Chapter Twenty-Nine

A/N: Hey guys! As you may or may not know, nominations for the 2017 Marvel awards are ongoing so if you get the chance please check out he categories and nominate me if you feel I deserve any of the categories. No pressure, just want to get my story out there 😄❤️❤️

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I walked all along the hallways, trying and failing to find Grant. I just hoped he wasn't still on the bridge where I had no hope of getting to him.

Finally, after multiple sweeps of the hallways, I decided to just wait outside the deck. I needed to see Grant immediately.

To my relief, it wasn't long before he came out.

"Grant, we need to talk," I said, pulling him away as soon as possible, "Also, we need to get emergency cell phones that aren't SHIELD comms."

"What? Why?"

"In case there's an emergency and I need you or you need me right away! It'll be for emergencies only, like the Batphone, so if it rings we'll know to pick up."

"Samantha, are you ok?"

"No! I'm not!" I exclaimed, pulling Grant into a closet just off the hallway. I didn't want Fury or anyone else finding out what I did, and I was still so shaken that I only wanted to talk to Grant.

"What happened while I was on the bridge?"

"I ran into Captain America in the hallway trying to force open a secure storage door."

Grant rolled his eyes, looked pissed. "And let me guess, you helped him and got caught, and now you need my help to keep you out of trouble with Fury?"

"No! Grant this is serious!" I yelled, shaking him, borderline hysterics. He immediately changed his attitude.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I didn't realize. Keep going."

"I asked him what he was doing and he said he thought Fury was hiding something and he was trying to find out what. I decided to help him and because I was bored I followed him into the storage area. We found this crate and I picked the lock and when I opened it there were old Hydra weapons and gear inside!"

All the color drained out of Grant's face and he looked completely terrified.

"Why would those be here?" he asked slowly.

"Steve said he thinks Fury's going to use the Tesseract technology to make weapons. Instead of clean energy, he's going to make weapons Grant! He lied to the whole agency and now he's using Hydra stuff!"

Grant took a few breaths, looking slightly calmer.

"Ok, ok, so what have you done since then?"

"Nothing! Steve went to go call Fury out and he asked me to keep SHIELD honest, which I'm going to try to do, but I'm not sure how! Or where to start! Or even who to trust!" I exclaimed, leaning my head against Grant's chest, "Anyone we know could be hiding this stuff from us. Anyone."

"Alright Samantha, look. It's a secret agency. Secrets are a fact of life-"

I snapped my head up, cutting Grant off mid-sentence. "I know but not like this! Not using dangerous, experimental technology and Hydra research!"

Grant put his hands on my shoulders. "Samantha, you need to calm down. If you want to start keeping SHIELD honest, work up the ranks. The higher our levels, the more we get to hear about."

I closed my eyes and took a breath. "Grant, none of us are ever going to be level tens, and Fury could have been the only one to know about this. He could keep anything from anyone until it's too late."

"Ok, ok, well, what do you want to do about it?"

I took another deep breath. I wasn't sure Grant would like this idea. "I want to finally start working on getting good with computers. I want to be able to access the director's files and make sure he's not doing anything wrong. From what Steve said, that's what Tony Stark did to keep Fury honest. That's what made Steve go to the secure storage hold and look for something."

Grant pinched the bridge of his nose. "Samantha, there must be a different way to keep an eye on things without-"

BANG!

The Helicarrier suddenly listed to the side and I was thrown against Grant.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I think we need to go find out."

We stumbled out of the hallway and ran to the armory, grabbing our weapons and looking around for the threat.

"Samantha, Ward," said Coulson, rounding the corner to the armory, "We're under attack. The number three engine is out and agents under Loki's mind control may be boarding."

We heard a muffled ROAR from somewhere below decks.

"Also, it sounds like the Hulk is here."

Both Grant and I looked at each other with surprise and a little fear, then turned to Coulson determinedly.

"What do you need us to do, sir?" asked Grant.

"Keep the ship safe from attack and don't let them get to Loki."

Grant and I nodded and then split up from Coulson, running to find anyone who needed backup. To our horror, we got a message over the comms telling us the attackers were wearing SHIELD uniforms.

"Well that's just great," I complained. Grant and I were steadily jogging towards the lower decks when the ship listed again. Grant and I froze.

"That felt like another engine," he said.

"If we've lost two engines we're going down."

"We can't do anything to restart the engines. What we can do is follow the other half of Coulson's orders and keep them from getting Loki."

I nodded and we picked up the pace toward the lower decks, praying that someone would find a way to stabilize the ship before we went down.

"Does this count as 176?" I asked.

"No. Never count something as a near-death experience until it's over and you're not dead."

"Excellent point."

We sprinted down a few more levels, into the room where Loki should've been locked up, only to find the cage completely gone. I scanned the room and, to my horror, saw Phil Coulson leaning against the wall, bleeding.

"No," I whispered, rushing over to him, "No no no no no!"

I knelt in front of Phil, looking him over in horror.

"Samantha," he whispered, "You shouldn't be here."

"Shh, Phil, focus on me. Focus on staying here. Grant!" I yelled, turning to him, "Go get Fury."

He nodded, looking grim. "I'll be right back."

"Where's the wound?" I asked, turning back to Phil, "First priority is to stop the bleeding, where are you bleeding?"

To my horror, I found the blood covering his shirt came from a hole right where his heart was. I closed my eyes and took a breath.

"Ok, ok, Phil, keep focusing on me, stay with me," I said, pulling off my SHIELD jacket and tearing off one of the sleeves, "I'm going to fix this you are not going to die."

Phil shook his head. "I shot Loki."

I felt my heart swell with love for the man sitting in front of me. He had recruited me to SHIELD and as little as I actually saw him, he was the closest thing I had to a father.

I couldn't lose him.

"Good job, if anybody was going to hit the bastard I'm not surprised it was you. They always underestimate us humans, don't they?" I asked, still trying to stop the bleeding.

"It's the best way to beat them," whispered Phil. I felt tears starting to fill my eyes as I desperately tried to remain calm. I'd wrapped my jacket as tight as possible around the wound, but the bleeding wasn't slowing.

"Samantha," called Grant, coming in with Fury. Grant pulled me away and held me close, just to the side of Coulson, while Fury knelt in front of him.

I was starting to hear a buzzing in my ears as I watched them talk. I started to think I was going deaf, but then I heard Phil speak.

"I'm clocking out here."

My heart sank. All I could see was Phil. He said something else, and then he laid still. I thought I heard people speaking, but I couldn't make out anything more than a buzzing. My body was going numb. I couldn't register anything but Phil's face.

He was gone.