Chapter 4

May came to a stop outside of the lab and ignored everyone present except for Delphine as she spoke, "We're nearing the Fridge, ETA 45 minutes to the drop zone."

She turned on her heel and marched away, leaving Cosima to stare after her before turning to look at Delphine, "Drop zone?"

Delphine stood and answered curtly, "I will be parachuting in about two kilometers from the Fridge."

Sarah let out a whistle, "Wow... at least she isn't boring Cos..."

Delphine didn't even spare Sarah a dirty look as she turned to Agent Simmons, "Jemma, may I speak with you privately?"

The young scientist nodded eagerly and jumped up from her stool to follow Delphine from the lab earning a derisive scoff from Sarah in the process.

The clones, minus Rachel, watched Delphine leave without a backwards glance.

As silence descended over the lab save for Agent Fitz's quiet huffing Alison spoke, "Cosima... I know we don't trust her but this mission... it sounds like it is very dangerous."

Sarah, much to Cosima's irritation spoke before she could, "So?"

Alison scowled, "So she's only doing it for Cosima."

Sarah scoffed, "She owes us Alison. She owes it to Cos. She's betrayed us more than once."

Alison let out a sigh, "And getting herself killed makes up for that?"

Sarah barked out, "Look she played Cos, if she dies to make that right then..."

Cosima snapped out, "Both of you shut up." She leveled a dark look at Sarah, "Delphine getting herself killed is the last thing I want." She cut a hand through the air, "No matter how stupid you think I am, I love her." She leaned forward and placed her head in her hands, "They have our genetic information... I..."

Alison perked up, "Maybe we could just drop a missile on the this facility!"

Agent Fitz spoke up without looking at them, "Our agent is a prisoner at that same facility..."

Alison drooped, "Oh... right."

Cosima straightened, "I'm going to tell her I don't expect this of her. She doesn't have to risk her life to prove herself to me." She shook her head, "Or us."

Sarah was quiet for a second before she spoke, "She'll be fine Cos."

Jemma waited patiently as Delphine shut the door to Coulson's office behind her before turning to look at her, "I need to prepare myself for the jump and the mission but I wanted to ask a favor of you."

Jemma nodded slowly, "Of course Delphine."

Delphine reached into her pocket and pulled out a small USB drive before handing it over to Jemma, "This drive contains all the information DYAD had on Cosima's illness... and the cure. With the original genome as a template we were able to put together a cure." She shook her head, "It was never synthesized and Cosima would never trust me to give it to her but the cure is on there. If you... will you please see it made and administer it? Please?"

Jemma took the drive and knew she wore a miserable look as she did, "Of course Agent Cormier, it would be my honor to complete your work." She lifted her chin defiantly, "You're going to make it back out."

Delphine offered her a sad smile, "I hope so Jemma." She folded her arms across her chest, "You'll need a blood sample from Cosima and the others to tailor the cure to each of them. Once it is given though... well it is all on that drive." She squared her shoulders, "I need to get ready."

Delphine exited the sleeper pod as she readied the holster slug low across her hips, she spoke softly as she passed Jemma, "Are we nearly there?"

Jemma nodded as she followed Delphine to the cargo bay where the team plus the clones were assembled, "Agent Cormier..." Coulson nodded to Delphine and handed her a lightweight vest that Delphine slipped on quickly after stripping off her shirt. She buttoned the heavy-duty shirt back up efficiently and rolled her shoulders.

Coulson handed her a utility vest and Delphine nodded thankfully, "Coulson..." After she zipped her vest she reached into her back pocket and pulled out what Jemma recognized as a S.H.I.E.L.D. badge which she held out to Coulson, "I don't want Garrett to be able to identify me if..." She paused and cast her eyes over to Cosima and her sisters before she shook her head, "You should take this."

Coulson slowly accepted the badge before he impulsively reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his own badge which he shoved into Delphine's hand, "I'll trade you." He offered a wry smile which Delphine returned as she took his badge and slipped it into her vest.

Skye and May moved forward along with Fitz who spoke, "I've given you two NiteNite guns with full charges, that's twenty knockout shots each, one of them is for Ward when you find him." He handed her a small backpack next and spoke earnestly, "This has some of my new toys. Fairly straight forward stuff, but I thought you might make use of them."

Delphine reached out and squeezed his shoulder before clipping the bag to her belt, "Merci Fitz."

May stoically held out a pistol equipped with a silencer and a handful of clips, which Delphine silently fixed to her vest. After a moment she held out another gun, "That one is for Ward."

Delphine nodded, "Thank you Agent May..."

Skye held up a flash-drive, "This is a information bomb, it will wipe the hard drive of the Fridge and trigger a simultaneous upload of any and all level 9 and 10 encrypted files to the Bus. It will fry the mainframe though so even if you are completely quiet they will know you are there once you plug this in and it finishes running."

Delphine wrapped her fingers around the drive and slipped it into her vest, "Thank you all..." She turned to regard them all in turn before speaking, "I will do my best to free your Agent Ward, you have my word."

Coulson nodded, "Thank you."

Delphine hefted her parachute before speaking firmly, "Do not come back for us... I have the tracers Agent Fitz gave me, once the mission is complete they will be activated once there is enough distance from the Fridge." She fixed the parachute on her back silently, avoiding the eyes of everyone on board.

May's wrist beeped and she spoke quietly, "We're over the drop zone, Autopilot will hold us steady."

Delphine nodded and to her own surprise Jemma lunged forward and caught Delphine in a hug.

Quietly she spoke into the French woman's ear, "I will take care of Cosima's illness. Please be safe..."

Delphine pulled away after she gave Jemma a good squeeze and accepted a firm handshake from Fitz next and a solemn nod from May and Coulson before Skye moved forward and caught her in a hug as well.

Delphine didn't turn towards the clones, probably assuming the same reception as she'd received earlier, instead she hit the button that opened the drop doors.

As she took a step forward a voice stopped her, "Delphine..."

Slowly she turned to face the clones as Cosima took a step forward, looking pained and so torn Jemma almost forgave her previous coldness. Almost.

As if jolted Cosima shot forward and caught Delphine's hands in her's, "Delphine you don't have to do this..."

Delphine reached a hand up to cup Cosima's cheek, "I do Cosima." She was quiet as Cosima shook her head stubbornly before she bent and pressed a firm but chaste kiss to Cosima's lips. When she pulled away she smiled softly, "J'taime Cosima, always..." She took her hands away abruptly and took a quick step backwards. A second later and she was at the open drop doors which she stepped out of without a shred of hesitation.

Cosima lurched forward, "Delphine!"

Skye who was nearest shot towards her and caught the clone around the waist, "Woah there."

Delphine made her way past the disabled doors, moving slowly and rather blindly into the Fridge, silently cursing the lack of security feed once again. While it helped her remain undetected and meant she wasn't avoiding camera's she was also completely in the dark when it came to Hydra's forces. She'd edged past at least seven Hydra foot soldiers upon entering the Fridge and had so far managed to avoid any type of confrontation. Despite what video games would have people believe, leaving dead or unconscious bodies lying around was an easy way to kick up an alarm, and seeing as her mission depended on nobody realizing she was there until she'd wiped the drives of any and all information about the clones and uploaded the data bomb she had to be quiet. It took longer, that much was certain, but slow and quiet was better than fast, loud, and eventually dead.

She also wanted to avoid killing anyone, despite the intense hatred she felt for Hydra, she wasn't in a hurry to kill anyone else in the near future.

After a stop off for something Coulson had mentioned she continued her search for the hub in earnest.

She lucked out when she entered the large data hub. The place was abandoned, though the computers still hummed with life as she crept forward. She murmured a quick prayer that her ID codes would still be functional and got to work as she manually typed them in rather than speaking them aloud. She worked quickly, calling up any and all data to do with Project Gemini before systematically corrupting everything to do with first Cosima, then Kira to her horror, before moving onto Alison, Sarah, Tony, and Rachel.

Finally after nearly twenty minutes of frantic work she came to the last file in the grouping and stilled as her eyes skimmed the name of the file before she clicked it.

It brought up a snowy video feed and a series of backlogged video files. She clicked the most recent one and swallowed as a face she was painfully familiar with flickered onto the screen, the face she loved was framed by wild blonde hair and slightly manic eyes were set far in and rimmed with red.

"Merde..."

Delphine combed the last file as after she'd minimized the old video file, searching for a location which she happened upon after another minute of looking. She deleted the file with a violent click of her finger before shoving the flash drive into the computer port and triggering the info bomb. Once she was sure that the bomb was working as it should she reached into the bag of tricks the Fitz had given her and pulled out sphere which she affixed around the flash drive, preventing both the removal of the drive and the ability to turn the computer off.

She silently sent up a thank you to Fitz before she tore from the room, calling up her foggy memory of the Fridge's layout and hurrying towards the prisoner holding area. She had only a little time before her presence became known.

The four walls were more uninteresting than the day before, and the gnawing hunger in her stomach was nearly as bad as the times she'd been starved as a child. The soldiers had forgotten to feed her again, but even more upsetting was the lack of water.

The grumbling in her stomach and the dryness of her mouth prodded her anger and she resolved as she settled against the back wall of her cell that she was just as likely to tear the face off of the next person who opened the door as she was to ask for water and a donut. She'd lost track of the days and she'd given up all hope that she'd be rescued, as much as she'd like to believe that she'd come farther with her seestra than to be left to these soldiers.

Her head snapped up when the smell of burning metal touched her nose. She stared hard at the door and watched as the hinges of her door were cut off quickly and then as the door was wrenched aside. She cocked her head and stood slowly as a tall blonde stepped into sight and breathed out, "Helena?"

Helena took a stepped forward and growled out, "Who are you?"

The woman touched chest and replied softly, "My name is Delphine, I am a friend of... of Sarah's."

Helena perked up, relaxing slightly, "You know Sarah?"

Delphine nodded, "And Cosima and Alison."

Helena narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously, "Seestra-friend?"

Delphine smiled at her, "I suppose you could say that. Would you... will you come with me? I can show you the way out of here."

Helena moved closer to her and blurted out, "Do you have water?" She scowled, "They have not given me food for many days, and no water for at least two..."

Delphine looked vaguely horrified as she reached into the bag that was slung over her shoulder and pulled out a water bottle and what looked like a candy bar, "Here."

Helena snatched them both and guzzled the water without pausing before opening the bar and cramming half in her mouth and making a face at the taste, "Dis tase disgustin..." She spoke around another mouthful, unwilling to stop eating the bar even if it did taste awful. She'd eaten worse.

She was slightly surprised by the indulgent smile that Delphine directed at her, and for some reason the gentle look reminded her of the easy affection that Cosima had given her.

She swallowed and spoke, "You remind me of Cosima..."

Delphine's eyebrows shot up, "I remind you of Cosima?"

Helena shrugged, "You are nice to me..." She pouted, "Sarah calls me meat-head and Alison is afraid of me... Cosima was nice."

Delphine nodded before replying quietly, "I love Cosima very much, so I do care about you. All of you."

Helena tore off another piece of the protein bar before chewing quickly and swallowing, "You are girlfriends?" She looked Delphine up and down before nodding approvingly, "You are very beautiful."

Delphine let out a startled laugh, "Thank you Helena." She frowned after a moment, "We are not... Cosima and I..." She shook her head, "We are not girlfriends."

Helena finished off the protein bar and asked flatly, "Were you unfaithful with Rachel too?"

Delphine looked confused, "I don't understand..."

Helena spoke, "Paul, he slept with Rachel. I nearly shot her in the head but Sarah told me not to."

Delphine shook her head slowly, "Oh... no Helena I was not unfaithful with Rachel." She nodded towards the door, "If you follow me I can lead you out."

Helena trailed after Delphine willingly enough, "We have to be quiet yes?"

Delphine whispered back as she edge near a corner and peeked around, "We have to be very quiet, we can't let anyone know we are here before we get you out."

Helena cocked her head as she sidled up to Delphine, "I could just kill them." She took stock of her body before adding grudgingly, "I would need a gun though. I am very weak."

Delphine let out a soft chuckle, "Guns are noisy."

Helena scoffed as they moved forward, "You have silencer... and two guns, is one not for me?"

Delphine shook her head, "It is for another friend that I must rescue after I get you out." They moved through the military bunker quickly, avoiding any detection to Helena's slight disappointment. When they finally came to what looked like an exit Delphine paused and then handed Helena one of the guns.

"To the left down past the tree line is a garage," She paused and pulled out a small device and spoke into it, "Emergency Override code 6-7-8-3-2-2-1, ID code Cormier comma Delphine Bravo-Sierra-seven-four-Foxtrot." She handed the device to Helena, "This is a micro voice recorder, press the play button and hold it up at the door of the garage, it should let you in. Then pick an all terrain vehicle and go, the same code should start the car." She pulled something else from her back pack and handed it over, "Once you are at least fifty miles from this place press this button, it is a tracker that will lead Sarah back to you." She pulled out a vial of black liquid and handed it over, "This... give this to Jemma Simmons alright? She needs this."

Helena took the offered items reluctantly, "You are going back in there? Will you be alright?"

Delphine offered her a small smile, "I will do my best Helena. The vehicle should have GPS, head north alright? It should help you avoid any checkpoints or Hydra."

Helena shifted from foot to foot, "I should not leave you alone, you are Sarah's friend... you rescued me."

Delphine's face fell as she glanced down before she murmured, "Sarah hates me Helena." She leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Helena's forehead, "Take care of yourself Helena." She pushed her gentle towards the exit, "Now go."

Helena watched as Delphine turned back into the bunker and moved quickly away from the clone, not seeing the stubborn set to Helena's jaw.

Delphine happened upon Ward, almost by accident, chancing a look into a small room and seeing the bruised and beaten man tied to a chair. The look of him, with his bloody face, caused Delphine to relax almost against her will. She pushed that relief aside and narrowed her eyes when she realized he was very still, making no effort to escape. Perhaps he was too wounded to make the attempt, or perhaps she had happened on him when he was marshaling his strength to try again, or perhaps he had no reason to escape. She couldn't be sure which one it was as she stepped into the room. The lack of guards or visible response to her presence by now was causing her paranoia to flare.

His head jerked up and a look a confusion flashed across his face, "Who..."

Delphine replied shortly, "Agent Ward? I am Agent Beraud, Agent Coulson sent me."

Ward shifted, "Good." He nodded towards his tied wrists, "Can you get me free? I'm losing feeling in my hands right now."

Delphine nodded, hoping she didn't look as reluctant as she felt as she untied his wrists and then his feet before straightening, "Come, we need to go."

Ward spoke up from behind her, "Why you? Why didn't Coulson come himself?"

Delphine spoke curtly, "I had business here, it was efficient to rescue you as well." She turned to glance at him and caught the slightly affronted, and hurt look that flashed across his face.

"Glad it was convenient then..."

She let out a small sigh, "Agent Coulson wanted to come get you right away but I insisted that he consider the rest of his team. They are very worried about you." She hesitated for a long moment before she held out a gun to him, "Take this. May sent this one for you," She handed him the NiteNite gun, "And this is from Agent Fitz." Ward took the guns, his hands curling gratefully around them before he shoved the NiteNite gun in the back of his pants causing her to arch her eyebrow, "Why the lethal option?"

He growled out darkly, "Garrett's men executed Hand right in front of me. The only reason he didn't kill me was so that he could lure Coulson here, they'll kill us if we aren't useful."

Delphine nodded, "Alright." She tossed him one of Fitz's little trackers, "In case we get separated that will lead the team to you once we are clear of this place."

Ward nodded and pocketed the tiny device as he followed her from the room. She glanced over her shoulder more than once, hoping that he wasn't in too much pain to be useful in a fight, and briefly she considered stopping to see if there was something for pain in the bag of tricks Agent Fitz had given her. When she picked up the pace and he kept up with her without complaint she decided against wasting any of their precious time.

They neared the doors that would lead them to safety with a little more luck and Delphine could almost taste the air and Cosima's lips. She smiled privately as she imagined her love's face before the puff of a silencer registered just as the bullet slammed into her back followed in rapid succession by two more. The force of the bullets propelled her off her feet and face down on the floor.

She had just enough time to whimper out, "Cosima..." before a jolt tore through her body, spreading an icy cold over her and then the world went dark as her murderer leaned over her.

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