Changes | Marvel

TWENTY EIGHT. The Devil Inside

"They call it 'La Garita Del Diablo'" Simmons informs us. "The devil's sentry." She translates. We were called down to the opening and now trying to enter the temple.

"Delightful." Fitz mutters.

"Yeah. The fort was built in the 18th century and helped repel some of our British ancestors when they tried to invade the island. But this particular guard tower was built in 1634 and is well-known as being haunted." She reads off the tablet. The square Mack was cutting in the ground finally broke off, revealing a hole that seemed endless.

"Jesus." I gape.

"Now, that's a deep hole." Mack utters.

"And haunted, apparently. Not scared of ghosts, though, are you Mack?" Fitz asks, going back to his tech.

"I mean of course not." He laughs off, but then looks at Simmons. "But w-what was that story?" I chuckle a little and sit at the edge of the hole with my feet dangling down. In the corner of my eye I could see Fitz watching me, almost looking like he wanted to stop me. Cute fatherly instinct right there.

"The story is, several of the guards went missing in the middle of the night from this tower, never to be seen again. They simply vanished. It's all preposterous, really." She waves it off but Mack just shudders.

"Yeah. About as preposterous as an alien city." We hear footsteps coming down the stairs and see Phil and Bobbi entering the room.

"How's it coming?" Phil asks. Fitzsimmons begin stuttering and trying to let the other talk.

"Uh well, um - You should-"

"Um - Why don't you-"

"No, it's fine. You-" I roll my eyes, seeing Bobbi narrow her eyes on where I was sitting. I shuffle back so my legs weren't hanging off anymore and she looked calmer. You can probably see by now that they all love acting like my guardians.

"Someone start talking." Phil orders.

"Uh, we are ready to deploy, sir." Fitz finally tells him. We all surround the hole, watching as 3 of the DWARFS start to descend into the pit of darkness.

"Would you like me to –" Simmons begins to ask but Fitz turns.

"No, no." I lean over to Bobbi who was smirking at the whole picture.

"Have you talked to Jemma about it?" I ask her. She nods, and I let out a low 'Ah' "They've been like this since you left." I mention.

"How long will it take to survey the tunnel and locate the temple?" Phil asks.

"Uh, it depends on several factors, like the Tec-Tec-Tect-" Fitz turns to Mack and I.

"Don't look at me." Mack raises his hands and I roll my eyes.

"Tectonic stress levels?" Simmons and I both tell him.

"Tectonic stress levels, yes, and the structural..."

"Structural integrity of the tunnels, how damaged they are." Simmons finishes for him.

"A-and how deep they go." Fitz adds.

"How will you know what the temple looks like?" Phil questions again.

"Well, we'll know it when we see it, I guess. We'll be depending entirely on the data the dwarfs send us." Beeping emerges from Fitz's hand and he crawls to look over the edge.

"What just happened?" Phil asks him, also looking over.

"Uh, the tablet's still working."

"Looks like they just went out." Mack says.