Episode 20: Nothing Personal
Part One

Maria Hill walked down the front steps of a building while she spoke into her cellphone.
"Yeah, it went as expected," she said. "S.H.I.E.L.D. implodes and everyone wants answers. The CIA, NSA, NRO – them I can handle. But Congress? Congress is like kindergarten. "Where is this Fridge?" "What was in here?" "Who are/what is a man-thing?" I swear I need a cocktail and a lobotomy."

She walked past a sign that said: United States Department of Justice. She saw a man walking towards her, trying hard not to pay attention to her, but it was obvious.
"But apparently my every move continues to fascinate them," she continued. "Tonight's standard issue surveillance package includes…" Looking to her left she saw a woman sitting at a bus stop, looking down at her phone. "Fake yuppie not checking texts at the bus stop. Imposter homeless man, mildly offensive, and the hipster following me looks familiar. I think he's Russian, or…"

She turned and looked behind herself, but the guy wasn't there anymore.
"Gone," she muttered. Glancing at the bus stop, she found the woman knocked out and the homeless man was on the ground, his cart moving on its own. "Pepper, I'll call you back in 10."

Hanging up her phone, Hill drew her gun and moved into an alleyway. She held her gun out in front of her and spun around when May appeared. She gasped in shock as May looked calmly at her.
"We need to talk, Agent Hill."
"May," Hill said, lowering her gun.
"A phone call would've done it. But I appreciate the discretion."
"Thought you'd like the night off," May shrugged. "They must hate that you're going to work for Stark." She spat out his name.
"Most of the intelligence community would like to drop me into a dark hole, but even they can't mess with Tony's army of lawyers. So, for now, we're privatizing global security. Want to join?"

May shook her head. She didn't particularly care for Stark.
"Coulson needs help," she informed Hill. "And he won't take it from me anymore."
"Where is he?" Hill asked.
"Providence base. And he's got enough to worry about without obsessing over T.A.H.I.T.I. and who covered it up."
"You mean beside us?" Hill snarked. May nodded and the agent sighed.
"How much does he know?"
"Enough. That they used alien biology, rewrote his memories, and that Fury did it under someone else's direction. I want to know who that was."

Hill nodded slowly; the corners of her mouth drawn down in a frown.
"You're afraid it was Alexander Pierce."
"Secretary Pierce was the man in charge, the only person Fury took orders from, and he was Hydra," May said. "Having a man like that design your brain? You can understand my concern."
"Fury took his cues from pretty high up. That much I know. But when I asked him who it was, Fury said that he buried that intel when he decided not to bury Coulson."
"Maria, this is not the time to wax poetic."
"Those are his words, not mine. You knew the man. Sometimes he spoke in riddles."
"Guess I'll have to solve it, then. Unless you want to ask Fury for me."
"Fury's dead."

The agent spoke that quickly as she cocked her head and heard sirens growing louder.
"I'll believe it when I see it," May told her. Two police cars pulled into the end of the alleyway. With a sigh, Hill started walking towards them as the police officers out of the car, their guns pointed at her.
"Drop your weapon!" an officer called. Hill looked down at her watch.
"3 minute and 20 seconds, really?" They surrounded her and she handed one of them her gun. "If you were my agents, it wouldn't be for long."

Coulson, Fitz-Simmons, and Trip stood inside Koenig's office. Simmons was on the couch. Coulson stood behind the couch, watching a monitor. Fitz and Trip were standing nearby looking bored.
"Play it again," Coulson ordered.
"It's the same every time, sir," Fitz said. Coulson shot him a look.
"Fitz?"
"As I said, all internal camera feeds were erased but the hangar's landing assist system is separate."

On the monitor in front of Coulson, there was a picture of the back of The Bus. The cargo bay door was down, and Lola and the SUV were parked inside.
"The camera tracks movement. So, after we left, everything's normal until…" He pushed some buttons and they saw May, in her winter gear, walking out of The Bus holding her and Sara chasing after her. "An entry log has May leaving the base a few minutes later through the front door, only her," Simmons said.

The feed became jittery for a moment as Fitz fast forward then it cleared.
"And then this." They watched Sara walking into The Bus and a few minutes later, Ward and Skye walked on board. "Soon after, the planes takes off," Fitz said. "But that's all we've got."
"Where are they going?" Coulson asked. "And Koenig?"

Simmons shrugged; they didn't know.
"Koenig must've gotten onto the plane somehow."
"There's no other way in or out," Coulson said.
"The blast doors and the hangar door are the only exits," Trip said.
"And both are undamaged. So, nobody attacked the plane, and they weren't running away," Coulson continued. "So why?"
"Maybe Koenig got orders," Trip offered.

Fitz looked over at him.
"From whom?" he asked. "Not Fury. Is there anyone left to give orders? Aren't we just improvising at this point?"
"Still wouldn't explain why the communication lines were cut," Simmons said.
"Or why they left their phones or why May just… left."
"May walked away because I told her too. I was mad and I was mean," Coulson sighed.
"Then we don't need her sorry ass," Trip snapped.

Coulson whipped around to look at Trip, his eyes angry.
"Excuse me?"
"With all the crap we're facing, this is not the time to pull the rip cord, bail out." Simmons glanced at them, the tension growing.
She stood, "I'll make us some food. We have to eat." Trip got to his feet as well.
"Let me help." Fitz quickly jumped out of his chair.
"Uh, no, I'll get it, actually. You stay here." He ran out of the room, giving Trip to choose.

Simmons walked down the hallway, turning when she heard Fitz.
"Simmons," he caught up to her. They started walking together.
"For a minute there, in the field, I thought things were normal again, and then… why do you think they left us in the dark?"
Simmons sighed, "I don't know. But something will turn up. We just have to say positive."

Fitz sighed tiredly.
"For Coulson, yeah. I know. He's had a rough go of it."
"Yeah, between Garrett and May and seeing Audrey and… pancakes." She stopped walking with the last word. Fitz did as well, staring at her with a confused look.
"Coulson's upset about pancakes now?" Simmons shook her head quickly.
"That's one way to cheer everyone up a bit, don't you think?" Fitz looked away thoughtful. "I'll see if we have any in stock." She started off.
"Yeah, I'll fire up the griddle," Fitz said.

He started down in the opposite direction. He rounded a corner, heading down another hallway. He passed by one of the windows, enjoying the mountain in the daytime scene it showed. He passed by an open door, stopped, and turned to look back in the room. The window in there showed a night-time scene.
"Night?" he muttered. He looked over at the mountain. "Day…" He walked into the room with the night picture.

Simmons flipped a light switch inside a storage unit. She walked deeper into the room looking around. Simmons caught sight of what she wanted and grabbed it. She started to walk out and got to the door. She was about to turn off the lights when she noticed a smear of blood on the wall. With her eyes, she started to follow the blood trail up the wall.

Coulson looked lost in thought inside Koenig office.
"Sir, you're an expert on analysis," Trip said. Coulson was staring at the monitor that showed Sara, Ward, and Skye getting onto The Bus. Trip was sitting in chair next to him. "I can see you running scenarios in your head, so what do you got?"
"Best case, Agent Koenig knows something we don't. He took a team, kept us in the dark for our safety." Trip pursed his lips together.
"Worst case scenario?"
Coulson sighed, "We've had a wolf in the herd of the whole time."

Fitz walked deeper into the room with the night picture and could hear whirling of something mechanical. He saw something pinned in the corner and put his hand to it. He pulled out the plastic in the screen. Immediately it started to roll up.

The screen completely rolled up, show a bright red sunrise behind a tree. The plastic piece in his hand preventing it from scrolling was obviously used to scratch a message on the picture: WARD IS HYDRA. He stared at it, taking a few dazed steps backwards, not believe it. He jumped when he heard Simmons scream.

Ward stood next to an SUV, using black spray paint to cover up the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. He looked over to the lab where Skye was working on her laptop. He sent her a small smile and she sent him a grin before looking away.

Upstairs, Sara sat on the ground in her bunk, the door closed. She had her phone in her hands, her fingers tapping nervously against her thigh. She tapped Fitz' number and took a deep breath before sending an urgent text.

SOS. SOS. DON'T REPLY!

With trembling fingers, she stashed the phone under the bed, turning it off completely. She pulled her knees up to her chest, taking a shaky breath. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Someone knocked on the door and she looked up.
"Sara?" Ward asked. She stood, opening the door.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"What are you doing?" he asked, walking inside.
"Nothing."

He backed her up until she dropped onto the bed. He leaned over her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
"I have a question," he murmured against her lips.
"What?" she asked breathlessly as he pressed kisses down her neck.
"You and Skye could have picked anywhere in the world, why a random diner in L.A.?"
"Skye's idea," she gasped out as he nipped at her shoulder.

Ward moved back up to her lips, pushing her down onto the mattress.
"I love you, sweetheart," he whispered.
"I love you too." That was truth. She would mean it until the day she died. She just didn't love that his allegiance was to Hydra and not S.H.I.E.L.D. With a kick of his foot, the door was closed and for a moment, Sara let herself believe that everything was okay in the world.

Koenig's body was laid out on top of a table with Simmons right beside him. Simmons examined the wound on Koenig's neck while Fitz paced nervously.
"Impossible," he muttered. "It can't be. No. No. I – I don't believe it." Trip looked at him.
"Take a breath, Agent Fitz."
"Don't tell me to take a breath," Fitz hissed. "Who the hell are you anyway? I mean, really. Come on."

Fitz walked closer to Trip, looking from him to Coulson.
"I don't even know who you are." Trip reached out and put his hand on Fitz' shoulder.
"I just went through this, remember?" Fitz shook off his hand quickly.
"Don't touch me!"
"My S.O. turned out to be a lying son of a bitch," Trip reminded him.

The Scottish Agent was angry as he glared at him.
"Well, not Ward. Okay? Not Ward. Do you know why? Because he is our friend." He pointed at Coulson and Simmons. "And Sara's fiancée, thus practically my brother. And Simmons will find something. Go ahead. Tell him Jemma."

Simmons was distracted and sad when she answered.
"Let me work, Fitz."
"Yeah but tell him that Ward isn't –" She turned her head and spoke in a hard voice, cutting him off.
"Let me work." Fitz looked at Coulson.
"Something else is at play here, sir. Think about it. They're just trying to mess with our heads."

Pulling a sheet up over Koenig's face, Simmons' eyes were downcast.
"They wrote that on the wall to scare us," Fitz said.
"One step at a time," Coulson told him.
"We need to get out of here," Fitz muttered.
"Simmons will give her report. That's the next step," Coulson said.

Coulson looked to Simmons as Fitz let out an exasperated sigh, turning away from them.
"He died approximately 10 hours ago of asphyxiation. After May left the premises. A thin wire was used to strangle him. His trachea is crushed, partially sliced through, so it was done in a hurry." She paused for a moment then continued, her voice sad and unsteady. "Based on the angle of the lacerations, the killer was at least 6'2"."

With that, Fitz had to look away.
"And strong enough to… lifted him into…" Simmons paused again, collecting herself. "Ward did this," she said angrily. Everyone jumped when there was a loud crash. Fitz grabbed a metal dining tray and used it to bash a table with it. He picked up a container, holding cooking utensils as Simmons hurried over to him.

Fitz threw the metal tray.
"Fitz!" Simmons exclaimed. He began to pick and hit the refrigerator as Simmons tried to pull on his arms to stop him.
"No, no, no." Coulson hurried over and tried to subdue him as well. Fitz seemed to calm when Coulson spoke. "Okay, okay!"

Both Coulson and Simmons put a hand on Fitz to calm and console him.
"We need to hold it together," Coulson said. "Listen…" Fitz shoved something else off the table with a clang. "All that anger, all that pain, you need to hold it in and focus it on Skye and Sara."

A tear rolled down Simmons cheek as Fitz tried to pull himself back together.
"They are alive. And they just walked out of here with someone that they know is a murder. Because they're playing him, just like he played us." Fitz remained hunched against the table, collecting himself while a tear sat on Simmons' check.

Coulson grabbed Fitz to pull it together.
"Fitz, Fitz…" He got Fitz to stand up again. "We have to fix the communications. We have to track that plane. Can you do that?" Fitz' phone buzzed, and he pulled it out without answering Coulson. His eyes darkened at the text.

SOS. SOS. DON'T REPLY!

He looked up, holding his phone out to Coulson.
"Sara texted me. I can track the phone."
"Good. If I know Sara and Skye, they've got a plan. And we're gonna find them before Ward figures out what that is." Fitz shook his head and walked out to do as Coulson asked. Simmons followed him.

Sara held onto Ward's hand tightly as they followed Skye down a street. Skye rounded a corner, smiling when she saw the diner.
"I can't remember the last time I sat in a restaurant."
"I know," Ward agreed. "It's been all tubes, tunnels, and plane food."
"Maybe I will get pie for dessert," Skye shrugged.
"Dessert?" Ward asked. "I was hoping we'd be done by the time I finished coffee."

Skye smirked at him.
"Do you have any idea how long it'll take to decrypt this drive?"
"For you? I figure 10 minutes," Ward shrugged.
"Not even close," Skye laughed. "The GPS will take a hot second to calibrate, but I'm working on a laptop. So even at three cycles per byte, there are still terabytes of data –"

Ward raised his free hand.
"Spare me the details. Give me the timeframe."
"An hour would be a miracle."
He sighed, "Coulson needs this yesterday." He stopped walking and so did she.
"My laptop's not a time machine, Ward. That's the science." He looked down the street, sighed then opened the door.
"Guess we're having dessert."

Trip worked on something under Koenig's desk.
"Can you grab me a cable?" he called to Coulson. "I think there's on in the drawer." Coulson opened the drawer and grabbed one, handing it to Trip. "Thanks," Trip said. He plugged in the wire and looked at the monitor, laughing.
"That seemed to work," Coulson said, a faint smile playing on his face.
"Fitz is using the Jump Jet's relay to power it," Trip told him. "He's like a ninja with this crap."

Coulson sighed tiredly.
"How's he doing?"
"Freaking out," Trip answered. "But focused on the task, which was good advice. And you?"
"Trust me, I'm going to have a major freak out later." He finished with the computer and stood up, looking at Trip. "All right. Ward is Hydra. You know what that means?"
"Garrett is alive."
"And Agent Hand is dead," Coulson added. "So they hit The Fridge."
"It means they've got all the weapons they could possibly want. And we don't have a clue. So… why risk coming back here?"
"It wasn't to cross us off…"

A thought came to Trip.
"What do you have that he wants?" Coulson gave him an exasperated look.
"I don't know. He had our intel on the hard drive. All he had to do was make a copy –" Coulson's eyes went wide when he realized what Ward was after. "He came back for Skye. She must have encrypted that drive, and she was the only one who could crack back into it. He also came back for Sara. No matter what anyone thinks, I believe he truly does love her." Trip smiled a bit.
"So, they'll have to keep them alive."
"And they can stall for a time."

The computer beeps, bringing their attention to the screen.
"Sara's phone is in Los Angeles," Coulson said.
"Finally, some good news." Suddenly, a warning popped up on the screen and an alarm went off.

ALERT Proximity Alarm R_27

A robotic voice went through the room.
"Perimeter defenses activated." Coulson closed his eyes for a moment.
"I should have knocked on wood just then." The screen lit up with the perimeter and little red dots appeared as well.
"Multiple contacts on the ground," Trip said. "They just triggered the gun turrets."
"Come on," Coulson said. They hurried out of the room.

Sara slid out of the booth, and Ward frowned at her, reaching for her wrist. Skye wisely kept her eyes on her laptop screen.
"Where are you going?"
"The bookstore is right across the street," she said calmly. He looked out the window, staring at the shop.
"Okay." He released her and she gave him a quick kiss before heading outside.

Ward watched out the window until she entered the shop and reached for his coffee.
"Maybe you should duck outside," Skye offered. "Try again on the sat-phone, just to make sure…"
Ward shook his head, "No, we stick together, and we stick to the plan. The sooner you decrypt this hard drive…"
"The sooner we get to them," Skye finished. He smiled at her, noting her hostility. A message came up on her laptop.

LOCATION INVALID; ACCESS DENIED

She glanced up at Ward.
"Are you all right?" he asked. "You look nervous."
"How can you tell, superspy?" she joked.
"Staying unnaturally still to keep from fidgeting, maintaining eye contact to give the impression of confidence. What's wrong?" She clicked on a button on her laptop, clearing the message.
"The last time I was in this booth, I was sitting across from Mike Peterson. A good man and now he's a murderer. And we are FBI's most wanted."

The door opened and Ward glanced over.
"It's just like any moment something could go horribly wrong," Skye continued. Ward nodded understandingly.
"Relax. You're doing great."
"Hiding what I'm thinking and feeling it does come as easy for me as it does for you," Skye said.
Ward shrugged, "Well it comes with experience."

Skye let out a long sigh and he heard the door open again. He glanced over.
"Yeah, I guess it does." Ward saw two police officers sitting at the bar in the diner. Ward pulled out a menu from the table and pretended to be looking it over as he kept an eye on the cops.

Coulson and Trip stood in the hallway off the main entrance, carrying weapons. Fitz ran around the opposite corner to meet them. Simmons was standing behind Trip. Fitz walked up to her, holding out a gun for her to take.
"I wish this bunker had a bunker," Simmons muttered.
"Those doors should hold," Coulson said. "It'll take some major artillery to make a dent."

Suddenly, the control panel next to the door changed from red to green.
"Hanger door deactivated," a robotic voice said. Simmons' eyes went wide in shock.
"How? That's impossible!"
"Take cover!" Coulson called. "Let's go." He led them back and away as the doors opened.

Men dressed in military gear entered the base as Trip hid behind a hallway off the one, they just left. Coulson and Trip both took aim at the end of the hall and the soldiers appeared.
"It's not Hydra," Coulson said. "It's special forces."
"On behalf of the United States Armed Forces, I order you to stand down," came a man's voice.

A man appeared behind the soldiers, walking towards Coulson and the others. He held a bullhorn in his hands so that they could get a look at him.
"I repeat, stand down," the man said. Coulson stood up a bit, looking around the corner.
"Colonel Talbot?" The man lowered the bullhorn he was holding. "There have to be better things for you to do than chase four S.H.I.E.L.D. agents," Coulson said.
"I wasn't a huge fan before chasing you to the damn tundra, Coulson," Talbot hissed. "I wouldn't push it."
"I'm flattered you came in person," Coulson smirked.

Talbot waved his arms, looking around.
"Fury's secret base on North American soil? I just had to see it for myself."
"If I come out, will you shoot me?" Talbot shrugged. "'Cause then I won't come out."
"Hold your fire, soldiers," Talbot commanded.

The men lowered their weapons as Coulson handed his gun to Fitz and walked out into the hallway.
"This is one of the most classified places on the planet, Colonel," Coulson said. "How the hell did you find it?" Hill walked out from around the corner and down the hallway, causing Coulson to stop walking. "I told them."

A man held a bouquet of flowers, standing at a gravesite. He heard a strange sound and turned to see what was causing it. He walked towards the source, an open hole, and look down. May saw the man's feet and followed his legs up to his shocked face. She got out of the hole, brushing off the dirt.
"My condolences." She walked away and he watched her go, He turned and looked back inside the grave. He saw an open and empty casket inside the hole. His eyes moved up to look at the grave marker: PHILLIP COULSON

May walked to her car, opened the driver's side, and got in. Once she was inside, she held out what was in Coulson's grave. It looked like a tube of lipstick. She unscrewed one of the ends and saw a flash drive stored inside. There was a laptop on the passenger seat that she pulled onto her lap and plugged in the flash drive.

It loaded and a message popped up:

CLASSIFIED LEVEL 10 COMMUNCIATIONS T.A.H.I.T. PROJECT SUPERVISOR TO DIRECTOR FURY. FINAL REPORT

"Classified Level 10. T.A.H.I.T.I. Project supervisor to Director Fury," May red. Under the message was a big red rectangle with the word "Play" inside. May clicked it. Her eyes went large with shock at what played.

Simmons stared up at Colonel Talbot.
"We're not criminals," she said.
"Great," Talbot nodded. "Then we'll take you in and you can tell us all about it." Simmons turned her head away. Talbot looked coldly at Trip and Fitz who were seated beside her. "At the very least, you're fugitives," Talbot said. "And running away puts a bit of a guilty stink on it, don't you think."

Trip looked at him, his eyes angry.
"We are not Hydra," he snapped. "We're agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Well right now, to the rest of the world, that's the same thing." He took a big crunch out of an apple."All right, I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be. You give me actionable intelligence and I'll allow you to serve time awarded."

Simmons rolled her eyes and looked to Fitz, but his gaze remained on Talbot.
"Your other options are… pretty much hell," Talbot shrugged.
"Do your worst," Fitz spat. Talbot shot a surprised look to Fitz.
"We have told you of a known Hydra agent," Simmons said. "He's getting away and your little intimidation speech is keeping us from saving the lives of two other agents. Our friends." Talbot shook his head.
"Sister, you haven't seen intimidation and right now, I'm your only friend. I'd be careful not to piss me off. The word "agent" implies that your corrupt organization still exists. Your leadership abandoned you for the private sector and we're gonna allow that in exchange for valuable assets like yourself. So, right now, I'd be thinking hard and fast about exactly what it is that makes you valuable."

Coulson and Hill stood inside Koenig's office.
"I'm offering you a lifeline here, Coulson," Hill said. "Don't thank you – just take it and we'll be on our way."
"Don't see how thanks are in order, considering you just sold me out and led the U.S. military straight to Fury's secret base."
"No, Phil," Hill said. She walked closer to him. "You lead us straight to Fury's secret base as part of the deal we made."
"You can't be serious," he deadpanned.

Hill nodded at him, crossing her arms.
"You and I are going to turn over these abandoned tunnels to the U.S. government who will be ever so grateful to take possession of an enemy stronghold in their backyard."
"What about my team?" Coulson questioned. "Well, they're gonna have to go through the system, interrogation –"
"Not gonna happen," Coulson said firmly.

She let out a sigh.
"Look, talk to Talbot. Cough up some meaningless intel about this place. Nothing significant, of course, nothing about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s other installations." He scoffed at her, standing straighter.
"You're still protecting your secrets. Is there anything specific you're afraid I'll talk about? T.A.H.I.T.I. maybe?"
"Phil –"
"I'm a liability. Is that it?"
"Grow up, Phil!" she snapped. "Of course, you're a liability. But I know you'll do the right thing."

Coulson's face screwed up.
"The right thing?" he snapped. "That's funny coming from you. After everything you and Fury have done?"
"Look, it was for your own good," Hill said.
"For my own good. I know. I get it." He walked closer to her.
"You should've been straight with me. I would have kept your secrets like a good soldier. I always have. But instead, you were worried about me when you should've been worried about anyone else."

Hill slowly nodded her head.
"You're right. We should've seen Hydra coming. But after D.C. they don't stand a chance."
"John Garrett does." Hill's face turned shocked.
"Garrett? I heard Ward took care of him."
"Ward's his secret weapon," Coulson spat. "He killed Victoria Hand, then raided The Fridge, and now he's got Sara and Skye, which was where we were headed until you so rudely interrupted to sweeten your deal." She gapped at him.
"I vetted Ward," she whispered.
"You want to make this right?" Coulson asked. "Stop wasting time."

Talbot walked in, stopping their conversation.
"Can we move this along?" Talbot asked. "I'd like to tear this room apart."
"Sure, Colonel, knock yourself out," Hill nodded. While she spoke, Coulson undid a button on his suit jacket.

Suddenly, Hill stroke one of the soldiers that came in with Talbot across the nose. Coulson leapt into action, taking on Talbot. Hill took down the first soldier then fought against the second while Coulson continued knocking around with Talbot. Hill sent one of the soldiers flying through the fake window. Coulson opened a drawer, pulling out the I.C.E.R. gun he stashed there. He fired, knocking out Talbot and the two other soldiers.
"Get your people out," Hill ordered. "We need to move."
""We?"" he repeated. She sighed and started out, Coulson following right behind.