[1] Take the Shot | Leo Fitz

3

Nina sat on top of a counter in the lab while Simmons stitched up the hole in her arm. Fitz watched, occasionally speaking up, in an attempt to take Nina's mind off the needle going in and out of her flesh. She didn't really need the distraction, having been through much more painful injuries, but she welcomed it anyway. It took about 10 minutes for Nina's wound to be cleaned, sealed and wrapped up with a bandage and in those 10 minutes, she found herself incredibly grateful for Simmons. Her undercover work usually left her stitching up her own injuries which had resulted in bad scarring all over her body.

"Are you sure you don't want anything? You did lose quite a lot of blood," Simmons was reluctant to let the woman out of her sight, with the amount of blood left on the seat of the van, it was a miracle to her that Nina was still breathing. 

"I'm fine. I just need something to eat and I'll be good to go," Nina nodded at the doctor, she did feel a little weak but she wasn't going to admit that to them. 

She turned to Fitz as two of the men from the national police walked in. Coulson said they were allies but as Nina looked to their unholstered weapons, she couldn't help but think they were anything but. Unfortunately, she didn't have the chance to shout out a warning before a knife was held to Fitz's neck and a gun was trained on her and Simmons. 

Nina didn't pay mind to the weapon and jumped into action immediately, forcing the gun out of the man's hand with a swift kick. Protests in Spanish came from the man with the knife as Nina twisted the arm of his partner behind his back and kicked in the back of his knee, dropping him to the ground. She gritted her teeth as a sharp pain shot up her arm but she still made a move for the discarded gun.

"If you kill him, I kill this one," the threat coming out of the Columbian man, caused Nina to freeze as she pointed the gun, previously in the hand of the opposition, at the man on his knees. 

She hesitated as she looked from Simmons to Fitz. If she took the shot, Fitz would have his throat cut but if she shot the man holding him, she knew she wouldn't be able to get to Simmons quick enough. 

This was the first time Nina had hesitated during a standstill but she knew what needed to be done.

"This is why I work alone," Nina groaned as she ejected the magazine from the gun and dropped it to the ground. The man with the freshly bruised arm stood up and growled at her, "me mataría ahora, mientras tú tienes la oportunidad (I'd kill me now, while you have the chance)."

Nina's invitation led to the man pulling a baton from his belt and smashing it across her head, and FitzSimmons' screams were the last thing she heard before blacking out.

*

May and Nina had been taken out of the equation and as much as Ward didn't want to praise their enemy, he admitted it was a smart move. Reyes, Coulson's apparent friend, had ordered her men to hunt the team down and with the element of surprise, they managed to capture everyone. They were being held in the cargo hold, their hands tied behind their backs while May and Nina lay unconscious on one side of the group, also bound.

"This is my fault," Fitz spoke solemnly, "I should've learnt Kung Fu." 

If Nina were awake, she would have seen the sadness in the blue eyes she was growing to admire.

"I shouldn't have pushed you into the field in the first place. You weren't ready," Simmons tried to console her friend, though when it didn't work, Ward found himself speaking instead.

"Ramos was hurt and May was the pilot. It was my job to make a proper threat assessment," taking the blame for a job gone wrong seemed to be a specialist's best skill as May, Nina and Ward had been doing it since she got shot in the jungle.