HIATUS

CHAPTER 123: Dark tides are coming



"We seem to be receiving a message from an unknown source. Would like me to open it, Ava", one of the Chronicoms in-charge of piloting the ship said.

"Open it, it might just be the Nova Prime decrypting her message anyway", Ava replied.

On one of the screens on the Command Center, an image of an elderly woman could be seen.

"Nova Prime, I was just about to send you the coordinates of the location where I will place your rescued people"

"Of course, well get them once you send the coordinates but that is not the reason why I called you. Ronan has been extremely active more so now than ever"

Ava became interested in this topic and said, "Why do you say that?"

"The Nova Corps intelligence group says that he has been spreading multiple small groups around the galaxy. And as of yesterday, I got a report that those groups rarely destroy anything on the planet they visit. They leave immediately after a few hours"

"I see, so the small group of Kree soldiers that I recently fought were acting out of the norm with respect to the other Kree detachment group...", Ava thought for a while and said, "I'll make sure to keep this in mind in my travels. Hopefully I will be able to find what Ronan is doing".

"Be safe, and the Nova Empire truly owes you a debt of gratitude. Take care", The Nova Prime said as she ended the call.

Ava taps her fingers at the armchair of her seat, and for a while, she was in deep thought. Myrtle could see this and she remained quiet and waited for Ava's instructions.

"Myrtle, have the hunters and ships ready for battle at a moment's notice. I want them out of the ship at the moment I give the command", Ava said with a determined look on her face.

"Yes, ma'am", Myrtle replied as she left Ava's side and obeyed her order.

BACK ON EARTH: THE BUS (TEAM COULSON'S AIRPLANE)

"SLAP!"

"You lied to me?!", Skye said with anger and sadness on her face.

Right now, everyone was currently in the living room quarters of the bus. They were en route to the Triskelion. After the stunt that Ward pulled in the F.R.I.D.G.E. Coulson contacted Fury to inform him about Ward and told him of the man's wish to still work for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Coulson was surprised that Fury allowed Ward to remain in their team but Ward needed to meet some conditions. The first condition was that Ward would resign as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and be hired as a mercenary instead. The second was that Ward shared any information that would help the newly cleanse S.H.I.E.L.D. Ward then argued that he will only do that with Zero's blessing and Fury reluctantly agreed.

The truth was that Fury secretly wanted Ward to still be part of S.H.I.E.L.D. The world was getting weirder and Fury knew that he needed more muscle power other than Captain America. Both Romanoff and Bucky Barnes also got Zero's blessing to help S.H.I.E.L.D but the two spies were busying planning a life together rather than working full time.

It has been a couple of weeks now since Ward rejoined the team as a mercenary. At first, the rest of the team members were quite unsure how to act towards him. He was technically a double agent, be it a double agent that was working with S.H.I.E.L.D. interest. Only Melinda May and Phil Coulson acted moderately the same but the rest of the team members acted hurt that he would lie to them.

It took 2 to 3 weeks before the team could act like normal again. Since he was now a mercenary, Melinda May became the new trainer and superior officer of Skye. After his big reveal and subsequent rejoining of S.H.I.E.L.D. and of the present, Ward could say that Skye and his relationship was slowly going great. And he is quite happy with this, he wanted to be someone important to Skye's life and he believes that Skye wants the same.

But he couldn't push himself to make their relationship officials not when he was hiding a huge truth about Skye's life. One night when he couldn't sleep he went out of his room to get something to drink. It was during this time he saw Coulson having a cup of water in one hand and a carving knife in the other hand. He asked Coulson what it was but Coulson said that he was getting a new hobby. They shortly parted ways and returned to their rooms after that.

This was one of the side effects of bringing Coulson back to life using a Kree corpse. He was definitely carving something, a map of a Kree city. He is losing his mind cause he can't stop carving the map that was in his head.

It was because of these two circumstances that Ward decided to finally tell the group about Skye's identity and Coulson's mind problem. He even contacted Zero and asked if he was willing to treat Coulson from his mental problem, a request that Zero found a hassle but none the less Zero agreed to do it.

Ward rubs the cheek that Skye slap and said, "...I'm sorry, I just wanted to free you from the pain..."

"So, let me get this straight, Coulson actually died during the invasion of New York and Skye's parents are alive. BUT YOU DIDN'T TELL US!", Jemma said with anger in her voice as she went towards Skye's and comforted her friend.

Ward look at Coulson and said, "Coulson's problem is not with me, but with Director Fury. It was Director Fury who ordered Coulson to be brought back to life, and he did it knowing the consequences of his order. But with Skye... it isn't just about her knowing that her parents are alive... it's more complicated than that".

"What could be more complicated than telling someone that their parents are alive?", Fitz said with frustration in his voice.

With tears in her eyes, Skye said, "Do you know where they are?".

"No, Zero did not have their location in his files but he did have the name of both your parents"

"TELL ME!", Skye demanded. All her life she wanted to know where her parents were. Why they abandoned her and why she was alone. She was even willing to hack into S.H.I.E.LD. so that she could find out the truth. And yet to learn that the person that was slowly getting close to her heart was keeping that a secret from her, she felt extremely betrayed and furious.

Ward then just gave Skye his tablet, on it is the file that SHADOW had on her parents and after reading it, she was shocked. For a brief moment, Skye looks at Ward but she then gave the tablet to Simmons and she ran towards her room with tears in her eyes. Everyone then took turns to read the file and they were shocked at what they learned. They became quiet and reluctantly understood what Ward meant that he only wanted to protect Skye from knowing such a cruel truth about her parents' actions.

Coulson on the other hand found an interesting word in Skye's file and said, "What's an inhuman?".

Ward then explained what an inhuman is and Coulson said, "Looks like we aren't just going to update Fury about what we have been doing but also telling him that they are humans with alien DNA in them". Coulson then sighed and return to his office.

INSIDE KAMAR TAJ:

Zhang Wei walks inside the library of Kamar Taj, he walks with cautious and silent steps. He looks at his surroundings and he could see no one was inside. Even the librarian who also acted as the guardian of the tomes was also missing. He went pass the tomes and went directly deeper inside the library.

There he laid eyes on the most powerful artifact that Master of the Mystic Arts had in their possession.

In front of his fellow masters, he calls this an honorable duty, to protect the Eye of Agamotto from falling into the wrong hands. But deep in his heart, he called them fools. With the power of the Darkhold, Loki's scepter, and the Eye of Agamotto, he could become a god.

 


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.