Episode 14: T.A.H.I.T.I.
Part Two

Garret lifted his gun higher onto his shoulder.
"We're looking for medical assistance. A person's life is at stake. Will you help us?"
"How was the drive from Istanbul?" Coulson grimaced and turned to a grinning Garrett.
""Pretty please" it is." He nodded at Ward and Ward used his handgun to take out the camera above the door.

They ran into the building and stopped onto top an elevator cab.
"There's an antechamber and a set of glass doors," Fitz told them.
"Can't see much beyond that. Lights are all out."
"Well, they know we're coming," Coulson said. "Let's go say "hello"."

Ward dropped through the trap door first, pointing his gun up.
"Clear." Garrett dropped next, followed by Coulson.
"Okay, Simmons, Sara, we're going in now," said Fitz, putting his finger to the comms at his ear. "Sara?" He looked up the elevator shaft. "Damnit." He dropped down next to Coulson. "Comms are down. There's too much mountain on top of us.
"Trust me, it's better," Garrett said. "You don't want them hearing the horrible death we're walking into."

Fitz stared blankly at Garrett's back.
"Humor, son," Garrett said.
"You Brits are too serious. Besides, if the job was easy…"
"It wouldn't be any fun," Ward finished. They shared a grin.
"I'm not afraid, not yet" Fitz said.

He walked past Garrett and Ward, who were guarding the front of the elevator.
"I suspect the real danger won't happen until we breach the bulletproof glass." He walked to the glass door and turned to see another door behind them.
"Probably a stairwell back to the surface." He checked out the locking mechanism on the glass doors while the others provided cover.
"What do you think, Fitz?" Coulson asked. "Can you get us inside?"
"To certain, horrible death? Absolutely."

Garrett smirked as Fitz took a device to the lock. He opened the panel and got to work.
"Okay, sir, just say the word."
"Once we get inside, everybody find cover. All right, gentlemen, here we go." Coulson nodded at Fitz, who hit something on his device and the lock beeped, turned green and the doors opened. Garrett led first, followed by Ward, then Coulson, then Fitz as the doors closed behind him.

Once the doors closed, two guards started firing from either side of the room. The four guys remained ducked behind desks and tables. The shots stopped and Coulson called out.
"We've come for medical assistance. But if you continued firing on us, we will defend ourselves–" The firing started again, and Ward backed up a bit to talk to Garrett.
"I count two hostiles."
"Copy that. Ready?"

Ward nodded then sat up a bit higher, staring to fire as Garrett got up and moved. He made it deeper into the room before hiding behind a desk. Coulson fired then bent down to Fitz.
"You got one of those little flash things?"
"Yeah." Fitz dug into his pocket and handed it to Coulson, who hit something that caused a beep. He looked to Ward, who nodded his hand. Coulson threw the device.
"Ward."

The flash went off and Ward used the moment to get closer and took out the first guard. The second guard continued to fire on Garrett. Garrett was able to move and got right next to the guard. Garrett turned the man's gun in towards the man's gut and shot him.
"Clear."
"See if you can get some lights on," Coulson called.
"Yeah," Fitz called back.

Garrett looked over the guard's body and found his identification card.
"No hard feelings, Bob." He threw the card down on the man and stood.
"Clear," Ward called from further down with Coulson. He glanced down at the ground. "We're not done. This one's hit. Shouldn't be too hard to find."

Coulson and Ward followed the trail. The trail came to a stop and they both went on alert, using hand signals to each other.
"Go," Coulson said. Ward walked around a corner and saw the missing man sitting on the floor, his back against the wall as he bled out. The bright flashlight hit him, and he moved his head away as if the light caused him pain. Not quite dead yet, but about to be.

Ward kicked the gun away as Coulson took keys out of the man's pocket.
"We're gonna get you medical help. Is anyone else down here? Where are the doctors?"
"Med staff doesn't stay here," the guard said.
"We're looking for a drug, GH-325. It might help you, too."
"Do I – k-know you?"
"I don't know. I-I might have spent some time here awhile back."
"Then you know about… the timer?"

His face turned confused, backing away. Garrett called out from another part of the building.
"We got a problem!" Coulson turned and looked in that direction then turned back to the guard, who was dead. He glanced at Ward, and they hurried back to Garrett and Fitz.

Fitz was working at the door as Garrett looked around behind him. Coulson and Ward came up behind him.
"Semtex," Garrett said. "The whole place is rigged to blow."
"There's enough explosive to bring down the while mountain on top of us," Fitz added.
"Over here," Ward called.

Coulson walked over to him, and Ward showed him a countdown clock that said: 9:21.
"Sir, less than 10 minutes. It's probably a failsafe. If the guards had eliminated us, they'd stop the timer"
"Since they didn't…"
"It's some kind of emergency override," Fitz said. "Skye could probably get past it, but I can't hack the panel which means we're trapped in here." Coulson glanced at Garrett.
"You're the guy who taught Ward how to disarm nuclear bombs. Figure out a way to get us out of here." He looked to Fitz.
"Let's go find the drug."

Fitz glanced around as they walked down a hallway.
"So, this is some sort of medical facility?" he asked.
"Yeah, but if nobody's here. I'm not sure it's gonna do us any good."

Sara sat beside Skye, her head pounding as she watched the young woman carefully. Simmons was watching from the window, Trip standing next to her.
"Tough when it's your team," he said softly.
"You guys know each other long?"
"Not really, a few months. We have nothing in common, couldn't be more different."
"But you can't imagine your life without her," Trip said.

Simmons glanced up at him.
"Yes, you've experienced that, Agent Triplett?"
"I have. Sometimes, a person takes you by surprise."
"Yeah."
"She's very lucky to have you. I know anything bad ever happens to me, hope you're in my corner too."

May walked in as Simmons smiled at Trip.
"Comms are down. If I don't hear anything within the hour, I'm going after them." Simmons nodded in understanding before suddenly there was a rapid beeping noise from Skye's pod. Sara's eyes went wide with concern as Simmons rushed into immediate action. Skye's back arched and appeared to have trouble breathing.
"Skye's coding!" Simmons said. "May, Trip, NOW! Sara, back up."

As Sara pushed her chair away from the bed, May and Trip rushed to Skye's side.
"How can we help?" May asked as Simmons performed CPR.
"I need a unit of Epi."
"Got it," Sara said, passing a syringe to Trip. The agent plunged the syringe into Skye's abdomen as Simmons continued chest compressions.

Coulson came upon a door marked "Viewing". He paused for a moment then slowly walked to the door and opened it. He entered the room, stopped walking, and just stared. It was the room where the operation had taken place. He looked on with horror as memories of the mechanical arms worked on his brain as he begged for death.
"Don't. Let me die. Let me die!"

Fitz came to a stop next to him, causing Coulson to come out of his memories.
"Is that where…" the younger agent trailed of.
"Yeah." Coulson looked over at Fitz then walked away. Fitz glanced around the room another second before following.

The timer showed just under 6 minutes after Ward tore apart all the wires.
"Timer doesn't control the explosion," he told Garrett.
"It's just a block. Detonator must be somewhere else."
"It's not in here, or I'd have found it," Garrett said. Ward stood up, brushing off his hands. "There's not time to search the whole compound. Maybe we can take some Semtex, use it on the doors." He walked over to a wall and Ward followed.

Coulson spotted something and shined his flashlight on a door marked Biohazard Containment.
"Sir, are you sure you want to?" Fitz asked. He rolled his eyes as Coulson started turning it. He opened the door and entered. There were shelves lined with various drugs and vials as they looked around, but there was a window separating them from the drugs."We should put on suits before we go in there," Fitz said.
"You're right, but there's no time."

Opening the door, Coulson entered. There was enough light that Coulson switched off his flashlight, leaving both his hands free. Reluctantly Fitz entered the room.
"Wish I could speak to Simmons, or Sara," Fitz muttered. "They'd know what most of this stuff is – or, at least, what stuff not to touch." Coulson spotted a refrigerated section of drugs, one marked with a radioactive symbol.
"Fitz." He pointed at the cabinet and Fitz hurried over.

Fitz found a light for the cabinet and turned it on as both men looked at the various drugs.
"I don't see any G.H…" He moved on to another refrigerated cabinet and turned it on, something catching his eye. "Agent Coulson." He saw two large canisters inside the cabinet. "It's locked."

Passing Fitz some gloves, Coulson pulled out the keys he stole from the guard.
"Here, put these on," he said. He put a key into a slot and opened the door as Fitz finished putting on the gloves. Ward entered the room behind him.
"Time to go. We couldn't stop it. Four minutes and counting."
"Almost there," Coulson said.

Fitz took the top off one of the canisters and pulled up revealing dozens of small vials of green liquid. Ward looked up at the ceiling.
"There's Semtex throughout here, as well." Fitz was looking at the vials.
"This is it, 325," he said. He took a vial out and showed it to Coulson. "This is the one we want."
"We got to go," Coulson said. "Get it up to Simmons."
"Yeah," Fitz said. He hurried out of the room.

Colson looked up past where Ward was standing, and something caught his eye.
"Sir..." Ward began
"I'll be right behind you. Go." Ward nodded then started away as Coulson walked forward. He moved boxes out of the wall and printed on a door was: T.A.H.I.T.I. He stared at the door with shock then opened it.

When Fitz and Ward reached Garrett, Ward glanced at the clock.
"Three minutes." Garrett and Fitz instantly got to work rigging the doors to blow.
"Haven't you work much with munitions, Agent Fitz?" Garrett asked. "Explosives are a fascinating specialty." He glanced some explosives on the bottom of the door. "Very exacting. Too big concussion could trigger a chain reaction, bury us like fossils for a thousand years. Guess we don't have to worry about the Clairvoyant finding this place."

Garrett got up, walking away from the doors with Fitz following.
"Agent Ward, would you do the honors?" Garrett asked.
"Thought you'd never ask." Ward walked over to them, pulling out his pistol. He leaned around the corner and cocked it, firing at the explosives Garrett placed on the door, causing them to go off.

Ward, Garrett, and Fitz got to the doors and pried them apart.
"Can you slip through?"
"Yeah," Fitz said.
"Go," Garrett ordered. "Get that drug up there." Fitz went through the doors to the stairwell.
"Coulson," Ward said, turning back around.
"Where the hell is he?" Garrett asked. "Phil!" He turned and looked at Ward. "Go with Fitz. Make sure that drug gets to the girl."
"Agent Garrett…"
"Go! Save the girl!" Ward sighed but did as he was ordered.

Simmons frowned down at Skye as she watched her carefully.
"Weak, erratic heart rate. Each time we save her, I ask myself, "is that what Skye would want?" May glanced over at Simmons.
"We didn't come this far to quit." Sara glanced up at the ceiling as Fitz' voice came over the intercoms.
"Get of – the ground immediately!"
"They're alive," Sara sighed. "Maybe we can –"

Skye started to flatline again, Simmons and Trip jumping what they needed to do while Sara leaned back in her chair. May spoke to Fitz as she headed to the cockpit.
"Fitz, come in. What's your status?"

A very dazed looking Coulson walked slowly through the hallways. Garrett called out to him.
"Phil!" He raced over to him. "Phil, what the hell? Clock's not slowing down. It's about to get really warn in here." Coulson came to a stop, still looking dazed. "Hey, you with me? The guys are out already. They took the drug up to Skye."
"No, don't give it to her. The drug, they can't give it to her!" Garrett took Coulson by the shoulders and led him out.
"All right. You can tell them yourself. Right now, we just need to get out of this mountain and off the ground. Now let's go."

"You want more epinephrine?" Sara asked Simmons, watching Skye with nervous eyes. Fitz rushed into the pod, a wild look on his face.
"We found it." He held the vial out to Simmons, who didn't take it. Ward walked in behind Fitz.
"What is it?" Simmons asked. "And how much, injected where?" Ward put a hand to his ear.
"May, get us off the ground or it'll fall out from under us." He moved to stand behind Sara, watching the chaos in front of him with a solemn look.

May sat in the cockpit, pressing buttons, and flipping switches as Coulson and Garrett ran through the bunker. They got to the glass doors and shoved them aside then ran to the stairwell. May grimaced, turning on the engines so that they pointed downwards, preparing for vertical takeoff.

Coulson and Garrett ran as fast as they could for the cargo hold as the ground around them exploded. They made it just as the ground under The Bus broke apart and fell. May got The Bus airborne before any damage could occur.

Down in the lab, a needle was being pulled out of Skye's arm as Coulson rushed to them.
"No! Don't give it to her!" Simmons looked up at him with tears in her eyes. He was too late. There was still the tone of Skye flat lining in the background as Ward looked on helplessly. Sara was holding onto the syringe, holding herself up over Skye.
"We were losing her anyway, what harm can it do?" she asked, her eyes dark. Her entire side radiated pain and she was sure she had ripped a stitch or two.

Everyone, even May who had joined them, looked at the monitors.
"Come on, girl," Trip muttered. Suddenly things on the monitor went from red to green as her heartbeat picked up. Coulson turned and looked at Simmons with surprise.
"It's working," Garrett said.

Simmons smiled and looked down at Skye. The young woman stilled for a moment then suddenly took in a big deep gasping breath and her back arched. The monitors suddenly went red again as her stats went too high.
"She's spiking!" May exclaimed. Skye's back arched higher as she gasped for breath even with the tube in.

Sara reached forward, putting a comforting hand on Skye's forehead.
"Stop it!" Ward demanded "How can we stop it!"
"What happening?" Coulson asked. Simmons looked at him with tears and shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Sara!" Fitz exclaimed. "Do something! We have to do something!"
"Shut up!" Sara shouted at them. "We can't!"

Skye went tense all over as she continued to gasp for breath. She suddenly fell down limp to the mattress and the monitor beeping slowed.
"Her heartbeat, she's stabilizing," Sara said. Everyone looked around relieved as Coulson looked to Simmons.
"Simmons?" She gave him a smile and nodded. Ward looked at them confused.
"Could someone tell me what we just saw?"
"The girl's a fighter," Trip answered.

Simmons rubbed her hand against Skye's forehead, comforting them both. Sara felt her knees go weak, adrenaline wearing off and she collapsed against Ward's chest. He held her gently, keeping her upright.
"What was that stuff you just gave her?" Trip asked. Sara and Simmons looked at Coulson, unsure what to say, from his expression, he wasn't sure what they should say either.
"We don't know," Sara finally managed. "All I know for sure is it worked."

Trip shook his head in wonder as he looked at Skye.
"You're a real miracle worker," he told Simmons. Simmons looked up to him with a small insincere smile, then she looked to Coulson and finally back down to Skye. Coulson could do nothing but stare at Skye. May looked up at him.
"You did it." Coulson glanced at her before walking out the door.

May and Garrett watched him go. May glanced up at Garrett once he was gone.
"Something happen down there?" May asked.
"I'm not sure," Garrett said, looking down at him. "One minute he was fine, the next it was like he had seen a ghost." May looked away from him, thinking on what it could be.

Garrett opened the door to the holding cell and entered, followed by Trip.
"I've got good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" Trip closed the door as Quinn said nothing. Garrett looked over at Trip, who raised his eyebrows. "Bad news, then. There's a fair amount. Your Clairvoyant, the one who said he'd have your back, he's a no-show. The site we were supposed to lead him to with our minds, blown to pieces – buried under 100 feet of rock. It seems the only psychic power your buddy has shown is the ability to predict is if you tell a rich, entitled dirtbag he's gonna get away with murder, he'll believe it. Trip."

Trip walked over and uncuffed him from the table.
"Girl's gonna live. Live to testify how a billionaire shot her point-blank in the stomach." He turned and pointed to a camera in the corner of the room.
"Oh, we've got a great little home movie of you admitting that genius." Trip stood Quinn up. "This Clairvoyant played you and left you to rot."

Quinn looked at Garrett.
"You said there was good news."
"I did?" Garrett asked. "Oh, yeah. You still have your tongue." Quinn scoffed as Trip pulled him out of the room. Trip took Quinn to The Bus and to the spiral staircase leading up to where their plane was docked.

Garrett was walking behind them as Coulson walked up. He allowed Trip and Quinn to pass but paused to speak to Garrett.
"I want to thank you, Garrett, for letting us keep Quinn on the plane."
"Don't mention it," Garrett said. "There's still time for me to make the rest of his life a long, living hell."

Coulson smirked,
"I'm counting on it."
"Something I need to ask you, Phil," Garrett said.
"Of course."
"We've known each other a long time."
"Yes, we have."
"We've been in our share of tight spots together. If it had gone the other way, if Skye hadn't survived, were you really prepared to throw Quinn off this plane?" Coulon gave him a sly smile.
"You were the one who made that threat. I just asked to keep him on the plane for a while."
"You're right. It was me. My mistake."

Garrett shook Coulson's hand as he held it out.
"Till next time," Coulson said.
"May be sooner than you think." Garrett turned and headed up the spiral staircase. "My man Trip's got eyes for that biotech gal of yours… and something tell me that I'll be invited to a wedding shortly." Coulson smiled and watched him leave.

May walked into Coulson's office after the other team left.
"Do you mind?" she asked. Coulson shook his head and she entered.
"You did the impossible today. You saved Skye's life." She walked to his desk and leaned against it on her fists. "Why aren't you happy about it?"

Coulson's eyes went down to the table, and she let out a deep sigh. She sat in the chair across from him.
"They told me you were yelling to not use the drug, to not use it on Skye. Why? What made you change your mind?" He looked away from her again.

Coulson entered the room marked T.A.H.I.T.I. He walked into the center of the room and found a lamp above his head, turning it on. His eyes cast about the room, taking it all in. He saw something to his right that got his attention. He walked over and bent in close, looking at lots of blue vials marked GH with various numbers following it, 324, 325, 329, etc.

Looking up from the vials, he saw tubes running into them. He followed the tubes up with his eyes to some sort of port in the wall. He then saw even bigger tubes running from the device on the wall. He followed those tubes to a chamber marked "G.H."

There was a red button on the wall next to the chamber and he pushed it. Air whooshed out as a cylinder slide out from the wall. It was another hyperbaric chamber. But this one was filled with a blue liquid instead of air… the most startling was a half body of a blue alien. From its head to his mid-belly was the blue blood alien. Coulson stared with shock at the decaying alien in stasis before him.

"Phil?" May's voice brought him back to the present."Phil? Are you all right?" Coulson looked at her.
"Being down there… seeing where I came from, I just got really scared that she would suffer the way I did. But she didn't." He gave her a half smile. "For whatever reason, she didn't."

Ward glanced down at Sara, who was curled up beside him. She was staring out the window, her eyes half-lidded.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she nodded, her eyes never leaving the window.
"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing that she was fiddling with her necklace.

She didn't answer and he sat up, pulling her up with him.
"Sara?" he prodded gently.
"I'm fine," she snapped, pushing herself away from him. "Just leave me alone."
"Hey!" He grabbed her arm and she flinched. "What's wrong?" he demanded to know.
"Nothing is wrong," she said, her voice trembling.

Mentally, Ward counted down from three before she let out a choked sob. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to calm down.
"Sorry," she said breathlessly, wiping at her eyes.
"Don't apologize," he said firmly. "Don't ever apologize."

Ward pulled Sara back into his arms, holding her tightly, but being mindful of her wounds.
"How'd you know it would work?" he murmured into her hair, kissing the top of her head.
"I didn't," she answered quietly.
"I just knew what would happen if I didn't try."

Nuzzling into the side of her neck, Ward took a deep breath.
"I have a question for you." She struggled to turn to face him, face contorting in pain with every move.
"Yes?"
"I want you to marry me." She froze, completely froze. He dropped his gaze for a second then climbed out of the bed. He reached into his drawer, pulling out the ring box.
"I know this isn't the ideal place and god, Sara, I had plans, but those kinda got thrown out the window and—"
"Grant."
"Yeah?"
"Stop talking."

It really was now or never. Over the last couple days, Ward realized he was never gonna have the perfect moment. Work would always jump into the middle. The girl before him was everything he ever wanted. Sure, they had only been together a few short years and during most of that time he thought she was a Russian dignitary's niece, but she was perfect. At least, to him she was.

But the longer he waited in silence, the more he thought she would turn him down. It wasn't that they hadn't talked of marriage before. She just always said she wasn't ready. And he respected that, but he couldn't lose her, not when she had come so close already.

She took a shuttering breath, eyes closing for a spilt second as she tried to imagine life without him. It was blank, almost mindless. She opened her eyes again, seeing him looking at her with such an anxious expression.
"Well?" he practically whined.
"Do you think I would say no?"

If it wasn't for the fact she was hurt, Ward would have lunged at her, teased her for keeping him waiting. But instead, he let out a relieved breath.
"Thank God."
"But…" Her words silenced him.
"But what?"
"Can we keep it a secret? Just for a few days? There's been enough excitement for a while, and I'd like to wait until Skye is awake and Fitz-Simmons aren't half-dead." He leaned over her, kissing her forehead.
"Whatever you want, baby. Whatever you want."
"Whatever I want?"
"Just don't overuse it."
"Show me the ring?" That he could do.

DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

A woman walked through the desert with no sign of where she could have come from. She had long red hair and was wearing a green dress with one sleeve. On the shoulder of the opposite arm sat some sort of armor.

Outside a motel, a woman spoke to her husband.
"I'm gonna go see if they have a map."
"I'll be waiting in the car, Mrs. MacKenize," he said cheerfully. They laughed and shared a kiss. She went inside and he carry their bag to their car.

There was a "Jimmy and Nicole. Just Married" ornament hanging from the mirror. He closed the trunk, holding a bottle of water in his hand. He looked up in surprise as a red head walked into the frame panting, taking his water.

Taking a big drink, she wiped her mouth and handed him back the bottle.
"Are you okay?" the man, Jimmy, asked. She sighed deeply.
"No. No, I'm parched and weary. Is all of Midgard so desolate?"
"Midgard?" Jimmy asked. "I don't know where that is. This is Death Valley."

The woman looked taken aback by that.
"Oh. I seek passage from the valley of death to a more bountiful land."
"Oh, I wish I could help, but…" he gestured down to his small two seat car. "It's built for two." He laughed and gestured over his shoulder to the office behind him. "You should ask the manger inside. Uh, maybe there's a bus later today." The woman into the office of the motel to see Nicole speaking to the manager while looking at the map.
"She's your bride?"

Jimmy smiled warmly at her.
"Yep. Since yesterday morning."
"And you prefer her to me?" He gave her a confused look.
"Well… yeah. I prefer Nicole to pretty much everyone. That's why I married her – together forever."

The woman chuckled then moved in closer to Jimmy.
"Loyalty. I admire that in a man." She put her hand on his shoulder and a dreamy look came into his eyes. When she spoke, her voice carried an echo."I'm going to need your help if I'm to remain free."

Nicole walked out of the office as he heard a car driving away. She ran after it.
"Jimmy!" He was already down the road, too far away to hear her.
"I swear to protect you and keep you safe," Jimmy told the woman."But I don't even know your name." She looked over at him.
"It's Lorelei." She smiled and looked out the front window. "My name is Lorelei."

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