Oceans Away || Leo Fitz Book Three

Chapter Twelve

Daisy was able to track him down. Surprise Surprise. He had bought a burner cell and she was able to find him on cameras and look up the number attached to it. And so, she called. Turns out, shocker, Lincoln didn't love the idea of having a tracker put in his arm by SHIELD. He had blown his tracker as soon as she called him, probably zapped it right out with his powers. Now, they'd have to come up with another plan. And with the ATCU blasting his face all over the news, they had to do it fast. A literal manhunt had started, and they seemed to be on the losing team.

Daisy wanted to lead a small squad out in search for him, no surprise there. Daisy would probably have laid down her life in a ridiculous way if it meant saving him, Asia could tell by the look of determination set in her friend's face. But Coulson wasn't to keen on that idea. Even if Daisy and Asia weren't afraid of the ATCU, that organization was sure afraid of them. That meant bringing out the big guns against them, and Coulson knew it. And yet, they couldn't just leave Lincoln out there alone.

So that was how Asia found herself on a Quinnjet flying somewhere over the United States while they tried to locate him. HQ was buzzing them all sorts of potential leads, but they had all turned up nothing so far. They had been jetting back and forth all day, with hopes of something, but every lead had came up dry. That is, until the call came through.

Asia was snoozing, the tiniest little bit of drool escaping the corner of her lip, when Daisy shook her shoulder, stirring her to wake. "Lincoln called me," the brunette explained. "He needs us, we're routing to him now." Her brow was furrowed thick with worry. "And he thinks the ATCU is on their way to him now."

Asia crackled her knuckles, nodding. "Let's go get your guy then," she replied, taking a deep breath and feeling the water all around them, in the air, in the clouds, everywhere. She mentally noted all of it, wanting to keep as much near her as possible. While further studies of her anatomy had shown her body was composed of additional water percentages that she could expel as needed, pulling water from around them was always easier.

"That's the plan," Daisy nodded. "He's hiding until we get there. Coulson is aware. We're going to go in, get him, get out. Mack will stand guard, you and I move together to make sure we can avoid any unexpected...complications." Daisy explained their plan, pulling up a blueprint of an apartment complex to show Asia, crossing out the room where Lincoln was supposed to be. Her plan was very well laid out, down to the last note. Daisy wanted to make sure this went off without a hitch.

"Complications like a government organization that wants to kidnap and probably murder us?" Asia asked, raising one thin eyebrow in question, nodding as she looked over the blueprints.

"Wow, did you develop mind reading as part of your gift now too?" Daisy asked sarcastically. But, Asia noted, that was a good sign. Daisy was still joking. Whenever shit really hit the fan, whenever her friend got into a deep spiral that was hard to dig herself out of, the jokes stopped. And if the jokes stopped, you knew something was wrong.

"Nah, just smart," Asia replied with a small grin. "Alright, the plan makes sense to me. Don't think it'll be weird having me watch your first meetup with Lincoln since everything went down?" She asked in jest, watching Daisy's cheeks turn slightly pink at the thought.

"Just turn and face a wall or something," Daisy muttered, rolling her eyes. "I've seen you and Fitz together plenty of times...." She trailed off, realizing the sensitivity of the subject as Asia physically winced. "But Simmons is back now, so that'll be starting up all over again. You two, you two are meant to be together. If that's not the truth then there really isn't hope out there for the rest of us." Asia shoved Daisy's shoulder lightly, but smiled in thanks. She hoped Daisy was right.

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Bobbi was stretching her knee, sliding it back and forth with the aid of a machine, when Leo Fitz walked in, typing something on his phone. The agent stopped her stretches to look over at the scientist, who was finishing typing away something on his phone.

"How's your therapy going?" Leo asked, tucking his phone into his waistband. He had a nervous air about him which Bobbi picked up on immediately, his fingers twitching just ever so slightly as he talked. Even out of the field, her skills in perception hadn't gone rusty. Neither had her skills in deception.

"It's going fine. The usual. I just wish I was back out there," Bobbi replied, shrugging as she sat up, adjusting her shoulders ever so slightly to make herself appear more open to conversation as she readied herself to ask the questions she really wanted to know the answers to. "So, how's Jemma doing?" She let the words fall casually out of her mouth, worried Fitz would be able to visibly see the way her heartbeat picked up as soon as she asked the question.

"She's been...distant," Leo replied, sliding his phone into his front pocket for a moment. "I'm not sure I know how to help her really, other than what I've already done. I brought her back, but I don't know how to help her heal."

Bobbi wasn't altogether surprised by this response. Of course Jemma was still going to be in a sort of disarray. She had only just returned, and who knows how long she had been gone, how time functioned on the planet she had been trapped on. Bobbi, too, wished she could help her. She made the red head tea every day, that was her small gesture.

"Fitz, what did you remind me of every day when I started my rehab?" Bobbi asked the scientist, raising an eyebrow at him. She wanted to keep the conversation going, glean all the information she could about how Jemma was doing.

"Patience, I know," Leo replied with a frustrated sigh, looking over at Bobbi with a shake of his head. She was right, he knew that, but that didn't make it any easier. "It's just difficult. We used to be best friends, now it's like she doesn't feel comfortable speaking with me. I don't know how to fix that."

"Well," Bobbi paused for a moment, musing over her various potential ideas. "You need to find a way to remind her that we are all still her support system. Rebuilding that trust is difficult. You have to sit down with her, one on one, and make her understand that. But be gentle about it, she still has so much to get back."

"You're right!" Leo snapped his fingers as if a light bulb had just gone off in his head, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket, typing rapidly. "I still have that restaurant reservation that Asia and I were supposed to use before Jemma disappeared. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I used it with Jemma. She would definitely understand."

Bobbi wasn't even sure he was listening to her, and thinking back to all of the interactions she had recently with Asia, she was pretty sure the brunette wouldn't understand, and very much would mind. She opened her mouth to object, but Leo was already turning and walking towards the door. "Thanks, Bobbi," he called out over his shoulder with a wave, "You're brilliant!"