Oceans Away || Leo Fitz Book Three

Chapter Four

Asia hit the mat with a hard thud, Hunter panting over her as he swept her knees out from beneath her. "Come on, Ice Queen, where's that fire today?" Hunter said, almost frustrated as he made a face from above her, rolling over to lay flat on the mat beside her. "Your heads not in the game." He was right, it wasn't. He was rarely, if ever, able to knock her out flat, much less in three minutes. Their battles were usually long and winding, lasting up to ten minutes a spar before either got the upper hand. Not today, today he had the upper hand the whole time. Today, Asia had been taking it hits that a rookie wouldn't collide with.

"You know me too well, Hunter," Asia replied with a sigh, staring up at the light bulb ran bolted into the brick ceiling above her. "I'm just not in it today. Leo is gone...who fucking knows where. Oh wait, your ex does but she's hiding everything from me. And our debrief with the new Inhuman went horribly."

She could feel Hunter looking at her for a moment, just staring, before he spoke. "We can go again and I'll let you punch me in the face a few times if it'll help."

Asia rolled her eyes, fighting a smile, before her watch beeped twice, pulling her out of her deep thoughts. Looking down, she read the message and hopped up to her feet. "As much fun as the sounds," she said, walking towards the door, "I've been called up to debrief alongside Daisy, so I gotta jet. Next time?"

"Any time you need, love," Hunter replied with a mock salute. She flashed him the rare hint of a smile and then she was gone, off down the hall to meet up with her team and speak with Coulson.

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"There you are," Daisy greeted Asia, pulling her into a quick hug, which she did almost any time she saw the brunette. If anyone could use a hug these days, she figured it was Asia. "Coulson wants to know how the debrief with Joey went."

"Well, let's hope he didn't get his hopes up," Asia replied dryly, as she took her place on one side of the silver table beside Mack, leaving the other open for Coulson, Daisy standing at the head.

As if on cue, Coulson walked in from one of the various hallways that led to the debriefing space below his office, directly below the vent Asia used to sleep in almost nightly. "Well, looks like the gangs all here," he clapped his hands together, the one he was wearing on his left arm today was a dull, grey plastic. Distinctly not human in appearance, but it didn't look like he was trying to hide it. "Let's get this started."

Mack tapped a few buttons on his tablet, and one of the various tv screens mounted on the wall switched from a weather channel to a view of Joey's room, where the man was pacing back and forth, hands on his hips.

"He's going stircrazy down there," Daisy said with a sigh. "What he's going through, we all know the effects it manifests physically. But it's a whole other thing emotionally. Asia and I were lucky we had the support system we did at the time. He doesn't trust us, not yet. Definitely not after how I blew it during the meeting earlier."

"You didn't blow it," Asia sighed, brushing a strand of her long, brown hair over her shoulder. "We can't expect everyone to take the news smoothly. He could have attacked you. He melted a clipboard in Mack's hand. You did what you had to do."

Daisy looked up at the ceiling for a moment before looking over at Mack and Asia, "I'm just saying, maybe we could all work on being a little more welcoming. Mack, you're not exactly giving off teddy bear vides, Asia, you come in pulling your cloud of doom and gloom with you..."

"I prefer to think of it as 'realism,'" Asia rolled her eyes at Daisy, crossing her arms over her chest. She paused for a moment, before sighing. "But you're right. I think we need help. Someone who's done all of this before."