The Avenger's Soul

Seeds (Part 1)

Tony's POV

I banged my head repeatedly on my desk as I growled loudly in frustration. Several months had passed and still no sign of my soulmate but a fuzzy video of her saving people down in LA. And then several more months of silence. It was driving me crazier then I already was! I didn't know how much longer I could keep this up for.

I was Tony freaking Stark for crying out loud! I should have been able to locate her by now! And if it wasn't a bad enough hit to the ego, the emotions I had been receiving from our bond were just as bad. Anytime she was feeling any strong emotion I would feel it, and knew that the others did as well. It pained me whenever I sensed her feeling scared or upset and the other half of the time I spent in a constant state of desire as I felt her thoughts drift towards the gutter late at night or sometimes during the middle of the day.

I pulled at my hair as I leapt to my feet and strolled upstairs to the bar to get a drink.

Skye's POV

"There is nothing more unsettling, being a part of something so horrible, completely unaware," Simmons was saying. "A cadet could have died."

"We drew up those concepts years ago. We didn't know they'd be applied in that way," Fitz added.

"Is this the device they found in the frozen pool?" I clarified. I looked over to see Ward nodding. "Correction: the instantly frozen indoor pool."

"It seems like it was planted in the filter days before. Like someone was waiting for those specific cadets," Ward commented.

"Well, as far as they can tell, the device uses a crystalline nucleation process she designed," Fitz pointed at Jemma.

"And a delivery mechanism he invented. That's why we are being asked to consult on the investigation," Simmons pointed at Fitz.

"So, we're going to the Academy?" I said excitedly.

"Science and technology division. Cadets are pretty shaken up over what happened. Agent Weaver asked if you two could speak to the student body about potentiality to calm them down," Ward confirmed.

"Of course, the talk. We've all heard the talk," Simmons said.

"I haven't," I pointed out.

"I guess you will," said Ward.

"Well, I've heard a lot about the Academy. I'm excited to finally see it," I said, happy.

"Me too. Never been to Sci-Tech before." I looked over at Ward.

"Never?" Huh. The different Shield Academies don't interact?"

Fitz scoffed.

"Not much," Ward explained to me while Simmons also scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Academy of Communications does, but they're the biggest and focused on data analysis."

"Boring," Fitz spoke up.

"It's the easiest to get into," Simmons declared.

"That's where you'd be, Skye." I glanced at Fitz, half of me was okay with that and the other affronted. I think I could easily get into the one Ward had gone to. And I wasn't that dumb about science! Sure I didn't have any degrees or anything but only because I'd never gotten the chance to go to a real school. Hmm, that's something to think about adding to the list...

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"Operations is the most aggressive program. More people wash out of operations than the other academies," Ward supplied. Sounded a lot like Hydra boot camp to me.

"So which one's the hardest to get into?"

Simmons looked at Ward and gave him a smile. I rolled my eyes.