Birds of a Feather | | Leo Fitz Book One

Chapter 46

"Fitz," Coulson said once more, "We can't do anything till you open that damn door. Skye, I need you to get on your laptop. Get wired in. See if you can get into SHIELD coms. I want to know where the hell we're heading, and why." His orders were sharp and precise, unquestionable. Yet still, Leo wavered, an action making Asia increasingly worried about her position, shut in this Lab with him. He couldn't be HYDRA, could he? No. No. It just wouldn't make any sense. She put her hands to her temples and pushed, applying temple, trying to make the overthinking go away.

Skye stepped towards the door, holding her arms out. "It's me guys. Seriously." There's was an annoyed twinge on her face, as if she wanted to be running the show and was frustrated with their noncompliance.

Reluctantly, Leo looked over his shoulder at Asia, then opened the door with a touch of his palm to a small pad. The glass slid open and Skye entered at a fast pace, making her way to the computers and firing one up. The light of the screen brightened the room significantly.

"Now tell me who Simmons is talking to," Coulson asked, looking coldly at Fitz, "Cause if it isn't someone we trust she's in serious danger." Leo swallowed hard, looking back and forth between his teammates. How had it come to this?

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Leo stood at one end of the Lab, staring across at May, who was staring back at him with her steely eyes. Neither blinked and neither moved, and neither fully trusted the other, not anymore. Meanwhile, Coulson and Asia studied Skye's screen as she tapped rapidly.

"It's all flooded with noise," Skye said once more with an aggravated sigh.

"What exactly do you mean by noise?" Coulson asked, studying the way she typed. While he knew basic hacking, as nearly all SHIELD agents did, he was nowhere on par with Skye. The level of computer knowledge she had was an incredible asset.

"I mean literally noise, across every S.H.I.E.L.D. communication channel," she said, pointedly striking a key that filled the room with white noise. "It's nothing. There's nothing, on any of the channels."

Asia's eyes widened. This didn't make any sense at all. Her immediate sense was to reach out to Nat and Clint. But she couldn't, she wasn't on their team, she wasn't reliant on them anymore. She had her own people to take care of now.

"Someone is using some sort of blanket signal to stop communications," Skye said, frustratingly typing more, attempting to break through. This was heavy level shit, whatever it was.

"Encoded data, maybe?" Leo suggested, still not taking his eyes off of May.

Coulson flicked an annoyed glance over at May. "Mind filling us in now?" May rolled her eyes and pressed her lips in a thin line. Coulson straitened to his full height. "We root you out, a mole, suddenly our plane shuts down, our communications jammed. You need to do some sort of explaining, now."

May looked over at Asia, then back at Coulson, gritting her teeth. "You ever stop to think I'm not the only one who could be a mole on this ship? I don't know what's happening. I wish I did. You have to believe me."

Asia narrowed her eyes. There's absolutely no way the other agent could know with certainty that she was sending messages on to Strike Team Delta. They were so few and far between, and so highly encrypted, and in code to boot. And even though it sounded like May was telling the truth, she was an amazing agent. It would be an easy facade, to fake such a lie.

"I don't have to do anything," Coulson replied. "And for the record, I don't. Believe you." He turned back to the screen.

As if on cue, a scratchy name hissed through the white noise playing out of Skye's computer. "Do you read? Do you read 6-1-6? Does anyone fucking read?"

"Where is that coming from?" Leo asked, tearing his eyes from May for the first time since they had all entered the room.

Skye was rapidly tapping away, already pinpointing the location. "Close, it's coming from close."

The second time the voice broke through, it was easily recognizable as Garrett. "Enemy aircraft, on my tail. Over."

Coulson picked up a receiver, calling his name back into the white noise.

"Coulson? Fuck is that you?" Garrett replied, almost sounding choked up, relieved. "I'm under attack. Drones. Five of them on my tail. I Repeat, S.H.I.E.L.D. drones are on my ass. We're not getting along. Do you copy?"

"Copy," Coulson replied, motioning for Skye to get an image pulled up on the big screen. "Garrett what the hell is going on? We've lost control of our ship."

"Fuck if I know," Garrett replied, "But I hope you've got guns on that ship, cause I'm heading your way."

In one swift motion, Coulson pulled out his icer and fired a shot into May's shoulder. The older agent let out a groan, passing out and slumping to the floor. The three younger agents stared at him with wide eyes but dared not breath a word.

"Fitz, can you manually get control of the weapons? Bypass whatevers taken control and override it?"

Leo glanced at May, then back at Coulson. "If I've got cables long enough, yea."

"Good," Coulson nodded before turning to Skye. "I need you to get past this signal. I don't want anymore surprises today."

Skye mock saluted before turning back to her screen and typing away.

"Monroe," Coulson said finally, looking her dead in the eyes. "When Fitz gets those guns up, you know what to do."

"Blow them out of the sky." She replied with a quick nod.

Coulson nodded in return, at an understanding. "Right. Blow them out of the fucking sky."