Chapter Fifty

A/N: Hey guys, just a little reminder, as always, bold is in Grant's POV. Love you guys and thanks for the support! 😄❤️❤️

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I was in trouble.

I was supposed to shoot Thomas Nash so that SHIELD would think the clairvoyant was dead. That's why he was making jabs about Slater. To give me an emotional reason to kill the "clairvoyant" that wouldn't blow my cover.

I didn't shoot Nash. Garrett acted normal as we arrested Nash, but I knew he was angry. I don't know if he new Slater was the reason I hadn't shot Nash, but I sure as hell wasn't about to let her out of my sight, just in case.

I kept one arm around Slater the whole way back to the Bus, keeping one eye on everything around us. Once at the Bus, she went inside, and I stayed on the ramp to talk to Garrett. I had to keep him from going after her.

"What the hell was that?" asked Garrett, once we were alone. "You had one job, and that was to shoot Thomas Nash. How hard would that have been?"

"I know, sir, but you haven't been around Coulson as much as I have. He's getting suspicious that something's not right. If everything had come to an end that quickly and easily, he would've been suspicious."

"He still is."

"But not of me."

Garrett shook his head. "You had orders. Don't fail to follow them again."

I nodded curtly, and Garrett turned to leave. That was close, but I was confident he wasn't going to blame Samantha. I was still going to keep a close eye on her though.

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Once I was back on the Bus, I headed to my room. Grant had stayed behind to say goodbye to Garrett, and I desperately needed to do some reading or something to relax. After a few minutes, I heard a knock at my door.

"Come in," I called, not looking up from my book.

"Hey," said Grant, coming in with his own book in-hand. "Mind if I read with you?"

"Not at all." I moved over so there was space for Grant to sit down next to me. I put my head on his shoulder and kept reading. It was nice that we finally had some time to just relax, with nothing else to worry about.

We didn't move for hours, and it was dark outside the windows of the plane when I finished my book.

"Was it good?" asked Grant.

"Yes! Ugh, the next book in the series isn't out yet though, and it's killing me!"

"It's been a minute, tops."

"Yes, but I'm gonna have to wait two months for the next one! I want to start it now!"

"Think of it this way: It'll be a good way to practice patience."

I scowled. "Recovering from the freaking gunshot is my way to practice patience. Now I need some instant gratification."

Grant just shook his head and turned back to his book. I moved to grab the next book off the top of my TBR, but I stopped when I heard Fitz rushing past the door, sounding panicked.

I stood and opened the door.

"Samantha?" asked Grant.

"Fitz just went by, he sounded upset. I'm gonna go see what's wrong."

"I'll come with you."

We rounded the corner and headed towards the lounge, only to find Skye standing in the middle of the room and Fitz sprinting away.

"Skye? What's wrong?" I asked, walking up to her. She looked panicked.

"May... May has an encrypted hardline on the Bus that she's not supposed to have."

"What?" I asked, shocked.

"I know. Fitz found it, and Coulson... Coulson and I don't think Nash is the real clairvoyant."

"Why not?" asked Grant, sounding worried.

"He never spoke. And everything the clairvoyant knows is in our psych evals. Whoever it is, they have clearance level, not psychic abilities."

My jaw dropped. "It can't be May."

"Samantha, it fits," argued Skye. "Why else would she have that line? Who else knows everything we do? I told Fitz to cut the line, now I need to get Coulson."

She rushed past us and up towards Coulson's office.

I ran my hands through my hair. "Holy crap Grant. What if she's right?"

"I don't know," he said, looking grim and extremely worried.

"We have to go help Fitz," I said, starting for the stairs. "If Skye's right, May's going to come after Fitz once he cuts her line, and he's no match for her."

Grant seemed reluctant, but he followed me. Before we could get out of the room, though, Phil came up behind us.

"You know?" he asked. I nodded. "Good. Then go around the back stairs and try to outflank May. Sweep through to the lab."

Grant and I both nodded again, then turned around and headed for the stairs in the back of the plane.

"I can't believe this," I muttered, shaking my head as I cleared a corner.

"Neither can I," Grant agreed.

"On the bright side, no one's questioning me doing field activities a week early."

Grant gave me a look like really? but I ignored him. We finally got to the lab and found Fitz facing the closed, bullet-proof doors, with May pointing a gun at him.

I cursed under my breath and Grant and I moved up to stand next to Fitz.

"You okay?" I asked him.

"For now," he said, looking extremely worried. I was too, honestly. If Coulson didn't come soon, it looked like May was going to bust down these doors with her bare hands.

Thankfully, Coulson came through.

"Put it down!" I heard him order. I couldn't see him, but May looked up, so he must've been standing on the ledge at the top of the stairs. "Put it down, May."

She was now pointing her gun at Coulson.

"It's not what you think, Coulson," she said, still not dropping the weapon. "It's just an ICER."

"This one is not. It's real, with real bullets," he replied. I started inching towards the lab doors release. If May didn't notice, I could give Coulson some backup.

Coulson ordered May to explain, and she refused. I was getting closer to the door release, but if I moved too fast May might notice and shoot one of us in the chest.

Thankfully, Skye came around a corner in the garage, giving Phil the backup he needed.

"You better listen to the man agent May," she said, pointing an ICER.

"You have no idea what you're doing," May replied.

"Maybe not. But I know you're not fast enough to take us both."

"Look," said May, finally dropping her gun. "I can explain everything. But not here."

"Why not here?" demanded Phil. I took the opportunity to move another inch towards the door release. "You have to check with someone first, using that encrypted phone in the cockpit?"

I froze as May looked at us, glaring daggers at Fitz.

"Who's on the other end of that line, May?" Coulson continued.

"I can't say."

"That's okay," said Phil, so quiet I could barely hear him through the lab doors. "I think I know. It makes sense now why Deathlock put Blake in critical condition, left you alive and well. Why he led us to the track only to disappear instead of defending his boss. Why would he do that? Because that wasn't his boss, was it?"

I inched forward again, passing Grant who was as tense as a taut wire.

"What are you talking about?" asked May, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Stop lying to me!" Phil yelled back. "Who do you answer to? Who's the real clairvoyant?"

Before May could answer, the plane turned 180 degrees, throwing all of us off our feet.

"What did you do? Where are we going?" demanded Phil. I assumed he was covering May again.

"I don't know! I didn't do it Phil! I don't know what's happening here, I swear!"

"If you're not doing this, who is?" May didn't answer. "Drop the weapon."

"Coulson-"

"Drop the damn weapon and kick it over to the stairs May, now! Now!" She did. "Now back the hell up! Over there!"

Coulson came down the stairs and he and Skye were both standing in front of the lab doors now. I moved to open the doors, but Fitz stopped me, looking terrified.

"Samantha, don't," he begged. "Please."

I glanced at Grant, then stepped back.

"Alright. But get ready to open them if something starts happening," I said, leaving my weapon ready at my side.

"Talk," Phil ordered, picking up May's gun. "Tell us where you rerouted the plane."

"I didn't set this new course. I swear!"

"Don't lie to me!"

"Yeah, well the plane just turned around for God's sake!" Fitz added, moving closer to the glass where May's ICER bullets had hit. I put my hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm him down.

"How is this happening then?" asked Skye.

"HQ can override automated control of the avionics, take us anywhere they want. Let me check the instrument panel, and I'll be able-"

"No way!" yelled Fitz. Apparently I hadn't been able to calm him down.

"You're not going anywhere till you explain what-" started Phil.

"It's not me!" yelled May.

"Why did you have an encrypted hard line?"

"And try to shoot me when we found it?" Fitz added.

"Let's take a breath, huh?" said May.

"Let's not!" countered Phil, stepping closer with his gun. If May didn't explain soon, this could get really ugly.

"It was a dedicated channel," she started, "to Director Fury. That's the truth."

Damn. Part of me was shocked, but more of me was relieved. I believed May, and that meant she wasn't mixed up with the clairvoyant. Thank God.

Phil tried to get her to explain more, but she wouldn't. We couldn't just call Fury, either, because the line had been cut.

"Someone was talking to the clairvoyant, the real clairvoyant," said Skye.

"You were in the walls Fitz," said May, looking past the guns pointing at her to the lab. "You wanna explain why you were tampering with the plane's SAT cable?"

"Sure, because that's relevant!" Fitz yelled, "Don't try and turn this around on me!"

Phil kept his gun trained on May, but he did turn around to look at Fitz for an explanation. Fitz lost it, yelling about Simmons's secret science investigation at the Hub.

"Fitz," started May, once he'd finished. "Who is she talking to?"

Fitz didn't answer, and Phil came over.

"Open the door."

"No, no way-" started Fitz, but I cut him off by hitting the door open switch.

"Sorry Fitz," I said. "But we seriously need to work together if we're going to figure all this out."

Skye was in charge of finding out what was happening and where we were going. We all gathered around her computer in the lab, Phil still keeping his gun trained on May. Apparently, all SHIELD channels were jammed with noise, some kind of encrypted message. Phil was trying to get May to give some answers when a voice came over the radio.

"Do you read? Do you read, 6-1-6? Enemy aircraft on my tail. Over."

"Garrett?" asked Coulson, recognizing the voice. Grant grabbed my hand, and I gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Coulson, I'm under attack," Garrett replied. "Drones. Repeat, SHIELD drones are on my ass. We're not getting along. Do you copy?"

"Copy. Garrett what's happening? We've lost control of our aircraft."

"Hell if I know. Tell me you got guns on that thing. I'm coming to you."

Garrett cut out and Phil paused, looking anguished. Then he shot May with the ICER.

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed. Phil ignored me.

"Fitz, can you manually wire the guns to weapons control, bypass our system?"

"If I have cables long enough, yeah."

"Samantha, help him. Skye, decode the signal, we need to get ahead of this. I don't want anymore surprises today. Ward, help me get May to interrogation. We're gonna lock her in."

Grant hesitated, then nodded. He looked back at me.

"So much for a relaxing week," I said when he didn't speak.

"Yeah. I'll be back soon."

"I know. We're on the same plane. I'll see you in a few."

Grant nodded again, then went to help Phil. He was acting really weird, and once all this was over, I was determined to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, though, Fitz needed my help.

The next couple hours were going to be interesting.