"You ready?" he looked at his redhead partner, who only smirked,

"When am I not?" Her eyes turned white and three copies stepped out of her. He was never going to get used to that.

It was easy. They snuck through the vents of the compound, radio silent until one of them found the package. "Lincoln I'm in the computers," she said over the comms, "it says the package is on sub-level two, room 46."

"Okay, I'll meet you there." He whispered back and then froze. He looked down and saw a guard just below his knees. Shit, he cursed, as the guard's eyes traveled upwards to the vents where he was hiding.

The guard slowly lifted his gun and Lincoln held his breath. The man pressed his finger down slowly on the trigger and Lincoln knew there was no escape. He popped out the screen and jumped on top of the guard. He rolled off the man and jumped to his feet. The guard immediately went for his glock. Lincoln punched him in the nose as a distraction. He stepped back, and put his hand out in front of him, electricity hitting the man right in the chest. He threw the guard down another hall, effectively knocking him out.

He straightened up and began to walk quickly down the hall, running down the steps and ducking around a corner to avoid three guards. He began to sprint almost silently down the gray halls, counting the numbers until he reached 46. He sent electricity through the handle, sending it flying off. He stepped into the room and stopped. There, in the center of the space stood a pedestal with a silver obelisk on it.

He opened up his backpack and picked up the diviner carefully, and slipping it safely inside. Suddenly, an alarm went off, making him jump. "Lincoln, we've been made!" she yelled in his ear, "I'll meet you at the extraction point!"

"Got it!" He said as he sprinted down the hall to the vent he'd crawled through to get in. "I have the package!"

He went back and forth, but right now, running through an enemy compound and watching them stumble over each other to try and find the inhumans, he loved his job.

There was a knock on the glass door of her office, and she looked up from her paperwork. "Come in." She said politely.

A man whose face was devoid of eyes poked his head in, "Jiaying, Alicia and Lincoln are back from their mission."

She nodded thoughtfully, "Send them in." He opened the door further and ushered the young inhumans into the clean and minimalistic office. "Hello," she smiled, "how was the mission?"

"It was alright," Alicia said, "we got made halfway through, though."

"Did you retrieve the diviner?" She asked and Lincoln pulled it out of his bag and placed it on her desk.

"All in one piece," He said, "I don't think they figured out how to use it."

"Of course not," she said, picking up the diviner and admiring it, "Hydra may believe themselves to be great scientists, capable of amazing things, but in truth," she glanced at the two, smiling darkly, as if she were about to say an inside joke of some sort, "they are just men, in a world that's gone far beyond that."

Lincoln smiled slightly and glanced over at Alicia to see her mirroring Jiaying's expression. "Hydra has been fighting for so long now over the control of the earth that they don't even know it isn't theirs anymore." She placed the diviner in a silver case.

"Whose is it then?" Lincoln frowned and she turned back to look at him, her plain and masked expression ever-present on her scared yet beautiful features.

"It's the people's," she said, and he furrowed his brow, which people? He thought.

He admired Jiaying, but he didn't really understand her sometimes, and he knew she had an axe to grind with Hydra, and was, maybe, therefore biased. But she was protecting their kind, so maybe she was right to be suspicious of them and their motives.

"Thank you for retrieving this," she said after a moment, "now go home, both of you, and rest," he smiled warmly "you deserve it."

"Thank you." Alicia said, and Lincoln nodded, both of them turning to leave.

He adjusted his grip on the duffel bag in his right hand as he walked through the office to the elevators at the far end, waving goodbye to the person he'd just been working with.

"Bye, Alicia," he smiled, "actually wait," he stopped, putting his bag down and ushering her over.

"What?" She frowned, as he rummaged around in his backpack.

"Take this," he held out a piece of gauze and her frown deepened, "for your cut," he clarified.

"Oh, thanks," She smiled and took it.

"Listen, I got to go but," he began to gather up his things quickly, "you should go in and have someone check that out and clean it."

"Why are you in such a hurry, I hope I'm not that terrible of company," she smirked and he laughed,

"No, I'm just going to be late," he got up and began to rush to the elevator again, riding it up anxiously and practically running through the building's lobby to the doors, catching a cab outside almost immediately.

Once he sat down in the back seat, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to read the message his cousin had sent him,

J: Where are you?

He smiled and wrote back,

L: On my way.

Just as he was putting it back in his pocket, it vibrated again,

J: It's your turn to cook remember? I'm not covering for you AGAIN.

L: Sorry, I had to stop by the office. I'm coming down the street right now.

J: Skye's on her way!

He fumbled with his keys, finally unlocking the door and dropping his stuff in the front hall, "There you are!" Jemma scolded gently, standing up from where she'd been sitting in their living room and coming to give him a hug.

"Hey, Jem," he said hugging her back.

"How was your trip?" she asked, walking into the kitchen and opening up the fridge.

"It was alright," he said, pulling off his coat and hanging it on the rack, "how was it back here?"

"Uneventful," she said plainly, handing him a beer as he came into the kitchen. He smiled at her obvious boredom of her day-to-day life, and began to boil some water. "So where did you go this time?" she asked, walking around the island, sitting on one of the stools and facing him.

"London, actually," he said and she smiled,

"Oh, that's nice," she said lightly, "how was the weather; was it as terrible as you constantly say?" she teased.

"The weather is always terrible there, Jem." He smiled, taking a sip of his beer, as she laughed.

Her phone buzzed, as she pulled it from the bowl where it normally resided on the island's countertop. "That'll be Fitz," she smiled, "and… he's lost his wallet" her face fell and Lincoln choked slightly on his drink, "he can't call a cab so I have to go get him."

Lincoln laughed and she rolled her eyes at him, "Try not to set the house on fire!" she called as she began to walk out.

"You almost set it on fire last time, not me!" he laughed and she turned around as she opened the door,

"It was Skye and Fitz, not me!" She said and he laughed,

"You were supposed to supervise!" She scoffed and rolled her eyes, closing the door behind her.

He shook his head, still smiling as he went back to the task of cooking dinner. After a couple of moments, he heard a voice outside, and he looked up to see Skye opening the door and tucking her keys into her pocket. She smiled, shutting the door and sighing, her eyes meeting his.

If possible, his smile grew as she marched into the kitchen and opened the fridge forcefully, pulling out a beer "You know what I hate?" she asked, as he began to cut some basil.

"What?" he grinned, glancing at her as she pushed herself up on the counter next to him.

"Being a reporter." She said mournfully, taking a sip of her beer as he laughed again,

"Why?"

"I'm never writing about anything interesting, like I used to," She said wistfully,

"On your blog you mean?" he asked as she took another sip of her beer,

"Mhm," she nodded, swallowing, "and whenever I bring up an idea for a story, I always get shot down."

"Did you tell them about that big story you won't tell me anything about?" he asked.

"Yes! And they said it wasn't plausible and that I couldn't corroborate anything!" she said exasperatedly, "I mean what's the point?"

"Well maybe you should go work somewhere else?" he suggested gently and she shrugged.

"Maybe." She paused, watching him as he worked. "Speaking of working other places…"

"Come on, Skye, not this again—" Lincoln glanced warningly up at his friend on the counter.

"—Don't 'come on Skye' me!" She said indignantly, hopping off the counter as he went to a drawer under where she'd just been sitting. "It's taking up your whole life!"

"It's important—"

"—And you're a med student for crying out loud," she said, "what does working at a bank have to do with that?"

"It's a great opportunity for—" he said but she continued talking over him,

"—You're jetlagged like, all the time, I don't know how you even get up in the morning, they call you in at the worst times possible, like last year they called you in on Christmas—which should be illegal—and you act like it's life and death, and," she paused and stepped in front of him so he'd stop moving around and look her in the eyes, "you're not as happy as you think you are."

"Skye," he put his hands on her shoulders, "I'm fine, I promise. Now, can we please stop talking about this?"

They stared at each other for a long moment, so long that the air was starting to feel warm, or maybe he was just imagining it. "Lincoln?"

"Yeah?"

"I think the food's going to burn."

"Oh, right," he pulled away and turned back to the stove.

"Speaking of," she leaned against the sink, picking up her beer and taking another sip, "what's for dinner?"

"Your favorite." He smiled, as he began to cut some tomatoes.

"The tomato thing?" she gasped excitedly, stepping over to stand next to him.

"Yeah, you mind cutting some of these for me?" He smiled and she nodded.

"Yeah, sure, one sec," She walked around the island and put her drink down on the island and walking over to where her purse rested on the couch. She pulled out her phone and picked it up, "Hey Jemma. Yeah I'm here already. Really, how bad?"

"What's wrong?" he asked and she turned away from the phone,

"They're stuck in some really bad traffic." She turned back to the phone but didn't speak, "And… now they're bickering again." She smiled at him and he laughed,

"Of course," he grabbed the olive oil off a shelf, "ask them how long they're going to be."

"Jemma, how long do you think you'll be?" Skye said as Lincoln walked out of the kitchen to move his bags from the front hall.

He walked down the hall and threw them on his bed as Skye yelled, "A half an hour?!"

He walked back into the kitchen, "Really, that long?" he asked and she threw her free hand up in the air exasperatedly.

"Alright, okay yeah, sorry." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well isn't there another road you could take or something, I mean, why do you try taking the—"

Suddenly, something broke the window, flying into the room and landing near Skye's feet. "What the hell—?" Skye pulled the phone away from her ear and took a step closer to the projectile.

His heart skipped a beat. He walked around the island into the living room. "Skye, get away from—" he began warningly, before the lights went out and an extremely bright light filled the room.

A force threw them back, and he collided with the counter, the stools falling on him. He pushed himself up by the elbows and tried to stand up. He was dizzy, and he fell back down. His ears were ringing and his head was heavy. He tried to form words but he couldn't speak. He opened his eyes and it burned; he was blind, he couldn't see.

"Skye…?!" he managed to slur, trying to open his eyes again.

He vaguely heard the front door burst open. Men rushed in, their dark boots heavy and rumbling. The back of his eyes were in terrible pain, but he forced them open again. One of the men stomped on Skye's phone, and he let his eyes slip closed again.

"What are you doing?!" Skye yelled, the ringing in his ears starting to subside.

He pried his eyes open again, turning his head to see men grabbing her arms and lifting her off the ground. "Let me go!" she yelled, louder this time.

"Skye!" he cried, more in control of his voice now, but eyes still on fire.

"Lincoln!" she yelled, kicking as they dragged her away. "Lincoln!" She screamed.

Something inside him started to tick again after that, "Skye!" he shoved himself to his feet. He stumbled, and one of the men punched him. He fell against the counter. The man pursued him, but before he could land another punch, Lincoln kicked him in the stomach, sending the man flying.

"Lincoln!" she screamed, trying to grab at the doorframe as they dragged her away.

He reached out for her, five men now attempting to keep him still. From the palm of his hand, blue light blossomed, and hit one of the men dragging her away. But it didn't matter, they still pulled her from his sight, all he could hear were her blood-curdling screams.

"Skye!" he managed to yell before the men finally pushed him to the ground. They began to kick him, repeatedly from all sides. All he could do was try and cover his face. Suddenly, it stopped and someone pulled at his shoulder, turning him onto his back.

"Lincoln?" Jemma's worried eyes met his.

He jumped to his feet and looked around the smoke-filled apartment. They were all gone; they'd just up and vanished,

And they'd taken her with them.

A/N: Hey so this is just an idea that I came up with and so I don't really know how long it's going to be, but I'd love to hear your feedback on it.
-xo ShadowJay