Saving Grant Ward

Chapter Fifty-One

A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry this one took me so much longer than usual, I've been swamped lately and I'm sick as a dog, which always makes it hard to be productive. Thanks for your patience and I hope you like the chapter! 😄❤️❤️

****************

After I helped Fitz rewire the weapons, I left to meet back up with Grant. He was outside the Situation Room, and he came over as soon as I was in sight.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"Fine. Coulson's taking out the things on Garrett's tail as we speak."

Grant nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked. "You've been acting really weird lately."

"I'm fine Slater. Don't worry."

"Uh huh. Sure. I'm going to let it drop for right now, since we're quite possibly fighting for our lives against the clairvoyant. But once this is over, we're gonna have a long conversation."

Before Grant could say anything, Fitz and Phil came in and headed for Skye. We joined them, catching Skye after her coding explanation.

"It should only take me a minute more to decipher."

"Can I ask the obvious question?" asked Garrett, coming into the room. "What the hell?"

"We don't know," admitted Phil. "We don't even know where our plane is headed."

"Oh I saw your trajectory. You're being tractor-beamed straight to the Hub. Those drones were launched out of there for sure."

Coulson paused for half a second, then said: "Victoria Hand."

"Hand? Can't be," said Fitz.

"I never liked her," I muttered, shaking my head. It all fit.

"Can't be what?" asked Garrett.

"The clairvoyant," answered Skye.

"I though we arrested him."

"I don't believe the man we have is custody is the clairvoyant," said Phil. "I think he's an unwitting decoy meant to end our investigation."

"That's a lot of trouble to go through for a red herring, don't you think?" asked Garrett.

"Because the clairvoyant is a SHIELD agent," Phil finished, hitting Garrett with out bombshell discovery. "Using high-level clearance to stay ahead of us, make it seem like she's got psychic abilities."

"She? You think Victoria Hand's the clairvoyant?" asked Garrett, looking shocked. Phil nodded.

Garrett tried to defend her, and Phil tried to convince him otherwise.

"Her actions prove she's not the clairvoyant, right?" asked Garrett finally. "I mean, if she's been hiding in plain sight all this time, why reveal herself now?"

"Guys," interrupted Skye, turning my attention away from Garrett and to the big screen where Skye was decoding the message. Slowly, the spinning letters formed a message.

OUT OF THE SHADOWS. INTO THE LIGHT.

Skye kept going, revealing a third, shorter code. One by one, the letters spun into place, until we got the full message:

HYDRA.

It felt like the room was spinning. I stumbled back into Grant, then looked up at him in horror.

"Slater, you okay?" he asked, looking worried. Was I okay? I sure as hell didn't feel okay.

Slowly, I shook my head. "No. No, I'm not. We saw this coming. Remember? On the Helicarrier before the Battle of New York! We were going to dig into it, learn code and hacking and make sure something like this didn't happen, but we both forgot. Grant, we let this happen!"