head.
"Jemma! Jemma! Stop, it's Sienna." Simmons lowered the gun and started frantically looking around the train car.
"What?" Simmons asked, obviously confused. "Where are Fitz and Skye?"
The knot that was forming in Sienna's stomach last night returned as her worry for her sister increased with every breath she took.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Sienna jogged behind Ward as the team made their way to Ian Quinn's mansion that was located deep in the Italian countryside. As they approached the house Sienna's hand started shaking which was making it quite difficult to keep a strong grip on her ICER.
Sienna looked down at her hands and tried to focus her breathing, she looked up for a quick second and saw a figure standing up from underneath a car. As her and the team got closer she recognized that figure as Fitz, one problem though, there was someone coming up behind him.
Sienna raised her ICER and her muscle memory from lessons with May kicked it, without even taking time to aim she pulled the trigger, sending an ICER bullet into the base of the second man's neck.
Sienna and Ward arrived by Fitz's side first, "Where's Skye, Fitz? Where's my sister?"
"She went inside, she didn't want to lose Quinn."
Sienna observed the broken glass on the floor and the dead body that was lying next to the car, she listened as she heard gunshots ring out into the air. None of this comforted her worries, but nonetheless, when Coulson signaled for Ward, Sienna, May, and himself to enter the house she went in with her guard up.
Coulson and May went around the back and Ward and Sienna entered through the front door shooting anyone they came across. Sienna noticed Quinn trying to escape out the back, but smiled when she saw Coulson catch him and put a gun to his head. Sienna's smile faded away as she saw Coulson study Quinn's hand then put the gun underneath his chin, Ward held Quinn tight as he squirmed.
Sienna was about to go confront Quinn when she noticed one of Russo's guys trying to make his way to the window to escape. She snuck up behind him, knocked the back of his knee in so he fell, and knocked him out with a final strike to the temple. Sienna heard the indistinct yelling of Coulson's voice, she ran over to find that everyone was gone but May, who was handcuffing Quinn who was face down on the table.
"Did you guys find Skye?" Sienna asked, out of breath as she ran up to May.
"And who's asking?" Quinn breathed, from his position on the table. May pressed down on his neck, cutting off his ability to talk...and maybe breathe.
"Stop talking." May hissed at Quinn. "They're looking for her now, don't worry."
"Simmons! Get down here!" Sienna heard Coulson yell from the basement. Quinn chuckled. Sienna looked at May with worry in her eyes as she heard the other team members rush to the basement.
"Take him out to the car, then meet me in the basement." May said to Sienna.
"What? No, I'm going down there." Sienna protested.
"I'm telling you, not asking." May repeated sternly.
Sienna reluctantly pulled Quinn to his feet, and grabbing him forcefully, walked him to the door.
"What did you do to her?" Sienna asked aggressively, as she pressed the barrel of her gun with real bullets into his back.
"Now now, that would take the fun out of the surprise, wouldn't it?" Quinn smiled.
"You son of a-" Sienna was interrupted by the voice of another agent.
"I got him ma'am." An agent from The Hub stepped forward to grab Quinn. Sienna took one last look at Quinn before shoving him into the agent and running into the house.
Sienna found the basement door quickly and practically flew down the stairs. She entered the only room who's door was wide open. Her breath hitched in her throat as she saw the members of her team standing around a machine. Her eyes widened at the puddles of blood on the floor.
"Where's Skye?" Sienna croaked. The team turned around to reveal what looked like a hyperbaric chamber, if this was any other time she'd be intrigued by the machine. She met the teams eyes which were filled with pity and sadness.
Sienna slowly walked over to the chamber, a strangled sob escaped her throat as she looked inside. She put her hand up to the glass as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Is it working?" No one responded to Sienna's question. "Is it working?" Sienna repeated, this time almost yelling the question.
"For now." Jemma answered, tears threatening to spill over.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Sienna was standing by the chamber which had been loaded onto the plane, Jemma was telling the team about Skye's condition. Nothing that Jemma was saying was registering in Sienna's brain, Sienna couldn't think, she couldn't move, she couldn't breathe.
Coulson seemed to notice, "Sienna, why don't we go upstairs, or sit down?"
"Um what? Oh uh, no. I would like to stay here sir, if that's alright."
"Is it okay if I stay here with you?" Coulson asked.
"Yeah, that's fine." Sienna heard the rest of the team leave and the room became silent after May shut the doors on her way out.
A little while later Coulson excused himself to go ad talk to Jemma, which left Sienna alone in the quiet room, the only noise coming from the machine. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Skye, I don't know if you can hear me, who am I kidding you probably can't, but I'm going to talk to you anyways. Skye, you can't leave me, okay? I'm not ready, I've always had you, I can't loose you, okay? What happens to me if you die? I'm being selfish right now, I know, I'm cashing every ounce of good karma I have. So I don't care if the light looks warm and welcoming, you stay the hell away from it. Stay away from the damn light, Skye, you stay alive. Please."
• • • • • • • • • • • •
hey guys, i'm back! sorry for the late update, this chapter was -- for some reason -- extremely hard to write. i'm very hopeful that i'm going to have the next chapter up soon, in fact i'm going to start it right after i publish this one! i'm not that good writing sad scenes so i apologize if that last scene is cringy, besides that i think this chapter is pretty solid. this chapter is the longest so far, so i hope it's good. thank you all so much for 200+ reads, i'm so grateful! as always please leave feedback in the comments, i love hearing what you guys are thinking! i hope everyone had a happy holidays and happy new year! -toni
> i do not own marvel's agents of shield or any of their characters, i only own my originals
> this story is unedited so i apologize if there are any grammatical/spelling errors, i try my best
> this chapter was based off of the season one episode thirteen episode "t.r.a.c.k.s."
> aos instagram is aos.is.the.magical.place
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