Lincoln was having second thoughts about Jiaying's plan. Having spent time at S.H.I.E.L.D. and hearing about it from Jemma, he knew that they were good and they didn't deserve to die. Besides, it sounded too similar to Bathory's plan to turn all of humanity into Homosuperiors. Skye, Mack, May, Fitz and Coulson were on the Iliiad. Lincoln decided to try to get them off, but he knew that Skye was the only one who trusted him (apart from Jemma) but even that was uncertain as he was 'working' with Jiaying. He had to attempt to convince them that he wasn't their enemy.
"Lincoln." He was brought out of his thoughts by Jiaying. "What are you thinking?"
What am I thinking? Oh, just that I'm worried about S.H.I.E.L.D., your plan is too similar to Bathory's and if anything happens to Fitz then Jemma will kill me.
"Just wondering if this is the right thing to do." he told her, knowing perfectly well that it wasn't.
"I know you're conflicted about this, Lincoln." she said. 'Conflicted' wasn't the right word for it. "Come. Let me show you something."
With a bad feeling in his stomach, Lincoln followed Jiaying through the ship until they stopped outside a door at the end of a corridor. She pushed the door open and led him in. Lincoln stopped and stared in shock.
"Jemma?" he asked. His cousin was handcuffed to a metal chair in the middle of the room, being guarded by Gordon.
"Lincoln." Jemma replied, quietly. He could tell she was scared, but it was subtle. He moved towards her but Gordon stepped in front of him.
"Move." Lincoln said, firmly. Despite having no eyes, Gordon stared back at him. Eventually, Gordon moved and Lincoln moved over to Jemma and crouched down next to her. "Jemma. Are you alright? Have they hurt you?"
"I'm fine, Lincoln." Jemma replied. "I'm not hurt. I'm fine." Her voice shook slightly and he pulled her into a hug. She buried her head in his shoulder, hidden from Jiaying and Gordon. "Find May." Lincoln nodded.
"Ok." he whispered in her ear, turning his head so that Jiaying and Gordon couldn't see him speak. "I'll find her." He pulled back and looked at her, cupping her face in his hands. "Don't worry, Jemma." His voice was back to normal volume now.
"I can take care of myself, Lincoln." said Jemma. He gave her an affectionate kiss on the forehead then stood up, his hand resting on her shoulder. He turned to Jiaying and Gordon.
"Don't worry, Lincoln." said Jiaying, walking towards him. "Jemma will be fine. We won't hurt her, unless you decide on turning against us." Lincoln felt the familiar wave of fear for Jemma building up in him.
"Please don't hurt her." he said, his own voice now shaking.
"I give you my word, Lincoln. She will be safe." Jiaying told him. "Gordon will take good care of her."
"Lincoln." said Jemma. He looked down at her. "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." Lincoln nodded, bent down and kissed her again on the forehead then ruffled her hair which made her smile.
"Stay safe, Jemma." he said.
"You too, Lincoln." she replied. He stood back up and looked sternly at Jiaying and Gordon.
"If either of you hurt her, you'll regret it." he warned them.
"Understood." said Jiaying.
Lincoln headed out of the room and went to find May. He and Jemma had agreed that if they were ever to tell any of the team the truth then May and Bobbi would be first. He followed the sounds of fighting coming from the distance and came across May taking down an Inhuman. The two of them looked at each other, but didn't do anything.
"Agent May." said Lincoln, raising his hands to show that he wasn't a threat. "I know you have no reason to trust me, but I need your help." May studied him for a while, obviously working out if he was telling the truth which she decided he was.
"What do you need?" she asked.
"Jiaying's taken Jemma hostage." explained Lincoln, knowing that his use of Jemma's first name would alert May. "Jemma told me to come and find you. I need to get her out of here."
"Where is she?" asked May. Lincoln led her to where Jemma was being held and stopped outside the door.
"Just a heads up, Gordon's in there with her." he said. May nodded and pulled out her gun. Lincoln opened the door and they burst in.
"Get away from Simmons!" May exclaimed, pointing her gun at Gordon. Lincoln held up his hand, a ball of electrical energy generating.
"Get away from Jemma!" he exclaimed.
"Jiaying will hear about this." said Gordon. He moved closer to them, and Lincoln's powers and May's grip on her gun increased. "Your cousin will be in more danger than she already is."
"Cousin?" asked May. She looked from Gordon to Jemma to Lincoln and it clicked. "Cousin."
"What makes you think you can stop me?" asked Gordon.
"I've dealt with teleporters before." said Lincoln. "Agent May is one of the deadliest S.H.I.E.L.D. agents ever." He smiled. "And Jemma hates being kidnapped!"
From behind Gordon came a loud cry and Jemma hit him over the head with the chair.
"Simmons." said May, putting her gun away and moving towards the young biochemist.
"Agent May!" said Jemma, hugging her in relief. "Lincoln!" She then rushed over to her cousin, who brought her into a tight and comforting hug.
"Hey, Jem." said Lincoln.
May watched them, smiling. She could see how close they were. Even if she didn't know that they were cousins, she would've guessed that there was something between them...not romantic, not platonic, but something else. The kind of bond you had with someone who you were that close to and could trust completely. It was the same bond she had seen with Simmons, Fitz and Skye. A family-like bond, which in Simmons and Lincoln's case was a literal bond.
"So." she said. Jemma and Lincoln came out of the hug and looked at her, their arms round each other. "Cousins?" They nodded.
"We kept it secret to keep people safe." explained Jemma. "Lincoln's pissed off some people who would use me to get to him, and since my dad works for Roxxon Oil I've had my fair share of kidnappings."
"We'd like to keep it secret, if that's alright." said Lincoln.
"Of course." replied May, nodding. "I'll keep your secret, but you know it's going to come out eventually."
"We know." he said. "Jemma said that if we ever told anyone, it would be you and Bobbi."
"I knew I could trust the two of you to keep it secret." said Jemma. May smiled.
"We will. You haven't told Fitz and Skye?"
"We need to keep them safe" said Jemma.
"You know you're going to have to tell them at some point, right?"
"We know." said Lincoln.
"Ok. You two, go and find Skye. Help her and Mack off this ship." May told them. "Simmons, make sure none of them kill Lincoln. Tensions are running high right now."
"Yeah, we hadn't noticed." said Lincoln, smiling. May and Jemma rolled their eyes, then Jemma noticed something.
"Gordon's gone." she said. Lincoln and May turned to where Gordon had been lying unconscious on the floor and saw that he had teleported away.
"Dammit!" exclaimed Lincoln. "He's gone to get Jiaying." May pulled her gun out of its holster.
"Come on." she said. "I'm getting you out of here."