Chapter 31
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"She's alive, but in critical condition." Doctor Streiten informs Coulson, "She is being moved to the ICU and is currently in a medically induced coma to assist her body with healing." Doctor Streiten informs Coulson.
"What are her chances?" Coulson asks as he puts his arm around Skye and pulls her into his side.
"I can't say." Doctor Streiten answers truthfully, "But the next twenty four hours are crucial, with the degree of her injuries I was surprised that she was even alive when she arrived. One of the bullets lodged in her liver, which required me to remove a lobe of it, another nicked her lung and caused quite a bit of damage, which has been repaired, and another nicked the artery in her shoulder, which has also been repaired, the fact that she has made it this far is incredible. I will monitor her closely and see how she goes, but at the moment I am not comfortable giving odds." He informs Coulson.
"Can we see her?" Coulson asks.
"Of course, but no more than four people at a time." Streiten says extending the rule from the usual three because he knows that Skye, Coulson, Natasha and Clint will want to be with her as much as possible.
"You guys go first, we'll wait here." Ward tells Coulson, Skye, Natasha and Clint.
"Thank you Dr Steiten." Coulson tells the doctor shaking his hand.
"Of course, she's in ICU room two. I've warned the nurses that the visitor rule has been extended by one so you shouldn't have a problem." Dr Steiten tells Coulson.
"Thank you." Clint tells the Doctor.
"She's alive." Coulson says sounding relived but also extremely worried as he hugs Skye.
"She's alive." Clint tells his friend once Skye and Coulson break apart and Skye hugs Natasha and Clint hugs Coulson.
"Let's go see her." Natasha comments after hugging Coulson while Clint hugs Skye.
"Yeah, let's go." Coulson says and the four leave the room after Skye gets hugged by FitzSimmons and Ward and Coulson by Pepper, Hill, and surprisingly Tony.
After they do leave the room Doctor Steiten walks over to Hill and Fury. "We need to talk." He tells them.
Exchanging a confused look Hill and Fury follow Dr Steiten out of the waiting room and to Hill's office.
"What is it Doc?" Fury asks once they are behind closed doors.
"Melinda shouldn't be alive." He says simply.
"What do you mean she shouldn't be alive? You said she is." Hill comments confused.
"She is, but I don't know how." Steiten answers "Her injuries should have killed her in minutes, I have no idea how she made it two hours, it should have been impossible." He tells them.
"So you're saying that someone lied about something that happened." Fury comments.
"Or there is something that happened that they haven't told us." Steiten answers, "Because everything I know tells me that Melinda should have been dead long before she got here."
"Why would they lie about what happened?" Hill asks "Especially if it would affect Melinda's treatment?" She asks.
"I don't know, all I know is that there is more to the story than is being said." Steiten says "Now if you excuse me I need to go check on her." Steiten says before leaving.
"Sir if they are lying, I am sure that they have a very good reason." Hill comments as Fury is currently looking less than impressed.
"I'm sure they do, but that doesn't change the fact that I need to know what is going on." Fury comments.
"What are you going to do?" Hill asks interested.
"I'm going to wait a couple of days then find out what they aren't telling us." Fury tells her.
"Sir, its Coulson, Barton, Romanoff, and Ward who are lying. If they don't want anyone to know the truth then no one will." Hill points out.
"I know, which is why I will start with FitzSimmons." Fury explains.
Though she doesn't let it show Hill really doesn't think that what Fury is planning is a good idea.
When Coulson, Skye, Clint and Natasha enter Melinda's room the sight before them is quite confronting. Melinda is laying in the bed connected to a lot of all different machines and there is a tube in her mouth that is helping her to breath.
"Mom." Skye says standing just inside the room, so shocked at what she is seeing.
It is clear on the look that Coulson has on his face that seeing Melinda like this is hard on him. He walks over and sits down on her left side and being careful not to disturb any of the cords her picks up Melinda's hand and gives it a kiss
"I can't do this." Skye says before exiting the room.
"I'll go." Clint tells Natasha and Coulson and follows Skye out.
After leaving the room Skye doesn't go any further than just outside the door. When Clint walks out he sees Skye sliding down the wall crying.
"I've got you Kid." Clint says putting his arms around Skye and pulling her up so that she is standing and just holds her while she cries.
"She's dying." Skye says through her tears.
"No, she's fighting to survive." Clint corrects, "She may not win, but for the moment she's fighting."
"I can't do anything, not for seventy two hours." Skye says quietly or as quietly as she can when crying.
"Not here." Clint says to her looking around to make sure no one heard.
"I can't lose her Uncle Clint, Dad can't lose her, she can't die." Skye tells her Uncle.
"I know." Clint says just tightening his hold around Skye trying his hardest to let his own tears fall as he knows that Skye doesn't need to see him break down as well.
For ten minutes Clint and Skye just stay outside Melinda's room, Skye crying and Clint holding her.
"I'm going to give Coulson an update on Melinda if you would like to listen." Dr Steiten informs Clint and Skye before entering Melinda's room.
"Thanks Doc." Clint tells him "What do you say Kid, do you think you could go in there?" Clint asks curious.
"Yeah, I think so." Skye says uncertainly.
"If you don't think you can then that's okay." Clint tells her.
"No, I can." Skye says determinably before entering Melinda's room Clint right behind her.
When Clint and Skye enter Melinda's room they see Coulson sitting in the same position that he was when they left and Natasha is standing behind him.
"Her vital signs are as good as they could be considering everything." Dr Steiten informs everyone.
"Why does she have a tube in her throat?" Skye asks.
"One of the bullets did some damage to her lung, I repaired the damage but the tube is helping her to breath to give her lungs a rest. If her condition doesn't get worse I will remove the tube in the next twelve to twenty four hours and she will be able to breathe on her own." Steiten explains.
"What about the medically induced coma?" Coulson asks "When will you take her out of that?" He asks.
"After I have removed the tube and she I breathing on her own I will do an assessment and determine when I will reverse the effects of the Coma." Dr Steiten explains, "If everything goes well I would say in the next forty eight hours I will wake her up." Dr Steiten explains, "But I want to make it clear that there is a long way to that point. Her condition is serious and even all her vitals at the moment are positive that could change." Dr Steiten explains wanting to stress that Melinda is far from out of the woods.
"We understand." Natasha answers.
"Do you have any more questions?" He asks looking at Coulson.
"No, thank you Doctor." Coulson tells him and Dr Steiten leaves.
Once Dr Steiten leaves Skye hesitantly walks over to the side of the bed that Coulson is sitting on.
"Do you think she can hear us?" Skye asks her Father curious not looking away from her mother as she does.
"I don't know." Coulson answers. "Maybe." He answers uncertainly.
"Skye?" Coulson asks concerned several minutes later when Skye suddenly grabs onto the bed for support
"I'm okay." Skye assures her father.
"Come sit down." Coulson says standing up and helping Skye back over to the seat which he is sitting on which is just big enough for two people to sit on.
When Coulson and Skye sit down next to each other Coulson puts his arm around Skye and Natasha walks over to Clint.
"How's he been?" Clint asks Natasha.
"Silent until now." Natasha answers "I need to do something." She reveals hating that one of the few people in the world who she truly cares about is barely hanging on and there is nothing she can do.
"Quinn needs to be interrogated. I told Fury that we would do it." Clint tells his partner.
"That sounds really good right now." Natasha comments "It will give the others a chance to come see her." She comments.
"Phil, we're going to have a little talk with Quinn." Natasha tells him "We'll send the others in to see Melinda for a bit." Natasha tells him.
"Okay." Coulson responds and Clint and Natasha exit the room.
Before going to the integration room Natasha and Clint went back to the waiting room to tell Ward and FitzSimmons that they could go and see Melinda.
"You might want to prepare yourselves." Clint informs the three as they are going in together even though it is breaking the rules "Skye couldn't be in there at first, Melinda is in pretty bad shape, and you should prepare yourself for that." Clint says before leaving the three of them to go and interrogate Quinn.
Before entering Melinda's room, FitzSimmons and Ward all pause for a moment as the remember Clint's words and they prepare themselves for what they are going to see.
When they do enter none of them say a word to Coulson and Skye who are sitting together on a chair next to Melinda's bedside.
Even though Clint warned them it is still hard to see Melinda how she is, see that she is connected to so many things, that she has a tube down her throat, seeing her looking so week when she is one of the strongest people they know.
Looking over and seeing that she is struggling to keep it together Fitz reaches over and grab's Jemma's hand, showing her that she isn't alone.
Twenty minutes after leaving Melinda's room Natasha is entering the Interrogation room that Quinn is in. After his last escape there is a guard in the room with him which Natasha dismisses.
"Well Agent Romanoff. S.H.I.E.L.D must really want me to talk if you're here." Quinn tells her.
"Why were you in Italy? What were you and Rania planning?" Natasha asks avoiding answering the question.
"That is between us and the Clairvoyant. We won't talk, not even you will be able to make us." Quinn reveals.
"Oh but I will make you talk." Natasha tells him "But you're right about not making Rania talk, it would be hard with the bullet I put through her head." Natasha tells him then "Oh, I struck a nerve." She realises as Quinn had a small reaction that he tried to hide but never the less a reaction "Did you care about her Quinn?"
"Of course not." Quinn answers but it is clear that he is lying.
"What does the Clairvoyant want with Melinda May, Phil Coulson and Skye?" Natasha asks attempting to make it seem like she believes his lie but making note of it to use it in the future. "Oh and what have you done to a man called Mike?" she adds remembering how shocked Melinda was to see the man.
"I won't talk." Quinn informs Natasha. "No matter what you do you will never find out anything."
"We'll see about that." Natasha says standing up.
"Yes, we will." Quinn says but before either of them can say anything there is the sound of something breaking inside Quinn's mouth.
"Dam it" Natasha says rushing to him but she is too late he is already dead.
"Why the hell wasn't he checked for cyanide pills?" Natasha asks the guards, recognizing the effects, who have followed Clint into the integration room, angrily.
"He was, he was clear." One of the three guards tells Natasha.
"This is the second time we have had him in custody and we've had him for hours. If he had undetected cyanide why wait so long to use it?" Clint asks Natasha.
"I don't know. We don't even know if he decided to use it." Natasha points out "We know that the Clairvoyant has failsafe's in people in his employ, he could have one in Quinn. We don't know which one of them flipped the switch but we do know that either Quinn or the Clairvoyant couldn't risk Quinn answering my questions."
"This also means where back at square one." Clint points out "Quinn's dead, Rania's dead, we have no leads to the Clairvoyant."
"Ma'am, Sir, you need to see this." Another of the guards tells Natasha and Clint.
"What?" Natasha asks.
"This isn't Quinn, it's a decoy." One of the Gauds tells them.
"Are you sure?" Clint asks shocked "Good ones are meant to be indistinguishable." He points out.
"And this one is, until a few minutes ago." The Guard answers "He passed through all the checks as human."
"A decoy no matter how good couldn't do that." Natasha notes "And the Quinn Melinda and I took down at the compound was human, we had fought someone with superpowers minutes earlier we would know if we took down another."
"So you're saying that somehow Quinn was switched for his decoy while in S.H.I.E.L.D custody." Clint realises.
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Natasha comments "We need to talk to Fury." She says then turns to the guards "Lock this room down, no one in or out until Agent Barton and I get back." She instructs.
"Yes Ma'am." The three guards respond and Natasha and Clint leave.
After leaving the interrogation room Clint and Natasha head straight to Hill's office where they assume Fury will be.
"Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, what is going on?" Fury asks them as they walk in without knocking.
"Sir I was just down interrogating Quinn and there was a sound of something breaking coming from Quinn's mouth and he died, but when the guards checked they discovered that it wasn't really a Quinn, he was a decoy." Natasha explains.
"That' no possible." Fury answers "I took Quinn to the interrogation room myself. I watched as he went through all the scans. It was him." Fury informs the agents.
"It was also really him that Melinda and I took down in Italy, I am positive of that." Natasha informs the director
"Somehow between the time that you left him and Nat interrogated him there was a swap." Clint tells them.
"Why would they go all to the trouble of doing a swap and then kill the decoy?" Maria asks as that doesn't make sense.
"Maybe to make us think Quinn is dead." Natasha suggests.
"There would be no point, one of the guards were able to tell in seconds that it was one." Clint reminds her.
"What guard?" Fury asks as he knows that there are very few people currently in the building who would be able to tell that.
"English guy, tall, dark hair, green eyes" Natasha says remembering.
"There is no guard matching that description working." Hill informs Natasha and without a word all four of them go running down to the interrogation room
When they reach the interrogation room they find two of the three guards' unconscious on the ground and the third along with Quinn missing.
"This is Agent Hill, implementing Emergency lockdown." Hill says into her walkie talky.
Natasha and Clint look at each other and then without another word run out of the room as they realise that the three people that it seems like Quinn and the Clairvoyant want most are currently very vulnerable.
Natasha and Clint run as fast as they can and burst into Melinda's room causing FitzSimmons and Ward to turn quickly concerned.
"What's going on?" Ward asks concerned.
"Agent Ward, a word, outside." Clint says knowing that at the moment, Skye and Coulson don't need anything else to worry about, but that they need Ward to help him and Natasha watch over Coulson, Melinda and Skye.
"I'll stay." Natasha tells to Clint as he leads Ward outside.
"Attention all personal we are currently going on emergency lockdown, no one will be able to leave the premises until further notice" A voice over the speaker says.
"Tasha, what's going on?" Coulson asks his friend.
"Nothing you need to worry about, just a small issue." Natasha comments.
"Natasha." Coulson repeats.
"I was interrogating Quinn and he died by what looked like cyanide and one of the guards told me that it wasn't really Quinn but a decoy. Clint and I went to talk to Fury and Hill. When we described the person who told us that Quinn was a decoy Hill told us that no one fitting that description was on guard duty today. We ran back down there the guard that told us that Quinn was a decoy was gone and so was Quinn, the other guards were unconscious." Natasha explains. "That's why we are on lockdown." She explains.
"So was it really Quinn or not?" Simmons asks interested.
"I don't know." Natasha answers honestly "All we do know is that when Melinda and I took him down and when he was put in that cell he was." She explains.
Before anyone can say anymore the door opens and Dr Steiten walks in "I'm sorry I'm already breaking the rules by letting there be four of you in here at once, I cannot allow five." He tells everyone when he realises how many people are in the room.
"We understand, come on Fitz." Simmons comments and her and Fit leave the room.
"How is she?" Coulson asks.
"The same." Dr Steiten answers.
"Is that god or bad?" Skye asks worried.
"Considering her condition it is the best possible news." Dr Steiten informs them as Clint comes back in.
"Ward is going to keep an eye out for Quinn." Clint informs Natasha.
"I'll be back in half an hour to do another check." Dr Steiten informs Coulson before leaving.
"Do either of you need something to drink? Or maybe eat?" Clint asks Coulson and Skye.
"No." Coulson answers.
"I'm alright." Skye responds "But thanks." She adds
Clint nods and he and Natasha sit down on the other two seats in the room.
The next three hours pass without incident. Dr Steiten comes in every half an hour to check on Melinda and so far nothing has changed. Skye has once again fallen asleep when the door opens and director Fury walks in.
"There is no sign of the guard or Quinn." Fury tells them all.
"Do we know whether it was really a decoy?" Clint asks interested
"No." Fury answers, "We've got the word out though." He tells him. "Is she okay?" He asks looking at Skye.
"Just tied." Natasha answers "We haven't gotten much sleep the last week, and now with everything that has happened she is exhausted." Natasha explains.
Fury nods "I would like to speak to you and Agent Barton outside." He requests.
"Of course Sir." Natasha respond and her and Clint follow Fury outside leaving Coulson the only conscious one in the room.
Being careful not to wake Skye Coulson moves the chair just a bit closer to Melinda's side, "I don't know if you can hear me or not but if you can hold on Mel, please." Coulson begs "We still need you, I still need you. I know the other place is incredible and beautiful, everything that this place isn't, but don't go Mel, please. Just stay with me." Coulson tells Melinda as a tear starts to roll down his face.
"I will give you one chance to tell me the truth." Fury informs Natasha and Clint.
"Sir?" Clint asks pretending to be confused.
"According to Doctor Steiten Melinda should have died minutes after she was hurt." Fury tells them "In his opinion there is no way that Melinda could have made it the two hours to help. So I am asking for the truth." He tells the partners.
"I've already told you the truth Sir." Clint tells the Director "Melinda was shot, Simmons was able to stabilize her and we got her here." Clint says.
"Ah huh." Fury comments clearly not believing it "Agent Romanoff, do you have anything to add?" He asks.
"No Sir." Natasha tells him.
"I want full detail reports from both of you as well as Agents Fitz, Simmons and Ward, and Stark, and Coulson eventually. I will find out what happened." Fury tells them before walking away.
Natasha and Clint look at each other but they don't say anything, they just turn and walk back into Melinda's room.
When Natasha and Clint re entre Melinda's room the find Coulson and Skye in the same position but they see the evidence of fresh tears on Coulson's face.
Without a word Clint and Natasha just return to their seats and sit down. Neither of them mentioning the fresh tears that they both of them see the evidence of.
"What did Fury want?" Coulson asks several minutes after they sit back down.
"Steiten told Fury that Mels should have died from her injuries he wanted the truth, we told him that we already told him the truth, but he still doesn't believe that what happen did. All of us with the exceptions of you Skye and Pepper need to give reports on what happened." Clint explains.
"Right." Coulson answers and the three friends drift back into silence the only sounds are that of the machines monitoring Melinda.
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