Birds of a Feather | | Leo Fitz Book One

Chapter 38

The monitor suddenly began to flash from red to green, a heartbeat starting to rapidly fly on the screen. Asia let out of choking gasp of relief. The heartbeat continued to pick up steadily, and everyone in the room turned astonished, happy heads towards Skye. Then suddenly, the monitor goes back to red, her stats still rising, higher and higher. Skye began to take in deep, squeaky breaths, her back arching in a terrifying way.

At that point, every single agent in the room started shouting on thing or another, at no one in particular. It wasn't until Skye's body let out a gasp and fell down, back to a normal, flat position, and her vitals returned to a solid, pulsing green. Everyone froze.

"Her heartbeat," Jemma muttered, studying Skye with a scientist's gaze. "She's stabilizing herself."

"Could someone please just tell me what we saw?" Ward asked, panic filling his tone. It was blatantly obvious to Asia how deeply Ward cared about the other brunette girl on the team.

Asia stepped forward, standing closer to Skye, resting one small hand on her wrist. Her pulse was running at a normal relaxed pace.

"I don't know," Jemma admitted with a frown, biting her lower lip. "All I know is that it worked." While the entirety of the team looked relieved, there was a look on Coulson's face that made Asia very worried,made her feel the small vial inside of her pocket. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. She needed to send the liquid back to Nat and Clint as soon as she could.

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It was several days later when the Bus landed on the aircraft carrier. And then several high up agents were boarding their plane, including Agent Hand, much to Asia's dismay. She still disliked the woman ever since she forbid her to see the information on Ward and Leo's mission, ever since she sent them in without a extraction plan. And she had no qualms with showing it.

She sat in the meeting room of the Bus, on one of the plush, tan couches, Ward standing next to her, hand resting politely on her shoulder. She flicked her gaze towards his hand, then up at her friend's chizzled face.

"Someone has to hold you back," he muttered with a shrug as the other agents finally walked into the room, lead by Coulson. Asia gritted her teeth reflexively.

"Apologies for the long song and dance," Coulson said, relaxing onto one of the long couches. "But we brought you here as a precaution."

"What sort of precaution?" Agent Sitwell asked, lights shining off of his bald head, causing a shiny glint.

"The Clairvoyant," Coulson said with a sigh, still unsure if he actually wanted to admit there was someone with these sort of mind reading powers. "If there is someone out there who can read minds, at least up here we're as far away from him as possible."

Agents Sitwell and Blake looked at each other, eyes slightly widening. The only small tell at their mild shock.

"Figure maybe the northern lights will knock a few bars off his psychic wi-fi," Garrett said, picking at his teeth with a thin toothpick, flashing a cocky grin.

Agent Blake pursed his thick lips. The stress of this sort of thing is exactly what made his hair go so gray. "Coulson you know S.H.I.E.L.D.'s stance on psychics, they don't exist."

Asia rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. She fought back a deep sigh.

"Do you have something to input, Agent Monroe?" Agent Blake asked her, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

Asia frowned. "I do, actually. I know S.H.I.E.L.D. may not 'believe' in psychics, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. We didn't know Asgard existed until a few years ago, and now we know of many new worlds. Who's to say there isn't a psychic who has just been in hiding all these years?"

Agent Hand turned to Coulson, furrowing her brow. "And suddenly you're a believer?" she asked him.

"Not definitively. But I had a recent experiences with an Asgardian who could bend people's will with her voice." Coulson said, noting their last mission. Asia subconsciously touched her elbow, it was still bruised from the fight. She could see Ward and May exchange a glance out of the corner of her eye. "Forced me to open my mind, so to speak," Coulson said with a shrug.

Garrett could sense the tension in the room, and it made him want to smile. Usually he fed off of this sort of thing. But instead, this time he chose to attempt to defuse. " All we know for sure is the Clairvoyant has been a step ahead of us, stealing plays from our playbook."

"And it's pissing me off." Coulson said, smacking his hand on a table nearby. "I take it you've all read Agent Garrett's latest report?"

"The hit on the safe house," Sitwell said with a quick nod. "Mr. Peterson's alive and kicking."

"We call him Deathlok," May said coolly. The name had stuck well with the rest of the group, might as well share it. Afterall, as far as they knew, he wasn't really Mike Peterson anymore, anyways.

"It was his projects codename," Ward affirmed with a sharp nod.

"Agent Garrett and I have been following him for a few weeks," Trip pointed out, moving over and sitting in the chair next to Asia.

"We think the Clairvoyant's super-solider bodyguard came after us for a reason. We're getting close," Garrett confirmed, "If last week didn't tell us that. There were definitely some shots that got too close for comfort."

"To what?" Hand asked skeptically, in that tone that made Asia want to gag. "His identity?"

Garrett and Trip exchanged a knowing look, and Trip nodded ever so slightly. It was almost imperceptible. "We've narrowed the list to 13 candidates," Garrett said finally. "Like I said, close."

"Narrowed it how? From what?" Agent Blake asked, his lips still pressed tightly together. Asia glowered at him, but he didn't notice.

"Agent Garrett has been taking a second look at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s gifted Index, specifically the rejects," Agent Coulson explained, tapping on his tablet and bringing some names up onto a small screen, and videos of interviews.

"Individual's S.H.I.E.L.D. interviewed who are believed to have psychic abilities but were ultimately dismissed," Garrett affirmed. "They might have some beef with S.H.I.E.L.D. for being ignored."

"So..." Sitwell said, studying the videos that played on screen. "You think we've encountered the Clairvoyant before?"

Coulson nodded, "Think how many cases we've encountered across the globe, how many cases we vetted. It's more than possible, it's probable. I think Garrett is on track when he says they could be spiteful of being denied classification."

"I need more coffee for this," Blake sighed in frustration.

Agent Hand flicked her eyes towards Blake, then back to Coulson and Garrett. "Let's assume what you're saying is possible. What then? If we're going up against an actual clairvoyant, how do you suggest we combat that?" She crossed her arms over her chest, wrinkling her black suit jacket.

"A member of my team is an expert at pattern recognition and analysis, finding needles in haystacks," Coulson said, obviously talking about Skye. The real question now became, would Hand allow her participation this time. Last time, it hadn't gone over so well, and Skye had been removed from the ship. Yet, she had still managed to find Coulson. She was good, Hand had to see that. "She'll prioritize the candidates on Garrett's list, locate them, then pair us off into random teams."

"That way only one person knows the full scope of the mission," Garrett nodded, "And this son of a bitch won't be able to read any of the guys coming after him, because their information will be split."

"You do understand that this person you're referring to, she'd need to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to be granted that level of access," Hand said, brow furrowing.

"I'm glad you brought that up," Coulson said with a smile.