At that moment, Fitz in the command center noticed the sudden network connection and exclaimed, "Connection established—she did it!"
Fitz quickly ran to his station, hacking into the enemy's laser grid system. In just a few seconds, he completed the task, announcing, "Done, the grid is disabled!"
"Their laser network will reboot in three seconds."
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
The laser grid in front of Coulson, Ward, and Killer Bee vanished instantly, and they rushed through it. Just after they passed, the grid rebooted, sealing the area once more.
A patrol team arrived to check the situation and, upon seeing Coulson's group behind the grid, opened fire.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
But there was no need to dodge—the bullets couldn't penetrate the laser grid, which vaporized them instantly.
Seeing this, Killer Bee made a playful face at the patrol before joining Coulson and Ward as they left the area.
Once outside the manor, Coulson gave orders, "Killer Bee, you're the fastest and strongest. Go and retrieve Skye."
"Ward, you and I will head to the lab to rescue Dr. Hall."
Although Killer Bee was curious to see Dr. Hall, he decided followed Coulson's plan without complaint.
"Yo yo! Let me save Skye~" Killer Bee said with his style.
…
Meanwhile-
Quinn looked at Skye, saying, "You can't be their only way in. S.H.I.E.L.D. has definitely conducted a full investigation on me. A pretty face alone won't take me down."
Just then, the office door opened, and three security guards entered. One of them reported, "Sir, our security has been breached."
Quinn stood up and glanced at his security team.
Skye couldn't resist quipping, "Timing's impeccable."
Quinn turned, eyeing the compact on the table. Grabbing it, he opened it to inspect it, noticing the glowing green indicator light. He instantly realized what had happened.
Furious, Quinn twisted the compact in half and threw it to the floor.
He then turned, pulling a gun from one of the guards' holsters and pointing it directly at Skye, who was still seated on the couch.
…
Elsewhere-
Coulson and Ward entered the lab where Dr. Hall was located.
Pushing open the lab doors, Coulson quickly announced, "Dr. Hall, I'm Agent Coulson. We're here to rescue you."
Dr. Hall, while continuing to work on the screens, glanced briefly at Coulson and asked, "S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Yes, Let's leave quickly."
Ward, examining the lab's surroundings, remained silent, taking in the situation.
Dr. Hall spoke again, "I'm sorry, Agent Coulson."
"This is where I need to be."
Ward, surprised, asked, "Why?"
Coulson was taken aback, replying, "Honestly, that's not what we expected from our rescue plan."
"I don't know what Quinn promised you, but—"
Dr. Hall interrupted, "An opportunity."
At that moment, the massive gravitonium machine outside the lab's transparent window began to activate, drawing Ward and Coulson's attention.
Coulson, seeing the machine, quickly said, "We can't let Quinn control that—it's too dangerous."
Dr. Hall countered, "No one can control it, which is why I came here."
"I intend to bury it, along with him, in the depths of the ocean."
It became clear that Dr. Hall didn't see S.H.I.E.L.D. as the good guys. He wanted to make sure no one, not even S.H.I.E.L.D., could get their hands on the gravitonium.
…
Meanwhile-
May successfully cracked the dynamic host configuration protocol and accessed the video recordings.
But to her shock, the person who leaked Dr. Hall's location was none other than Dr. Hall himself.
"Oops," she muttered.
May immediately informed Coulson, "Coulson, it was Dr. Hall who leaked the information."
Coulson, staring at the massive gravitonium device in front of him, replied, "I figured as much."
Dr. Hall continued, "Petitions, embargoes—nothing could stop Quinn. He's growing stronger every day."
"And then I heard he discovered this."
At that moment, Ward glanced at Coulson, giving him a look suggesting they should subdue Dr. Hall by force. But Coulson subtly shook his head. He wanted to try reasoning with Hall first—Dr. Hall was an important S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, and using force wasn't the first option.
"I'm sorry, Agent Coulson," Dr. Hall said, "but I have to make a choice."
As Hall touched the screen, electricity surged through the gravitonium generator, and a powerful force immediately pulled everyone toward it.
Coulson shouted, "That doesn't look like the off button!"
"Boom!"
Everything went black for Coulson. When he opened his eyes again, both he and Ward had been sucked up onto the ceiling—the entire room had flipped. The ceiling was now the floor, and the floor was the ceiling.
Coulson pressed his earpiece, "Guys, we need to talk."
May responded, "You just went dark."
"We know what's going on, sir."
"Did Hall want Quinn to kidnap him?"
Fitz and Simmons were perplexed.
"Why would he do that? What's wrong with him?" Simmons asked.
Struggling to stand, Coulson explained, "Quinn built a gravity generator, like the one we found, but much bigger."
Ward, still adjusting to the inverted gravity, moved even slower than Coulson. He had to appear weaker, trying not to show that he could actually handle the situation better due to his secret enhancements.
"Hall knew Quinn needed him to control the raw power, but Hall plans to use it himself."
Simmons asked, "The one we found was 2.5 centimeters in diameter, and it stopped a speeding truck."
"How big is this one?"
"Twelve feet."
Simmons gasped, "It could destroy the entire estate."
Fitz added, "No, not just that."
Coulson gave orders, "I'm going to cut the power before this spirals out of control."
Standing up and looking around at the upside-down room, Coulson was shocked at how effortlessly Dr. Hall was moving in this inverted gravity.
He made his way over to help Ward up.
Meanwhile, Hall walked toward a cabinet holding some whiskey, calmly saying, "They can't help you."
"It's going to reach exponential acceleration soon. I'm sorry."
Dr. Hall poured himself a drink, sat down on a chair, and took a sip.
Coulson glanced back at the rapidly spinning gravitonium and said, "My team is here. They're good people."
Dr. Hall, unfazed, asked, "Sworn to protect humanity?"
"I'm doing just that," Hall added, "I promise, I'm setting things right."