Chapter Text
Alphonso MacKenzie sat in the chair in the lab, as Lincoln and Fitz pored over the data from Lincoln’s device. MacK had what he considered to be the most ridiculous-looking headband ever on his bald head, with flashing lights that attached to a tablet in Lincoln’s hand. Fitz pointed to something on the screen, and Lincoln shook his head dismissively. “MacK, you dyslexic?” Lincoln casually asked. MacKenzie gave Lincoln a shocked look, and slowly nodded. Lincoln pointed to the same place on the tablet Fitz was interested in. “That’s all that means, Fitz. He’s clean, and operating within normal Human parameters!” With that, Lincoln tapped the button on the bottom of the tablet, and started to remove the headband from MacK’s head. “The Kree nanites that got you in that city under Puerto Rico apparently metabolized away, MacK. They’re kind of like TIE fighters in Star Wars. They need to be near the base station, or they run out of fuel. You are in no danger from any more Kree artifacts, at least as far as I can tell.” Fitz helped Lincoln put his equipment away, but was still too mad to strike up a conversation. Lincoln could watch Skye pass by on her way to Coulson’s office. He left Fitz to finish putting the equipment away (heck, maybe try and talk to his old friend again), and went off to find Jerry, Druid, YoYo, and Tom.
As Skye left Coulson’s office and walked back towards the side of the Playground she and the rest of the Caterpillars stayed in, Jerry Sledge’s strong arms grabbed her and yanked her into a closet. Jerry plonked her on a large closed bucket of floor wax as a seat, as the rest of the team surrounded her, arms crossed and hostile. Oddly, the frown on Skye’s face faded as she saw her whole team in the closet with her. “Okay guys, I hope this means we are on the same page.” The others tentatively relaxed, as Skye turned towards Lincoln. “I know this is a mere formality, but I take it the debris in Grant’s hotel room was…exactly what we thought it was, right?” Both Lincoln and Tom nodded at that one. Skye smiled a bit, “Yep, cocoon debris. I knew it. Okay, I could not get them to take back the shoot-to-kill order, but that just means we have to get to him first. Whatever he was, he is one of us now. And I too think that fire he started was just his Gift running away from him.” Tom visibly relaxed, and rolled his head, as his multiple earrings twinkled in the closet lights. Skye gave Tom a quiet smile. “Yeah,” YoYo started, “We’ll take him to Pyotr…” Skye’s hand shot out to cover Yolanda’s lips. “Shhh! Don’t tell me anything you don’t want Coulson getting out of me. Suffice it to say, I know a couple of you are in with some kind of Underground Railroad. We need to capture Grant Ward and put him on that railroad before the Muggles find him.” The entire room nodded at this one, not entirely in sync. They started to leave the closet in twos, Tom deliberately holding back to leave with Skye. Despite the Gothic makeup, Tom’s eyes were warm. “Thank you for believing me, Skye. Burning down a hotel full of people…..I know that Garrett guy did a lot to mess with him, but that fire is just….not Grant’s style. But what do I know? I’m just his brother.” Skye put a hand on Tom Ward’s arm. “Believe it or not, I’m not doing this for me, or you, or him. But I am doing this. We’ll get your brother safe, and then we will deal with him as…..family.”
A week later, they had the fugitive pinned down in the Salt Basin Dunes near the Guadalupe Mountains. Grant was dehydrated, sick, tired, but still able to put up quite a fight….until John Garrett appeared, wearing a black turtleneck and a wild expression. “I saw this coming, Ward. Hahaaa! You were holding out on me. Think of what we could do now that you can throw fire. Oh wait, Grant. You left me to be killed by Coulson! And what did it get you? Jack shit is what it got you, Grant Douglas Ward.” Grant paled, obviously shaken, and started shooting wildly. Skye took advantage of the distraction to hit Grant with two dendrotoxin bullets. John Garrett then morphed back into Tom Ward. They got Grant back in the van, and Lincoln swore in three languages as he took readings on Grant’s condition. “I’m going to have to go with him, Skye. He won’t survive the trip otherwise. The change is hard enough on him, but he hasn’t been taking care of himself while on the run, either.” The normally taciturn Jerry offered to go with Lincoln and Grant, as did Tom, but ultimately, they figured they could better make a cover story for Lincoln’s disappearance than for more members of the team. Tom and YoYo made some calls, and they met a Russian guy in the souvenir shop at nearby Carlsbad Caverns. The team and the Russian drove out to the back country, avoiding the trail that led to Lechuguilla Cavern, and prepared to move Grant and Lincoln to the Russian’s van. Tom lingered behind, holding a semi-conscious Grant’s hand. “Don’t die on me now. We haven’t talked since they sent you to juvie, and like, we still aren’t talking, but I want to talk again, okay? Skye and I will be along when we can.” Grant nodded deliriously, as Jerry came back to pick Grant up. Grant Ward came to full consciousness with the muffled sound of an airplane engine. He noticed he had a noise-canceling headset on, as he noticed the somewhat-familiar man did. The man was checking the shining acupuncture needles in Grant’s body, when he looked up and smiled at Grant. “Cargo plane,” the man mouthed at Grant, as he pointed to his own headset. Grant looked up to see that in addition to the witchdoctoring, the man had him also hooked up to an IV. Oddly, the nausea and headaches that had plagued him since the Broken Crystal Incident were gone, but he still felt weaker than the time he had caught an infection out in the woods. The man held up a tablet. On it, he had typed out, “My name is Lincoln. You were not doing well when the Team found you. I am taking you somewhere safe, not to any kind of prison. So please be cooperative.” Grant nodded, and Lincoln wiped out and typed something else, “I was told to tell you two things: 1) This is your last chance. Cooperate or I will Puerto Rico you again 2) I owe you an asskicking for the well, so you better get better so I can collect.” Lincoln wasn’t sure what the inside jokes were, but the smile on Grant’s face indicated that he knew.