Saving Grant Ward

Chapter Sixteen

"We're back," I said, gently shaking Ward awake. He had slept the whole plane ride and I was so tempted to yell in his ear and earthquake him awake like he did to me, but then I reminded myself he was injured. My revenge would have to wait.

We stumbled off the plane together and into the hanger bay where, to my surprise, Phil Coulson was waiting for us.

"Agent Slater. Agent Ward. Good to have you back," he said.

"Good to see you again," I said, giving him a big smile, "What's the occasion?"

"I'm here to pick up the orb you two brought back." My smile immediately dropped.

"Samantha's got it," answered Ward. That was the first time he'd used my first name in regular conversation to someone else. I guess a near-death experience can really change a person. I tried not to look shocked as I spoke.

"Yeah, but I'm not handing it over to anyone until we get some answers," I said. Phil raised an eyebrow at me so I continued, "Last time we dropped off the orb and didn't get any information. This time we almost died getting a second orb that is identical to the first, and I want to know what's going on."

Grant shook his head, "Sorry about her, sir. Samantha, just give it to him."

"No." Grant gave me an exasperated look, but Phil stepped in before he could say anything.

"That's alright. I've been assigned to go with John Garrett to investigate another report and it wouldn't hurt to have two more capable agents with us. I'll keep you in the loop if you're willing to keep chasing these things all over the world," he said.

I wanted to shout Deal! right then and there, but I wasn't sure Grant would agree. It felt like overreaching to make decisions on the missions we'd be taking while Grant was still technically my mentor. To my surprise though, he spoke up immediately.

"We'd be honored, sir."

"Great," said Phil, "That girl you brought back from Costa Rica hasn't said much yet, but it sounds like there's another orb in Málaga, Spain. We leave in twelve hours."

"We'll be ready," replied Grant.

"You got shot," I reminded him. I'm pretty sure his wound needed more than twelve hours to heal.

"I'll be fine," he said.

"Report to medical anyway," said Phil, "Get it looked at and cleared. And Agent Slater, if it's ok with you, I'll take the orb."

I sighed and handed it over. I was confident I could trust Phil, and he'd promised to tell us more. I didn't need the orb anymore.

"Thank you," said Phil, "I'll see you both in twelve hours."

"Alright, let's get you to medical," I said, walking out of the hanger with Grant. If we were going to be ready to leave in twelve hours, he needed to see a doctor as soon as possible.

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"Just chill out," I said for what felt like the hundredth time. I was sitting with Grant in medical, and while the doctor checked him out and stitched him up, my job was to submit a joint report. He was micromanaging me for no good reason.

"For the first draft of the report you just wrote: 'Greenland is freezing and the first city we went to was just cover-building, so let's move to the city with the action'," he said. Alright, maybe he had small reason to micromanage, but still!

"Well, we already fixed that one and I said I would read you the report when I was done, so until then, relax. You're going to pop a stitch or something."