They reached the shrinking room again. It was still spinning, only this time, as the ceiling was on the floor and visa-versa their car veered off to one side.
"What's going on?" Amber asked, a slight hint of fear in her voice.
"I think we are being taken" Ward told her from the back. His voice remaining calm, even with the threat of imminent danger.
They passed through an icy breeze before being met by blistering heat. This repeated four times so that by the time they got to the end of the track their every nerve felt as though it were on fire.
And then blackness.
Ward came round first. He opened his eyes, which was more difficult than he expected it to be. When he finally managed to keep them open and the room had come back into focus he realised that he was bound using rope and crude knots. The room was fairly dark and all he could see were the outlines of the others. He twisted his hands trying to free them when he heard someone stir beside him. He broke free of his restraints and felt across to them. He used his hands to try and figure out who it was, but he needn't have bothered.
"That is my boob" May said as he ran his hands over her body.
"Sorry." He apologised, quickly removing them and he helped to untie her.
Together they moved around the room releasing everyone else's hands and when they came to they helped them focus.
"Who was the genius who decided this would be a good idea?" Coulson asked groggily as he struggled to come into focus
"Ward's" came the general response, all in varying degrees of alertness.
The room seemed to be getting darker, so May, realising she had brought a lighter just in case this happened, lit it and engulfed the room in flickering light.
"I think I'm going to chuck!" Amber cried, clapping her hand to her mouth, face going a little green.
They were in a room with a bunch of skeletons. There was also one person, alive and tied up against the wall. She had clearly been there a couple of days. She looked terrified at their presence.
"Are you ok?" Coulson asked her.
The girl tried to back away from him, but being up against the wall she didn't get very far.
"We won't hurt you." He tried again.
"They told me they had brought me some friends from the crazy place down the road." She whispered.
"We aren't from the crazy place. We're S.H.I.E.L.D and we've been investigating the disappearances linked to the carnival."
"So you're not crazy?" She asked meekly, relief starting to spread across her face.
"I'm not going to lie to you, we are a little crazy, but we are the safe crazy in the sense that we won't hurt you unless you try hurt us first." Ward said, giving the girl his dazzling smile while Coulson undid her bonds.
"I'm Agent Coulson, this are Agent's May, Ward, Skye, Fitz and Simmons. These two are Agent's in Training Donhaugue, and Keeler." Coulson told her, pointing to the members of his team, while helping her to her feet.
"I'm Hollie. I was here with my boyfriend but he disappeared."
"Welcome to my little experiment." A voice in the room said. Ward, May and Skye hunted for it before coming across a speaker.
"You now have two choices. You can attempt my obstacle course to escape or you can remain in the room."
The team just looked at each other.
"You may well be wondering what the aim of the experiment is. Well I will tell you. I am looking into the courage and strength of people and to see who can tolerate pain the most. You were all selected from the ghost train, the scariest ride at the Carnival. Of course you were drugged first. I leave the choice up to you."
"Great. So we stay here and starve to death, or we complete this lunatic's obstacle course and pretty much torture ourselves to get out." Fitz said to the now sombre group.
"What weapons do we have?" Coulson asked.
"I have nothing" Simmons admitted.
"Me either" Fitz also confessed.
"I have a hairpin!" Amber said hoping that other people would have more.
"They took my knife." Kain told them.
Coulson turned to look at Ward and May.
May pulled two knives and a gun off her body and tossed them into the centre of the room.
"I have... Two guns, three knives, a pair of fingerless gloves and a half eaten snickers" Ward admitted, patting himself down, removing the weapons and adding them to May's.
"A half eaten snickers?" Coulson asked, bemused as to why Ward had a half eaten chocolate bar in his pocket, and where exactly he had managed to conceal all of those weapons. Hollie's stomach rumbled. Ward tossed her the chocolate.
"Eat this, you may feel better, but I warn you. I don't know how long it's been in there!"
"Thankyou" Hollie said, before sinking her teeth into it.
"So how do we get out of here?" Simmons asked.
May walked around the room with the lighter. She got to the door. There was no handle. Ward was feeling his way around the other side. He came to a ventilation grate at the top of the wall. When he touched it, it zapped him.
"I think I've found it!" He shouted.
"Found what?"
"The way out."
He touched the grate again and nothing happened. He took one of the knives and started unscrewing the bolts at the bottom that were holding the grate in position. They split the weapons between them. They gave Coulson, Fitz and Simmons the guns, May, Ward, Skye, Amber and Kain took a knife each. Ward put the gloves on.
"Right, this is how we go in. Ward first," He saw the look on Ward's face before continuing "I'm sorry Ward but you are best equipped to deal with things out front. Then Simmons, who can pass the gun on if needed, then Skye, Hollie, Myself, Amber, Kain and May bringing up the rear, just in case they try to surprise us."
"Coulson, how are we going to get into the grate? The only person tall enough to push the first person through you is the one you want to go first?"
"Skye, May. Go up. Pull Ward up and then help the others. Ward, don't go anywhere until we are all in."
Ward laced his fingers and locked his hands together while bending his knees. Skye placed one hand on his shoulder for balance and one of her feet into his hands. He pushed her up into the air so she could reach the opening. She managed to get a hold and pull herself through. May followed. Ward having felt the location of the vent took a run at the wall and kicked off it into the direction of the vent. He got his fingers onto the edge when he felt Skye and May grab his wrists and pull. When he was completely in the vent he had to crawl past May and Skye. As he crawled past May he suddenly became aware just how small this vent was. He hadn't been this close to May since they were sleeping together.
Kain had taken over Ward's position of hoisting everyone into the vent. When he was in the vent (he used the same technique Ward did, but was far less graceful with it and nearly pulled May out of the vent) and had crawled past May, they sent a message to Ward to start the journey.