End of the Beginning
Mick stepped on board the Bus, grateful for the brief time off. He needed some time to recollect himself after everything that had happened, plus the last remnant of his family, Greta and Alvin Bellouve, his grandparents from his dad's side, passed away. It wasn't too hard on him as they hadn't spoken since his families funeral. They knew about his powers and despised him for the passing of their son and granddaughters. He really only showed up because it was the right thing to do. He also paid a visit to his parents, sisters, and Sam's graves. It didn't take Fitz-Simmons long to explain just how bad things went in his absence, with the Asgaurdian and the Siren, Ward, Coulson, and Fitz being possessed by her allure, and how cool it was meeting Lady Sif.
The other big change didn't really need words, but rather was felt extremely fast. Skye and Ward seemed to be getting closer, May was also annoyed by this, but Mick wasn't exactly sure why though. Things weren't all happy though, they were in route to a top secret battleship in the Pacific Ocean. Coulson was on edge, something about his encounter with the Asgaurdians really shook him. There was a some good to come out of all of his time gone, Fitz had built him a new pair of sabers with dendrotoxin flashers, meaning the round blade would release the toxin upon impact as long as the trigger was pressed down. He aptly named them the Chelicerae, which sounded much cooler than Mick's idea of Spider Fangs.
Unfortunately, his free time was quickly dried up as Coulson wanted to meet with him in private. Mick could count on one hand how many times he stood in this office, and mostly all were due to Skye, this time, he wasn't sure what the cause was. "Sir," Mick said as he eased the door shut behind him. Coulson then motioned for him to sit with a welcoming smile.
"So you're officially the last Bellouve huh?" Coulson asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah," Mick shook his head, never once thinking of it like that.
"Guess I should bench you so that you can settle down and have kids?" Coulson said playfully.
"Not even on my radar," Mick smirked. "Not even sure if I want a normal family."
"Really?" Coulson seemed quite surprised.
"I don't think I could have a normal nine to five after seeing the stuff I've seen," Mick smiled.
"You do know some agents actually have families and live mostly normal lives," Coulson raised his brow.
"Yeah, but working at Hub or Triskelion at a desk usually involves lots of desk work, or being a scientist. I like this freedom," Mick smiled once more.
"I'm glad to have you back," Coulson said fondly.
"Glad to be back," Mick nodded. "Why is everything so tense?"
"What do you mean?" Coulson inquired.
"May looks like someone punched her cat, which I guess isn't weird at all, but Ward seems like he's walking on glass, even Jemma and Fitz seem like they're hiding something. You and Skye seem to be the only normal ones, even she seems out of sorts and strangely healed."
"You think May would have a cat?" Coulson teased as Mick began to back step.
"I mean cats are loners, May is a loner," Mick started to stammer as Coulson chucked. "Don't tell her I said that!"
"She might think it's funny," Coulson teased. "I wonder if FitzSimmons think May would be a cat lady?" Coulson continued to tease.
"Boss, please," Mick begged as Coulson shook his head. "May would kill me."
"Oh she would," he agreed, then his face shifted to one much more serious. "There was an attack by Mike Peterson on a safe house In Australia."
"Wallaby or Kangaroo?" Mick asked as Coulson frowned. "Sorry, not important. Was anyone hurt?"
"No," Coulson stated. "But it does make me question a lot of things. One of which I wanted your thoughts on. Should we make Skye an official agent?"
"Is this a trick question?" Coulson just raised a brow as Mick took in a deep breath, then exhaled heavily. "Yes."
"Okay, that puts all three of you in agreement," Coulson said as Mick stared questioning. "Now for the other thing I wanted to ask you, have you heard from Director Fury?"
"Not since the Stark Expo in 2011 when he charged me with seeking out candidates for the Index, and trying to coerce them to joining SHIELD."
"Figures, but I wanted to try," Coulson groaned.
"I thought you two were quite close?" Mick asked.
"I thought so too," Coulson sighed. "One last question; did you get briefed on the latest happenings?"
"You mean Lady Sif and the Siren?" Mick asked as Coulson nodded. "Yeah, Simmons gave me a few details, glad I missed out on that. Asgaurdians are cool in the books, but in person, way too intimidating for my taste."
"Oh, Doctor Randolph wasn't that bad?" Coulson said as Mick scrunched his nose.
"I was talking about Thor," Mick said.
"When did you meet Thor?"
"Just saw him in passing in New York, that was more than enough. Randolph was nice though, except the whole berserker thing."
"Thor isn't really all that bad when you talk to him," Coulson said with a smirk.
"Noticed we took off quite fast, where are we headed?" Mick asked as Coulson nodded.
"I'm assembling a team to hunt down the Clairvoyant, you're part of the mission as well. That's why we picked you up first."
"Good to know," Mick nodded. "Guess I'll get prepped then."
"Probably a good plan," Coulson glanced down at his screen. "Won't be long now."
Mick returned to his bunk finding a note from Skye taped to the door. 'Down in the lab with the vampires, just wanted to catch up. See you soon, Skye.' Mick pondered what she meant by vampires before opting to change into a more mission appropriate outfit rather than his white tee and ripped jeans. The Bus touched down on an aircraft carrier by the time Mick had changed into his black pants, white tee, and his thin black jacket with the brown recluse emblem on the back. May met him in the lounge, with Ward standing beside her.
"New look huh?" May asked with a half grin.
"Does it look okay?" Mick asked hesitantly as May gave an approving nod. Ward simply rolled his eyes. "I used to alternate between this one and my long coat back in Los Angeles."
"I think I like the leather one better, but this suits you," May said as Coulson walked up with several agents behind him. Agent Victoria Hand with her signature scowl, pants suit and mixed red and black hair, Agent Jasper Sitwell in his tan suit and slick head behind her, and Agent Felix Blake more grey than Mick remembered no tie suit as always, with Agent John Garrett close behind and Antoine Triplett beside him. The only ones who seemed to be happy to be on board were Garrett and Triplett, which didn't bring back a good taste in Mick's mouth. Garrett weirded him out, but Triplett seemed nice enough, though Mick didn't even give him much of a chance to get to know him.
May then tapped a screen on the wall beside her, then looked at Coulson. "Cruising altitude reached, bearing 90 degrees heading towards the North Pole."
"Great, thank you," Coulson said with a calm smirk, then faced his colleagues.
"Sorry about the song and dance routine, but we needed to take heavy precautions
"Why these kind of precautions?" Agent Sitwell asked.
"The Clairvoyant," Coulson said plainly as Hand gave a look of disgust. "If there is someone out there who can read minds, at least up here we're as far away from him as possible." Sitwell and Blake rolled their eyes.
"We just figured if this guy is for real, maybe the Northern Lights could disrupt some of his psychic WiFi," Agent Garrett chimed in, only for Agent Hand to scoff loudly.
"Since when do we believe in psychics? Surely you of all people know SHIELD's stance on them," Agent Blake frowned looking at Coulson.
"You're not suddenly a believer, are you Coulson?" Agent Hand seemed quite disturbed.
"Not definitively. But I had a recent experiences with an Asgardian who could bend people's will with her voice," Coulson said as Mick glanced at May who smirked at a seemingly ashamed Ward. "Forced me to really open my mind, if you catch my drift."
"All we know for sure is the Clairvoyant has been a step ahead of us, stealing plays from our playbook," Agent Garrett stepped forward as Hand rolled her eyes.
"So you think the hit on Wallaby was part of that? And that Mike Peterson is alive?" Sitwell seemed rather unimpressed.
"We've codenamed him Deathlok," May said as Triplett nodded approvingly.
"After the project that Quinn was funding," Ward added.
"We've been tracking him for a few weeks now," Triplett stated.
"And it's my bet, the reason the super soldier bodyguard came after us was because we're getting too close," Garrett finished.
"Close to what? Mike Peterson or the real identity of the Clairvoyant?" Hand asked.
"The identity of the Puppetmaster," Garrett said firmly. "Coulson and I have narrowed the list of potentials down to 13."
"From what?" Agent Blake asked harshly.
"Agent Garrett has been taking a second look at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s gifted Index, specifically the rejects," Coulson said as Mick caught Garret staring right at him.
"Individual's S.H.I.E.L.D. interviewed who are believed to have psychic abilities but were ultimately dismissed," Garrett said plainly.
"So you two think we've dealt with this Clairvoyant before?" Sitwell didn't seem very convinced at all.
"Think how many cases we've encountered across the globe, how many cases we vetted," Coulson stated. "It's more than possible, it's probable."
"I'm going to need a stronger drink then," Blake sighed looking down at his coffee cup.
"Let's assume what you're saying is possible," Agent Hand folded her arm, trying very hard to rationalize. "What then? If we're going up against an actual clairvoyant, how do you suggest we combat that?"
"By compartmentalizing the information," Garrett said smugly.
"A certain member of my team is an expert at pattern recognition and analysis, finding needles in haystacks," Coulson said with a grin. "She'll prioritize the candidates on Garrett's list, locate them, then pair us off into random teams."
"That way only one person knows the full scope of the mission," Garrett added as Hand seemed even more annoyed.
"You do understand that this person you're referring to, she'd need to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to be granted that level of access," Hand spat with a bitter glare.
"So glad you brought that up," Coulson smiled. "After careful examination and consideration, I believe she's well over earned that respect."
"I think it's a very risky and dangerous move," Hand growled. "But, she has proven she can be of use."
"Want to go get her?" Coulson turned toward Ward, who simply nodded, then headed off toward the stairs and to the lab.
"So if we're going even teams, why is there an odd number of us?" Mick leaned to May.
"Backup," she said simply as Skye walked in with Ward.
"Any idea how the teams are paired?" Mick asked as May shook her head. "Hopefully
I don't get stuck with Garrett or worse, Hand."
"Could be worse, you could be stuck with Sitwell," May teased as Mick frowned. It was pretty well known, Sitwell was better at desk work than anything else.
It didn't take long before Coulson filled Skye in on everything. She seemed quite excited to be a part of such a daring play. "So pairing off makes total sense. Just one thought though, what if we make it a double blind?" Skye was clearly analyzing the outcomes.
"How so?" Agent Hand asked.
"Well, I'll give one person from each team the potential Clairvoyant's coordinates and I'll give the other one the identity," Skye said proudly. "That way no one person knows the full specs of the op until you get there."
"That's my girl," Coulson patted her back, clearly proud.
"I like the way you think," Garrett smirked.
"Only one question though," Skye said. "How am I supposed to access all the classified files without someone in the room? I don't have clearance."
Coulson then stepped back with a smirk, pulling out a small leather fold from his pocket just as Fitz and Simmons entered the room. "Now you do," Coulson opened the fold, showing Skye her official SHIELD badge. "Welcome to SHIELD, Agent Skye."
Mick couldn't help but smile, everyone on their team was, even May! Skye seemed to tear up with her excitement. Everyone hugged her, only Blake, Sitwell, and Hand staying in a more serious manner, away from others.
"I really don't know what to say," Skye stammered, then seemed to say thank you, but nothing came out.
"You've passed every test with flying colors, you put your life on the line, Skye, you've earned this," Coulson said proudly.
"And you approve?" Skye glanced up at Ward who smiled at her affectionately, then she looked at Mick. "Can you believe this?"
"I'm proud of you," Mick hugged her.
"Thanks," she smiled before turning back toward the others.
"Yes, congratulations," Hand said sharply. "You're now level one."
"And you've already done more than Sitwell!" Garrett teased wrapping his arm around Sitwell, only for him to scowl at the ground.
"Alright, not to be that guy, but we need to get back to work," Coulson said firmly, everyone began to scatter, the higher ups towards the Mission Room, May to the cockpit, FitzSimmons to the lab, leaving Mick, Ward, and Skye in the lounge. Mick started to turn when he saw Ward embrace Skye warmly, spinning her around. She giggled for a minute before he let her down. "I couldn't have done it without such and amazing S.O!" She beamed.
"Yeah, you could have," Ward smiled down at her. "I'm not clairvoyant, but I do believe some things are meant to be."
Mick decided not to stick around to see what happened next, hurrying down the steps to the punching bag. Just because he's given up on his feelings for her, didn't mean he wanted to see her with someone else.
Mick slammed his fist into the bag, his headphones blaring classic rock shutting the world out around him. It wasn't until a hand graced his shoulder that he flinched seeing a very worried look on Jemma's face.
"Your hands are bleeding," Jemma stated as Mick looked down, noticing several blood spots and his knuckles trickling with blood. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, just wanted to get some training in before this mission," Mick lied.
"You may be able to lie to anyone else, but not to me," Jemma brushed his face, the look in her eyes showed compassion, she knew the truth as if she could read his mind. "I'm here if you want to talk about it."
"It's barely been two weeks and she's already up and about, moving like it didn't happen. How?" Mick asked as Jemma frowned.
"Fitz and I have been looking into it, unfortunately we have no information," Jemma glanced down. "But that's not what's really bothering you, now is it?"
"Fine, I don't like how close her and Ward are, happy?" Mick grunted as Jemma looked up at him with a smile.
"I've never understood how fixated you get on one girl," Jemma said, almost remorseful. Mick stared at her curiously as she quickly recomposed herself, smiling playfully in an attempt to hide her blushing.
"I don't either," Mick frowned, then looked toward the lab, seeing Fitz watching curiously, then quickly spun away after locking eyes with Mick. Jemma reached up, brushing his face as Mick stared at her curiously. "What's on your mind Jemma?"
She sighed then shook her head. "Nothing at all," she moaned. "I need to speak with Fitz about our secret file."
"Okay?" Mick watched curiously as she walked to the lab shaking her head and mumbling. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the encounter, but something was off. He then looked down at his knuckles seeing the blood starting to dry. "Guess I should clean up before Ward or May come down."
Didn't take to long before he saw May in the lab with a very anxious looking Fitz. Jemma left with a strange look on her face when Mick walked in leaving him more confused. "What's with her?"
"I don't know," Fitz said. "Did you two break up or something?"
"What?" Mick was shocked that Fitz would even assume they were together.
"I've seen the way she looks at you," Fitz said harshly.
"Fitz, I wouldn't ever," Mick said as Fitz rolled his eyes. "I know how you feel about her, I wouldn't do that to you."
"That's the problem though," Fitz said exasperated. "You know how I feel, I know how she feels, and she knows how you feel."
"So you're mad too?"
"Mad isn't the right word," Fitz sighed. "I want Jemma to be happy, and I'd do anything to make her happy."
"I know," Mick said softly.
"She wants you, something about that kiss on the train," Fitz said bitterly causing Mick's heart to sink. "She mumbles about it in her sleep, and lately she's been napping in the lab trying to sort out this whole GH-325 situation."
"You know she's like a sister to me," Mick said firmly.
"Ey," Fitz sighed. "And I'm like just a friend to her, nothing more."
"What do you want me to do?" Mick asked as Fitz took in a deep breath, clearly uneasy about this whole ordeal.
"Make her happy again," Fitz mumbled.
"How?" Mick asked as Fitz kicked the stool and threw his arms about.
"I don't bloody know! Pretend she's Skye for all I care! I need to see her smile again. She's been stressed for so long, she needs to be happy! Even if it's because of you!"
Mick slumped against the wall, unsure of how to handle any of his. "Fitz," he sighed.
"Who knows, this may even help you move on from Skye, since she's clearly got a thing for Ward," Fitz said harshly.
"Fitz I'm not," Mick started as Fitz turned to him with a pleading expression.
"I'm not saying marry her, I'm just asking you to give her a bloody chance," Fitz barked, then turned and stormed out of the lab.
Mick walked up to the lounge, seeing Coulson with a look of displeasure. Ward, May, Blake, and Trip sat by the bar communing, Fitz and Jemma were no where to be seen, probably in their bunks.
"Where's Agent Sitwell and Agent Hand?" Mick asked Coulson. The Bus lurched as Coulson looked up toward the ceiling.
"Gone," he frowned. "I figured Hand wouldn't participate, but I wasn't counting on Sitwell being called off. Guess we'll just run three teams instead of four."
"Who get benched?" Mick asked as Coulson glanced over the others then back at Mick.
"I wouldn't consider it the bench," Coulson said as Mick quickly realized who was out. "Think of it more as protecting the others."
"This was your plan from the start wasn't it?" Mick asked as Coulson smiled slyly.
"Do you really think I'd want to leave the others unprotected after what we just went through with Skye?" Mick shook his head as Coulson smiled. "No hard feelings, right?"
"Nope," Mick sighed. "Oh, how mad would you be if I said I had a thing for Simmons?"
"A little surprised more than upset," Coulson said as he raised a brow. "I'll tell you like I told Ward and May. Don't compromise the team."
"Yes Sir," Mick nodded as Coulson seemed to frown a bit before Skye poked her head out of the holding cell.
"Agent Triplett," she called as he stood up with a smile on his face, then walked in.
"What's with that?" Mick asked as Coulson looked back at him.
"She's assigning teams, then we're heading to our drop zones," Coulson explained as Mick nodded. "Just make yourself comfortable, May's team will be the last dropped, then you'll be on guard while Fitz, Simmons, and Skye oversee the three teams."
"Deal," Mick said with a smile.
It took a few hours, Ward and Triplett were dropped off in near Miles Keynes Prison in the UK, the May put the Bus in overdrive flying to Fort Wayne, Indiana to drop Coulson and Garrett where they would head to Muncie, then finally landing in Atlanta, Georgia where May and Blake prepared to head out to Macon.
"If something goes wrong, there's an autopilot button in the cockpit, press it and the Bus will head straight to the Hub," May said sternly to Mick.
"Coulson will be mad if we left a downed Agent," Mick said as May glared.
"Coulson knows the risk in this play," May said as Blake climbed into the black SUV. "Don't be stupid, understood?"
"Yes Ma'am," Mick said with a frown.
"Take care of them, we should be back within three and a half hours," May said with her normal stoic tone.
"Be safe," Mick said reluctantly. He then watched as she backed out of the Bus, once off the ramp, he closed the hatch. Now was the hard part, waiting.
He returned to Mission Control where Simmons, Fitz, and Skye each sat on a laptop. "When they get within a mile of the target go ahead and send the text," Skye said happily.
"Don't you think this is quite risky though?" Fitz asked as Skye shrugged.
"I'm willing to try anything to take down a guy who can read our minds," Skye said with enthusiasm.
"I just don't see how that's possible," Jemma stated. "Mick, did you ever encounter a telepath during your search?"
"Telepath, no. Telekinesis, yes," Mick said as Skye seemed quite intrigued. "He wasn't that strong, could barely bend spoons with his mind, but still had to put him on the list because he had potential to get stronger. He lived in a small indigenous village near Canaan."
"I didn't know you went to Africa!" Fitz remarked.
"If I'm not mistaken, he passed away a year after I found him due to a horrible famine," Mick sounded remorseful.
"That's terrible," Jemma stated.
"Ward's team is closing in, how's Coulson?" Skye changed the subject.
"Looks like they're dealing with some heavy traffic, but they're making progress. Fitz stated.
"Just remember, once they cross into the mile radius send the message," Skye stated.
"Sounds like we've got some time," Mick stated. "Jemma, can we talk alone?"
Both Skye and Jemma stared at Mick curiously as Fitz looked at him with a smile and nod. "I guess so?" She replied. Mick's stomach sank, his only reason to this because of Fitz.
"Don't take too long," Skye said playfully.
They walked down to the lounge, when Mick paused. He turned to Jemma to see the curious expression on her face. She was quite a beautiful girl, extremely smart, sweet, it was quite easy to see why Fitz was head over heels for her.
"Everything ok?" Jemma asked. "You're staring at me very strangely."
Mick sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair nervously. He never usually had trouble talking to Jemma about anything, why was this so hard? "I'm sorry about earlier," he stated. "I can be pretty dense." She stared, seemingly annoyed.
"It's fine," she huffed, which prompted Mick to reach up to her cheek, brushing it lightly with his hand. Jemma's eyes widened, almost excited, but afraid at the same time. "What are you doing?" She stammered.
"Jemma," Mick whispered, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what to say while continuing to caress her face. The he gave up, leaning in to kiss her cheek. He was quite surprised when their lips met. Her arms wrapped around his neck pulling him down closer to her. They separated just as quickly as they kissed as Jemma beamed with excitement.
"You kissed me!" She gasped, grinning while biting her lip.
"Yeah," Mick smiled. "I'd been thinking about it for a while. I just," he stammered. "I didn't know how to express it."
Jemma quickly embraced him tightly. "So are we?" She said giddily.
"If that's what you want," Mick smiled, feeling the excitement radiating from her. She didn't answer, rather just hurried her head in his shoulder, squeezing tightly. "We probably should head back."
"We will, just one more though," she squeezed him, the intertwined her fingers with his as they returned.
The first thing Mick noticed was the mixture of happiness and hurt on Fitz's face as he saw Jemma's smiling face. Skye seemed quite intrigued as well, her eyes locking on their hands. "It's about time," she teased as Jemma bounced slightly before taking her seat.
"How's the teams?" Mick asked looking at the large map trying to keep the focus on the mission.
"Just sent Ward and Trip the message," Skye stated. "Apparently they're on foot, so it's still going to be a while cause it's a military base."
"And Coulson and Garret?"
"Dealing with unmarked construction, but at least they're close as well," Fitz stated.
"May and Blake are about thirty minutes out," Jemma said as she looked up at Mick with joy in her eyes.
"So far so good," Mick said. He couldn't help but be curious about how all of this was going to play out, the mission, and this new road he was on with Jemma.
"May to Hub!" Her voice broke the calm of Mission Control. "Deathlok is here! Blake is down!"
"What do we do?" Fitz panicked.
"Where is he?" Mick pulled comms to May.
"He left, destination unknown," May replied.
"What do you want me to do?" Mick asked frantically.
"Keep an eye out for Deathlok, Hand has a team in route to evacuate Blake. I think the Med team is going to fly us to the Bus, so go press the button," May said as everyone stared at Mick.
"Alright, see you in the sky," Mick said firmly, leaving mission control quickly heading for the cockpit just in case Deathlok was coming for them.
Once May landed in the Hub, Coulson and Ward rushed on board to check on the team, while several doctors carted Blake off. Mick, Jemma, Fitz, and Skye sat somberly in the lounge, awaiting orders. "Why do you think Mike was there?" Skye finally asked, breaking the silence looking over her laptop.
"Speculation won't bring any good answers," Jemma said as she leaned on Mick.
"Speculation is really all we've got," Mick sighed.
"No one else confronted their targets, but yet May and Blake came closest. Maybe Thomas Nash really is," Fitz started.
"I don't buy it," Jemma interjected.
"I'm not sure I do either, Simmons," Skye added. "I mean, it seems plausible, but something just isn't adding up."
"I agree, but given the evidence," Mick frowned.
"We can only follow what we know," Fitz sighed.
"Simmons," May walked in. "Go ahead and get your gear together. Hand wants you for a debrief on Deathlok."
Jemma stood up then nodded. She hastily went to her bunk while May raised a brow at Mick. She then motioned for him to follow her as she went toward the cockpit. Without much questioning, he followed orders.
"Coulson wants you to stay here with Jemma. Something about this whole situation is bothering him and he doesn't want anyone alone," May stated as Mick began to wonder. "Don't let Hand see you two like that either, she's not as forgiving as Coulson."
"I know, company time, inner squad relations," Mick stated as May's expression didn't change.
"I'm sure you already told Coulson?" Her tone was harsh.
"I asked permission before talking to Jemma," Mick said as May nodded.
"Don't hurt her, or you'll have to deal with me," May threatened as Mick nodded reluctantly. "Go get your gear, if anyone asks why you're leaving, send them to me."
After quickly grabbing his gear, he walked down to the lab, seeing Fitz and Simmons interacting in a much more relaxed manner than they had in a while. He opened the door quietly to not disturb them.
"You're only excited to use the Hub's more comprehensive facilities I'm sure," Fitz teased.
"Brilliant deduction Mr. Watson," Jemma replied stuffing a small box into her bag.
"That's funny," Fitz scoffed. "I've always pictured you more as Watson."
"Seriously?" Jemma muttered.
"Either way, you're going to need my help, eventually," Fitz said with a cheeky smirk.
"I wouldn't go that far," Jemma looked up to see Mick with his bag around his shoulder. "When did you get here?"
"Sherlock would know that answer," Mick smirked as Fitz chuckled, Jemma wasn't quite as amused.
"Don't you start either," Jemma scowled.
"You're being dropped here too?" Fitz asked as Mick nodded with a frown. "They're acting so strange."
"Agreed. It's like Hand doesn't trust us, and Coulson doesn't trust her," Mick groaned.
"That means direct contact isn't viable," Jemma moaned.
"So I'll Jerry up an encrypted line," Fitz shrugged. "It'll keep the rest of the Bus from hearing us, and if you handle your end, the Hub from hearing too."
The three nodded, then the doors slid open, with Agent Triplett standing there staring curiously at Mick, then glanced at Jemma. "Ready to go?" He asked.
"Agent Triplett, you're staying at the Hub as well?" Jemma asked as he nodded politely.
"Yeah," Triplett stated. "Figured with us together we can give the most up-to-date info on the cyber soldier."
"Then why not leave May?" Mick asked the immediately regretted it.
"Not my call, it was Garrett's idea. You don't mind the company do you?" He raised a brow at Mick.
"No, he doesn't," Jemma said as Triplett smiled. "Let's go then."
Mick started to follow when Fitz grabbed his sleeve. "Protect Jemma, I don't like the way he keeps looking at her."
"Deal," Mick nodded.
"Oh, and thanks for making her smile," Fitz said with a reluctant smile. Mick nodded before hustling to catch up with Triplett and Jemma.
"This place never ceases to amaze me," Triplett stated.
"It's amazing," Jemma said taking in the bustling facility as they entered.
"Yeah, it's really something," Mick frowned, then Triplett turned to him.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot," Triplett stated as Mick raised a brow. "Antoine Triplett, my friends call me Trip."
Jemma nudged Mick's ribs through her bag, then he reached out shaking hands with Trip. "Mick Bellouve, friends just call me Mick."
"Now that that's all settled," Jemma said cheerfully. "Can we find the lab, I'm sure all of our gear is heavy for Mick."
"Such a gentleman," Trip teased as Mick scoffed. "I don't know how often you two check in here, but lately Garrett's had us around a lot. I'll show you to the bunks, they're not as fancy as that jet, but they work. Once you get settled in, we'll contact Hand."
"Sounds great! I can't wait to see the lab!" Jemma exclaimed as she smiled up at Mick. He smiled back as Trip glanced curiously.
"Ward was right, you two are really close," he stated as Mick nodded. He never realized Ward watched that closely.
Hand's briefing was extremely long and thorough. Trip gave his full account of his encounter with Deathlok, then Jemma explained everything she knew about him. Hand then assigned a couple strike teams to rendezvous with Coulson at a horse racing facility in Pensacola, Florida where they discovered a satellite signal from a tracker Agent Blake shot Deathlok with. She was adamant she wanted Simmons in durning the mission, which only gave them an hour or so to settle into the lab before returning to the mission room. It was very amusing to see how excited Jemma was about the all of the equipment in the overly large lab, too bad it was quite short lived.
Upon their return, the wall sized screen showed several different feeds from team leads standing in separate groups with Coulson, Ward, May, and Garrett leading them. "I want two man teams sealing this parameter, no one gets in or out without express pets mission." Coulson demanded.
"Fitz how's the signal?"
"94 percent, he's got to be here," Fitz stated.
"Civilians?" May's voice came through.
"Not likely, this place has been closed for months," Fitz replied.
"Good," May said plainly. "Squad B, move out!" She demanded.
"Agent May runs quite the right ship," Trip stated.
"You have no idea," Mick stated. Hand cleared her throat causing Mick and Trip to fall silent.
"This isn't a surprise party, people, so you can toss stealth out the window. Our target's wearing body armor and has enhanced cybernetics. Make your shots count. Let's move," Garret demanded as the soldiers started forward.
"Keep track of our soldiers, we'll let Coulson handle his end," Hand ordered. "I want any footage of Deathlok analyzed."
"Yes Ma'am," her analyst responded from their computers.
The mission was going quite smoothly until May's squad encountered Deathlok. It was a short firefight, then he vanished. A few minutes later, Wards team called out. This time there were injuries, one of which was the team lead which only annoyed Agent Hand. Once the Med Team confirmed the injuries were minor, she was slightly relieved.
"I want a visual on Coulson!" Hand demanded.
"On it!" One of her leads replied as they began seeking him.
It wasn't too long before before one of the leads reached a small room full of monitors with various displays. There was a chair in the center of the room, where Coulson, Garrett, May, and Ward stood. The feed was very hit and miss, audio cutting in and out. The audio was too scrambled to make out what was going on. They all watched in silence, until an unmistakable sound pierced the scrambled noise.
"He didn't," Trip muttered.
"He wouldn't," Jemma gasped.
"Ward," Mick said in disbelief.
Seconds later the signal vanished completely. "What happened?" Hand barked. "Someone get us a feed from that area now!"
"There appears to be some sort of jammer," one of the analyst replied.
"Then break through it! I want a signal now!" Hand demanded.
"Does that mean you don't need us?" Mick asked as Hand rolled her eyes, shooing him away. He grabbed Jemma's hand leading her out of the large mission room.
"This is bad," Jemma muttered as they scampered through the halls.
"This is beyond bad," Mick stated. "They're going to bury Ward for that. And it'll be worse if Coulson tries to defend him."
"So what do we do?"
"We get started on figuring out why the Clairvoyant was so intent on getting his hands on GH-325 and what it really is," Mick said.
"But the Clairvoyant is dead," Jemma said softly.
"I heard it too, but something just isn't sitting right," Mick huffed. "Why would Mike just leave him exposed?"
"I didn't think of it like that," Jemma admitted as they stepped into the lab.
"You analyze the why of things," Mick smirked. "People are much harder."
Jemma reached up and kissed him, before pulling the vial from her pocket. "Who knows when we'll get to do that again," she teased.
"Thanks," Mick half smiled as he watched her go to work with machines he'd never seen before.
"First I have to extract some of the blood, then run it through this enhanced hemodialysis, maybe it can separate the GH-325," Jemma began muttering to herself. "And if this doesn't work, then I'll try the Centrifuge," she muttered as Mick just stared, not really following anything she was saying.
After some careful analysis, she jotted down her findings on her laptop, still not happy with being unable to extract the GH-325 from the sample. "It's like it simply overcharged her stem cells," she groaned.
"That's not normal," Mick stated as he leaned on the table beside her.
"Not at all," Jemma replied. "There are injuries the body just can't compensate for the resources needed. This serum not only healed her, but accelerated the process."
"Makes sense, took me a while to recover from that rock through my side," Mick frowned. "But yet here Skye is a few weeks out and she's moving around much better than I did."
Jemma's phone began to ring, startling both Mick and Jemma. "Fitz?" She stated. "What do you mean, I thought you were calling me with an encrypted line?" No sooner than she said it, alarms began to ring in the hallway.
"I wonder what's that all about?" Mick asked as Jemma shrugged.
"Were there any more signs of Mike Peterson? What's happening with Ward? Fitz?" She pulled the phone away, staring at it skeptically. "It's cutting out terribly! There's so much commotion here, I wonder if that has anything to do with this?" She placed the phone back to her ear.
Mick walked to the door, staring out while Jemma tried hard to get info from Fitz. "Jemma, sounds like they're calling everyone to the situation room. Lockdown protocol," he stated as Jemma stared curiously.
"Fitz they want us in lockdown, I've got to clean up in here!" She said then realized her phone was already disconnected. "This is bad!"
"Real bad," Mick walked over to his bag, pulling out two of his Chelicerae. "You clean up, I'll deal with whatever tries to come through that door."