Chapter Text
“Ooooh Peru huh? Sounds exciting.” Skye stretched her arms above her head.
“And an 0-8-4.” Trip added lazily. “Sounds like Christmas.” Jemma laughed as Coulson rolled his eyes.
“We’re en route now, get anything you’ll need ready and in the van before we leave.”
“Roger that captain my captain.” Trip saluted him playfully as he walked away, Fitz and Jemma scrambling off to get their things steady. Skye went off to her bunk first. Jemma and Fitz would bring all the equipment they needed, she was sure so she wasn’t worried about bringing anything.
She sat in her bunk, opening up her laptop. Only some of the corrupted files could be partly reconstructed. Her system was working around the clock at home to try and recover any data available and restore the files fully but she couldn’t exactly get anything that wasn't there and many of the files were half downloaded or corrupted and still being repaired.
What was there however…
She glanced over the partly complete file, swallowing thickly
‘Agent —------- Infiltration—---------Shield matters—-----------checking in regularly—-’ Much of the file was the same, words corrupted and hidden by the malicious code that had destroyed files as they downloaded, and what was there barely alluded to anything. She could only really guess right now, and her guesses weren’t pretty.
Mentions of their agents alongside mentions of shield matters and check-ins shortly after. It meant there were at least a few surviving Hydra agents reporting in to someone.
Derek didn’t want her to let this get to Fury. His main worry was concealing whatever information was on these files.
There still wasn’t enough evidence to suggest any wrongdoings. At most the puzzle of whatever words were there suggested some agents may be reporting to an outside source, but there were no mentions of Hydra. If she hadn’t glimpsed the symbols and seen the hydra name on the computer itself she wouldn’t have been able to guess any of this was related to them.
She remembered part of the file, glimpses of hydra operations in a mountain range.
She wished she could have interrogated Derek, gotten something out of him, but everything was so fast and he was dead before he hit the floor. He probably would have shot at her again if he hadn’t been. Desperation, that was all she saw in him. Desperation to keep these operations hidden.
She would have to gather more information before she went to Fury. The documents were scarce and incomplete, too little information to back up what she was suspecting.
Was the operation small? Or was it big? How many people were involved?
She tapped nervously at her leg.
What if it was everywhere? What if this was just the tip of the iceberg-
“Landing in five Skye! Get ready to roll out!” Trip knocked on her door.
“Got it!” She got up, already in her uniform as she grabbed her gun on the way out, May landing now as Trip took the driver's seat of the van , Coulson sliding in beside him. Jemma and Fitz crammed into the back with two large duffle bags and she slid in with them before they landed, the vehicle bay lowering. A minute later May was sliding into the back seat with her as well.
“The 0-8-4 was found in a temple that’s thousands of years old. We need to figure out when and how it got there, and if it’s as old as everything else in there.”
“Roger that.” Skye glanced over to Jemma and Fitz as they shifted a bit, Jemma grasping her bag tightly as Fitz fidgeted with the straps of his.
“Relax, we’ll be in and out, and there’ll be lots of guards with us, not to mention me.” Jemma smiled lightly.
“Right, we have a superhero with us, what are we worried about? How silly of us, right Fitz?” he nodded a little, still looking nervous as Skye paused.
Her? A superhero? The thought was weird but she supposed she pretty much fit the definition.
The car stopped in a cleared jungle area, Coulson hopping out to talk with the commander of the area as Skye snatched a duffel bag from Fitz, shouldering it as Fitz let out a breath of relief.
There were some other cars littered about, most looked like normal vehicles but others looked military. It was good that they had some guards given the danger of the area, but they were sparse and if anyone attacked they'd probably get through.
She really shouldn't have reassured Fitz and Jemma of anything on the way here.
"Lot less people than preferred." Skye nodded slightly as Trip frowned, following after Fitz towards the temple.
"Focus on the 0-8-4, if we need you, you'll know," May smirked softly, patting her shoulder briefly as she moved ahead of them.
"Well, you heard her." Trip laughed, pushing her ahead a bit as Skye rolled her eyes.
"Yeah yeah." she walked up the steps into the temple, her eyes catching on the device embedded in the stone wall as one of Fitz’s drones scanned it.
“Finally. Skye is this thing active?” One of the researchers blinked as Jemma smiled at the sight of her, Skye approaching where it was embedded in the wall. She touched the stone beside it gently, sending out minuscule vibrations out to map out what was inside.
It was similar to what she’d felt a while ago at the last dig sight they were at.
“It’s probably German, World War Two if it is. The construction feels similar to another dig site we worked on.” Jemma’s eyes widened slightly, Fitz and her sharing a look before they looked back to it.
“Uh, Skye….are you saying that thing is…” Fitz glanced wearily at the device.
“Well-”
“Sir, we have a situation.” Coulson’s radio crackled to life, all gazes snapping to him as he paused.
“Rebels?” Jemma asked, glancing towards the exit.
“Not enough gunfire.” he shook his head quickly. “You three keep on this, I’m on my way.” he radioed back to Trip, slipping out of the temple.