As they came back into the room Coulson had Fitz-Simmons fit the communication devices to Ward and Romanov. Immediately videos of Fitz and Simmons appeared on monitors at the back of the lab, alongside the agents' heart rates and blood pressure. If they were nervous about what they were about to do they weren't showing it.

"Black Widow, comms check" Fury demanded.

"One two, one two."

"Blue Eyes, comms"

"I hate it when you call me that."

"Would you prefer twinkle toes? Yeah, I heard" Fury countered, raising his eyebrows at Ward.

"Five minutes to drop zone"

The cargo door was opened and Ward and Romanov stood waiting to jump.

"Blue eyes?" Fitz mouthed to Simmons puzzled. She simply shrugged back confused.

"Five, four, three, two, one, go, go, go."

They jumped and May continued to fly the plane to the landing site a few miles away.

Skye was sat on the lab table watching Ward's descent on the monitor. Coulson noticed she was biting her nails and rocking backwards and forwards. He went to sit beside her and put his hand gently on her leg.

"I know you love him. He'll be ok. He's done crazier things than this." He tried to reassure her.

"W-w-w-what?" Skye stuttered, looking sideways at Coulson, not realising he knew.

"Why don't you recheck the satellites and see if there's any other way in, just in case?"

Ward and Romanov landed, disengaged their parachutes and crept the 500m to their target building.

"We've landed and are approaching the building" Romanov whispered into her microphone.

"Stay safe, engaging radio silence from this end" came the reply.

They reached the door they had identified as their entry point and stood either side of it.

"Reached the door, checking for booby traps" Ward said, also whispering. He opened the door a crack and ran his hands slowly and methodically around the edge of the door, checking for hidden wires or anything that could kill them.

"Door clear, proceeding to inside."

They didn't make it very far before all hell broke loose. Ward had seen the monitor that detected when the door had been opened, but as they had no other way in he ignored it. The sensor had alerted all Covenant agents within the building to the breach. Soon Romanov and Ward were backed into a corner faced with at least 30 opponents.

"Party time!" Romanov said smiling.

As they were rushed by members of the Covenant they defended themselves fiercely. They had nearly made it out of there without a scratch when someone said:

"Move and she dies."

Ward stopped fighting and turned to look in the direction of the voice. He saw Romanov knelt on the floor, in front of a big, burly man with a gun pointed to the back of her head.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands in front of you."

Ward put down the gun he had been using and did as he was told. They were swiftly bound using rope and everything went black.

"What happened?" Fury was shouting. Fitz-Simmons started typing away at the keyboards in front of them trying to get the video feeds back.

"The picture failed." Simmons said in a panic.

"We're trying to get it back." Fitz pointed out.

"Well are they alright?" Coulson asked.

"They both appear to be still alive, but, based on these readings, neither of them have broken a sweat yet." Simmons answered a little confused.

"I don't get it? They wouldn't give up like that. I've seen them both fight and they are better than that." Skye questioned.

Coulson suddenly realised what their plan had been all along. "They intended to get caught. It was the only way into the building. The door must have been rigged to alert the members to the breach."

"Nat was right. That was a crazy plan."

Ten minutes the video feed returned almost as suddenly as it had disappeared. Ward could clearly be seen strung to the ceiling by his wrists from Romanov's feed and visa-versa.

"Damn"

Everyone looked at May.

"Those are double hand, hangman's knots. They are designed so that the more you struggle the tighter they get. Unless you have a knife they can't be untied."

A deep voice filled the Lab, silencing it's occupants.

"One of you will tell me who you work for, the other will die. You have five minutes to decide."