Renegade Rising || Leo Fitz Book Two

Chapter Seventy

"Asia, now's the time, if you still want to do whatever it is you plan on doing," Coulson nodded at her as they descended towards the boat in front of them. Asia nodded back, looking at the ship, capturing every detail of it, then, cautiously, opening her mind to the ocean around them, the weight of the waves feeling as if they were slamming into her, as if she was a part of the deep, thick current. The power rolled over her muscles, twisted through her blood, reminding her who she was, what she could do.

She glanced over her shoulder at Cal and nodded for him to come and stand by her. "You wanted a demonstration, come watch," she said as kindly as possible. After all, this man was her friend's father. And he had asked. Giddily, he quickly stood by her side.

The brunette closed her eyes, opening to the ocean once more, moving through it with her mind, focusing on the ship. Even eyes closed, she could feel the water thrashing against the hull, feel the metal cutting through the waves. That ended now. She was going to stop the thing right in its tracks. Holding her arms up in front of her, palms open, facing out the window and towards the boat, she focused. She focused on the ice in her veins, in her heart, the power of the body of water in front of them. She focused on everything Lincoln had worked on her with. She focused on her feelings, letting them rake over her, scrape at her heart, cut her deep.

Then she squeezed her hands into fists.

Opening her eyes, she looked out the window in front of them and out at the ocean. A giant, white patch of ice had swallowed the bottom of the boat, stopping the propellers at the back of the ship from turning, stopping the water from drifting it any further. And the ice expanded outward, out and out in the water for about 400 meters, solid and strong and capturing their enemies right where they wanted.

She turned to Cal and looked at the grin on his face."That was quite the demonstration!" Cal clapped, looking at her, then at Coulson. "You've got a special one here," he praised the woman beside him. He understood why Daisy had talked so proudly about her. It all made sense now.

Coulson turned and met Asia's gaze, giving her one nod. "Oh, I know," he replied to Cal, not breaking gaze from the agent in front of him. The edges of his lips quirked up just ever so slightly in a proud smile. Asia bowed her head, not wanting to her peers to see her so happy over a little bit of praise.

"May, bring us down," Coulson said to their pilot. The raven haired agent nodded, slowly descending towards the battleship in front of them. The touchdown was light and soft, as it always was when May flew.

Asia went back to where her bag was, in the seat beside Leo, opening it and donning her bulletproof vest. Leo stood up, reaching for one of the buckles to help her adjust it, make sure it was tightly in place. Asia froze, her body tensing as his nimble fingers made quick work of the task. He tried to look at her but she looked away, keeping her eyes on her bag.

Leo took a deep breath, as if he was about to speak, but instead he shook his head and put his own vest on. Now was not the time. They had work to finish.

"Alright team," Coulson addressed all of them, "We're walking into enemy territory, and we don't know the size of the force we're about to be up against, or what they can all do. Our priority is saving the crew. Find them, free them. May, I want you and Monroe heading to the operations center. May, I want you to take over the ship's functionality. Monroe, any of the Inhumans come, I trust you to go toe to toe with them. I've seen what you can do, now I want you to do it."

Asia nodded, understanding her orders. She had seen many of the Inhumans use their abilities in Afterlife, she was ready to use her knowledge against them.

"Um, sir!" Leo pipped up, holding up one finger to gain attention. "Another message came through from Skye. This one is different. It,uh, it read "modified crystals lethal, HVAC room," which sounds...not great," Leo explained.