Coulson's eyes flicked around, the question was clear: 'Are we alone? Is this safe?'
Raina smiled. "Relax, I bought this place. They haven't had time to bug the place. Everything about this feels rushed."
Coulson took a sip of water she brought to his lips. The cold eased some of the pain in his body.
"That's because they're in a hurry," he said quietly. "James will find this place soon."
He looked at her with unsettling calm.
"So," he added, "did they replace you?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James mobilized the base helicopters and led the team out. After watching them lift off, John Garrett went to the bathroom and tried to message Grant Ward.
The message never actually went through, it was intercepted.
James's earlier note to May had been clear: monitor Garrett, and have Fitz quietly jam the BUS's outbound signal without setting any alarms.
It was a small trap.
Keeping Victoria Hand detained, then handing "control" to Garrett, was intentional. It gave him just enough room to move.
The BUS still belonged to James's team.
Everything was still under control.
—
Phil Coulson finished the water given to him and let out a long exhale, like it brought him back to himself.
Raina watched him. "So? Can we begin now? Don't you want to know how you came back to life?"
"I do," Coulson said, though still cautious. "But I can't let them know. No matter what, I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. I must protect S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets."
"But without the hopes of completing the third stage, we can't draw out the Clairvoyant," Raina pressed. It sounded logical, but it carried the weight of temptation. "You said you know who he is. You should understand how cautious he is."
Coulson's eyes narrowed. "I have one clue. The person who grabbed me was Grant Ward, a level Six. I wanted him on my team, but now I can't."
It was a lie, Ward was Hydra.
The only reason his not on the HQ list was only because he wasn't stationed there, but his name was present in Garrett's mind, and that was enough.
Raina softened her voice. "Then I'm sorry—but you should try anyway. What is S.H.I.E.L.D. hiding from you? What did they do to you? It's just us in here, no one else. Once you remember it, no one else needs to know."
Coulson hesitated.
He didn't trust Raina.
But he wanted the answer too, badly.
He was split down the middle, Raina didn't push further. She waited, a torn man always argues with himself louder than any interrogator can.
Finally, Coulson gave in.
He lay back on the instrument and braced himself to pull the memory up.
—
Skye reached the outskirts of the town and parked at a distance. She checked her equipment, stepped out, and moved in with stealth.
Night gave her cover, and the month of training had started to show.
With a cryo pistol in hand, she worked the approach the way she'd been taught, checking every corner and striking from blindspots. But with the town filled with mannequins, it hit her like a gut-punch.
The town was eerily quiet.
Even with the moon shining overhead, it only made the place look more scary.
She cleared houses one by one, drifting toward the center. So far, she hadn't seen anyone.
It felt like a ghost town.
Doubt crept in. 'Is he really here? If not—why buy this place?'
Then footsteps sounded behind her.
Every hair on her body stiffened straight, giving her goosebumps all over.
Skye stopped, turned fast, and aimed, but nothing was behind her.
The sound seemed to be around the corner—just out of view.
A soldier in camouflage rounded the corner—
*Pffft.*
A suppressed shot and the soldier dropped unconscious.
Skye moved in to check the arm. There was no Centipede device or a sign of serum use. Seems like a normal guard.
She dragged him where no one could see him before moving on.
Then a scream echoed through the night, must be Phil Coulson.
Skye sprinted toward the sound, but her steps drew attention. Several soldiers poured out of a building and saw her under moonlight.
They tried to surround her but Skye saw them and went behind cover, remembering her lessons, she aimed her cryo pistol and fired shots toward the soldiers.
She managed to drop two soldiers but Skye wasn't a sharpshooter.
She went through the magazine and only managed to hit two. The rest were already closing.
Her biggest mistake came fast: she didn't retreat but stayed in place, losing distance and chance to escape them
She slammed a fresh magazine in, but they were already too close.
One kicked the pistol away, as Skye tried to fight back. She blocked a few strikes, but there were two of them, and both moved in perfect coordination, soon overwhelming her.
Skye fell to the ground taking a beating, pain flaring through her body, as the soldiers mercilessly beat her. She was covering herself up with her arms and legs, barely holding on. A whirring sound came from distance, alerting the two soldiers.
*Szzzt.*
One of the soldiers suddenly dropped dead to the ground, in his forehead.
Skye, seeing a chance, rolls away from them.
The remaining soldier turned to run, likely thinking "a sniper."
But he didn't get far.
Another shot ended him.
Skye forced herself up, breathing heavily with pain coursing through her.
The whirring sound grew louder, three helicopters were seen coming from the distance. Searchlights flashing from them, illuminating the streets. With the lights now on her, she couldn't see anything.
From the whirring sounds of the helicopters, someone came behind her and called her name.
"Skye."
It was James's voice.
He ran in with his people.
"I heard Phil," Skye gasped, staggering as she tried to point where she heard him. "Over there."
James nodded as he got his team to treat her and prepared to retrieve Coulson.
He raised his right hand, signaling the assault team to fan out, surrounding the town.
—
Grant Ward stepped out and saw the helicopter lights closing. A bad feeling crawled up in him.
Garrett hadn't messaged him.
'Did they find out?'
He turned back. Three enhanced soldiers waited inside. That was his last card.
"Stop them," Ward ordered, and moved inside.
He shoved the door open, as he could see Coulson lay on the Theta Brain-Wave Frequency Machine, face twisted in pain.
"Did you get it?" Ward questioned. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is already here. We're running out of time."
"Almost," Raina said. "I need a little more time. Should we retreat?"
"No." Ward's voice was flat. "Keep going, you have to pull it out, I'll buy us some time."
He had no intention of retreating.
If Ward got caught, it wouldn't matter, as long as Garrett can stay hidden. The real danger was only if Garrett was exposed. So Ward took a gamble.
Three super soldiers rushed out of the room. They moved quickly, but the assault team reacted fast enough and opened fire.
The three enhanced soldiers were pinned down into hiding. They weren't invulnerable to tank bullets, but their muscle tissue was dense and resilient to survive a few shots. They still felt pain every time they got hit, just not enough to stop them unless the hit was severe.
From the surroundings, they ripped and took scraps as improvised shields as they charged, like Captain America had already taught the world was possible.
The assault team got confused, thrown off by a threat they'd never faced up close.
James told Skye to stay down and recover while he prepared to tackle the three enhanced soldiers.
Then the problem got worse, they split into three directions.
James couldn't chase one and let the others reach his people. Once an enhanced soldier got into arm's range, the assault team would get wiped out.
James drew his beloved twin pistols Safari Arms Matchmaster and Imanishi 17.
Using his superhuman marksmanship and ability, he fired the two pistols in a wide arc.
The bullets curved in two different directions, swerving themselves behind the two running enhanced soldiers' makeshift shields and punching a hole through their eyes.
"Team One, the back door!" he shouted
He sent the freed team to seal the exit while he moved toward the last soldier who was just out of his sight to properly curve the bullet to him.
The last one hesitated to go for another charge, he was left to make a desperate choice.
He hurled a bucket at James and sprinted along with it, hoping the distraction would buy him the last few meters.
James didn't flinch and raised his foot, catching the bucket as he twirled.
Using the momentum, he redirected the bucket with even more power back to the soldier.
The enhanced soldier didn't expect his own throw to return. He caught it with both hands, but the impact was strong enough to make him come to a stop and stumble back absorbing the hit.
That moment of distraction sealed his fate.
*Bang*
The soldier dropped dead, the centipede enhancement proved useless against James marksmanship when it can't toughen up the eyeballs like superman.
James didn't spare him another glance.
He waved his hand and signaled his people to move forward. "Move inside."
The assault team surged into the building with weapons up.
James followed.
Grant Ward didn't resist arrest. As Raina was in the inner room with Coulson lay strapped to a machine, face filled with pain.
"Get them out," James ordered.
The Agents cuffed Ward and Raina and dragged them out to the helicopter.
James killed power to the device and moved toward Coulson.
Coulson's eyes were open, but he wasn't there—lost in whatever the machine was forcing him to re-live.
James placed a hand on his forehead.
"Cortana, please stabilize him," he said quietly.
[Neural stress elevated. Emotional oscillation detected. Initiating regulation.]
James's bio-wave pushed through his mind, stabilizing whatever Coulson was going through, slowly the pain filled expression on him subsided.
Coulson's breathing slowed as his body stopped fighting itself.
Then his eyes came to focus, he looked at James and managed a strained smile. "I knew you'd come, and you came fast."
James understood what he meant: 'before I talked.'
"Yeah," James said. "I know you've got questions, and we're going to have them, but first, let's get you out. Then we grab Garrett."
He helped Coulson sit up. "Why did you go to Garrett at all?"
"I wanted to reach the Director," Coulson said, voice rough. "I couldn't make contact. So I went to Garrett,at the same time, it's a little test to see if he will attack me."
James blinked. "You expected him to make a move?"
"I don't know," Coulson said. "But we've wrecked a lot of his operations. Who knows what that does to a man's thinking."
James's stare sharpened. "That's it? Just for that?"
Coulson nodded. "I needed someone who could plausibly help me find Fury. Garrett is the obvious choice. If I went to someone else, he might wonder why."
James exhaled through his nose. "You could've asked me. You know I can reach Fury."
Coulson's gaze held him. "Which tells me you're hiding something from me."
They stepped out into the night with James supporting him.
Seeing Phil Coulson covered in wounds, Skye threw herself at him and wept. Skye treated him more like a father. She had been constantly moved from place to place since she was a child, so she had no family or friends. This was why she cherished her current job. She was treated like a family, like she has a home.
Coulson's arms came up around her instinctively. He looked down, surprised. "You're hurt too?"
James cut in. "Skye found your location and pushed in before we arrived. She did good."
His eyes moved to Skye, honest but firm. "She still needs more close-combat training."
James looked back at Coulson sighing. "Phil, Yes we're hiding something. I was about to tell you before this happened. But we'll talk about it when we get back. First we'll catch Garrett."
Coulson looked at him. "You're sure you want to tell me?"
"Yes," James said. "I wanted to tell it to you straight. But there were still loose ends. Now things are about to get settled, but it still needs a little preparation."
He tightened his grip on Coulson's arm. "Let's get you home."