Worlds Apart | Leo Fitz Book Five

Chapter TwentySix

Asia couldn't help but feel apprehension towards what they might find when they finally arrived at their destination. After all, what good or moral person would be willingly inviting the Kree back to earth? This was so obviously the first step towards ending up on a spaceship prison in the sky and Asia was not here for it. She tried to hope it was an accident, but this was far too complex to be correct. So she did what she always did. She found her bunk on the plane. She suited up, her hands straying from the suit Leo and Jemma had designed for her to a set of black combat leggings and her leather jacket, and she prepared to lead her team into the warehouse.

The building in front of them was large and mostly concrete. From the outside, there were no obvious signs that someone was inside - no lights appeared in any windows, save for emergency ones, and no cars were left in the lot. Still, Agent Monroe knew better than to let her guard down in a situation like this. She had learned that one the hard way, back with Clint and Nat, a rookie mistake, but one she never made again.

And so, she picked the lock with her hair pin again, and they moved in a diamond formation down the halls, Coulson in the lead, May and Asia flanking him, Leo and Mack behind them, and Jemma and Yoyo at the final point of the designed shape. Pistols and flashlights were held up, used to clear corners, but still so far, there was no signs of anyone even being here. But who would set up a beacon like this and just leave it unprotected? No, something still didn't feel right about this entire situation, but Asia bit her tongue. She didn't need to share her worries with the team, she didn't want anyone to feel like they couldn't rely on her to remain their strong and silent one.

"You know," Leo said quietly, unafraid to share his feelings with the class. "I think I'd say facing no opposition is usually a good thing. But this? This feels weird." Asia glanced over her shoulder at him, meeting his eyes for a brief moment, their unspoken communication highlighting that she felt the exact same. He had known her long enough to read exactly what that look had meant.

They came to a stop at the end of the hall in front of a large, slate grey door, with a small screen beside it, presumably used by employees or whoever owned this place. "It's a firewall," Jemma said, studying the door frame. "Not the IT kind, but an actual one, for emergencies, for safety protocols."

"Leo, can you find any signs of life in there?" Asia asked him, biting her lower lip in the dark. She hated that she couldn't do it herself. Hated that she couldn't close her eyes and pulse outwardly, mind reaching for any small tendril of water, of lifeform, and finding who was around them. She hated that she couldn't just evaporate and travel through the pipes above them. The only thing she really liked in this situation was that the dimly lit hall hid the blatant discomfort on her face. She didn't know why it bothered her so much - it wasn't as if she had looked at herself five years ago, she wouldn't be in this exact same position, relying on tech to get her eyes and ears. In fact, they had done something similar hunting down the Clairvoyant using Leo's drones. But now that she knew she could do it on her own, she loathed that lost power, that lost self-reliance.

Leo raised his tablet, screen a faint blue in the light, and began to move it meticulously back and forth over the doorway, the device emitting a small, high pitched sound, created by whatever he had designed which did the scanning. Asia wondered how he had designed something that could read through that much of a fortification, but she wasn't surprised, mostly just proud. "Wait," Leo said, stopping facing the right corner. "There is. There's someone in there and they appear to be alone." Appear to be was always the key, in situations like this.

The agents slowly lined up, guns raised, ready to file in. Coulson looked silently at Jemma, who stood to the side, and he gave one quick nod. Her hand came down on the door latch and it slid up, light spilling out of what appeared to be a laboratory in front of them. The group fanned in, moving slowly outward and further from each other, like a ripple in a pool of water.