Renegade Rising || Leo Fitz Book Two

Chapter Fourty

Skye's father was the problem. He had always seemed on the offensive against Coulson, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. as a whole, but this was taking things to a whole new level. He had hacked into the Index and gathered a handful of dastardly powered people to use for his own devices. It was going to be tricky, and it was going to be dangerous, and that was exactly the reason they needed to help out May.

Asia wanted to prove she could handle this, handle being an agent and having her powers. She needed to. If she wanted to stay on her team, she had to show everyone that her powers were completely under control. (Which, Asia would argue, they were. She hadn't had a slip up in days. Her practice was going perfectly. She had everything under control). So they were going to Milwaukee. Land of the Cheese heads. Coulson's childhood home.

It had taken some major convincing to May and Dr. Garner. Major convincing. But, for better or for worse, they were a team and they needed to save one of their own. Both Skye and Asia had their shit under control, and they were going to be fine in the field. Asia even bartered. If she couldn't handle it, she would take a leave of absence, she would do whatever May and Dr. Garner decided was necessary, until otherwise noted. They had agreed.

When they touched down in Wisconsin, it was dark. The stars were out, but as Asia looked up, she could barely see them from the light pollution. There was a pang of...sadness, when she looked up. The stars were a comfort. The stars were something beautiful, something familiar. A light in the darkness. Here, that light was only faint. She sighed, adjusting the ties on her wristlets. Another day, another mission.

"Alright," May said, from where they hid in the shadows by the football field. "Follow my lead. Skye, you want to be used as a bartering chip? Then we'll use you." She pulled her gun from its holster and grabbed Skye, pinning her arm behind her back. "Just follow my lead." And she started marching out onto the well lit field, where Coulson and Cal, Skye's father, stood, bathed in florescent light.

Before Asia could even follow, she could hear May shouting at Cal, pressing the gun tight to his daughter's temple. Asia watched, her nerves on end. Was that a real gun, or an Icer? Did Cal know the difference? But then again, this was May. She would never intentionally put her team in danger, would she? No. Asia was pretty damn confident that she would never.

So Asia turned and looked at Dr. Garner, pressing a pistol into one of his open hands. "Stay with me, I'll keep you safe. But if anything happens...if I go down, keep this with you. Stay safe." She looked up at him and as she did so, he gave her a small smile, to which she rolled her eyes in response. Still, deep down, she did like Dr. Garner. While he was a shrink, he never tried to hold his college degrees above her life experience. And he seemed to actually care. Two pretty important points, or at least, important to her. Not that she was worried either, they would handle this situation, just like they did with every other situation.

So Asia walked out onto the field, hands out at her sides, feeling the moisture in the air around her, readying herself to bring down the ice. She stood back, by the goalpost, watching the interaction between May and Cal, the stalemate held frostily on the field. Cal held out a microphone to one of his enhanced cronies, the one who could paralyze with a whisper of his voice. Asia had read the file. It would be bad, bad news. She was about to lurch forward, when suddenly an Orb of blue electricity surrounded Cal, knocking the voice guy aside, the microphone falling to the ground. And there was a second man, inside the Orb, who grabbed Cal, and in a flash...

They were both gone.

Skye stumbled backward, away from May, and Asia rushed towards her, supporting her friend, helping her walk away. She could tell it was getting overwhelming for her. May was fighting another enhanced man, Francis, and Bobbi was across the field fighting a woman Cal had brought along. "Come on, let's go," Asia said, pulling Skye backwards. She noticed Skye's breathing started to breathe heavily.

Suddenly, the ground around the two girls started to shake, the lights around the stadium flickering with Skye's power. Everyone stopped, turning to look at her.

"Breathe, Skye," Asia said, looking her friend in the eyes. "You've got this. We're in this together. Just. Breathe." She inhaled deeply, then exhaled, and Skye mimicked her.

Her brunette friend then turned her face, squeezing her eyes tightly, stopping the shaking. Then, she looked down at her bare arms, bruises blossoming over her pale skin. She looked up at Asia, eyes wide. "Asia I...I don't feel so good," she whispered, her eyes fluttering as Skye fainted, falling slowly forward.

Asia grabbed her friend, supporting her as she fell, sinking to the ground with her. Instinctively, Asia fanned out one arm in an arc, a circle of deadly spikes of ice sprouting from the ground around them. She held Skye tightly, looking down at her friend, brushing her long hair out of her face. "Skye? Can you hear me?" She asked softly, but her friend was out like a light. When she looked up, her team was looking down at her. Well, more specifically at the ice that was surrounding her.

From the looks on their faces, Asia couldn't tell if that was a good or a bad thing. She twisted her wrist quickly and the ice disappeared, leaving nothing inhuman surrounding them, nothing left but two agents, hugging the ground.