Previously: Graviton is somewhere in the city after having a freak out that knocked out all the power, as well as comms. The field agents split up into groups of two to look for him.
Note: This chapter overlaps the timing of the last two for some of it.
Chapter Forty Seven
"You sure you're ok?"
"I'm fine."
"Ok," Bobbi conceded. "I just didn't think the Calvalry-"
"Don't," she seethed, "call me that."
"Hey, I got a nickname too I'm not a big fan of, but it even turned into my op name once. Didn't stick."
May didn't respond. She didn't really care to hear what Bobbi Morse's nickname or codename was. The girl was good, but the fact that she kept trying to put May's injury in the spotlight was grating. It couldn't have been that noticeable, except when she leaned on it slightly wrong. And May was decent at avoiding that.
"I'm sorry, this is something we need to discuss. If you're compromised."
May just grimaced.
"Look I'm gonna be frank with you, because I bet it wouldn't that easy to get you talking anyhow. Plus, I respect you," said Bobbi. She paused before continuing, perhaps waiting for a response, but May didn't give one. "So you're small and moving at a pace that shows speed is obviously your forte, yet you're taking over-calculated steps. Slightly favoring your left leg..."
"Doesn't mean I'm not fine," May grit out, continuing onward. Speeding up a bit.
Bobbi smiled. "Look, I just want to find this guy. I know Coulson thinks we should stay in groups, but if you're-"
Morse didn't finish her sentence, eyes becoming dark as she saw the situation ahead. Apparently talking about May's injury wasn't her first priority after all.
May had to agree. The sight before them was in fact exactly what they'd been seeking out, and Melinda was incredibly shocked to be seeing it. They had no tech. It was pure luck that brought them to him. Well, some of it could be attributed to Morse's estimation of the trajectory he'd gone on when Graviton had taken off. But still, not thebest of odds.
The scientist was floating, along with a menagerie of objects in his general vicinity. They were drifting around him, almost in an orbit of which he was the center of gravity.
Most of the city had been evacuated, but the man had managed to find a resting spot in a somewhat uninhabited looking place anyhow. An alley. Whether he'd become unconscious and this was the result of his uncontrolled powers in that state, or he'd made some sort of nest, they didn't know. But he definitely wasn't awake.
"Looks like we found him," commented May, gun now raised. As was her partner's.
"But no way to contact anyone…" Morse mused. "Are we sticking to the plan of herding him back towards the weapon?"
"I could try a head shot," said May. "If I can get close enough, I won't miss."
"It's like he has a sort of force field. I doubt a bullet would make its way through; it would probably just get caught in the field," said Bobbi. She began approaching the orbit, but cautiously staying a few feet away from the area that the items were obviously gathering.
"I can stay here," offered May. "He appears pretty out of it, while you could go get the rest of the team. Maybe they can just detonate the weapon here."
Morse nodded. "Not a bad idea. I don't see any way we could convince this guy to come back in this cond…" The agent trailed off, looking at her feet.
They were sliding.
Suddenly the blonde was off the ground and parallel to it, an invisible force dragging her backwards through the air. With quick reflexes, the girl tore out two metal batons from a belt on her suit, digging them into the cracks of the cobblestone before her. Behind her, the items floating eerily in orbit began to accelerate. She looked ahead of herself at May, eyes wide.
May rushed forwards but bolted to a stop, she didn't want to get caught in the force as well.
Melinda looked around for anything that could be of use. Something long. The best thing she spied out was a bicycle a few meters away, and she ran to get it.
Bobbi was fighting a losing battle. The force was becoming more apparent on her body as it craved to drag her backwards towards the man. May heard a strained shout leave the woman.
May pushed the bicycle in between Morse's battle staves that were just in front of her head. The force was already great, just by putting the tip of the bicycle in its path. Melinda then gestured for the woman to grab on.
Bobbi looked forward at the wheel staring her down. Her teeth were gritted and arms were stretched and near shaking. But she tried.
The moment her hand lost grip on her baton she was thrown backwards, not getting her grasp anywhere near the bicycle she needed it to be at.
And then Morse was just one of the other objects, flying in a now accelerated circle as May watched in something like horror. She heard Bobbi's shouts every time the orbit came close to her again. Though, notably, she sounded more frustrated than anything else.
Graviton opened his eyes.
And as soon as that happened, the field of gravity increased, May finding herself now stuck in its path as well. She was lifted off the ground, for another of what she considered to be way too many times by Gravitonium, now joining the orbit as well.
Though dizzy and unable to see, May heard the shout of the man whose orbit she was stuck in. He was yowling, in pain or fear or shock, she didn't know.
Then she felt them speed away. Through the air.
It was a gut wrenching feeling. Her body was never meant to go so quickly, unprotected.
But it was over almost as quickly as it'd started.
May felt the ground beneath her feet –or more accurately, shoulders, - as she was dropped down and rolled onto a hard surface. She groaned, gripping her elbow as she felt her knee rattle into unsavory positions. She'd hit her head on the way down as well, but no matter what the conditions, she was glad that her stay in the man's own personal gravitational bubble was a short one.
She looked up and around herself. Hall was still in the air, as was Bobbi and a few of the items. They were in ruins of temples and columns… the Forum of Rome.
Graviton seemed to become self-aware then, his rushing about the equivalent to someone waking up groggy and angry from a nap. He looked at the few items remaining as they circle him. One caught his eye.
May watched as the other items fell, clattering to the ground forty feet below him. He was focusing merely on Bobbi now, gesturing for her to come closer with his hand, and her floating body obeyed.
May felt her belt to grab a gun, though not entirely sure what to do with it, when something else caught her attention. Her phone had vibrated.
Comms were back.
Graviton seemed morbidly interested in Morse. Spinning her around and examining her, though May couldn't hear what he was saying, she could tell Bobbi was talking back. Not taking them out of her sights, she answered the phone.
"Coulson, you there?" she said into the phone.
"Yep," came his voice.
"Morse and I found Hall," she panted. "He's-"
"At the Forum. We know, and we're coming your way."
May pocketed the phone after her quick conversation, still making sure Bobbi was in her line of sight. Graviton was bringing her closer, and May had a gut wrenching feeling.
She fired her weapon, far to the side of the man so there was no way it could hit Morse, but it did its job. Graviton looked directly at her.
He flung Bobbi like discarded trash to the top of a column. She landed roughly, and despite the height of the thing she was thrown on, May could swear she saw the girl clutching her shoulder.
"You're one of Coulson's little lapdogs, aren't you?" asked Graviton as his attention redirected to May. "Did you come to chat with me as well?"
"Not exactly," May grit out. She held her gun up to him, despite the knowledge that it wouldn't be able to make a dent in the man. But it could distract or deter him.
He seemed to finally be catching on to that.
"So you came here for games then?" he asked, a smile making its way up his face. "As your little toy gun tells me."
He moved around in the air and May followed his trajectory. She wasn't exactly a wordsmith most of the time… but if the situation called for it, she could try to talk him down.
She didn't really get the chance.
"I have a game you may enjoy," Graviton said lazily. "It's somewhat like Jenga…"
As he punctuated the word he threw a fist into the open air.
A good chunk of the column Morse had been placed on was "punched" away at the center, causing the entire top half to rumble, but not quite fall.
May had been watching Bobbi as she surreptitiously tried to climb down the column. She hadn't gotten very far; it was a sleep slope and she was really only using one hand. But now the girl was clinging on to the unstable stonework she had just been hoping to get away from, and trying to claw her way back up. Even attempting to use her clearly injured arm.
Finally the stone structure settled. Bobbi was still in bad shape, as she wasn't able to make it back up one-handed. She was struggling as best she could, but she just dangled.
"Your turn," Graviton sang tauntingly.
May didn't know what to do. There was only so much distraction the man could take before he got bored, or annoyed with her attempts and just killed them both. If he punched it down a few more levels Morse could perhaps fall without sustaining major damage… but May didn't like the odds of that one.
She fired.
He waved the bullets away.
"Really?" he asked in bored disbelief, absentmindedly looking at his fingers. "That's what you've got?"
"Did you expect something else?" she asked. She had to do something. Anything that could give Bobbi a little more time to find purchase on something and lift herself up. "My gun is really the only thing that will reach that high."
He smirked. "You're right, agent."
May's eyes followed his body as he made a slow descent, still a fair amount away from her, but now nearly touching the ground.
"How about we even the playing field?" he asked, and May raised her fists to ready her stance. He "tisked" with his tongue. "Oh, but it's my turn now."
With another punch to the air came another blow to the column.
This time it didn't stay up for even a moment to catch its balance. The thing went tumbling sideways, smashing into the column next to it. May heard Morse's pained shout when it hit, but she knew it could have been much worse. The agent could have been between the rocks.
In fact, the way it fell in actuality improved her situation. She was able to hoist herself up from the slanted angle, running over to the new column before the one she'd been hanging from crumpled completely to the ground. Morse managed to pull herself up on the plateaued top of the new column, rolling onto her back as she heaved from the excursion.
"Clever little girl," Graviton appraised thoughtfully. He turned back to May. "Obviously more clever than you. Maybe I should have you two switch places…"
"Shouldn't I get my turn, first?" May asked raising a brow.
Graviton looked amused. "I suppose that's fair."
May was about to take her time firing another shot, when a very welcome sight told her she wouldn't have to.
"And when's my turn?"
May dove, Graviton turned. But he didn't make it all the way around to see who'd voiced the question.
Coulson threw the grenade right at the gravity man. He was blasted backwards, through the fire did not touch him. There really did seem to be a force field around him, about the diameter that the items had been orbiting him.
He flew threw the air, right over May's head as she ducked on the ground. His body smashed into the rough stone floor. He soon picked himself up gingerly, gathering his senses in a way that May knew she only had a few moments. She ran to Coulson.
"Why didn't you use the weapon?" she asked.
"Skye's coming, and she's bringing Skrulls with her. If we could get them all in one shot…"
"So," May said, "we're still distracting."
"Afraid so."
May's eyes went to Graviton, who was now off the ground and looked particularly unhappy. Then she spared a glance to Bobbi. Hunter and Triplett were over there, seeming to attempt to get up to get her down.
"I'm just not sure how much time we have left."
A/n: NEVER write gravity-based villains and expect you're writing to come out not-ridiculous. Oh my god. I dislike this chapter for so many reasons. It gets better. I swear. Don't hate me.