Hello there, so this was originally the first half of a really long chapter, but I decided to just break it up into two decent-length chapters.

As always, please review-I love hearing from you guys! Enjoy!

"Okay, Skye," May said urgently. "I'm going to go get Simmons. She's the only one other than your father who might be able to fix this. If anything bad happens, if your father wakes up and tries to hurt you, just run. We are not sacrificing your safety for him" May said, jerking her head towards Ward.

Skye nodded as she watched May run through the tunnel. She stared around at the three bodies on the ground, two unconscious, one dead, and shuddered.

"Okay", Coulson announced, finally lifting his head from his hands, "I'm going in there after them."

"Sir, no!" Simmons cried, "You can't do that! I haven't even performed a health check on you yet! There is no way I'm letting you charge into that tunnel like this!"

"She's right, Coulson." Bobbi said firmly. "You're the director of SHIELD. You can't go around making impulsive, dangerous, emotional decisions. May is a professional…she's the best there is. They will be fine."

"You're right, Agent Morse", Coulson replied. "I amthe director of SHIELD, and as director, I can make these decisions if I want to. I am going after them…now." Everyone froze as they heard shouting from the tunnel.

"Coulson? Phil!"

"May" Coulson breathed, kneeling down next to the opening to the tunnel beneath. "May! Is everything alright? Where's Skye?"

"She's fine. She's still in the tunnel with the bodies. We need Simmons…we've got someone who needs serious medical attention." Coulson started to protest, "bodies?!" he yelled indignantly, but May cut him off. "Trust me on this Phil."

Simmons knelt down next to Coulson. "What happened? Oh my God, did something happen to Skye?"

"I said she's fine, Simmons". May said impatiently. "But I need you down here now. Someone was shot, pretty close to the heart, and I need you to help."

"Of course, Agent May" Simmons replied respectfully. Coulson began to strap her into the harness to lower her down. "Coulson, could you grab Fitz? I might need some assistance, and he's the only one here with medical training."

"No!" May shouted. "You're not bringing Fitz…trust me, it is not a good idea."

"May", Simmons said warily as Coulson began to lower her into the tunnel. "Who exactly am I going to be saving?"

"That's not important" May snapped. "Whoever it is, I need you to promise you will do your best to help, understand?" Simmons nodded and quietly apologized. "Good" May said tiredly as she began to lead Simmons down the tunnel.

A few minutes later, they came to the area where May had left Skye. "What on Earth happened here?" Simmons cried. "It looks like there's been an earthquake!"

"You could say that," May muttered tersely. When Skye saw Simmons approach, she jumped up and tackled her with a hug. Simmons smiled as she embraced her friend, but then entangled herself as May cleared her throat loudly.

"Right!" Simmons said hastily. "Who needs my help?"

Skye indicated Ward's barely breathing corpse, and Simmons paled. "N-n-no" she stammered. "I am not helping him. He deserves to die."

"Don't you think I want him dead too?" May barked. "But the son-of-a-bitch saved my life. So now I have to save his."

Simmons looked at May carefully. She had never seen the older agent like this. She was always so calm, so controlled. But it was clear that May would never forgive herself if she let Ward die while she was in his debt.

Simmons took a deep breath, and approached Ward, inspecting his wound. She raised her eyebrows when she lifted his shirt and noticed the three other partially-healed bullet wounds. "Okay, here's what we need to do…"

Nearly an hour later, Simmons sat back on her heels, exhausted. Her hands were covered with blood. "I've done what I can for now" she said shakily. "He should be stable enough to take back to the Bus, if that's what you want to do." May nodded and rose to her feet.

"Thank you, Jemma." The three agents all bent down and lifted Ward off the ground.

"Wait," Simmons said suddenly. "What about them?" she asked, indicating Cal and Kara.

"I've been thinking about it" Skye said slowly, "and there's nothing you can do for Agent 33. And I really don't want to take Cal back to the Bus…he's too dangerous. So we're going to get our team out of here safely, and then I'll crumble this place to the ground."

Simmons stared at Skye in shock. It was amazing how quickly a person could change in a matter of days.

"Are you absolutely sure?" May asked her young protégée?

When Skye replied, it was with a coldness and bitterness that surprised even her:

"Absolutely."