Birds of a Feather | | Leo Fitz Book One

Chapter 59

Skye had Ward on the phone, and finally, finally, Asia was able to let out the breath she had tightly clenched inside her chest. As Agent Koenig lead Coulson away for some sort of private chat, Asia walked over to a nearby countertop and leaned her elbows on it, pushing back her hair and breathing deeply. They were all safe, so far. This was not the time for a breakdown, and she had to remind herself of that. Straightening, she turned, catching Leo's gaze. He gave her a small nod, and she nodded back. Everything was okay. Ward was on his way to the base, and then they could figure out their next step in this crazy process.

With Koenig gone, Asia began to search the room at rapid pace, checking inside every cabinet, under every table, looking for something, anything, out of place. But there was nothing, not one hair out of place. Everything was as Agent Koenig had said, and it seemed to be just another secret base. It still bothered her that there were no others, but orders were orders. "What now?" she asked, turning to May.

May sighed, looking at her watch. "Wait for Coulson, I guess. Not long till that satellite spots the Bus, though," she murmured in response.

Thankfully, it wasn't long until Coulson and Koenig returned. "May, go get the Bus, Koenig has set up the parking ramp for you and can give you directions," was Coulson's first order. May nodded quickly and was gone without a sound. "Skye, what was the news from Ward?" Coulson asked, brows furrowing, preparing for the worst.

"He's all good, made it out, sounded okay," Skye said with a smile, rubbing her hands together. "I gave him the coordinates and directions to get here, he should be here in a few hours, maybe less, if we're being optimistic." She couldn't keep the smile tugging at her lips off her face, and it caused Asia to smile too. Things had clearly taken a step forward with the two, in the right direction. They were no longer pretending there was no feelings there.

It made Asia happy, to see Skye and Ward working things out. Ward had been such a good, longtime friend, and she was glad to see him finally heading towards a stable relationship. It wasn't easy for people like her and Ward to ever get something like that, what with all the missions, and the killing, and the scars. Lately, Asia had to admit her body looked more like Raggedy Ann than it did Barbie. Not many people found that appealing.

"Good," Coulson said with a quick nod. "In that case, we can all settle in until he gets here. Koenig, can you show them their rooms? Showers maybe? No offense, but you're all starting to smell."

"Right back at ya, big guy," Skye said with a roll of her eyes, glancing over at Asia. Agent Monroe smirked back at her. But, admittedly, the idea of a shower sounded like heaven.

"Of course, Agent Coulson," Koenig replied, giving him a small salute. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, right this way," he waved Jemma, Leo, Skye, Asia, and Trip to follow him down a dimly lit hall. When he clapped his hands, the lights in the hall became a notch brighter. "Nice touch, huh?" he glanced over his shoulder. Skye and Asia exchanged matching looks but didn't voice an answer.

After making a couple turns, they came to a line of doors numbered one through eight. "One belongs to Coulson, two will probably go to Agent May. The rest, have at it. They're all the same, just your basic bunk and dressing area." Koenig said, turning and leaving them to their own devices.

"Seven is my lucky number, dibs on that," Skye said, pushing forward and entering the small room. Jemma stepped towards door three.

"I'll take four then," Trip said with a nod, leaving Asia and Leo to decide over the last two.

"Either is fine by me," Asia said with a shrug, glancing at him. "Do you have a preference?"

"I'll take five, I suppose. Six is yours then, yea?" He said, scratching the back of his head.

"Works for me," she replied with a quick smile, "I'll see you in a bit then." Grabbing the handle to door six, she entered the bedroom and disappeared inside.

Koenig wasn't lying, the rooms were very bare. The walls and floor were the same shade of grey. The bed was small, an extended twin, with a black metal frame. There was a desk on one wall, and a coat rack beside it. A fake window was on the back wall, displaying a picture of the beach in Hawaii. On the desk was a small remote. Pulling out the chair, Asia sat down and grabbed it, aiming it at the window and pressing the right arrow.

The scenes began to shift, giving her an image of the mountains, of downtown New York City, and several others. Finally she stopped, on a gentle, calming image. It was a small cabin made of stone sitting beside a river. A wooden fence ran beside the river and there was a small cobblestone path leading down to the riverbed. Mist was wafting up from the stream and the grass was the greenest colour she had ever seen in her life. In the river were a couple tiny fishing boats and the background was dotted with trees. She leaned forward to read the small description in the lower right corner: "The Highlands, Scotland, Europe." A small smile touched her lips.

After getting completely settled in, Asia opened the closet, looking inside to see what she could find. There were plenty of empty hangers, and on one was a white terrycloth robe. Grabbing the gentle fabric, she removed the robe and hung her leather jacket in its place. When they had been in the hall, she had seen a small sign for the women's showers and rest room, beside the men's, on the opposite side of their bedrooms. Now was as good a time as any, before things for too crazy again. Slipping off her combat issue clothing, she wrapped the robe around her bare form, cinching it tightly at the waste, and grabbed a towel out of the closet to bring with her.

The washroom was empty when she arrived, which was just fine by her. She could have a moment of peace and quiet, a moment of reflection. Moments of quiet were so rare these days. The nice thing about Strike Team Delta, was they understood the need for quiet. Even Clint, chatty, dad-joke Clint Barton, knew there were nights were they needed to just sit around the fire, drinking shitty beer, and not speak a work. And while she loved her new team, every single member, she wasn't sure that was a concept they quite understood.

Turning on one of the small shower stalls, she hung her robe on a nearby hook and turned to face the full length mirror, eyeing her body. There were old scars and new, dotting her up and down, like constellations, though she would never see them as pretty as that. Each one had a story behind it, and each one she found ugly. The darkest ones were the most prominent, permanent marks of how she had fucked up in that mansion, how Ian Quin had got to her, how he had shot Skye. They were constant reminders that when she got too close, people she cared about got hurt. Somehow, it seemed, everything she touched got hurt. And that was why she always wanted a barrier up, why friends were dangerous for her to have. Stepping into the shower, she let the scalding what burn her skin red and relaxed into the steam. In here, she couldn't hurt anyone. In here, she could simply disappear.