66. Here comes the power

Before Cal completely disappears, he turns back and says, "take care of my daughter."

"What?" Skye said in disbelief. "Hey!" she pulled at her restraints so much that she moved her chair across the floor. She looked over at Grant. "Now what? I can't move a muscle."

I roll my eyes and snap the bindings on me to get out of the chair then move over the dead guard's body to pick up the knife on his boots.

I go straight to Skye, who's still trying to get lose and make a mental note to have May work with her on these skills.

"I'm sorry your little family reunion didn't go as planned." I apologize as I crouch to cut the binds around her ankle.

Grant POV End

Skye nodded, looking down and breathing deeply as Grant cut her free. She didn't even wait until her restraints were on the floor before launching herself into his arms. "Grant," she sobbed into his shoulder as he held her as tightly as he could. They remained that way for at least a minute until the sound of gunfire made Skye quit crying and raise her head.

"We need to get out of here," he told her. Grant tipped up her face to him. "Are you OK?" he asked gently.

Skye merely nodded.

"Good. Stay here while I check the door." He ran to the entryway to the kitchen, peering out, hoping that the coast would be clear enough for them to leave. Grant whirled back around when he heard the sound of a gun being drawn and saw that Skye had relieved the dead Hydra guard of his weapon. For a second Grant thought that she would shoot him "Skye…"

"No, Grant. I can't just stay here when all our friends and…family…are out looking for us. We have to go help them!" Skye's eyes were wild, her face still streaked with the tears she'd been shedding. She was clearly in no condition to fight.

He put out his hands in a placating motion, hoping against hope that this would be the one time she'd listen to reason. "OK Skye, we will, I promise, but let's just…"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by another round of gunfire. Grant whirled to see where it was coming from, just in time to glimpse Skye darting into the hallway in his peripheral vision. "Dammit, Skye!" Grant yelled as he ran to catch up with her.

Agents Triplett, Simmons, and Fitz enter the city and place Howling Commando explosives around the temple, ready to destroy it for good. During the fighting in the Hydra base, Cal escapes and finds Whitehall, ready to take his vengeance, but is prevented from doing so when Whitehall drops dead, killed by Coulson. Enraged, Cal attacks Coulson, and only stops when Skye threatens to kill him. He agrees to leave, and reveals that Skye's real name is Daisy. Agent 33, feeling lost without Whitehall, who had brainwashed her remembers what Grant said and leaves the premise as well.

Grant who wanted to follow Skye couldn't as he was slowed by a firefight with some of Whitehall's men. Grant dispatched them easily (Really, Whitehall? Your men are a mess.) and jogged down an empty hallway, speeding up when he saw Cal walking easily toward the door that had been blown open, probably by SHIELD. It was clear that he was leaving the building.

"Cal!" Grant called out.

Cal halted his forward progression and turned around as if he had all the time in the world. He smiled. "Ah, Grant. Forgive me for not saying goodbye but I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon."

"You're leaving?" he blurted in surprise. He was usually better at reading people than this.

Cal nodded. "What with all the chaos," he waved his hands around, "my leaving seemed like the best plan. That way I can be there when Skye needs me."

"What do you mean when she needs you?" Grant tamped down firmly on the panic he could feel rising in his chest. Clearly, he was not in the loop about something important. "What's going on?" he asked urgently.

A look of surprise crossed Cal's face. "I thought she'd told you!" Seeing Grant shake his head, he continued. "Skye's headed down into the tunnels in order to see what she'll become." He smiled again. "Although transformation is always difficult, she knows that I'll be there to help guide her through it."

At once Grant understood stood that he can't wait any longer and used his Observation Haki at full strength finding out where he has to go.

He ran at full speed through the now-empty hallways, knowing that where Coulson was the place he needed to be so he went straight there. Finally, he saw Coulson turning a corner and followed him into what looked like a boiler room.

"Coulson!" Grant called as he almost skidded to a stop in front of him. He saw that May too was there. "What's going on? Where's Skye?" he managed to say through his heavy breathing.

"I'm not sure what's going on. All I know is that Skye followed Raina into the tunnels. I was just going to follow her…" he paused, looking at Grant over, "but now I assume you'll be going down after her instead." Grant nodded .

May started putting on the rope harness in preparation for lowering him down into the depths. She smiled a little at him. "I'm sure Coulson will tell me the story later but you really have to stop going undercover."

"So noted," Grant replied as he started freefalling. Once he hit the ground, he quickly removed the harness, turned on his flashlight and started off down the creepy hallway. He came to a T-intersection and used his Observation Haki, hoping that he'd hear the sounds of Skye or Raina moving around but instead found someone else. Grant turned right, following the sounds of that someone as he felt that it would be good for him to stop him right now as he appeared in front of Trip breathing hard.

"Trip. Have you seen Skye?"

"Man, what are you doing down here? I just now finished turning off all our explosives. Another few minutes and bam! We're all toast." He paused, regaining his breath. "Should I take it that you're back on our side again?"

"Never left it," Grant said impatiently. Now was not the time for explanations. He knew that time was short. "Have you seen Skye?"

Trip shook his head. "No. There wasn't anyone back the way I came, so I'd suggest you search that direction." He pointed back the way Grant had come.

"Thanks. We'll talk later." He nodded to Trip, whirled and started running again.

Finally Skye and Raina entered his range so he didn't stop and used all his strength to run in their direction.

Grant felt a shifting in the floor at the same time he heard sounds like the very walls were moving. Up ahead, very faintly, he could see that the impossible was happening, that these huge, heavy, gigantic walls were closing in on themselves.

Sure enough, there were both Skye and Raina, standing around what looked like a dais with the obelisk in the center of it.

"No, Grant!" Skye said loudly. She grasped his arm urgently. "What are you doing here?"