It All Ends In Fire

##### Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Alphonso Mackenzie, Elena Rodriguez, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons

The aftermath of the explosion was horrendous. Smoke billowed in the air, hiding the rubble that once was an entire complex. One would have expected screaming to follow, crashes of structures no longer able to hold themselves up. Anything would have been better than the sickening silence.

Screams would have meant signs of life. Proof that someone, anyone, had survived.

Agent Skye Johnson stared in horror at the ruins that were left before her. She had been too late. Despite everything she had done, her best efforts, she had been too late. Over the past three weeks, Skye, along with the rest of her Shield team, had been tracking rumours that had led them here. The rumours were of rogue scientists who were experimenting on powered individuals. The team had travelled from Costa Rica, where they first picked up the trail, to the cold mountains of Russia, and were now under the blazing Indian sun.

Ever since the existence of powered individuals, such as Inhumans, metahumans, and aliens, had become public knowledge, scientists who wanted answers, and whose moral code was less than ethical, were determined to get those answers by any means necessary, even if it meant sacrificing lives. Unfortunately this was not the first group that Skye and her team had hunted down, and surely it would not be their last.

“Agent Johnson, status report.” The staticy voice of their team leader crackled over Skye’s comms. Skye took a deep breath, attempting to calm the sickening feeling in her stomach before replying.

“All clear on the West side. No sign of survivors.”

“Copy that. Come back to the Zephyr.”

Skye had seen dead bodies before. She had even killed people before. These bodies here were different. They were so charred beyond recognition, and huddled together in small groups. Skye couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain and fear they had experienced before finally being granted the sweet release of death. Some of the bodies were so small, clutched in the arms of parents, perhaps, or some other scared soul that had been nearby. Skye had seen experimentation facilities before. She had seen the discarded carcass and starved survivors, but this time was different. No one had survived. Not a one.

The scientist hadn’t been done with their experiments. These people were just discarded like they were nothing more than a newspaper that was no longer relevant. The whole facility had been destroyed to keep the scientists' secrets. They were willing to sacrifice these hundreds of lives to avoid being caught. It wouldn’t be long before the scientists would start up elsewhere. The team would catch them. They had to, there was no other alternative.

Skye could see the same resolve on her teammates’ faces as she entered the loading dock of the Shield plane. Agent May, Skye’s former SO, was methodically cleaning her gun. Agent Mackenzie was pouring over a map, determining every possible escape that the scientist could have used. Drs. Fitz and Simmons were packing their evidence collecting kits in silence, a stark contrast from their usual bickering. Elena Roderiguez, or Yo-Yo, as she was usually called, looked up as Skye entered. She was the only one aside from Skye on the team with powers. Both were Inhumans, which was caused by a genetic condition being espoused to a certain alien crystal. Yo-Yo had the ability to move faster than the speed of light, but always bounced back to her starting position, hence the name. Skye, or Quake as was her superhero name, had the ability to manipulate the stability of molecules, or in simpler terms, she could create tremors.

Skye and Yo-Yo shared a silent look mourning their fallen brothers and sisters. Before Skye could say anything, not that she even knew what to say, their team leader, Agent Phil Coulson, entered the cargo bay. Skye knew Coulson felt the same way as the rest of the team: sadness, guilt, vengeance, even if he did his best to hide it. Everyone on the team ex[pressed their emotions differently, but after having been together for the past 10 years, She was pretty good at reading them.

May always kept her emotions under lock and key, even from those closest to her. Mack and Elena tended to express theirs physically, either pounding a punching bag in the gym or running, before slipping into an eerie calm state, of which one never wanted to be on the receiving end of. Fitz, Simmons, and Skye, all needed to keep busy. They had to feel like they were actually doing something to rectify the situation.

Coulson divvied up their assignments. The mission was no longer a rescue mission, but rather recovery. They needed to figure out where the scientists were heading, and they needed a plan to stop this from happening again.

Skye got paired with Mack, and was given the objective  of finding what was left of the main office. Using no more words than necessary, they consulted the building schematics, and made their way across the rubble.

As they passed yet another charred corps trapped under a fallen beam, Skye felt the bile once again rise into her throat. Mack gave her a concerned look.

“Tremors, do you want to talk about it?”

Mack was like the big brother Skye had never had, and she knew she could tell him anything, and he wouldn’t judge her, but there was a part of him that would never understand. He was human, just human, and while he accepted Skye and Yo-Yo for who they were, he didn’t know what it was kike to be looked at like a science experiment or a freak.

Skye shook her head, instead shifting her focus past the body to the next pile of rubble. They continued in silence until they stumbled upon the pile of ruins that was once an office.

All the papers that could have contained clues had been reduced to ash. There wasn’t much else in the office, aside from the remainder of what was once probably a desk and a couple of chairs, some books burned beyond recognition, and a handful of scattered melted pens. Skye picked up one of the books which all but disintegrated in her hands. They worked in silence shifting through everything that remained, looking for even a shred of evidence, but to no avail. Skye could feel the frustration boiling up. They still didn’t know anything more about these scientists than they had when they arrived. How many more innocent people would have to die just to satisfy the morbid curiosity of a couple of scientists.

Before Skye could stop herself, she threw the chair leg she had been examining as hard as she could. It bounced off a pile of concrete and clattered to the ground. She threw another and another and another. All the anger and fear and guilt came boiling over. She could feel her powers vibrating beneath her skin, and knew if she wasn’t careful, she could bring the entire already unsteady structure crumbling down. But she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

Skye didn’t know when her frustrated yelling had turned to crying, and finally exhausted, she fell into Mack’s waiting arms. He had let her take out her anger, but had also been ready to step in at any moment.

“Thirteen minutes,” Skye murmured, “if we had been here thirteen minutes earlier.”

Mack continued to stroke her hair soothingly, “I know, Tremors, I know.”

They had been on the Zephyr, fast approaching the location that they had finally figured out, after spending days deciphering maps and encoded messages. When the entire plane shook, they suspected something was amiss. When they saw the fires blazing and the smoke rising, they knew. And when they saw the debris that stood in the place of the compound, and heard the silence, their worst fears came true. If they had been thirteen miles earlier, maybe they could have prevented this. Maybe they could have saved someone.