Renegade Rising || Leo Fitz Book Two

Chapter Seven

Leo Fitz stood there, ringing his hands together, staring at the box in front of his teammates. He knew what it was, but he didn't want to say it. He knew they had bypassed him for the cloaking technology. They were giving up on him. Like Jemma had given up on him. Like Asia had. He looked up at Mack, at Skye, at Trip. How could they? After all this time, how could they still not believe in him?

Asia had stepped backwards just in time, hiding behind the safety of Trip's tall form and a large cabinet. There was no way he would have seen her. She let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding in.

"Hey Fitz, how are you doing?" Skye asked overenthusiastically, trying to cover up the conversation they had just been having, sweeping it all under the rug. It was painfully obvious. Even though the intention was good, it came off sad and secretive.

But Fitz didnt even pay attention to her question. Instead, he tentatively moved forward, raising one shaky hand and pointing one finger at the glowing device. "T-t-that's the, ummm, the cloaking," he said hesitantly, trying to find the proper words before he actually spoke up. The simple sound of his voice made Asia's heart feel like shattering. It was her fault that he was stuck like this now, her fault he had been deprived of oxygen at the bottom of the ocean for so long. Her fault he had gotten hurt. Probably her fault that his therapy wasn't working too. The whole thing was her fault, all of it.

"Sure is," Mack grinned over at the smaller SHIELD agent, who was practically shaking inside of his large, grey sweater. It killed him to see Fitz this way, but it was also the only way he had ever known the man. And he knew that deep inside, there was still a brilliant scientist. It would just take time, but Leo Fitz was still an amazing SHIELD agent. Mack just wished the rest of them could see it, too. "Want to check it out?" He asked the scientist.

Fitz looked down at the device then up at Mack, blinking, unsure. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it without speaking a word. He couldn't make the words line up properly, didn't want to embarrass himself trying.

"I'm really looking forward to working on this thing with you," Mack continued, indicating down to the tech. "Honestly you weren't that far off from completing it. Not that I'm all that surprised. Check out the transmitter coil here," he pointed down at one small twig of metal. As Fitz stepped forward to look, Asia stepped backward, deeper into the shadows.

"Yea, erm, to, um, to negate....to negative the, the, resonant," Fitz said, slowly, peering down into the box. "No, um, not the resonant. T-That's...that's not what I meant, um..." he trailed off, biting at a piece of loose skin on his thumb.

"Take your time, Fitz," Skye said softly, looking at him with concern in her brown eyes.

Fitz glanced at her and turned around, running his hands through his hair with frustration. Words just didn't come so easily now. There was nothing he could do about it, but being constantly reminded never helped him, either. He wished they would just treat him a little bit more like normal.

"I think what he's trying to say," Mack spoke up, "And correct me if I'm wrong. Is that there's an audio component in here too, it inverts the sound waves to aid with the cloaking." He glanced at Fitz, who just nodded one time.

"Woah, so like noise canceling headphones?" Trip asked the two agents.

"Essentially, yes," Mack said with a nod, placing his hands on his hips. "To really keep an object completely cloaked, it can't have sound waves giving it away. It needs to be silent. Anyways, Fitz, any chance I can get your hand on this?"

"Erm, yes," Fitz replied, not so confidently. "I mean, w-with the circumstances, at, um, at hand. I...I think the big problem, erm, would, um, it would be the. It'd be in the. The materials," he furrowed his brow, still not entirely sure if that was right, if that was what he had meant to say. He glanced up at his teammates, who were all looking at him with concern and pity in their eyes. He hated the pity faces. "No, um, that's not quite what I meant. You'd...um, you'd have to alter them. You'd have to alter, the, uhhh..." He trailed off, letting his words float out into the open air, cheeks turning red with embarrassment.