Another chapter! Thanks again to Galaxy Girl 084 for helping me with my ideas!
When his interrogation cell door opened the next evening, Phil had to admit he wasn't expecting his former student to enter. "Grant?" he asked, squinting to get a better look at the young man. Grant had been one of Phil's best students; he may have had a hard life at home, but he was a diligent and respectful worker.
"Mr. Coulson, we meet again," Ward said to him as he shut the door, taking his place across the table from him.
Coulson raised his eyebrows, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "Don't tell me one of my students is already old enough to be a Hydra agent," he bantered.
Ward smirked. "I was one of your first, wasn't I?"
Phil ran his tongue across his teeth, nodding. "You were. I'm glad to see you're so successful, Grant."
Grant scoffed, looking away at the wall. "Yeah, well, not successful enough."
"What do you mean?" Phil furrowed his brow, tilting his head.
Grant bit his lip, still focused on the wall. "None of my superior officers deemed me worthy to move toward my full potential. So I'm stuck doing menial tasks like this." He said, rather salty, as he turned back to his former teacher.
Coulson rolled his eyes. "There was no need for detaining me, Grant. I only made my own soap."
"One of your students reported it as insubordination, so we're opted to inspect the situation," Ward told him mechanically.
"Since when does Hydra listen to the trivial hunches of children?"
Ward narrowed his eyes at Phil. "Hydra will take any opportunity to protect the public."
Coulson raised his hands in mock surrender as best he could with the handcuffs. "Hey, I get it. I definitely do. I'm with Hydra, one-hundred percent. I promise you I meant nothing by making my own soap."
"Your student who you've demeaned to trivial thinks otherwise. He said you had notes in your desk as well saying not to buy our soap anymore, that it would brainwash you."
Coulson chuckled nervously. "You think I believe that brainwashing nonsense? That kid you're talking about is quite imaginative, trust me."
Grant didn't appear amused. After a few moments of agonizing silence and Ward staring right into Phil's soul, the former raised an accusing finger. "We've got our eyes on you, Philip Coulson. Another report of insubordination and there goes your job and freedom."
"Yes, sir, of course," Phil stammered as Ward took out a key and unlocked his cuffs. The agent stood up, opening the door and holding it for Phil.
"Thank you," Coulson mumbled on his way out.
Phil was so glad he got out unscathed. Sure, they'd left him in there for almost two days to make him learn his lesson, but he'd been afraid he would be locked up for good because of the damn soap. Did he believe the brainwashing stuff? Maybe not. But did it make him feel more clear-minded to use his own soap? It did.
His thoughts were interrupted when he realized he was lost. He must have not noticed that he'd gone down a few wrong staircases and through a few wrong hallways here and there.
"Damn," he muttered, searching the doors. He nearly jumped when he heard the muffled voice of a Scottish man shouting from the other side of one of the doors. Afraid for his life, Phil kept moving until he came across someone yelling for help.
"PLEASE!" came the voice of a young American woman. "SHE'S PASSED OUT AND I DON'T KNOW IF SHE'S ALIVE!" A deep and painful-sounding cough came from the same woman.
From his kind instincts, Phil decided to try and open the door. To his surprise, it wasn't locked. Some newbie agent must have forgotten, he thought as he pushed the thick concrete door open.
The woman on the other side had dark brown hair and looked too young to be in her condition. She was bruised all over and her face was covered in blood and cuts. She looked pale and exhausted and wore the garb of Hydra's most secure prisoners.
How did I get myself down here?! Coulson asked himself.
"Coulson?" the girl croaked, her voice raspy from all the shouting.
"How..."
"Of course you don't know me, either," Daisy mumbled, annoyed.
"Um, are you alright? I heard you yelling..."
"Just come in," Daisy said, grabbing his arm and pulling him inside. She shut the door, but not before removing her boot and sticking it in the door so they could get out again.
Phil gasped when he saw the other young woman lying in the corner. She was even paler than the first girl, and didn't appear to be breathing.
"What happened to you all?" Phil wanted to know.
The darker-haired woman had to sit on the floor to take a moment to breathe. "They've left us in here for days. No food, no water..." She trailed off, her eyes beginning to gloss over. Phil could tell she was about to pass out, too.
Coulson had no idea what to do nor what he had gotten himself into. There went his only chance. He just decided to go over to the paler girl and check her pulse.
"She's alive, but her pulse is weak," he told the other woman, remembering the med training he had to take before becoming a schoolteacher. He turned to her, furrowing his brow. What could Hydra possibly want with two innocent-looking girls? How could they treat them this badly?
Phil decided upon an easy question, not knowing the emotional state of either woman: "What's your name?"
"Daisy," the darker-haired girl told him, letting out a staggered breath and a cough. "She's Jemma." She pointed a weak finger toward the paler girl.
"Dammit," Agent May hissed as she watched the security feed. She never trusted that Agent Wilmer and should have expected him to leave the girls' cell unlocked after poking his head in to check on them as they slept.
And now a civilian was in there helping them? The Doctor would be pissed; May knew that much. He couldn't have his experiment fail like this.
So she took it upon herself to take care of the problem.
"What did you all do to get in here?" Coulson asked, stating the obvious.
"I could ask the same question of you." Daisy coughed. Phil could tell she was fading fast.
"I'm um, I'm not a Hydra agent," he told her. "I accidentally found myself down here." He walked over to Daisy and crouched next to her, putting a calming hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright? Why are you all beaten-up? Jemma isn't."
"I'm a..." Daisy coughed, her eyelids getting heavier by the minute. "...potential Inhuman."
"You're a what?!" Phil hissed, surprised. He stood up, moving away from the young woman.
Daisy rolled her eyes. "Come on, Coulson. I'm not going to hurt you..." She coughed a few more times before her head lolled to the side, her body collapsing to the floor. She was trembling.
Phil didn't know what to do. He just wanted to go home...
The door opened, making him jump in surprise. Melinda May stormed in, slamming the door behind her after kicking Daisy's boot out of the way.
May grabbed Phil's arm. "The hell are you doing down here?!" she hissed.
Coulson gaped, unsure of his explanation. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I got lost and these ladies needed help..."
"They're not good people," May told him, pulling him toward the door.
"Oh..." Phil trailed off.
Just as she was about to shove the civilian man out the door, May looked down at the prisoner she suspected was Daisy Johnson. She'd never seen the girl in-the-flesh, and there was something about her that seemed...familiar...
"Miss, I think they need a doctor," Phil suggested, trying to seem as innocent as possible.
May ignored Phil. She was too invested in figuring out where she knew the girls from. She couldn't explain it, but something snapped in her and she wondered why she was letting her superiors slowly kill the innocent women. Neither of them had done anything wrong.
"You wait right here," May told Phil, letting go of him. She walked toward Daisy and squatted next to her, gently trailing her slender fingers across the girl's broken face. She was cold, too cold, and paler than she should be. May heard her struggle to breathe, even as she was unconscious. She needed a doctor right away. Here she was, all battered up and water-deprived, all because she had a specific gene and said things that went against Hydra's teachings.
This wasn't right.
Disturbed, May walked over to the other young woman. She didn't have any cuts or bruises, but her condition was similar to Daisy's. She, too, was dehydrated and cold.
"We need to get moving before The Doctor sees the security feed," May said to Phil.
Phil scowled. "I- "
"Shut up and help me," May hissed, grabbing Jemma from under her arms and lifting her to her feet, wrapping the younger woman's arm around her shoulder. Coulson followed May's example and did the same with Daisy. He heard her wince from the sudden movement and mouthed, "sorry".
The group started to leave the cell but was interrupted by none other than Leopold Fitz and his father.
"Agent May," Leopold said, as if he'd been expecting this the whole time. He smirked. "I see you've made your decision with this."
May gently handed Jemma over to Coulson and clenched her fists, preparing for a fight. "Those women did nothing wrong. Neither of them. And yet you left them to die for a dumb experiment?! Now, that, that is not right."
Leopold's smug expression remained on his face as he laced his hands together. "It's what's best for Hydra. Discovery requires- "
"Experimentation," Daisy finished for him, surprising everyone. Her eyes were open in slits as she pulled away from Coulson, grabbing the wall for support.
The Doctor's smirk widened. "Why, yes, Miss Johnson. That is what I was going to say."
During all of this, Alistair had sounded the silent alarm from his smartwatch. May had been the only one to notice.
"Sorry not sorry," May said before delivering a punch to Leopold's face, immediately knocking him out. Alistair tried to defend himself but May was able to knock him out as well.
She nodded at Coulson. "Let's go." She grabbed Daisy and strung her arm around her back, making her way down the hallway.
Going up the steps was quite the struggle. Coulson ended up switching to carrying Simmons bridal-style, it was just easier that way. Daisy had to just try to walk by herself, using the handrail. She barely had any grip, but with May's help, everyone ended up making it to the top of the staircase.
When May opened the door leading to the back exit corridor, she should have been expecting the strike team waiting for them. She groaned, annoyed, and released Daisy before managing to knock down the whole team in a few moments.
Phil was in awe the whole time.
They finally made it outside and May rushed to her small car, taking out her keys and unlocking it. Phil helped her toss the girls into the backseat then hopped into the shotgun, quickly strapping on his seatbelt as May floored the gas pedal.
Her tires screeched as May rushed out of the parking lot, swerving in hopes of Hydra losing their trail.
"Do you have any idea where to go?!" May asked Phil frantically.
"Actually, I do!" Phil shouted over the loud sirens coming from the Hydra vehicles behind them.
"Well?!" May yelled.
"I happen to know where SHIELD's base is!"
May scowled. "SHIELD?!"
Coulson nodded. "They still exist! I'm a bit of a history buff, and I must admit- "
"Shut up, will you?!" May snapped as she swerved into an alley, nearly running into the building on the left side of it.
Eventually, after lots of random alleyways, they lost their tail of Hydra vehicles. Phil directed May to where they needed to go.
A man Phil recognized as the Patriot opened the door to the SHIELD base. His eyes widened upon seeing his visitors. "You? How did a Hydra agent get this location..."
"It's fine, we come in peace," May assured him. She motioned to Daisy and Jemma. "They need medical attention."
Jeffrey Mace was skeptical but let them inside, making sure no one else was with them before shutting the large yellow doors with his badge.
Coulson was in awe. To a history buff, SHIELD's base seemed like heaven.
"The, uh, the med bay is that way," Jeffrey told them, motioning toward the area we know as the lab.
May nodded, and Phil followed her toward the area. They were greeted by a tired-looking agent in a sweater. He led them to a row of beds and May and Coulson set the girls on their own beds.
"What happened to them?" the agent, Barns, asked as he grabbed a stethoscope from a nearby table.
May sighed, suddenly feeling guilty for ever allowing Leopold to start the experiment. "They wanted to compare how long a human and an Inhuman would survive without necessities. They haven't had water or food for over two days."
Barns was listening to Daisy's breathing. He transferred to Jemma's a moment later. Then he gently checked each girl's lower eyelids. "They need hydration immediately," he said monotonically.
May nodded, understanding. Mace tapped her shoulder. "I need you all to come with me," he said to her and Phil.
Phil and May eyed each other, but both nodded and followed Mace out of the med bay.
Wow, what will happen next?! Somehow, you all, I promise I will try to incorporate Mack into this story. Fair warning, though, it may not be the same as it was in the Framework arc of the actual show.
Anyway, please review!