Oceans Away || Leo Fitz Book Three

Chapter Eight

When they finally made it back to the base, the crew headed straight for the basement room where the grey rock with deep square holes sat quietly and contently in its cage, unmoving.

"Well," Elliot sighed, walking around the rock, which didn't move under his request, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but-" just as the words left his mouth, the Monolith began to melt, dripping and tumbling over itself, puddling in the bottom of the glass box, making the odd sound it always made, like a chalkboard mixed with ground rocks.

Elliot froze, staring at the glass box, mouth open ever so slightly in stunned surprise, unsure of what to say. "Oh....well. That. That changes things," Elliot muttered to himself, before turning to face the group. "How..how often does it melt like that?"

"It's random," Leo replied sadly, arms crossed over his chest. "We've been unable to determine any pattern or trigger. We've checked relation to the sun, moon phases, the tide. Nothing matches."

"Nothing matches..on this planet," Elliot pointed his finger at the ground, jabbing twice. "But it matches something, probably wherever this portal drops you off, but you have no way of knowing, and therefore no way of controlling it," the words fell into place, completing a perfect puzzle. "So, why come to me? I don't have those answers, I'm no expert at space travel." Elliot shrugged, looking at them all expectantly.

"Easy, you're scared of portals," Coulson replied, "You're scared of getting dragged home through one, so odds are, you've soaked up every single bit of information on them over the many, many years you've been on this planet. You know every dangerous story about a portal on Earth there is to know."

"And, you've been eyeing all of the exits since you laid eyes on that thing," Bobbi noted, nodding towards the door behind her. "You've glanced at my knee brace a few times too, probably wondering how fast I am, if you could get past me without an issue." She was right, Asia had noted his gaze, too. The way he had started to sweat ever so slightly when he saw the Monolith.

"You just wanted to know it was really here," Asia pointed out, staring Elliot in the eyes as his gaze drifted over to her, surprised she had spoken to him.

"And destroy it," he muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "I wanted to do that too."

"You'll have to go through me," Leo said, stepping forward, closer to Elliot, looking him in the eyes and not looking away as he had in the jail.

Elliot stepped towards Leo, a small grin on his face. "You don't realize that I literally could, with ease," he said with a small shrug. "So what's stopping me?"

Suddenly, Asia slid between them, head cocked slightly to the side, "Pretty sure that's me," she said quietly, flicking her wrist ever so slightly. Elliot's eyes broke her gaze to look at the space around her head. A semi circle of icicles floated around her, spinning, each point facing directly at Elliot the entire time.

He looked at each sharp, clear point of ice before looking her back in the eyes. "So, that's what changed," he muttered.

Leo reached out from behind her, his fingertips resting on the crook of her arm, telling her it was okay, that she could drop the defense mechanism. She was surprised by his touch, so sudden and unfamiliar, but she didn't flinch. Flinching would be a sign of weakness. Instead, she closed her eyes and let the icicles melt, liquefy, and fall onto her skin, absorbing into her. She glanced over her shoulder at Leo and met his gaze. He gave her a small nod, and she nodded back.

She stepped back, falling to stand beside him, arms touching. His hand reached down and linked fingers with his own, giving her hand a tight squeeze. "Thank you," he whispered to her, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. He hadn't been this close, this gentle, in so long. Was he finally seeing her again? She wasn't sure, oh she wasn't sure, but right now, being sure didn't really feel like it mattered.