Oceans Away || Leo Fitz Book Three

Chapter Seventy Nine

"Is this yours?" Leo asked, and Asia looked up from his desk where she sat, legs kicked up, nose buried deep in a novel. Leo had kissed her on the temple before slipping on his jacket, saying he had to go check on the gel matrix system before they brought Hive into the base. But now, he was standing in the doorway, paused, and looking back at her. He held up something in his hands, tiny and dangling, and Asia had to squint to try and make it out.

"What? No," she said after a moment, shaking her head after she made out a gold cross on a chain between his fingers. "That must be Mack or Yoyo's." Asia wasn't big on jewelry to begin with - it made people in her career field way too distinctive - and she wasn't exactly a religious person. But there were people on the base who were.

"Alright, I'll get it back to them, then," Leo said, slipping the chain into his pocket with a shrug. "See you in a bit, love," he said with a small wave.

"Bye," Asia said, giving him a smile back, before resuming her reading. She was right about the reach the big reveal in the story and she couldn't wait to get there any longer.

If she had paid close attention to this moment, as if it weren't just any other fleeting moment, then perhaps she would have been able to look back and see that this was when the downfall of their team really began. That this was the beginning of the end of their team. That this was the moment fate started playing with the members of their team and rolling the dice to see which one of them wouldn't make it past the end of this mission.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't merely 15 minutes when suddenly the lockdown alarms started to blare and Asia got a message to go, along with Jemma, up to Coulson's office for an emergency briefing. Tucking her bookmark into place, she slid out of the chair, looking at Jemma with a furrowed brow. That was weird. She wasn't sure what they could possibly need a emergency meeting for. She assumed Mack and Leo would be on their way up there as well, so together, they headed out of the Lab and jogged up to Coulson's office.

"Sir, what is it?" Asia asked, as she strode into the room, where May stood leaning by the door and Coulson leaned against his desk. Both looked...unnaturally calm. Something was wrong. Something big, and something really bad. Lincoln and Yoyo were across the room, watching her, waiting for her reaction.

"Asia," Coulson said, stepping forward and meeting her worried gaze. "There's been an explosion, in the hangar."

Asia paused for a moment, unsure what the point was. And then it clicked and she whirled around, trying to race back out of the door, but May was in her way, grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her in place. "Let me go," Asia struggled, still shoving forward, using her Inhuman speed to slowly push May backwards out of the door. "I have to get to him, I have to-"

"Monroe!" Coulson said, his voice harsh and crisp. "Stand down, now." It was an order, no questions about it. Never before in her life had she hesitated, had she deliberately refused to follow a direct order from her chain of command. But she did here. She did hesitate, she wondered if going after Leo right now was the right thing, regardless of what they said. He could be hurt. He could be dead. He could need her. What if she was the only person who could help him right now? She could feel her heart starting to beat rapdibly in her chest, unable to let her think straight. But she could think enough to know she needed more information. Coulson wouldn't stop her from getting to him without reason.

"Look," he said gesturing towards the screen behind her. She hadn't even noticed, in her panic, that it was a security feed of the hangar. Leo stood on camera, another agent beside him, both looking towards a hulking figure...one of Radcliff's transformed...but he wore...Shield garb? Asia noticed the gray husks on the ground as well. He had recently turned.