Redback Widow II | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [9]

Heavy is the Head

"I still can't raise Hunter or Hartley on the comms," Skye said as we unboared the Quinjet. "Not surprised. Radio silence on the Op is protocol," I grunted, holding my shoulder where the bullet had entered. "Still, Hartley was in pretty bad shape when we left. Or you'd think we would've heard something by now," Skye pointed out. "No need to think the worse till it shakes your hand and says hello," Trip said. "That another one of your grandma's sayings?" I teased, making him chuckle.

"Fortune cookie. I had some Kung Pao Chicken the other night," he said. "Maybe Coulson's heard from them," Skye said as we approached him. "I need a full inventory of storage before Agent Koenig returns. Food, fuel, and ammo--understood? You got the Quinjet. Well done," Coulson praised. "Thank you, sir," we said at the same time. "Any word about Hartley?" Skye asked.

"Not now. Let Mack know the jet's here. I want him reverse-engineering that cloaking hardware right away. Sooner he does, sooner we get the Bus operational again," Coulson said. "Roger that," Trip said. "And Asya--stop being a rhino and get that wound looked at," I sighed, nodding and heading into the main base. I made a beeline to the medbay, grabbing some tape, some gauze, a needle and thread, and some tweezers. Sitting between two mirrors, I pulled my shirt off and using my reflection, pulled the bullet out, stitched it up, and taped some gauze on it.

"Did you just pull a bullet out yourself?" I looked over as I pulled my shirt down, seeing Trip. "If you think that's bad, I need to tell you about Belfast," I said, smirking. "Where have you gone on missions?" He asked randomly. "Belfast, Bucharest, Belgrade, Barcelona, Bologna, Budapest. I like the Bs, I can make 'em rhyme," I admitted.

-

"Uh-huh. Let's take a peek under the hood," Mack said, opening one of the panels. "Fitz would be crushed if he saw this. He's been working on cloaking since before Simmons took off," Skye said. "Still can't believe she abandoned him like that," Trip said. "She abandoned all of us," I said, an edge to my voice. "But Fitz has been clinging to his work like a lifeline, and--" Skye said.

"Maybe we shouldn't tell him," Trip suggested. "Coulson wants a retro version of this for the Bus. He said that no one knows the avionics on this thing like Fitz," Mack said firmly. "Think he can handle it?" Trip asked. "I don't know, why don't you ask him?" We looked over to see Fitz walking towards us. "Hey, Fitz," Skye greeted.

"Hey, what's up, man?" Trip said. "How are you?" Skye asked. "So that's the, um...that's the..." God, I knew they said it was bad, but I didn't know it was this bad. I hadn't seen him much, I was always running missions to try and get S.H.I.E.L.D. back on its feet. "Cloaking, in all its glory. You know, you weren't that far off. Check out the transmitter coil," Mack grinned. 

"Yeah, to negate the--the resonant--the...the--the resonant...? No, um...the, uh..." Fitz stuttered. "I-it's okay. Take your time," Skye said softly. "Uh, what he's trying to say is there's an audio component to cloaking that inverts sound waves, too," Mack explained. "Like noise-canceling headphones?" I asked. "Yeah, same concept. You think you can give me a hand with this?" Fitz whipped around.

"Um, u-under the circumstances, uh...well, the trick is you would...n...the trick--the trick would be in the meta-materials. Uh, oh! Yeah, but you'd have to alter the, um...uh...yeah, could everyone just stop talking for a second? No, sorry. Gonna have to go," it broke my heart seeing him like this. It felt like only yesterday when he could barely get his words out from excitement and would ramble on and on about things I could never understand, a big smile on his face. Now it was...it was this. And I hated this. "It's like sometimes he's the same old Fitz, and other times..." Skye trailed off.

"Not," Trip finished. "I'll take your word for it. Meantime, I'm still gonna need an extra pair of hands. Is everyone back from the mission?" Mack asked. "Not everyone," Skye admitted, before walking off.

-

"He couldn't have gone far. Local authorities have his description. Roadblocks are up," I objected. Trip, May, and I were in Coulson's office, discussing Creel. "Talbot's people are still out there," Coulson said. "Why was Creel at the bar?" Trip asked. "He was waiting for someone. We just don't know if that person ever showed," May said. "We need a solve for Creel's powers. And we need it yesterday. How's the lab coming?" Coulson asked.

 "Nothing yet," Trip admitted. "You remember that encrypted HYDRA frequency we shut down? Well, it's back up," Skye said, coming into the room with a tablet. "Someone sent a message," Coulson observed. "A message for us with a number to call," Skye added. "Yeah, could be Creel," I said.

"Creel? A phone number? What, is he lonely?" Trip asked. "Call the number," I said before Skye could say anything that would give me second-hand embarrassment. "Hello?" A feminine voice asked. "Who is this? Coulson demanded. "Agent Coulson, I'm glad you got my message," she said.

"Raina, as I live and breathe," I sighed through my nose, peeved at the mention of the bitch in the flower dress. "It's been a while since we've spoken," Raina observed. "I'm kind of in the middle of a manhunt. Can we make this quick?" Coulson asked. "Why? You need time to trace this call, don't you? I take it, then, you haven't tracked down Creel or the item he stole," she said. "What do you know about that?" He asked.

"I know HYDRA's about to get their hands on it," she said. "Well, congratulations," he said. "Let me be clear. Mr. Creel is working for HYDRA. I am not," she snapped. "Why the breakup? Bad dental plan?" Coulson asked. "HYDRA has only one thing on their minds--world domination...which is so 1945," she scoffed.

"What do you want, Raina?" He asked. "It's what I don't want, which is the Obelisk falling into the hands of people who don't understand it. I'm thinking you might," she said. "And I'm thinking you're gonna tell me why," Coulson observed. "John Garrett understood it. The moment he was injected with the same drug that saved you, he had visions. He started carving those visions into the walls," she said. "Garrett was a madman. You're not calling to talk about fate. You want us to catch Creel," Coulson realized.

-

"The moment that tracker's frequency comes through, I want everyone on the move. If Creel's handing off the item to HYDRA, we need to see where that leads," Coulson ordered as we headed down the hall. "What if Creel melts down again? The lab hasn't figured out how to shut down his powers yet," Skye said. "If he's an immediate threat to civilians, Trip and Asya have the backup plan," Coulson said. "What kind of backup plan?" Skye asked. "The heavy-duty kind with armor-piercing rounds," Trip said.

"Will that work?" Skye asked. "Get close enough to him, catch him off guard..." Hunter said, approaching. "Hopefully, we won't have to find out," Coulson said. "Maybe you should for future reference! Or fun!" Rue called from down the hall. "Where do you want me?" Hunter asked, ignoring the ex-assassin.

"That depends. Can you follow an order?"

-

"Trip, Asya, are you in position?" May asked. "Locked, loaded, and looking...found him. He's got the package," Trip reported. "The package is still in place. Wonder why Creel hasn't made the exchange yet. Can we get a laser mike on him? Skye, you copy?" I asked. "Skye?" Trip asked as I looked to see Hunter with a gun in his hand. "Oh, hell no," the ICERs hit us both, sending us to the ground, our guns clattering down beside us.

When I jolted awake, Hunter was nowhere to be seen. "Trip. Trip!" I slapped him on the arm, walking him up. "Huh? Where's Hunter?" He asked, shooting up. "He's gone. And so is Creel and everyone else," I said, looking outside to see an empty plaza. "Son of a bitch turned on us," he grumbled.

"Yeah, um...team's gone. We're stuck," I told him, standing up and pulling him up. "What do you mean, gone?" He asked, and I pointed towards the window. He glanced out, before signing and running a hand down his face. "You know, I've been thinking about what you said," I admitted. "Where are you go--" before he could finish his sentence, I pressed my lips against his.

He froze for a second, before kissing me back with equal force. I felt my body relax, my arms wrapping around the back of his neck as his hands found their way to my waist. It felt like some sort of weight vanished from the air. Eventually, we pulled back for air. I rested my forehead against his, smirking.

"Does that answer your question?"