Episode 14: T.A.H.I.T.I.
Part One
Skye's chamber wheeled through the hospital, Sara on a gurney behind. Coulson was with Skye and Simmons; the others close behind.
"Skye was shot twice in the abdomen at close range almost two hours ago," Coulson said.
Simmons nodded, "She's tachycardic, hypotensive, and lost a significant amount of blood. We had to lower her core body temp in order to transport her here."
"It's probably what kept her alive this long," the doctor said. "And Agent Reyes-Fitz?"
"Twice in the side, once in the stomach," Simmons answered. "Admissive amount of blood loss."
They came to the door of the operating room, Simmons and Coulson pausing in their steps.
"We'll do everything we can," the doctor promised as the doors closed.
"Oh, dear, I'm a mess," Simmons whispered. Coulson shook his head.
"No, you were great." He put a hand on her shoulder in appreciation as she breathed out a sigh.
Fitz-Simmons sat on a couch together as Ward sat tensely on a chair. May stood nearby while Coulson talked on his phone. Everyone wore various expressions of concern and worry.
"I'm here," Coulson snapped into the phone.
"That's unacceptable. I need to speak to Director Fury immediately, please."
"Why didn't I stop them?" Fitz murmured to Simmons. "I could have."
"As if you could stop Skye from doing anything she's set her mind too," Simmons told him.
"Well, I could have backed Sara up," Fitz snapped. "Instead, I went with Skye."
Ward shook his head.
"No, Fitz, it's not your fault." He casted a look at Coulson's back. "Skye shouldn't have been there. I'm her S.O. and… Fitz, Sara is gonna be fine." May turned to address them.
"The one to blame is the man who shot her, Ian Quinn," she said. "He is responsible."
From across the room, Coulson's voice rose, bringing the entire teams' attention to him.
"Yes! The message is: I have two agents dying and there are questions only he can answer." He hung up his phone, slamming it down on the table next to him. He let out a sigh before picking it back up, strolling out of the room.
A few hours later, Ward looked up from his coffee as the doctor entered the room. Coulson got to his feet.
"How are they?" he asked.
"Agent Reyes-Fitz is stable—"
"And Skye?"
"Not good," the doctor sighed. "The shots perforated her stomach and penetrated the large and small intestines. We resected what we could, but… but there's been too much damage."
Coulson took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm.
"So, what's next?"
"We can keep her comfortable, but you'll need to make a decision on whether or not you want to keep her on life support." May's stoic expression faltered slightly as Coulson rubbed at his forehead.
"You're saying there's nothing to be done?" he asked.
"I'm saying, you need to call her family and get them here as soon as possible."
"We're her family," Coulson whispered.
"In that case, I'm very sorry."
May's face hardened as she stormed out of the room. Ward chased after the doctor, Fitz on his heels.
"Can we see Agent Reyes-Fitz?" Ward asked.
"I'm afraid I can only allow family members in at the moment." Fitz stepped around Ward.
"I'm her brother."
"Follow me then." Fitz looked back at Ward.
"Come on."
"He can't—"
"He's family too."
Quinn looked up as a very pissed Agent May marched in.
"Finally, I was beginning to think you'd forgotten –" His words were cut off when May shoved his face into the table. She yanked his chair out from under him, sending him to the floor. "Wait! You can't!" May bent down, grabbing hold of him.
"Why? Because you're defenseless, like she was?"
She started punching his face, stopping only when Coulson entered.
"May! May!" She stopped, looking over at Coulson as Quinn wiped blood away from under his nose. "Outside, now." She shoved against Quinn, sending him to the floor as he collapsed. Coulson closed the door, leaving him where he'd fallen.
Ward sat beside Sara, holding her hand. The sedatives they'd given her should be wearing off soon. Fitz was pacing nearby.
"Calm down," Ward advised. "We don't want her upset because you're upset."
"How in the hell are we supposed to move them both on the plane?" Fitz questioned. "We can only hold one med-pod at the moment."
"I-I'm not… st-staying in a med-pod."
Sara stared up at them with bleary eyes.
"Hey beautiful," Ward murmured. He leaned forward, kissing the top of her head.
"How's Skye?" she asked.
"Don't you want to know how you are?" Fitz asked, coming to a stop beside her. She rolled her eyes, wincing when she shifted slightly.
"I don't care how I am. I can feel it."
Fitz sent a look over to Ward who sighed.
"Skye's not doing too good. We're gonna transfer her to a med-pod and put her on The Bus. You're coming with."
"In a pod?"
"No," Ward shook his head. "We'll figure something out." He looked up, "Fitz, why don't you go tell Simmons that she's awake?"
"Why can't you do it?" He quickly nodded his head at Ward's glare.
"Okay. Fine. Be right back."
Sara laughed lightly but winced at the pain.
"You scared me," he scolded. "What did we say about going in alone?"
"I wasn't alone." He sighed, pressing a light kiss to her wrist. "I'm not gonna argue, but you will listen to Fitz-Simmons, May, and I when we get on The Bus. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Just okay?"
A worried look appeared on Ward's face. Wasn't she going to argue?
"Well, guess I have one question."
"And what would that be?"
"Are you gonna kiss me properly or not?" He chuckled, leaning forward to kiss her lips.
At her wince, he pulled away, brushing hair out of her face.
"How bad am I?"
"Alive. You're gonna be out of the field for a while, but you're alive." Tears welled up in her eyes and he shook his head, brushing them away. "No, no, Sara. No tears." She lifted an arm, one with many tubes and wires coming out of it. He grabbed it, holding it tightly.
"I'm so tired."
"I know, I Know. Go to sleep, Sara." He kissed her forehead again as she tried to fight off the painkillers that were being pumped into her system.
May glared at Coulson in the living room.
"He deserves to die, not her!" Coulson nodded.
"Agreed, but right now, Quinn doesn't matter – only Skye does. I need you to pilot the plane."
"You heard what the doctor said."
"She said there was nothing more they could do for her, but there are doctors who brought me back from the dead. If they can do that, I'm betting they can save Skye."
Sara lay on the sofa, an IV still plugged into her arm. Fitz-Simmons were below getting a med-pod outfitted into the plane. She jumped slightly as the pod banged into place. She let out a small whimper, eyes shutting from the pain. Ward squeezed her thigh gently, looking to Coulson.
"HQ radioed in. They've ordered us to hand over Quinn for interrogation and transport to The Fridge. Do you want me to arrange the transfer?" Coulson shook his head.
"No, Quinn stays in our custody until I say otherwise."
Ward nodded, "Sir, are you sure about this? Taking Skye all the way to Bethesda?"
"That's where my file says I was treated after New York."
"What makes you think the doctors there will be able to do anything different?" Sara asked quietly. "I know they saved you, but—" "They did a lot more than save me." He turned, looking at his daughter and agent with a foreloin expression. "It's time you know the truth."
Simmons frowned as Coulson finished his story.
"That can't be. What you're describing is medically impossible." Coulson nodded slowly.
"Expect for the fact that I'm standing here, proof that it's not impossible. And here's more proof." He set his file on the table in front of them. "My file. Describing how they brought me back, the doctors, the procedures, the drugs."
Fitz looked up at him firmly.
"Sir… it's against the law for us to read this. Are you sure?"
"I don't care about your clearance level. I'm ordering you to read it." Simmons opened the file and looked down.
"Death and recovery report," she read.
"It's only recently that director Fury gave me access to this."
Something caught Fitz' eyes and pulled it out of the file while Simmons continued to read.
"I've gone over it a dozen times. I need you to decipher the medical parts of it that I didn't understand. Feel free to reach out to Dr. Streiten. He should be eager to answer any questions you may have." Simmons nodded slowly.
"Yes, I'm sure I'll have quite a few."
Crossing his arms, Fitz glanced at Coulson.
"So, what about Tahiti?"
"Turns out, not so magical. Just false memories implanted to cover up what was done."
"Sir…" Simmons said, "it says here your heart was perforated, torn in half."
Coulson nodded while looking down, then he looked back up at her.
"That part of it I understood. And yet, they managed to heal the damaged tissue completely. We need to understand how."
"So that we can do the same for Skye," Fitz said.
"That's what I'm counting on."
Simmons nodded, "We'll get right on it, sir."
"Thank you."
May sat beside Ward in the cockpit.
"Hurt much?" Ward asked as May flexed her right hand.
"I'm fine."
"Coulson told me how long he was dead… why didn't you tell anyone?"
"It wasn't mine to tell."
"I saw Skye… in the pod," Ward said. "Machine filtering her blood, breathing for her. I'm not sure I'd make this play. I mean, flying halfway around the world hoping for a second miracle?"
"If Coulson thinks there's a chance in a million to save Skye, to save any of us, he'd take it. People like us, we need people like him. So, yeah, it makes sense. A lot more sense than the alternative."
"You mean giving up?"
"Or, killing the man responsible." "Ah, I did like hearing you go after Quinn."
They smirked at each other as the radio went off overhead.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. 616, this is Tower Michael Tango. You are in violation of S.H.I.E.L.D. Directive 1297. Respond immediately."
"Disobeying a direct order," Ward said. "We didn't hand Quinn over for interrogation."
"Great," May sighed.
They looked out the windows as two fighter planes pulled up alongside The Bus. May picked up the radio.
"This is S.H.I.E.L.D. 616. How do we proceed?"
"Prepare to be boarded and relinquish command."
Ward walked along a hallway with Coulson as they heard a jet land on the roof.
"Really?" Coulson asked. "All the war and chaos in the world and S.H.I.E.L.D. sends a plane after us?"
"Three planes," Ward corrected. "A small transport to dock and a pair of F-35s to make sure we hand over Quinn."
The pair looked up as the plane clamped onto The Bus.
"If they scratched my paint, I'm gonna be pissed," Coulson muttered.
"I'll await your orders, sir." Coulson headed up to his office, stopping on the third step.
"How's Sara?"
"Simmons is making her rest," Ward answered. "With much resistance." Coulson smirked at that before heading the rest of the way up. That girl was definitely his kid.
Coulson paced in his office as a man walked down some steps, entering The Bus. He stopped when he recognized the face.
"Garrett? What the hell are you doing here?" Garrett turned to see Coulson, a faint smirk on his face.
"Well as opposed to the Level 8 jackass I'm staring at; I still follow orders."
Coulson scoffed, "You're the worst at following orders."
"Maybe…"
Garrett reached into his jacket.
"But I like this one." He held up a folded piece of paper. "You are to immediately hand Ian Quinn over for transport to The Fridge." He turned slightly as another man walked down the stairs. He introduced the man to Coulson. "Agent Antoine Triplett, Agent Phillip Coulson. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Phil's one of our finest." Coulson couldn't help but grin a little.
"An honor sir," Triplett said.
Nodding in his direction, Coulson glanced at Garrett again.
"Trip joined me as my specialists after Ward and Reyes-Fitz came to your circus." Garrett sent a glance to Trip. "Go secure the prisoner."
"Yes, sir."
Trip walked down the stairs as Coulson led Garrett into his office.
"Phil, come on. Just because Fury gave you this pretty plane doesn't mean they won't shoot it out of the sky."
"Why are you really here, Garrett?" Coulson asked. "S.H.I.E.L.D. could've sent any security team to collect Quinn. Why you?"
Garrett looked down for a moment then back up at Coulson.
"You've been chasing him, too," Coulson realized.
"Since Malta. Then yesterday, your little Italian job cost my team weeks of work."
"You can't have him, not yet." Garrett looked at Coulson firmly.
"This isn't a request."
"Quinn shot two of my agents. One's on life support in a med-pod downstairs. We're taking her to the trauma center in Bethesda."
Raising an eyebrow, Garrett looked at Coulson strangely.
"Quinn actually pulled the trigger?" Coulson sat behind his desk.
"Skye infiltrated his compound in Malta. When we saw her yesterday, seemed like he took it personally."
"I never took him for a triggerman. He pays others for that. I've lost three of my own chasing him."
"Then you understand why I can't give him to you until we save my agent."
"Because if she doesn't make it…" Coulson nodded at Garrett's unspoken words.
Trip walked through the hallway of The Bus and into the living room. He smiled when he cleared the corner.
"Agent Grant Ward," he said, shaking Ward's hand.
"Trip," Ward said with a smile. "Is Garrett upstairs?"
"Yeah," Trip nodded. "You know, he still talks about that thousand-yard shot you took in Bandung."
"It was two thousand," Sara corrected. She gave him a small finger-wave when he noticed her.
"Sara!" Trip exclaimed.
She laughed as he quickly rushed over to give her a hug. She winced after a moment and Ward brushed Trip away.
"Careful," he scolded. He reached up to Sara's drip, increasing it slightly.
"What are you doing here, Trip?" Trip looked around The Bus.
"Man, this is like the Playboy jet." He hit Ward's shoulder a couple of times, smiling as he passed by Ward. "I mean, a guy could get soft, bunking in a space like this. How did Coulson swing such a sweet ride?"
"He died," Ward said flatly.
Trip's face changed slightly.
"That's tight. You want to point me to the box you're keeping Quinn in? H.Q. has ordered Garrett to haul his ass to The Fridge for questioning." He took a deep breath, preparing to speak, but something caught his eye. He turned his head, smiling as he saw the bar. "Is that a full bar?" Ward walked over to it.
"You're welcome to it. But, uh, Quinn stays put 'til Coulson says otherwise."
Walking to stand in front of Ward, Trip frowned.
"Come on, man. Garrett was your S.O., too, so you know how this works."
"Why don't you remind us?" Sara questioned.
"Garrett wants Quinn. It's my job to make sure Garrett gets what he wants. Now where is he?"
"Can't help you with that," Ward said firmly.
"No worries," Trip said with a slight smile. "I'll find Quinn myself. I'm sure he's tucked between the Jacuzzi and the squash court."
Ward grabbed his arm as the man started to walk away.
"Hey." Trip looked down at Ward's arm and yanked the away. Sara sighed as they started a brawl.
"Boys," she muttered. Ward got the upper hand, doing a jump punch on Trip that sent the man into the seats by the windows.
Coulson and Garrett rounded the corner, frowning at their agents.
"Agent Ward, stand down!" Coulson called. Ward paused for a moment then shoved against Trip, moving himself away.
"Agent Garrett and I have come to an agreement. He convinced H.Q. that he could interrogate Quinn here on our plane as we continue to Bethesda."
"Well," Garrett shrugged. "I'm a bit of a sweet talker when I need to be. You wouldn't believe what I could get his son of a gun into."
Garrett turned and looked directly at Ward. Ward smile, shaking his former S.O.'s hand.
"Good seeing you, son."
"You too, sir," Ward said as they shook hands. "And thank you." Garrett glanced over at Sara.
"Lovely as ever, Sara."
"Thank you, sir." He nodded, giving her a small, fatherly smile before looking at Ward and Trip.
"Saving the girl's top priority."
Fitz-Simmons stared at the medical file.
"I've never heard of half the drugs they gave Coulson," Simmons said. "GH-325? And what about the robotic-assisted-neuro-micro-surgery they used to implant the Tahiti memories? It all sounds so diabolical."
"I agree," Fitz said. "We can't argue with the results. He's walking around." Simmons looked over at the monitor set at the end of the table which showed Skye in her pod.
"Yeah, but at what cost? You read the transcripts. He begged the doctors to let him die."
Fitz shook his head.
"This is different, Skye's still alive. We have to keep her that way." Simmons reached into her back pocket as her phone started vibrating.
"Oh. I've asked Dr. Streiten to advise us." She answered her phone. "Hello?" She smiled softly. "Yes." Fitz frowned as the smile faded. "Are you sure? That can't be."
Quinn gasped awake, jumping slightly as the door opened. He was covered with blood and his eyes were swollen.
"And here I thought I was gonna get to play bad cop," Garrett whistled. He took a seat in the chair across from Quinn.
"Ian Quinn, this is Agent Garrett. He's here to ask you some questions." Quinn shook his head slowly.
"Oh, no thank you. I – my head's still ringing from the last visitor."
"At least the last visitor left you with a head," Garrett said. "I'm not always that considerate. I'm interested in one of your newer projects."
Leaning forward, Quinn pretended to feign interest.
"Hmm. Oh, but there are so many to choose from." Garrett snapped forward, grabbing Quinn's tongue as the other man muffled out a groan.
"Let me be clear, you have no rights. You have no lawyer. The only thing keeping Agent Coulson here from throwing you off this plane is the very weak heartbeat of a young agent downstairs, and the only incentive I have for not tearing your tongue out is that you use it to answer my questions. Is that clear?"
"Mm-hmm."
Garrett glanced at Coulson.
"You understand that?"
"No," Coulson answered, shaking his head. Garrett pulled harder on Quinn's tongue. The man moaned louder and nodded his head, so Garrett released his tongue. Quinn gingerly touched the tip of his tongue with his fingertips.
Coulson handed Garrett a handkerchief to wipe Quinn's spit off his fingers as Garrett sat back down.
"Tell us about Cybertek and the Deathlok program," Garrett said.
"Deathlok?" Coulson asked.
"Catchy, right? Sounds like some wrestler from the '80s. What is it really?"
"Those are dangerous waters and the last agent that waded into them would end up with two in the stomach."
Quinn jumped as Coulson started toward him. Garrett got up quickly to stop Coulson, backhanding Quinn for Coulson.
"So… she's still alive?" Quinn asked.
"Yeah. And you better hope she stays that way."
"Is that why you shot Skye?" Coulson asked. "Because she saw what Cybertek delivered?"
"No. I shot Skye because that's what the Clairvoyant told me to do."
May entered the lab where Fitz-Simmons were.
"You wanted to see me?"
Simmons nodded, "I just got off the phone with the trauma center in Bethesda. Dr. Steiten's gone off the grid."
"So, we'll find a different doctor there who operated on Coulson."
"That's the thing," Fitz said. "Actually…"
"Coulson was never treated there," Simmons finished.
"You're not making sense," May told them, arms crossing.
"None of this makes sense. The doctor's listed, the operating room number, none of them exist. None of them are a part of S.H.I.E.L.D." May looked up at Simmons with a face of shock.
Garrett smirked at Quinn.
"What I find surprising is how a big shot billionaire could fall for the psychic mumbo jumbo."
Quinn smirked, "Oh, I doubted it at the beginning, but then I realized it would be mutually beneficial."
"He must have something pretty terrible on you. Shooting an unarmed girl?" Coulson remarked.
"Let's just say I learned the hard away that obeying was in my best interest."
"Yet… here you are," Garrett said.
Quinn cocked his head to the side, looking amused at both agents.
"Let me assure you it wasn't luck that led me to your partner's black sedan in Berlin or that he'd open the door for a redhead or those two agents in Morocco." While Quinn talked, the smile drained from Garrett's face. "Do you think it was just a roll of the dice that my people found them in that raid? No, it was the Clairvoyant."
"Your Clairvoyant say anything about me knocking your teeth in?" Garrett hissed.
"The Clairvoyant sees everything… except what happened to him."
As the man pointed at Coulson, Coulson frowned.
"This is still about me."
"Wait." Garrett stood up next to Coulson. "You're gonna need to rewind the tape. Phil." Coulson looked at his fellow agent.
"You heard about my near-death before the battle of New York? There's more to it than that. I thought I was gone for seconds, turns out it was days."
"That's impossible," Garrett said.
"Which is why the Clairvoyant will do anything to know how it happened," Quinn said.
"Even ordered you to shoot Skye," Coulson muttered.
Garrett looked at Coulson, confused.
"You don't know what S.H.I.E.L.D. did to save you?"
"That's why we're flying to where I was treated."
"So… shooting the girl forces you to either figure it all out –"
"So the Clairvoyant can finally see," Quinn interrupted. "Or you let the girl die." Coulson sighed, looking to Garrett.
May and Simmons stood in Coulson's office, discussing what Simmons found.
"Quinn shot Skye for nothing," May said. "The place we were going, the doctors who treated you, they don't exist."
"Or maybe they exist somewhere else. This is S.H.I.E.L.D.., there are always secrets."
Simmons nodded, "That's my fear, sir. Your file is filled with secrets – experimental drugs, unknown surgical procedures we've never even heard of. Frankly, Fitz and I only understand about 70% of what's in here."
"Even if we do find where they treated you," May said, "and we were able to replicate the procedure, there's the other obvious question."
"Which is?" Coulson asked.
"Whether we should," Simmons answered.
Coulson directed a sharp glare her way.
"What you experienced, sir, if this file is even partially accurate –" Simmons began.
"No one's suggesting that we submit Skye to everything that I went through, but if there's something in here, a drug, a treatment that can save her, we need to find it. Figure it out."
"Yes, sir," she sighed. She gave May a look before exiting Coulson's office.
May looked at Coulson.
"You disagree?" he asked.
"No. I think we need to do everything humanly possible to save Skye. But we need to acknowledge that doing so might give the Clairvoyant exactly what he wants."
"It's a risk we have to take," Coulson said. She sighed deeply but said nothing.
Fitz walked up behind Simmons, who was looking into Skye's pod.
"How is she?" Fitz asked.
"Deteriorating, and I don't know how to stop it," Simmons answered. "The only thing I found remotely interesting is something called "GH-325"."
"Some kind of drug?" Fitz asked.
"Agent Coulson was injected with that and literally minutes later, his wounds showed signs of cellular regeneration."
""Regeneration,"" Fitz repeated. "Is that even possible?"
"Even if this miracle drug does exist, we don't know where to find it. We have no coordinates, no logs of anyone's departure or arrival."
"I think Sara and I can help with that." He gave her a small touch on her shoulder then walked away.
Simmons' eyes went wide as she saw what Sara and Fitz had fixed up in the cargo hold.
"You've set up the Echo Chamber?" she asked.
"Yep, I made a couple of calls," Sara, sitting on a nearby chair. "A friend of mine used to work in the archives at the Triskelion." Fitz entered something into his tablet and a hologram appeared in the Echo Chamber.
"Agreed to get in and let us access it from here," he added.
They walked up to a small box that was no visible inside the Echo Chamber. Sara pointed at it from her spot.
"Hard to believe, but this cube contains all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s historical administrative data."
"Yeah, but if Agent Coulson's operation didn't take place at a S.H.I.E.L.D. medical facility –"
"We won't find any records of it here," Sara finished. "We know. But this also contains all interoffice memos, travel arrangements, purchase orders. Maybe we can track down the location through a virtual paper trail of some sort or another."
Simmons began nodding, "Yeah."
Fitz touched the bottom of the cube, it opened and sent hundreds of files flying all around the Echo Chamber. Simmons let out a deep sigh.
"Okay… well, let's start with the travel memoranda from the date Coulson got stabbed." Simmons reached out with both of her hands and pulled hard; columns of files went flying past them.
"Okay," Fitz said.
"Here we go," Simmons said, making the files stop. "Or, um, what about Dr. Steiten's departure from the Triskelion? Maybe they have that?"
Sara looked up from her laptop as Fitz found something.
"Here. This is interesting." She quickly scanned the file.
"A World War II bunker?"
""Collapsed" bunker," Fitz corrected. He picked up his tablet, using his fingers to highlight a section of the report.
"Definitely not a sanctioned S.H.I.E.L.D. facility."
2b GUEST HOUSE. A heavily fortified facility located inside a mountain approximately 17 miles northwest of Redacted the Guest House was used as munitions bunker during World War II and later upgraded for use as a REDACTED by the SSR. The facility was never formally decommissioned, although it was damaged by seismic activity in the mid-1950s and REDACTED.
Simmons frowned, ""The Guest House"?"
Exactly. Guest House – G. H. – GH-325. Look at the file's access history."
"The only record of it being opened…"
"Is by a Level 10 operative," Sara finished.
"Director Fury," the three of them said.
"So, Fury's been to this place and he's the person who sanctioned the operations on Agent Coulson," Simmons said. She glanced at Fitz. "And why aren't you trying to find the file?"
Collapsing the file in her hands, Simmons threw it away as Fitz reached up into the program. He scrolled through some files and picked one out, putting in front of them. Random letters and numbers appeared.
"Oh, damn. Encrypted," Simmons sighed. "Skye could crack this."
"What would she do?" Fitz asked.
Sara pursed her lips together and reached forward. She shoved the numbers and letters away from them, filling the cargo hold.
"It's not an encryption." She reached up and grabbed the file, turning it onto its side. Simmons smiled and scoffed as a view of a mountain range appeared.
Coulson, Garrett, and Ward stood in the Cargo Hold, gearing up.
"The Guest House is not a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility," Coulson said. "We don't know who or what's in there. Be prepared for potential resistance."
"No contact from inside?" Garrett asked.
"I've tried every known channel, no response," May said.
"Place could be abandoned," Ward said from beside Sara. He rested his hand on the back of her chair
"Let's hope not," Coulson said. "We need the people inside to work on Skye."
Fitz came out of the lab with a backpack on.
"Simmons is prepping Skye to move at a moment's notice, sir," he said.
"Trip can help, he's had med-tech training," Garrett said.
"Good. We do our jobs right; this will all go peacefully."
"What if they don't want to help us?" Sara questioned. Garrett stood, holding an AK.
"I'll say "pretty please"."
Coulson shook his head, "We need the doctors alive and the place intact. If it does go sideways, Fitz, I need you down there to determine what Simmons can use to help Skye. And then, we take it. Let's move."
"Give me a sec," Ward said.
Scooping Sara up, he carried her into the med-pod where a more comfortable chair was waiting. He settled her beside Skye.
"Keep an eye on her yeah?" She nodded, looking at Skye with guilty eyes. He squeezed her hand gently before slipping out of the room.
The men walked across the open ground to a small building set inside the mountain. Coulson walked up to the door and saw a speaker box and a radioactive symbol as Fitz stopped next to him. Ward and Garrett stood behind, at full alert.
"How was the drive from Istanbul?" a voice asked through the speakers. Coulson turned his head a bit to talk to Garrett.
"Countersign?"
"No clue," Garrett answered.
"Never heard it," Ward said.
"I can't find it in any of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protocol directives," Fitz told him.
Coulson looked up at the camera.
"This is Agent Coulson with S.H.I.E.L.D. we don't know the counter, but we have a team member in dire need of medical assistance. We know she can be treated here. Open the doors, maybe we can work something out. Do you copy?" There was a long pause.
"How was the drive from Istanbul?"
