Chapter Text
Skye woke up and found herself in a comfortable and warm cabin. She stared in alarm at such a vast change to her surroundings. Skye remembered the cavern and the mist that ejected itself from the blue crystals in the Diviner that turned her to stone. In her panicked state the cabin started to shake violently and the weird noise returned. Skye to her horror realized she was the one who caused the ground to shake. She could hear Coulson say Skye calm down and the shaking stopped.
"Coulson!" Skye called out in relief
She ran towards him and hugged him while crying.
"What's going on? Why can't I control my new powers?"
"I'm not sure Skye but we will figure this out. This cabin is where Dr. Banner stayed before joining the Avengers Initiative three years ago. It helped him to contain his powers whenever he transformed into the Hulk as he learned to control him." Coulson replied
Skye wiped the tears out of her eyes and looked up at Coulson with fear.
"Am I going to be stuck here forever?"
"No Skye. Simmons made these wrist gauntlets for one to help control your abilities. Combined with the reinforced durasteel this is covered by the wood that makes up this cabin you'll be safe. Simmons and the rest of the team are working around the clock to find a solution." Coulson reassured
"Thank you. I'll be waiting for you guys until we figure this out."
***
Anakin fears about Skye's transformation were subdued when Coulson told him about the cabin built with Shield technology. However the battle near the Ancient Caverns of Mandalore made him reconsider his decision to avoid Padme. He and the team almost died in the battle. Anakin didn't want to enter another combat situation without reconciliation with his secret wife Padme. So he left the Shield base and entered his airship the Twilight to visit Padme at her quarters in the United Republic Senate Capitol on London Coruscant.
"Padme I'm sorry about what I did to Clovis. I lost control. I lost my temper. I was wrong." Anakin said with tears in his eyes
Padme frowned and folded her arms.
"You're lucky Clovis isn't dead and was able to be treated by the medical droids."
"I understand it's just when I saw you about to kiss him I felt betrayed. This rage within me just spring up before I could control it " Anakin explained
"I regret that Anakin. I regret that I made you feel that way but it wasn't intentional. It wasn't what you thought and you must know I don't have any feelings for Clovis." Padme argued
"Are you sure?" Anakin asked
Padme sat down in a chair and Anakin sat down in a chair next to her.
"How dare you? I've told you multiple times Clovis and I are friends. He's the one with romantic feelings for me not the other way around but you refuse to accept this. I was with Clovis trying to help you and the rest of Coulson's team stop a bloody war from happening in Mandalore/Texas. Did you forget that Anakin?" Padme asked indignant at Anakin's possible accusations
"I know. I know you were trying to help your friend Duchess Satine and to protect the Mandalorian people from Hydra and the Separatists."
"This marriage isn't working. We don't have what other married people. I mean we are married yet we don't have a home together. You sneak into these quarters so we can spend time together or I sneak into your airship to spend time with you. We hide our true feelings from other people and I think it creates tension between us. That's not a healthy way to have a relationship. Maybe we should end our marriage." Padme suggested
Anakin eyes widened in shock.
"We understand each other on a deep level. We love one another. That's why we married in the first place. Don't leave me Padme because I don't want to leave you." Anakin pleaded
"Anakin I know we love each other but that can't be enough. The real foundation of our marriage is lies and deception. I lie to the Senate, you lie to the Jedi and Shield. Ultimately we end up lying to ourselves. Thinking we are making each other better when we are enabling the other persons worse impulses. I just need some space right now. Some time to figure things out...alone. I'm sorry Anakin."
****
"Hunter are you really leaving Shield? Coulson and the others feel like you're a valuable member of the team. Don't leave because of me and our past." Bobbi pleaded
Hunter frowned as he picked up his bag and turned to leave his living quarters.
"Why the galaxy did you recommend me to Coulson when I haven't worked for a military organization for years? I don't do well on a team or when a superior officer gives me orders." Hunter said
Bobbi laughed and folded her arms before saying, "You could have fooled me. Everyone from Coulson to Ahsoka says you've been a great addition to the team. Don't throw that away because our marriage failed and we got divorced. I'm willing to look past the fact that while I was undercover in Hydra you said I was a demon to everyone on the team."
"The reason I said you were a demon is because you are the spy. You're not Bobbi the woman I fell in love with. You're Mockingbird an elite Shield Agent who'd do everything short of murdering children to complete the mission. That includes lying to me and manipulating me every chance you got when we were married. So what's your angle this time love?" Hunter demanded
"Dank ferrik Hunter! There are no angles! I still love you. I still want to be with you but I don't want to live happily ever after with you while the planet burns to the ground because of the Clone Wars. Can't you understand none of this is easy for me?" Bobbi asked
Hunter eyes widened in surprised. His ex wife was rarely this emotionally vulnerable.
"Do you really mean that?" Hunter asked
"I'm beginning the plan now. Our superiors say we have to speed things up." Mack said emerging from the bathroom to Hunter's shock
"Both of you are traitors! I knew you were trying to manipulate me Bobbi or should I say Mockingbird. Before you shoot me I just wanna know who do you work for? Is it Hydra? The Separatists?"
"I work for Shield... the Real Shield." Mack said before shooting Hunter with a stun blaster
Hunter fell to the ground unconscious and Bobbi bowed her head in shame before adopting her no nonsense military demeanor. There was work to do and that meant no time to dwell on regrets.
****
"Simmons I'm sorry I thought you abandoned me because...because...because...of my-my..."Fitz struggled to say
"Condition?" Simmons offered
"No. That's not what. That's not what I'm trying to say!" Fitz yelled
Simmons sighed weary of Fitz inability to control his emotions when he struggled to communicate. She had just finished explaining the details of her undercover mission in Hydra. Her story was quite long but she was relieved that Fitz was able to follow along. Simmons worried a story where she was almost killed by Hydra would cause Fitz to have a mental breakdown. Thankfully he seemed stable. Yet Simmons realized her confidence in Fitz's psychological stability was premature. His anger made Simmons nervous.
"You need to calm down Fitz." Simmons warned
"Am I your friend or am I patient that you've deemed a lost cause Jemma?" Fitz accused
"That's extremely unfair of you to accuse me of not being a good friend. I've spent months trying to help you but you keep pushing me away."
"Because you don't have confidence in me! But Mack does. He...he...he...stays by-by-by my side." Fitz sputtered
"I didn't abandon you. I took the undercover mission within Hydra to protect you." Simmons said
"If I ask Coulson would he say the same thing honestly, or would he...would he...would he..." Fitz struggled to finish
"It's the truth Leopold!" Simmons shouted and then she stormed off
"I loved you as more than a friend Jemma! Or did you forget that's what I told you when Ward trapped us in the escape pod." Fitz called out to Simmons as she exited the lab ignoring him with tears in her eyes
****
Coulson returned to base and walked towards his office exhausted and worn out. Raina and Cal managed to escape due to the random appearance of an enhanced person or Inhuman that could teleport. The mysterious teleporter was a middle aged man in a black trenchcoat whose eyeballs were missing from his eyes. Anakin was clueless about these Inhumans but Obi Wan mentioned that his former mentor Qui Gonn Jinn had a vision and met one of these Inhumans in a hidden city. That wasn't much for Coulson to go on but he figured talking with May might help accelerate his thinking and allow a plan to formulate in his mind.
May shhh'd Coulson when he entered his office. She was paranoid scanning the entire room with her eyes as if looking for hidden traps. Coulson realized that Mack was the traitor and that the model car he gave to Coulson as a gift knocked out the security to the base. May forced Coulson to escape through a trap door saying, "I'll contact Skye and warn her but you need to get away. Without you there's no Shield Coulson."