Jewel Hansen took a deep breath as she tried to calm her mind from being away from Jasmine. It had only been a couple of hours and she was already wondering if Muna had changed her before setting her down for a nap or even if she ate before her nap. Her mind started to wonder as she tried to keep her mind focused on the job at hand. Coulson had informed them of a destination where these unregistered Index people would be going to. Honestly, she didn't know where he got the information but Grant seemed to be okay with this.
"Something doesn't feel right," Jewel suddenly said.
"She will be fine" Grant told her, "There's no one in the world I trust more than Muna-"
"I'm not talking about Jasmine" Jewel glanced back at the team as they whispered a plan, "They expect us to go along with their charade and not know what we're fighting against? Something's not adding up"
"Because they don't know if we should be trusted with that kind of information" Grant said, "Just like how we don't trust them as well. We're going to have to compromise by keeping our nose down and finishing the job as fast as we can. Only then can we hurry up and go back to our lives in Italy"
"Until they ask for our help again" Jewel mumbled, "You know that once you're done, you're never done. Look at Barton, for example"
"Believe me, if he wanted to get out, he would" Grant cocked a smile.
Grant Ward turned and looked to Jewel, he wanted to reach over and grab onto her hand to comfort her but they were too far away. He too was uneasy about this mission, he was completely aware that the team decided to keep their briefing at the back of the plane and in low voices. He could practically feel Fitz's eyes boring into the back of his skull, probably wishing that everyone would aim a gun and kill Grant. He took a deep breath as he knew that if it wasn't for Jewel being with him, he'd probably be dead already.
But he didn't want Jewel to believe that he was uneasy about this mission as well so everytime she brought it up, he would gently bat it down. He knew that the second he gave off some sort of alarm, Jewel would immediately pull the plug. For now, his mind was set on giving himself a clean record so that Jasmine will never know what kind of man her father was after blindly following someone he should've stayed far away from.
"We're coming up to the destination" Jewel announced, "So what's the plan?"
"We need to get through to Skye" Coulson walked up, "I should be the one to engage with her"
"And what if she sees someone else?" Grant asked, "I highly doubt she will listen to you if she sees me with you"
Jewel gave a side nod and looked up to Coulson who seemed to have not really thought of that idea. Everyone's eyes seemed glued to the man as he tried to think of a plan on that outcome.
Jewel looked to Grant as she could tell he wasn't trying to pry but she knew that one of the reasons why they took this job was because of Skye.
She wasn't a fool, she knew Grant cared about Skye very deeply. Some could say it was because she was his first protege but Jewel knew Grant wouldn't have accepted anybody. He saw something in Skye, something that was like him. Skye was almost like his little sister, the way she followed him around and wanted to know every little thing about the SHIELD world and Grant was the only one who was giving her honest and brutal answers. Jewel felt reminded of the Little Mermaid when Skye was asking a bunch of questions over and over again.
"We should keep you to the outer rim" Coulson said, "Maybe be our sniper instead"
"I thought I was going to be the sniper," Peterson asked.
"Why do we need a sniper?"
"Precautions" Coulson answered back then turned to Peterson, "I'd rather she see you then Ward. As much as I hate to admit it, he's right, if Skye sees Ward, she won't want to hear a word we have to say"
"What about me? Jewel asked.
"She hates you less than him," Coulson quickly answered.
"She hates me?" Jewel questioned.
"You left us for a killer," Fitz said, "You think she would've cared about you after that?"
Jewel turned and looked at Fitz as he tried to make his face as cold as possible but she knew him. She knew he was being defensive but she also remembered when he first came too after they pulled him out of the water. He was like a newborn baby all over again, his mouth was open wide but he couldn't form the words as he looked back and forth to everyone. They would've given him a board to communicate but he forgot how to write and would just throw it out of a tantrum.
Jewel sighed as she took pity on him once again, "No… I guess not"
"Don't mention Ward if you see her" Coulson advised, "Tell me where you are and I will try to reason with her"
Jewel opened her mouth to ask yet another question to the team but Grant cleared his throat and shook his head to her. She sighed as she decided to keep it in as Ward leveled down the Quinjet a good mile away from the building. Her specialist instincts were going hay-wire but she tried not to say anything as she glanced at her watch, calculating what time it was back in Italy.
"Alright, everyone's taking icers" Coulson commanded, "These people will attack us but if we can negotiate, we will"
"How do we know what powers they have?" Jewel got up, "And if they're lethal"
"That's the thing" Coulson turned to her, "We don't know how many powers these people have or what they are to begin with so I need everyone to be careful"
"Hey" Grant grabbed onto Jewel's arm to make her stop, "Be careful out there, okay? I don't know what we're getting ourselves into but I need you to be safe. Not just for me, for Jasmine, as a sniper, I can't be there to watch your six. Promise me, you'll be careful"
Jewel turned to him, "I will, baby, I'm not going down without a fight. You have to be safe as well, okay, don't try to look for me, but do what you need to do. Jasmine would never forgive me if something happened to you"
Hunter came up to the pair, "You guys remind me of me and my ex-wife… until she tried to shoot me"
"Let's go everyone" Coulson yelled out, "Hunter! We don't have the time to talk about Morse"
"Morse?" Jewel asked, "Bobbi Morse?! She's your ex- wife!"
"So you know the she-devil?" Hunter asked as she and Jewel walked off the ramp.
"Yeah, but I never thought she was the marrying type" Jewel chuckled, "She likes to flirt whenever she can to get information"
"Yeah, she'll do that, alright" Hunter said, "You can't be too careful with that woman, she'll try to kill you in-"
"Not now, Hunter!" Coulson called out, "Please, for the love of God"
"Alright, alright" Hunter waved off his hands, "Just trying to make conversation, is all"
Jewel shook her head and laughed as she knew she was going to talk more about this later with the man. She turned and looked back over to Grant as he headed down a different path, he turned at the last moment and waved to her before he took off in a run.
"Coulson!" Fitz suddenly shouted, "We have a problem, they're here"
Coulson turned around, "What? I don't understand, how did they get the intel so fast?"
"I don't know but we better get out of here before May pops up" Fitz blurted out.
Jewel took out her binoculars and scanned the distance before she noticed another quinjet on the other side of the field.
"So what?" Jewel walked in that direction, "She can probably tell us what she found out"
"No!" Coulson reached out and took a hold of Jewel's arm, "We have to abort if… the new SHIELD is here?"
Jewel looked at him, "The "new SHIELD"? What the hell does that mean? Grant, are you listening to this?"
"Every word" Grant replied, "What does that mean, Coulson? Are you a deserter or something?"
"Depends on who you ask really" Hunter made a face, "But I'm more worried about Bob finding us, they're going to try to make us join hands in a circle and start singing qumbya"
"What?!" Jewel looked around to everyone, "Okay, hold up! What the hell is going on?!"
Before anyone could answer her, a bullet exploded in the ground near her feet. She couldn't tell if it was a warning shot or someone just missed but what she did notice was that it was an actual bullet. She turned and looked off into the distance just as more rounds of bullets started to fire at them. The group didn't have time to waste as they all started to sprint for cover as Jewel hoped that Grant figured out where the long range shooters were. She quickly ran up a hill and used a tree for cover as she turned to Hunter with bewilderment in her eyes.
"That's their method of qumbya?" Jewel asked.
"I dunno" Hunter scanned the perimeter, "Maybe they got tired of being peacemakers"
"Ward, are we clear?" Coulson asked.
"You're good" Grant answered, "So did this new SHIELD decide that icers weren't appropriate?"
"I guess so" Coulson answered, "We need to get in the air and I'll explain everything… but you might need to outfly May"
"That won't be a problem" Grant said as she could almost hear the smirk in his voice.