The Tales of a New S.H.I.E.L.D. | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [BOOK 1]

Chapter 6: Writing on the Wall

Coulson was deeply engrossed in carving his wall, jittery and intense. Sweat coated his brow, but he paid little attention to the jazz music playing in the background. As he pressed the knife into the wall, the tip snapped off. "Damn it," Coulson muttered, shaking his hand and turning away from the wall as the music abruptly stopped. Skye stood by the record player, her arms crossed, observing him.

"How long were you standing there?" Coulson inquired, a touch of surprise in his voice.

"Long enough."

Coulson nodded, unembarrassed by her presence.

"May gave us specific instructions: you go on a date with the crazy wall, I have to chaperone," Skye remarked.

"I didn't want to wake you."

Skye raised her eyebrows, gesturing at herself. "Do I look like I've been sleeping?"

He shrugged slightly, closing the blade of the knife. "What's keeping you up?"

"It's all connected, everything," Skye began. "It's all connected, everything. Ward has information about my father, who just happens to have the alien buzz kill device, which is somehow connected to the writing, which is related to the GH serum that is in our blood. Like we're pieces to a puzzle."

Coulson listened intently, fixating on the wall as she spoke. "Except we don't know what the puzzle is or how the pieces even fit."

"It's a hacker's worst nightmare, an everlasting gobstopper of firewalls."

"It wants us to know. I can feel it," Coulson expressed, a sense of determination in his tone.

Skye, confused, approached the wall to stand beside him. "Then it should tell us, because I have been trying to match the writing to constellation maps, navigational charts, genome diagrams. And if it's a map, it's a map to nowhere."

"I need you to stick with it," Coulson implored. "The writing's coming more and more frequently. Used to be two, three times a month. Then once a week. Now it's every day, every night. I can't turn it off."

"How do you function? When do you sleep?"

"That's why we need answers."

"And what if we don't find them?"

Coulson looked at her helplessly, unable to provide a reassuring answer. "Anything else?" he asked, turning away from her.

"When does May get back?" Skye inquired, watching as Coulson picked up a new knife and resumed carving.

"Not until we find Ward."

-------------------------------------------------------

"Senator Ward wants him alive." Coulson professed, tapping on a few buttons to reveal a map on the monitor in Coulson's office, to the team he sent on the field to capture Ward. He sent in Bobbi and Hunter to keep on his trail, with May taking point of the mission and assigning Trip to take him out, dead or alive.

"What do you want?" May asked from her cockpit.

"Bring him in...by any means necessary."

"Damn." They heard Trip muttering. "I don't know how, but he knows we're on him. He's got a dead man's switch and enough C-4 to take down the block." Trip watched helplessly as Ward made his way to the door.

Over comms, they heard a voice over the intercom announcing that a bus was boarding to Atlanta. "He's on the move."

"Do not engage. He's not bluffing. Keep an eye in the sky, May." Coulson ordered. "Have agents Hunter and Morse in position at the next stop. If we can't bring him in, at least we can see where he's going."

Skye entered the office behind, glancing at Coulson as he turned to face her. "We found Ward."

Her expression remained stoic, showing no emotion.