The fluorescent bulbs in the corridor ceiling felt like a spotlight on Jemma as she exited the room, sending her nerves into overdrive. She was cold, freezing actually, and couldn't stop her hands from shaking. It had all felt like a bad dream, but she could taste the salt of her tears and feel the burn in her throat and knew it had been real. And as she glanced from Coulson, who was simply staring at the tranquillizer gun he'd taken from her, to Koenig, still fast asleep in his chair, she suddenly felt as though she were going to vomit.

What the hell had she almost done?

What the hell had she actually done?

She had to fix it. She knew she had to fix it, because it was her fault. It was her responsibility. But she was frozen, unable to step forward, not only because she was horrified but also because she was scared that Coulson would back away from her.

She finally opened her mouth to speak. "Sir, I-"

"I'll take care of it, Simmons," he said quietly, and she saw the sadness in his eyes when he looked up at her. "Why don't you go get some rest?"

Jemma pressed her lips together tightly to keep from trembling, and after a pause gave him a nod. She left him standing there, still staring at the gun in his hands, and raced off to her room, where she silently sobbed herself to sleep.

And for the rest of their time together, she and Coulson never spoke of that night again.

When May entered the comm/sat room one morning, Skye was eating a bowl of cereal, both legs propped up on the table in front of her. She was flipping through a series of maps on the screen, explaining something to Coulson, whose eyelids were drooping as he struggled to pay attention.

Neither of them noticed May until she spoke. "Any updates?" she asked, hiding a smile as Coulson nearly fell out of his chair.

Skye shook her head while she finished another bite of her cereal. "No, HYDRA jumped ship again." She switched to a screen showing satellite images of the military base they'd gotten Ward out of. "There's no sign of them at Grissom anymore, which means they probably found another evil lair somewhere else. Hooray."

May had suspected as much, but even though it wasn't the greatest news, she was thankful HYDRA wasn't presenting an imminent threat to them. They needed time to get their bearings together, and that was never going to happen with HYDRA chasing them out of every remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. base. "And Talbot?"

Skye set her empty bowl on the table next to her laptop and leaned back again. "Funeral was last week. At Arlington," she replied with an annoyed smile.

Coulson scoffed. "Let me guess. Buried with full military honors?"

"Oh, of course," Skye said sarcastically. "Couldn't have him getting what he deserved."

May wasn't smiling. "He's dead," she pointed out in a quiet voice. "That funeral wasn't for him."

Skye glanced away from her, probably feeling awkward by the sudden tension in the room. But Coulson met her gaze, and for a brief moment she saw the echo of a little boy who'd lost his father in his eyes. He knew just as well as she did that funerals were for the living.

For those left behind.

"What about Ward?" May asked, deciding to change the subject.

Skye had been doing a lot better recently, but May still saw her freeze for a moment before looking at her in confusion. "What about him?"

"Is HYDRA gonna come looking for him?"

"No, I don't think so," she answered, swiveling back and forth in her chair. "He's not in the system, and Talbot had him in isolation. So either they were keeping him locked up because they realized he's a cold-blooded serial killer and belongs behind bars for the rest of his life, or…if we're being real here, Talbot was probably gonna use him to do some dirty work on the DL." She turned back to her laptop. "Good thing we got him out of there before that happened," she muttered. "Otherwise, who knows where the hell he'd be right now?"

May and Coulson glanced at each other, and she could tell that he didn't know how to respond either. But Skye was already thinking about something else. "Listen, since you're both here," she said, looking over May's shoulder towards the door. "I wanted to talk to you about something." She leaned forward, lowering her voice. "It's about-"

Her sentence was cut off by the sound of rapid beeping coming from the main screen, and the map began zooming in on a flashing red dot.

"It's him," she declared, quickly opening up a program on her laptop.

"Quinn?" Coulson asked, standing up.

"Yup," Skye muttered, typing faster than May had ever seen anyone type. "Rerouting to a secure channel…disabling any tracking devices from outside sources…recording visual and audio…and…you ready, A.C.?" she asked, looking up at him for permission.

He rested one fist on the table as his other hand tightly gripped the back of her chair, and gave her a small nod. May walked up to stand on Skye's opposite side, out of the line of the camera but close enough to see what was going on.

The video buzzed with static before coming into focus on Quinn's face, which somehow looked more disheveled than it had before. "Don't hang up, don't hang up," he pleaded, leaning close to the screen. "Please, okay? I'm begging you, just…just stay on the line."

"You've got a lot of nerve calling us, Quinn," Coulson answered, cutting to the chase. "What do you want?"

"Look, I know, all right?" he replied, glancing behind him every few seconds. "You've got no reason to trust me. But I didn't know who else to call. I-It's out of my control."

Coulson's face was white. "The gravitonium?" he asked.

Quinn laughed, but it was an unhinged kind of sound, and it did nothing to alleviate May's anxiety. "Oh, no," he chuckled. "The gravitonium is gone."

"What do you mean, gone?"

"I couldn't explain even if I wanted to," Quinn assured them. "Look, I don't have much time, okay? He's gonna figure out something's up if I'm gone too long. But you've gotta come out here, Coulson, or send someone, or…just do something, all right? I…I can't control him. He's a maniac!"

Coulson's face showed little sympathy or patience for the man on the other end. "Who are you talking about, Quinn? What maniac?"

Quinn's eyes widened. "Hall!" he cried, looking at them as if they were the ones not making any sense.

"Hall?" Coulson repeated. "As in…Franklin Hall?"

"Yes!"

Coulson looked over at May before turning back to Quinn. "Um…Hall is dead, Quinn. He fell into the gravitonium."

Quinn groaned, obviously frustrated that they weren't understanding him. "Don't you get it? The gravitonium isn't just gone. It's…it's inside of him."

Coulson simply stared at Quinn for a few seconds before his hand reached forward on the control panel. "Okay, I think we're done here."

"No, no, no, please," Quinn begged. "I know, I know that it doesn't make sense, but all I'm saying is...he's alive. All right? And somehow…he has the gravitonium and he's found a way to control it, and I…I don't know what to do." He was still checking over his shoulder, as if Hall could walk in on him at any minute. "Most of the compound got out after the initial blast, but there's a handful of us left, and he won't let us leave, Coulson. I mean, I had to build this radio from scratch and put magnetic shielding in a closet in order to contact you, for God's sake. Okay? And he's not making any sense either, talking about starting over and building a particle generator the size of my house? Basically ignoring everything I say. I need help, okay? You happy? I am asking…No. I am begging for your help."

Coulson was tapping a finger on the panel impatiently, but May could see he was conflicted. "Why the hell should I believe you?"

"I don't think you understand," Quinn chuckled humorlessly. "I am offering to turn myself in here. Okay? I just need you to come out here and try to talk him down or contain him or…or whatever it is you guys do. Because this is what you guys do, right?"

"And how do I know this isn't a trap?"

Quinn sighed as he ran a hand over his face, looking more defeated than May had ever seen him, even after she'd beaten him to a pulp when he'd shot Skye. "You don't," he finally said wearily. "But you're one of the good guys, Coulson," he continued, a very Quinn-like glint in his eye. "And I know you. If there's even a chance that I'm right, if there are potentially innocent lives in danger…wouldn't it be your responsibility to at least make sure I'm wrong?"

May felt her heart sink, and braced herself for Coulson's response, knowing that there was no way he'd be able to refuse. Because Quinn was right. Coulson was one of the good guys. And May was almost certain it would end up being his downfall.

Again.

There was a long silence as they all looked at Coulson expectantly.

"Damn it," he muttered.

"All right," Skye announced as Triplett and Coulson entered the Bus's comm room. They'd left Homerun shortly after ending the call with Quinn, leaving the base under Isabelle Hartley's watchful care. Coulson had been wary about splitting up the team, especially after what had happened at the Playground, so they were all there. FitzSimmons downstairs in the lab, pulling out all the information they had on the gravitonium, while May was at the helm, racing them down the east coast towards the Caribbean.

"The coordinates Quinn gave us puts us on Boca Caliente, a private island near Grenada." Skye quickly swiped a few keys, and a series of documents and maps flooded the screen. "It was bought out about a year ago for twenty million dollars by an unspecified organization, but I did a little digging, and…guess who our secret buyer is."

"Quinn Worldwide?" Coulson shrugged.

"Better," Skye smiled, probably more because she had big news than because she was happy about the information. "Advanced Idea Mechanics."

Coulson's eyes widened. "Wait, A.I.M.?" he asked in horror. "As in…terrorist organization, the Mandarin, kidnapped the president and threatened global domination A.I.M.? That A.I.M.?"

"That's the one," Skye replied, her smile fading. "God knows why Quinn was involved with them. But they must've not liked his style, because there's no trace of them on the island anymore. Quinn was right about one thing. He's on his own."

Coulson was examining the maps. "And was he right about…the other thing?"

Skye shook her head. "I don't know. It looks like it, though. The entire compound is generating a lot of electricity, and it all seems to be radiating out from something in the center."

"Hall, you think?"

"Could be," she shrugged. "We'll only find out once we get in. Which, of course, means getting past the deadly lasers."

Coulson didn't look happy about any of it. "And Quinn said he could get you in?"

"Yup," Skye nodded. "But it'll be a small window. Maybe five seconds?"

"So we'll have to be quick," Triplett said.

There was a brief pause as Coulson and Skye exchanged glances. "It's just gonna be Skye going in, Trip," Coulson replied quietly. "Quinn can only lower the grid for one person, otherwise Hall will see us coming."

"So I'll go in alone," Triplett reasoned, wondering how on earth Coulson could be okay with sending Skye by herself.

Coulson shook his head. "We need to shut down whatever power source he's using to fuel the generator. And the only way we can do that is if Skye hacks their system from the inside."

"I'll be fine," Skye assured them, looking slightly annoyed. "But I still don't know how we're gonna manage to get everyone out."

Triplett was disliking the plan more and more with every passing second. "How many hostages are there?" he asked.

"Ten," Skye answered. "Including Quinn."

"And what about Hall?"

"Once Skye cracks their system, we'll be able to talk to him from out here," Coulson explained. "Hopefully we'll be able to reason with him, get him to calm down."

Triplett couldn't help thinking that Hall wasn't the only one who needed a bit of reason. "Are you sure that's gonna work, sir?"

Coulson met his eyes, and Triplett could see the strain in his expression. "It's a risk."

"All due respect, Director," Triplett replied solemnly. "This plan has a lot of risks."

Before he had a chance to voice his other concerns, though, Fitz popped his head in the doorway. "Excuse me, sir. Do you have a minute?"

Coulson spun around. "What is it, Fitz? Is everything all right?"

Fitz nodded hurriedly as he entered the room. "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine," he said dismissively. "It's about the hostages, sir," he clarified. "You see, I was looking at the specs of the compound…and I think I might have an idea."

Coulson glanced over at Skye before turning back to Fitz. "Does it involve a monkey?"

Fitz's eyes widened in surprise. "Do we have one of those?"

"No."

"Oh," Fitz replied, looking somewhat disappointed. "Well, in that case, sir…I think I might have another idea."

Skye ran up to the edge of the beach, breathing warmth onto her hands in an attempt to prepare herself for the job ahead. "You ready, Skye?" Coulson's voice spoke in her ear.

She glanced at her watch, which was synced to the Eastern Caribbean time zone to the millisecond, and tried to calm her nerves. "I swear to God, Quinn, if you try to kill me one more time," she muttered before taking a deep breath. "Ready," she said firmly, her feet digging into the sand in anticipation.

"Okay, the grid should be going down in three…"

She clenched her fists together, digging her nails into her palms.

"Two…"

She shut her eyes, taking a final deep breath.

"One."

Her eyes whipped open, and she shot across the barrier, wincing as she waited for the laser grid to fry her where she stood.

She felt nothing but the warm ocean breeze on her skin, and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw the faint outline of the grid turning back on. Her legs nearly gave out from relief, and she briefly brought her hands to her face to make sure she was still there. But she knew she didn't have much time to marvel at the insanely badass feat she'd just accomplished.

"Skye?" Coulson asked, his voice tinged with worry.

"I'm in," she huffed, realizing she'd been holding her breath.

She heard Coulson sigh. "All right, just…be careful."

"Don't I always do that?" she smiled, and even though he didn't respond, she could almost hear his anxiety through the comm.

Skye stealthily made her way up the beach, meeting no opposition as she approached the back door Quinn had told her to enter from. There were no armed guards, no outer security beyond the laser fence. If Skye hadn't known the threat they were going up against, she might have thought getting in was too easy.

The cold air inside the entryway was a welcomed change from the humidity outside, and Skye took a moment to throw her hair into a ponytail as she waited for her body to cool off somewhat. With one last glance behind her at the beach, she edged further into the building.

The hallways were dark and empty, and no matter how quiet she tried to be, her footfalls still echoed softly on the marble floor. She took out the small tablet FitzSimmons had given her with the specs, using the carefully labeled map to find the room she was looking for. Her spare hand gripped tightly onto her ICER.

"There you are," she whispered to herself as soon as she'd found the computer lab. She immediately stationed herself at the furthest position from the door, hoping she'd have enough time to hide if she heard someone coming. The machine took a few agonizing seconds to boot up, and then she was in, uploading the programs she needed from her hard drive as fast as she could. The system was state-of-the-art, making her bypass about five different firewalls before she was able to start the hack. "Oh, you're a tricky one, aren't you?"

"You know we can all hear you, right?"

"Shut up, Trip," she murmured. "I'm in my zone." Her fingers flew across the keys. "Okay, I'm uploading the server to the Bus. You should have a link to the control room in about a minute."

"You want us to start the call?" Coulson asked.

"Yeah, try to keep him distracted," Skye replied, quickly removing her hard drive and exiting the computer lab. "I'll see if I can find him."

"Copy that."

She crept slowly down the hallway, listening for commotion or any sign that Hall had discovered the hack. Only the constant hum of a generator reverberated throughout the corridor, and even though she could've been imagining it, the noise seemed to grow louder as she continued along. She took out the tablet again, making sure she was going in the right direction, and soon Coulson's voice rang in her ear again.

"Dr. Hall," he said, and Skye could hear a little bit of an echo, as if his voice was also coming through a speaker. "This is Director Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. I was hoping I could have a word with you."

There was a brief delay, and then Skye could hear Hall as well. "Mr. Coulson, yes," he answered. "I've been expecting to hear from you for some time now. But I suppose you've had quite a lot on your plate, haven't you?" Skye turned a corner, straining her ear and moving more slowly as she edged closer to the control room. "Let me ask you," he continued. "Did it surprise you to find out S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't what you'd thought it was?"

"Not as much as it surprised me when Ian Quinn told me you were alive," Coulson replied as Skye leaned up against the wall. Peeking inside the room, she could see the outline of a darkened figure, and on the back wall, Coulson's face projected onto a screen. "To be honest, I didn't believe him until now." Hall turned around to face the screen, his back lit up by strange blue light that seemed to be emanating from the wall Skye couldn't see. "I watched you fall, Doctor," Coulson continued. "You were gone."

Hall stretched out his arms. "And yet…here I am."

"I can see that."

"Mr. Coulson, I'm going to be candid with you," Hall said, turning back to the opposite wall. Skye quickly removed her head from the doorway and held her breath, but Hall hadn't given any indication that he'd seen her. "I don't have a lot of time for small talk."

"I understand," Coulson nodded. "I assume you know why I'm calling then."

"Quinn told you of the particle accelerator," Hall smiled. "And now you're here to order me to shut it down."

Coulson's expression didn't change, but Skye could tell he was nervous. "I prefer asking nicely first."

Hall nodded, but he seemed to be paying more attention to whatever was in front of him. "A noble principle, I'm sure, if a tad misguided. Did Quinn happen to tell you anything else?"

"He's worried, Frank," Coulson sighed. "Worried that you might be in over your head."

"You know, Quinn likes to talk a lot," Hall remarked. "He's always been like that. Making false promises, telling his shareholders that he's going to change the world. Even when we were at school together, his favorite thing he used to say was, 'Frank. This is the beginning of a new era.'" He chuckled, giving Skye a sensation similar to having a spider crawl down her back. Had this guy really been the same professor that had paired FitzSimmons together? "But he just doesn't understand, does he?" Hall continued, his face growing serious again. "The world as it is, is heading for disaster. But I'm here to make it right."

"I gotta say, Dr. Hall, you're not making me feel a hell of a lot better."

"I'm sorry, Coulson," Hall said wearily, turning around to walk up to the screen. "But I've been given a great responsibility, and a chance to do something for the greater good. You might not understand right now, but all will be made clear soon."

"But-"

"Goodbye," Hall interrupted. And just like that, the screen went blank. He hadn't touched anything, hadn't issued any voice command to terminate the call. It had simply ended on its own.

As if, somehow, he'd been able to control it himself.

The room was quiet, save for the steady hum of the particle accelerator Skye figured was on the opposite wall. Hall continued to stare at the darkened screen, but after a few moments he spoke. "I know you're there," he said quietly, and Skye felt her blood run cold. "I've always known you were there. I could feel you, every particle of you, the second you came onto the compound."

Skye stepped into the room, trying to pretend that she wasn't absolutely terrified of him or the humongous circular machine next to her crackling with electricity. "Great choice of words, buddy," she told him, surreptitiously moving her hand down into her bag. "Really amping up the creep factor."

Hall gave her a smile, but it had an air of condescension, as if he knew exactly what she was doing. "You profess ignorance," he said, taking a small step closer to her. It took all of Skye's willpower to stand her ground. "But I can feel your heartbeat." He glanced up at the ceiling, looking like he was listening for something. "It speaks to me. Tells me you're terrified."

More than sufficiently disturbed, Skye whipped out her ICER. "Good thing I've got this, then," she replied, pulling the trigger.

But Hall didn't crumple to the ground, as she'd expected him to. He simply held out a hand in front of him, and right before her eyes, the ICER bullet stopped in midair before clattering uselessly to the ground. She stared at the sight in terror, unable to move, and when Hall spoke again, she knew she was screwed. Because she understood now what Quinn had meant. Franklin Hall couldn't just control the gravitonium.

He could control gravity.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said in a quiet voice.

Before she knew what was happening, the ICER flew out of her hand, crashing into the opposite wall. She screamed as she felt herself being lifted off of her feet, nothing but the air beneath her shoes. She only had enough time to hold her hands in front of her face before her body slammed into the window, shattering the glass into a million pieces. Her eyes widened in panic as she watched Hall, who was staring at her through the window while she hovered in midair.

And then…he dropped her.