Hydra's Lair

Chapter 12

James found the spy scientist working at her station, it was late at night, and almost everyone else had left to go home already, if they didn’t live here that is. He stepped out of the shadows and quietly made his way forward until he could have reached out and tapped Simmons’ shoulder.

            “Jemma Simmons.” James spoke up, causing the woman to jump in fright and spin around to face him.

            “Oh, I didn’t expect someone to come looking for me.” Simmons tried to regain most of her composure. “Is there something you need?”

            “Information… I know what you’re doing, who you really work for.”

            Simmons smiled politely at him. “I’m just running some tests on that gem you found, for HYDRA of course.”

            “You work with S.H.I.E.L.D., do not lie to me.” James growled impatiently.

            Her façade dropped and she glanced around nervously for a way to escape. The remaining scientists looked towards them as they tried to hear their conversation but went back to work as James gave them a threatening look. He grabbed Jemma by the arm and dragged her into the nearest shadow before disappearing and reappearing in the lowest level where she could see her locked up companions.

            The guards saw him in the room and ran inside, James turned towards them before disappearing and reappearing behind them where he took out his hidden knife and stabbed both of them in the back before they could call for help. He wiped off the blood on the back of their uniforms before putting his knife away and walking back over to where Simmons was giving him a terrified look, the others were looking between them curiously as they woke up and walked to the front of their cells.

            “What’s going on?” Skye asked as glanced at Simmons.

            “You wanted information so I got Simmons, I guess I got a little impatient for answers too, because I couldn’t sleep with all the questions going through my head.” James replied.

            “Wait, you’re helping S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Simmons looked at him curiously.

            “I don’t know who I’m helping. I work for HYDRA but at the moment I don’t want them to hurt you guys… Them killing Kasey was the last straw.” James sighed and looked Simmons in the eyes. “Now tell us everything you know about what you’re doing with the gem.”

            Simmons glanced around once more where the others gave her a reassuring nod. “I’m not completely sure. All of us are pretty much working blind, just following our superior’s orders. What I can understand however is that this gem is a bit like the tesseract S.H.I.E.L.D. was working with. The energy readings are different though, the tesseract was more unstable in its energy while this one is completely stable and supplies a constant rate of energy that doesn’t waver despite all the energy we drain from it.”

            “But what does HYDRA want with it?” Lance asked.

            “To experiment on creating a human weapon.” Ward’s voice cut through the dark and they all turned to see him walk into the room. “I just delivered a traitor to them, they gave him an injection with project Time’s energy… it killed them.”

            “Why should we trust you?” Simmons asked in a hostile tone. “You betray all of us.”

            “Relax, he’s the one who told me about you, about trusting S.H.I.E.L.D., and how I need to help you.” James told her calmly.

            “How did the energy kill them?” May finally spoke up in her no-nonsense voice.

            “They aged so fast that by the time they died they were simply a skeleton with flesh on it.” Ward told her, though he cast a glance at Skye. “They sent me down here to get a prisoner to test on.”

            “Betrayer.” Lance hummed under his breath just loud enough for the others to hear.

            “You can’t be serious.” James looked at him. “You can’t kill them you said you would help their escape.”

            “That’s why I turned off the electricity in the upper levels, radars spotted an enemy jet on its way here about two miles out.” Ward smirked. “Looks like Coulson and the rest of your friends are coming to save you.”

            “About time.” Lance muttered.

            “Is he always so negative?” James asked as he turned to face the man. “It’s really getting on my nerves.”

            “You get used to it eventually.” Skye replied. “Turns into background noise.”

            James nodded and unlocked Lance’s cell before, Lance make another remark under his breath that he couldn’t hear, though James could guess it was sarcastic, before going over to May’s cell. He gave her a cautious look before putting in the code and stepping back as the door opened, to his relief she only gave him a glare though. Ward already freed Skye and James could see him trying to talk to her about something while she internally fought between believing him and hating him. He decided not to interrupt their conversation so he turned to look at the others.

            “You’re weapons are being stored outside this room, no one should be guarding them so you can go get them easily. I would recommend however that you don’t go off this level until your friends start their attack.”

            “So we just wait down here?” Simmons glanced around, not completely agreeing with the idea.

            “Unless you want to be caught by HYDRA agents before they’re distracted by all the shooting. A black out isn’t going to be enough to stop them from hunting you down in a second.” James replied as he leaned against the wall before murmuring the rest to himself. “Kasey should be escaping with us…”