X marks the spot

All Roads Lead...

Aaron was slumped in a chair. Still, the blood found ways to escape. Ruby paced as she watched Fitzsimmons do what they could to fix the device. His breathing was quick, but uneven. He looked down at himself, seeing the blood rush from him like a river.

Ruby, meanwhile, was practising with her own blade. Throwing it over and over again into the wall. It started out as every once in a while, then became a constant. That constant was an annoyance to Fitz.

An annoyance that finally led to a frustrated slam of his item on the table as he turned to the girl.

"Stop!" He demanded as Jemma placed a hand on his back to try and help calm him. She too tried to keep her own gaze from looking at the other member of their team in the room.

"Aw, but I'm enjoying myself. I don't really get out much. Aaron never really did either. Still, he did more than I ever did. Kind of jealous of that one. See New Orleans of all places –"

"It's not exactly what it's cooked up to be." Aaron struggled but managed to get through his words. Ruby, again, threw her disk. The thing planted itself next to him. Jemma jumped, tightening her hold on her husband. Fitz's frustration with it only grew more and more.

"Still, though. It does seem to keep you motivated." Ruby commented as she picked it up. Ruffling Aaron's hair like one would with a dog. Her version was rougher. A lot rougher.

"You want this machine fixed? I need no distractions. And, you doing that does not help Simmons help me. Please. I'm engineering, she's biotech. We're a team." Ruby considered his plea. Looking back to the dying person in the chair.

She approached that person now being faced with mortality, clicking in front of his face. It brought him back from the void. He leant back in his chair as he rolled his head around. Trying to get his bearings.

"Hey there, hotshot. So, your friend over there wants me to stop throwing this thing at you so they can both build that thing. What do you say?" It took a moment for Aaron to come up with a response. Or fully process the question.

"I'm already dying, Rube. Best not tempt fate anymore, huh? We know how that works out with me." She leant her hand on the crate that was behind him, tongue clicking as she thought about his answer.

"Alright." She agreed. As she put her disc away, she heard hushed whispering. Looking back up, she saw Fitzsimmons embracing one another. She looked back to Aaron, shaking her head in amusement. Before looking back to the boys' friends.

"Aw, you two are so cute. I ship it. I really do." Jemma turned to the HYDRA girl, trying to appeal to some sort of better nature. Begging her to reconsider. That they knew where it led.

"Jemma." She looked at her friend in the chair. He gave her a tired and lazy smile that slipped off quickly, "You can't bargain with a monster. Believe me, I've tried."

"Well, it worked once before, didn't it?" He coughed a little at Ruby's question, "Besides. You've tried and tried and tried. Over and over again to bargain with what's inside you, haven't you?" She crouched to his level. Pressing her hand against his chest.

"What really lives in there. And yet you fight it, each and every day. You never let it win. Why?" Aaron was silent, his tired and slowly fading eyes meeting her own gaze. Her one turned slightly amused at the lack of his answer. Before going full blown amused at Fitzsimmons' strong declaration.

"Because he's stronger and better than what they did to him." She even let out a little laugh at it. How sure they sounded. How confident they were that they were right. Ruby only kept her gaze on Aaron, watching as it fell even more. She knew him. The real him. One that only few had seen before.