Hello! I'm so sorry for the sort of hiatus I have taken over the past two weeks. I have honest to god fallen into the most unfortunate series of bad news possible. Starting from my ex-best friend's backstabbing to rejection letters I have not mentally been in the best place as of late. However, with the help of Em, Gwyn, Riley and a couple of irl friends I'm getting back onto my feet again. I'm hoping to have A Better Tomorrow updated soon as well but I was inspired to write a little headcannon/theory based off of the next episode's stills and promos and basically what I hope goes down. I hope you guys enjoy. I just want to say a quick "I love you." to Em, Gwyn, and Riley. I don't know where I'd be right now without you guys.
Her heart thuds heavily against her chest, lungs heaving for air as she runs. She can feel them stretching a compressing against her ribs, she could feel the pounding of her own feel off of the wood, she could feel the way her throat constricted with every concentrated breath. How is this not real? How is she not real? She could feel pain incredibly spiking through her arm. The headache builds at the edges of her temples. How is that even possible with what she is? She doesn't survive off of vital functions yet the phantom sensations of these organs torture her paralyzed mind.
"May here!" Phil dashes into the library holding the door open for her to duck underneath his arm. He shuts the door behind them grabbing a nearby flag to barricade between the handles of the door to jam it shut. "Are we the first ones here?" He asks, his hand poised and ready on the pistol strapped to his side.
"Looks like we beat them." She smiles slightly. She shouldn't find satisfaction in this, in defeating the Watchdogs. That's not her sensation to feel. She's not real.
The Watchdogs had taken one of the Koenigs hostage, trying to torture him for where he had hidden the Darkhold. What did Nadeer want with the Darkhold? Was there some sort of secret hidden in it's pages to ride of the inhumans? The thought threw ice down her spine. These sensations bother her more and more as time passes. It shouldn't be her here. It should be May.
Through a series of convoluted hints Coulson had tracked the Darkhold down to a library. Of course of all places a library was where it had to be hidden where anybody could stumble upon it in any given minute.
"I've got it." Coulson smiles standing up straight. A brown satchel is clutched in his hands, bearing the weight of what could possibly be the world in its contents. A book much too powerful for it's own good. Her feet carry her forwards without her consent until she is directly in front of him. Wordlessly, he opens the brown leather bag showing her for proof. Sure enough the book glared back up at her teasingly. Her body was no longer in her control as she reached out to take it.
Realization settles over her like cold ice. Fear gripping her from head to toe. This was why the Watchdogs wanted the book.
"Nadeer is working with Radcliffe." She whispers horrified. This was her mission. She was programmed to retrieve the Darkhold for Radcliffe.
"What? How do you know?"
Because so am I. "I-" Take it away from me. "I-" You're not safe with me.
"May what is it?"
I'm not her. "Radcliffe is building LMDs, soldiers if you may. If she gets the Darkhold for him which AIDA," and I, "wasn't able to do, he'll build her an army."
"Son of a bitch." He whispers shaking his head. "We have to get this somewhere safe I-"
His words are cut off with a loud pounding noise. Someone is trying to break into the room. They've found them.
"Take it."
"Phil-"
"I can boost you up through the window. You're much quicker than I am anyways." He smiles passing the satchel over to his grip. Her entire body freezes, tensing as her programming starts to whirl. Punch him and escape. That's all she needs to do.
"No!" Melinda cries out against her programming. She can't hurt him. She won't hurt him. Phil looks at her startled, kind eyes sparkling with worry. She wants to lean forwards and kiss him. Anything to take that damned look off of his face. He shouldn't be worrying about him. She's not who she should be worried about. She would only hurt him.
"Melinda I trust you more than anyone. I need you to get out of here and destroy this."
"I can't." She whispers. His fingers wind through her hair pulling her face up to meet his.
"I'll be fine."
"Phil please I-" A crash echoes through the room as the door is separated from it's hinges. It's already too late. Four heavy footsteps, about five seconds before they would be discovered at the back of the library.
One, she grips Phil by the collar taking a breath of encouragement. She just wanted to memorize every single part of his face one last time. Two, she pulls him to her, her lips colliding with his. She just had to know how they would feel before she does this. Three, his hands fall on her waist. It's better than she ever could have imagined. More than she ever could have dreamed. Four, she pushes him away loading her gun. Five, she pushes Phil behind her as the bullets begin to spray.
She fires her shots as carefully as she's trained. Three bullets lodge in only two skulls. Phil grips her waist tugging her backwards behind his shield sparing them the spray. It's already too late.
The air leaves her lungs as three bullets impact with her body. Her programming is far away in her mind now. The satchel slips from her fingers as she clutches her stomach, crimson pouring onto her fingers. A small whimper leaves her lips as her body falls slump against Coulson.
"May?" He asks panicked. Her weight drags him down with her, he's cradling her upper half in his lap now yelling desperately into the comms. "I need medical now! Agent down!" The entire ground trembles with realization of a force. Melinda can practically hear the broken cry now as Daisy wipes out all of the Watchdogs in one fair swoop.
A woosh echoes through the halls as a startled Elena stands above them.
"Let me take her." Elena says. "I can get her there quickly."
"No. We can't move her. We could make things worse."
"But sir."
"Take the Darkhold. Run as fast as you can. Hide it." Phil commands passing the satchel to Elena. The young woman bows her head for a minute. The whispers of a praying passing through her calm lips. May lets out a shuddered breath which transfers to another whimper. "Elena, go."
"Yes, Sir." With another whoosh the woman is gone once more. Phil frantically removes his jacket, pressing it to the bleeding wounds. There's so much pain.
"I need you to stay awake for me Melinda. Just listen to my voice." He begs. She briefly wonders if he had begged Rosalind in the same tone. Holding her as she took her last breaths.
Glass shatters around them as a figure leaps through the window dramatically.
"No." Daisy whimpers rushing towards the two of them. She collapses on her knees on the opposite side of her, the ground beneath them shaking ever so slightly.
"Breathe Daisy." The girl nods with tear-laden eyes. She smiles sadly combing her fingers through her hair. Melinda began to feel tired, this couldn't be normal. She never slept anymore. She had shrugged it off as night terrors before but now…
"Keep your eyes open Lin. Help will be here soon." She needed to tell them. They had to know it wasn't her. May wasn't dying. She was.
The bullets must have pierced a vital portion of her mechanics. She wasn't built like AIDA was. She wasn't meant to withstand these sorts of shots. Her mechanics were messy, quickly assembled. She wasn't meant to be a shield she was meant to be a distraction. An experiment to be tested. A tool to get what they truly needed. She could feel herself beginning to shut down. She had to move quickly.
Melinda takes Daisy's hand softly. The younger girl lets out a heartbreaking sob. She has to end this. She has to end their pain.
Melinda slides Daisy's hand under her own shirt, guiding her fingers to the wound. The girl tries to tug her fingers away but Melinda's strength keeps them there. She presses her fingers into the shot. The girl startles at the feeling of cold metal. A series of emotions flash in her eyes before she speaks.
"You're not May." She whispers. Hope, anger, devastation, fear. The last thing she sees before her vision goes dark is the anger settling over Coulson's face.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Phil startles at Daisy's words echoing through the large library.
"You're not May." Phil rips his jacket off of the wounds, startled and angry. His eyes trace over the wounds feeling as if his own heart were beginning to tear out of his chest. Sure enough glimpses of silver sparkled up from beneath the skin. This wasn't his May.
"Where is she?" It's already too late though. The figures eyes are staring unseeingly up to the rooftops. His heart catches in his throat. This is what it looked like. This was what it had looked like when May had died. "Answer me!" He shakes it angrily. How could he not have known? How could he not have known this wasn't May?
"Coulson she's gone."
"We have to find her. She has to know." Phil states panicked.
"We'll have Fitz scan her hard drive when we get back to the base but for now, I don't think she knows anything."
"Why?"
"Because she looked almost scared. I don't think she knew, not for a while that is." Daisy sighs.
"I can't believe this."
"Hey. We'll find her." Daisy states grabbing his shoulder.
"How do we know she's not-"
"She's not. Knowing May she's probably fighting like hell to get out of wherever she is right now." Coulson pushes himself to his feet making his way quickly out of the library. "Where are you going?" She calls after him.
"I'm going to find our May."