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

The Things We Bury

Location: Oahu, Hawaii

"What are we gonna do, storm Oahu?" Coulson asked, coming in with a case. "We don't know yet," Skye said. "Ditch the guns. Take this," Coulson held out a device. "What is it?" Skye asked. "It's a watch. Deliver it to Cam, the owner of the Kahananui Repair Shop. Here. It'll need the following inscription--Dearest Darren, I count the seconds we're apart. Love, your island flower. You got that?" Coulson instructed. 

"Island flower, got it. Anything else?" Skye said. "If it starts to leak any fluids, drop it, run," he instructed. "This does not sound like a watch," she observed. He gave everyone a strange mission that seemed like normal errands, and I was instructed to stay on the Bus. Yay. 

Trip came into the cockpit, and I slid on the headset, starting to flick all the necessary levers. "You guys might want to take a seat. This might be a bumpy ride," I advised, pulling the Bus into the air and pointing us towards Australia. 

-

Laura Creek, Australia

"The satellite network we need to map the Earth and find the city is controlled by the U.S. Air Force facility at Kaena Point, Oahu, and it's too heavily guarded to infiltrate. Which is why we came to Australia instead. There's a small station here that comes online whenever Kaena Point's feed goes down," Coulson said. "But Kaena still needs to go down," I pointed out. "You already took care of that. The watch and the button are two pieces of a Trojan horse. They'll take down the base's feed," Coulson revealed. "Man with the plan," Trip muttered, and I started humming the tune to Star-Spangled Man with a Plan absentmindedly. "Once per quarter, General Cole inspects Kaena Point. This time, he'll meet the new relay commander," he continued.

"Let me guess--Commander's name is Darren," Skye said. "That's right. And since he's new, introductions will be made. On their own, these two pieces are harmless, undetectable to security. But as they near each other, they'll power up an EMP, and boom--kiss your wi-fi, your coffee maker, and your top-secret satellite feed goodbye," he finished. "And the Australian one comes online," I said. "We'll have roughly six minutes to patch a backend into the network. Trip, Asya, you'll provide backup. Fitz, you'll install the transceiver to let Skye hack the network so that we can find out if this city exists once and for all," Coulson instructed. "All because a general got too fat for his jacket," Trip grinned.

"Fitz, how are you coming with the transceiver patch?" Coulson asked. "I've got it down to seven minutes, twenty seconds," Fitz admitted. "That's not good enough," Coulson said nervously. "No, that's with my bad hand. With both, I can do it, definitely,"

-

The door buzzed and we moved in, weapons hot. "This doesn't feel right. Skye, you reading us?" Coulson said. "Standing by with Geek Squad. Paddington and Time Lord are closing in. EMP ready in forty seconds," Skye reported. "Copy that," Coulson said. "Skye, there's something jamming us--" Coulson started.

"Down! Down! Ambush!" Trip yelled suddenly, bullets spraying towards us. I rounded the corner, firing shots at the men before ducking around again. A couple of men fell, but that didn't stop the stream of bullets. The noise of gunfire drowned out anything else, but I saw Coulson and a few others running past. I joined Coulson, covering the innocent workers, hearing gunshots in the distance.

I rounded the corner, taking out a guy before spotting Trip on the ground. "Ah, damn it, Trip. Trip, talk to me," Coulson said nervously. "He's gonna bleed out. We need to stop it," Fitz said. "I can help," I looked up, seeing a raggedy looking man watching us. "I'm a doctor," he said.

-

"If I let go of this clamp, he dies. I just sliced this man's brachial artery. Mr. Coulson, hand me the gun," the 'doctor' said. "You too, both of you," reluctantly, I passed my gun to the deranged man. I could fight without it. "You'd use this man's life as a bargaining chip?" Coulson asked. "An opportunity, actually--to get out of this sticky situation. And we get to know each other a bit," the man said.

"Skye wouldn't want Trip to die," Coulson said. "She's not here, is she?" He asked eagerly, and Coulson shook his head. "That's a relief. I'm only gonna get one chance at a first impression. This doesn't look very good," he said. "You've already made an impression--pile of bodies, going to work for Whitehall, I don't think it's good for Skye to--" Coulson started. "You're not her father! You're S.H.I.E.L.D., who took her from me. I need Whitehall. The end will justify the means," the man, Skye's father, said.

"The end. And that's gonna happen in the city we're both here to find?" Coulson asked. "Yes. I anticipated you'd be close, but you're already...trying to map the Earth. I guess we had the same idea. Whitehall didn't even know about the city until I turned him onto it. He thinks the Diviner is just a weapon. He has no idea of its true power, of what's inside. Oh. There's something inside," he said. "What are we talking about? Tesseract-level power?" Coulson asked. "Sure. I don't know what that is," he said. "You do realize we're talking life and death here," Coulson pointed out.

"I know. It's exciting, isn't it? I mean, both sides racing to the temple, life and death, flesh and blood, emotions! Who knows how it'll shake out? All I know is, my baby's gonna be right there in the center of it," okay, this dude was clearly a psychopath who needed to stay at least two million miles away at all times. "I know you want to meet her," Coulson said softly. "Oh, I can't wait. I mean, I have to wait for the right circumstances, but--" he started. "'Cause if you let this man die, Skye will never--" he started. "That's not her name!" I flinched at the loud sound, hearing my heartbeat in my eardrums.

"And I won't let him die. I'm gonna tell you just how to save him, but the girl has to come with me," he said. "Under no circum--" Coulson started. "I'll go. Tell them how to save him," I said, cutting him off. "Is this love, agent?" He asked. "Love is for children," I snapped, crossing my arms.

"And you hate being called a child, don't you, Iva Yakovna?" My jaw set at the sound of that name. "Two syringe packets inside. Sorry. It's a bit of a mess in there. When I release this, you're gonna pump his wounds full of that clotting agent as fast as you can if you want to save his life. And apply pressure, okay? Here we go," he said. "We'll find you. And when we do, you and I are gonna finish this conversation," Coulson warned. "I look forward to it," he grabbed my arm, dragging me away. "Fitz! Quickly, Fitz, quick," Coulson exclaimed.

"Okay, done," Fitz said. "Get the other one ready. Okay. Hold on, Trip. Hold on. Okay. Come on," that was the last I heard of the team.

-

I sighed, leaning back against the stone wall of my cell. "Well, well, well. Look what we have here," I tilted my head forward, seeing Ward standing in front of the bars of my cell with a smirk on his face. "Отъебись, Ward," I sighed. "You know, you really should be more polite," he said, crossing his arms. "Says the man who betrayed his team for a deluded son of a bitch," I snapped.

"I'm surprised the team even kept you around. Do they know what you've done?" He asked. "Nope, and neither do you," I snapped. "No, I don't. But she does," A tall blonde woman stepped out of the shadows, and my muscles tensed. "Shirmanova. How far you have fallen from grace," Madame B. sneered. "I was never in grace, to begin with. And my name's not Shirmanova," I shot back.

"Ah, yes. What do you call yourself now? Chebotaryova? A weak name," she scoffed. "Stronger than yours," I snapped. I was tense. Madame B. knew which buttons to push. And she was about to start pushing them.

 "You don't understand. No matter how hard you try, you can never leave the Red Room behind. You will always be that lost, weak little girl that cried over the death of your friends. The one that was molded into a merciless, cold-blooded assassin that could pin a fly to the wall without killing it. I will always be there, whether it be physically or mentally. You will never leave us.

"You never even left us in the first place,"