A/N: Hey guys! A song from the movie Grease comes up in this, so just in case you haven't seen it I left it above. Super good movie, I absolutely recommend it. In the US at least it's on Netflix right now. Also, fair warning, this one's a bit of a cliff hanger. Sorry! The next chapter will probably be out tomorrow or earlier because I feel bad leaving you guys hanging 😝❤️
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Something was seriously wrong with Grant.
I wasn't sure yet what it was, but he had just pushed me off a Jump Jet ramp. You didn't have to be Sherlock to see that something's off.
He was sitting close to the cargo ramp on the Jump Jet, on the opposite row of seats from Garrett. I was sitting right next to him, a little closer to Garrett than I'd like to be, but I was hoping to serve as a barrier for Grant.
The only thing I wanted to do was finally get a straight answer out of Grant. I wanted to chew him out for how he'd been acting, and get to the bottom of why. But there were other agents on the plane right now, so that would have to wait. The best I could do was sit next to him and hope for the best with everything.
We flew in silence. Grant kept his eyes on the ground, Hand was doing something else (I didn't care enough to find out what), and Garrett, for once in his life, wasn't talking (thankfully). I just waited. If Grant wasn't ready to talk yet, fine. I wasn't going to start anything until we had some more privacy.
Once we were in the air, one of the agents came to report in to Hand, who was leaning in a corner on our side of the plane, but next to the cockpit.
"Course is locked, ma'm," he said, before taking a seat next to Garrett.
"Good," she said. She paused, looked at Garrett, and then turned to look at Grant. I had a bad feeling about this. "He's not telling stories now, is he?"
Grant glanced up at her, but didn't say anything. I could feel my blood boiling. What was she doing? Was she trying to rub in Garrett's betrayal? Because that's what I was feeling.
"You know what I'm thinking, Agent Garrett?" she asked, her voice the only sound besides the wind whistling outside the plane. It was eerie. "I'm thinking the Icebox of the Fridge is a little too comfortable for you. Maybe we should put you a little deeper underground."
I couldn't help it. I gasped. What was she saying? To my horror, she turned back to Grant.
"What do you think Agent Ward? Your team helped arrest the wrong Clairvoyant. Do you want to shoot the right one?"
I shot out of my seat. I couldn't help it. What was wrong with this woman?
"What is wrong with you?" I asked (probably closer to yelled), trying to block her from Grant as much as possible. "In what universe do you think someone would want to shoot their long-time friend? Traitor or not, that's pretty effed up."
Hand looked aghast, but I wasn't done yet.
"Not to mention the fact that shooting an unarmed person in our custody, no matter what he's done, is incredibly illegal! Going in, our team wasn't sure who the Clairvoyant was, but our best guess was you. I had started to feel guilty, but now? You're acting just like Hydra, so forget that!"
"I am not acting like Hydra!" she yelled, extremely upset. I just laughed.
"Shooting an unarmed prisoner? In our protective custody? Sure as hell sounds like Hydra to me!"
"You should remember who you're talking to Agent Slater! I'm level eight!"
"Oh, well, whoop-dee-do for you, you're high level in an Agency that no longer exists. I don't give a damn what you're level is, I'm not going to stand here and let you compromise SHIELD's morals and drag Grant into the middle of your crap! And before you start with all your threats of telling Coulson and removing me from SHIELD, I'll remind you that, not only do you need all the agents you can get, but COULSON WOULD AGREE WITH ME!"
Hand looked so shocked she couldn't speak. I didn't give her a second look as I plopped back down next to Grant. I saw him glance at me out of the corner of my eye.
"Slater?"
"I'm fine. You?" I could still only see him with my peripheral, but he nodded and leaned back. I could see a muscle in his jaw popping out, so I knew he was anything but fine, but I knew talking about it with this company wouldn't make anything better.
I leaned my head back next to his, so we were sitting in the same position, and focused on matching my breathing with his. It forced me to take deep breaths and calm down, and gave me something to focus on besides how pissed I was at Hand.
We flew through the air like that, in total silence, for almost half an hour. Hand was probably still mad, but she didn't do anything about it or speak again, so I was happy. Finally, one of the pilots poked his head out from the cockpit.
"We're getting ready for final approach," he announced. Hand nodded and he went back to the cockpit, but Garrett chose now to perk up in his seat.
"Agent Grant Ward," he intensely, leaning forward as far as his restraints would allow him. "Do your duty."
Grant was practically twitching he was so tense. His eyes were closed, and his hand was shaking as he reached for his gun. He rested his hand on the handle, and I swear I saw a bead of sweat drip down his forehead. I couldn't stand it. I reached out and rested my hand on top of his, on top of his gun.
"Hey," I said, trying to sound as calm as possible, "Focus on me."
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"Agent Grant Ward. Do your duty."
I could hear Garrett's words echoing in my head. My duty was to take this plane. I wasn't going to shoot Slater, obviously, but I couldn't leave Garrett high and dry. I'd have to pay my debt to him and manage the consequences as best I could.
Everything seemed hazy. The room felt blurry. I closed my eyes. I could feel myself sweating and shaking like crazy. I reached for my gun and felt the cool metal on my soaked palm. This was it. Now or never.
"Hey." I heard a voice break through the haze, and felt a soft, warm hand on top of mine. "Focus on me."
Samantha. I slowly opened my eyes, turning my head to face at her. Remarkably, she looked calm. I didn't move my hand off my gun, but I felt my muscles relax, if only a little.
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Grant looked terrified. In all the years I'd known him, I'd never seen his hazel eyes look so panicked and stressed, like a caged animal. I tried not to show my surprise. I needed to be strong for him. Clearly something with Garrett was hitting him harder than I knew.
"Good job, just keep focusing on me. I'm right here. Just like I have been since our first mission, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."
My left hand was on top of Grant's right, all on top of the gun. I moved my right hand to rest on his knee, shifting so that I was blocking his view of Garrett as much as possible.
"We're gonna get through this, okay? Whatever it is, we can take anything. One-hundred and eighty-two things have tried to kill us, and failed. Nothing can touch us when we're together."
Grant was still giving me an intense stare down, but he wasn't death-gripping the pistol anymore, which was an improvement.
"Deep breaths, okay. Breathe in, breathe out."
Grant actually seemed to be relaxing, but of course nothing is ever that easy.
"Grant Douglas Ward!" yelled Garrett. I could block him from sight, but I couldn't put him on mute. "I pulled you out of hell! I-"
"We go together, like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong," I cut Garrett off and started signing the first thing that came to mind, which happened to be the final song in the movie Grease, to drown him out. I'd made Grant watch Grease a couple years ago, and I'd memorized this song to annoy him by constantly singing. Now, it was kind of perpetually stuck in my head.
Garrett started yelling louder, and Grant glanced over his shoulder, so I started singing louder. I gave his hand a squeeze and started dancing a little in my seat.
"Remembered forever as shoo-bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom. Chang chang changitty chang sha-bop. That's the way it should be. Wa-oooh, yeah!" I leaned into him for the next line. "We're one of a kind like dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo. Our names are signed boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy..."
I leaned in and out with the other sounds bouncing up and down. I'd grabbed both his hands and was bouncing his arms up and down with me. I just got louder and louder, drowning out Garrett as best as possible.
"We'll always be like one." I was close to Grant, our noses almost touching for this part. I was smiling, trying to reassure him. He looked so much calmer, and I actually saw him smile a little as I threw my head back and screamed the "wa-wa-wa one!"
Garrett was still screaming and carrying on, but then Hand spoke up.
"We're touching down. Gag him."
The nearest agent stuck a cloth in Garrett's mouth, and he was forced to shut up.
I took a deep breath and smiled, a little embarrassed, and gave Grant's hands another squeeze. He was looking a lot better.
I didn't let go of his hands as Garrett was marched off the plane. He was still trying to scream at Grant, but I made sure Grant didn't look at him.
"Agent Ward? Are you coming with us?" asked Hand, completely ignoring me.
I felt Grant tense again, so I slid back into my seat to be shoulder to shoulder with him, and I gave Hand a death-glare.
"No. I'm not," Grant finally choked out. Hand opened her mouth to argue, but I intensified my glare and she changed her mind. She gave a curt nod and then headed off the plane.
"Hey. You made it," I said once Hand was out of earshot. They'd left the ramp down, but they were on the other end of the roof of the Fridge.
Grant shook his head and slumped against the wall. He looked like he was in shock.
"You did good. We got through this, we'll get through anything and everything else that... comes... Do you hear that?" I'd been trying to make Grant feel better, but I thought I heard another plane coming in.
"I do," said Grant, sitting up and looking confused. He started towards the ramp to take a look around, and I was following, but before we could get outside a wind like from Quinjet engines blew across the roof.
"What's happening?" I yelled over the noise. Grant looked just as confused as I was. From the doors to the fridge, which had just opened, Hand looked like she was having a panic attack.
All of a sudden, I heard a bang and saw Hand collapse. It took me a second to realize she'd been shot.
"Hydra!" I yelled. I could see Garrett's smug look even across the roof. "We have to help them!"
"Too late!" yelled Grant. To my horror, he was right. The Quinjet had just gunned down everyone on deck but John Garrett, who was now heading towards us.
I couldn't even move I was so shocked. I just stood there, mouth hanging open, staring at the dead bodies of my fellow SHIELD agents while Garrett marched toward us, completely free. Thankfully, Grant came to his senses.
"Run!" he yelled, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me back into the plane. We got to the cockpit and closed the ramp, beginning takeoff as soon as possible.
We would've been dead if we were in anything other than a Jump Jet, but it was SHIELD's fastest vehicle. We made it into open skies just before the Quinjet could tear us apart.
I was sitting in the copilot's chair, still not quite believing what just happened.
"They're dead," I choked out. "I never liked Hand, but I never wanted her dead either. And now another six good SHIELD agents are dead because of Garrett and Hyrdra."
Grant didn't say anything, and he still had a death grip on the plane's stick.
"Grant, I know this is incredibly hard on you, but please, say something."
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I couldn't keep lying. I couldn't stand the guilt.
Slater had done everything to help me and be there for me, and she deserved better than me. She deserved the truth.
As she looked at me, begging me to say something, I decided to come clean. To tell the truth.
"Grant, I know this is incredibly hard on you, but please, say something."
"I'm Hydra."