Its been two weeks since Kaitlynn had been shot, Simmons has cleared her for duty considering they were going to need as many fighting hands as they could get. Skye, Kaitlynn, Fitz, and Simmons all sit in Kaitlynn's room trying to find a lead on Garrett. They look to the TV when a news caster does a report on a drug lord that was recently killed as they show a picture of Deathlok walking out of where the drug lord was held.
"The correct answer is D, all of the above." Fitz says as he turns off the TV, answering the news anchor's question on whether Deathlok is a man, monster or machine.
"What the hell is Deathlok doing in Bogota?" Kaitlynn asks
"And why would he kill a drug lord with known ties to Hydra?" Simmons asks
"Well, if they really are in Colombia, then Garrett and out hijacked plane aren't even in American airspace." Skye says "That means we have to expand our search."
"So more work…yaay." Kaitlynn says dryly as she goes back to looking through files. They all look up when Coulson knocks on the door and asks them to come into his room for a moment.
They walk into the room to see May finishing up a chart, taking a seat they watch as May hands the marker to Coulson who begins to explain.
"This is about everything we've been dealing with." Coulson says as he points to the board that has a large circle in the middle and 9 circles around it. The 9 circles being filled with names such as Clairvoyant, Ward & Garrett, Quinn, Hydra, The Bus, Deathlok, Centipede Serum, GH-325, and Skye's drive. "And this…connects them all." He says as he writes the word Cybertek in the middle circle. "Cybertek built Deathlok, shipped items to Quinn, who was working for the Clairvoyant who turned out to be Garrett, who planted Ward on our bus because he wanted to know why I didn't stay dead." Coulson says as he draws lines from each circle. "Should have drawn another chart for this part." He says
"No, I get it." Fitz says "Garret's been developing Centipede Serum all this time."
"Yes." Coulson says
"And he wants GH-325 as its final ingredient." Simmons says
"A way to stabilize and regenerate his Centipede soldiers." Kaitlynn adds
"And its why Ward came back for the hard drive." May says "It had all of your research about Coulson and Skye. Its all on there."
"But that's not the only thing on there." Coulson adds "Skye left them a little surprise." He points to Skye so she can explain.
"A Trojan horse. Its been slowly mapping every system they've uploaded it to." Skye says
"Well that's brilliant." Fitz says
"You can wake it up and take over their systems." Simmons says "Well done, Skye."
"Yeah thanks. Except it doesn't work that way." Skye says "Because I didn't have enough time to build it, so we need to plug this into one of their computers to activate it." She says as she holds up a flash drive.
"Spoiler alert we can't seem to find one." Kaitlynn adds
"I think we have." May says as she takes the drive with a small smile on her face "Garett and Cybertek have been working together for years. If its on Garett's system…"
"Its on Cybertek." Skye says catching on as May hands the drive to Coulson
"Which is why we're gonna go into one of their offices." May says pointing between herself and Coulson.
"We have no authority to do this." Coulson says as he hands the drive back to Skye "We're no longer S.H.I.E.L.D. agents we're…"
"We're vigilantes." Fitz says
"I was going to say 'doing this because it's the right thing to do' but…yeah." Coulson says "So if you're with me, I'm gonna finish what I started. I'll be damned if I'm let Garrett and Ward get away with murder." He says "And I want my plane back."
A little while later Skye, Kaitlynn and Fitz are sitting outside by the pool talking over the plan when Coulson walks over to them once he finishes his call with Cybertek to schedule a meeting.
"We're on with the R&D department up at Cybertek's Palo Alto offices." Coulson says stopping in front of the three former agents. Fitz groans as he lays back into his lounge chair.
"It'll be okay, Fitz." Skye says wanting to reassure him "No matter how deep they dig, they'll only find the new identities I've created."
"Its not that." Fitz says "It's the idea of giving them access to all of our designs."
"We're not actually giving them anything." Kaitlynn says "We just need to get inside so we can plug Skye's flash drive into one of their computers."
"You don't have to go." Coulson reassures seeing that the worried look is still present.
"Its not that either." Fitz says "Its Ward." He says "What if Garrett put an explosive eye into him, to control him? Maybe that's why he betrayed us."
"I'm pretty sure there's a much simpler reason." Kaitlynn says
"Yea…" Skye agrees "He's evil."
"Well I don't believe that people are born evil." Fitz argues "Something must have happened."
They all turn to Tripp whose entered the pool area carrying a yellow briefcase filled with the equipment they need to pull of the Op.
"Hey, Sorry it took so long." He apologizes as he makes his way over to them "My moms real sentimental about Granddad's Howling commando stuff." He explains as he looks down at the suitcase. Coulson smiles at the former agent before leading them back inside when the rest of the team is so they can see what Tripp managed to get them.
"Trip was generous enough to offer some of his Granddad's spy tech to help us out" Coulson says as Tripp opens up the case "So we should systematically take a full inventory of ev- Oh my god is that a handheld hypno-beam?" Coulson asks as he quickly picks up the object up, the rest of his orders no longer mattering as soon as he sees the tech.
"One of the original Betas." Tripp says "See how it has the switch on the bottom?"
"The production models moved it to the side." Coulson says "This is amazing. Almost as cool as…"
"Transistorized blast gun." Tripp and Coulson say at the same time, Kaitlynn and May both smirk at the men seeing how they're both acting like kids on Christmas day.
"Okay the two of you can get a room later, but we have a plane to catch." Skye says teasingly. Seeing Fitz about to twirl a what looks like old fashioned noise maker Coulson quickly grabs it and shakes his head no at the scientist.
"Where did they buy this stuff, from the back of a comic book?" Skye asks as she looks at what looks like a joy buzzer.
"No girl, that's not really a joy buzzer that's a-" Tripp says but is cut off when Skye presses it causing the lamps in the room to short circuit "E.M.P. knocks power out in about a 10-foot radius." he finishes, Kaitlynn bites her lip to keep from laughing at the surprised and guilty look on Skye's face. The humor dies off her face as soon as she sees May glare at her.
"A lot of vintage S.H.I.E.L.D. spy craft was designed to look innocent in case a spy was caught." Kaitlynn says
"Like these smokes." Fitz says as she takes a pack of cigarettes out of the case and takes on out and twists the top showing that's its really a laser. The team all smiles amused as they watch Fitz pretend that he's smoking.
"Thanks Tripp this is a huge help." Coulson says "Gives us a fighting chance against these bad guys."
They all turn to Fitz when the smoke alarm begins to go off, all amusement gone from their faces when they that he accidently set the curtains on fire.
"Oh, Fitz." Simmons sighs, Fitz quickly turns off the laser and looks at the guilty
"Watch out, Hydra. Here we come." May deadpans.
_TIME SKIP: Cybertek Corp.: _
Coulson and May sit in a room with two official's from Cybertek about to explain the design that Fitz-Simmons came up with.
"I'm Ott, Senior V.P. of R&D. this is Diaz." One of the men say
"I'm Theo Tittle." Coulson says before motioning to May "This is Dr. Roum. Thanks so much for seeing us on such short notice."
"We've met with a number of other former S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists recently, and I must say, thus far, we're…underwhelmed." Ott says "Hydra, on the other hand, less constrained in their thinking. And younger."
"Usually much younger." Diaz adds
"Yeah." Ott agrees making Coulson and May look at one another
"I told you we should have gone in." Fitz says through the Comm from where he's talking to Jemma inside the van.
"Oh hush…" Simmons says "May looks barely a day over…" she says pausing before making sure to speak into the mike when she remembers the other agents can hear them "30. You're gorgeous."
May smiles in knowing as she twists the pin on her sweater that's secretly going to allow Skye to look for Cybertek's computers.
_WITH SKYE: _
"Score one for the Howling Commandos." Skye says from where her, Tripp and Kaitlynn are in front of the van "Your grandpa's pin should help me locate Cybertek's mainframe."
"I didn't know they had Wi- back in the day." Tripp says from where he's leaning between the two, Kaitlynn in the driver seat while Skye's in shotgun.
"They didn't. That's the beauty of the pin. Its searches for data." Skye explains "Nobody's even scanning those frequencies for potential leaks." She says with a smile, she looks back down at her computer when it starts to beep "That's weird. I'm not finding any digital data about anything, let alone a source for it."
"How's that possible?" Kaitlynn asks
"Maybe its protected." Tripp says "Or… insulated somewhere inside?"
Kaitlynn picks up the radio and talks to the rest of the team "Guys keep them busy a minute longer." She says
_WITH COULSON: _
"Okay, now, show them the ICER bullet." Fitz instructs before telling them what to say "I designed this to be a powerful…"
"…nonlethal, and to break-break up under subcutaneous tissue." Coulson repeats as he passes them the bullet
"And my challenge was that it could only hold a dose of…" Simmons says
"…85 micrograms of dendrotoxin. He should have run the specs by me before building the molds." May finishes
"But I think we can all agree that the…" Simmons continues
"…true beauty is in my hyperconcentrated…" May repeats
"…dendrotoxin formula…" Simmons continues as Fitz tries to talk over her.
"…My cartridge case…" Fitz starts
"…Cartridge case ejection system, obviously." Coulson says
"…Concentrated dendrotoxin formula." May says "With compressed air."
Ott holds his hand up to stop the bickering
"We've seen one of these bullets before." He says as he places it back down "What did they use it with?" he asks Diaz
"The sleepy-sleep gun, I think." Diaz responds
"That's right." Ott says "Our team took this rudimentary concept and converted it into an aerosol grenade. Much more useful."
"Yes, but this is an ICER." Coulson says as he holds the bullet up, repeating what Fitz is telling him "Triple the stopping power and a much cooler…name."
"What else do you have?" Ott asks
_WITH SKYE: _
"Here we go." Skye says, just now getting the blue prints for the building "Building permits Cybertek's filed in the city. There's something funky about the fourth floor. Only one way in one way out." She says before looking up at Kaitlynn and Tripp. "Extra-reinforced security door."
"That's got to be it, right?" Tripp asks
"Coulson, May can you get to the fourth floor?" Kaitlynn says into the radio
_WITH COULSON: _
"It's a shame it didn't work out." Coulson says as they walk out of the meeting room
"It is." Ott says
"So lovely meeting you both." May says through her teeth
Coulson and May are lead to the elevator by a guard, they watch as the guard takes a key out of his pocket and turns it in a clear slot on the elevator before pressing the button for the 1st floor.
As soon as the doors close, May and Coulson go to work and knock him unconscious before hitting the button for the 4th floor.
Carefully looking around when the doors open to make sure there are no guards, seeing none they quickly pull the unconscious guard out of the elevator.
"Does your sweater itch?" May asks as they drop the guard
"A little bit." Coulson says before they begin to walk down a hallway and make a left down another. They stop when they see a guard on the other side, they all stare at one another for a moment, the guard's eyes flickering towards the red emergency phone between them before the guard takes off running towards it.
May does a series of black flips over to the guard and kicks the phone out of his hand before knocking him unconscious, catching the phone in the air before it could fall and carefully hanging it back up. Pushing her glasses back up as she turns around see Coulson walking towards her.
"I don't know if I've said it enough but…I'm glad your back." He says, May gives him a small smile. Coulson pulls out the box of laser cigarettes out of his pocket and holds them up for May to see.
"Try not to set the drapes on fire." She says with a smirk before they make their way to a steel door. Coulson cuts a square where the doorknob and lock are, opening it when it falls out to reveal a dark room.
"Skye I think I know why you couldn't find the mainframe." Coulson says as they walk in "There isn't one."
"What do you mean there isn't one?" Skye asks into the radio, having taken it from Kaitlynn
"All the files are hard copies." Coulson says as he and May stand in front of a large file room.
"That's why Granny was typing during our meeting." May says "Well we're here. Might as well look around."
"Coulson?" May calls from where she's looking through a file "Mike Peterson's file." She says handing it to him.
"How can this all be project Deathlok?" Coulson asks seeing how many files are in the cabinet "Project Deathlok 1990?" he reads before pulling it out "How far back does this thing go?" opening the cabinet he pulls out a file from 1990 and opens it "Garrett was the first Deathlok." He says as he looks trhough the file.
May and Coulson turn when they hear the sound of guards coming
"Lets go." Coulson says as they quickly put the files back "Skye, Katlynn and Tripp get ready for a large file transfer."
_WITH SKYE: _
"How large?" Skye asks
They all look forward when they see a file cabinet come crashing out of the 4th floor window.
"Does that answer your question?" Kaitlynn asks as they all quickly get out of the van.
Tripp gets out and grabs a harpoon looking gun, while Fitz-Simmons get the file cabinet, Kaitlynn backs the van up so Tripp has something to tie the other end of the rope to.
Tripp fires the arrow, which lands into the ceiling of the 4th floor and ties the other end of the rope to the front bumper. While Fitz and Simmons load the van, Coulson comes down zip lining down the rope by using his belt while May uses a bent pole.
Once everyone's inside the van, Kaitlyn floors it and heads back to the motel.
_BACK AT MOTEL: _
The team all sit outside at one of the pool tables going over the file.
"Garret started project Deathlok way back in 1990." Coulson says as he looks over the schematics "Look at this. He was patient zero."
"We've been looking at this all backwards." Kaitlynn says with a sigh finally understanding what Garrett and Ward wanted all along. "Garret doesn't just want the GH-325 for his centipede soldiers. He wants it for himself."
"So he can become a real, live boy again." Skye says catching up, Kaitlynn nods "And if he manages to create an army of programmed super soldiers for Hydra along the way, triple bonus points."
"How do we know Garrett didn't do that to Ward, too?" Fitz asks still not fully believing that Ward betrayed them out of his own free will. "Maybe he's been programmed."
"Fitz, when are you going to stop clinging to the idea that Ward's the victim and not the perpetrator?" Simmons says
"When I see something that tells me I shouldn't with my own two eyes." He says ignoring Skye's 'are you for real?' look and Kaitlynn's raised eyebrow. "We don't know all the facts."
"You want a fact, Fitz?" Skye says angrily "Ward murders people. He shot Kaitlynn. And I should have let Mike finish him when I had the chance." She says, feeling like everything is her fault "I'm stupid and… weak."
"You weren't weak." Coulson says
"You had compassion. That's harder." Kailyn agrees
"We'll find him." Coulson says as he turns back to the file, not noticing the pizza guy walk into the pool area.
"Pizza delivers for Pablo Jimenez?" the guy calls out, Coulson sits there for a moment before remembering his new identity.
"That's me." Coulson says as he gets up to pay the man. Skye sighs before storming off to go back to her room. Kaitlynn gets up to follow her but is stopped by a hand on her shoulder, looking up she sees that the hand belongs to May.
"Let her go. She needs time to think." May says as Coulson walks back over with the pizza.
Kaitlynn begrudgingly stays put, both her and her S.O. hoping that Skye would come out to join them, but she never did. May grabs two cans of soda and excuses herself from the table, wanting to talk to Skye.
"You never came out to eat." May says as she walks into the room, choosing not to mention the picture of Ward that Skye quickly exited out of when she came in.
"Not much of an appetite." Skye says, taking the can when May holds it out for her. The older woman sighs as she takes a seat on the other bed.
"Look… Fitz can't process the truth about Ward, not yet." May explains "What he said… its what he needs to believe."
"Do you think Ward's being controlled?" Skye asks after a few seconds of silence, never moving her eyes to meet Mays.
"Absolutely not." May says making Skye look up at her
"Neither do I." the hacker agrees "You know I never gave you enough credit for this whole Zen-warrior thing. But I got to admit, it'd be nice to feel nothing right now."
"You think I don't feel anything?" May asks with a small smile at how wrong Skye is
"Look at you. You're a statue. And you and Ward had a thing." Skye says slowly as if it were obvious "So if anyone should be furious-"
"I am." May says tightly "I'm furious. But I'm sure as hell not gonna waste I on a tantrum." She says "I'm gonna mine it, save it… and when we find Ward, I'm gonna use every bit of it to take him down."
"Whoa. Did you teach that to Kaitlynn?" Skye asks, May nods
"Kaitlynn is… different. She either mines it or she shuts down completely until she finally snaps." May explains "It usually ends in broken bones."
"That doesn't sound to healthy." Skye says with a slight wince
"Its not. But it doesn't happen as often as it used to."
"I wish I knew how to use that hate-fu." Skye says with a sigh
"I'm up most mornings at 5." May says, both girls turn when they hear a knock on the door to see Kaitlynn standing there awkwardly.
"Trip I.D.'d a number of Cybertek shipments that ping-ponged across the globe." She informs as she walks into the room "Brazil, Cambodia, Syria but they all ended up in Havana."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. used to have a base there." May says
"I told you we'd find him. We're going to Cuba." Kaitlynn says with a toothy smile, May rolls her eyes and says something about needing to talk to Coulson. Once May leaves Kaitlynn walks closer to the hacker.
"So…what'cha guys talk about?" Kaitlynn asks curiously, making Skye smirk
"Some embarrassing stories of you in the academy."
"Stories? Like-like what?" Kaitlynn asks nervously making Skye's smirk turn into a smile
"We didn't actually talk about you but now that I know there are some. I'll be sure to ask." The hacker says making Kaitlynn roll her eyes.
"So if it wasn't me then what did you talk about?" the blonde asks as she lays down next to brunette. Skye smiles as she starts to run her fingers through the other girl's hair.
"Ward mostly." Skye grumbles "and I think…I think I May might have invited me to teach me her hate-fu." Kaitlynn snorts
"Hate-fu?" she questions
"Yea you know all that bottling emotions then letting it all out when its time to kick some ass thing." Skye says, Kaitlynn nods her head in understanding.
"Yea… I remember learning about that." She says "Good times."
The two girls are interrupted when Coulson knocks on the door, telling them to gear up and get ready to move.
_TIME SKIP: _
"You sure you don't want anything else?" Trip asks Fitz as he's about to close up his grandfather's stuff as they get ready for their mission. "How about one of these quarter walkie-talkies?"
Kaitlynn blocks them out as she walks over to Skye whose loading up her bag.
"You okay?" Kaitlynn asks, Skye nods
"Yeah. How are you feeling?" the hacker asks motioning to the blonde's stomach knowing that underneath the shirt is a still healing bullet wound. Kaitlynn rolls her eyes as she takes the brunette's hands in hers.
"I'm fine. A little sore but nothing to worry about." She says still seeing Skye's concerned look she continues "I just finished getting checked out with Simmons, she says I'm good to go."
Skye nods her head with a sigh feeling a little bit better now that she knows that Simmons looked at her. "Sorry. I don't mean to be such a mother-hen… I just don't want you to get hurt."
"In this job we are always going to get hurt as for the mother hen thing. You are definitely not one." The blonde says making Skye smile. The girl's attention is pulled when Coulson gathers the group to explain the mission.
"We have to search for the plan on the ground. Fitz, Simmons, you have the maps. Do not engage under any circumstances. If you find the bus, call us and stand down or come back here and wait." He orders
"We'll be careful." Simmons says
"Understood, Sir." Fitz says
"Lets do it." Coulson says before they all split into different cars. Coulson, May, Skye, Kaitlynn and Tripp all getting in a cream colored van with clouds on it while Fitz-Simmons gets in another.
_TIME SKIP: _
The team, with the exception of Fitz-Simmons, watches as Tripp walks back from the barber shop.
"We're too late. They're gone." Coulson says
"They knew we were coming." May adds
"I'm not sure everyone's gone." Skye says from where she's looking at her computer "Something's generating a lot of volts in there."
"Yeah." Coulson says into his phone when it rings, Simmons informing him that they found the bus and that its at an air port outside of Abel Santamaria getting ready to leave. "We're on our way. How far is that from our location?" …. "Get of there right now. Do not engage. Wait for us back at the jump jet." He says, hanging up once Simmons agrees. "Garrett's leaving."
"We have to at least try and get over there." May says
"Or not. We still have Skye's flash drive if there really is a computer in there then we're set." Kaitlynn says
"She's right. All I have to do is plug it in and wake up the Trojan horse, and we're off to the races." Skye agrees
"Worth a shot." Tripp says
"Lets do it." Coulson says as they all start to climb out to the van and go over to the barber shop.
The team watches as Tripp slowly turns around in the room with an x-ray scanner, looking for anything that could possibly resemble a computer.
"Come on." Tripp mutters finding nothing before he notices something "Over here." He calls, facing wall "There's something behind this wall." He says, as they rest of the team walks over. "Okay I got something."
"Secret door?" Coulson asks "I got this. They're like my thing." He says with a small smile, he walks over to the wall and slowly runs his hands over the brick. Finding something out of place, he pulls it to see the wall turn into a door. "Here we go." He says before walking in, everyone with the exception of Skye pulling out a gun.
"Finally." Skye says when she sees the computer, they all turn when the lights go out to see a centipede solider standing in the doorway with a grin on his face holding the berserker staff. As a small red light comes on from the corner signaling more.
"It's a centipede soldier." Coulson says, as more and more lights come on.
"This should be interesting." Kaitlynn mutters as she slowly moves in front of Skye, warily watching the others waiting for them to make the first move.