May was pissed that the people from the Italian government had double crossed them. She couldn't get a hold of Simmons, Fitz, or Skye, or anyone else through the mind link for that matter; this had never happened so she was getting nervous. When she got back to the Bus, she told Coulson and Ward what happened and why she killed Luca Russo.
Coulson called HQ to inform them of the situation while May went to the cockpit and got the Bus in the air; she also called Peggy, Victoria, Natasha, and Sharon in a joint call.
"Melinda is something wrong, since you are calling all of the Alphas?" Peggy asked.
"Yes, the others are missing, so is the train, and I can't get through the mind link to anyone. I believe there is something blocking it," May said.
"She is right, I can't get to Mel," Natasha said, looking to Peggy, who looked concerned.
"Melinda, keep us posted on your end, and find them. The rest of you calm down and wait for Melinda to update us," Peggy ordered, there was a yes Peggy from everyone.
Melinda hung up and massaged her head when Coulson entered.
"Hey, they found the train, I've sent you the coordinates," Coulson said, May nodded and turned the Bus in the right direction.
They found Simmons, who didn't know where Fitz or Skye were. When May and Simmons were alone, May asked if Simmons could mind link Fitz, but she couldn't.
Then the tracker that Fitz had went online and the team was close. May sent a text to Peggy about finding Simmons and the tracker that had gone online and that they were heading that way now.
Peggy called Maria and Fury to meet with her and the other alphas. After explaining what was happening, Sharon and Natasha tried to restrain Maria from leaving.
"Maria, we can't go. Believe me, I want to go and find Skye too, but AHH," Sharon started, only to cry out in agony, and fall to her knees with Maria not far behind.
"What? What's happening?" Victoria asked over the video feed.
"Skye…. She's been short," Maria gasped out, before both her and Sharon passed out.
"Natasha, call Melinda now!" Peggy ordered, while she looked over Sharon and Maria, and got them onto a couch. There was nothing they could do for them if it were Skye that was injured.
"Her phone is off, and I still can't get through with the mind link," Natasha said after a minute.
"Keep trying, and Victoria, do the same with Jemma and Leo! And get a hold of Bobbi too, she should be with Kara," Peggy said, standing up.
"Where are you going?" Fury asked.
"I am going to Tony and Pepper. Natasha, when Maria and Sharon wake up, come to the Tower, and Victoria, when you find Bobbi, get there too. Bring Kara, we will make our base there," Peggy said.
"Yes Peggy," Both Victoria and Natasha said.
Fury just nodded, knowing that it was for the best that the packs were together.
Bobbi was training with Kara in the Den at the Hub, when Bobbi doubled over, clutching her stomach.
"Bob, what is it?" Kara asked.
"Skye," Bobbi whimpered.
"Oh no," Kara whispered before getting Bobbi on her feet, an arm slung around her shoulder. She needed to find Victoria, but first she had to get Bobbi somewhere comfortable.
When she got Bobbi to the common room, Victoria came running in and over to Bobbi.
"Bobbi?" Victoria asked, looking her over like Peggy had done with Maria and Sharon.
"Hmm Skye," Bobbi mumbled.
"She is hurt. Natasha is trying to get a hold of May but is unable to at the moment. We are going to the Tower, Kara!" Victoria said. Victoria and Kara helped Bobbi to the garage and into a car before they headed to the Tower.
They found Fitz disabling the cars in front of a mansion.
"Fitz, where is Skye?" Coulson asked, Fitz looked nervous.
"She...she didn't want to let Quinn get away," he said, pointing to the mansion.
"Okay, let's get in there," Coulson said.
Ward entered first, shooting everyone he saw, while Coulson grabbed Quinn, who had been on his way out.
"Where is Skye?" Coulson asked, Quinn smirked.
"Agents welcome," Quinn said, smirking.
"Where is Skye?" May demanded, Quinn sighed.
"You know agent Coulson, you should really stop sending her in like this all the time. She could get hurt," Quinn said, still with that stupid smirk on his face.
May marched over to Quinn and Coulson, her eyes landing on Quinn's sleeve, Coulson followed her eyesight, and before Coulson could speak, May had shot Quinn with the night-night gun.
"Find Skye now," Coulson ordered and the whole team went searching, leaving Quinn and everyone else on the floor.
May ran down a hallway where she saw that there was only one closed door, after opening it, she saw that it led down some stairs. Walking down them to the end where another door was, slowly pushing it open she could smell the blood before finding its source.
Her eyes widened, Skye was lying in a pool of blood. Snapping out of it, she yelled as loud as she could since the mind link still wasn't working.
"SIMMONS! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" she yelled while running over to Skye kneeling down beside her.
"Skye?" May said, touching her chin, seeing a small reaction.
"Skye, don't go to sleep, do you hear me! Skye!" May said, shaking Skye gently, looking to the door as Simmons and the rest came running in, Simmons gasped and froze.
"Simmons!" May snapped, Simmons snapped out of it and kneeled down on Skye's other side.
"Coulson give me your tie, now!" Simmons ordered, Coulson gave it to her.
"May, tie this around her leg, she is losing too much blood," she told May, May did as she was told.
"What now, Simmons?" May asked when she noticed Simmons was freaking out.
"I, I don't," Simmons started looking around, her eyes landing on the chamber in the corner of the room.
"Put her in there," she said.
"Do you even know what that thing is?" Ward asked, Simmons glared at the man.
"Yes, and I said put her in there," She ordered, standing up. May and Coulson took hold of Skye and lifted her into the chamber.
"Careful! Fitz?" Simmons said.
"Got it," Fitz said, pushing on the display at the chamber.
"Close it," Simmons said after Skye was in it, now both Simmons and Fitz were holding their breath.
"Is it working?" Ward asked, but Simmons and Fitz ignored him.
"Is it working?" Coulson then asked a little louder when Skye drew a breath.
"Yes, for now, but we need to get her to a medical facility, and fast," Simmons said.
"Then let's get a move on," May said.
Their backup arrived when they got outside. The backup teams would handle clean up while they took Skye and Quinn with them. May was pushing the Bus as hard as she could, she really wanted to get Skye to Sam, but she was too far away. They didn't know if Skye would make it, so they had to go to the closest possible medical center SHIELD had, but it was still a long way away.
Peggy took one of the quinjets and pushed it to reach the closest airfield to the tower as fast as possible, and then drove almost like a madman to get there.
She found Pepper in the living room by the big dining table.
"Peggy, what a surprise," Pepper said, smiling at Peggy, until she saw the look on Peggy's face.
"What happened?" Pepper asked.
"You better call Tony and get him here," Peggy said, Pepper called Tony, and he came five minutes later.
"What is so important, that I had to come, hi Peg?" Tony asked.
"It's Skye, we believe she has been shot, but we can't get ahold of Melinda or any of the team. We only know that Skye, Leo, and Jemma went missing, and that they found Jemma, while Leo or Skye activated a tracker. They went to that location and now we are waiting for Victoria or Natasha to get ahold of Melinda, Jemma, or Leo. Maria and Sharon passed out, and when they wake up they will be coming here along with Natasha. Victoria, Bobbi, and Kara are also on their way here," Peggy said quickly, so Tony and Pepper wouldn't interrupt.
"I'll have medic set up," Tony said, walking away fast, his voice was rough.
"We can set up a conference room down the hall from the medical area," Pepper said, having trouble walking, so Peggy walked over and put an arm around her.
When they arrived, Skye was quickly taken away. Now, about an hour later, May excused herself to call Peggy; she hadn't been able to do it before, because of Coulson and Ward, one of them was always nearby.
The phone only rang once before it was picked up.
"Melinda, what is the situation?" Peggy asked, before May could answer, Sharon asked a ton of questions.
"Is Skye okay? What happened? Where are you? Why haven't you called before now? Why was the mind link down? Who shot her? Why-" Sharon didn't get to ask more as Peggy stopped her.
"Sharon, let Melinda speak!" Peggy ordered.
"We are at the SHIELD base in England, Skye is alive and in surgery. We don't know how long it will take, she has been in here for an hour already. I haven't been able to call before now because of Ward and Coulson, one of them is always around. We believe that it was Quinn that shot Skye, he had blood on his sleeves. I don't know what happened to our mind link, and we have Quinn in custody on the Bus," Melinda said, answering Sharon's questions plus giving some extra info.
"Okay, Natasha will try to contact you over the mind link now," Peggy said, nodding to Natasha.
"Mel are you there?" Natasha asked hopefully.
"Yes, I am here," May said back, smiling, on the other end Natasha breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Peggy and the others that it was back.
"Good, now you can keep us posted without calling," Peggy said, then Maria spoke up.
"Is it bad?" Maria asked, but May didn't answer.
Pepper asked, May didn't know that the woman was there, and it seemed that Natasha could feel it.
"Mel, Bobbi, Victoria, and Tony are also here, we are all at the Tower," Natasha explained.
"It wasn't good, she had a gunshot in the leg, and her stomach didn't look too good. I don't know much, and didn't see it, there was too much blood," May said woefully.
She heard a sob on the other end, and three growls.
"Okay, Melinda, go back to the others. Tell Leo and Jemma to contact Victoria so they can also keep her updated on what they know," Peggy said.
"Will do," May answered, they hung up and May went back to the team.
May returned to the waiting area to find Coulson was pacing, Ward was glaring at the wall looking like he wanted to punch it, and Fitz and Simmons were sitting on two chairs hugging each other.
It was another seven hours with May talking with Natasha, and Fitzsimmons talking to Victoria every thirty minutes, and Ward and Coulson checking on Quinn one time each. May had refused to leave. Finally, the door leading to the surgery rooms opened, and a doctor came out, still in her scrubs.
They all quickly stood up and ran over to the doctor.
"How is she?" Coulson asked.
"We have done everything we could, there was a lot of damage to her stomach and big and small intestines. We removed all the metal fragments. It looked like she was shot with a 9mm in her stomach and leg, and she was also shot with something else in her stomach. Some kind of bullet that exploded, sending a dozen of small needle looking pieces of metal, or something, I have never seen something like that," she said.
"What are you saying?" Coulson asked, not liking what he was hearing.
"I am saying, we can keep her comfortable, but you need to get her family here," she said.
"We are her family," Coulson said.
"Then I am very sorry," the doctor said before going back through the doors.
Simmons was crying into Fitz, who was also crying. Coulson looked broken, Ward was a statue, and May stormed away and went to the Bus where Quinn was still being held.
The door to the cage where Quinn was sitting, slammed open, and May marched in.
"Ah finally, I have been waiting for hours for something to drink, and-" Quinn started, looking smug. May kicked the chair he was sitting on away and started to punch him, not as hard as she wanted to, ignoring his protests that she couldn't do this.
"WHAT DID YOU SHOT HER WITH?! WE KNOW IT WAS MORE THAN A 9MM," May roared at Quinn.
"May stop!" Coulson said, having followed her.
"ANSWER ME!" May yelled when Quinn didn't answer.
"MAY!" she heard Coulson yell, she looked over her shoulder, he gestured for her to follow, Ward was at the door of the cage looking down at Quinn and then at May in disbelief at what he was seeing.
"He deserves to die, not Skye," May said, being very upset.
"I agree, but beating Quinn isn't helping, I need you to fly the plane," Coulson said.
"What are you talking about, the doctor said that there was nothing more they could do," May said wondering how Skye's mates and her parents could come and say goodbye.
"Yes, there is nothing more they could do, but I was brought back from the dead, we just need to get Skye there," Coulson said.
May looked at him like he was crazy.
"What?" May asked, she knew some of the consequences for the "help" he was talking about, that was why this team even existed, and she knew Coulson remembered some of it, but maybe it won't be so bad as Skye was still alive. Still, it was worth it, she needed to speak to the others and Tony and Pepper about it.
But sadly, she didn't get to do it, Coulson had already made the decision and Skye was being loaded into the Bus. She only managed to talk a little with Natasha, Nat told her that Fitz had informed Victoria and Peggy of the situation, and that Peggy had called Fury demanding the pieces of metal they found in Skye to be sent to them at the Tower. Natasha also mentioned that Peggy ordered them to do anything they needed to save Skye.
Natasha told her that Maria, Sharon, and Bobbi had to be sedated, Pepper was breaking down, and Tony was stoic and snapping at everyone that wasn't Pepper.
Fitzsimmons was reading Coulson's medical file from his procedure and looking for where he was treated as the place in the file didn't exist.
Garret and his rookie named Trip showed up to take Quinn, but Coulson refused, and they decided to work together, which May wasn't happy about.
Fitzsimmons figured out the place and told May where to go. Now that they had landed, Coulson, Garret, Ward, and Fitz went to get a doctor to help Skye.
May, Simmons, and Trip were in the lab near the med-pod where Skye was laying hooked up to tubes and other things.
Trip and Simmons were making small talk, when the machines hooked to Skye started blaring and Skye was gasping for air through the tube in her throat in her sleep. Simmons started giving Skye CPR and requesting drugs that Trip supplied when asked.
Skye went into cardiac arrest two more times before Fitz came running with a syringe and yelling at May to get the Bus in the air, that the mountain was going to explode any minute.
Simmons administered the content of the syringe, and then Coulson came running telling her not to give it to her, but it was too late.
"We were already losing her. What harm could it do?" Simmons asked Coulson when Skye started seizure again.
An agonizing minute later and Skye's vitals were returning back to normal. She started breathing again, causing everyone to sigh in relief, even Trip and Garrett.
Twenty minutes later Garrett and Trip took Quinn on their jet and took off to the fridge.
Skye was alive and stable; they had gotten orders to go to the Hub and from there, Fury would distract Coulson and Ward with something to do so they could get Skye to the Tower.
Fury had given the team time off from the plane, using the excuse that Ward was needed on a mission in a week's time, that Coulson would be best to oversee, and he said that Fitzsimmons was needed on a project, and that he had a mission for May.
Of course, only the mission for Ward and Coulson was true, and May and Fitzsimmons were actually staying at the Tower.
Coulson and Ward had tried to argue that someone needed to be with Skye when she woke up, but Fury told him that Agent Morse would be there as Skye's soulmate, which shut up Coulson, but Ward just scowled and muttered to himself.
They successfully got Skye to the Tower, and when they arrived Sharon, Maria, Bobbi, Pepper, and Tony crowded them, until Simmons snapped.
"Move now, she is still healing, and we need to set her up in medical before you can see her," she said, everyone looked shocked but moved. Natasha, Victoria, Kara, Peggy, and Izzy, who also had shown up since she could feel Victoria's distress, moved them out of the way, Sam had also shown up and was waiting in medical.
Clint, Rick, and Jonathan were also there but they hung back not wanting to get in the way.
When Fitz and May came back out, they again got crowded and bombarded with questions.
"We don't know anything more, Sam and Jemma are making sure that Skye is comfortable and looked after until she wakes up," May said.
Maria, Sharon, Bobbi, and Peppers faces fall, and Tony became angry again.
Tony was over his anger quickly and went to comfort Pepper while the pack tried to comfort Maria, Sharon, and Bobbi, but they just looked at the doors on the other side of the room that Skye was behind.
The next day most of the people that were occupying the top floors were in the waiting/conference room. Maria, Sharon, and Bobbi were curled up together, while Natasha, Victoria, and Peggy watched over them from a corner of the room.
Pepper was sitting with Fitz talking about Skye. Fitz had been a mess blaming himself for what happened, but everyone assured him that it wasn't his fault.
May came storming in and sat down with a scowl on her face, with Kara and Izzy not far behind her.
"What happened?" Peggy asked.
"Rick," Kara just said.
"What did he say now?" Victoria asked.
"He was going on in the kitchen about how Skye should have known better, and Mel should have trained her better, and Fitz shouldn't have let her go in alone and so on," Izzy said.
"And then Mel knocked him unconscious, and we left him on the floor," Kara said with a small smirk.
Victoria and Peggy sighed.
"We'll take care of him, call us if something happens here," Peggy said, and her and Victoria went to the small kitchen to have a talk with Rick.
An hour later Sam came out of medical.
"She is showing signs of waking soon, but only a few of you can come in at a time," she said when everyone stood up.
Pepper, Maria, and May were chosen to go in.
When they saw Skye on the bed, she looked small and so fragile. Her eyes were still closed but she was moving a little, the tube down her throat was taken out that morning.
There was a small groan from Skye and her eyes opened and shut a few times, before they remained open.
Skye looked around, visibly confused.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Maria asked gently, Skye looked over at her looking more confused than before.
"Do you remember what happened?" May asked after Skye didn't answer, again Skye only looked confused.
"She may need a moment, she has been given a lot of drugs for the pain," Simmons said.
"Who, who are you people?" Skye's rough voice came, then she blinked rapidly.
"What, where am I?" Skye then got out of her sore throat, Skye's breathing quickening, almost hyperventilating.
"That's it, out everyone, NOW," Simmons yelled, trying to calm Skye down, but it wasn't working, so she had to give her some sedatives, Skye fell fast asleep.
Sam had managed to push Maria, May, and Pepper out of the room; she then came over to help Simmons.
On the other side of the door everyone was panicking, Maria told them that Skye didn't recognize any of them.
Shortly after Sam and Simmons came out.
"Why didn't she recognize us?" Maria asked, clearly upset.
"Sometimes it is normal after a traumatic event, that the person is confused and forgets something when they first wake up. When she wakes up again, she most likely will remember everything," Sam said.
"Likely?" Bobbi asked.
"Sometimes it is permanent, but it is rare, we can only wait and hope for the best," Sam said.
"How long till she'll wake up again?" Victoria asked.
"We don't know," Simmons answered.
AN: Thanks to Fun_size_Tasha for betaing.