Chapter Thirty-Six

A/N: Sorry about the last two cliffhangers, I just haven't had a good spot to cut these chapters and I try to keep them from getting too long

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Grant and I walked into the clearing after confirming the tire tracks didn't match and I headed straight up the temple steps, saying a quick prayer that Grant would be okay. I knew he could take care of himself, but still, I felt better when I was there to watch his back.

"Hey Coulson, we might have a bit of a problem," I said, joining the rest of the team in the temple. I stopped in my tracks though when I saw the little drones hovering around. I turned to FitzSimmons. "You finished the dwarves! You've been working on them for so long! They're so cool!"

FitzSimmons responded at the same time with different words, which was very normal for them.

"Thank you! Yes, we're quite glad to get to use them ourselves in the field."

"Yeah, we worked quickly once we heard we were going into the field so that we could use them ourselves."

I smiled at them both, but then Coulson reminded me why I had come in the first place.

"What's the problem?" he asked.

"The tire tracks didn't match the professor's, so we're not alone here. I don't know if it's going to present a problem, but Grant and May are dealing with anything they could find in the clearing."

Before I could say anything else, Phil's walkie talkie came to life.

"Sir?" asked a voice, definitely Grant's.

"Go," ordered Phil.

"We have a situation."

I glanced at Phil. "Whatever it is, if Grant and May couldn't handle it..."

"Lots of rebels in this area," Skye chimed in, looking towards the exit.

Coulson shook his head. "Not enough gunfire. Keep working, and Samantha, stay with them. You're the last line of defense."

"Great."

"I'm on my way," Coulson replied into the radio, heading back out to Grant and May.

"What do you think's going on out there?" asked Simmons.

"I don't know, but you heard Coulson. Keep working." I moved to the side of the entrance, resting my hand on my gun. I didn't want to scare the rest of the team, but I didn't want to be caught unprepared either.

I heard FitzSimmons and Skye talking, but I was too focused to hear much of what they were saying. There hadn't been any gunshots yet, so I was hoping Phil had managed to calm things down, but I wasn't holding out much hope.

I heard footsteps coming down the tunnel and I swung around the corner, ready to face whoever it was. To my relief, it was Grant.

"Geeze Slater," he said, leaning back, "What were you doing?"

"Getting the jump on a potential enemy. You're lucky I pulled my punch."

"I don't remember you being this jumpy."

"Hey, there's a reason I've survived 176 things that should've killed me."

Grant shook his head, then pushed past me into the cavern.

"We've got company," he announced, "National police."

"What?" asked Simmons.

"Why are they here?" asked Fitz, looking distressed.

"They heard about this object," answered Grant, walking towards the thing sticking out of the wall, "They're probably here to protect it. This area has lots of rebel uprisings."

"Yeah, people are fighting back against the government's mining policies," Skye chimed in, "It's pretty kick-ass."

"Yeah, it's kick-ass, all the violence," countered Grant with extreme sarcasm.

He and Skye started arguing, and although I agreed with Grant this time, I still didn't want to get involved. I moved to stand behind FitzSimmons, looking at the data the dwarves were bringing back. To my amazement, I actually understood some of what it said.

Most of it was jibberish, but some of it I got!

"How much longer?" asked Grant, talking to FitzSimmons and ending his argument with Skye. Both Fitz and Simmons looked at Grant nervously, and their body language and tone clearly betrayed that they were scared.

"Are we in danger?" asked Fitz.

"Not if everyone does their job. What is yours, exactly?" asked Grant, swaggering a little as he took another jab at Skye. I rolled my eyes and spoke to FitzSimmons.

"Look, whatever the problem is, don't worry. I'm here, Grant and May can kick ass, and Coulson's no slouch. We'll keep you guys safe. The less time we spend here though, the less chance we have of something going wrong."

The words had barely left my mouth when the roof of the cave shook and rained dirt on all of us.

"Sounds like they're engaging with rebels," said Grant, "Let's go."

Grant moved to cover the entrance and I joined him. I could hear gunshots outside, but no one had appeared at the tunnel entrance yet.

"They're coming for it, let's move!" yelled Grant, trying to get FitzSimmons to hurry up. Skye tried to help them pack up the dwarves, but it just slowed them down.

"We need a containment case for the 0-8-4," said Simmons, speaking to Grant.

"There's no time," he said, looking at her like she was crazy.

"But it has a fluctuating power core and frequencies way above 10 exahertz," Fitz tried to explain.

I understood some of the words, but not how they worked together.

"What does that mean Fitz?" I asked.

He started to explain, but another explosion rocked the cave and Grant ran out of patience.

"Sorry, science class is over," he said, marching straight up to the object and pulling it out of the wall. Fitz started freaking out, and since he was the one who knew what the object was, I started seriously worrying about Grant's health.

Grant didn't listen to a word Fitz said. He just shoved the object in a duffle bag, passed it to Fitz, and started heading out.

"Stay close," he said, then to me, "I got left, you got right. Be careful, we don't know what we're up against."

"Grant, I know. I'm a level seven."

He gave me a look that clearly said Really? Now? before heading out of the tunnel, gun raised. I was right next to him, preparing myself for whatever was waiting for us outside.

Grant and I came out shooting (I aimed for the legs), trying to cover the rest of our team as they ran out of the temple. We didn't have anything close to a clear escape route, and Grant yelled at our team to take cover inside.

We crouched low, trying to minimize the target area for the people shooting at us. Grant pulled out a piece of tech I didn't recognize, then looked at me.

"Follow me and hit the dirt," he said.

He dove to the ground at the bottom of the steps and I followed, laying flat as he spiked the thing into the ground. Grant threw one arm over me and couched down, covering both of us as the device let out a wave of energy that took everyone it hit off their feet.

"What the hell was that thing?" I yelled, looking around once it was safe to stand.

"New tech. Come on," said Grant, motioning for our team to come out of the temple. I gathered from his body language that we didn't have long, so I scanned the treeline, looking for any immediate threats.

Before I knew what was happening I heard a machine gun, but May pulled up and blocked it with her bulletproof car before anyone could get hit.

"Get in!" yelled Grant, taking a few shots over the hood as our teammates climbed in back. May opened the passenger side door, and since we had five seats and six people, I ended up on Grant's lap.

May peeled out, and to my relief, Coulson was right behind us with the national police. Grant rattled off directions to May as Fitz continued to freak out in the back.

"Samantha, you have to understand! There's a binding energy structure that could overheat!"

"Fitz I took lessons for a week! I have no idea what that means!"

"I could roll down a window!" suggested Simmons. To my horror, she actually did it. A bullet ricocheted around the car and Grant almost dumped me on the floor as he twisted around to yell at our three inexperienced teammates.

"Stay quiet and keep your heads down!"

Fitz tried explaining again, and I was ready to listen, but May and Grant both yelled at him to be quiet. If we weren't in a jungle car chase being shot at, I would've insisted we hear Fitz out, but we already had enough problems to deal with.

May automatically dropped the cargo ramp on the plane, then sprinted up to the cockpit. I took up a position on the ramp while Grant went to close it.

By some miracle, none of us got shot. Phil got on board safely, along with the national police. I was breathing hard as I turned to Grant.

"177."

He shook his head as he turned to Fitz, who was sitting on the ground, exhausted, next to the duffle. "Now, what was the problem?"

"As I said before," started Fitz, looking extremely distressed, "this device has a high-frequency, fluctuating, sub-material compression-"

"Fitz," interrupted Grant, "In English."

"The 0-8-4 is fueled by Tesseract technology."

I felt a pit open in my stomach as I remembered everything that came with the Tesseract, including what Fury had wanted to do with it.

"Hydra. World War Two. Captain America," said Fitz, although I doubted anyone needed the recap, "It's full of lethal amounts of gamma radiation."

"Gamma," repeated Grant, "You're saying it's nuclear?"

"No," said Coulson, "He's saying it's much much worse."

Everyone took a step back and I realized what Fitz had been trying to say in the car.

"Fitz, could it have... fired, or whatever it does, on us in the car?"

"Yes. That's why I was trying to get you to slow down."

I shook my head and looked back at Grant. "Correction. 178."