Chapter 55

Ward was woken abruptly by the sound of the lock on the room door turning. They had found a hotel just outside LA where they could stay - it was a significant distance from Garrett's base in Havana and it was close enough to a big city to give them some anonymity, while being far enough outside that they were able to stay close to where they parked the Bus - and had all crashed for the night basically right away to process all Astro had told them. Between them they had come up with a plan for their next step, which would start the next day once they had all gotten some rest.

He glanced at the clock beside him and saw that it had been just over three hours since then, making it still the middle of the night. Which meant that no one should be coming into the room he was sharing with Skye, so he grabbed the gun he had left on the night stand, clicking the safety off quietly and slipping out of bed. He glanced over Skye to see she was still sleeping soundly and then crept soundlessly towards the door just as the handle started to turn. He stood to the side of the door and raised his gun, waiting to see who it was before he engaged.

"AHHH!" Fitz screamed when he saw the gun pointed at him, waking Skye who sat up and immediately reached for her own gun on her night stand. "Why are you pointing a gun at me?!" the engineer demanded.

"Because you're breaking into our room in the middle of the night, while we're on the run from a terrorist organisation," Ward said blandly as he turned the safety back on his gun and moved to let Fitz in the room.

"And the United States Government," Skye added helpfully from the bed where she too had lowered her weapon but was clutching the sheet to her chest.

Realising it was because she was mostly naked he grabbed his shirt from the floor and threw it to her, grabbing his pants to slip into as well when he realised that meant he was in just his boxer briefs.

"Well there is that I suppose," Fitz said thoughtfully as they both got clothes on. "But I wouldn't say I was breaking in exactly-"

"What would you call entering someone's room by picking the lock without their knowledge then?" Ward interrupted with a raised eyebrow.

"Well when you put it like that.." Fitz trailed off looking at his feet.

"What's going on?" Ward asked quietly taking a step closer to the engineer.

"It's nothing really," Fitz dismissed. "I just-"

He was cut off by a knock on the door. Ward looked between Skye and Fitz before he moved over to open the door, his gun gripped tightly in his hand. He looked through the peephole and seeing it was Simmons opened the door and ushered her in.

"Simmons what's wrong?" Ward asked as he closed the door.

"It's nothing really. I just-" she started but stopped upon seeing Fitz in the room. "Fitz! What are you doing here?"

"Oh nothing I just... Well that is to say..." Fitz stuttered looking between Simmons and Ward.

Ward looked from the two of them to Skye and then back to the scientists. After a few moments of random mumbling by the two he figured out why he thought they might be there.

"Did you two want to stay here tonight?" he asked causing them to both stop mumbling and look up at him.

They looked from him, to each other and then to Skye, who gave them both a slight nod to indicate it was fine with her.

"If you don't mind," Simmons said at the same time Fitz said "Yes please."

"Take off your shoes and get on the bed," Ward said by way of reply, making his own way back over to the bed.

They all settled down comfortably snuggled into each other and got ready to go back to sleep.

"Wanna tell us what drove you out of your beds and to our room in the middle of the night?" Skye asked once everyone was settled.

"It's just with everything that's happened the past few days-" Simmons started.

"And what's going to happen over the next few," Fitz interrupted.

"I just wanted to be with you guys. With family," she finished.

"Yes, exactly," Fitz agreed.

Nat and Barton had volunteered to stay on the Bus where it was hidden about ten minutes away, to keep an eye on Garrett and enable them to keep it prepped for a quick take off if necessary. The rest of them had gotten four rooms between them, a trained fighter in each room just in case - Skye and Ward were sharing of course; Coulson had wanted to room with Astro so he could ask him some more questions about Hydra; which left Simmons in a room with May, while Fitz was sharing with Trip.

"Not to say May isn't family!" Simmons said suddenly when she realised how that had sounded. "It's just not that same as with you guys. And-"

"It's okay Jemma," Ward interrupted before she worked herself up over what she had said. "Of course May is family too, but not in the same way. And with not knowing how the next few days will play out. It's nice to have the comfort of each other around."

"It is," Skye agreed quietly. "And I know I for one will sleep better knowing your both here as well."

It was quiet for a few minutes after that, all of them starting to drift towards sleep.

"Did you at least let Trip and May know where you were going?" Ward asked suddenly, startling Simmons.

"He was asleep." "She was asleep." They mumbled simultaneously.

Ward grinned slightly at them before sliding off the bed. "Where you going?" Skye grumbled as he moved.

"I'm just going to make sure they know that these two are safe," he replied with a kiss to her forehead.

"But sleeping," Fitz muttered.

"They both would've woken when you left the room," Ward replied. "Go to sleep, I'll be back in a few minutes."

He received almost nods from the three of them as he headed for the door. He had grabbed his room key and his gun just in case, wanting to ensure he closed the door behind him to protect them and that he could protect himself if he had to. The room Simmons and May were sharing was on one side of his and Skye's, while Trip and Fitz's was on the other. Both May and Trip were outside though, heading towards his door.

"Simmons with you?" May asked quietly as soon as she was close enough.

"Yeah," he replied in the same tone. "Fitz too," he added to Trip.

"Figured," Trip responded with a slight grin. "But wanted to double check. Didn't want you to kick my ass in the morning if I was wrong."

Ward returned the grin as he shook his head slightly, May letting out a quiet laugh.

"Good choice," she said. "I'm heading back to bed, want to get at least a few hours," she added before turning for her room.

Trip and Ward watched her go, neither speaking until her door was closed behind her.

"Alright, see ya in the morning man," Trip said with a slap to Ward's shoulder before heading for his own door.

Ward watched him close his door too before casting a quick glance around the area, seeing everything looked okay and heading back into his own room. In the few minutes he had been outside the three people in his bed had fallen asleep, all wrapped around each other so it was hard to tell what parts belonged to which person. He slid back into the bed, the three of them adjusting easily in their sleep to wrap around him as well, and was asleep within moments, content with the fact that his family was safe at least for that night.

"Do you think it will work?" Skye asked Ward the next morning as he pulled a shirt over his head. They had woken up about an hour before, Fitz and Simmons heading back to their rooms to get ready for the day, while Ward and Skye did the same.

"I think it definitely can," he replied after a moments thought. "There are a lot of variables though. Most ones that we have no control over. So it's incredibly risky."

Skye looked at him carefully as he sat on the bed putting his shoes on, before stepping towards him. "If we get through this can we take a break?"

He leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. "When we get through this we can do whatever you want. I'll take you wherever you want to go." He gave her a chaste kiss on the lips before pulling away. "But the only way we can get to the point where we are through this is if we actually go out there and get through it. So we better get out there."

"Why do you have to be so reasonable all the time?" she grumbled good naturedly as they headed for their room door hand in hand, Ward with the duffle with their stuff hung over his shoulder.

"It's part of my charm," he teased as he opened the door.

Once outside they moved quickly to the lobby so they could return their room keys and check out and then headed for the SUV to meet up with the others as planned. They would then all head back to the Bus to meet back up with Nat and Clint and go over the plan one more time. They were the last to arrive at the SUV, with May already in the driver's seat ready to go as soon as they had climbed in.

"So nice to see him back where he belongs," Hand said nodding at Garrett as Nat and Clint hauled him into a cell in the Fridge.

"It is, isn't it?" Coulson agreed easily. Once the door was secured, the four of them headed back out of the cell area, and in the direction of the office where FitzSimmons were waiting. "Were you able to locate what we need?" he asked as she opened the door.

Hand nodded. "The original 084, as requested," she said indicating a large box on the desk in the centre of the room. The way Fitz and Simmons were leaning over it and examining it was answer enough though. "Can I ask why you need it?"

"We need to replicate it," Coulson answered, before giving her a brief rundown of why.

"And that will work?" Hand asked when he was finished explaining. "It will enable us to end Hydra once and for all?"

"It should," Coulson replied cautiously. "In theory the plan is solid, but there is a lot that can go wrong. We're hoping none of it does though."

"Well my fingers are crossed," Hand said with a smile. "If there's anything else you need, you know where to find me."

"We do," he agreed. "We better get going," he said louder, getting the attention of the two scientists.

They both looked up at him quickly before nodding and closing and securing the box again, getting ready to go. Fitz went to lift it but Barton stepped up and took it.

"It's better if I carry this and you handle the sensitive science-y stuff," the Avenger said with a grin. "The box will protect this but I will almost definitely manage to break something if I carry your gear."

The engineer nodded in agreement and reached out to pick up some of the gear he and Simmons had brought in from the Bus. Because they were taking it with them, they wanted to run a few preliminary scans before they locked themselves on the Bus with it, just to ensure it was safe to fly with, so they had needed to bring some stuff fin with them.

"We will bring it back as soon as we can to secure it," Coulson told Hand as they got out of the elevator on the roof.

She nodded easily and then reached to shake his hand. "Be safe."

"You too," he replied as he shook his hand before turning and following the others back onto the Bus. May had them in the air almost immediately once they were all onboard.

"So you can convincingly replicate it?" Coulson asked FitzSimmons as they all stood in the lab of the Bus. "Is there anything you need?"

"Well yes and no," Fitz replied.

"The only problem will be that we can't make it kill anyone 'unworthy' that touches it," Simmons expanded a little. "We can make it appear the same, the same weight and density and everything else. We can even make it light up with the symbols Astro told us about. But we can't give it that property as it will either have to kill everyone or no one and we'd rather no one."

"That's fine," Astro responded to her. "I can get around that as long as it looks right. Because he knows how it should look."

"Then we can have it ready to go in a couple of hours," Simmons said decisively.

"Good. Let us know when it's done," Coulson said to the scientists who nodded and got right to work with Astro's help, while everyone else headed out of the lab and upstairs. Once everyone was settled in the lounge Coulson looked around. "Does everyone else know what they have to do?" He received nods all round.

"There's a slight problem," Ward spoke up.

"What's up?"

"We're a little shorter on ammo than we thought we would be. We don't think there's enough to do this safely, since definitely want to go into it over armed rather than under armed," the specialist explained.

"And we can't exactly just go out and buy some since SHIELD is currently being labelled the bad guys by everyone around the world," Trip added.

"Any ideas on how to get around that?" Coulson asked.

"I've got one that could work," Ward said hesitantly. "But it's not without its own risks."

"What is it?" Coulson asked.

"We need someone to publicly endorse SHIELD as the good guys. And we need someone in the Government on our side," Ward replied.

Coulson nodded. Ward was right; if they had someone in the Government stand up and say they were the good guys it would help them enormously. When they originally came up with their plan for the next step they decided to not worry about SHIELD's reputation until after Hydra was dealt with; but it looked like they may need to act sooner on that front.

"You're right, that's exactly what we need. But none of us have any ins with the Government right now. All our political connections are shot since no one trusts SHIELD and we don't have any personal ones. We need to do this quickly and it will take too much time to-" Coulson started but was cut off by Skye's voice.

"No," she said quietly from beside Ward. "Tell me you aren't thinking what I think you're thinking," she demanded turning to glare at Ward.

Ward looked at her in return. "It could work," he said quietly. "And it's pretty much the only option we have right now."

"Would he even help you?" she asked.

"There's really only one way to find out," he replied.

"Do you two wanna catch up the rest of the class?" Barton asked with a frown. "'Cos I feel like I'm missing something."

"You're wrong," Ward said to Coulson. "We do have a personal connection in the Government that we can at least try."

"Who?" May asked.

"My brother," Ward answered.

Author's note: I am so, so sorry about the delay in getting this out! I've been absolutely terrible about updating and feel awful about it. Unfortunately, the holidays happened and then a whole slew of personal stuff cropped up and I just haven't had a chance to write or update until last week. And it's even later than I promised then because I maybe forgot they had Garrett with them a little and so when I went back to re-read and make sure I wasn't missing anything I was and had to go through and rework a few bits! And it may seem like not a lot happens, but it's the staging for everything that's about to happen! So I hope it makes up for the huge wait a little!