May followed Daisy downstairs to the communications room, where it seemed most of the base had already gathered around the screens and the blinking red light indicating that someone was trying to call in.
"What we've gathered so far is that the source is moving, could be a plane or something," Mack summarized. "But we can't actually pinpoint it. It seems to be coming from quite far away."
"And we can communicate and locate anyone or anything within the Earth," Elena continued.
"So the logical conclusion is that it's coming from outer space," Fitz supplied.
"Any chance that it's some nice space aliens who just want to be friends?" Daisy said hopefully.
"Well usually for us, if something is unusual it's probably trying to kill us," Elena said drily.
"Well, we never know until we hear what they say," Daisy suggested. "If we keep the call short enough they won't even be able to trace us."
"That doesn't matter," Mack said. "See the pattern of the broadcast wave? It's wide, but seems to be aware that something in our area can pick up their signal. They seem to already know that we, or an organization like us, is somewhere here. And that's damn suspicious."
"But they don't know our exact location, so it wouldn't hurt to listen and just see what they want," Daisy said, peering closer at the screen and then frowning. "And look - it looks like a frequency that SHIELD vessels use."
"We didn't send anyone into space last time I remember," Mack counteracted sarcastically. "Nor do I think we even have any capacity to make vessels that go into space. That makes it even more suspicious."
"But what if it really is one of our own, and they need help?"
"What if it's some evil force that hijacked a SHIELD vessel and is pretending to be one of us? It'll be walking into a trap."
"It's just a comm, it's not like we're letting them into our base! Let's just hear what they have to say!
May thought hard as the team around her descended into back-and-forth argument. Being an agent for so long had made her suspicious by nature, and she found herself agreeing with Mack more than Daisy. However, a niggling part of her wondered, what would Coulson do? She knew as Director that Coulson would also be wary and cautious…but if there was a chance in a million that it was one of their own and they needed help, he wouldn't hesitate to take it and find out.
Decision made, May strode towards the screens and the keyboards, tapped the password in, and allowed the transmission to come through. The room silenced and arguments ground to a halt when the crackle of static filtered through the speakers.
"Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?" a female voice came through, sounding drained and a little hoarse as if she had been shouting for a while. "Oh please let someone be there, this is the last location we can try, please please please…"
"Yes, we're here," May replied, then cut straight to the chase. "Who are you, and why and how did you know to reach us."
"Oh thank goodness!" the voice exclaimed. "My name is Skye and my dad is seriously injured and really needs some medical help. There's also universe-jumping monsters following us and they'll be here any second but we don't have the manpower to fight them off especially with my dad injured -"
"Wait, hold up, hold up," Daisy interjected, probably surprised at hearing her old name, as the voice rambled on about a universal jump drive malfunctioning and the lack of medical supplies on board. "Space monsters? Universe jumping? What the hell does that mean? Are you guys space aliens or something?"
"And what do you mean, the last location to try?" Mack added, his suspicion evident.
"No, no, we're human, I swear," the voice who identified as Skye said breathlessly. "But please, oh my gosh, we're going to die if these monsters show up and we aren't ready…"
"How do we know this isn't a trap? Trying to lure us out into your spaceship or whatever it is!"
"We can explain everything later, right now there's no time," another female voice interrupted. Everyone was shocked into silence as the other female sounded exactly like May. May couldn't help but feel a little thrown off at hearing, well, herself coming from the other end. Her tone was clipped and to the point, exactly how May herself would speak. "What you need to know: multiverse. We're SHIELD from another universe, an agent needs medical treatment and we have monsters after us. If you don't trust us, bring however many troops and weapons that'll make you feel safer, but we need help now."
"Yeah, what she said," Skye added weakly. Now that she had time to think about it, Skye's manner of talking was quite similar to Daisy's as well.
The room descended into chaos now as everyone argued about what to do and whether to trust them. Skye's voice kept going over the speaker, but no one was listening.
"SHIELD? From another universe?"
"Why the hell do they have someone that sounds like May? Are there LMDs in space?"
"No, we destroyed all the LMDs with AIDA."
"Well when we think we've destroyed something, they always have the nasty habit of popping back up again when we least expect it."
"But they have a May and a Skye, they gotta be the good guys."
"Um hello, the Framework that literally just happened?"
"Yeah but they were good in the end."
"Besides, they told us to bring weapons if we don't trust them. If they really do have diabolical plans, they wouldn't say that."
"Well maybe they'll kill us after we deal with their monsters for them."
"If they're even telling the truth about that!"
May was getting slightly uncomfortable with all the talk about her allegiances, Framework or not. But her mind was still spinning from all the new and unfamiliar information they just received.
Fitz and Simmons were the only ones who didn't seem alarmed or nervous; in fact, they were incredibly excited.
"The multiverse, Fitz, oh my gosh, it's…" Simmons' face revealed her awe.
"It's real! It's really real! This is mind blowing! We can learn so much if we just talk with them, I, I have so many questions to ask! And they've been to different universes!" Fitz finished, and both their faces shone with excitement.
"How much time do you have until these monsters arrive?" May asked. The din in the room thankfully quieted down, everyone curious about what May would decide on.
"Five or six minutes at the most," Skye replied.
"And how many of you are there on your….vessel? Spacecraft?"
It was quiet for a moment before Skye replied. "Just the three of us."
That reassured May a little bit. Even if they somehow had a May that could presumably fight as well as she did, they also had one injured person, so no matter how it turned out, these universe-jumpers would be outnumbered. That is, if they were telling the truth. Regardless, May would be prepared.
"Okay," May said, beginning to formulate a plan. "You need to land somewhere where we can get to you quickly. I'll send you the coordinates of an area that you can land in, and we'll meet you there. She quickly keyed the coordinates to transmit. "Did you get that?"
"Yes," the other May answered. "We'll start landing straight away. Don't take too long to get there."
May shut off the transmission, then turned to the agents gathered around her. Most of them looked anxious, but all seemed eager to hear what May's plan was.
"Look, there's a lot of unknown variables," May started, and the agents all nodded in agreement. "But if Coulson were here, he would never turn away someone who needed help. But we'll be prepared for every possible outcome. I want Teams A and B in full tactical, grab as many weapons as possible from the weaponry. We'll meet in the field aboveground and near the base as soon as you're geared up, that's where I set the coordinates. Piper and Davis, I want you two to head teams C and D, be on standby here to monitor the situation and be ready to respond if things don't go the way we expect. Go." Piper and Davis nodded, immediately directing team members to strategic entry and exit spots around the base. Everyone else went to gear up. May turned towards her team members.
"Fitz, Simmons, grab any medical equipment you can transport. We don't know what injuries they have, so be prepared for that. Fitz, see if there's any gadgets that'll be useful in a fight, anything. I want three tactical team members to go with you, to fight or assist if needed." Fitz and Simmons nodded and ran off to pack.
"I can't help but be worried," Mack sighed, pinching between his eyes. "There's so much we don't know and they haven't really given us any answers."
"We can interrogate them as much as we like once the imminent danger is over," May replied. "If they really need saving, now's the time to act."
"And we can take em if they aren't who they say they are," Daisy said, pulling on her gauntlets and giving them a flex.
"You bet," Elena added. "They won't see us coming."
May nodded, taking comfort in the familiarity of her team and how well they worked together. Still, she wished Coulson were here, too. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"Gear up and let's go, no time to lose," May said, seeing that the tactical team was already on their way out.