Renegade Rising || Leo Fitz Book Two

Chapter Seventeen

They had a map. Asia tried to assure herself of that one, single, constant thing, as they rode in the black SUV back to base. Mack was driving, Coulson in the passenger seat, and herself and Skye in the back seat. They had just almost killed Coulson. And he had almost strangled a TAHITI patient, until they both saw what they needed to see. The map. They had the map. And it wasn't entirely a map, but a blueprint. All they needed now, was a plan.

These were the things Asia kept reminding herself as she shifted a single bullet in her lithe fingers, flip, flip, flip. A bullet she had just almost blew into their Director's head. This alien writing, this alien city, it had them all set a notch extra high on edge. But the first step to beating that was recognizing the problem. Assessing the stress instead of ignoring it. And Asia had definitely assessed it. All she had to do now was figure out her own attack plan.

The ride to the base was utterly, uncomfortably quiet, event for Agent Monroe, who had spent the past few months in utter, internal isolation, blocking out conversations more than ever hearing them. Now, she craved one of her teammates to speak, to crack open this iced over river of awkwardness. They all felt the weight of what had just happened.

When they drove down the ramp, into the Playground, Coulson turned so he could see all of them. "What just happened, that stays between us. I'll brief Agent May on an update with the alien writing, but the details of this mission stay classified. Understood?"

Numbly, the three nodded, though Asia noted Mack hesitated just ever so slightly.

"Good," Coulson continued. "Now return to your bunks. Rest. Because by this time tomorrow, I hope we'll be neck deep in the next steps of uncovering this blueprint—finding out what it's a blueprint of. I have a few hunches, and a few pieces of a plan. Give me the night to put it in motion. Until then, please, seriously. Try and take a chill pill." It seemed Asia wasn't the only one noticing how tense they all were.

While the others hesitated, Asia grabbed her bag and hopped out of the car and made a beeline for the door, badging herself in before anyone had even moved an inch. She was going to change out of her combat clothes and maybe watch a movie or something. Actually attempt to let some of the tension out of her shoulders. Maybe Jemma would want to join her, though admittedly she was probably with Trip if she wasn't working in the Lab.

Hanging her jacket up in her closet, she tossed this days pair of combat pants into the hamper and pulled on a pair of dark grey capri sweats, and a mint green hoodie. Casual, she took a deep breath, she could be casual. She could let the guard down. Forcing what she thought might have resembled the inklings of a smile on her face, she headed back out into the halls and towards the lounge area, where a plush, leather couch and a tv would be waiting.

And, as expected, the TV was waiting, but it wasn't alone. Sitting, hunched over a video game control and muttering obscenities at the screen, was Lance Hunter. Asia sighed to herself, before moving forward and throwing herself onto the other end of the couch lazily, yawning for good measure. Hunter sat up straight, setting down the controller and looking over at her.

"You....what are you doing here?" He asked, confused. "You don't like me...you don't like people."

Asia rolled her eyes, muttering, "Never said I didn't like people." She looked over at him and the corner of her mouth twitched up in a small smirk, then she looked back at the TV screen, nodding her head towards it. "What are you playing?"

"Nothing much, just one of the throwback zombie slaying games," he glanced down at the controller in his hand, then back up at her. "You want to play? I can restart, we could do some duo rounds," he gave her a concerned, yet oddly hopeful look. He couldn't actually want her to hang around, could he? But when he didn't take away the offer, Asia nodded, leaning forward and grabbing a matching, black controller off of the center table.