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✧·ﾟ:CHAPTER THREE*:·ﾟ✧

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✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* 　the asset　 *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
date: 19th September 2013
location: the Bus, Classified

    ━━"Fitz, you have anywhere to sit, but instead you squeeze yourself next to Simmons and me?"

    Fitz gave her a look. Just to annoy Roy anymore, he shuffled in his spot, making her and Simmons have to lean up against the arms of the couch to give him room. Throwing her eyes up to the ceiling, she muttered, "Oh, of course, you use the childish response."

    "Oh, so you don't want me to sit with you?" Fitz scoffed.

    "Not when you're taking up half the room on the couch!"

    Simmons sighed, exasperated. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "If you two don't shut up now, I will move."

    They fell silent. The rest of the team--save May, who was up in the cockpit━met up where Fitz-Roy-Simmons were sitting. Skye threw herself onto one of the chairs, swinging around slightly and massaging her fists that had been at a punching bag for the last ten minutes. Ward took the seat opposite her, brooding to himself━as usual. Coulson arrived last, starting the brief as soon as he was close.

    "A few minutes ago, a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport was attacked while carrying a priority red protected asset off Route Seventy-Six near Sterling."

    "Priority red?" wondered Simmons, leaning forward.

    Coulson nodded, "The asset was Canadian physicist Doctor Franklin Hall, known for his work━"

    Fitz-Roy-Simmons's shoulders all slumped at the picture he showed them. Their arguments aside, the three of them shook their heads, letting out miserable cries of, "Oh, no, not Frank━", "━Doctor Hall━?", "━What happened?"

    "He was our chemical kinetics advisor our second year," said Fitz, his hands clamped together with worry.

    "Yeah, he's so enthusiastic about science, we just adored him!" Simmons fell back.

    "We can rescue him, can't we?" Roy looked up at Coulson, her eyes wide and pleading.

    "He's one of ours," he replied. "We're gonna try."

    "And the attackers?" frowned Ward.

    "Invisible."

    "Wait, invisible?" Skye's gaze followed Coulson as he left. She chuckled. "Cool." Roy's eyes flickered down, and Skye realised her mistake too late. "B━But terrible," she added.

    Playing with the cuffs of her sleeve, Clara Roy stood up and walked away. Skye faltered, shame crossing her features. Fitz gave her a brief glance before following after his friend. Once gone, Simmons gave Skye an encouraging smile, telling her that it's all right.

    "Hey, hey," Fitz caught Roy down the stairs to the lab. She opened the doors, stepping inside and making her way to the table. "Hey━slow down━" he caught up with her, grabbing her arm and making her turn around. "Come here."

    Fitz pulled Roy into a hug, hearing her let out a long sigh against his chest. "We're gonna find him," he told her. "He'll be okay."

    Closing her eyes, Clara breathed in the smell of her best friend. He calmed her down. Yes, they had their fights, their arguments, but he was her closest friend. He knew everything about her. From the moment she forgot to wear undies to school in year-one, to all the times her father would take her out to look at the stars. And to her, she wished for him to be more than that, but she was okay with him just being here, even if her feelings weren't reciprocated. He's was here, and Fitz telling her that they'd find Doctor Hall, and that he'll be okay, made her believe it.

    Maybe she hugged him for too long. But she linked her fingers together around his back, enjoying the way he held her. People always told her that the worst thing is to be in love with your best friend when they didn't love you back, and maybe it was, but so far, she was okay with it.

    ━━Reaching Sterling, Colorado at night-fall, the team walked down the route to the crash sight. The air was cool, making Roy's jacket flap as if it were wings. Walking in between Fitz and Simmons, she looked up at the sky, seeing a few constellations her father told her about. Seeing Lyra, she nudged Fitz and pointed up to the sky.

    "Doctor Hall was an asset?" asked Skye, a frown on her face. She had been asking questions the whole walk from the Bus.

    "One of a few select scientists S.H.I.E.L.D. has been protecting," Coulson replied. "People our enemies would love to get their hands on. We keep them hidden, keep them on the move."

    "Which is why Fitz, Roy and I were so lucky to have him," said Simmons.

    "We don't have him anymore," muttered Coulson and Roy tried not to take those words to heart, making her think about what danger he could be in.

    "And what does priority red mean?" Skye arched a brow.

    "It means security should've been ..." he faltered, seeing the S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV stuck in the tree. Roy's brows jumped, okay... "Heavy..."

    "Fancy..." Roy muttered.

    Reaching the crash sight, Roy immediately made her way to the ambulance to check up on the agent who had luckily survived his truck being toppled. Checking the cut above his eye and dressing it, she left him to be interviewed by Coulson before returning back to her friends handling forensics. They were checking the truck, the ground, for anything abnormal that could be the reason behind these invisible attackers, or why the cars were stuck in the trees.

    Passing Fitz, she made sure to flick at his curls, making him narrow his eyes up at her.

    "Fitz, Roy," Simmons called from a few paces in front of them, stopping Fitz from whacking Roy lightly with his scanner in retaliation, "what am I seeing here?"

    "Well," Fitz led the way over, "we're not wearing the full-spectrum goggles I designed━" Roy rolled her eyes at the causal slip-in towards Skye to show off, "━so, no clue." He chuckled, hoping she'd join in, but Skye just continued walking with them. So, he cleared his throat. "Okay, let me have a look. Come on."

    "No, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" Simmons stopped him. "Don't move!" he held his hands up in surrender. "Wait a second." Crouching down to the ground, Simmons grabbed a handful of gravel and threw it up into the air. She gasped when they didn't fall back down, but instead stayed in the air, twisting and turning.

    "What the hell?" muttered Skye.

    "I think the electro-static field scanner activated some ... thing," breathed Simmons in awe.

    Suddenly, gravel exploded out of the hold it was in, flying towards them all. They ducked, and it hit the truck behind them with a big, fat clang!

    "Okay," muttered Coulson. "Can we deactivate it? Now?"

    Simmons nodded, and pressed a few buttons. It didn't work, and whatever was infront of them only got agitavtive. Fitz sighed angrily, "You have to increase the density!"

    "I tried, Fitz!" she snapped back.

    Fitz's remote short-circuited, and he held it out, dangling down. Annoyed, he sighed, "Great."

    But whatever it activated, stopped, dropping everything it had held up to the ground. Reaching down, Simmons picked up a tiny little wired ball with teasers and held it up to the light for all of them to see. "That did all of this."

    Coulson took it gently in his fingers, turning it over as he examined it.

    "What is that?" asked Skye.

    "Something big," he replied.

    Instructed in identifying the object, Fitz-Roy-Simmons immediately got to work once they returned to the Bus. The girls hovered over Fitz's shoulder as he sat at his desk, turning the lights of his goggles on as the robotic clamp moved on command towards him, tilting ever-so-slightly so he could recieve a better view.

    Now in the light of the lab, Roy could get a better look at it. It looked very much like those incorrect models of atoms--the ones with the rings orbiting the nucleus? It's very wrong, because the electrons don't orbit the nucleus, their pattern of movement is irregular, buzzing ... but that's getting into quantum physics. Either way, there was a ring surrounding the writhing centre. The only way Roy could describe the centre was that of mercury. It wasn't connected to the outer rimms, which astounded her. It was holding it's own centre of gravity in the middle of this little ball━floating.

    Behind them, Coulson and May conversed with each other. "Either someone cracked our comm system, or Doctor Hall's movement leaked from inside S.H.I.E.L.D.," he said to the Cavalry.

    "You really think we have a mole?" wondered May.

    "I think you should go through the communiation logs. Rule it out. We'll work the tractor tread that we found on the scene."

    "I can do that," suggested Skye, looking up from Fitz-Roy-Simmons's work and back to Coulson and May. "Instead of pull-ups. I can upload the image of the tread pattern and check to see if there's any━"

    "Already done," Ward cut her off, entering the lab. "Matched it to a 2010 model. Found a list of purchasers within a five-hundred-mile radius, narrowed down to those with priors, financial troubles, or propensity for risk-taking," Roy glanced up to the monitor at the three photos present. "Three suspects."

    "Who may have sold their construction equipment to the kindappers," Coulson realised. "We'll ask."

    Working overnight, Roy made sure to have tea ready at their disposal. Skye preferred coffee, but Roy wasn't going to make her it, so the hacker rolled her eyes and got some herself. While she read through each communication line since the movement of Doctor Hall, Roy sat next to Fitz, being a listening ear and a bringer of suggestions. Coulson and Ward returned from questioning the subjects with a bag filled with nine blocks of gold. Simmons was ready to scan them to see their authenticity and where it came from.

    "It looks like this because it's a dore bar," she explained, glancing up at the two of them. "It means it was made at the mine rather than in a refinery. It's only about ninety-two percent pure. The cowboy got cheated a bit."

    "Can you determine the mine based on the impurities?" asked Coulson.

    "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah," Fitz hurried over to the computer. "We've done that already. It's from the Dacey Mine in Tanzania. Which is owned by━"

    "Quinn Worldwide," Coulson finsihed for him. "I'm sure you studied the CEO in your chemical engineering classes, or saw him on the cover of Forbes. Ian Quinn."

✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* 　the asset　 *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
date: 20th September 2013
location: the Bus, Classified

    ━━Fitz-Roy-Simmons finally identified the object. To explain to Skye, Fitz placed up the findings on the large monitor for her to see, her coffee steaming next to her. "Gravitonium," he began. "It's an extremely rare, high-atomic numbered element."

    "That powers the device," Roy added, leaning against the Holotable. "So extremely rare that most people didn't believe it existed, much less the theory that an isolated positive charge━"

    "Yeah, would turn the flow from isotropic━" continued Simmons, but Skye cut her off.

    "Guys?" she took a sip. "High school dropout here. How does the device work again?"

    The scientists shared a glance. "Well," began Simmons, "Gravitonium distorts gravity fields within itself, causing an undulating, amorphous shape."

    "That's causes the wiggly bits in here━" Roy pointed to the middle of the image.

    "But," Fitz continued, "when an electric current is applied━" he drew his fingers together, "━the Gravitonium solidifies," they came together and he shook his hands, "And those gravity fields erupt━" his hands exploded away, "━randomly changing the rules of gravity around it." He travelled to his computer. "Well, so, now you can imagine what would happen to a big rig at a hundred kilometres per hour. Or you ... well, you could just remember, 'cause we saw it already, didn't we?"

    "Yeah," scoffed Roy, "and guess which genius published every theory about Gravitonium and possible applications? Years ago," she propped her elbows on the Holotable beside Skye.

    "Doctor Franklin Hall," she nodded in realisation.

    "Yes━", "━That's right━!", "━Correct," Fitz pulled up the tab they had been researching before hand, "And Doctor Hall attended the University of Cambridge at the same time as Ian Quinn."

    Skye frowned, "Coulson may be off on this. Quinn is a notoriously good guy. His charity endowment's something like eight billion dollars."

    "Yes," agreed Simmons. "With money made from leeching the Earth of its resources. Looks like he's dug up another."

    As morning came, they were called up to the Command Centre for debrief. Clara Roy rubbed her eyes to try and wake herself up as she took a stance between Fitz and Simmons around the Holocom. They were close to finding Doctor Hall and bringing him back, which was what had waken her up instead. Determined, she listened to Coulson pace around the Holocom.

    "The man's a prisoner, and it's up to us to get him out."

    "We've checked the specs," said Ward. "There's no way into Quinn's compound without a large S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force. Or a man inside. He's got neodynium laser fencing surrounding the property."

    "They'll never allow a strike force into Malta," Coulson came to a stop at the table, typing a few commands in to bring up the file. "Plus, this weekend Quinn Worldwide's got its annual shareholders' gathering. We'd risk global outrage. But..."

    "If we go in alone..." May realised and Coulson nodded at her.

    "S.H.I.E.L.D. can disavow us, claim ignorance."

    "Without a man inside, it's impossible," replied May. "Unless you're immune to pulse laser emissions."

    "If we had a monkey," suggested Fitz, "we could get in."

    Roy threw her hands up, letting out an, "Ugh, Fitz!"

    "If we had a small monkey," he continued, ignoring her, "he could slip through the sensors and disable the fence's power source with his adorable little hands."

    "No, Fitz, we are not using a monkey," Roy told him.

    He gaped at her, "What? It could work!"

    "And where do you expect us to find a monkey━?"

    "I'm sure that there's something━"

    "━And are you going to train it yourself━?"

    "━Someone would have already trained it━!"

    "━It's ridiculous━"

    "━Monkey's are incredibly smart! He could do it, you got to believe, Roy━"

    "━I'll believe it when I see it━"

    "I'll go in," Skye cut the two of them off, but no one paid much attention.

    "Drop me in the hills outside of Valletta," said Ward. "I'll spend a few weeks establishing a cover, gathering intel ..."

    "Hall doesn't have a few weeks."

    "And to restate," said Simmons, "any agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. caught on Maltese soil can be shot to death with bullets. Legally."

    "Not me," said Skye again. "I could go in."

    "Skye," Ward gave her a look, "this is serious."

    "Wait," Coulson held a hand up to him, and walked up to her. "What are you saying?"

    "Well, I'm not an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.," she shrugged, as if the answer was obvious, "so I can go in without breaking all these stupid rules."

    "International laws," Simmons corrected.

    "This isn't something the Rising Tide can hack, Skye," Ward told her.

    She narrowed her eyes at him.

    "Did you hear the deadly lasers part?" Fitz tried. "Without a brave monkey━" Roy sighed, muttering a quick, "Fitz, I swear to the Lord above━"

    "You said you could go in with a man inside," Skye said.

    "And you wanna be that man?" frowned May, but there was an ounce of pride in her gaze.

    "Fitz-Roy-Simmons love the guy," Skye gestured to them, acting as if it was no big deal, "and he needs help. They could be torturing him. Or worse, making him do strength training."

    "But you don't have the background," Ward walked up to her, "or clearance, or experience with any of this."

    "I know," she said. With a smirk, she showed him her phone, "but I've got an invitation. Well, technically, it's an e-vite." she bounced her brows at her S.O, as if saying: something the Rising Tide can't hack, huh? Ward pursed his lips, and Skye flicked her hair off her shoulder, satisfied.

   ━━"Skye will walk through the front door," Coulson adressed the later that morning. With a map on the monitor, he pointed to a specific point. "The only external access point to Quinn's underground facility is from a beach cove. A two-man extraction team would slip in there, but it's not easy. Fitz-Roy-Simmons."

    Fitz walked up first, coming to a stance next to the map. "The perimeter is surrounded by a twenty-foot-high neodymium laser grid. Touch it and you're toast," he returned to Roy's side.

    "Dead toast," Coulson added. "The only way to disable the grid is to crack the system and trigger a reboot. This would give the team three seconds to cross. Of course, Quinn's too smart to allow any wireless access on his property."

    "That's where I come in," realised Skye.

    "Yes," opening the case they had on the table, Roy gave her a smile. "Working compact," Fitz grabbed the makeup mirror from the case to show Skye. "Holds up under X-ray."

    "Desert Rose," added Fitz, "to match your complexion. But, oh, what's this?" on the left side, four red dots reflected off the mirror. "A readout, okay? It turns green━" green dots appeared on the right, "━if you're in close enough proximity to a computer to gain wireless access."

    "And when it does," continued Simmons, "you just drop this nearby and walk out. We'll do the rest. Easy as pie."

    "Or it will be," muttered Ward, "if you stick to the plan." He cocked the gun in his hand, and Fitz-Roy-Simmons shared looks of, why does he have to be like this?

    "Got it," nodded Skye. "Plan. Green. Drop. Walk. Pie." Fitz handed the makeup mirror with an encouraging smile. "Thanks..." she whispered. "We're going to find him," she then told them, her eyes fixed on Roy especially. "He's going to be okay." Nudging her hand, Skye sent Roy a smile. She returned one.

    "All right, team," Coulson announced. "Suit up."

    The Bus hovered not far from Malta. Skye was dropped off, taking a cab to the mansion dressed up all fancy and deceiving. Fitz-Roy-Simmons set up comms from inside the Command Room with May ready to aid Skye in information. Coulson and Ward were taking an amphibious landing on the beach cove, ready to bring Hall back to them.

    Roy would admit, she was nervous--she was very nervous. If one thing went wrong, their whole operation was toast the same way as if someone touched the fence toast. Doctor Hall's life was on the line. He had given Roy so much hope and drive for science, and made her believe in herself when she went through a terrible dump in her life. She owed him for helping her get to where she was now. On this plane with Fitz and Simmons. If he didn't have so much belief in her, Roy knew that she'd still be at home, looking at the stars with her father and regretting ever leaving.

    "I could get used to this, people," Skye was saying happily into the comms. "It's like Siri, if it worked." There was a pause. "Skipper to Bravo, I got eyes on Top Dog. The Eagle is landing on it."

    There were frowns around the Holocom. "Uh .. what are you doing?" asked Roy.

    "Uh..." Skye cleared her throat. "Sorry. I don't know. I see Quinn. I'm gonna ... go talk to him." Skye indulged herself into the conversation, butting in with a laugh and a, "Yeah, right? Ian Quinn. I'm you're last-minute party crasher. Skye."

    "Oh," replied Quinn, and he chuckled. "Wow."

    Roy and Simmons shared an annoyed look. He was into her. Of course, he was into her. He was like the sterotypical rich bastard in those romance movies that the main character was engaged to before she met the main love interest. Rolling her eyes, Roy shook her head. She hated him. Just by the sound of his stupid voice. "Great to meet you," he continued. "Um ... This is Skye, a member of the Rising Tide. They're a group of hackers that have gotten some pretty big secrets out to the public."

    "I prefer 'hacktivist'," said Skye. "I'm glad you've heard of our site."

    "I read it. We think very much alike." Rolling her eyes once more, Roy reached over and grabbed a handful of popcorn from the stash Fitz had cooked up and brought it. "More freedom of information, the less government infringing on everyone's rights. I'm a fan."

    "That explains the invite. This is a tough party to get into."

    "Not as hard to get into as the encrypted back channel you contacted us through to request the invite."

    She chuckled, "That's sort of where I live."

    "You gotta show me how you did that," he said. "I mean, if you sign on."

    They all frowned, what? Even Skye was confused. "Sign what now?"

    "I've been known to turn a few black hats into white hats━" Roy's nose crinkled up at this phrasing, "━not just for vulnerability analysis, but for very creative thinking."

    Skye stammered, "A━Are you offering me a job?"

    "Well, I didn't invite you here for your pretty face," replied Quinn. "I━uh━didn't know you had a pretty face. Yes, I wanna hire you, before someone else snatches you up."

    May raised her brows, impressed, "That seemed to go well," she told Skye.

    "Yeah," she replied. "It did."

    Slowly, Skye made her way discreetly into the mansion. Those standing in the Command Centre helped her through the hallways following the blueprint drawings. Agent Roy could tell she was in at the change from no noise from her heels to the click clack of them on tiles. They led her to what looked to be Quinn's office, where they believe there would definitely be a wireless access for the readout to access.

    Roy grabbed more popcorn, and in the end, Fitz had to hold it away, muttering, "Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, you've literally already taken half of it! No more." But both of them knew that he would let her have more. Even if he tried to stop her, she would still sneak some out anyway, and before he'd know it, they'd be all gone.

    Skye found the office. She tried to open the door, but to no avail. "It's locked, but there's no lock," she told them.

    "Check for a keypad," said Fitz.

    There was a pause. "Nothing. Wait, you can hack a keypad?"

    Fitz thought about it. He threw some popcorn in his mouth. "No, not over the phone."

    "Is there a reception desk?" then asked May, and Skye immediately replied.

    "Okay, yeah!" her heels clicked over. "Well, now what do I do?"

    "What are you trying to do?" At Quinn's voice, they all muttered a flurry of curses--well, Fitz did, Simmons and Roy instead let out nervous squeaks.

    "Stay calm," May kept her head, telling Skye through the comms.

    "Just looking for a pen," Skye quickly lied, "here we go," she chuckled nervously. "Got to write down all those good ideas, you know what I mean? Of course, you know what I mean. You probably have, like, ten pens for all your ideas."

    Roy and Simmons both winced. This was not good.

    "What are you really doing?"

    There was a long pause, until━ "All right," said Skye. "I'm busted."

    "What?" muttered Roy.

    "I was trying to get a glimpse behind your office door, see how things really operate."

    "What?" she said again, looking up at May with wide eyes. What the bloody hell was she doing?

    "I invite you here as a guest," Quinn spat, his voice rising in anger, "and you treat me like another corrupt institution, looking for trade secrets to leak online. Security━"

    "No, no, no, wait," Skye stopped him, and he faltered. "It's just, with all these la-di-da people, you have to be so guarded. So careful. What you say, what secrets you reveal. And I was hoping that you and I could be honest with one another. If you know what I mean?"

    They all waited with bated breaths, scared that she had screwed it all up. But then, the creak of a door sounded through the comms, and the echo of Skye's heels muffled from tile to carpet. She had gotten into the office. All four of them stared at the Holocom, amazed━well, Fitz-Roy-Simmons did, Agent May had a very good poker face.

    "My office had less space, more wheels," said Skye. "Wow. A view of the ocean and the pool."

    "Not a bad place to do business."

    "Got the dispatch leaking Hall's location," May said, glancing up from the laptop. "User's an alias."

    "Oh!" Fitz pointed a piece of popcorn at her. "Can you trace the D.H.C.P. server━"

    "Trace is running, but it'll take time. Our girl?"

    "I thought she was done for," said Simmons, shaking her head in disbelief, "but she's just sweet-talked her way into Quinn's office."

    "How'd she manage that?"

    Fitz scoffed, "She probably just used her━" he stopped, realising what he was saying. They all turned to look at him, and he went bright red, glancing down at his hands that were under his chest, shaped as if squeezing ... well ... Roy arched a brow at him. This was her best friend. Ugh, she thought. What an idiot. Fitz stammered, unsure on whether to continue. In the end, he gave up and muttered, embarrassed, "━boobs."

    "Ugh!" Roy rolled her eyes. "That's the only explanation━" the static cut her off. Glancing down to the comms, she saw Skye's like spike before completely going out. "Oh, my gosh, the signal's dead. Fitz!"

    "Wha━?" he gaped at her. "I didn't! She must have ... oh, Lord."

    Defeated, they slumped. Skye had gone off comms, and they had no idea why. Something could have happened to her, or she had done it willingly. Roy didn't want to give up on her. While Ward on line three wasn't surprised, she agreed with Coulson in giving her some time. They had no idea what had happened. They had no choice but to trust in what she was doing. Roy ate through the popcorn quicker now, her stress showing in how much she shoved in her mouth.

    "Stop, stop, it's mine," Fitz pulled the bowl away from her again. "Stop eating all of it. You're gonna get a dry mouth and then you're going to complain about it. And I'm the one who'll have to deal with it."

    "There's something that's happened that we don't know," she said━not sure whether it was to him or to herself. "She's going to come through, right? She will come through."

    Coulson and Ward were beginning to get frustrated. They were running out of time, and Roy prayed. Come on, Skye, come on.

    "Yeah," Fitz said, and she met his gaze again. Holding out a piece of popcorn, she took it from his fingers with a smile. "Yeah, of course, she will."

    She took a bite, afterwards, her nose scrunched up. Looking to him, she went to say that her mouth was dry, but he was already passing her a bottle of water. "No complaining," he told her.

    "Says you," she muttered, opening the cap and taking a sip.

    Just as she did, there was a beep on the Holocom. Her and Fitz spun around, staring, wide-eyed as Simmons let out an, "Oh, my gosh! She's done it!"

    "We're in!" May told Fitz. "Fitz, you're up!"

    It took him a second, before he shoved Roy out of the way with an, "Oh, mother of all things. Move, move, move!" his fingers moved at lightning speed, tapping away at the security while the rest watched with bated breaths.

    On line four, Coulson's voice came out muffled, "We need a reset here, Fitz!" His fingers worked faster. "FITZ!"

    "Saying his name repeatedly does not increase productivity," said Simmons.

    He finished, "Okay, go."

    She faltered, "Or ... maybe it does."

    Turning to the monitor, they all watched the reset countdown. Fitz took a deep breath, "System rebooting in two, one, now!"

    They waited anxiously for Ward or Coulson's reply, and when they said, "We're in," they all let out sighs of relief.

    Coulson raced to find Doctor Hall while Ward was on the search for Skye. Fitz-Roy-Simmons hovered around the comms, listening and praying that their mentor would be all right. Hearing him say, "Doctor Hall!" Simmons grabbed Roy's hand in a tight grip, and she held on just as tight, her breath hitched. They dared not make a sound. "Agent Coulson. We have an exit strategy."

    "S.H.I.E.L.D.?" came his voice, and Roy leaned in closer to Simmons.

    "Yes, sir. Let's get you out of here."

    "I'm sorry, Mister Coulson," replied their mentor. "I'm right where I'm supposed to be."

    "What?" Fitz frowned. He looked at his friends with furrowed brows.

    "I'll be honest," muttered Coulson. "Our strategy did not take into consideration you saying that."

    May breathed out an, "Oh, no..." looking down at her computer.

    "What?" Fitz said again, and with a hesitant glance, she showed the three scientists the alias who had leaked the comm line. It was Doctor Frank Hall himself.

    "No," Simmons shook her head. "No, he wouldn't do that, there must be some sort of mistake."

    "Yeah," added Roy, not wanting to believe what was right in front of her. "He━he was probably forced to. He would never do that on his own will━why would he let himself get kidnapped? Why?"

    "Look," Coulson's voice returned to comms, "I don't know what Quinn is promising you, but..."

    "An opportunity," said Doctor Hall.

    "We can't let Quinn have control of this! It's too dangerous!"

    "We can't let anyone have control of this. That's why I'm here. To bury it at the bottom of the ocean. With him."

    "Coulson," May turned her mic on for comms. "The leak came from━"

    "Doctor Hall. Yeah, I'm getting that."

    "There has to be a mistake," said Fitz. "He wouldn't do that--he's a good person."

    "All the petitions, embargoes in the world couldn't stop Ian," said Doctor Hall. "He grows more powerful every day. And then I get word he's found this━" there was a rumble over the comms.

    Roy had her hands to her mouth. She was shaking her head. Why would he do this? This didn't make sense. He had believed in her, thought she could do good with science━this wasn't real, this was some sort of trick, some sort of━ "I'm sorry, Mister Coulson. I had to make a choice."

    "Something tells me that wasn't the off button━" Coulson was cut off, and there was a thud!

    He didn't continue his sentence. "Coulson?" May called. "Couslon, are you still there?"

    "Sir?" tried Roy, her fingers pressed against the edge of the table. "Sir, hello?"

    May sighed. Meeting their gazes, she said to the scientists. "We have to figure out a way to stop him."

    "But he wouldn't do anything bad, he's--" Roy tried, but she cut her off.

    "Agent Roy, listen to me," she met the Cavalry's gaze. "We have to find a way to stop this. Now."

    Fitz tugged her arm, "Come on," he told her, and they were off to the lab.

    ━━"Hall wanted Quinn to kindnap him?" May asked Coulson as she walked in through the doors to the lab. Seeing that he was back online, Fitz-Roy-Simmons immediately pressured questions of:

    "Yeah, why would he do that━?", "━He would never━", "━What's wrong with him?"

    May transferred the comm lines to the Holotable, and they could hear him. "Quinn built a gravity generator, like the one we found but bigger. Hall knew Quinn would need him to control its raw power. But Hall just wanted to unleash it."

    "The one we found was two-point-five centimetres in diametre," Simmons shook her head. "It stopped a semi. How big are we talking?"

     "Twelve feet," said Couslon, and they all shared terrified glances. "It'll definitely take down the entire compound."

    "It'll sink the place━", "━No, it'll do more than that━", "━that compound will be sunk like the Titantic."

    "Work a solution," Coulson told them.

    "Already on it," Roy replied.

    "I'll disconnect the power before things get ... crazy..."

    Disconnecting the power didn't work. Coulson had to find a catalyst, and through the pleas to him from Fitz-Roy-Simmons that Hall was a good person, and that he wouldn't kill innocent people, his words over the comms proved them wrong. Roy listened with her heart up in her throat. The man she knew would never hurt innocent people. He looked at science as a way to save people through understanding things they were yet to know. He pushed her to believe in the same thing; he was part of the reason she became a doctor of medicine. To help and save people. And here he was, doing the opposite. Accepted number of casualties.

    Coulson did end up finding a catalyst; that catalyst had been Doctor Hall. Hearing his yells through the comms made Clara Roy want to cry. It had been the right thing to do. Coulson saved all those lives, and stopped Hall from destroying them. But even then, Roy was in grief for the mentor who helped her so much.

    When they were dismissed, she left the lab with her head hung low. Returning to her bunk, she lied on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. Closing her eyes, she let herself cry a little for the loss of her mentor. Not the man he was today, but the man he had been. Holding her pillow to her chest, Roy let out a long sigh.

    She stayed there for a while, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. When the door to her bunk opened, Roy turned her head. There was Fitz. He held another bowl of popcorn in one hand, and his tablet in the other. He gave her a weak smile. Slowly, Roy sat up, watching him wave the tablet at her, "Movie night?"

    Clara chuckled sadly. Oh, Fitz. Nodding, she shuffled over on the bunk to give him just enough room to shove in next to her. Wiping the tears from her face, she held the popcorn as he set up his tablet and searched up a random documentary on youtube. He found one on monkeys (which caused her to roll her eyes), but let him press play. They leaned up against the wall of the bunk, with earphones in. Resting her head on his shoulder, she found herself feeling better. She wasn't okay━none of them were okay, but now she knew she would be.

    She fell asleep on his shoulder, not even haflway through the documentary. Fitz didn't move, letting her breathing even out. Once it did, he took the other earbud and watched the rest of the documentary by himself, setting his own head ontop of hers. In the end, he fell asleep too.

✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* 　　 *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧

    a/n: me: *realises i need to space out chapters*

              also me: CHAPTER HERE! CHAPTER THERE! AHH I'M SO EXCITED!!!

    also just had my formal. and let me tell you. not to be egotystical, but i am a gryffindor so: i looked amazing. like hollywood star amazing *flips hair*

     hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. if there is any mistakes, i is sorry. not too happy about this one, but oh well.